The Young World by Chris Weitz

IDEKA Book Review

Title: The Young World
Author: Chris Weitz
Published: 2014
Synopsis on Goodreads: After a mysterious Sickness wipes out the rest of the population, the young survivors assemble into tightly run tribes. Jefferson, the reluctant leader of the Washington Square tribe, and Donna, the girl he's secretly in love with, have carved out a precarious existence among the chaos. But when another tribe member discovers a clue that may hold the cure to the Sickness, five teens set out on a life-altering road trip to save humankind.
The tribe exchanges gunfire with enemy gangs, escapes cults and militias, braves the wilds of the subway and Central Park...and discovers truths they could never have imagined.
Goodreads Average Star Rating: 3.43
My Star Rating: (a generous) 2
Review: First and foremost, I won this book on a Goodreads giveaway. Now we can start. This book has apparently been hyped up quite a bit. It sounds interesting, even though it's not original (**cough** Gone by Michael Grant **cough**). I was willing to give it a chance. But . . .
-It's not an original concept
-Donna is an annoying character and it was torture to read from her point of view
-It was so freaking dramatic and overdone
-Characters died before I grew attached to them
-The "love triangle" was not believable. None of the romance in this book was believable
-Donna put question marks after statements. WHO DOES THAT? (I'm a girl? The sky is blue?)
-And Donna, tone it down on the swearing. I don't have a problem with swear words, but that's a little much
-Brainbox saved this book from getting one star
-And finally, stick to directing, Chris Weitz. He directed the Twilight saga and The Golden Compass and those were fantastic movies . . .

Why does this book even deserve 2 stars, you ask? I'm pretty sure it accomplished what it was trying to do. This book is a product. It's directed specifically at the young adult audience, and it's pure fun. This book wasn't trying to be serious or quality dystopian fiction.

Hate this book. I don't recommend it.

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn

IDEKA Book Review

Title: The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall
Author: Mary Downing Hahn
Published: 2010
Synopsis on Goodreads: When twelve-year-old Florence boards the crowded horse-drawn coach in London, she looks forward to a new life with her great uncle and aunt at Crutchfield Hall, an old manor house in the English countryside. Anything will be better, she thinks, than the grim London orphanage where she has lived since her parents' death.
          But Florence doesn't expect the ghost of her cousin Sophia, who haunts the cavernous rooms and dimly lit hallways of Crutchfield and concocts a plan to use Florence to help her achieve her murderous goals. Will Florence be able to convince the others in the household of the imminent danger and stop Sophia before it's too late?
Goodreads average star rating as of post: 3. 95
My star rating: 1
Review: I originally gave this book 2 stars, but decided it was barely worthy of one, because I realized that this book bored me to death.
In the end, I didn't have as big of a problem with the boring characters, the stereotypical ghost story situation, the stereotypical portrayal of ghosts, the boring narrator, the boring plot, the boring ending, how unmemorable the characters were (I didn't know the main character's name was Florence until 3/4 of the way through the book), how none of the loose ends were really tied up, how the plot didn't quite come together like it should have, and how the author ruined Irish and Scottish accents for me by makin' 'em 'alk 'ike 'is 'a 'ole 'cking 'ime.
The book just wasn't scary. The author was trying to make me believe that I should fear a bratty 12 year old dead girl? No. Maybe if Sophia wasn't so annoying and whiny and egotistical, and if she was quirky and strange and mysterious, I might have not dared read this book past 9:00.
But, truthfully, I got what I was expecting. You can't pick up a book titled The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall that has a cheesy cover with blue font and fake blood and expect to be afraid. I picked this up as a joke, and it was cheap, and I got what I was expecting--a 1 star book.