Reviews by Villiana

2025. The world was dominated by free TV and brutal game shows, people are clearly divided into the rich, with everything, and the poor who live in extreme poverty. The atmosphere is contaminated, among the poorest spread all kinds of respiratory diseases, which often lead to death, because people don’t have the money for doctors. From this world comes Ben Richards. Ben goes to a game show in which the reward is a lot of money, and losing is death. And all because, in order to obtain funds for the treatment of a sick daughter.

I have to admit that the book disappointed me a little. It was supposed to be 'Running Man', life on the edge, chases, tension from beginning to end, a lot of dead bodies, that's all it was, to some extent, but not enough. I didn’t feel satisfaction and I haven’t read this book with bated breath and mouth open.

World of the future presented by the author - quite current. But there was some confusion futuristic with normality. TV and game shows - definitely yes, with this I can agree, now on a daily basis is sex, alcohol and partying in entertainment programs, it’s possible that in 10 years it will be killing. Let's go for it! Air contaminated, cars floating above the ground - quite fascinating. But to all this the old reality, tapes sent by post? Please... I know, I know that the book was written a long time ago, but if we have flying cars, the connectivity and communication it could be somehow push into a new era. I couldn’t 'empathize' in this world.

But I liked the main character. Naughty, curious. And brilliant ending! (maybe except guts, which came out of the abdomen). Read quite easily and quickly.

It was a feeling. When I read the description and saw the cover, I couldn’t forget about this book and all the time swelled in me the desire that I must have it. And I got it and I read in one day and it was fun and I don’t regret. Well, maybe just the fact that it ended so quickly.

Has long since I haven’t read the book so easily, so quickly and with great interest. Short chapters, which for me is a plus, because I like to finish reading together at the end of the chapter, and not long, combined with an interesting action meant, that I was reaching for this book in any my free time. Maybe this isn’t the literature and history of the highest caliber, but sucks like hell and it’s impossible to be bored.

The story about Ben, a boy who after the death of his parents was recruited and trained by the Program on effective weapon for special tasks (to eliminate uncomfortable units). Boy who was devoid from feelings, became a machine, for which there is only a job and nothing more... but are you sure? Is there a place for feelings and memories?

He is nothing. The mission is everything.

When 'she' appears, starts doing a really interesting and I already had in my head contrived the end of this story. I thought that the appearance of 'her' can only lead to one solution. But the book really surprising, ending which I wasn’t expecting.

In summary - an interesting main character, I think everyone at least once in his life wanted to be some kind of secret agent, an interesting narrative, quite rough, a bit naughty, a lot of action, great for me.

I don’t have much to write here.

There were moments that I loved it, especially at the beginning and at the end. And in the meantime, I felt desire that share speed up and finally ended. As I mentioned at the reviews on "Shadow of the Wind", not especially like narrated life stories when different people tell lengthy monologues and action moving forward in this way, and perhaps because I got bored here.

Regarding the content, I didn’t feel too much emotion, it was a little horror, a little bit of Frankenstein, but beyond that for me nothing that especially interested me. All a matter of taste, I suppose.

“He had wanted so hard to Escape, to find the stars. And all he had found was a new prison.”

After reading "Incarceron", which was very interesting, I had to reach for the continuation. And I have to admit that the whole thing was comparable to the first part. The same thing caught my attention and the same meant that I not rate this position higher. History is certainly remarkable, can find here elements of many genres, from sci-fi, through fantasy and adventure, it’s a mystery, is tension, only missing any stronger outlined romantic thread. The whole really impresses, but still appeared, at least for me, trouble witch imagining some places and situations, and still think, that the descriptions of the characters leave some unsatisfied.

What is in this part? Finn escaped from prison, dreamed about it for the whole stay inside, he finally saw the stars, but Outside didn’t meet fully his expectations, went to the Kingdom where people live in harmony with the Protocol on the model of past epochs, a world of intrigue, lies and illusions, where only the richest and those who have the power, they have everything. And poor? They have absolutely nothing. When the Queen playing in the old days, they live in them.

Finn cann’t believe that came from one prison to another and in addition left inside his blood brother, which after The Warden intrigue cann’t get out, and now at all costs he’s looking the exit. Meanwhile, prison, as self-sufficient being, living his life and puts his own plan.

What is the truth about that world?

The end of and the answer for this question may not be fantastic, but certainly worth exploring. I certainly recommend this book. I wasn't bored.

“There are some losses we never get over.”

I don’t know if I like this whole story. There were moments when I was terribly bothered, even to the extent that being in the middle of the book I reached for another book, I found myself even that my thoughts wandered far away and I couldn’t focus on the content presented in this book . At the end of the story definitely gaining momentum and is less boring.

