Tag archives for Strange Chemistry Books

Christian Schoon – Zenn Scarlett

Zenn Scarlett is a bright, determined, occasionally a-little-too-smart-for-her-own-good 17-year-old girl training hard to become an exoveterinarian. That means she’s specializing in the treatment of exotic alien life forms, mostly large and generally dangerous. Her novice year of training at the Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic on Mars will find her working with alien patients from whalehounds the size of a hay barn to a baby Kiran Sunkiller, a colossal floating creature that will grow up to carry a whole sky-city on its back.

But after a series of inexplicable animal escapes from the school and other near-disasters, the Cloister is in real danger of being shut down by a group of alien-hating officials. If that happens, Zenn knows only too well the grim fate awaiting the creatures she loves.

Now, she must unravel the baffling events plaguing her school, before someone is hurt or killed, before everything she cares about is ripped away from her and her family forever. To solve this mystery – and live to tell about it – Zenn will have to put her new exovet skills to work in ways she never imagined, and in the process learn just how powerful compassion and empathy can be.

In the Nineties, the BBC aired a show called Vet’s School and later Vets in Practice, which followed a group of veterinary students through veterinary school and in the early years of their practice. I adored this show and followed it faithfully; I crushed on some of the male vets as only a teenage girl could and I cheered them as they passed exams and internships and felt for them when they failed. I was invested, as they say. I’ve also read and adored all of James Herriott’s books, so to say that Zenn Scarlett came perfectly tailored to me, is an understatement. I expected to adore the book and while I really liked it, I didn’t love it as deeply as I could have; mostly due to some plot and writing issues. Continue reading »

By Mieneke Published 7 June, 2013 Posted in review, science fiction, YA Tagged: Strange Chemistry Books | 2 Comments

Martha Wells – Emilie and the Hollow World

While running away from home for reasons that are eminently defensible, Emilie’s plans to stow away on the steamship Merry Bell and reach her cousin in the big city go awry, landing her on the wrong ship and at the beginning of a fantastic adventure.

Taken under the protection of Lady Marlende, Emilie learns that the crew hopes to use the aether currents and an experimental engine, and with the assistance of Lord Engal, journey to the interior of the planet in search of Marlende’s missing father.

With the ship damaged on arrival, they attempt to traverse the strange lands on their quest. But when evidence points to sabotage and they encounter the treacherous Lord Ivers, along with the strange race of the sea-lands, Emilie has to make some challenging decisions and take daring action if they are ever to reach the surface world again.

In the three years I’ve been blogging, I’ve seen several enthusiastic reviews for Martha Wells’ adult books. Consequently, Wells has been on my radar as an author to check out at some point. Of course, my list of authors-to-check-out is about a mile long, which means that I hadn’t yet gotten round to reading her Books of the Raksura series, which looked quite interesting. When Strange Chemistry announced they’d signed her in a two-book deal for a YA series, I decided that here was my chance to finally sample Wells’ writing. Emilie and the Hollow World was a treat and was very entertaining.

By Mieneke Published 19 April, 2013 Posted in fantasy, review, YA Tagged: Strange Chemistry Books | 2 Comments

Julianna Scott – The Holders

Seventeen year-old Becca has spent her whole life protecting her brother from the people who say the voices in his head are unnatural. When two strangers appear with apparent answers to Ryland’s “problem” – and details about a school in Ireland where Ryland will not only fit in, but prosper – Becca is up in arms.

She reluctantly agrees to join Ryland on his journey. But what they find at St. Brigid’s is a world beyond their imagination. Little by little they piece together information about their family’s heritage and unravel the legend of the Holder race… a legend that decrees Ryland is the one they’ve been waiting for. But all of them, and especially Becca, are in for a surprise that will change everything they thought they knew about themselves and all of their extraordinary kind.

While The Holders piqued my interest from the start due to the brother-sister relationship and hearing voices/mental illness mentioned in the cover copy, there were also some elements in the cover copy that made me wary. Two children off to boarding school, one of them a mysterious and prophesied saviour? How fantasy-clichéd can you get? So what I had absolutely not expected when starting The Holders was to be swept away by a main character with a voice all her own and a delicious romance. Because people? What a romance in this book!

For me, the strength of the book depended on its main character Becca. Told from her first-person point-of-view, the book drew me into Becca’s world and her reality, which consists of taking care not just of her little brother, Ryland, but in a way also of her mother, who needs Becca’s strength to keep from giving into agencies who want to institutionalise Ryland. I loved her fierce, protective nature, but what I loved even more was her cynical, not-quite-snarky outlook on life and people, not because it’s such a good outlook to have, on the contrary, but because it fit with Becca’s history of paternal abandonment and somewhat having to parent herself and Ryland. Much of Becca’s development in the book is focussed on her discovering her own desires in life and letting go of Ryland and her feeling of responsibility for him. I think any eldest child from a troubled home would recognise the desire to protect their younger siblings and the difficulties of letting go and stepping away, I certainly did.

Scott establishes these complicated family dynamics in a short amount of space, while still getting the story started quickly, without any long introductions. The plot takes off in the first few pages. I enjoyed this balance and Scott knows how to pace her story very well, with the story moving forward at a good pace, but not letting the characters or the readers be overwhelmed by the speed of the developments. Coupled with Scott’s smooth writing and Becca’s distinctive voice, The Holders made for compulsive reading and if I hadn’t had to work, I would have finished it in one sitting.

This was very much helped along by the feelings Becca develops for Alex, one of the Holders, who goes out and finds potential Holders and tries to bring them to St. Brigid’s. They have lovely chemistry and the flirting is lovely. What helps a lot in keeping this romance from turning into tired insta-love, is the fact that at first it’s presented as a simple crush and Becca is well aware of it, even mocking herself for being one of ‘those’ girls. It’s only later that it develops and at that point it is clear that there is more going on than just regular girl-meets-boy-and-falls-hopelessly-in-love, but that there might be something else involved. In addition, Alex is a wonderful guy – perhaps a little too perfect, but that could also be because Becca chooses to see him that way and she is our window into this world – which makes Becca’s crush on him even more plausible. I really enjoyed the romance element in The Holders and I look forward to seeing their relationship develop further.

Beyond Alex, Becca is surrounded by an interesting cast. Ryland is your typical little brother, annoying, but lovable and I completely bought the interaction between him and Becca. The adults at the school are all different and fun, but the one that stood out to me was Chloe. Her light-hearted, bubbly character and happy disposition provided a nice balance to Becca’s more mature, rather serious take on the world. The one person who looms over the entire narrative but get little actual page time is Becca and Ryland’s estranged father Jocelyn, who is headmaster at the school. I really liked where Scott took this storyline and how she portrayed Becca’s inner turmoil and her difficulty in coming to terms with both her feelings and her father.

The Holders‘ plot contains many familiar elements – boarding school, a prophesy, the fated love, paranormal superpowers – yet for all this, the narrative never exactly felt stale and in fact, Scott manages to take some of these tropes in an unexpected direction. Apart from the twist a little past halfway through the book, that spins all the adults for a loop and sets all the carefully laid plans awry, I particularly liked Scott’s take on the fated love. Her idea of Holders having an Anam, another person who holds a piece of their soul, but only rarely actually connecting to their Anam, was cool and reminiscent of the Valdemar lifebonds, featured by Mercedes Lackey. But where lifebonds are reciprocated, an Anam doesn’t have to love the Holder that bonds to them, though one gathers that it is the norm for this to occur. I found that a fascinating concept, as what would happen if your Anam didn’t love you or wasn’t willing to throw everything over and follow you wherever? What I did wonder about and which hopefully will become clear in later books was whether Holder-Anam bonds are always male-female, or whether same-sex bondings are possible as well.

