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martha_schwalbe's review against another edition
2.0
This book reminded me of Rebel Nation and Dan Wells' most recent book. It was difficult for me to connect with Esther.
It took me about a week to read too, not normal for me for young adult. I was interested enough to stick with it.
It took me about a week to read too, not normal for me for young adult. I was interested enough to stick with it.
unlawful_sea's review against another edition
DNF I was hoping to dig right in to learn about Esther but the POV changed so much as well as the location without notification that it became really hard to follow so I stopped reading. Too many others have said exactly what I thought of with this book.
xxsquigglesxx's review against another edition
2.0
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I didn't like this story. I was excited at the beginning of this book after reading the summary, but it fell flat for me. The story didn't seem to go anywhere. I was really interested in the variants, but we don't get to find out much about them and that was disappointing. Harper Teen usually comes out with some amazing books and they are definitely my favorite publisher when it comes to putting out the best books, but I feel like they missed with this one. I am pretty sure that I will not be picking up any of the other books in this trilogy.
CHARACTERS: I didn't really connect with any of the characters. I felt like they were flat and didn't have very strong personalities.
COVER: I do like the cover. I love that the title is made up of wood boards. The cover is the most exciting part of this book.
**I received an ARC copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.
CHARACTERS: I didn't really connect with any of the characters. I felt like they were flat and didn't have very strong personalities.
COVER: I do like the cover. I love that the title is made up of wood boards. The cover is the most exciting part of this book.
**I received an ARC copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.
foreveryoungadult's review against another edition
Graded By: Jenny
Cover Story: Dystopia Parking Lot
BFF Charm: Maybe?
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
Talky Talk: Drum Solo
Bonus Factors: Overlord, Dystopia
Relationship Status: Wrong Number
Read the full book report here.
Cover Story: Dystopia Parking Lot
BFF Charm: Maybe?
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
Talky Talk: Drum Solo
Bonus Factors: Overlord, Dystopia
Relationship Status: Wrong Number
Read the full book report here.
gnull's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to the audiobook; the narrator did well! Interesting world, post-apocalyptic, not sure how many years or what exactly happened. That might be explained in the next book. Only people under 19-ish survived, and pretty much that’s the life expectancy.
It seems like I just finished another book recently with the same situation, yet the world was much different.
I don’t recall bad language, but , ya authors, you don’t have to have sex scenes. Really, you don’t. They add nothing to the book and kids are exposed to more than enough as it is.
It was , however , a very good read.
It seems like I just finished another book recently with the same situation, yet the world was much different.
I don’t recall bad language, but , ya authors, you don’t have to have sex scenes. Really, you don’t. They add nothing to the book and kids are exposed to more than enough as it is.
It was , however , a very good read.
steph_says92's review against another edition
2.0
With so many great dystopian novels on the book shelves at book stores.. I was very disappointed by this one. The characters weren't well developed, the world building was awful and the writing was atrocious. I don't like to give bad reviews so I will end on the positive that at least I will only have to read the first one in the series.
shay23's review against another edition
2.0
-This Review May Contain Spoilers-
Overall I feel pretty neutral for the most part about this book. All together it was an OK book, I didn't love it but I didn't totally hate it either. Luckily I got a free ARC from epicreads because I'd feel allot worse about the book had I paid for it. It's one of those books that’s worth the read (barely) but not the time or money.
I gave it two stars because while I liked the overall premise the execution sucked for the most part, and there was quite a few things I hated.
Firstly The Plot and World building-
World building There was none, seriously you find out absolutely nothing about anything. What was the apocalypse? What happened to the world to make it a Waste Land? Why is the rain deadly? What exactly are the variants? Why doesn't anyone live past 19? None of these questions are answered. Everything important is just casually mentioned not explained.
The Characters -
There is only one thing i hate more than love triangles and that's insta love, where two people who don't even know each other are all of a sudden in 'love', and in this book its worse than ever cause after all of 3 conversations over the span of 3 or 4 days they become 'partners' basically married and its completely normal they don't even stop to think about it and the next thing they do (which i refer to as the unmentionable act because i'm a prude I admit it) I found really gross and slightly disturbing.. But besides the insta love thing, I just found it incredibly hard to like and relate to the characters and the constantly switching POVs was confusing. Even the 'bad' guy is kinda lame and even though they do explain about why he is the way he is I found it stupid and petty and lame and he seemed kinda two-dimensional and to boring to be the villain.
