Belvedore and The Four Corners

An Alexa Catherine Review On: Belvedore and The Four Corners By- Ashleigh Bello

Important Characters: Arianna Belvedore- the main character of the story, a young ambitious girl of the Warrior District who is very determined to win her freedom

Solomon Bell- Arianna’s teacher/trainer who is an expert fighter and father figure to Arianna

Lessa Thur- Arianna’s unexpected friend from the Healer District, a very loyal and caring friend

Thalis Churry- Lessa’s teacher/trainer who is an expert at healing and is a father figure to Lessa

King Devlindor- The ruler of all districts, and is responsible for the miserable and frightening way everyone is forced to live

Plot Overview: First of all I’d like to apologize because this book is very complex so I’ll be attempting to briefly overview and while explain it as best as I can...without spoiling anything of course. Everyone who lives in Olleb-Yelfra belongs to one of the four districts: Warrior, Healer, Creator, and Agrarian. These districts are also referred to as the four corners (hence the title). Everyone in these districts has one thing in common; they’re slaves. The only way for a slave to become a free person is to prove himself (or herself)  in a competition known as the Free Falls. In this competition you either prove yourself, and gain your freedom from slavery, or you die. Arianna has basically trained her whole life for the opportunity to win her freedom, but she jeopardizes her chances when she gets in a fight brought on by her highly skilled enemy. Her opponent reigns victorious after the battle, leaving the district to believe Arianna is dead. Mysteriously, Arianna survives and gets a second chance and life and freedom, mostly in thanks to Thalis and Solomon. In a crazy turn of events Arianna and her friends throw the Warrior District into chaos during the Free Falls. While hysteria breaks out Arianna and her friend, Lessa escape the district on a quest to live their free lives and to further discover the secrets of life before the dreaded king. On their way they run into many conflicts and meet some great people. Thats about all I can say without ruining anything so yeah, read it just read it :)

My Review: Well I’d like to start off by saying this is a beautifully and wonderfully written book. I enjoyed the many secrets and surprises that arose throughout and just when you think you have everything figured out something new pops up. There are a lot of characters, and even though some only make a brief appearance, their significance and personalities are well captured. At first I thought this was going to be like most popular dystopias today: main character is a strong female who starts a revolution and saves the day. Though Belvedore and the Four Corners follows along the lines of some of the other dystoias in the fact that there is a strong female character, who might save the day later on in the series, I’m happy to say it was not your typical dystopia. This book has many more aspects to it that will both surprise you and excite you. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and can’t wait for the next one! I give it a four out of five stars! My only complaint is that I didn’t feel a super strong connection to the characters, they were exciting and fun to read about, but they didn’t make me feel anything. Honestly though, I recommend reading it :)

The Giver Review

An Alexa Catherine Review On: The Giver By- Lois Lowry

Important Characters: Jonas- a young curious boy who is elected the new Giver

The Giver- a very wise old man who becomes Jonas’s mentor

Asher- Jonas’s best friend who always seems to be upbeat and happy

Plot Overview: In a society that strives for sameness, to ensure equality, Jonas begins to understand a lot about what the world used to be like and what it could be like if the government isn’t controlling it so tightly. When children turn 11 in the society they are given a job such as taking care of the elderly, or children, or in Jonas’s case the Giver. Many people have never heard of the Giver position and neither has Jonas, until he is placed in that position. Jonas learns how life used to be and makes his opinions about the way things should work, in the end he must make a choice and decide if he wants to take a stand against the government or if he wants to remain safe and simply do his job.

My Review: I really loved The Giver. It is a very interesting and intriguing take on a dystopian society. Like Fahrenheit 450 and many other classic dystopias, The Giver really captured the ignorance of the common citizen. Lowry did a wonderful job of showing how Jonas learned and grew and is was very evident how much Jonas evolved throughout the story. Many consider this a modern classic and I see why; there are a lot of lessons that can be taken away from this book. It is a an easy read, however that does not deter from its quality. I’m excited to read the sequels to it and find out what comes of Jonas. I would give this book a four and a half out of five stars; I loved it!

Looking For Alaska Review

An Alexa Catherine Review On:

Looking for Alaska By- John Green

Important Characters: Miles (AKA Pudge)- the main character who attends Culver Creek boarding school in search of his “Great Perhaps” and is skilled at memorizing people’s last words

Chip (AKA The Colonel)- Pudge’s roommate and close friend who shows Pudge what it’s like to have true friends and the ways of teenagers (drinking, smoking, and of course pranks)

Alaska- love interest of Pudge and close friends with Pudge and The Colonel; she is very mysterious and often described as moody

Plot Overview: Miles leaves his high school ,of practically no friends, to attend Culver Creek  in search of something beyond his drab life. At his new school Miles gets a nickname, loyal friends, learns what most teens do for fun, and falls head over heals for Alaska. A twisted turn of events leaves Miles and his friends wondering if they really are as unstoppable as they think, and they find themselves asking if they should have done things differently.

My Review: At first I didn’t really like the books. I found it a little slow and just a lot of teenagers running around doing whatever they wanted. Everybody raved and raved about it, so I kept on reading. About halfway through and a bit before the part labeled “after” it got really good. This is when things started to fall into place and I saw the deep sides of the characters. “After” was my favorite half of the book  because Miles begins to learn a lot about life, suffering, and begins to understand the book long theme of “How do we get out of this labyrinth of suffering?” The ending had to be by far my FAVORITE thing in the whole book not only because of the prank Miles and his friends pull off but because of why they did it. Not to mention ending the novel with Miles’ essay which gave a lot of insight as to how teens view the world and as to how much Miles had learned that year. All in all I’d give it a four out of five maybe a three and a half just because the first half really didn’t do it for me, but the book ended up being about more than just teens having a good time and it gave the reader some tricky subjects to think about.

Side Note: I would not recommend this for a younger audience as it has some topics and content unsuitable for children/ young teens.

The Young World Review

 

An Alexa Catherine Review On:

The Young World By- Chris Weitz

Important Characters: Jeff- leader of the Washington Square Tribe

Donna, Peter, and Brainbox - members of the tribe and long time friends of Jeff’s

Kath- member of another tribe who the group meets along the way

Plot Overview: In a dystopian world where teens don’t live to be older than 18, Donna and Jeff, followed by their rag-tag group of friends, take an epic journey across the North Eastern US in an attempt to save the world. Along the way they encounter several strangers, tribes of teens, and many tricky situations.

My Review: In all honesty I absolutely loved this book start to finish. The narrators (Jeff and Donna) were hilarious and very interesting.Which kept me intrigued even in the usually boring background information. There were some hints of romance throughout the novel, not enough to be all sappy, but a good amount that kept me guessing if things would work out for the possible couples; I found myself rooting for their success and cringing at their struggles.  A new adventure or conflict faced the characters every chapter and they kept me flipping pages to see what would happen next. I had no trouble relating to the characters, in fact I got quite attached to them. As if the book wasn’t amazing enough as is, there was a major plot twist at the end that was really the cherry on top to a great book. When I finished it I sat in silence for a few minutes just in awe of all the wonder I just read. As far as dystopian society YA books go, this is definitely one of my favorites! I without a doubt recommend it to anyone who wants adventure, humor, romance, and suspense all wrapped up into one book! I’m looking forward to the sequels.