Book of the Month - August 2011

The Book of the Month award for August 2011 goes to...

...Outside In by Maria V. Snyder!

Every once in a while, the moment I finish a book I can tell it will be a Book of the Month. This is one of those books. I loved the prequel to this book, Inside Out (May's Book of the Month), and this sequel was definitely better in my opinion. I could continue to say how great it was, but then it would just be a repeat of its own review, which can be found here.

Sorry for the somewhat short post, I sort of forgot I hadn't posted the Book of the Month. In my mind I had posted this with my Human.4 review, but that didn't really happen. Since then I've forgotten the things I was going to say. I will do my best to get September's up in a much more timely fashion. I hope to have two more books up this month as well, so keep your eyes peeled!

Please leave any comments on the book, or your personal book of the month as well!

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Blog Update....8 Weeks Late

Hey guys! How's it going?

What? Not good? Oh yeah, my bad, I guess I should have told you that this update would be late instead of right on July 3rd when I got back from camp....

Well, there isn't anything you can do about it and you have 11 posts (now 12) in 2 days to make up for it! (If you are looking at the post dates of some of them, thinking "Wait, some of these were posted back in June and July, they didn't come today..." should first of all be thinking "Dang! How did he manage to pile 4 blog posts into one minute, conveniently the last minute before the month changed?" and then realize that I have magical computer powers that lets me go back in time to look like less of a slacker. Well, really it is just to keep the Books of the Month in the right month, but anyway, the "not looking like a slacker" thing is a nice bonus. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. That isn't regularly scheduled at all.)

So sorry I have not posted in a timely fashion, but hopefully all of these posts will help make up for it, especially this one.

Well, school has started, and unlike my dreadful premonitions of having absolutely no time to read and therefore not being able to post here, I have read more in the last week or so than in the previous two months. Of the recent stuff, I was totally pumped about Outside In. It was definitely a step up from Inside Out, and even that was really good. So check it out. (That means both of them if you haven't read Inside Out.)

I have been in book-lover heaven recently because I have realized how much stuff is coming out soon! Here is what I can remember quickly, but I am sure there is more.

Inheritance
Well, as many of you know the Inheritance Trill- I mean Cycle (Stupid series name change....gets me every time....) is one of my all time favorite series. I am such an Eragon nerd that I was Eragon for Halloween one year and won the Shur'tugal costume contest. Plus, my most popular posts have all dealt with the Inheritance Tri- Cycle (Dang, it still got me!), especially the Eragon Book Three Predictions. I may or may not make a predictions post in the near future. It depends on how much homework my teachers want me to have. (So if you really want a post, you should email them and tell them to not give me much. ;) )

Anyway, the final installment, Inheritance, is coming out November 8! Still pretty far away, but I'm pumped, nonetheless. You can see the cover below with the green dragon that was originally going to be the cover for #3, but Chris decided that the trilogy should have a fourth installment....If you are interested in a chapter exerpt, check out the Barnes and Noble page for Inheritance. You have to scroll down a little ways to get to it. To see some thoughts by the experts at shurtugal.com, click here and look around. There is some very intriguing stuff.

The Death Cure
One of my more recent favorite series is The Maze Runner Trillogy, which I will probably reread in the near future. Its conclusion, The Death Cure, will be released on October 11. I am super pumped! Here is the cover:Some information can be found at the Maze Runner Website, and the Kirkus review can be seen on James Dashner's blog. Both places have info on the book, but you will probably find more on the blog. I hope we finally get some answers in this one!

A few other books of importance (not that books not mentioned aren't) will be released soon, such as Rick Riordan's Son of Neptune coming out in early October, and others have already been released, like Pittacus Lore's The Power of Six! With all of these fantastic books coming out, it is hard to keep track of everything, so make sure to visit your local library and/or bookstore often for the latest teen reads! (Wow that was cheesy, but it really is good advice.)

I would like to have discussed some new Hunger Games material that has been released, but that will have to wait for another update. If you have any announcements about the movie, please comment and let me know! I'm not always good at keeping up with the latest news!

As always, please leave your comments, questions, complaints, concerns, etc. You can contact me in a multidue of ways. First of all, you can comment here on this post, or any other post here on the blog! I love to hear from you all, even if it is a "Sounds like a good book!", so take the twenty seconds to post. The next way is to post on the Corey's Book Talk facebook page! Another method is to @ mention @CoreysBookTalk on Twitter. Finally, if you are lucky enough to know me in person, you can talk to me about book stuff any time!

Well, that's all for now. Happy reading!

Corey

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Outside In

Outside In

Maria V. Snyder

Synopsis:
The revolution is over, the Pop Cops are gone, and the Travas are imprisoned. Trella thinks that this means a nice, normal life now, but continued tension between the scrubs and uppers has led to work strikes and resentment toward the Committee. Trying to avoid the frustratingly slow politics, Trella leaves the comittee for more time to explore the new levels she found, but when the Inside is bombed and the transmission goes out, putting them on a collision course with an asteroid, Trella knows that a nice, relaxing life is not in her new future. By working with her old allies Logan and Riley, as well as some new friends, Trella works to investigate who is bombing the Inside. However, leads are turning cold and the network is starting to shut down. After weeks of growing tension, Logan confides in Trella that there is someone on the Outside who wants in...

My Thoughts:
Inside Out was one of the best books I've read this year. And this one was even better. Coming from me, that especially means a lot, because I hardly ever will say a sequel beats the original book, but Snyder has done a fantastic job raising the bar. Outside in was packed with lots of action, bringing in many new fight scenes, especially in the second half of the book. The constant betrayals and lies between different factions with different ambitions keeps the reader wondering who really wants to protect the Insiders and who is looking for power. The plot kept twisting and turning, making me hate having to put the book down. I read this in just over 24 hours, which is fast even for me, but I also did this right at the beginning of school, so that should tell you how much suspense is in this thing. If you enjoyed Inside Out, this is certainly a worthy sequel. Very good work, Ms. Snyder.

Questions for Thought:
1. How would you go about getting the Committee to start making the important decisions instead of griping about the silly little things?

2. Had you found the "bubble monsters" at the top of the expanse, would you share the information, or keep it secret?

3. Would you be willing to live with a woman who had betrayed both resistance movements and claimed to be your mother? Would you be willing to find out if she really was?

4. Would you believe Logan that the Outsiders really exist without the camera proof?

5. After being "kidnapped" by Jacy, would you still trust Bubba Boom, or would you flip?

6. Once you were collared by the Outsiders, would you still try to fight, or would you give up knowing they could control you at any time?


Please leave your comments and answers!

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Book of the Month - May 2011

The Book of the Month award for May 2011 goes to...

...Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder!

Kind of like last month, this wasn't too hard of a choice. Though I love the Gone series, the later books in the series aren't quite up to par with Inside Out, and though some aspects of Inside Out and 1984 were very similar, Inside Out was a much more enjoyable read than 1984.

Inside Out was excellent, and though it took a bit to get into, the suspense in this book was created beautifully, and the many unexpected twists and turns leave you shocked. This is certainly a book dystopian lovers should read!

Please leave any comments on the book, or your personal book of the month as well!

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Inside Out

Inside Out

Maria V. Snyder

Synopsis:
Trella hates her life as a scrub. She is constantly working, cleaning the ducts and pipes that fill the Inside. When not working, she is packed into dangerously close quarters with thousands of other lowly scrubs that live in the lower two levels of the Inside. Normally, Trella tries to be alone and seek solitude in the maze of pipes, but when her friend Cog introduces her to a new Prophet speaking of a way out of the Inside, Trella begins to look for crucial information that can help her, and the rest of the scrubs, escape. Soon, the Pop Cops get suspicious, but to Trella's surprise, the other scrubs begin to cover for her. Trella's list of allies begins to grow, but she knows that the stakes are high, and unless they escape soon, the revolution will fail...

My Thoughts:
Inside Out kind of seemed like a mix of 1984, Mockingjay (Hunger Games #3), and parts of Pathfinder. Trella is fairly similar to Katniss in that she hates the governing body that is oppressing the majority of the population, and then becomes a symbol of revolution. However the government itself reminds me of the one in 1984. The Pop Cops that will arrest and kill you if they suspect you are even thinking "treasonous" thoughts are much like the Thought Police. This combination makes for a really suspenseful book, and especially toward the end, the plot takes turns that you would hardly expect! The plot gets rather complicated quickly, so it was hard to write a short synopsis that covers very much of the story, but believe me that this was a fantastic book that you should definitely read.

Questions for Thought:
1. Were you Trella, would you have listened to Cog and the Prophet and got his tapes?

2. If you were involved in the beginnings of an escape attempt and had learned that LC Karla was watching you, would you continue?

3. Would you have trusted Riley? Were you Riley, would you have trusted Trella?

4. Would you have let a previous traitor be a part of your revolution?

5. How would you set up a new government for the Inside?

6. Knowing that the jobs of the scrubs still will need to be done, how would you go about deciding who does "scrub work" and who gets the nicer jobs?


Please leave your comments and answers!

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