Search This Blog
April Reviews Link-Up
May Reviews Link-Up
June Reviews Link-Up
July Reviews Link-Up
August Reviews Link-Up
September Reviews Link-Up
October Reviews Link-Up
November Reviews Link-Up
December Reviews Link-Up
2024 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (1)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia (1)
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*
International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Netherlands (1)
2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
Tuesday, January 06, 2015
Unique Hawaiian Setting Makes YA Dystopian Stand Out From the Crowd
1:00 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
It's been three years since Leilani moved to the Big Island with her family and Hawaii still doesn't feel like home. Being hapa (half-Hawaiian, half-white) has a lot to do with it. As does her epilepsy, a condition that marks her as even more different than her peers. It's only while she's surfing the wild blue waves that 16-year-old Lei feels completely at peace with herself and her surroundings.
Then, the unthinkable happens. While Lei and her dad are in Oahu for an experimental epilepsy treatment, electronics fail. Amid the confusion, they learn the world's being pummeled by tsunamis and other "natural" disasters. Driven by panic and fear, people all over Honolulu are scrambling to get off the island, or at least stockpile as much food and water as they can. Riots, looting and gang warfare takes over the streets. Above it all, a strange new starscape fills the sky with an ominous warning—things have changed. Drastically.
All Lei and her dad want is to get home. With all the chaos, it's likely Lei's mother, grandfather and younger sister are already dead. Still, they have to know. Thus begins a hellish journey from Oahu to the Big Island. Fraught with danger at every turn, it's a nightmare trip that may ultimately end in disappointment. Or worse. As Lei fights her way across the islands, she finally begins to understand her unique connection to her mother's native land—and the part she may play in saving it.
Loaded with Hawaiian culture and folklore, The Islands at the End of the World by Austin Aslan offers a fresh take on a common theme. Although the tale as a whole isn't all that new and different, the atmospheric setting definitely makes this one stand out. Add in sympathetic characters with a compelling story goal, an action-packed plot, an exciting sci fi twist, and you've got yourself an entertaining YA thriller. The Islands at the End of the World will appeal to anyone who loves disaster/dystopian novels, but craves something a little bit different.
(Readalikes: Reminds me of other YA disaster/dystopian novels, although no specific titles are coming to mind.)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for language (no F-bombs), violence, blood/gore, scary images, and depictions of illegal drug use
To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find
Subscribe to:
Posts
(Atom)
Reading
Listening
Followin' with Bloglovin'
-
-
Top Ten Tuesday-Spring Into Books33 minutes ago
-
Top Ten Tuesday2 hours ago
-
-
-
-
Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR | 20245 hours ago
-
TTT – Books On My Spring 2024 TBR5 hours ago
-
-
Daily Prompt 18 March monday9 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
Harris, Robert "Fatherland"23 hours ago
-
-
Books from the Backlog #81 day ago
-
-
Don’t Foget Me by Rea Frey1 day ago
-
-
-
Sunday Post3 days ago
-
-
Timeline by Michael Crichton3 days ago
-
33. Ferris4 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Witch Hat Atelier: Kitchen, Volume 11 week ago
-
Catching up1 week ago
-
Review: Dating Dr. Dil1 week ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?5 months ago
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra8 months ago
-
-
-
Sundays with Sam – The Sunday Post11 months ago
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ▼ 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
- ► 2013 (183)
- ► 2012 (193)
- ► 2011 (232)
- ► 2010 (257)
- ► 2009 (211)
- ► 2008 (192)