The Death Cure- A Book Review

I've been struggling to read this stupid book for months, and then last night I read like fifteen chapters and finished the whole dang thing.

My thoughts during those chapters?

Well that's just bloody brilliant. The love of my life just died.

Well done, Minho. Hit him again.

Oh, look, now that one is dead too.

Maybe I'll get lucky and this one will end up dead.

Nope.

Oh good! He died.

....

That's the end???

(I also find the name hilarious. It's the Death Cure? More like the Death sentence!)

Here's goodreads take on the matter:

It’s the end of the line.

WICKED has taken everything from Thomas: his life, his memories, and now his only friends—the Gladers. But it’s finally over. The trials are complete, after one final test.

Will anyone survive?

What WICKED doesn’t know is that Thomas remembers far more than they think. And it’s enough to prove that he can’t believe a word of what they say.

The truth will be terrifying.

Thomas beat the Maze. He survived the Scorch. He’ll risk anything to save his friends. But the truth might be what ends it all.

The time for lies is over.  

I'm gonna give this one three hearts.

♥♥♥

I'm not a huge fan of this series anyway, but this one didn't hold my interest nearly as much as the first two did. It seemed to me like there were a lot of stretches where nothing was happening. Not to mention everyone (except one) I love died, and nearly everyone I hate lived. I get it, characters die. It's the norm nowadays. I can't complain too much.

I suppose the thing I disliked most was the ending. It just seemed so abrupt. I was left with a "That's it? But what happens? Nothing is figured out yet!" feeling. I may be totally wrong, because Minion 1 told me I was nuts and I just can't appreciate happy endings. I saw nothing happy in the ending, I'm sorry. But apparently there was one in there. I just feel lost when I think of the ending. Like, come on, James! You put the characters through all that and that's the end??
There were some brilliant plot twists in the book (My favorite/most terrifying had something to do with BRAINS- Just saying). Some very terrifying chapter endings that forced me to keep turning the page. I was a little upset at one of the twists involving love interests, but I've come to accept the fact that I'm 99% doomed to be disappointed with fictional romances.
As far as content goes, if you don't like cannibalism, people getting crushed by things, and bloody zombie-ish descriptions, don't bother picking it up. There was also quite a bit more language in this one than in the others. Still not tons though. Other than that, it didn't have any content issues.
All in all, it wasn't a failure for a series ender. Things did wrap up, it just seemed sudden. Minho's sarcasm was perfect throughout the book, and there were some fun twists I didn't see coming. If you enjoyed the first two, it's worth finishing.

The Sticky, Sweet Kind

Right.

Well then, this is me, begging your forgiveness in advance, for the post I am about to write.

It is to be a mushy post. Having to do with valentines day. It's going to be oozing like tree sap.

If you don't want to read it, you don't have to.

But I would prefer you read it because I want to tell someone.

 Give me one post to be a girl, okay? I promise I'll stop after that.

 Before we get into the sticky mess of the post, let me back you up just a touch.

Go back to Monday.

On Monday evening, my dad and Minion 1 were gone, and me and the remaining family members went to town for a quick shopping trip.

Mom treated us to our first Chinese restaurant. (It was good, by the way) I ate my fortune cookie, and wasn't too interested in the fortune, but I read it anyway and laughed. It said-

"You will shortly receive pleasant news of a personal nature."

My mom and minion 2 laughed and ordered me to keep it, just in case.

I have no idea what they thought would happen.

I had no personal prospects of the romantic sort.

But I threw it in my purse and tried to finish the unholy amount of food that had been piled on my plate. We drove home in the fog, and I was pretty tired when we got home. There was an message on our answering machine and I pressed the button for mom and headed into the kitchen.

This is what I heard.

"Hey, this is Jarod-"

Pause:

Jarod is from church. He has never called our house. Jarod wants to come to my house for a bluerock shoot with my dad and some guys from church. I thought that was why he was calling.

Play: 

"Um...I just wanted to talk to Maddie, so...give me a call back. Thanks. Bye."

Imagine me coming in from the kitchen and screaming "What?"

