Dear Zoe

Dear Zoe

Author
Philip Beard

Plot Summary
Several thousand people died on September 11, 2001. The date alone grabs one’s attention and screams REMEMBER THIS DAY. We see the burning tower and the second airliner crashing into the tower’s twin. News reports of the Pentagon and Pennsylvania tragedies spread new shockwaves, while images of the towers collapsing upon the thousands of souls inside sear our sorrow. Philip Beard frames his poignant YA novel Dear Zoe around that day. But not as one would expect.

It was an ordinary day for 15-year-old Tess DeNunzio—ordinary in as much as she’d missed the bus to school yet again and was biding time until her mother would drive her to school. The day became extraordinary when news of the Twin Towers exploded in her life. Of the thousands of people who died that day one of them would impact Tess and her family with the same gripping grief, but played out in a Pittsburgh emergency room.

In the confusion of those moments, when the eyes of the world were on the Twin Towers, Tess’s three-year-old sister Zoe was hit and killed by a car. That Zoe died that infamous day haunts Tess as much as losing her all together. It drives Tess through an adolescence already complicated by enigmatic feelings for her successful stepfather; her doting, but low-life father; her mother’s descent into depression; blended-family issues informed by these dynamics, and finally her emerging sexuality.

While the world still shivers from the terror of 9/11, Tess stretches to understand and eventually seek her own redemption by writing letters to Zoe. In these letters we glimpse the intimate details of Tess’s life, from her obsessive make-up ritual in the mornings, to her lack-luster performance at school, to her first boyfriend and where that predictably goes. Tess’s letters to Zoe dig at the scab covering Zoe’s death, picking and peeling until Tess confronts the awful truth about Zoe’s death.

Characters
Tess DeNunzio
Tess is a typical fifteen year old teenager who is facing problems in the form of her parents divorcing and having a new stepfather. She was the member in the family that reacted most to Zoe’s death. She acts impassive during her sister’s funeral, but really, she is aching inside, a feeling waiting to be triggered, and finally released during an intercourse with her father’s neighbor, Jimmy.

Daphne Baxter-Gladstone
Tess’s mother, who suffered from depression after Zoe’s death, and was the person who caused Tess to run away to her father’s house late at night.

Sam DeNunzio
Tess’s biological father who works as a lowly plumber and secretly smokes pot without Tess’s knowing. He welcomed Tess’s arrival in the late night with a surprised stare but was glad he had her daughter back in his arms. Tess still thinks of him as her real father, even though he was almost broke.

Greg Gladstone
Greg is Tess’s stepfather and biological father to Zoe Gladstone. He is a successful manager of an electronics company, but doesn’t show bias towards his stepchild. Even though Tess was more wary than afraid or dislike of him, she realizes that he is a responsible father and accepts him in the end.

Jimmy Cranker
Jimmy lives next door to Sam DeNunzio, and secretly climbs up to Tess’s bedroom every night without her father’s knowing. He had also encouraged her to take up a job at the theme park where he worked. He was Tess’s first boyfriend.

Personal reflections
‘Dear Zoe’ revolves around a teenager’s life full of dastardly woes that lie in the path of growing up. Barely a teenager yet, Tess has already been through so much hurdles; her mother’s divorce, the pressure of living with her stepfather, and finally, the death of her three-year-old sister, Zoe. Even before she had died, Tess had loved Zoe dearly as if she was her biological sibling instead of her stepsister. So when Zoe died (knocked over by a reversing car in her neighbourhood) Tess was more than angry; she was furious, a feeling most teenagers feel instead of sorrow whenever dealt with word-spinning ordeals.

What made her even angrier was the fact that no one would ever remember the death of Zoe Gladstone. On a normal day, news like this would surely make it to the newspaper, no matter how small and unimportant the section it is printed under; about the carelessness of drivers and parents and such. However, there were millions of deaths that day, and Tess herself would have been devastated by the nationwide disaster if not for the death of her sister. It had made Zoe’s death seemed all the more trivial.

Tess had never shown any sign of sorrow or grief during Zoe’s funeral, and she herself wondered why. She had been living through the days of her sister’s absence with complete calmness, save for the times she had sudden impulses to do things her own way, like stealing away to her father’s house after having had enough of her mother’s ‘what-ifs’. There, she meets Jimmy a teenager just like her whom she could spill all her problems to without seeming overemotional.

Tess’s letters to Zoe consisted of her life before and after Zoe’s death. It showed how much had changed in Tess’s life after she died. She had turned from a bubbly kid to her stuck up teen who smoked pot. However, the climax was displayed when an influx of emotions came rushing at her during an intercourse with Jimmy, when she felt all the despair and depression she had hid in the secluded corners of her cold heart during the first few days of Zoe’s demise. Before, she had tried to hide from the truth of her sister’s death, but now, all she could do was confront the truth bravely without withering the slightest. It turned out to become a moving story about Tess realizing the impact and implications Zoe’s absence had on her life.

Rating
8/10

Uglies

Uglies

Author
Scott Westerfield

Plot summary
Uglies is one of four books (Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras). It takes place in 300 years, in a society where until the age of 16, people are known as "Uglies". Once an Ugly turns 16, they undergo an operation, turning them into a "Pretty", a beautifully symmetrical being with full lips, big eyes, perfect figure, everybody the same. Most think of this as a good thing, something to look forward to- finally moving out of Uglyville- like Tally Youngblood, a teenage girl about to turn 16. While waiting for her birthday to come, Tally meets another Ugly, Shay, who, unlike Tally, doesn't want to become a Pretty and who has outside contact with a rebellious group called The Smoke. Shay then runs away to join them, without Tally, but leaves behind a note with clues of the whereabouts of the Smoke's location, in case she changes her mind. Tally promises to never tell anybody where they reside and continues to look forward for the operation.

Her excitement is cut short when, right before her 16th birthday, Tally is told by Dr. Cable, a "Special" (members of the city's secret police organization- Special Circumstances), that unless she reveals the Smoke's location, she will not be given the surgery. Forced to find and infiltrate the Smoke, Tally decides to stay there and not become a Pretty after meeting their leader, David, with whom she falls in love. She then learns that when one is made into a Pretty, not only do their looks get altered, but it also creates lesions in the brain so that it makes people more compliant with authority. Although Tally tries to stop the Special Circumstances from destroying the Smoke, they do anyway and capture all but Tally and David. The two mount a successful operation and return with their friends to a "Rusty Ruins" city, a city from today's world.

