Article 5

Article 5, Kristen Simmons, is another Hunger-Games-like book about a dystopian era, but one that is more . . . realistic, if you don't mind the oxymoron. 
     Ember Miller remembers Chase Jennings as the sweet boy who used to be her boyfriend.  Ember Miller's mother remembers how life in the United States used to be before the new Articles were introduced and the war happened.  But remembering won't get the mother-daughter pair anywhere after the so-called 'Moral Milita'  invade their home and separate them, because according to the government and Article 5 they are not a 'true family'.  The worse thing is, is that Chase was one of the officers who dragged a fighting Ember away from her mother. 
      Things go from bad to worse--Instead of being just hungry and poor, Ember is now stuck in a rehab for 'troubled girl's with no hope for a trail.  Until a familiar face takes her out to be a witness for her mother's trial.  Maybe life will look up after all . . . as soon as Ember can figure out what's going on, and what her heart is telling her. 


This book is a literal all-nighter.  Seriously.  I stayed up until 11 and woke up at 6 to read this.  (I need my beauty sleep, okay?  It can't harm me, not while I have this face.)  Needless to say, I finished it before I allowed myself to even consider breakfast this morning. 
     What is it about dystopian books that captivate us?  With Katniss it was the fear that she might die, and the hope that she could earn something better.  With Ember, though, it's the fear that she might die and the hope that she won't.  There is no cushy side to this new United States as there was with Panam.  The hard life is the only life, and it doesn't matter if you put your life on the line, you will stay where you are or your situation will become worse. 
     One scene from the book that stays with me is when Ember is lined up in a food line in Tennessee (don't ask, I won't tell you) and she sees a beggar, an old emaciated man just standing by the side of the road.  The people start to descend on him and they pull away his cardboard sign and the tin that's by his feet for donations.  Ember keeps trying to save him, but she gets pulled away, and when the people leave she realizes that the man died a while ago.  He was dead standing up-right, and people took all of his clothing while he was dead.
     The better thing is that people haven't waited generations to start a revolution--but I'll keep my fingers still on that one.
      I did love the characters, well, the two main ones.  They seemed to be the best people in the book, the only people who were out for personal gain that wasn't monetary.  Ember becomes a fighter in the course of the book, and the transition doesn't happen as fast as it happens in other books.  It's slow and you can barely notice it, but it's there.  That gradual change is pretty refreshing, actually, watching it happen slowly and not snap!  she's a fighter.  (I won't point fingers, Ms. Everdeen.)  Chase, well, Chase is an interesting case.  I like his character a lot, but he's very, very intense.  I could see his eyes burning holes at me through the paper.  It was different, you know, because usually you can't feel people in books that way.  But if I met these two on the street, I would be able to pick them out and have a conversation  with them.  What we would talk about other than if I meant them harm or not, I do not know.
    I will wait with bated breath for a sequel.  There seems to be a raid on Chicago or something in order . . . and even though my mother won't let me handle a firearm, I will be right a the helm with Ember Miller, fighting my way to freedom.  And though this is not a fate that I wish on the United States of America, or any other country in the world, I'll have you know that liking this book, well, it's as mandatory as obeying the Articles.  (I made a funny.  No, wait, it was a baddie.)

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories.

Steampunk!  An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories was cobbled together by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, with contributions from M.T. Anderson, Holly Black, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Shawn Cheng, Cory Doctorow, Dylan Horrocks, Kathleen Jennings, Elizabeth Knox, Kelly Link, Garth Nix, Christopher Rowe, Delia Sherman, and Ysabeau S. Wilce.
     Fourteen short stories that fall under the category of steampunk that delight and entrance.  From automatons who can love, to 'summer people' who make wonderful things out of cogs and scrap bits of metal, to a boy who wants to travel the United States in his own, private car these stories take you past the basic definition of steampunk, showing you what machines can do to the human soul:  they can free it or destroy it, sometimes both at the same time.