Besides all that the plot was pretty predictable for the most part and kinda boring.
So, If you like books that are confusing, with no back-story, crappy characters and you like being bored to death, I totally recommend this book. But I wouldn't read it again and I probably wont read the others when they come out, partly because I didn't love this one and partly because I don't see how there can be another or what exactly it would be about.
Overall I feel pretty neutral for the most part about this book. All together it was an OK book, I didn't love it but I didn't totally hate it either. Luckily I got a free ARC from epicreads because I'd feel allot worse about the book had I paid for it. It's one of those books that’s worth the read (barely) but not the time or money.
I gave it two stars because while I liked the overall premise the execution sucked for the most part, and there was quite a few things I hated.
Firstly The Plot and World building-
World building There was none, seriously you find out absolutely nothing about anything. What was the apocalypse? What happened to the world to make it a Waste Land? Why is the rain deadly? What exactly are the variants? Why doesn't anyone live past 19? None of these questions are answered. Everything important is just casually mentioned not explained.
The Characters -
There is only one thing i hate more than love triangles and that's insta love, where two people who don't even know each other are all of a sudden in 'love', and in this book its worse than ever cause after all of 3 conversations over the span of 3 or 4 days they become 'partners' basically married and its completely normal they don't even stop to think about it and the next thing they do (which i refer to as the unmentionable act because i'm a prude I admit it) I found really gross and slightly disturbing.. But besides the insta love thing, I just found it incredibly hard to like and relate to the characters and the constantly switching POVs was confusing. Even the 'bad' guy is kinda lame and even though they do explain about why he is the way he is I found it stupid and petty and lame and he seemed kinda two-dimensional and to boring to be the villain.
Besides all that the plot was pretty predictable for the most part and kinda boring.
So, If you like books that are confusing, with no back-story, crappy characters and you like being bored to death, I totally recommend this book. But I wouldn't read it again and I probably wont read the others when they come out, partly because I didn't love this one and partly because I don't see how there can be another or what exactly it would be about.
mia_koda's review
4.0
Love this book! Although I find it does not relate to the discription (ignore my awful spelling) on the back of the book
dinanita's review
3.0
This book was really good! It's very different from any other book that I have read.
The only downfall of the book was that I couldn't get past the fact that all of the kids in this book were/are below the age of 18. It was almost disturbing how grown up the kids act and are expected to act. Also by the age of 16 your counted for as an old maid. I laughed at that.
But the kids were having sex and babies and I found that, the most disturbing
The only downfall of the book was that I couldn't get past the fact that all of the kids in this book were/are below the age of 18. It was almost disturbing how grown up the kids act and are expected to act. Also by the age of 16 your counted for as an old maid. I laughed at that.
But the kids were having sex and babies and I found that, the most disturbing
andye_reads's review
2.0
At a Glance:
Wasteland was kind-of like a combination of Gone by Michael Grant and Blood Red Road by Moira Young, with all of the action, and none of the magic. This book was strange (and not in a good way), awkward and disjointed. I didn't connect with the writing or the characters, the world-building was practically non-existent, and though I tried really hard, I didn't end up finishing it. (80%)
Audiobook:
The only reason that I got as far as I did in this book was that I was listening to it on audio. Laura Knight Keating did a pretty good job of reading this story, though in the end, it just wasn't enough to keep me interested. If you think you'd like to give Wasteland a try, the audio would be a good pick!
Cover:
I like the cover well enough. It caught my eye and is what initially grabbed my attention.
Action:
There's a lot of action in this book. Sometimes it gets pretty gruesome, with kids killing and torturing other kids. I didn't really understand why the kids hated each other so much, or why they hated the HERMAPHRODITES (yeah, you read that right), but they did, and they showed it. Also, doesn't really fall under action, but there was one really sick birthing scene.....GROSS!
Romance:
This was one of the worst romances I've ever read. This was basically their progress:
Day 1: Meet and become instantly drawn to each other.
Day 2: Say a couple of words to each other.
