Death Cloud

"Death Cloud" by Andrew Lane is a surprisingly good . . . wait for it . . . mystery.
       Young Sherlock Holmes is taken out of his dreaded boarding school and forced to live with his even more dreaded aunt and uncle out in the countryside.  What awaits him, he believes, is endless hours of boredom and loneliness, punctuated only with conversation from relatives he hardly knows.  When he arrives, he finds what he expected, but with another layer:  A mysterious black cloud has been dropping down on citizens from Farnham, and leaving them with great red swollen welts.  Is this the beginning of another Bubonic Plague, or is it of a much greater design?  Stretching his wit and his mind, Sherlock delves into the heart of the mystery, determined to find the source of the black cloud before it claims any more prey.

I am not qualified to talk about how Young Sherlock Holmes matches up against his older counterpart, but I have to say that I am surprised to how Andrew Lane takes the smallest detail and turns it into a major part of the plot.  I mean, I could see the dead badger stunt coming a mile off, but I did enjoy the attention payed to detail.  It really makes the story.
       Actually, the attention to detail would have to make the story, because the plot was slightly ridiculous.  The first half of the plot was intriguing:  Why are these people getting killed by a black cloud?  What on earth is the black cloud?  Why did those people set that warehouse in fire?  And then, of course, there is the whimsy of imaging Sherlock and Matty meander the English countryside riding bicycles and the whatnot.  But then the plot takes a turn for the worse after Sherlock gets kidnapped for the first time.  That's right, the first time.  From there, it all descends into madness.
       For the characters, well, Sherlock is the only one you know.  It's third person narration, so you aren't really inside his head, but still, by the end of a, say, 250 page book you should think you would know a character reasonably well, right?  Well enough to predict their actions. That's not the case for this book, in my opinion. I feel like I hardly know Sherlock by the end of his adventures, his past is so shrouded in mystery, even though this book was supposed to clear up some of the mystery left by the first author of the adult Holmes series.  Even though Sherlock is a static character in this book--he overcomes no great personal revelations and has no life-changing epiphanies--you still don't feel like you understand what motivates him by the end of the book.  He wants to figure out a mystery?  Great!  Now, please tell me why he would risk his life to do so, and do tell me 'generic kindness' 'cause we all know that altruism is not that strong of a motivator.
       You can't really predict the actions of any of the characters.  With a good book you'll be able to get into the characters brains' and say, "Well, this person cares for this person, so they would do this.  But they don't care for that person that much, so they probably won't do that,"  or "This person values this, that, and the other, so, according to their values they are probably going to save this person."  You get few reasons with this book--Crowe says some reasons why he does stuff, and sometimes Matty does, but Sherlock is all like "This is logical.  This is what I'm going to do."  Well, it may be logical, but it's not smart.
        It may be my natural aversion to mysteries, but this book only comes up on my list as half decent.  If the train of events made more sense in my mind, I would like it more. Simple as that.  It is a good book, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't rank up there with my favorites, no way, no how.  Maybe I'll read the sequel if and/or when it comes out, maybe I won't.
         What I would like to say to young Mr. Holmes, though, when he decides that maybe carrying around this possibly poisonous yellow powder wasn't such a good after all is "no duh, Sherlock," because, in reality, maybe this whole venture wasn't such a good idea after all.

Rebel Hearts

"Rebel Hearts," by Moria Young, is the sequel to the fantastically gruesome "Blood Red Road."
     Since Lugh was captured by the Tonton at Silverlake Saba has always relied on her instincts and gut feelings.  Instinct and gut feelings got her out of Hopetown.  Instincts and gut feelings got her out of Freedom Fields.  But Saba's instincts and gut feelings may be failing her as she races back east when she hears a rumor that Jack has fallen in with the Tonton.  In an attempt to save him, Saba endangers the lives of everyone she's cared about.  As the death toll piles up, she will have to debate what is worth what:  Is having her happy ending worth the life of her sister? Is having all she ever wanted worth losing everyone that ever stood by her?

Say that "Blood Red Road" was the second best contemporary dystopian novel.  "Rot and Ruin" would be at the top, the best, "Article 5" would be in between the middle and the bottom, and "Hunger Games would be festering somewhere below the bottom.  "Rebel Hearts" would be somewhere between "Article 5" and "The Hunger Games."  I swear, it was awful.
        "The Blood Red Road" is the second best contemporary dystopian novel because there's blood and fighting and general goriness.  Epic fights to the death against giant worms, cage fighting, burning down the town in which there was cage fighting, burning down really anything that came close (including demented sun kings and giant worms) . . . Ah, the glory.  There was a bit of romance her and there too, which wasn't so bad.   But "Rebel Hearts" takes it to a whole new level.  It's "Oh, Jack, I miss you" here and "Oh, I want Jack" there and "Jack smells nice" in the middle mixed in with "Oh, I think I might love *insert name here 'cause I won't ruin it for you even though we all knew it was gonna happen*" with a touch of "Oh, *insert name here, I'm not going to tell you because it'll ruin it and it's stupid and random* loves me?"  IT'S ALL MUSHY!  And not fun at all.
        Okay, so, in "Blood Red Road" I sort of got the picture that Saba was like Clint Eastwood in all those Westerns.  You know, the lone cowboy (or cowgirl or whatever you want to call it) who rides into town, gets filled up with some sort of righteous anger, burns the place down, and overthrows the evil mayor, all well having fun and making friends with a merry band of outlaws.  In "Rebel Hearts" Saba is like that in the beginning of the book, righteous anger and what not, but eventually she gets whittled down into a princess who runs around in dresses.  Excuse me?  The Angel of Death is no princess, I don't care about that Sky-person-girl's ruling.
         I mentioned that there are some other mushy-male components in this.  There are.  They are unneeded and unwanted and do absolutely no good for anything anywhere anyhow anywhy.  They should just not be there. Period.  I guess the "random person loves me" was inevitable in some sense.  It's random, but it was mentioned slightly in the previous book and it will probably be a big part of the next book, because it seems that this is to be a trilogy (but from this book, I say they cut it off now, and spare us all the horror).  The other new male component just detracts from everything.  And turns Saba into a princess.  And everyone knew that it was going to happen, it seems, except for Saba, because I figured out that it was going to happen back in Hopetown but our newly-whittled princess here had no clue.
         So, basically what I'm trying to get at is that this is a decent book--for the first part of it.  Then it just goes bonkers.  It seems, and no offense to Moria Young here, but it seems that she forgot the parameters she set out for her characters because they seem to be operating outside of them.
        On a completely different note, DeMalo is crazy.
        So, anyway, "Blood Red Road" and "Rebel Hearts" both seem to be of the "Dust Land Trilogy".  (I didn't realize that the name of "Rebel Hearts" was "Rebel Hearts" 'cause "Dust Land" was bigger on the cover so I thought that the whole trilogy was called "Rebel Hearts Trilogy" and that better not be the case 'cause that would be a pretty bad name for a dystopian novel.  (Worse than "The Hunger Games.")  I don't know what the third one is or when it will come out, but I'll keep an eye for that one.
         Basically, what I'm trying to get at is that Saba's lost her way.  And if she doesn't find it soon, or if she finds it leads into the arms of some handsome male, I may have to put the book down and walk away.  Because Saba's supposed to be my warrior, not my damsel in distress.

As the author's bio says, "Visit www.dustlandsbooks.com to learn more."  It's nothing unusual, really.

Scorch

"Scorch," the sequel to the fantastic "Croak," by Gina Damico is finally out.
      Cordy is dead, a physotic serial killer is on the loose, and all of Croak blames Lex and Mort. With Norwood and Heloise pointing fingers at any Junior who breathes funny the world is falling to pieces. To make matters worse, Zara is murdering her way from criminals to innocents and everyone in between, just to make a point.  As Grims start falling dead in the streets Lex must run so the wrath of the "Croakers" can't get her before Zara can. But the only way to save the world this time is to figure out who "Bone, the sick scythe bandit" is and where the mysterious "Wrong Book" is, so with limited resources and limited time, Lex finds that it's her responsibility to stop the dominoes her uncle started falling with the touch of his finger.