It was the title that got me. Well, actually, the call letters which, in my library, are YASTEAMPUN.  I had to take it off the shelf after I saw that.  And I am so, so glad I did.
    There are a few authors and their stories I want to point out:
    Holly Black is my idol, and her story "Everything Amiable and Obliging" is a great example of why. It brings up the age old question, and the one that would eventually follow:  Can machines really love?  And how would we deal with them if they could? 
     Libba Bray's "Last Ride of the Glory Girls" was also different.  Sort of creepy, but then again, most of the stuff of hers that I've read is. 
       "Some Fortunate Future Day" by Cassandra Clare provoked a reaction of extreme disgust and another of extreme morbid fascination at the same time.  Who in their right mind would do that? 
      I did not like "Seven Days Beset by Demons" by Shawn Cheng.  It is a short story written in graphic form, and I didn't like it because, well, I was just disgusted by the character, frankly. I think that was the point of the whole thing, but I don't like stories in which I despise the characters so much I don't want to read the story.  Thankfully it was only fourteen pages.
      Kelly Link put in "The Summer People" which was wonderfully haunting as well.  My three loves in fantasy are steampunk, Faerie, and endings that leave you slightly off kilter.  Kelly Link has hit all three. 
      I could comment on all of the stories, but I'll do just two more:  Christopher Rowe's "Nowhere Fast" came with mixed messages.  Which is more important:  Our planet or the open road?  And Garth Nix's "Peace in Our Time" was wonderfully demented. 
      Really, this anthology is a treasure, in my opinion.  First off, each story looks at steampunk in a different way.  It wasn't all about cogs and gears, steam and the Victorian Era.  There were plenty of stories with no visible clogs or gears, stories with electricity and modern times.  Plenty of characters who had their own dreams, their own lives, their own hates. 
     Sure, it was pretty stereotypical that nearly every main character in the stories aspired to be an engineer, but I guess that's the whole thing about machines:  you have to be an engineer to work them. 
     Truth to be told, I'm going to be wanting some books made out of these stories.  What happened to the Glory Girls?  Did Luz ever get to surf in California?  Did Fran ever go back and rescue Ophelia?  How will it work out for Amelia and Nicholas?  Will Rocket Boy ever get to see Mars?  Will Rose ever get to the Capital?  I want to know all the answers, and sadly, I don't think I'll ever get to.  It's worth dreaming about it, anyways.  The dreams in this book should be enough to sustain me for a while, though, and I'll feed off them like they're azoth.  (Reference to the book:  I'm not out of my mind and just randomly making up words, thank you very much.)

Five Flavors of Dumb

Five Flavors of Dumb, by Antony John, is a book that looks at the world from a whole different perpesctive . . . a completely silent one. 
      Piper is deaf.  She got her hearing aids when she was six, and since that time all she's wanted to do is get into Galludeut.  But her parents have removed money from the bank account her grandparents set up for her to pay for a Cochlear Implant for her six-month sister.  Her life couldn't be any worse--her father thinks she disabled, her dreams of collage are swirling down the drain, her sister has stopped being the one person she can relate to, and her besr friend moved away to San Francisco ages ago. Now the only deaf girl in a mainstream school, Piper has a month to find the school's biggest band a paying gig. But how can she do that when she can't hear or understand a thing they're playing?  Pushing past the bias, Piper finds away to prove to people that she is not defined by her hearing impairment--and that she can rock her own life. 

I have personal intrest in this book because I know people who are deaf or hard of hearing.  It gave me a new look on what it must be like to be alone in a nearly silent world, though. 
    I really like the character of Piper, because her gall alone is amazing.  Really, I don't think I could muster up half her courage. And she is amazingly alive too.  Every feeling she feels is plausible, and it doesn't seem fake or, well, like the author was trying too hard to make her feel a certain way.  It came naturally and smoothly, and if someone told me they met Piper Vaughan on the street I wouldn't be surprised.
    The other characters are much the same.  Very real, very alive, though you can't always detect their motives.  But isn't that better?  In real life you can't always tell why people act the way they do, and sometimes in books they spell it out too clearly to you. 
    My favorite character is Piper's little brother, Finn.  When you first 'meet' him, he seems to be the typical little brother you meet in books--the one who makes life miserable for the big sister, the one who's in trouble 24/7, the one who wants to blow off his family and go do what he wants to do . . .  Of those criteria, Finn meets 1 out of those 3.  I'll leave you to imagine the rest.
     The book is also about independence.  From the rules that have bound Piper since she was a kid, from sterotypes, from her shell.  Or maybe it's more about being yourself and sticking it to everyone out there.  It could be about sticking with it and not giving up, or about how there is more to it than the money.  I don't know, and I don't care.  I couldn't care while I was reading, because I was too absobed in watching people gain their independence, being themselves, sticking it to everyone else, sticking with it, and learning that it's more than money.  When you pick up this book, don't expect to put it down any time soon.  You'll find that your caring more about the future of Dumb than the time of dinner. 
      And since I haven't exactly finished the entire book yet, I'll leave the rest up to you.  Just know that so far its been a fantastic testament to the human spirit, even when it's being crushed my society's 'norms' and high school.  I can only hope I'll be like Piper when  I'm where she is.

