Mary Zemina

Increased listening speed recommended

Revisado: 11-08-17

Fascinating and enlightening. My only real criticism is that the lecturer speaks so slowly that it took a long time to get through the set. I had to speed it up to 1.25x.

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Mediocre Book, Fantastic Narration

Revisado: 08-15-15

What did you like best about Delirium? What did you like least?

I'd been debating about whether to read this book for about three years. The description was a bit murky--a world where love is forbidden and the main character falls in love can go wrong so, so easily--and I'm not generally a fan of books where romance is the main plot. In the end, I decided to grab this off Audible because the sample seemed like Sarah Drew would give a good performance, and because I have friends who liked the series a lot.

I will say, I liked this book a lot more than I expected to. But it wasn't fantastic. I recognize that this book is a romance first and dystopian second, so my complaints are probably a result of my own personal preferences and biases about literature in general rather than the book itself. But they're still valid.

Firstly, I'll say that I really liked that it wasn't just romantic love that was feared and forbidden in the book, but even love of family and friends. I wasn't expecting that to be addressed much, so the fact that Lena's memories of her mother's love were so important for her character development really improved the book in my view. I still wish it would have been focused on a bit more, though. Again, personal preference about romance books, but there you have it. This book did seem a bit flat at times because the instances in which familial love was explored were few and far between.

Secondly, I did like that Lena's relationship with Alex wasn't as fast as it frequently is in YA books that focus on love. They fell in love over the course of about three months, if I remember the timespan of the plot correctly, and they didn't get to "I love you" within a couple weeks. It felt like a touch of realism, and I didn't expect that in a book focusing so much on romance.

Thirdly, I thought that the pacing of Lena's discoveries about the dystopian world she lives in was spot-on. She had little bits of realization throughout, but the big reveals were spaced out, and she actually dealt with them in a variety of ways, depending on what they were, and reacted believably. For the most part, Lena was a very believable, convincing, and well-rounded character. It was just everybody else who fell a bit flat. Hana lacked an interesting character arc and remained unchanged from beginning to end. I know that the Cureds were supposed to be rather flat of personality and that was a major aspect of the procedure and the world-building in general, so I can't exactly fault Lauren Oliver for that, though it did bother me that we didn't even get to see subdued change. It would have been a bit easier to sympathize with the Cureds if we could see flashes of their previous personalities hiding under the surface, rather than them being cardboard cutouts filling character types and acting more or less as plot devices or background items.

As is the case with certain types of books, I have to say that the fact that I listened to the audiobook is the main reason why I enjoyed this book. Sarah Drew's performance was very satisfying. She really nailed Lena's conflicted thoughts and relationship with the world around her, and accurately portrayed her confusion as she navigated falling in love in a world that told her it was wrong. She made Lena come to life, in a way I'm almost certain wouldn't have happened for me if I was reading this myself. Drew's emotional delivery also helped carry the slower parts, and helped make the unbalanced focus on romance bearable for me. I plan on at least reading the second book, and I credit that entirely to Sarah Drew's performance. It's why I rated this book 3 stars instead of the 2 or even 1.5 it probably would have gotten otherwise.

My hopes for the sequel are that other types of love are explored within the context of the world, and that we see more of the resistence.

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Takes Everything Great About Book One Up to Eleven

Revisado: 08-15-15

What did you love best about The Evolution of Mara Dyer?

I made the mistake of waiting seven months between reading Unbecoming and reading this. Because in those seven months, I completely forgot how engrossing these books really are. I loved Unbecoming and plowed through it very quickly--only a couple of days. I was through with this in only two as well. Both would have taken half as long if I'd been reading physical copies instead of listening to the Audible editions. But although I wish I could have gone through these more quickly, because I was constantly on edge waiting for what would happen next, I am absolutely certain that the audiobooks were the way to go with these. Christy Romano embodies Mara's voice so fully and so completely that I feel like I'm really listening to Mara tell me her story, instead of just having someone read it to me. Her delivery is spot-on, emotions conveyed so fittingly, that I am even more enthralled than if I were just hearing this book in my head.

This book confused me so much more than the first one, and I loved every minute of it. The subtly creepy atmosphere of The Unbecoming was turned up to eleven in this one and it was absolutely thrilling. Each little thing that happened hightened the tension and the fear, and all along the way I became absolutely convinced that Mara really was going insane, rather than just experiencing real supernatural events. In the first book, I believed everything Mara said. But now, after having finished the second book, I can't decide which side I'm on. Nothing makes sense, but in a way it feels like it should because there is a thread of logic connecting all the bizarre events together coherently. It's a rare moment when I enjoy being confused by what I'm reading, but I'm hoping that The Retribution kicks everything into high gear and confuses the shit out of me. I am really looking forward to the last book. This trilogy is quickly taking a spot in my favorite series list (which currently only houses four others--Harry Potter, Anna Dressed in Blood, The Lunar Chronicles, and The Reckoners). I have faith that the last installment will keep it in that list of favorites.

Onto my complaints (I have a couple, despite the five-star rating): Why couldn't Jamie have felt this important to the plot in the first book? I was actually really surprised to see him at Horizons, because all I could remember about him from The Unbecoming was that he was a token minority of multiple types, and he was completely extraneous to the plot. But now he's suddenly important? I love that he is--he's a really enjoyable character to have around, and it's why I had such mixed feelings about him in the first place--but I can't help but feel cheated. Even if he needed to leave the scene for plot reasons, he didn't make enough of an impact before that happened for him to feel necessary at all. Nothing about him suggested that he'd become important. Which is why, although I love him returning and having more of a purpose, I feel like something about his character arc is lacking. He should have been built up more in the first book, so that his removal from the narrative had more impact, as well as his return, and the discoveries we make near the end of this book would be more satisfying.

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