Insignia

"Insignia," by S.J. Kincaid is "Ender's Game" with a twist.
       Thomas Raines has spent most of his life traveling from casino to casino, waiting for his dad to finally make a big win.  Tom has always been taught to distrust the government, so when a US general shows up and tells Tom that he would be perfect for controlling one of the unmanned drones that does the army's dirty work, fighting for mines and other territories on distant planets during World War III, Tom is apprehensive.  This is a chance for greatness, though, the chance to join the few elite of the Camelot Company--a military group of children who control the robots in Outer Space--and to finally become someone important. Tom's all in until they tell him that he has to get a neural implant, a machine in his brain that would make him just like the people is father always looked down on.  Thomas Raines must get his mind in order in order to make his own big win, because when gambling with your life everything that makes you you is put into question.


I know that it is unfair to compare anything to "Ender's Game" because Orson Scott Card is a genius writer, but this book can hold it's own.  I mean, the premise is basically "Ender's Game" (boy gets taken for military training and plays games instead of learns lessons), but there are a few crucial differences that make the story its own. First, they are not fighting against aliens, they are fighting against other countries, albeit elsewhere in the Solar System.  Second, all of the kids have computers in their brains.
       The main character, Thomas Raines, is a cross between Eli Monpress and Peter Wiggen, which is fantastic, but I'll get to that in a couple of sentances.  The setting, the Pentagon Spire where the cadet kids learn their lessons is a mix of Ender's Battle School and Hogwarts.  These crazy combinations are the perfect mix to create something unique and wild, and the author takes full advantage of that.
        For starters, Thomas Raines is a unique main character.  He has all of the mainuplative slyness of Peter Wiggen, with three-fourths of the ego and all of the creativity Eli Monpress (of "The Legend of Eli Monpress," a series I've yet to review here).  He's a lonely kid who has issues with authority and doing what he's told without questioning.  He is also one of the most interesting characters I've ever read about.  Most characters, one their character and behavioral patterns are established, are relatively easy to predict.  You know what their path of action is going to be before they take it which, when done right, is the sign of good writing.  T'his book, though, can still surprise you.  It's not written in first-person, so you don't know what Tom knows the moment Tom knows it.  You have to wait and watch the character traits develop, which takes a while.  I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not often that you don't know everything about the main character immediately.  When you do know his behavior patterns, it's difficult to predict what he's going to do next, not because of a bad writing style, more because Tom has such a complex personality.  Really, it's refreshing.
         Tom's friends are also amusing too.  Vik, his roommate, is very funny (I think of him as the Doctor of Doom who has a tummy ace  :P), as is Wyatt 'Manhands' Enslowe, Beamer, and Yuri.  Each of them have their own personalities, and while they might be stereotypical on occasions (Vik has a 'mirror character' in "Ender's Game," except the guy in "Ender's Game" was much more serious) they do provide a nice balance to Tom's suicidal recklessness. The characters who are not Tom's 'friends' are also colorful as well as his enemies.  They make sure that the book doesn't get too silly while having a good time.  Well, a good a time as you can have when pretty much everything you have is at stake.
        Pretty much everything happens at the Pentagon Spire.  The division names--and this is where the Hogwarts part of things comes in--are all named after famous commanders.  I forget which division Vik and Tom are him, but Wyatt's in Hannibal.  There is also a Napoleon division, for example.  One of my favorite parts of the book is when the computer coding instructor, Blackburn, sets division against division in a computer code war.  You see, it's funny because with the neural implants in their brains, the 'student-cadets' can be controlled with computer code.  I just get this picture in my head of hoards of dignified military students acting like sheep and eating the shrubbery . . . Anyway, the place is fantastically (and suitably  wacky.  Just the place that I would like to go to school in.
         Of course, just as all school in all fiction books, there are issues with the school.  Or, more importantly, issues with the faculty.  Everyone has their own private agenda in Tom's world, so even among all of the physiological manipulation a tussle is bound to happen eventually.  Most of the book, though, involves mind games and how physical combat incite deep strategical thoughts.
        The plot of the book is very good.  With Tom's relatively unpredictable though-pattern, paired with the cast of both goodies and baddies and the situation that they are all involved in, things are rocky.  Also, the book doesn't focus on one overall problem.  Most mainstream books today follow one or  two conflicts -- 1) the main character saving the world, and 2) the main character's love life and maybe 3) the main character's relationship with various other characters.  Very annoying.  The conflicts in this book is more like 1) to work with or against the system, 2) who to trust and which secrets to keep, 3) the issue with Dominion Agra, 4) the issue with Medusa and the rest of the rival people who have implants in their brain, and 5) the issue that involves issues 2,3, and 4 but is still very much its own issue.  Really, it's very interesting and complex and much better than a lot of stuff that passes for Young Adult material.  It does make for a very thick volume but, hey, all the more room to showcase the many fantastic characters of the Pentagon Spire.
         This is the first book in what is going to be a trilogy.  The second book, "Vortex" comes out on July 2cnd.  That day, you will find me anxiously waiting at Barnes & Noble, because the twenty dollars that I will spend on that book will be a sure bet.