David's dad had died and Shay was transformed into a Pretty with lesions in her brain. David's mom has discovered a cure for the lesions, but Shay refuses to take them because they haven't been proven successful. Tally decides to risk herself to save her friend, so she decides to get the operation done and be the test. She turns herself in, and demands to be made pretty.

Characters
Tally Youngblood
The main protagonist of the trilogy. Nicknamed "Squint" because of her eyes. She has always wanted to be a Pretty before meeting Shay, but when she arrives at the Smoke, her perception changes when she realizes the truth about turning Pretty.

Shay
Eventually becomes Tally's best friend after Tally meets her on the way back from a visit in New Pretty Town. Shay is the main reason Tally became involved with the "Smokies", residents living in the Smoke. She leaves a note for Tally to enable her to find her way to the Smoke, but is captured in the end and turned into a Pretty.

David
Shay's ugly friend that lives in the Smoke. He is the son of Maddy and Az. After meeting Tally, he falls for her and together, they escape from the clutches of the authorities when they arrive at the Smoke.

Maddy
David's mother, and was once a surgeon for turning Uglies into Pretties, along with her husband, Az.

Az
David's father, and was once a surgeon for turning Uglies into Pretties. He was captured and killed during an operation led by Dr. Cable.

Croy
One of Shay's friends who lives at The Smoke.

Peris
Tally's best friend since they were littlies. Aka "Nose".

Dr. Cable
Head, or leader, of Special Circumstances.

Personal reflections
This book pretty much has the same theme as ‘The Host’. Humans are replaced by people –who, though, still look like human- who classify themselves into Uglies, Pretties, and also Specials and Extras. This book got me envying the citizens for a while. Imagine being able to be turned into someone so beautiful beyond imagination. Everyone!

But of course there’s a catch. You would have to be a stupid, pretty face, which says nothing but empty words and party all day. Of course, if you look at the situation from a realistic angle yet again, you’d notice that this would prevent any kind of disruption and disaster. And you get to be pretty.

Stories like this always have rebels, and in this case, the Smokies. The Smokies are basically, well, us. My favourite part of this story is Tally’s journey to the Smokies’ campsite. How ironic that people from the future are learning stuff from people of the past? But when Specials show up and cleared the place of Smokies, it showed the ugly –not literally, of course- side of these newborn ‘Pretties-turned-robots’.

So, people, let me ask you a question: would you rather be pretty and tame, or ugly and wild?

{Well, for me, I’d like the best of both worlds. (Kindly ignore the Hannah Montana reference.) If we humans can be pretty and wild at the same time, well, that’ll make us superhumans, ain’t it? But I guess God created us for a different purpose. He created us to overcome these boundaries and problems ourselves instead of getting what we want and take them for granted. Sure, life will be exceptionally easy, and I’m not saying I don’t want that kind of life, but then life would have no meaning, would it? Everyone lived the same life, what was the main purpose of living anyway? I don’t want this to sound like a sermon so I figure I will stop right now.}

Rating
8/10

The Time Of The Ghost

The Time of the Ghost

Author
Diana Wynne Jones

Plot summary
The book begins with the words "There's been an accident! Something's wrong!" - and something is. There is a ghost. She doesn't know who she is, or how she died, or quite where she is. All she knows is that there has been a terrible accident.

The as-yet unnamed heroine finds herself attracted to a large building, a boys boarding school, which she finds to be strangely familiar. After a little detective work, the disembodied spirit concludes that she is Sally Melford, one of a quartet of eccentric sisters (Imogen, Cart, Fenella and Sally) who live at the school and are neglected by their overworked parents, both of whom teach at the school. Their father, only known as Himself, is the headmaster, and his wife, Phyllis, is the school nurse. Both of them are constantly busy with school business, and leave their daughter to fend for themselves.

As the plot continues, evidence of time-travel begins to emerge. In the present day, the adult, university-age Sally is in a hospital, badly injured after her abusive boyfriend threw her from a speeding car. Some part of her has journeyed back seven years into the past, where, with the help of her sisters and their schoolboy friends, she must undo a rash bargain with the powerful and ancient goddess, Monigan.

The Worship of Monigan is a game that the sisters made up, in which an old rag doll supposedly represents the goddess Monigan. Although Cart, Fenella and Imogen treat it as somewhat between a belief and a game, the ghost discovers that the fourth, Sally, is romantically involved with a student at the school, the enigmatic fifth-former Julian Addiman, and both of them take the Worship of Monigan very, very seriously.

After a deal of detective work, Sally (in her ghostly form) discovers the truth. The young Sally had dedicated herself to Monigan in a midnight ritual, with the help of Julian. Monigan had taken her up on the offer, and had agreed that Sally would be hers in seven years time. The seven years are now up, and Monigan had attempted to call in the debt, in the form of the boyfriend (now revealed to be the same Julian Addiman) tossing her out of the car. However, Sally survived; and, with the help of her sisters and her childhood friends, she is determined to cheat Monigan, and take back her life, and miraculously enough, she succeeded, by holding another ritual with her other sisters and pretty reluctant Julian Addiman.

Characters
Selina (Sally) Melford
The main protagonist of the book. She is considered by her sisters as being the most sentimental. Her nickname is Semolina.

Charlotte (Cart) Melford
One of Sally's four sisters. As a teenager, she is fat and unattractive to boys, but in the future-part of the book, she has turned into a thin and beautiful young woman. She is the least emotional, and has little time for sentimentality, but she is often prone to being aggressive, particularly in the mornings.

Fenella Melford
The youngest Melford sister, Fenella is also the most eccentric. Her preferred mode of dress is a green sack, made by Cart; she has knots tied in her hair, and large buck teeth with a gap between them. She is portrayed as small and gnome like, but, like Cart, in the future-part of the book, she is very beautiful, and is training to become an opera singer.