Day 3: Make out
Day 4: Get partnered (married), have sex, say it's FOREVER!
....that's as far as I got.
Heroine:
Esther was whiny, selfish and lazy. While everyone else worked hard for their survival, she ran around with her friend. Until Caleb came to town, then suddenly she was the hero....only she wasn't very good at that either.
Hero:
Caleb was decent. He was mysterious and fought for what he believed in, and didn't conform. Plus he'd do anything to get his baby back. (Yeah...he has a baby from his previous marriage....) I liked him, though I couldn't understand why he would be interested in Esther.
Favorite Supporting Character:
I think I'd have to go with Levi. He was the only one in the entire book that had a brain, even though it was a sick, evil, twisted brain.
Something I loved:
Uh.....
Something(s) I hated:
No backstory
Where did the plague come from?
What happened to the planet?
Why did everyone hate each other?
Why 19? What made them die at that age?
Why were there hermaphrodites?
Why did everyone hate them?
Why were the hermaphrodites practically exactly the same (behavior-wise) as the humans? They even got "partnered" like the humans. There was no distinction besides looks (and body parts).
....and so much more!
Cliffhanger?
I didn't make it to the end. I hear it's a series but that this book wraps up.
Would I recommend it?
Take a guess.
Will I buy/keep it?
No, I have it on eAudio, and it will not be taking up space on my iPhone.
Book Doppelgangers:
I feel like I'm doing a disservice to these books but.....
Gone by Michael Grant, Blood Red Road by Moira Young
-Andye
ReadingTeen.net
Wasteland was kind-of like a combination of Gone by Michael Grant and Blood Red Road by Moira Young, with all of the action, and none of the magic. This book was strange (and not in a good way), awkward and disjointed. I didn't connect with the writing or the characters, the world-building was practically non-existent, and though I tried really hard, I didn't end up finishing it. (80%)
Audiobook:
The only reason that I got as far as I did in this book was that I was listening to it on audio. Laura Knight Keating did a pretty good job of reading this story, though in the end, it just wasn't enough to keep me interested. If you think you'd like to give Wasteland a try, the audio would be a good pick!
Cover:
I like the cover well enough. It caught my eye and is what initially grabbed my attention.
Action:
There's a lot of action in this book. Sometimes it gets pretty gruesome, with kids killing and torturing other kids. I didn't really understand why the kids hated each other so much, or why they hated the HERMAPHRODITES (yeah, you read that right), but they did, and they showed it. Also, doesn't really fall under action, but there was one really sick birthing scene.....GROSS!
Romance:
This was one of the worst romances I've ever read. This was basically their progress:
Day 1: Meet and become instantly drawn to each other.
Day 2: Say a couple of words to each other.
Day 3: Make out
Day 4: Get partnered (married), have sex, say it's FOREVER!
....that's as far as I got.
Heroine:
Esther was whiny, selfish and lazy. While everyone else worked hard for their survival, she ran around with her friend. Until Caleb came to town, then suddenly she was the hero....only she wasn't very good at that either.
Hero:
Caleb was decent. He was mysterious and fought for what he believed in, and didn't conform. Plus he'd do anything to get his baby back. (Yeah...he has a baby from his previous marriage....) I liked him, though I couldn't understand why he would be interested in Esther.
Favorite Supporting Character:
I think I'd have to go with Levi. He was the only one in the entire book that had a brain, even though it was a sick, evil, twisted brain.
Something I loved:
Uh.....
Something(s) I hated:
No backstory
Where did the plague come from?
What happened to the planet?
Why did everyone hate each other?
Why 19? What made them die at that age?
Why were there hermaphrodites?
Why did everyone hate them?
Why were the hermaphrodites practically exactly the same (behavior-wise) as the humans? They even got "partnered" like the humans. There was no distinction besides looks (and body parts).
....and so much more!
Cliffhanger?
I didn't make it to the end. I hear it's a series but that this book wraps up.
Would I recommend it?
Take a guess.
Will I buy/keep it?
No, I have it on eAudio, and it will not be taking up space on my iPhone.
Book Doppelgangers:
I feel like I'm doing a disservice to these books but.....
Gone by Michael Grant, Blood Red Road by Moira Young
-Andye
ReadingTeen.net