Novel Review: Duplicity by N.K. Traver

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Genre: YA Sci-fi/Tech Romance

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (St. Martin's Griffin)

Release Date: March 17, 2015

Spoilers?: Not really.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A computer-hacking teen. The girl who wants to save him. And a rogue mirror reflection that might be the death of them both.

In private, seventeen-year-old Brandon hacks bank accounts just for the thrill of it. In public, he looks like any other tattooed bad boy with a fast car and devil-may-care attitude. He should know: he’s worked hard to maintain that façade. With inattentive parents who move constantly from city to city, he’s learned not to get tangled up in things like friends and relationships. So he’ll just keep living like a machine, all gears and wires.

Then two things shatter his carefully-built image: Emma, the kind, stubborn girl who insists on looking beneath the surface – and the small matter of a mirror reflection that starts moving by itself. Not only does Brandon’s reflection have a mind of its own, but it seems to be grooming him for something—washing the dye from his hair, yanking out his piercings, swapping his black shirts for … pastels. Then it tells him: it thinks it can live his life better, and it’s preparing to trade places.

And when it pulls Brandon through the looking-glass, not only will he need all his ill-gotten hacking skills to escape, but he’s going to have to face some hard truths about who he’s become. Otherwise he’ll be stuck in a digital hell until he’s old and gray, and no one will even know he's gone.

Huffington Post lists N.K. Traver's Duplicity as part of one of the great YA book trends to look for in 2015!

The Cover:

I rather like this cover. I like how it shows there's two sides to him, and that he's the main focus on the cover (without him being some steamy half-naked man). It could have given more hints to the technological aspect, instead of the mirrors (though mirrors do play a large part), but overall it's pretty good.

Quotes:

•  "'You do what makes you happy, you keep people around who make you happy, and you don’t second-guess yourself when some jerk makes a pissy remark.’” (Hardback, pg. 64)
• "'Um, it’s funny to say, considering they’re your parents… but sometimes if you want things to change, you have to set the example.’” (Pg. 162)

Review:

I’m actually surprised with how good this was. Given the idea of him being a hacker with a doppleganger trying to take his place, plus a good girl falling for him, this definitely sounded like something I would enjoy. But I wouldn’t usually have picked it up immediately. Now I’m glad I got it, because it was awesome.

Brandon is a hacker, and a very good one at that. He’s secretly making some big money doing it. But very few people know about it, including his parents and the girl he likes. To most people, he’s just a bad boy slacker, with his tattoos and piercings. But then he gets caught, and the Project makes a duplicate personality to take his place while he lives in a digital hell for twenty years.

We’re not given a whole lot of sci-fi explanation for the digital world or how exactly they take him and create a new one and switch them. But we’re given some explanation for how that happens, for how they watch people and hack into things. And it’s mostly just horrible and creepy, the way they work, and how they think they’re doing the right thing.

I really liked Brandon. He’s sarcastic and very hard to get to know. His struggle with being good or bad was very honest and well done, I thought. He’s always been on the bad side, doing everything for himself, and not getting close to anyone. But Emma pushes him, and then he meets someone in the digital world that he grows close to as well. I thought his progression was nice to see.

I really liked Emma. She’s a good girl, with good grades and all that, but she sees a side to Brandon that no one else does. I honestly would have liked to see more of her, but it was nice to see Brandon fighting for her, and deciding to go for it.

Brandon’s parents frustrated the hell out of me. I’m glad they were such a big part of the book, especially since they have such a large impact on him. 

I loved this book, honestly. Brandon was a great main character and I liked him from the very beginning, and his character progression was great. The whole digital world was very interesting, and kind of fun to learn about. I loved Emma. But then the ending happened, and it’s not even really an ending at all. I love the psychological aspect of it, of maybe he’s really just crazy. But it gives no closure, and I’m still upset about what happened to Seb. All I have to say about it is that there better be a sequel.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press. Thank you!

Manga Review: Karakuri Odette, Volume 6, by Julietta Suzuki

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Publisher: Tokyopop

Release Date: 2011

Volumes: 6

Buy it here: (Out-of-Print.) Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Powells. RightStuf.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The touching robot romance comes to a thrilling conclusion as Travis insists that he wants to make Odette his bride. But Odette turns out to be surprisingly unwilling to take the plunge! And Grace, an android who is jealous of Odette, proceeds to wreak havoc as a way to get out her feelings. But what of Odette's own feelings for Asao? Now that he's preparing to graduate, will Odette finally understand what it means to "like" a special someone?

What Will I Miss?:

• I'm definitely going to miss the characters. Odette is awesome, and I fell in love with her and all of the boys.
• I particularly liked the progression of Odette's development. Her being a robot and going to normal school, meeting all these people without them knowing, caused her to learn a lot, and I really liked watching that.
• I loved the story and character progression, and the whole group of unique characters. That's something I'm really looking forward to in Kamisama Kiss when I get back to it.

