The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry

One of my all time faves!  I just read this to my 9,7,4,and 2 year old.  The kids couldn't get enough.  We zipped through in a couple of days.  This book spurred great discussion.

In a futuristic utopian society, Jonas knows nothing about suffering, hunger, anxiety, choice, color, or love.  His path is laid out for him by the age of twelve.  He has a family unit that he was assigned to.  His job will be chosen for him.  His food is provided by community workers.  Everything is the same for everyone.  Choice is made nonexistant so that a wrong choice can never be made.
When Jonas reaches his year of twelve, he is assigned the job he will train for and work in until he is taken to the House of the Old.  Jonas becomes the new Receiver for the community.  Memories from 'back and back and back' are given to Jonas by the aging Receiver turned Giver.  Jonas will hold these memories as an honored Elder.  He will abide the joy and suffering that the community will not be allowed or burdened to know. 
Jonas begins to realize that his utopian community is clearly not as ideal as he once thought.  In fact there is no choice, no emotion, no love.
One part that clearly struck me in this novel was the lack of color.  Many times I have read the same description from those speaking about the oppression of communism.

Rating 5  Everyone should read this.  Very 1984 but cleaner.
Rating PG  Some inferences to sexual feelings that they call 'stirrings' and take pills to squelch.  Also a shocking scene which I won't *spoil*.

Crashed

Crashed (Skinned trilogy #2) by Robin Wasserman

In the follow up to Skinned, Lia Kahn has left the home of her former family and is living in a compound/mansion with other mechs. Rights of the mechs' are in question as the Brotherhood become more vocal about how dangerous this new breed of people may be. When Lia's former friend Auden begins speaking out for the Brotherhood against the mechs, Lia is devastated.

Even though she has had no contact with her family in months, when things get tough, they pull through for her.

While living in the compound and trying to figure out or forget what she has become, Lia finally lets someone get close to her. She gets to know Riley.

Although I love the 'idea' of these books, I felt like this one was pretty flat. It took about three hundred pages to feel like I had finally reached the heart of the book. Before that there was too much emotional turmoil........you know the kind.........where you just keep rehashing something you can't seem to get over.

I was glad to see Lia finally have a friend. She felt much more angry in this book and I wasn't going for it.

I did however like learning more about the society after the big wars, and how the caste system had placed people in cities, corp-towns or rich suburbs.

Rating 2.5 I did like the book. It just took a lot of time to cover little ground.

Rating R For language, sex, some homosexuality, drug use (even though it was more like a download, you still understood that it was drug use).

Skinned

Skinned by Robin Wasserman

Lia Kahn lives in the not so distant future. After the wars and natural disasters, only the poor live in cities. Only the poor have babies that are not genetic masterpieces.
Lia's father has high credit. She does not live in a city. She is rich and popular. Whatever Lia does or likes is the next hot thing.
Lia takes her sister's place in the family car with the destination coordinates already places in the GPS. Cars are rarely 'driven' by a live driver. In an out of the ordinary, bizarre fluke, Lia is in a car wreck. Her body badly burned and limbs ultimately lost, her family chooses to turn her into a 'mech'. Her brain is scanned and put into a mechanical body, made to look and feel as close to human as possible. Lia has to learn to speak and move all over again. Once she has control of her new body, Lia is taken home.
Even though Lia feels like Lia most of society sees her as a non-living machine. Lia tries to find her place in a world she didn't choose to become a part of. Befriended by Auden, a boy that she would never have been friends with before the accident, Lia tries to find out if she still belongs with the humans or if only the mechs understand her now.
The friendship between human boy and mech leads to disaster and Lia is faced with the fact that she is indestructible and this could prove dangerous to any humans she is around.

A fun futuristic book with a great look at the expanding bounds of technology. There were times when the relationships didn't seem deeply investigated enough. I also felt like the book ended in a sigh instead of a bang.

Rating 4
Rating R Excessive use of profanity. Sexual content but not sexually graphic. Teen sex. Lesbianism.

Shadow of the Giant

Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card

Card's final book in the Shadow series continues Peter Wiggins attempt to unite the world under a single government headed by himself, the Hegemon. Bean and Petra are trying to recover their stolen embryos, which have been implanted and are now babies.