www.sjkincaid.com  The Q&A with the author on the 'home' page is very funny--she has quite a sense of humor--and the 'extras' tab under 'Insignia' (under 'The "Insignia" Series') has a playlist of songs that match up with the book.

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!

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.

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."

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.

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.

The Gardener

The Gardener is another futuristic sci-fi thriller from S.A. Bodeen. 
     Mason wants to become a biologist.  He gets a wonderful offer from TroDyn, the lab that dominates his home town, but his mother refuses to let him go.  Is it because she resents her employer, or because there is deeper bad blood between her and the company?  After Mason meets a strange, nearly catatonic girl at the nursing home his mother works in, answers start coming in an unstoppable flood.  Answers he isn't quite sure he wants, as well as questions to which only TroDyn has the answer.  Is it really possible to create a human autotroph?  And why would anyone do such a thing?  Mason has only twenty-four hours to figure out the answers to these questions, twenty-four hours until the girl he rescued shuts down forever. 

I am a really bad summery writer, if I hadn't already mentioned that.  I can't figure out if that blurb up there makes the book sound more or less exciting than it really is.  The sentence-thing on the front of the book is more misleading than that is, at least in my opinion.  The Greenhouse doesn't really grow humans . . . at least in the technical sense. 
       Like The Compound, this book tackles a problem that could become a huge disaster in the near future.  For S.A. Bodeen's first book the problem was nuclear warfare.  For this book, it's the problem of growth of population/rate of food production.  This hasn't happened yet, in the setting of the book, it's just that people are trying to figure out how to stop it before it happens.  Or to be prepared for it before it happens.
      One thing I don't like is that you know what one of the creepy parts are before you even open the book.  It says it right on the inside flap.  Of course, there is another creepy part, near the end, when they're in the Greenhouse, but they could've held the suspense out a little bit longer, couldn't they have? 
      The characters are solid, I suppose.  'The girl' still remains a mystery, even after she gives up plenty of secrets.  Jack is a bit washy, in my opinion.  And I know this sounds really, weird, but Mason is such a strange name for the main character.  He just doesn't seem like  a 'Mason'.  Maybe a 'James' or a . . . I don't know.  I just can't get my head wrapped around the fact that his name is Mason.  And the girl's name, well, I find that one strange as well, but maybe I've been polluted the The Curse Workers.  Because 'the girl' is nice and happy and friendly and the character she shares a name with . . .  isn't. 
      And of course, there's the happy, fairytale ending that offers up next-to-no explanation.  Leaves a lot of questions, if you get me.  But the questions aren't numerous or big enough to hint at a sequel.  I suppose I can stop being an over analytical-book freak, but that's my job on here, isn't it?  So, let me just say that I think that happy endings are all good and well, but I would like some explanation to how they come about.  Like . . . well, I'll let you read about it.
     Also, I cannot make myself generate any fear of the Gardner, even as 'the girl' is so clearly terrified of him.  The fear is an emotion that someone tried hard to create, but it's still like someone threw a pebble into a dark well trying to hit their mark and missed.  It might help, though, if you take your time with the book, instead of reading it within the space of the afternoon.  The connections that you make to the characters will probably be stronger, as will the suspense and the emotion.  Because the friend who recommended this to me loved it.
     Anyway, whether The Greenhouse will grow (ha ha) on you or not, it's your choice to find out.  Just don't let it grow on you too much, or else you might find yourself forever rooted in the pages of a near catastrophe, trying to drink the light and the water as the rest of the world starves around you. 

