NICOLE'S REVIEW + Novel Nails #15: Proxy by Alex London

Title: Proxy

Author: Alex London

Format Acquired: Hardcover

Publication Date: June 8 2013

Publishing House: Philomel

ISBN: 9780399257766

Source of Copy: Purchased from Fully Booked

Summary: 

Knox was born into one of the City's wealthiest families. As a Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want - the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.

Syd is a Proxy, his life is not his own.

Then again, neither is Knox's. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when both boys realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox's father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys' resolve, and shine a blinding light  onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid.

        (Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review: 

Just when I've been about to turn my back on dystopians this book comes along and manages to rekindle my love for the genre. With wonderfully nuanced characters and crazy plot twists I found myself engrossed in a world where the rich (Patrons) have everything and the poor are burdened with debt. 

Enter Knox, born to one of the wealthiest families he wants for nothing. He has money, looks and a Proxy to take all his punishments for him. He's all up for causing chaos because he knows he won't ever be blamed. But when Knox crashes a car and kills his passenger, his Proxy is set to die in his place. Syd, the Proxy, won't stand for it and runs. Caught in this tangle of lies and deception, Knox and Syd form an unlikely truce because to get out of this alive, they'll both need their wits about them.

Proxy is told in the alternating voices of Syd and Knox. Knox is your typical rich boy, spoiled, uncaring, entitled and always after his next conquest. Let me add that he's also an excellent hacker despite blundering about in school. He's the type of character I usually hate but London's characters aren't one-sided and being a spoiled brat isn't all Knox is. He's got issues with his father and the events that led to the death of his mother and his growth later on in the story is admirable. So while I did want to punch him in the face I as wanted to give him a hug and tell him that things'll get better.

Syd is Knox's Proxy. Every blunder and every mistake Knox commits, Syd is there to take punishment. Being a Proxy is a way for the poor to pay off their debt (school, medical bills, the like) and Syd was just the unlucky boy who got picked. Did I mention that he's also gay? I love how London didn't make such a fuss about Syd's being gay. It's not an Issue book, it's definitely a sci-fi/dystopian where the protagonist just so happens to be a boy who likes boys. Syd's also a special little butterfly - there's something in his blood that might just put an end to the social divide but he's going to need the help of the rebels to figure it all out.

London has created such a great book. It's got social issues, the divide between the poor and the rich is glaringly obvious; well crafted actions scenes and a bunch of cool tech that I wouldn't mind playing with. His characters are multidimensional, not flat paper dolls to be jerked around. The plot's all twisty and focuses on the unwitting friendship (sort of) between Syd and Knox. The ending was a surprise. I never expected the book to close on that note and I'll admit to feeling a little bereft after finishing the book. Do I recommend this book? Yes. YES. Pick up Guardian while you're at it.

 Rating: 

For PH residents, Alex London is coming to the Philippines on Aug 30 for a book singing event. I can't wait to meet him. Seriously. You all need to read this book. The copy I have right now is from Fully Booked but I'll be snagging copies (YES, COPIES) from National Book Store. Buy your books there. See you at signing!

"Novel Nails" is a feature of the blog that showcases nail art inspired by books and their covers. Nail art will be created by either Michelle or Nicole and will be featured alongside their reviews.

This week's feature is Proxy by Alex London. I snagged a copy of the book as soon as it came out and it's shiny. It was the perfect opportunity to use my newly acquired bottle of OPI.

If you want to check out my other bookish manicures, visit my tumblr HERE or my instagram HERE. 

Nail polish used: 

OPI Push and Shove (It is so gloriously shiny)

MAC Flaming Rose

No fancy freehand designs this time around. These nails are way easy to do and who knows, I might be sporting these during the signing.

I didn't use any fancy tools to create this design. I just put on two coats of Push and Shove then whipped out Flaming Rose (but you can use whatever shade of red you'd like to use) and outlined my nail.

Closer look. They're as shiny as the book and I love my nail shape.

With the book again. Okay so it must be a trick of the light because the cover isn't yellow like that. Look at the first picture!

Look at these bad boys under the sun. I'm blinded.

