Young adult? Check! Dystopian? Check! Super-squeaky-2010 new? Check!
The Gardener by S. A. Bodeen popped up in my mailbox this week, sent all the way from the US. (Thank you Macmillan!) Apologies for the eeny weeny picture. It's the only one I could find. Released June 2010.
Mason has never known his father, but longs to. All he has of him is a DVD of a man whose face is never seen, reading a children’s book. One day, on a whim, he plays the DVD for a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mother works. One of them, a beautiful girl, responds. Mason learns she is part of a horrible experiment intended to render teenagers into autotrophs—genetically engineered, self-sustaining life-forms who don’t need food or water to survive. And before he knows it, Mason is on the run with the girl, and wanted, dead or alive, by the mysterious mastermind of this gruesome plan, who is simply called the Gardener.
Will Mason be forced to destroy the thing he’s longed for most?
Not so much in-my-mailbox as put-in-a-suitcase-and-given-over-brunch is the Millennium series by Stieg Larrson. Thanks to my dad for these ones! I'm halfway through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I am loving it. I'm usually extremely prejudiced against/insanely jealous of mainstream bestsellers, and yet I am still loving it! It's also the third book in a row for me that isn't YA. Lordy, what's going on?? I'm going to have to antidote with some L. J. Smith or something!
Happy weekend to all!
It's that good? I am prejudiced against best sellers too but they are the only English titles I can find over here. Maybe I should give it a go?
ReplyDeleteThree non-YA books in a row?! Definitely break out the LJ Smith because that's not natural. :P
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy The Gardener. Sounds wild, doesn't it?
The Gardener looks really good - been seeing that one around a lot.
ReplyDeleteHappy Reading!!
The Gardener does indeed look great. Hope you enjoy it - looking forward to your dystopian expertise review :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the fact that The Girl... comes from a different market has something to do with it? The ingredients of what makes a bestseller in Sweden might be more more up your street....
ReplyDeleteHow cool to see a Swedish author in your mailbox content, Rhiannon! Eventhough I'm Norwegian I'm happy to see that this Swedish series is taking the world with storm.
ReplyDeleteThe Gardener sounds terrific. I've been asked to review it as well and I'm curious to see if it really comes all this way to me.
Enjoy your new books!
Adele--Yes, I think you'd love it. There's a bit of weird/nasty sexual content, but it's an awesome story.
ReplyDeleteLauren--Looking forward to your thoughts on the Gardener too as I think you got a copy recently.
Willow--Thanks you too!
ProphecyGirl--Why thank you ;)
Hampshireflyer--That might be it, and the fact that it's a murder mystery and crime is always a big seller. I don't mind a good murder! Fictional, of course.
Ladybug--I know, it's lovely to see something local go big! Have you read it yourself?
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo sounds really great. :]
ReplyDeleteI was just talking about Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I have it and WANT to read it, but I have so much other stuff to slog through first). And I want the Gardener. What an interesting premise.
ReplyDeleteI would have been really happy with these books! Happy reading! My mailbox is at The Crowded Leaf.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read them, yet, but my sister has all three books, she read them and borrowed them to my boyfriend. He in turn read all three in just a matter of a few short weeks. To me that says a lot about these books because in addition to those three Stieg Larsson novels, my bf has only read ONE other book in all the 11,5 years we have been together.
ReplyDeleteMy mum reads them now and after that they will be living in my shelves till I find the time to read them :)
I have heard so much about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I even have a copy on my Kindle. But I haven't taken the time to read it yet. I hope you enjoy it and The Gardener. Happy reading!
ReplyDelete