Review: Diverse Energies

Title: Diverse Energies
Editors: Tobias S. Buckell and Joe Monti
Genre: short story, dystopia, sci-fi, romance, YA
Published: 20 November 2013
Pages: 368
Rating: 6 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley, Lucky No. 14

Synopsis: "In a world gone wrong, heroes and villains are not always easy to distinguish and every individual has the ability to contribute something powerful.

In this stunning collection of original and rediscovered stories of tragedy and hope, the stars are a diverse group of students, street kids, good girls, kidnappers, and child laborers pitted against their environments, their governments, differing cultures, and sometimes one another as they seek answers in their dystopian worlds. Take a journey through time from a nuclear nightmare of the past to society’s far future beyond Earth with these eleven stories by masters of speculative fiction. Includes stories by Paolo Bacigalupi, Ursula K. Le Guin, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Daniel H. Wilson, and more." (from GoodReads)

My Review: I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but I requested this one from NetGalley because I like some of the authors mentioned and I love supporting books about diverse characters. The stories are all interesting, but there are definitely some that I enjoyed more than others. My favorites were "Uncertainty Principle" by K. Tempest Bradford (a girl discovers that she's the only person who can detect temporal anomalies), "Gods of the Dimming Light" by Greg van Eekhout (a modernization of Ragnarok - especially cool because I read it the day before Ragnarok was thought to occur!), and "Blue Skies" by Cindy Pon (not your typical kidnapping story). The others weren't bad, but these were the three that I found the most interesting and wish I had gotten more story for.

This collection is great because of the much-needed diversity it features. However, the downside is that so much of it is bleak. The worlds these authors have created are beautiful and fascinating, but also really terrible if I were to actually live in them. I would love to see a collection of stories (or novels) about these characters when they're happy and living normal lives.

Disclaimer: I received an electronic review copy from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

Other Reviews:

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Review: Alienated

Title: Alienated
Author: Melissa Landers
Genre: YA, romance, sci-fi
Published: 4 February 2014
Pages: 352
Rating: 5 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Challenge

Synopsis: "Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet." (from GoodReads)

My Review: This is a slightly better-written Twilight clone with an alien instead of a vampire. There are some interesting twists, but we know these two crazy teens are going to fall in love despite their differences. I'm also pretty sure I caught the first whiffs of a love triangle that will probably be explored more in the sequel(s).

First, the things I didn't like:
For an alien who supposedly had no concept of human emotion, Aelyx smirks. A LOT. I felt like I needed to start keeping a tally, because it happened constantly.
The idea of falling in love with an alien (I don't care HOW hot he is) is pretty icky to me. It's one of my peeves about the Doctor Who fandom, too, actually. If these aliens want to be neighborly, that's awesome! But (SPOILER) mating with aliens, even if it strengthens their genes (I didn't really get the logic behind this part) seems too far-fetched. I understand that there's a parallel to civil rights, but I guess I'm just not that open-minded.
It's very obviously the first part of a series. That drives me crazy; I wish authors would finish their stories in one book, rather than stretching them out. Especially when said book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.

The stuff I did like:
There's some pretty cool world-building, but we don't get to see too much of it in this book because we only really interact with Aelyx.
Cara blogs about her experience, which is a pretty fun conceit. I would've liked to read more of her posts about the L'eihr.
Cara's best friend is Latina. Hooray, diversity!

Alienated is also pretty action-packed, especially toward the end. I don't know if I'll read the sequel, but I will definitely recommend it to my Twilight-loving students.

Other Reviews:
Falling For YA

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