Revolutionary moods are growing, the people from Wild are ready to revolt, in all of this Lena and her emotional dilemmas, which boy she loves more... It's good that Hana returned to the pages of the book, because I miss her a little in the previous part. But again, just like when I read "Delirium" I had the feeling that everything is obvious, it's very easy to predict what will happen. The only thing that surprised me, it’s a confession of Hana, about what she did, and besides, nothing more.

In addition... terribly disappointing ending: "take down the walls"... but what's next? as for me, this story is not complete, everything was left to unexplained, what with Lena and Julian? What about Hana? Too many questions unanswered.

“Because I have dreams and in those dreams I see the stars”

I wasn’t sure if I want to read this book, but after reading the description several times I decided to try it.

The beginning wasn’t amazing for me and it was hard to pull into presented world and events, but the further was more interesting and at one moment I just disappeared.

The author describes the world of the future, where after Years of Isolation a large part of the population was closed in a specially constructed prison, called Incarceron. The prison is so powerful that it can safely be considered as the second world, fully mechanized and self-sufficient. However, the main character, Finn, living in this world for three years and doing visions, he remembers snippets of the past, which was outside the prison and saw stars. Most of the other residents of the prison believes that the Outside doesn’t exist, others that exit were sealed and you cann’t leave it or get to it, the majority, except Finn and some of his friends, who, after finding the key and with the hope that the legend about Sapphique, supposedly the only prisoner who managed to escape, they set off in search of the exit.

Meanwhile, in the Outside people live the example of the former Ages, and any technique is prohibited by the Protocol. In this world live Claudia, who will soon be married to the prince, whether she wants it or not. Claudia is so fascinating, that although afraid of his father, opposed him, and with his teacher, Jared, explore Incarceron topic. Finally Claudia also finds the key, through which can connect to the second key and then a whole really is gaining momentum.

The book is interesting, it may have some shortcomings, perhaps descriptions of some of the places and characters leave much to be desired, but certainly the story is good, and the world created by the author - a remarkable, both Prison and Outside. There are many questions before the reader, many secrets, I’m not able to predict everything 100%, and I like it, when there is a surprise, I love the feeling when nothing is obvious, when I worry about the fate of the characters, and here it was so.

Who is Sapphique? Is he exists? Is the legend about his escape are true? Where is Incarceron? And most importantly, is there a way out of it?

In addition, the book, even though it shows the world of the future, and the characters are young, it’s far from all youth dystopian, reminded me the old adventure movies in the style of The Goonies, it’s not a typical love story, which occupies a large part of the story, is more about friendship, about the pursuing a goal, about searching for answers.

“If you’re smart, you care. And if you care, you love.”

What can I say... in general, I think that this part was better than the first, I know for sure.

We know the subsequent history of Lena in the Wilds, and later, as a fighter in the resistance movement. I don’t know if I liked the structure of the book, that is, the interleaving of events 'now' (resistance movement) and 'then' (the Wilds). Usually when I know what's going to happen later (eg. who will survive the winter in the Wilds), not especially interested me the beginning and so it was in this case, the chapters 'then' I jumped quite reluctantly. Didn’t move me too much of their worries, I didn’t cry over the death of the person to whom wasn’t too much on the pages of the book, supplemented only the story of the new characters and made the transformation of Lena was more reliable. I would prefer to know first, what was 'then', and later the rest.

And all the rest of the story was ok. Certainly better love story than in the first part. Was also more normal (not love) action, more of the world presented, everything tends to war, there are also other groups of Invalids, it turns out that a really big part of the population doesn’t consider love as a disease, and the remedy for the cure. In addition, a great figure of Julian, I liked this boy and I'm curious to see how this thread will develop In the next part.

Regarding the end of the book - kind of surprising, but I think everyone will admit, that that's what he expected, it had to be complicated in this way, otherwise it would be too sweet.

For now, this part I give eight stars, rather reluctantly, but let it be, since the first rating for seven. I think the worst thing that can be, after reading the book, it's not 100% know what to think about it. I know for sure that I immediately begin to read the next part, because I have to see how the author develops a theme from the end.

“The Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking.”

After all dystopian stories, that I read recently, where the narrator was a female, I had a great desire for a change and decided to reach for the story through the eyes of the opposite sex. I hesitated a long time before buying this book (not much opinion on the Polish book side), but I took a chance... and it paid off!

The narrator is a 13-year-old Todd, who is 'almost' a man and is one of the colonists in the New World. He lives in the settlement, called Prentisstown, along with about 150 other men. Prentisstown is the only settlement in the New World, and the men who live there are the last people (at least that we find out at the beginning). At New World people were at war with Spackles, creatures covered with moss, which infected people, all women dead, and men since then, whether they want or don’t, hear each other's thoughts (called 'Noise'), they hear even the thought of animals.

The boy doesn’t live there lightly. Everything changes when Todd finds at the swamps girl, who despite the fact that it’s a girl - extinct species, she has no Noise. His whole life changes radically, he has to run, armed with a knife, with his dog Manchee and a girl, can rely only on themselves, looking for answers about what this is all about. Is whole Todd’s life in Prentisstown was one big lie? What is the truth about the New World?

