30.13: The Edge of Nowhere, by Elizabeth George (2012 hardcover)

This is George's first book for a teen audience, and it's clear from the start that she has a good grasp on the milieu. The protagonist, Becca King, finds herself on the run, separated from her mother, and living in remote Whidby Island in British Columbia, providing both the independence and challenging circumance needed in teen novels featuring females. Throw in the fact that Becca can hear people's thoughts--the cause of her flight in the first place--a cast of interesting characters, and a handsome love interest, and you have a winner. For adult readers, there is also a strong plot, good character development, and a beautiful setting to capture interest. I'll look forward to reading George's next teen novel--likelt the sequel to this one.

29:13: The Enchantress (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, Book 6), by Michael Scott (2012 hardcover)

This is (I'm pretty sure) the sixth book in this teen series, and it continues to interest me. I'm not usually a fan of fantasy involving magic and sorcery, but the historical thread here--featuring immortal humans like Gilgamesh, Joan of Arc, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Virginia Dare, and Billy the Kid; and Elder gods like Quetzocoatl, Prometheus, and Bastet--make this a fascinating read. Scott is apparently an Irish "authority" on mythology and folklore, and he weaves stories told across centuries and geography together adeptly. I highly recommend the series, which begins with The Alchemyst for those interested in getting started.

28:13: The Rise of Nine (LOrien Legacies, Book 3), by Pittacus Lore (2012 hardcover)

This is a relatively good continuation of a teen series involving humanoid aliens on earth who must save the earth--and ultimately return to their own planet--by destroying other aliens intent on destroying them and the earth. Check out my earlier Lore entries for further details about the beginning of the series.

44.12: Coda, by Emma Trevayne (Advance Uncorrected Proof, to be released May 2013)

I picked up this advance reader copy of Coda at the NCTE convention in Las Vegas in November, and it intrigued me enough to make me pick it up ahead of the (likely hundred) books ahead of it in my to-be-read pile. For readers interested in technology, music, and/or dystopic literature, it's a great selection.

Anthem lives in a world where music is the basis of socital organization--and control. After a war of undetermined nature, the Corp has established a system of energy development using humans, with music as the driving force and drug of choice. Adults tune in to music--and, indeed, are required to do so lest they have the police call upon them--and "track" for entertainment, mood enhancement, and survival--paying credits for each encoded (brainwashing) song on the basis of strength and need. With the commoditization of music comes its tight control, so Anthem and a group of friends secretly practice on improvised and blackmarket instruments, building up a sound that they hope will start a revolution.

Trevayne's first book is interesting, sort of a teen-targeted early William Gibson novel. While less gritty than that in Gibson's Cyberpunk tomes, Trevayne's alternate world is also one in which technology has changed the shape of society. Whether the change is for better or worse depends on who is ultimately in control.  

41.12: The Diviners, by Libba Bray (2012 hardcover)

In my last post, I commented on how impressed I am with the range of subjects written about by author Maggie Stefvieter. Double that for Libba Bray! The first of her books I picked up was Beauty Queens (review here), a hilarious satire wherein an airplane of teen beauty contestants crash lands on an island housing a secret military base--a bit Lord of the Flies with curling irons. Upon finishing that book, I quickly picked up Going Bovine (review here), featuring a teen boy who contracts mad cow disease and sets of on an adventure to save himself and/or the world. After that, I ventured into Bray's early writing, which was set in the past and featured a paranormal theme and cast of characters in an English boarding school (see brief review of A Great and Terrible Beauty here). In The Diviners, she's returned to that paranormal world but has chosen Prohibition-era New York City as the backdrop.

While I still have a preference for her two contemporary books, The Diviners is an interesting and complex story, and it provides insight to 1920s America, the rise of the modern world, and the contrasting fascination that the occult held for people of the time. The female protagonist is sent to live with her bachelor uncle when a party trick turns sour. As we learn, her ability to divine the truth about people by holding one of their possessions was the cause for the uproar; she (accurately) publicly identifies the fact that the son of a wealthy man has impregnated a servant, so her parents send her away to let the uproar--caused by what they try to pass off as an unfortunate wild guess--dies down.

