Virals

Virals by Kathy Reichs

Fourteen-year old Tori Brennan is the unofficial leader of a band of sci-philes who spend their time exploring a secluded island off of the coast of South Carolina.  They enjoy digging up bones, wading through marshes, and attempting to communicate with animals in their spare time.  When they are accidentally exposed to an experimental strain of parvovirus while rescuing a wolfdog from a top-secret lab, their lives change forever.  Now they have become Virals, with super-charged senses and inhuman physical abilities.  As they begin to discover their powers, they stumble upon a cold-case murder mystery that has suddenly become very hot.  Their new enemies are deadly but the band is now more then friends, they are a pack, they are Virals.

Rating: 
This book had mostly everything: action, suspense, murder, emotion, romance (well, maybe not so much of the last one). I believe though, that the characters were just a bit too "supernatural" and not just because they got wolf-powers. Tory, for example, can solve a cold-case murder in a couple days; keep in mind that this murder has baffled police and investigators for years. And she's never had any training except for "advice from her Aunt Tempe".

Overall: This book kept me past midnight as I needed to find out how it ended. It's kind of one of those books where the first time you read it, it's amazing and suspenseful and everything, but then, if you go back and reread, you begin to realize that it really is kind of unbelievable. 

Legend

Legend by Marie Lu
Day is a fifteen-year-old criminal wanted for charges of assault, theft, and hindering the war effort but he is not as malevolent as the Republic makes him seem.  June, also fifteen, is a a prodigy, the youngest student at the country's top university and is being trained for the military.  When June's brother Metias is murdered, Day becomes the prime suspect and June is out to get him.  In the vicious game of cat and mouse that follows, both Day and June discover that they are mere pawns of the government and with that, they realize the lengths their government will go to in order to protect it's secrets.

Rating: 
I don't know why I feel so prejudiced against this book. No idea. Everyone else loves it. I just feel as if there were too many inconsistencies. June and Day are both incredible geniuses but it takes them weeks to realize that they are supposed to be enemies. June's life is just too perfect; she is just too perfect and yet, at the same time, she is pretty stupid. Day has a really annoying way of talking and although he's apparently super awesome, he never really seems to do anything but sit around. Tess was brilliant though.

Overall: I know all the complaints above sound incredibly petty but I just didn't really enjoy reading this book. The first time was okay, the second time, not so much...

Grave Mercy

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Seventeen-year old Ismae is a girl born with a curse.  She has been married off to a man who is now threatening to kill her.  Ismae manages to escape his brutality with the help of a local priest.  She is brought to the convent of St. Mortain where girls like her are trained in the arts of killing.  At the convent, she finds that Mortain himself has blessed her with powerful and dangerous gifts.  She trains along her fellow sisters, forming relationships and finally fitting in for the first time in her life.  Before long, she is sent on her first, and then second, mission.  On both, she performs admirably well, quickly and with the quiet, deadly force of a viper.  Now she must prove herself on her most challenging mission yet.  She is sent to the royal palace where she must deduce who is traitorous and who must be killed.  Yet, although she has been trained to avoid it, she becomes ensnared in the tangles of seduction and succumbs to the sting of betrayal.  For how can deliver vengeance on a man who has stolen her heart?

Rating: 
SO GOOD!! Ismae was so awesome and the story wasn't cliche at all. Even the romance part was completely original.