Evil Genius

In Evil Genius, Catherine Jinks spins a straw of a boy who was raised wrong, but might just turn out right.
      Cadel Piggot has always been told "Whatever you do--don't get caught."  So, by the age of six he has shut down the Sydney railway system for an afternoon, and caused an impenetrable traffic jam in the same place at the same time.  Obsessed with systems and anything that will ruin people's lives through not-quite-illegal methods, Cadel quickly climbs through the grades, with the encouragement of his psychologist, Thaddus Roth, and his imprisoned father, Phineas Darkkon.  A chance meeting with a woman over the Internet and the enrollment into a prestigious collage for criminals may but a wrinkle in Phineas's and Thaddus's plans, as Cadel learns what it's like to think for himself. 

First it was Harry Potter.  After that came the deluge:  Falcon Quinn, Otto Malpense, Charlie Benjamin, Percy Jackson, and countless others.  What do these boys and the names of their school all have in common?  They are all the focus of stories that tell a tale of a powerful hero (or heroine) with powers of the supernatural who went to a special school to get trained in the art of using those powers to achieve good and make the world a better place.  Should we add another name to those ranks:  Cadel Piggot?  Not so much.
       Why?  Well, that would give half the book away.  And it was a very good part of the book, trust me.  But one reason might be what Thaddus has told Cadel since he was small "Whatever you do--don't get caught."  You generally don't find that in a lot of books.  Small wonder why, right?  (The adults don't want us breaking the laws uncontrollably.)  And Cadel does whatever he wants and he never gets caught.  It's very . . . impressive, to say the least.  I might be the slightest bit jealous. 
       And all of the teachers in Axis Institute are also known criminals, another angle that is very interesting.  Which school hires teachers wanted for fraud, and who-knows-what-else?  The whole set-up is very interesting.  From the Virus, a computer-hacking genius who Cadel often takes advantage to, to Tracey Lane, a has-been news anchor who's quite the player. 
       In fact, the whole atmosphere of Axis Institute is very interesting.  In the book series HIVE (Higher Institute for Villainous Education, James Walden), the criminals are all very friendly with each other, to some degree.  The staff gets along well, for the most part, and the students befriend each other and whatnot.  But in Axis, the staff hate each other and spy on each other, and the students try to kill each other.  It's just . . . well, it's fantastic if you're slightly crazed like moi, and a bit creepy if you're the sane sort of person. 
         What else can I tell you other than that Catherine Jinks bamboozles you with her cleverness and the way she makes Cadel smarter than any known human being, while still keeping him very human?  He changes a bit fast, Cadel does.  From a criminal to a kid, very quickly.  But I suppose getting kidnapped does that to you. (Oh, wait, sorry . . .) 
         This is one of those books that I don't really have anything critical to say about.  It's over 500 pages, though, in paperback, and the real action doesn't start until about page 300, and there is some stuff that you could guess all along while it takes a while for Cadel to figure out.  Other than that, I say that you take your first plunge into true villainy in the works of Ms. Jinks, and maybe it will become clear that while we might all be bad, we're bad because me make the conscious choice to be.  Or something like that. 
         P.S.  The book's setting is in Australia.  I was having trouble figuring out whether it was in England or in Australia, but when I saw the word "Sydney", I figured it out.  Just so you go into it relatively unconfused.