Then picture my mom and sister screaming louder. And my mom calling my dad and playing the message into the phone. And panicking. And wondering what he wanted. And laughing. And telling me not to get my hopes up. At the same time planning our date.

I finally got her to shut up (she was still shaking though- literally), and I mustered up the courage to call him.

And I got an answering machine.

I left him a message and did not sleep all night. (that may have to do with me getting sick on the Chinese food, I ate, but it may not) The next day I fretted my way through school hours, and endured the constant teasing and "don't get your hopes up" from my family, along with tears and hurt looks from my Minions.

Mom would not let me leave the house in case he called, no matter how many times I told her he was in class. Finally, minion 2 needed to go to piano lessons, and mom was busy trying to get ready for company so I offered to take her.

"But he might call!"

So I just called him again, terrified I would get that stupid little voice mail.

Do you have any idea how terrifying it is to leave a message on an answering system that doesn't actually say Jarod can't come to the phone? It just says *number* isn't available- leave a message.

What if it wasn't his??

Luckily, he answered on ring number three.

What came after that was a lot of nervous laughter and "I don't knows"

What I managed to pry out of him was

"Are you doing anything on Saturday, cause I thought maybe we could do something fun on Saturday...if you think of something fun to do, call me."

*cue another panic scene from my mom and minion 2*

Then I hang up and check the calendar, thinking, okay nothing going on this Saturday.

That's when mom came and looked and screamed again.

"That's valentines day!!"

You know what I said?

Shoot!

I don't know why. I was actually super excited. But I said shoot anyway.

So all day Wednesday I was trying to find a movie or something to go watch. I figured we would both like American Sniper, but there's some *ahem* steamy parts in that, and I don't know about him, but I'm not cool with that up on the screen on a first date.

So last night, I called him back before youthgroup and got that dastardly answering machine again.

Then he called back right in the middle of youthgroup so I ran out of there and sat outside freezing while we hashed over where to go.

I don't like Mexican.

He don't like pancakes (what??)

He likes Chinese.

But he wants to go to a town with no Chinese food.

His roommate wouldn't stop laughing and most of the phone call was taken up with Jarod yelling at him to shut up and get out. Which I appreciated.

So...very long dramatic story cut short.

I am going on a date today, for the first time ever in my life.

I have no idea where we are going on that date, or what we will be doing, but I am going.

In short-



I'm Sorry

 

 

Guys, I'm sorry. I'm not doing the Throwback Thursday post today.

Something crazy has happened, and I will tell you all about it come Saturday

 (don't worry, it's nothing bad)

But I can't even focus right now, and I am so busy with making plans and doing my regular work that I just don't have time today.

But I shall return!

Adios!!

A Rant of Sorts

The other day I was thinking about my stories, and a comment my mom had made.

She said "all of your stories involve sex, drinking, drugs, or smoking in some way."

She wasn't accusing or anything, just stating a fact. 

It did get me to thinking though. For most of my stories (not quite all) she was right. And I wondered, should I be worried about that? Why do my characters engage in these activities. I've never written a character where I tried to glorify those types of actions. But often those behaviors manifest themselves in the main character.

The hero.

The one I want my readers to love. 

Why do I do that? 

I thought about it long and hard and I came to the conclusion that it makes them real.

Not that all people are druggers or alcoholics or anything like that, but it gives my characters a flaw. A real flaw that makes people disappointed in them, and can bring out the worst of their humanity.

I like to call them broken characters. 

This got me thinking down another trail, as my mom also wondered why I hardly read any Christian fiction. 

The answer is largely because it lacks these broken characters. But why? Christians, of all people, should realize that we are all broken people and that only the grace of Jesus can put us together again. Christian stories should be teaming with shattered characters. But they're not. 

My favorite characters are all broken in some way or another. 

Katniss starts the Hunger Games books off as a broken girl. Her father's death and a need to survive and keep her family alive has made her hard to emotions and feelings of the people around her. And she just keeps getting broken as the series progresses.

Whether you like him or not, Gale makes it onto my list of broken characters. 

