Review: The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Published: November 4th 2014 (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Number of Pages: 480 Pages (Hardback)
Series: Yes, #3 of Mara Dyer Trilogy
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   Mara Dyer wants to believe there's more to the lies she’s been told.
   There is.
   She doesn’t stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead.
   She should.
   She never had to imagine how far she would go for vengeance.
   She will now.
   Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story.
   Retribution has arrived.

"She looked genuinely concerned, and I'm not sure I'd ever wanted to hit someone as much in my entire life." (Mara)

   Where to start, where to start?
   I've been waiting to read this book ever since I finished reading The Evolution of Mara Dyer for the first time maybe a year ago. I must admit, it was frustration to see the release date being pushed further and further back but, in the end, I am happy because I know that it was all worth the waiting.
   I've read a lot of trilogies over the years but rarely they had such a perfect last book as The Retribution of Mara Dyer. (I'm looking over at you, Allegiant) After reading the first two books I had so many question, just like everybody else. There was so much I wanted to know and that I felt needed more explaining and depth. And let's face it, after THAT EDING in The Evolution of Mara Dyer, we all needed this one to find out if certain things were true or not.
   I can promise you that this book will give you all the answers to any question you might have ever had regarding the characters, the chapters set in India et cetera. But, while you get a lot of details, informations and background to our beloved or hated characters, there are also moments and lines that will make you burst out laughing, loud. Michelle somehow managed to create teenage characters that really felt like teenagers. They made jokes that felt truly like jokes that teenagers make. They used pop culture references toward The Hunger Games, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. It was simply brilliant.

"I thought you were going to give it the District Twelve salute." (Jamie)

   Oftentimes author create teenage character which just do not feel like the age they are said to be, but these characters did. They were amazing, smart but also had flaws which made them more real than a lot of other characters out in the world of books.

"Before I could say anything, Jamie began writing giant letters over the words with his index finger. F-U-C-K Y-O-U. My sentiment exactly."

   Something that makes this book stand out is the depth of detail we get regarding the medical and psychological aspect of what is happening to our lovely protagonists. I seriously am not surprised that Michelle Hodkin needed more time to write this book because I am sure it took a lot of time to figure that all out and make it sound so spot on as it is done in this book.

   It was also very interesting to get more background info regarding Dr. Kells which, in the end, helped you understand what was going on in her head and how it all fit together. And I admit, I might hate her now even more than I did in the previous book.

   Mara, on the other hand, now she goes through a lot in this book. But she is such a strong character that she still manages to survive it all, against all odds, even though she might not always make the best decisions ever but it all just perfectly underlines and explains all the things that are going on inside of her, the way the "thing" affects her mentality and personality. She is not afraid of making hard choices, not even the hardest one of them all.
   Jamie is just amazing in this book. He never loses his sense of humor and he is just such a great character and friend for Mara. Even at the worst times he decides to stand with her, despite how scared he might be. I enjoyed the fact that he had a bigger role in this book and that we got to see him so much for the last time.

"The freaks shall inherit the earth." (Jamie)

   There are also other characters which I would love to comment on BUT I don't want to spoil anyone. But I can tell you there are surprises coming, good and bad ones, so prepare yourself. One in particular surprised me a lot when I thought I might have it all figured out but then I realized "you know nothing, Alice (Jon Snow)"

"I want to double-fist the shit out of this pizza" - I still cannot believe that Michelle Hodkin managed to sneak this sentence into a published book. Amazing!

   All in all, The Retribution of Mara Dyer was more than just a worthy ending for this outstandingly amazing, dark, mind-blowing and brilliant trilogy. This book had it all, all the things a final book should have: Answers, moments that will make you laugh, moments that will make you cry, gasp and shocked, happy and sad, and the perfect amount of cuteness.

   The Mara Dyer trilogy is dark, twisted and psychological in exactly the way I love and want a book to be. It will make you fall in love with the characters, it will make you feel what they feel and it will make saying good-bye to them even harder.

   I am both happy that I have read this book and sad that this is it. There will be no more.

"This is a love story- Twisted and Messy. Flawed and Screwed up."

   To conclude this review I want to say Thank You Michelle Hodkin for writing this amazing trilogy, for giving us Mara, Noah, Jamie and all the other outstanding characters. This trilogy is truly perfect and I cannot wait to see what you will write next.

