Teen/YA review: Monsters of Men

I finished book 3 of the Chaos Walking series, Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, back in December. I considered just skipping the review, since I had already reviewed book 1, The Knife of Never Letting Go, and book 2, The Ask and the Answer. Even though it took me a few months to find the time, I still want to review this third and final book of the trilogy because I found it so compelling and thought-provoking. So, I promise a short review with no spoilers…and if you’ve already read this novel, please leave your thoughts in the comments section because I am dying to discuss it!

The Chaos Walking trilogy begins in an unknown time and place where everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts (the never-ending internal cacophony is known as Noise). In books 1 and 2, some details are slowly revealed about how and why this society developed. In this third book, Todd and Viola are back (two very endearing and strong – though young - main characters).  This final book is all about war, as you may have guessed from the title. The evil Mayor Prentiss is still seeking as much power as he can take, a group of rebels is using more and more violent methods to stop him, and a third party, the Spackle, are joining in the battle (you’ll have to read books 1 and 2 to learn more about them). Against this backdrop, the ever-present Noise continues, as Todd and Viola move toward adulthood and have to make decisions that could affect the future of all of their fellow citizens.

Like the first two books, book 3 is action-packed, filled with violence, battles, and increasing horrors. But this trilogy is so much more than action/adventure in a mysterious dystopian/science fiction environment. Ness fills the series – and especially this final book – with thoughtful and thought-provoking complications. In this case, both Todd and Viola are constantly facing serious, life-changing decisions with deep moral implications. They wrestle with issues that have plagued mankind for centuries: Does the end justify the means? Is violence for the right reasons any better than violence for the wrong reasons? If you choose the lesser of two evils, is it still evil?

The backdrop of war makes all of these issues very real and imperative for the two young heroes. Through it all is the constant stress and chaos of the Noise echoing in everyone’s heads. Like in the best dystopian fiction and science fiction, the author makes us think about our own society. Ness certainly wants us to consider the moral implications of both war and terrorism, and I think the Noise is a symbol of what’s occurring in our own world right now – the ever-present, nonstop flow of information from multiple sources every moment of every day.

I highly recommend this series to teens, young adults, and adults of all ages. It is a fast-paced, interesting, compelling story that is also thoughtful. This is my favorite kind of dystopian fiction – the kind that gives you insight into our own society and makes you think – in a similar vein as The Hunger Games trilogy (especially book 3, Mockingjay, which also focuses on war) and the Unwind series. I can’t wait to read more from Patrick Ness.

603 pages, Candlewick Press

 

Teen/YA Review: Insurgent and Allegiant

Over the past two months, I listened to both Insurgent (book 2) and Allegiant (book 3), the sequels to Veronica Roth’s hot post-apocalyptic/dystopian trilogy that began with Divergent.  If you have somehow missed this popular trilogy (been living in a cave maybe?), then you should go back and read the review of Divergent (no spoilers there or in this review) and start there.

As Insurgent opens, Tris and her friends are still reeling from the violence and loss that ended book one.  The city of Chicago erupted into chaos as conflict arose between the five different factions. Now it seems that war is the only possible outcome. Tris and each of her friends must decide where their loyalty stands and which ideology and leader they each agree with.

This follow-up novel is all about conflicts and choices. Many secrets emerge that were not obvious in the seemingly peaceful world at the beginning of Divergent. As more and more secrets are revealed, Tris must make more choices – about who to believe, who to follow, and what is right. Making matters worse, she is haunted by both grief and guilt throughout this second novel, from events that occurred in book one. Through it all, with Tobias by her side, she must also consider what it means to be divergent.

In the final book of the trilogy, Allegiant, the action moves beyond the city’s boundaries, as Tris and her companions venture outside the fence to learn more about their society.  In this book, the chapters alternate between Tris and Tobias, so for the first time, we get a glimpse into Tobias’ perspective. Conflict continues in Chicago between those who believe in the faction-approach they know and those who believe in a factionless society, as an all-out war seems inevitable. Outside of the fence, Tris and the others learn a lot of surprising truths about their own family histories, the rest of the world, and how the faction-divided society began. The question is, what is its future?

Although I enjoyed Divergent and Insurgent, Allegiant was by far my favorite book of the series. The first two books were a bit too violent for my taste, without any real explanation of how this unusual society came to be. That explanation is finally revealed in book three, which made it far more interesting for me. My favorite aspect of dystopian novels is seeing how the author takes elements of our own society and shows how those were taken to an extreme to end up with the dystopian society. I like the thoughtfulness and thought-provoking nature of that kind of story, which I finally got in Allegiant. For me, that brought the series up closer to the level of The Hunger Games trilogy or the Unwind series.

All in all, I am glad I stuck with it and read/listened to the entire trilogy. The audio books were all very well done, with talented voice actors (including two different narrators for Tris and Tobias in the final book). I tried listening to Insurgent on audio with my family last summer, but my son and husband both lost interest because it had been too long since we’d all read Divergent. And that’s an important point with this series: because of the number of characters and the complicated plot, it is best to read each book immediately after the previous one. It’s far more enjoyable that way, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time going back and asking, “Wait a minute, who was that?” I am glad I finally had a chance to listen to the entire series…and now my husband has been inspired to go back and listen to it all, too. The movie adaptation of Divergent opens today – I can’t wait to see it on the big screen!

