A year ago, Rem Braithwaite watched his classmate Franklin Kettle commit a horrific crime.
Now, apart from the nightmares, life has gone back to normal for Rem. Franklin was caught, convicted, and put away in juvenile detention for what he did. The ordeal seems to be over.
Until Rem’s mother selects Franklin as a test subject for an experimental brain procedure intended to “cure” him of his cruel and violent impulses. Suddenly Rem’s memories of that day start coming back to the surface. His nightmares become worse than ever. Plus he has serious doubts about whether his mother’s procedure will even work. Can evil really just be turned off?
Then, as part of Franklin’s follow-up testing, he and Rem are brought face to face, and Rem discovers…Franklin does seem different. Despite everything, Rem finds himself becoming friends with Franklin. Maybe even something more than friends.
But when another of their classmates turns up dead, Rem’s world turns upside-down yet again. Franklin insists that he’s innocent, that he’s cured, but Rem doesn’t know what to believe. Is someone else responsible for this new murder, or is Franklin fated to stay a monster forever? And can Rem find out the answer to this question before the killer, whoever it is, comes after him too?Â
First of all, it’s a bit obvious that the book implied a homosexual relationship. Thus, I really don’t suggest you pick up the book if you have issue on that. It’s not really the point of the book, but it does get mentioned a lot. There’s also a bit of animal violence in one chapter—not exactly important to the story but I do understand why the part is necessary. You’ve been warned.
It plays with your mind. One moment, you believe that everyone is bound to be a killer and on the other moment, you believe that there are evil things that control yourself. The setting is contemporary, and everything is like your ordinary life in small town, where gossips come and go, plus the high school drama when sometimes, bullying and over-dramatic students are involved. It makes you think that perhaps, even without you realize it, we’re all evil on our way and there are people that take what we say or what we do to heart.
The story is moving in a good pace after the first-half and everything is so detailed that I don’t get lost a lot even though I am not really familiar with neuroscience or the kind. I love the twist and the way Floreen writes each character like everyone has their own personality despite the draggy first few chapters. I also fancy how each elements of the book compliment with each other, making everything connected so there aren’t many people involved despite the number of things that going on.
I don’t really have any complains with the book as it’s really well written and I actually could see the book being made into TV Show someday. The books make you feel anger, love, sad, disappointment, well, everything that a teenager tend to feel. You can feel a genuine friendship as well a deep hatred. This is the first time I read Tim Floreen’s book and I would rate it 4/5, a good release for a fan of contemporary YA that is into sci-fi as well. Â
Last week, I just got my hands on these beautiful metallic pens. My first impressions were not that great. The pens somehow did not really fit the box and there was some space, so I thought I got incomplete package, but it turned out the packaging was just made that way and I got a complete ten pens. But, the space inside the pack aside, I do like the package and the shape of the pens. They are small and not taking too much space, so it's practical to be carried around.
( swatch is taken without any filters )Â
The pens are much better than I thought. It showcases the metallic colors well, in both white and dark papers. If anything, I think my black paper here is the problem, but I still find them pretty. The tips are easy to control, it did not take a long time to get used to this pen and it creates perfect stroke with the width I preferred. It also doesn’t bleed through the paper even though I use fairly thin paper, which is Lyra's sketchbook paper.
( picture is taken without any filter )Â
As for blending the pens, I think I haven't find the right method on doing so. I tried using the white pens as the blender, but it turns out like the one on the picture. It creates beautiful and unique effect, though, but not the one I originally aimed. I tried other method by doing light color then dark color then add some light color on top of dark ones, referring to the B and L on bottom words on white paper and it kinda works out. I guess it depends on the color itself.
My favorite color from the pack are purple (6) and brown (4). I really recommend you create swatch for these pens if you purchase it because the color on the lid of the pens do not really represent the color. I got shocked with number one, two, and three.
If you are looking for an affordable metallic brush pens, then this one is the right one for you. It's remotely cheap and based on my personal opinions, these pens are worth my money.
