For Your Consideration - 2011 Hugo Nominees

I know there's a lot of controversy going on right now in the WorldCon community over the proposal of a new award category for Children's and YA novels. One of the arguments (both for and against, depending on how you view it) is the question of whether or not there are Children's and YA books worth nominating. In that vein, here is my short-list of Children's and Young Adult books published in 2010 that are worthy of a Hugo:

BEST NOVEL:

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins


Mockingjay is a wonderful, provocative finisher to a series that has met critical and public acclaim. It debuted at #1 on the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller lists. Its publication netted Collins inclusion on Time Magazine's Most Influential People of 2010. The rights to Hunger Games have been optioned for a movie that is in development. All of this on top of a beautiful dystopia that defies all stereotypes and returns an honest, gritty look at the result of war and rebellion, even ones that are against unjust tyrants.


Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld


Westerfeld has created a beautiful world that is strikingly different from our own based on only a few premises: what if Darwin continued his studies and discovered DNA and how to manipulate it, and what if countries either adopted that or utilized machine technology in protest? The result is a wonderful World War I alterna-history about two children that is entertaining and displays a great depth at a level that all ages can appreciate.


BEST NOVELLA:

Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler


((Note: at 44,300 words this book falls over the strict word limit but is within the 5000 words or 20% rule to be placed in this category [Constitution 3.2.9]))

I think this was the book from 2010 that impacted me the most. Lisabeth's characterization is amazingly good. I really felt that I could understand and identify with Lisabeth and her attraction to anorexia. The utilization of the four horsemen as a catalyst for both giving Lisabeth everything she wants and making her realize she doesn't really want any of it is very insightful, and the way Kessler pulls it off is truly gifted. If you only read one thing off this list I really hope it is Hunger.


BEST NOVELETTE:

“The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn" in Zombies vs. Unicorns by Diana Peterfreund

This story is about a girl who finds a unicorn and, instead of killing it, tries to raise it as a pet. She discovers that with the unicorn around her "demon powers", which her parents call a curse, are actually heightened and useful. A great short about a girl discovering to value herself and her talents and follow her heart instead of her parents' debasing teachings).


BEST SHORT STORY:

"Bougainvillea" in Zombies vs. Unicorns by Carrie Ryan

This is a story about a girl whose father rules Curacao after the zombie uprising, keeping zombies off the island and everyone safe. Not everyone appreciates his ruthless rules, though, and through the conflict of obeying or rebelling Isa discovers her own power and autonomy and delivers an amazing twist ending.


“The Aarne-Thompson Classification Revue” in Full Moon City by Holly Black

This was a truly gifted story. I love the parallels of transformation: girl into werewolf, girl into actress, actress into role. The thought that it took playing someone else to make Nadia comfortable with who she really is is an great twist. Lots of characterization and plot packed into such a short package.


BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST:

Keith Thompson

His work on Leviathan and Behemoth is truly awesome, and his steampunk and cyberpunk art will captivate you.


THE JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (NOT A HUGO AWARD):

Malinda Lo (2nd year of eligibility)

Her novel, Ash, was published in 2009 and is thus not eligible, but I certainly think its impact as an Andre Norton Nominee along with Scalzi's Zoe's Tale demonstrate that Lo is going to be an author to watch in the future.


Diana Peterfreund (2nd year of eligibility)

Diana's Unicorn series (Rampant and Ascendant) are truly excellent fantasy, tackling not only the ancient trope of a innocent girl as bait twisted in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer type way, but put it all in a shell of believable characterization that makes you love Astrid and care for her throughout all the stories. I believe Peterfreund is going to give us more truly special works in the future.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.

This was a very interesting book. I wouldn't call it incredibly entertaining, but I think a book about abortion, the definition of life, and consciousness vs vitality should probably be a little uncomfortable in places. This book definitely delivers on that. The premise is pretty simple: as the US has a civil war over abortion, the compromise is that abortion is illegal. Instead it is made legal for a parent or guardian to choose to "unwind" their child between the ages of 13 and 18. Unwinding is a process where the body of the child is dismantled and all the parts are donated to living humans. As long as none is wasted and it is all put into living bodies then the unwound child isn't dead . . . just living in pieces.

I will admit I found a few problems with the premise. First, it seems rather unrealistic for me that abortions-rights advocates would agree to this scenario as acceptable. It seems to me that requiring that an unwanted child be supported until the age of 13 goes against everything they stand for. On the other hand, the concept of "storking" (being able to leave an unwanted baby on someone's doorstep and, as long as you aren't caught - they are obligated to care for that child as if it was their own) may have been the compromise in that situation, because it does remove the obligation to care for a child if the mother is careful. I do see where the general public would start to accept the concept, especially when they explain that unwound donations are the cornerstone of modern medicine and have replaced most traditional cures (why fix it when you can get a new one?). It does seem that modern Americans are able to accept a lot of questionable medical practices as long as they get immediate results. And I found the fundamentalist Christian reaction in the book to be spot-on (they develop a system of "tithing" - giving back to G-d by having a child to be unwound, thus giving themselves completely to help save other people's lives, then spend their life convincing them that this is an honorable and glorious calling).

And, if all that meta doesn't hook you then I don't really think this book is for you. Sure, there are convincing characters acting in a solid plot and working towards a better tomorrow . . . but really the book is about the "thinky bits". And it does them really well. You get so invested in the characters that you begin to understand their points of view and why they react as they do, and, consequently, why they think like they do. There really isn't much preaching about things in the book, it's all filtered through the characters' points-of-view in a way that makes it teachable and yet palatable at the same time. So, while this certainly isn't a light, happy read it is an enjoyable way to get some philosophy and think about your place in the world.

Warped by Maurissa Guibord

Tessa Brody doesn't believe in magic. Or Fate. But there is definitely something weird about the dusty unicorn tapestry that she discovers in a box of old books. The wild, handsome creature woven within it draws Tessa, and frightens her too.

Soon after the tapestry comes into her possession strange things begin to happen. Tessa experiences vivid dreams of the past and scenes from a brutal hunt. When she accidentally pulls a thread from the tapestry, Tessa releases a terrible secret-one that has been contained for centuries. She also meets William de Chaucy, a young sixteenth-century nobleman with gorgeous eyes, an odd accent and haughty attitude to spare. His fate is as inextricably tied to the tapestry as Tessa's own. "His Lordship" is pretty hard to get along with but equally hard to resist.

Together with Will, Tessa must correct the wrongs of the past to defeat a cruel and crafty ancient enemy.

But what is she willing to sacrifice in order to do it?

I was really happy in my choice with this book. It turned out to be good in all the right places. I don't really know why that was so surprising. Maybe it was because the summary sounded like a formulaic bodice-ripper romance complete with Fabio cover. The resulting book, though, is more fantasy-thriller than romance book. In fact, I would say that the romance is the weakest part of the plot. The characters are great, and the plot idea of mixing the Fates and a witch who confounds their plans is a wonderful creation. I love the twist of why the witch has the tapestry, which is surprising and yet makes a ton of sense. The characterization is confusing at first, with the time travel dreams and the confusion over identities, but after the first third of the book it solidifies pretty well into a cohesive whole. I do kinda wish the book was another third longer, because it seemed the author really hit her stride in the second half and I would have liked more of it, but as a whole the book was convincing and amusing as contemporary fantasy.

Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell

Heaven-sent?

Ellie was never particularly good at talking to boys—or anyone other than her best friend and fellow outcast, Ruth. Then she met Michael.

Michael is handsome, charming, sweet. And totally into Ellie. It’s no wonder she is instantly drawn to him. But Michael has a secret. And he knows Ellie is hiding something, too. They’ve both discovered they have powers beyond their imagining. Powers that are otherworldly.

Ellie and Michael are determined to uncover what they are, and how they got this way . . . together. But the truth has repercussions neither could have imagined. Soon they find themselves center stage in an ancient conflict that threatens to destroy everything they love. And it is no longer clear whether Ellie and Michael will choose the same side.

In this electrifying novel, Heather Terrell spins a gripping supernatural tale about true love, destiny, and the battle of good versus evil.

I didn't really like this book much. First, I should probably know better than to keep reading angel books when so many of them annoy me. Yet, for some reason I do. Perhaps I am hoping for gems, which is entirely possible since I decided to read this immediately after Unearthly, which was deifinately a gem. Fallen Angel wasn't really one of them, though. It fell kinda flat and predictable. The story is the same as a lot: a girl finds out she has crazy powers and, over the book, discovers she's an angel with the help of her (also discovering) boyfriend. By the end of the book she also discovers she's (unfortunately) the Mary-Sue Angel who's born to bring about the apocalypse. Meanwhile her parents, who are also (suprise, suprise) angels, aren't telling her anything about who or what she is, so, other than the fact that they wouldn't be around to ground her, it really wouldn't harm the book at all if they weren't even there. Even if all of the Mary-Sue tendencies of the main character were forgiveable (she can fly! she can read minds! she has the popular new boyfriend! she's pretty and envied by the popular girls even though she doesn't see it!) the book has other problems. I dislike the boyfriend character, Michael, and his constant insistence that Ellie disobey her parents and other authorities without consequence (and, often, with reward) and his mysogonistic protection of Ellie. I dislike the stale, almost formulaic pace and direction of the plot: girl finds new boy, girl finds powers, boy shows her he has powers too, girl finds out a bit about powers, girl gets grounded, girl finds out a lot about powers, powers are confirmed by bad guy, girl runs away to protect boy, boy pops up at climax to protect girl, happy makeup denoument. Also, the book reads rather like an adult romance novel. The sex scenes are cheesy and over-descriptive, and, frankly, gross because they always include someone biting someone so the couple can drink eachothers' blood. In all, I'm not too pleased with this read, it seemed too much like an adult romance stuffed into a stale paranormal shell, and I'll probably pass on any more by this author.

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Angels are still a sore point with me, but this book dealt with them well. I liked how Clara already knew she was an angel, and had for a while, and how she not only had her mom around but had her guidance. It's strange to say, but parents seem scarce in YA lit today, and good, responsible, helpful parents are even rarer. Clara does experience times when she doesn't understand what's going on around her and parts of her new life, but the explanation for why she wasn't told is a good one, and, by the end of the book, proven right. The love triangle in this book is beautifully handled and ends better than a lot of romance stories. The struggle between fate, duty, and love is handled even better, and is refreshing and inspiring at the same time. The ending came out a little strange because of this, but overall I think it was an okay way of dealing with things if you want to have a sequel to the book, so I'll give it a pass.

Shadowspell by Jenna Black

Oh Shadowspell, I looked forward to you so much! Why hast thou forsaken me?!? This book brought out such mixed feelings for me, mostly in whether or not I should post a review. After all, it was one of my top 10 most anticipated books of 2011, so letting it fade into obscurity would do that post a real disservice. On the other hand it seems to be such a bad thing to post negative reviews in the book blogging world, I feel as if I'm committing a social injustice. Really, though, the injustice would be to the readers, the ones who can't find any reviews of a book so they buy it thinking it might be OK and then find out they made a not-so-good choice. So, with that line of thinking, I've decided: I'm going to be a blogger who posts negative reviews. This is the first.

On top of spending most of her time in a bunkerlike safe house and having her dates hijacked by a formidable Fae bodyguard, Faeriewalker Dana Hathaway is in for some more bad news: the Erlking and his pack of murderous minions known as the Wild Hunt have descended upon Avalon. With his homicidal appetite and immortal powers, the Erlking has long been the nightmare of the Fae realm. A fragile treaty with the Faerie Queen, sealed with a mysterious spell, is the one thing that keeps him from hunting unchecked in Avalon, the only place on Earth where humans and Fae live together. Which means Dana’s in trouble, since it’s common knowledge that the Faerie Queen wants her – and her rare Faeriewalker powers – dead. The smoldering, sexy Erlking’s got his sights set on Dana, but does he only seek to kill her, or does he have something much darker in mind?

I had such high hopes for this book. I really, really liked the first one. Dana was such a poised, realistic, strong character. She had her own agency, goals, and talents that were obviously separate and above any possible love interests and the imposing authority of her father. This book, however, is very different. While it retains the surprising-yet-believable plot arc and the great worldbuilding of the first, I think the Dana character went way off-base. It's really contained in one word: slut. And it's used in this book ALOT. Somehow Dana has become paranoid that she's a slut, even though she's a virgin. Dana is (according to the book) a slut because two boys like her at once, a slut because she likes two boys at once (even though she's barely kissed one and never kissed the other), a slut because she's jealous when her best friend comments that one of her crushes is cute, a slut because people find out she's a virgin (yeah, that one blew my mind too), and a slut because she likes kissing a boy who has more experience than her. Other elements of the plot (the popular handsome boy falls for her, situations require a chaste relationship, Dana's self-sacrificial recklessness) really made this book read more like twilight without the sparkly sunlight scenes. I was really unhappy that the skewed sexualities were imposed on the character, because I really fear what a teenager reading this book would think it is telling her about her own romantic life. There's also some other problematic spots in relation to Dana's mother's relationship with Dana's father (he had her declared insane so he could keep her locked up "for her own good", the excuse is that she's a drunk but I'm starting to wonder if we're going to discover that he magically made her an alcoholic, too, since it's hinted) and Dana's transfer of protection from her overbearing father and father-figure bodyguard to an oversexualized bad boy to her entirely chaste boyfriend (complete with ownership markings). I found it really sad, because all of the spark that Glimmerglass had was still present in this book, but I just couldn't dig out the joy from under the problems.

Tuesday Review: The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia has led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when she learns, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city, her best friend, Kiernan, and the only life she’s ever known.

Sent to live with her only surviving relative, a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. Then she discovers that magic runs through her veins – long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control – and she realizes that she will never learn to be just a simple village girl.

Sinda returns to the city to seek answers. Instead, she rediscovers the boy who refused to forsake her, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor’s history, forever.

I've been greatly looking forward to this book! Along with Starcrossed by Elizabeth Bunce and Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta this is another great high fantasy YA book with a great twist: instead of being about a common girl who finds out she's a princess, it's about the girl who finds out she's not a princess at all, but really just the commoner stand-in. O'Neal does a great job of capturing the mix of emotions that I imagine a teenage girl would have in this situation: abandonment, disappointment, resentment, and a little relief. I especially loved the characterization of Sinda's aunt, because it seemed like a very realistic reaction to the situations she is put in. O'Neal also spins a great plot full of twists and turns that are unpredictable yet not totally out of left field. Romance is present in this book but it's not overpowering to the plot and seems grounded in the age and maturity of the characters involved. The villain is great, explained and reasoned but surprising at the same time (and I'm not gonna spoil it for you!). I highly recommend this book for the fantasy lovers out there.

Bonus Review: White Cat by Holly Black

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a facade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his facade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

I love the premise of this book. What happens if magic users are more well known for their bad deeds than their good? Black builds around that a world where magic use is restricted and most magic practitioners hide that fact for fear of persecution and possible arrest. Since magic "curses" can only be conducted by touch, everyone wears gloves and is extremely cautious of any contact outside their family. It is in this world that Cassel is born, the youngest son in a family of magic workers and the only one who can't do magic. Rather rebellious, Cassel is in a private disciplinary school, but he gets kicked out when he is found on the roof after having a dream about a white cat. Cassel has to figure out what the dream means while trying to get back in school, and, in the process, manages to get himself into a lot more trouble. The characterization of everyone in the book is spot-on, and yet somehow Black manages to make all the selfish, criminalistic boys in the book relatable, which is something that is very hard to do. The plot is also great, surprising without being too out-in-left-field. The real spark, though, is the worldbuilding. Black has the gift of being able to make an entirely new magical world for us to enjoy with a minimum of exposition and no long teachy paragraphs on how things are and how they got that way. It makes me very glad that there's another book, Red Glove, due out in a few months!

Thursday Re-Read: The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger by Lois Lowry

The Giver:

"It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened."

Thus opens this haunting novel in which a boy inhabits a seemingly ideal world: a world without conflict, poverty, unemployment, divorce, injustice, or inequality. It is a time in which family values are paramount, teenage rebellion is unheard of, and even good manners are a way of life.

December is the time of the annual Ceremony at which each twelve year old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders. Jonas watches his friend Fiona named Caretaker of the Old and his cheerful pal Asher labeled the Assistant Director of Recreation. But Jonas has been chosen for something special. When his selection leads him to an unnamed man -the man called only the Giver -he begins to sense the dark secrets that underlie the fragile perfection of his world.

Told with deceptive simplicity, this is the provocative story of a boy who experiences something incredible and undertakes something impossible. In the telling it questions every value we have taken for granted and reexamines our most deeply held beliefs.

Gathering Blue:

"Mother? " There was no reply. She hadn't expected one. Her mother had been dead, now, for four days, and Kira could tell that the last of the spirit was drifting away ... Now she was all alone.

Left orphaned and physically flawed in a civilization that shuns and discards the weak, Kira faces a frighteningly uncertain future. Her neighbors are hostile and no one but a small boy offers to help. When she is summoned to judgement by The Council of Guardians, Kira prepares to fight for her life. But the Council, to her surprise, has plans for her. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, the young girl faces new responsibilities and a set of mysteries deep within the only world she has ever known. On her quest for truth, Kira discovers things that will change her life and world forever. A compelling examination of a future society, Gathering Blue challenges readers to think about community, creativity, and the values that they have learned to accept. Once again Lois Lowry brings readers on a provocative journey that inspires contemplation long after the last page is turned.

Messenger:

He noticed Kira reaching for her pack and spoke sharply to her. “What are you doing? We have to move on a minute. It’s dangerous here.” She hadn’t seen the deadly thing that had grabbed at Matty, but he knew there would be more; he watched the bushes for them.

It had come for him first, he realized. He did not want to be the first to die, to leave her alone.

To his dismay, she was removing her embroidery tools. “Kira! There’s no time!”

“I might be able to . . . ” Deftly she threaded a needle.

To what? He wondered bitterly. To create a handsome wall-hanging depicting our last hours? He remembered that in the art books he had leafed through at Leader’s, many paintings depicted death. A severed head on a platter. A battle, and the ground strewn with bodies. Swords and spears and fire; and nails being pounded into the tender flesh of a man’s hands. Painters had preserved such pain through beauty.

Perhaps she would.

He watched her hands. They flew over the small frame, moving in and out with the needle. Her eyes were closed. She was not directing her own fingers. They simply moved.

He waited, his eyes vigilant, watching the surrounding bushes for the next attack. He feared the coming dark. He wanted to move on, out of this place, before evening came. But he waited while her hands moved.


Finally she looked up. “Someone is coming to help us,” she said. “It’s the young man with the blue eyes.”

I'm reviewing all three of these books because I believe this is a series that really should be read in close succession. Also, it's a series that is strange in that I'm pretty sure everyone has read the first book (it's required reading in most schools) but never heard of the sequels. I think that's sad because the sequels are really great books and they bring some needed closure to the first book.

These books are truly wonderful dystopias. They each pick at a different non-working society, pointing out the problems with personal freedom. In The Giver the society has taken away personal freedom and is highly regulated for sameness. They've taken hardship, pain, loss, and even color from the daily lives of the people. In Gathering Blue the society is full of poverty, and personal freedom is pushed aside in favor of survival. Only a select few leaders have personal freedom, and even that may be an illusion. Messenger is about a society that is built on the flaws of the other societies and offers democracy and personal freedom, and it shows the benefits and the pitfalls of giving people the liberty to do as they please. Although each book follows a new lead character the leads are interconnected and you get to see their growth and reactions to the plot adversities. The characterizations are great, taking into account that the characters are children and yet matured through the problems they have encountered. The plots flow logically, full of suspense but with just enough breadcrumbs along the way to keep the plot flowing and surprising but not illogical. And it has a dynamite cliffhanger ending that gives you just enough information that you can imagine that everyone finally gets their happily-ever-after.

Tuesday Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awake on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into a brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone—one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship—tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

This book was #8 on my 2011 anticipated books list, and, after reading, I kinda wish I had put it higher. This book not only failed to disappoint, it totally exceeded all my expectations. Somehow the author managed to cram a dystopia into a great space opera, proving that there can be fantastic hard sci-fi that young adults will read and enjoy. The premise is rather simple: a girl is cryo-frozen in order to ride along on the 300-year trip to colonize a new planet with her parents. She's woken up early, though, and she has to figure out how to live in the ship's society while also trying to figure out who unfroze her and who wants to kill the other frozen colonists. She has the help of Elder, a boy her age who was born to eventually lead the ship. I thought the characterization of both of these people was amazing. I felt for both of them, and yet when they kept things from eachother or other people I entirely understood why they were acting how they were. I think the first-person perspective helped a lot in this. I wasn't confused in the perspective switching each chapter between Amy and Elder, and, in fact, I specifically remember being suprised when I hit chapter 19 and realizing that I'd been reading the whole book in first person. Usually first person annoys me, sometimes even causing me to put down a book on that alone, but this book was so beautifully done that I didn't even notice. The plot was engaging, however, I did feel towards the middle of the end that there should have been a few more clues along the way so I could watch the characters figure things out a bit more. As it was I felt that the solution was really fed to them at the climax all at once. It wasn't a huge detraction for me, but it was slightly frustrating to not be able to play along.

Thursday Re-Read: Wren to the Rescue by Sherwood Smith

All her life Wren has hoped for an adventure. Now she has one—with a kidnapped princess, a handsome prince, and a magician. What does it matter if the princess is only Tess, her best friend from the orphanage; if the prince is a youngest son with no chance of becoming king; and the magician is an apprentice? Wren leads the other three over mountains and past killing spells, fighting battles along the way. But then she finds herself up against some shape-changing magic that may end her life as a human forever!

Wren to the Rescue is a great book. Although I usually go for more teen reads than middle this book was fast-paced and fantastical yet detailed enough to keep me absorbed the whole way through. I love the character of Wren. She's not a princess, but she dreams big and yet she always manages to be happy with what she's got while she still wants more. I think that's a great characteristic in people, and it's realistically portrayed in the Wren character. I also love how she's figured out she's special, but she's untrained so she still can't do much with her "specialness", which makes her an ideal and yet still relatable. The other characters in the story are well done as well, children that are who they say they are and yet are still convincing as children and not twelve-year-olds-with-the-logic-of-fourty-year-olds. The plot, a chase/rescue, is wonderfully paced, with just enough exposition to keep the story from seeming to be pulled from nowhere. I think my only criticism of Wren is that it is too short, but with two sequels I can't even complain about that for long!

Giveaway News

My friend Emi over at Octopus Inks has gained 100 followers, and she's having a giveaway as a celebration! Head on over there to oggle her amazingly cute octopus layout and try to win free stuff!

http://oktopusink.blogspot.com/2011/01/100-follower-giveaway.html#idc-container

Tuesday Review: XVI by Julia Karr

Nina Oberon's life is pretty normal: she hangs out with her best friend, Sandy, and their crew, goes to school, plays with her little sister, Dee. But Nina is 15. And like all girls she'll receive a Governing Council-ordered tattoo on her 16th birthday. XVI. Those three letters will be branded on her wrist, announcing to all the world--even the most predatory of men--that she is ready for sex. Considered easy prey by some, portrayed by the Media as sluts who ask for attacks, becoming a "sex-teen" is Nina's worst fear. That is, until right before her birthday, when Nina's mom is brutally attacked. With her dying breaths, she reveals to Nina a shocking truth about her past--one that destroys everything Nina thought she knew. Now, alone but for her sister, Nina must try to discover who she really is, all the while staying one step ahead of her mother's killer.

I've been anxiously awaiting the release of XVI, and I certainly wasn't disappointed! The book is a great mix of future dystopia, feminism, and reality. Nina's character is really believable. She's a teenager who's not sure she's ready for relationships, and, even if she, she's not really ready for sex, but she lives in a society that applauds sexuality and believes that teenage girls should be open to everyone, everywhere, anytime. She's a really nice foil for her best friend, Sandy, who craves the attention of guys so much that she can't wait to be sex-teen and get more of it, even though she wants to stay a virgin in order to get her dream job. The plot is great, although I hesitate to describe more for fear of ruining it! The characterization of both guys and girls, and the government, is all spot-on. There's a little bit of the middle that drags as the exposition comes out, probably a bit too much because the author wanted to build suspense but drug it on a bit too long. It's worth sticking out, though, because the ending is great and, although it's not world-changing, it's a refreshing change from the current dystopia trend where the heroine totally destroys the world by the end of the book.

Across The Universe by Beth Revis Release Date

Across the Universe comes out today! Are you as excited as I am? I hope after you see some of the stuff they've done for this book then you will be!!!

First, take a look at the cool trailer:




Then check out this awesome video Beth did about the book:




You've also gotta go and take a look at the awesome Across the Universe website. It's an interactive version of the Godspeed, the ship from the book! Unfortunately you'll have to open Explorer or Chrome, I couldn't get it to work in Firefox at all, but the website is so worth it! Be sure and look at all the details on the farms. It's so strange-but-awesome to see a science fiction book put so much detail into agricultural science and the webs of lifeforms required to have a sustainable enclosed eco-system.

Need more? Here's some cool links to tide you over until you can run out to the bookstore:

Author Beth Revis' Website
Beth's Blog
Beth's Twitter
Penguin Books' Teen Readers Page
Penguin's Teen Twitter
Penguin's Teen Facebook
Across The Universe's Facebook


Convinced? Order the book from Indie Books!


Not Convinced? Well there's a 111-page excerpt up from now (11:11am EST) until 11:11pm EST tonight on io9.com. Go check it out here!

Thursday Re-Read: Feed by MT Anderson

For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world -- and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now.

I picked up this book because it had some good buzz in sci-fi circles (it even won a Golden Duck in 2003). This book has a very interesting premise: in a world where everyone has a computer embedded in their head with a constant link to the internet (called a "feed", thus the title) one boy is attacked by a hacker and left questioning all his assumptions about the world. The premise was good, but the plot seemed kinda laggy. It's almost as if the author really wanted to write from the perspective of the girlfriend but either couldn't write a believable girl's voice or wanted the chance to preach at us through the main character. Either way the book was good, but draggy in places and very obvious and abrupt in its ending. It's probably not as thought-provoking as the author wishes, too. It seems like one of those books that would be popular in a high school because the teacher can easily lead uninterested students to talking about the book's message, but not absorbing enough to make them actually care :( I'd say the book is worth a read for completionists in YA Sci Fi, but not as fluff leisure material.

Another Awesome Giveaway

And here's another great giveaway - 30 books!



Bloody Bookaholic is giving away a massive prize pack!
You have till Feb.1st* at 11:59 to sign up and win!

Awesome Giveaway

Pam at Bookalicio.us is having a two year blog anniversary. She is giving away tons of books and advance readers. The Grand Prize is a NookColor! Head on over to Bookalicio.us to enter.

Tuesday Review: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.

Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan's peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.

Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what's ahead.

I crammed both Leviathan and Behemoth into the last few days of 2010. They were both enjoyable reads and left me wanting more. I was delightfully suprised by the fact that both the books were beautifully illustrated by Keith Thompson The illustrations enhanced the world of the story incredibly. I liked the plotting, and both the historical basis and the departure from it were seamless and believable. I found the characterization good, but the characters don't exactly grow much during the series. Perhaps this is because the book takes place in such a short time frame (months) that there is not much time for the characters to grow. It seems like they are spending all their time dealing with the situations to have a real development period. However, the characters are proactive about their situations, they don't spend their time merely reacting, so this lack of growth is not annoying. It could be a contributor, though, in making the book feel a bit younger than my usual YA fare (although that could also be due to the illustrations, or the young age of the main characters). I think the true spark in this book, though, is in the world-building. Westerfeld has created a beautiful world that is strikingly different from our own based on only a few premises: what if Darwin continued his studies and discovered DNA and how to manipulate it, and what if countries either adopted that or utilized machine technology in protest? The creatures and machines are all described with enough detail that you can picture them even without the illustrations, but not so much that it drags down the story. They paint a gorgeous new world that I want to play in. Goliath, coming out in Oct. 2011, is certainly going on my wishlist!

Top Ten Books I Most Anticipate in 2011

Since it's the new year, let's look forward to the great books that we'll be able to enjoy in the next year!

#10 - Shadowspell by Jenna Black

On top of spending most of her time in a bunkerlike safe house and having her dates hijacked by a formidable Fae bodyguard, Faeriewalker Dana Hathaway is in for some more bad news: the Erlking and his pack of murderous minions known as the Wild Hunt have descended upon Avalon. With his homicidal appetite and immortal powers, the Erlking has long been the nightmare of the Fae realm. A fragile treaty with the Faerie Queen, sealed with a mysterious spell, is the one thing that keeps him from hunting unchecked in Avalon, the only place on Earth where humans and Fae live together. Which means Dana’s in trouble, since it’s common knowledge that the Faerie Queen wants her – and her rare Faeriewalker powers – dead. The smoldering, sexy Erlking’s got his sights set on Dana, but does he only seek to kill her, or does he have something much darker in mind?

To add to all of Dana's problems, now the fairies aren't looking to kidnap her and keep her from her father--they want her dead.


#9 - Crossed by Allison Condie

no blurb yet

Since much of Matched's appeal was in its promise of an action-packed sequel, I had to put that sequel on this list.


#8 - Across the Universe by Beth Revis

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awake on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into a brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone—one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship—tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Teen space opera, a rather under-represented category in YA right now.


#7 - Blackveil by Kristen Britain

Karigan G'ladheon was a regular girl until she stumbled across a dying man. There were two arrows embedded in his back, and wherever his horse was taking him, he was going to die before they got there. He gave Karigan his horse, cloak and his broach – the symbol that he was one of the King's Green Riders – and, with them, his mission. To deliver a message to the King. He made her swear to do it... even though the Shadow Man who killed him will be hot on her trail.

That mission made her a Green Rider. Now, her first, legendary mission is long complete. Karigan has learnt to wield the magic her green rider broach allows her to access, and she's used it to defy some of the most terrifying dark magicians of the age. But while Mornhavon the Black has gone, he's not defeated. His restless spirit haunts Blackveil, the lethal, corrupt forest that stands beyond a failing magical wall at the edge of King Zachary's territory. Karigan's destiny is leading her there, and when her King asks her to join a mission to Blackveil to save the remnants of a dying race, it seems she has little choice but to follow it...

