XVI by Julia Karr

XVI (XVI #1)

Julia Karr

Puffin/Speak

Released January 6, 2011

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.

GoodReads

This book is scary. Not scary in the sense of a horror novel, but scary in the way that all good dystopian novels should be. It made me think a lot about our world and what’s “important” in society, like what the media tries to sell us. Some parts reminded me of 1984 by George Orwell. The kind of world where you’re always being watched and things work a certain way. Needless to say, this is not a world you would want to live in.

I really liked Nina’s character. She is strong and brave but believable. A character that really annoyed me was Sandy. The only thing about the plot that bothered me was I kept thinking these two people couldn’t possibly be best friends. Sandy was way too superficial and selfish to the point where she was just plain annoying. I also thought Nina’s younger sister acted a bit too young to be eleven-years-old, but I didn’t dislike her like I disliked Sandy.

Julia Karr’s writing is great. I liked how she explained the world as the story went along and all the technology details throughout. It gave the story a bit of a science-fiction feel to it. While there is obviously mature subject matter, this is not an explicit novel. Some things are referred to, but not described so don’t get that idea from the summary. This isn’t an inappropriate read for teens, but probably a bit mature for most young teens.

I enjoyed the book from the beginning, but towards the end I literally could not put it down. I originally thought this was a stand-alone, but a sequel is scheduled to come out next year and I am eagerly looking forward to it already.

Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr

Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely #3)

Melissa Marr

HarperCollins

Released April 21, 2009

This is the third book in the Wicked Lovely series. There may be spoilers for the previous books, so if you have not read them, I suggest you hold off on reading this post. You can read what I thought of the first book, Wicked Lovely, here, and the second book, Ink Exchange, here.

Aislinn never expected to rule in Faerie--but that was before Keenan stole her mortality to make her a monarch. Now she faces challenges and enticements beyond any she'd ever dreamed of.

Seth never expected he would want to settle down with anyone--but that was before Aislinn. She is everything he's ever dreamed of, and he wants to be with her forever. Forever takes on a new meaning, though, when your girlfriend is an immortal faery queen.

GoodReads

This book continues from the second book in the series, but like the first one it focuses more on Aislinn, Seth, and Keenan. I’ve been a Seth fan since I started reading this series, and Seth has a huge role in this book. I like him just as much as I did then and even more. It was interesting to see more of what Aislinn was going through between becoming the Summer Queen and making that transition, along with being torn between the men in her life.

The one thing I didn’t like about this book was that the first half or so was hard to get through. I liked it, but not a lot was happening. It was mostly Ainslinn and her Seth/Keenan drama. I wanted action! But I wasn’t disappointed for the entire novel. Once it picked up, it really picked up. I can’t emphasize that enough without giving something away.

As I have said before, I love Melissa Marr’s writing and the world she has created with this series. We learn more about the Faerie Courts and how things work. The story is building up and I like where it’s going. There are two more books in this series and I will definitely read them.