Teen

Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

| Tasha

seraphina

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Seraphina has a secret that she can tell no one.  It’s a secret that is marked on her very body, permanently and from birth.  Her mother was a dragon.  Her father had not known her mother’s true identity until she died giving birth to Seraphina.  So Seraphina has lived her life mostly in secret, tutored by her dragon uncle.  But someone as talented as Seraphina is difficult to hide.  Her music draws people to her.  She joins the royal court as a music teacher just when a murder happens that points directly at the dragons.  Seraphina starts investigating things, using her special mental abilities that even she doesn’t fully understand.  That’s how she meets Prince Lucian, who is also captain of the royal guard.  He’s also a person who seeks to solve every mystery he encounters, and what a mystery Seraphina is!  Now decades of carefully constructed peace between the humans and the dragons may be at an end.  The question is where a girl who is half human and half dragon fits into a world at war.

Hartman has created a book for teens that has all of the detailed world building of an adult fantasy novel.  The politics of the society are complex and pivotal to the plot.  The heart of the book is a mystery that is complex with many possible villains.

Her dragons are a delight.  They can change into human form, but never quite understand humans and their emotions.  They are beings that are purely intellectual, carefully structuring their minds to be in balance at all times.  Love is forbidden; music and art is something they cannot create.  They are a wonderful foil to the humans of the story who are awash in teen emotions.

But it is the humans who make this story work.  Seraphina is a heroine who is a mix of human and dragon in many ways.  She is prickly yet feels emotions fiercely.  She’s a study in contrasts.  She wants to be accepted, yet pushes people away.  She wants to perform and yet needs to stay hidden.  She is drawn to the prince and yet has to lie constantly to him.  Prince Lucian too is a complex character who is a worthy pairing with Seraphina.  Their relationship grows and shrinks, changes and matures throughout the book.  It’s organic and slow, unlike the many lightning-bolt love stories we see in teen novels.

This is a book that took me a long time to finish because I never wanted it to end.  Immerse yourself in this tale of dragons, music and mystery.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from library copy.

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Review: Lies, Knives and Girls in Red Dresses by Ron Koertge

| Tasha

lies knives and girls in red dresses

Lies, Knives and Girls in Red Dresses by Ron Koertge, illustrated by Andrea Dezso

Just for teens, Koertge has created subversive poems based on fairy tales that look at what happens after “Happily Ever After.”  You will meet a Little Red Riding Hood who wanted to be swallowed whole just to see what it felt like inside a wolf.  There’s also a Beast who longs for the days of wild abandon rather than being a prince again.  What happens when the boy who said the emperor had no clothes is pressured to fit in with the crowd?  Hansel and Gretel may just have been a lot closer and a lot more disturbed than readers thought.  And could Rapunzel long for the days when the witch thought only of her rather than her prince who is distracted?  Koertge plays with the idea of “ever after” and works in the same darkness and sexuality that is already in the stories if you just look at them differently.

This is not a poetry collection to hand to younger readers who are interested in fairy tales.  Rather, this is a dark delight for teens who remember the stories.  There are more obscure tales included in the book, a couple of which I had never read.  I enjoyed those poems as well, since Koertge works in backstory in his poems.  In most of the poems there is an adroit twist about them, sometimes involving the modern world and other times looking at the story in a new and twisted way.

Deszso’s illustrations are done entirely in black and white.  They are paper cutouts that have astonishing details cut into them.  The mood of the illustrations matches that of the poetry, there is a playfulness about them but also a terrific darkness too.

This entire book was like a box of the darkest chocolates.  They held surprises inside and you simply can’t stop reading them.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Amelia Anne Is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield

| Tasha

amelia anne

Amelia Anne Is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield

When the girl is found dead on the highway near Becca’s small hometown, the entire town is enveloped in the question of who she was and who killed her.  All Becca knows is that she is going to leave town at the end of the summer, and leave her boyfriend behind too.  But then her boyfriend breaks up with her right after they have sex, and Becca’s world shifts.  She too becomes captured by the drama of the murdered girl and finds herself unable to move forward with her plans to head to college.  Amelia Anne, the dead girl, was already in college.  Caught with a boyfriend who no longer understands her, Amelia continues to date him waiting for the best time to break up.  Two girls who end up in the same small town for very different reasons, one at the beginning of her life and the other at the end. 

Rosenfield’s writing is unique and heady.  She writes with all of her senses, creating a feeling that is almost smothering at times, flying high in others, and always remarkable.  Her writing is best when creating a world for just two people, something that happens often here.  Those dynamics ring true and painful and wistful. 

Her writing about the small town and its history of death is also beautifully done.  As readers, we inhale along with the characters, breathing in the scents of the woods and the roses.  We witness the fact that small town knowledge can also kill, work through grief with people, and jump to the wrong conclusions.  It’s an exhilarating ride of a novel that also takes the time to truly create its own setting and history.

Amazing writing, a violent mystery and a small town setting create a book that is impossible to put down, yet invites you to linger with it longer.  Appropriate for ages 16-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Dutton Books.

