Mini-Reviews: What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Title –  What’s Left of Me (The Hybrid Chronicles #1)
Author – Kat Zhang
Genre – Young Adult, Dystopia
Publisher – HarperCollins
Pages – 343
Source – NetGalley

“Addie was warm and radiant next to me, making up half of us. But I – I was Eva, Eva, Eva, all the way through.”

It’s been a long time coming to get to read this book. I was in a quandary what to read at the time; something easy, romantic, contemporary possibly, but Kat Zhang’s What’s Left of Me screamed to me on my Kindle. The concept of the plotline was so fresh and unique that I never seizes to amaze how dystopians can be quite unlike you have ever read before. Addie and Eve are two souls in one body roaming the streets of present day. Classification; Hybrid! The society doesn’t except them both remaining in the same body at the age of 16. They should have settled leaving one, the more dominant to take control. However, Eva lurked around always seeing through Addie’s eyes but never being her… and that can be very frustrating as the character and as the reader.When Addie is invited to Hally’s house one day, there life completely changed, leaving them in a state of flux between two persona’s  neither one having any real control over their identities any more.

Kat Zhang’s debut novel reminded me of the essence of being a twin. I was that essence of being a twin, once. Sharing with another must be frustrating  difficult  to contend with such diverse personalities. What I loved was that no matter who was dominating the situation you would observe from Eva’s perspective, her thoughts and feeling would be more personified than those of Addie’s. Though in all honesty is it weird to say that I preferred Eva to Addie?!

Unlike many Young Adult dystopian’s that I have read, the concept is a contender. Kat’s premise of the plotline was very well written and the pace of the novel wasn’t too fast or slow, but just right for the build up of the novel. Despite my best intentions to read this book in quickly, it took me a week to read due to my work, but that didn’t reduce the rating of this book! There’s only one question that left me… How is this story going to progress! I will be intrigued to find out!

Title – The Fault in Our Stars
Author – John Green
Genre – Young Adult
Publisher – Penguin Books
Pages – 312
Source – Library

“My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.”

This is a highly anticpated novel of the year and Goodreads Book Choice of 2012. I’ve been very reluctant reading this book because of its hype as I generally don’t enjoy them as much as I desperately want to.

John Green’s novel are legend, they may be extreme, blunt and unlike anything you may have read before though they show on crucial thing that people let by, realism. Books maybe to escape reality and immerse yourself into something untold, beautiful and strange yet John has this skill to create such truth and love into one that it changes your concept of this novel.

Hazel, diagnosed with  Stage IV thyroid cancer, at the age of 13 has had no easy life. Walking around with her oxygen tank oblivious to the natural of order of things, Hazel has become susceptible to the people around her for too long and now she wants to be independent  to live an to love. Hazel’s character is just astonishing, her pain, her health and her life has been suspended by something that is part of her. I personally don’t like to dwell on the fact that I found it hard at times to contend with her. Her bluntness it what fears me, she doesn’t beat around the bush about death or the near-death experiences that she has has to battle with. She just lives with it and I think I envy her for that. Augustus was part of the Support Group and the instant he saw Hazel, he knew. He is the symbol of normal that Hazel wants. He has such a kind and comical nature that its hard not to burst out laughing at times.

This has been a very controversial book across the world as its been classed as ‘sick-lit’. I completely disagree! Lucy from the Queen of Contemporary has had her say the Daily Mail and it was very influential piece of what books now-a-days have an impact on the younger readers. John Green holds a message, that even I can’t describe. Cryptic I know, I would pick it up now if you haven’t, you really can’t miss out on this beautifully written story.