Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3)// Book Talk!!

Hello Rad Readers!! Cress has absolutely been the best addition to the Lunar Chronicles so far! This is the third novel in the series, so if you have not yet read Cinder or Scarlet, READ THEM! It's worth it just so you can read this book!

In this addition, we meet Cress, the girl we see towards the ending of 'Scarlet' who risks everything trying to warn Cinder and her gang about Queen Levana's evil plans to take over the Earthens. The problem is that Cress can only do so much for them while she is trapped in a satellite. The same one she has been trapped in for seven years to do Lunar hacking and spying for Sybil and Levana, actually. Her skills in hacking seem to have backfired on the lunars however, as Cress now wants to use her talent to help do what is right. She sees the way to do that is to get in touch with Cinder and the rest of her band of fugitives. She had just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder when she got in touch with them. Cinder and the gang decide that they need Cress on their side, but when their attempt to save her from the satellite prison goes wrong they all get split up. Meenwhile down in Commonwealth, Queen Levana is still determined to marry Kai to gain power of Commonwealth and ultimately all of Earth, or else start a war. However, suddenly Prince Kai is hopeful that there will be another way out of this. Hopeful that Cinder is on to something. He is the prince however and he knows that any resistance shown towards the evil and lethal Levana can and will lead to war, and the loss of the promise for the cure of Letimosis. Two things that Earth cannot afford.

So, I think that one of the main reasons why I loved Cress more than the rest so far, was because there was always so much going on. There were lots of plot points going on at the same time being that the gang was all split up, and they were all very engaging, high stakes, and fast paced.

Where in 'Cinder' we were still learning a lot about the world and establishing the characters, in Cress, everything is fairly established aside from the twists obviously, but the difference there is that we are finding it out with the characters. There is nothing really at this point that the characters know that we don't. The same type of 'still learning' vibe went on a lot in Scarlet as well. It isn't really a problem, it is just how reading complicated universes like this work. We need to get information dumps here and there that way we know what everything is and what space terms mean and funky things like that. In Scarlet what I mean is that we still had to learn a lot about Wolf and the Queen's guards and mutants and all that crazy stuff like that. I know that it is all a requisite for it to be a sensible book, we needed to know the backstory and what was going on. I am not complaining about that in the previous books, but it is a completely different and far better reading experience now that we are at the point in the series where we no longer need information dumps because we are figuring things out along with the characters. Essentially it feels like we've caught up. In Scarlet also, it felt that Scarlet and Wolf were kind of just on a wild goose chase, and that they didn't even really know what they were looking for themselves. It dragged on and on and on. In that book we didn't get enough attention on Cinder which was the story that we really cared about at the time. Now, in 'Cress,' we get a lot from each character, and the least on Scarlet. In fact, I thought it was a genius move to tell the reader so little about what was going on with Scarlet... But I can't tell you why I think that just yet, because... you know... spoilers... ahh.

That seems like a good place to go into the spoiler section of this book talk in fact, so if you have not yet read Cress read it! The characters are to die for, the plot is exciting, and I really don't think there was anything that I didn't like about this book. I loved Cinder, Scarlet was eh, but Cress is a whole new level! I gave it 5/5 stars on GoodReads and even added it to my favorites shelf! I am blown away by how much I enjoyed this book!!

Ok, so without further ado, hello spoiler ready gang!

I really enjoyed the fact that everyone was split up. It was very interesting it added a lot of intensity seeing all these new character dynamics forming and following a lot of different journeys throughout the story. It made certain that there was always something exciting going on so I was really never bored while reading this. Cinder being with Wolf and Iko, and meeting Jacin; Cress with Thorne, and Scarlet on her own and then eventually meeting Winter in the end. I thought that it was a very smart move by the author including a lot about each character, because yes, a main point of this story was to introduce Cress into the larger story, but I liked the way she did so in this book far more than the way she attempted to do so with Scarlet in the previous novel. We get to learn about a new character and watch her story while also following the story of the characters we initially fell in love with and I thought that was an extremely good call on Marissa Meyer's part. One of the reasons I didn't like Scarlet as much as I liked Cinder was because I felt like I was reading about something I didn't yet care about. I didn't know the characters at first, and they weren't the reason I started the series or cared enough to read the second book. I cared about Cinder and that is why I kept reading. I didn't find this to be a problem at all in 'Cress' because we get to see all the different journeys that the characters go through. Yes we learn a lot about Cress but we also get to hear about Cinder and Kai and Jacin and Thorne and Scarlet. The many different perspectives and stories was without a doubt the greatest strength of this book.

