Review Dump Part 2 - Teen Reads

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More reviews from my work review blog, links provided.

Aurelia by Anne Osterlund
Since the death of her older brother years ago, Aurelia has been the crown princess of Tyralt. Even though power will truly be held by the man she marries, Aurelia is determined to learn what it takes to rule a country. And she figures the very best place to start is by learning her city inside and out and all of the people who live there. Aurelia’s efforts to be a ‘princess of the people’ has gone a long way into making her very popular among the citizens, but not everyone is happy with Aurelia as crown princess. For the last two months someone has made several attempts on her life.

Rather than making the attempts public, the king’s advisor sends for Brian Vantauge, a trusted former spy for the king. But the man refuses to leave his frontier homestead, so his son, Robert, makes for the palace instead. Robert has no experience in investigation or in the intrigues of palace life, but he plans to make up for that in sheer determination. No one will take the life of one of his oldest friends while he’s around. Together Robert and Aurelia begin to unravel the mystery around the identity of the assassin and just who gave the orders. But the answers they uncover may change the lives of the two teens forever.

Okay, the book is really, really cliche, but worth a read for fans of the romance/royality/spies thing. Also a very quick read. I think I finished it in about 3 hours with loads of distractions and a break for dinner.
Original review
 

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong
At the end of The Summoning, Chloe, Derek, Simon and Rae had managed to escape from the Lyle House, a pseudo group home. But Chloe injured herself pretty badly while the two girls were waiting for the ‘all clear’ from the boys. Panicking the two decided to take a chance and head for Chloe’s aunt Lauren for help. However, it turned out aunt Lauren was far more involved in the goings on a Lyle House, and both Chloe and Rae ended up somewhere even worse.

Chloe is now in the hands of the Edison Group, the backers behind the Lyle House. Knowing, at least instinctively, that being with the Edison Group is even worse than being at Lyle House, Chloe begins to dig into the group first trying her powers to talk to any ghosts lingering in the building, then doing her best to hack into the head scientist’s computer.

What she discovers along the way will terrify her more than the knowledge she can raise the dead and Chloe will do whatever it takes to escape the Edison Group and rejoin Derek and Simon. But even if she can pull that off, where could teens marked at ‘troubled’ by society possibly find safe haven?

An excellent sequel, which actually I think was better in some ways to the first, but at the same time was lacking a little. Also, yay for gooey zombie bats.
Original review


Blade : Playing Dead by Tim Bowler
No one knows the city quite like Blade does. For the British teen, the city is practically alive. He knows where to go and where to hide and how to make himself practically disappear on her streets. And for a fourteen-year-old living on the streets this skill is completely necessary.

When Blade gets on the wrong side of a dangerous girl gang, the past he’s tried so hard to outrun may have finally caught up to him. But this time he’s not running alone. Now he’s got one of the gang members, Becky, and her young daughter, Jasmine. With two people now depending on him, Blade must struggle to keep his focus. He knows he’d do better without them, but he just can’t force himself to let four-year old Jaz go like that. With so many people looking for the trio, Blade may not be able to escape so easily this time.

I admit, I was a little leery of this one and the learning curve with the straight up Brit slang, but it was really very good. And the cliffhanger kills! I need to know what happens!
Original review
 

Blood Ninja by Nick Lake
Taro is the son of a fisherman and an ama, or sea-diver, and his chances of ever making something special out of his life are pretty slim. But he makes due in their small village, even if he feels out of place, especially since he’s far better at hunting with a bow than he is at fishing. And the use of a bow is considered something only nobles do, not something for lowly peasants.

When his father is murdered right in front of him by a group of ninja, Taro and his best friend Hiro are whisked away by another ninja, one who is looking to make sure Taro survives. But when Taro gets caught in the crossfire he learns the hard way how ninja earn their reputations. Ninja are kyuuketsuki, a type of spirit that drinks blood to survive. In other words, ninja are vampires.

Now Taro, Hiro, and their ninja rescuer Shusaku are in a cross-country race to get Taro to a safe location. The band of ninja that attacked him were sent by Lord Oda, one of the Daimyo who serve the current Shogun. But why is Lord Oda so intent on killing Taro, what could the simple son of a fisherman have done to earn the ire of a nobleman?

A little cliche, and I was totally as Jo-chan put it so well, waiting for the pirate robot monkeys. But the author used Japanese throughout reasonably well and despite a few bumps here and there, surprisingly good. An excellent alternative vampire book for either boys or people who can't bear to look at Twilight.
Original review
 

Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Barartz-Logsted
In this retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” we first meet Lucius Wolfe, who last year blew off his own hands while experimenting with chemicals in the family basement. Permanently disfigured now, Lucius spent most of his freshmen year recovering and getting used to his choice in prosthetics, the less expensive and easier to use hooks rather than the more commonplace hands.

On the bus on the first day at a new school, Lucius meets another new student, the beautiful Aurora Belle, who just lost her mother to cancer. And almost immediately the two teens feel an intense connection. But in the typical fashion that is high school, because he looks so different now, Lucius becomes a target for the school bullies, particularly the most handsome (and most egotistical) guy at school; Jessup Tristan.

When Jessup takes a liking to Aurora, Lucius takes it upon himself to keep an eye on her and be her protector if need be. However, Aurora isn’t one to be fooled so easily by a pretty face, and instead starts to grow closer to Lucius. But when Aurora’s father faces suspension based on accusations he made improper advances toward a student, rumor is spread that Lucius was the one who blamed him. Now Lucius must uncover the truth or risk losing Aurora forever.

While the book feels a bit rushed and thin in places, Crazy Beautiful is a good pick for romance fans. And the familiar elements from “Beauty and the Beast” make for a fine read.
Original review
 

Drop by Lisa Papademetriou
We all wish that we didn’t have to work quite so hard to get money. That what we needed could be won easily. And for three teens living in Las Vegas, easy money means figuring out how to sneak into the casinos and beat the house.

First is Sanjay, who wants more out of his life than working in his father’s ethnic market. But he’s got a couple of serious problems, the money required to make a better life for himself, and an addition to gambling that has Sanjay swiping money out of the register behind his father’s back.

Next is Kat, Sanjay’s girlfriend and someone who knows all to well the harm gambling can do to a family. She’s been forced to watch her family slowly unravel, and is torn between holding it together or letting everything just fall apart.

Then there’s Jerrica; a sad, quiet girl who prefers to security of math over personal interaction. While she watches her father getting over the passing of her mother, Jerrica finds that numbers are coming even easier than before. And that just maybe she is starting to see patterns. Jerrica just might hold the answers for all three teens.

Drop is a well paced story, with excellent characters. Even though the book is short, just clocking in at 166 pages, Papademetriou manages to create characters and a story with wonderful depth.
Original review


Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
Incarceron; a massive, sentient prison where the worst of the worst are sent. After the Rage, people longed for simpler times. So, using the last of the remaining technology, the Sapienti created Incarceron and all of the undesirables and dissidents are imprisoned within. Then it was sealed, no one in or out, ever. Originally designed to be a self-sustaining utopia, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Finn Starseer is a resident of Incarceron, although he believes that he born Outside. He has no memories prior to waking up in a cell, but he does occasionally have seizures in which he has ‘visions’. Whether these are prophetic or his mind attempting to restore memories, Finn doesn’t know for sure all he does know is that he wants desperately to Escape. To do so, he going to need some help. Most of all Finn will need Claudia - the Warden’s own daughter.

Incarceron may be a little intimating at first glance, but definitely a good choice for anyone who liked Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It, Westerfeld’s Leviathan or Collin’s Hunger Games. Keep an eye out for the sequel Sapphique and movies (which are currently in negotiation)!
Original review
 

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancy
The year is 1888 and twelve-year-old Will Henry has been apprenticed to a most unusual man, through some terrible circumstances. When his parents died in a fire the year before his father’s employer; Dr. Warthrop; offered the young boy a place to stay and work. But Dr. Pellinore Warthrop is a very unusual doctor. If you ask him, he’ll tell you he’s a doctor of philosophy. What he won’t tell you is that his actual field of study is monstrumology – the study of monsters.

Their quiet lives at the house on Harrington Lane are about to change, and perhaps not for the best, when Dr. Warthrop gets late night visit from local man. The older man makes his living robbing graves and he found something unspeakable that night. In the coffin of a recently deceased young woman was a headless monster that died while devouring the body. At first Will Henry and the doctor believe that the monster, known as an anthropophagi is part of a small pod. But the two soon find that their first assumptions are completely wrong, and this critical mistake could cost them their lives.

Rick Yancy ramps up the gore in his new series, putting other teen horror books to shame. While not as gruesome has some horror films on the market, Yancy provides just enough grisly detail to appease the blood and guts connoisseur. Quite well written, it’s still worth a read, even if you aren’t a fan of the genre. This book is geared for more mature readers for all the gore and violence.
Original review
 

Night Road by A.M. Jenkins
If you were to ask Cole, he’d tell you that being called a vampire is like using a racial slur. He; and the other members of the Colony; prefer the term hemovore or heme for short. Cole, while not being the oldest of the hemes in the Colony, is still considered to be one of the most experienced, with almost 180 years under his belt.

When Sandor, one of the younger members, accidentally creates a new heme, it falls to Cole to train the rookie. The only problem; Cole has been living on his own, away from the Colony for years now. For a heme that prefers the quiet, solitary life of meticulous control, taking in Gordon and teaching him the ropes is pretty much a disaster.

On a training road trip with Gordon, Sandor and Cole attempt to teach the older teen just what it means to be a heme. What risks can and cannot be taken when feeding, that omnis (the heme term for regular humans) should be treated with civility and care, and how to avoid losing control. But when an accident draws the attention of a dangerous stray heme, all of Cole’s famous control and caution may not be enough to protect the trio.

A different sort of vampire book; Jenkins’ book take a look at vampires who do their best to blend in, to not stand out in a crowd. Like Repossessed (also by Jenkins), Night Road has an open end with no real conclusion to the story, which might leave some readers a little unsatisfied. Another great guy-friendly alternative to Twilight.
Original review


Numbers by Rachel Ward
Jem has always been different, and it became truly apparent on the day her mother died. 10-10-2001 - a date that Jem has always know, but it wasn’t until she found her mother dead of an overdose that she finally figured everything out. Whenever Jem looks someone in the eyes, she sees a number. That number represents the exact day that person will die. So Jem avoids people and does her best not to get attached, while struggling just to get through the school day.

All that changes when one of her classmates, Spider, decides to spend all his free time following Jem and trying to get her attention. Jem would rather not get closer to Spider; after all, she knows the other teen has only weeks left. But Spider is nothing if not persistent, and Jem finds herself drawn to him. While the two are skipping school one afternoon, they end up at the London Eye Ferris Wheel. But Jem notices something horrifying. All the people waiting in line have the same number. Panicking, Jem convinces Spider to leave and only a few minutes later the Eye explodes.

Convinced they’ll be blamed for the explosion, Jem and Spider to decide to run away from London. That begins a weeklong flight from the city; a week of stealing cars, sleeping out in the open, and time for Jem to figure out someway to save Spider from his fate.

Even though it’s a quick read, Numbers was a surprisingly gritty and engaging story. Ward’s writing is consistant throughout the book, maintaining the grim and bleak circumstances, while allowing for that glimmer of hope that keeps Spider and Jem on the run.
Original review
 

Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev
This review is based on the Advanced Reader’s Edition; the book will be available May/June 2010. I’ll also do my very best not to spoil the book.

At the end of Eyes Like Stars, Bertie, with the help of her new found talents, managed to save the Théâtre Illuminata from destruction. But at the same time she also managed to lose someone precious. Nate, one of the pirates from Peter Pan and one of her dearest friends at the theatre, has been kidnapped and bound by Sedna the Sea Goddess.