Suck it Up

Suck it Up, by Brian Meehl, is another great story about why being a vampire, well, sucks. 
       Morning McCobb has never been the greatest vampire.  Skinny and nerdy, and the most well-accomplished reader of Marvel comics in the IVLeague (International Vampire League), he doesn't fit human's, and most vampire's, ideals of a good vampire:  beautiful, sleek, and intelligent.  But the IVLeague wants to integrate their members with the world of humans, and Morning McCobb has been chosen as their new poster boy.  Assigned public relations agent Penny Dredful, Morning meets her daughter, Portia Dredful, and gets a reminder of what it's like to be human.  Fighting envy and himself with every public appearance, Morning gets a taste of what it's like to be an actual hero, something he's wanted since before he can remember, and a taste of what it's like to fall to the dark side.

This book was eh.  Funny and fresh in many ways, but predictable in many others.  Yeah, guy falls for girl.  Vampire slayer wants to kill guy, and uses girl to get at him.  Oops, did I just give away some of the plot?  Ah, well, it doesn't matter, you would've seen it coming anyway.
      The sarcasm is great though.  I loved the line, "I am going to be a solider in the 501st legion and march in the Rose Bowl every year!", which was declared by Morning McCobb himself.  Fellow nerds, unite.  So, it's pretty funny.  And the kitchen people who try to use the stake, wooden, meant for killing a vampire, as bread?  That was smooth too.  There's also this vampire, Birnam, who makes really cheesy vampire puns nearly every time he talks.  The author really isn't afraid to poke fun at his characters. 
     The story does shed yet another light on the dozens of vampire myths.  Every modern writer tries to take a different angle on what vampires really are, and each of them have a different theory.  That can get bland sometimes, and it's no different in this book.  Though, at least here the vampires aren't trying to live in secret--they are trying to be accepted.  I can buy that.
       Anything else?  Oh, yeah, book does not have as many swear words as one would think, considering the title.  They are all skirted around in a very smooth manner. The theme of being a superhero is a very strong theme in the book, and what does or does not make a person a hero is looked at closely. 
        So, if you're looking for a good, short, and humorous read to sink your teeth into, I'd check this one out.  It may not be oozing with blood, guts, or gore, nor is it over sentimental or romantic, but it should satisfy your need to feed until you can get yourself another fix of something more . . . meaty.

The Compound

The Compound by S.A. Bodeen is a creepy thriller that surpasses Patrick Carmen's Dark Eden -- and takes the meaning of survival to a whole new level. 
       Eli has always been accustom to a life of wealth and luxury.  His father is a billionaire, and he has never wanted for friends because his twin brother, Eddy has always been there for him.  But when a nuclear war arises and Eli and his family, his mother, his father, and his two sisters, are locked inside an underground compound, and Eddy and Gram (the boy's grandmother) are locked outside, Eli retreats inside himself.  Not questioning anything, he does his jobs and tries to stave off the boredom.  For six years he lives a hallow life, devoid of meaning, until his little sister tells him that she hates their father . . . and the wheels start churning.  How much is it how it appears?  Can Eli trust the truths he's always known?  And how far would his family go to survive? 

That was a crummy book summary.  Sorry.  The real thing is much better.  S.A. Bodeen delivers a creepy tale, maybe only fit for Halloween.  How far would you go to survive?  For me, I wouldn't even consider what Eli's father wants to do, but I suppose every situation has it's own unique considerations.  That would be just off-limits though.  That is the thing that makes it all creepy.  That, and, well, I can't give it away so I won't.
      There are plenty of things that symbolize other things here.  Eli's long hair symbolizes his isolation from his family.  The nesting doll symbolizes things that are hidden.  Maybe the bad wheat could symbolize a family gone bad . . . or maybe I'm just stretching the metaphor.
       The creepy thing is just creepy. And gross, if I haven't mentioned that.  And unthinkable in today's society. 
      Eli is definitely a dynamic character, and you can tell it.  He practically says it.  Lexie, I would think, is a static character, but you just don't get to see her hidden side until around the middle.  Therese, well, I think she's static too, if loosing her accent doesn't count as anything.  They make up the delightful cast of main, ahem, siblings, with the girls always at odds at Eli until he finally changes.  (When he finally figures out what's wrong with him, you'll breath a sigh of relief.  He is such a stuck-up prig, but he can't seem to grasp that fact.)
       What else can I say without ruining the whole story for you?  Nothing, really.  Just, be prepared to be yanked through a few tight spots, and maybe to read with your heart in your throat.  Because when nukes blow up, family falls apart.

