The Kill Order by James Dashner

Title: The Kill Order (Prequel to the Maze Runner Series)
Author: James Dashner
Reviewer: Karen
Genre: Teen Science Fiction
Rating: Like
Alerts/Warnings: Graphic violence associate to an apocalyptic event
Premise: "Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the earth and mankind fell to disease.

Mark and Trina were there when it happened, and they survived. But surviving the sun flares was easy compared to what came next.

Now a disease of rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and there’s something suspicious about its origin. Worse yet, it’s mutating, and all evidence suggests that it will bring humanity to its knees.

Mark and Trina are convinced there’s a way to save those left living from descending into madness. And they’re determined to find it—if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a price. And to some, you’re worth more dead than alive (King County Library System).
Opinions: I have mixed feelings about this prequel book to the Maze Runner series, so I will lay my thoughts out and let you determine whether this read is up your alley or not. 

James Dashner continues to impress me with his imagination, creativity, and intriguing characters. I loved this book most for his characters.  Each one of the major individuals that we get to know are three dimensional--showing not only their strengths, but their weaknesses and how they are affected by what is going on around them. I was fascinated by the glimpses into their personal history and the choices they make amidst a massive destructive force.  The overall premise of the story also kept me reading to where I had a hard time putting it down, despite some of the more horrific scenes.

My greatest difficulty with this book wasn't the way it was written, but my own internal overactive imagination and inability to handle incredibly dark and violent scenes. This story is about the earth being faced with the side effects of solar flares, and that thought alone is gruesome to me.  Then you add in a personal decision by those who survived as to how to make it through the recovery with very little resources.  And then how that choice affects the rest of humanity.  The overall plot provides a great baseline for moral and ethical discussion.  However, as I followed the characters along their journey through apocalyptic times the choices they had to make, and their subsequent consequences, were often more than I could personally handle.

Overall, I really liked this book, but there were several times I put it down unsure if I could handle some of the graphic scenes.  But then again, I still picked it up and finished it in its entirety and when I closed its covers I came away with the feeling (having read the Maze Runner series in its entirety) of "That makes sense." 

So the choice is yours, but I do recommend that parents of young teens who want to read this take the opportunity to either read along with their kids or to read it first to see if you are comfortable with what is shown.. 

The Messenger by Lois Lowry

Title: The Messenger
Author: Lois Lowry
Reviewer: Stephanie
Genre: Teen Science Fiction
Rating: Love
Alerts/Warnings: There is an overall feeling to this book of a darkness coming, but there isn't anything specific that I would warn against.
Premise: Newbery medalist Lois Lowry once again ushers readers into the hypnotic, disconcerting fantasy world she made familiar in her award-winning The Giver and its sequel, Gathering Blue, introducing us to young Matty, a boy whose role for Village is more profound than he thinks. Fraught with the same tension and subtle complexities of the previous novels, Lowry's third episode follows Matty -- who lives with Seer and doesn't yet have his true name -- as he keeps busy running errands through Forest and otherwise lives a youthful, carefree life. But Matty also has a power he can't explain, and when he understands that local attitudes are becoming intolerant and aggressive due to mysterious happenings at Trade Mart, the boy sets out to bring back Kira (Seer's daughter and the main character in Gathering Blue) before Village barricades itself entirely against outsiders. (goodreads.com)

Opinions: This is easily my favorite book in the trilogy. I was lucky enough to get an advanced reader of this book years ago and I was so excited I read the whole thing in one sitting. It is a compelling conclusion to the trilogy. Again we are in a different society in the same world and time as "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue". But this time there are many of the same characters. We get to see what happens to some of the characters that we loved in the first two books. The imagery in this book is amazing. Even now thinking about some of the images it literally gives me goosebumps. It is well down and, for me, the perfect ending to a very interesting and thought provoking trilogy.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Title: Gathering Blue
Author: Lois Lowry
Reviewer: Stephanie
Genre: Teen Science Fiction
Rating: Like
Alerts/Warnings: Some violence and the death of loved ones
Premise:her strongest work to date, Lois Lowry once again creates a mysterious but plausible future world. It is a society ruled by savagery and deceit that shuns and discards the weak. Left orphaned and physically flawed, young Kira faces a frightening, uncertain future. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, she struggles with ever broadening responsibilities in her quest for truth, discovering things that will change her life forever.

As she did in The Giver, Lowry challenges readers to imagine what our world could become, and what will be considered valuable. Every reader will be taken by Kira's plight and will long ponder her haunting world and the hope for the future (goodreads.com)

Opinions: This is the second book in the Giver Trilogy. Kira is a young girl who, in her society, should have been left for the dead when she was born because of a birth defect. However, after the deaths of her mother and father she finds a position of honor in her community because of her gifts with a needle and thread.

This book explores a different society in the same world as the Giver. They have none of the same characters and the societies are on the surface very different. However, both the reader and the main character learn the power of one to enact change.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Reviewer: Stephanie
Genre: Teen Science Fiction
Rating: Love
Alerts/Warnings: there is brief mild mention of "urges" and war, as well as an instance of infanticide (This is a good book, but it is definately one of teens and even then one to talk with an adult with.)
Premise: Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back. (goodreads.com)

Opinions: One of my favorite genres is about utopias. The Giver is the first book in a trilogy about utopias, false utopias and dystopic societies. The idea of a perfect society is so interesting to me and how far people will go to get their perfect society also boggles my mind. This book is about a society of control. There is no lying. There is precisness of language. Everything is regulated down to the way you can wear your hair and at what age you give up your comfort item. Then Jonas becomes the Giver and begins to see what his society is really like. And what they have given up to become that way.

I really like how you get a clear picture of who Jonas is both before and after he becomes the Giver. I also like that it gives you both the positive and negative aspects of this society. But you start with the positive and you feel the shock when you go to the negative.

This is a great trilogy that will make you think and ponder life as a society and how we choose to live. Very much a book I needed to talk about after I had finished reading it.