Name: A Long, Long Sleep
ISBN: 9780763652609

Anna Sheehan

Sixteen-year-old Rosalinda Fitzroy, heir to the multiplanetary corporation UniCorp, is awakened after sixty years in stasis to find that everyone she knew has died and as she tries to make a new life for herself, learns she is the target of a robot assassin.

A Long, Long Sleep

Jess

<i>A Long, Long Sleep</i> was a book that sounded right up my alley from reading the synopsis. I was kind of left wanting when it came to the romance though. I found the story really interesting at parts but found myself losing interest fairly quickly, causing me to not really connect with the characters or the story. Sadly, when I can’t connect or empathize on some level with the characters, I find that I the story can’t really pick up that slack, no matter how interesting it is.

Sarah Sammis

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan is a debut dystopian novel. It takes the Sleeping Beauty story in a new direction.

Rosalind Fitzroy expects to wake up from stasis to find her mother with champagne as she always does. Instead she finds a strange boy and an equally strange future. It takes time but she pieces together that she's been forgotten in stasis for sixty-two years. And now she's the ward of her parents' company, a company that has grown beyond the stars.

As Rose deals with the physical problems of such a long term stasis, she starts to piece together the missing years. We learn along with her of the Dark Times where climate change, drug resistant disease and socio-economic depression took its toll on the population.

I loved piecing together the missing details of Rose's life and the times between her disappearance and her awakening. Her memories of Xander, the boy she draws over and over through the course of the book, help bring her childhood to life and reveal flaws in how she tells her childhood.

Where things felt in need of improvement was Rose's friendship with Otto. He has his own strange background and could probably stand alone as a protagonist in a separate book. As he can't speak, all of is interaction is rendered as text messages between in Rose and himself. These long passages are rendered in an ugly type face and get bogged down with an excess of exposition and back story.

A Long Long Sleep, though, is a first novel. There's room for growth and I think future books will be better. If the novel is made into a film, I would go see it. There's great world building and lots of visually interesting scenes waiting for the big screen.

Stefanie  Uwah

So...It's not that I didn't like this book. The writing was great. Anna Sheehan did a wonderful job at building this futuristic world. I appreciated how she didn't just outright tell the readers what was going on and we found out details as we read along. (Though I am still kind of confused about some aspects of this book. Are they on another planet or has the world just gone totally futuristic?) I guess I just didn't like the main character Rose. I understood where she was coming from but I just couldn't bring myself to totally like her. She annoyed the crap outta me when she wouldn't tell anybody what was going on with her life. And, yes, while I understand she had reason for this, I couldn't get over it. And she always refereed to Xavier as "my Xavier." That grated my nerves like none other. 
I guess this just wasn't the book for me. I didn't like the ending too much because it wasn't as concrete as I wanted it to be. A lot of the relationships were not closed properly. But if Anna Sheehan were to write another book, I would not hesitate to read it because she is really a wonderful writer!

Danielle H.

Anna Sheehan proved with this novel that you can write a brilliant, innovative, first young adult fiction story without shiny vampires, werewolves or fallen angels. 

If you're thinking this is just another attempt at a retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty, then STOP thinking that. This book is FAR from just another retelling. It is unique and special all its in own way. 

Anna Sheehan tells a beautiful story. It begins with Rosalinda Fitzroy awakening from 62 years of stasis, a 16 year old in body & mind, frozen in time until she is found in a forgotten subbasement by her teenage savior. She is lost, confused , and terribly alone for everyone she has ever known is now dead and gone. This includes her first and only love. Xavier. 


Sheehan has such an amazing way with words. She draws Rose with a subtle and sympathetic hand. Reading this novel, I could almost envision Rose waking up in this new world, so very alone and frigthened. 

I LOVED the romance angles in this book. It's what made it really stand out for me. Sheehan writes the scenes between Rose and Xavier with a vivid hand that brings them to life. It was understandable as well, how Rose became infatuated with Bren. He was, indeed, her savior. He was also one of the few people she befriends throughout the whole novel. It was nice how despite confessing her attraction towards Bren and being some-what rudely rejected at first, they maintained a good friendship. I freakin' loved Otto! That little blue alien *sighs* I hope something happens between him and Rose on a future occassion. I could see a potential relationship from the first time they "spoke". I loved this conversation between them:


  

  “Now I have a question," Otto wrote. 
"Fire away."
"What do you see in him?"
"Apart from the obvious?"
"What’s the obvious? I’m afraid I’m not a teenage girl.”  