HarperAudio

Middle-Grade Review: Zane and the Hurricane

Today is Mardi Gras day, the end of a very special season of celebration in New Orleans, so it seemed like the perfect time to write a review of an amazing middle-grade novel I just finished, Zane and the Hurricane by award-winning author Rodman Philbrick. As you might have guessed, this is a novel about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, and I was completely engrossed in its emotionally powerful story from beginning to end.

Twelve-year old Zane Dupree lives in New Hampshire with his mom and his dog Bandit (Bandy for short). Zane’s mom discovers a long-lost relative living in New Orleans, Zane’s great-grandmother, known as Miss Trissy, who raised his father when he was a boy. Zane’s dad died before he was born, so Zane never knew him, but his mom really wants him to know his great-grandmother.  Zane agrees to go visit Miss Trissy, if he can bring Bandy along. His timing is terrible, though, because just as he arrives in hot and humid New Orleans, a tropical depression that was supposed to die out turns into a huge storm named Katrina.

Zane meets Miss Trissy in the first few chapters, and the rest of the novel focuses on what happens during and after Katrina. Miss Trissy lives in the Ninth Ward, which took the worst brunt of the flooding and damage after the levees broke. If you saw any news at all about Katrina, you know that Zane’s story is a difficult one, filled with fear and tragedy. It’s not all horrible; the novel includes instances of courage, friendship, and generosity alongside the bad things.

We used to live in New Orleans, so we watched the news of Katrina with even more horror than most Americans as we saw parts of our beloved city destroyed. I found this novel to be very realistic and true to New Orleans’ true character and spirit, both the good and the bad. The author did a fabulous job of describing the city and its people and making you feel like you were really there. The bulk of the novel occurs during the storm and the flooding afterward so there is a lot of tension and suspense, as the reader goes along with Zane through the terror and uncertainty of those first days that forever changed New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

Philbrick includes plenty of factual information about Katrina, including maps, a timeline, and real facts that were used as the basis for certain events in the story. All of it – the fiction and the facts – made me want to learn more. This is an emotional story that packs a powerful punch and stays with you long after you read the last page.

192 pages, The Blue Sky Press (an imprint of Scholastic)

Scholastic Audio

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

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Teen/YA Review: The Raven Boys

Much to my surprise, I loved Maggie Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series (Shiver, Linger, and Forever). For someone who normally doesn’t enjoy paranormal romance much, I devoured those three books one after the other, and loved every moment. So, I was excited when her next novels were published, but I had trouble finding time to read them. I finally read The Raven Boys recently and loved it!

Sixteen-year old Blue lives a fairly unusual life, living with her clairvoyant mother in a house with several other psychics. Blue herself doesn’t have any psychic powers, though she has an unusual ability to amplify others’ powers when they are near her. She attends the local high school in her town but is seen as something of an outcast there, a status she sort of enjoys.

This year, though, everything changes. Each year, on a particular night, Blue and her mother go to an abandoned church, and her mother sees the ghostly figures of those who will die in the coming year. Blue has never seen them herself, but this year, she sees a boy who speaks to her and says his name is Gansey. To make matters worse, Blue has been told – by every psychic she’s ever met – that she will cause her true love to die with a kiss.

When Blue meets Gansey in person in town, she gets pulled into his group of friends, against her better judgment. Gansey and his friends attend an exclusive private school, Aglionby, and everyone knows that Raven Boys from Aglionby are nothing but trouble. Besides, Blue knows that Gansey will die in the next year, and that secret weighs heavily on her. But Blue likes this group of misfit boys, especially Adam who attends Aglionby on a scholarship. In addition, they are involved in a quest related to the town’s unusual paranormal phenomena that intrigues Blue.

It’s a somewhat complex plot, revolving around the Raven Boys, Blue, her mother and the other psychics, and especially the boys’ quest. Eventually, all the disparate pieces come together, in a story that is creative and unusual. I was really pulled into this story by its characters. Blue, Gansey, and Adam are especially likable, so much so that, like in the Wolves of Mercy Falls books, I found myself absorbed in their story and rooting for them – and completely believing in the odd paranormal elements of the book. There are lots of plot twists here and plenty of surprises. As soon as I finished the book, I combed through the carton of new releases waiting for review here and was thrilled to find the second book in the series, The Dream Thieves. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

408 pages, Scholastic

 

Teen/YA Review: Code Name Verity

I have been reading rave reviews of Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein ever since its release in 2012, and I finally had a chance to read it myself. It’s a unique teen/YA historical novel that focuses on the role of women in World War II.

As this unusual novel opens, it becomes clear that the text is being written by one of the characters. She explains in the first pages that she is a captive of the Nazis in occupied France and that she has agreed to write down everything she knows in exchange for small bits of comfort (like getting her clothes back) and staying alive. It is clear that she is a young British woman, but other details of her background and life come out slowly, in the course of her telling her story.

The narrative that she writes is not what the Nazi officer in charge of her expected. Rather than write dull lists of types of airplanes, British airfields, and other wartime details, she writes a story. The officer allows her to do this because he can see that she is a good storyteller, and he is somewhat amused by her unusual methods.

She starts at the beginning, several years ago, with much of her story focused on a young female pilot named Maddie. In fact, it isn’t immediately apparent to the reader exactly who the writer is at first. She describes her friendship with Maddie and how they both became part of the war effort. Along the way, she includes the kinds of details that the Nazis are looking for, but it is certainly a long and convoluted story.

