Teen

Review: Irises by Francisco X. Stork

| Tasha

irises

Irises by Francisco X. Stork

Stork explores the complicated relationship of sisters and family in his latest book for teens. Teenage sisters Mary and Kate are very different, though they have been raised in the same sheltered way.  Kate is planning to be a doctor and attend Stanford.  Mary is an artist, a painter, who has already received acclaim for her work.  But their plans are thrown into disarray when their father dies, leaving them only their mother who has been in a vegetative state for years.  While their father was loving, he was also very strict.  The girls are now free of his repressive ways, and they each respond to the new freedom in differently.  The freedom though comes with a cost of new worries, new relationships, and new pressures.  There are many decisions that have to be made, including one that is particularly heart wrenching. 

This is a complicated novel that does not summarize easily.  The characters are well developed and complex themselves, though I summarized each in a sentence, they are much more than that.  These girls are different from one another but far from opposites.  They are linked, closely and forever, together in sisterhood, a tie that strangles, binds and frees. 

Stork also looks closely at family in this book.  The cost of letting a family member go, the ways people deal with loss, and the process of recovery and reinvention are exposed here.  He weaves the lives of the girls with unexpected characters, including a gang-member who is also an artist and a young minister who has no shortage of ambition.  These characters too are complex and intriguing.

The minister is one of the pivotal characters in the book.  His ambition mirrors Kate’s and the two find themselves drawn to one another.  His logic about ambition and watching out for yourself rings true for a long time, until it changes and becomes hollow and crass.  The writing to take a character’s message and transform the way it sounds over the course of a novel without changing the tone or message itself is beautifully done, masterful.

This compelling novel is quiet, desperate, and riveting.  Appropriate for ages 15-17.

Reviewed from ARC received from Arthur A. Levine Books.

Also reviewed by:

Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

| Tasha

girl of fire and thorns

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

This one has been on my to-read list for awhile, after several blogging pals reviewed it very positively.  Then it was named a nominee for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award and I knew I had to get my hands on it. 

Elisa is a princess, but a rather reluctant one.  Her older sister is the one with the beauty and poise, and luckily also the one destined to be queen.  But Elisa has a destiny of her own, she is the bearer of the Godstone in her navel, a gem that appeared during her naming ceremony as an infant.  She is destined to be a hero, but she can’t see past her own weight and laziness to even glimpse a future where that would be possible.  On Elisa’s sixteenth birthday, she is given in marriage to the king of a nation at war.  Moving away from her family, Elisa discovers that her new husband is going to keep their marriage secret.  Elisa is caught up in the politics and cunning of the kingdom, something she has always avoided.  Now she has to figure out what her future holds.  One thing is sure, it will be a different destiny than she ever expected!

Carson’s debut novel is a stunner.  She writes with a confidence and skill, weaving together what could have been jarring combinations into a harmonious tale.  This is a story that reads as a medieval fantasy, but is set in a desert nation with camels and dunes.  It is a fantasy that is steeped in religion, something you rarely see in fantasy for teens. 

Elisa is a marvel of a character.  She is fat, something unexpected in a princess.  She is lazy, but then displays a quick mind, clever responses, and a knowledge of war and tactics.  She is dark skinned, something that she alone dwells on as it contrasts with her sister.  Yet, and this is important, the men around her are attracted to her despite her size.  Just as with most of the book, the answers are not simple.  It’s a complex world that Carson has built here.

And the world building is exceptional.  She has created a world that is similar enough to our own, but filled with magic.  It is also home to a religion that is fully realized and complicated.  It even has disparate sects that disagree. 

This book was subject to some cover controversy with an original cover that featured a very light-skinned and thin girl.  While the new cover avoids the color of skin entirely, I would have appreciated a cover that embraces a protagonist of color and of size.

Highly recommended, this book deserves its spot in the William Morris Award nominees.  It is one of the best written and most intriguing fantasies for teens this year.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by:

Review: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

| Tasha

why we broke up

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, illustrated by Maira Kalman

Released December 27, 2011.

Min and Ed have broken up, that’s why she thunks down a box full of things on his doorstep.  Inside the box are the small mementos of a relationship and the answers to what is behind their break up.  The box also contains a long letter to Ed that Min has written, explaining fully both the growth of their relationship and her feelings for him, but even more so the reasons that they can never be together.  The box holds memories and mementos: a toy truck, a movie ticket, a protractor, a note, and rose petals.  Each item is tied to a part of the story, a moment in their time together, times when there were warnings of how it would end but Min ignored all of them until that last one.  The one that brings us back to this box and that doorstep.

Handler’s writing here is striking.  He moves from a more normal syntax and structure into rushes of stream of conscious writing that is breathless and dazzling and bitter.  These are the moments where the pain of the breakup is right there, a heartbeat away.  It is a book filled with surprising moments, aching with importance and equally part of normal life. 

