Wednesday 9 July 2014

GoodRead - Night School: Resistance

If you have been following my blog for a while, you might have noticed my feelings toward the Night School series has changed from "I like it, but not enough" to "Are you kidding me?! You expect me to wait HOW LONG!?". So I have been prowling around for a copy of Resistance (as I am now calling it - saves typing) and I found a copy. But why did I go into a tiny state over not finding a copy for a while? Well... I'll tell you later, but I was told on Twitter and I got VERY excited.

Resistance is the fourth and penulimate book in this series (to my knowledge) and after the events of Fracture, Allie is on the run, in hiding. She was hiding with Rachel at Sylvain's French villa and has been moved every few weeks. For once, Allie thinks she's safe. Until Nathaniel's guards find her and start shooting at her.

Realising there is nowhere will be safe, the trio return to Cimmeria Academy. And that's not the same school that Allie was forced to flee. Only a handful of students are left attending the school, tensions are running high, the mole is still not discovered and with every day that passes, Nathaniel is getting one step close to take total control.

Desperate to do something, Allie agrees to Lucinda's late night plan. But in agreeing to this, has Allie put her life and those of her friends's on the line? And with the situation with her feelings towards Carter and Sylvain coming to a head, Allie needs to have her head in the game. Because the winner will take it all if there is one wrong move...

Ok, I think I stated that Fracture was my fave of the series (and this is still true) but CJ must have read the blog post (my Fracture review is here or snooping in my Review Listings tab) because SHE GAVE US ANSWERS! ANSWERS AT LAST! We discovered who the mole was (I kinda guessed, but it was still a shock to the system on who it was and the shortlist of who it could have been...) and Allie finally realises who she's in love with (yes, we don't have to wait till the final pages of book 5 for Allie to realise what most of the fandom was been rooting for!)...

And security - my pet issue with this series was addressed! THE CHARACTERS SPOKE ABOUT THE LACK OF IT IN THE PAST FEW BOOKS! I am very happy when this happened - and it happened on more than one occasion.

Anyway, I got that all out of my system, let me really talk about Resistance. The best way to desrcible my reaction to this book is like this: part of the time, I wanted to hug this book and the rest... well... I wanted to strangled. I like this book and this series - I do, dear reader - but there are times when I get very frustated with it (and I think CJ does this to us on purpose because this world is filled with lies, liars and double-crossing. She likes to unnerve us, I think).

This is a very different book to Fracture. Fracture was a personal book - Allie had to piece herself back together again after the events of book two (Legacy). But in Resistance, Allie was fighting back. She wanted to help, even though she had no idea where to start. She wanted to help Lucinda and Isabelle without thinking about it, but when it comes to matters of the heart...

Typical teenager moments ahead.

And while we had answers, it was nice that CJ tackled issues we all faced. Matters of the heart, coping with grief and friendship struggles. Because of these, CJ places some interesting questions forward: why did Rachel really join Night School, even though it stands against everything she stands for? And why is Nicole suddenly become close buddies with her? (I have a theory - and if it is what I think it is, I will be VERY intrigued on how CJ handles it... ).

What CJ Daugherty does great (like I have said in every review for her books) is that she knows how to write slow burning thrillers. You always have a sense of uneasy with the Night School series and it takes its time revealing information to you. No info dumping the reader, and when she does, CJ does it quite subtly.

I do have a few issues (don't I with EVERY book in existence!?). The first is, of course, security. Yes, I know I said this was address but there is a few times where I was going "You are kidding me?! Why... WHERE THE **** IS THE SECURITY GUARDS?!". There was one moment where I got so angry with this, I had to put the book down for a moment and make a tea before I could continue (and it was a good part as well!).

My second issue is a stupid thing. It's a me thing. While reading this, I keep noticing the use of one swear word quite a lot (it's not what you think!) and, for some reason, I found it quite grating. I don't consider myself a prude but would that word really be used in that situation? Again, this is me thing. This is nothing to do with the author.

My third issue and, again, this is a me thing - but there were times I guessed or I knew what was going to happen next. I think it's because I read quite a lot of thriller-type reads so I am probably always reading going "Ok, tis is what's going to happen next..."

It is going to be very interesting to see how CJ ties all of this us... And I shall be waiting...

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