I hate this book.  No, let me revise.  I have a love/hate relationship with this book.  Because it's so darn good . . . and it's so darn bad. I mean, come on.  Did that really have to happen?  Really?  It's so painful to read.  Too painful, almost.  Like ripping your heart out and roasting it over the open flame.  But I only hate it so much because I like it so much.  It's an awful conundrum.
       I think that this book, if it's even possible, is even more hysterical then the first one (though that could just be because I've over-read the first one).  Again, there is a strong language warning on this.  A strong warning about strong language.  And, uh, since Driggs and Lex are, like, dating or whatever it is that Grim Reapers to, there is a lot of . . . snogging, to put it into British terms.  Just an advisory.
      Now, to analyze the plot.  I hate it.  And I can't say much more without giving anything away.  But I hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. Except for the funny parts.  And the part where they're hiding out in DeMyse and everything is so ludicrously fabulous it's like Katniss going into the Capital in the "Hunger Games" (don't you think I didn't notice that parallel Ms. Damico).  So, yeah.
       The characters are still wildly funny and extraordinarily wacky, which is always good.  There are some new ones to make up for the ones that have been lost or do get lost during the course of the book (in every love/hate book someone has to die, and you just know it).
         Lex is still dealing with all that inner angst that we all known and love: Occasionally she blows up dirt or pencils or furniture, which is always fun to watch.  Driggs doesn't play the drums at all during this book, nor does he mention the Titanic, but we know he's not an impostor because, well . . . He's madly in love with the most difficult Grim Reaper in any life, After or otherwise.  And we'll leave it at that.  You get to see a side of Cordy that you had only seen momentarily in "Croak" and it leaves you wondering "those two girls really grew up in the same house?"  And you see Mort to is full Mort-ness.  You also see Pip and Bang in ways that you've never seen Pip and Bang before, mainly you've never seen Pip and Bang before.  So, there's comfort with the old characters and an edge with the new characters.  It's a nice mix.
       And again, the humor.  Always with the humor.  It's just such a silly book, even though it's about death and stuff.  If it was a serious book, I think I wouldn't like it.  Who would want to read a morbid book about a girl who goes around and steals other people's souls?  But a book about a bunch of teens who go around, steal people's souls, come back home, and have a social uprising on their hands and deal with it all while laughing is a serious winner.  A pick-me-up for when all of the Zaras and Norwoods in your life are out to get you.
        Uh, la la la.  There are some twists.  Big twists.  One big twist.  One I hate.  I haven't fully finished the book yet, but I just thought it was so wonderfully awful that I had to tell it to you right away.  If I say any more about the big twist, though, I know that I'll give it all away so I'll stop harping on it.
         But I despise its guts.
         Moving on.  I do not know when the third one will be out, but rest assured that there will be a third one because this one is not going to be wrapped up any time soon at the rate I'm going at.  I don't know when it comes out, though, because "Scorch" came out on September 25, and the website isn't saying anything about another one in the series yet.
        A theme of this book, humor and all, might be that we shouldn't fear death because it's just another stage in life.  "Don't fear the reaper," as the Blue Oyster Cult says.  Laugh at it,  as Lexington Bartleby says, because the Afterlife is pretty much the best thing out there.  Next to that ice cream that Cordy and I ate a week before the place that sold it closed.

The website is, as it always is, is www.ginadamic.co  If you go to ginadamico.com you get a realtor's site, just so you know.

Out of My Mind

"Out of My Mind" by Sharon Draper is a story of a brilliant girl who has no way to communicate with the rest of the world.
      Melody, aged ten but nearly eleven, has millions of things she'd like to say, millions of ideas she wants to share, millions of conversations she wants to has, and millions of miles she wants to run, but only one thing stopping her.  She has cerebral palsy.  Confined to her pink wheelchair, Melody has to observe the world pass her by, learning her ABC's day after day, talking to the same kids year after year, doing the same things over and over again. She can't even tell people what she wants, because her vocabulary is limited to the few words she can point to on her "communication board."  Wonderful opportunities are in store for Melody, though, if only the rest of the world can be kind enough to let her take them.

This is a wonderful story.  Sharon Draper is a wonderful author, adept at bringing out the unseen and generally ignored sides of life, and she does nothing less with this novel.  She paints a picture that's believable, understandable, and relateable, even if the reader has no disability whatsoever.
       The main character, Melody, is a very sensible and sweet girl.  You almost forget from what vantage point she is speaking from sometimes.  Her thoughts are completely relateable, even if we function in two completely different realms of being.  I worry about what the kids at school think of me: she does too, save in a greater capacity. She worries about being her best for her team and proving everyone wrong about her; I do to, in some cases.
       Melody is surrounded by a cast of characters, as every protagonist is.  These characters aren't as widely varied as the casts in my normal books--there is only one outrageously flamboyant personality in the whole thing-- but they are believable, and I think that might be the point of the whole endeavor.  Their personalities are well developed, though, and rounded, so you know what's coming at you almost before it does, and if you don't understand an action then you can easily figure out based on what you know of real life and in-book situations.
        I also like Melody's sense of humor.  There's a mean girl, Claire (Why is it always a Claire?), who bullies Melody, but Melody comes back with some pretty snappy retorts.  Melody makes me smile often during the book, be it with her comebacks or her common-sense approach to her situation.
       The storyline is a good one, too.  The best ending to a story is "surprising but inevitable," right?  There are two very major plot twists near the end of the book.  The first is something that effects Melody more than anyone else, and it's something that you'll shake your head at and say "I should've seen that one coming."  The second is something that you figured out was going to happen earlier on in the book, if you payed close enough attention to all of the details in the text, but there's an added level to it.  That one effects the whole family, and it was hinted at for ages prior to it.
       I do have one complaint about the book, though.  There are a whole ton of exclamation points.  I really don't like exclamation points.  I couldn't tell you why, but it's just a personal irk of mine.  There are, like, four exclamation points per chapter, and they make me jump every time I read them.  Other than that, there's nothing pressingly awful that comes to mind.
      It's a wonderful book that can make you feel someone else's emotions, no matter what their circumstances, and this is a book that can do that. It did it for me.

BZRK

"BZRK," Michael Grant, is about a war that's bigger than us . . . but really much, much smaller.
         Noah's brother used to be an army hero.  Now he's locked up in the insane aslyumn, screaming "Berserk, berserk, nano, nano," over and over again.  Sadie's father was the richest man in the world.  Now her father and brother are died in a car-crash and the aneurysm in her head is threatening to kill her.  Both Noah and Sadie are sought out and initiated into a secret society where they take the name of crazy people because they know that that will be their fate.  Thrust into a world that's alien but very close to home, Noah and Sadie must keep their wits about them if they're to make it out of the meat.

Great sci-fi action book, I swear. Also, a great book if you want to learn about the human body . . . but, in many ways, it's quite disgusting.  Especially when the start describing eyeballs . . . Urgh, that gives me phantoms just thinking about it.
        This book, as my language arts teacher puts it has "language issues."  And it does.  Lots of them.  So, now you've been doubly warned.  Please do not sue me if you get a shock while reading this book.  Because, see, I'll warn you thrice, these people in this book have language issues, worse than a driver from New Jersey.
       But, that aside, I would like to focus on in the characters.  You do not get a lot of time to learn about each character, really, you don't get a chapter on each of them full of back detail--not even the main characters.  There are a bunch of little details scattered in that gives you an idea of who they are and what their "normal" lives are, but you don't get a lot of preamble before the planes start blowing up and the bugs start crawling.  Which is just the way I like it.
       I also sort of enjoy the fact that you do not intimately know each character as well as you should, because it puts you in the place of the other characters.  No one knows much about each other in this book, they don't even know their real names (read:  Keats, Plath, Wilkes, Vincent, Ophelia, Lear . . .), so it adds to the level of reality that you know next to nothing.  Also, it makes it seem like none of the characters know anything about themselves, which adds another layer to things.
      Personally, my favorite character is Wilkes.  She is so wicked . . . I've already stated that I like the bad-girl type, haven't I?  And there couldn't have been a better antagonist, because Bug-Man is so arrogant it makes my skin crawl . . . And that's what makes him awesome.
      Now, onto the nanos.  They are an amazing piece of science-fiction, which may or may not be fiction for much longer.  As I once read somewhere, the scariest thing is something that could happen.  I heard them talking on the radio about nanotechnology, and I completely freezed up.  It won't be long now before people will be fighting on our optic nerves, wiring our brains, and controlling our actions, if they aren't doing it already.  I couldn't quite get a picture in my head of what nanos looked like, though.  They said they looked like praying mantises, but in my mind they looked more like 'nanobugs,' little toys that my brother has.  It's also fun to think about the scale of things.  For mascara to be a serious obstacle for nanos, how small must they be?  Would you be able to crush one if you found them?
   This book would definitely be in my top ten science-fictions books.  Of course, there are several things that could've made this story better, several elements, like maybe going longer and telling us what was going to happen next . . . But I mustn't start being greedy, right?  This book came out this year, so it's new.  We cannot be expecting a sequel any time soon, which is a pity.
      We'll just have to sit here and wait, I suppose, twiddle our thumbs for a bit, maybe read another book or two, and pray that Plath and Keats aren't sitting in the cafe across the street, crawling through our meat.

www.gobzrk.com is a cool website.  It is not lame, like many other websites for many other books (which shall remain unnamed).  You can register, play some sort of game (I haven't tried it yet), and take a quiz on famous insane people of the past!  Yey!

Peter and the Starcatchers

"Peter and the Starcatchers" by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.
         Peter and four other orphan boys are being shipped off to an island to be used as servants for a cruel king.  What they don't know, though, that the Never Land, the ship that they're traveling on, carries precious cargo.  Soon Peter, his gang, and his new friend Molly; Black 'Stache, the wicked pirate; the Queen's Navy; and the Second-in-command of the Never Land are all in contention, fighting battles on land and see, for the trunk of the precious and all powerful starstuff.

