StarCrossed – Elizabeth C. Bunce

Posted on October 10, 2011 by EHL

CIP Summary:  In a kingdom dominated by religious intolerance, sixteen-year-old Digger, a street thief, has always avoided attention, but when she learns that her friends are plotting against the throne she must decide whether to join them or turn them in. 

 I sure could have used a map on the end papers to better follow the story.  The lexicon of characters in the back is helpful.  The author has created a rich and detailed world and it took a few chapters to get a handle on the different factions.  However, once I got into the story, I engulfed the book.  Celyn/Digger is a down to earth, street tough girl with a hazy past and is the perfect character to build this world around.  I also enjoyed Prince Wierolf’s character – ah, the brave and dashing prince.  I am quite eager to read the next book in the series, Liar’s Moon (11.1.11).  StarCrossed is reminiscent of Whalen’s The Thief, the first book in one of my favorite political fantasy series.  Best for avid political fantasy readers due to the many characters and factions.

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May B – Caroline Starr Rose

Posted on October 10, 2011 by EHL

May is a young girl on the lonely Kansas prairie during the time of homesteaders and sod houses.  She is hired out by her parents to keep house for a newly married couple 15 miles away.  The young wife is terribly depressed and not adjusting to the muddy sod house and desolate life and leaves.  The husband pursues leaving May alone – for months – with wolves and blizzards howling at her door.

May B is a lyrical introduction to historical fiction told in simple free-verse.  While reading it, I recalled Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, particularly The Long Winter.  Sure enough, in the author’s notes she writes how she enjoyed Wilder’s books.  Students who enjoy May B will  enjoy Wilder’s books and vice versa.  The author describes the prairie life most eloquently in this beautiful short read.

Galley review.  Publication date: 1.10.12

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Cinder – Marissa Meyer

Posted on October 6, 2011 by EHL

Cinder is a teenaged cyborg in future China that is suffering from a world-wide plague.  Being a cyborg or part machine, it is natural that Cinder is a mechanic/techie and runs a booth in the market fixing anything mechanical.  Yes, it is cyborg Cinderella and one of the best books I’ve read recently.  There most certainly is a prince.  He is the dashing, kind, young ruler-to-be in need of a mechanic to fix his android.  When his father dies of the plague, Prince Kai inherits the plague catastrophe and also impending invasion from a Lunar nation.  Cyborgs are considered to be second class citizens thus expendable in the experimentation for a plague cure.  Cinder’s cruel step-mother gladly turns over Cinder for experimentation in exchange for payment.   The plague scientist discovers who or what she really is . . .

The characters are solid and the writing is engaging.  This book has the linger effect or fixation factor.  I did not want to put it down and the story stayed with me, nagging at my brain as I went about my day.  That’s the mark of a really good story.  I see this as the next big YA hit, except one thing could hold it back – the cover!  The cover art shown on this blog entry is perfectly fine.   Not girly – somewhat enchanting.  While I was reading, I thought finally there is a Cinderella story that boys will enjoy!  As I write this it seems the cover art had changed.  A red shoe with a 4-inch heel is on the cover.  Arrgh!  So boys, ignore the cover and read this book.  There is no smooch romance in Cinder.  It is a unique science fiction, action, mystery story and I eagerly wait the next installment.

Galley review – publication date 1.3.12

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Prized (The Birthmarked Trilogy-vol.2) – Caragh O’Brien

Posted on October 6, 2011 by EHL

The setting is future Earth where we have so messed up our environment that giving birth to a healthy baby is increasingly against the odds.  Gaia’s struggles continue after escaping from one dystopian society to another.  This time around, she is in Sylum, where women are scarce and the number of female babies continues to spiral downward.  Fortunately, women are in tight control of the society where it is illegal to kiss during courtship.  If a society consisted of a grossly disproportionate ratio of men to women AND men were in control, it just would not bode well for the women.   How does Gaia  fit in with this very different society?  Well, she inadvertently stirs up trouble.

Gaia makes plenty of mistakes, but her heart is always in the right place.  This is understandable since she is only 16 and also because she finally has the attention of boys (she has a disfiguring burn on her face).  Of course she will be confused by all of the attention.  I like Gaia.  I like that she is rather naive and that the young heroine is learning the way of the world and doesn’t know everything at 16.  Prized is very well written and moves along at an excellent pace.   I keep thinking back to the society – the logic and reasoning behind it.  Intriguing.

Birthmarked is the first in the planned trilogy.  It does help to read the trilogy in order.

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The Girl in the Park – Mariah Fredericks

Posted on October 6, 2011 by EHL

This hits the mark for teen readers eager for a delicious blend of mystery and teen drama.  Rain is the quiet former friend of the school’s party girl whose body was found in the park.  The writing style pulled me in by telling the story in the present with imbedded memory flashes.  The story is well paced with enough twists and turns to keep the reader engaged.  This will be a big hit!

Publication date: 4.24.2012  Galley review

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Glow – Amy Ryan

Posted on October 6, 2011 by EHL

Two ships of colonists set out from Earth.  Kieran and Waverly are the first children born in deep space aboard the Empyrean.  They are destined to be together and to lead their generation.  But something is wrong aboard the New Horizon that set out a year before.   The New Horizon has  been  waiting for  them . . .

The two main characters are split up early in the story.  One writing element that works so well is that the book alternates between their stories.  Keeps the reader on their toes, thinking in terms of point of view.  Great characters, action, heroism.  Bit of a Lord of the Flies scenario aboard the Empyrean.  Cliff hanger ending.  More to come!  Anticipate huge demand for this one.

