Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013 Finished

Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013 hosted by Blog of Erised.

Rules

> The challenge will run from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Each month will have its own link form so you will be able to share your book reviews. You do not have to review the books you read to participate, but only those who read/reviewed at least one dystopian book will be able to participate in the giveaway (you can track your reading without the reviews with Goodreads, Shelfari etc.).

> Books that count in this challenge must include any form of post-apocalyptic theme (book sites like Goodreads are good sources of genre information). The books must be full-length.

> All formats allowed.

> Rereads allowed.

> It does not matter whether it's a series or a stand-alone book.

> If you are participating, grab the challenge button from below and post it on you blog. You can also make a post with the header (the code is also below). Please include the link back to this post so others will be able to participate as well.

> If you will participate, put the sign-up link to your blog post (about the challenge) or blog (for the button) directly into the linky below. Sign-ups will be open until December 20, 2013.

> You do not have to list your books in advance, go and do as you please. Read as many as you want (you can read more than 24!) and whenever you want, as long as you have fun!

> Info about the giveaway will be available in December 2013.
Levels

Level 1: Recruit (1 to 6 books)

Level 2: Rebel (7 to 12 books)
Level 3: Revolutionist (13 to 18 books)
Level 4: Leader (19+ books)

I finished this challenge the 16th of October with XBestia by Melissa Conway. After that I read one more for a total of seven so I guess I could say I actually made it to Level 2: Rebel.

My list of books:

1. The Scourge by A.G. Henley
2. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
3. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
4. Hollowland by Amanda Hocking 
5. Unwind by Neal Shusterman 
6. XBestia by Melissa Conway
7. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi  

 All posts from this challenge are HERE.

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.
As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions.
They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers a barbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love - one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY. From Goodreads

This was okay. Set in the future with the usual factions of the lucky ones in some kind of cover and the unlucky battling the elements and each other outside. Aria is thrown out, meets Perry and they have to work together. There were a  few surprises in this one and I might continue this series at a later date.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
2013 Ebook Challenge
A Book A Day Keeps the Boredom at Bay Reading Challenge
Author Alphabet Reading Challenge
Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013 

XBestia by Melissa Conway

Twenty years into the future, bioengineered animals provide organs for human transplantation. Grafts of animal skin have replaced tattoos in popularity, which gives rise to a unique new demographic: xenofreaks. Bryn Vega’s father is head of the Pure Human Society and when she’s kidnapped by the Bestia Butcher, the most notorious of the criminal xenosurgeons, she assumes it's payback for her father’s anti-xeno activities. Scott Harding is her taciturn jailer-called Cougar because of the claws replacing his fingers-but Scott is not who he seems. Deep under cover for the Xenofreak Intelligence Agency, he’s been given unprecedented immunity to find the Bestia Butcher’s lair and do whatever it takes to bring him to justice. When Bryn is forced to undergo a radical xenoalteration, she discovers a terrible secret: her father is using The Pure Human Society as a front for his own purposes. His willingness to sacrifice his daughter to accomplish them sends her running to Scott for protection, and into the hard-core underground subculture of the very xenofreak society she once despised. From Goodreads.

I have to admit I bought this book for the title as it is not easy to find books starting with X. But this book was better than expected and I have already bought the second in this series as I would like to know what happens to the two main characters.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 A-Z Reading Challenge
Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.uk 8th of October 2013)

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together through desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing all the while that their lives are hanging in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthdays, they can't be harmed. But when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away... From Goodreads

A quite intriguing book which I enjoyed. I plan to read the next book in the series next month. It is about escaping the sentence of being unwound. But it is also about what part of a person is a soul. A man gets an arm and can suddenly do tricks that he couldn't before. Somebody gets part of a brain and that part of the brain doesn't know it is part of somebody else! That is the part I found intriguing.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Serious Readers 2013
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
2013 Ebook Challenge
Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013
2013 A-Z Reading Challenge
Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 8.0
Author Alphabet Reading Challenge
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge
A Book A Day Keeps the Boredom at Bay Reading Challenge

Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

"This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door."
Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies. From Goodreads.

