Review: Furthermore

TITLE: Furthermore
AUTHOR: Tahereh Mafi
PUBLISHER: Dutton Books for Young Readers
PUBLICATION DATE: 8/30/2016
FORMAT: Hardcover
PAGES: 416
SOURCE: Library
MY RATING: 

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): There are only three things that matter to twelve-year-old Alice Alexis Queensmeadow: Mother, who wouldn't miss her; magic and color, which seem to elude her; and Father, who always loved her. The day Father disappears from Ferenwood he takes nothing but a ruler with him. But it's been almost three years since then, and Alice is determined to find him. She loves her father even more than she loves adventure, and she's about to embark on one to find the other.

But bringing Father home is no small matter. In order to find him she'll have to travel through the mythical, dangerous land of Furthermore, where down can be up, paper is alive, and left can be both right and very, very wrong. Her only companion is a boy named Oliver whose own magical ability is based in lies and deceit--and with a liar by her side in a land where nothing is as it seems, it will take all of Alice's wits (and every limb she's got) to find Father and return home to Ferenwood in one piece. On her quest to find Father, Alice must first find herself--and hold fast to the magic of love in the face of loss.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Adventure. This book is just filled to the brim with adventure, color and magic. It was such a joy to read this book. Tahereh is amazing at creating these magical worlds. While I was reading, I could picture all of these colors and textures everywhere. She came up with so many imaginative pieces of the story and she was able to describe everything in a way where I had no problems whatsoever recreating the visions in my mind.

CHARACTERS: I loved Oliver and Alice's relationship. Are they friends, are they not friends, do they get along, do they not get along? It felt like a real relationship that would actually happen between two kids their age.

COVER: The cover is stunning. It's so bright and colorful and has so many tie ins to the story.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (ARC)

 TITLE: Shatter Me

AUTHOR: Tahereh Mafi

PUBLISHER: Harper Collins

PUBLICATION DATE: 11/15/2011

PAGES: 352

MY RATING:

SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS: Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Amazing. I loved everything about this story. The story line itself is great, the characters are wonderful and the writing is impeccable. The beginning of this book makes you appreciate the small things in life that are so common we don't even think about how lucky we are that we can do them. The writing in this book was terrific. Parts of the book sounded to me almost like they were spoken by someone giving a speech. There were also some very intense love scenes that I enjoyed. You could feel the passion between the two characters. The ending of the book was excellent. After reading through the book and wondering what is going on and what is going to happen, we find out some information that sounds as though it's going to make for an exciting sequel. I can't wait!

CHARACTERS: Juliet, the main character was great. It was very easy to relate to her. I felt what she felt as she was going through everything. I also really liked the character of Warner. I guess he would be classified as "the bad guy". I am interested to learn more about him in the sequel, such as what he really wants and what his goals are.

COVER: Love it! The cover is gorgeous. I love the dress the girl is wearing and I love the bright shimmery explosion happening behind her. I also like the slash through the title.

*I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine for review.