The author has her own website, that has news about her newest novels and series. I'll let you check it out for yourself:  http://www.rockforadoll.com/

Railsea

Railsea, China Mieville, is sort of a steampunk/sci-fi take on the fate of a world with a twist of Moby Dick. 
      Sham ap Soorap is a doctor's apprentice on the moling train the Medes.  The captain, Captain Naphi, has a philosophy:  A big, ivory colored mole.  The Medes and crew search the southern part of the Railsea, searching for the captain's philosophy and moles that they can hunt for blubber. Sham ap Soorap has higher aspirations, though.  He wants to be a salvor.
      To be a salvor is to be one of the courageous few who prowl the the Railsea, looking for train wrecks and other ruins to discover and sell.  Trying to prove himself to his crew, Sham does a bit of salvage work and he finds a roll of old camera film hidden in a train that has been destroyed.  The contents of that roll of film means different things to different people:  To Captain Naphi it means the end of her search for her philosophy, to Sham it means something that he cannot even begin to comprehend, to the Rumour Sellers of Manihiki it means that there might be treasure, and the the Shroake siblings it means that they have to finish the work that their parents started.

One of the things that really bugged me about this book was the fact that ampersands ( '&') were used instead of the word 'and'.  Around chapter 45 you get an explanation of the symbolism, and eventually you get used to it, but it took a while to re-train my brain.
      The author is almost conversational in part of his writing, and that's sort of comforting.  It's like he's reaching out of the pages and actually telling you the story.  He also refers to the Railsea and the lands around like it is the only time period anyone has ever known, and like you've grown up going to school there.  It makes everything seem more real, that Sham might not be some figment of imagination, he might've been an actual kid who actually lost his parents who really does want to be a salvor. 
      China Mieville is also very humorous, in small ways.  Like, I won't go into fine detail, but Sham was stranded somewhere and it said something like "He dug around in the wreck, found himself some boards, and built himself a house.  After that, he was lucky to find some seeds so he planted himself a garden and ate the food that grew.  When he grew up he went back to Streggeye with the wind blowing in his hair."  I don't know, it was longer than that.  But I stared at the paragraph for a minute or so because I was only on, like, page 300, and the book was nowhere near done.  The next line, though, was "That didn't really happen."  It was sort of funny.
     The reason why that stood out is because some of the writing, to my opinion, is detailed.  Not dry, per say, but very detailed.  And sort of roundabout.  Maybe it's just that I'm reading too fast and I keep skipping over stuff, but it seems that there is almost as much detail in this book as there is in A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. 
     For the first fifty pages, at least, I was a bit lost. This seems to be the point,  but I couldn't tell you exactly why.  When it does get explained, 'it' being the Railsea and what it connects, the various layers of this world, the moling business, and salvage, sometimes it makes even less sense than before it had been explained at all.  You have to sort of think yourself through it.  It eventually makes sense.  Sort of.
      This book could be classified as steampunk.  The trains are windup, diesel, windblown, or something else, and the dress described of the salvors could very well be what they wore on the Everness (Planesrunner, Ian McDonald). 
      Technology, pirates, mystery, gypsies, chases for ivory-colored beasts, a boy who wants to be something else, and children who want to be exactly who they are combine to create a noise you won't forget:  the sound of a train running over the endless rails of the Railsea.

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.

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.

Dark Eden

Dark Eden, by Patrick Carmen, is a dark and haunting tale about fears and what lengths people will go through to cure them. 
    Will Besting can't go to school.  He can't be near crowds.  He doesn't have any friends.  He has gone to therapy for over two years, a total of over 150 sessions.  And while he's at his therapy sessions he steals his therapist's files. 
     When his therapist and his parents decide to send him to summer camp for a week, Will knows something's whacked.  Sent to live in isolation with six other kids who have irrational fears, Will ekes it out on his own, afraid to be near them and afraid of his summer camp.  And he has every reason to:  When it comes time for his fears to be 'cured' Will discovers something about himself and his family that has the potential to ruin him. And Will's brain is not the only one telling lies and creating illusions . . .