Imogen (Imo) Melford
Imogen is the most career-oriented; she is utterly focused on her planned career as a concert pianist. She is also shown as the most attractive ("angelic") of the sisters, but in the future-part, she has turned into a drab young woman, stuck doing something she doesn't really want to do.

Julian Addiman
A fifth-former at the school, who is very good at getting his own way. He is handsome, and uses this to great effect, especially when dealing with Cart and Sally, who are both very attracted to him. However, he is controlling and abusive towards Sally, and ends up throwing her out of a speeding car.

Personal reflections
To be honest, ‘The Time of the Ghost’ is a very confusing story that often switched between timelines and venues. But the brief description behind the book was enigmatic and mysterious enough to draw me in.

This review is going to be pretty short, since I seriously cannot find much to write about this book. It was excellently written, this I will say, as all of Diana Wynne Jones’s books are. Her characters were eccentrically created, and my favourite character here has to be Fenella.

All in all, the fact that a doll could be treated as a God simply scares the beejezus outta me.

Rating
7/10

The Host

The Host

Author
Stephenie Meyer

Plot summary
Melanie "Mel" Stryder is one of the few "wild" humans - rebels who have evaded the alien souls that have taken over the Earth. With her younger brother Jamie and the man she loves, Jared Howe, Mel is on the run from aliens, called souls, who hunt down humans in order to use their bodies as hosts. Souls are creatures that rely upon host bodies to survive. After an "insertion" into a human body, they erase the human occupant and establish a claim over the body and mind. Wanderer is a soul who has lived on eight different planets previously, with Mel being her ninth host body. Upon waking inside her new body, Wanderer is shocked by the power and vividness of human emotions, memories, and senses, and quickly learns that Melanie is not willing to give up the entirety of her mind.

The Seeker, who is in charge of Melanie's body, starts to worry about Wanderer's apparent lack of control over Melanie's mind. Wanderer is bombarded with Melanie's memories and her powerful yearning for Jared and Jamie, and soon finds herself feeling strong love for Melanie's former companions. She becomes desperate to find out whether they are still alive. On a road trip to Tucson, Melanie remembers her Uncle Jeb telling her about a secret hideaway he once made, and which Jared is aware of. Wanderer sets out to find the hideaway, with a vague sketch of the path from Melanie's memories, and is found by Jeb on the verge of death. She is taken to the hideaway, a complex of caves in which a group of rebel humans live, but is treated spitefully as they consider Wanderer a parasite in Melanie's body. Many of the humans believe she should be put to death and attempts are made on her life, most notably by Kyle O'Shea, despite the protection provided her by some of the humans, including Ian, Jeb, and Jared (who experiences powerful, conflicting emotions towards his alien-possessed lover). Over time, Wanderer, now becoming known as "Wanda", becomes a part of the group's routine by working, eating, and becoming an unofficial history teacher by telling stories after evening meals about her experiences in former hosts on other planets occupied by the souls. During this time, Ian, Jamie, and many other humans befriend Wanda. The Seeker, still not convinced that Wanderer was killed in the desert, returns in a helicopter, but is unable to find the caves. Kyle tries to kill Wanda by throwing her into a boiling hot, underground river. Due to Wanderer's vigorous defense, he is unsuccessful and is about to fall into the river himself when his intended victim saves him. A tribunal is held and it is decided that Kyle is allowed to stay, though many of Wanda's friends are upset about this decision, particularly Ian, who believes that Kyle deserves to die after his plot to kill Wanda. Meanwhile, Ian begins to fall in love with Wanda. After discovering this, she is confused with her own feelings since she has been deeply infected by Mel's love for Jared.

The humans realize that Wanda can be of use to them as a raider, because she is trusted by other souls. Following a raid in which the Seeker is caught, Wanda decides to reveal her biggest secret: how to remove a soul without killing either the human or the soul, a procedure that Doc had been attempting unsuccessfully. She promises to teach Doc under two conditions: first, they must send the souls to new planets without harming them, and second, Doc must remove Wanda's soul from Melanie's body and bury Wanda, because "she does not want to be a parasite any longer". Wanda successfully removes The Seeker and sends her to another planet, and the body the Seeker was in is revived. Wanda then teaches Doc how to take out the souls himself.

Ian is enraged at the idea of Wanda ending her life so that Jared can have Melanie back. He forcibly takes her to his cave, where she realizes that she loves him, but sneaks away from him after he falls asleep. She has Doc remove her from Melanie's body, believing that she will die thereafter, according to their agreement. However, she awakens in a new human body whose original owner was possessed as an infant and therefore has no suppressed human personality, and it is revealed that Jared and Ian forcibly prevented Doc from carrying out the agreement and that most of the humans want her to stay as one of them. The book ends with the rebels discovering another group of humans who also have a soul among them. This discovery suggests that humanity and souls together may still have hope for the future.

The worlds mentioned in the book are the Vulture World, the Dragon Planet, the Summer World, the planet of the Flowers, the Singing World (Bats), the Spiders, the Fire World, the world of the See Weeds, the Dolphins, the Mists Planet, the Bear World, the Origin, and of course, Earth.

Characters
Wanderer/Wanda
Wanderer is the invading soul that inhabits Melanie Stryder's body. She received her name due to the number of planets she has lived in, having never settled on one she truly liked. She is later nicknamed "Wanda" by Mel's Uncle Jeb and her brother, Jamie. Like all souls, she is naturally inclined to do good and is disgusted by violence. She feels incredibly guilty about the unrest her presence causes amongst Melanie's loved ones, and throughout the book she puts others before herself. She feels an initial affection for Jared, Melanie's lover, and Jamie, Mel's little brother, due to the memories she was fed by her host, and eventually develops her own relationship with both of them. She also grows to love her host, Mel, like a sister, and, when Mel appears to have disappeared from the body they both inhabit, is incredibly upset by her apparent disappearance. She eventually forces Mel to reawaken and promises to give her back the control of her body. She falls in love with Ian O'Shea and feels guilty that she was unable to reciprocate his feelings earlier. Wanderer is around a thousand years old and looks like other souls—a luminous, silvery, "living ribbon" entity—but because she inhabits Melanie Stryder, she bears all of Mel's physical characteristics. Later in the book she is implanted in the body of another girl, who is petite and delicate with golden hair, freckled skin, silver eyes, and a dimple in her chin, formerly named Pet. In that body she cannot do much for herself, in the book saying she was always given the easiest jobs but half the time having the work pulled out of her hands anyway.