"My name is not Mara Dyer."

I give The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin 5 out of 5 Stars.

Review: Retribution by Amy Rachel Thompson

Retribution by Amy Rachel Thompson 
Published: June 18th 2013
Number of pages: 280 (paperback) 
Series: Yes, #1

   Regan Edison has just moved from California, to enter her first year at Georgia Liberty College, the place where jacked up Chevy trucks and hunting are a way of life. Regan hopes to start a new life for herself and she thinks that Georgia is just the place to do it. That is until she meets an unexpected stranger.
   Colter Hayes is a member of the Collectors, a group of wrongfully punished lost souls. Colter and the rest of his team, Finn, Kaiden and Devon, work for the Requiem Council who pass judgment on those souls that are neither tagged for Heaven nor Hell. The Council has charged the Collectors with finding the lost in exchange for a chance at redemption.
   When an ex-councilmember known to pass Retribution on lost souls sets his sights on Regan, the Requiem Council dispatches the Collectors to Georgia to work as protectors for Regan. The Collectors must fight to save Regan from a fate they know all too well, but can they work to earn back their chance at redemption or are their fates sealed forever?
   Who is meant for Heaven?
   Who is meant for Hell?

   And who is just lost? (goodreads) 

   I received a free copy of Riot from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

 “Never, ever, ever, invite strangers into your room; they will be psychotic serial killers. You know what? Scratch that. Never, ever, ever go to college, apparently that’s where dreams, and young girls, go to die. Or maybe that’s just me.” (Regan)

   When I first read the synopsis of Retribution on NetGalley I was intrigued and knew I wanted to read it. I don’t know if it’s because of my expectations of this book or if other people feel the same way, but honestly I was kind of disappointed by it. Unfortunately. 

   I really didn’t like how ‘easily’ Regan accepted everything the guys told her, about the Collectors, the Exiles or Agro. She showed some resistance yet still accepted in relatively fast. Somehow that seemed very unrealistic and it somehow bugged me. And speaking of the whole business with the Soul business. I don’t know if I’m too stupid to understand it or what but I found it all very confusing and somewhat poorly and confusingly explained. At first I thought that it was done this way to underline how confused Regan was by it all, but even toward the end of the book I still didn’t quite get it, though the characters tried to explain it all a few times. Oh well, maybe that’s just me. 

   When it comes to the main characters, I liked Regan, at least most of the time, not always though. She seemed like an all right narrator and person, though she doesn’t belong to my favorites. Sometimes her train of thoughts just made me stop and ask myself, or rather the book, “are you serious right now?” because she just made weird decision sometimes and would jump over into being stubborn and reckless for no reason whatsoever. 

   Then there is Colter, who to say the least pissed me off constantly. His temper was extremely unnerving and straight out unfriendly. He was angry most of the times, to a point where it wasn’t even funny anymore. I mean, I understand WHY, because the book will eventually tell you why, but that didn’t change my opinion about him. 

   “After centuries together, I unfortunately have grown accustomed to Colt’s temper. I think anger is the only emotion he has, or at least knows how to express.” (Kaiden) 

   Then there the other guys, Finn, Kaiden and Devon. They all seemed like the opposite of Colter. They were very friendly, funny and helpful. I really liked them all and I did feel bad for them, more than I did for Colter. 

   No matter how I look at it, I never really came to like or really care about all these characters enough to really be sad or happy when something happened to them. For example, toward the end of the book something BIG and sad happens and I must say it rather annoyed me how much they were whining about it. I mean I understand why but yeah that was just my lack of caring for what happens to them, which I found very sad.   

   But, in general, at first I thought I would give Retribution 4 stars, because it started out quite good and interesting but, the further I read and the closer I got, the more my rating started to decrease. Somewhere around 75% through I was already at a point where I said I’ll only give it 2.5 Stars.

    All in all, maybe if you are more into the whole soul business reads, this might be a story for you, but for me personally it was a rather disappointing read. I enjoyed reading this book only up until maybe 50% in, the rest was rather a ‘continuing to read just to see how it end and be able to write a review for it’ type of thing.

   “Shit man, I think you broke my nose.” 

     “Yeah, well, you broke my patience.” (Colter) 

I give Retribution by Amy Rachel Thompson a 2 out of 5 Stars.