Would you guys consider recreating this mani and will I be seeing you at signing? Tag @thetwinsread OR @novelnailsdesigns on Instagram and we can talk about books and nail polish. Glorious nail polish.

                      

[BLOG TOUR] The Twins on Thursday: Replica by Jenna Black

"The Twins on Thursday" is reserved for the Twins' joint reviews. It is a special feature of our blog that discusses books that we either both like, dislike, or have mixed feelings about. This is also the day where we post reviews for books (and ARCs/Galleys) that have been sent to us by authors/galley sites/publishing houses. And because we don't believe much in uniformity, we'll be trying to mix things up a bit by adding random stuff in relation to our review (well, mostly for books we purchased anyway).

Title: Replica
Author: Jenna Black
Format Acquired: Paperback

Publication Date: July 16 2013

Publishing House: Tor

ISBN: 9780765333711
Source of Copy: Borrowed copy from Maricar of Black Plume

Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Nadia Lake comes from a high-class Executive family in Corporate States. Her marriage has been arranged with the most powerful family on her state, which means she lives a life of privilege but also of public scrutiny, followed everywhere by photographers, every detail of her private life tabloid fodder. But her future is assured, as long as she can maintain her flawless public image - no easy feat when your betrothed is a notorious playboy.

Nathan Hayes is heir of Paxco - controller of the former state of New York, and creator of human replication technology, science that every state and every country in the world would kill to have. Though Nadia and Nate aren't in love, they've grown up close, and they (and the world) are happy enough with their match.

Until Nate turns up dead, and as far as everyone knows, Nadia was the last person to see him alive.

When the new Nate wakes up in the replication tanks, he knows he must have died, but with a memory that only reaches to his last memory backup, he doesn't know what killed him. Together, Nadia and Nate jus discover what really happened without revealing the secrets that those who run their world would kill to protect.

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review:

After a tryst gone wrong, the original Nate is gone and in his place is his replica, who is very much Nate down to the very tips of his toes. The only difference is that this Nate has lost the last two weeks of memories leading to the original Nate's death. While Nadia isn't opposed to the arranged marriage with Nate, she's hardly leaping with joy either, especially when she is the wrong gender Nate is actually interested in. Since Nadia was the last one who's seen him alive, and as if she weren't already in the spotlight, Nadia's every moves are under public scrutiny, and there are people who will do anything to watch her fall. To clear his lover's name, Nate, with a bit of Nadia's help, needs to piece together clues that might actually shed some light on the real murder, but neither are prepared for the bigger conspiracy they discover.

What we liked about Replica is Black's portrayal of a gay character. There was no stereotyping, despite their society's upturned nose towards gay people, and Nate is nothing more but a boy who has a penchant for handsome men. Nothing out of the ordinary. What Nate is though is a spoiled jerk who might have daddy issues and may be too rash for his own good. That's not to say he doesn't have a good heart, which he does, and while he may be a douche, Nate has good intentions. We found his protectiveness of Nadia quite endearing actually.

Now we though Nadia was a simpering little female when the story started, but as it progressed we witnessed surprising character growth and boy, were our initial perceptions wrong. Nadia's got backbone and a pretty good head on her shoulders to deal with all the obstacles tossed her way. 

There wasn't much romance on Nadia's side, although we've got our eye set on Dante. Nate's relationship with Bishop was quite cute but after the original Nate's death, we're just not sure what Bishop thinks about replica Nate. And seeing as how Bishop's part of a whole larger operation it's obvious that things are going to be tenuous between Nate and Bishop.

The only thing we probably didn't like much about Replica was the ending, and it was only a fairly tiny, tiny amount of dislike. While Nate and Nadia may not know much about machinations, it will be quite silly to blame them for not being very meticulous when it comes to these sorts of things.

Just when you think that Replica is just one of many dystopian novels out there, it constantly proves that it is not. Just when you expect the story and its characters to take a left turn, it actually makes a right AND a loop to go with it. Replica has indubitably exceeded our expectations, and we are undoubtedly  very excited for its sequel, Resistance. 