Did that summary sound silly to you?  It should.  This is one of the silliest books that I have ever read.  And I do not mean that in a good way.  "Skulduggery Pleasant" was an enjoyably silly book, because it was quick and witty.  This book is slow, draggy, and just plain ridiculous.  It's been a favorite with everyone else I've talked to, though.  Even though it has the stupidest plot line ever.
      Okay, I'll admit it.  I've never been a Peter Pan and Tinker Bell sort of girl.  I'll opt out of Neverland for a trip to Wonderland any day, thank you very much, give me my tea at four and my hatters mad, and I'll stay out of your hair.  Wendy, her brothers, and the wild child who stole them away seemed always a bit to . . . I don't know.  But pirates?  A dog that was basically a nanny?  And giant alligators?  This might seem funny coming from the mouth of someone who swears by fiction, but it always seemed a bit too outrageous to me.
       This books makes it even worse.  You couldn't ask for a more stereotypical crew of pirates, I swear it to heaven and bad.  Sometimes stereotypes are good, but in this case they just make everything worse.  "Black 'Stache" refers to the pirate who has a black mustache.  Originality, anyone?
      Another sore point for me was that I could never get a firm grip on Peter.  The book is narrated third person, and it switches from viewpoint to viewpoint often, so only about 1/3 of the book is spent on Peter.  I didn't get to know him as well as one should get to know a book character, didn't come to understand what he was thinking and feeling as you should with a well-rounded character.
       Oh, something else against Peter.  He was basically like "Starstuff exists?  Okay!"  Gullible little bugger, he is.  In most books people who used to live on the street are smart and never take things at first glance.  Sure, he pokes around a bit and asks questions and whatnot, but mainly he's just . . . too believing.  And he's not enough of a rapscallion or a rascal.  Wasn't J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan a rapscallion and a rascal?
     The character of Molly was a bit unpredictable.  Well, way unpredictable.  She didn't act in a set pattern. Have you noticed that people act in a set pattern?  Someone punches them, they will cry or punch back.  They are left at the mercies of the powers that be, and they will grovel and scream or give the powers that be a shiner to remember them by.  Molly's character cries and gives shiners.  It makes no sense.
      Also, most of the humor falls flat.  The second paragraph of the first chapter was funny.  I didn't get the rest of it.  Um, food that's made out of worms isn't funny.  Um, dropping the two heaviest people on the ship overboard isn't funny.  Um, a captain with discarded meat parts over his cabin isn't funny.  Um, telling a porpoise that you have green teeth isn't funny.  Um, I'm sorry, but this book just isn't funny.  Sorry to bust your bubble.   I mean, come on.  "The Fellowship of the Rings" is funnier, and that book is basically written in Old English.
      So, fly straight until midnight, then take the third start to the right, or whatever it is, if it pleases you, but the magic that you find at the end of this rainbow is loud and obvious and one can definitely do without it.

The Curiosities: A collection of stories

"The Curiosities:  a collection of stories"  a, well, collection of stories, all by either Brenna Yovanoff, Tessa Gratton, or Maggie Stiefvater.
      Psychopaths with piano wire, dragon slayers with one night left to live, puddles that contain secrets or puddles that contain the zombie virus, silver boxes that hold hearts and the key to living . . . Maggie Stiefvater, Brenna Yovanoff, and Tessa Gratton explore the "playground" (more of an, uh, insane asylum) of their minds with short stories posted to their blogs.  Each author makes comments on the side margins of one another's work, providing extra insight to each of the wonderfully twisted stories, which are works of art themselves.  Whether you're reading about delightful zombies, Nordic beserkers, or a world on fire, the worlds they exist in are both perfectly exquisite, and wonderfully alien.

This is, hands down, the best anthology ever.  Better than that "Steampunk" one, and you know how I prattled on about that.  And this one had hardly a wit of identifiable steampunk in it.
      I have recently discovered, within me, a passion for stories that end unhappily.  I discovered it before I read this book.  But, anyway, if you do not like unhappy endings, do not read further.  Never look for the book on the shelves.  The stories are realistic, to some degree, and not every tale has a happy ending with glitter and butterflies.  Sometimes people have to cut out their hearts. And this makes me happy.
      Each of the stories is something vastly different, if ever the same.  Nearly all of the stories revolve around a teenage girl heroine, who has to overcome some ordeal.  Sometimes she gets slaughtered, sometimes she succeeds in her task, and sometimes you're left standing on a barbed wire fence, an eye on both possibilities.          
      The characters or settings may not be very deep or well-developed characters, but that's only because the stories are brief clips. I can deal with that when the stories are as haunting as they are here, though with every character you want to know more about them. Where did they come from?  Who are they really?  Where are they going?  What are they trying to tell you?  Reading this book is like looking through a picture album, each picture from a different place, telling a different story.
       Maggie Steifvater wrote the "Shiver" series (a bunch of romantic claptrap), don't ask me what the series is really called.  She also wrote "The Scorpio Races," which looks to be infinitely better.   Brenna Yovanoff wrote the amazing "The Replacement" and the equally dazzling "The Space Between."  I've never read anything by Tessa Gratton, but her main focus seems to be with the Nordic Gods, which is always good.
       I can't really do much more analyzing, unless I want to basically tell you what half the stories are.  I can tell you, though, that you have to READ THIS BOOK.  If you don't, there's not telling you what horrible fate you might come to, whether it be death by piano wire or lack of good literature.
   
The idea for this book started on  www.merryfates.com   All of the stories are posted here, as well as some extra ones, if you don't want to get off your computer and go to the library.

The Iron Thorn

"The Iron Thorn," Caitlin Kittredge, is worth it's weight in gold, even though it's a decently heavy book.
      Aofie Greyson is going to go mad when she turns 16 years old.  It happened to her mother and it happened to her brother.  They say it's because of a necrovirus that came into the world years ago.  It creates such creatures as the nightjars and the shaggoths . . . and for some unknown reason, it's going to drive Aofie mad.  But when Aofie gets a cryptic message from her mad brother that takes her on a journey beyond all that she ever imagined knowing, she realizes that there might be more to the madness than a simple virus.  A journey between the dimensions forces Aofie and her companions that what is rational may not be what's right.

If you know me at all, then you know that my three literary loves are steampunk, Faeries, and creepiness.  Believe it or not, this hits three out of three. On the head.  It's really quite extraordinary, the way that first two are woven together, with the third as a result.
     There are three main characters:  Aofie, Dean, and Cal.  Aofie is a well-defined character.  She has her edges and her ripples, and even though she's constantly changing you know where she is, in the metaphorical sense, all the time.  I would've liked it if we were shown that Aofie is good with machines.  I mean, yes, she is in engineer school, and it says about a dozen times throughout the book that the only thing that had "ever felt real to her were machines" or the whatnot, but we don't really see her in action until she's fixing the clock.  Maybe show her fixing some clockwork before she drags Cal off to the night market or something.  I don't know.  But it's always best to show, not tell, in the story sense, and this story does a bit more telling than strictly wanted.
      Dean Harrison is to "The Iron Thorn" as Jack is to "The Blood Red Road."  The lovable rouge who comes in the nick of time, always manages to find a way out of scrapes, and manages to win the tough maiden's heart (even though it's never that hard, as seeing they have little to none competition).  Yes, I know this is a stereotypical character for the adventure genre, but Jack and Dean could be the same exact person, save for the name.  Not that that's a bad thing.  I like rouges.  If I was a character in an adventure story, I would be the rouge.  But, you know.  Every genre has it's stereotypes, so, I was just pointing that out.  Playing devil's advocate over here.
      Cal . . . *sigh*.  Cal.  Um, well, let's just say that Cal is an interesting character.  I am not pleased with how he was built up, but I am pleased with the problems he presents.  You won't follow me until you read the book.  And I can't tell you until you read the book.  Because I'd hate to ruin the surprise of it all.
      Now . . . The plot!  The real gold of this endeavor!  Oh, I can't gush enough over the plot.  There are things you don't see coming, things you do see coming and cringe when they do come, and things that are so inevitable, but so well done.  There is the romance plot, of course, which you can spot coming from a mile off because it's like "duh".  That one is pretty well done, but it's not the best.  I like the Faerie plot the best.  Of course, they don't call them Faeries, exactly, but if you've ever read a contemporary fiction book, you can tell what they are.  And of course, you know what's going to happen just after the people close their mouths', but it's like a train wreck.  You can't stop yourself from reading it, even though you know it's going to be horrible.
       Also, I love the steampunk world.  Love, love, love.  It's a completely believable world, one where they live and love and breath and it's all too real.  The detail is incredible, and what detail you aren't given isn't hard to fill in on your own.  The politics of cities and the rules of life are completely relatable, even though they don't apply at all to real life.  It takes true talent to make a make-believe world real, and this one has it all.
     There are also several things that have been given a new face.  Most importantly, Weirds.  In most books they're called 'affinities.'  Or, at least, I would call them affinities, but then again, I do live in my own special universe.  So, I guess I wouldn't know what they are called, generally.  But this, again, is one you can see from miles away.  I'm just glad that she doesn't make some sort of big deal out of it.  Because if it was half the book, just trying to figure that out . . . that would be boring.  Half a book spent doing anything, really, is pretty boring.
        This one might be the first one in the series.  Something about the "Iron Codex" was in the author's bio, but I'm not so sure.
      Aofie Grayson:  Torn between the iron and the wild.  She must figure out where she fits in before it destroys her and everyone she's ever cared about.  And even though her tale might be one of tragedy, she and her folk will always survive and prosper in my heart.
     
www.caitlinkittredge.com   She generally writes adult books, that's my impression, but it might be worth a shot.  Uh, and her "books" page isn't up and running, so go to the "blogs" tab, then go to "caitlin's books."  Not a lot of information there, but just if you were wondering.

