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Search tags: Michael-Buckley
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review 2017-07-21 20:50
It Was Rushed and I Wanted More
Heart of the Storm (Undertow) - Michael Buckley

3.5 stars
A great series with a rushed ending.
I really enjoyed tis YA series. The fresh look at merpeople and sea creatures was really cool and kept me coming back for more. The character details alone are worth the read. They are believable, functional, and awesome. Mr. Buckley has a wonderful imagination. He also developed some shameful characters that you just love to hate, really love to hate ! LOL
My problems with the book was the rushed pacing. Everything was happening at a semi regular paced then bam, bam, bam, we were at the end. The new characters just never got developed enough and they were so amazing. I loved Husk, he was just getting so interesting and then it ended with him not fully finished for me. I had the same issue with Fantom, why did he just disappear in the book ? It felt like there was a hole. I fell like these side characters need their own book I liked them better than the MCand we got too much of her and not enough of them.

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review 2016-10-31 15:40
Tales from the Hood (Sisters Grimm, Book 6) - Michael Buckley

I particularly liked Mr. Canis and Red Riding Hood in this book. Sabrina annoys me at this point. Like the others, they're enjoyable, but not ones i'll read again. They might be good to have in my classroom someday, though.

 

*Review written on September 1, 2014.*

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review 2016-04-15 18:11
What Happened ? I loved Book 1
Raging Sea: Undertow trilogy Book Two - Michael Buckley

Second book failure-2.5 stars
The first 1/3 of the book was slow. The people she met,her memories, her petty little fights just seemed stupid. The MC was so immature, yes i know she is young but this was over the top.
The author has the bad guys do some really heinous deeds, detailed and he has the sex scene fade to black. Yes, it actually says "fade the black" I was sick of her special unbreakable snowflake attitude that she could take them all on and win. She was like a stupid caveman with god powers. Irked me IRK IRK IRK
Then she wakes up after her fade to black night, he's gone. She's worried about telling the other girl about his choice, picking her ?!?!? Oh yes, there is another girl, a fiancee. Excuse me but their wasn't any such talk, or anything about this just a fade out.
The last 1/4 of the book was action packed, and horrifying. Children being used as weapons, dying children. There was this weird death scene where goodish guy kills bad guy, it's so instant so lame and then super bitch takes over ? WTH was that?

I was disappointed. I will continue because I want to see what happens with Fantom, who acted like a doormat in this book- sigh- I just didn't like this book. I will not be in a rush to read #3 but I will read it. It seemed like the author was confused about who they were writing for.

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review 2015-08-04 15:33
Undertow - Michael Buckley

Michael Buckley takes the reader to Coney Island, but here the rides are all closed and something from the Ocean has taken over:

The lives of everyone who lived on Coney Island changed when 30,000 Alphas emerged from the Ocean and arrived on the beach. The Alpha's are a warrior group from the great deep who have finally made their presence to the human world known. Lyric was there when they emerged from the Ocean and has witnesses the changes to Coney Island since then. But humans has never been known to accept those who are different than them quickly and the wonder of a new intelligence species, soon turns to paranoid, fear and hate and the town is turned into a Military zone. The USA government is determined to make peace with the Alphas and assimilate them into the American and Human way. Lyric is recruited (albeit against her will) to help the crown prince named Fathom learn about human culture and interaction, but this helps puts her in the sights of those who want to destroy the Alphas and even walking the streets becomes dangerous for Lyric. Lyric also has something to hide as well, a secret that would change her life and that of her family forever and being in the spot light is the last thing she wanted, she need to hold it together even as everything else around her crumbles.

I really enjoyed this book and for the last 50 pages I did not want to put it down I need to see how this book would end. That said this book is very District 9 except the creatures came out of the ocean and not space and all the challenges that are associated with those ideas. Buckley does a fantastic job in creating the different creatures associated with the Alphas. The different types of clans, what they look like and their abilities were the parts of the book that I enjoyed the most. Buckley needed to create a whole culture around these aspects especially since they are a warrior culture. There were also different amounts of how “human” each of the Alpha’s looked, some could almost pass for human, those that were from the Siren tribe and then there were those that would probably be something out of a horror novel with spikes and malformed limbs that looked more like sea creatures than human. I have not read an ocean based created before so this was cool and refreshing to me. The fact that we have explored only a fraction of the any of the Oceans makes the idea of different types of life forms down in the Great Abyss a very real possibility.

Lyric was an interesting character as you can tell that she wants to rise above the racism and bullying that is occurring in her school with the introduction of the Alphas however, she also knows that she has to lay low in order to protect her family and she struggles with this throughout the book as it really is against her nature. Lyric does have some typical teenage thoughts throughout the book, about wanting to be popular and the need of a boyfriend, but I think that these traits are expected in a YA novel.

This book tackles quite a few of the topics/themes that are common in YA novels; racism, bullying and domestic violence. You can tell that Buckley took from different times in history as inspiration for each of these topics. The racism in the book sounds right out of the history books in the 1960 when the USA government did away with segregation within the school system, with the violent crowds out front of the schools, the out spoken representatives and the bullying that happened within the school. The gangs that formed out of this forced integration and the actions they took against those who did not see their way just shows the power of the mob and the spread of misinformation. Bullying within this book is really highlighted not only within the school but also with the use of social media and how information can spread with just a click of a button. I find how fast social media can spread information especially false information to be extremely scary.

I felt the place where Buckley lacked in this book was that I did not feel any connection to the secondary characters within the book. Bex and her mother are beaten by Russell, the mother’s boyfriend, and it just seems like an accepted fact no matter how much Lyric and her parents attempt to help her out. I just did not feel any connection with Bex or Shadow (who I think could have been a very interesting character and had something similar to Mira Grant’s Newsflesh characters), they just seemed to be there and we were supposed to care about them and what happens to them, but I was never able to get there.

The creation of the Alpha's and their culture in this book is what makes it stand out to me, as the other topics that Buckley tackles within the book are fairly typical to the YA genre  and there were some inconsistencies within the writing, but for me the introduction of the Alpha's was enough. I was really drawn into this story especially as I got farther into the book that I really did get to the point of not wanting to put the book down. I'm excited to see where Buckley takes this series and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Enjoy!!!

If You Like This,
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http://j9books.blogspot.ca/2015/02/pierce-brown-red-rising.html  http://j9books.blogspot.ca/2014/11/kass-morgan-100.html  http://j9books.blogspot.ca/2013/04/susan-ee-angelfall.html
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review 2015-07-06 16:14
Undertow by Michael Buckley
Undertow - Michael Buckley

I received a free kindle copy of Undertow by Michael Buckley, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

 

I gave this debut book from Michael Buckley five stars start to finish. Lyric Walker's life is changed forever when the Alpha, an underwater dwelling race of warriors, arrives on Coney Island where she lives. 

 

Her own family has secrets they need to keep. The governor is a publicity seeking two faced tyrant who doesn't want the Alpha to attend public schools there. It's reminiscent of the South in the Sixties with forced integration.

 

There's a lot of prejudice against the Alpha & anyone who associates with them is deemed a traitor to humanity. There are picketers & hate-mongers galore. Some humans who have befriended the Alpha were murdered in heinous ways.

 

Lyric is forced into a situation where she is supposed to tutor the Prime's prince son Fathom. It was off to a frightening start since he has 'swords' that 'snick' out of his arms to use as weapons in battle. The Alpha are a proud race & any insult is dealt with in battle.

 

Can Lyric learn how to deal with this situation? Can her family stay safe? Can the Alpha assimilate? 

 

Link to purchase: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LZ7GSX0

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