Peter as Hegemon wants the earth united. He does not want to do this with force or violence. As the wars rage between the largest powers on earth, Russia, Asia, India and Islam, Peter waits to pick up the pieces, or to offer troops and safety to the countries that join the Free People.

Graff and Mazer are sending ships into space to create new colonies. Their love for the former Battle Schoolers or Jeeshmates, compel them to ask the still children if they will consider leaving the earth to be the leaders of new world colonies in space. This will also save earth from destruction because the members of Ender's Jeesh are now the leaders of warring nations. Many begin to see the sense and flee Earth to start over.

Bean and Petra are slowly finding their babies. Petra gives birth early and they realize that their new baby Ender has Bean's genetic key that will make him very small and very smart until he begins to grow into a giant, as Bean is now. The unchecked growth with kill Bean and the children carrying their father's legacy. Bean decides once all of the babies are found, he will take the ones with the genetic key and leave Earth with them. Petra does not know that she will be left with the normal babies alone on Earth.

Islam and Asia join forces through the marriage of Virlomi....goddess of India and Caliph Alai. This destructive marriage forces the hands of the warring countries and war across the Earth erupts at a greater pace.

The babies are all recovered. After Bean leads the FPE armies to victory, he is 'killed' in battle. He takes the afflicted babies, gives Petra a divorce decree, and leaves Earth. He awaits the genetic cure for his giantism. Petra continues leading an army until the wars cease and the world begins to unite under the Hegemon. Broken hearted over the loss of Bean and three of the babies she finally returns home to raise the remaining five. She finds Peter has a growing relationship with the babies because of her absence. Eventually she will marry Peter and have more children.

The Earth unites, except for America. Peter is Hegemon of the Earth. The Battle School children opt to leave Earth and head their own colonies, freeing the Earth from fighting over their battle genius.

Peter and Ender connect over ansible. They are able to talk about Peter's life and his driving desires and how they affect the way he treated Ender as a small child. When Peter dies, Ender writes the book Hegemon, and speaks for Peter.

Rating 4.5 This is one of my favorites of the Shadow and Ender series. I think it totally trumps the follow ups to Ender's Game. Heart wrenching and quick enough paced. I was able to give more attention to the war scheming.
Rating PG 13 Lust, war

Shadow Puppets

Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card

The third volume following the former Battle School children.

Bean and Petra finally admit their love for each other, get married and implant an embryo. Bean doesn't want his genetic mutation to be inherited by his babies so they go through genetic testing. The doctor preforming the testing is none other than Volescu, the man that mutated Bean's genes. Of course all of the embryos except for the one implanted in Petra are kidnapped by Achilles.
Peter is finally figuring out that his parents aren't low on IQ points. They save him from assassination after he decides to steal Achilles from the Chinese. Peter and his family then go off planet to the old Battle School to bide time until it is safer for them to return to Earth.
Verlome begins an uprising by getting the small villages of people in India to start building a wall to keep out the Chinese, which have over taken their country.
Lots of warring. The Muslims begin to rise in power with a new Caliph, Alai.

I had fun with this book. I liked seeing the human side of Petra and Bean. I am glad that Peter is finally recognizing that his parents aren't idiots. The warring and scheming get to be more than my interests allow.

Rating 3.5 This book is as good as its predecessors, maybe even better during the parts about Bean and Petra, but I am tired of the world war.

