Tori's Review: Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Ten by Gretchen McNeil
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Horror
Rating: ★★★★
Pages: 296
Published by Balzer + Bray on September 18, 2012
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SHHHH! Don't spread the word! Three-day weekend. Party at White Rock House on Henry Island. You do NOT want to miss it.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

Ten is about a group of ten teenagers that find themselves on a remote island with a killer in their midst. After watching a creepy video on the night of their arrival, teen after teen starts to get killed off in brutal and specific ways. After our protagonist, Meg, finds a journal of a dead girl, she realizes that the murders follow a pattern. After discovering the pattern, it's a race against time to rat out the murderer...before they're all dead and gone with no witnesses to find the killer.

This book was very suspensful. I read it on the way to my volleyball tournament, and it was definitely a way to get me on my toes...and to freak me out. The deaths aren't exactly graphics, but they're described enough to make my stomach churn. It sort of creeped me out how these teenagers (mostly Meg and T.J.) weren't really affected by all the death going on. It seemed as though their philosophy was, "Keep Calm and Carry On." I can't decide if I didn't like this about the book or if it was just something that I noticed.

As far as plot goes, this plot was amazing. I couldn't guess the killer. I really couldn't. Up until the very end, I thought I knew who it was, but I always changed the suspect. The fact that it was so hard for me to determine who the killer was shows that either (a) this was a good book or (b) I'm just stupid when it comes to this stuff. But regardless, there were so many twists and turns that I never suspected who it was by the end of the book. This is honestly the first mystery book that I've read that isn't paranormal that I haven't guessed the ending. Congrats, Ten.

Meg, at first, is super annoying, but as the book goes along I grow to like her more, and I want her to survive. Honestly, everyone else can go die. I was alright with Ben, and T.J. wasn't too terribly annoying, but I didn't like Minnie, and I didn't really have time to get to know the other characters in order to form an attachment to them. Hilariously, at first I thought Nathan was some super nerd, but turned out he was really popular? Goes to show how sucky I am at remembering character discriptions. I've just read so many of them. Anyway, Meg was really just a big pushover. The fact that Minnie basically ruled her life turned me off at first, but Meg grew on me. Minnie didn't.

I have to admit that the romance was a bit dry between Meg and T.J. T.J. was awesome and all and he seemed like a pretty solid dude, but I wasn't shipping them at the end. Honestly, I don't even know what makes a good romance, but I just know when I don't like a particular relationship. One good thing between the two of them though was the fact that T.J. came across as a real dude. Most guys in stories will be like "oh my god I've loved you forever I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you but I've realized the err of my ways now." Like yeah not buying that. I mean, T.J. was a bit sensitive, but it was reasonable. (Except the end when...you know. Yeah. I'm just saying I would've saved my own butt before a guy that rejected me.)

Ten really reminded me of Shark Night 3D except the book was actually scary. (Sorry, but the movie was just laughable. Utterly and positively laughable. I'm sorry if you loved it. The premise was just...kind of hilarious?) The basic plot of both the book and movie: teenagers go to island; teenagers have fun; teenagers die; two teenagers left; teenagers escape but now are in love. (I think they fall in love by the end of the movie. It's been three years.) But yeah. Pretty similar, right? I already heard that Ten was eerily similar to And Then There Were None. Considering I've never read this book (I plan on it), I didn't have a problem with Ten being so similar. I'm sure I'll have qualms once I read And Then There Were None though.

Reading this book has definitely encouraged me to read more thriller/horror books this year. I kind of like being scared, which is hilarious because I hate horror movies. I absolutely cannot stand them.

In conclusion, this was an interesting read. I'll definitely be checking out Gretchen McNeil's other books, because I liked this one a lot. I wouldn't go to say that I loved it because there were still faults, but I liked it enough to give it four stars! I think that this was a good book to read to break me into the YA horror/thriller genre. I'm really glad that I picked this up and decided to read it!

Oh yes and I love the cover. It's so simplistic and dark and just wow I love it.

"But the killer's still out there. He could have climbed out through one of the bedroom windows. She's not safe."

T.J. shrugged. "She's the one with the gun."

