fantasy

Behemoth

| Tasha

9780670073047

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

This second book in the Leviathan trilogy continues the riveting steampunk story.   Deryn, a girl masquerading as a boy in the British Air Service, serves aboard an immense living ship called the Leviathan.  Alek, the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian empire, is masquerading as a commoner aboard the same airship.  The two of them are fast friends, though both are hiding their true identity from one another.  Now the Leviathan and her crew find themselves up against an amazing new weapon wielded by the German forces: a Tesla cannon that fires electricity.  Driven to Istanbul to shelter and resupply, the Leviathan must finish its business in only 24 hours before she will be forced to leave.  Alek and his protectors are desperate to leave the Leviathan while there, hoping to disappear to safety off of the ship.  But things never go as planned, including Deryn’s covert mission to open an access way for the behemoth monster to attack.   A brilliant setting for Westerfeld’s novel, Istanbul offers a spicy new space to further explore the wondrous world he has created in this series.

Westerfeld is one of those authors where readers can simply relax, knowing they are in good hands.  He is a skilled world builder, where his vision is clear, detailed and beautifully rendered.  I love the interplay of the steampunk with the Darwinist beasties, a natural tension that really works as a framework for war.  He also excels at creating characters who are deeper than expected and richly drawn.  Deryn is a strong female character who belays off of airships without hesitation, rescues others with ingenuity, and puts herself in harms way as only a hero can.  Yet she is also bothered by regrets, first love, and the horrors of war.  Alek too is a well-drawn hero, a great counterpart to Deryn.  He is highly educated, very bright, and a natural problem-solver and mech driver.  What a pleasure to have a book with two such heroes side-by-side.

Make sure that you have read Leviathan before picking up this second book.  This is a trilogy in every sense of the word.  Westerfeld does a find job of bringing readers who may have read Leviathan awhile ago up to speed with the world and the story again.  It is handled in a subtle way so that readers enjoying them back-to-back will not be bothered at all. 

Highly recommended, this book is a great second part of the trilogy.  Get it into the hands of happy fans and convert new fans to this amazing blend of fantasy and science fiction.  Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon Pulse.

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The Memory Bank

| Tasha

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The Memory Bank by Carolyn Coman, illustrated by Rob Shepperson

Hope Scroggins lives with her little sister, Honey, and her neglectful and uncaring parents.  Perfectly horrible people!  One day when they are out in the car, Honey laughs out loud and doesn’t stop.  So her parents leave her behind on the side of the road.  The only thing that Hope can do is watch out of the back window.  Her parents order her to forget her sister, but she can’t.  Instead Hope starts to sleep more and more, retreating to a dream world.  Readers don’t have to fret about Honey.  Her part of the story is shown in wordless pictures, showing her being rescued from the side of the road almost immediately by a truckload of children.  Hope receives the first letter she ever had which summons her to The Memory Bank.  She is picked up and taken there where she discovers a place where memories and dreams are stored like treasures.  She has not been making enough new memories and has been creating too many dreams, so her account is imbalanced, but they had never expected her to be a child!  As Hope spends time at the Memory Bank with its band of interesting characters, she starts to remember more and more about Honey.  Perhaps even enough to find Honey again!

Coman has created a book in the vein of Roald Dahl where the adults tend to be either horrible humans or wonderful adoring people.  This is a new book that reads like a classic.  It has a timelessness about it as well as a winning combination of fantasy and reality.  Coman’s world building at the Memory Bank is wonderful, each new area revealing itself to the love-starved Hope like its own treasure. 

I have an Advanced Reader Copy of this book, so I don’t have all of the finished illustrations.  The ones that are finished have a grace to them.  Done in black and white, they too hearken back to classic children’s books.  Shepperson manages to tell all of Honey’s story with his illustrations, making sure that readers know that not only is Honey safe, but her life is pretty sweet too.

This book cries out to be shared aloud with Dahl fans and others who are looking for a book with a little zest, plenty of creativity and lots of dreams and memories.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

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StarCrossed: Uncover an Amazing New Heroine

| Tasha

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StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Published on October 1st, 2010.

When I find a book that is entrancing and beautifully written, I want to linger with it.  So this book took me an awfully long time to read as I savored each page. 

Digger is a thief on the run after her partner is captured by the Greenmen.  Wounded and afraid, she finds escape from the city with a small group of aristocrats on a boat.  This turns into more than just a way to escape the city, as Digger, who now calls herself Celyn, is slowly drawn into their world.  She accompanies the family to a rebuilt fortress in the high mountains, even farther outside of the city.  There she finds herself looked after and cared for in a way that she never has been.  But as a thief, she cannot relax.  Her forays to find information get her blackmailed by one of the family friends, who wants to use her skills for personal reasons.  The more secrets Digger uncovers, the more alarming they are, as the country heads to war.

The world building in this fantasy novel is beautifully done.  The world is completely envisioned and brought to life for the reader.  Each piece makes sense, from the banning of the use of magic to the Inquisition itself.  The turning away from a pantheon of gods and goddesses to a single God makes for an additional layer to the story, adding to its depth. 

Digger herself is an incredible heroine.  She is strong, independent and smart.  At the same time, she doesn’t lose her femininity at all.  I really enjoyed a teen heroine who is not crushing on a boy, but rather is consumed with the mysteries before her.  While others do play a part in uncovering some of the mystery, Digger does all of the work.  As she uncovers each piece and is confused by the details, readers will be right there with her trying to puzzle it all out. 

Highly recommended, get this into the hands of fans of Tamora Pierce and Shannon Hale.  Appropriate for ages 12-14.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

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White Cat – Dark and Delightful

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White Cat by Holly Black

Curse working is illegal because it can so easily be misused and disguised.  Curse workers are able to change your memories, give you good or bad luck, change your emotions, and even change you into something else.  Cassel comes from a family of curse workers who continue to use their gifts illegally.  His mother is currently in prison because she worked someone’s emotions.  His brothers work for one of the crime bosses.  Cassel has deliberately created a life separate from his family.  But he can’t run from the fact that he killed his best friend a few years ago.  Cassel can’t do curse work but that doesn’t stop him from pulling a con.  At his private boarding school, he is a bookie for all sorts of bets.  But things start to fall apart when Cassel wakes up on the roof and can only remember following a white cat in his dreams.  The school sends him home and requires him to see a doctor before he returns.  As Cassel tries to find a way to game the system and return to school, more odd things start to happen, leading Cassel to figure out exactly what his mobster family has been up to. 

Holly Black has created a great mashup of mobsters and fantasy.  In this compelling novel, she has given us a clever and twisted world that is well-built and completely brought to life.  A large piece of her success is her protagonist.  Cassel is charming, intelligent and easily cons readers into liking him.  Thanks to being an outsider in the crime world, he is a great way to introduce readers to this skewed and amazing world that Black has created.  Equally successful is Black’s pacing and story.  The action sequences are inventive and taut, they are contrasted effectively with the slower, subtler moments of the novel.  It is beautifully constructed. 

A crime spree of a novel, this book will have readers clamoring for the second one in the Curse Workers series as soon as they finish the first.  Don’t handle this one with kid gloves!  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

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Paranormalcy – A Fresh Lush Paranormal Romance

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Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

I thought I’d had my fill of paranormal books for teens.  The last few I had tried were duds, given up only part way through.  Then I started hearing a buzz about Paranormalcy and I took one look at that divine cover and just had to read it.  Am I ever glad I did!

Evie has worked for the IPCA (International Paranormal Containment Agency) since she was eight.  She has a unique talent that no one has ever seen before, she can see through the glamours that paranormals put up to hide themselves from view.  When she looks at a gorgeous vampire, she sees the dead person beneath.  When she looks at a werewolf in human form, she sees the wolf eyes.  So she works as a paranormal hunter, tracking down rogue paranormals and containing them.  But now something is killing the paranormals and Evie has begun to have strange dreams that seem connected.  Plus her ex-boyfriend, a faerie named Reth, is trying to kidnap her and no one is taking him seriously.  Evie’s dull life of monster hunting is about to change, and it just may be all her fault!

White writes with a wonderful bite of sarcasm, a gift for description, and an ability to show emotion without telling it.  She has managed to take an over-extended genre and make it feel new and fresh.  A large part of that is the unique perspective of Evie herself, a character who is awed by the normal from being surrounded by the paranormal.  She is an innocent in our world, taking her own amazing world for granted.  She’s a great character to view the paranormal through.  Evie is a very strong female character.  She’s a monster hunter, a rule breaker, and someone who can use her brains to get out of a lot of scrapes.  She’s one tough girl.

There is plenty of romance in the story too.  The romance scenes in the book are sensual and tender without going too far.  White has created an amazing boyfriend for Evie combined with a very interesting ex-boyfriend.  Add this sizzling romance to the adventure and action and you have a book that is impossible to put down.

The cover of this book will sell it right off of your shelves, but if Twilight fans are looking for the next great fantasy read, get this in their hands.  Thanks to the strong female lead, I’d also hand it to Hunger Games readers.  Appropriate for ages 13-15.

Reviewed from library copy.

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Bruiser

| Tasha

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

Bruiser was voted “Most Likely to Get the Death Penalty” by the kids at school.  So when Tennyson’s twin sister Bronte starts dating Bruiser, he is very concerned.  Bruiser is a real loner, involved in almost nothing at school, just heading home directly after classes end.  When Tennyson follows him home, he discovers that Bruiser lives with his abusive uncle and his half-brother.  Tennyson never backs away from confrontations with others, so he is surprised to find himself shaking Bruiser’s hand in friendship and even helping to dispose of a dead bull carcass.  As the relationship between Bruiser and Bronte deepens, Tennyson becomes closer to Bruiser too.  That’s when strange things begin to happen that show them just why Bruiser is a loner and why his uncle is desperate to keep him home.  Written from the perspectives of Tennyson, Bronte, Bruiser, and Bruiser’s brother, this book transports the reader to a powerful place where love and friendship carry a unique pain.

I have been a fan of Shusterman ever since reading The Eyes of Kid Midas back in the 1990s.  I love that he writes of magic in the real world, yet never shies away from what the magic brings to life.  No one wakes up from a dream in these books or loses their powers.  Instead they have to learn to live with what they have.  Shusterman’s novels are also allegories for real life without magic.  Here readers will find a physical manifestation of the pain and power of love and friendship.  Bruiser and his flesh are tangible examples of the torment of life.

Shusterman’s writing here is well done.  His characters are multi-dimensional and interesting.  The twins are more than simply two sides of a coin, showing great depth of character.  When Bruiser takes his first turn as narrator, Shusterman’s writing soars.  Bruiser’s sections are in verse, unlike the others.  His pain and torment is right there, shouting to the reader about the frustration and loneliness of his life.  It is gorgeous and extraordinary.

Highly recommended, this book takes readers on a journey that will be difficult to forget.  If you enjoy this book, make sure to check out others by Shusterman.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from library copy.

Scumble

| Tasha

Scumble by Ingrid Law

Released August 24, 2010.

This companion book to Savvy features another member of their extended family who has a savvy of his own to try to deal with.  Ledger Kale just turned 13.  He had been dreaming of getting a savvy that would enable him to run faster than anyone, because his father was a runner.  But instead he gets a rather alarming savvy: he is able to demolish things with a thought.  Small items like watches stand no chance, nor does the motorcycle he busts into bits.  Unfortunately, a nosy would-be reporter Sarah Jane saw him destroy the cycle, so now Ledger has to worry about his entire family being exposed.   When Sarah Jane threatens him, people have to really watch out as his savvy grows bigger and bigger until he manages to flatten an entire barn.  Now Ledger is stuck at his uncle’s ranch because it would be too dangerous for him to travel by car and it’s much safer for him to practice control in open spaces.  In a story filled with great characters and plenty of action, this book extends the world of Savvy in a delightful way.

