Anything That isn't This by Chris Priestly

Series: N/A, Standalone

Publication date: October 1, 2015

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Genres: YA, Futuristic

Format: Paperback, review copy

Source: The publisher in exchange for an honest review

Pages: 468
Rating: ★★★/5

Goodreads ⎜Amazon ⎜Book Depository

 Seventeen-year-old Frank Palp lives in a grim little apartment, in a grim little building, in an exceedingly grim (and rather large) city. Cobbled streets and near-destroyed bridges lead one through Old Town and Old New Town, and war-damaged houses stand alongside post-war characterless, concrete hutches. Most people walk hunched over, a habit from avoiding snipers, but others are proud to stand tall and make the world take notice . . . This is a city full of contradictions, and Frank is no exception.

He mostly hates his life, he definitely hates the ludicrous city he is forced to live in and he absolutely with complete certainty hates the idiots he's surrounded by . . . and yet he is in love. A love so pure and sparkling and colourful, Frank feels sure it is 'meant to be'. His love is a reward for all the terrible grey that he is surrounded by - which would be great, if the girl in question knew he existed. And then one day, the perfect sign lands in his lap. A message, in a bottle. A wish, for 'anything that isn't this'. The girl who wrote this is surely his soulmate - and now he just needs to find her.

"A Kafka-esque nightmare of a story... about love"

To be honest I wasn't totally happy with this book. If I'd borrowed it from the library or received it as an ebook I probably wouldn't have finished it.

In Anything That isn't This we meet Frank and his family; mom, dad and sister Petra. He is 17-years-old and he's just finished high school. Frank is quite a depressing main characte; he don't want to be like 'everyone else' and work at the ministry so of course he end up working there.
He's also in love with the popular girl; Olivia Pavillus, so of course he end up kind of stalking her (cycling past her building three times a day).
Frank has a best friend; Daisy. They've known each other forever and even have matching scars from when they were younger. We don't really see much of Daisy after the initial couple of chapters, she reappears in the end though.

I began reading this randomly one night and I had no idea what was going on in the first 100 pages or so! The story begins with the family eating dinner and then suddenly there's this Student who's just observing them and they shouldn't talk about him or to him - it's weird and I kind of liked the quirky aspect of the story, this quickly disappeared though.
It took me a while to actually get into the story and understand what was going on. It was better when I was confused though.

I thought about putting this book down quite often which my initial remark clearly shows. It's quite a bleak and depressing read; I literally visualized everything in black and white, no color!
I don't like calling a book boring, because something or other usually happens. This time I have no other word than boring to fit the book.. I was indifferent to anything that happened. The ending is quite action-packed, opposed to the rest of the story, but nothing really happens!
Frank goes to work, maybe get a drink or two, maybe spend a little time with a girl, then he goes home. That's a big part of the story summarized in a single sentence. Does it sound interesting? Not really.

I really liked that Frank is in to literature though, he loves reading and he even writes stories on a typewriter! I think that's the most positive comment I can make about the content of this book.

To be honest I find it quite odd how the longest book I've ever received from Hot Key Books is the book where the least happens. It could've been without at least 100 pages!

I need to mention that there's a bunch of black and white illustrations included in the book which Chris Priestly, the author himself, has created. All the illustrations fit the story quite nicely; the tone of the story is definitely showed in the illustrations.
They're not really my kind of thing though.

In the beginning I found the whole thing rather interesting and funny! Hot Key Books, the publisher, puts this circle on the back showing what the story holds. I may have laughed out loud when I read the circle for this book;

I love the cover! It fits the story nicely since they don't want people to read the 'old books'. They should read the books that the ministry have written so they literally rip out the ending of the 'old' books. It's also quite the pretty cover to be honest! The spine is not too bad either. Everything about this book intrigued me, especially the back - which usually never seems interesting to me!

So, everything about the book, except the story itself, I actually love. It's not like my expectations were that high, because I had no idea what I was going into, but it still fell flat!
Since I managed to finish it I've given it a 3 star rating.. Even though I've thought about giving it a lower rating a couple of times now.

Lastly I want to mention that I see the potential with this book, I can imagine it becoming very popular - especially with the older young adults. I just think it needs to cut out all the things that are unnecessary.

Cloud 9 by Alex Campbell

Series: N/A, Standalone

Publication date: September 3, 2015

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Genres: YA, Thriller, Futuristic

Format: Paperback, review copy

Source: The publisher in exchange for an honest review

Pages: 325
Rating: ★★★.5/5

Goodreads ⎜Amazon ⎜Book Depository

If there was a wonder-drug to make you feel happier, would you take it?

