Book Review- Insignia by S. J. Kincaid

Title: Insignia

 Author: S.J. Kincaid

Series:  Insignia #1

Published:  2 August 2012

Length: 444 pages

Warnings:  violence, romance, suggestive situation 12+

Source: publishers

Other info: This is S.J’s first novel.

Summary : More than anything, Tom Raines wants to be important, though his shadowy life is anything but that. For years, Tom’s drifted from casino to casino with his unlucky gambler of a dad, gaming for their survival. Keeping a roof over their heads depends on a careful combination of skill, luck, con artistry, and staying invisible.
 Then one day, Tom stops being invisible. Someone’s been watching his virtual-reality prowess, and he’s offered the incredible—a place at the Pentagonal Spire, an elite military academy. There, Tom’s instincts for combat will be put to the test, and if he passes, he’ll become a member of the Intrasolar Forces, helping to lead his country to victory in World War Three. Finally, he’ll be someone important: a superhuman war machine with the tech skills that every virtual-reality warrior dreams of. Life at the Spire holds everything that Tom’s always wanted—friends, the possibility of a girlfriend, and a life where his every action matters—but what will it cost him?

Review: Tom Raines, fourteen years old, spending life in a virtual reality parlour, trying to win a living. His life isn’t really going well...until one day, he’s picked out to join the Combatants-teen soldiers fighting World War III.  But it’s not like they’re going out getting killed-they’re safe on Earth. As WWIII is fought by robots in space. He soon fits in with friends, makes enemies, and gets by in the way that teenagers do in a stepped up boarding school. But then Tom starts finding out things about the other side. And then questions the rules.

I was expecting something good. I got even better. We skip easily through Tom’s normal VR gambling life, and soon end up at the US Military base. Action happens frequently, friendship bonding happening between that.

The school-style setting is really nice, and you get the stock characters that go with it-the couple that may or may not get together, the bully, the insane teacher. But this being Insignia, we get a technological twist on all of these. For example, one of the assignments is to use viruses on your fellow classmates.

Tom, Vik, Wyatt and Yuri make a great friendship group. Vik especially knows what to say, what to do, and the one that everyone loves. I’d love to be part of this world just so I oculd have friends like these.

I don’t normally enjoy romance, but Wyatt and Yuri make such a perfect pair. Yuri, with all the suspicion surrounding him due to his Russian background, and his misunderstanding at most things, at least in the first part, makes you feel really sorry for him, and his fail attempts at chatting Wyatt up (partially due to her romantic obliviousness) adds to this. I love romantically awkward geniuses. 

The whole idea of Tom falling for Chinese soldier Medusa was slightly predictable, but enjoyable nonetheless. It’s really interesting seeing romances form when you can’t tell who you’re talking to and so on. 

The technology in this is mindblowing. Anything can happen. We start learning that all military personnel have computers implanted, meaning they can process large amounts of information quickly, and pick up on details such as names and ranks of everyone nearby.  This can also be used in a darker way, with Tom’s computer being used against him later on. Also-an entire war fought in space-how amazing is that? There were times when I wondered how S.J. Kincaid got to the conclustion that America and India would form an alliance though...

There’s so many twists and turns that further the plot and character development. The sense of competition and high stakes is prevalent, and keeps your heart racing. Action happens on many levels, from interfriendship fights to world war scale.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a great mix of action, technology, and friendship.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review- All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Title: All These Things I’ve Done

 Author: Gabrielle Zevin

Series:  Birthright #1

Published: 29 March 2012 by Pan Macmillan

Length: 252 pages

Warnings: violence, sex references 13+

Source: Publisher for review

Other info: Birthright is going to be a trilogy. Book two will be called Because It Is My Blood. Gabrielle has also written things like Elsewhere, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and The Whole We’re In.

Summary : Sixteen year-old Anya becomes the head of a mafia family after her parents are both murdered by rival gangs. Although Anya is embrolied in the criminal world, she is determined to keep her brother and sister out of the mafia family, but her father's relatives aren't so keen to let them go. When Anya's violent ex-boyfriend is poisoned with contaminated chocolate – chocolate that is produced illegally by Anya's mafia family – she is arrested for attempted murder and sent to the notorious jail on Manhattan Island.
 Eventually she is freed by the new D.A. in town, who believes she has been framed. But this D.A. is the father of Win, a boy at school to whom Anya feels irresistibly drawn, and her freedom comes with conditions. Win's father wants to be mayor, and he can't risk having his ambition jeopardised by rumours spreading that his son is seeing a member of a notorious crime family. Anya knows she risks the safety of her family by seeing Win again, but the feeling between them may be too strong to resist...

Review: To start with, this isn’t a dystopian like how I thought it would be. Well, it kind of is. Coffee and chocolate are banned outright, and other things that we take for granted, like water and paper, are restricted. From that, you’d expect a hugely totalitarian society-right? At least I did. It isn’t. It’s more of a  coming of age, dealing with responsibilities, falling in love story intertwined with the Mafia, set in the future and with  a little dystopian society thrown in.