This is a relationship laid bare and honest, searingly truthful at times.  At the same time, distrust and foreboding is always right there since the reader knows from the first page that the relationship is doomed.  It is this rich mix of the delight of new love and the awareness that it ended badly that makes the book compulsively readable. 

Dazzling and honest, this book will speak to any teen who has been dumped, any teen in a relationship, and any teen looking for one.  Appropriate for ages 15-17.

Reviewed from ARC received from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Check out the Why We Broke Up Project website too.

Review: The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

| Tasha

probability of miracles

The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

Cam has been battling cancer for the last seven years.  At age 16, she has reached a point where nothing more can be done.  All she has left is acceptance and a lot of attitude.  But Cam’s mother and sister are not ready to give up hope, so they move the family north from their lives at Disney World in Florida to Promise, Maine.  Promise is a small community where miracles happen.  Cam certainly doesn’t believe in miracles or religion for that matter, but Cam feels the magic of Promise too.  Her blemishes from the disease fade, her hair grows long, and she feels better than ever.  Then there is her Flamingo List that she created at summer camp.  It’s a list of things that she wants to do before she dies.  Many of them seem very unlikely at first, but as the summer goes on, she ticks them off the list.  Cam has one final summer to reach her goals and even to exceed her own expectations.

This is not a weepy cancer book at all.  Rather it is the story of a sarcastic, brilliant girl battling a disease and finding a place to be herself and create the best days ever.  In Cam, Wunder has given us much more than a tragic story of the last days of a life.  Instead Cam seems more filled with life than the rest of us.  She shines, entrances and lives with abandon.  It is like watching a shooting star race past.

Wunder also creates an entire cast of impressive supporting characters.  They are often introduced as stereotypes, but then they become more fully realized as the reader gets to know and understand them.  We as readers get to discover the characters alongside Cam.  The setting of Promise, Maine is also beautifully rendered with the magical parts interwoven to create a dance of magical realism and realistic fiction.

Gorgeously written and realized, this is a powerful read with a great, flawed heroine.  Appropriate for ages 15-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Razor Bill.

Check out the book trailer:

Also reviewed by:

Review: Prized by Caragh M. O’Brien

| Tasha

prized

Prized by Caragh M. O’Brien

In this sequel to Birthmarked, Gaia has escaped into the wasteland with her infant sister, following a rumor to guide her.  Gaia is reaching the end of her strength and her baby sister is perishing when she is discovered by a rider from Sylum.  When she is brought into their matriarchal society, Gaia is forced to give up her sister into the society for care and must submit herself to their rules.  No man can speak to her first much less touch her, and a kiss can get you jailed.  Sylum is slowly dying, since there are many more male births than female.  But Sylum also cannot be escaped easily.  Newcomers get physically ill and then after that violent illness are unable to leave.  If they try to leave, they will die of an even more extreme illness.  So Gaia is trapped in Sylum without her sister, trying to follow their rules, when she discovers that Leon is also there, imprisoned.  In order to free him, Gaia has to give up the last of her will to the ruler of Sylum. 

I adored the first book in this series.  The Enclave was a skewed society that was fully rendered and well thought out.  O’Brien has done the impossible in a single series and created within her world another complete society that makes sense, surprises, and then displays its darker side.  Sylum is a world run by women, but also a decaying society where there are few rights especially for those who refuse to follow the rules.  It is a beautiful, green but dreadful place where the darkness is right below the lovely surface.  In short, it is immensely readable and a wonderful dystopian setting.

O’Brien introduces us to new characters just as we are getting reacquainted with those we enjoyed in the first book.  Gaia remains a fierce, independent force who is bright, inspiring and strong.  She is a character thrown into a society she does not understand, who makes waves with every step and friends too.  There are two brothers who serve as additional love interests in this complex society that forbids touching.  They are wonderfully similar but also very different, attractive in different ways to Gaia.  Still, there is also the angry and ever-frustrating yet fascinating Leon to consider.  As Gaia muses, it is actually a love square rather than a triangle.

This is a compulsively readable book, just like the first.  The world is well drawn, but it is the different societies that truly shine here.  I look forward to the rest of the series, because this book was very unexpected and I can’t guess what is going to happen next.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

Also reviewed by:

Review: Bluefish by Pat Schmatz

| Tasha

bluefish

Bluefish by Pat Schmatz

Travis misses his home after moving with his grandfather but even more, he misses his dog.  He used to have lots of room to roam in the country, but he’s stuck in a small house with his alcoholic grandfather.  At his new school, he is nearly silent but loud Velveeta will not allow him to withdraw far.  She joins him at lunch after seeing Travis help out a boy being bullied, firmly adopting him and filling his silence with all of her words.  The two unlikely friends are both hiding secrets.  As the story progresses, the secrets are shared with the reader first and then with each other.  This story explores the meaning of friendship and how we can all be friends that help one another in our own unique way.