With no side effects, Leata is the perfectly safe pick-me-up!

What if everyone you knew had been taking it for years - your teachers, your friends, your family?

Leata - helping the country feel more positive! 

What if your dad was dead-set against the drug and the corporation behind it?

Not all questions bring the answers we need! 

What if he died? What if you begin to suspect he was killed? What if you've lived your whole life believing in something - only to find out it's a lie?

Life's short. Enjoy it! 

Last year I read and reviewed Land by Alex Campbell, you can read my review here. 

To be honest I didn't think I'd ever end up writing this review. This was definitely an anticipated read, but after I'd read 30 pages I was ready to throw the book across the room. I decided to put it down for the time being and pick it up another time - usually I don't pick the book up again. I picked it up a few days ago and maybe the time was just right, but the day after I'd finished the book and I'd definitely enjoyed it.

The narrator 

Cloud 9 is told in a quite peculiar way. Even though there's alternate chapters saying 'him' and 'her' it's still told from a third person narrator although towards the end it switches back and forth between first person and third person quite a lot. Nevertheless, you can easily tell Tom, him, and Hope, her, from each other since the narrator somehow alters his voice. It's quite hard to explain, and I'm confused by it myself. The reason I wanted to tell you is because I find it odd that there's this illusion that it's told from two first person narrators through out the entire book even though it's actually a third person narrator so the two main character shouldn't actually have voices, but they do, somehow.

Leata, the wonder-drug 

I thought I'd tell you a bit about the drug some people, or most people, in Cloud 9 take. Somehow it makes you happy but it's not antidepressant. It doesn't help everyone, you should preferably start taking it before you're in double-figures or something like that. Basically the younger you are when you start taking it, the better it works.
I think Hope's obsession with Leata, and I really think it's an obsession since she wears clothes from Leata and with their slogans, she's a Leata sponsored blogger and she just keeps pushing it on people! Her obsession with Leata is maybe a bit much, but again, I get it after I got to know her better. I still think it's a bit overdone though.

I find this pill quite intriguing and it's basically the main reason I wanted to read this book. I still find it quite intriguing but like Allegiant; once you know the truth, you can't ever see it the same way.

Characters, Tom and Hope 

So, our two main characters are Tom and Hope. Hope is pro Leata and Tom is against. I definitely like that we see two sides instead of e.g. two people pro Leata or two people against Leata. We get to see what life is like with and without - and there's definitely a difference!

It was Hope who made me want to throw the book across the room. All she cares about is her numbers - that is the amount of followers or subscribers she has at any given moment. She's sooo shallow and she just annoyed me! When I read it the second time, because I started from the beginning once again, I was still annoyed with her, but I knew what was coming. After reading some more and getting to know Hope I understand why she is so shallow and I get it. I actually started to feel really sorry for her and definitely didn't expect that!
I think her character development is one of the greatest I've ever come across. I practically hated the Hope we meet in the beginning and I love the person she becomes in the end. She's definitely a strong woman in the end who knows how to stand up for herself and I've even come to admire her. Yes, it's that big a change!

Tom I'm a bit indifferent to. I like him, and on the other hand I feel like he's just a way to keep the story going. His dad committed suicide, or that's what the people behind Leata wants you, and everyone else, to believe. He wants to find out what it is his father was killed for and that's basically what drives the whole story. His mission, and soon-to-be Hope's mission, is to find this big side-effect, or something like that, to Leata.
Now, two days after finishing the book and with a bunch of notes I seriously have nothing to say about him.. Sorry.

As with every other young adult book, there's a love interest, and like every other YA book, you know it's going to be the two main characters. Even though I knew they were going to end up together, I still approve. They balance each other out and I love that they have a history. They knew each other when they were toddlers and when the story begins they haven't talked in years. Nevertheless, they're cute together and seeing them grow together was great!

The story 

To be honest I really don't have that much to say about the story. It wasn't an unputdownable book, it wasn't that enticing and it really didn't keep me on the edge of my seat. I also felt like a lot could've been left out.
I still finished the book though, but I really don't think it's anything special. It was a great experience though - just like any other book.


Lastly, I just wanted to say that I won't keep any of you from reading it! I can totally see a lot of people loving this, since it is YA and reminds me a lot of a dystopian world or just basic sci-fi. It's not that it's not a good book - it's just didn't do it for me.