The whole action really addictive, nothing in this book is 100% clear, the author doesn’t show anything right away. It happens a lot and quickly, it’s about killing and dilemmas in this connection, it’s about hope, the whole gamut of emotions from laughter, through fear, after despair and tears went through me like a tornado.

Language of the book was, at least in the beginning, bit weird, chaotic, a lot of lengthy sentences, rather imaginatively constructed. There was a lot repetitions and direct returns to the reader. All this could be annoying, but at some moment I realized that it wasn’t, and that this is the advantage of this book, adding uniqueness, originality and dynamism of all events, and finally the narrator is 13-year-old boy, who spent all his life overwhelmed with thoughts of others, who couldn’t even read and write. Thanks to this all the events were very reliable, sometimes I felt like I really took part in it, dialogues were very comfortable and the book absorbed me completely. Roughened narrative reminded me a little The Maze Runner combined with Shatter Me, but this book was published earlier than those items, I regret that only now in Poland.

Another plus was the end of each of the chapters in the right places, I want to finish reading, and here comes a twist and... end of the chapter, and every time I say to myself: "another one". And in this way definitely too quickly it all ended.

And ending was great, surprising and moving...

I personally cann’t wait for the next part, in Poland soon.

I’m absolutely delighted. I didn’t expect, but this book hit perfectly to my liking and made a huge impression on me.

The author tells the story of three children, Arlen, Leesha and Rojer, living in a time when humanity has been decimated by the Corelings, the demons of darkness attack after dark. People protect themselves in their homes guarded magic and pray every night to survive until dawn. The stories of these young people, narrated individually, represent their characters, desires, their struggles with family and environment, show the problems of growing up in a world where not only Corelings are cruel, but people too. Young people grow up in the second half of the book we meet with them when they are already mature.

The main character is going through an internal transformation (probably not just once), a lot of different emotions that are beginning to shape his and finally we find out why and how did the title of the book and why Arlen takes appropriate decisions about their lives. Finally, the fate of the main characters intertwine with each other, as I waited impatiently, all the while imagining the circumstances in which this happens. Each of them survived a lot, many suffered, carries their luggage experience and each of them has something original, irreplaceable, and above all - the courage and desire to change the world for the better, which can make it, that in the next parts of the book Corelings will shit into each other.

For me, everything in this book was interesting. Starting from the created world, after each one character described in the book, each was very real and believable, even the secondary characters, to each one person I felt some emotion, from the enormous sympathy, through amusement, compassion, to hatred. There wasn’t one moment when I started bored, on the contrary, from moment to moment, my curiosity grew, what will happen to the characters. I’m very curious sequels and certainly read them.

I never before heard of this book, I found it quite recently and decided to buy because it was after a really affordable price. And now, when I finished reading, I cann’t believe I didn’t find it earlier, because it was simply brilliant.

The vision of author presents the world of the future, whose main goal is happiness of its inhabitants. Children are produced in factories, in decanting bottles (words: father, mother, family, natural childbirth - it's downright something awful), from the earliest moments of life, the child is conditioned on their own specific tasks in the future, is instilled in the social hierarchy, what you likes and dislikes (some methods have been a real shock for me), various type of slogans, so each individual from a social group (caste) is similar and, of course programmed to be happy.

„That is the secret of happiness and virtue - liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny."

And if you get a moment of doubt... we have specific called 'soma', a sort of alcoholic-drug that improves mood, mind moves into the realm of happiness, allows you to forget your worries and is completely without side effects. Besides the fact that shortens life, but new great society is built on a high aesthetic appearance, so when you reach sixty years (to which we arrive at artificial maintaining the appearance and way of thinking teenage years), we say goodbye to this world without lament and without much loss to society.

I would forget to mention about sex. Sex is popular, practiced from an early age, without restrictions, the more partners, the better, because everyone belongs to everyone. And the best compliment for a woman is a "pneumatic".

The author shows first the story of the unit, which probably a result of an error in the process at an early stage of development, is slightly different from the society in which he lives, which is why he feels alienated, and the history of another unit - Savage, who lives with his mother in the areas of the reserve, without contact of civilization. What will happen with Savage, when he left the reserve and collides with the brave new world?

This book was for me extremely interesting, surprising, shocking... a lot of different emotions and the whole world created by the author, so unusual, and seemed almost real.

The whole experience ruined for me one aspect. Namely the debate as to whether the new society is better or worse without faith in God. I don’t like all religious aspects in books, I think that's in who or what someone believes is his individual matter and shouldn’t segregate people in this regard, and societies for the worse or better. Some people believe in God, others in Caligula, others in anything, and also feel good about it. In these matters shouldn’t be discussed. Therefore 9, not 10.