Lindsay's Review: Asylum (Asylum #1) by Madeleine Roux

Asylum by Madeleine Roux
Series: Asylum #1
Genre: Horror, Young Adult, Mystery
Rating: ★★★★
Pages: 310
Published by HarperTeen on August 20th, 2013
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Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.

Did you read the title of this post? Did you notice it rhymed? Did you smile a little on the inside? Yes? No? Great.

The first time I saw this book I was looking at the Halloween Reads table in a bookstore with my boyfriend. I wanted it so bad but couldn't decide whether to flesh out the high cost for a hardcover or not. And if you know me, I'm terrible when it comes to decisions. On top of that, my boyfriend is the exact opposite so when asked his opinion he said just get it, and when I told him of the cost he said, just don't get it, and then when I couldn't come to a conclusion that would satisfy my little anxious, awful decision making heart, I left without the book.

And for months, I couldn't remember the title or author. But while back in the bookstore in January, months later, I finally found it - I knew I couldn't pass it up the second time around. So I bought it and here we are today.

Before anyone considers reading this, I want to get something out there. There are real pictures throughout the book taken in real asylums over the years, and though some mind not agree with me, I found some of them to be a bit disturbing. They weren't gory, but the ones showing real people freaked me out, especially the one with the little girl with the scar and the other with the nurses and doctor outside the one asylum. It gave me such chills that I actually went to my mom and said, "you need to smudge this, right now, because I am freaking the **** out."

If you don't know what smudging is, it's when you take a smudge stick or put some in a bowl, light it on fire and move the smoke around your house or over an object to clear the bad energy from it. It's a practice common in natives and my mom does it around the house a lot.

So to sum this up because I'm dilly-daddling, she smudged it, I didn't touch the book for a day and when I came back I actually wasn't freaked out anymore and any negative energy I associated with the pictures was gone. Basically what I'm trying to say is that if you don't like creepy pictures, you might want to flip through the book in a bookstore before reading it. I, being the weird me, actually loved the creepy pictures after I stopped being a scaredy-cat.

Plot-wise, I think Roux did a great job creating suspense, cliffhangers and adding mystery around the characters that built up throughout the novel. Certain situations kept me pointing fingers in different directions and kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire book. I enjoyed reading about the characters, though they are easily forgettable, and I think the renovated asylum could have been creepier than it was described.

But just a little note about something that annoyed me about the characters - somebody dies, somebody else almost dies, somebody almost kills them, AND THEY STAY AT THE SCHOOL. ANY RATIONAL PERSON WOULD LEAVE, WHY WOULD YOU STAY?

Now onto the part I didn't like about the book - and there aren't going to be any spoilers because that's too mean, but I warn you, if you read ahead, you might be expecting something if you read the book. What I didn't like was the ending. In fact, I think I'm being pretty generous in giving the book four stars because the ending ruined almost the entire book for me. Not only did it make so little sense that you had to piece it together yourself, it was stupid. And I don't mean like it was a stupid idea, I mean it like there was no elaboration whatsoever, no reason for what happened to happen unless maybe piece it together yourself. And then it ends. Sure, every good book should leave a few threads untied, but this was just RIDICULOUS. I literally closed the book and said, "I don't know what just happened."

Overall, it was actually a great read despite what I just said, and the pictures were really good to look at while I read. I recommend it to anyone who likes the horror genre, or wants to dip their toes into it!

You might also like:

Dark Companion by Marta Acosta
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen

Series: Living with the Dead #1
Pages: 244
Release Date: September 1, 2010
Publisher: Orbit
Rating: ★★★

A heartwarming tale of terror in the middle of the zombie apocalypse.

Meet Sarah and David.

Once upon a time they met and fell in love. But now they're on the verge of divorce and going to couples' counseling. On a routine trip to their counselor, they notice a few odd things - the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their counselor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client's throat.

Meet the Zombies.

Now, Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. But, just because there are zombies, doesn't mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don't eat their brains, they might just kill each other.

 

There are only three things that Married With Zombies has got going for it--humor, zombies, and David. Other than that the characters were pretty generic and the ending wasn't as great as it could've been. Everything leading up to the end was great, until the actual end. This book probably could've managed to get a four star rating out of me if it hadn't been for that ending. 

