Book Review: Hollowland

Amanda Hocking
★★★★★
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 344 KB

Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America to find her brother, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.

I had gotten this book some time in September. I had fallen in love with Hocking’s concept and after reading the first few pages, I was hooked on this page. But with the massive amounts of homework from my AP classes I haven’t found any spare time to read lately.

Then, this weekend, I started and I could not stop. I ended up finishing the book in a day! A new record for me!(Sorry this review is so late). But enough about me.

 Hocking has a magnificent way with words. The writing is effortless and so personal, Remy and her companions come alive and are no longer words on paper.

Hollowland is the first in The Hollows series. It begins with zombies tearing down the walls and does not let up. The drive in this book follows Remy, a young girl who is searching for her younger brother, suggested to have been moved to a quarantine. Remy, determined to find him, sets off across a now zombie infest, wasteland of America in search for her brother. She encounters many fantastic and damn real events that will make you hold your breath in anticipation. Her friends are, individually, as crazy as awesome as crazy gets. Not one charcter is repeated and one can find it impossible not to love each one for who they are.
While these events happened (no, I will not tell you what they are), Remy never lost sight of her goal- which for me is a great thing because many books tend to focus on the love story more then the action and Hocking defiantly brought that action. Hocking writes through Remy’s perspective, in a voice unique and so personal, you almost wonder if the author herself has ever been in a zombie infest universe before. I felt the emotions through this book and I have to say it is definitely a new favorite of mine. And I mean look at the cover art- AMAZING!

If you love dystopian novels with powerful female characters and a lot of ass kicking mixed in, (plus a bit of romance to spice things up) you are going to love this book!

A DEFINITELY MUST READ!

Get the free Kindle version here: Hollowland

Where you can find Amanda Hocking: 
Her blog: Amanda Hocking’s Blog
Twitter: @Amanda_Hocking
Amazon: Amanda Hocking
Goodreads: Amanda Hocking

Book Review: Across the Universe

Beth Revis

Reading level: Young Adult

Hardcover: 416 pages

Publisher: Razorbill; (January 11, 2011)

As the spaceship Godspeed travels toward a new earth, the lives of 100 cryogenically frozen settlers hang in the balance after someone endeavors to quietly murder them. The other passengers aboard the ship have never known life outside its walls and are enslaved by the machinations of Eldest, their tyrannical leader, who divides them into three distinct classes. When Amy, a frozen settler from earth, survives being thawed in a murder attempt, she immediately bonds with Elder, Godspeed's lone teen and future leader. Amy’s individuality, her rebellion, and her fierce desire for freedom, inspire Elder to act on his own doubts and defy Eldest--his mentor and keeper--with shocking results. Eldest’s methods of twisting history and altering the lives of this captive community are a frightening echo of tyrants in our own history, and Across the Universe challenges readers to consider the impact of unchecked power, blind trust, and the ability of one dissenting voice to make a difference.

　

This story was very different from most YA novels that I’ve been reading. First: it was set on a spaceship in the future. I don’t read much sci-fi so I was a bit skeptical about this book. But it actually turns out I kinda liked it. The story started slow and the main problem of the story- trying to figure out who is killing the frozens- is pushed to the back burner as the “dystopian” aspect of the story kicks in. The author sends a lot of messages about differences and individuality. God is a fictional character to those on the ship and Sol-Earth’s history is changed to feel like Hitler was a great leader, and that all differences are bad.

The characters weren’t flat, but they weren’t my favorite. Elder is madly in love with Amy, while Amy is stuck in the past. Eldest is an evil tyrant. The entire ship is loony, and the loony ones seem to be the only normal ones. The only character I really liked was Harley.

And, maybe this was just me, but I kind of figured out most of the lot twists before the author told us in the end. I can’t say it was completely obvious, but I guessed most it…

All in all this book was rather different and I like different. Ms. Revis did an amazing job of creating a sci-fi- dystopian world. I would have liked to see more action, but it was a great book altogether. Creative and entertaining, you may experience a few nightmares of being frozen alive…

Movie Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Rating: PG-13
Action, adventure, science fiction, and fantasy
Directed By:Michael Bay 
★★★★☆
This is the third installment to the Transformers series. Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. When a mysterious event from Earth's past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to Earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us.
I was never a fan of the cartoon series, but I did love the story and the action behind the movies. Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox had made an amazing couple and the story for both Sam and the Transformers were great. I was not happy with this story.
They just dropped Megan’s character, and added this new blond who, to me, felt needy and stupid. She looked lost the entire movie, and she didn’t care about the other Autobots like Megan’s character did. Their relationship felt kinda strained and robotic. I didn’t like it.
Great CGI and amazing action scenes, but I hated the story behind Sam and Carly.

Movie Review: The Green Lantern

Rated: PG-13
1hr 45min.
Action/adventure/science fiction/fantasy
Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively
★☆☆☆☆Peter Sarsgaard 

The Green Lantern defiantly fell short of everyone’s expectations…including my own. It was what it was. It wasn’t great, but it was that bad. I thought it started off a bit slow. A full half an hour or so went by before Hal (Ryan Reynolds) even encountered anything relating to the Green Lantern Core. That to me was a bit waste of time. Then when he did encounter the dying purple alien he didn’t react like a normal person.

Yes, I know that the Lantern picks people who show no fear blah, blah, blah, but it’s not really fear that I was looking for, just a little freaked out that a ball of green energy picked him up and dropped him off next to a dying purple alien in his spaceship that chose him to be something he has no idea about.
The details are a bit sketchy for me. I felt like the story went slow, then kinda sped up. It was bad writing, no offence to the writers. I love movies with these types of stories, but hate when they are delivered in this way. The actors were great, and Ryan was hot as ever, but not worth the money.
Great graphics and great actors, but not a great movie.