fantasy

Ship Breaker

| Tasha

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Nailer works light crew, climbing into the shells of the discarded oil tankers to gather copper wiring from ductwork.  His job requires him to be small, smart and loyal to his crew.  As a teenager, he knows that he will eventually outgrow the work and that his only hope is to get big enough to join heavy crew or to become a violent drug addict like his father.  When a huge hurricane strikes the Gulf Coast, Nailer discovers a wrecked clipper ship and a half-dead wealthy girl who owned her.  Now Nailer has found another option, to leave the Gulf Coast and his dangerous low-paying work and try to help this girl find her family and safety.  But nothing is a guarantee, especially with his father and others hunting them down.  Set in a future where oil is no longer used and the climate is wreaking vengeance, this book is a dynamic merger of adventure and questions about family and loyalty.

Teen readers of dark, dangerous fantasy will find a lot to love here.  Nailer lives in a world of filth, poverty and loyalty.  It is a society that is original and makes for a great setting against which to posit a hero like Nailer who has no idea he is a hero!  Just the creation of the Gulf Coast and the crews make for incredible world building, but Bacigalupi has created a world around it as well that is just as credible and detailed.  Violence is an important aspect of the book, binding characters together, used as punishment, and also to show bravery. 

The characters of the book are just as fascinating as the world itself and just as well built.  Nailer is a rat with a heart of gold.  He’s a disposable worker, unloved by his own father, who rises above all others in the book to heights of bravery and selflessness.  He grows believably throughout the book, but never stops being himself.  The other characters also show dimension and growth, except for his father, but there are reasons for that that you must discover for yourself.

This is a book that will leave you sweating with panic, heart pounding and pulse racing.  It is a very intense novel perfect for fans of The Hunger Games.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by:

Restoring Harmony

| Tasha

Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony

Sixteen-year-old Molly has lived her entire life on a sheltered island in Canada.  Despite the Collapse ten years ago in 2031, her family has food, shelter and lives an agrarian, self-sufficient life.  But now Molly must leave the island and venture into the United States to bring her grandparents home.  The family doesn’t know if her grandmother is alive or dead, due to communication problems.  To make it worse, Molly must sneak into the United States and only has enough money to get there, not to return.  Molly must brave a country filled with poverty, starvation, no transportation, and ruled by the Organization.  It is one farm girl and her fiddle against the world.

World building is very important in a book like this.  One faulty line of logic and the entire book crumbles.  Anthony has created a world that is carefully built on logic and a great extension of the direction the world is heading in.  The loss of petroleum, the decay of large cities, and the reliance on trading and bartering make for a world that is alarming in its nearness and ambitious in its scope. 

Molly is a glorious protagonist.  She shines with intelligence, resourcefulness and kindness.  Her reliable farmer’s knowledge serves her well in this dystopian novel.  Molly is neither too brave nor too frightened.  She faces danger with squared shoulders and does not seek it out.  Many of the secondary characters are equally well drawn.  Spill, the boy who is able to get anything because of his connections to the Mob, is multidimensional and a great romantic foil to Molly. 

A dystopian fantasy that is hauntingly honest and offers a marvelous heroine, this book is appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from copy received from Putnam.

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Illyria

| Tasha

Illyria by Elizabeth Hand

Maddy lives in a sprawling complex with her large extended family.  Descendants of a famous actress, the family members are dramatic, eccentric and interesting.  Maddy is wildly in love with her cousin Rogan.  As children they stole kisses under the porch, but it becomes more serious and complicated as they become teens.  During one of their secret trysts together in the attic, the two discover a tiny stage hidden behind the wallboards, complete with effects and lighting.  When Rogan and Maddy are both cast in their school’s performance of Twelfth Night the magic that is the two of them together is threatened. 

In a world of bloated, oversized teen novels, this short book is a powerful gem.  Hand has created a book that really shines with its strong setting of the family home where so much of the action takes place.  Hand’s descriptions bring the entire book to life as she paints a vivid picture for the reader.  What is amazing is that she has created a story with such depth in so few pages. 

The story is based strongly in reality, making the discovery of the tiny stage that much more special and strange.  The book is a beautiful realistic story with a strong thread of magic running through it.  This is helped by the romantic, beautiful writing that soars with detail. 

Some readers will find the two cousins in a romantic relationship to be confusing and startling.  Hand has woven this sort of deep feeling into the text in such a way that it feels very real, very honest.  This is not there for effect, rather it is an important, inherent part of their relationship and roles with one another.  Their closeness is deepened by their kinship.

A beautiful soaring novel in a tightly-written package, this book is sure to appeal to those who enjoy fantasy but also those readers looking for a great romance.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Viking.

Also reviewed by:

The Suburb Beyond the Stars

| Tasha

The Suburb Beyond the Stars by M. T. Anderson

Released June 1st, 2010.

This is the sequel to The Game of Sunken Places.  If you haven’t read the first, you really must.  Not only will you understand and enjoy this second one more, but they are both worth the time.

Brian and Gregory are hard at work designing Brian’s Game, but then Brian is attacked on the subway by a strange man and a monster.  When the boys try to reach Gregory’s cousin Prudence there is no answer.  The boys head out to find Prudence but they find much more than they or the reader ever expected: suburbia.  Now the two friends must battle their way past strange singing children, perfectly manicured lawns, and roads that lead nowhere at all in order to find out what happened to Prudence and what is threatening the existence of our entire world.

I was all set to read the second book in the series, knowing that it would be Brian’s turn to create his version of the Game.  Just as I was settling in with that as the main storyline of the book, Anderson took an unexpected swerve.  I was suddenly reading a book I had not expected, much to my great delight.  Anderson mixes humor with horror to jarring effect.  The running gags had me giggling aloud while at the same time the tension and eeriness of the novel was mesmerizing.  Anderson uses imagery to warn, shock and jab.  In suburbia, Anderson has found the perfect setting for both his humor and his horror.

Get this in the hands of the readers of the first book, but make sure that new readers find this series.  It is a marvelous mix of fantasy, science fiction, horror and humor that will appeal to middle school kids effortlessly.  Appropriate for ages 12-15.

Reviewed from Advanced Reader Copy received from Scholastic.

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The Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows

| Tasha

The Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows by Jacqueline West

Released June 2010.

A delightful romp of a book that combines mystery and fantasy, this book is filled with laughs, tension and plenty to discover.  After Old Ms. McMartin dies alone in her house, Olive and her mathematician parents move in.  The house is Victorian and filled with antiques and paintings.  Olive notices that the paintings are strange, but it isn’t until after she is warned of danger by a talking cat and finds some special spectacles that she learns the secret of the paintings.  By wearing the glasses, she can enter the world of the paintings.  But the mysteries go far deeper than that as does the pleasure of this read.  I will leave it to you to make your own discoveries in The Shadows.

Debut author, West, has written a book that is seasoned and tightly woven.  She has woven the tension of a good mystery with magical touches that make this book sparkle. West’s writing is something special.  She creates great images with her descriptions throughout the book.  One of my favorites is on page 20:

The basement of the old house was made mostly of stone, with some patches of packed dirt poking through, and other patches of crumbling cement trying to hide the dirt.  The effect was like an ancient, stale birthday cake frosted by a blindfolded five-year-old.

Sigh.  It captures so much not only about the basement it is describing, but also the atmosphere of the entire novel.  The above quote is from the advanced reader copy of the book.

Olive is a protagonist who is very human, often lonely, and at the same time clever, funny and just the type of person one would want for a friend.  The villains in the book are handsomely evil and thoroughly enjoy it.  The dangers are grippingly written, helping to add to pleasure of this light read that has wonderful dark moments too.  This is a book to be raced through and then read again to see all of the details and foreshadowing.

This book would work well as a classroom read aloud or a bedtime read with older children, but the best way to read it would be under the covers with a flashlight!  Get this into the hands of Coraline fans who will find a similar heroine to enjoy here.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Check out the trailer for the book:

Reviewed from ARC received from Penguin.

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Birth Marked

| Tasha

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O’Brien

This debut novel is an enthralling dystopian fantasy.  Gaia’s mother is a midwife and now at age 16, so is she.  Each month, the first children born must be advanced to behind the wall of the Enclave, escaping the poverty outside the wall.  It is Gaia’s duty to turn those children over just as her two older brothers were turned over.  Gaia herself was no advanced because of her scarred face.  But now Gaia’s parents have been seized by the Enclave and no one knows why.  When they do not return, Gaia decides to sneak inside the wall and see if she can find out what has happened to them.  Through her journey, Gaia learns that the lies being told to her and the others outside the wall are many and complex, but that one girl can still make a difference with one heroic act.

It took me some time to read this novel because I was savoring it.  The world building that O’Brien has done here is based on our own familiar world, but one that has suffered a climate catastrophe.  O’Brien offers just enough details about the world to make it clear, but concentrates more on the human situation than the environmental one.  Her society is complicated, fascinating and well rendered.  The same can be said of the heroine, Gaia.  She is bright though uneducated, defiant, clever and brave.  She is a great lens to view the society and her situation through.

There is adventure and romance in this novel, all told through the eyes of the girl who is a loner and outsider because of her disfiguring scar.  Get this into the hands of those who enjoy Tamora Pierce, because they will love this heroine and wait impatiently along with me for the next in the series.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

The Night Fairy

| Tasha

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz, illustrated by Angela Barrett

Newbery winner Schlitz returns with a celebration of fairies that will have any child entranced.  Flory, a night fairy, was only the size of an acorn when she was out flying and was crunched on by a bat who mistook her for a luna moth.  After her wings were crushed, she fell down into a cherry tree in a giant’s garden.  There she found a birdhouse just the right size for a fairy’s home.  Because she couldn’t move around easily on her own without wings, Flory befriended a very hungry squirrel who let her ride him in exchange for food.  But Flory wanted a grander animal to ride and when she saw the hummingbirds she knew just what she wanted.  But the hummingbirds were aloof and distant, too busy to talk with her about her needs.  It wasn’t until one bird was trapped in a spider web in the garden that Flory could bargain with her.  That bargain would take her on an even greater adventure that teaches Flory what friendship and being a fairy is really about.