Chaos Walking Trilogy

The "Chaos Walking" Trilogy by Patrick Ness is a commentary on our society, even though it's set lightyears away.
      Todd is the only boy in a town of only men.  All of the women died of a native plague on this new planet just after Todd was born, they died of the plague that can broadcasts all men's thoughts to everyone else.  Their collective thoughts create the Noise, and through the Noise, nearly all secrets are revealed.  But when Todd finds a pocket of silence in the swamps, he has to rethink what he knows of his town and himself.  Because when you've been lied to all your life, there's only one way to find out the truth, and fighting back against the convention could have bigger implications than you could ever guess.  Especially when your tap is all that's needed to set the dominoes cascading down.

So, a bunch of settlers come to a planet, and find that they can all hear each other's thoughts.  They also find an alien species who have hardly any way to communicate with them.  What's the next obvious thing that these settlers do.  Oh, I don't know, maybe they ought to start a war?
       Hmm.  Well, you know, we're starving, we're hungry, and we're 60-something years away from any help.  We're going to have to live with this alien species for the rest of our lives, and our great-great-great grandchildren are going to have to live with them too.  So, heck, why not go for it and start blowing their brains out?  Yeah . . . What's the worst that can happen?   I love the human thought process.  Especially when it's in books, and I don't have to live with the repercussions.
        These books, well, about half of the time, these books are written by an illiterate boy.  Todd, pretty obvious, right?  It isn't as bad as "Blood Red Road," Moira Young, but he spells thing phonetically.  I don't have a problem with that, I actually sort of like it, because I'm awful with the spelling part of things, but it might not be your cup'o'tea.
         The characters are very strong.  Very strong.  Each person is unique, painfully so, and they all have their own motives.  Some of them are very easy to predict, such as Todd and Viola, but others are more of a wild card.  Everyone does things that are morally disgusting, such as committing murder, initiating planet-wide-war, and infecting innocent people with fatal diseases, but it's their reaction after the deed and the motives that drove them that you have to judge them on.  Otherwise, you'd wind up hating everyone in the books.
        The Land, and you won't know what I'm talking about until you've read the third book, confuses me.  It's sort of a peaceful part of the book, except for the fact that the Return is basically baying for blood, but I can't pick out individuals.  I couldn't even tell you if the Return is a male or a female.  The Return seems male for the most time, but other times it seems female . . . It adds to the overall effect of the story, but it can also subtract from it a bit.
        Another thing that subtracts from the story is the obvious bloodlust.  It sort of repulses me how many people in this book want war.  The Return can't stop begging to stick a knife in the Knife, Todd blatantly harms the captured ones in New Prentisstown, Mistress Coyle goes around blowing up things left and right and smiling while she does it, and the Mayor decides to start a war, just so he can rule.  What is with these people?  Most of the semi-prominent characters adore violence, and the main characters take part in it just to please the semi-prominent characters.  It is repulsive, but enthralling.  And it is completely rateable to today.  How many bullies hurt others, just because it gives them power?  It's a theme you see repeated here, but on a much grander scale.
        The New World in itself is intriguing.  The fact that everyone can hear the thoughts of everyone else (except for . . . but I won't ruin it), that animals can talk, and that you can hear the thoughts of the animals is really quite an interesting concept.  It is said in the book that it's all about information:  How much you have, how you can control it, and, of course, how often you get it.  Patrick Ness said, in his biography in the back of the first book, that he got the idea from today's society, and how we're always hooked up to information.  Computers, television, even radios and newspapers.  You name it, we're getting information from it.  Again, another theme that applies to today, and today's life.
         There are three books, this being a trilogy.  The first is "The Knife of Never Letting Go," followed by "The Ask and the Answer," and "Monsters of Men"  (because war makes monsters of men . . . ).  You might just want to check out all three at once, because both "The Knife" and "The Ask" end on major cliff hangers. Like, major.  Major, as in in-your-face, you are going to die if you don't read the next book as soon as humanly possible major.  I mean, "Monsters of Men," has a major cliff-hanger too, but you can't do really anything about that one.
         And even though all Viola and Todd want is to be safe, they forget that when you spit into the wind you get a convoy of 40 spaceships, the arrows of an alien species, and the hostilities of your own people coming right back at you. I hope you don't.

"Worldshaker" and "Liberator"

The "Worldshaker" and "Liberator" pair is a version of steampunk class struggle written by Richard Harland.
   
      "Worldshaker":  Colbert Porpentine is next in line to be the supreme commander of the juggernaut, the Worldshaker.  But when he meets a Filthy, a girl who's supposed to be no better than an animal, he begins to rethink what it means to be human and what is the true meaning of civilized.  First, though, he must survive his enemies at school, his scheming sister, marriage, and a revolution that will change the world for ever.

      "Liberator":  After the Filthy revolution, the Porpentines are at loss for what to do next.  With rising hostilities against the "Swanks" the former Filthies have taken over the newly christen Liberator and are treating the Swanks as the Filthies used to be treated.  When a new face appears on the council, Col and Riff are slowly torn apart as the Liberator falls back into the old age.  The Swanks and the Filithies must put aside old difficulties, though, when their secret gets out and enemy juggernauts go on the offensive.

These are good books, in my eyes.  Just to clear up some terms, "juggernauts" are gigantic ark-like metal structures that carry entire cities within them.  They roll around the earth and float on the land, picking up supplies as needed.  Because this is an alternate version of earth, mind you.
       Colbert Porpentine is the main character.  Duh.  He's not a particularly genius main character, but he's not a particularly dumb one either.  He's gullible, though, and he falls for the lies and stories he gets told.  That allows us to sneer at him while sympathizing with him at the same time.  Which is nice, because you don't often get a likable character that you're allowed to hate.
      Riff, the Filthy he meets, is probably the strongest character in the first book. Since Colbert only really comes into his own in the second book, she carries the story in the first book.  She is the problem as well as the solution to the problem, which is an interesting conundrum.  And, of course, she provides the "romance element."
       The characters each have very distinct personalities that board on absurd, but an interesting cast makes an interesting play.  Though, the names of these characters are quiet annoying.  Quienna, Sephalatina, Oris . . . I can't remember half of them, and I sure can't spell them.  When I have to discuss the book with other people, I basically say "Col's mother" or "Col's sister."  I do not use their names.  Especially in the first book, when the last names are so connected to class status, so they're important . . . Urgh.  Eventually you give up on trying to remember who's who, and pray that you know enough to get through the rest of the book.
      The idea of the story is very interesting.  An alternate earth, where Napoleon did invade England, and all of the countries of Europe had a lower class population from which they demanded forced labor.  You don't really hear about Asia, either of the Americas, Africa, or Australia, but you get enough to know that they exists, and they used to be colonies of England.
       Actually, you don't really get anything about the world outside the juggernaut, because that's where the people's whole lives are.  It does add to the overall effect of isolation, which is an asset because it thrusts you deeper into the setting.  It also adds to the overall effect of coolness when the Austrians and the Russians attack the Liberator.
       So while Colbert Porpentine and his rolling city shakes the earth with their gargantuan rollers and magnificent rulers, I'll be sitting on my couch, reading.  And even though it's enjoyable to watch, you can bet that my world hasn't been shaken.

Department 19

"Department 19," Will Hills, has been published with the tag line:  "Battling Vampires since 1892.  Now it's time to raise the stakes."

       Jamie Carpenter's father died under the bullet of a subatomic machine gun after strange things surrounded the Carpenter house.  Jamie's mother was kidnapped after a strange girl tried to kill him in the park.  Now Jamie's the only Carpenter left, and it's his turn to go after the biggest, baddest vampire since Count Dracula, and, of course, to rescue his mother.  Luckily, he'll have the power of Department 19, Britain's top secret vampire-hunting agency, at his back -- Only if past grudges can be put aside, and Jamie makes it out to the hunting grounds alive.

If you liked "The Slayer Chronicles," featuring Joss McMillan (Vlad Todd's, like, arch-enemy/best friend) by Heather Brewer, you will love Department 19.  It's crazy fast-paced action full of twists and turns that you'll never see coming.
        The plot is very intricate.  Trying to follow it is like trying to untie a length of fishing line that has been nested in by a bunch of animals all winter long.  And then dragged through the woods. Only after someone deliberately tied knots in it.  But, through all those tangles, you could never see the plot twists coming, which is a bonus.  It's the first time in a long time that I've been surprised by a book.  That, like, never happens.  So I was duly impressed.
        Of course, even the best action-thriller has it's problems.  First off, there are too many people.  Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention.  I don't know.  But I know I got the "Blacklight" operators mixed up so many times that I couldn't remember if the people who died had any significance (oops, sorry, spoiler . . . but you knew it was going to happen).  Also, it jumps back and forth in time.  This could be considered a plus, because it gives you back story and more information on characters, but it gets a bit confusing at times.  So, the main problem with this book is that it's confusing until you get to the mid-point.  After that, you're over the hump and it's smooth sailing.
         Also, I just don't get the character of Jamie Carpenter.  He changes from a listless boy who's still mourning his father to an angry young man who can kill vampires in the space of, like, 60 pages.  And 25 of those pages are devoted to telling about a man who was in New York City in 1928.  So, where's the transition for Jamie Carpenter?  In a dynamic character, the change generally happens over the course of the book.  In this character, this book, the change happens, nearly in the turn of a page.  He watches a video on Blacklight, and boom!, he's a vampire slayer.  Okay, then . . .
         I do enjoy the character of Larissa, though.  Plenty of books try to go against the grain by pointing out that vampires aren't bad, they're just tortured souls. She is a good-ish vampire, and she doesn't try to deny it.  That's nice for a change, that a vampire can flinch while sucking down blood, but still does it anyways.  Because all of these contemporary vampire types were getting me worried-- do we have to be perfectly in control of ourselves all the time?  Quite frankly, do we have to be perfect all the time?  If Larissa heard that question, I'm pretty sure she would say "no" too.
           There are also several random characters.  I won't say names (uh, Kate) but they were random.  And didn't really add anything to the plot.  Yeah, sure, they step in and save the main character a few times, but that wasn't really necessary.
           It is advised that you have prior knowledge about the book "Dracula," Bram Stoker.  The classic one, yes.  This book ties into that one.  In fact, it might be considered a bit of a modern day sequel.  I've never read the classic book, so I wouldn't know, but . . . As one of the Blacklight operators ( I finished it two days ago, and I've already forgotten which one it was)  says, "The book 'Dracula,' isn't fiction.  It's a history lesson."  Yeah, okay.  There is a very interesting back story on Bram Stoker, though . . .
          I bet that I will read the next book when it comes out.  I mean, it was a very engaging story, full of blood and gore and all that good stuff.  So, Jamie Carpenter, I will remember you and read you again for your vampire-slaying skills and pure adrenaline rush.  Not your literary significance.

