Dual Review: Made of Stars and Fault Line

Made of Stars
By Kelley York
Available now from Entangled Teen
Review copy

I discovered Kelley York's HUSHED sometime around March last year, I think.  I still haven't read it, but it's on my wishlist.  The summary really stuck out and has hung in my mind.  When York's new book, MADE OF STARS, popped up on Netgalley, I made with the grabby hands.  Here was a chance to give her a try!

MADE OF STARS is the story of three teenagers.  Hunter and Ashlin are half-siblings, and Chance is their childhood friend, who they hung out with during summers at their dad's.  Now, Hunter and Ashlin are living with their father again as they both take a gap year and decide what college to go to and whether college is even right for them.  When they meet back up with chance, it becomes clear that they're no longer children.  Something is wrong with their friend, who never lets them see his house and who has mysterious injuries.  There are also romantic shenanigans afoot, complicated by Hunter's long-distance girlfriend.

I liked that York dealt with coming out angst in MADE OF STARS.  It's a bit passe in YA novels nowadays, almost verboten.  But there are still a lot of teenagers dealing with accepting themselves and the fear of rejection, and it's nice to have books that deal with it.  York manages to balance it with the plot about Chance's home life so that neither one really takes over the book.  That's where we come to my misgivings.

MADE OF STARS contains a big epiphany, and there's definitely a climax.  But where's the falling action?  It just ended, right when things were getting really exciting.  And as far as I can tell, there is no sequel coming.  I want to read about the consequences, and York just left me hanging.

Which brings me to FAULT LINE.

Fault Line
By C. Desir
Available now from Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)
Review copy

FAULT LINE is the story of Ben, a popular jock, dealing with the fallout of something unknown that happened to his girlfriend, the confident, artistic Ani.  He didn't go with her to a party, and she ended up in the hospital with no memory of what happened, having to have a lighter removed from her body.

Kelly at Stacked made a great post about the issues raised by this book and the choice of the lighter for the cover.  I don't agree entirely with her about this book, but I think her review is very worth reading, so I wanted to point it out.

One way in which we differ is that I liked the beginning.  I think the future scene lets the reader know they're in for a wrenching read, and that the sweet, almost romantic comedy tone of Ben and Ani's courtship isn't going to last long.  Now what I disliked was the ending, which doesn't really move past the beginning.  FAULT LINE truly is Ben's story, and it's about his journey.  The ending made me realize I'd rather be reading Ani's story and see her reach some resolution.

FAULT LINE is a difficult book to read.  Debut author Christa Desir's prose is fine, and doesn't linger nastily over unpleasant details, but the few details there are hurt.  Ani's story is powerful, painful, and - worst of all - realistic.

I do agree with Kelly that the character of the rape counselor is a bit too obvious, although it was obviously easy for Desir to draw on her own experiences for that character.  And if a book hammers in that there is no right way for a woman to react to rape, but that it's certainly wrong for others to shame her, at least its being unsubtle with a decent message. 

I think that FAULT LINE deals pretty well with a very difficult subject, and hope that experience smooths out the bumpier aspects of Desir's plotting.  I know lots of people don't like issue novels, but I'm always up for an author who can take an issue and turn it into an interesting, affecting story.

MADE OF STARS is also a book that tackles difficult issues, with a little bobble at the end.  I put these two books together, because in the end I reacted to them much the same way.  I was completely absorbed until the book just ended, leaving me wondering where the rest of the pages had gotten off too.

Review: Fault Line

By Barry Eisler

I hate generic thriller titles. Luckily this one gives a good idea of what you'll find inside with the blurb - a mix of military and techno thriller. Alex Treven is moving quickly up his law firm's ranks, and knows his new client is what he needs to make it rich. All they need to do is secure the patent on his program - until both the client and Alex's insider at the patent office turn up dead. Unsure of what to do, Alex calls his estranged brother Ben, who turns out to be a government spook rather than the simple Army guy Alex expected.

Complicating things is the other person who needs to be protect - Alex's Iranian assistant Sarah, who isn't happy with Ben's scrutiny. She pays attention to politics and doesn't like people judging her based on her race. (Who would?) It doesn't help that Ben doesn't respect the lawyers' profession and they don't respect his.

Barry Eisler does a great job of presenting each of the character's beliefs on good and evil, worthy pursuits, and the necessity of the means without necessarily condoning any of their points of view. But while Alex is against killing, his reactions do seem out of place sometimes. Sometimes Ben does go overboard but Alex sometimes gets pissed when Ben clearly was helping him stay alive.

The secret ability of the software did sound far-fetched, especially when FAULT LINE aims for a realistic feel. (Eisler includes a list of websites about real world incidents mentioned in the book.) Luckily, no one really uses the software so it doesn't matter that much. I did enjoy how things played out - who the bad guy was, how one of the brothers finally got them to stand down. Brains and brawn learned to work together, a little.

I really liked Alex, when he wasn't yelling at Ben needlessly, because he was rather capable for the damsel-in-distress figure. I'm used to the hyper-competent military man in thrillers, but I liked that the intellectual wasn't a total dweeb. Sarah, while likeable enough, was a little flat. She was mostly there for love interest and catalyzing the hero's maturation. I did like Ben, though he fit a more standard mold, and though his and Alex's misunderstandings about each other played well. Eisler also uses the setting to good effect.

Despite it's title, FAULT LINE wasn't an overly generic, cookie cutter thriller. Yes, it obeyed the genre's tropes, but it had interesting ideas, a tight story, and characters worth reading about. I might wait for the paperback, but this one is good for an afternoon of distraction.

FAULT LINE is a stand-alone novel and available now. Eisler's previous six novels center around assassin John Rain, starting with RAIN FALL. He can be found at his website, MySpace, and blog. I particularly recommend the entry titled "Gay Cooties vs Terrorist Mojo."

Review copy provided by Pump Up Your Book Promotion.