Tris doesn't start out noticeably broken, but she is by the time we get to Insurgent. 

I dare say Four is a broken soul. 

Will Herondale is perhaps the definition of a broken character, and so is Jem, even if he expresses his brokenness a different way. 

Murtagh, Ky, Theresa....

Broken people. 

I love these kinds of characters. I can relate to them. Even if I don't have the same flaw they do, we both have flaws.

They have imperfections, same as me.

They can be a complete screw up and still be the hero. 

The danger in these characters is that the secular genre can glorify their vices. 

We all laugh when Will insists he needs to get to a brothel. 

Sometimes we feel like we should be a Katniss and just shut out the world and everyone in it. 

But we shouldn't. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the Will quote, but do you see what I'm getting at? We can let the fictional problems of characters we love make us callouss to real sin in the real world. 

Why then, can't there be broken characters in Christian fiction? Where the story is presented in a way that guards our tenderness toward sin, but still gives us a believeable story?

So many (not all mind you) of the Christian stories I read have "ice cream cone characters". Perfect little John and Lucy's who have everything in order.

Of course they have a sin. Characters in Christian books always have some kind of pet sin. But it's wanting to be rebellious against the stuffy church rules, being drawn to the bad boy who's not a Christian, or maybe being short tempered with a sibling. 

Real flaws, but seemingly minuscule. The characters seem too perfect. I mean, come on. Don't we all wish our only flaw was occasionally getting into a mild argument with a sibling? 

If there is a broken character in a Christian story, it's usually the antagonist, or a secondary character. The broken secondary character is shown as flawed, and possibly in the wrong, and they never get a victory.

Aren't there Christians who are broken? Don't Christians have traumatic pasts, habits they can't break, and emotional scars? I've met them! I've been them! Can't we use that to make a good story with redemptive qualities? 

I'm not saying every story needs to have a messed up character and a glorious scene of salvation at the end.

I'm actually against that.  

But isn't there a way to use some of these things in stories without turning them into a cliché, or violating a reader's innocence?

Throwback Thursday

Hi guys! Guess what. I remembered that it is Thursday, and I have planned posts on Thursday. So here, on time,  is your Throwback Thursday post.

These snippets come from 2009, when I was 13 years old. *shudder* There's some pretty lousy ones this week, and I can hardly say that I was a little child and didn't know any better. I was a teenager for crying out loud. Anyway, I've found that 2009 was apparently a very busy writing year for me, because there are a pack of stories with 2009 scribbled on them, so I'll be splitting them into two posts. Here is the first round.

 2009

The Chronicles of Tashba

Now before we go on, you need to know a bit about this pair. They live on the island of Tashba. And if you started from the center of the island and walked north, you would reach the ocean quite quickly. But if you walked south, you would never reach the sea no matter how far you walked. Nor if you walked east or west.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. The Chronicles of Narnia was my favorite thing ever at this point in time. However, the story (miraculously) was not a complete rip off of Narnia. (I was learning guys! It had begun to occur to me that I should write original characters and plots!)I don't remember much about the story world I created for it, but this snippet makes me like it quite a lot.

The Alyx Bane Files (original)

“One thing, miss. These murderers aren’t likely to follow rules of weapons. Many will be illegal, leaving us at a slight disadvantage. They’ll have explosives and....”

Alyx cut him off and casually stated. “Then eliminate the disadvantage.”

By the end of the week, the armory (Alyx’s room) was filled with weapons. Rifles, hand guns, machine guns, silencers, grenades, tranquilizers, and many other things that may or may not have been legal.

Ah yes. The original Alyx Bane Files. I have since started to write it over again, and it is decidedly less Artemis Fowl meets A Series of Unfortunate Events. I still wish I had her house though. Besides her impressive (borderline illegal) arsenal, she has a secret lab in the basement. Pretty cool, huh?

Borderline? Is that what you're calling it?

Andy Thompson

Dear Diary,

Yesterday was my twelfth birthday. Aunt Phyllis came over for a ‘surprise.’ She had a ‘most wonderful gift’ to give me. I’m to go live with her and ‘become a lady.’ I find this simply appalling.