Melanie "Mel" Stryder
Melanie is a 20-year-old human who managed to escape capture by the invading souls for years, living on the run. Eventually she is captured, and a soul known as Wanderer is implanted in Mel's body. Mel continues to fight after Wanderer is implanted in her body, speaking to Wanderer and feeding her memories of the people she loves in hopes that Wanderer will one day lead her back to them. Mel likes the feeling of being physically strong and berates Wanderer for neglecting to keep her that way. She has a temper and may be considered volatile compared to docile Wanderer. Melanie is passionately in love with another human, Jared Howe, and shares a strong mother-like bond with her younger brother, Jamie. She grows to care for Wanderer deeply as a sister, as well. Melanie is described as pretty, tall and athletic, having naturally tan skin, long dark brown hair, and hazel eyes.

Ian O'Shea
One of the rebel humans, his prejudice against the souls had driven him to a point in time when he had almost killed Wanda. He had a change of heart when he and Jared had discussed the Seeker. One of the first characters to also see through his hate of Souls. He believes that she is an innocent girl who does not deserve to be punished because she inhabits Melanie's body. Ian O'Shea is one among the humans to treat Wanda with anything but hostility. He eventually falls in love with Wanda and is shown to be extremely devoted to her. Ian does not get along well with Jared Howe, due partially to Wanda's affection for Jared, partially because of jealousy over Wanda and Melanie, and partially because Jared was cruel to Wanda at the beginning of the book. Ian is the only person who understands how Wanda thinks, and feels responsible for her since she is so self-sacrificing. He is very protective of Wanda. Ian is described by Wanda as being "kind enough to be a soul but strong as only a human could be", He is described as beautiful, having pale skin, black hair, and striking dark blue eyes. He is also described as being very tall, muscular, and strong.

Kyle O'Shea
Ian's very stubborn brother. During most of the book, he holds a fierce hatred for Wanda and tries to kill her. He is described as looking almost exactly like Ian, and can also sound like him when he is calm. He had a girlfriend named Jodi who was caught and implanted, and he tries to rescue her by removing the soul from her brain. Jodi does not regain consciousness, and so he replaces the very innocent soul named Sunny (Sunlight Passing through the ice) who has grown to love Kyle through Jodi's memories. Kyle is also described as being very tall and strong and muscular.

Jared Howe
Jared is Melanie Stryder's lover. Circumstances always improve for the rebel humans he runs into, due to his great skill. He is seen as loving and somewhat excitable in Melanie's memories, though the loss of her renders him very bitter. He bears a grudge against Wanda, treats her cruelly, and is unable to empathize with her for most of the book. He eventually develops a closer relationship with her in addition to his extreme devotion to Melanie. He is somewhat of a rival to Ian O'Shea, because Ian sees Jared as a competition for Wanda's affections. He is described as physically beautiful, with tan skin, sienna-colored eyes, and sun-bleached hair.

Jamie Stryder
Jamie is Melanie's younger brother and is 14 years old when he first meets Wanda. He develops a relationship with Wanda due to her closeness to his sister and eventually, he develops a strong brotherly bond with Wanda herself. He considers Wanda "angelic" and enjoys her stories about other planets. He is very close to Jared, though their relationship becomes tense due to Jared's cruel treatment of Wanda. Jamie is shown to want to be treated like a man and when he falls ill he is uncomfortable with the coddling he receives and yearns to go on raids with Jared and the other men. He is described as being the only person not to have difficulty with Wanda's transfer into a new body, possibly always seeing Mel and Wanda as two distinct beings due to his very open mind. Jamie is described as having shaggy black curls, warm chocolate brown eyes, and sun-browned skin.

Uncle Jeb
Jebediah "Jeb" is Melanie's eccentric uncle. He was one of the first humans to suspect an alien invasion, and thus constructed an elaborate hide-out in caves beneath the Arizona desert. Mel and Wanda believe that he's "crazy like a fox". He believes that Wanda can fit in with the humans, and therefore puts both her and the others in very uncomfortable social situations. However, he remains convinced that no one will hurt Wanda due to his habit of strolling around with a gun and warning others that they are in "his house, his rules". Despite his flighty demeanor, he seems to have a handle on everything in the caves and tends to give very good advice. He is described as having a wild beard and eyes the colour of faded blue jeans.

Doc
A tall, slim human rebel that has medical training and serves as the rebels' doctor. He is shown to be compassionate and emotional, though he initially makes Wanda uncomfortable as he seems to view her as more of a science experiment than a person. Eventually he and Wanda become friends and he stands up for her against others multiple times. He has alcohol problems and often gets drunk to drown his sorrow when he fails at a medical task. He has a shaky relationship with Melanie's cousin Sharon; though the issues are not specified, they appear to resolve them at the end of the book. His real name is Eustace.

The Seeker
One of the invading souls. Melanie and Wanda's relationship is initially based on their hate for the Seeker, who is described as being irritable for the usually gentle souls. She mocks Wanda for not being able to completely drive out Melanie's spirit. It is later revealed that this is because of her insecurity at not being able to fully drive out the spirit of her body's former tenant, similar to Wanda's predicament. When her invading soul is driven out, the host body remembers her name - Lacey.

Magnolia "Maggie"
Jeb's sister and Sharon's mother. She shows extreme hatred towards Wanda and never accepts her. Sharon follows her mother's lead. When Wanda is reborn in Pet's body, Maggie cannot maintain her former rigidity around Wanda, but still shows signs of dislike.

Sharon
Jeb's niece, Maggie's daughter, and Melanie's cousin. Like her mother, she shows much hatred towards Wanda. Her hate drove her to the point where she could not be happy for Jamie's healing and pounced at Jared for leading Wanda outside the caves. Her feelings toward Wanda soften the slightest amount when Wanda is reborn in Pet's body, because of the body's beauty. Sharon has a shaky relationship with Doc, after Maggie set both of them up together.