The website is department19.org   The video is overly dramatic, but, whatever.  It's pretty hard to make an action video for a book like this without actually injuring someone . . . 

Spud

"Spud: a wickedly funny novel," (John van de Ruit ) says it all.
        John Milton lives in South Africa as apartheid beings to dissolve, but politics may be the last thing on his mind when John, nicknamed Spud, is sent to an all boy's-boarding school.  This school year will be one to remember as he gets a girlfriend, cheats on her, takes the lead in the musical Oliver, bonds with his drunken English teacher over novels, listens to the saga of the disappearing strawberry yogurt too many times, goes on a disastrous family trip to his uncle's farm in Namibia, nearly emigrates to Malta, plays on the school's rugby game,watches his family's sanity disintegrate, gets a puppy, learns a bit about life, and becomes part of a nearly unbreakable group of friends.  Spud learns that when things get crazy, you just run with them -- and even though sometimes you might get stuck in a chapel window, more often than not you'll come out feeling stronger than ever.

I laughed so hard I cried when I read this.  My sides shook, my stomach hurt, I stopped breathing momentarily, and people gave me strange looks (especially the part where they put Mad Dog out on the green . . . or when Mad Dog hung the dead cat over Vern's bed).  It was the best time I've have had reading a book . . . since ever, I think.  As far back as I can remember, I cannot remember laughing as hard as this at a book.
         I love the Crazy Eight.  Sure, they're loony, but they're loony in that wonderful way.  Simon, Spud, Rambo, Boggo, Vern, Mad Dog, Gecko, and Fatty.  To get all technical and into the literate arts, the characters are perfectly well rounded.  They are real, believable, and you root for all of them, even as they commit heinous crime after heinous crime.  They each have their own characteristics, too, which makes them wonderful.  And, as far as I can tell, they aren't really stereotypical.  Take Vern, for example.  He talks to his toiletries, communicates with the drama teacher's cat, and pulls his own hair out.  Or Mad Dog, who's constantly hunting anything that moves:  Pigeons, guinea fowl, the drama teacher's cat.  It's amazing how uniquely bonkers everyone in the dormitory is.  Spud's family, too, is as wonderfully crazy as any dysfunctional family can be.
       For the first hundred or so pages, the story doesn't seem very concerned with the time period, but it gets there eventually, with the release of Nelson Mandela.  Spud's feelings about apartheid vs. the thoughts of some adults should be very relatable for my generation, and those generations that are a bit older than us, because it's the kids who are excited about the revolution.  Well, Spud is.  He's pumped up, he wants to be a Freedom Fighter, he wants to change the world, but his father wants to move to Malta before the country "goes to the dogs."  As with this present generation, and every other generation, there is change in the air, and the younger people are the ones who are doing the changing of opinion, for the most part.
       It is sort of confusing at first, because the book is written in diary entries.  That isn't the confusing part, but the heading was "February, 24," or whatever, and there was something about autumn approaching.  That gave me a pause, because I live in the northern hemisphere.
      I would just warn you before you get into this book:  It's about a bunch of teenage boys.  Locked, for the most part, in a dormitory together.  Alone. Use your imagination.  This book is not for a feminine fatal nor the faint of heart.
      If you truly enjoyed this book (as I'm sure you will) you will want to check out the sequel, which is called   "Spud:  The Madness Continues."  I have not read it yet, but I'm sure that I'll enjoy it greatly.  
       This book was funny, sad, happy, maddening, and embarrassing, but all the same, it was perfect Everyone in Spud's world has their own channel of crazy.  But, somehow, you manage to tune in each one and love them all.

Through Her Eyes

"Through Her Eyes," Jennifer Archer, is a surprisingly good romantic ghost story.
     Tansy Piper wishes that she could live anywhere, be anyone else.  Her life, the pathetic thing that it is, is in shambles after her move from California, the deception of her ex-best friend, her grandfather's dementia, her mother's determination to hide from the past, and the grapevine of her new small Texas town.  Tansy gets her wish after she begins to see strange, black and white photos through the lens of her camera.  She finds that she can travel through these pictures and back into the past, becoming "Bell" Martin, the sweet girl who was in love with Henry, whom Tansy knows will commit suicide before he's done with Bell, and best friends with Tansy's grandfather.  As Bell's world becomes more vibrant, and Tansy's fades to gray, Tansy must choose which she wants to inhabit -- and she'll decided with the help of the town dreamboat, the local Shakespearean nerd, and the most popular cheerleader on the squad.

This was a really good book.  I even shed a few tears at the end.  See?  So, it's a sappy horror novel.  You really don't get too many of those. Or, at least, I don't.
      The plot of the story is very interesting.  In most books, people are like "Oh, I'm being possessed by a ghost!"  But here, it's very subtle, which is a nice touch.  Tansy denies it to the end, as well.  Which, fits in perfectly with Tansy's character (our next topic, but let me ramble on here for a little while).  The reason for the haunting is quite stereotypical, but, really, can anyone think of a better reason?
     There are pretty much two main characters here:  Tansy and Henry.  Tansy is a shy girl who wants to hide and nurse her wounds, at least in the beginning of the book.  She doesn't want to go out and make friends, she doesn't want to be there, but she winds up meeting people due to circumstance and a bit of guilt. Henry is the same way, nearly the exact same character, save that he's a male.  He doesn't like people, he doesn't want to talk to anyone, but he met Bell because they're neighbors, and he talks to Danny because he feels that he's responsible for them.  To me, this is interesting because in another "romantic horror" novel that I love, the main character and the ghost have conflicting personalities and goals.  Tansy and Henry have the same personalities, and pretty much the same goals.
      You could also see it in a way that would put Henry as Tansy's darker side.  Because sometimes he turns violent and abusive to those around him, while she wants to but never gives into it.  It could be considered as half a moral to us, and half a warning to Tansy not to become what Henry became.  There is also a strong sense of irony throughout the book, because even though Henry only wants to help himself, not caring whether he hurts Tansy in the process he winds up helping her.  Oh, sorry, *SPOILER.*
      Bethyl Ann, the cheerleader girl, and the dreamboat guy (I've forgotten their names) are complex characters as well.  Actual, every character is.  Time was evidently put into each character to make them unique and well-rounded.  Nearly every one is dynamic as well, which is interesting.  Not a lot of them change dramatically, but they change within their personalities, which makes more sense and a better story than if they'd changed dramatically.  Actually, none one, not even Tansy, changes in too dramatically.  It's more about her finding who she really is.
     I already warned you that this was a bit of a sappy book.
    Another strong point of this book was the poetry.  Tansy finds a book of poems that were written by Henry, and, well, you know, sort of obsesses of them.  I would obsess of them too, if I'd found that book, because the poems were good.  Two parts creepy, two parts depressing, and all parts truth.  In my opinion, at least.  I'm a  person that is full of angst as well.
      At first, though, I thought that Henry fell off his roof.  He didn't, just so you know.  And why would it be snowing in Texas?  Was it one of those crazy whether years?  Maybe I don't know my geography well enough to answer that question.  Also, no one really explains what was going on in Henry's mind, which would've been nice to know.  There is hardly any transition between Tansy's world being colorful, and then it being gray.  The best friend from California is dropped with only a few glances back.  Some things could've been explained more, and others could've been smoother.
     It's a good ghost story, though, and a nice fall back when I'm in need of a campfire tale.  Even though I can't remember all of the character's names, Tansy's story will continue to haunt me even as my world fades to gray.

I am Number Four

"I am Number Four," by Pittacus Lore.

Three are dead.  He is Number Four.
Assuming the pseudonym John Smith, "Number Four" sets to settling in in his latest town, Paradise, Ohio.  Falling for the ex-cheerleader ex-girlfriend of the town's basketball star doesn't do much to his policy of staying invisible, and staying invisible is everything for the alien who's trying to stay under the radar of the murderous Mogadarians who killed his people and stripped his planet of resources.  If John can keep his newly developing powers a secret from the bloodthirsty killers, than their might be a chance that Lorien can be saved.  Mistakes come at every turn, though, and John's powers fly out of control.  It might be merely a matter of time before the Mogadarians find him, and mark their death total up to four . . .

