The second of a planned trilogy has the main characters Alex and Tom (who we find out is still alive), and some new 'mains' Lena and Chris, all following separate story lines that eventually converge on an old mine filled with the ravenous zombie-esque "Changed."
At times I found the constant shifting between narratives distracting, but overall the characters' fight for survival was riveting and often quite disgusting. The author Ilsa Bick is a native Wisconsinite, a Veteran of the US Military, and a former child psychologist. Her background in psychology really gave grit to her story; she obviously used it to help her writing brutally play with my emotions.
I'm still surprised that this book is geared towards the "YA" market; as an adult I was often shocked at the graphic descriptions of violence, sex, and even instances where characters feared they would be raped! But, in Bick's defense, I think her edgy writing would be attractive to many young men out there, especially since the YA market is glutted with books geared solely towards hormonal teenage girls. In that same vein the characters, while surrounded by chaos, are still strong and fight against it. It is awesome to see kick ass female leads who can give young women AND young men someone to look up to.

Of course, the book ends with a massive cliff hanger and I can't wait to finish the series. It was a mistake to read this on my meal breaks (not recommended). Hopefully we will find out soon when book three is expected.

Set in academic England and the Welsh countryside, Finding Camlann begins a journey to find some new insights into the mythical versus historical King Arthur, but in the end the reader is left sorely wanting. A new archaeological discovery leads to the public to believe the grave of King Arthur and Queen Guenivere has finally been discovered, and the two main protagnists come together to investigate the veracity of this claim. Instead of focusing on this, Pidgeon storyline gets muddied up with an old family mystery that haunts Julia, the female lead, her Welsh nationalist father, and her husband (who she rapidly is estranged from due to this mystery). This mystery was supposed to merely serve as a device to bring the characters to a geographical location but instead turned into a main focus to the detriment of the truly exciting part of the story.

Also, The 'romance' between Julia and the male protagonist Donald, a British archaelogist who is attempting to find the true King Arthur, was really a throw away. I didn't feel an adequate explanation as to why Donald was so entranced with her, as most of her story line revolved around her stumbling into plot points set up by past events.

I really thought I would enjoy a more academic-based novel about ancient lore and archaeology (as compared to Dan Brown's over theatrical Indiana Jones' style novels), but unfortuntely this did not pan out. Much like a badly written undergraduate paper, Pidgeon threw in block text from 'manuscripts' (in both Welsh then translated into English, ugh) which I could not determine if they were made up to fit the story or truly exist. I was not compelled enough by the story to find out.

Pidgeon's descriptions of the natural were quite beautiful, too bad the main adventures were so dull.

In "The Round House," a 14 year old boy living on an Indian Reservation seeks the perpetrator who violently assaulted his mother.

I have mixed feelings for Round House. I enjoyed the character studies in the novel, especially the friendship between Joe and his three buddies. I often laughed out loud at their conversations which revolved around sex, cigarettes, and booze. One particularily funny scene had the boys' ancient great grandmother regaling them with her past escapades, which they sat through in order to be fed. Hilarious.

The main story arc regarding the rape of Joe's mother and the grey areas of Tribal Law I found rather contrived. Joe's mother withdraws into her own world after the rape and can't tell the authorities if she was raped on tribal, federal, or private land. The perpetrator, who the victim KNOWS (but will not divulge at first)choose a piece of land specifically for this reason. Ok, you have me so far, but then the author takes you on a convoluted path as to why Joe's mother was the victim. The path includes a barely explained relationship between a young native american girl and the governor of the state, their bastard child, and a odd twin brother/sister, adopbted sibling relationship. Throw in some Native American spiritulaism complete with undefined Native American vocabulary words and legends spanning pages, and I really started to lose interest. Plus, the ultimate conclusion was hurried and disappointing.

I also found out this book is part of a larger series involving this same community; perhaps I would have a deeper understanding had a read the prior tales.

Recommended only for those who really enjoye legal mysteries and Native AMerican culture.

Set in a harsh world that may or may not be Earth, two different ways of life have evolved after the onset of some sort of natural disaster and/or revolution which is never fully explained. Some people live a life of total grayness except for their ability to 'escape' to different realms via a "Smart Eye" which is just a high tech version of virtual reality. They are too afraid (and not allowed) to leave their confined space as they are told they would die out in the open. Those who do not live in this dome are considered Outsiders, and they live like primitive tribes, hunting off the land, and fighting to the death for land, supremacy, and power all in a hostile environment not really conducive to human life.

The world-building for Under the Never Sky was promising and while the two main characters who each come from these opposing worlds had a genuine chemistry the story line was rushed and under-explained. Much is left to the imagination. What is this mystical Aether that makes the sky roil and creates enormous storms, lightening strikes, and chaos? When, if not necessarily how, did it come into being? What divided humanity so?

The female lead, Aria, is part of an intriguing mystery leading to the death of some of her friends, the disappearance of her mother, and why certain members of her society seem to be going crazy. Part of this mystery leads her to be cast out of her world, and into the harsh world of Peregrine, the male lead who also has his own struggles to overcome. Their interplay is at times amusing and sweet as they both learn to adjust to one another, but I found ARia's transformation into a outdoorsy wonder woman a bit quick.

I may gie the second book a shot, we'll see!

"A" wakes up in a new person every day. While he (I will use this pronoun for convenience, but really A has no gender) tries his best to live life as that person would, what happens when he falls in love and wants to finally hold on to something constant?

I fell in love with this story. Levithan made me believe in the possibility someone like A could exist, in large part due to the parameters immediately set forth. For example, A only transfers to someone the same 'age' and only travels far distances when the current person he is in does. This takes care of what would otherwise be glaring holes in the storyline. A also has his own set of rules which he has crafted over his 16 years of existence. Only when he meets a girl, Rhiannon (girlfriend of one of his incarnations) that he starts to break some of his own rules.

The story kept me on my toes throughout, and never drifted into sappy sentimentallity. I felt the ending was pitch perfect as well; neatly tied up, but with a glimmer of possibility that perhaps Levithan will pick up A's story in the future. I hope he doesn't. I enjoy creating my own future for this character.

A rare thing happened to me ... I enjoyed the movie more than the book! Actually, this was also a rare instance where I saw the flick before reading the tome, so perhaps I was swayed by my love for the actors.

All that aside, Silver Linings was a quick, thoroughly enjoyable read. I loved Pat People's thoughts on life, his family, his mental illness, and therapy. As a Packer's fan, I also enjoyed reading about the herd mentality that takes over football fans (the Eagles, or Birds, in this case). Matthew Quick used repetive language well in this book, and I will now never forget the saying "trying to be kind rather than being right."

Tiffany was my main gripe; she is much better portrayed in the movie by Jennifer Lawrence.

I'd be happy to discuss if someone has read the book first then seen the movie.