A common lament around my house is that I take reading recommendations from other people far more seriously than I do those that come from my own family members.  While I always insist this is untrue, maybe I'm wrong.  So, when my 11-year-old begged me to read the first book in his favorite series, I agreed.  Usually I have to force him to sit down with a book, but the whole C.H.A.O.S. trilogy by Arizona author Jon S. Lewis kept him glued to the pages.  Naturally, I was anxious to see what kind of story had that kind of power over my usually reluctant reader.

Invasion, the first book in the series, introduces our hero, 16-year-old Colt McAlister.  The teen, who lives in San Diego, wants nothing more than to spend his summer riding the ocean waves, strumming his guitar, and flirting with a pretty girl.  A car accident changes all that.  With his parents dead, Colt moves to Chandler, Arizona, to live with his 85-year-old grandpa.  Although grieving, the teen finds friends and starts to make an okay new life for himself.

When Colt receives a strange message insinuating that his parents' "accident" wasn't an accident at all, he's incensed.  Especially when a follow-up meeting with its sender ends with him running for his life on a flying motorcycle.  That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to strange.  As Colt investigates what really happened to his mom and dad, he's horrified to discover that nothing in his world is quite what it seems.  He's confronted otherworldly creatures before—in comic books and video games—but never have they crawled off the pages to invade his real life.  With murderous life forms straight out of his worst nightmares hot on his tail, Colt has to figure out what the heck is going on.  Who are these aliens infiltrating the planet?  What do they want?  What crazy secrets did Colt's parents die trying to protect?  Most importantly, how can Colt, a teenage surfer, stop an enemy with untold power from taking over the world?

Alien invasion books aren't really my cup of tea, but I can see why an 11-year-old boy would be mesmerized by this story.  With scary monsters, cool sci fi gadgets, and plenty of action, Invasion definitely keeps your attention.  It's a fast-paced, cinematic thrill ride that will especially appeal to pre-teen boys and reluctant readers.  They won't care how far-fetched the plot or how unrealistically inept the bad guys—they will just eat up the adventure.  I enjoyed Invasion enough to keep reading but, despite my son's badgering to read its sequels, I probably won't.  Still, I recommend this one for kids who like sci fi adventure movies and action-packed comic books.  They'll surely inhale the C.H.A.O.S. series, just like my son did.

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Close your eyes and think.  Hard.  What's the oldest memory you have?  Is it of learning to read in kindergarten?  Riding high on your father's shoulders as a toddler?  Being rocked to sleep when you were still small enough to be cradled in your mother's arms?  What if you could remember all those things and more?  What if you, in fact, never forgot anything?  What if you had perfect recall of every moment of your life, from the time you slid out of your mother's womb until the minute you left this earth?  Would it be a blessing?  Or a curse?

As a Mementi, one of only 15,000 genetically-enhanced humans, Genesis "Gena" Lee can do exactly that.  With the help of the Link beads she wears on her body, the 17-year-old can access every memory she's ever made.  In exacting detail.  This ability makes the Mementi smarter, more capable, better than their Populace counterparts.  At least, that's what they believe.  Seeking to even the score, the ever-increasing population of average humans is constantly looking for ways to compete with the Mementi.  One of them, the so-called Link Thief, has resorted to stealing memory beads.  No one knows exactly why he does it or where he will strike next.  But he has every Mementi in Havendale on edge.  Stolen memories can mean confusion, anxiety, even total erasure of a person's past—and thus, their future.

Gena considers herself lucky to have all her memories intact until an encounter with a Populace boy makes her wonder.  Kalan Fox says she knows him, insists they've been working together to capture the Link Thief.  Only Gena has no memory of Kalan at all.  Could she be more of a victim than she thought?  What has gone wrong with her always perfect recollection?  And, most importantly, who is Genesis Lee without her memories?  Is she anyone at all?