Schlitz’s writing is laced with magic.  This deceptively slim volume holds so much story that it could have been much longer.  Instead, Schlitz has written a tightly woven story gilded with wonderful language.  The language invites readers deeply into the story, lets them know that something special has been written here, and then sails them off on adventure. 

I greatly appreciate that Flory is a fairy with plenty of chutzpah and guts.  She is prickly, brave and wonderfully independent.  At the same time, she dresses in flower petals, is a tiny size, and is undeniably feminine.  Bravo for a heroine who wields a dagger while dressed in petals!

Highly recommended, this book should be handed to any youngster who enjoys a good fairy tale.  This book has plenty of action and adventure married with magic and beauty.  Appropriate for ages 8-11.

Reviewed from Advanced Reader Copy received from Candlewick Press.

Extensively reviewed across the Kidslitosphere.

Hex Hall

| Tasha

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

When Sophie’s love charm goes horribly wrong at prom, she is sentenced to Hex Hall, a reform school for witches, shapeshifters, fairies and vampires.  Having been raised by a non-gifted mother, Sophie knows little about the magic world which gets her into trouble at Hex Hall.  In her first day, she is rooming with the controversial vampire, Jenna, she has angered three powerful dark witches, and she has a hopeless crush on one of the dark witch’s boyfriend.  Could it get any worse?  Throw in detention time spent cataloging garbage in a cellar, a strange spirit who won’t leave her alone, and family secrets and you have a wild ride of a book that is sure to please.

Hawkins has managed to write a story filled with witches, magic, vampires and other fantasy elements but also not to take herself too seriously.  The writing has a lot of humor, much of it pitched directly at current fantasy novel tropes.  Sophie herself is a character filled with sarcasm and a biting wit.  Without this writing style, the book could have suffered from the over dramatic and serious tones of many of these novels.  Here the lightness works well, creating a very funny and readable novel.

At the same time, the book is not just light.  There are dark themes here, real dangers and delightful diversions.  I quite enjoyed the mix of light and dark, humor and tension.  It kept the pages turning quickly.

Recommended for fans and non-fans of Twilight, both will find reasons to enjoy this novel and to look forward to the rest of the series.  Appropriate for ages 13-15.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Tempting Persephone, Whimsical Whamsical Whumsical, My Life Uncensored, Wondrous Reads, Frenetic Reader, The Compulsive Reader, Beyond Books, and many more.

Drizzle

| Tasha

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve

Polly Peabody knows that her family’s rhubarb farm is something special, even something magical!  They grow Giant Rhubarb that is helping close the hole in the ozone and chocolate rhubarb that tastes like a sweet but is a vegetable.  They have a lake that you can’t drown in no matter how long you hold your breath, a castle to live in, and gems sprout from the ground.  And every Monday at 1:00 pm exactly, it rains.  But then one Monday it doesn’t.  And other things start to go wrong on the farm.  The rhubarb begins to wilt even though it is being watered by hand.  The umbrella ride fails when people are riding it.  A strange fog is starting to cover some of the farm.  It is up to Polly to find out what is causing the damage and save their farm.  To do that she will have to face her fears, uncover family secrets and trust in the magic of the farm.

This enticing tale is a pleasure to read.  Van Cleve has created the farm of childhood dreams filled with dessert that is healthful, carnival rides, friendly bugs, animated plants, and much more.  She writes with a light friendly tone that never gets bogged down in elaborate descriptions or overwriting, which is a fear with books of this sort.  Instead, she allows the magic to shine and the imagination to soar.

Polly is a great protagonist who is painfully shy, bullied at school, and yet one of the most fascinating people you could meet.  As she learns that she is much braver and more skilled than she ever dreamed, Polly begins to let others into her world and make friends.  Yet it is not that simple, and her struggles with self-reliance, family secrets, and friendships make for great coming-of-age story material.

A large part of the book’s appeal is the tension between the magical and the mundane.  Polly has to face school and all of its pitfalls as well as the desperate situation of her home and family farm.  While magic is involved, it actually makes Polly’s personal life outside of the farm more difficult.  The tension of classmates, news reporters, and magic make this book very special.

Highly recommended, this book is perfection for fans of Savvy by Ingrid Law.  It would make a wonderful classroom read and will be happily devoured by children who enjoy a lot of chocolate with their rhubarb.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial.

Check out Kathleen Van Cleve’s website.