A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
A Long Long Sleep takes elements from the classic fairytale, Sleeping Beauty and transposes it into a futuristic world where science may have gone too far. Rose has always gone into her sleeping chamber to sleep while the world continues...usually a few days or weeks (when her parents deem it necessary). But when Rose wakes up nearly a hundred years later, and everyone she knows is dead, she has some questions she will need answers to. Rose is the daughter of the owner of the biggest interplanetary company. She teams up with Bren, another kid of a company bigwig and Otto, a blue alien that communicates through touch and thought. When Bren drops the bomb that it is illegal for people to go into stasis (sleeping chamber) for anything other than death threatening situations, Rose begins to question her parents' motives. Did they simply put her to sleep when she argued with them? When they wanted an easier life?
I appreciate that Sheehan used subtle similarities from Sleeping Beauty. Otto describes seeing Rose among briars in her thoughts and memory. He then begins to call her Briar Rose, from the classic fairytale. Rose is woken from stasis, not by an actual kiss, but from CPR Bren is performing. These connections really add to the story and assist the reader in connecting to the story and the context, because most of us know the general story of Sleeping Beauty. While there is a love story, it is on the sideline to a more intense conspiracy that leaves the reader on the edge of their seat. Otto adds an incredible amount to the story, bringing out the past and emotions in Rose and helping her connect her parents work to his alien heritage. Check out this book at our library and prepare to sit and read all day!
Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts
Another GREAT story! Dark Inside is the first book of the series by Jeyn Roberts. Mason goes to see his dying mother in the hospital. While gone, his school is bombed, killing everyone. Clementine is at a meeting with her parents; when townspeople enter, armed, Clem is told to sneak out. She finds out everyone has been murdered. Michael witnesses an accident--but the driver in the car purposefully hit the motorcyclist, killing him. Aries is on the bus with her friends; when an earthquake causes the bus to lose control, she loses her best friend and must flee for her life. There is evil in the world. There is evil in us. And it is taking control. Those that succumb to the darkness seek out and kill whoever they can. These four teenagers work, apart, to get to Vancouver where they have heard there is help. Who can they trust? Will they be able to survive without food, medicine, and electricity in order to meet.
This book brings an element of true, deep emotion inside all of us. There are days we all feel rotten; we want to hurt someone, not physically, maybe just tease them. But it is that evil in us that we suppress every day to be good people. The way Roberts twists this story where that evil comes out, is genius. This isn't a zombie book. The people know what they are doing. They know they are killing--and they like it. The pacing of this story is intense; you will not want to stop reading it for anything. I read it in one day. I stopped to use the bathroom and eat some peanut butter. Roberts takes her time to introduce her four main characters--showing us who they are, what they believe, their histories, and if their own evil wins, how it will take form in their lives. Come check this book out from our library!
Rage Within is the second book of this series.
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