In the end, The Holders took me quite by surprise. It was an interesting look at family relationships, at growing up, and at letting go, mixed which a huge dollop of paranormal powered adventure and sweetened with a wonderful romance. While for now the story has reached a point of equilibrium where everyone can catch their breath and prepare for the future, this story is far from over and I really look forward to continuing The Holders‘ tale.

This book was provided for review by the publisher.

By Mieneke Published 1 March, 2013 Posted in fantasy, review, YA Tagged: Strange Chemistry Books | 1 Comment

Guest Post: Julianna Scott on “What the Library Means to Me”

Today I’m one of the stops on Julianna Scott’s blog tour for her debut novel The Holders, which will be published by Strange Chemistry next week. I’ve already read the book and found it a delightful read and in fact, you can expect the review to pop-up later today. Meanwhile, I asked Julianna about what the library meant to her and she obliged me by writing a lovely ode to the library, which doesn’t just highlight the fact that libraries provide us books to escape in, but also serve as an important public space in a community. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!

What the Library Means to Me

“What the Library Means to Me” should be a really easy thing to talk about, right? So I thought too, but only when I sat down to write this post did I realize how hard it actually was. I had several different versions of the post with several different formats, but I wasn’t happy with any of them. After a while I realized that the problem was I just had too much to say. The library has been a part of my life forever—even before I could appreciate or even like it.

My mother was a teacher, and when I was little, like toddler/preschool age, she used to tutor illiterate adults and teach them basic reading and writing skills. Every week she would meet them in the library for their tutoring session, and with my father working as a traveling photographer and gone most days during the week, I usually had to go with her. I would sit at a table next to the class and color, or go over the art or travel sections and pull down books to look at—as those were the only ones with pictures. So, I would sit for hours starring at pictures of things I didn’t really understand or was far too young to appreciate.

In short: I hated it. Honestly, I am lucky that this terrible boredom didn’t cause an aversion to the library all together.

Now some of you may be asking, “What do you mean the art and travel sections were the only ones that had books with pictures? Why didn’t you go to the kids section?” Well, dear reader, the answer is simple: We didn’t know they had one. It was actually in a completely different part of the building, and I don’t mean upstairs or in the basement like many libraries, I mean out the front door, down the block, past the dentist’s office and the dance studio, and in the second door around the side of the building. Luckily for me, an awesome librarian by the name Carol—yes, I still remember her name—came to my rescue and informed us of the children’s portion of the library, and my life changed forever.

It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Up until that point I had thought that the books I had at home were all the books there were. You know, kind of how as a kid you think your teacher lives at school, so when you see her at, say, the supermarket, it is totally weird. ‘Wow, she’s a real person??’

I was totally in awe. ‘You mean I can take any books I want as long as I bring them back? Really? And they have records (yes, records, I am almost 30 after all) and videos too?! This place is amazing!’ From then on, not only did I look forward to going with mom to her tutoring sessions, but I went even when dad was home and I didn’t have to.

After that I was a frequent visitor to every library I had access to growing up. In fact, as a kid we moved around a lot and one of my favorite things when we would move to a new town was finding the local library. Best and worst was when we lived in Canonsburg PA, and the library was within walking distance from my elementary school. I got myself in trouble a several times with that one, going to the library after school when I was supposed to walk strait home. (Sorry mom.) However, the best library I have ever been a member of is, happily, my library right now, which is not only the biggest I have ever seen, but one of the biggest in the state of IL. I spend far more time there than is really necessary, but hey, what can I say, it’s a great hideout. And soon, my two little daughters will be old enough to come with me, and hopefully they will fall in love with it the way I have.

Thanks so much for having me!

****

Author Bio
Julianna was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and spent the majority of her educational career convinced she would be a musician. However, after receiving her music degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, she realized that she’d been born in the wrong era for her dreams of singing jazz to adoring fans clad in zoot-suits and flapper dresses to come true, and began to wonder if her true calling might be elsewhere.

While Julianna had always excelled in writing throughout school, she’d never considered it a career possibility until about three years ago, when she’d gotten her first story idea and decided to go for it. She grabbed her laptop, started typing away, and has never looked back.

You can find Julianna online at her website, Twitter, and Facebook.

By Mieneke Published 1 March, 2013 Posted in article, fantasy, guest post, YA Tagged: Strange Chemistry Books | Leave a comment

A.E. Rought – Broken

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry’s boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.

When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she’s intrigued despite herself. He’s an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely…familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel’s. The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there’s something very wrong with Alex Franks.

And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks’ estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

Broken is a modern retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Not having read the original and only being superficially aware of the storyline, I went into Broken relatively unknowing of what to expect and what notes A.E. Rought needed to hit to remain somewhat faithful to the original, beyond a mad scientist, electricity, sown-together parts, and “It’s ALIVE!”. All of those elements were there in the book in one form or another, but what is central to the book is the relationship between Emma and Alex. It is also an exploration of grief and how hard it can be to let go.

The first time Emma lays eyes on Alex a jolt of electricity runs through and she’s immediately deeply drawn to him. Now, normally the insta-love trope is my least favourite trope in YA fiction. However, in Broken there is actually a reasonable explanation for it and it really worked. Rought explores one of the big mysteries people used to wonder about with organ transplants. Does implanting someone with another person’s heart or kidney transfer some part of the other’s soul or personality to the receiver? And if so, if we meet the person who’s received parts of our beloved, will they recognise us? I liked this treatment of the insta-love trope and it’s one of the rare cases in which it worked without feeling forced.

The star of this book is undoubtedly Emma. Hurting, grieving, and lost, she is the first person narrator we follow through the tale and whose confused and intense feelings we get to experience with her. Emma’s grief for Daniel felt real and mostly healthy; hanging out at the cemetery might seem a little extreme, but it takes time to get over a loss like this and if that is how you deal with it, that is how you deal with it. Less healthy is the way she’s isolated herself. Emma keeps everything inside and feels that she can’t talk about what happened with Daniel, especially as the months have passed. Rought shows some of Emma’s mourning process and how she moves through it. There is one scene where Emma breaks down and finally lets her mum in and just sobs and sobs—that scene was powerful, enough so that I was crying with her. Another very powerful scene was the scene where she consciously says goodbye to Daniel and has to let go of the emptiness inside, so she can go on living. I found that one very moving as well.

If Emma is the star then Alex is the main lead. I found him interesting, but while I really liked him and sympathised with his trauma and problems, he never took on the same depth as Emma. His and Emma’s struggle to come to grips with the situation they’re in and whether they love each other for who they are instead of who they were, however, was very interesting and I found it convincing that Rought included these doubts, instead of just going with it must have been fate. Emma’s best friend Bree is fabulous. Wholesome, geeky, and completely in Emma’s corner, she’s the best friend any girl would love to have. Emma’s parents are lovely as well; I loved how her mum is struggling with seeing her little girl grow up and getting hurt and not trying to put her in bubble wrap as much as she can. What’s even lovelier is that Emma sees and understands this even as she rebels against it. Emma’s dad is the voice of reason between the two and I loved his warm and humorous demeanour. When we come to the villains, I’m less enthusiastic. I didn’t find them compelling and I felt they lacked depth. Josh is an ass, but I never really got his motivation. I mean I understand him wanting Emma, but the things he does to achieve this are rather far-fetched and I didn’t really understand how he got there. Similarly for Alex’s father, Dr Franks; I suppose it’s to do with his grief at losing Alex’s mother and not wanting to lose his son as well, but we never really get any handle on the man.

