KEEP CALM AND LOVE BOOKS: badass

Pages: 322

Publication Date: April 16th 2013 (first published April 14th 2013)

Publisher: CreateSpace

ISBN: 1484125460 (ISBN13: 9781484125465)

*This is a New Adult Book, blood, violence, cursing, sexual references, and drug use. Not recommended for those under 17.*

When I won the annual Eagle Elite College Scholarship lottery, I was thrilled. After all, my grandma had just died and I wanted to take care of my aging grandpa -- he couldn't be a farmer in Wyoming forever. And graduating from Eagle Elite meant opportunity.

But I wasn't counting on meeting Nixon.

Nor was I counting on the rules of the Elect.

1. Do not touch The Elect.
2. Do not look at The Elect.
3. Do not speak to The Elect.

And worst of all? Don't discover the secret they hide, because in the end, you may just realize... it's about you.

Now, What I thought:

The concept of this book is pretty dull. I mean, it's typical high school drama with an added twist. To put it into perspective, this resembles a lot of the books you'd find on Wattpad. The drama was good though and it was a very quick read (1 day to be exact). It was a fun and easy distraction from the heavy reads I've recently picked up so besides the stereo-typicalness of it all, it was ok.

Our protagonist, Trace, is really infuriating. I wanted to punch, maim and kill her several times in the book. She was whiny, sad, always crying and had no confidence. Besides that, her story moves pretty quickly, which I thanked God for. We went from 0-100 real quick in this and it suited the story. There is swearing, violence (yuck), and sexual references in this book so just beware of that; Dyken does not hold back when it comes to what these guys and girls think in their heads.

Nixon is the typical too hot for school type jackass. I didn't like Nixon one bit in the beginning, and I still don't now. He's an asshole, as simple as that. Dyken tries to change him and make him a 'good' guy like some authors do, but I just really did not like him either way. I mean, the 3 rules??????? Do not touch, look or speak at the Elect (Nixon and his little gang) COME ON. That really infuriated me and how Trace would just go crying about them being so mean and how she would just take the abuse. Hello, you're all in college, grow a pair or just grow up and don't take stupid shit from these people.

While I'm saying a lot of negative things about the novel, I will admit it was entertaining. It was definitely something I just read on a whim and because it had that 'look' of just absolute funny ridiculousness. And I was right by the way. It was exactly that, ridiculous and way out of context drama. We do get some surprises in this book. I did see some stuff coming but I think Dyken wrote it so we could?? I hope. The plot does thicken a tiny bit toward the end when we get the truth but definitely don't count on this book to be a deep read.

I'm going to end this review on some dialogue from this book just to prove how ridiculous this was to read, yet extremely entertaining and funny:

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” I closed my eyes. This had to be a dream. This couldn’t be real! “I’m going to die a virgin!” I blurted and then began to truly hyperventilate.

“What?” Nixon shouted.

“A virgin,” I repeated as I greedily tried to suck more air into my lungs. “I’m going to die a virgin! I’m going to die without ever going overseas! I’ve never even been nak*d in front of a man before! Oh my gosh! I’m never going to have kids! What if I want kids? What if—”

“Trace…” Nixon tried to interrupt me, but it was like I was watching my body freak out and couldn’t stop talking.

“Nixon, you have to promise me that if we live through this — and that’s a giant if, considering we’re literally trapped between two death machines — you have to take my virginity. Take it!”

“Trace, I don’t think this is the time to—”

“Promise!”

bad boy - 10:45:00 PM

Elite (Eagle Elite #1) by Rachel Van Dyken | Review

Pages: 322 Publication Date: April 16th 2013 (first published April 14th 2013) Publisher: CreateSpace ISBN: 1484125460 (ISBN1...

Publication Date: July 25th 2006

Publisher: Tor Books

Pages: 541

ISBN: 076531178X (ISBN13: 9780765311788)

In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with color once more?

In Brandon Sanderson's intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage — Allomancy, a magic of the metals.

Now, What I Thought:

This was really good!!! It was super long but considering how fast-paced it was, it was almost perfect. So the world we're set in is a fantasy dystopia. The sun has turned into a red giant and instead of clear skies, ash rains down almost indefinitely. The story follows this bad-ass 16 year old girl, Vin, and 35 year old, another hugely bad-ass, Kelsier. So there are two classes basically, the Skaa and the Nobles. The Skaa, which Vin is classed in are serving people, they are the 'poor' in this world. The Nobles on the other hand sometimes have access to magic in this world known as, Allomancy. Magic in this world is fuelled by elemental and alloyed metals. This magic can enhance abilities like super strength for example and the abilities differ from different metals the nobles ingest. This whole book is basically a heist for Kelsier and Vin's thieving gang to overthrow the Lord Ruler of the land.

It was really exciting to read and the way we got introduced to the characters was such a brutal and honest way! This whole world is just a wasteland, it's almost like this could happen to us, in real life, in about a couple billion years. We all know our sun is going to burn out sometime and become a red giant like all of the other stars have, it's just a matter of time. I really really really enjoyed this book, and I do wish I had read it sooner! During the book we obviously get a couple attempts by the gang to overthrow the Lord Ruler. Lets just say the first try did not go well. We really get to see why the Inquisitors, unbeatable and unstoppable powerful guards, are so feared of and holy crap that was intense.

There were a lot of moments when I literally thought Sanderson was going to kill the main characters because taking on that big of a heist was bound to have many, if not, all casualties.

WARNING: This is not a happy book. This is a sad, intense, thrilling adventure but not happy. The world Sanderson built and made is living in poverty and a literal wasteland with ash to cover their grounds, do not expect a happy ending. Kelsier was definitely one of my favourite characters, maybe tied with Vin. He was so bad-ass and a complete Dumbledore-like character that his words were so strong and wise. He really was a legend to people.

“That’s where he got those scars, you know,” Disten said. “The ones on his arms. He got them at the Pits, from the rocks on a sheer wall he had to climb to escape.”

Harmon snorted. “That’s not how he got them. He killed an Inquisitor while escaping—that’s where he got the scars.”

“I heard he got them fighting one of the monsters that guard the Pits,” Ulef said. “He reached into its mouth and strangled it from the inside. The teeth scraped his arms.”

Disten frowned. “How do you strangle someone from the inside?"

The only word I can think about for this novel is, intricate. It was so finely wound and woven into this thick, deep and thoughtful plot line and story in general. The whole book was so believable and possible because of the actual realness in the setting and the background behind the people and not to mention the actual world, and what happened for it to get to this point. Again, I really did like this and I'm very happy I finally read it! The characters are simply amazing and so memorable that I absolutely loved everything in this entire novel. This is such a raved about book that it deserves all of the hype it's getting!