Book Review: Variant

I started out thinking "Variant" by Robison Wells is yet another teens-in-peril at the hands of unknown, unseen, wicked-evil adults YA novel. Which, to be fair, it is. It's the first of... I don't know... a trilogy? Maybe. And the sole reason I gave this book a look is because Robison's brother, Dan, is among my favorite authors. His John Cleaver books are soooo good.

That's reason enough to give his brother a chance, yes? The beginning of "Variant" reminded me a lot of James Dashner's "The Maze Runner", featuring a group of teens isolated from the world in a compound of some kind, unable to leave and forced to comply with strange rules and activities without any real explanations. "Variant" is set in a school in New Mexico, and the first-person character of Benson is likeable, if not loveable. He's incredibly well adjusted, intelligent and self-aware, considering he's spent most of his life bouncing from one foster family to another, and he copes better than the average teen would with what happens.

Book Review Copy & Paste: I am Not a Serial Killer

I just realized I never posted a review of one of my favorite books on this blog, so I'm dropping it in here before my next post goes up today. Copied and pasted from my review on Goodreads:

I liked this book even better the second time. Creepy, thrilling, exciting, enthralling and addicting. I can't wait to start the second book tomorrow!! Wells is a great author. I sympathized with John, even though he has tendencies toward violent thoughts and thinks he could, potentially, become a killer. His honest, brutal self-analysis is fascinating and heartbreaking. I especially loved his character's development at the end of the story.

While I don't have murderous tendencies, the heartfelt winding of John's story helped me to really understand him and to feel a connection to him that I didn't expect. His relationships with his mother, aunt, sister and lone friend are fascinating, and the way he solves the whodonit in town and, ultimately, triumphs over his inner demons and the one killing townsfolk is a unique story, mixing a little sci-fi or fantasy (or whatever genre has such things as demons) with mystery and thriller-style storytelling. I loved that the author told us very early on who the killer was, and the remaining story delved into psychology and the adventure of John setting out to stop him. Good stuff.

I increased my rating, and that's saying something. This is a fantastic book, maybe not for the faint-hearted, but the language is clean and there is no "adult" material. It is gruesome and downright creepy, though.

Book Review: The Hollow City by Dan Wells

"The Hollow City" is about a man named Michael Shipman who has schizophrenia and finds himself in a mental hospital being treated with various drugs to help control hallucinations, having lost two weeks of recent memory, (which coincide with the gory murders of members of a nearby cult-- whom he believes kidnapped and murdered his mother right after his birth). As if that's not enough to wrap your head around, along with hallucinations of "faceless" men, he sees other things, hears voices and believes there is a massive conspiracy and a Plan that has something to do with him and is very dangerous.

As the story moves along, we are just as unsure as Michael about which people and events in his life are real or imagined, and the deeper aspects of mental illness, and its treatment, are explored through his first-person present-tense narration. They psychosomatic drugs he is treated with cause uncontrollable physical reactions: his teeth click, his head bobs and his left arm involuntarily and compulsively swings. The matter-of-fact way he narrates these things makes him so relatable. Don't we all try to hold back if our body tries to shake or twitch or fidget? Wouldn't it make you frustrated if you couldn't control your own body? I feel like I totally understand this, even though I don't have anything in my life quite like what Michael has. Which brings me to my next point:

Dan Wells is very good at planting readers right into the minds of his protagonists, and not only do you become deeply sympathetic to them, but his compassionate and honest storytelling make you love them. In his John Cleaver books, the protagonist is a sociopath, and I quickly found myself caring about, sympathizing with and, on some level, really understanding him-- his motivations, his feelings (and lack thereof) and how his mind worked. I connected with a sociopath, causing some pondering about how my own brain is wired. I love a book that makes me think, without overwhelming my puny brain.