 The sarcasm is strong with this one. The whole story wasn't wrote as a diary, but each chapter began with an entry. I was still under the impression that being a lady was a dreadful thing. I also seem to remember having a fascination with mining towns at that time.

The Jay Marie Western Adventure Series

Luke grinned. “I reckon you better go rescue Tucker.”

“Tucker. He’s here?”

Luke nodded. “Since you weren’t around, yer ma’s got him inside giving him a haircut.”

Ah yes. A boy getting a haircut. That is most certainly something he needed rescuing from. It's a dreadful business. Boys should have the ability to get hat hair. Anyway, this story was largely my own, though I think I originally got the idea for Jay from Missy Lahaye from the Love Comes Softly movies. She morphed dramatically from the movie character though, and was a complete brat, I might add.

Will and Jessica

The next day Jessica felt fidgety. She feared someone might notice something about her and their plans be exposed. She somehow made it through the day, but the night was even worse. Anticipation was a churning ball in the pit of her stomach. Anticipation and anxiety. Though the workers here were kind, she and Will would most certainly be in trouble if they were caught trying to run away.

Who doesn't love a good orphan story? This one was actually an orphan train story. I loved the little gang of hoodlums I had created and set loose on the streets to pick pocket unsuspecting business men.

 

Falicia Calden

He shook Stacy's hand, then Nancy's. Ichabod hissed at him. Rand curled his lip at the cat and hissed back.

Did I ever tell you that I went through a phase where I was in love with Canadian Mounties? This story right here is proof.

Rachel Scott.

They made their way down the country lane. "So, what did you want to tell me?" She asked.
Holden flushed slightly. "I didn't want to tell you anything."
"Then why..."
Holden cut her off. "I wanted to give you this." He handed her a choker made of black ribbon, with a small glass gem dangling down from the center. "Happy birthday."

You know what is so odd for me? I remember writing this scene. I remember exactly how it looked in my head. It was dark out. She was wearing a blue dress. There were stars, and the road was lined with trees. Why is none of that in this scene? I have no idea. I do know that I started this story shortly after reading Roses for Mama.

Kinly Hardin

We were the youngest outlaws in the history of Texas. Law men hated us, other outlaws respected us, and men who worked with Jack Dutch came to fear us. We were cagey as coyotes, canny as foxes, wild as mustangs, vicious as wolves, quick as rattlesnakes, and- if threatened- just as deadly.

So, funny story. The characters described in this atrocious piece weren't outlaws. I kid you not, they weren't. I just really liked this piece (I cannot for the life of me see why) and wanted it in there, so that's how the story started.

Gwen #1.

The Queen sat down and began to cry. Her husband had just died in battle, and now she would die, having a terrible allergy to peppermint.

I have tried to write this Gwen girl so many times. She eventually turned into the main character from The Riders of Carstindad, but this was the first story I had planned for her. Peppermint was murderous in every version of this story I ever wrote. I don't know why. I think it was because I hate peppermint, and the Baudelaire children are allergic to it in their series, and my cousin always claimed he was allergic to onions and would die if he ate them, so I combined all those threads and smashed them together in this laughingly tragic scene.  

Ryder Dorrance

"Do you want me to introduce you to her?"
I shook my head. A second later Rachel Stone came walking up, pretty as a picture, still staring at me. She stopped directly in front of me and I quickly looked away.
"I feel like I should know you." She said frankly. "What's your name?"
"Ryder Dorrance." I mumbled.
Her eyes widened with recognition. "You!" She hissed. "You threw a toad in my lunchbox!"

I'm pretty sure this was my first attempt at writing in first person, and I really hated it at first. From this we can gather that I use the name Rachel too much, as it has turned up in two of the snippets I've given you so far for this year. I'll also let you know, that Ryder has a hopeless crush on her at this point, and feels like his life is ruined when she recognizes him.

Alright, enough of this nasty business. That's all I'm going to share with you today. Have fun with the ridiculous scribblings of a brand new teenager.