Rating:

     

    

MICHELLE'S REVIEW: Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

Title: Teeth
Author: Hannah Moskowitz
Format Acquired: Paperback

Publication Date: January 1, 2013

Publishing House: Simon Pulse

ISBN: 9781442465329
Source of Copy: Purchased from Fully Booked

Summary:

Rudy's life is flipped upside down when his family moves to a remote island in a last attempt to save his sick younger brother. With nothing to do but worry, Rudy sinks deeper and deeper into loneliness, and he lies awake at night listening to the screams of the ocean beneath his family's rickety house.

Then he meets Diana, who makes him wonder what he even knows about love, and Teeth, who makes his question what he even knows about anything. Rudy can't remember the last time he felt so connected to someone, but being with Teeth is more than a little bit complicated. He soon learns that Teeth has terrible secrets. Violent secrets. Secrets that will force Rudy to choose between his own happiness and his brother's life.

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review:

Hannah Moskowitz' Teeth caught me off-guard. It wasn't the profanity, and it wasn't the magic realism-esque theme that Moskowitz has going on. I  actually can't quite put my finger on it, but Teeth is addictive. It's so ridiculously addictive in fact, that I finished in one sitting the only book I brought with me en route to my vacation. 

Sometimes, the real monsters are ourselves. Teeth tells the story of Rudy, whose family relocates to an island to save his younger brother from his illness. As it turns out, the island isn't just an island away from the harsh toxins of the city, but the island actually has magical fish. Magical Enki fish that keeps the sicknesses at bay. Magical Enki fish that people need so much that some have already moored themselves on the island just to survive. The only expectation Rudy has of the island was that it would bore him, not get him entangled with the likes of flirty Teeth, who proves that Enki is not the only thing that's native to the island. But while Rudy needs the fish for his brother, Teeth is bent on protecting them, uncaring that humans are half of his  kinship too.

"It's not just that. I can't just swim away.""Why not?""I'm afraid I'll drown." He looks up and gives the world's smallest smile. He takes a deep breath with those lungs. "I'm afraid I'll drown." - p. 141

"I get lonely! I get lonely, you a------! I hate humans!" 

Teeth is undoubtedly the shining star of the novel. He's putting up a brave front, but you can clearly see how vulnerable he is underneath all that bravado. While I didn't know what to think of him at first, it is all his insecurities and flaws that have endeared him to me. While fish, even Enki fish with magical healing properties, do not feel any sort of human-like attachment to Teeth, he feels that he is responsible for protecting them, and that it is his life's purpose, however banal the task is. Obviously, the thing that's tying him down isn't the fish; it's himself. Teeth wages a personal battle with himself, because he's straddling two different worlds due to his parentage. While he's more than a fish, he's not exactly human either, and it is because of human mistakes and human error that Teeth has been known to spout his "I hate humans!" spiel. Teeth may curse like a sailor in his cups, but like any creature, he craves for warmth and affection, however misbegotten both may be. Rudy, our main protagonist, is the only one who seems to understand where Teeth is coming from, and he's determined to help Teeth, not because he needs the fish badly, but because he wants his friend to be happy. Teeth has an altogether different understanding of the world of humans because of how he is mistreated and used, but Rudy unknowingly changes that.

Inasmuch as I would want to give this book 4 stars, there's just something that's holding me back. As much as profound and captivating Teeth is, I felt that there were parts where I was just lost and confused, which isn't exactly something I am angling for when I'm reading. While I do like some things being all cryptic and unforeseen, I do prefer some vague things to be spelled out so as to clear away any self-drawn conclusions.

Teeth may shock you with its portrayal of human ugliness and brutal violence, but I very much recommend picking it up. 

Rating:

         

The Twins on Thursday: Pantomime by Laura Lam

"The Twins on Thursday" is reserved for the Twins' joint reviews. It is a special feature of our blog that discusses books that we either both like, dislike, or have mixed feelings about. This is also the day where we post reviews for books (and ARCs/Galleys) that have been sent to us by authors/galley sites/publishing houses. And because we don't believe much in uniformity, we'll be trying to mix things up a bit by adding random stuff in relation to our review (well, mostly for books we purchased anyway).