In "The Hollow City", Dan has done the same thing with the schizophrenic patient. The story is so well written that as the reader experiences Michael's story, we feel his fear, love, hate, anger, frustration, confusion, sadness, and sometimes clarity right along with him. I've never known much about schizophrenia beyond the fact that people with it generally hear voices and hallucinate. I feel like I have a little more sympathy and a tiny bit more understanding of the disease now, and imagine that- gained from a work of fiction. As he said at the book signing,  (and I'm paraphrasing from my faulty memory, forgive me if I get it wrong) Dan didn't want to "demonize" or "canonize" mental illness, as so many fictional stories do. He wanted to make it real and relatable. He did just that.

The story is very good, the resolution satisfying and exciting, and the very last scene is AWESOME! I said it before, I think Dan Wells is a serious smarty-pants. I can't wait to see what he does next.

I blew through this book in about a day and a half (and had I not a full-time job, it would have only been a matter of hours); now what the heck should I read next? Suggestions?

Dan Wells Book Signing

As I get closer to 40, I'm trying to come out of my little cocoon of social anxiety and start doing things I don't normally do. This morning in a meeting with my boss, I asked him if he'd ever been to a book signing and in the ensuing conversation (he hadn't) mentioned that there was one tonight that I really wanted to go to celebrating the release of Dan Wells' new book, but because lately time off has become a rarity (the library is a circus from June-August) I hadn't asked. Also, because there was this little part of me that thought it might just chicken out and not go. He said, "Oh you should go. You can get off early, how does 6:30 sound?" Um... well... oookayy... I agreed, excited and trepedatious (5 point word, kids) and scrambling to find someone to go with me. (And by the way, I think I have the coolest boss EVER... just sayin'.)


First, I called my dad (the formerly famous film critic) and asked him what a book signing was like, since he's attended them on both sides of the table. He gave me the basics and said he would have gone with me had he known sooner. Dang. Then I called my sister, who is also a Dan Wells fan, but she also couldn't go. Husband? Meh... he would have gone, but I would have had to a. find a sitter for youngest child because her brothers would be at a service project and b. make him miss said service project, which he was supposed to attend. So I let him off the hook and figured I could count on my second son-- he's a reader, I thought, and he'd probably rather go with me for a couple of hours than move dirt with a shovel. No go. Stinker. I asked my friend Dannie. Nope. I called my friend Becky, with just minutes until I would be leaving, and though she's normally game for spontaneous fun (especially social time), she couldn't come either. 


What's a social-anxiety-prone girl to do?


So I ran out to my car, changed my clothes (yep, in the minivan. I'm tricky like that) and raced to Trolley Square. Every light from Tooele to Lakepoint was out. Super. Still, I made pretty good time and got there only about 15 minutes late.


Something you may or may not know about me: I loathe being late. It makes me so tense I can't stand it. So of course, I parked, left my van and went the wrong way, looking for Weller Book Works. It took me about 5 minutes to find a map and face the right direction and find the shop. Thankfully, Dan hadn't started his bit. In fact, I don't think I missed anything all that important. I'm so glad they had a guest from Wasatch Paranormal presenting first. Though, since Wells' new book isn't about ghosts, I'm not sure what the relationship was... maybe I missed that in the introduction portion of the evening, but I was happy to have not missed Dan's book reading. And while the guy was talking, my stomach flipped as I looked across the room and saw another of my very favorite authors, Brandon Sanderson, walk in! I knew he was going to be there, but it was so cool to see him in person. I'm not a crazy-stalker-fangirl, I just really like his writing. 