Broken was an entertaining read and I read it over the course of a day, which shows how easily it keeps the reader turning pages. The fact that Rought makes the insta-love trope work as she does is an achievement in itself. The story-telling in the novel is very well done, but the development of the characters felt rather uneven, with the villains feeling far less well-rounded than the other main characters. Still, it’s a promising debut and I’m looking forward to see how Rought develops her writing. Broken is an at times heart-breaking read, but Emma’s snarky inner monologue keeps it from being morose and super dark. In all, Broken is a solid winter evening read, which will leave you warm and fuzzy when you close its pages.

This book was provided for review by the publisher.

By Mieneke Published 31 December, 2012 Posted in review, science fiction, YA Tagged: Strange Chemistry Books | 2 Comments

Anticipated Books (Winter/Spring) 2013: YA April-June

Here’s the second half of my Anticipated Books YA post. For some of these I already have an (e)ARC or review copy, so they’ll definitely be read and reviewed. And for the rest, I’ll have to see whether I get the chance to get my hands on them.

April
Jennifer Archer – The Shadow Girl (Mystery, HarperTeen)
Sometimes I forget for an hour or two that she’s with me. Sometimes I convince myself that she was only a dream. Or that I’m crazy.

For as long as Lily Winston can remember, she has never been alone. Iris, a shadowy figure who mimics Lily’s movements and whispers in her ear, is with her always—but invisible to the rest of the world. Iris is Lily’s secret.

But when Lily’s father is killed in a tragic accident, his cryptic final words suggest that he and Lily’s mother have been keeping secrets of their own. Suddenly, Iris begins pushing Lily more than ever, possessing her thoughts and urging her to put together the pieces of a strange puzzle her father left behind. As she searches for answers, Lily finds herself drawn to Ty Collier, a mysterious new boy in town. Together, Lily and Ty must untangle a web of deception to discover the truth about her family, Iris . . . and Lily’s own identity.

Catherine Fisher – Obsidian Mirror (Fantasy, Dial Books)
The obsidian mirror. Its power is great and terrible. Men have been lost in it, the dead brought back to life through it, and the future annihilated by it. Or it will be, unless the mirror is destroyed. One has been sent from the future to do just that. One protects the mirror at all costs, obsessed with its power. One needs the mirror to find a murdered father and save his life. Only one can succeed.

The mirror can send you to the past, but it will not bring you back.

Jordana Frankel – The Ward (Science Fiction, Katherine Tegen Books)
Sixteen-year-old Ren is a daredevil mobile racer who will risk everything to survive in the Ward, what remains of a water-logged Manhattan. To save her sister, who is suffering from a deadly illness thought to be caused by years of pollution, Ren accepts a secret mission from the government: to search for a freshwater source in the Ward, with the hope of it leading to a cure.

However, she never expects that her search will lead to dangerous encounters with a passionate young scientist; a web of deceit and lies; and an earth-shattering mystery that’s lurking deep beneath the water’s rippling surface.

Helen Grant – Silent Saturday (Mystery, Random House Children’s Books)
Seventeen-year-old Veerle is bored with life in suburban Brussels. But a chance encounter with a hidden society, whose members illegally break into unoccupied buildings around the city, soon opens up a whole new world of excitement – and danger.

When one of the society’s founding members disappears, Veerle suspects foul play. But nothing can prepare her for the horror that is about to unfold when an old foe emerges from the shadows… No one is safe, and The Hunter will strike again…

Karen Mahoney – The Stone Demon (Fantasy, Flux)
The just-unleashed demon hordes have delivered an impossible ultimatum to the Order of the Crow: produce the Philosopher’s Stone, or suffer a reaper storm of demonic tribulation. If alchemist’s apprentice Donna Underwood can’t recreate the mythical artifact, the world will be plunged into a devastating modern-day Dark Age.

Pitting her dangerously unpredictable powers against a vengeful demon king, two maleficent faery queens, and an immortal magus with his own shadowy agenda, Donna must be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice–but this time, even death may not be enough.

Emily Murdoch – If You Find Me (Contemporary, Indigo)
A gripping mystery – can Carey finally face the terrible secret she’s been keeping?

A fluid, compelling and thought-provoking debut. Sisters, Carey and Jenessa, live with their mother in the heart of the woods – until Mum disappears and a social worker arrives with Carey’s father. Suddenly the sisters must adapt to the wider world. But Carey is burdened by a terrible secret that she fears will destroy her new life and new relationships. Can the truth set her free?

Jennifer E. Smith – This Is What Happy Looks Like (Contemporary, Headline)
When 17-year-old Graham Larkin sends an email to a friend about his pet pig, Wilbur, the last thing he expects is a response from the other side of the country, from one Ellie O’Neill. As their online friendship blossoms, they begin to reveal more about themselves, but crucially leave out the truth about Ellie’s past and Graham’s career as a Hollywood heartthrob. But, now that they’re together, it’s impossible to keep their secrets for long and there’s a lot to overcome if love is to blossom…

Scott Tracey – Moonset (Fantasy, Flux)
Justin Daggett, his trouble-making sister, and their three orphan-witch friends have gotten themselves kicked out of high school. Again. Now they’ve ended up in Carrow Mills, New York, the town where their parents–members of the terrorist witch organization known as Moonset–began their evil experiments with the dark arts one generation ago.

When the siblings are accused of unleashing black magic on the town, Justin fights to prove their innocence. But tracking down the true culprit leads him to a terrifying discovery about Moonset’s past…and its deadly future.

Martha Wells – Emilie and the Hollow World (Fantasy, Strange Chemistry)
While running away from home for reasons that are eminently defensible, Emilie’s plans to stow away on the steamship Merry Bell and reach her cousin in the big city go awry, landing her on the wrong ship and at the beginning of a fantastic adventure.
Taken under the protection of Lady Marlende, Emilie learns that the crew hopes to use the aether currents and an experimental engine, and with the assistance of Lord Engal, journey to the interior of the planet in search of Marlende’s missing father.
With the ship damaged on arrival, they attempt to traverse the strange lands on their quest. But when evidence points to sabotage and they encounter the treacherous Lord Ivers, along with the strange race of the sea-lands, Emilie has to make some challenging decisions and take daring action if they are ever to reach the surface world again.

May
K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr – Loki’s Wolves (Fantasy, Atom)
In Viking times, Norse myths predicted the end of the world, an event called Ragnarök that only the gods can stop. When this apocalypse happens, the gods must battle the monsters – wolves the size of the sun, serpents that span the sea beds – all bent on destroying the world.

But the gods died a long time ago.

Matt Thorsen knows every Norse myth, saga, and god as if it was family history – because it is family history. Most people in the modern-day town of Blackwell, South Dakota, are direct descendants of either Thor or Loki, including Matt’s classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke. However, knowing the legends and completely believing them are two different things. When the rune readers reveal that Ragnarök is coming and kids – led by Matt – will stand in for the gods in the final battle, Matt can hardly believe it.

Matt’s, Laurie’s and Fen’s lives will never be the same as they race to put together an unstoppable team to prevent the end of the world.

Alex Flinn – Towering (Fantasy, HarperTeen)
High in my tower I sit. I watch the birds fly below, the clouds float above, and the tall, green forest stretch to places I might never see.

Mama, who isn’t my mother, has kept me hidden away for eight long years. My only companions, besides Mama, are my books – great adventures, mysteries, and romances, that I long to make my reality. But I know that no one will come to save me—my life is not a fairy tale after all.

