Still Point by Katie Kacvinsky

*based on ARC edition*

     As I always do with the final books of a trilogy, I went back to re-read Awaken and Middle Ground before finishing off with Still Point. I have been impressed with the story since its beginning, because out of all of the dystopian type novels this trilogy came closer than any to what I fear the future could eventually become. The Awaken trilogy tells of a society that has gotten so immersed into their digital lives that they no longer can effectively function in face-to-face society. In fact, digital school, or DS, has become the law of the land, and there are no in-person schools anymore. On the surface that may not seem so bad, but the government has seen how effective this digital life is; crime is nearly non-existent, the economy has been buffed up from the ads and everyone's life is planned out and decided for them...designed to make them no longer want to be in the real world. But there is a faction of revolutionaries who can see the dangerous path the world is on, so they do everything they can to fight them. Kids are getting arrested and taken to detention centers for brainwashing for even the smallest indication that they are wanting to come back to reality. The Digital School Dropouts, led by a kid named Justin Salvi, are notorious; as part of their recruitment process they intercept the arrests in order to gain more dedicated members for their fight. One night, the daughter of the creator of digital school, Maddie Freeman, is arrested and is intercepted by Justin. She becomes an ardent fighter, determined to bring down both her father and the Digital School, by any means necessary. Maddie and Justin fall in love in the early books, but it clear that Justin's heart belongs to the fight. By the time Still Point begins, Maddie has been tortured in a detention center but agrees to come back to her family with the agreement that she stops her crusade. Maddie has accepted the arrangement but has no intention of stopping her battle against her father. Still Point had several twists and turns that I enjoyed, and overall I think it was a solid finish to the trilogy. My gripe is that Maddie's realization that Justin will never be able to truly commit to her brings about a turn in the story that I wish had been better fleshed out. An important character seems to be important just because the story deems it to be so; with Justin Maddie's feelings grew and developed, like they should be. The ending resolution also seemed a bit rushed to me. On one page everything is lost and literally the next everything is saved. I gave this title four stars for the trilogy as a whole, because all trilogies should be taken as a whole story rather than pieces. All in all, a great look at the dangers of living too much in the digital and not enough in the real.

I, Morgana by Felicity Portman

*based on an ARC edition*


Let me start off by saying that the legend and stories of King Arthur are my favorite literary thing...ever. The story is nearly holy to me. In fact, my bloodline goes back to the Tudors in England who believed they were Arthur's descendants. Now of course that part was probably not true, but this gives one an idea of how deep my love goes for King Arthur, his Queen, his sister, and his knights. I have read every book, every adaptation, every allusion. So perhaps I am overly brutal when I say that I, Morgana does not measure up. There are many different takes you go about making when it comes to the character of Morgan (or Morgana, Morgaine, etc). In some she's a dark witch bent on destruction. In some she's a sympathetic and powerful woman in a time when power in women was seen as evil. In still others she barely exists, having been sent early to a nunnery. But this legend, this tale that is nearly 800 years old, deserves a beauty and a gravitas that is lacking in this adaptation. I, Morgana follows the tale closely enough, with a few side tracks I found interesting; for instance Morgana can use her magic to pass into parallel worlds, explaining perhaps how King Arthur could exist at the same time our own history did. I liked the mention of the Mother Goddess, I was ok with Morgana having three children. However, there was no depth to this story. The tale of Arthur and Camelot is ultimately one of the greatest love stories ever written, as well as one of the greatest tragedies. But there was not one character that had even one redeeming value. It is told from Morgana's perspective but as a reader I hated her. Arthur is written as weak and stupidly blind to the connection between his wife and his greatest knight, not as the once and future king who will one day again save a divided Britain. Gueniviere is portrayed as a jealous harpy, cruel to her husband as much as her lover, and totally loathsome to Morgana (perhaps rightfully so in that regard). Lancelot is nothing but a cad who is magicked into loving his queen, but even before that he treats Morgana carelessly. Merlin is written much the way he usually is, but his presence ends quickly, because he is just one of the many people our main character murders in her quest for her inheritance. I found it impossible to care for any of these people, which pains me since I love the characters so. 

There are a couple of time issues but they are relatively minor; Morgana speaks of the Tower and the River Thames in London that she walked along with Gorlois, her father, but neither the Tower nor London (at least in name) was there at the time the legend of King Arthur takes place. Perhaps in this telling the parallel worlds explains this, and instead of it being the 5th century it's much later in the world. But it wasn't properly explained, either way. 

It's possible others would not be as critical as I; however, the one-dimensional portrayal of some of the most famous literary characters in history begs my criticism. Ultimately, while I liked some of the new artistic takes on the story, I desperately missed the life these characters deserved to have. 

The Last Human by Ink Piper

*based on ARC edition*


I very much enjoyed this book. The Last Human is a strange one, though, and a bit of a misnomer until you get to the end and understand why it was called that.It is an apocalypse story, in so much that the world has been destroyed by a virus, but it is really more of a story about the humanity that is either gained, lost, or maintained under such circumstances. Clay, the voice we hear in the telling, struggles to maintain his humanity under extreme torture and abuse by those who claim they want to save the world. There is the stereotypical "everyone turns bad" scenario in which the world ends and 99% of the humans left are caricatures of evil, sometimes for no real reason except to be evil. While from a reality standpoint I don't think this holds true, the story is written so incredibly well that I forgave that. This story is about love where there shouldn't be any, struggling when it would be easier to die, and finding a home in a place in which that concept no longer exists. My one gripe is the ending twist, because we aren't hearing Clay, we're hearing someone else tell the story as they think Clay would tell it. It was a bit jarring, honestly, but again the writing is so well done that even though I instantly disliked a character that I previously cared for, you have to give the author credit for being able to switch both tone and character so effortlessly. This is a good read and should be experienced, especially for anyone who is as much a fan of the genre as I am.