Review: Icons by Margaret Stohl

Icons

Author: Margaret Stohl

Publication Date: May 7, 2013

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopia

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Synopsis:

Your heart beats only with their permission.

Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting.

Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside -- safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid.

She's different. She survived. Why?

When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy.

Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions -- which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses -- may actually be their greatest strengths.

My Thoughts: I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book, it sounded really good and I wasn't disappointed. I've had a bit of a thing for dystopia for the past year. Add in science fiction and I'm going to probably read the book. I've also read and enjoyed Beautiful Creatures, so to read something by just Margaret was nice.

The main protagonist is Dol, she was only a baby on The Day, she knows she's different from others, but doesn't know why. She's captured by the Embassy and they study her and the other three teens that are known as Icon Children. All four have strange abilities, but no one will tell them anything. Their world has basically been taken over by a race of aliens that they have never seen. The aliens are very deadly though, as they showed on The Day. Giving a demonstration of their power, instantly killing everyone in an area. The only hope against them might be the teens and their abilities.

Icons is a very amusing read, there were a few places where the story got a bit slow, but I still really enjoyed it. It just took a bit longer to get past those parts. I liked Dol and Ro, how they wanted to help free everyone, even at the cost of their own lives. Tima was a great character, very brave and would do anything for Lucas. Lucas was kind of a jerk though, he was the only one with any sort of privileges. But the characters were likable. The world was easy to imagine, which was good, it helped me get sucked into the story even more.The writing was good, there only being the few slower parts. Overall,  I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.

*A copy was provided by the publisher for review.*

Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures
(Caster Chronicles #1)

Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Publication Date: December 1st, 2009

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Genre: Paranormal

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Synopsis:

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

My Thoughts: I read Beautiful Creatures because I wanted to go see the movie, which I did, and I can't watch a movie without reading the book first. Well, I completely failed at finishing this before watching the movie. I didn't realize that it was going to take me so long. This is a long book, not that that's a bad thing. I like long books, as long as they are well written and keep me entertained, which this one did. However, because I ended up watching the movie before finishing the book, my reading completely slowed down. I have a hard time reading books if I've watched the movie/show first, because I then know how it's going to end. Well, I shouldn't have worried because the ending was different in the book than it was for the movie, well kind of.

Anyways, this books is from a guys point of view, which was a nice change. Ethan Wate is the protagonist and he completely falls for this girl he's been dreaming about. Lucky him when he walks into school one day and there she is. He knows it's her, even though he's never seen the dream girls face. Now the only thing about her, Lena Duchannes, is that she isn't from around town and everybody seems to hate her. For no reason at all. I guess it was a small southern town who was set in it's ways. But mostly they dislike her because of rumours about her family. Her uncle in particular, Macon Ravenwood. The town's own Boo Radley.

Beautiful Creatures is a well written story that I found to be fairly unpredictable. You might think something was going to happen, but it never did. But that's a good thing because I'm not a fan of reading books that are too predictable. There is a forbidden romance, who doesn't like a forbidden romance? Magic, good, evil, girl drama, and a swoon worthy protagonist with a sad past. I really enjoyed the book and the movie. I'm going to definitely have to continue on in this series. This is definitely a book that owl recommend ;)