The Bear by Andrew Krivak Review

Rating: 5/5
Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Summary:
This is the survival story of a journey through grieving, loss, companionship, and love.
After a great apocalypse, a man and his daughter are the only two people left on Earth. The Father teaches the Girl to hunt and how to survive in nature as he also teaches her about her Mother who had passed away giving birth to her. The man knows that he will not outlive the Girl and wants to make sure that he can teach her all that he can. These lessons will prove invaluable as she finds herself alone. But is she truly alone as she finds her way home with nature?

My Thoughts:
This book will easily become one of the classics. The writing is poetically phenomenal. There is beautiful imagery throughout the entire book and the journey you go through while reading this story will leave you in tears. This book will make you want to connect with nature and find the signs of nature's voice. It will give you a whole new respect for our environment.
At first, this book is quite depressing, but you must keep reading! This is not just a tale of sorrow. It is a tale of hope and human resilience. Even after we are gone, we will continue. We are apart of nature and nature is never ending.
The writing style in this novel is very unique. The Father and the Girl do not have names. They are just the Father and the Girl, just as the bear is the Bear and the puma is the Puma. I really think this helps us as readers realize that we are one with nature. The author chose to not use quotation marks which can be a little confusing when reading through dialogue, but fits in with the style of his writing which is very much like Cormac McCarthy's style, but without all the gore. (which I appreciate soooo much!)
Overall, this is definitely one of my top reads for this year. I cannot recommend this book enough! Please give this book a read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bellevue Literary Press for allowing me to review this eARC.

MindWalker by A.J. Steiger Book Review

Rating: 5/5
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Dystopian

Summary:
Lain is a 17 year old Mindwalker, meaning she is a therapist that can go into other's memories and erase them. The whole society is about creating a safe world with no crime and no mental illness. It is the Mindwalker's job to remove bad memories that could cause mental illness or harmful behavior. She meets a boy who she is told is off limits. The boy, Steve, asks her to remove his traumatic memories that place him as a harmful member of society. Lain goes against the rules and starts to remove his traumatic memories. As she does this, she discovers that his memories might not be all that they seem. Together they discover secrets about her family, mindwalking, and their society.

My Thoughts:

This book definitely differs from other popular dystopian novels which makes it new and exciting. I loved how fast the plot moved and how you never could tell exactly what was going!to happen next. The writing style was easy to follow and easily allowed for you to escape within the story. This novel was very thought provoking on how our society views mental illness. It makes you think a lot about how mental illness plays a role in our society and what we can do to help those with mental illness. Reading with Lain as the protagonist was very enjoyable. Her compassion and struggles were easy to relate to. She isn't a fighter like most female dystopian protagonist, but she was able to fight with her knowledge which made her that much more realistic.

I definitely recommend this book! It is fast paced and constantly keeps you wanting to read just one more chapter.