We get to know Cress very well. She is an awesome character, and I have come to the firmest of conclusions that I hate Sybil. I like how Cress is kind of a weirdo, it is super realistic considering the fact that she has been virtually devoid of human contact for seven years. Her confusion and inexperience of the world was really a lot of fun to read about. The fact that she had never seen trees or animals before was such a funny point to draw from and like I said before, the writing overall is incredible, so the way everything was described, you could really get a sense of the shock she was going through. Very cool! Her and Thorne are a funny pairing. Watching them trek through the desert was a lot more intense than I had anticipated. Honestly the entire book was more intense than I anticipated. Up till now Thorne had just been bossed around by Cinder and honestly he needed to be. That dude is a mess! But it was really interesting watching a mess of a character try to get it together and not die of heat exauhstion or dehydration in the desert. I was impressed as well by Cress. She had this feeling in the beginning of being a damsel in distress and I HATE that trope in books, but then she turned out to be not weak and lame and annoying. Thorne went blind and that forced her to step it up and she totally did and was written as such a strong person. Where as in some novels we see characters that are so strong or at least have the potential to be so strong act so weak, in 'Cress' we saw a seemingly weak character act really much stronger than she was. It was great. I was so pleasantly surprised by so much!! Ahhh I loved this book!!

As far as Cinder goes, I have always liked her character. She has always been so head strong and portrays herself like she is very sure of herself even if she is not. Similarly to Cress it is nice to see a character who is strong and powerful act like it. Sometimes, in a way in fact that reminded me of America Singer from The Selection series, it is not so great of a trait, like when she has these just horrible unviable and illogical ideas that she doesn't seem to think twice about and is so insistent on, and then it proves ultimately to mess a lot up. However, of course without that we would not have an exciting book, now would we? I really appreciated how towards the end although she was really bummed on herself about using her mind control powers, she knew that she was only doing what she had to. Cinder in the first or second book would not see the difference and that right there is what we call character development ladies and gentlemen. I kind of hated her dynamic with Wolf in this book, also there really wasn't one. He tried to kill her because he thought Scarlet was dead and being tortured which he was half right about and then spent I would say 70% of the rest of the times he was mentioned either unconscious or as good as unconscious because he was so thrown off by Scarlet going missing. Like, dog (lol pun intended) the only way you could even have a hope of getting her back is if you get your head in the game, ya know? Don't go against your friends champ! I don't know, I find him to be... well... not the greatest of characters.

As far as Prince Kai goes, he might just be my favorite character in the series right now, and I know that is a bold claim, but every time we got to read from his point of view I honestly found it to be the most entertaining parts of the book. I liked how he is level headed in knowing that everything he chooses to do in terms of Levana and reasoning with her and her Thaumaturges and guards and really just any Lunars in general has the potential to effect the entirety of Commonwealth. He is not recklessly stupid and annoying like much royalty seems to be in young adult novels. However, he is still hopeful that there is a way out of basically giving up power to Levana. He is pretty funny whenever he comes up too and there is nothing like a good sprinkle of humor amidst a coup d'etat am I rightttt?? Big ups to Cinder as well for kidnapping him. Hella cold but the girl knew what needed to be done and I respect that hard.

Scarlet is really going through the ringer over there on Luna, like wowwwww I was shocked when she was being questioned by Sybil. I HATE Sybil by the way. I already said it, but I don't think saying it just once really does the situation justice. It was absolutely genius by the author to only mention her few and far between because once we finally heard from Scarlet I wanted to keep on reading until we heard from her again. Her story line was extremely entertaining and I hope we get to know more about what is going to happen to her and what has already happened to her in the next addition to this series, 'Winter' which I CANNOT WAIT to read! Speaking of Winter... I mean, that girl is insaneeee and I kind of love it. When she was talking about the walls bleeding I was like... yup... no... ya... this is sick. So, it really does all make sense what Dr. Erland was talking about with Lunars not using their powers and then going crazy, and we have a prime example right in front of us!! Poor Scarlet. :( When I first read that part I totally thought she was a goner but then hearing about how she knows that Scarlet's friends have Jacin I was like... I don't know... maybe she'll help the gang out? She did give Scarlet that food pain reliever thing at the end so I think as of right now she is on our side. HOWEVER, with Jacin being a traitor to Cinder at the end, I'm not sure if it is all an act or if he really only cares about Winter. And if it is the case that he only cares about Winter than what I gather is that Winter only cares about him so when it comes down to it she will betray the gang for him... I don't know these are all just predictions. I am going on a tangent, I am just so excited by all the craziness that went down in this book!!

Ok Rad Readers, we have covered a wholeeeeee lot just now! I can't wait to read Winter and the novellas (Fairest and Stars Above), what a great series this is!

- C8 ;)

The Reckoning of Noah Shaw... I Don't Want To Talk About It (Shaw Confessions #2)// Book Talk :(

Ugh, rad readers... I don't want to say it... but if I have to... I didn't like this book. Okay. There it is. It's out there. No going back now...

Alright reader dudes, so this is the second (and most recent) book in the Shaw Confessions which is the companion series to the Mara Dyer trilogy. If you haven't read The Becoming of Noah Shaw (the first book) then this book talk won't make sense to you and if you haven't read the Mara Dyer series then this definitely won't make sense to you. Do not fear however, THIS IS NOT A SPOILER-Y BOOK TALK! You are safe this time!

So, in this addition to the Shaw series we have basically just a slew of scenes where Noah and Goose are popping acid pills from essentially strangers, in hopes that it will magically answer the questions as to where Mara has disappeared to... Something that could have easily been answered if Noah didn't in fact tell Mara to go away and that he never wanted to see her again at the end of the last book. He also could have just asked her where she was going before she left... or asked Daniel... Basically what I'm trying to say is that I felt that the entire story line of this book was a little pointless and boring and forced to be honest. There was no Mara except for in the epilogue and it absolutely devastated me. Mara is the character that we fell in love with and I know that we aren't reading directly her notes or memoir anymore or whatever, but comeeee onnnn! Michelle Hodkin knowssss we love Mara, how could she write an entire book without Mara in it!!

We get a little more insight into Noah's background, similarly to the way we got flashbacks from Mara Dyer's series. We learn more about his father --who is the worst by the way-- and about how all of his father's experiments with Dr. Kells came to be. We learn more about what we already knew about the Professor, that he shouldn't be trusted and is manipulative and bad... We been knew... We been knew.

There was basically two redeeming qualities of this novel, that being the "Before" chapter where we get to see what goes on with Noah when Dr. Kells is experimenting on Mara at Horizon's and when Noah realizes that what he did to Mara was wrong. That's all. That is literally it. This entire nearly 400 page book could be summed up if you read two chapters... Maybe three if you want to know about the flashbacks too. You wouldn't be missing anything if you skipped the rest and I cannot tell you how much it pains me to say that.

I absolutely LOVED the Mara Dyer series and the first book in this series was great too! The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer has a spot (and will likely make permanent residency) on my list of Raddest Reads AKA my favorite books. I love the way Michelle Hodkin writes and I thought that the Mara Dyer trilogy was literal genius; that is why I am so so so sad that I didn't like this book. I kept on reading it and I was in straight up denial that I didn't like it. Nothing happens, Goose and Noah do drugs then nothing happens, Goose and Noah fall into one of M's super obvious traps then nothing happens but for some reason there is a flashback that isn't really important or relevant then nothing happens, Goose and Noah talk about Mara. Maybe this will all add up info for one big kaboom in the next book but I don't see how that could be the case because the information given wasn't really important... so... I guess I really can't give an excuse for this... ugh I don't know guysssss!!

As much as I totally love and adore these characters and their stories before, I was utterly confused the entire time and had and still have no idea where this book was going while I was reading it and after I finished it. Something was always happening but it never really seemed to matter. They were just going about M's wild goose chase (excuse the goose pun) for nothing in return. Sure, there was a little something something that happened in the last --no joke-- 10 pages, that was interesting, but really everything they did in this book --which was a lot-- was to no avail.

I am profoundly saddened that this happened to us readers, but that is just the way the cookie crumbles somethimes dudes. It's just the way it's got to be. :( I didn't like it and I am sad about that but I think that this is just a fluke. If I absolutely adored the first book in the series and the trilogy prior to this series, I have no doubt that the final book in the Shaw Confessions will be a banger. Nothing will stop me from being excited to read it, I don't even care that I didn't like this book.

Keep your heads up rad readers... we will get through our reading slumps :(

- C8 ;)

The Hate U Give // A Review

Hello Rad Readers! This is an absolute must read for sure!! It is such an incredibly written story and stands out massively against other young adult novels. It does not hold back but it is still so perfectly approached. Everything is written for a reason and it really is just an incredible read!

Starr Carter leads essentially two lives. One, where her home is, in Garden Heights, an impoverished urban neighborhood. The other at the school she goes to, Williamson, a rich, fancy, suburban prep school. In each she describes herself as being one version of Starr, not allowed to be completely herself in either version, making very well sure not to blend the two. Her priorities, and ability to do this all change when one night her childhood friend Khalil is unjustly shot and murdered by a cop in front of her. She witnesses it all and the trauma is not possible to leave behind in one of her worlds. Unlike everything else thus far in her life, she cannot leave this when she goes to school or forget about it when she is with her friends. It doesn't take long for Kahlil's murder to make national headlines, either, which only makes matters more complicated for Starr. Some people call Kahlil a drug dealer, gang member, even say that he had it coming. Others are protesting in his name. Everyone in the world seems to have their idea of what happened that night, but only Starr really knows. Only Starr is called to testify as a witness. Starr feels like only she can make things right for Khalil. We follow Starr as she deals with her grief and trauma in the wake of the death of her childhood friend, as well as watch her struggling to balance her two worlds. The line she though she had crafted before seems to shatter.

Starr is seriously one of my favorite characters ever and I don't throw around statements like that all the time. She is honest, strong, authentic, and something we should all try to be. She has a voice and knows how to use it. It is awesome to read about a character who has so much strength, so much to say, and actually does something about it. It is like a breath of fresh air in young adult novels. Angie Thomas, the author, lets you know the truth in the most beautiful yet hard hitting way possible. This is so much more than a societal commentary though. Yes, it is frustrating, devastating. The story itself is painful, truthful, and heartbreaking, but there are parts of the book that are funny. Starr's boyfriend and friends are a great comic relief. As you might expect, this is a very very sad book, but what is really incredible about it is the fact that it is not hopeless. There are parts that are actually funny. The characters are great and so well developed. Starr's boyfriend was a major part of the story and so were her friends. They contributed not only in their quick witted and sharp dialogue, but also to the idea that life goes on. Not only was the meaning of the book great, but the reading experience was really good too. The characters were really flushed out, and firmly established, they had super distinct personalities and back stories. Angie Thomas could have well easily written a book solely on racism and police brutality, but she chose to write about so so much more, and I think that is what made this book such a massive success!

The Hate U Give, as you likely have already figured, is incredibly deep. Between the media flurry that takes place after his death as well as the intensity that rises from the situation between family, community, friends, and neighbors, nothing is glossed over. Angie Thomas touches on multiple subjects and does so extremely effectively (I won't say though out of fear of spoiling anything! I don't want to spoil anything because I want you to read this book!!!).

What is so heartbreaking is the fact that this is a fiction, but only barely. It is obviously a reflection, even maybe a response, to the world we live in today, to the news stories we hear today. I would say it could even be classified as a historical fiction sometime down the line. What is so moving and powerful about this book is that we watch our main character grow, we watch the story go on and we do watch things get a little better, but when the book is over, there is no relief. There is no relief because although this is where the book ends the reader now knows that this is not where the truth of it ends. You cannot brush this story off. You can't because of how real it feels. The way Angie Thomas writes is utter genius. She incorporates slang and pop culture references and small details that just add up to make the setting and the story so easy to imagine and feel and immerse yourself in.

The reason why I think this is a must read is because it really is meaningful and moving to so many people. If you read it there is no chance that you will come away from it with nothing. It can inspire, impact, educate someone, and as much as I hate to admit it, I don't often read books like that. I read books about faeries and vampires and shadowhunters and that is well and good too. I love (seriously love) those books as you can likely tell from my reviews and book talks on them, but a main reason for literature in general, I believe, is to not only entertain, but to educate; to see the world from a different lens, and understand different perspectives.

Rad Readers, I do not doubt for a second that this book is worth reading!

- C8 ;)