Well, at least no one has come so far. Recently, my hair has started to grow rapidly and it is now long enough to reach the bottom of the tower from my window. I’ve also had the strangest dreams of a beautiful green-eyed boy.

When Mama isn’t around, I plan my escape, even if it’s just for a little while. There’s something— maybe someone—waiting for me out there and it won’t find me if I’m trapped here TOWERING above it all.

Dan Krokos – The Planet Thieves (Science Fiction, Starscape)
Two weeks ago, thirteen-year-old Mason Stark and seventeen of his fellow cadets from the Academy for Earth Space Command boarded the SS Egypt. he trip was supposed to be a short routine voyage to log their required spacetime for summer quarter.

But routine goes out the airlock when they’re attacked by the Tremist, an alien race who have been at war with humanity for the last sixty years.

With the captain and crew dead, injured, or taken prisoner, Mason and the cadets are all that’s left to warn the ESC. And soon they find out exactly why the Tremist chose this ship to attack: the Egypt is carrying a weapon that could change the war forever.

Now Mason will have to lead the cadets in a daring assault to take back the ship, rescue the survivors, and recover the weapon. Before there isn’t a war left to fight.

Bennett Madison – September Girls (Fantasy, HarperTeen)
Critically acclaimed author Bennett Madison presents a darkly imaginative and painfully honest novel about oblivious parents, sibling rivalries, first loves… and mermaids. This modern reimagining is perfect for fans of the irreverent wit of Ned Vizzini and the seductive magic of Alex Flinn’s retold fairy tales.

Lauren Miller – Parallel (Science Fiction, HarperTeen)
Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She’d go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she’s in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it’s as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby’s life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby’s senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby’s never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn’t choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that’s finally within reach.

Chelsea Pitcher – The S-Word (Contemporary, Gallery Books)
Lizzie wasn’t the first student at Verity High School to kill herself this year. But the difference is, she didn’t go quietly.

First it was SLUT scribbled all over the school’s lockers. But one week after Lizzie Hart takes her own life, SUICIDE SLUT replaces it—in Lizzie’s own looping scrawl. Photocopies of her diary show up in the hands of her classmates. And her best friend, Angie, is enraged.

Angie had stopped talking to Lizzie on prom night, when she caught Lizzie in bed with her boyfriend. Too heartbroken to let Lizzie explain the hookup or to intervene when Lizzie gets branded Queen of the Sluts and is cruelly bullied by her classmates, Angie left her best friend to the mercy of the school, with tragic results.

But with this new slur, Angie’s guilt transforms into anger that someone is still targeting Lizzie even after her death. Using clues from Lizzie’s diary and aided by the magnetic, mysterious Jesse, Angie begins relentlessly investigating who, exactly, made Lizzie feel life was no longer worth living. And while she might claim she simply wants to punish Lizzie’s tormentors, her anguish over abandoning and then losing her best friend drives Angie deeper into the dark, twisted side of Verity High—and she might not be able to pull herself back out.

Christian Schoon – Zenn Scarlett (Science Fiction, Strange Chemistry Books)
Zenn Scarlett is a bright, determined, occasionally a-little-too-smart-for-her-own-good 17-year-old girl training hard to become an exoveterinarian. That means she’s specializing in the treatment of exotic alien life forms, mostly large and generally dangerous. Her novice year of training at the Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic on Mars will find her working with alien patients from whalehounds the size of a hay barn to a baby Kiran Sunkiller, a colossal floating creature that will grow up to carry a whole sky-city on its back.

Amy Tintera – Reboot (Science Fiction, HarperTeen)
La Femme Nikita meets Maximum Ride in this action-packed debut novel about seventeen-year-old Wren, who rose from the dead as a Reboot and is now the government’s top soldier—until she is given an order she refuses to obey.

June
Sage Blackwood – Jinx: The Wizard’s Apprentice (Fantasy, Quercus Children’s)
Never stray far from the path is the rule every child in the Urwald Forest follows. Every child, that is, except a boy named Jinx.

Jinx is an apprentice to Simon, a wizard who is just a little bit evil. When one of Simon’s spells robs Jinx of his ability to see other people’s thoughts, he decides to head off into the forest to try recover his magic.

Jinx’s mission brings him face to face with a very evil, soul-sucking wizard, the terrible Bonemaster. With help only from Elfwyn, who is cursed with a truth-telling spell, and Reven, who is far too polite to be useful in a fight, it looks like Jinx’s magic could be gone forever …

John Carter Cash – Lupus Rex (Fantasy, Ravenstone)
Isyl and Cormo are two quail who must risk their lives when they are driven from their home by the crows when the Murder fractures over the decision of who shall rule the Tree. The disorder this brings to the region comes to the attention of the wolf Asmod and he sees an opportunity to make himself King. To restore order the quails must venture far from their home to seek an audience with a potentially dangerous ally, the hawk Pitrin. As the forest trembles with the approach of Asmod’s army, the two quail will find themselves entangled in an epic struggle, as they fight to bring peace to the Field.

Cassandra Rose Clarke – The Pirate’s Wish (Fantasy, Strange Chemistry Books)
After setting out to break the curse that binds them together, the pirate Ananna and the assassin Naji find themselves stranded on an enchanted island in the north with nothing but a sword, their wits, and the secret to breaking the curse: complete three impossible tasks. With the help of their friend Marjani and a rather unusual ally, Ananna and Naji make their way south again, seeking what seems to be beyond their reach.

Unfortunately, Naji has enemies from the shadowy world known as the Mists, and Ananna must still face the repercussions of going up against the Pirate Confederation. Together, Naji and Ananna must break the curse, escape their enemies — and come to terms with their growing romantic attraction.

Shannon Delany – Weather Witch (Fantasy. St. Martin’s Griffin)
Some fled the Old World to avoid war and some fled to leave behind magic. But even the fiercely regulated New World—with its ranks and standards and emphasis on decorum—cannot avoid the power that wells up in certain people and influences weather and calls down storms. So the Weather Witches—those who can control the weather—are hunted by Testers and Wraiths and made to power the Grounded population’s ships, their lights—their every luxury—in a time before either steam or electricity takes hold. Jordan Astraea, a high-ranking member of The Nine is from a flawless background with seemingly no taint of magic or witchery. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday celebration the Wraiths and the Tester appear and blame her for summoning an unscheduled storm. Taken from her family and near-boyfriend, Rowen, Jordan is sentenced to be Made—to become a Conductor—and be enslaved as a living battery for an airship. But breaking Jordan may prove the very thing the carefully constructed New World society cannot survive. And the chance of losing Jordan forever may make Rowen become the hero he would have never dared otherwise be.

David Fleming – The Saturday Boy (Contemporary, Viking Children’s Books)
Eleven-year-old Derek Lamb likes superhero comic books, Saturday morning cartoons, and Chocolate Ka??Blams, but he’d gladly trade all of these things to have his father home. For as long as Derek can remember, his father has been in Afghanistan piloting Apache helicopters for the US Army. The letters they write to each other are all they have to bridge the distance—ninety-one letters to date. But just when Derek’s best friend becomes his archnemesis, a time when Derek could use his father’s advice most, the letters stop. Derek’s whole life is on the brink of change and he doesn’t even know it.

P.J. Hoover – Solstice (Fantasy, Tor Teen)
Piper’s world is dying. Each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles which threaten to destroy the Earth. Amid this Global Heating Crisis, Piper lives under the oppressive rule of her mother, who suffocates her even more than the weather does. Everything changes on her eighteenth birthday, when her mother is called away on a mysterious errand and Piper seizes her first opportunity for freedom.

