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Night School by C.J. Daugherty

Synopsis:  Allie Sheridan’s world is falling apart. Her brother’s run away from home. Her parents ignore her. And she’s just been arrested. Again. This time her parents have had enough. They cut her off from her friends and send her away to boarding school, far from her London friends. But at Cimmeria Academy, Allie is soon caught up in the strange activities of a secret group of elite students. When she’s attacked late one night the incident sets off a chain of increasingly violent events. As the school begins to seem like a very dangerous place, she finds out that nothing at Cimmeria is what it seems to be. And that she is not who she thought she was.

RATING: 4 STARS 

Going in I wasn’t sure what to expect; I heard some people talk about it but it wasn’t very popular. 

Right from the bat we meet Allie Sheridan, a teenager who has been getting into a lot of trouble lately. After being arrested for the second time, Allie’s distant parents send her to secluded Cimmeria Academy. Allie is cut off from the outside world and can only call her parents for emergency. After one day, Allie concludes that everyone there is rich or has family ties to the school, neither of which Allie has. 

When Allie is getting situated to her new living situation, weird occurences happen to her. Like being chased by a weird thing that growls at you, the footsteps on the roof, or the weird person outside her window telling her to sleep. She definitely knows that Cimmeria isn’t your typical school. 

 Allie finds out about a mysterious group that operates after school hours, Night School. Allie’s new friend, Jo, can’t tell her all the members of the group or what their exact purpose is, just that you shouldn’t talk about it. 

WHAT DID I THINK?

There is something about boarding schools set in the middle of nowhere that makes me cozy.  C.J. Daugherty’s writing hooks you in and really transports you to Cimmeria. 

My favorite part of this book are the secondary characters. Once introduced, you start to like them in their own ways. Jo has her issues, but she is so genuinely nice that you can’t help but like her. I knew from the beginning that Sylvain was too good to be true and I was correct, but in a way he redeems himself by the end of the book. Carter won my heart and I will love him forever. Secondary secondary characters like Rachel and Lucas interested me and I enjoyed when they spent their time with Allie. 

As for the mystery. It kept me in because I had no idea how the book would end and what kind of explanation it would give. The whole idea of Night School and what they did had me a little confused but by the end I understood. The plot twists and jump scares (is that what they are called in books?) kept me entertained. 

Can’t wait to read the rest of the series!

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Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Synopsis: “Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.”

I am already a huge fan of Shusterman’s other books so going in I knew I would like it. 

RATING: 5 STARS 

Wow oh wow. Major applause to Shusterman for coming up with this very unique idea. The elements of the story are very different from recent YA dystopians I’ve been reading. I was very shocked to learn the way things worked in the world. The details of how things, that are very basic now, are dealt with in the future was very shocking. 

Like for example, the concept of The Thundherhead reminded me so much of Amazon’s Alexa, that I sort of laughed at the similarities. It sounded crazy, when it was first mentioned as system that talked to you, in your head, as a friend and helped with stuff like finding a gift or needing directions to a place, but its sits up there with Alexa and Siri just on a much higher scale. 

The idea of Scythes in general shocked me because they were the only people on earth that had the capabilty to kill someone and keep them that way. As Citra and Rowan start their training we see how terrified they are of gleaning. I’m sure every (new) Scythe doesn’t want to be killing people all the time, but as time passed by it turns them numb. I actually felt bad for  Scythes because if they pass they give up the chance to live a normal life and having a family and friends. The ostracization of Scythes is not hard to miss and it is definitely a lonely lifestyle. 

The way Neal Shusterman put everything together was great and I highly enjoyed this. I recommend this to everyone, especially dystopian fans, because it is like no other. 

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Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

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u know how the moon looks so good irl but looks terrible in every pic… me but without looking good irl

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It’s not a crush unless you feel like shit about it

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i trust girls with literally everything but if a boy asks me like what my favorite color is im like what the fuck are u trying to do…….

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Pizza? Never heard of it.

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