The cast of characters features those from the previous book as well as new characters for readers to enjoy.  It is an adroit melding of new and old together into a cohesive and interesting story.  Ledger, the main character, learns so much about himself in the novel.  His growth is believable and steady throughout the book, learning that his father’s dreams and his own may not be the same.   The character of Rocket was another of my favorites in the book, a young man who is unable to leave the ranch much at all because of his electrical savvy and lack of control.  He is the ideal character to pair with Ledger, a warning of what could happen, yet also a vibrant and fascinating character himself.

The setting on the ranch is richly drawn, with the marriage glade, the second barn just for insects, and Rocket’s small home where Ledger is sent to stay to minimize his damage.  The ranch almost becomes a character itself as it is so pivotal to the story and such a part of everything. 

It is nearly impossible to meet the expectations following such a successful first book as Savvy.  Law does it with grace, style and a lot of savvy.  Appropriate for ages 9-13.

Reviewed from ARC received from Dial Books.

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Magic Below Stairs

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Magic Below Stairs by Caroline Stevermer

Half of the duo that created the Sorcery & Cecelia series returns with this story of a young man working in wizard Thomas Schofield’s household.  Frederick was selected from the orphanage he lived in when he fit the last boy’s livery perfectly.  That alone is odd, since the boy was much larger than Frederick.  Frederick had also completed an impossible task, despite falling asleep during it, thanks to a strange little man who Frederick thought may have just been a dream.  Frederick is a very hardworking, dedicated boy who took to his new job as a servant easily.  But working in a wizard’s household brings some strange happenings, some of which may be Frederick’s fault, or the fault of the brownie Billy Bly who followed him there.

A delightful read filled with small details that really bring the Victorian period to life.  Frederick is a very  unique young protagonist with his love of details and dedication to working hard for the sake of doing a good job.  Frederick starts the book focused solely on having escaped the orphanage and happy with his lot.  It isn’t until he realizes that there is more that can be attained that he starts to seek more.  It is a pleasure to read a book about someone happy with who and where they are, but also able to move forward when possible.  Stevermer has balanced this aspect of the book perfectly.  Frederick is surrounded by characters that fans of the original series will recognize, but this is a book for younger readers who will enjoy it without having read any of the previous books. 

Stevermer offers a book that is well-paced with plenty of action, but also periods where the details of Frederick’s work and life can be seen.  Her setting is very strong, brought to life via small details rather than long paragraphs of description.  Her prose is friendly and inviting, making the book difficult to put down as the action soars.

A jaunty, fun read filled with plenty of action and magic, this book is appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

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The Boneshaker

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The Boneshaker by Kate Milford

Natalie Minks grew up surrounded by strange tales about her town near the crossroads, and everyone knows that odd things happen at crossroads.  Natalie’s father was the bicycle mechanic in town and he also worked on the new cars like the one for the town’s doctor.  Natalie too loved machines, especially automatons.  She was also trying to master riding a strange bicycle that her father rebuilt for her, but embarrassingly enough, she simply couldn’t ride the thing at all.  The town too was used to weird things happening, but no one was prepared for the day when Dr. Jake Limberleg’s Nostrum Fair and Technological Medicine Show came to town bringing all manner of weird medicinal remedies and even machines that never stopped running, even though Natalie knew that was impossible.  As Natalie slowly discovers the mystery of the Medicine Show, readers will be drawn into this book that is just as intricate and mesmerizing as the show itself.

Milford has created a unique book here with its amazing mixture of historical fiction, fantasy and horror.  The steampunk elements of the book keep it current and hip, but there is far more going on here than automaton.  It is a story filled with the horror of demons on the Devil himself.  The book’s pacing adds to the dynamic nature with leisurely sections leading into almost frantic pacing.  It is a book that lures one in, offers one book and then changes, amazingly into another sort of book instead.  It is a book that blazes and burns against the setting of a small town in 1913.

Natalie is a great heroine, who really solves the mystery on her own without the help of the grown ups and also saves the town all on her own.  It is a celebration of girls who are smart, savvy and who question authority. 

This gripping tale offers so many twists that one is never sure exactly where the book is headed.  Guaranteed to thrill, it is one great flying ride of a read.  Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from library copy.

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