  



I loved how this book was more of a sci-fi than paranormal. The YA market is seriously lacking in decent, well-thought-out science fiction novels. At least, I haven't come across any recently until now. I cannot wait to see what Anna Sheehan writes next (sequel maybe?! ;)) and look forward to her next novel, whatever it may be about. I recommend this book to anyone. I'm going to leave you guys with some quotes I liked from the novel. I read in on my Kindle Fire and tend to go crazy highlighting quotes I like when I read on it lol

“Did you know I blush purple? Jamal’s teasing me about it."
"Is he reading this?" I asked, horrified. 
"No."
"Sorry I made you blush."
"I’m not. Good night, Briar Rose."
"Good night, blue-skinned alien.”  
  ~~~~


“I haven't finished revisiting Sleeping Beauty. As a faerie tale, that one is rife with inherent difficulties. After all, the world doesn't stop just because one person is asleep.”

Patricia Santos

Opinião do blogue Chaise Longue: http://girlinchaiselongue.blogspot.pt...

 Por vezes comprámos livros por impulso. Não é que estejámos desejosos de o ler, não é que tenhámos lido todas as críticas ao livro e a sinopse até à exautão. É porque ele tem uma capa deslumbrante, porque pertence a géneros que lemos, porque até encaixa nuns desafios que queremos fazer... Basicamente, comprámos o livro porque sim. Eu comprei A Long Long Sleep porque sim. Foi uma compra impulsiva e seria uma leitura quase sem importância da qual não tinha expectativas se, se ele não se tivesse revelado uma das grandes surpresas deste ano. Anna Sheehan fia devagar e pacientemente os fios desta trama página a página para, inesperadamente, quase no fim, nos deslumbrar com uma complexa trama psicológica. Lírica por vezes, enganadoramente fútil, profundamente triste e desesperante, A Long Long Sleep não é um conto de fadas. É sim, uma história que desfaz os seus leitores, que os fará pensar e, sem dúvida, os marcará profundamente.

 O encanto deste livro não está no mundo em que a história se passa. É, aliás, a única coisa quase em estado bruto aqui e, consequentemente, a única falha de Anna. Mas, se o mundo é simples e, apesar de futurista e pós-apocáliptico, até tosco, no final vai ser a coisa que menos importará. Porque esta história não é sobre uma sociedade, é sobre valores morais. É sobre família, amor e amizade. É sobre uma rapariga que abriu os olhos mas permaneceu adormecida para a vida. É sobre uma princesa que acordou com um beijo mas só despertou quando a ilusão do seu mundo desabou perante a crueldade da verdade que julgava perfeita. Numa narrativa que começa como a sua protagonista, dormente, apática, de luto, há pequenas pistas em palavras subtilmente escondidas, anos propositadamente esquecidos, caras envelhecidas. Pistas que escondem segredos de desapego, de intolerância e abandono por baixo de uma superfície polida e perfeita.

 Ao longo de uma trama marcada pela tristeza, apercebemo-nos de uma dormência que impera em gestos torpos, palavras delicadas sempre ditas em voz baixa, em apegos sedentos de amor. Atitudes que levarão à curiosidade e, então, à exposição de uma realidade que se adequa tão bem aos dias de hoje. E é essa realidade que nos chocará, pois fala-nos de falsa protecção, amor ilusório, dedicação mentirosa. Mostra-nos em palavras e atitudes, o cinismo e o egoísmo, que levam à um abuso para lá de imaginável. Pinta-nos um quadro aterrorizador de até onde pode ir a negligência, o quanto se pode roubar a uma criança inocente sem que ela se aperceba. E o que acontece quando ela finalmente se apercebe que a sua inocência ficou há muito, muito tempo para trás, é um vil acordar que desencadeará uma série de revelações inesperadas e a descoberta que o seu mundo, o seu tempo, correu, correu, correu , enquanto ela estagnou. E que a morte, por vezes, é mais doce e menos cruel que a vida.

 Enquanto o enredo subtilmente muda e se transforma num rodopio de emoções intoleráveis, Rose muda com ele. De princesinha de vidro, sem emoções e sem personalidade, Rose, passo a passo, à custa da destruição das ilusões que lhe restaram, cresce e revolta-se, sente e grita. É com o desabamento das ruínas do seu mundo que ela se fortalece, demonstrando que a sua fragilidade foi imposta e não escolhida, mostrando que a rosa de plástico afinal tem espinhos e sabe como usá-los. É nela, principalmente,que nos apercebemos do talento extraordinário da autora para criar personagens psicologicamente espantosas, ou melhor, humanamente reais. E, é também, na forma como Rose se liga às personagens à sua volta, como as suas emoções mudam de personagem para personagem, de acontecimento para acontecimento, que nos apercebemos como Anna Sheehan entende as múltiplas facetas dos sentimentos, mesmo quando estes são transmitidos por uma personagem como Otto que não pode usar a voz para se fazer ouvir.

 Inconvencional, original, extraordinário. A Long Long Sleep é daqueles livros que nos surpreendem exactamente porque não lhe esperámos encontrar tal efervescência de carácter. Ainda bem que, por vezes, ns deixámos levar pelos impulsos.

A stunning love story, an ultimate betrayal, and a compelling new author - this is Sleeping Beauty for the 21st Century Rosalinda Fitzroy had been asleep for 62 years when she was woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically-induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten sub-basement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long dead, and Rose - hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire - is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes - or be left without any future at all.

A Long, Long Sleep

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