I am not impressed with this story.  It's a typical Hollywood-blockbuster movie, but slowed down a bit, and shoved into a book.  Here look at this version of the summary:
             There is a mysterious alien male who may or may not have amazing powers that have the potential to save our world from terrifying alien invaders!  He also wants to restore his home planet back to it's former glory because it was ravaged by the same species of intergalactic menaces.  But, before his powers develop, he must blend in with the high school population to hide from the evil aliens.  While he is hiding in a small town, he meets the girl of his dreams and gets into a fight with her possessive ex-boyfriend.  When his powers finally show themselves, will our hero be able to escape the detection of the bad guys?  . . . No, probably not.  
       Well, where have we heard that before?  Oh, right in the trailer of the next alien-invasion movie.  Which, makes sense, because this book is also a movie.  But even the book is complete with pretty blonds, unlikely allies, and an aging mentor.  I'm sorry, I'm just not happy over here.  I  guess I just thought it was going to be some fantastic book, some earth-shattering new sci-fi book.  Instead, it's horribly cliched.
        It has all of the good elements of a fiction book:  A gigantic problem that's about to become a whole lot bigger if it doesn't get fixed soon, a hero that's (presumably) going to fix it, and a secret that the hero has to keep hidden from the rest of the world.  Yeah, sure.  We see that in nearly every contemporary young adult book.  It's a reliable formula, as well as a comforting one.
        And there's a unique twist to the problem:  The victims can only be killed in numerical order.  But that premise leaves several unanswered questions;  who decided the numerical order?  What exactly is a Lorien charm?  Who casted the thing, if you said that all of your Elders had fled the planet?  There is a lot of mystery in this book, questions that are left unanswered to create hype, but those questions aren't there to create hype, in my opinion, and just leave holes in the reason of the plot.
        And, dude, does the girl have to be blond?  Does the ex-boyfriend have to be a jock?  I thought that we were past this.  Oh, sure, it's standard in plenty of realistic fiction/romance books, but this is . . . I don't know.   I enjoy stories.  Isn't that evident on what I choose to write my blog?  This is a pretty good story.  It has an intriguing back-story, and a wonderful premise to it.  But, I don't know, and I know I've said that before, but . . .  I would've done something different, if I had been writing it.
       Maybe part of the problem was that I couldn't find anyone in this book to relate to.  John was a bit bull-headed, Sarah was a bit of a ditz, Sam was too nerdy and unsocial . . . I probably could've connected with Henri, if given half the chance, but I wasn't.  He's always the enemy in John's eyes, the over-protective parent, etc.  But he's the only one with any sense!
      Also, I just couldn't buy into Mogadaria and Loria, or whatever the planets were called.  Those places, no matter how many times they described them or went over their history, there was never any chance that they might've, could've, possibly, maybe been real, that feeling you get when you read a really good book, and you know that that place could really be out there, no matter how implausible.
       So, Mr. Four, I wish you luck in saving your planet.  But with all your sterotypes, I doubt that you'll be able to save your literary audience from despair.

For more information (not much more, but . . .) the website is http://iamnumberfour.com/

The "Virals" Series

The "Virals" series is written by Kathy Reich, the author of the adult novels "Temperance Brennan."
Virals
    Tory Brennan's mother has just died, so she's sent to live with her previously unknown father in Charleston.  There she befriends three boys, rescues a dog, and digs up a fifty-year-old mystery.  But everything has its consequences, and the four kids begin to suspect that the dog carries a strain of parvovirus that might be contagious to humans.  And their's no doubt that someone doesn't want them figuring why human bones are buried out on a monkey preserve.  It's a race against time on both fronts:  to figure out the secrets of the virus before it kills them, and to figure out the secret of Katherine Heaton before the murder kills them. 

Seizure
     Charleston University is threatening to shut down LIRI, the Loggerhead Island Research Institution, putting all of the scientists who work there out of a job.  Tory can't bear the thought of leaving her pack, so when she finds clues that Anne Bonny's pirate treasure might be hidden somewhere in Charleston, she can't resist.  But just how far will she be willing to go to get the money to keep her new family together? Treasure hunting is dangerous business, and the gunmen aren't making it any easier. 

I haven't been posting in a while, because there have been no books good enough to post on.  Thankfully, this science-fiction duo solved my problem. 
       The best comparison is that the these books are like "Max Ride," times fifty, and good.  Yes, the "Virals," as the call themselves, Tory and the three boys, become canine-mutants as the result of the virus.  But that's not the only reason the books are similar:  They have the same fast-paced tempo and snarky voice.  These books, the "Virals," though, don't move too fast to keep up with--it's not like rapid fire, every chapter only taking up two pages.  It's not headache-inducing like that.  A chapter takes up maybe twenty pages, and five-to-ten things happen in that chapter.  It's fast enough to catch your interest and keep it.
        The books are also wildly intriguing.  I'm not a fan of the traditional mystery genre (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc.), but this isn't a traditional mystery books in the same sense that makes Nancy Drew so dull.  There's a pattern with the Nancy Drew books, we all agree, no?  And that can make them enjoyable.  It can also make them incredibly dull.  There are no patterns in these books.  Well, save the fact that there are always gunmen after the four kids.  There are also several plot lines that intertwine over the course of the books, and that keeps you engaged. And the mysteries aren't your stereotypical mysteries either. 
          The characters are vibrant, too.  You really can't take anyone for granted, because they may have a treacherous back story that we haven't heard of yet.  Some characters do have the misfortune of being exactly who they say to be, but you can't get everything you ask for.  Tory, our main character, is exactly who she says she is.  This is a good thing, because it's first person narration, and it'd be rather strange if a first person narrator kept secrets from you.  The three boys she hangs out with, Shelton, Hi, and Ben, are pretty much who they say they are, but they all have quirks that keep you laughing and coming back (especially Hi's sense of wicked sarcasm.)  
        I also liked how things like life at high school and Tory's looming debut (as a lady, not as an author or actor) is intertwined with things like murder and life-threatening sickness. It makes the whole story so much more believable, like it could've actually happened. Because the basic things still count, I guess, while you're running around in the middle of the night, breaking and entering historic buildings and private property. 
         There are some things that annoy me:  We don't know of Tory's love of dogs until, like, fifteen pages before she decides to kidnap (dognap?)  Cooper, the wolfdog.  Little stuff like that.  And why did they have to break into the library?  Why not just go during the daytime?   Yeah, so.  Maybe I was reading too quickly, but there are little details like that escape my notice and slightly annoy me.  I don't know.  Maybe I'm just too picky.
         Tory Brennan and her pack astounded, surprised, and amused me.  Leaping from the pages of their story into their lives, they took me on a whirlwind tour of Charleston and the mystery/sci-fi genre.  They've broken open my heart -- I can only hope that my front door is not their next target. 
       
If you wanted to see the "official" bios of these books, www.kathyreichs.com  There are a bunch of her other books on there too, so you have to click "books" to find anything about the "Virals."

Dreamdark: Blackbringer

"Dreamdark:  Blackbringer," Laini Taylor, is a tale of whimsy . . . and the end of the world.
       Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind and a fairy, travels the world, hunting down demons that humans have released from their bottles.  With her seven crows and their traveling caravan, their travels take them far and wide.  But when the mannies release the worst demon of all, the Blackbringer, the stuff of legends and nightmares, Magpie, affectionately 'Pie, must return to a home she hasn't been to in 80 years:  The forest of Dreamdark.  As the destruction of her people becomes immanent, she appeals to the oldest and strongest power for help.  If she can wake him from his sleep and gain his trust, those she loves might be saved.  Secrets are unraveled and truths are revealed, though, and 'Pie learns that the Djinns aren't the only ones who could save the forest. 
      
What book today isn't about the end of the world?  At least this one approaches it creatively, I suppose.  It doesn't come out right and say, "we have to save the world!"  because that would be lame.  And this book wasn't lame, thank the powers that be.  I enjoyed it a lot, actually. 

