Want

DNF - PG 20

Why?

Boy meets kidnaps girl.

Twelve pages in he's noticing how pretty she is - but she's not like the other modified girls. Fourteen pages in he's noticing the way her breasts swell when she takes a deep breath - but pretending not to notice. Eighteen pages in she's smiling at him and he finds it the most natural thing in the world to smile back.

I am not into dystopians. I didn't like the other book by Pon that I read. I was told that the characters in this book are great - specifically the supporting characters. Sadly, I will never find out because (A) this main guy is severely creeping me out and (B) ‘mei' and ‘you' and their heavy usage early on when it's confusing me but, upon flipping through the second half of the book, I cannot find a single instance where they are used.

I finished this book a couple days ago but forgot to update. Today I saw that it was still on my currently reading list, and I genuinely had to think so hard about whether I'd actually finished it or not. I think this is a good summation of how much this book rocked my world (spoiler alert: not much at all).

Scifi, action, and conspiracies all set in a near-future Taipei. If you love protagonists who break the law to bring down evil corporations then pick up this book. It's a quick and entertaining read and the only thing I wish it had were perspectives from Zhou's friends. I would happily read a sequel or companion book about hacker Lingyi and ninja Iris.

Really engaging story. The pacing was great and the action was well written. Zhao and Daiyu were complex characters that grew throughout the story and I felt the romance developed pretty naturally and realistically. I'd be interested in learning more about the other characters in the book and learning about the heist from their perspective, especially Lingyi and Iris :).

Pros: great setting, real people, great extrapolation

Cons: slow at times

Jason Zhou has been living on the streets of Taipei since his mother died when he was thirteen.The haves (yous) and have nots (meis) are at odds in the city, a situation exacerbated by the terrible pollution covering the city in perpetual smog and acid rain, pollution the yous never experience, all but living in suits fitted with filtered oxygen and temperature controls. Zhou's closest friends have come up with a plan to stop the creator of the suits, a man who's also bribing and threatening - even murdering - politicians to prevent any environmental clean-up. That plan begins with him kidnapping a you girl for ransom. Because bringing down the man is an expensive business.

I loved that the book was set in Taipei. It's cool inhabiting another city, even if it's one in an unpleasant extrapolated future. Given the way global warming is being treated, I have no problem believing that the future will be covered in smog and that life expectancy will drop because of it. I also have no problem believing that the rich will isolate themselves from the problems of the world so long as those problems aren't seen as directly impacting them.

Zhou and his friends all have different strengths, making them fascinating to watch as they work on their plan. I loved that they complemented each other's skills and that though they didn't always agree, they worked things out. Daiyu was also great, a mixture of determined, smart, courageous, and feminine. The characters all felt like fully fleshed out people.

The story was interesting, though I found it was slow at times. I never really worried characters wouldn't pull through, even though there were some tense moments.

This is a great book.

Great sci-fi that touches on environmental and class issues.

The diversity of cast and issues touched upon are nice, but plotwise the book is nothing special.

Full review posted at Rumor Has It

Check out more info on The WANT Blog Tour for opportunities to win this amazing book!


WoW! That was INTENSE!

I think this review will have a few confessions in it. For example... I confess that prior to this book being released I was drawn immediately to the cover. I confess that I passed on it because books like these are the reasons why I also hate to watch the news; hate to be emotionally and mentally beat up (the real world can be ugly). I confess that I hate to see people suffer and although the characters in this book are fictional, it had the possibility of it all being too real. I confess that I broke down and read the book because I wanted to be part of this wonderful tour. I confess that my initial predictions of this book being all too real... were true. AGH!

“If you want vampires and werewolves, faeries, fallen angels or zombies, you won't find them here. I know a real-life monster. She drains the life out of me and tears at my flesh with words and fingernails that sink deeper than fangs ever could. I'm not her only victim, just her favorite. “

That, my dear friends, is the opening paragraph and it set the mood for the rest of the book.

Julianne is a piano virtuoso, whose dream is to attend the New England Conservatory in Boston. Her life, already a bit complicated, spirals into a whole other complicated when she begins to be tutored by the mysterious Isaac Laroche, another piano virtuoso.

This was a brilliantly written story that ebbs and flows, taking twists and turns and not once would you have imagined that it could have been possible. It takes a broken young lady, breaks her some more and then slowly allows her to mend. It speaks of a first love between a girl and her music, a girl and herself, a girl and a boy. It speaks of the complexities of family, community, wants and needs and everything in between. This book is about a life that too many know to be true. Want took me back to my counselor days when I wanted to scoop up “my kids” and adopt them all. I wanted to scoop up Juli and take her away.

At the end of this book, I was sleep deprived (having stayed up all night because I could not put this book down), numb, crying... In very simple terms... I was a HOT mess.

My final confession... This is an amazingly wonderful read that shows evidence of great world building and character development. Its painfully believable plot and poetic flow guarantee a storytelling time full of intrigue and a ton of other feelings. I guarantee every reader will walk away moved by this read but I also guarantee no two readers will walk away feeling or thinking the same emotions or thoughts. Completely worth all the angst, tears, heartache and lack of sleep. I recommend this book to everyone.

I didn't want to include too many details because I sincerely believe that you should experience this book without spoilers of any kind so that you too can enjoy and appreciate all of the wonderful surprises revealed within. However, if you really want me to tell some more, hit me up so we can discuss. Quick note from the mommy in me... Mature readers only please. :-)

ARC was provided via InkSpell Publishing for the WANT Blog Tour.