The details of women’s role in World War II as pilots and spies are fascinating; it is an aspect of this much-written-about period of history that is typically overlooked. The story itself is also engaging, about two young women who become friends during this very difficult time in history and how one of them came to be captured by the Nazis (though those details come much later).

The novel is suspenseful and compelling, and the details of this little-known aspect of the War are intriguing. There are plenty of unexpected twists and surprises along the way (though I guessed at the major plot surprise fairly early on). This is a difficult book to read in some ways because it includes details of the narrator’s capture and torture by the Nazis. As my son reminded me when I cried while listening to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on audio: “Mom, it’s about the Holocaust. You have to expect it to be sad!” As a result, this novel is best for older, more mature teens and young adults.

332 pages, Hyperion

A companion novel by Elizabeth Wein, Rose Under Fire, was just released in September. It also deals with women pilots in World War II, about a young woman pilot who is captured by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp.

 

Teen/YA Review: Rotters

Ever since I was about halfway through the audio book of Rotters by Daniel Kraus, I have been thinking about how I would review it because it is such a complex and contradictory novel. It is a wholly unique story – a coming-of-age tale wrapped up with grave robbing – that is dark and disturbing yet compelling.

Sixteen-year old Joey lives a fairly normal life in Chicago with his single mother: he plays the trumpet in the school band, works hard to be a good student, and has one good friend who helps him contend with the typical trials of high school. Joey’s life falls apart, however, when his mother is killed in an accident, and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with a father he didn’t even know he had. Ken, his father, isn’t any happier to see Joey than Joey is to be there.

Quickly, Joey’s ordinary life turns into something from a nightmare. He has lost his mother, and his only remaining family member clearly doesn’t want him there. He moved away from his only friend (who quickly moves on with his life) and has no friends at his new school, where he is bullied relentlessly, not only by fellow students but also by a sadistic teacher. To make matters worse, Joey discovers that his mysterious father makes his living robbing graves. Although the people in town don’t know the exact nature of his occupation, they all sense that it is something underhanded and illegal, and they ostracize Ken…and now Joey, too.

Things just keep getting worse for Joey, until it seems like you just can’t bear to hear (or read) about one more horrible thing. He is bullied, neglected, starved, and ridiculed. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Meanwhile, Joey very gradually learns more about his father’s life as a Digger, as they are known, and the history and details of grave robbing.

If all of this sounds depressing and macabre, well…it is. Rotters is a very dark and disturbing novel that only gets worse (and worse).  The ending does offer some hope, but it is a long road to get there. It took me 2 months to finish listening to Rotters on audio, in part because it is a long novel and in part because I couldn’t listen to it for long periods – I needed breaks from the sad, angry atmosphere of the book. As I said at the beginning of this review, it is compelling – I was certainly rooting for Joey and wanted to see how things turned out for him. I also felt, though, that it was a bit too long; that may have been partly due to my disjointed way of listening to it. Rotters won the 2012 ALA’s Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production, and I agree that it was very well done – perhaps that is part of why it is so disturbing, because the characters felt real. Just be forewarned that it is a long and sinister journey.

Listening Library/Random House Audio

Paperback:    Audio:

Teen/YA Review: UnWholly

One of my favorite books read for Dangerous Reads Month was UnWholly by Neal Schusterman, the sequel to his popular and highly acclaimed Unwind, which my husband, son, and I all loved. This super creepy dystopian thriller kept me up way too late reading every night!

The setting of this trilogy is a United States just slightly into the future, where a second civil war, The Heartland War, has been fought over reproductive rights. The pro-lifers and the pro-choicers finally ended the war with the Unwind Accord that says that life is inviolable starting at conception;  however, unruly or disagreeable teens (is there any other kind?) can be “unwound,” whereby all of their organs and body parts are transplanted into others so that life does not officially end. So, a kid who gets bad grades or rebels against his or her parents may wake up one morning to find officers from the National Juvenile Authority ready to take them to a harvest camp because their parents signed an Unwind Order. I know – super creepy, right??

In Unwind, Schusterman created a chilling but compelling story about a group of teens who, in various ways, escaped their unwinding. Connor escaped from the Juvies on the way to harvest camp and was officially declared an AWOL. During a car accident, he took Lev, a tithe (yes, a kid born to be unwound), as an unwilling hostage to help him escape.  Risa, an orphan and ward of the state also escaped when she was sent to a harvest camp to relieve overcrowding in her state home.

Don’t worry – no spoilers here for those who haven’t read Unwind yet! In the second book, these teens’ stories continue as they try to stay alive, evade the Juvenile Authorities, and help other Unwinds to escape. The story alternates between each of the main characters’ perspectives (plus a few new ones), providing a wide range of points of view of this frightening world. A new teen character is also introduced: Cam, a new kind of person who must come to grips with his own strange history and who learns a startling truth about unwinding.

Although the novel is action-packed from start to finish and filled with suspense, Schusterman also delves more deeply here into the ethical issues that arise from this strange new world (as all good dystopian stories do). The characters grapple with all kinds of moral issues, as the events from the first novel reverberated through society. Does the good done by providing much-needed transplant organs and tissues make up for the evil of unwinding? Should the needs of the many outweigh the rights of the few? What makes someone human and defines life? Although horrifying, this world is also compelling; Schusterman himself said that he intended Unwind to be a stand-alone book, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about the world he’d created there.

