cneywendleton's reviews
853 reviews

Awesome and interesting. Some of the description can be a bit confusing but its really good. The mystery keeps deepening and just sucks you in. Until the very end you don't know what is really going on. I had thoughts of a sci-fi nature because we see things that are not quite human or animal, time travel seems to be a factor in different spots and even mind control becomes a possibility. However, the actual events that occur never come to mind. I try not to leak spoilers so I won't share what happens, but I am moving on to the second book soon.

I didn't realize it until now, but this series has a very big "1984" by George Orwell, feeling to it. The cameras, public manipulations and evil government in a dystopyian like world. Unlike the first one, this book was a little more predictable but still exciting to find the motives behind the madness. Even then there was nothing too shocking except for finding out the identification of the murder victim. It is still fast paced and a great follow up to the first book, I think the series is just starting to lose it's edge. The third holds big promises as the town is falling apart and Ethan might get the surprise of his life.

The ending sucks. By now everything has become predictable and the only thing no one sees coming is the ending, so you would think that it would be epic. Sadly it is not, you first think they decide to stay in town, then you are led to believe they are leaving only for a third option to arrive. This choice needs more explaining, and then the epilogue leaves so much room for another book but I don’t think we will get one. It had so much promise to be great but turned out to only be good.

Deep down I think that this was every woman’s fear. Their daughter, a younger and prettier version of themselves, will steal their husband’s (or boyfriend’s) affections from them. I don’t necessarily mean romantic affections either, wives could fear the husband will spend more time with the daughter or show her more attention and forget about the wife. Of course women won’t admit it, or even realize this is how they feel because we live in a society where we are told genetic attraction is wrong and punishable by law in some areas. So they feel a sense of security.

In the book, it is discussed that some cultures Incest happens on some level, it is expected and accepted. It happens enough among humans there is even a name for it, Genetic Sexual Attraction. To a small degree, GSA is in all of us bred from nurture. The old adage of a girl looks to her father for qualities in her future husband, and boys look to their mothers for qualities they want in a future bride. I have even seen a commercial where a father takes his 4or 5 year old daughter on a date to show her what to expect of men when she is allowed to date.

The author even uses the story of Lot from the Bible as a justification for his actions. Personally I cannot speak about that story as I have not read it, but the author uses the excuse of “if it is all right with the lord why is it not right for me” spiel that a lot of people like using for their own means. I find this ironic because he is against religion and the Bible in general, so why would he use this as a right to have sex with his daughter? Aside form being stupid, it is quite genius because the character knows it is the only way they will understand, as well as point out the hypocritical use of the Bible. Religious people are always picking and choosing certain passages of the Bible to use as it fits their situation because they readily admit the parts they don’t use are archaic in design.

While some men are of the mind that it is a father’s duty to prepare their daughter’s for life and sex, in this case I believe Franval went around it wrong. He kept Eugenie locked away from the world and other men, to keep her away from any other choice but him. It would have been different if she were around other people and had a chance to fall for someone else. Then Franval could have instructed her (be it verbally or physically, truer to De Sade’s writing) on how to please a man of her choosing. It would be no less shocking than how things actually pan out in the book.

Another theme in this book is that married couples are unhappy. Of course this is from a somewhat depressing time period, but I still like to think if they were so unhappy they could have divorced, but with the wife worshipping the ground he walked on that wouldn’t have happened.

Overall I’m not sure how I feel about the book. Which is why it only rates 3/5.

Recommend: if you have an open mind and not going to criticize it at every turn, then yes.

Though she didn’t quite end up with whom I thought she should, it was a good ending. It seems to wrap-up everything, but the ties are a bit loose. There could be more to the story as Nathanial has promised to make Allie’s life hell, but oh well. All good series’ must come to an end and this is the best ending we could hope for.

It’s awesome! There were a bit too many pop culture references for my taste, but they helped add to the mysteries of the ‘gazing program. This is actually my second time reading it and it is still great. The duality in the main character is spectacular as she battles what she knows is true and what others tell her is the truth. It isn’t until the end of the story we learn who she really is or isn’t. It makes you think about how much we take for granted and how poorly most of the population are prepared for an Apocalypse.