Piper discovers a universe she never knew existed—a sphere of gods and monsters—and realizes that her world is not the only one in crisis. While gods battle for control of the Underworld, Piper’s life spirals out of control as she struggles to find the answer to the secret that has been kept from her since birth—her very identity…

Imogen Howson – Linked (Science Fiction, Quercus Children’s)
For years, Elissa has suffered nightmarish visions and unexplained bruises. Finally, she’s promised a cure, and an operation is scheduled. But on the eve of the procedure, she discovers the truth: she’s seeing the world through another girl’s eyes. A world filled with wires, machines and pain. Elissa follows her visions, only to find a battered, broken girl.

A girl who looks exactly like her. A twin she never knew existed.

Elissa and Lin go on the run, but even after changing their looks and clothes, they’re barely a step ahead of the government agents who are ruthlessly tracking them down. For Lin and Elissa are too valuable to let go, and the dark truth at the heart of it all is too shocking to risk exposing …

Elizabeth Knox – Mortal Fire (Fantasy, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Sixteen-year-old Canny Mochrie’s vacation takes a turn when she stumbles upon a mysterious and enchanting valley, occupied almost entirely by children who can perform a special type of magic that tells things how to be stronger and better than they already are. As Canny studies the magic more carefully, she realizes that she not only understands it–she can perform the magic, too, so well that it feels like it has always been a part of her. With the help of an alluring seventeen-year-old boy who is held hostage by a spell that is now more powerful than the people who first placed it, Canny figures out the secrets of this valley and of her own past.

Stephanie Kuehn – Charm & Strange (Contemporary, St. Martin’s Griffin)
Andrew Winston Winters is at war with himself. He’s part Win, the lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy. The guy who shuts all his classmates out, no matter the cost, because his darkest fear is turning into a vicious wolf, just like his father. But he’s also part Drew, the angry young boy with violent impulses that control him. The boy who spent a fateful summer with his brother and teenage cousins, only to endure a family secret so painful it led three children to do the unthinkable. Over the course of one night, while stuck at a party deep in the New England woods, Andrew battles the pain of his past and the isolation of his present. Before the sun rises, he’ll either surrender his sanity to the wild wolves inside his mind or learn that surviving means more than not dying.

Alex London – Proxy (Science Fiction, Philomel Books)
Knox was born into one of the City’s wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.

Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.

Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when both boys realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid.

Amy McCulloch – The Oathbreaker’s Shadow (Fantasy, Random House Children’s Books)
Fifteen-year-old Raim lives in a world where you tie a knot for every promise that you make. Break that promise and you are scarred for life, and cast out into the desert.

Raim has worn a simple knot around his wrist for as long as he can remember. No one knows where it came from, and which promise of his it symbolises, but he barely thinks about it at all – not since becoming the most promising young fighter ever to train for the elite Yun guard. But on the most important day of his life, when he binds his life to his best friend (and future khan) Khareh, the string bursts into flames and sears a dark mark into his skin.

Scarred now as an oath-breaker, Raim has two options: run, or be killed.

Sarah Jamila Stevenson – Underneath (Contemporary, Flux)
With New Agey parants and a Pakistani heritage, it might have been difficult for Sunny Pryce-Shah to fit in. Thankfully, she had her older, popular cousin Shiri to talk to–until now. Shiri’s shocking suicide brings heart-wrenching pain and grief, and also seems to have triggered a new and disturbing ability in Sunny: hearing people’s thoughts.

It’s awful, especially when Sunny learns what her so-called friends really think of her. Feeling more comfortable with the Emo crowd, she tells them about her strange talent and uses it to help cute, troubled Cody. But when his true motives are revealed, she isn’t sure whom to trust anymore. Sunny hopes to find answers in Shiri’s journal. Was her cousin also cursed with this “gift”? Will Sunny end up like Shiri?

By Mieneke Published 22 December, 2012 Posted in article, children's books, contemporary, fantasy, mystery, science fiction Tagged: anticipated, Atom, Dial Books, Farrar Straus and Giroux, Flux, Gallery Books, HarperTeen, Headline, Indigo, Katherine Tegen Books, Philomel Books, Quercus Children's, Random House Children's Books, Ravenstone, St. Martin's Griffin, Starscape, Strange Chemistry Books, Tor Teen, Viking Children's Books | Leave a comment

Anticipated Books (Winter/Spring) 2013: YA Jan-March

One of my reading resolutions for 2012 was to explore more YA fiction, which I did. I did it to such an extent that this list has just exploded this year, so much so that I’ve had to split it up, much like my fantasy list. Today the Anticipated Books will showcase YA fiction published from January to March and tomorrow we’ll look at April to June. For some of these I already have an (e)ARC or review copy, so they’ll definitely be read and reviewed. And for the rest, I’ll have to see whether I get the chance to get my hands on them!

January
Lenore Appelhans – Level 2 (Fantasy, Simon&Schuster)
Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow drones, Felicia passes the endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what she’s lost–family, friends, and Neil, the boy she loved.

Then a girl in a neighboring chamber is found dead, and nobody but Felicia recalls that she existed in the first place. When Julian–a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life–comes to offer Felicia a way out, Felicia learns the truth: If she joins the rebellion to overthrow the Morati, the angel guardians of Level 2, she can be with Neil again.

Suspended between Heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself at the center of an age-old struggle between good and evil. As memories from her life come back to haunt her, and as the Morati hunt her down, Felicia will discover it’s not just her own redemption at stake… but the salvation of all mankind.

Cat Clarke – Undone (Contemporary, Quercus Children’s)
How far would you go to avenge the death of your best friend?

A video appears online. And a boy jumps off a bridge. Jem is determined to avenge the death of Kai – her beloved best friend who was driven to desperation after being ‘outed’ by the popular crew at school. Transforming herself from introverted emo to in-crowd acceptable, Jem becomes part of the clique. She’s going to take down those responsible, one by one.

But what if Kai was keeping secrets from Jem? Could her quest for revenge be directed at the wrong people? And can Jem find out what really happened before someone else gets hurt?

Gavin Extence – The Universe versus Alex Woods (Contemporary, Hodder & Stoughton)
This is the story of seventeen-year-old Alex Woods – born to a clairvoyant mother and a phantom father, victim of an improbable childhood accident – who is stopped at Dover customs in possession of 113 grams of marijuana and the ashes of his best friend, Vietnam veteran Isaac Peterson. What follows is a highly original and compelling account of Alex’s life and the strange series of events that brought him here.

Ellen Oh – Prophecy (Fantasy, HarperTeen)
The greatest warrior in all of the Seven Kingdoms . . . is a girl with yellow eyes.

Kira’s the only female in the king’s army, and she’s also the prince’s bodyguard. She’s a demon slayer and an outcast, hated by nearly everyone in her home city of Hansong. And, she’s their only hope. . . .

Murdered kings and discovered traitors point to a demon invasion, sending Kira on the run with the young prince. He may be the savior predicted in the Dragon King’s prophecy, but the legendary lost ruby treasure just might be the true key to victory. With only the guidance of the cryptic prophecy, Kira must battle demon soldiers, an evil shaman, and the Demon Lord himself to find what was once lost and raise a prince into a king.

Broken by A E Rought (Science Fiction/Horror, Strange Chemistry)
Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry’s boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetary and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.

Megan Shepherd – The Madman’s Daughter (Science Fiction, HarperTeen)
Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father’s madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island’s inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father’s dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it’s too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells’s classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman’s Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we’ll do anything to know and the truths we’ll go to any lengths to protect.