While the gripping story and intricate plot kept me turning the pages, I also enjoyed the thought-provoking nature of the novel. Schusterman has created a world that is unfathomable and yet eerily similar to our own. The unthinkable act of unwinding is rationalized in frighteningly calm and logical ways. The teen characters in this trilogy are realistically portrayed and feel like old friends by the second book. The third and final book of the trilogy, UnSouled, will be released next week – my husband, son and I can’t wait to see how it all ends!

401 pages, Simon & Schuster

 

Teen/YA Review: In the After

Continuing the creepy fun in Dangerous Reads Month, I listened to the teen/YA audio book In the After by Demitria Lunetta. This suspenseful story combines both post-apocalyptic and dystopian elements into a fast-paced novel full of surprises.

Amy is fourteen when They come and change the world. Gruesome green-skinned monsters, They have a taste for human flesh and quickly take over the world. TV news coverage shows Them arriving in a ship, before all forms of media disappear. Amy is fortunate to live in a high –security house that helps keep Them away and her safe, but her parents – who were out when the attack began – are missing. The creatures seem to have a poor sense of sight and smell but excellent hearing, and Amy quickly learns to live a very silent existence, especially on those dangerous occasions when she must leave the house for supplies. On one of those excursions, Amy discovers a scared and battered toddler, all alone in a deserted grocery store, so she takes her home and calls her Baby.

Amy and Baby live together for several years in the safe house, using their own form of sign language to communicate and rarely seeing other human beings. They become very close, and their life together falls into a routine, though danger is still lurking just outside the fence.

Then one day, they are saved! A community called New Hope finds them and takes them into the safety of their compound where many others are living safely and peaceably together.  Finally, Amy can relax, and they can both get used to not being alone anymore. It takes a period of adjustment, but they both make new friends, start school, and settle into life in New Hope. But certain things just don’t seem right to Amy, and the more she learns about New Hope, the more concerned she becomes.  Besides Them outside the compound, she now worries about new dangers possibly lurking right inside their new home and how to keep herself and Baby safe.

Throughout the story – through both the post-apocalyptic beginning and the dystopian second half – the suspense and tension are maintained.  I listened to the book in record time. Like another post-apocalyptic novel I recently finished, AMatter of Days, this one also contains some unlikely coincidences – Amy’s father was an environmentalist who installed solar panels so they could live “off the grid” and her mother had a super-secret government job that required an electric security fence around their house – that ensured the main character’s survival in the frightening post-apocalyptic world. As with that book, I just accepted those contrivances as necessary to the story and went along for the ride – and it was a wild ride! It sounds like there might be a sequel coming…ah, yes, I see on the author’s blog that In the End will be released June 24, 2014. I can’t wait!

Listening Library/Harper Children’s Audio

If you want to listen to a sample of the audio, click on the amazon link below - there is a "Listen" button just below the photo of the cover. 

Teen/YA Review: A Matter of Days

I like post-apocalyptic novels. Whatever the cause of the apocalypse, it is intriguing to see how the characters survive in a world that is our world but dramatically changed. In the case of A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, the cause is a weaponized virus.

The story opens on Day 56 of the Blustar Pandemic, a virus that killed 95% of the world’s population. Sixteen year-old Nadia and her younger brother, Rabbit, have watched their mother finally succumb to the virus and are now left on their own. They need to make their way across the U.S., from their home in Seattle all the way to West Virginia, to meet up with their uncle and grandfather, who are their only remaining family.

So, this falls into the category of a journey/road trip sort of post-apocalyptic adventure, which is one of my favorite kinds. The two kids head out from their home, past all the empty houses in their neighborhood, as Nadia very quickly learns to drive. As they make their way across the U.S., they face survival situations – needing to find food, shelter, and stay healthy – but they also face other remaining survivors, many of whom are desperate and/or violent. Along the way, they do meet up with some others, including a neglected dog, a small child, and a guy who grew up on the streets of Los Angeles, whom they aren’t sure they can trust.

I was pulled right into this suspenseful plot with likeable characters. I listened to the audio book, which was well done and engaging. The book is written in first-person in Nadia’s voice, and the narrator did a good job with it. My only criticism is that there were some convenient coincidences to help the story along: their uncle is a disease specialist in the military so he was able to send them vaccines for the virus, their father was also in the military and a survivalist, so he taught them all kinds of tips on how to survive (“be the cockroach”), and their grandfather is a paranoid anti-government person who happens to have a well-stocked survivalist compound. Then again, maybe the story wouldn’t have worked otherwise.

Despite these little contrivances, I fully enjoyed the story, and its fast pace kept me interested and entertained. I came to care about Nadia and Rabbit and cheered them on as they made their way across the deserted country, amid plenty of suspense and danger. I would like to read some of Kizer’s other novels – this is the first one I’ve read.

Listening Library

Listen to an excerpt:


 

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Hold Fast

For over a decade, I have been hearing great things about Blue Balliet’s mystery novels. My son read one of them when he was a middle-grader, but I never got around to it myself. I just finished her latest novel, Hold Fast, and absolutely loved it! What took me so long? This novel – appropriate for older middle-grade readers and teens (and adults!) – combines a mystery with a realistic story about a family who suddenly finds themselves homeless, all from the perspective of an eleven-year old girl. It is exciting and suspenseful but also brimming with emotional depth and insights into a world that many young readers know nothing about.