Sisterhhood of the World Bloggers Award

 

So, Wild Horse nominated me for this award. Much thanks goes out.

 

Rules: 

• thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site. 
• put the award logo on your blog. 
• answer the ten questions they’ve set you. 
• make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer. 
• nominate ten people.

 

The Questions:

What is your favorite story no one has ever heard of?

Oh boy...that's a hard one. Most people haven't heard of Green Rider. It's not my favorite story, but it's one I definitely like that no one ever knows about.  

Your life is now the last movie/TV show you watched. What was that? And are you happy or worried?

 Alright, my life is now Grimm. I'm happy, but also worried. There's a lot of freaky things running around in that show. If I have access to the weapons in Nick's trailer, I'm just fine.

 

You are about to be marooned on an island. You get a pistol and a book. Which book?

 My Ultimate Guide to Survival, thank you.
 

Favorite type of cookie?

 Chocolate Chip. Undercooked, with milk chocolate chips. None of those semi sweet things.
 

Do you dance in the rain?

I haven't I a long time, but when I was little, I used to sing and dance in the rain. I'd sing "Praise The Lord, Praise The Lord, let the earth hear his voice" at the top of my lungs.
 

What do you look for in a friend?

Someone that I feel comfortable talking to about real things, and who is comfortable talking to me. Someone who doesn't think they are better than everyone else, and someone who isn't afraid to get out in the world. I don't want to have to drag them behind me in everything. We need to go into world domination together.
 

Now that I am King (or Queen, maybe), will you bring me cookies?

No.

(Or woman)
 

The longest you've gone without sleep?

 Well, lets see...36 hours I believe.
 

What do you know about New Zealand? 

 It replaces Old Zealand...Or would it be just plain old Zealand?

 

Tell me something you are scared of.  

Hmmm, well, I'm mildly afraid of heights. Not like Four is, but mildly. I'm incredibly afraid of failure.

Okay, I tag

Bethan Downs

Skye

M

J

Jillian

.....

Guys...I know it said ten, but I just want to go to bed right now. I have sixteen followers. Let's hang the rules, and just say all of you are tagged. All of you! Tag, you're it!!

 

Here are the questions:

 

1. Are you doing anything out of the ordinary in honor of Valentines Day?

2. What time do you usually go to bed?

3. Will you help me in my quest for world domination?

4. What are the key elements needed to make a story your favorite?

5. What time do you usually get up?

6. Do you venture outside in the cold or bundle up with chocolate and a book?

7. Is there a book you have started, and want to finish, but just can't make yourself sit down and read it? *cough* The Death Cure *cough*

8. Do you hate the interstate?

9. Do you have a favorite person from history?

10. Is there something I should know? ;)

 

 

 

Valentines?

Hello darlings (said in my best British imitation)

How are all you lovelies this fine day?

I happen to be befuddled.

My Mom-Mommy said something the other day about ordering my Daddy-kin his valentines day present. And I stopped. I actually stopped and thought
Are Valentines still a thing? Do we still do that?

Now I know little kindergarteners still like to get those boxes of Scooby Doo and Hello Kitty cards that say ridiculous little rhymes that make everyone feel so special...just like everyone else who got identical ones. My mom is a bus driver and she comes home every Valentines Day with her purse overflowing with sticky loving tokens from her little passengers.

(I kid you not, I had this valentine as a small child...I still probably have some..)

But are real valentines still a thing? You know the kind I'm talking about. The anonymous ones. The kind me and my best friend used to make for the special someone we adored that week. The ones with paper hearts glued to the front and ridiculous handwritten poems inside. The ones that never got send and ended up piling up in an old folder in the desk, only to be discarded years later.

The ones that you get for that special someone, strategically place, and hope they guess right as to who gave it. The kind you give in hopes of getting one back. Do those still happen? I don't know.

My mom and dad are married (is that a duh? I think that's a duh), so they have to give each other gifts...honestly I don't think my dad is getting her anything, but you get my meaning.

But what about the rest of us? Are valentines dead?

I suppose I still have a bit of time to decide.