The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner.

This book had me immediately upon reading the first page.  The writing was flowery but intense, filled with images but equally gripping and fast paced.  It was the tone of the French Revolution itself.

Set during the French Revolution, this is a tale of Gypsies and aristocracy, vengeace and wealth.  Yann Margoza works in a magic show with Topolain, the magician and Tetu, a dwarf who can move objects with his mind.  Yann himself can throw his voice and read minds.  All of their skills are used when they animate their latest act, a wooden Pierrot.  Their act is brought to a bloody end when they are asked to perform for Count Kalliovski and Topolain in killed.  In the aftermath of the murder, Yann meets Sido, neglected daughter of a rich marquis.  Sido slips closer and closer to the trap Count Kalliovski has laid for her while Yann is sent to England for safety.  But he will be unable to leave France behind that easily.

Sally Gardner, author of I, Coriander, returns with an equally stunning book.  Her language is incredible, filled with details but still nimble, evocative but not verbose.  And the story she tells is not only riveting but unique.  One never knows where the story is headed, as it twists and turns in unexpected ways.  Her characterizations are flawless, never stereotypical, but always revealing and interesting.  Even the villains have great backstory and reasons for being who they are. 

This is a glory of a book.  Highly recommended and one of the best of the year.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.  There is plenty of romance but no sexuality in the book, and there is plenty of gore and death as well.  What more would you expect from the French Revolution?

Atherton: Rivers of Fire by Patrick Carman.

I was lucky enough to review the first book in this series for School Library Journal.  You can see my review here on Amazon.  Just scroll down.  As you can see, I loved it.

And while I really liked this second book about Atherton, it didn’t quite capture me the way that the first book did.  We return to the world of Atherton which is in the process of changing.  The Highlands are falling and the Flatlands are rising.  Horrible creatures called Cleaners are suddenly able to reach the human towns, and our hero and his friends find themselves right in the thick of danger as they venture deeper into the Highlands to discover the secrets of Atherton and its creator. 

Readers really have to have read the first book to understand what is happening here.  The book has a breakneck speed throughout as the main characters rush from one disaster to the next, barely staying ahead of the cataclysmic changes.  I missed the introspective nature of the first book that made it rather gem-like and special.  Those same themes are present in this novel, but are secondary to the adventure and action.

Fans of the first novel will consider this a must-read and any library with the first book must have the second.  Recommended for readers of the first book.

Saga by Conor Kostick.

This is the sequel to Epic, one of my favorite science fiction novels from last year.  While Erik and his character appear in the story, it is really much more about the cyberpunk world of Saga, a video game that has evolved from being a simple game to really being a world populated with living entities.   Ghost woke up six years ago with no memories of her previous life, now she lives outside of the world of colored cards and status that make up the society of Saga.  She is virtually invisible except that situations keep pushing her to the fore.  When people around her begin arriving and then disappearing, she and her friends begin to realize that they are living in a game.  The Dark Queen, ruler of Saga, begins to use the human visitors to her own ends, working against the changes that Ghost would like to see in the society and worsening the conditions of most of the population.  It may take working together with the unknown humans against her own kind to solve both the problems of Saga and the questions of her own identity.

Another thrilling ride of a book, taking on a genre of video games with the skill of a master.  Just as he captured the spirit of fantasy gaming in Epic, Kostick has created the feel of a vivid cyberpunk world here.  The writing is crisp and accessible, welcoming readers into the world.  The characterizations are multidimensional and fascinating.  The heroes have dark sides and the villains have softness.  Even in his Dark Queen, Kostick has created a true villain but someone with depth and logic. 

Readers who loved Epic will be jumping to read Saga.  It will not disappoint those video game players in your library.  In fact, if you circulate computer games or have gaming programs, I’d advise hand-selling these in those spots.  The kids will thank you.

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr.

The sequel to the amazing Wicked Lovely tells the story of one of Aislinn’s human friends who doesn’t know anything about the faeries living around them or that Aislinn is now Queen of the Summer Court.  Leslie is a girl whose life has turned upside down, her mother left, her father turned inward, her brother deals drugs, and she was sold as a sexual favor to cover his debts.  She is damaged but not broken as she turns to a tattoo to restart her life, declaring her body her own again.  But it is not that simple, because Rabbit, her tattoo artist has ties to the Dark Court and Leslie finds herself slowly drawn into their fight for survival through the very tattoo she thought would mark a new beginning of freedom.

The world building here is exquisitely done.  Marr takes the world she built in Wicked Lovely and makes it deeper, darker and more intense.  Her writing is skillful, drawing you into the same web Leslie is trapped in.  By the end there is such a sense of claustrophobia and control that it is almost hard to breathe, but equally hard to put down.  Masterfully done.