Eleven-year old Early loves her life. She is part of a close-knit family in Chicago, living in a tiny, one-room apartment with her parents and her four-year old brother, Jubilation (Jubie for short). She knows her family doesn’t have much money, but they have love and dreams and books. Early’s parents – and especially her father Dashiel – love to read and share books with their children. Dash also loves to play with words and works as a page at the Chicago Public Library. He dreams of one day getting a degree in library science, and the whole family dreams of one day having a house of their own.

This happy, loving family is shattered when Dash disappears suddenly one icy winter evening on his way home from work. The police aren’t much help – they seem to think Early’s dad left on his own – and before long, Early, her mom, and her little brother lose their apartment and are forced to move to a city shelter. Early’s life falls apart as she is torn from her school, her friends, and the only home she has ever known, all while worrying about her beloved father.

Dash taught his daughter well, though, and Early begins to look for patterns and rhythms in what has happened that might help her find her father. She unravels tiny clues left behind in a desperate search to bring her family back together. As the days turn into weeks and months, though, she is forced to take on more responsibility as her mother falls apart and gives into despair and hopelessness, and the three of them struggle to adjust to life in a shelter.

This incredible novel packs a lot into a few hundred pages. It is a heartwarming (and sometimes heartbreaking) story about family and the meaning of home. It is a suspenseful and complex mystery, filled with surprising twists you will never see coming. It is a realistic portrayal of what life is like for the estimated 30,000 homeless children in Chicago (that’s just in one city!). And it is a love story that attests to the power of words and books. I loved Early’s family and never wanted their story to end.

274 words, Scholastic Press

NOTE: Although this book is marketed to a wide range of middle-grade readers as young as 8, it is most appropriate for those in middle-school or older. The mystery at the heart of the story is fairly complicated, as are the emotions evoked by the plight of the main characters. I also think this book will appeal to teen readers who like realistic fiction, even though the main character is only eleven. And, as an adult, I loved this book and never felt I was being talked down to. I can’t wait to share it with some of my young cousins and nieces. Highly recommended.

 

Teen/YA Review: The Ask and the Answer

It usually takes me a while to find time to read a sequel, even when I really liked the first book, but I started The Ask and the Answer, book 2 in the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, just a couple of weeks after finishing book 1, The Knife of Never Letting Go, because I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next. It worked out well because this was another long book to add to my Big Book Summer Challenge. This series continues to be fast-paced and exciting with a unique plot full of surprises.

I don’t want to give too much away for those who haven’t read book 1 yet, so this will be tricky. Todd, the main character from the first book, is back. He and his friend Viola have been captured by their enemy, Mayor Prentiss, and separated. The Mayor tells Todd that the only way to keep Viola safe is to comply with everything he says and become a part of his new regime. Todd is constantly worried because he has no way of knowing if Viola is safe or even still alive, as he struggles to keep her safe while doing things for the Mayor that he knows are wrong.

With this page-turning beginning, the story continues against a backdrop of increasingly disturbing changes the Mayor is making to the society he is now ruling, and increasing violence against the Mayor’s regime by a rebel group called The Answer. Where The Knife of Never Letting Go had more of a post-apocalyptic feel to it, with Todd and Viola fleeing from their enemies, The Ask and the Answer is decidedly more dystopian, focusing in on the new society that the Mayor is trying to create. Of course, both books are still in the sci-fi realm, with plenty of action, adventure, and suspense thrown in. It’s an enticing combination.

Like the first novel in the trilogy, The Ask and the Answer is a very violent story, with similar fighting and combat but also plenty of bombing in the mix from the rebel group. However, this second book introduces lots of thought-provoking ethical questions, about war and violence, torture and terrorism. Ultimately, it investigates an age-old question that applies as well to our own world as it does to Todd and Viola's: do the ends justify the means?

The action and suspense build to a final stand-off between the rebels and the Mayor’s organization, but once again, the book ends with a surprising twist that left me yelling, “What?? No, not that!” Now, I can’t wait to read the third and final installment of this exciting trilogy.

519 pages, Candlewick Press

 

Teen/YA Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go

My son and my husband both raved about the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, so I finally found time to read Book 1: The Knife of Never Letting Go as part of my Big BookSummer Challenge last month. Though this unique series has been marketed as teen/YA fiction, it seems to be loved just as much by adult readers. I enjoyed it so much that I started reading Book 2: The Ask and the Answer this week.

I am going to tread lightly with plot description here because it’s obvious the author intended for the novel’s secrets to be gradually discovered by readers. Todd is a boy just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man. He lives in a society where everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts, creating a continuous stream of Noise. Though Todd is an orphan, he has had a decent life, brought up by two close family friends who care for him.

One day, Todd and his dog, Manchee (whose thoughts Todd can also hear), encounter an odd patch of silence on the edge of town.  This strange discovery leads to the uncovering of some dark secrets that have been kept from Todd, in spite of the Noise. Certain people in town are so committed to keeping the town’s secrets that they go after Todd, forcing him and Manchee into life on the run, leaving his little town for the first time in his life.

This novel is full of action and adventure, as the bad guys chase after Todd and Manchee and a friend they meet along the way. It’s an unusual mix of science fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, and even some dystopia. And through it all, the Noise adds a unique element. Can you imagine a world where you know what everyone else is thinking?