Spring Package has five different colors, hot pink, red, cream pastel, blue, and brown-ish yellow. I don't know the formal way to write the color name, as it is written in Japanese on the package. If you are not a fan of fluorescent color, then the spring package may not be suitable for you. Apart from the cream pastel, the colors are fluorescent and sharp.
Unlike other brush pen whose tip has its stiff part, the tip of SAI Brush Pen has no stiff part at all. It literally feels like you are writing using a brush. For someone who like a wide and thick stroke, this pen can satisfy me very well as I get a very clear and thick stroke as I write something. BUT, because it has no stiff part, it makes the brush harder to control. As a beginner, It was hard for me to get used with the brush and able to fully control it due to the loose tip.
At first, I thought the marker could not be mixed with any other colors. But after experimenting and searching long enough, it turns out the marker could blend IF the colors are similar, ”like pink and red, and cream pastel and brown-ish yellow. Those two are the only combination that could blend well with each other for me. And it's a bit tricky since my first few times always end up with me bleeding the paper. Here is one thing, you should not use normal copy paper for experimenting or testing the colors everyone may know that already but I have tendencies to use reused paper for testing and sketching. Another thing, is that you need to blend the colors right after you write it, before the marker dries on the paper. There are two ways to blend the markers, first is you write on using softer colors then darker colors, after that you blend it with the softer colors by using it right on the darker ones. The second, which is my favorite, is to use brush and water to mix the color, it creates better effect that the first method.
Are the pens worth it?
ABSOLUTELY.
I honestly can’t wait until I can get my hands on another pack!
My senior once said, university is like a market as they offer you so many options and it’s up to you on which options you are willing to take. As a student, we are faced by not only academic schedules but also non-academic that can come from students’ units, organizations, events we are participating, and many others. Things can get pretty chaotic when your university has multi-campus and you are entering exam period. My major is located not on the main campus and it’s around one hour away, during periods like this, I often required to attend meetings in main campus which consumed most of my studying time as I am a night-person and meetings require me to stay a night in my friend’s and catch the earliest bus on the next morning to catch my class.
Tiring? Yes.
Do you have problem with your studies? Yes, but not much.
I realized that there are many things to be changed in my study-style to match this pace of endless travelling and meetings and non-academic stuff.
1.      Do you lecture-notes as neat as possible.
I am not the one who take super neat notes in class, as I tend to rewrite them later as I read the textbook. Plus, writing down the slides take too much time in class when you can rewrite it later as you revise. But as my night-revision time got shorter and shorter, and learning from last semester, taking notes at class neatly has become one of my priorities even though it still looks too messy and I still rewrite it later. It’s to anticipate in case you don’t have enough of time during exam or quiz period to revise, thus you don’t have to worry because your lecture-notes is pretty neat and complete enough.
2.      One notebook for all lecture-notes
I, for once, never thought my method to bring only one small block-note to uni will be helpful as I just do it to minimize things I bring to class. As I said, I rewrite my notes later at night after class so it’s not really bothering me to have it mixed. It’s not as convenient as the binder I use for my rewritten notes, but it’s enough because it’s small and I can always read it on bus or between meetings without having to trouble myself. It’s not complete, but it’s not than enough when you have meetings and exams on close range.
3.      Time management
This is the most important one and there is no text-book way to do this as people have different priorities and preferences. I talked to my friend once, he was as busy if not busier, on how he managed his time as I almost ran out of control in my studying. And he said, he always maximizes his time during classes because he can’t rely on night-time anymore due to schedules. I, as a night-person and not-so-classes-person, strongly disagree as classes don’t really provide me peace and situation I need to focus. I maximize my sessions during nights I don’t have any schedules, the morning I have late classes, literally every time I have spare time. Combining tips and talks I have with more people, it is safe to say that the key is to know what you need the most, what situation you can focus on the most, knowing your priorities, and not wasting your time.
In the end, all the choices are down for us to make. Just keep it a reminder that our priorities should be on studies but that doesn’t mean we should neglect socializing and organization. Because both creates perfect harmony when we can balance it out.