It's a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. Once in NYC, our heroine is quickly embroiled in a series of murders involving the paranormal. Her uncle, as it turns out, is curator for a museum of the odd and supernatural, and he serves as consultant to the police on the murders. And, a range of other diviners--with a slate of unusual abilities--are slowly drawn to each other. Few of them play much of a roll in the final events of this book, which makes it pretty clear that we'll get to see more of this sequence in the future.

40.12: The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater (2012 hardcover)

I'm impressed with Maggie Stiefvater's range of subjects in her teen novels. She started out with the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy (review here) depicting a girl in love with a werewolf, which is pretty standard fare in TeenLit these days. However, after that she released Scorpio Races (This appears to be a book I read over the last year or two but forgot to add to my blog. It was excellent, though!) about a world where fierce horses rise from the waters and sometime kill humans and at other times are captured and trained by humans to compete in a deadly race. In Raven Boys she take a different direction again, entering the world of the paranormal.

Blue is the female protagonist in the book, and her mother and aunts are all psychics. Despite the family legacy, Blue doesn't have psychic abilities herself--but she does intensify the abilities of those nearby her. Since she was born it has been foretold that she will kiss her love and he will die. That's quite the story to enter puberty with, and she's stayed away from boys for the most part--especially those from the fancy prep school in town. Enevitably, though, she is swept up by a group of those boys--raven boys because of the school mascot--in their quest to find the ley lines that mark the burial site of an English knight (oddly buried on the east coast of America) and have their wishes come true.

The story involves fortune telling, ghost sighting, card reading, romance, and murder, and it moves along at a pretty quick clip. Steifvater is an excellent storyteller, and while the romance end of things makes it clear that her target audience is teen girls, the characters and story in this book and Scorpio Races make it interesting for adults as well.
 

36.12: City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments Book 5), by Cassandra Clare (2012 hardcover)

The latest in the series starring Shadowhunter Clary, her Shadowhunter society, nemesis (brother), and love interest (who she once thought was her brother), and her vampire (former love interest) and werewolf friends. Okay, so it sounds a bit cliche, but this is a decent teen series with just enough interesting non-romantic developments to keep me reading. Click on "Clare" in my word cloud to the right to get reviews of the Mortal Instruments books--and the prequel Infernal Devices books that start 100 years before Clary shows up.

35.12: The Kill Order, by James Dashner. (2012 hardcover)

This is a prequel to The Maze Runner series, so I'd really recommend that you start there before reading this one. I read books one and two in 2011 and book three earlier this year, and you can check out my reviews at this link and this link. Overall, this was a good addition to the series, and I look forward to what I assume will be a second prequel release--forming an eventual trilogy (pre-trilogy?) of its own--if things go according to the seemingly usual release schedule of TeenLit. 

33.12 : False Memory, by Dan Krokos (2012 Advance reader paperback)

I picked up this advance proof in the free box at my local bookstore, Northtown Books, some time ago, so it wasn't really on my radar. When I read the author bio before starting the book, my expectations weren't too high, as this is the first novel published by 26-year-old Krokos. Despite this inauspicious start, the book proved to be interesting enough that I read it over the course of two evenings, staying up until 1:00 am on the second night to finish it. (If you know me at all, you know that's late for me.) It's a solid TeenLit read, of the we're-being-experimented-on/-used for-nefarious-purposes genre of teen books. Okay, so that may not be an official literary genre, but if you read enough TeenLit, you certainly can recognize it as a clear type.

The novel begins with Miranda gaining consciousness in an Ohio shopping mall with no memory other than her name. She quickly learns that she is not the typical teen, however, as her confusion and fear lead her to start a panicked stampede in the mall that results in the deaths of several people. She does this, a boy named Peter who has tracked her to this mall informs her, with her brainwaves. Unable to doscount this fact due to a loss of memory, and the all-too-clear evidence of trampled bodies, she accepts Peter's word and heads "home" with him.

Home ends up being an underground bunker in rural Ohio, where Miranda learns that she is a Rose--a genetically altered teen whose purpose will be to avoid violent bloodshed. Or so she and the three other Roses (called such because they can detect each other's brainwaves by the scent of roses) have been raised to believe. Since I already told you the genre we're working with, you know just how likely that peaceful scenario is.

Although it's a new twist on a common theme, replete with handsome love interests, the sciency nature of the premise--as well as some good action and plot turns--make this a good read. I'll keep my eyes out for future Krokos books, which will likely include the sequel this obviously set up.

26.12: Insurgent (Book 2 of Divergent series), by Veronica Roth (2012 hardcover)

In May of 2011, I recommended Divergent to those enjoying The Hunger Games. After reading Roth's second book in this series, Insurgent, I am not convinced that it is as good as HG, but it is still a decent TeenLit selection that will keep me looking for future releases.

To learn more about the premise of the Divergent series, check out my review of the first book. As with any series in general, but with TeenLit in particular, it's pretty important that you read these things in order. In fact, if you haven't read Divergent and plan to check it out, I'd suggest that you stop reading here so as not to encounter any spoilers.

If you're still reading, that means you've already read the first book, don't plan to read either, or simply are one of those (weird) people who reads the last page of a book first. Either way, I'm letting you know that Tris joined the Dauntless faction--something I withheld in my review of Divergent. As a member of this group, she fought a battle with Erudite, the faction that led a war on the other factions by controlling the minds of people in the remaining four groups and forcing them to engage in violence against each other. Some of the Dauntless actually joined the Erudite in this endeavor, and in the second book they are referred to as the Dauntless traitors. By the time the second book opens, there is a calm in the fighting, as Tris and other Divergent Dauntless (including the beloved Four/Tobias) were not affected by the simulation and managed to interrupt the mind-control activity.

In Insurgent, Tris and her fellow Dauntless leave their headquarters and spend time with both the Candor and Abnegation--in addition to making contact with the factionless outsiders of society. Ultimately Tris must decide whether she will remain faithful to her chosen faction or seek the truth regardless of the consequences. You may have a decent guess, but you'll have to read the book to find out whether or not you are right.

(PS: As with my reflection on the Delirium/Pandemonium series in my previous posting, I am also pondering what the third title in this series may be: Divergent, Insurgent, Convergent?)

25.12: Pandemonium, by Lauren Oliver (2012 hardcover)

In recent posts I've complained about the fact that the romance aspect of some of the recent teen novels I'd read had become overplayed. This is particularly true in sequels, where each book seems to get more and more focused on the characters' relationships and less on the societal constructs established in the early books. I'm a long way from being the target audience of these books, but I can't help wondering why this happens. If the teen readers liked the early books enough to continue with the series, didn't this indicate that they, too, were fond of the actual premise of the book? Why sideline the exploration of dystopic societies and ethical problem solving in favor of rated-PG kissing?

I can't really complain about the trend with this sequel, as I was forewarned by the very subject matter of the first. In fact, while getting ready to write this review, I went back and read my discussion of Delirium, the book before Pandemonium, and had to laugh at this observation: "This one leaned a bit too far toward the romance end of things for my taste; I can tolerate the romance as long as the world developed behind it is interesting and compelling.  In this book, however, the romance is center stage." Over the course of the review, though, I explored a few things I really liked about the book, and I suppose that's what I responded to when I saw it available at my local bookstore. Fortunately, in this book, Lena is on her own for the first half--which flashes back and forth between her life in the Wilds, beyond the fenced-off community of the standard society, and her reintegration into that society as a secret rebel. She may be pining for her lost love, but at least she is taking action and becoming a strong person as well. And, by the time the new boy comes into the picture, there's been time for Lena to explore the novelty of a society that allows self-expression and emotion and to see how the lack thereof is affecting the regime inside the walls.

I'm really hoping that Oliver's next book in the series (The ending of Pandemonium implies that there most certainly will be one.) continues in this direction. For now I'm trying to decide what the next book's title will be, seeing as it should really end with an -ium suffix.