Personal reflections
‘The Host’ is a completely different genre from the Twilight series, which shot Stephenie Meyer to fame. To be honest, I think The Host is better written than the Twilight saga, but it might be my biased after listening to so many critics taking a hard turn on Bella Swan and the Cullens. But, I must admit, The Host takes on a clever spin involving Armageddon and war without being too predictable. The portrayers were well written, and the story line (quite flawless). The Host is one of my favourite books of all time.

The part when Stephenie Meyer wrote about Wanderer being pursued by the Seeker reminded me of how much these ‘aliens’ were more prisoners than inhabitants of Earth. Then, when she was accepted into the human hideout in Tucson, the way Wanderer was treated by Jared and the rest reminded me of how inhumane we humans can be sometimes. So the whole conclusion I can put here is, I can see why the aliens think it better for them to rule Earth. These souls are way tamer and more virtuous than humans will ever be. There won’t be war or controversies or strikes or anything that causes pain and misery. If you look at the situation from a different, unbiased perception, the souls’ arrival could very well save Mother Earth.

That’s how Stephenie Meyer’s writing made me ponder.

The initial animosity towards Wanda by the humans in the shelter clearly proved my point. Some would even go as far as to murder a person, or at least, someone they consider a ‘parasite’. Another thing that surprised me was Wanda’s friendship with Melanie eventually. Their friendship exceeded all boundaries and broke all rules, but they were steady friends nonetheless, and I actually quite like how they had had their own inner arguments sometimes, especially when it came to Jared and Ian.

The part of the story towards the ending was actually quite sad, like all sacrifices are. Just when Wanda was starting to feel comfortable among these humans, she realised she was just an add-on to the community, and a particularly troublemaker, especially since she left quite a disaster in her wake following her arrival. I admit, I cried at the time. Well, at least I wasn’t the only one. It was touching that Wanda wanted to sacrifice herself after showing Doc the secret to removing a soul from one’s body.

Fortunately, though, there was Jared and Ian who prevented that from happening. Also, these showed something that the souls do not have –passion and determination. Well, humans can be silly and crazy in some ways, but when they are good, they do good better than the souls do.

In the end, Stephenie Meyer wrote that there still might be hope for peace between humans and souls. I was immensely glad to hear that, and truly believed –and hoped for- it.

Rating
9/10

Dark Visions

Dark Visions

Author
LJ Smith

Plot summary
First Book: The Strange Power
Kaitlyn Fairchild is an average high school student –with extraordinary abilities. Somehow, she is able to draw a scene of the future unconsciously, but she never seems to understand what meaning her drawings hold. Until one day, a woman named Joyce Piper arrived at her school and explained that Kaitlyn has special powers and she is among the few who are selected to attend a school called Zetes Institute, a laboratory founded for seniors with psychic potential. That was what Joyce described Kaitlyn as –psychic. At the Institute, Kaitlyn meets Anna Eva Whiteraven, who turns out to be Kaitlyn’s roommate. Later on, she meets the rest of her housemates, Lewis Chao, Gabriel Wolfe and Rob Kessler. Each of them has their own psychic powers, and Kaitlyn finds herself in an environment she would have never dreamt of being in. She gets along well with Lewis and Anna and even develops a crush on Rob, but Gabriel has always remained a mystery to all of them. Every day, the five teenagers undergo tests for their psychic ‘powers’, and Kaitlyn feels pressured when she cannot get her bearings right.

One day, Kaitlyn overheard Gabriel talking to Mr. Zetes, the owner and founder of Zetes Institute that Mr. Zetes was offering Gabriel a high status if he agreed to work with him. Out of curiosity, Kaitlyn followed them to Mr. Zetes’s house, and in the end, the two of them ended up imprisoned when they found out Mr. Zetes was trying to use Kaitlyn, Gabriel, Rob, Anna and Lewis for his own advantage. However, Rob, Anna, Lewis and Joyce arrive just in time to rescue them. Rob, upon his arrival, finally seems to have discovered love and recognizes his feelings for Kait. Gabriel awakens from a pain-induced unconscious state and is now able to link minds with others and knocks Mr. Zetes, his brutal attack dogs, and Joyce –who is actually as cruel as Mr. Zetes- unconscious. The group escapes and they all contribute some of their own life energy to help strengthen Gabriel (who was severely weakened from his exposure to the crystal –a crystal owned by Mr. Zetes who could intensify and harm one’s powers at the same time- and his attack on Mr. Zetes and Joyce). In the end, the five of them makes a decision to go on a search for this one man Kait met before who they believed could help them unlink their minds.

Book Two: The Possessed
The second novel of the trilogy is essentially a journey to an unknown place that the group has dreamt about. Some analysts have believed the place to have been Marestmontiers, in France. They believe that this place will be able to help them find a way to break their telepathic web and fight Mr. Zetes. They manage to get a van and supplies from Marisol's brother, who is upset and suspicious that Mr. Zetes is the cause of his sister's mysterious coma. (Marisol used to be Mr. Zetes’s assistant before she slipped into a coma.) For his help, they tell him they will do whatever in their power to get Marisol out of her coma. The group begins to travel north searching for this place with only clues from their dreams. Meanwhile, Gabriel has discovered he needs excessive energy ever since his exposure to the evil crystal, and Kaitlyn, having acknowledged that, was more than willing to help her friend by offering her life energy, and soon enough, Gabriel turns into a life-sucking vampire, and the both of them meet at their own rendezvous every night without the others knowing. Mr. Zetes sets a trap for the five teenagers, causing Kait to crash their van and forces the group to hitchhike their way to Anna's family home in Washington State to get help. They are picked up by a girl named Lydia who appears to be harmless. However, Kait feels suspicious of Lydia without knowing why. Once they arrive at Anna's family home, Anna's parents assume that Lydia is one of the psychics', and invite her to stay the night, however during the night, Kait receives a drawing telling them that Lydia is with the institute. Lydia confesses that she is the daughter of Mr. Zetes, and glowers about it. A few days later they find the white house they have been searching all along which inhabits the people Kaitlyn believes can help them. There, they meet the Fellowship of the Crystal, who owns the oldest pure crystal since a few centuries ago. However, Kait finds out one night that Gabriel and Lydia had ran away, and the next day, an attack is launched on them and the Fellowship, and Timon, the leader of the Fellowship dies. Kaitlyn reckons it is the work of Gabriel that led to this betrayal.

