The Red Queen Series Red Queen (book 1), Glass Sword (book 2), King's Cage (book 3) by Victoria Aveyard This series is FANTASTIC! One of the tricks that many author take a long time to master is the ability to surprise the reader. In teen novels, this is especially apparent in mysteries; you can usually see whoever "did it" before the author actually has the reveal. Victoria Aveyard has managed the unlikely... and not only does she surprise the reader, she does so many times in one novel. Victoria Aveyard also begins to experiment with changing points of view later in the series, which shows the benefits of using changing POV to show different sides to a story. I picked up the first novel in this series, Red Queen , a while ago and postponed reading it until about a week before I would be at a signing event that Victoria Aveyard was attending. My goal was to read all three of the current books before I met the author. The first book was really good. It paints a dystopian ...
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The Dragon's Price by Bethany Wiggins This book is a good choice for anyone out there who are fans of Julie Kagawa and her novels. This book starts off sounding like your typical, every-day "I don't want to be forced into marriage so I'm going to do whatever I can to save my individuality" quest-type story. The main character comes from royal blood (also a common book character trait) and has a long-standing peace treaty with another kingdom (again, as per usual). This, however, is where the similarities end. For one, this novel has DRAGONS. I love dragons (as I suspect some of you do as well). Dragons are something that has an allure to readers- if a book is about dragons, I will pick it up. If there is a dragon on the cover, I will pick it up. There is some kind of special draw to the magic of them, to their mystery and mythology. However, in The Dragon's Price , the first book in the new Transference trilogy, there is a bit of a twist. When you kill a dra...
Empress of a Thousand Skies Written by Rhoda Belleza Published by Razorbill It had been a long time since I had found a decent book to read. There had been many new authors attempting to write amazing stories, but some ended up, in my opinion, with unrealistic romances, weak plot lines, and characters that just weren't believable. As someone who enjoys writing, I know that it is hard build the characters and plot into a complex, great story. Just when I had realized that I couldn't find I good book, I had stumbled across Empress of a Thousand Skies. I started it, not really expecting to like it, but soon, I couldn't stop reading the book. Empress of a Thousand Skies was an interesting and enjoyable book. While the plot was not entirely unique, the story was not as predictable as one might expect. Yes, there were some obvious clichés and it seemed to have been written for a certain age group, rather than being universal. However, the characters were intriguing and the settin...
The Baby by Lisa Drakeford The Baby by Lisa Drakeford is a well-written piece about a high school girl and her four friends. She did not know that she was pregnant, and has to give birth in the middle of her best friend's house party. This book gives teens a good glimpse into what their future would look like if anything were to happen to them regarding high school pregnancy. This book uses multiple voices in a shifting point of view in five different sections. The five sections are titled by the characters names to let you know which life you are going to get a peek into. This book, while it has it's crazy baby plot, the other plots are super cute such as the pursuit for friendship, the pursuit for a partner, and, in some ways, the pursuit for truth. This book could be viewed as a health video in some ways, but compared to it, it's SO much BETTER. Depending on a video, the book is not corny or cheesy, and when it get too intense, you can put it down and pick it up later, a...
Ensnared and the Splintered Trilogy by A.G. Howard Ensnared is the conclusion to the Splintered series, a series that is, essentially, a spinoff of Alice in Wonderland. I started following this series right after it came out, and it is honestly one of my favorite book series- ever. Alyssa is a descendant of Alice, and is afflicted by a strange issue- she heard the plants and insects talk to her. Her mom had the same thing, and everyone thinks that she is crazy- but Alyssa finds out differently. On her journey(s), she has to fix Alice's mistakes, defeat an evil queen, and a lot more. This series is packed with adventure, romance, and an incredible plot. This book, Ensnared , is the conclusion to this series. I, personally, was worried that this series would fall flat on the second book and the third (like so many others have done in the past). However, it surprised me by continuing to be amazing all of the way through; a very rare thing for a trilogy to do. This book was a fantastic...
The Valiant by Lesley Livingston Ancient Rome has always attracted a lot of interest from historians and nonfiction writers, because it holds a lot of fame for its government and, most importantly, its Games. Chariot races, gladiator fights, animal fights, animal hunts, and even water games and fights were all stages in arenas like the colosseum for the Roman people to enjoy. Nowadays, people look back on this and can't even think what it would be like- to see people fighting to the death right in front of you. But in The Valiant, a novel by Lesley Livingston, you get not a view of what the games might have been like to witness, but what it might have been like to have fought in them- with a twist. Even though this book, unlike the majority of its predecessors, is fictional, it still contains the context and detail of Ancient Rome,although from the point of not a male gladiator (as it was historically), but a female one. In this novel, Fallon, the daughter of a Celtic king, is part...