Title: Pantomime

Author: Laura Lam

Format Acquired: Advance eGalley

Publication Date: February 5, 2013

Publishing House: Strange Chemistry

ISBN: 9781908844378

Source of Copy: NetGalley

Summary: 

R. H. Ragona's Circus of Magic is the greatest circus of Ellada. Nestled among the glowing blue Penglass - remnants of a mysterious civilisation long gone - are wonders beyond the wildest imagination. It's a place where anything seems possible, where if you close your eyes you can believe that the magic and knowledge of the vanished Chimaera is still there. It's a place where anyone can hide.

Iphigenia Laurus, or Gene, the daughter of a noble family, is uncomfortable in corsets and crinoline, and prefers climbing trees to debutante balls. Micah Grey, a runaway living on the streets, joins the circus as an aerialist's apprentice and soon becomes the circus's rising star.

But Gene and Micah have balancing acts of their own to perform, and a secret in their blood that could unlock the mysteries of Ellada.

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads)

Review:

Pantomime is an impossible reality, it's like watching every whimsical and eerily beautiful dream we've had about the circus come to life. Dreamlike and surreal, Pantomime manages to evoke visions and paint images in the reader's mind that make it easy to believe that a world like this could actually exist. 

What makes Pantomime such a wonderful read is partly due to Lam's beautiful world-building. The circus both as a whole and its cast of characters are amazing and descriptive, and the realities and mysteries all seen through the eyes of our protagonist are heartfelt and harsh at best. The pacing, while slow at first, is not unwarranted since it adds to the overall feel of the story, Pantomime begs to be savored in measured doses. By the middle  of the novel, it actually tries to suck you in - and in our case, succeeds without us putting up a fight too! - and actually dares you to go back to your mundane and ordinary world.

Another aspect that we liked was Lam's willingness to explore the complexity of human relationships and sexuality without all the labels. We think that humans have this innate - and at times, irrational - desire to name things and place everything in categories simply because the mind has a hard time understanding without all these pre-conceived nuances.

The only misleading thing about Pantomime is that the magic that thrives in Gene's blood is not explained at all (as referenced to in the summary), and while it is a bit of a letdown, it is easy to overlook because this was honestly that good of a read.

The ending left us absolutely wanting for more, and with that being said, it is not hard at all to fall in love and be swept away by the circus, by the magic that is Pantomime.

Pantomime will be available come February of 2013.

Rating:

And because this is our slightly creative weekly segment, we're featuring artworks that reminded us of Pantomime, created by Nicole's super talented block mate, Chelsea Ortega.

Doesn't that just remind you of the cover? When we saw this one, we knew it had to be included in the post!

This one totally reminded us of the other circus performers Gene starred alongside with.

That's not all the talented Ms. Ortega does. She also creates posters of concerts just for kicks.

You can find more of Chelsea Ortega's works at Me Against (Me)diocracy.

The Twins on Thursday: Debris Dreams by David Colby

"The Twins on Thursday" is reserved for the Twins' joint reviews. It is a special feature of our blog that discusses books that we either both like, dislike, or have mixed feelings about. This is also the day where we post reviews for books (and ARCs/Galleys) that have been sent to us by authors/galley sites/publishing houses. And because we don't believe much in uniformity, we'll be trying to mix things up a bit by adding random stuff in relation to our review (well, mostly for books we purchased anyway).

Title: Debris Dreams

Author: David Colby

Format Acquired: eGalley 

Publication Date: November 13, 2012

Publishing House: Candlemark & Gleam

ISBN: 9781936460380
Source of Copy: NetGalley

Summary: 2068

1.5 million kilometers above the surface of the Earth.

Drusilla Xao has only seen a tree in movies and vid-games. She has never breathed air that wasn't recycled, re-filtered, and re-used a hundred times over again. She has never set foot on Earth.

And now she never will.

When a terrorist attack by a radical separatist group on Luna destroys the space elevator that had called so many - including her parents - to live permanently in space, Dru is cut off from any hope of ever reaching Earth and her beloved girlfriend, Sarah. The Chinese-American Alliance declares immediate war on the rebels and conscripts everyone they can get their hands on... including Dru.

Cast adrift, forced to become a soldier, trapped in a nightmare of vacuum and loneliness, Dru's training will help her survive, but only Sarah will be able to bring her home.