Book Three: The Passion
Kaitlyn, Lewis, Rob and Anna are on the run ever since the Fellowship has been attacked by what Kaitlyn suspects as the psychics at the Zetes Institute. It is confirmed that Gabriel has joined Mr. Zetes but he finds that he still has feelings for Kait. Gabriel tries to attack Kaitlyn and the others one night in Marisol’s brother’s house where they are currently staying to steal the shard of crystal the Fellowship has given them to destroy Mr. Zetes evil crystal. On her own, she tries to infiltrate the Institute without the others’ knowing. She finds Gabriel outside the Institute and convinces him that she has left Rob for good and wants to stay with Gabriel. Caught up in his infatuation with Kait, Gabriel believes her and brings her to the Institute, where she meets the new psychics that Mr. Zetes has rounded up in the previous experiments for the project "Black Lightning", project which he plans to use the psychics as a strike team. Kaitlyn is horrified at the cruelty and brutality of the ‘crazy’ psychics, and has a hard time trying to conceal her true motives for returning –destroying Mr. Zetes’s crystal. However, one of the psychics , Frost, discovers Kaitlyn’s true motive in the end, and she is held in a customized isolation tank which Mr. Zetes and the other psychics hope will drive her insane (obviously forgetting that Gabriel has a psychic mind link with her).

Gabriel is horrified and reaches out for her when the other psychics are not with him, and helps her through the time in the tank, where they both confess their true feelings for each other. The other psychics in the mind link with Kait and Gabriel –Rob, Lewis and Anna- plan to attack the Institute and destroy the crystal which has driven the five evil psychics on Mr Zetes’s side insane. They succeed, and at the time when the crystal is destroyed, Mr. Zetes is killed. After that, Rob realises Gabriel has feelings for Kaitlyn that overwhelms his own affection for her and gives his blessing, even though Kaitlyn is in love with the both of them. Kaitlyn and Gabriel want to lead a normal life after all these events, whereas Anna and Rob decides to return to the white house to live in peace. Lewis has fallen for Lydia and wants to build a future together. The ending of the story is pictured as the five of them, Kaitlyn, Rob, Gabriel, Lewis and Anna, takes a group photo with Joyce –who has returned to her roots- Marisol and Lydia. And all is well.

Characters
Kaitlyn Fairchild
Kaitlyn Brady Fairchild, known as Kait, is the 17 year old protagonist of the series. Her psychic talent is that she (usually subconsciously) creates drawings that are premonitions. Her inability to understand her drawings until it was too late for her to save the situation drives her to attend the Zetes Institute. Her psychic powers and strange appearance (blue eyes with dark rings and flaming red hair) make her different and disliked by her fellow classmates in Ohio. Because of this, she is strong-willed, stubborn, and defensive and dislikes boys in the beginning of the series. As she moves to San Carlos, CA and joins the Institute, she begins to soften and forms a steady friendship with the other inhabitants there.

Kaitlyn's Group
• Rob Kessler –
Rob (also seventeen) is a North Carolina native and another attendee of the Zetes Institute. His power is the ability to heal by manipulating life energy (also described as chi or "qi"). He discovered these powers after a hang-gliding accident when he was fourteen, which left him in a coma for some time. He then attended another psychic research facility in Durham, NC, where he originally met Gabriel Wolfe. The accident also seems to have taken away Rob's awareness of his reacting hormones, and at the start of the trilogy, he is unable to conceive of anything beyond a platonic relationship with a girl. However, by the end of The Strange Power, he and Kait are romantically linked.

• Gabriel Wolfe –
Gabriel (also seventeen) is the ambiguous character that eventually joins the light side. He comes to the Zetes Institute from jail, having previously killed someone by accident and in self defence. He is a telepath, and when he uses his power on minds that are weaker than his, he drains those people of their life energy. His power is described as the most powerful of the group. He is antagonistic towards Rob and is indifferent to the others in the group, besides Kait. As the series progresses, Kait's romantic feelings gradually shift from Rob to Gabriel. Gabriel also has romantic interest in Kait but tries to deny it.

• Anna Eva Whiteraven –
Hailing from Washington State, Anna (also seventeen) is the only other girl at the Zetes Institute. She is Native American and a very peaceful and calm girl who becomes Kait's roommate at the Institute. Her psychic abilities allow her to communicate with animals. Eventually she becomes the love interest for Rob, at the very end of the series.

• Lewis Chao –
Lewis (also seventeen) is from San Francisco and is the last of the group at the Zetes Institute. He is Asian-American and described to be very friendly and funny. He has the ability of psychokinesis, the ability to move (small) objects with his mind; later he uses his abilities to jam radio frequencies, set off telephones, even open hidden doors. He is Rob's roommate at the Institute.

Zetes Institute
• Emmanuel Zetes –
Mr. Zetes is the villain of the story. He is very wealthy and found the Zetes Institute for research on psychic phenomena. However, it is revealed that the Institute is actually preparing psychics to perform as a special for-hire task force for criminal activities. He is the owner of the "firestone" or "great crystal", which can store and enhance psychic energy.

• Joyce Piper –
Joyce is the parapsychologist at the Zetes Institute. At first, she is very friendly and earnest. However, it is revealed at the end of The Strange Power that she is in on a plot to use the psychics for crime.

• Marisol Diaz –
Marisol is an assistant at the Institute and helps Joyce run experiments as well as perform household duties. Marisol worked for the Zetes Foundation before Joyce and was involved in the mysterious pilot experiment that took place before Kait and her fellow psychics arrived. Earlier on, Marisol tries to warn Kait about strange happenings at the Institute and ends up in a coma for most of the series due to Mr. Zetes’s interference.

• Lydia Zetes –
Lydia is the eighteen-year-old daughter of Mr. Zetes. She is sent as a spy into Kait's group in The Possessed and eventually joins, then betrays the group. She is timid and afraid of her father and the dark psychics, but eventually helps Kait in the end.

• The Dark Psychics –
These are the psychics that participated in the pilot experiment that preceded Kait and the other's arrival. They were the best young psychics in the San Francisco area, but their powers proved to be insufficient to withstand contact with Mr. Zetes' crystal. They are described as having been reduced to "insanity and idiocy." However, once Kait's group leaves the Institute, Mr. Zetes gathers these psychics to find the group and destroy the Fellowship. Because of their use of the crystal, they are psychic vampires and need an outside source of life energy (from other people or from the crystal) to survive. The dark psychics include:

-Sabrina Jessica Gallo (also known as Bri) –
Her psychic power is dowsing, or being able to locate something from afar. She joins Kait's group in the end.

-Laurie Frost (known as Frost) –
Her psychic ability is psychometry, or being able to determine someone's thoughts and feelings by touch. She has an antagonistic relationship with Kait, partially because of her romantic relationship with Gabriel.

-Paul Renfew (known as Renny) –
Like Lewis, he has psychokinesis and can move objects with his mind. He also joins Kait's group in the end.

-John MacCorndale (known as Jackal Mac) –
He has the ability to perform astral projection of his own body and to lead others. He is also antagonistic towards Kait and tries to take life energy from her at one point.

-Sasha and Parté King (real names unknown) –
These two psychics lost their minds because of the crystal. Their powers become very strong, but they are no longer aware or human-like. Mr. Zetes uses them as guards of the crystal.

The Fellowship
The Fellowship is the remaining members of an ancient race of psychics that lived before recorded human history. These members were able to predict the fall of this civilization and went to live in peace and simplicity in Canada. Their civilization used crystals, but unlike the crystal of Mr. Zetes, these crystals were pure and produced no bad side effects. These members have the last remaining pure crystal and are able to live hundreds of years, with the energy of the crystal sustaining them. They are pacifists and invite Kait and the others to live with them and hide from Mr. Zetes.

Members of the Fellowship include:
• LeShan –
LeShan is the member of the Fellowship that makes contact with Kait and tries to warn her of the dangers at the Zetes Institute. He is one of the younger members and is less set in the traditional ways of the Fellowship.

• Timon –
He is one of the oldest members of the Fellowship and a default leader. He is resistant to change at first, but once he senses the evilness of the dark psychics, he realizes that some battles must be fought.

• Mereniang –
Another leader of the Fellowship (though she defers to Timon). She is the most set in the traditional ways of the Fellowship.

• Tamsin –
One of the youngest members of the Fellowship. Her relative youth allows her to leave the protection of the crystal. She is sent as a messenger at times.

Personal reflections
First off, I want to say that LJ Smith excels in the fantasy/vampire flicks genre. Every story of hers bring a fresh new idea that manage to surprise me every time I pick up one of her masterpieces, Dark Visions being one of them.

Before I continue, I’d like to show a picture that I pieced together to show my first impressions of the main characters in this book.

(Just in case you want to know, Kaitlyn- Shenae Grimes; Gabriel- Ed Westwick; Rob- Chace Crawford; Anna- Kat Dennings; Lewis- Penn Badgley. Yes, Gossip Girl & 90210 casts, I’m well aware of that. /shifty.)

Anyway, Dark Visions is the type of book that you find hard to put down, especially three chapters into it. LJ Smith’s main characters are mainly Mary-Sues, in a way, almost perfect in everything effortlessly, but they still provide a good read. It’s stories like these that make me go gaga over their teenage love stories, but in the first section of the book, The Strange Power, it was weird how easily Rob and Kaitlyn seemed to sort of, clicked. It seemed sort of clichéd, how Mary-Sue Kaitlyn was and Larry-Stu Rob was. That was the first book.

The second book, however, started to branch out into various places, setting the group out on a journey to search for people they don’t even know exist or not. This section, I must say, is the best book among the trilogy. Even though it seemed highly unlikely for them to sneak into Canada so easily, LJ Smith’s writings are designed for younger children to overlook the more trivial matters and follow the heroes and heroines journey in search of something special. Well, in this case, it was magical people. Nevertheless, one of the things I love about The Possessed is how LJ Smith managed to fill up a book based only on their journey. It was also in this book that Kaitlyn realised Gabriel’s feelings for her.

The Passion was quite predictable, once you’ve finished the first two books. Of course Kaitlyn would try to play the heroic act and be the mole in the Institute, and of course Gabriel would believe her and fall for her. The climax in the end, though was amazing. LJ Smith provided the most appropriate ending for this book, a group photo that suggested everyone’s life would be perfect onwards, and Rob would even get over his break up with Kait so easily with Anna by his side. Yes, that was extremely clichéd too.

But the whole clichéd plot didn’t stop me from loving this book, though.

Rating
9/10

My Sister's Keeper

My Sister's Keeper

Author
Jodi Picoult

Plot summary
My Sister's Keeper is about Anna Fitzgerald, a 13-year-old girl who enlists the help of an attorney, Campbell Alexander, to sue her parents for the rights to her body. Kate, Anna's older sister, suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Anna was conceived through in vitro fertilization to be a donor who could save Kate's life. Her parents initially use Anna's umbilical cord blood to treat Kate, and continue to use Anna as a donor for other bodily substances as Kate cycles through remission and relapse over the years. Anna eventually petitions for medical emancipation so that she will be able to make her own decision concerning donating a kidney to Kate, who is experiencing renal failure. Sara, her mother, is an ex-lawyer and decides to represent herself and her husband in the lawsuit. She continually attempts to convince Anna to drop the suit, but Anna refuses.

The guardian ad litem assigned to Anna as her representative is Julia Romano, an old girlfriend of Campbell's. Julia and Campbell met at a private high school, where she was a scholarship student from a poor background and he was a rich kid. They fell in love and enjoyed a relationship until Campbell broke up with her at graduation. Julia never knew the reason but felt it was because of her social class. Although they try to conduct court business professionally, their attraction to one another is apparent. Feeling abandoned again, Julia is frustrated with her relationship with Campbell. He also has a service dog whose purpose he keeps a secret. However, when Campbell has a seizure during Anna's testimony, the purpose of the dog is revealed: he is a seizure dog. Julia then learns that Campbell developed epilepsy after getting into a car accident before their graduation, and broke up with her because he did not want to be a burden. Julia supports him, and they reunite. They eventually marry.