Blood Red Road

Blood Red Road, by Moria Young, is a sci-fi book that tells a story of a girl who will do anything to save her brother -- even paint the road red with blood.
       Lugh is the sun, and Saba thinks of herself as his shadow.  He goes first, and she follows.  He only has to ask, and she will do.  But when Lugh is kidnapped and their father is killed, Saba promises to save him -- the only question is how.  She has lived in Silverlake, now a dried lake bed, since they were born and she has never been to the 'outside world'.  Even the neighbors stop by, when they do, not the other way around.  With Saba's mother dead, Saba is saddled with nine-year-old Emmi and an impossible mission.  Without any knowledge of the world outside, each step could be a misstep and their lives are the forfeit for any mistakes.  With the help of a group of girls called the Free Hawks, a cocky thief named Jack, a bar tender, Ike, and his son, Tommo, Saba fights her way to her brother, slowly coming to realize that he doesn't have to be her whole world. 

I know I say this for just about every book, but this book is amazing.  It is written all in dialect, and it has no quotation marks, so sometimes it is hard to differentiate between what is being said and what is being described, but it provides another level to the book, if you know what I mean.  Suddenly, without quotation marks, you seem to be Saba, not be just visiting her head. 
       As a result, you feel Saba's hates, and her love, or at least her hate for Emmi and her love for Jack.  Lugh, well, I can't see why she would care that much about him.  She seems more like an eager puppy dog when he is around, in the beginning of the book, ready to do as he, her master, commands.  But maybe if I had lived there, as my brother's puppy for eighteen years, I would be as dependent on him as she is, but there is still something off about it.  I don't know.  I just don't get it.  But it's okay -- as long as you know beforehand that she is devoted to her brother, you get the sentiment fine.
       I don't really get the reference to Louis XIV.  Not to give anything away, but why would he have the connection that he had with Pinch?  I thought there was a nuclear war and everyone died?  Or is the resemblance just a resemblance?  I don't really understand that, because it is a more science-fiction book than a fantasy tale.
      Oh, and I think the Wreckers are the beings who dropped the nuclear bombs.  Just saying that for clarification, because that was something else I didn't get until the middle of the book. 
        I really wish that they had had a map in the book, because I thought it would've been cool to track Saba's journey.  Then again, I am a real map person, and I really like to see things, so maybe it's just a strange want that would only occur to me. 
      Other than that, this book is awesome.  At some point the characters stop being characters and become real people.  And you stop being you, you start being Saba, a girl on an impossible quest.  After I finished this book I found myself talking in a slight accent, even.  I started to be able to predict the character's actions, and what path they would take based solely on how I knew they reacted in a situation.  And truly, a book like that is fantastic.
       With plenty of blood and gore, Saba, Emmi, and Jack walk their road.  Where it will take them, one can only guess at.  But you wind up being glad that you were able to follow their tracks and walk in their footsteps, if only for a little while.

Sisters Red

Sisters Red, by Jackson Pearce, is a cross between a love story and a story of a girl obsessed.
     Scarlett March saved her sister from a vicious Fenris attack when they were children.  Now it's her goal to kill all of the Fenris so they can't tear anyone else's lives apart.  She also wants to move past the scars that mark her body and mangle her appearance and re-connect with her little sister and her partner.  Rosie March owes her sister her life, and because of that she feels complied to hunt Fenris with her sister.  Her sister made sure she was alive, the least she can do is make sure she helps her sister in every way possible, in her way of thinking.  She doesn't have time for a boyfriend. Silas, Scarlett's partner, has just come back from a stint in San Francisco and is getting back into the hunting game.  He's also noticing how little Rosie March has grown up while he's been gone.
       When the three overhear the Fenris discussing a Potential, a human male that has the potential to become a Fenris if only another Fenris bites him, they pick themselves up out of their small town and move to Atlanta to hunt the powerful clan Arrow and try to find and save the Potential before he becomes another one of their enemies.  But with Scarlett growing more determined and jealous, Rosie trying to break out of her shell, and Silas trying to encourage Rosie while supporting Scarlett will the three hunters be able to sort out their personal difficulties before the Potential is found and a shocking truth is revealed?

