"Fuse" by Julianna Baggott~"Pure" Trilogy Bk 2

SUMMARY:  

Book 2 of the Pure Trilogy

We want our son returned.

This girl is proof that we can save you all. If you ignore our plea, we will kill our hostages one at a time.

To be a Pure is to be perfect, untouched by Detonations that scarred the earth, and sheltered inside the paradise that is the Dome. But Partridge escaped to the outside world, where Wretches struggle to survive amid smoke and ash. Now, at the command of Partridge's father, the Dome is unleashing nightmare after nightmare upon the Wretches in an effort to get him back.

At Partridge's side is a small band of those united against the Dome: Lyda, the warrior; Bradwell, the revolutionary; El Capitan, the guard; and Pressia, the young woman whose mysterious past ties her to Partridge in ways she never could have imagined. Long ago a plan was hatched that could mean the earth's ultimate doom. Now only Partridge and Pressia can set things right.

To save millions of innocent lives, Partridge must risk his own by returning to the Dome and facing his most terrifying challenge. And Pressia, armed only with a mysterious Black Box containing a set of cryptic clues, must travel to the very ends of the earth, to a place where no map can guide her. If they succeed, the world will be saved. But should they fail, humankind will pay a terrible price . . .

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Grand Central Publishing
Pages:  Approximately 465
Genre:  YA fiction/Post Apocalypse
Trilogy
Author:  Julianna Baggott
Learn More:  Julianna Baggott
Book Released:  February 2013

Pre-release purchase:  Barnes & Noble   and   Amazon


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

"Fuse" is the second book in the "Pure" trilogy and if possible, it's a better book than the first.  While I felt the first section of the book was slow on the up-take, it never faltered in terms of catching the reader up on who's who; the background of the troupe of players involved.  Fascinating young people with a gripping goal of fighting the uber powers contained in a Dome set on controlling the Wretches on the land below them after a catastrophe of detonations they caused.

The beauty of this book and the series in my opinion lies in the magnificent imagination of Julianna Baggott to create people fused together with objects and other people and animals.  She also creates new "creatures" that rise from the dust, as well as muck and forests that are just horrific.  And she creates cyber creatures that sit on the edge of believability...mechanical spiders with timed detonations that sink into human skin, for instance.  I just love the bird back of one of  her main characters, Bradwell.  And the doll head fist of Pressia.  These and others are symbolic of their stations in the story.  So many possibilities for symbolism to ferret through in this book and the series so far.  It's flat entertaining, and one of those sets of books to sit down with a group of friends to discuss.

The story itself grows in depth as the young people are called to greater risks when Partridge, the head of the Dome society's son, is forced to go back to the Dome.   All the answers aren't given in this volume, but so much is told that I was kept in suspense with the characters.  I love them all and can't wait to follow them to the end!

This is a book that will stand on its on, but is best read as a part of the series. 

Fascinating in detail, imaginative and absorbing.  This is a scifi book that grips the heart at the same time it draws the mind in on a symbolic journey through a world nearly descimated by a privileged class. That torn and fused world is on its way to being recaptured by the hope and fortitude of a band of young people with the vision to set things right. 

I am captivated...I think you will be, too.

5 stars               Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

GIVEAWAY!! "Pure" by Julianna Baggott~Post-Apocalypse Drama!

SUMMARY : 
 
We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost—how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked: Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss—maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing/Hachette
Pages:  431
Genre:  YA/Dystopian
Author:  Julianna Baggott
Find the author here:   Baggott Website

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT "PURE" :

Fox 2000 has acquired film rights to PURE, Baggott's post-apocalyptic novel!!!!!!
What people are saying about PURE ...
"Baggott's postapocalyptic world is realized to stunning cinematic effect..."
–– The New York Times Book Review

"... gorgeous ... You will be swept away."
-- Justin Cronin, New York Times Bestselling author of The Passage

"... extraordinary ... an important book ... by one of our finest writers."
-- Robert Olen Butler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

"... startling and addictive ... Breathtaking and frightening, I couldn't stop reading PURE."
-- Danielle Trussoni, New York Times bestselling author of Angelology

"... glorious ... full of wonderful weirdness, tenderness, and wild suspense. If Katniss could jump out of her own book and pick a great friend, I think she'd find an excellent candidate in Pressia."
-- Aimee Bender, New York Times bestselling author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake



ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Critically acclaimed, bestselling author Julianna Baggott also writes under the pen names Bridget Asher and N.E. Bode. She has published seventeen books over the last ten years. Film rights for her forthcoming novel PURE have been acquired by Fox 2000. The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted, written under pen name Asher, was published in spring 2011. There are approximately 50 foreign editions of her novels to date.

