2015 Reading Challenge: Blood of Olympus and The 5th Wave

A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A book that scares you: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

UK cover - Property of Disney-Hyperion

My rating: 4 out of 5

I don't remember if I ever reviewed the three books between The Lost Hero and Blood of Olympus, so sorry if you wanted to know how they all turned out. I honestly don't remember much myself because all the books have so much going on. I swear, every single chapter has a battle.

But I do recommend this series to all middle readers. There were parts I loved, there were parts I hated, but mostly I really enjoyed this series, and this last book was a great conclusion to the Percy Jackson stories (assuming, of course, that Rick Riordan leaves it at that).

Riordan is such an imaginative writer. It's amazing how he can spin all these Greek and Roman myths (even the gritty, dark, depressing, and racy ones) to fit a child audience. It's very fun and often hilarious. For example, the fact that the bloodthirsty Amazons are actually Amazon as well. Like, the shipping company. That got a chuckle out of me every time it was mentioned.

Each character is distinct and has great backstory and personality. He also managed to use each possible combination of characters in a quest together. I'm not kidding. It got a little ridiculous in the end, but it was fun to see how each group combined their skills and personalities to beat the monster of the chapter.

The only real disappointments I had with this series were that 1) there were no sympathetic girly-girl characters. He has so many great female characters, but every single one of them despises girls who like to dress up or don't know how to fight. Don't even get me started on the Amazons and the Hunters of Artemis.

2) You may want to skip this one if you don't want spoilers... It's not like I love blood and carnage or anything, but I felt the tiniest bit cheated when not a single main character died for real. The prophecy clearly called for a male and female demigod's blood to spill. Everyone assumed they would die. I fully expected two main characters to die. Instead, Annabeth gets a scratch and Percy gets a nosebleed. It was very anticlimactic. And then when Leo "died" I wasn't even sad because I knew it wouldn't stick. Sure enough, it didn't. When you have seven main characters (seven), at least one of them would probably be dead by the end of a five-book quest. Of course, I shouldn't apply the laws of realism to a series about Greek demigods...

Other than those two things, I loved this whole ride, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. It's a series I'll want on my kids' bookshelves someday.

Property of Putnam Juvenile

My rating: 5 out of 5

Confession: I swapped Dracula for this one under the "book that scares me" category of the Reading Challenge. This one wasn't even in my sights until Sarah randomly got it from the library and I was bored and picked it up.

I didn't even know what this book was when I picked it up. I was completely unaware of the premise and the internet hype it was getting.

So I can honestly say that I loved it without anyone influencing my feelings. Nothing clouded my judgment. Heck, I didn't even read the synopsis on the cover. The book just spoke for itself, and I give it an unbiased five out of five stars.

Why? Well, it was the writing that hooked me. After helping read so many manuscripts for the Deseret Book acquisitions editor, the first page of a book will make or break my interest level. The first page of The 5th Wave not only caught my interest, it kept me reading for 20 or so pages before I could put it down and catch my breath.

Seriously, the writing was beautiful, especially after all the mediocre stuff I've read in the DB slush pile. The descriptions were stunning without getting wordy or cumbersome. The premise and setting were realistic and compelling.

The narration was impressive. Each narrator had such a distinct voice. I was actually surprised when I realized a middle-aged man wrote the book, because Cassie sounded just like a teenage girl. And not in that annoying way adults tend to write teenagers (you know the way I mean-- "Like OMG he totally asked me out, you know?" "No way!" "Totes magoats!" Blech!).

And Sammie. Gah! Sammie! His narration broke my heart, it was so naive and hopeful in such a bleak world.

The plot succeeded in keeping me on my toes, even when there were flashbacks and scene skips (tropes that I usually despise in TV shows). In the end, it turned out that my instincts were right about who was trustworthy and who wasn't, but the story gave me enough suspense for me to question what I thought I knew.

And I'm so glad that the aliens weren't M. Night Shyamalan-style aliens. Nor were they The Host aliens. They were ruthless and terrifying, and you never even see them! That's probably what made them so scary--that uncertainty of who you could trust and who wasn't what they said they were.

The things Cassie and the others went through were so believable--people scattered in fear but longing to group together; shooting first and asking questions later; child soldiers; giving into the fear of mass hysteria; even the ways the aliens attacked was so much more believable than how they did things in Independence Day or Signs. They don't mess around!

And the ending was the perfect mixture of joy, sadness, worry, and hope. Not everything is wrapped up nicely with a little bow, but you know that what these kids set out to do has been done one way or another, and that they'll persevere. It's a very focused, limited story, instead of a global scale conflict. The symbolism and story arcs were perfect, subtle touches, and even though it left me a little hungry for more, I'm also very satisfied with how it left off.

It's definitely not a book for kids, but it's a way better, more compelling, more thought-provoking, more inspiring book than The Hunger Games or other YA books that are being hyped right now, so it's one I would recommend to teens and older.

Update: I just discovered that it has a sequel. Shoot. On the one hand--yay! On the other hand--I kind of just want to leave it as a stand-alone novel in my mind. I'll let you know if I ever get around to reading the sequel.