I enjoyed Leslie as a heroine throughout the novel.  She is tough but still somehow vulnerable, wise but naive, and these qualities make her all the more intriguing and human.  Equally well portrayed are the two faeries Niall and Irial who struggle to not fall for Leslie but fail.  The Dark Court could have been chillingly callous and cruel, but Marr has managed to make them multi-dimensional and even allows readers to have some understanding of their motives and emotions.  It is a delicate balance that Marr achieves and that lies at the heart of the success of this novel.

Highly recommended for readers of the first novel, this book will fly off the shelves and into the hands of teens everywhere.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.

Released March 25th, 2008.

Frankie is a sophomore at a private boarding school, Alabaster.  As a freshman she was invisible to the popular crowd, although her older sister had introduced her to everyone multiple times.  But now with a fuller figure, she gains the attention of Matthew, a very cute senior.  Frankie starts going out with Matthew but becomes more and more worried about what exactly he sees in her beyond her body.  When she discovers that Matthew and his friends are part of a secret all-male society on campus, she waits and waits for him to tell her about it.  But when he doesn’t, Frankie takes matters into her own hands and makes the Loyal Order her own with a blend of modern technology and classic pranks.

Lockhart pays homage to Wodehouse with her writing style and delivery, offering a classic feel to the prose but also a broad sweep of caustic humor.  It is this humor and the sharp tongues and wit of the characters that bring the book to life.  The cleverness of the dialogue is marvelous to see as is Frankie’s pride in her own intelligence.  Frankie is one of the brightest and unexpected of heroines.  Her inability to play by the rules is refreshing as is her refusal to be simply a girlfriend while the boys have all of the intrigue and fun.

Recommended for other smart teens who will enjoy the wordplay, humor and wit of the book.  You may see a run on Wodehouse after they read this!

Visit E. Lockhart’s website and blog for information on her books, appearances and more.

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce.

Drawn in immediately by the cover image, I found myself captured by the intricate world I entered and the strength of the characterizations.

Charlotte Miller’s father has just died and she finds herself as a young woman with a younger sister caring for the family’s woolen mill.  Without a male running the business, she fights for respect among the other millers and within the textile industry.  Threatened with ruin when a mortgage on the mill is discovered, she turns to a strange man who simply appears and offers to spin straw into golden thread in return for her deceased mother’s ring.  Charlotte fights to ignore the strangeness of the mill, the string of deaths of boys in her family, and her own growing knowledge that something dark and horrible happened in her family’s past. 

I am often not a fan of retellings of tales like Rumplestiltskin as teen novels, but this one really works, primarily because the setting of a woolen mill is so vibrant and moves the story along a different line.  Bunce has created not only one strong heroine, but the younger sister serves as a foil for Charlotte, allowing readers a second strong female character to enjoy.  But neither girl is a saint.  They both have their own problems, personality quirks, and their own responses to desperate times.  It is their humanity that breathes such life into them.

This book engulfs the reader, spinning such a tale of curses, death, courage, cunning and strength.  Bunce has created one of the best fantasies of the year with her first book.  I look forward to seeing what her next one will bring us.

Highly recommended for lovers of fantasy and dark tales.  Don’t sell this as a retelling of Rumplestiltskin, rather let the cover speak for the treats that await inside.

Season of Ice by Diane Les Becquets.

Genesis’ father is a logger and gets extra work repairing docks on the lake.  But one day he heads out to repair a dock and disappears.  His truck is left on the shore, his boat is found floating in the lake with the life preservers still inside, and all Genesis is left with is questions and no answers.  When the lake freezes over for the winter, the search is called off and answers are very hard to find.  There are rumors that her father faked his death to leave her stepmother behind so Genesis begins the process of tracking down the people in her father’s life from the logging camp.   She will find answers on the way, but what answers will they be?

This gripping book of loss, grief, anger and confusion takes a very strong heroine and turns her world completely inside out.  She finds herself doubting everything her life before her father’s disappearance had been based on.  Everything that she loves, enjoys and plans is now suspect.  There is such tension in this novel, such anguish and loss that is channeled into places beyond grief.

Les Becquets has a way with imagery that captures the setting within it:

My father was sitting on the sofa in front of the pellet stove, his body sunken into the cushions as if he was all banked in for the night.

And in this passage from later in the book, you can see her skill with powerful emotions:

Her hug wasn’t tentative this time.  She grabbed me like she might have five years ago.  Grabbed me and held me to her like I was the best friend she’d always had, and in that embrace, I felt more than just the shoulders and back of my friend.  I felt everything — past, present, future, all bundled up, concentrated into one small space.  I wasn’t just holding on to Annie.  I was holding on to a desire for some sort of promise, for some piece of higher ground in my life, for a place I might imagine.

The lake itself, the cold, the winter, nature all become a large part of the story of the book.  Far beyond being a vivid setting, the Maine lake becomes the answer, the key.  It is a powerful contribution to the story’s tension and depth.

Highly recommended for teen readers, this book will be popular for readers of general fiction as well as mystery readers.