Author Updates

Hey everyone, I just thought I'd make a quick post with some news about various authors we've featured in the past.

Ally Condie, author of Matched (original post) released the sequel to Matched, called Crossed in November of last year. Check it out on Amazon. This is part of a trilogy. The third book will be called Reached and will be available in November of this year. Check out her blog post about it here.

John Green, author of Looking For Alaska (original post) just released a book called The Fault In Our Stars. It's about a young girl with cancer who falls in love with a boy she meets at a support group. I've heard it is incredibly sad, but very good. Apparently film rights have already been bought for this book! Check it out on Amazon.

Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children (original post) will soon release a book called Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past, which is a non fiction book about found postcards. It's due to be released in April. Check it out on Amazon.

I'll try to do posts like this about once a week, maybe more, maybe less depending on the news. Don't be afraid to tell me what you think or tip me off on some new release!

"I wonder if death will always taste this good.": Ally Condle

Matched by Ally Condie (Amazon) is a book about a Dystopian future, reminiscent of... well, pretty much any classic book about a Dystopian future. I saw echoes of 1984, Brave new World and The Giver. There are also a lot of things that remind me of The Hunger Games, though I'm not sure that was intentional, considering how recently The Hunger Games was published.

I'm not sure how much I liked Matched. Dystopian novels are among my favorites, but it sort of felt like Matched had a little too much going on. The main character, Cassia, basically turns 17 and is suddenly thrust into the reality that the "Society" she knows and trusts might be a little less benevolent than she ever realized. However, though the author tries to show that this sort of thing has happened before, it couldn't help but feel as though as soon as Cassia turned 17, a switch flipped and Society just suddenly got more corrupt.

Also, this book involves choosing between two boys-a best friend and an outsider. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm a little sick of this plot. On the plus side, Ally Condie doesn't really glamorize the idea of two boys wanting you. However, I'm still sick of that sort of plot. That's just me though, I'm sure others will enjoy it immensely.

Ally Condie does have contact information so here's what I wrote:
"I just finished reading Matched and I wanted to say that it was an excellent homage to all sorts of dystopian novels. I'm not sure if you intended it to be that way, but seeing various echoes of 1984, The Giver and Brave New World was pretty interesting. Overall, I thought the storyline was pretty interesting, and I liked Cassia. I saw that the movie rights have already been optioned-I think that this would make a pretty good movie. I can't wait to read the next book in the trilogy!

Good luck with all of your writing projects!"

I'll probably have another post tomorrow! I'm going on vacation, so it's time for a lot of reading!