The Mayan Prophecy

Title: The Mayan Prophecy (TimeRiders #8)
Author: Alex Scarrow
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: 4/5
Cover: 7/10

A little bit of a confusing start (my own fault for insisting on starting a series on book 8), but all that was quickly forgotten when the story took off. And boy, did it take off.

Hidden messages in the holy grail are only the tip of the iceberg of awesome that was this book. The whole 'Windrunners' thing created such a knot in my head, that I didn't even see the next twist coming. The switching between narrators, far from making it even more complicated, only added to the book, and allowed me to understand a bit more of what was going on, and why.

Adam's character intrigued me, and I have a feeling, considering his involvement, that this isn't the last we'll hear of him, which I'm happy about. Maybe it's just because he was the newest character to the series, but I really liked him and his personality.

And wow... that ending! Chilling (in the best way possible).

Definitely worth a read! (though I'd start with book 1, which I have already bought...)

The 5th Wave

Title: The 5th Wave

Author: Rick Yancey

Genre: Dystopia

Rating: 5/5

Cover: 8/10

Oh, my. Not so long ago, I was asking myself where were all the fabulous books this year. Well, here's one of them.

This book is described like a good read for people who liked Hunger Games. And, yeah, sure, it's dystopia, and it's dangerous, and kids fighting, but wow. Don'y scoff at it because you think 'been there done that'. No. Trust me. You haven't. There is nothing like this book out there. Nothing. It has the best characteristics of Hunger Games, and then a heap of its' own wonderful traits. Joined together to make a simply fabulous book. It literally had me on the edge of my seat throughout the book, always trying to guess what was going to happen next, or what was happening then to the other characters.

Because that's part of the book's charm: it has multiple narrators. And while the first switch might come as a bit of a shock, by the end of the book, you can guess in the first paragraph which character is narrating. The switching narrators gave the book an entirely different feeling; more embodied, more full; something that wouldn't have been possible if the story had been told only from one person's POV, so the changing really does add that extra edge to the plot.

I really liked Cassie's fresh voice. Reading her thoughts, it many times made me laugh, because what she says and what she thinks are so in tune with what we adolescents think and say now, that the contrast it creates is just... it's mind-boggling. Cassie's world is destroyed and in ashes. And yet she comes out with some snarky comments that you could hear if you went out for a stroll in the street, and that's just great, because it reminds us that even though her situation is very different from ours, she's still just a teenage girl trying to make sense of a mad world.

Definitely read it. Though, word of warning for fans of future-based dystopia: this isn't in the future. It's very much based in the present world, only their world has alines. There is no special tech, no floaty cars or anything like that. Just your average BMWs, guns and good old-fashioned punches.