From the publisher: “Morrigan Crow and her best friend Hawthorne Swift are now proud scholars in the elite Wundrous Society, but life is far from perfect. Does Morrigan have what it takes to prove that she belongs in the Society?”
Morrigan begins her education but is disappointed that the narrowminded administration has limited her training as they consider wundersmiths as evil. True evil is afoot and sure enough, the not entirely exiled Ezra Squall, despised wundersmith extraordinare, is behind a series of abductions. This is a very good follow up to the quirky first book, Nevermoor:The Trials of Morrigan Crow, with more details about Nevermoor and the Wundrous Society. We come to love Jupiter even more and the importance of friendship is stress when Morrigan finds acceptance with her classmates.
Publication date 11.12.2018
From the publisher, “Revolutionary flames ignite around Annie, Lee, and a brand new character in the follow-up to FIREBORNE. After fleeing the revolution and settling into the craggy cliffs of New Pythos, the dragonlords are eager to punish their usurpers and reclaim their city. Their first order of business was destroying the Callipolan food supply. Now they’re coming for the dragonriders. Annie is Callipolis’s new Firstrider, charged with leading the war against New Pythos. But with unrest at home, enforcing the government’s rationing program risks turning her into public enemy number one. Lee struggles to find his place after killing kin for a leader who betrayed him. He can support Annie and the other Guardians…or join the rebels who look to topple the new regime.
From the publisher, “With the Marigold ship free of her father, Fable and its crew were set to start over. That freedom is short-lived when she becomes a pawn in a notorious thug’s scheme. In order to get to her intended destination she must help him to secure a partnership with Holland, a powerful gem trader who is more than she seems. As Fable descends deeper into a world of betrayal and deception she learns that her mother was keeping secrets, and those secrets are now putting the people Fable cares about in danger. If Fable is going to save them then she must risk everything, including the boy she loves and the home she has finally found.”
From the publisher: “Morrigan Crow and her friends have survived their first year as proud scholars of the elite Wundrous Society, helped bring down the nefarious Ghastly Market, and proven themselves loyal to Unit 919. Now Morrigan faces a new, exciting challenge: to master the mysterious Wretched Arts, and control the power that threatens to consume her. But a strange and frightening illness has taken hold of Nevermoor, turning infected Wunimals into mindless, vicious Unnimals on the hunt. As victims of the Hollowpox multiply, panic spreads. And with the city she loves in a state of fear, Morrigan quickly realizes it’s up to her to find a cure for the Hollowpox, even if it will put her — and everyone in Nevermoor — in more danger than she ever imagined.”
There is a curse in the Owens family that has existed since the 1600s. If you have read Practical Magic you know about it. And it all began with an abandoned baby girl, found in the snow by Hannah Owens. Hannah was skilled in the “Unnamed Arts” and taught the girl, Maria, all she knows. Maria has a gift and mostly uses it wisely, but she has forgotten an important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.
From the publisher, “Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why — or even who Tobias Hawthorne is.
France, 1714 – Addie LaRue DID NOT want to be married, not to anyone, but especially not to Roger, a widower with three small children. So on her wedding day she runs away into the forest and falls asleep with a prayer for salvation on her lips, and a dark god answers her prayer. She tells him that she wants to be free and to have more time to live, and they agree on a pact. She will live as long as she pleases and will give him her soul when she is done with it. But she soon finds that she is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. And so, for 300 years she wanders the world, alone and friendless. Her life is her own for as long as she wishes, but it will never be remembered.
This is a three ring circus like no other. It is the dark side of The Emerald Circus. I loved those stories and thought I might not like Yolen’s dark side. I should not have worried, for these stories chilled me to the bone, and I loved every minute! This is a collection of previously published works dating from 1974 to 2013. A few were repeats for me, but most I had not read, or were stories I had mostly forgotten. You will find a Little Red Riding Hood, quite unlike the one you have known, and several Holocaust stories, dark and haunting. There is a bit of terror, but no blood. And of course, there are witches and wolves. Almost all of the poems are new, and all are wonderful.
From the publisher, “Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men.
Edgar’s life is upended when a Viking raid leaves his father dead and the family boat building business destroyed. Looking for a new start, the family moves to the village of Dreng’s Ferry. There his life becomes entwined with Ragna, a Norman noblewoman, and Brother Aldred who hopes to turn his abbey into a center for learning. The year is 997, and England is in turmoil, with Vikings attacking from the east and Welsh from the west. The king has little power, so the nobility mostly do as they please.
This is a great assortment of very fine authors, Ken Liu, Rebecca Roanhorse, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ted Chiang, just to name a few, but my favorite story was from an author unfamiliar to me: Charlie Jane Anders. I loved her funny, The Bookstore at the End of America. Of the other stories, some I loved, some I hated, some I didn’t understand. And I am sure that your list will be quite different from mine.
From the publisher, “A reimagining of the story behind Agent 355—a New York society girl and spy for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Rebellious Frannie Tasker knows little about the war between England and its thirteen colonies in 1776, until a shipwreck off her home in Grand Bahama Island presents an unthinkable opportunity. The body of a young woman body floating in the sea gives Frannie the chance to escape her brutal stepfather—and she takes it.
Mma Ramotswe can find a way to solve any problem, so she doesn’t think this one can be too hard. Surely taking care of a baby elephant is something she can manage . . . or is it? And she has a relative needing money and a new neighbor who needs a bit of advice. Quite a lot on her plate, but of course she can handle it all.
Franny has an irresistible urge to wander. She just cannot stay in one place for very long. She also has an irresistible urge to swim in the ocean, the very cold ocean. And she has a great love for birds. She knows she is searching for something, but can’t quite understand what it is. Driven by a need to follow the Arctic terns on what might be their final migration to Antarctica, she convinces the captain of the Shanghai that to follow the terns she has banded will lead him to great schools of fish. Set in the near future when all animals are facing extinction, and told by an unreliable narrator, this is a haunting, disturbing novel. But it is at the same time beautiful and poetic. It is a novel I will remember for a very long time.
From the publisher, “In this conclusion to the epic Smoke Thieves trilogy, the world has erupted into all-out war. King Aloysius is mining powerful demon smoke and using it to fuel an unstoppable army of children. March, now banished for treason, has joined up with this boy army. Forbidden from ever seeing Edyon again, and overwhelmed by his own betrayal, March no longer cares if he lives or dies.
YA Lit Ramblings 
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