“Empathy, he once had decided, must be limited to herbivores or anyhow omnivores who could depart from a meat diet. Because, ultimately, the empathic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated.”
Orson Scott Card's book, Ender’s Game, is a magnificent book. The premise of the book, an earth that barely survived the first two alien invasions is prepping for a third attack from the aliens, or buggers as they are referred to in the book. The human race was barely able to survive the second attack from the buggers, only thanks to the cunning work of Mazer Rackham. With Mazer Rackham aging, the Humans knew they needed a younger just as brilliant mind that could help them lead the ships in the war.
“It is not lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It's the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people's worst enemy. We can't tell if any of those other versions would of been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on.”
This book follows Darrow, a lowborn Red man whose whole world has recently been turned upside down. From the blistering Mars mines to the secret city on the surface of the planet, Darrow discovers his life as a miner is a lie, and that the higher born Golds have been keeping the moderation to themselves. After his wife is hanged for rebellious behavior and he himself sentenced to death, Darrow narrowly escapes the grave waiting for him.
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is a wonderfully written novel that follows teenager Juliette Ferrars and her journey through a tumultuous world. Juliette was born with a lethal touch. Anyone she touches experiences immense pain and eventually dies. The book starts with Juliette imprisoned inside a mental asylum. She then is introduced to one Adam Kent, who is a soldier. They are imprisoned together, and there is one thing that shocks Juliette to her core- her touch doesn’t hurt him.
Taking place in the year 2118, the Tower is a large structure with a thousand floors, each floor getting more extravagant than the last, with the thousandth floor being the most divine and coveted. On a vast variety of floors, Ryelin Myers lives on the 32nd floor, down as the DownTower portion and, when she is hired to clean one of the highest floors, she risks falling in love with a boy that she could never have. Watt Bakradi lives on the 200th floor, and is known to be a tech genius.
Shatter Me follows the story of a 17-year-old girl named Juliette Ferrars in a futuristic dystopian world ruled by the Reestablishment; a totalitarian government which promises to “help” people by taking away their basic rights. Juliette, who has the power to torture and kill anyone she touches, was taken away from her home and placed in an asylum for 264 days because she accidentally killed a toddler. However, everything changes when a boy named Adam arrives in her cell and Juliette starts to trust him.
The book Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is a young adult dystopian novel which follows Juliette, a girl whose touch can kill. She’s locked away in prison and is suddenly needed by the Reestablishment who fear war. She doesn’t know how to control her power, or her curse, which is what she thinks. She doesn’t know who to trust either. Now Juliet must make her own choices, and make sure she makes the right ones.
