book info: on sale: now copy from: public library pages: 348 review written: 21.12.17 originally published: 2009 edition read: Penguin NAL 2009 title: Rooftops of Tehran author: Mahbod Seraji In a middle-class neighborhood of Iran's sprawling capital city, 17-year-old Pasha Shahed spends the summer of 1973 on his rooftop with his best friend Ahmed, joking around one minute and asking burning questions about life the next. He also hides a secret love for his beautiful neighbor Zari, who has been betrothed since birth to another man. But the bliss of Pasha and Zari's stolen time together is shattered when Pasha unwittingly acts as a beacon for the Shah's secret police. The violent consequences awaken him to the reality of living under a powerful despot, and lead Zari to make a shocking choice... my thoughts: This book was first published in 2009 and I remember adding it to my list around that time but never actually reading it since I preferred checking out library books to ...
Series: The Maze Runner #1
Source: Bought Paperback
Publisher: Ember
Publication Date: August 24th 2010
Age Genre: YA
"If you ain't scared, you ain't human."
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He's surrounded by strangers--boys whose memories are also gone.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It's the only way out--and no one's ever made it through alive.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
Anyways... as you can see by the rating, I wasn't head over heels in love with it. The book is interesting. It leaves you with a ton of questions you want answered, which in turn makes you want to continue with this series. And it all kind of messes with your head--in a good way.
But is it especially good as a story?
Um... not... really?
I mean, I found the story to be extremely dull for about the first 150 pages or so. I had to kind of force myself to read, to just say "okay, I'm going to read for half an hour now" and sit and read to get through them. Things kind of picked up when Theresa finally woke up.
Aside for it being kind of dull, I found the writing lacking. There was nothing captivating about it for me. It felt as dull as the story was. Not to mention the many repetitions - I mean, I get it. The memory loss thing is funky cause you can remember things but not whom you learned it from or where and stuff like that. I got that the first time, and the second and the third. By the fifteenth time I just wanted to hit Thomas over the head with something.
Speaking of Thomas... I still have no grasp over the guy, or any other character in the book. There were too many random shifts of emotions (and displays of violence), that every time I thought I understood who someone was the carpet was pulled from underneath my feet and I had to try to figure them out all over again.
I still can't differentiate between them, too. If you took out their names, I will have no idea who's speaking.
And the final issue I had with the characters was the fact they were not smart enough. Sure, they are not dumb at all. But geniuses? Err, I didn't feel that at all. They were just... normally intelligent kids. But a big part of the story is based on their intellect. If you don't believe that, then you really don't believe any of the shit going on. And I didn't, so...
BUT, I really have no effing clue what's going on and for what possible reason this was all done! It seems utterly ridiculous! I mean, I feel like I kind of grasped the general situation outside the maze, but the maze itself still makes no sense to me. This makes me excited (and hopeful) that the next books would reveal the truth about everything.
Nitzan★
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