Julianna began publishing when she was twenty-two and sold her first novel while still in her twenties. After receiving her M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, she published her first novel, Girl Talk, which was a national bestseller and was quickly followed by Boston Globe bestseller The Miss America Family, and then Boston Herald Book Club selection, The Madam, an historical novel based on the life of her grandmother. She co-wrote Which Brings Me to You with Steve Almond, A Best Book of 2006 (Kirkus Reveiws) optioned by producer Richard Brown and adapted by Keith Bunin with Matthew Warchus set to direct.

Her Bridget Asher novels include The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted, The Pretend Wife, My Husband's Sweethearts. More info can be found at her Bridget Asher blog.

She also writes bestselling novels for younger readers under the pen name N.E. Bode as well as under Julianna Baggott. The Anybodies trilogy was a People Magazine pick alongside David Sedaris and Bill Clinton, a Washington Post Book of the Week, a Girl's Life Top Ten, a Booksense selection, and was in development at Nickelodeon/Paramount; The Slippery Map (fall 2007), and the prequel to Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007), a movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman. For two years, Bode was a recurring personality on XM Sirius Radio.

Julianna's Boston Red Sox novel The Prince of Fenway Park (HarperCollins), was published in spring 2009. It is on the Sunshine State Young Readers Awards List for 2011-2012.
The Ever Breath (Random House) was published in December, 2009.

Baggott also has a highly acclaimed career as a poet, having published three collections of poetry and having been published in the best literary publications in the country, including Poetry, The American Poetry Review, and Best American Poetry in 2001, 2011 and 2012.

Baggott's work has appeared in over a hundred publications, including the The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Glamour, Ms., Real Simple, and read on NPR's Here and Now, All Things Considered and Talk of the Nation. Her essays, stories, and poems are highly anthologized.

She is an associate professor at Florida State University's College of Motion Picture Arts.

In 2006, Baggott and her husband co-founded the nonprofit organization Kids in Need - Books in Deed, that focuses on literacy and getting free books to underprivileged children in the state of Florida.

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Audio Book Summary

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

Well certainly, this is one of the best written post-apocalypse novels to arrive on the bookshelves ever.  Julianna Baggott is a seasoned writer with a vivid imagination.  She is a genius of an author with incredible vision.  Her imagery is stark and unique.  This is a book that rushes up to grasp your attention at the most worrisome levels. What would happen if there were a "detonation" of epic proportions that left mankind changed into hybrids of the rarest sorts?  I was blown away by this book!  Consider what would happen if an elite group decided to rid the world of over-population...
This is in the headlines today, if one is interested enough to pursue the question.

Not only has Ms Baggott created a world of believable inhabitants mutated in extraordinary ways:  half mechanicals/humans blasted in the detonation and melded with animals, birds, tools and toys; but, she's created a world of ash and destruction inhabited by survivors barely holding on to their humanity.  Memories are fragile and fragmented, relationships are shallow, and elders are few and far between.  This is so well-conceived.  Horrifyingly realistic.

Baggott's characters; Pressia, Bradwell and Partridge are symbolic of the survivors we might hope to find in such a post-apocayptic world.  Brave and strong of heart and mind...fighting against the status quo, wise beyond their years.  Even the anti-hero, El Capitan is a victim of his times and somewhat sympathetic.  Her rendering of such well-wrought peoples (others not mentioned here) adds depth in a way that made me devour this book like few others. 

This novel would be perfect for college studies.  Rich in detail, beautifully written, strong in characterization and symbolism for today's world.  It's a warning of a world gone haywire.  It's a hope for survival.  A unique and worthy read.

5 stars     Deborah/TheBookishDame



Happily there is a sequel coming soon!  It's called "Fuse" and will be debuting on February 19th, 2013!

Here's a quick synopsis:  An epic quest that sweeps readers into a world of beautiful brutality, "Fuse" continues the story of two people fighting to save their futures--and change the fate of the world.



                                                              GIVEAWAY!!!!!

             COPY OF  "PURE"  TO BE GIVEN AWAY

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                     ***DRAWING  WILL BE HELD  OCT. 31ST


US  and Canada only, please!  Sorry....


Find your copy of "Pure" here :  http://amazon.com  or http://barnesandnoble.com