Human.4

My second review! (Okay, that's not exactly a hugely auspicious moment, but I like to praise myself. And use lots of parentheses. Deal with it.) Okay, this week I'm doing Human.4 by Mike A. Lancaster (I wonder what the A stands for? Arthur? Archibald? Andriloween? Okay, now I'm just getting off topic.) Aaaaand without further ado….

Human.4 kind of plays with a couple themes, like a “higher power,” but the main theme is technology gone too far. Kyle lives in a small town, where an annual talent (I use that term loosely) show is held. This year, his friend Danny is doing a hypnotizing act and on a whim he volunteers to be hypnotized. When he and his friend Lilly, who had also volunteered, wake up, they are greeted with an odd sight. Every human in the area is as still as a statue (kinda like a freeze frame, but in 3D). The phones don’t work, the computers all display a strange code in some foreign language, and the TV’s just show static. All of a sudden, everyone wakes up.  They’re definitely not the same, though. Everyone simply gets up from where they were frozen and walk home. To Kyle, it’s creepily quiet. When he tries to ask his parents what’s going on, they reply in unison: “Nothing.”

So, is this all part of the hypnosis? Are they going to wake up to a roaring crowd at any second? Or is something much more sinister going on?

(Insert evil laugh here). Sorry, I just wanted the chance to say sinister. Come on, you can’t say sinister without doing an evil laugh in a supervillain voice. It’s just the rules. Anyway, this is an awesome book. Kind of gives you the creeps, though, once you’ve read the whole thing, because it’s science fiction-y but if this was happening in real life none of us would realize it. I’ll let that serve to pique your curiosity, so go out and get this book! It’s available at Mt. Edgecumbe or Sitka High.

Divergent

Okay, first and foremost, you have to read this book. This is one of those ones that you just don’t want to stop reading. I probably would have read it in one sitting if I hadn’t had to go to school.

Divergent is set in the future, after the apocalypse. It focuses on one city where everyone has been split into five factions: Abnegation, Erudite, Amity, Candor, and Dauntless. Each faction stands for one virtue which they hold above all others: Abnegation for selflessness (everything about them is plain, and they’re exceedingly polite), Erudite for knowledge (they’re always studying, they have a reputation for being a bit shrewd), Amity for peace (they all are always happy and loving), Candor for honesty (they aren’t afraid of being brutally honest), and Dauntless for courage (they’re wild, risk-taking, and maybe even barbaric). When a child reaches sixteen, they have the choice to stay in the faction they grew up in or switch factions.

Beatrice has grown up in Abnegation, but she doesn’t think she’s really meant to be there. In the test that figures out the faction that she’s best suited to, she gets an odd result. Her examiner tells her furtively that she’s a Divergent –someone who is suited to more than one faction—and that being a Divergent is very dangerous. She keeps that quiet, but later that will come back to haunt her (don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything). In her choosing ceremony, she makes a, well, daring choice and chooses Dauntless. Renaming herself Tris, she makes some new friends and enemies in Dauntless (and maybe gets a love interest, too). Surprising herself and others with courage she never knew she had, Tris is sure to have an important future ahead of her—if she can survive initiation.

Again, I say: read this book! Seriously. DO IT. It’s available at Mt. Edgecumbe.

Hello!

This is the brand new library blog for teens in Sitka. I'm currently working on my first post (or that would be the second post, since I guess this is the first), but my first review, anyway. Stay tuned!