      The characters were real, and that was a big part of it.  A lot of books don't have well-formed characters.  Well, books that I've been reading of late.  Magpie, though, is three-dimensional, and I knew what she was going to do next.  Rephrasing that:  I never knew what she was going to do next, but the things she didn't made sense and fit in with her character.  The "co-stars," Talon, Poppy, Lady Vesper, Orchardspike, etc, are real as well, and no back story seems to be a stretch.  Everything, every character, fits, as perfect as a puzzle piece.
      There was a sense of unpredictability and haphazardness about the book that was also nice. Everything fit together, but it didn't come together neatly.  It sort of fell together, seemingly at random.  Things that didn't seem important were important.  There were twists and turns that weren't expected, but that had been there all along.  There were items that seemed to have no importance, but changed the course of the plot.  There were actions that were taken at page thirty and had great significances at page 200.  It was a chaotic mess, but it was also a woven pattern. 
      And, you can probably see that I enjoy the illustrations from the picture above.  There are a few good-full sized pictures of the three main characters, and they are very well done.  I took this picture from the website listed down below, and there are several pictures from the book on that site.  I didn't like the internal  picture of Magpie, of course (I'm so picky), but I did enjoy the cover.  The picture above is of Poppy, who is a 'flower fairy,' I suppose.
       Of course, there were a couple things that could be spotted from a mile off.  The slandered happy ending; the fact that the main character is going to be wonderfully and uncommonly gifted.  One can see these cliches from a mile off.  The things that aren't cliched pretty much balance those out, in my opinion.
       Also, this isn't a soppy Disney fairy tale love story.  I'm not saying those are bad or anything (I'm just implying it).  The characters are still teenagers, maybe, in "fairy-years," relatively young teenagers.  So, yeah.  I like things like that. I'm not saying that it doesn't hold elements of sterotypical fairies (see above picture), but there are also non-sterotypical-fairy things.  Like, demons.  And swords.
     I also like how the fairy tales seem to swirl around the characters:  The saga of the hero Bellatrix, the story of Magpie's parents, the myths of the Djinns, the legends of the dragons.  These add flavor to the world of Dreamdark, for what is a culture but their stories and beliefs?  Even Magpie's parents realize this, as shown by their journeys to fairy villages to collect the old stories.  Every little detail in this book comes alive, and either brings a new perspective or adds to a perspective that's already there.
     There's another book in the series, a sequel.  I think it's called "Silksinger."  For sure, I'm going to look into it.  Actually, Laini Taylor's written some other stuff that I like, and I didn't make the connect between her and the other stuff she's written before I looked at her site.  I enjoyed "The Daughter of Smoke and Bone," but I haven't read the sequel to that one yet.  So, that's two books I need to look out for.

You can find all the information here at www.lainitaylor.com  It's a "google blogspot," or whatever they're calling this, if you care to know.

Nevermore

"Nevermore" is the eighth and final book in James Patterson's best selling series, "Maximum Ride."          It's all come down to this, hasn't it?  A final battle between good and evil.  A final chance for Maximum Ride to save the world.  A final decision that could raise or raze civilization.  But what is there to fight? With the whitecoats secretly perfecting their 99% plan in some hidden laboratory, though, the Flock busy trying to be "normal" mutants, and Fang's gang trying to do something, anything, to make the difference, the battlefield seems nearly empty. 
       But Jeb and "Dr. God" have other plans.  And bringing back the dead is only one of their strategies.  As everything goes haywire, the Voice issuing warnings and assignments, multiple betrayals, the start of the end of the world, Max has just two questions.  What's the catch?  And can Fang and Dylan ever stop tearing her heart apart, even as the foundation of all that's known crumbles at their feet?

This book wasn't as bad as "The Final Warning," another book in the series.  Actually, it was the best one in a while.  Which may not be saying much.  I stopped liking them around "Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports," but I was hooked:  I wanted to know what happened to Max and the rest of the Flock.  I mean, come on.  Who wouldn't?  But I'm sort of glad that it's over, so I can quite with my crazy obsession.
     Of course, James Patterson milked the Fang/Dylan dynamic for all it was worth.  Hey, I'm not blaming him.  It was the only thing that was keeping me on for quite a bit of "Fang."  But it was really just . . . dramatic.  More end-of-the-world, less candle-lit dinners.  Please?
      I'm not happy with the ending.  Am I ever?  But, really.  It could've used more action and movement and, I don't know, but it was missing something.  Oh, here it is:  Tension.  And, well, I've heard the saying "surprising, yet inevitable," relating to books, or really all literature.  So . . . It was surprising, yes, but not inevitable.  It came completely and totally out of the blue.  As most of the things come in this series. 
      I liked the characters in this book.  I mean, they were no different from the characters in the rest of the books, but there was something about them here that made them seem more likable.  Max isn't as cranky, and she seems like she's a nicer person to be around.  Less self-absorbed.  You know, things like that.  It wasn't a dramatic change, or anything, it was just in the way that they were written. 
      The whole problem is, I think, is that "The Angel Experiment" was an amazing book.  It was fast paced, it was catchy, and it was new.  But as the series went on, the story either went too slow or too fast, stopped being catchy and started being annoying, and got old.  James Patterson never manages to capture the energy as he did in that first book.  You keep expecting an "Angel Experiment," but you don't really get it.  Even "Nevermore" only captures a little bit of that energy. 
     The series started cornering itself during "Final Warning," when James Patterson made the end of the world be about global warming.  Yes, that is a big problem in today's society.  But one bird kid cannot change the problem.  One bird kid cannot save the world from global warming, no matter how determined she is.  He could've done so much more with the series, James Patterson could've, but he hemmed himself in.  And even within the parameters he set himself, he could've made "Nevermore" so much better. 
       The series, in order, are "The Angel Experiment," "School's Out--Forever," "Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports," "The Final Warning," "Max," "Fang," "Angel," and last, but certainly not least, "Nevermore." 
         It was quite a ride, Max.  It might not have been the maximum ride, but you can't argue with a good story, so I took what you gave me.  And I might just remember you and you're struggle after you've flown off into the sunset.   

And, as if you need it again  (it seems like I've written this out a dozen times on this site, though it's only been three), the URL.  www.max-dan-wiz.com You can read the first 16 chapters free.

Book News (THIS IS NOT A BOOK TITLE)

There is a new Artemis Fowl book out!  Augh!  And I have not read it yet!  This is a disaster!  It's called "The Last Gaurdian," and in it, Opal Koboi is back.  Yey!  It's the final book in this now eight-book series.  You can go to http://www.artemisfowl.com/  to check that out.  It sounds pretty good.

James Patterson's "Nevermore," the ninth and final book in the "Maximum Ride" series is out.  I'm really annoyed because they had a contest in the eight book, "Angel," and the winner of that was supposed to be announced in "Nevermore," but it isn't.  Just a heads up on that.
     The book is 12 dollars on Barnes and Noble.com, but 18 dollars at the store.  It's probably cheaper at Target, but I couldn't find it there.  Um . . . so,  www.max-dan-wiz.com for that.  You can read the first sixteen chapters there.   (And let me tell you--the six extra dollars I spent this afternoon have been worth it so far.)

While we're on the topic of new books, here's one that's coming out, Rick Riordan's next installment of his "Hero's of Olympus" series, "The Mark of Athena" is coming out in October.
 http://disney.go.com/official-sites/heroes-of-olympus/index is the place to go for more information on that.  There is also an preview chapter to read on that . . . That does not make me want to read the book anymore than I already do, but I guess I'll read the book anyways.  I'm not finding Rick Riordan's stuff as good as it used to be.  But, whatever.  I'm hooked on Percy Jackson, sadly, and no matter how bad the writing is I'll keep reading the books.  I only wish the writing was better. 


Uh, yeah. I guess I'll update this as more things come out, then.

Dark Goddess

"Dark Goddess," by Sarwatt Chadda, is the fanstastic sequel to "Devil's Kiss."
     Bilquis SanGreal is back, and she's angry.  After her best friend, and boyfriend?, died at her own hands, a sacrifice against Saint Micheal, the Knights Templar have been in turmoil.  When they get wind of a vampire pack that sacrifices young oracles every year to their goddess, they set out to Russia to rescue the next sacrifice, and they can only pray that they'll find her in time.  With the help of the roguish Ivan, Billi must figure out who she's fighting, where she's fighting, and how she's going to win this thing.  When your enemies are the Russian equivalents of the Knights Templar, the werewolves, a maybe-mobster with a Mafia connections and a finger in every pie, and yourself, you're fighting somewhere in the snow-covered forests of Siberia, and your only weapons are arrows tipped with asteroids, you think you'd give up.  But Billi won't.  Not when her life and the rest of the world is at stake. Not when she could do something, instead of just standing by and watching.  Not again.

Yeah.  So, I forgot the name of Russian equivalent of the Knights Templar.  You can't blame me.  I read the book three weeks ago.  I started at five'o'clock in the afternoon, and finished it at ten'o'clock at night.  The power was out, so I really didn't have anything to do but read.  So then I picked up another book.  ("Rot and Ruin", Johnathon Maberry, but I'll get to that later.) And half the names in this book went flying out of my head.  But it was so, so good.  I would've let it sit a while in my brain, but it was so hot I couldn't do anything but read.
       The plot line differs from the original, which was good.  You know how in some authors become formulaic and all that.  But this book shook it up. Also, a lot of the characters vary.  That makes sense, because a bunch of the characters in the first book died, and then they visited Russia.  The more minor characters are a bit hard to keep track of, in my opinion, but the main characters have distinctive names, so it doesn't really matter. 
        And, this is related, I promise, in some books, you know how there is a first book that has one premise?  Like, one backbone.  One specific task in mind.  And then, in the sequel, it's all like "oh, you were acting under a prophecy, and now you need to do this and this and that?" just to make the series longer?  Really, that bugs the heck out of me.  It's like to two books are completely unconnected, but in characters and setting?  (Mr. Percy Jackson, I'm looking at you.)  But these two books are firmly connected, not just tethered together by a string. 
       In "Devil's Kiss" they mention that some people were out werewolf hunting.  So it wasn't completely strange that the Knights Templar were out werewolf hunting in the beginning of the book.  And they'd mentioned that there were some other organizations that fought the Unholy in the other book, so it wasn't completely random that there was an organization in Russia.  So the books were connected.  That makes me happy.
       Of course, Billi was an amazingly flavored character.  Ivan was too, as was Ivan's nemesis, what's-his-name.  I could've used more characterization on that werewolf woman, and why she wound up helping the Knights, instead of her goddess.  Um . . . and that werewolf who was the werewolf woman's daughter.  What was her problem?  Also, the book relies heavily on characterization from the other book.  We don't see much of Arthur SanGreal, and we're already expected to know what he's like . . . But he changed suddenly at the end of "Devil's Kiss," so that doesn't work out too well.  Also, the new apprentice, Mordred, and the new Father aren't explained that well.  I might've been reading too quickly, but they didn't seem to be expressed to well.  There were almost no personal details about either of them.
       And one can surmise that Ellen (Is that her name?  I know it begins with and 'e.') now likes Billi more because she didn't have to kill Arthur, like that completely random prophecy suggested she might have to.  But she still killed . . . I won't say it, just so those who haven't read "Devil's Kiss" won't spoil the ending for themselves, but her behavior doesn't match up with what we know of her personality.
      Anything else that I want to add?  Um, that I liked the ending.  Yey!  A happy ending this time!   It was really quite relieving.  I also liked that added element of Billi having to fight her 'inner nature,' etc., because it added another dimension.  Um . . . and I'm really glad that the werewolves were in there because I really like werewolves.  Just sayin'.  Nice to read about something other than ghuls or demented archangels, because that's all you seem to read about these days, no?  (It was a joke.) 
      So even though we all know that there's nothing to fear but fear itself, and Billi SanGreal, I've been keeping one eye over my shoulder, holding my breath in fear of the Unholy and the all-to-realistic creatures that lurk in Sarwatt Chadda's novels. 