I took a seat (at the back, of course, luckily next to a display of the new book: "The Hollow City"), snatched one and settled in to listen. Once the paranormal guy was through, Dan took the floor, told us about the book, setting up the scene he would be reading. Only he didn't just read, he and a pair of actors (I assume) did sort of a readers theater of the scene. The scene was entertaining and interesting and did its job: made me want to read the book! These are my not-very-good pictures of Dan and Mary (?) during the reading:

After some Q&A, Dan invited us to have a treat and then line up to have our books signed (I so should have taken a picture of the goodies table... dangit.) They had donuts with bacon on top, peach rings (a reference to something in the book) and little cups with candy "pills" in them (the book is partly about mental illness). The bookstore man stood up and told us to purchase our books up front, then line up for autographs. I cheated a little. I took my un-paid-for book and zipped straight to the signatures line, shimmying in behind a rather large man. I've always been very good at getting to the front of the line fast-- partly because I'm not patient, and though socially anxious, I know how to be assertive (or aggressive) when called for. I was third in line. THIRD!! Yahoo! 


Being close to the front made me feel better about bringing all 4 of Dan's books I already owned, as well as the not-yet-paid-for new one to the table. I asked him to personalize them to Stephanie and he asked if I was the Tooele blogger. Gah! So cool that he's able to remember stuff like that! I was tickled, and we chatted a little as he signed my books- his notes are all funny (I know, he probably does the same phrases in all the books, but I love what he wrote), see the pictures. Then I shook his hand and walked away. Unlike the first guy in line who tried to have a long-ish conversation with him. Authors must both look forward to and dread book signings. :)

I made a beeline for the registers, paid for my book and turned around to see Brandon Sanderson behind me talking with some lady. I waited, trying not to hover, for them to wrap it up so I could meet him quickly before I left, but it was taking too long, so I turned and looked straight at him so he would know I was waiting to chat with him. He stopped talking and glanced at me, like, "yes?" so I said I just needed to shake his hand before I left and that I was a fan and would he be doing a big thing at Weller's for the last WOT book? He said probably, but even sooner, this fall, he'll be releasing a novella and would likely have an event. Yesss!! So excited about that... so I walked away and they resumed their conversation. I felt kind of bad about interrupting, but I like to get in, get done and get out, so I didn't really want to linger. 


I really wanted to have a photo of myself with both of the authors, but I chickened out. Maybe next time. :)


To wrap up this very long blog entry (thanks for sticking with me):

1. I faced my social anxiety and my habitual homebodiness and did something I've never done before tonight. Alone. Yes. I feel good about that.
2. I met and shook hands with two of my top 5 favorite authors. Not sure when I will have that chance again. I do wish I had gone to the Utah Writers conference with my friend Laura earlier this year, as both guys did workshops there, but this is almost as good. :)
3. I made it home before dark, and had such a good time, I think I would do something like this again. 

Now, it's time to settle in and start "The Hollow City". If you're interested, here is my book review to the first Dan Wells book I ever read, which I randomly chose off the library shelf, about a year ago. If you haven't heard of him or read his stuff, I highly recommend you start  there. Or with "The Hollow City", which is unrelated to his other books and stands alone.

Oh, and one more thing. If you happen to be interested, here's Dan Wells' schedule for the remainder of his book tour. He's very nice and personable and you'd better meet him while you can, because he's moving to Germany when the tour is over. 

Book Review: Partials by Dan Wells

Dystopian fiction for teens has become so popular, it seems like everything now that doesn't have vampires or werewolves in it is set in a dystopian future. Dystopia is defined here as:

 DYSTOPIA (dystopic): An imagined universe (usually the future of our own world) in which a worst-case scenario is explored; the opposite of utopia. Dystopic stories have been especially influential on postmodernism, as writers and film-makers imagine the effects of various aspects of our current postmodern condition, for example, the world's take-over by machines (The Matrix); the social effects of the hyperreal (Neuromancer); a society completely run by media commercialism (The Running Man); the triumph of late capitalism (Blade Runner); bureaucratic control run amok (Brazil, 1984); and so on. 

Obvious examples include Suzanne Collins' wildly popular "Hunger Games" and the first dystopian series I remember reading, "The Shadow Children" by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Set in a future world where people are only allowed to have two children, the books are the story of secret third children. Other notable titles are "House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer (a superb book, I don't want to tell you about it-- it's one you should just discover as you go. and "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, a disturbing story of a future where people are given community assignments and one young boy is assigned to apprentice with the community's Giver, who alone feels all the pain and joy of life. I'm sure there are many more.

