Review: Spare And Found Parts

Read if you like: sci-fi without the heavy world building, quiet stories of love and courage, books where the friendships and family stand out.

Spare And Found Parts | Sarah Maria Griffin

Genre: YA Science Fiction
Released: October 4th 2016
Pages: 384
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

Nell Crane has always been an outsider. In a city devastated by an epidemic, where survivors are all missing parts—an arm, a leg, an eye—her father is the famed scientist who created the biomechanical limbs everyone now uses. But Nell is the only one whose mechanical piece is on the inside: her heart. Since the childhood operation, she has ticked. Like a clock, like a bomb. As her community rebuilds, everyone is expected to contribute to the society’s good . . . but how can Nell live up to her father’s revolutionary idea when she has none of her own?

Then she finds a mannequin hand while salvaging on the beach—the first boy’s hand she’s ever held—and inspiration strikes. Can Nell build her own companion in a world that fears advanced technology? The deeper she sinks into this plan, the more she learns about her city—and her father, who is hiding secret experiments of his own. 

This was sweet. I never had a huge I'm-in-love-with-this moment but there were lots of things I liked. I like the post-technology world and the fear around even mention of the internet - this was really interesting. The world stood out, but the writing and world building itself is so subtle and well done. Sci-fi for people who hate heavy writing. I really like the characters too, and I'm pretty sure Nell is bi and ace? Or I read her that way at least. There's no romance for folks who prefer their books that way, too. I admit I really loved Oliver though, and I want him to be happy so badly (sequel pls?) Artificial intelligence came out of nowhere but it just worked. The whole story worked, from character to friendships to family issues and secrets. A really good book.

3.5 stars

Review: The Changer's Key

A Riddle in Ruby: The Changer's Key | Kent Davis

Published by: Greenwillow Books, September 27th 2016

Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy

Pages: 384

Format: Ebook

Source: Greenwillow Books, via Edelweiss

The second book in the fantasy-adventure trilogy. In an alternate colonial America, young thief Ruby Teach trains to become the greatest weapon in the coming war.

To save her friends and family, apprentice thief Ruby Teach bargained with the man who chased her across the sea and through an alternate version of colonial Philadelphia. Now she’s training to become a soldier in the war he foresees and being experimented on by the army’s scientists. Ruby’s blood holds a secret, if only someone can unlock it.

Meanwhile, Captain Teach and Ruby’s friends—a motley crew made up of a young aristocrat, a servant, an alchemist, and mysterious woodswoman—are racing against time to find and liberate Ruby.

Kent Davis’s imagining of a colonial America powered by alchemy is fascinating and wholly original. The heroes are swept through cities and unsettled territories with imagination, humor, and magic.

I remember really liking the first book, but I just did connect with this at all. The Ruby plot, I liked but I didn't really care about it, and the other plot didn't interest me at all. But I still like Athena a whole lot, and kinda wish the book was all from her POV. By the end of this, I was just reading so I could finish it, and I'm not sure why because I really loved the first book.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

Review: Walk On Earth A Stranger

The Gold Seer Trilogy: Walk On Earth A Stranger | Rae Carson

Published by: Greenwillow Books, September 22nd 2015

Genre: YA, Historical

Pages: 432

Format: Ebook

Source: Greenwillow, via Edelweiss

Gold is in my blood, in my breath, even in the flecks in my eyes.

Lee Westfall has a strong, loving family. She has a home she loves and a loyal steed. She has a best friend—who might want to be something more.

She also has a secret.

Lee can sense gold in the world around her. Veins deep in the earth. Small nuggets in a stream. Even gold dust caught underneath a fingernail. She has kept her family safe and able to buy provisions, even through the harshest winters. But what would someone do to control a girl with that kind of power? A person might murder for it.

When everything Lee holds dear is ripped away, she flees west to California—where gold has just been discovered. Perhaps this will be the one place a magical girl can be herself. If she survives the journey.

The acclaimed Rae Carson begins a sweeping new trilogy set in Gold Rush-era America, about a young woman with a powerful and dangerous gift.

I liked this, but it was really slow and quiet. Instead of huge story events, they were smaller and the drama was more personal than world-altering. Which isn't a bad thing, but it's not really my thing. I liked Jefferson a lot and I freaking LOVE Lee (my gun-toting bae) but it was slow and I did get a little fed up of the wagon after a while.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★☆☆