Pure by Julianna Baggott

Nine years ago, bombs hit the earth, in an event called The Detonation. These bombs disrupted molecular structures with nanotechnology to help speed up the recovery of the earth after the blast. But it also sped up DNA and excelled at self assembly of the cells, fusing them. After the detonation people found themselves fused to the earth, to each others, fused to inanimate objects like baby doll heads, glass, wires and metal. And some even fused to birds, their children, any thing they were close to when the bombs detonated. This is what the future looks like in this book.

The author is very descriptive with her unique world she has portrayed. It is a dark world where everyone has some sort of blemish. Whether it is a fused part, scars or burns they are the wretches that live outside the dome. The dome is the only place that people were able to escape the Detonation, they live without scars or burns they are considered Pure to the outside wretches. But just because they are pure doesn't mean every thing is perfect in the dome.

The book mainly center around two teenagers, Pressia and Partridge. Pressia only knows the days after the Detonation she can barely remember her life before it, she has a baby doll fused to her hand and scars and burns on her face. Partridge was lucky enough to be in the dome when the detonations hit. He has lived nine years there, but when his dad gives him clues that his mom might still be alive outside the dome, he finds himself wanting to go out there to find her.

There is so much description, and twist and turns. I could barely take my eyes off this book. It is so good. Each character has to endure some sort of hardship throughout the book. Life is not easy for these characters. There is so much going on and stories that intertwine with one another. According to the Acknowledgments, the author took a lot of time to research nanotechnology, medicine, communications and even effects of the atomic bombs that dropped on Hiroshima. So it makes the book that much more realistic and heart jerking at parts. I recommend this read to anyone. If you liked Hunger games, or even Uglies you will probably like this book.

The Magician King by Lev Grossman

This is the second book after The Magician. It starts off with Quentin, Eliot, Julia and Janet all in Fillory for 2 years now. All Kings and Queens, but all they do is lay around Whitespire eating and drinking and not much else. But, after the Seeing Hare comes running through, Quentin decides to follow it for an adventure. And an adventure is what he gets.

I think at the beginning of the this book, I enjoyed it more than The Magician. The books tells the tale of Quentin and his adventures, but it also goes back in time and tells what Julia was up to during the time Quentin was at Brakebills. You get to understand how she was before she arrived at Fillory and why she is the way she is now. The first half of the book I was really into, but after that Julia's story began to bore me a bit and so did the rest of Quentins story in parts. This book isn't as doom and gloom as the first one though.

The untied ends at the end of The Magician weren't were put together in this one. You don't really get to know how Julia ended up with the other three when they met up with Quentin at the end of The Magician. And they bring up figuring out what Quentin's discipline is at the end of The Magician but it is never brought up at all in this book. It is a completely different adventure. Unless I am missing it somewhere, it is pretty disappointing.

You only really get to know Quentin and Julia more in this book, although there is other characters from the previous novel and a couple new ones, you don't really get to know the characters that much in depth. They only seemed to be there to keep the story going along. There is a couple things that just didn't make sense, like the ending of their quest, it seemed so simple. Overall, it was an okay book in my opinion.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

I like books with a lot of dialogue, it is what keeps me really into the book. But, The Magicians didn't have as much dialogue as it did of paragraphs and paragraphs of descriptions. Everyones reading habits are different, I like a lot of dialogue and adventure and this book didn't have as much as I wanted to keep me entertained. A lot of the descriptive text is very depressing, how unhappy the main character Quentin is. Whatever he faces, whether it is Brooklyn, Brakebills, Fillory or a long tern relationship, nothing ever makes him happy and it is described over and over again in the novel making it quite depressing.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good parts in the book. It does get to some really good dialogues and adventure. Not that there is any really big twist in the book but things that get mentioned at the beginning of the book do get concluded or referenced at the end of the book. Like Quentins Discipline. I wanted to know what it was, why he was never given one, but in a way at the end of the book it is reference which helped tie up that loose end for me.

I have read other reviews that it is an adult Harry Potter, but I don't really get a Harry Potter vibe to it. Yes, they do magic in the book but it is very different then Harry Potter. I find it more closely related to an adult version of the Narnia books. And even a little twist of Alice in Wonderland. Seeing that they are going to do a TV series based on this book for Fall 2012, I can't wait how they will portray the book. If they will portray it more in a Harry Potter aspect since that is want the audience seems to want. But I am very curious as to what the TV series will show and can't wait for it to air on Fox.