I didn't like this one as much.  Silas and Rosie don't spend much time doing anything interesting, and Scarlett's like a mad woman with a fever.  And the Fenris, or the were-wolves, aren't interesting at all.  They're just soulless, good looking predators.  Very boring.  Also, I saw the plot twist coming.  It was very obvious.  And not because I read the end of the book first, because I didn't this time.  
      Silas is supposed to be a 'woodsman,' like something out of Snow White or whatever fairy tale has a woodsman in it, but you don't really get that sense.  Sure, he build his own room out of wood.  Sure, he can wield an axe.  Sure, I get the sense that he's about as woodsy as my aunt -- and she showed up to go camping in white flip-flops. 
     You don't learn much about the March sister's childhood -- just the 'incident' that changed their whole lives.  Other than that, they are unique individuals.  They try to act like twins, but in truth they are not, and that is a truth they can't bear to face.  This is the effect that Jackson Pearce was going for, I believe, and I am very impressed with how it worked out.  Two perfectly conflicted sisters.  Very nice.
       You don't learn much about the back story of the Fenris, but you don't need too.  When you see the world through March sisters' eyes, all you need to know is how to kill them.  Even though nothing about the tribes of Fenris is explained you don't need it explained because it is all painfully simple.  It's nice to find a book which doesn't condescend to you because you don't know what the author is talking about.
     But Jackson Pearce is no Gina Damico, and even though I cried at the end of the book I do not love the characters as I love the population of Croak.  This book will be a one-time read, and I do not plan on entering the world of the Fenris again anytime.  But if you truly enjoyed Lisa Mantchev's Theatre Illuminata series (I call it the "Beatrice Shakespeare Smith Trilogy"), you will enjoy this book.  Romance, danger, were-wolves, and sibling conflict.  For most girls of this era, what's not to love?

Thirteen Days to Midnight

Thirteen Days to Midnight is another one by Patrick Carmen. 
       Jacob Fielding's adoptive parent, Mr. Fielding has just died in a car crash.  The last words he ever said to Jacob were 'You are indestructable'.  And then he died.  Jacob must shove aside his guilt, though, his guilt of something he hopes to never tell anyone, and go to school, acting like everything is normal.  And then he meets a girl, Ophelia James, or Oh, a girl who likes to do crazy and dangerous things.  On the cast she received from falling down on her longboard, he writes the words Mr. Fielding told him 'You are indestructable'.  It seems an appropriate thing to tell a good-looking girl who has just broken their arms--reassuring and philosophical. And maybe cool. 
       But a few minutes later, Oh gets into a crash that should've ruined her life.  Miraculously she gets up, unharmed.  But what is this strange phenomenon?  What is the secret of the power Jacob, Oh, and their friend Milo, will come to call the diamond? And how far will the two boys go to save the life of a girl they met only thirteen days ago -- are they willing to kill her? 

