Quick Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Rating: 6/10
Date of Release: September 27, 2011
Summary: Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong 

MINOR SPOILER ALERT

This was very, very difficult to rate. I had a serious love-hate relationship going on for this book. I mean, read the summary. Sounds flippin' awesome. And some parts were.

Many people complained that this was confusing, or even nonsensical. I would disagree. For the careful reader (especially in the last fifty pages or so), things more or less make sense. I had two big drawbacks with this novel. Firstly, the romance.

Is there a YA book, anywhere, that doesn't include some cheesy romance with a smoking-hot jock? Noah, Mara's boyfriend, is smoking hot. Perfectly handsome. Even has an English accent. Rich, of course. Pretty much everything I hate in a  love interest. Just ugh. That whole subplot could have been dropped, make the book a lot shorter and less cliche.

The second gripe I have is the jerkiness of the whole story. Things happen too quickly, and then not quickly enough. One minute we have a kidnapping, crocodile murder, and escape from some sort of freak serial killer, and the next Mara is hunched in her room, thinking, and the next she and Noah are hanging out in his mansion. Too many strings were being pulled at once, it was too jerky and fast, not enough time to catch your breath, or else the romance scenes dragged on.

The biggest pro to this book was the story, and more specifically, the mind-bending, never-sure-what's-going-on-until-the-last-page story. I LOVED that aspect of this story, the cliffhangers, the surprises, discovering who Mara is and what she can do. I don't want to give away more than I have to, but it was a fantastic, original storyline that kept the reader on their toes.

So, I decided what I liked about this book outweighed what I didn't like, making it a little over 50/50. I'm still not positive on this rating. Be assured though, if you want a mysterious thriller, read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. 

Quick Review: Divergent

Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Rating: 9.5/10
Date of Release: May 3rd, 2011
Summary: In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. As she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves...or it might destroy her.

The reason this is a short review is because nearly anyone at least partially well-versed in YA books knows this title. And nearly everyone likes it. I mean, it was on the bestseller list for twelve weeks. But I just wanted to drop my two cents down the reader's well and say how much I liked this book.

Tris was an awesome character. Four is awesome. The characters I loved, although I would have wanted to get a little more knowledgeable about the other characters. Their backstories, motives, etc., but I get that in a 300+ page book anything ambiguous has to be cut. I just hope I get to know more about Christiana, Caleb, and the others in the next two installments.

The plot was really interesting. If I had anything negative to say, it would be that Tris got hurt a LOT. And then was fine. And then got hurt again. After a while it got a little unrealistic, but that was okay because Tris was doing other awesome stuff. The simulations were my favorite part, even though 'dream sequences' (which the simulations are very similar to) are usually lifeless and dead to me, these were unique and interesting.

All in all, this is getting a place on my 'favorites' library! I've been hooked on this story, even if tiny little things bugged me.

Final Score: 9.5

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