(Image, information, and summary from GoodReads)

Review:

What we expected from Debris Dreams was an action-packed thriller filled with intense combat scenes and a whole lot of emotional trauma, because the setting’s in a warzone and it’s nearly impossible to escape it unscathed without any emotional or psychological repercussions. What we got was a whole lot of information dumps, confusing world building, uninteresting characters, and a rather confusing flow of events.

The story is told in Dru's voice. She's a proclaimed lesbian living in space who has a girlfriend who lives on earth. She's obviously taking the whole long-distance relationship thing to a totally new level. It was hard to get a feel for her character and we initially thought that she was male. We felt that her character was bland and monotonous, that her emotions were unreal and fake. Her character was woefully underdeveloped and the way she adapted to the abrupt change in her lifestyle was unbelievable. Since this is a war, and it's quite sure that Dru will lose friends, where’s the emotional trauma that Dru should have felt with the loss of said friends? The pain? How is it possible that she recovers so easily from the loss of her friends and sometimes seems to forget that she's fighting an actual war and it's not all fun and games now? It was hard to take this character seriously.

Then there's Sarah, Dru's girlfriend, in the summary it is said, and I quote, "...but only Sarah will be able to bring her home." We did not find Sarah's character to be of any significance to this story, we could not understand what she was to Dru, aside from being her girlfriend. What did Sarah do to bring Dru home? Send her e-mails and racy pictures of herself? Sure, Sarah may be the symbolism of Dru's yearning to go to Earth, but we actually expected more from Sarah.

It's hard to get into a story where one cannot connect with the characters. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened to us. We were indifferent towards Dru and her friends and whenever one of them is shot, injured or killed we could not muster up any sympathy for them.

A flaw in the story was that readers were not given an insight as to why Luna and Earth are fighting at all. There were only brief mentions of oppression on the side of Luna, and yeah, that's pretty much it.

We had issues with the characters using Mandarin Chinese along with the English command. (Other languages like Cantonese and Swahili were made us of less often, ergo less annoying.) Being Chinese-Filipinos, we pretty much had a gist of what Colby was referencing to, but other readers may not have the same experience. Even we found it annoying that they would speak in this manner. From the eGalley given to us, we didn't find any English translations that would make it convenient for the reader to at least follow on what Colby was trying to come across. There are words in Chinese that don't make much sense given the context, but this (we guess) could be excused as the copy we have did mention that the 'gramatically inaccurate mix of languages reflect the vernacular'. We still found this weird, because these were people who were early on type-casted as being part of the Chinese-American side. So, the characters can fluently cuss in Mandarin, but are kind of off in using actual Mandarin at times? Fair enough. 

Another point against it was the frequent mentions of sex. Bearing in mind that the main protagonist of this book is a lesbian and a self-admitting virgin engaged in an intergalactic war in freaking space where the opponents attack randomly and claim her friends one by one, Dru often thinks about how hot/sexy her seductive captain is, all the while admitting to her girlfriend on Earth that she is feeling hot and bothered - to which Sarah, the all-American saint that she is, has no qualms in giving her the signal to go for it. (Wow, Sarah. Really?) Sometimes, Dru was more of a Drew. Monogamy is depicted as backward and prudish. Sex appears to be as trivial as a handshake, or as a high five. We are confused as well as either to allude this rampant obsession with sex to the fact that Dru is a lesbian - which would then trigger more issues as to how people perceive gay people - or because it is a sign of a life where people are in the middle between life and death, emotionless sex is the only equivalent of fun.

There were scenes in the book where Dru is almost automatically promoted, and these usually happened when she was either unconscious, bleeding and hurt, or when she betrayed the entire system she was working for. (What.) 

Sometimes, we think that Dru even forgets that she's in an actual war, especially when she finds out about the 'new' technology that her side of the army will adapt. Will this 'new' tech  introduce brutal killing? Yeah. Is it merciless? Sure. Are you or are you not engaged in war? Uhh... Yes, we're pretty sure you are.

This book was actually hard to read, given the weird flow of events and the quick dissemination of info-dump after info-dump was too much for us to handle.

We're sorry, Debris Dreams, but we're giving you a flat-out one.

Rating: