Mara Dyer Trilogy (Book 1-3) – Michelle Hodkin [SPOILER, obviously]

Hodkin, Michelle. 2011, 2012, 2014. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, The Evolution of Mara Dyer, The Retribution of Mara Dyer. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Overall Rating 2,5 stars.

Sigh. Another stellar debut, another love to give. I decided to pick it up and read it, solely because of the amazing cover on the first book of this series, the other two are not very satisfying but I couldn’t care less after I finished the first book. I think that is the kind of cover that will always attract my attention. You know, mysterious, dark, sharp picture, and doesn’t show any particular face to be judged. Totally my type of cover, yes. Safe to say, I knew nothing about this book until I read it, I even didn’t know its genre.

I know now, I should never judge a series if I don’t read its whole series. By that, maybe I did an unfair judgment with Marked, but that is one awful book though, ugh. I love the first two book of Mara Dyer Trilogy, but after reading the final installment, my love was fading pretty fast. I’m bumped because I can’t give more than 2,5 stars for this series, believe me, I really want to love this more. But the last book crushed me, and not in a good way either. Despite the failed ending of this series (I’m getting to that later), I really like Michelle Hodkin’s writing style (she has good humor) and I still will pick up her future novels, I guess. Now, shall we talk about who Mara Dyer is?

The Blood of Olympus - Rick Riordan (not sure if this is a review or not, but surely it contains SPOILER!)

Riordan, Rick. 2014. The Blood of Olympus. New York: Disney Hyperion.

Rating KYAAAAAA 5 STARS KYAAAAAAA!!!

I know it's early. I know this awesome thing just came out a couple days ago. I know you REALLY don't want to accidentally stumble in my blog and read this uncool spoiler. Oh by the way, SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! Read on your own risk.

It's not exactly a review though. It's a jumble mess of my feelings. Yo, guys, I actually wanted to review this book along with its nine books before this, but I guess I'll settle with only this one for now. I don't know. I'm kind of planning to make reviews for Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and Heroes of Olympus series separately, but... what's the point? Based on this, I review books so I don't just forget what I've read. The problem is, I read this whole series repeatedly and I remember every bits in every scenes! I've read the other nine books ninth times each, so far. So, yeah.

Dear Rick Riordan, The Myth Master, I hope this is not really the end of Percy's adventure. Please plan to make something, anything, with Percy in it. I wish you work on Percy Jackson/Kane Chronicles crossover more. You've hinted (or so I wished) that there will be another story regarding to that. Well, just so you know, I'M PRAYING FOR IT!

The Maze Runner Trilogy (Book 1-3) – James Dashner [SPOILER ALERT!]

Dashner, James. 2009, 2010, 2011. The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure. New York City: Delacorte Press.

Rating 3 stars
(review in Indonesian, click here)

WARNING! THIS ARTICLE (YOU MIGHT NOT SEE IT AS A REVIEW, IT’S MORE LIKE A REACTION) CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILER. IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE MAZE RUNNER TRILOGY, I DON’T SUGGEST YOU TO CONTINUE READING THIS. UNLESS YOU ARE OKAY WITH SPOILER (JUST SO YOU AWARE, I'M GOING TO SPOIL EVERYTHING AND PROBABLY WON'T EXPLAIN BASIC DETAILS) OR YOU’VE ALREADY READ THE TRILOGY, PLEASE PROCEED.

What the...?

Yup! Three books in one article! In my review for this trilogy in Indonesian, I blabber about how I feel that something seems odd with the translated version. I give some examples like the use of words ‘shank’, ‘shuck-face’, ‘klunk’ and many others that are kind of weird when it’s translated into Indonesian. I just felt something was not suit there. I couldn’t really enjoy reading it while the story was actually captivated me. Before I realized why, my reading experience with this book was slow and I was distracted too easily. I even thought to buy the other two books, just so I have a complete trilogy, I even haven’t finish The Maze Runner when that thought came up to me. It’s like I was really trying to distract myself. And somehow, I got my hands on the e-book version for The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure, in English. I also got The Maze Runner e-book because I was curious to read it in its original language.

And... oh boy. I found out that Dashner uses ‘uncommon’ words and sentences in this trilogy. I actually like it, and I wouldn’t notice this fancy thing if I read the Indonesian translated version. Since I started to read the trilogy in English, I COULDN’T PUT IT DOWN. After I finished with The Maze Runner, I didn’t have it in me to sit still and patiently write the review for it. The freaking mysteries were killing me! So I just continued reading the rest of the trilogy. I purposely review it in one go in order to be more efficient, and it will be one long article (for my standard). So be it.

Trilogi The Maze Runner (Buku 1-3) – James Dashner [SPOILER ALERT!]

Dashner, James. 2009, 2010, 2011. The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure. New York City: Delacorte Press.

Rating 3 bintang
(review in English, click here)

TULISAN BERIKUT (AGAKNYA BUKAN ULASAN, HANYA SEBUAH REAKSI) MENGANDUNG SPOILER, YANG BELUM BACA TRILOGI INI TIDAK DIANJURKAN MEMBACA TULISAN INI. SILA LANJUT MEMBACA BAGI YANG TIDAK KEBERATAN AKAN SPOILER MAUPUN BAGI YANG SUDAH PERNAH MEMBACA TRILOGI INI.

Apa-apaan?

YAP! Tiga buku sekaligus! Pengalaman saya membaca trilogi ini agak berbelit-belit, jadi kalau enggak penasaran-penasaran banget, langsung loncat saja ke bagian selanjutnya. Jadi begini ceritanya, awalnya kan saya baca The Maze Runner terjemahan Bahasa Indonesia, saya bacanya memang entah kenapa jadi agak lambat dan lebih gampang enggak fokus, tapi tetap senang dan bahagia. Lama-lama, kok saya merasa ada yang enggak ‘klop’? Malahan, saya kepikiran ingin beli buku kedua sama ketiganya. Padahal yang buku pertamanya juga belum kelar. Akhirnya pilihan saya jatuh ke e-book buku kedua dan buku ketiga, dalam Bahasa Inggris. Sekalian juga saya coba baca e-book buku pertamanya karena saya ingin coba baca versi bahasa aslinya.

Ternyata oh ternyata... James Dashner memang bermain di kosa kata dan bentuk-bentuk kalimat yang tidak biasa, dan pembaca baru bisa benar-benar menikmati tulisan Dashner kalau membaca bukunya dalam bahasa aslinya. Misalnya penggunaan kata ‘shank’, ‘shuck-face’, ‘klunk’. Kemudian pola kalimat Dashner yang tidak biasa itu jadi hilang di versi terjemahannya, contoh, “just slim yourself nice and calm” diterjemahkan jadi “santai dan tenang sajalah”. Jadi kalimat yang biasa banget kan? Padahal di trilogi ini ceritanya para Glader punya cara ngomong yang unik.

Intinya, saya jadinya baca trilogi ini dalam bahasa aslinya dan benar-benar ENGGAK BISA LEPAS dari buku ini. Setelah selesai dengan The Maze Runner, saya enggak bisa langsung duduk manis menulis ulasannya, karena penasaran habis-habisan sama kelanjutan ceritanya. Jadi, ya sudah saya selesaikan dulu triloginya baru bikin ulasannya. Digabung saja biar efisien, tapi bakal jadi panjang banget nih ulasan. Biarlah.