During the trial, Campbell and Sara bring in their witnesses and battle over whether Anna is mature enough for medical emancipation. Julia, who is supposed to deliver a report about who she thinks should win the case, is undecided. While on the witness stand, Anna reveals that Kate told her that she did not want Anna to go through with the transplant, which is why she filed the lawsuit. The judge rules in favor of Anna, and gives Campbell medical power of attorney to help her make any medical decisions until she turns 18.

Soon after being medically emancipated from her parents, Anna is involved in a car accident and left brain dead. With Campbell's permission, her kidneys and other organs are donated to Kate and other patients who might need them. As the book closes, a number of years have passed since Anna's death. Kate explains that she thinks she has survived for so long because someone had to die, and Anna took her place. Whenever she begins to forget her sister, she looks at the scar from her kidney transplant and feels that Anna is with her wherever she goes.

Characters
Anna Fitzgerald
Anna is a 13 year old teenager who is conceived for the purpose of keeping her sick sister alive by donating necessary organs by multiple operations. Eventually, her sister, Kate, asks her to file a lawsuit against donating any of her body parts so that Kate wouldn’t have to go on living in such suffering conditions. Anna is caught between Kate’s order and her parents’ decisions, but won her lawsuit in the end. Sadly, she died just after returning from court and is forever remembered in the memories of her family even after dragging them into so much trouble by suing her parents.

Sara Fitzgerald
Sara is mother to three children, Anna, Kate and Jesse Fitzgerald and wife to Brian Fitzgerald. She is described as a committed mother, but pays more attention to her sick daughter than the rest of her children. She often describes herself as ‘a poor lawyer but a good mother’, but her view is challenged when she has to face Anna’s lawsuit against her and her husband. She demands it ridiculous because she had the idea Anna would do anything to keep Kate alive, like she herself would. She was furious at Anna at first, but realized she still loved her daughter no matter what and was heartbroken when Anna died even though Kate was saved.

Kate Fitzgerald
Kate was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia at the age of two and had been in constant remission and relapse ever since. She was tough battling her disease, but realized she didn’t want to keep on fighting anymore so she asks her sister not to donate her kidney to her. However, Anna dies and Kate is saved, and she feels like she is carrying her very own piece of Anna within her wherever she goes.

Brian Fitzgerald
Husband to Sara Fitzgerald, Brian, too, is torn between her two daughters, but comes to support Anna in the end, and takes her away to live with him temporarily in the fire station where he works. He was the one who extracted Anna from the accident site.

Jesse Fitzgerald
Son to Sara and Brian, Jesse was more than often neglected by his family due to Kate’s disease. Things got worse after Anna filed the lawsuit, and he began to conduct all sorts of juvenal crimes such as smoking pot and arson. Later, he was caught doing arson by his father, who was a fireman.

Campbell Alexander
Campbell is a lawyer who Anna goes to find while filing her lawsuit. He has a dog named Judge who is a service dog, protecting him against epileptic seizures, a disease he had contracted long ago without telling anyone. It was also the main reason he broke up with Julia Romano, his high school sweetheart. Anna believes he took her lawsuit because he was alike her in some ways, one of them being him unable to control over his own body. Was appointed Anna’s medical guardian and involved in the same accident as Anna but survived in the end.

Julia Romano
Julia served as Anna’a guardian ad litem, and was involved in a relationship with Campbell Alexander before. Has a twin sister named Izzy.

Taylor Ambrose
A male teenager who is also diagnosed with leukemia, he meets Kate in the hospital and the two of them became lovebirds immediately. However, Taylor died unexpectedly one morning, causing Kate heart-wrenching sadness.

Personal reflections
This book touched me in many ways, including controversies concerning Anna’s case and severe family ties. It had made me wonder, too, whether Sara or Anna was doing the right thing here. In some ways, I can relate to Anna, a teenager who wants freedom and her own will over her own decisions. However, as a mother, Sara also wants Kate to live, and the only way to do so is to sacrifice her other daughter’s contentment, a way that won’t cost her life, but cause pain and misery to a young child. It is still an argument I have yet to reach its verdict, and this proves how stellar Jodi Picoult writes her masterpieces.

However, it shocked me thoroughly when Anna announced that it was Kate’s decision that Anna didn’t donate a kidney to her. It made me take my eyes off Anna, who was supposedly the main character of the novel, and focus it on Kate instead. Due to the fact that Jodi Picoult didn’t display Kate’s point of view like all the other characters until the very end of the novel, I had never really paid much attention to Kate throughout the book, except treat her as a background drop with a severe disease that had caused all these problems in the first place. But then it occurred to me that Anna wasn’t the only child in the family who was facing gigantic problems, and Kate was suffering just as much too. Heck, even Jesse was neglected by his parents. It can be said that the Fitzgeralds are one screwed-up family.

Having to suffer such a terrible disease at such a young age, and watch her loved ones –like Taylor- leave Kate all of a sudden, made me feel bad. Sympathetic, sure, but also a gut-wrenching sickness that told me life wasn’t fair. How many times had Kate had to watch her own parents waging war against her own sister and blame herself endlessly for the situation they were in? In my opinion, Kate Fitzgerald suffered the most in this novel, not only because of her sickness, but also because of she had to go through by watching her family progress around her, wondering when she would drop dead anytime.

However, I was astonished when Anna died at the end. Well, not exactly, since a friend of mine blurted a spoiler that Anna had passed away earlier on. In fact, the ending was totally different from the one showed in the movie, one that played Kate’s demise. It was such sheer misfortune that Anna had to die right after winning her case. What Kate said in the final chapter got me thinking: only one person had to die, and Anna replaced me. However superstitious that may seem to me, it was also true in some ways.

Verdict? Jodi Picoult is excellent in writing sentimental pieces like this, but just as an extra spoiler, don’t pick up another Picoult book after reading one of hers, because ten pages into a new book might make you bored already, as the contents of every single book she writes are more or less the same.

Rating
9/10