I have to admit, Thirteen Days to Midnight isn't as good as I was hoping.  In other words, it wasn't as disturbing as Dark Eden.  It does not give me the chills every time I think about it.  (But maybe that's because I flipped to the end. I don't know.) 
     Really, I don't know what Jacob sees in Oh.  He only knew her for, like, forty-eight hours, if that, before she became possessed.  But, I guess she has a good heart, until the end. Then she sort of gets . . . creepy.  Never mind, I do get chills.   Also, sometimes I had to go back and look at the sentences again.  I read very quickly, so sometimes I read "Oh, said she'd meet me there,"  when it really said, "Oh said she'd meet me there."  But Patrick Carmen tried to make her seem multi-layered, maybe a seven-layer girl with plenty of secrets, but I can only find three layers and secrets that aren't so secret.
      Jacob, well, I sort of figured out his guilt trip before he said it, because a lot of clues are dropped.(And no, I did not figure it out by reading ahead.)  Also, you only learn just enough about his life before and with Mr. Fielding to make him seem human, something with a past.  He does seem to be many-layered, only if the view is first person and there is always that niggling suspicion that he isn't admitting everything, even to himself.
      Milo is the one character who is as sturdy as a block.  You don't really learn too much about him either.  He was the second-best-thought-out character, in my opinion, behind Jacob.  Oh is just there to be a pretty girl and provide conflict, but even though Milo can seem to be an afterthought sometimes he is still always there and there is something . . . good about that.  Because even though the plot twists violently, there is always someone who is only slightly changed by the ordeal.
      As I said, the plot twists violently, but it is a well-thought out plot.  Sure, the diamond thing doesn't make too much sense to me, but who am I to judge?  Anyway, it is a dark enough power to threaten our heroes and their heroine, and it does it's job well.  It doesn't throw me into a panic, though, only them.  Does that make any sense?  Ok, let's put it this way:  You don't feel the danger as the characters do because you saw it coming from a mile off.  So, what if you're an avid fantasy reader and can see every twist and turn coming around the corner?  It still ruins the surprise. 
     Patrick Carmen might not have gone to great lengths to make the world of Jacob Fielding vibrant, but he succeeds.  The back story of Holy Crosses seems real, and the descriptions of the retired priests and the 'normal' teachers, the teachers who have other lives, really hit me in the gut.  Their rivalry with the opposing high school seems real too, like something you would read about in the newspaper. 
       All in all, I thought the book was pretty good. Sure, there were some things that could've been made better, but maybe I was reading it too fast.  It was a pretty fast paced book.  And if you're into science-fiction/alternative heroes this is the thing for you.

Wild Things

Wild Things, by Clay Carmichael, is a story about the human heart and finding a home and a family after a life of hardship and uncertainty.
      Zoe Royster's mother has just died, and she's been sent to live with her half-uncle, a recluse who hasn't integrated with society after his wife's death.  One of the US's top metal-working artists, he spends all day in his workshop, and Zoe fears that he will want to get rid of her too, just like all of her mother's boyfriends have over the years. 
      But with the help of a kindly old husband and wife, a preacher whose view of what he preaches is not as strong as one would think it would be, two arists from New York City, a lady who has blood connections to Zoe, and a cat who hasn't shown the tip of his nose since the tragedy happened so long ago, can Zoe save a wild boy and his snow-white deer from the lying mayor and his sons?  And what will come of the family that Zoe wants so deperately she won't even admit it to herself?

This book was good.  I picked it up thinking it was something by Patrick Carmen, because I was just looking at the first three letters of the author's last name, so I got a bit of a suprise when I got it home and looked in the front flap and read the description.  It is a moving story, though, about courage and what it takes to stand up for what you love.  I might've cried. 
        Zoe is a girl who is used to taking care of herself, and she tries to tell herself that she will always be able to take care of herself.  Deprived of a childhood, her two loves are books and animals.  The communtiy of people she meets has about the same affect on her as she has on them.  And I believe that would constitute a lot of affecting going around on both sides.  But there are still somethings haunting her about her past, two people in particular--her unknown father and her mother's last boyfriend. 
        Uncle Henry is harder to figure out.  We don't know anything about his childhood, why he even wants Zoe with him, and until about the end of the book we don't even know how he knew she existed. I pretty much liked him after the scene at the grocery store, though it took a while for Zoe to warm up to him. 
         The wild boy she meets in the woods and his snow-white deer, and I won't say more, are my favorite characters.  Personally, I would love to run wild and lawless through the woods for 17 years.  They have had their own share of troubles, ones we learn as we observe the world through the cat's eyes, but we know very little else about them. 
        One thing I didn't like about this book was that it ended to soon.  Or, that it ended at all.  I want to know more of the story, more of what happened.  I suppose you could sort of say it was a cliff-hanger, but it isn't at a point of dramatic tensions.  It's one of those instances, where everything has just fallen into place, but then someone picks up a piece and hides it, leaving the story unfinished.  the book can be very disappointing like that, but very much like real life in the same way:  bittersweet and unfufilling.