Catherynne M. Valente – The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (Fantasy, Corsair)
In this, Valente’s second Fairyland book, September returns to Fairyland – but all is not well there. Folk have been losing their shadows and, with them, their magic. September must enter the dark, beautiful, strange kingdom of Fairyland-Below to discover what has happened and save Fairyland from losing all its magic and slipping into the mundane world entirely. But Fairyland-Below has a new ruler, Hallowe’en, the Hollow Queen – and Hallowe’en does not want to give Fairyland’s shadows back.

K.M. Walton – Empty (Contemporary, Simon Pulse)
Dell is used to disappointment. Ever since her dad left, it’s been one let down after another. But no one–not even her best friend–understands all the pain she’s going through. So Dell hides behind self-deprecating jokes and forced smiles.

Then the one person she trusts betrays her. Dell is beyond devastated. Without anyone to turn to for comfort, her depression and self-loathing spin out of control. But just how far will she go to make all of heartbreak and the name-calling stop?

Brenna Yovanoff – Paper Valentine (Crime, Razorbill)
Hannah’s best friend Lillian died six months ago. Now it is high summer and Hannah can no longer pretend everything’s fine. Because Lillian’s ghost still haunts Hannah, and Hannah can’t tell anyone about her. Then a young girl is found murdered in Muncy Park—the first of three who will be killed during the summer’s heat wave. Hysteria grips the city of Ludlow. And Hannah finds herself drawn to Finny Boone, a bad boy and petty criminal. Lillian’s ghost demands that Hannah investigate the mysterious string of murders. And though she would prefer to be with Finny, Hannah enters a world populated by ghost girls and horrifying secrets. Hannah becomes obsessed with the crimes and realizes that only by confronting the killer will she be able to come to terms with her grief, and put the loss of Lillian behind her.

February
Julianna Baggott – Fuse (Science Fiction, Headline)
After a young Wretch is abducted by the Dome and “cleansed” of her fusings and imperfections, she is only able to repeat the Dome’s latest message: “We want our son returned. This girl is proof that we can save you all. If you ignore our plea, we will kill our hostages one at a time.” Willux will go to any lengths to get his son Partridge back, including murder. Partridge sacrifeces himself and returns, in the hope of taking over the Dome from within, only to uncover more of his father’s chilling, dark secrets.

Robyn Bavati – Dancing in the Dark (Contemporary, Flux)
Ditty Cohen is passionate about ballet–she loves how it feels to stand en pointe, to rise and spin across the room. But her Orthodox Jewish parents want Ditty to focus on the teachings of the Torah and to marry at a young age according to their religious tradition. Although her parents forbid her to take dance lessons, Ditty secretly signs up for ballet and becomes entangled in a web of deceit. As one lie leads to another and another, Ditty knows she must stop dancing, but she can’t abandon the one thing that gives her freedom. She begins to question her faith and everything her parents have taught her, realizing just how much is at stake as her two worlds collide.

Ilsa J. Bick – Drowning Instinct (Contemporary, Quercus Children’s)
Jenna is sweet sixteen, the age when a girl is supposed to find her prince.

Instead she finds Mr Anderson – intelligent, handsome, married Mr Anderson, who just happens to be her chemistry teacher. With a dark past and a difficult family, Jenna is just happy to have someone to protect her, to worry about her, to love her.

But should she be suspicious of Mr Anderson’s reputation for helping ‘damaged’ students? Why is the most popular girl in school suddenly jealous of her? And where is Mr Anderson’s wife?

This is a love story that breaks all the rules, but that won’t stop it breaking your heart.

Gail Carriger – Etiquette & Espionage (Fantasy, Atom)
It’s one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It’s quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to finishing school.

Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners – and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrols Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine’s young ladies learn to finish . . . everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion and espionage – in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year’s education.

Miriam Forster – City of a Thousand Dolls (Fantasy, HarperTeen)
Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron’s assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die.

Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls’ deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life.

N. Griffin – The Whole Stupid Way We Are (Contemporary, Atheneum)
What happens when everything you’ve got to give isn’t enough to save someone you love?

It’s Maine. It’s winter. And it’s FREEZING STINKIN’ COLD! Dinah is wildly worried about her best friend, Skint. He won’t wear a coat. Refuses to wear a coat. It’s twelve degrees out, and he won’t wear a coat. So Dinah’s going to figure out how to help. That’s what Dinah does–she helps. But she is too busy trying to help to notice that sometimes, she’s doing more harm than good. Seeing the trees instead of the forest? that’s Dinah.

And Skint isn’t going to be the one to tell her. He’s got his own problems. He’s worried about a little boy whose dad won’t let him visit his mom. He’s worried about an elderly couple in a too-cold house down the street.

But the wedge between what drives Dinah and what concerns Skint is wide enough for a big old slab of ice. Because Skint’s own father is in trouble. Because Skint’s mother refuses to ask for help even though she’s at her breaking point. And because Dinah might just decide to…help. She thinks she’s cracking through a sheet of ice, but what’s actually there is an entire iceberg.

Pantomime by Laura Lam (Fantasy, Strange Chemistry)
R.H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic is the greatest circus of Ellada. Nestled among the glowing blue Penglass – remnants of a mysterious civilisation long gone – are wonders beyond the wildest imagination. It’s a place where anything seems possible, where if you close your eyes you can believe that the magic and knowledge of the vanished Chimeras is still there. It’s a place where anyone can hide.

Iphigenia Laurus, or Gene, the daughter of a noble family, is uncomfortable in corsets and crinoline, and prefers climbing trees to debutante balls. Micah Grey, a runaway living on the streets, joins the circus as an aerialist’s apprentice and soon becomes the circus’s rising star. But Gene and Micah have balancing acts of their own to perform, and a secret in their blood that could unlock the mysteries of Ellada.

Kasie West – Pivot Point (Fantasy, HarperTeen)
Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier. . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

March
Kristin Bailey – Legacy of the Clockwork Key (Fantasy, Simon Pulse)
When a fire consumes Meg’s home, killing her parents and destroying both her fortune and her future, all she has left is the tarnished pocket watch she rescued from the ashes. But this is no ordinary timepiece. The clock turns out to be a mechanical key–a key that only Meg can use–that unlocks a series of deadly secrets and intricate clues that Meg is compelled to follow.

Meg has uncovered evidence of an elite secret society and a dangerous invention that some will stop at nothing to protect–and that Meg alone can destroy. Together with the handsome stable hand she barely knows but hopes she can trust, Meg is swept into a hidden world of deception, betrayal, and revenge. The clockwork key has unlocked her destiny in this captivating start to a trilogy.

Liz Coley – Pretty Girl-13 (Contemporary, Katherine Tegen Books)
Pretty girl
13 when she
went missing

lost
to her family
to her friends
to the world

found
but still missing
her self

In Liz Coley’s alarming and fascinating psychological mystery, sixteen-year-old Angie Chapman must piece together the story of her kidnapping and abuse. Pretty Girl-13 is a disturbing—and ultimately empowering—page-turner about accepting our whole selves, and the healing power of courage, hope, and love.

Alan Gibbons – Raining Fire (Contemporary, Indigo)
Ethan is a promising footballer, and when he is selected to go on a training programme in the US, he feels sure that he has found his chance to escape the gangs that dominate his streets. But as life spirals out of control for his brother, Alex, and things unexpectedly take a turn for the worse for Ethan, he finds himself drawn into the midst of an explosive feud with the gun at its heart.

