Review: Taking #3, Collide by Melissa West

Blurb from Goodreads

Military legacy Ari Alexander has survived alien spies, WWIV, and a changing world order. But when the new leader of Earth uses Jackson—the only boy she’s ever let herself care about—to get to her, Ari has no choice but to surrender.

To free Jackson, she agrees to travel to the national bases to train others to fight. What she discovers is a land riddled with dying people. Ari has the power to heal by turning the fighters into aliens—half-breeds like her. If she succeeds, together, they have a chance at overthrowing the alien leader, Zeus. But if she fails, everyone she holds dear will be wiped away forever.

Once again, everything Ari’s come to believe is thrown into question. In a world of uncertainty, loyalties are tested, lies are uncovered, and no one can be trusted. If Ari and Jackson have any hope at survival and at preserving a life for the future, they must fight the final war with their eyes wide open.

Kindle Edition, 320 pages

Published February 9th 2015 by Entangled: Teen

edition language: English

series: Taking

genre: Dystopia, Sci-fi, Romance, Young Adult

My Thoughts

ARC was provided by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

When book 2, Hover, didn’t live my expectation, I don’t except anything to the final one. But that’s when the best thing for the series happens. This book is the best among the three. I think it’s perfect as the last book.

Ari doesn’t lose focus anymore here, instead she’s so determine and clear of what she wants and what she has to do. She’s more badass which I liked, by the way because she doesn’t waste her talent into some wishy-washy thoughts like in book 2. Her romance with Jackson is also spots on. And it doesn’t shadow the action. But then again, it’s one of things I like from the series. There is romance but never shadow the story of the human versus the alien.

I couldn’t agree more with the tagline of the book, The War is Imminent. You’ll find more action and tension here, more than in book 1. It’s like Ari and other characters are always in the run and danger as the war approaches. But my favorite thing is Zeus’s mind game. It’s so good I keep wandering which one is real and which one is not. When I read it, I think I know when Ari dreams but then I’m not so sure anymore. I liked the feeling when I read it. It’s confusing but in a good way, if you know what I mean.

But if I have to point out one thing I’m not quite satisfy, is Ari’s POV makes some scenes aren’t not clear enough for me. Her POV limited few things I really want to know more. It’s just my preference, though. This book is still the best of the series.

Note: Is it just me or do you feel like there is a potential of sequel or spin-off of the series?

Result: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Reading Challenge:

– GoodReads: Book #15

– YA Buddy Readers’ Corner ♥: Finish all of ARCs (Advance Reader Copy) I have by the end of 2015.

Review: Taking #2, Hover by Melissa West

Blurb from Goodreads

On Earth, seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander was taught to never peek, but if she hopes to survive life on her new planet, Loge, her eyes must never shut. Because Zeus will do anything to save the Ancients from their dying planet, and he has a plan.

Thousands of humans crossed over to Loge after a poisonous neurotoxin released into Earth’s atmosphere, nearly killing them. They sought refuge in hopes of finding a new life, but what they became were slaves, built to wage war against their home planet. That is, unless Ari and Jackson can stop them. But on Loge, nothing is as it seems…and no one can be trusted.

Kindle Edition, 352 pages

Published August 13th 2013 by Entangled Teen

edition language: English

series: Taking

genre: Dystopia, Sci-fi, Young Adult, Romance

My Thoughts

Although book 1 of Taking series is only a 3 stars for me, I think it has interesting idea and I like the way Ms. West wrote it. And compare to some of dystopian YA books I’ve read, it is a better one. So I have a high hope to its sequels.

This time, Ari’s story takes place in Jackson’s planet. As a place that is so far away from the earth, I need a vivid worldbuilding, or at least enough description about the place so that I believe that the characters are in other planet, outside the earth. Just like book 1, the writing is still good, the description of the worldbuilding is also so clear I can picture it in my mind easily. But I feel like there is no difference with the earth. Everything seems similar to the earth. I don’t get the feeling that it is a place that is so far away from the earth that you need a wormhole to send messages.

I also feel there is not much happen in most of the story. Thus it feels slower than book 1. I know what Ari has to do here is not an easy task. But she’s being with the enemy, I feel she loses focus of what she has to do. In a way she spends her time training as a RES, Republic Employee Spy, since she’s a half-human, half-ancient now but I don’t see she does much training as other RES do. In another hand, she has to kill Zeus. I don’t see much of her plan or effort to do it either. All of her attempts are mostly caught in the act kind of thing, without so much planning as she wants to. And her I-have-to-kill Zeus speech at the end of many chapter sound like a broken record for me.

But don’t worried I still have things I like. The writing is still good. Despite the slow-paced, it is an engaging story. I also like the way Ari chooses not to be in a relationship with Jackson immediately. She needs time which is understandable and it makes the story not all about herself. She places her people and her task above her relationship with him. So book 3, here I come!

Result: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Reading Challenge:

– GoodReads: Book #12

– YA Buddy Readers’ Corner ♥: Finish at least 5 series I’ve started

– Popsugar: A book you own but have never read

Review: The Taking #1, Gravity by Melissa West

Blurb from Goodreads

In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed — arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know — especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.

ebook, 217 pages

Published October 30th 2012 by Entangled Select

edition language: English

series: The Taking

genre: Dystopia, Sci-fi, Romance, Young Adult

My Thoughts

I like reading dystopia books, and post The Hunger Games, it seems dystopia is one of the most popular genres for YA books. To be honest, most of them didn’t work for me. 1) Dystopia books make me pay more attention to the world-building and setting. I think both of them have to be described well and believable. But they also have to be related to our time now since most of them take our time as their history. In this case I find it’s hard to read YA dystopian with believable world-building and setting, even in YA dystopian I loved, I still find things I didn’t quite like. 2) Being YA books, they tend to have more romance than dystopia which sometimes I didn’t find the dystopia things that the blurb promised me. It makes me think that dystopia is just a cover to attract me to read it. However, it doesn’t mean I don’t want to read YA dystopia anymore which led me to this book.

Alien invasion isn’t a new thing in YA dystopia. But somehow, this book has something that makes it different from them. First thing I recognize was the time setting. It takes place in 2133, a very long time after now. I was kind of liked it because the damage from alien invasion in the story was quite impossible if it happens only a few years from now.

Although Ari, the MC mentioned things that quite different from our would now, in some part I still feel it wasn’t much different either. I imagine it will be much more different because it’s 120 years ahead from now. There are also things that are so hard for me to picture it and in the end I just ignore it.

Just like any other YA books, this book also has romance. Ari, who is a commander’s daughter of Sydia, falls in love with Jackson, a common citizen. I liked that their relationship doesn’t take more pages than the main story. There are more actions with a lot of training scenes to prepare them for war with alien. And the idea they have war through virus, instead of weapon, is more frightening me. On the other hand, I also wanted to read more about the government and their political systems, both from human and alien side which unfortunately didn’t much describe. It made me mostly questioning their political systems.

The story told from Ari’s POV but I got the two side stories between alien and human, which I liked. Each race claims they have good intention to live on earth, therefore they reasoning the war is the best way to make it happens. It made me hard to choose which side I am because I can see both good and bad side from them. I was happy with one thing yet didn’t like with the other.

All in all, though it lack of world-building and has an insta-love. I think I can say I liked and enjoyed reading it.

Result: 3 out of 5 Stars