Anya is the daughter of a criminal mastermind, orphaned and left with a family to take care of. Sure, her grandmother is still alive, and she has an older brother, but when she’s dependent on machines and he’s brain damaged after being in the car accident that killed their mum, it’s up to her to look after them, her younger sister Natty and herself. And then she’s suspected of attempting to kill her borderline abusive boyfriend. On her release, Charles Delacroix, the District Attorney, says that Anya can stay away from his son or have her family torn apart. Said son is Win, the boy who Anya’s started falling in love with.

Yes, this did turn out to be a bit more love orientated than I thought, but I still enjoyed it throughout. We are easily pulled into future New York,  and can easily understand the laws of the land and generally what happens.

It’s interesting having a religious main character. In most books, religion isn’t the focus, but it’s a big part of Anya. It’s interesting how this shapes her views on sex, her feelings for Win, everything she does and so on. It also adds a little bit more to her character, especially her reasoning for why she’s Catholic. 

The characterisation is excellent. Everyone from Anya to Leo to Imogen to Yujji to Dr Lau-no matter how relatively small their part is, you still get an idea of their character. Leo is really cute, and I feel kind of sorry for how anya’s being so overprotective of him, even though I understand where she’s coming from. Natty is very mature for her twelve years, maybe trying to make up for Leo? (it is fully explained later on in the book though). Win, I can’t say is particularly my kind of boy. He is an interesting character though, and I can see why Anya fell for him. Though to be honest, anything’s better than Gable. The family and other minor characters are good, but you have to be awake to keep track of the family.

I like the fact that it isn’t totally love-y, coming of age-y and all that. I did enjoy those parts, but I’m glad that it had some subplots like Natty’s future, Leo’s current and future, and their family in the criminal world. Oh, and the whole arrested for murder and chocolate is a big thing too. 

Anya is  a very strong character. She has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, and she manages to keep up with it well. I’m not sure if I liked her feeling quite so strongly about Win. It didn’t seem to fit totally with the rest of the persona. Aside from that, I loved her. She definitely develops throughout, and by the end, she’s able to relax a bit more, delegate responsibility for her family and make her own way in the world.

Overall:  Strength 4 to an intriguing book with a really strong main character. Definitely want to read book 2.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website | 

Book Review: XVI by Julia Karr

Title: XVI

 Author: Julia Karr

Series:  XVI #1

Published:  6 January 2011

Length: 325 pages

Warnings: open discussion of sex, forced sexualisation of 16 year old females, slight kissing, violence

Source: Library

Summary : Nina Oberon's life is pretty normal: she hangs out with her best friend, Sandy, and their crew, goes to school, plays with her little sister, Dee. But Nina is 15. And like all girls she'll receive a Governing Council-ordered tattoo on her 16th birthday. XVI. Those three letters will be branded on her wrist, announcing to all the world-even the most predatory of men-that she is ready for sex. Considered easy prey by some, portrayed by the Media as sluts who ask for attacks, becoming a "sex-teen" is Nina's worst fear. That is, until right before her birthday, when Nina's mom is brutally attacked. With her dying breaths, she reveals to Nina a shocking truth about her past-one that destroys everything Nina thought she knew. Now, alone but for her sister, Nina must try to discover who she really is, all the while staying one step ahead of her mother's killer

Review: Nina lives in a world where, on their sixteenth birthday, every single girl is given a tattoo. XVI, on the wrist. Marking them as open season for sex. Most girls can't wait. Nina is not one of them. And then her world is turned upside-down. What she'd thought about her family proves to be wrong. Nina is determined to find out, and there turns out to be one boy who can: Sal. But this might be dangerous, and coming of age in Nina's world will be completely different to ours.

I had such high hopes for this. Not many, if any, focus on the sexualisation of young girls, something you can clearly see in todays society, and takes it to an extreme topic. Maybe because it's just a touchy subject, maybe because no-one thought to go there. But for whatever reason, the original concept of Julia Karr's we are given in the summary is amazing.

And then the futuristic world is taken to the extreme. In my opinion, this could be a  world with the same standard of technology and the like, but just with the tattoos. Or maybe they could have just slightly advanced. I don't know. I like the idea of the media being controlled by the government, because it's easy to see that media controls the people. But when I started reading, I wasn't prepared. Verts for adverts, and a whole bunch of new technology. A tier system which wasn't really explained and so you have to guess. All of this pushes the tattoos to the side, making them less important, giving them less of a role, than you'd think if they deserved to be the title of the book.

The mysteries that cropped up weren't too suprising, but it was fun seeing Nina tackle all these problems.

 My favourite character is Wei, the Creative who tattooed around her XVI and learns a martial art the government tried to ban. She's a very strong  character who does her own thing.

The pacing was ok. It wasn't particularly slow or fast;  it kept going at a pace that kept you interested but not a need to know what happens next.

Overall: Strength 3 tea to a book that, while somewhat good in its own way, is totally different to what you'd expect.