I loved this book just as much as my husband and son did. Todd is a very likeable character, and Manchee provides a touch of humor, with his doggie thoughts being constantly broadcast to Todd. Although it is a longish book at almost 500 pages (hence its inclusion in my Big Book Summer plans), it is a fairly quick read, with a fast pace and plenty of suspense to keep you reading long past bedtime. So far, Book 2: The Ask and the Answer is just as good.

479 pages, Candlewick Press

 

Middle-Grade Review: The Silver Six

As I’ve mentioned here before, I rarely read graphic novels, but sometimes I stumble across a good one. I received a proof of The Silver Six, a middle-grade graphic novel by AJ Lieberman and Darren Rawlings, and thoroughly enjoyed its futuristic, kids-save-the-world story.

As with all good action-packed adventures, there is an evil, powerful bad villain at its center: Mr. Craven, owner and CEO of Craven Mining Co, the corporation that controls much of this futuristic world and that is responsible for continuing to destroy the earth in search of ever-more profitable fuels. As the story opens, young Phoebe is worried about paying her rent and convincing the landlord that her parents are still there…because they aren’t. Phoebe is an orphan who, with the help of her beloved robot, Max, has been fooling the authorities for a year now so that she can stay in her home, near her friends.

But Mr. Craven disrupts her plans, as his minions search for an important electronic file that appears to be hidden somewhere in Phoebe’s home. In short order, Phoebe is caught and sent to an orphanage. It’s a dismal life, filled with hard work and poor conditions, but Phoebe quickly makes friends. Gradually, she and her friends discover they have far more in common than just being orphans, and before long, Phoebe is leading the rest of the Silver Six in an escape plan! The kids have more to worry about than just escaping the orphanage, though, as they find they are being pursued by mysterious forces that clearly want them dead.

From there, the action continues and the suspense builds, both on earth and in distant space, as the mysteries surrounding Craven Mining and Phoebe’s parents’ deaths slowly come to light. The Silver Six is kind of like James Bond for kids: it has cool technology, an evil villain, and lots and lots of action and adventure. The characters are fully developed – which surprised me in a graphic novel – and I quickly came to like Phoebe and to root for her and her friends in their quest for truth and freedom. Lots of fun for middle-grade readers who enjoy action and adventure.

188 pages, Scholastic

 

Middle-Grade Review: Infinity Ring

My son had knee surgery last weekend, and with long hours spent at the hospital, stress, and exhaustion, I needed something light and fast-paced to read. Infinity Ring, a new middle-grade time travel series, fit the bill perfectly. I enjoyed Book One: A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner so much that I immediately moved onto Book Two: Divide and Conquer by Carrie Ryan (this is one of those series with different authors for each book and an online tie-in).

Eleven year-olds Dak and Sera have been best friends for as long as they can remember. They are both geniuses – and therefore outcasts among their peers – so they have bonded over their geekiness. To say that Dak is a history buff is an understatement; he’s been reading thick historical tomes since he first learned to read and spouts obscure historical facts constantly. Sera’s talents lie more in science – she’s been messing around with quantum mechanics since she was a preschooler.

This series takes place either in present day or perhaps a bit into the future. It’s hard to tell exactly because Dak and Sera’s world is slightly different from ours. Some of the differences are subtle and trivial, like the different-sounding names and varied spellings from what we’re familiar with. Other differences are more obvious: there are 48 states in the U.S. and its capital is Philadelphia. And one difference is very significant: a powerful group called the SQ rules the world and has been around since the earliest days of civilization. We don’t know much about the SQ except that they are very powerful and very dangerous.

While exploring Dak’s parents’ lab one day, the two friends discover a time travel device that Dak’s parents have been working on, and Sera figures out how to finish it and make it work. Soon after, the two friends are recruited by a group called the Hystorians who explain that there are certain Breaks in history where things went horribly wrong (mostly thanks to the SQ), resulting in the ever-increasing problems facing the world today (frequent extreme weather events, violence, the SQ’s all-encompassing power and abuses). Through an unexpected disaster, Dak, Sera, and a young Hystorian named Riq are sent back in time on their own and have to try to fix the Breaks and set history back on its proper course.

The history here is sometimes a bit confusing since the history of the story differs a bit from our own, but reading about these major events in history made me want to go look them up online and learn more. In addition, each book includes a pull-out guide to an online game that immerses kids in another historical event, as they help Dak, Sera, and Rik to fix another Break. I tried the first game, and it's fun (though my son told me I;m terrible at online games!) It’s clever because you don’t have to play the games in order to enjoy reading the books, but playing the games brings a whole new dimension to the experience and builds on the basic storyline.

There’s nothing I like better than a good time travel plot, and this series is filled with fast-paced adventure set against some fascinating historical backdrops. In the first book, the kids travel back to 1492 when Columbus was setting off on his historical voyage, and in the second, they travel to 885 in France when the Vikings attacked the island city of Paris. The action, historical details, and suspense are all great; I read the two books in just a few days. The writing is not spectacular – dialogue seems a bit stiff and unrealistic at times and I noticed a few anachronisms in speech during their time travel – but it will be satisfactory for middle-grade readers looking for lots of action and a gripping story, and perhaps the addition of the online games (as well as the short length of the books!) will help to engage reluctant readers. I think that all readers will be fascinated and engaged by the historical settings, as I was.

Book One: 190 pages, Scholastic

Book Two: 188 pages, Scholastic

For more information on both the books and the games, head to the Infinity Ring website. You input a code from the book in order to play the games, but for June and July only, the first two games are available for free!