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Across the Universe – Beth Revis

Posted on October 6, 2011 by EHL

An enormous spaceship designed to last for multiple generations sets out with colonists.  There are two groups of colonists.  One group is cryogenically encased in capsules to be awakened when the destination is reached.  One group is to live and breed and die keeping the mission alive and the spaceship functioning.  Amy is jolted awake when she is thawed out much too early, and faces an altered society.   I felt the sense of entrapment and claustrophobia aboard the ship and got caught up in this well-paced mystery thriller.  Planned trilogy. Excellent!

It is definitely worth going to the book’s website to view the diagram of the ship: www.acrosstheuniversebook.com

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All These Things I’ve Done – Gabrielle Zevin

Posted on October 6, 2011 by EHL

Another future gone wonkers type of book.  Chocolate and coffee are illegal and crime is rampant.  The setting is New York City in 2083 and Anya is a chocolate mafia princess.  Her father and mother were killed by rival families.  It falls to Anya to keep her brother and sister safe.  But when she is accused of attempted murder via poisoned chocolate things escalate out of control.  Danger is everywhere.  Anya is a strong character that I enjoyed getting to know.  The story was quite hard to put down.  I am a huge fan of Zevin’s work and this is her best yet.  Looking forward to the sequel!

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Blood Wounds – Susan Beth Pfeffer

Posted on October 6, 2011 by EHL

Understand parentage, but you are your own person and not defined by parents. 

 When Willa was quite young, her mother left an abusive marriage.  She remarried a kind man whose wealthy ex-wife provides his daughters with a rich and privileged life.  It is as if Willa is a second class citizen within her own family.  On the surface, she appears to take this in stride.  One day, she learns her biological father, who she hardly remembers, has murdered his new wife and their daughters.  Now, he is heading for Willa and her mother!  Willa sets out to learn who her father was and comes to terms with his life and in doing so, understands her life.

 Pfeffer’s writing is as captivating as in her  Life As We Knew It series.  She knows how to draw the reader in by unfolding the story and creating suspense.  The murders are brutal, but not described in such detail as to overly disturb the squeamish reader.  Be advised – Willa responds to the pressures she feels to be a perfect child by cutting.  I’m not sure this aspect of Willa’s personality needed to be added.  There is enough plot in the book without this side story, plus, Willa doesn’t get the professional help she needs to overcome the urge to cut.

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Rot & Ruin – Jonathan Maberry

Posted on October 5, 2011 by EHL

This is one of the best YA zombie series I have read – by far.  Yes, another zombie dystopia.  There is plenty of zombie goriness and horror.  An isolated town battles zombies to stay alive and try to create some semblance of life.  It is the plot, the characters and the action-packed writing that sets these books apart from the zombie pack.  The characters are really well developed.  I have a book crush on Tom Imura, the soulfully deep and kind-hearted “closure specialist”.  He puts a humane end to loved ones who have been zombified.  

Maberry is the zombie master.  Brilliant!  Carpet coasts (nothing bites through carpet, not dogs, not zombies) and clever zombie trading cards are just some of the details in this well-developed zombie future.  The story lingered with me – not the gore. 

 PLUS – his books win the award for best cover art!  Here is the picture of the sequel: Dust and Decay.  It is equally as excellent.

Tom, his brother, Benny (who actually is the main character of Rot & Ruin, but I have the book crush on Tom), and several friends train for months before heading out to find a better life.  They encounter plenty of zombies, wild animals, and murderers.  Not everyone that sets out will live to tell the tale.

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Moon Over Manifest – Clare Vanderpool

Posted on October 5, 2011 by EHL

Moon Over Manifest is a deserving winner of the Newbery Award, however, I doubt if students will gobble it down en masse.  The historical fiction sticker on the spine of a book is akin to a sticker of death.  Then again, I have been pleased with the number of students who have enjoyed The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Texas 1899).  Students who enjoyed that book and books by Richard Peck should be directed to Moon Over Manifest.  It is historical fiction set in the small, fictional town of Manifest, Kansas.    Abilene and her father, Gideon, have been drifting town to town during the Depression.  One summer, her father sends Abilene to Manifest for the summer, while he takes a job elsewhere.  She spends the summer trying to figure out why it is to Manifest she was sent and who is her daddy – what is his background, his story. Readers get a snapshot of the town in 1918 sending their boys off to WWI then in 1936 struggling with the depression and Dust Bowl.  The story goes back and forth in time beautifully, revealing cons and schemes hatched and linking the generations.  This book is definitely worth the read.  The book nagged at my brain during the day – it stayed with me so that I eagerly snatched bits of time here and there to read.

Linger effect! (Linger effect means the story stayed with me long after I finished and into my next read.)

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The Monstrumologist – Rick Yancey

Posted on October 5, 2011 by EHL

Ahhh – this is horror and suspense writing at its best.  Horror is not my favorite genre but I do read a fair amount.   The story is told from 12-year-old Will Henry’s point of view (memoir) set in 1888.  He is the assistant to a Monstrumologist, Dr. Warthrop, as his father was before him.   The story opens with a monster dissection.  Horrific monsters originated in Africa.  Their diet is comprised solely of live humans.  In a pinch, they’ll consume a newly dead person.  During the Civil War, the monsters were shipped to the states.  TheMonstrumologist and helpers set out to kill the monsters before they kill again.  Sure, it is bloody, that tends to happen when people are ripped to shreds, but less bloody than Shan’s Demonata series.  I was pleasantly surprised with The Monstrumologist because the writing kept me glued to the story.  I do intend to read the sequels when I’m next in the mood for a romp with bloody beasts.  For slightly tamer horror (less blood but still body parts removed from the body, etc.) I prefer Paul Zindel’s books and evil ghost stories like Jade Green (Naylor) and Spirit (Hightman).

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