(You think of something more clever and tell me about it, 'k?)

Again, you can visit Sarwatt Chadda and read his blog at www.sarwattchadda.com
  

Genius Squad

"Genius Squad" by Catherine Jinks is the sequel to "Evil Genius."  Also by Catherine Jinks.
      Cadel Piggot--or Darkkon, or English--is fifteen years old and living in a foster home.  His involvement with the Axis Institute and his maybe father are not yet in the past, because Prosper English, alias Thaddus Roth, is not willing to say anything that would incriminate himself.  And, because no one can figure out if Cadel is a citizen of the United States or of Australia, Cadel's been stuck in a foster home with a malicious boy and limited computer access.  It's like death after all the privacy he wanted at the Piggots, and all the computer time he wanted at the Insitute.  So no wonder he jumps at the chance to join the Genius Squad in hopes of shutting down Phineas Darkkon's scam business, GenoME, with his best and only friend, Sonja.  But how far will Prosper English go to make sure that his heir is under his sole control?  And has Cadel finally found a good home--or is the Genius Squad just a more attractive and innocent-looking Institute?

HA!  Take that, public library system!  I finally found it!  I am convinced that the library had been keeping this book from me, even as I'd been searching for it.  They just didn't want me to read it.  But now I am reading it.  So, there. 
    It was well worth the wait, and the two months of nearly fruitless searching (Yes, I have heard of requesting a book, but I'm just to lazy, okay?).  Catherine Jinks provides a compelling squeal to her first story of a genius boy warped from age two.  This story, though, has a slightly different taste to it. 
    In "Evil Genius" we all know that Cadel was just that:  an evil genius.  Duh.  It's in the title of the book.  He wrecked all sorts of havoc on Sydney, and went to a school for villains.  He was not a good person.  Plain and simple.  But this story explores him trying to break away from his villainous urges.  Of course he still has them, and it would be completely unbelievable if he didn't. This older Cadel has gained a consciousness and a strong sense of dislike for his previous life.
    But he still does preform acts of revenge, and when he does they seem pettier.  He does know that, but still.  Dumping soiled bedsheets on someone's shoes?  What does that accomplish?  Maybe it symbolizes that he's leaving behind his past as a sophisticated villain, and becoming more of a kid . . . and maybe I'm just grasping at straws.   
     The computer lingo is just as intriguing.  I was reading the part in the book where a virus gets disguised as a software protection pop-up last night, and then I clicked on a McAfee "scan your computer" dialogue box a minute or so ago.  I clicked on it out of habit, and then I completely freaked out because someone might've been trying to get into my computer files to see if I had been communicating with any fraudulent companies.  Yeah.  It does make me think twice about putting anything out there on the Internet.
     It's also quite interesting how the information the author gives you is just barely understandable.  Like, what's a "honeytoken" in relation to computers?  She doesn't give you enough information so you know what it is, exactly, but she gives you enough to make sure that you aren't drowning.  As she gives it to you, too, it seems natural, not like you're stupid and she's lecturing you.  It's more like you're privy to Cadel's thoughts and he just barely thinks around the actual definition.  So you aren't crushed and dying underneath all the foreign terms in this book:  You're on top of the moon because you feel like a genius yourself for understanding it all.
      One half-complaint, though.  There are so many characters.  Sure, all their names are distinct and their personalities individual, but at first they leave my head spinning.  There are at least ten new character additions in this book, additions to an already numerous cast.  You get used to them all after a while, because they are constantly reused and brought back, but still.  It's mind-boggling, but it also makes it feel a bit more real, because don't we all know a gazillion people?  And, bonus, you feel proud of yourself just for remembering them all. 
     Oh, yeah, and this is the second book of a triology, I think.  The third one is called "The Genius Wars."  Sounds promising, no? 
     I would strongly recommend reading this story of a villain turned semi-do-gooder.  Science fiction has never been so down-to-Earth (sorry, I had to), and the genre of fantastical crime has never seemed so feasible.  Start putting up firewalls, CEOs of fraud companies, because the Genius Squad is coming for you. 

The author has her website at www.catherinejinks.com.  New books, old books, kid's books, and author's bio.  You know.  The usual.

Booklist (THIS IS NOT A BOOK TITLE)

Okay, so, I'm going to be gone for three weeks.  These are some books that I've read that I really want to post on, but I don't have the time.  I read about a book a day, in some cases, and I never get to post on them all.  So, if you want some ideas without a page full of my annoying critique, well, I have it all right here.  Enjoy? 
     
       The Auslander--Paul Dowswell.  Peter is a boy living in Poland when the Nazis invade.  Declared a perfect Aryan specimen, he is taken back to Germany to live with a rich professor, his wife, and their three daughters.  But Peter is shocked by the way the Germans are treating his old kinsfolk, the Poles, and he decideds to help his girlfriend, Anna, make a difference.  Because no matter how hard he tries, Peter still feels like he's an outsider in the country that says it's his . . . An Auslander in Nazi Germany. 

Paul Dowswell's website:  www.pauldowswell.co.uk

     Ruby Red--Kerstin Gier (translated from German by Anthea Bell).  Gwen has grown up in a household of secrets.  The Montrose house is full of them.  But one secret she knows is that select women in her family can time travel.  Everyone says that her cousin is going to be the prodidgal time-traveler.  That's what's expected, isn't it?  But as secrets and lies tend to do, the mystery shrouding the whole thing fall apart, and Gwen is left holding the secret of the centuries in her hands.  Some things, though, are a secret even to her and the rest of the Montrose family, and Gwen is only looking at the tip of the ice-burg.

(This book was an international best-seller in Germany.  It is the first of a triology, but I haven't been able to find the other two books.  I know the second is called Saphire Blue, I think, but I don't know what the third one is.) 

        Ashes--Ilsa J. Bick.  When an electromagnetic wave sweeps the nation, knocking out all the electrionics and turning most of the population into savage 'zombies', a girl who's battling cancer, a solider on leave, and a nine-year-old girl must band together to find safety and food.  What safety they find, though, may be as sick and twisted as the rest of the world.

(I'm sorry, I don't really remember anything about this book other than the basic plot line and that the solider's name was 'Tom'.  It was really good, though, and I recomend it if you're into the whole 'doomsday, 2012, nuclear winter' sort of deal.)

        Define "Normal" --June Ann Peters.   Antonia Dillion sgined up to be a peer counsler, sure, but she didn't sgin up to counsel the baddest girl in school--Jazz Luther, a leather-rocking, piercing-adorned, tattooed bad girl.  Antonia is known as a 'ya-ya', a prissy girl, one who thinks she's better than everyone elses. She's not about to contradict anyone, lest they learn the truth.  And when Jazz does, Anotina thinks that nothing will be normal ever again, even as Jazz introduces her to a very different type of normal.

(A definate read, even though it's sappy and made me cry.  Hey, don't judge, you haven't read it yet.)

       Ash--Malinda Lo.  Ash's father and mother have both passed away, leaving her to work off her step-mother's debts as she watches her step-sisters dress up to go meet and (hopefully) marry rich boys.  The faerie in the wood is the only thing that keep Ash sane, and her visits to him help her remember that she isn't just a servent.  When Ash meets the king's huntress, though, she beings to long for more . . . maybe even something like love?

(This was called a "modern Cinderella" or something on the back of the book.  It is, in a way, but it is sent in a mythical land in the era of fancy dresses, dukes, dutchesses, and formal courting.  It also has blood and creepy fairytales, so that makes it okay.  ;)  ) 

Okay, so, I guess you did get a page full of my comentary.  Sorry 'bout that.  and sorry that there aren't as many books on here as I would like--I guess these were the only ones that were good enough to remember.  So, have fun reading, I suppose, and I'll write again in three weeks!