Tonight I finished first in a new dystopian series cryptically titled "Partials"by Dan Wells. Wells is a genius at taking something popular and putting his unique stamp on it, twisting familiar themes (murder, mystery, etc.) into something completely unique. I'm a huge fan of his John Cleaver books, "I am Not a Serial Killer", "I Don't Want to Kill You" and "Mr. Monster", which are about a 14-year old boy who assists his mother in her morgue and is obsessed with serial killers. Recognizing his own sociopathic personality traits, he creates a rigid set of rules for himself to avoid ever actually becoming a killer. When people in town start dying, naturally he can't stop himself from investigating. There's mystery, science fiction and genuine characterization in these books that drew me in immediately. I like them better every time I go back and read them again. They have been compared to the "Dexter" series, but are so much better executed and unique that they stand out on their own.

Not sure what to expect from a Dan Wells YA title, though the cover is compelling and the title gives away very little (like a good movie trailer), I picked up "Partials" and started out. I admit, I was a little nervous. I don't like to read a lot of what's trendy, and since dystopian fiction is everywhere, I hesitated with this one. Also, I haven't read a lot of crossover authors and enjoyed both their adult and YA books. I really wanted to like it, and I was afraid I might not. Silly librarian. 

I haven't been doing as much reading lately as I used to (a serious repercussion of working at a library-- go figure) so I took a little time getting into the story, but once it gets going it is compelling and exciting and the characters are each unique and likeable. I don't want to spoil anything here, so I don't dare say too much. There was one twist-type-thing that I guessed right away (surprisingly-- usually I'm way off), and I was glad to see that Dan isn't afraid to kill off characters (that's not a spoiler, is it?); the death of characters (like my beloved Agent Colson in The Avengers- boo hoo!! Oh... if you haven't seen that movie, sorry for the spoiler AND what-- are you living in a cave? Get out more, people!!) can lend a feeling of authenticity to a story, where everyone always surviving becomes increasingly unrealistic as a story progresses. The  book is also intelligent-- methinks Dan's a smarty-pants. Sometimes I had to go back and skim over a previously read paragraph to make sure I was getting all the medical and sciency stuff. 

I did like the book, I will read the next in the series when it comes out, but I have to say it's not as good as the John Cleaver stuff. Though it really isn't fair to compare them, one being blood-and-guts-for-grownups and one being dystopian-future-for-teens. 

On a related note, I am heartbroken that I won't be going to Dan's big huzzah-huzzah book signing tomorrow night at Sam Weller's books in SLC for the release of his new novel, "The Hollow City", which sounds like a psychological thrill ride, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. I will be working. Yep. The evening before the 4th of July, I will be at my post at the library, a mere 25 minutes away, probably bored out of my mind and frustrated that I won't get to met Dan (and maybe Brandon Sanderson, be still my WOT-fan heart) and get my books signed (or as Dan cleverly puts it, "defaced"). 

If I can finagle it, I will go down to Orem for the signing at Barnes & Noble on July 23rd, but it isn't looking good. For one thing, crowds make me nervous; new experiences make me nervous (and I've never been to a book signing. As my sister eloquently put it-- "will it be full of weirdos?" And what about the book? Do I pre-order it? Do I buy one and bring it with me? Will he think I'm a crazy fan-middle-aged-girl if I bring my sack of already purchased Dan Wells books? Will there be a massive line?? Should I go early?); driving to Utah County makes me nervous (I've lived in Tooele County for 15 years-- I'm spoiled on roads that don't feel like I'm playing the live-action version of Burnout With Road Construction); parking in crowded places makes me nervous; but I digress. 

If you're already a fan of dystopian fiction at all, and even if you're not, you will probably like "Partials". The story is compelling and the end is very satisfying, while leaving the reader intrigued about where the characters will go next. Check it out!