Review: The Letter Q

| Tasha

letter q

The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes to Their Younger Selves edited by Sarah Moon

This was one of those books that I wanted to last forever.  I lingered over it, though I had a problem with not just wanting to read them all in one breath.  The entire book is made up of letters from successful gay and lesbian writers to their younger, usually teen, selves.  They are filled with hope, humor and acceptance for what they themselves thought, felt and lived.  Almost all are love letters to that younger, insecure and questioning person who is often closeted and always queer.  There are names here that teen readers will be familiar with: Malinda Lo, David Leviathan, Bruce Coville.  There are many others to be discovered through this book. 

Though the book is specifically about being GLBTQ, all teens will find it inspirational.  As one letter says, all of us have something that is queer about us.  All teens need to accept themselves, see themselves in that future state, and reach for those dreams.  All teens need to know that their thoughts and feelings are ok, whatever they are.  So I’d share this with straight and not narrow teens as well as GLBTQ teens too, of course. 

This is one of those books that should be in every public library.  It will probably be read in the back areas, the more private tables.  My ARC copy will be donated to a local café that has a GLBTQ club that meets regularly.  This is a book that café should have, since I can’t think of anything nicer to read with a cup of coffee.  Just as long as you are ready to really savor both.

Appropriate for ages 13-18.

Review: The Children and the Wolves by Adam Rapp

| Tasha

children and the wolves

The Children and the Wolves by Adam Rapp

I made it through about the first 30 pages of this book and set it down, packed it in my bag to return it to the library, and started a new book.  But.  I could not get the story out of my head.  I couldn’t leave Wiggins and Frog there, so I finished it and loved it, after all. 

Frog is three years old and being held captive in a basement by three middle schoolers.  Bounce is the mastermind of it all, a wealthy and very intelligent sociopath who decides to kidnap a little girl in order to murder an old poet who upset her.  Orange is the boy whose basement they keep Frog in, his father is confined to a wheelchair and high on painkillers.  Wiggins takes care of Frog, washing her clothes and making sure she takes vitamins.  The three of them take drugs, get into lots of other trouble as well, and take revenge where it suits Bounce.  The book cycles through all of their points of view, including Frog’s.  It is a book filled with so much hate and aching that it hurts to read.  It pushes the limits of teen books, exploring all of the dark places possible while at its heart having something shining with truth.

Rapp doesn’t shy away from anything here.  The book is filled with swear words and not only the four letter ones.  Drugs are seen as ways of release, not things that get you into trouble.  Sexuality is explored in a matter-of-fact way.  Violence is in almost every scene, and even when it’s not there you as a reader are waiting for it with shallow breaths. 

And yet, there is something here beyond the shock value and the clawing desperation.  There is somehow hope.  I’m not sure where it comes from, it’s like a green sprout in the torn-up sidewalk.  Rapp through the vileness of this book also gives us moments that shine.  In any other book they may have been tragic scenes, but here they are light and warmth.  It is all in comparison with the rest, just like the lives of these children.  Victims all.

Stunning, violent, vile and filled with heart wrenching beauty of its own unique sort, this book is one that you can’t turn away from, though you may want to.  Amazing.  Appropriate for ages 16-18.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl

| Tasha

keeping the castle

Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl

Althea has grown up in a castle built by her great-grandfather who was much more about appearances than about functionality.  Now the castle is falling apart and repairs are too expensive for Althea and her mother to bear.  Her stepsisters could give them some of their money, or at least pay to cover their own costs, but instead they live in the castle too, for free.  There is eventual hope when Althea’s small brother grows up and can take charge, but she has to figure out how to get them to survive to that point.  All of her hopes lie in finding a wealthy young man to marry.  However, she lives in Lesser Hoo in Yorkshire, which makes eligible men unlikely and those who have ventured near have been turned off by her sharp tongue.  So when a young, handsome Baron moves in nearby, Althea is ready.  She’ll have to figure out how to pull together outfits that are fashionable but infinitely cheap, how to keep her mouth in check, and how to outmaneuver her stepsisters too.  This delight of a romantic book pays homage to Austen yet is entirely fresh and funny.

Kindl captured my attention immediately with the wry tone of her heroine.  Althea is what makes this book really work.  She is intelligent, slightly modern, resilient, and ultimately logical.  The romantic part of the book also works well, though lovers of Austen will immediately recognize the man who is her real match.

The setting is also a very compelling one with the castle itself playing a major role in the development of the story.  Just the frantic search for enough sturdy chairs to seat visitors and the desperate rummaging for food for them adds so much to the story.  This is not a family of genteel poverty, but one that is on the threshold of ruin.  That added to the need to keep the front in place while participating in a whirlwind of activities make for a book that is vibrant, romantic and great fun to read.

Perfectly timed for the fans of Downton Abbey, this book is the ideal combination of historical fiction and humor, making it a delight of a confection.  Appropriate for ages 13-15.

Reviewed from copy received from Viking.

Review: The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

| Tasha

peculiars

The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

This steampunk fantasy novel is set in the late 1800s.  Lena lives with her mother and grandmother and on her 18th birthday is given a letter that her father had left for her.  Her father left when she was a tiny child, leaving only one thing behind, Lena’s very long hands and feet.  Her hands are so long that they have an additional joint and she wears special gloves to make them less conspicuous.  The world she lives in is not accepting of “Peculiars” and Lena wonders if her hands and feet mark her as more than a genetic abnormality.  There are rumors her father was a goblin.  Along with the letter, Lena receives a deed to her father’s mine in Scree.  So she sets off on a journey north to Scree but before she can get there, the train she is on is attacked and her savings are stolen.  She met a very nice young man, Jimson on the train, and he mentioned working in a library.  She also met a handsome young marshal, Thomas Saltre, who asks her help in spying on someone who is experimenting upon Peculiars.  In exchange, he will help her find a guide to head to Scree.  Filled with steam powered machines, dubious inventions, and adventure this book asks deep questions that are not easily answered.

A lot of those questions focus upon what makes people different and whether genetics decide your personality.  There is also a strong look at persecution of people who are different, with laws that make them unable to own property and not be seen as really human.  There are even beliefs that people who are Peculiar do not have souls.  It is a fantasy lens look at a society moments before what could become a genocide.  This immense societal pressure adds to the tension throughout the book, and plays a factor in the way the story turns.

The book can be slow at times, though I was enjoying the world building enough that it did not concern me.   I enjoyed lingering in the library with Jimson and Lena, enjoyed unraveling the truth of what was happening.  The characters are intriguing and complex.

With the popularity of steampunk, this book should find an eager audience.  Readers may not expect such a complex society that poses such dark questions, and that will be a welcome surprise.

Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from ARC received from Amulet Books.

Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

| Tasha

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Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Alina lost her family in the Border Wars and now depends solely on her close friendship with fellow orphan Mal.  Now the two of them are in the army together and head off for the dangerous crossing of the Fold, a place where magic contaminated the very world and covers it in darkness and horrible monsters.  When the two of them were younger, they were tested for magic themselves, but neither of them had any.  So what happens in the Fold is even more remarkable.  The ship they are crossing in is attacked by hundreds of beasts and Mal is horribly wounded.  Alina shields his body with her own as the monsters attack, but then she loses consciousness herself.  Coming to, she is guarded by soldiers and taken before the Darkling himself, a man almost as powerful as the king.  But what could she have done that would make her worthy of his attention?

It is difficult to believe that this is Bardugo’s debut novel.  Her writing has a wisdom and surety that is very special.  From page one, I was captivated by the strength of her world.  Set in a Russia-like place, the world and society are solidly built and remarkably original.  This is a world torn apart by war, where there is also an internal power struggle happening that could cause irreparable harm to the society too.  It is a world where villains look like heroes and heroes can appear villainous at times. 

The individual characters are well written and finely drawn.  Alina is a heroine who often doesn’t act like one, a girl with power that she does not understand, and a loneliness that aches the bones.  She is brave, strong and at the same time young and naïve.  The Darkling is equally successfully written.  He is aloof until he is close, disdainful until he is captivated, and completely complex.  He’s a delight of a character, one that offers no easy answers.

Highly recommended, this is one of the most original fantasies I have read in awhile.  Not populated with vampires, zombies or angels, it is still filled with magical writing, amazing characters and one incredible world.  Appropriate for ages 13-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt and Company.

Review: Devine Intervention by Martha Brockenbrough

| Tasha

devine intervention

Devine Intervention by Martha Brockenbrough

When his best friend shot him in the head with an arrow, Jerome died instantly.  Now he finds himself in between Heaven and Hell, given a second chance to save himself from eternal torment.  He’s been appointed as Heidi’s guardian angel as part of soul rehabilitation.  Jerome didn’t actually read the handbook for guardian angels, so he’s mostly just winging it.  Heidi has heard Jerome’s voice in her head since she was small.  When she got older, she started to realize that others don’t hear voices like that and that she may be crazy.  So Heidi started to withdraw and kept more and more to herself.  She doesn’t always listen to Jerome’s advice, though he tries to help.  So when she and her best friend head on stage during Talentpalooza and there is a major wardrobe malfunction, Heidi has no one but herself to blame.  But that’s not why she was out on the pond’s thin ice at all.  Though her life (or death) will never be the same after falling through.

Brockenbrough strikes just the write tone in this novel.  While deep issues are dealt with, she keeps the writing light and playful.  It helps that she is a truly funny author, writing with a hilarity that makes reading the novel pure fun.  At the same time, she does fully explore the meaning of life in the book, what death may hold for us, and the importance of family, even dysfunctional ones.  Her lighter tone makes these deeper issues all the more reflective and powerful.

The two main characters are very successfully drawn.  For me, Jerome is the voice of the book.  It is his perspective on life and death that makes the book work so well.  Heidi on the other hand is vital to the book, but doesn’t have the whiz and bang of Jerome.  That said, a book only needs one star of a character.  Heidi makes a grand secondary lead character, offering a different perspective and a lot of action to the book.

This funny teen novel about death and life features juvenile delinquents as guardian angels.  I think that explains a lot about life.  Appropriate for ages 13-15.

Reviewed from ARC received from Arthur A. Levine Books.