Rating PG 13 War, War, war, war, murder

Shadow of the Hegemon

Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card

The Bugger war is over and the children taken into space for battle school have returned to Earth (2170 AD). Bean is with his new family in Greece. Locke (Peter Wiggin and Ender's brother) has had Ender exiled from Earth so that when war on Earth begins Ender won't be fought over by the leaders there.
Now that the Bugger threat is over, it is time for Earth leaders to fight over world dominance. The children that fought with Ender, or Ender's jeesh are now considered to be the optimal battle minded people on the planet. In quick succession they are all kidnapped, except for Bean. Achilles is back and he wants Bean dead. Just before Achille has the Delphinki family blown to bits, Bean realizes what is about to happen. The family makes it out of the situation alive, but Bean must go into hiding. He and Sister Carlotta run off and try to stay under Achilles' radar. While in hiding they go to meet Locke. They convince Peter to come out under his real name so that eventually he can be trusted by other governments and eventually become Hegemon. With Locke's help, Achille is shown for the nutcase he is and all Battle School children are released except for Petra. Achille keeps her as he travels from Russia to India to begin a world wide revolution which he hopes to win. He plans attacks on Asian countries and secretly plans to join forces with China.
Bean goes to Thailand to try to head off some of Achilles' attacks. While there he learns from another Battle School graduate....Virlomi, where Petra is being held. Petra is with Achille. He takes her everywhere and leaves her no way to contact anyone. At one point she is able to beat Achille up but this probably just seals her fate.
Bean makes his own small force in Thailand just like the one he was over in Battle School. They train in as many ways as possible. Finally Bean is able to save Petra, but Achille is set free and is taken to China by the Chinese leaders.
Sister Carlotta is killed by Achilles. She leaves a letter for Bean revealing his genetic heritage and Anton's Key. She tells Bean he will be lucky to make it to the age of fifteen. Bean decides he will never marry and have children. Just as Bean makes this vow for his life, Petra tells him she has feelings for him and offers herself up.
Locke reveals the treachery of China. He is made Hegemon over the world.

Rating 4.5 I really think I like this series better than the original Ender series!
Rating PG 13 murder and mayhem

Ender's Shadow

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

This is a companion novel to Ender's Game.......meaning the story is retold from another character's perspective. I think I liked this one just as much as Ender's Game, if not more. I guess I could think that because it is the freshest in my mind.
This story is about Bean. Bean is a tiny little child without a home in the streets of Rotterdam just before the last Bugger war. He joins a 'family' of other children for protection and to stave off starvation. Bean is thought to be four years old yet he is a genius. He recalls being in a 'clean' room with other babies. The other babies disappeared. Somehow Bean knew there was danger, crawled from his crib and hid in a toilet tank. He was found by a janitor. He was near starvation. The janitor took him home but wasn't able to keep him. At this time Bean was less than a year old.
Bean has a super memory and can recall everything he sees. He hides out in the streets trying to stay alive. He finds a 'family' run by a sympathetic little girl.........Poke. He convinces her to get one of the bullies that steal the food from the little ones, to take over the family and give them protection. Poke chooses Achilles (Ah Sheel). Bean knows this boy, although crippled, is dangerous. Achilles, with the help of Bean, turns the streets of Rotterdam from harsh survival towards civilization. Achilles betrays Poke by killing her.
Bean and Achilles are being watched by the government. The government is always looking for genius children to send to battle school. They are building up an army to defeat the Buggers. Sister Carlotta is one of their recruiters. She finds Bean. She tests and teaches him. She realizes that is is inhumanly smart. Sister Carlotta learns from Bean about his impressive memory. She also learns that Achilles is a murderer. She gets Achilles off of the streets and into school in order to keep the government from sending him to Battle School.
When Bean turns five he is sent into space to Battle School. Eventually meeting the famous Ender Wiggin. Bean goes against all of the psychological games that the trainers have set up for all of the students. He is finally put on the new Dragon Army, with Ender as head. They win every war. Meanwhile Bean is a loner. He makes one friend, Nikolia.
On Earth Sister Carlotta finds out that Bean's embryo was stolen along with 22 others and made into tiny geniuses. He is the twin of the genetically undisturbed Nikolia. Bean is the only surviving child of the 23 kidnapped babies. His parents have no idea their embryos where stolen, or that they have another son.
Achilles has his leg reconstructed and is sent to Battle School against good counsel. He plans to kill Bean. The school finds out that Achilles is a serial killer. Bean decides to be proactive. He traps Achilles and gets him to confess to seven murders, including Poke and the doctor that preformed his reconstructive surgery. Achilles is iced.
Bean and Ender are sent to Command School. Bean is only seven. They learn to command ships so that someday they will be able to command the fleets that will kill the Buggers. Bean realizes that this is not 'pretend'. They are actually commanding the fleets. Ender does not know. Ender is the head commander. He and Bean along with other children are able to blow up the Bugger's world and their queens.........saving the Earth from destruction.
Bean seemed to think a lot in this book which was a turn off for some people, but I liked that part. I decided to read this after reading the Ender's Game series. Although I am not a sci-fi fan per say I did really like this. It didn't feel all that sci-fi to me. Much of the time was spent on Earth.
Bean was an amazing little character. I liked to follow his chain of thoughts.
Rating 4.5
Rating PG 13 Language, violence.