   

Middle-Grade Review: The Game of Sunken Places

The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson has been sitting on my to-be-read shelf for a long time, ever since my teen son read it a few years ago. I’ve heard good things about Anderson’s books, but this was the first one I ever read. It’s a mystery/fantasy story for middle-grade readers that is sort of like a cross between The Hardy Boys and Jumanji.

Thirteen-year old Gregory’s eccentric adopted uncle invites him and a friend to spend their school holiday at his house in Vermont. When Gregory and his best friend, Brian, arrive at the old mansion in the woods, they find that Uncle Max is even stranger than they’d thought. He and his home seem to exist in a different century, and Uncle Max insists that the boys dress in tweed knickers and stiff-collared shirts while they are visiting. Meals are quiet, formal affairs attended by servants at a big dining room table with Uncle Max and Gregory’s cousin, Prudence.

The boys poke around the deserted nursery and decide to ease their boredom with an old board game they find, The Game of Sunken Places. This game, though, is like none they’ve ever played before, and as they explore the area around the mansion, more and more spaces on the board become visible. This strange game takes them far beyond the game board and nursery, as they explore the woods around the house and discover things they never dreamed existed in real life – trolls, spirits, and other fearsome creatures – all locked in an age-old battle that now includes the two friends.

The tone of this novel, especially at the beginning, reminded me very much of old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries – two old friends discovering a mystery. It’s an us-against-the-world feeling, with plenty of good-natured joking between the boys (Gregory is especially prone to wise cracks). Then, the action turns more toward fantasy, as the mysteries surrounding Uncle Max and the old house turn out to involve all sorts of otherworldly beings, unseen worlds, and ancient conflicts.

I’m not a huge fan of fantasy normally (my son is), but I enjoyed this fast-paced and thoroughly unique story. It is filled with action, suspense, a good dose of humor to lighten the mood, and surprises around every corner. Kids who enjoy fantasy stories about strange creatures and other worlds will love this novel.

260 pages, Scholastic

(M.T. Anderson wrote another 3 books in this series, titled The Norumbegan Quartet)

 

Teen/YA Review: Turnabout

I have read and enjoyed several middle-grade novels by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Turnabout, one of her teen/YA novel s that was recently re-released, is aimed at teens but will appeal to older readers since its plot is all about aging. I found it fascinating and engrossing

In 2000, Amelia is 100 years old, living in a nursing home and waiting to die, when a couple of doctors ask her to sign a release form to join a unique scientific study. Soon, she has been moved to a new facility with 50 other elderly patients who are now all a part of Project Turnabout. The two doctors in charge have administered a drug to all of them that is “unaging” them; they are all becoming younger each day. At first, they are all thrilled; each day, they are regaining lost skills – hearing, walking, memory – but there are some catches. The biggest one is that the doctors assumed they could stop the process at any time, but it turns out they can’t.

After a few years, Amelia and her new friend, Anny Beth, decide to leave the facility and live out their second chance lives on their own. When the novel opens in 2085, Anny Beth has unaged to 18 and Amelia just turned 15, and they are both still getting younger. They realize they will not be able to care for themselves much longer and need to figure out what to do. They think they have plenty of time, until an ancestor of Amelia’s tries to get in touch with them. The super-secret project required them to break all ties to family (their families thought they died of old age) in order to avoid becoming the center of a media circus.

The action goes back and forth from the start of the project to the present day in 2085, gradually filling in the stories of the project’s inception and Amelia and Anny Beth’s long, eventful reverse lives. I was captivated by this unique story and all the questions it provoked. It’s a fascinating concept to consider. There was plenty of suspense, not only in finding out how Amelia and Anny Beth would address their problem of turning back into children but also how they would elude the persistent family member following them. The details of the project and its progress are also gradually revealed. In all, this is a fast-paced and compelling story that easily kept my attention. I finished it in just a few days and look forward to reading more of Haddix’s novels.

240 pages, Simon Pulse

 

Teen/YA Review: Ruins

My husband, 18-year old son, and I are all big fans of Orson Scott Card. We all read his series that starts with Ender’s Game, a classic by now (my husband and I read it 25 years ago!). So, when we heard he had a new sci fi series out for teens and young adults, we were all excited. All three of us loved the first book, Pathfinder, and I was just the last one of us to read its sequel, Ruins, which was just as good. I’ll try not to include any spoilers for those who have not yet read Pathfinder and still want to start the series…so that means I can’t really say too much about the plot because both books have a lot of twists and turns and surprises.

Most of the main characters from the first book are back for Ruins, setting off on a journey with the goal of literally saving the world. Rigg, the main character from Pathfinder, is back and the de facto leader of the small group, though his best friend, Umbo, is a bit jealous and wonders why he’s not the leader. Both Rigg and Umbo have unusual skills. Rigg can see the paths of all living creatures, even those that passed by thousands of years ago. Umbo can travel back in time to the recent past, and when the two friends work together,  Rigg can travel far back into the past with great accuracy, with Umbo anchoring him to the present and able to bring him back.

These talents come in handy, but the problem is that none of their little group can travel into the future. All they know is that their world will be destroyed in a few years, but they don’t understand why or how to fix it. As they try to save their world’s future, they learn more and more about its unusual origins and past.

