DEFIANT: A Dystopian Trio of Novellas by Mara Li, Jen Minkman, and Lis Lucassen

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Defiant. When the civilization you live in turns out to be a giant, messed-up deception, what do you do? Each of the teens in these three novellas (translated by Jen Minkman) rises up to defy the rigid social order of their worlds. 

The Defiant collection of three dystopian novellas comes out today on March 26, 2015! Woot!

Genre(s):

Young Adult / Dystopian / Action / Racism / Historical

Meet the Defiant

Meet Emma in The Red Messenger by Mara Li, whose twin sister Sophie recently died in a mysterious accident. She lives in an alternate reality in which the Nazis took over Germany. Think: a world with email, internet, and electricity coexisting with the continued torture of Jews tucked away in concentration camps and ghettos. Emma finds out that there was more to Sophie than she'd previously known...

Meet Leia in The Island by Jen Minkman, a strong-willed teenager who grows up in an isolated island society with rules and traditions based on one pre-apocalyptic book (Star Wars) that preached about the Force.  An aggressive young leader named Saul holds his power over the children using the doctrines of the Force. Leia must uncover the mystery behind that holy book...

Meet Justa in The Tribunal by Lis Lucassen, who lives in a post-World War IV society torn into two classes: Sectorals (the blond and light-colored ruling class) and Stateless (folks with more melanin, apparently). "Segregation is needed to maintain the established order. The Sectorate therefore upholds Inequality in order to prevent future uprisings...One exception only to Sectorial Segregation is acknowledged - before the Tribunal, all are equal." 

My Thoughts & Comments About Each Defiant Novella

The Red Messenger by Mara Li

I had learned about World War II concentration camps while I was in middle school, but I never imagined a dystopian world in which similar racism-induced horrors take place, but with modern and digital technology. This is a great concept, and I think it was well executed overall, with the exception of a few instances of plot-induced stupidity on the part of Emma that were used to push the story forward. The issues of racism and state-enforced athiesm are covered in this book. 

As an American, I was surprised at first about how directly this novella tackled the issue of the Jewish concentration camps, but then I realized that the Netherlands were deeply affected by the existence of Jewish death camps during the Second World War. 75% of the Jewish population was deported from the Netherlands to these concentration camps, and many Dutch authorities collaborated with the Nazis to achieve this. This is a painful part of the Netherlands' history, and I think this novel draws very well from the horrors of that era. The last part of the novella felt like it was straight from the 1940s. 

The Island by Jen Minkman

A wall divides the island, and there are rumors of the Other society living in it, called the Fools. When a mysterious guy washes up ashore one day, Leia's world is totally rocked as she comes to understand the truth behind her society. This is a civilization built by children after an epidemic wiped out most, if not all of the adults in the world. I didn't like the idea of a society built around a Star Wars book for kiddos, but I liked the novella explores how a society built by children would be like after a few generations. 

The Tribunal by Lis Lucassen

This one reads like a good courtroom drama. In light of Trayvon Martin's death and the 2014 Ferguson unrest in the United States, the theme of a lower-classed person being screwed over by a law system purports to be fair corresponds strongly with both historical and current events. The Tribunal explores the issues of racism, bias, and corruption in a law-based society which is segregated by color. 

Overall Rating for Defiant: 4/5

Find out more about Defiant, a collection of three novellas by Netherlands authors Mara Li, Jen Minkman, and Lis Lucassen:

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Review: THE WANTED by Lauren Nicolle Taylor (The Woodlands #4)

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The Wanted

by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

(The Woodlands #4)

Here are some facts about this book:

• The fourth and last novel in the series, The Woodlands 
• Will release on October 31, 2014
• A post-apocalyptic dystopian novel
• Responsible for at least two late nights beneath the blanket 
• Probably contains nicotine somewhere in there

Out of all the books in The Woodlands series, this one is my favorite because of the dual narrative and beautiful language that weaves together the sensory details with Rosa's inner thoughts. Rosa may think that she's horrible with metaphors, but her narrative voice is actually filled with vivid figurative language. 

The story is divided between the perspectives of Rosa and Joseph. Given the movement that Rosa and Joseph take part in against the oppressive regime of the Superiors, I had an idea of what would happen, but I had no idea how. The episodes between Rosa and Joseph are brief but important -- each scene moves the story forward and keeps me intrigued on what would happen next. 

Sometimes the perspective would switch and I'd whine, "No, but I wanted to find out what happened to Rosa." But soon enough, I'd be entranced with Joseph's side of the line. 

So what's going on in The Wanted?

Rosa is a prisoner of the Superiors and faces interrogations in multiple forms. They want information about her friends, the Survivors, and Joseph. She has to stay strong and defiant and not let them break her. 

I had no idea how Rosa was going to get out of that captivity. I was thinking that maybe Joseph could smash his way in to save her, but then that'd be really cliched and predictable. The story went nowhere in that direction. It was filled with plot twists that boggled my mind and kept me chasing down the rest of the story to find out what would happen. 

In the beginning of the series, I wasn't able to identify strongly with Rosa (even though I liked her a lot as a character), but in The Wanted, I cheered for her the whole way. I think it's partly because she has matured over the past few books, especially after the death of Apella, a girl who ultimately proved Rosa's judgmental views wrong with her sacrifice. And while Rosa does "size up" people when observing them, she's a lot less judgmental than before because she tries to see things from their side of the fence.

Joseph was forced to leave her and escape. He struggles with feelings of guilt over the violence he used in order to flee. In the meantime, he is helping with the Survivors' rebellion against the iron grip of the Superiors. With many readers, there was an issue of Joseph being too perfect. To me, he just came across as an optimistic sort of guy who knows what he wants. In this book, however, his optimism and values go under trials of loneliness, grief, guilt, and uncertainty. It was good to explore some inner turmoil and weakness within him because his negative reaction to certain actions shows us where his values are as a person. Even if he is an overall hero, he can still be prone to moments of weakness. 

Like with Rosa, some of the people in the Survivors have mellowed out a bit after their initial hostility towards each other, such as Deshi. I've gotten really fond of him and Rash as minor characters. I was even hoping for Deshi to hook up with another guy that comes into the picture in this novel, but *ahem* that did not happen, probably for the best. 

I'm going to miss Rosa, Deshi, Rash, and Joseph. They had a wonderfully cranky but loving dynamic. When I saw the novella The Willful, I was actually hoping that this series had been extended into a quintet. Overall, I enjoyed this wonderful ending to The Woodlands series. The main loop is concluded, but as with life, there is a lot of uncertainty in the details in the aftermath. Will Deshi and Hessa become close again? Will Rosa and Joseph move past this moment of disloyalty? Will they all be a family in five years, after things have settled down somewhat? I think so.

My rating:

Find out more about The Wanted by Lauren Nicolle Taylor on:

Amazon | Goodreads

Check out my reviews on the other The Woodlands novels:

The Woodlands (#1)

The Wall (#2)

The Wounded (#3)

Movie Review: 22 Jump Street (2014)

22 Jump Street (2014)

We're all probably familiar with the way that a concept that starts out novel and fresh can be milked into oblivion, like the Paranormal Activity series and any other action/horror/comedy movie that becomes a surprise hit. 

22 Jump Street is extremely conscious of the fact that it is a sequel movie stretching the premise of the first one, and so it makes fun of itself throughout the entire movie. Do Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill look like they could pass as college students? Heck no, and here, no one at the college buys their disguise for a moment except for maybe Maya. The movie makes fun of itself and its older-looking actors, and this self-referential attitude makes the sequel status somewhat more acceptable due to the extra layer of "funny" even though I know it's still a sequel. If that makes sense.

Book Review: THE WALL by Lauren Nicolle Taylor (The Woodlands Series #2)

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Title: The Wall

Author: Lauren Nicolle Taylor

Genre: YA / Dystopian / Action / Adventure

Published: October 2013

If you haven't read Lauren Nicolle Taylor's first book, The Woodlands (click for my review), then you're in for a dystopian treat. 

First, let us get past the gorgeous face framed by poofy hair on the cover and go into the details. Rosa, Joseph, and their friends have made it to a new group called The Survivors, who are enemies of the Woodlands and its rulers, The Superiors. From here on out, they will need to move because the Woodlands forces will be coming for them. There are tons of twists and revealing them would only diminish your experience of the story, so I will refrain. But there are sacrifices, and the relationship between Rosa and Joseph grows stronger. 

The Wolverine (2013) -- Movie Review

I saw this movie in the evening during a date. A lot of my comic-nerd buddies didn't like it, but since I haven't read the comics, I'm going to review the movie by itself (and maybe the other X-Men movies).

Release date: July 26, 2013

Summary by Twentieth Century Fox:

In modern day Japan, Wolverine is out of his depth in an unknown world as he faces his ultimate nemesis in a life-or-death battle that will leave him forever changed. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits, he confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality, emerging more powerful than we have ever seen him before.

There are some spoilers, so watch out! <3