Schmatz’s writing is clean and clear.  She doesn’t fill the story with flowery language, instead exploring the story alongside the reader.  The book is filled with characters who are struggling, including both Travis and Velveeta.  Another example is Travis’ grandfather who is battling his addiction and trying to be a parent to Travis.  There is nothing perfect here, and the message is clear that perfection is not something that is necessary or needed.  It is the striving, the doing that matters.

The two main characters are well drawn and intriguing.  They are very similar to one another in many ways and yet so different in others.  Their struggles may not be the same, but the two definitely need one another to get through.  There are also other adults who help, including one incredible teacher and a librarian.  It is a joy to see two adults helping children written free of any didacticism. 

This powerful read offers great characters, no easy answers, and no grand solution of an ending.  It’s a book that is about the journey.  Appropriate for ages 11-14.

Reviewed from copy received from Candlewick Press.

Also reviewed by:

USA Network Blogs about Teen Lit

| Tasha

character approved blog

USA Network’s blog has a feature article on Great Voices in Young Adult Fiction.  And they have picked some great ones.  Their focus is on books with crossover appeal for adults.

All the Earth Thrown to the Sky by Joe R. Lansdale

   

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Every You, Every Me by David Levithan

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Review: Legend by Marie Lu

| Tasha

legend

Legend by Marie Lu

This dystopian fantasy is set in what used to be the western United States and now is The Republic.  The rising waters have caused issues with power, large slums, and lawlessness.  June is the only person to ever get a perfect score in the Trials, marking her as a prodigy.  She lives a live of luxury with her older brother, who has raised her after her parents’ accidental deaths.  Trained as a soldier, she is about to claim her destiny as the ideal warrior.  Day is the most wanted criminal in The Republic.  From the slums, he has managed several amazing feats of defiance but worries most about his family and the plague that is in their neighborhood.  The two of them would never have met, but then June’s brother is killed and it looks like Day is the culprit.

Lu takes the dystopian genre and weaves a story that both hearkens back to the heart of the genre yet creates something new and amazing.  The setting of a decaying United States at war with itself is slowly revealed through the story.  The results of that war are shown rather than told in details that bring the entire world to life.  From the luxury of June’s life through the squalor and danger of the slums, the setting is a pivotal piece of the tale.

The two compelling main characters add the action, the style and even the romance to this book.  June is trained to be a lethal weapon, yet she questions orders and thinks deeply about the ramifications of what she is doing.  Day is a dystopian Robin Hood with plenty of moxie and appeal.  Both of them wonder at their world, the truth of The Republic.  They also both see themselves as people who are able to make a difference.

The writing here is crisp and clean.  The story is vibrant, fast moving, and stellar.  This is one outstanding dystopian fantasy.  It is sure to appeal to fans of The Hunger Games and will leave many fans eager for the next book in the series.  Appropriate for ages 14-16.

Reviewed from ARC received from Penguin.

Also reviewed by:

Review: Liar’s Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce

| Tasha

liars moon

Liar’s Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce

When Digger is arrested and thrown in jail, she isn’t that surprised.  She is a pickpocket after all.  But it is interesting that the men who grabbed her knew that she was a girl though she was dressed in men’s clothing and that they were looking just for her.  When she is put into prison, she is surprised to find that she’s been put in Lord Durrel Decath’s cell.  He has been accused of poisoning his wife.  This is the man who once saved her life, and so she sets to work with her thieving skills to set him free.  As she searches for answers, she is drawn into the high society of their besieged city.  The clues seem to lead to only more questions and new theories rather than answers in this politically charged, masterful mystery.

This second book after Star Crossed is just as elegantly plotted as the first.  Bunce excels at creating a world that is familiar to readers but also unusual and unique.  Throughout the book, magic is a theme.  But in this world, it is reviled rather than embraced.  Magic users are persecuted, imprisoned and even slaughtered.  This forms the backbone of the story, the society itself, and our protagonist.

Digger is an amazing female protagonist.  She is gutsy, strong, intelligent, and loyal.  She never seems to be afraid of action or danger, making the entire story a delight to read since it is always moving quickly forward.  The other characters are equally complex.  There are women who appear to be flighty and dim, yet are something else entirely when their pretense is dropped.  There are suspects who seem obvious but then melt away to innocence and others who are just the opposite.

This is a complex and intricate mystery set in a world that is equally compelling.  Get this into the hands of fans of Tamora Pierce who will discover another amazing female protagonist to enjoy.  Appropriate for ages 14-16.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

Also reviewed by: