science fiction

Matched: A Dystopian Romance

| Tasha

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Matched by Ally Condie

Released November 30, 2010.

An enticing mix of dystopian science fiction and romance, this is the first book in a trilogy.  Cassia trusts the Society with her entire life.  She trusts it to pick the best job for her skills.  She trusts it to decide who she will love.  She trusts it to decide when people die.  So when she attends her Matching ceremony and the face of one of her best friends is shown as her ideal match, she knows it is meant to be.  Xander is handsome, clever and kind.  That’s what makes it all the more confusing when Cassia looks at his data and she momentarily sees the face of another boy she knows.  Ky is quiet, a mysterious handsome loner who moved to their area from the Outer Provinces.  Cassia finds herself drawn to Ky and starting to think outside of the rules of the Society.  Learning to write in cursive, a skill lost for the people of her city, Cassia discovers a longing to create things for herself outside of the limits assigned by the Society.  Their love itself is forbidden, and something that could bring them to the attention of the Officials at any moment.  Now Cassia must choose between the comfort of life as she has always led to or the danger of the unknown and love.

Condie has created a society that is detailed and fascinating.  Within the Society, she asks questions that modern teens should be considering about privacy, personal choice, and the public good.  These questions are present in the book, but offered up in a subtle way.  The world building here is logical.  Condie excels at slowly revealing the horrors of this world, at first allowing readers to see the world as Cassia does, one with few troubles and many answers. 

Cassia is a great protagonist.  Even though this is a romantic novel, Cassia is strong and brilliant.  A large part of the success here is that Cassia is not concerned about her looks, but more concerned about looking beyond the glossy surface of perfection.  Happily, both of Cassia’s love interests are equally interesting, kind and bright.  This is not about a villain vs. a hero.  It is far more nuanced than that, as are all of the choices that Cassia faces in the novel.

I look forward to the next in this trilogy.  This first book finished with just the right amount of unanswered questions to keep readers intrigued for the next book and not so many as to be frustrating.  Appropriate for ages 13-15.

Reviewed from ARC received from Penguin.

Monsters of Men – An Amazing Conclusion

| Tasha

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Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

In this thrilling conclusion to the ground-breaking series, readers will finally find out what happens when the indigenous Spackle army arrives to do battle and what effect the arriving ship from the convoy will have.    Both Todd and Viola have obstacles to overcome in this novel, ones that drive them apart.  Todd learns to control his Noise, making him almost silent in a world where men’s thoughts are heard aloud.  But there is a price for that silence and it could be his relationship with Viola.  Viola is battling an illness that has her feverish and weakened due to the marking band on her arm.  Women are dying from the infections the bands cause, and nothing seems to be working.  So Todd keeps Viola at arm’s length so that she doesn’t know how close he is growing to Mayor Prentiss.  Viola keeps Todd away so that he doesn’t know how ill she is.  All of this sets up the riveting conclusion to this series.  This book brings war directly into the reader’s view.  There is no turning away as beloved characters are threatened, surrounded by battle, scarred and even die.  Everyone is faced with terrible choices that will decide the future of the planet as a whole.

As readers of the first books know, Ness is not an author who can be trusted to keep characters readers love alive.  He breaks the rules, brings back villains, and returns characters thought lost to life.  Through it all the effect of Noise and information is felt.  The Spackle use it to communicate as one and the humans struggle with its impact and how it is being used.  It is a world of constant contact and sharing, one that overwhelms and frightens.  It is a brilliant play on our over-connected online worlds and the effect they are having on all of us.

Ness has built a world here that is less about the land itself and more about the people who live on the planet.  While the setting is critical, it is mostly because of the unique effects of it upon the humans and Spackle who live there.  Ness excels at creating characters who are interesting, conflicted and true to themselves even as they grow and change.  The other thing he excels at is action sequences, terrifying changes to circumstance, and pacing.  This all creates a book that is impossible to put down.

I finished this book with tears rolling down my face and my eyes red from trying to read through my weeping, because I just could not stop reading long enough to wipe my eyes.  It is a series unlike any other and a finale that will shock and thrill.  Appropriate for ages 15-17.

Reviewed from library copy.

Reviewed on many other blogs.

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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:

Boom!

| Tasha

Boom! by Mark Haddon

Jim is a magnet for trouble, which is why he thinks his older sister might be telling the truth when she says that the teachers at his school are talking about sending him to reform school.  So he and his best friend Charlie come up with a plan to bug the teacher’s lounge.  While listening, they discover that two of their teachers are speaking in an unknown language.  Jim and Charlie set out to discover what exactly is going on in their school and stumble onto a plot that is much larger than they had ever dreamed. 

Haddon has written a book with a fabulous blend of action, adventure and humor.  The book has a break-neck pace at times that young readers will find great fun, combined with a sense of humor that will have them laughing out loud.  The relationship between Jim and Charlie is so well done.  It completely captures the tension of two best friends, the fights, and the immense connection they have.  I also particularly enjoyed Jim’s father as a character who is losing himself in model aircraft and then discovers cooking as a passion.  There are character who will surprise readers too, but I’ll let you discover that for yourself.  Let’s just say that Haddon excels at creating characters with real dimension.

Teachers and parents looking for a book to hand to reluctant readers over the summer need look no further.  It will also work well as a classroom read aloud thanks to its great pacing and writing. 

This fun blend of intrigue and science fiction will win readers over easily.  Perfect for lifting your summer vacation into orbit.  Appropriate for ages 10-13.

Reviewed from copy received from Knopt Delacorte Dell.

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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Cosmic

| Tasha

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Liam is a twelve-year-old who looks like a he’s thirty.  He’s the tallest in his class and even has a wispy beard growing in.  So Liam is able to do things that other kids his age can’t.  He rides carnival rides that they are all too short for.  He is mistaken for a teacher on his first day of school.  He pretends that a girl in his class, Florida, is his daughter.  And he almost test drives a Porsche before his father stops him.   Thanks to these mistakes, Liam lives in a place between childhood and adulthood.  So when Liam is asked to bring his daughter on the trip of a lifetime to the best theme park in the world, Liam easily decides to do it.  He needs to pose as one of the world’s best dads to get on the spaceship, and it just may take a child to be the best father in the bunch.

I love Boyce’s books because you never know what journey you are about to start out on.  The book will seem to be one thing and delightfully morph into something else along the way.  Readers will start out thinking this is a book about space travel, but it is so much more.  It is an exploration of what age means, a novel about what it takes to be a parent and what it takes to be a kid.  It is a deep book that never loses its light heart and sense of fun.

Liam is a great character who even when he is acting like a great father never could be confused with an adult.  Boyce has written a wonderful hero here who is smart, intuitive and thoroughly juvenile in a great way.

I only have one teeny quibble with the novel.  Boyce uses World of Warcraft as one of Liam’s main interests.  I play WOW and so will many of the kids who read this novel.  The problem is that Boyce gets a lots of the details of the game wrong.  Some he has right, but others are really jarringly off.  This doesn’t detract from the book’s quality, but it may really bother some young readers.  I know that whenever he got a detail wrong it pulled me right out of the story, which is unfortunate.

Highly recommended, even for WOW junkies, this book is a beauty of a novel filled with humor, grace and a hero for our times.  Appropriate for ages 10-14.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Nayu’s Reading Corner and Fuse #8.

The Maze Runner

| Tasha

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The only thing Thomas remembers when he wakes up on the lift is his name.  When the doors open, he is in the Glade where he is greeted by many other teen boys who also don’t remember anything beyond their names and the Glade.  The Glade is a community based on order and structure. Every morning the doors open to the maze, every evening they close.  Though some boys have been there for years, they have never solved the maze and found an exit.  There are monsters in the maze, creations of flesh and metal that roam the maze and attack any boy they find there.  Thomas finds himself wanting to be a Runner, one of the boys who tries to solve the enormous maze, even though commonsense tells him not to do it.  The day after Thomas arrives, everything changes when an unconscious girl arrives on the lift, and deep inside Thomas recognizes her though he can’t remember anything else.  Could she be the key to the maze?  Could he?

Grippingly written, this book grabs the reader from the moment the lift doors open and never lets go.  Dashner has created a wonderfully conceived compact world that really works well.  The reader knows no more than Thomas, making it a book with constant questions and tensions.  One of the only issues I had with the book was Thomas himself.  I would have enjoyed a more regular protagonist rather than a boy who is braver, stronger, and more clever than any of the others.  The book has great pacing which is headlong and wild, fitting the subject perfectly.  And though Thomas may be a bit to super, his character has a strong inner voice that works well.  The setting is written with such clarity that readers will feel they know the space well by the end of the novel. 

Highly recommended, the next book in the series will be eagerly awaited by those who read it.  Recommended for fans of The Hunger Games series, this book is appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from library copy.

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Booklist’s Top 10 Science Fiction/Fantasy

| Tasha

Booklist has listed its top picks for science fiction and fantasy in 2009.  There are two lists.  The first is for youth and the second for adults, but as we know teens love to read adult science fiction/fantasy titles.

The youth list is a great one!  Books I had yet to read mixed with my favorites of the year. 

Top 10 Science Fiction/Fantasy for Youth

 

Attica by Garry Kilworth

The Carbon Diaries.2015. by Saci Lloyd

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

 

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Nation by Terry Pratchett

Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

 

Top SF/Fantasy

All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

The Ant King and Other Stories by Benjamin Rosenbaum

The Best of Lucius Shepard by Lucius Shepard

The Caryatids by Bruce Sterling

Crazy Love by Leslie What

Crusade by Taylor Anderson

Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey

The Man with the Iron Heart by Harry Turtledove

We Never Talk about My Brother by Peter S. Beagle

VOYA’s Best Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror

| Tasha

VOYA has released their list of the best sci fi, fantasy and horror for teens in 2008.  I usually love their lists, but this one in my mind is lacking.  And really, for such a lengthy list, it should not have missed so many of my favorite titles. 

I applaud the inclusion of Hunger Games, Adoration of Jenna Fox, and Melting Stones, plus of course The Graveyard Book.  But where are some of my other favorites?

Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Dead Girl Walking by Linda Joy Singleton

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Skinned by Robin Wasserman