Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Maria Donlucas 

Plot Summary

Human and Cyborgs live together in New Beijing.Cinder is the best mechanic in New Beijing.  A deadly plague has affected the Human race. Cinder’s sister has been affected by it. Cinder’s stepmother is furious and summits Cinder to be a guinea pig for the deadly plague. Will Cinder survive? Who is Cinder? Will she safe the human race?

Critical Evaluation 

Cinder is not the fairy tale where she finds her prince charming at the ball and they get married. Cinder is independent and wants to help the human race. She is the smartest cyborg. I see myself in this book because I am a strong independent women. Cinder doesn't wait for her prince she goes out and finds her true self.

The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey

 
Haotian Jiang

Summary
This book is mainly about a girl named Cassie who tries to rescue her brother who has been taken to the Alien camp to be trained to be a cold blooded soldier after the Alien invasion to Earth. After the 4th wave, you can’t trust anyone...

Excerpt

“Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity. And if this is humanity’s last war, then I am the battlefield.”

I really like this quote because this is when the main character Cassie is trapped under a car and is bleeding really badly, but she can’t get out because there are Aliens out there waiting for her. She can either get out and die or die of waiting. Because she believes she is among the last people who is still alive, she does not want to die worthlessly, and decides to make something big happen.

Evaluation

I give this book a 10 out of 10 because it’s so fun to read and eye-catching. It’s fascinating to see different people’s perspectives of the world when aliens invade their society. I really enjoyed this book and I strongly recommend to people who like mystery and sci-fi books. Once you start to dig deep into the book, you can’t stop digging and just want to keep reading!

The Giver

Lois Lowry

Matthew Murphy

Summary:

       A world without evil, war and hate. A utopian state with perfect order comes Jonas a young boy whose will to find out the truth about his world. Jonas is assigned a special job and has a duty to achieve in his world of peace. Will Jonas find the real truth about the world he lives in or will he be just as normal as everyone else.

Critical Evidence:

     I'm not much of a reader, I never really am able to find that many books that I like. The Giver was really intriguing, I would rate the book a 9.5/10. This book was really good and knowing there is more follow up books to read I'm glad that this series continues.

Divergent By Veronica Roth

Haotian Jiang

Plot Summary
Tris Prior who lives in a future generation where the human society have been divided into five factions, Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), Erudite (the intelligent), Abnegation (the selfless), and Candor (the honest). When Tris turned into an adult, she will have to choose which factions that she will live in for the rest of her life, Tris wanted stay in Abnegation in order to stay with her family. The day of the choosing ceremony, something huge changed during Tris's life, the tester did not tell Tris which faction is the best fit for her, instead, she deletes all Tris's test scores and hand wrote what happened. When the truth is starting to floating into surface, Tris discovers she is a divergent, and she must keep in secret in order to protect herself and her family.

Critical Evaluation
I would rate this book a 10/10. This book is good for people who likes actions, mystery, and adventure. It's a really engaging book, once you start to read the book, it's hard to put down, and it makes your mind keep imagining what the place looks like, keeps you on track of what's going on, and it seems real to you, once you are engaged, it feels like you are part of the book. This book is also part of a series, and each book gets more interesting, there's also movies for each of the book, so you can look forward to watch the movie after reading the book. 

Speaker For The Dead by Orson Scott Card

Erick Arias

Plot Summary:
Speaker For The Dead is the sequel to Ender's Game. It takes place after the genocide of the bugger race, and Andrew Wiggin, aka Ender, is held responsible. In this story a new alien species is discovered; they're nicknamed the "piggies" because their faces appear to be the face of a pig. Just like the buggers, their alien ways are frightening. Ender bravely tries to find the truth as a speaker for the dead.

Critical Evaluation:
I give this book a 9/10. The story is very interesting, and how the whole plot of the story is based upon just getting information about the new alien species. There is a lot back story that describes how the aliens came to be.

Ender's Game Book Trailer by Erick Arias

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Erick Arias

Plot Summary

In the world of Ender's Game, kids are taught differently to make them smarter. This book is about Andrew Wiggin, also known as Ender Wiggin is selected into a new form of military where they choose kids from all over the world to command a fleet to destroy an incoming attack by aliens, known as the Buggers. Even though Ender is the most gifted of them all, he faces hardships throughout battle school.

Critical Evaluation

I give this book a 9/10, what keeps from giving this book a ten out of ten is that the battle against the bugger fleet was not all that exciting. It ended in 5 pages. But the rest of the book is cool as it talks about kids training to becoming the best, a lot of competitive moments.

Where Futures End by Parker Peevyhouse

Gordon Jack

Plot Summary

Where Futures End starts out strange and gets stranger as you read. And that’s a great thing. In chapter one, a teen develops a sixth sense that allows him to see into another world, one so magical he wants to disappear into it. As the novel progresses we move forward in time to discover new characters and new information about this parallel universe and how it impacts our world.  

Critical Analysis
I'd rate this book a 10 out of 10. If you love stories like Winterblood by Marcus Sedgwick or Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, where the plot unfolds across multiple time spans and settings, then this is the book for you. Each chapter is filled with imaginative settings, social satire and great characters.