The Singing Bones Illustrated by Shaun Tan Foreword by Neil Gaiman A brand new outlook on the Brothers Grimm Tales, Shaun Tan provides inspiring and thought-provoking images to correspond with each story. Each tale has an excerpt from the original story, and Shaun uses objects that are so realistic and primitive-looking that you can almost feel them through the picture. Each object looks worn and touchable, tempting you to reach into the page and hold it, stroking the material while you read the story. Each picture embodies the story- it is not just a single snapshot from a scene in the story- it embodies the entire thing. Shaun Tan uses lighting and color to draw your attention to certain details and focus the aesthetic of the art. The foreword by Neil Gaiman is very attractive to any reader who knows his works, and the foreword itself is well written and causes the reader to gain interest in the artwork, as well as the artist. I think that this is a really i...
The Passion of Dolssa By Julie Berry A young woman in 12th century provincial France preaches to her people, and performs miracles that could only come from the divine. The Catholic Church, fresh from the crusades, seeks to “purify” the soul of christendom, and secure their hold on Europe. This young woman, Dolssa, refuses to be silent, and is branded a heretic. The Church hunts her across the land until Botille, a matchmaker in a small seaside town finds Dolssa on death door, nurses her back to health and hides her. However, with the Church bearing down on them, they only have so long, and the more time Dolssa spends in this town the more the Church will likely damn it. Julie Berry weaves a tale of feminism, religion, and the thin line between being a saint or a heretic in medieval Europe. The prose of the novel is gorgeous, littered with Provincial French, and the characters are captivating. Botille and her sisters are outspoken and feminist in a time when women had few...
By Monica Ropal Cass is convinced that everyone will leave her. Her father is gone and now her mother is married to some random rich guy she doesn't like and she has to go to a random private school. Cass is determined to stay out of the spotlight and stay in the background. However there is a cute boy named Cooper whose locker is next to hers. Although Cass doesn't want anything to do with him, they just click. Then all of a sudden Cooper is murdered. When Cass' friend is accused of killing him, Cass has to be the detective and find out who really killed him, because obviously Gav is being framed. Honestly I really did not like the book. It wasn't very well planned out and the only thing I was even remotely interested was Mattie, who of course is the love interest in the end. The book starts off when Cass goes to a new private school that has nuns and she just wants to blend in. Cass isn't your 'typical girl' she's a skater girl, and she has other skate...
By E.K. Johnston Ignore the cover. Ignore the summary. Go straight for the first page of this book and start reading because this is the single most amazing, beautiful, heartbreaking, hilarious, emotionally compromising, pulchritudinous, SOUL TEARING sequel I have ever laid eyes on in my long history of laying eyes on books. Or better yet, read the first book. Prairie Fire finishes the tale of Siobhan McQuaid and Owen Thorskgard started in The Story of Owen , where Siobhan becomes the bard of Owen, a dragon slayer. The world building in this series is phenomenal. Set in an alternate universe shaped by the existence of non-magical, carbon-consuming dragons, everything is pretty much the same as our world, but tweaked for the allowance of dragons. For example, the United States is half the size as it is in our universe, Canada claimed all the extra land, and the Sahara Desert was created through an environmental disaster caused by a dragon war. ...
By Kerry Wilkinson Despite the extreme popularity of the Hunger Games trilogy there were some serious flaws. This book, Renegade , played into several of them. One of my biggest problems wight his book was the extraordinary resemblance to Catching Fire , the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. In order to fully explain my problems with this book I will be giving away part of the ending. So there will be SPOILERS. Ok, I'll start at the beginning. Renegade is the second book in the trilogy. I read the first one, Reckoning , probably over a year ago. I found it extremely similar to the Hunger Games when I read it for these reasons. There is something called the Reckoning where everyone takes basically an aptitude test that nobody really understands how it works. They get a status as a result of this test: Elite, Member, Inter, or Trog. That's not the important part though. Then, there is the Choosing. It is basi...
by Jennifer Richard Jacobson Normally when books are about elementary school children, they show how stupid some people think these children are. Even when these characters are supposed to be "smart" the book portrays them as stupid and overly proud of dumb achievements. This book was different. Ari, the main character, is a smart, thoughtful fifth grader. Ari's brother, Gage, is 19 years old and he doesn't get along with their guardian Janna. Gage decides to move out and Ari moves with him. Janna was their mother's friend from high school and when both of their mom dies four years previously, their last living parent, they had to move in with Janna. Gage tells Janna that he has an apartment set up for him and Ari, but it isn't until after they leave that Ari finds out this isn't true. Ari's mom's dying wish was that Gage and Ari stay together always and that Ari go to Carter Middle School, a competitive school to get into. Ari is ju...
By: Charles Benoit Three teenagers get mysterious phone calls. There is no phone number and no trace of the call. The call requires that each Eric, Shelly, and Fatima bully a specific person in a specific way on a specific day. They are all supposed to call each victim names, bump into them in the hallway, and finish it off by pouring mac and cheese onto the victim's head, video it, and post it on Youtube. If Eric, Shelly, and Fatima don't do what the caller demands then the caller will reveal a big secret about each one of them to everyone they know. At first, these high schoolers don't know each other, but they meet when they are all sent to the same bullying program. For the remainder of the book Eric, Shelly, and Fatima work together to find out who the mysterious caller is and how to get the caller to stop. I was surprised by this book. To me, the plot seemed sort of dumb. Why would I want to read a book about some teenagers that are ...