Married With Zombies was just action-packed and fun-filled. There was constant action, and zombies were popping up everywhere, and the time it took for the infection to spread was fairly reasonable. The other thing I absolutely adored about this book was its humor. Seriously. I would read an autobiography by this author (if she's as funny in real life as she is in this book) because there were just so many modern-day references, and I loved it. Usually I don't like references to modern stuff, but in this case it just made it all the more hilarious. The last thing that I absolutely loved was David. I loved his laid back attitude. He just wanted to go through life and make it the best he possibly could. His too-cool-for-you attitude added a splash of fun into the novel.

Now for the things I didn't like. Wow, this is going to be quite the list. Good thing the good things outshines the bad a lot otherwise this review would be a one star review. 

Firstly, I didn't like Sarah. At all. She was so annoying. She was a neurotic neat freak (until the zombie brains were splattered onto her white blouse for the third time) that constantly nagged David and was always on his case. Honestly, I didn't blame her one bit for wanting to divorce her. She was just too uptight. I also didn't like Sarah's relationship with David. At first, I understood why she wouldn't like David's sister. I didn't blame her for not liking David's sister. And once we met David's sister, I understood her feelings even more. But at the end, when all hell broke loose, I completely lost sight of my understanding of their (nonexistent) relationship. I have to side with David on this one and say that Sarah didn't seem to try too hard to be nice with his sister. 

Also, the way the beginning started off was great, but once it got into chapter two, I was like yeah, no. I have this problem with every zombie book that starts off with no zombies and then--BOOM--in chapter two there are three billion zombies. Literally. How in the world can Sarah and David (no forgetting Amanda and the Asian girl who saves their ass and then tries to spring a knife on Sarah) just jump into the zombie routine so quickly without fault? No offense, but it just seems like Sarah would end of dead. She's a neat freak and needs to keep things in order. In a zombie apocalypse, there is no order. Honestly, it just seems like she's sort of weak in the beginning, but then all of a sudden zombies start popping up and she becomes this hardass. David is more of the survivor type, you know? This wasn't a huge issue since this is basically in every book (and I can't exactly be mad at this and call it wrong, because I don't know what would happen in a real zombie apocalypse since we're all, in fact, human) but still. Sarah sure does learn how to use a gun pretty quick in one night, doesn't she? 

Most of my problems are with Sarah, you'll learn quickly. 

This wasn't really a huge issue for me either since this was a short read for me and I wasn't too serious about it, but the 2D characters. Seriously. The only two names I remembered were David and Amanda. I didn't even remember the protagonist's name. That's sad. Here's a summary of why I thought these characters were very 2D and cliched. 

Sarah - Had no soul
Amanda - Dumb as a brick then all of a sudden becomes as smart as ever. Like what.
Asian Girl Who's Name Escapes Me - Typical Asian girl that is all independent and shit. Like fuck no. If I was offered to go on a little road trip with adults and get away from my dead parent's and boyfriend's bodies, I'd say hell yes and wouldn't let them retract their offer. 
Conrad Or Whatever The Hell His Name Was - He was cool until the very end. 
David's Sister Or Whatever Her Name Was - Just didn't like her. Because seriously. Wow. She's the typical older sibling that had their life all figured out with the younger sibling that was a mess. Sorry. I just wasn't feeling it. And then the very last part before the very, very last part. Yeah, no. Again, not feeling it. 

Lastly, the ending. Like fuck no, okay. Just fuck no. Petersen just totally ruined her whole book with the ending. I don't know how to explain my anger at the ending with you guys without completely spoiling this book for you. I mean, it's not really a large spoiler, but you know. Let's just leave it with do not expect great things with the ending because nothing is great about it whatsoever. 

Nevertheless, I'm still going to read the second book, haha. Petersen's writing is hilarious, and I do want to see what the zombie apocalypse brings David. (I also hope that Sarah dies in the second book. That would be cool. Sorry, Petersen. I just didn't like her. But don't feel offended. Rarely do I ever like main female characters. I'm a h8r.)

Tori's Review: World War Z by Max Brooks

World War Z by Max Brooks

Series: None
Genre: Horror, Zombies, Science Fiction
Rating: ★
Pages: 342Published by Crown in September 12, 2006
Date Finished: August 7, 2013
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”
Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.