It was okay but unfortunately no more than that. But it was the same with her Trylle trilogy where I didn't like her first book as much as the following two. With that in mind I might try to read Hollowmen at some point.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Tower Teams Read 2013-2
Serious Readers 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Women Challenge
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge (zombie)
Quick fix Challenge 2013 (291 pages)
2013 1st In A Series Challenge
Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013
Spring into Horror 2013
2013 Why Buy the Cow? Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.uk 26th of October 2011)
Let Me Count the Ways Reading Challenge 2013 (291 pages)

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

In America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota--and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life. . . . From Goodreads

This is an interesting book. It is a grim and scarily possible future. Children are working hard - if they are lucky enough to have a job and then struggling to survive after hours. The crew members trust one another but  this does not rule out betrayal.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Tower Teams Read 2013
Serious Readers 2013
Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 1st In A Series Challenge
Let Me Count the Ways Reading Challenge 2013 (326 pages)
2013 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

Hig, bereaved and traumatised after global disaster, has three things to live for - his dog Jasper, his aggressive but helpful neighbour, and his Cessna aeroplane. He's just about surviving, so long as he only takes his beloved plane for short journeys, and saves his remaining fuel.
But, just once, he picks up a message from another pilot, and eventually the temptation to find out who else is still alive becomes irresistible. So he takes his plane over the horizon, knowing that he won't have enough fuel to get back. What follows is scarier and more life-affirming than he could have imagined. And his story, THE DOG STARS, is a book unlike any you have ever read. From Goodreads.

This Post Apocalyptic book is set after end of the world. There are few survivors. One must kill or be killed. However, it isn't actually as bad as I might have expected but then we don't see a lot of different areas. There is hope!

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Tower Teams Read 2013
Serious Readers 2013
Let Me Count the Ways Reading Challenge 2013 (336 pages)
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (Post Apocalyptic)
Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013

The Scourge by A.G. Henley

Seventeen-year-old Groundling, Fennel, is Sightless. She's never been able to see her lush forest home, but she knows its secrets. She knows how the shadows shift when she passes under a canopy of trees. She knows how to hide in the cool, damp caves when the Scourge comes. She knows how devious and arrogant the Groundlings' tree-dwelling neighbors, the Lofties, can be.
And she's always known this day would come—the day she faces the Scourge alone.
The Sightless, like Fenn, are mysteriously protected from the Scourge, the gruesome creatures roaming the forests, reeking of festering flesh and consuming anything—and anyone—living. A Sightless Groundling must brave the Scourge and bring fresh water to the people of the forest. Today, that task becomes Fenn's.
Fenn will have a Lofty Keeper, Peree, as her companion. Everyone knows the Lofties wouldn’t hesitate to shoot an arrow through the back of an unsuspecting Groundling like Fenn, but Peree seems different. A boy with warm, rough hands who smells like summer, he is surprisingly kind and thoughtful. Although Fenn knows his people are treacherous, she finds herself wanting to trust him.
As their forest community teeters on the brink of war, Fenn and Peree must learn to work together to survive the Scourge and ensure their people’s survival. But when Fenn uncovers a secret that shatters her truths, she’s forced to decide who and what to protect—her people, her growing love for Peree, or the elusive dream of lasting peace in the forest. From Goodreads.

I read this book in one sitting, I think that says it all. It was interesting from start to finish and I am looking forward to the next book that should be published at some point in 2013.

This book qualifies for:
Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Tower Teams Read 2013
Serious Readers 2013
Let Me Count the Ways Reading Challenge 2013 (242 pages)
2013 Ebook Challenge
2013 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (Young Adult)
2013 Paranormal Reading Challenge
2013 Women Challenge
Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013
Quick fix Challenge 2013
2013 1st In A Series Challenge

Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013 Sign up

Dystopia Reading Challenge 2013 hosted by Blog of Erised.

Rules

> The challenge will run from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Each month will have its own link form so you will be able to share your book reviews. You do not have to review the books you read to participate, but only those who read/reviewed at least one dystopian book will be able to participate in the giveaway (you can track your reading without the reviews with Goodreads, Shelfari etc.).

> Books that count in this challenge must include any form of post-apocalyptic theme (book sites like Goodreads are good sources of genre information). The books must be full-length.

> All formats allowed.

> Rereads allowed.

> It does not matter whether it's a series or a stand-alone book.

> If you are participating, grab the challenge button from below and post it on you blog. You can also make a post with the header (the code is also below). Please include the link back to this post so others will be able to participate as well.

> If you will participate, put the sign-up link to your blog post (about the challenge) or blog (for the button) directly into the linky below. Sign-ups will be open until December 20, 2013.

> You do not have to list your books in advance, go and do as you please. Read as many as you want (you can read more than 24!) and whenever you want, as long as you have fun!

> Info about the giveaway will be available in December 2013. 

Levels

Level 1: Recruit (1 to 6 books)

Level 2: Rebel (7 to 12 books)
Level 3: Revolutionist (13 to 18 books)
Level 4: Leader (19+ books)

My goal will be Level 1: Recruit (1 to 6 books).

I hope I will reach 6 books.

My Posts for this challenge will be HERE.

List of books:

1. The Scourge by A.G. Henley
2. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
3. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
4. Hollowland by Amanda Hocking 
5. Unwind by Neal Shusterman 
6. XBestia by Melissa Conway
7. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi