What Now?

Ok there's no way to start this without a HUGE spoiler so if you haven't read delirium and you want to, stop reading right now.

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So Lauren Oliver's pandemonium picks up right where delirium left off.  Lena and Alex made a desperate attempt to flee to the wilds before Lena has her "cure." But because they had to leave early they can't sneak out as planned and Alex ends up getting shot and Lena climbs over the wall alone. (I told you there would be a spoiler)

So what now?  Lena pictured a life with Alex, they were supposed to escape together, start a new life, together.  But instead Lena's last memory of Alex is him bleeding to death on the other side of the wall.  Lena doesn't know her way around the wilds.  She doesn't know how to survive.  She meant to come with a partner, a guide, her love.  But now, she is all alone.  So what now?

Lena must rebuild herself.  The old Lena is dead.  This new Lena is tough.  The new Lena is brave. The new Lena somehow makes her way to a camp of "invalids" who take her in and teach her how to survive in the wilds.   The new Lena gets a scar to mimic the scar of those who are cured.  The new Lena moves into a new town of "cureds" with a new identity as one who has been cured.  The new Lena is part of the resistance.

But can the new Lena love again?  I mean that is the whole point, isn't it?  The whole point of going to the wilds was for love.  Lena now knows without a doubt that when there is love there is also pain. Is love worth risking more pain?

Moving on...that's kids stuff.  

PS Oliver organizes this book by jumping between the "then" and "now."  She opens with Lena's new life and then as the book progresses we learn more and more about how she got there.

No Way

What if love was considered a disease?  And what if there was a cure?  And what if society mandated you get the cure when you turned 18?   Love makes you do stupid things, love can blind you to reality, love can cause pain-wouldn't life be better without it.

That is exactly the premise of Lauren Oliver's Delirium.  This was another book mentioned on the dystopia prezi I showed my class and I was thrilled to discover it is also a series.  Like most dystopian novels, on the surface things look good. Lena can't wait for the cure.  She can't wait to be assigned a spouse and live a life without fights and extreme emotion.  Life will be good after the cure.

That's not to say Lena's life has been easy.  She lives with her cousin after her mom's suicide.  People are suspicious of her because of her family background.  There are people there who fought against getting the cure-they were sick, diseased.  Lena does not want to be like that.  That is until she meets Alex.

It's not really a spoiler to say that Lena fell in love with Alex because that's what we all expected. If you don't get the cure until you're 18 interactions with a boy could easily lead to infatuation or even love.  And once love takes hold it's hard to let go.  This isn't a spoiler, it's a fundamental human truth.

But just because I predicted Lena would fall in love that doesn't mean I could didn't enjoy the book.  Quite the contrary.  I loved exploring the world Oliver has created.  She used one of my favorite tricks which is placing quotes at the beginning of each chapter.  But these quotes are from the Book of shh-the handbook/rulebook/bible of this society.  Those little snippets give you so much insight into the society as a whole.  In addition I was rooting for Lena from the beginning.  She's the kind of character that grabs you right away.

Now I won't spoil the ending but I will say I am glad I checked out all three books in the series because once I finished the first one I definitely wanted to start the second right away.

Falling in love...that's kids stuff.  

I didn't know that...

In the intro lesson for our unit on The Giver the reading teachers on my team found a great prezi introducing the concept of dystopian literature.  (see the prezi here) Now, if you know me, you know that this is one of my all time favorite genres and BONUS it is very popular with the students.

Going through the prezi it mentions all of the great dystopian novels written specifically for young adults, starting, of course, with The Giver then mentioning Divergent, Hunger Games, Maze Runner...then surprise, surprise, it starts naming books I haven't even heard of.  Obviously my reaction is to go immediately to my local library and check out these books.

First up is M.T. Anderson's feed. I have to be honest, this book was not a winner for me.  In fact, I found it very stressful.  Imagine that you have the Internet directly wired into your brain.  This is your feed.  You get new updates and advertisements tailored to your taste all...the...time.  You can also make purchases just making your brain power and your friends are always available to chat. Talk about a teachers worst nightmare, your students can silently chat with each other through the feeds installed in their brains.

As if that isn't enough this society actually has cars that fly and you can literally go to the moon for spring break.

I have often thought that having the whole Internet in my brain would be useful.  After reading feed I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.  Constant advertisements, constant interruptions, more information than you could possibly handle...it was stressful.

But what if there was more to life than the feed?   That of course is the question this book will try to answer.  Fascinating concept but not a book I will re-read anytime soon.

Constant input...that's kids stuff

Putting it all together

Many readers are frustrated when they finish The Giver, they want to know exactly what happened to Jonas.  Then they become even more angry when they read Gathering Blue because they spend the whole book wondering what happened to Jonas so they can't appreciate how good the story is (I'll admit this may have happened to me).  Finally in Messenger you get some idea of what happened to Jonas but what about baby Gabriel?

Everything comes together in Son.  Here we see exactly how Jonas and Gabriel formed a life in the new community.  We go back to Jonas' original community and we learn so much more about Gabe, and about his birth mother.  We see yet another community, different still from the three others we have seen so far, and we see the return of trademaster.

Son is the longest book in the series and it opens with the story of Claire.  It seems odd to begin the final book in The Giver Quartet with a brand new character and a seeming step backwards (for we are brought back to Jonas' original community-a place we haven't heard about at all since the Giver). But once you start reading you realize what a masterful writer Lois Lowry truly is.

The more you read, the more pieces fall into place.  You see connection after connection, but it's not done in a "I really just need to wrap this all up" kind of way.  Instead, the story of Claire seamlessly delivers the ending you have been yearning for since the cliffhanger of The Giver.   I am not exaggerating at all when I say Son was the most satisfying ending to a series I have ever read.  It was everything I had been waiting for.

You could probably already guess this, but I want to put it out there so there is no question in anybody's mind.  If you are looking for something to read, I recommend The Giver Quartet without reservation.  Whatever kind of books you typically read and whatever level of reader you are, this book will have an impact on you and it is most definitely worth your time.

Resolution...that's kids stuff

Too Long yet Too Short

The end of a series always brings with it a small sense of loss. The question, What will I do now? And it doesn't matter how well the series is wrapped up, I will always wonder what became of the characters, how did their lives progress after the conflict was resolved.  Did they live happily ever after?
Oh before I forget, this is a post on the last book in a series so **spoiler alert**

I experienced all of this after reading Inheritance the final installment in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle but I must admit I struggled getting to this point.  If you read my previous post on this series you know that I enjoyed it, so what made this book so hard to get through?

It's the battles.  There are sooo many battles fought in this book all leading up to the final battle against Galbatorix himself and all of the battles are described in detail.  I can think of many people who would enjoy reading about all of the battles, but I am not really a battle kind of gal.  I found it tiresome to trod through 400 pages worth of battle after battle, but I pressed on.

And I am glad I did for the final 400 pages brought me back to what I loved about this series.  Ancient lore, the splendor and wild wisdom of the dragons, true names, and self-discovery.  The last 400 pages were excellent, worth the time it took getting through the battles.

I was however disappointed with the ending.  Well...that's not entirely correct.  The ending was fine but I desperately wanted an epilogue.  Some little tidbit telling me how things went.  What does life look like now for Eragon and Saphira?  I guess I will just have to wonder.

Seeing it through...that's kids stuff.  

They Go Together

***As with all books in the series-ously category, this will contain spoilers***

Finally!!  Finally we know what happened to Jonas.  Finally the debate, did he live or did he die, finally it's settled.  Messenger is the third book in Lois Lowry's The Giver Quintet.   Before we only had hints on what became of Jonas, now we know for sure that he has survived and become the leader of a new village.  

Though Messenger is the shortest book in The Giver Quintet it still gives you plenty to think about.  As in Bringsr the concept of true names is discussed.  Though in this village your true name isn't a secret, but rather something that is given to you when you are ready for it, like a coming of age ceremony.  Here we find Jonas' true name is Leader.  

It also brings up the concepts of gifts.  Jonas' ability to see beyond, discussed at length in The Giver is a gift to the village.  Kira has a special gift with her weaving. It makes me wonder, what are our special gifts and how do we use them?  I would like to think that I, like Teacher, have a gift for teaching but I guess you would have to ask my students that one.  

Messenger is a wonderful companion to the rest of the books in the Giver Quintet.  It has all of those elements you come to love about this series and it leaves you wanting more.  Luckily there's one more book....

Finding your gift....that's kids stuff.  

Both Sides

Paul Fleischman's Bull Run tells the story of the Battle of Bull Run through a series of vignettes.  There are 16 different characters, 8 from the North and 8 from the South each of whom plays a different role in the war.  There are first time soldiers, slaves, generals, doctors, photographers, and musicians.

By having so many characters Fleischman is able to portray many different sides of the war and it's fascinating to see how a doctor responds versus how the musician or the wife respond.  This forces the reader to really examine every side and it adds a lot of depth to the novel.

However, because there are so many characters the story feels fragmented, there is no real flow.  As a lover of history I very much enjoyed the multiple perspectives; however, as a lover of narrative I was longing for more connection.

Then I read the back cover.  (I know, typically one would read the back cover first to help get a sense of what they are about to read, but I read the back cover last to see if it was an accurate rendering of the book).  There it stated this, "can be read as a novel or performed as readers' theater."  This changed everything for me.  As a readers' theater Bull Run would be amazing.  It would eliminate the need to keep flipping back wondering, "who was this person again??"   So as a stand alone novel I say so-so, but as a readers' theater I highly recommend Bull Run. 

Seeing another side...that's kids stuff.  

True Name

***As with all books in the series-ously category, this will contain spoilers***

Brinsingr is the third book in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle (fun fact this was originally intended to be a trilogy but Paolini just couldn't fit everything in to this third book so the trilogy became a cycle of 4 books).  In the simplest summary possibly this book continues the journey of Eragon and his dragon Saphira as they try to defeat the Empire controlled by the evil Galbatorix.   Of course the actual events are much richer and more exciting than that simple summary but that's not what I want to focus on.

When I blogged about Eragon, the first book in these series, I claimed that this was an excellent introduction to readers new to fantasy.  I stand by that offer this supporting evidence (sorry, we're doing arguments in claims in class so I had to throw in my teacher language).  Each book in the series offers a brief synopsis of the books that came before.  Even as an accomplished reader, if I do say so myself, I find these incredible helpful and I would think they are vitally important for someone who has just begun a foray into fantasy.

Structure aside, my favorite part of this series is the concept of a true name.  Each living thing and object has its regular everyday name, but beyond that it has a true name in the ancient language.  You can never lie in the ancient language so the true name encompasses the very core of what makes that person, object, plant, unique.  Eragon is able to chance upon someones true name by sifting through everything he knows about that person and boiling it down to the most essential attributes.

Now if someone knows your true name, then they can control you so true names are a very closely guarded secret and many people, like Eragon, don't even know what their true name is.  The most fascinating part is that as you grow and develop your true  name can change, but only if you have fundamentally altered your character.  What an encouraging thought.  We are not trapped in who we are, but are free to become whatever we desire.

Finding your true name...that's kids stuff.