Release Date: June 25, 2013
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Rated: YA 14+
Format: eGalley
Source: For Blog Tour
Buy: Amazon ● The Book Depository
Goodreads ● Website
Fans of James Dashner's Maze Runner series will love this postapocalyptic adventure about a girl who must survive an alien planet in order to save the Earth.
Ana only knows her name because of the tag she finds pinned to her jumpsuit. Waking in the featureless compartment of a rocket ship, she opens the hatch to discover that she has landed on a barren alien world. Instructions in her pocket tell her to observe and to survive, no doubt with help from the wicked-looking knives she carries on her belt. But to what purpose?
Meeting up with three other teens--one boy seems strangely familiar--Ana treks across the inhospitable landscape, occasionally encountering odd twists of light that carry glimpses of people back on Earth. They're working on some sort of problem, and the situation is critical. What is the connection between Ana's mission on this planet and the crisis back on Earth, and how is she supposed to figure out the answer when she can't remember anything?
Ana only knows her name because of the tag she finds pinned to her jumpsuit. Waking in the featureless compartment of a rocket ship, she opens the hatch to discover that she has landed on a barren alien world. Instructions in her pocket tell her to observe and to survive, no doubt with help from the wicked-looking knives she carries on her belt. But to what purpose?
Meeting up with three other teens--one boy seems strangely familiar--Ana treks across the inhospitable landscape, occasionally encountering odd twists of light that carry glimpses of people back on Earth. They're working on some sort of problem, and the situation is critical. What is the connection between Ana's mission on this planet and the crisis back on Earth, and how is she supposed to figure out the answer when she can't remember anything?
I was a little bit cautious when I entered this book, as I'd heard mixed reviews of The Maze Runner, and close friends of mine didn't enjoy it. However, taken by the cover and the blurb, I knew that I was treading on originality.
I actually haven't read much YA fiction to do with outer space in general. Across the Universe is the extent to the science-fiction genre which I've read. So this was definitely intriguing, as I was excited to see what in store this book had for me.
The beginning was quite vague, and I felt a little bit in the dark as to what was going on. The third person narrative did annoy me a little bit, but I did think that it was effective in telling the story. The unique essence of the novel was what caught me though– I've never read anything like this book. It oozes spark and imagination, and you probably can't find a story like this quite easily.
The main character Ana was really great as well– she was determined, she was strong, and I really loved the character struggle: to figure out who she is and piece together her memories. She resembles many of the strong heroine archetypes in dystopians, and I thought that this was a good representation of one.
Overall, I thought Paradox was a great novel. It's short and quick, but filled with action and suspense. It's a fabulous story for YA fiction lovers for, and I shall be anxiously waiting on more books to come from A.J. Paquette!
▪ ▪ ▪ Thank you to Rockstar Book Tours for letting me be apart of the Paradox blog tour and sending a copy for review! ▪ ▪ ▪
If you like this, try...
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ● Goodreads
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A.J. Paquette has been writing stories since early childhood. She and her
sister would spend hours creating masterpieces of stapled paper and handwritten
words, complete with pen-and-ink covers and boxed illustrations.
The road to publication was long and winding, peppered with many small
successes including: a variety of national magazine publications, being a 2005
PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award honoree, and receiving the 2008
SCBWI’s Susan Landers Glass Scholarship Award, for the book that would later
become Nowhere Girl. Her first picture book, The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies, was published in 2009.
She now lives with her husband and two daughters in the Boston area, where she
continues to write books for children and young adults. She is also an agent
with the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
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Giveaway time!
THREE (3) Winners will be able to win an ARC of Paradox!
(Open to US/Canada only)
Enter in the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Check out the rest of the tour!
Week One
June 17th - Parajunkee - Guest Post
June 18th - Laurie's
Thoughts and Reviews - Interview
June 18th - In
Bed With Books - Review
June 19th - Chapter
by Chapter - Guest Post
June 20th - A
Dream Within A Dream - Review
June 20th - Escaping...
One Book at a Time - Guest Post
June 21st - Coffee,
Books and Me - Interview
Week Two
June 24th - Word
Spelunking - Review
June 25th - Emilie's
Book World - Guest Post
June 25th - Confessions
of a Readaholic - Review
June 26th - Nick's
Book Blog - Interview
June 26th - Magna
Maniac Cafe - Review
June 27th - A Book and a
Latte - Guest Post
June 28th - I Am A
Reader Not A Writer - Guest Post
This seems like a quick yet fantastic read! The concept sounds so unique, as I haven't read many outer space book either, actually. This seems so wonderfully unique, and I'm loving the concept. Even with the third person narrative, I think it would be easy to get used to it, so we can really connect to the main character. Ana seems like a MC I would love, strong, determined, yet still trying to figure out who she really is.
ReplyDeleteLovely review! I'm glad you were able to enjoy this one so much. <3
-Aneeqah @ My Not So Real Life