All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin Review

Title: All These Things I’ve Done (Birthright #1)

Author: Gabrielle Zevin

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Future

Page Count: 368 pages

Publish Date: September 6, 2011

Book Type: ARC won from contest

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

ISBN: 9780374302108

Picture from Amazon

From Goodreads: In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidentally poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

My Review: Love this cover! The dripping chocolate heart is just so cool. It made me hungry for chocolate the entire time I was reading this book. I probably ate more than I should have during this time period. I can’t imagine a future where chocolate and caffeine are illegal. I totally need dark chocolate, coffee, and Diet Coke in my life. Although, the idea of a coffeehouse/speakeasy is pretty cool.  

I actually really liked Anya as a character. There were times where I grew frustrated with her (mainly when she was talking with her brother or best friend), but she was “real,” which I always appreciate. By no means is she perfect, but there is something remarkably likable about characters who are not perfect. Contrary to this, I wish Win (the new boy in school/assistant D.A.‘s son) wasn’t so perfect. He needed a few more flaws, which we may find in the second book.

The middle section was my favorite part of the book. The beginning started a bit slow (but still intriguing enough to keep my interest), it peaked in the middle, and then became a bit slower at the end again. I’m definitely invested in these characters enough to want to read the next book in the series, though.

I wish we would have learned exactly why chocolate and caffeine were made illegal, yet alcohol is legal for all ages. It’s an interesting turn of events, but some more world building would have been nice. Maybe more of this will be explained in the next book? I typically like to know WHY the world has ended up this way in the dystopians I read. It allows me to ponder if this future could actually happen and what it would be like. This is one of my favorite parts of reading dystopians. I want to know what it would be like!

Would you be okay with a world where chocolate and caffeine were banned? What is something (superficial) that you can absolutely not live without? 

The Hunted of 2060 by Ami Blackwelder Review

Title: The Hunted of 2060

Author: Ami Rebecca Blackwelder

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal/Futuristic (potentially YA?)

Page Count: 290

Book Type: Owned Limited Edition Signed Paperback (won through Cleverly Inked)

Publisher: Creative Endeavors 

ISBN: 9781452805474

Photo by me, but here’s a link to Amazon (which is a different cover than I have). 

Summary from Goodreads: Set in Alaska in 2060, when April enters her Sophomore year at University, she thought Robert might be the love of her life, but as she discovers, she is hiding something inside her, something the rest of the world believes to have died out. She struggles with who she was and who she is becoming as she learns of a family she never knew existed and of enemies she will have to outrun, outfight or outwit to survive. As April embraces her new identity, will she have to leave the life she loves behind? 

With underlining themes of how prejudice breaks human connections and animal/wildlife conservation, this novel which has received rave reviews will leave the reader flipping through the pages of April’s story.

My Review: There are quite a few different covers for this one. I like the one that I received, but I think the one on Amazon may be more fitting to the story. The one on Goodreads, I’m not too wild about. I’ll just leave my cover analysis at that.

I really enjoyed the futuristic elements of this book. It was so entertaining to dive into the world Ami Blackwelder created. It’s fun to imagine if any of these things will actually be possible in 2060--which I could potentially see at 73 years old. I loved imagining all of the touch screens and holograms that popped out of watches, etc. My favorite aspect was the little robots that came to your table at a restaurant and you entered your order there. Very fun to picture. 

At the beginning of the novel, it was a little hard to differentiate between characters because there were so many and most of them had unusual names. The pictures in the back of the book did help with this though. After about a third of the way in, it was easier to follow. It did take me a bit longer than usual to get into the story, but I feel that Ami really picked it up in the last 2/3rd’s of the book. I really liked some of the secondary characters (especially Diamond and David). I can’t imagine thinking you’re one person until nineteen years old and then finding out you have a brand new identity. Blackwelder really allowed me to imagine I was April and think about how I might handle the situation. It’s brilliant how we discover April’s new world with her. 

The themes of betrayal and prejudice are key factors in this book. Humans betray each other, humans and hybrids betray each other and you can really argue that some of the hybrids betray each other as well. It’s interesting to see how prejudice occurs on both sides of the battle. Humans have their form of it and the hybrids have another form. 

Over all, there are a few grammatical and editing issues, but I was able to get by those and enjoy the story. Sometimes Ami can get a little bit over descriptive, but it is really an enjoyable read. I hear a prequel and a sequel are in the works which should be very entertaining. It will be interesting to see how exactly the world came to be the way it is in The Hunted of 2060 and what will happen to the world after. I think it will be really fun to see if one of these books is from the “hunters” point of view, especially the prequel. What were their reactions when these aliens came to Earth? How did they come to the conclusions that the aliens were evil? Very fascinating stuff. Be sure to also visit Ami's website! 

Have you read this one yet or are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!