Written by: Marie Rutkoski This book is like a tootsie roll lolly pop. You have to get through the boring outside before the delicious center, but the wait is definitely worth it. Fair haired Valorian Kestrel is the daughter of a famous general who’s expectation of her is to join the military or marry. Kestrel is not encouraged to play her beloved piano, so when she accidentally overhears the auctioning of a Herrani slave who is a fellow musician, she uncharacteristically buys him from the market. She soon finds that he is a proud and unbeaten man, and she asks him for his complete honesty in all things. Kestrel learns from Arin many things about herself and his past, and she realizes that the conquered Herrani are not the helpless people she may have thought them to be. From their conversations, Kestrel begins to see the true nature of her society, her family, and of course, herself. To be completely honest, the minute I opened this book I was ready to write a completely sub-par revie...
Written by: Bethany Hagen This book is similar to a packet of oyster crackers: tasty but not quite the same as the whole clam chowder. Set in futuristic America, this novel follows Madeline Landry; she is the heir to her family's vast fortune but she's not so sure she wants it yet. America is controlled by the gentry, and the people are broken up into classes. First, there is the Uprisen, a select group of wealthy gentry who control basically the entire country. The heirs are expected to marry early and produce children quickly; this task falls to Madeline, and she is reluctant until she meets the very suitable and handsome David Dana. The second class of citizens is the middle class, people allowed to work in trades and service to the gentry and upper class. Finally, there is the lowest of the low, the Rootless, who handle the radioactive materials that provide the gentry with their endless wealth and power. The Rootless are sick and poor, and they are constantly dying as a r...
By: Nicky Singer This book was like one scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was simple, smooth, cold, and delicious. The coolness of the ice cream penetrates more than the simple flavor which only adds to the experience. Under Shifting Glass was about Jess. Her mother is having babies that are conjoined, a word Jess prefers to Siamese twins. However, the father is Jess's step father Si. At about the same time her mother has these babies her Great Aunt Edie dies. On top of that, Jess also feels like she is losing her best friend Zoe. Jess always played piano at Aunt Edie's house and her grand piano is really the only thing that Jess want's of Edie's. However, Jess receives a bureau instead. In the bureau she finds a flask with something that creates light, a beautiful, natural, iridescent, breathing light that only Jess sees. Jess is haunted by the statistics the Si gives her about the number of twins that die when they are bei...
Written by: Melissa de la Cruz This novel seems to me similar to a weak cup of unsweetened tea. The Ring and the Crown follows the lives of several girls in the age of ball gowns and the London season. All have different tales of love and loss, but they all end up entwined in some small way. Each is a prisoner of duty, and each wishes to be rid of the bonds of responsibility to their families. There are several different characters in this book, and I think the teaser on Amazon gives a good summary, so I won't try to imitate it. The link to the teaser is here . De La Cruz's intended message of the book was clearly to show how strong women are, especially in the past when they were expected to do what is right by their families at all times. Women were married off for strategic or monetary reasons, and they were seen always as the weaker sex. Their misfortunes and bleak futures were demonstrated well in the novel. Unfortunately, the actual main characters, the women, did not li...
Written by: Saundra Mitchell What else but lobster could you possibly eat while reading this fishy tale? Willa Dixon is a relatively normal girl. Yes, she is destined to become a Lobster fisher, and yes, she has to work extra hard to balance the dwindling finances for her family, but besides that, she has a boyfriend, a job, and a regular best friend. Her life is tough, but not too unusual. That is, until one night her brother is murdered while Willa watches. The next year is a whirlwind of court cases, accusations, and sacrifices, as Willa is an integral part in putting the killer behind bars. She has to decide between her beloved fishing and her brother's memory, while trying to communicate with her angry father. She has pretty much got her hands full. And then , for some reason she keeps thinking about the abandoned light house near her town, despite the fact that nobody else spares the building a second thought, aside from passing around stories about the Grey Man, the resident...
Written by: Sarah Fine This book would go nicely with some dark chocolate wrapped in tinfoil. After Wen's mother dies, Wen is forced to move into a cramped apartment in the local factory with her father. Now, instead of embroidering beautiful fabrics with her mother, it's her duty to stitch injured workers back together under the wing of her unfamiliar father. Despite the strange novelty, Wen adjusts to her new life with little complaint. That is, until the Noors show up at the factory. She meets Melik, an intelligent redhead who often invades her thoughts, and she begins to think that maybe the Noors are not the self-serving pigs the Itanyai (her people) painted them as. As her affection for the boy grows, she must choose between the Itanyai and the newcomers. Oh, and all this while balancing a tedious relationship with the factory's resident ghost boy, whose seemingly well-intentioned "gifts" sometimes cause more trouble than they're worth. I enjoyed this bo...