City 1 by Gregg Rosenblum

Erick Arias-Lopez

Plot Summary
This is the third and last book of the series Revolution 19.  The main characters are Cass, Kevin, and Nick, and their parents.  They all live in a safe zone base called freepost.  The people in the freepost rebelled against the robots that have taken over cities in which they used to live. The robots hunt them down and either kill them or "re-educate" them, a process where the robots brainwash the prisoners into believing that the robots are good. Once the humans get that through their head, they are eligible to live within the city.  In this finale, the three main characters, along with a rebel group, fight the robots in their cities.

Critical Evaluation
I give this book a 7/10. Since it's the last book in the series, I thought there would be some plot twists that would make the book exciting.  There were some, but not as much to change the course of the book.  But, it's still a good book.

FullMetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

Daniel Bautista

Plot Summary
In the Manga series, Edward Elric and his younger brother Alphonse Elric set out on a journey to obtain the philosopher stone in order to get their bodies back. While trying to bring back their dead mom, Ed lost his right arm and his brother lost his whole body. Ed gives up his left leg to get his brother's soul back and attaches it to a suit of body armor. In order to get their original bodies back, they must now hunt down the legendary philosopher stone that can significantly amplify one's powers, but it will be a rough journey.

Critical Evaluation
While this manga is short, it's packed with lots of action and comedy. I would rate this book a 9/10 because it kept me entertained and the only boring parts were the parts where there wasn't something happening, which was rare.

Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum

Erick Arias

Plot Summary

The main characters, Nick, Kevin, and Cass fight against bots that hunt down people trying to rebel against bots.   Their village or Freepost has been attacked by the robots after one of the main characters, Kevin, gives away their position.   The Freepost is destroyed, people are scattered, and the main character’s parents are gone.  The main characters try to find their parents, but the robots always get in their way, which poses the question, “Will they ever see their parents again?”

Critical evaluation

I rate this book a 8 out of 10.  It reminds me of a video game with killer robots wanting to stop the human rebels fighting against them.  That thought kept me from not reading the book, it’s a very cool book.   There are a lot of likable characters in the book, I hope they appear again in the sequel.  It also reminds of I Robot and the Terminator series.

Denton Little's Death Date by Lance Rubin

Gordon Jack

Plot Summary

Denton Little has always known he was going to die young.  Everyone in the future does, thanks to the group of "doctors, scientists, statisticians, and astrologers...who pioneered the field of Astro-ThanatoGenetics." What Denton didn't expect to happen on his death date is a surprising hook up with his best friend's sister, an attempted murder by his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, or a strange purple rash to spread across his body.  As he comes to accept his imminent death, he learns some startling truths about his family and the government that may help him survive his last day on earth.

Critical Evaluation

I give this book an 8 out of 10.  Lance Rubin is a really funny writer and makes Denton's observations on his death date both hilarious and moving.  Like a John Green protagonist, Denton knows he's going to die, so he has a unique perspective on teen life and relationships.  The strange things happening to Denton make for an intriguing mystery and build a lot of suspense. When the novel became more about a government conspiracy, rather than Denton's personal story of coming to terms with death, it lost me a little. I was also a little disappointed that the book didn't end (there's a sequel coming in the spring of 2016).

The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith

Gordon Jack

Plot Summary

Ariel is the sole survivor of a gas attack that wiped out his Middle Eastern village.  After this horrible ordeal, he’s brought to the U.S. and things get even stranger. His adopted father works in a secret lab devoted to de-extinction of animals.  His father’s co-worker, Mrs. Nussbaum, is making the case of male extinction.  And, oh yeah, she’s in charge of the camp Ariel is sent to for boys with technology addictions. While at camp, Ariel must confront the problems of his past and present in order to make a new life for himself in America.

Critical Analysis

The Alex Crow is a 10 out of 10.  If you loved Smith's previous book, Grasshopper Jungle, you will love his latest novel too.  Smith manages to tell many different stories in The Alex Crow that span centuries and continents.  In the end, the stories all come together in a satisfying way.  The dark humor of the book reminded me a lot of Kurt Vonnegut, who Smith has been compared to because he takes a similar absurdist view of our sometimes frightening reality.

All of Our Yesterdays By Cristin Terill

Isabel Figueroa

Plot Summary 

Imprisoned in a secret military base, Em and Finn must find a way to survive and make their way out to destroy Cassandra (a time machine). Em is the only one who can stop it from being made. She has tried everything but nothing has worked.

Marina loves her best friend and would do anything to keep their friendship alive. Then one night everything is ripped apart with one shot and a kill. Marina must focus on protecting James while everyone is giving up on him. Little by little she begins to open her eyes to see how terrible the future world will look like if she doesn't protect herself. There might not even be a future Marina if she continues.

Critical Evaluation 

All of Our Yesterdays is a book that you do not want to take your eyes off of. It's a thrilling adventure going back and forward between two characters' lives. This is now my ultimate favorite book; I must say I give it an 11 out of 10 that's HOW MUCH I LOVED IT. This is the type of book you have to read slowly, due to the fact that Terill gives very specific details that while you are reading it you should automatically know how the book may end. I recommend this book to all ages!