This book is extremely haunting and creepy, but deliciously so.  I don't believe I did the plot of the book justice with my pitiful explanation, and I might've given away more of the ending than I should've.  I'm sorry. 
      There are some things about the book that don't make sense and that aren't explained, but you come to accept that as part of the mystery of the setting.  It is a sci-fi/fantasy book, with some things bordering on the edge of unbelievable and nearly magical. 
      The only characters you really get close to are Will, his brother Keith, and maybe Marisa, because Will won't let anyone else close to him.  Even then, you don't get to know Will as well as you would like to. It is told to you that he's scared of something, but you don't know what until past page 200.  You only see a few instances where that fear comes into play, and even then you don 't recognize it for what it is until it is pointed out to you. 
       Marisa's fear is not explained very well.  I think that was the point, for some of the book, but someone had to say it outright for me to get it.  Maybe I'm just dim, but I still don't understand what mushrooms had to do with the whole thing. 
        And I'll have just one more aside focused on one person:  Avery's fear is the real disarm-er.  Well, maybe it isn't her fear, exactly, it is what is comes after her fear.  You'll have to read the book to understand (   ;), but it is the creepy element to this story.
       All in all, this story is one that shook me to my bones.  It may not be "that fantastic story I will remember in 20 years from now", but its memory will resurface every time I am alone in the dark or see a spy movie where there is a wall of computer monitors and people are watching the torture of others on them.  And I am reconsidering the number seven as my lucky and favorite number. 
        I wish for the best for Will Besting and *ahem* victims, and I hope that they will find themselves more hunter than hunted in Dark Eden 2.  It's a dark and twisted world that Patrick Carmen has created, but a dark and twisted world I don't mind venturing into.

Planesrunner

Planesrunner by Ian McDonald combines my two favorite science-fiction elements:  quantum physics and steampunk. 
       Everett Singh is a decently happy kid.  His mother and his father are divorced, and even his father often has his head in the world of quantum physics while his mother spends most of her time with Victoria Rose, Everett's little sister, Everett has plenty of friends owing to his superior skill as a goalie and a gamer.  But his life is shattered into a million pieces when his father is kidnapped . . . and the police try to cover the whole thing up. 
        After receiving a map of all the alternate realities in every universe, Everett has definite proof that things really are fishy.  He meets up with the people who control the gates that lead to the other universes, the Planitplatories, and, against their wishes, jumps into and earth that hasn't left the steam age yet.  With the captain and crew of the Everness, a flying steamship of sorts, Everett must race against time to reunite his family, save his new friends aboard the Everness, and escape from the members of the Planeplatory who want him gone. 

For starters:  Excuse me if I spelled anything wrong.  I don't have the book in front of me while I'm typing this, and I don't really know how to spell Planitplatories. 
        Now, I don't believe I've mentioned this, but steam punk is my favorite genre.  It involves Victorian-era clothing and flying steamships.  In this book it also includes a United States that has been divided into three parts:  Amexica, The Confederate States, and the United States, a race of people who are widely discriminated against, the Airish, the people who fly the ships, and a lot of age-old customs and traditions. 
      Quantum physics is the next best thing, because I love to imagine all the possibilities and 'could've happens' that could be represented in an alternate universe. I try not to, though, because it would drive me mad. 
      The characters in this book don't meet any of their alternate selves, and for the better, because that would've complicated the plot line a bit more than it needed to be complicated.  It is funny, though, when Everett brings out the different types of technologies he's brought from this world, an iPad, a bluetooth system, and shows them to his new friends who don't really know what to make of them.  I also love the mix of old and new:  the people on E3 have elevated trains and flying ships, but they've never heard of a telephone. 
       I do love the characters in this book as well.  Sen, the captain's daughter, is a bit of a devil, but you love her all the same.  Everett is passionate about his heritage and his family but he, like any other kid of his age, is exhilarated to find himself in a place where no one from his world has ever gone before.  Captain Anastasia seems hard and cold at first, but as the story progresses you come to see that she might just be a woman who loves what she's doing, but who might be trying to balance too much at once. 
        This book was written in England, so there are some terms and punctuation differences that I really had to think over.  It a part of a planned trilogy, but it was published in the states in 2011, and I haven't been able to find any other of the books yet, so I don't think they've been published.  But they better be . . . the ending was a real cliff-hanger.  :)

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games series, by Susanne Collins. is now a staple of American pre-teen literature. What girl hasn't read of the escapades of Katniss Everdeen?
   In a dystopian future the people of North America have rebelled against the government and lost, causing their country to be split up into the twelve, or thirteen, districts of Panam.  Each year, districts one through thirteen have been forced to give to of their children up to the Capital to compete in a game where they will fight to the death. Katniss Everdeen, a headstrong sixteen-year-old from district 12, the mining district, is called upon to take place in this tournament.  Afraid for her life Katniss enters the arena . . . and starts a revolution.  The three books span from the beginning of the 74th Hunger Games to the end of a war that has rocked Panam and changed Katniss forever.

I do not see they hype around these books.  Yes, they are very well written and very bloody, but I cannot connect with anyone in the books.  I'm left asking the question, 'Why do I care what Katniss does?  Why do I care if she survives or not?'.  And, of course, there is the 'which dude should I choose' drama.  I don't care about either of them.  She could end up a lonely recluse for all I care.
        The future these books present are grim and very believable.  Emaciated children survive in the districts while well-fed and pampered children frolic in the Capital.  I think I like the first book the best because it shows the connection between these two, and how absurd it is.  It might also be a commentary on this world, this present time, as well.
         In my opinion, the other two books are stretching the plot line a bit.  It is evident that Susanne Collins made up the 'Quarter Quell' just so she could have a sequel.  And why on earth would the Gamemakers turn the streets of their beloved city into an arena in Mockingjay?  While you're reading it it makes some sense, but the illusion of reality it creates shatters if you try to reflect on it. 
         Neither Katniss nor Gale jumped off the page at me.  My favorite characters were Haymitch and Peeta because they have faults and because they seem more rounded.  Sure, Katniss is headstrong and rude, but she eventually becomes predictable. Gale just seems like someone that was sort of stuck on the side so there would be some dramatic tension.  He is usually dismissed as a 'cousin' and Katniss doesn't spend much time agonizing over the lie.  Haymitch, though, is the town drunk with a past full of pain.  Peeta quietly watches Katniss from the sidelines, and you know, dramatic agony, romance gone awry, putting his heart in the wrong place, all that stuff.  But when he gets stung by hornets that make you hallucinate and he starts believing that Katniss is out to kill him, well, I know I'm cruel, but that's where the real fun begins.
         Basically, what I said about the Gamemakers and the Capital apply to the whole book:  While you're reading it, it makes sense and it is a pretty good book, but with a second thought the books loose their meaning. 
          The books are a trilogy, to be read in the order of:  The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.  And while Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire, may catch on fire, she just can't catch your interest.

Ender's Game

I used to only read fantasy, but this is one of the books that opened up my mind:  Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. 
      Peter Wiggen, ten years old, is evil and cold hearted, killing without mercy.  Valentine Wiggen, eight years old, is kind and soft hearted, the one who loves without a second thought.  Together, they have the power to take over the nets.  But their younger brother, Andrew (Ender) Wiggen, six years old and part ruthless killer, part loving soul, might have the power to end the alien invasion once and for all.
     Aliens, or buggers, have attacked earth on two second invasions.  This will be their third, and the government is searching for their champion, their war general, and Ender Wiggen fits the bill.  He will be taken up to space and trained in a game of warfare -- day after day, until he breaks.  The fate of the people of earth is up to him.  At least, that's what the government wants him to think.

Orson Scott Card is an amazing author, and his ability to create depth in his stories is something I really enjoy.  Ender is a genius for a six-, nine-, and eventually ten-year-old, and as he progresses up the ranks in the Battle School you get a feel for his character.  He becomes almost a real person as you follow his thought process.  His longing for his sister, his want to prove himself, and eventually how he breaks is all believable.
       The buggers, also, are very well done.  They aren't humanoid, more cockroach-like (hence the name "bugger"), and all the more feasible for that.  They are alien in the way that everyone fears, and they don't speak our language, a trait that gets attributed to too many modern aliens these days. 
        Peter and Valentine stand out as well.  Sometimes they begin to seem too adult, too old for twelve- and ten-year-olds, but then they say something that makes you remember that they're brother and sister, juvenile and pre-teen, not two stuffy politicians. 
       Also, there are government conspiracies in this book, making it all the better.  This is another one of those books that says 'no one's perfect', but this one also has the added theme 'but they will go to any lengths to ensure that it seems that they are perfect.'  You see Colonel Graff as a good guy and a bad guy.
       I have very few complaints with this book, other than the fact that the Second Warsaw Pact isn't explained too well, nor is the original Warsaw Pact.  I suppose that the reader is supposed to know what the original Warsaw Pact is prior to reading.  Also, there is not much attention paid to the earth-side war, only to the space battle and the space politics.  What exactly were the Russians doing that was such a great cause for alarm?  Also, what is a Hegemony, or should I already know that? 
      Ender's Game is part of a series, yes.   Ender's Game, The Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind, make up "Ender's Quartet".  I haven't finished Children of the Mind yet, and I'll do separate posts on Xenocide and The Speaker for the Dead, because the latter is unbelievably wonderful in it's own way, the the first has it's own charm, especially in the sci-fi area of things.  Children of the Mind is very promising as well. 
        There are several adjacent books to these as well.  Ender in Exile and In the Shadow of the Hegemon, for example.  I think there might be a few others, but I haven't read them yet, so I don't know their titles specifically.  There also several graphic novels that tell the story of these books as well.  Basically look for anything that says 'Actual Ender's Game' on it, and that has something to do with Ender's Game.  Pretty much.

Maximum Ride

Maximum Ride:  the series by James Patterson.
Maximum Ride is no ordinary fourteen-year-old girl.  For starters, she is basically homeless and has to take care of five other kids and their two dogs.  Next, she's on the run from things (and people) who want her dead.  It also might be crucial to mention that she's only 98% human.  Her other 2% is avian, so she and her unlikely family all have wings. 
      This results in a lot of life and death situations, not to mention a lot of confusion and publicity.  On the run from various villains and multitudes of their mindless minions Max must figure out who she trusts, who she doesn't, how she'll escape, how she'll deal with a growing crush on one of her team members, how she's going to deal with a six-year-old who thinks she can rule the world, and how she'll save the world.  Sound like a lot to you?  Well, to Maximum Ride, warrior extraordinaire, leader supreme, and the go-to person if you want spilled blood and a lot of attitude, it's just another ordinary day.

Do you like fast paced books?  Do you like sarcasm, wit, and violence in abundance?  Then I think you've found your happy place, or happy books, at least.  These books also speak of empowerment to the children:  there are only a few adults that hold crucial roles, and only one of those adults can actually be considered a good guy.  Another overriding theme of the book is that grown-ups polluted the world and messed it up big-time, and it's up to these next generations to save it.  And Max is the stereotypical superhero--she can fly, she's strong, she has a pithy comeback to everything, and she shows no mercy to her foes, a courtesy that extends even to some of her family. 
      The chapters are only a few pages long, sometimes resulting in as many as 144 chapters in a book (The Angel Experiment), and sometimes the writing can get a bit headache-y.  You jump from the view point of one character to another without any warning, and you hardly get a page of piece before a new demonized-robot jumps out at you from the margins.  Though, when the romance comes, it comes fast and hard and without any warning. 
       The books are in order as follows:  The Angel Experiment, School's Out -- Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, The Final Warning, Max, Fang, Angel, and Nevermore, which is set to come out August 6, 2012.  Sure, you can read these books out of order, but you have to have a great memory for the sequence of events.  They'll catch you up, periodically, but there are some crucial facts that you have to remember to get everything.  Also, reading the last ones first might ruin some twists in the plot lines.  Just, so, you know . . . You don't make the same mistakes I did.

This is the fan website:  http://www.max-dan-wiz.com/   Mainly blogs and stuff put up by other fans, and a chat room, but there are some sneak peaks and blogs 'written' by the characters in the book, as well as some videos.  It's fine.