AUDIOBOOKS: YA Summer Sync (Dystopian Version)

Few more mini-reviews from the YA Sync free summer downloads. There are still 6 weeks of books to get.

I also just discovered Google Photos app, and now automatically am syncing my photos from my phone to the computer via all thing Google (that keypad for icons) It stores the pics in the cloud, freeing up valuable space on my phone for more audiobooks. It can be quite an operation on Thursdays trying to make space for the newest two audiobooks, but I think this will help. See how easily I can add a pic from my phone to my blog:

Here are some of the strawberries I picked on Monday. There is nothing like fresh PEI strawberries!

Feed - M.T. Anderson 

The world building here was good - the author just has the teen in the story narrating like a diary, using slang and talking without explaining what anything is. It makes you feel like you've landed in a future world and you try to make sense of things. I liked that about the book. The plot itself was beside the point for me, and a month or so later, I pretty much forget what the story was. I do remember that the 'feed' was like an implanted internet in their heads; and could profile you like google and facebook do based on your past activity. A reaction to the feed was skin issues. Overall, an okay read for the imaginative future that could be coming with our materialist bent.

Freakling - Lana Krumwiede

Another world building book, where communities have been isolated based on their development of PSI, or telekinesis. Kind of like how in Harry Potter world they use magic for everything, here they use PSI to eat, open doors, etc. 

The main character gets in an accident with his (evil) brother and loses his PSI. Taemon gets exiled to a nearby community which has a different form of PSI, and there is a longtime difference between the towns. There are power grabs, and discoveries of new ideas, and learning from history. There are a couple more PSI Chronicle books to this series, but I don't feel the need to continue, although the world building was done well.

The Gathering (Shadow House Book 1) by Dan Poblocki
Speaking of books I'm not planning to continue...
This one is not futuristic, but it is paranormal. I did really enjoy the set up of this book, as five children are invited to a particular house (the shadow house) under different pretexts, and they have to learn why and what is going on as once they get to the house, weird stuff starts happening and they can't leave. Also, no adults show up. A Stephen King type book for middle graders, which probably explains why I liked it the most.