Shannon Messenger – Let the Sky Fall (Fantasy, Simon Pulse)
Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. and he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.

Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian–Vane’s guardian–and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life.

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim–the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them–but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

Julianna Scott – The Holders (Fantasy, Strange Chemistry)
17-year-old Becca has spent her whole life protecting her brother – from their father leaving and from the people who say the voices in his head are unnatural. When two strangers appear with apparent answers to Ryland’s “problem” and details about a school in Ireland where Ryland will not only fit in, but prosper, Becca is up in arms.
She reluctantly agrees to join Ryland on his journey and what they find at St. Brigid’s is a world beyond their imagination. Little by little they piece find out information about their family’s heritage and the legend of the Holder race that decrees Ryland is the one they’ve been waiting for—but, they are all, especially Becca, in for a surprise that will change what they thought they knew about themselves and their kind.

Sherri L. Smith – Orleans (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
After a string of devastating hurricanes and a deadly epidemic of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast had been quarantined. Now, years later, a new primitive society has been born over the wall.

Fen de la Guerre is living with the O-Positive blood tribe in the Delta when they are ambushed. Left with her tribe leader’s newborn, Fen is determined to get the baby to a better life over the wall before her blood becomes tainted. Fen soon meets Daniel, a scientist from the Outer States researching a cure for Delta Fever. The pair form an unlikely bond and, in the end, may be each other’s last hope for survival.

By Mieneke Published 21 December, 2012 Posted in article, contemporary, crime, fantasy, YA Tagged: anticipated, Atheneum, Atom, Constable and Robinson, Flux, G.P. Putnam's Sons, HarperTeen, Headline, Hodder, Indigo, Katherine Tegen Books, Quercus Children's, Razorbill, Simon and Schuster, Simon Pulse, Strange Chemistry Books | Leave a comment

Laura Lam – Pantomime

R.H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic is the greatest circus of Ellada. Nestled among the glowing blue Penglass – remnants of a mysterious civilisation long gone – are wonders beyond the wildest imagination. It’s a place where anything seems possible, where if you close your eyes you can believe that the magic and knowledge of the vanished Chimeras is still there. It’s a place where anyone can hide.

When I read the synopsis for Pantomime I was intrigued and when I saw the cover I was sold. And then I read the book and I fell in love. What an absolutely gorgeous book. It’s tough to talk about Pantomime without giving spoilers. Pantomime has a secret and it’s a big one and once it’s revealed the scope of the entire narrative changes. It’s a powerful narrative, filled with fabulous characters and a great plot.

The characters inhabiting Pantomime are amazing. Both its protagonists, Gene and Micah, are trying to figure out who they are and what they want out of life. Lam explores their desires, uncertainties and secrets in depth and with a deftness that exposes both their fragility and their strength in equal measure. I loved the characters Micah encounters at the circus, from his aerialist teacher Aenea to the kind clown Drystan – and yes, thank god not all clowns in this book were scary, otherwise I couldn’t have gone on. The first few minutes of It scarred me for life at age nine – sad Frit and the interesting collection of freaks who turn out to be more human in most cases than normal humans. The interactions between the various circus people are funny and lovely and sad. The way they treated Micah when he arrived, the tricks and the hazing, was perhaps rather cruel and cold, but it also seemed a form of self-protection; if Micah could be scared off by their hazing, then he’d not hurt them by leaving once they’d come to care for him and made them part of their ‘family’. In this manner there are layers upon layers in everyone’s actions and behaviour, which get more exposed at each twist in the narrative.

If I can’t really talk about the characters in detail without giving the game away, then let me talk about the setting, because it was luscious. Set in a Victorian-ish society, but one where at times it seemed that at one point there was some advanced technologies – bits of which still remain – at times I wondered whether this was a very far-future post-apocalyptic Earth or a secondary world. The world was lush and detailed, overlaid with a sepia-tinge. Ellada and its neighbours are riven with Vestige, both in the form of Penglass and in the form of artefacts, such as the weather machine used at the circus and the clockwork woman’s head Micah and Aenea see at the Museum of Mechanical Antiquities in Imachara. The translucent blue Penglass and the mystery of the globes’ contents and the mysterious Vestige artefacts that seem, but aren’t quite like familiar technology.

The structure of the narrative was very well-crafted. The story is braided together from two story lines, the one set in the spring, the other in the summer, until they both flow into autumn and beyond. These seasons echo the feel of the novel, bright and hopeful in spring, the glory days of summer, and the abrupt turning of the weather in autumn. The first person viewpoints both limit what the reader knows and give us access to our protagonists deepest emotions and thoughts, though this doesn’t prevent Lam from letting them keep secrets from us. The prose and dialogue are well-paced, snappy and sometimes almost poetic. I enjoyed the writing style; it reads easily and is an interesting blend between modernity and an old-fashioned gloss.

Pantomime is a stunning debut and would have easily made my top ten for 2012 if it hadn’t been a 2013 title. As it is, it is the first 2013 book I’ve read and those coming behind have a tough act to follow. Laura Lam deals with some highly sensitive issues in a respectful and deft manner. Pantomime is a story of self-discovery and acceptance and shows the journey two very different and extraordinary individuals have to take to achieve it. There is no way for me to explain how wonderful this book is without ruining the reading experience for you. So just trust me, even if you normally don’t read YA, read Pantomime once it comes out in February; you won’t regret it. My only regret is that I’ll have to wait till then to openly discuss its awesome plot twists. And wait even longer to find out what’s next.

This book was provided for review by the publisher.

By Mieneke Published 14 December, 2012 Posted in fantasy, review, YA Tagged: Strange Chemistry Books | 4 Comments

Jonathan L. Howard – Katya’s World

The distant and unloved colony world of Russalka has no land, only the raging sea under endless storm clouds. Beneath the waves, the people live in pressurised environments and take what they need from the boundless ocean. It is a hard life, but it is theirs and they fought a war against Earth to protect it. But wars leave wounds that never quite heal, and secrets that never quite lie silent.

Katya Kuriakova doesn’t care much about ancient history. She is making her first submarine voyage as crew; the first easy journey of what she expects to be an easy career. But soon she will encounter pirates and war criminals, see death and tragedy at first hand, and learn that her world’s future lies on the narrowest of knife edges. For in the crushing depths lies a sleeping abomination of unknown origin, and when it wakes, it will seek out and kill every single person on the planet.

Katya’s World by Jonathan L. Howard ticked of several boxes on my to-do-list book-wise. First of all, it is a YA science fiction novel, thereby not only expanding my YA reading, but my SF reading as well – which were two of the reading goals I’d set myself this year – but it also allowed me to acquaint myself with a writer I’d heard a lot of good things about. Several of the bloggers whose opinion I respect a lot love Howard’s Johannes Cabal series. So I was excited to start reading it. Barring some problems with the writing, my excitement was very much justified: Katya’s World was an engaging read.

To begin with, the world building is excellent. Russalka is an amazing environment and I loved the way Howard has shaped it. He has made the ocean world of Russalka more than just a globe with a water-logged surface and bad weather. He’s created an entire ecosystem underwater with layers of a different composition and consequently different properties and reactions to the Russalkan submarines. It’s also a bit of a nightmare vision as the idea of being in a submarine scares the bejeezus out of me. The idea of being surrounded by an element that’s likely to kill you if your vessel breaks just gives me hives. It’s similar to space travel in a sense. However, as it is less likely that I’ll ever find myself on a star ship than on a submarine, reading about space faring doesn’t unnerve me as much. I’ll hand it to Howard though, I didn’t feel that unease for long, as you forget you’re underwater until they actually have a problem or have to get out of their ship. I also liked the way Russalkan society is drawn; it’s a place where youngsters need to grow up fast and one where the original settlers of Russalka have divided into two: the regular Russalkin and the Yagizban, the ones who settled up top on floating settlements and who functioned as the go-between between Russalka and off-planet traders and diplomats.

The characters are well-drawn as well, especially Katya, Kane and Katya’s Uncle Lukyan. Katya is a fantastic heroine, though she strays frighteningly close to a case of ‘speshul snowflake-ism’, as the reader keeps getting reminded how intelligent she is and how cool she stays under pressure. However, Katya’s down-to-earth nature keeps her from getting annoying and over the top. In addition, she isn’t always able to save the day and that helps keeping her grounded as well. There are also hints at Katya’s past that suggest she isn’t such a good girl as she seems, so hopefully we’ll see more of that in the rest of the series, as this is the first book in the Russalka Chronicles. Kane reminded me of a cleaned-up Captain Jack Sparrow, with the same nonchalance and wilful evasiveness when it comes to the truth. But he had a bit of added tragedy in his history, which I hope we’ll find out more about as well. What I found very refreshing is that there is no romance in the novel, not a bit, not even a hint. I don’t mind romance sub-plots in the books I read, but it is good to see a book featuring a female lead that doesn’t include one. Instead the plot is made interesting by the mystery of the Leviathan and by the threat of war. Howard skilfully moves the conflict from off-world to on-world, yet manages to keep the Terran threat looming.

One area where I did have some problems was with some of the writing. The narrative is written in third person omniscient, so it’s able to jump heads in the middle of a scene. There were a few times however where the landing wasn’t completely smooth and felt a bit clunky and I had to go back to double check whose head I was in. Still, this might just be a case of personal taste in stylistics; while I don’t mind third person omniscient at all, I don’t like the narrator to intrude too much into the story, unless she consistently does so. At one point it seems as if the narrator is breaking the fourth wall to comment on Katya’s upbringing, which seemed very out of place in the scene.

The Russalkin were bred to shoulder responsibilities from an early age, but the urgency and importance of this one weighed upon Katya almost more than she could bear. It spoke much of her character and upbringing that she did not think of denying that responsibility for more than the briefest moment. (p. 229)

If the narrative at that point is a reflection of Katya’s inner monologue, it doesn’t make sense to talk of her upbringing that way, unless there is an intrusive narrator, which there hadn’t been up to that point. There were a few other stylistic niggles that I hadn’t expected from an experienced author like Howard. For example, at several points in the book we get exposition through Katya reminding herself of something. This and oft-repeated reminders of certain facts, such as Russalkin having to shoulder responsibility at a really young age and the fact that Katya is an exceedingly talented navigator and very intelligent, let the writing down for me.

Despite those reservations, however, I loved reading this book. I loved Katya and I even loved Kane. Katya’s development from the start to the finish of the novel – shown beautifully through how she explains her decision to stay and fight at the end of the book – is what make this story shine. I can’t wait to return to Russalka and to Katya and see where she goes from here. Katya’s World wasn’t a flawless book for me, but one I’ll gladly return to in the future. With an inventive setting featuring a strong female lead, Howard delivers an interesting SF story that is sure to draw in readers of all genders and ages.

This book was provided for review by the publisher.

By Mieneke Published 5 November, 2012 Posted in review, science fiction, YA Tagged: Strange Chemistry Books | 1 Comment

Cassandra Rose Clarke – The Assassin’s Curse

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to another pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. When Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn’t really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together.

To break the curse, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks – all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic… and the growing romantic tension between them.

Of the first four books Strange Chemistry announced Cassandra Rose Clarke’s The Assassin’s Curse was the one that appealed to me most, probably because its description was most like the fantasy I enjoy most, or rather have enjoyed the longest. Besides, pirates, assassins, and dark curses, all set in a strange desert land—who could resist? And not only did I like The Assassin’s Curse as much I thought I would, I was blown away by this amazing debut! Clarke shows she’s a deft hand at her craft and creates a wonderful and unique voice for her heroine Ananna, one that I found impossible to resist.

Even if I was drawn in by the promise of pirates and assassins, the part of the book I ended up loving most was its heroine Ananna. She’s caustic and cynical and she’ll stand up for herself. At the same time she knows she’s flawed and readily admits it if she doesn’t know a thing. She’s eager to learn and I loved that along the way she manages to get herself taught new skills, without it coming across as the protagonist learning a new skill so she can fulfil a requirement to the plot later on in the narrative. She’s smart and resourceful, without being an unrealistic super girl, who has skills that are implausible for someone of her age and background or is brilliant at everything. Another point where Clarke deviates from some of the more often seen YA tropes is her romance. No insta-love or attraction for our heroes, this love affair is grudging and perhaps not even an affair. I loved Ananna’s interaction – and often exasperation – with Naji; I loved that she only realises she likes him, or even loves him, when it’s already happened, even if the reader does see that bond slowly building.

Naji, being what he is, is completely different from Ananna. He’s well educated and possessed of a kind of magic that is distrusted by most decent folk. His Order uses blood magic, a strong and mysterious magic that is both scary and fascinating, both to Ananna and the reader. His past is mysterious, largely because he chooses to keep it thus. At times Naji’s secrecy seems more about keeping secrets than being functional, something which is annoying to Ananna and sometimes the reader as well. There remain many unanswered questions about Naji, such as his true past with Leila and the extent of his assassin’s arts. Hopefully, we’ll find out more about those in the second book.

The Assassin’s Curse doesn’t just have great characters in its protagonists and some of the secondary ones (I really liked Marjani), but it has a very cool setting as well, with the desert lands surrounded by the seas. I especially loved the Isles of the Sky, which are as magical and spooky as you might wish. I loved the juxtaposition of the environments and their related magic, water magic for the pirates and earth magic for the people in the cities and the desert. While there isn’t much explanation about the magic systems, beyond that there are spells, potions and you can bargain with what I presumed to be the spirits of the elements. What it lacks in detail, it supplements in flavour, though I hope we’ll find out more about both the magic of Ananna’s world and that of the Mists.

Clarke took a big risk with The Assassin’s Curse in the way she wrote Ananna’s voice and thus the narration. It’s very distinct and with what you might call an accent if you’d only heard it. I’m not sure whether it’s a reflection of pirate patois or meant to convey that Ananna isn’t that well-educated, though since she can read, write, and cipher, I’d have to guess it’s the former. It takes some getting used to with its use of ain’t, gonna, shoulda and not neither, just to name a few examples. While I loved Ananna’s voice after falling into its cadence, I can see that this is a real marmite issue, you either love it or hate it, there probably isn’t much in between.

The Assassin’s Curse is a fantastic debut for Cassandra Rose Clark. I thought the book was fabulous and I want book two now! I didn’t know going in that this was the first of what looks to be a duology and while the book stops at a point where there is a natural breathing space for our heroes before they set out on the second part of their quest, I was still a bit frustrated at the fact that we didn’t get the whole story. As it is, I will have to wait until June, when The Pirate’s Wish is released. Fortunately, I won’t have to wait quite so long to sample more of Clarke’s writing as Angry Robot is releasing The Mad Scientist’s Daughter early next year. Meanwhile, Cassandra Rose Clarke is an author to watch if The Assassin’s Curse is anything to go by.

This book was provided for review by the publisher.

By Mieneke Published 4 October, 2012 Posted in fantasy, review, YA Tagged: Strange Chemistry Books | 6 Comments

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