Now Bertie, as the new Mistress of Revels and Teller of Tales, decides that she needs to make things right and bring Nate back to the theatre. With the help of four faeries and Ariel, the newly formed traveling Company head to the sea, hoping to find their missing friend. Along the way Bertie must learn how to use the abilities and power that comes with being the Mistress of Revels. But she’s going to have to learn fast if she wants to survive, much less rescue Nate.

Perchance to Dream is an excellent follow-up to Eyes Like Stars. Taking their act on the road, Bertie and company are forced to learn fast and hard what life is like outside the realm of the theatre’s magic. Mantchev’s characters retain that delightful madness that made the first book such an entertaining read.
Original review


The Twelve Kingdoms - Skies of Dawn by Fuyumi Ono
The newest release in the Twelve Kingdoms series goes back to the first title in the series, Sea of Shadow, and picks up six months after the end of the book. Yoko has won the throne back from the false king Joyei. But winning the war was just the beginning of Yoko’s struggle to rebuild the Kingdom of Kei. With her ministers sighing in disgust at every turn, and untrustworthy governors ruling the cities, Yoko has to learn what her people really want if she plans on remaining King for much longer.

Suzu came to the Twelve Kingdoms more than 100 years ago when she slipped and fell into a river. After arriving Suzu found that she could not speak the language and was shuffled off with a traveling show. Frustrated and feeling isolated, she begs a passing sage, who can understand and speak any language, for help.

Princess Sonshou of the Kingdom of Hou, also known as Shoukei, lived a life of luxury. But while she was busy living the pampered life, her father the Ridge-King was slowly beginning to lose sight of his responsibilities. Wanting his people to be as pure and virtuous as possible, he began creating rule after rule with harsher and harsher punishments, until finally the people could take it no more and in revolution took the life of the Ridge-King and exiled Shoukei from Hou.

Beginning their stories separately, the lives of these three young women begin to come together. At first wanting different things out of their new lives, they must discover and hone their strengths if Kei is to be saved from ruin again. This is probably my second favorite story arc from the Twelve Kingdoms series; unfortunately the book suffers from some pretty obvious editing errors. But if you enjoyed the other books in the series as much as I have, you’ll definitely want to pick this up soon.
Original review
 

Worlds Afire by Paul B. Janeczko
Told in a series of narrative poems, Worlds Afire details the one of the saddest moments in Connecticut history. On the afternoon July 6, 1944 hundreds of people went to attend the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. But in a matter of mere minutes, the excitement turns to panic when the big top catches fire. Coated in a mixture of paraffin wax and gasoline to make it waterproof, the tent becomes a candle, eventually claiming the lives of 167 people and injuring at least 500 more.

Janeczko eyewitness poems are spare and shocking, giving incredible emotion to something most teen readers won’t have an immediate connection to. From the performers to firefighters and nurses to a little girl only known as Little Miss 1565, whose body was never claimed, Worlds Afire is a great choice for young teen readers looking for a visceral, emotional read.
Original review
 

You’ve Got Blackmail by Rachel Wright
Lauren Cracknell, who prefers the nickname Loz or Lozzie, is a source of constant trouble. If she isn’t forgetting to complete tasks for her newly single mother, she’s swiping things out her sister’s room, or accidentally getting the school bully so angry that Loz has to avoid using the bathroom at school for fear of getting flushed.

Lozzie’s ability to find trouble lands her in the biggest mess yet. When she discovers that her hateful English teacher, Mr. Barnett, is being blackmailed by someone close to Loz, she can’t help by want to figure out who the blackmailer is, even if that means helping Mr. Barnett, who might also be secretly dating her mother! But as Loz and her best friend Dex dig deeper into the mystery, they may just have found themselves in the middle of something really dangerous this time.

Practiced mystery readers may find Wright’s book a little too easy, but You’ve Got Blackmail is fast paced and amusing enough to keep most readers flipping pages. The story could have done with a little more fleshing out of Loz’s feelings regarding her parent’s separation, but all in all the book still makes for a good read, especially for teens who may be struggling with harder titles.
Original review