The Green Rider books are so absorbing and good, high fantasy at its best. However, the author has the unfortunate problem of having a real life, so the books are incredibly slow to come out - this is the fourth of the series, the first was published in 1998. The painfully slow pace sets up lots of suspense, making this book highly anticipated :D


#6 - XVI by Julia Karr

In the year 2150, being a girl isn’t necessarily a good thing, especially when your sixteenth (read sex-teenth) birthday is fast approaching. That in itself would be enough to make anyone more than a little nuts, what with the tattoo and all – but Nina Oberon’s life has taken a definite turn for the worse. Her mother is brutally stabbed and left for dead. Before dying, she entrusts a secret book to Nina, telling her to deliver it to Nina's father. But, first Nina has to find him; since for fifteen years he's been officially dead. Complications arise when she rescues Sal, a mysterious, and ultra hot guy. He seems to like Nina, but also seems to know more about her father than he’s letting on. Then there’s that murderous ex-government agent who’s stalking her, and just happens to be her little sister’s dad.

This book looks like an awesome view of gender and female sexuality as well as a commentary on patriarchy and rape culture. I have really high hopes that it'll be wonderful.


#5 - Rage

Missy didn’t mean to cut so deep. But after the party where she was humiliated in front of practically everyone in school, who could blame her for wanting some comfort? Sure, most people don’t find comfort in the touch of a razor blade, but Missy always was . . . different.

That’s why she was chosen to become one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War. Now Missy wields a different kind of blade—a big, brutal sword that can cut down anyone and anything in her path. But it’s with this weapon in her hand that Missy learns something that could help her triumph over her own pain: control.

A unique approach to the topic of self-mutilation, Rage is the story of a young woman who discovers her own power and refuses to be defeated by the world.

The first book in this series was life-changing. It was an amazing look at eating disorders that, more than anything else I've ever seen, heard, or read, has helped me to truly understand the body image spiral that leads to these diseases and how hard it really is to change. I hope that Rage, about self-mutilation, is half as thought-provoking, because that will mean it is an amazing read.


#4 - The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia has led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when she learns, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city, her best friend, Kiernan, and the only life she’s ever known.

Sent to live with her only surviving relative, a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. Then she discovers that magic runs through her veins – long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control – and she realizes that she will never learn to be just a simple village girl.

Sinda returns to the city to seek answers. Instead, she rediscovers the boy who refused to forsake her, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor’s history, forever.

High fantasy about a girl who is raised as a princess but finds out she's actually the stunt double. I think this is a great reversal of the "but I'm really royalty" traditional plotline. Plus, high fantasy, which I love, and I've won an autographed ARC, so I'm super excited!


#3 - Wither by Lauren DeStefano

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

Everyone's calling it "the YA version of a Handmaid's Tale" which makes it very intriguing for me. It's about girls forced into polygamous marriages and forced to bear children at a young age due to the decreasing fertility of the human race, which again leads to gender and patriarchy discussions, and whether you can "value" a human being by owning them like a possession.


#2 - Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales by Tamora Pierce

Collected here for the first time are all of the tales from the land of Tortall, featuring both previously unknown characters as well as old friends. Filling some gaps of time and interest, these stories, some of which have been published before, will lead Tammy's fans, and new readers into one of the most intricately constructed worlds of modern fantasy.

Anything Tamora Pierce writes will be highly anticipated by me.


#1 - Eona by Alison Goodman

Where there is power, there is betrayal…

Once she was Eon, a girl disguised as a boy, risking her life for the chance to become a Dragoneye apprentice. Now she is is Eona, the Mirror Dragoneye, her country’s savior—but she has an even more dangerous secret.

She cannot control her power.

Each time she tries to bond with her Mirror Dragon, she becomes a conduit for the ten spirit dragons whose Dragoneyes were murdered by Lord Ido. Their anguish floods through her, twisting her ability into a killing force, destroying the land and its people.

And another force of destruction is on her trail.

Along with Ryko and Lady Dela, Eona is on the run from High Lord Sethon’s army. The renegades must find Kygo, the young Pearl Emperor, who needs Eona’s power if he is to wrest back his throne from Sethon. But if Eona is to help Kygo, she must drive a dark bargain with an old enemy that could obliterate them all.

Because Eon was simply amazing, and as intriguing as it was to watch a girl hide out as a boy, I have a feeling that Goodman is going to make the transition back to living as a girl even harder on Eona, which is a fresh angle I am highly anticipating watching.