Ruminating on the mysteries of the mind always makes for a fascinating journey.  Memory is an especially intriguing topic—one I have found even more interesting after a recent visit with my 100-year-old grandmother (who passed away a few weeks later).  The way she could shift from perfect recall to total blankness in the space of a five-minute conversation was just ... bizarre.  Considering that, it's no wonder I find the premise of The Unhappening of Genesis Lee, a debut novel by Shallee McArthur, so compelling.  The world she creates is beguiling in all its potential and complexity.  While some of its rules seemed confusing, even contradictory, I found Mementi society undeniably entrancing.  Plot-wise, though, the novel is a little scattered.  It's tense and exciting, for sure, just not as tight as it could have been.  Likewise, McArthur's characters felt pretty flat to me.  I just didn't care about them all that much.  What kept me reading, I think, was really the food for thought brought up by The Unhappening of Genesis Lee (although it contains spoilers, the Reader's Guide to this book provides an excellent summary of these deep, fascinating questions).  While the plot/characters/dialogue, etc. felt a little ho-hum, the premise and questions asked in the novel ultimately made it a worthwhile read for me.  

(Readalikes:  I can't really think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for violence and intense situations

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-copy of The Unhappening of Genesis Lee from the generous folks at Sky Pony Press to facilitate my work as a judge for the Association for Mormon Letters Awards.  Thank you!

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(Note:  While this review will not contain spoilers for UnDivided, it may inadvertently spoil plot surprises from earlier UnWind installments.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

In UnDivided, the action-packed conclusion to Neal Shusterman's popular Unwind dystology, the tension and fury surrounding the controversial issue of unwinding is escalating.  While the Marcella Initiative—a law that would allow the unwinding of teens without parental consent—gains favor in the U.S., Proactive Citizenry plans to create an army of patchwork soldiers patterned after Cam Comprix.  Meanwhile, the increasingly maniacal Starkey, followed by his gang of angry disciples, target unwinding facilities with the intention of freeing prisoners and killing all their adult captors.  Stuck in the middle, Connor, Risa, and Lev race to find a solution that will end unwinding forever.  But, with ruthless black market harvesters hot on their trail, they may never get the chance.  All Connor wants is the guaranteed safety of unwanted children—will he finally see his dream realized?  Or, will the Akron AWOL meet the brutal end that's been his fate from the beginning?

While I've enjoyed all the books in this series, the first and last are my favorite.  Although in some ways, I didn't want to reach the end of UnDivided, once I started the novel, I couldn't stop reading.  To say it's a blood-pumping, edge-of-your-seat, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride is a vast understatement.  It's so much more than that.  The book is chilling, startling, funny, clever, provocative, and most of all, hopeful.  It's sad to see the end of a series that I've loved since its beginning, but I know Shusterman's got many more brilliant tricks up his sleeve.  I can't wait to see what he does next.  

(Readalikes:  Other books in the Unwind series [Unwind; UnStrung (novella); UnWholly; and UnSouled)

Grade:

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(Note:  Although this review will not contain spoilers for Prototype, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from its predecessor, Archetype.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

Having narrowly escaped the possessive clutches of Declan Burke—the man who claims to be her adoring husband—Emma is on the run.  Desperate to find the parents she never knew, she's spent the last year searching the globe for any sign of them, but to no avail.  While questioning a promising source in far-off Mexico, she receives shocking news.  Declan, whom she believed to be dead is, in fact, alive.  Not only that, but he wants her back.  And has promised to make the person who can produce his missing wife a very, very wealthy individual.  

With a target on her back, Emma has little choice but to go underground.  Although the Resistance leaders allow her to hide with them, no one—least of all Noah Tucker—can quite trust the clone who wears the face of their dead friend.  Emma doesn't want to intrude on the life Noah has made for himself with another woman, even if that woman is now helping him raise their daughter.  Still, she can't help feeling envious.  Still unsure of what she actually is, Emma can't help questioning what she wants and where she really belongs.  Should she reconcile herself to being Declan's dutiful wife or should she fight for what was Emma Wade's—even if she's not exactly Emma Wade?  As Declan's forces close in on her, Emma must chose her fate, once and for all.

After the thrill ride that was M.D. Waters' Archetype, I couldn't wait to delve into its sequel, Prototype.  I expected the same kind of taut, twisty plotline; intriguing world-building; and psychological suspense that kept me so riveted in the first book.  Did I find it in Prototype?  Not so much.  The plot suffers because of Emma's weak story goal, dissolving into a generic dystopian cat-and-mouse adventure with an irritating love triangle at its center.  There are a few psychological thrills thrown in to make Prototype interesting, but not quite enough to make it as enjoyable as Archetype.  All in all, I did find this one entertaining, just a little disappointing after the build-up of the first book.  

(Readalikes:  Archetype by M.D. Waters)

Grade:

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When Seth Wearing drowns in the violent, choppy waters of the Pacific Ocean, the 16-year-old expects to die.  He does die.  He remembers his bones cracking, his skull shattering against sharp rocks, he remembers dying.  So, how is he now awake?  How is he still living?  Breathing?  Walking around?  It's impossible.  And yet, Seth's body works just like it always has—he feels hungry, thirsty, tired, scared.  He is, as far as he can tell, still alive.  Only, he's been transported somehow to another place—a somewhat familiar place—where's he's alone.  At least, he thinks he's alone.  That's the thing about this new life (afterlife?): he can't be sure of anything.  

As Seth wanders the strange, empty town in search of answers, he's left only with more questions.  Vivid dreams of his old life only add to his confusion.  Did he really live the life he thinks he did?  Or were his years in Washington State just an elaborate fantasy?  Is this heaven, hell, purgatory?  Where is he and, more importantly, how does he escape this dreary, awful world?  

You can probably tell that the plot of More Than This, Patrick Ness' newest YA novel, is a little difficult to describe.  I expect nothing less from the brilliant writer who brought us the Chaos Walking series, but still, I'm hard pressed to explain just how compelling is this mind-bending mystery.  How 'bout a few adjectives to set the stage:  absorbing, unique, edgy, heart-wrenching, heart-pounding.  Yep, all of those work in the case of More Than This.  The novel kept me reading and guessing and wondering to the very last word.  And beyond.  Intriguing?  Totally.  Worth the read?  If you don't mind a little adult content (see content warning below), then yes, absolutely.       

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a little of Flashback by Dan Simmons)

Grade:    

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(Note:  Although this review will not contain spoilers from Unwholly, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from its predecessor Unwind.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

So, I have this thing for Neal Shusterman.  Kind of an embarrassing fan girl thing.  I love him.  I mean, really love him.  But, see, the man earns my admiration with every single book he writes.  Everything he pens speaks to me on multiple levels.  He's that good.  If you haven't read him—and gone gaga over his abundant talent—then something is wrong with you.  Seriously wrong.    

The proceeding public service announcement was brought to you by your friendly neighborhood book blogger.  

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about Unwholly, the newest entry in Shusterman's Unwind trilogy.  The long-anticipated second novel in the series continues the stories of Connor, Lev, Risa and the other AWOLs, but not directly.  It begins with a different set of kids—several of whom are scheduled to be unwound in the near future (unwinding = "The process by which an individual is dismantled.  By law, 99.44 percent of a person must be used and kept alive in transplant."  Parents can choose to unwind their children after the age of 13) and one who is a strange kind of miracle, something no one (not even the reader) has ever seen before.  As their lives intersect with each other and with Connor's crew, headquartered at an aircraft graveyard in Arizona, all of their tales contribute to the (fictional) debate over unwinding.  Is it moral?  Is it criminal?  Should the government be allowed to kill hundreds of (mostly) unwanted children in order to save those considered more worthy?  

Connor Lassiter, of course, believes that unwinding is the cruelest, vilest idea anyone has ever dreamed up.  And he will risk everything—even his own life—to stop the procedure from happening.  Maybe it's a losing battle, too much trouble for the overworked Connor, but he has to do what he can.  If only he could push away the everyday problems of his charges, deal with the new kid determined to stage a coup, and figure out how to make Risa happy—then, maybe he could concentrate on fighting the evil that is unwinding.  With trouble, in many forms, on the horizon, the Akron AWOL needs to get his head in the game.  And fast.

The plot may sound a little unfocused, but it's not.  Not at all.  Unwholly is just as complex, just as absorbing, just as impactful as Unwind.  Maybe even more so.  This truly is a brilliant series, one I can't recommend highly enough.  Shusterman fans everywhere will agree with me—you don't want to miss these books.  They're incredible and I don't say that very often, so just trust me on this one.  Have I ever steered you wrong?  I didn't think so.      

(Readalikes:  Unwind by Neal Shusterman)

Grade:  A

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG-13 for language (no F-bombs), violence, and sexual innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of Unwholly from Amazon using some of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.