Thursday, January 4, 2018

Decelerate Blue by Adam Rapp

Title: Decelerate Blue
Author: Adam Rapp
Illustrator: Mike Cavallaro
Length: 199 pages
Published: February 2017

In this dystopian world, life has become so accelerated that the focus of everything is on speed and efficiency. In speech, contractions are mandatory, adverbs are discouraged, and when you finish speaking you say "Go." Cool things are called "hyper" and movies are 14 minutes long. Angela discovers a resistance movement underground, where people are trying to slow down by never using contractions, sitting and reading, and lowering their heart rates. There's a bit of a young love story in there too.

I think this is a great concept for a dystopia, but while I enjoyed this graphic novel I feel like a novel might have done a better job of exploring the world a bit more. Lots of aspects of the world are hinted at but never explained, like how everyone talks about "guaranteeing their Guarantees" and people say "Go, Guarantee, Go!" to each other. What is the Guarantee Committee? What is the Database? These questions are never answered. The dystopian feel was good, but in my opinion a good dystopia has details.

The same is true of character development. I wanted to get to know the characters more (except the surprisingly many unpleasant characters in the underground; what's up with that?). Also, the plot goes at a good pace but then suddenly all the big stuff happens and the book is over!

So ultimately, I enjoyed this book, but I wanted MORE of everything.

Oh, also, the underground deciding to all take drugs together at the same time without really getting a chance to even see the effects of it made them seem a little less like a resistance and a little more like a cult. So that was a strange direction for them to take.

3 stars.

Monday, January 1, 2018

2018 Alphabet Soup Challenge

I have been doing the Alphabet Soup Challenge or one of its predecessors every year that I've been a book blogger, and I have NEVER finished it! I came pretty close in 2017, missing only K, L, X, Y, and Z. It's not even that I don't have books for those letters! It's just that I wait until too late in the year to start worrying about filling in the gaps! Anywho, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

I'll list the books I read for this challenge below.

A: Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess (Olympians #2) by George O'Connor
B: A Boy Named Queen by Sara Cassidy
C: Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh
D: Decelerate Blue by Adam Rapp and Mike Cavallaro
E: Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett
F: Flat Broke With Two Goats by Jennifer McGaha
G: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
H:
I: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
J: Jane, the Fox & Me by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault
K: Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club #1) by Ann M. Martin
L: Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts by Esta Spalding
M: Missing (Fear Street #4) by R.L. Stine
N: The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks
O: OCDaniel by Wesley King
P: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon vol. 1 by Naoko Takeuchi
Q:
R: Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles by Shari Green
S: Shadows by Robin McKinley
T: To This Day: For the Bullied and Beautiful by Shane L. Koyczan
U: Utopia by Thomas More
V: Viola Desmond Won't Be Budged by Jody Nyasha Warner
W: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
X:
Y:
Z: Zeus: King of the Gods (Olympians #1) by George O'Connor

2018 Mount TBR Reading Challenge


For the 7th year running, I will be participating in the Mount TBR Reading Challenge! I'm starting with the first level again: Pike's Peak: read 12 books from your TBR pile. I just barely managed 12 in 2017 because of my serious library book problem. Hopefully this year I can do better, and maybe even bump my level up to Mount Blanc before the year is through! I have 928 books on my physical TBR pile right now. Let's bring that number down a bit in 2018!

I will list the books I read for this challenge below.
  1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  2. The Conspiracy (Animorphs #31) by K.A. Applegate
  3. Missing (Fear Street #4) by R.L. Stine
  4. Leaning Into the Corner: On Becoming a Different Kind of Woman by Shelley Whitney
  5. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
  6. The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5) by R.L. Stine
  7. The Separation (Animorphs #32) by K.A. Applegate
  8. Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (The Baby-Sitters Club #2) by Ann M. Martin
  9. Tales of the Interlake: A Collection of Strange Rural Stories for All Ages by Carol Gardarsson