Review:

I am extremely glad that I picked this series up, because it was fantastic, and I totally fell in love with Suzuki’s story and characters all over again.

I love Odette, she’s such a sweetheart, and I love her feelings and how she portrays her emotions and how strongly she feels about things and how straight-forward she is. She’s the best robot ever. Along with Chris, of course, who is so sweet and adorable, and loves Odette so much. I loved their ‘father’, Dr. Yoshizawa, who even though he’s their creator, is always there for them, saving them and fixing them, like a parent. He’s awesome.

There are a whole bunch of other characters we met, too, all of which are unique and fantastic and loveable. Which is to say that I love all of them. Asao and Yukimura, mainly, the other two love interests. Yukimura was sweet and his interest in Odette was so honest, but I would have liked to get to know him better to really feel strongly for him. Asao was my main vote, ‘cause he’s the best. (They’re all the best.) He deals with Odette so well, following her and complaining even though he really does care for her. I wanted to see him get closer with Odette.

There were a couple other characters near the end, but I didn’t feel as strongly for them, plus I don’t think they were going to stick around for too long.

I love the progression of the story, how Odette slowly learns how to be human, how she grows closer to everyone around her. How she learns and deals with her shortcomings. The art is really pretty, too, very nice to look at.

My main problem was how the story ended. It seems like maybe she was forced to come to a close, which is sad. It didn’t end badly, but there was so much more left to explore, so much more to see and develop, and the romance didn’t get to happen. I would have been happy if Odette ended up with any of the three boys, even if I had a leaning for one of them, so I’m disappointed that that was left open. I just wanted more, really. 

I am very glad that I finally got to pick this series up, as I’d been having a hard time finding the volumes, and it was so good! And now I’m really determined to catch up with Kamisama Kiss, as I’m so behind, and have fallen in love with her storytelling again.

Novel Review: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) by Marissa Meyer

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Sci-fi Fairy-tale Retelling

Publisher: Square Fish/Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)

Release Date: January, 2012

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

The Cover:

I love the cover of this book, and the covers on the books in the rest of this series. They're beautiful, the colors give the right feel, the font is so pretty, plus they represent the books perfectly. I love the dark background and the emphasis on the red, and how, especially the font, helps it feel like a fairy-tale. I just love it.

Review:

This is a cyborg, sci-fi, fairy-tale retelling series, starting with Cinderella. The concept is fantastic, the covers are awesome, and the insides definitely match up.

This book really shouldn’t have taken me so long to read. I started it once before, and only now several months later actually finished it. It’s a pretty easy read, and it’s very interesting, too. The writing is pretty, if a bit simple, but very easy to get caught up in. (Although it’s possible that I only think it’s simple because I read it right after Unravel Me, and the writing is particularly gorgeous in that series.)

I knew this was a series to start with, but at first I didn’t know that there were going to be different main characters for each book (at least I think that’s how it’s going to go). But then when I knew that, I didn’t know that the, at least temporarily, happy endings weren’t going to happen until the actual last book. Which is to say, that I didn’t know Cinder’s ending with her prince was going to be put off till the last book. And I was majorly disappointed, because I wanted her happy ending with Prince Kai now. But that only makes me more excited to read the next books.

I really like Cinder. I understand her predicament and her thoughts on it, and I really liked her voice and following her through all this. She doesn’t think a lot of herself, which is understandable, and I’m looking forward to her growing into her place, getting stronger both emotionally and physically.

I liked her with Kai a lot, and just liked Kai as a character a whole lot. He’s sweet and struggling and trying to make the right decision given the bad plot he’s been put in. I don’t think his relationship with Cinder was as strong, the chemistry was as apparent, as it could be, but I think it’s more that they’re just starting to get to know each other, and that it’ll grow. And I really look forward to seeing that happen.

Cinder’s family was very well done, and I really liked her sister, Peony, and Iko, their robot. They were really good for her, and it’s sad what happened, although I guess it kind of make sense, maybe. I wasn’t expecting it, though. Then there was the Snow White part thrown in that has me rather confused and really curious…

I love the world of this series so far. I’m really intrigued by the Lunars and what they can do, and I like what I’ve seen so far of Earth and how people get along (or don’t). It’s just a really neat concept, a really neat picture portrayed, and I look forward to getting to find out more about it. 

Now I really want to read the next one. I’ve heard some good things about Scarlet and Wolf that have me really wanting to read it, and I’m really excited. I want to meet the other main characters that’ll pop up in the next and third book (and I believe we actually met Cress in this one), and I’m really excited about getting to them.