As in Pathfinder, much of Ruins deals with time travel and with the philosophical and ethical issues around trying to change the past. I love time travel plots for exactly this reason – the fascinating, often paradoxical, discussions that are integral to them. What happens to your own present when you change the past? Do alternate histories disappear or remain intact? Could you actually make changes in the past that would result in you no longer existing in the present?

Besides these existential issues, there is ample suspense in this story and plenty of action. The group doesn’t know whom they can trust, and it seems that everyone they meet turns out to be lying to them in one way or another. Everything they try seems to fail, as they struggle to figure out how to save the world from its pending destruction. This is a fast-paced and exciting adventure that is also thought-provoking. Card has done it again, and we can’t wait for book #3!

530 pages, Simon Pulse


 

Teen/YA Review: Stolen

 Stolen by Lucy Christopher won a Printz Honor award in 2011, and it’s easy to see why. This unique novel about the relationship between a kidnapper and his captive has great emotional depth and explores the gray areas of what is usually considered a straightforward issue.

Gemma, a teen traveling with her parents, is kidnapped from the airport by a young man named Ty. Before he drugs her and takes her away, Gemma is attracted to the handsome man with the blue eyes who buys her a coffee, but when she wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings, all she feels is fear.

The novel is told as a letter from Gemma to Ty about her experiences, starting from the moment she saw him in the airport. You would think that her story would be horrifying and terrifying, but it’s far more complicated than that. Ty treats her with kindness, and the two of them are alone, in the definitive “middle of nowhere,” with no one to rely on but each other. She must trust him to some degree, as she is relying on him for her survival in this dangerous and remote – yet beautiful – place.

I won’t say any more about the plot because part of this book’s attraction is its suspense and surprises. The novel is well written and wholly unique. I have read several other teen/YA novels about abductions, and while they were engrossing, this one takes a different approach and explores a far more complicated relationship than just captor and captive. In fact, there are times when you find yourself actually rooting for Ty, even though you know what he did was horribly wrong. I love thought-provoking books that explore the gray areas of life, and this one fits the bill. Stolen is both tender and terrifying, showing that there is almost always more to a situation than meets the eye.

299 pages, Scholastic

 

Middle-Grade Review: Crispin: The Cross of Lead

My husband and son have been telling me to read Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi for many years. The book collected dust on my TBR shelf for a very long time, but I finally got around to reading it this week. Guess what? They were right! Crispin is an exciting, fast-paced novel set in a fascinating time period.

It is the Middle Ages in England in 1377. A thirteen-year old boy who has only ever been known as Asta’s son is grieving over the loss of his mother, the only family he’s ever known. He lives in a small, rural village where everyone is very poor and works for the Lord of the local area. Though he thinks he has nothing left to lose, Asta’s son is soon accused of a crime he didn’t commit, with a price put on his head.

Confused, alone, and frightened, he flees his tiny village and goes past its boundaries for the first time in his life. He has nothing but his mother’s cross of lead and a newly revealed name, Crispin. With no sense of anything outside his village, Crispin embarks on an arduous journey through the English countryside with his enemies close behind him, though Crispin has no idea why they are after him. He meets up with a strange, large man named Bear who makes Crispin his personal servant, though Crispin comes to see Bear as more of a benefactor over time, as they flee from Crispin’s pursuers together.

My husband and son were right – this is an exciting, fast-paced adventure story with plenty of heart...oh, and by the way, it won the Newberry Medal. It is filled with surprises (some of which I guessed at, but it is meant for middle-grade readers). Any kids who enjoy historical settings or adventure in any form will come to care for Crispin and root him on, as the pages fly by.

262 pages, Hyperion Books

2013 Reading Challenges:

This book takes place in England for my Where Are You Reading Challenge and counts toward my TBR Pile Reading Challenge.

Teen/YA Review: Trapped

I thought that Trapped by Michael Northrup, with its snow-covered cover, would be a perfect mid-winter read, and I was right. I read this suspenseful teen/YA novel in just two days and could scarcely set it down.

Trapped is an apt name for this story about seven high school kids trapped inside their school for days during a blizzard. A winter storm of historic proportions, even for New England, covers the area with over 10 feet of snow, piling up faster than the plows can clear it, until it is so deep that even plows can’t get through. Oh, and did I mention the power went out?

This novel works on two levels: as a fast-paced adventure story and as a character study. The adventure comes in, of course, simply from trying to survive. The kids are left without adult supervision and must fend for themselves to provide food, water, and heat.  Their challenges grow and become more extreme as the storm worsens and continues far longer than any of them thought it could. The suspense builds as the snow piles up outside. Eventually, they realize if they are going to be saved, they need to save themselves. Their deteriorating situation provides ample suspense and makes this book a page-turner.

But this is also a fascinating story of seven very different people trying to get along with each other under extreme circumstances. The high school setting adds another layer of intrigue, since these seven kids are not ones who would normally hang out together (or even acknowledge each other) in the normal school atmosphere. There are three guys who are good friends (though very different people), a gorgeous and popular female athlete and her BFF, a chronic troublemaker, and a social outcast. At first, they stick to their own kind, but as their situation becomes more dire, they need to work together – and even rely on each other – in order to survive.

I really enjoyed this fast-paced novel. It was the kind of story that completely pulled me in, so I was thinking about it all the time. I felt like I was there, in that cold, dark school in the midst of a blizzard, with them. I love novels that so completely capture my imagination. Just writing about it makes me want to read it again!

232 pages, Scholastic