23-24.12: The Final Warning and Max (Book 4 and 5 of the Maximum Ride series), by James Patterson (iBook, originally published 2008 and 2009)

I really enjoyed hearing James Patterson speak about kids and reading during a luncheon at the 2011 NCTE Convention, and I think his Read Kiddo Read website offers amazing resources for young readers and parents. These things have made me check out a couple of his book series for Tween and Teen youth, and the Maximum Ride series--about a flock of mutant bird kids who were experimented on in labs--is one of the more interesting. They have good story lines for both boys and girls, with both romance and fart jokes mixed in, as well as strong good-versus-evil plots and exposure to contemporary issues. In these two books in the series, for instance, global warming becomes the focus.

Considering the huge number of books Patterson is publishing annually, in both the adult and youth categories, he either gets no sleep or has a full cadre of ghost writers assisting him. In either case, his work is engaging if not brilliant, and these books are sure to be a hit with young readers.

17.12: The Power of Six (Book 2, Lorien Legacies), by Pittacus Lore (2011 hardcover)

Finished yesterday. No time to review, but hope to catch up this summer. Stay tuned.

11.12: A TeenLit novel that I currently can't recall

When middle age gives me a break, I'll post this entry. I'll remember--in the middle of the night, when I am doing the dishes, or another time I least expect it.

10.12: Goliath (Leviathan Book 3), by Scott Westerfeld (2011 hardcover)

This is the final book of Westerfeld's Steampunk trilogy and it doesn't disappoint. The WWII-with-a-twist setting continues to fascinate, and this volume brings in additional historical figures from the United States and Mexico in addition to new Clanker and Darwinist contraptions that are sure to please. An added bonus is that Westerfeld continues a thin vein of romance to keep the girls reading, while not letting it overwhelm the plot as so many other (primarily female) teen authors do. You can read more details about the underlying premise in my review of the second book in the series, Behemoth, but be sure to start with Leviathan in order to grasp the underlying concepts--and the kick of of WWII.

9.12: Crossed, by Ally Condie (2011 hardcover)

Fresh off the heels of complaining about the romance in my previous TeenLit read, I picked up this  teen romance. It seems a bad choice in retrospect, but I couldn't help myself; I read the first volume in the series some time ago and had been looking forward to the release of the second. In Entry 62, I discuss the first book, Matched, which I liked enough to call a teen version of 1984 or Brave New World. The Society (Yes, with a capital ess) depicted in Matched was interesting, allowing the romance to mellow in the background as readers were exposed to additional infringements on freedom taking place behind the calm, white-washed surface of Society.

In Crossed, though, Society takes back stage as Cassia and Ky struggle to define themselves, find each other, and survive in the Outer Provinces and beyond. There are only limited glimpses of the world they are escaping and the world they are fleeing to (likely not as ideal as Cassia believes), and during the remaining time were are stuck with the two young lovers, yearning, and long meaningful glances. The end of the book, however, left me with hope for the future of the franchise, as it is clear we are going to get dumped back into Society and unSociety in the third book. Please, Condie, tip the scales back to social commentary and away from moony teens.

8.12: Daughter of Smoke & Bone, by Laini Taylor (2011 hardcover)

I've been seeing this book on reading lists since it came out last September, and it has (literally) looked down at me from the shelves of bookstores. In the spirit of my read-the-books-on-my-shelves-and-only-buy-new-ones-that-continue-a-series-I-started pledge, however, I resisted the desire to buy it for four months. Then I stopped by Northtown Books a couple weeks back to get a few new volumes in some series I'm reading, and I added this to the pile as well. 

I have mixed feelings about the book, and not just because it was the book that led me to break my pledge. I'm realistic enough to know that was an inevitable event, and I'm a bit surprised I went as long as I did. Baby steps, and all that.  Rather than stemming from book-buying angst, my mixed emotions come from the fact that I really wanted to like the book and only sort of liked it. It has a lot of my favorite elements: good and evil, warrior angels, a battle between supernatural beings going on right outside human sight--chimera, in this case. Alas, what it also has--in spades--is romance. 

Per usual, the romance involves a teen (apparently) girl who is on the edge of society, in this case because she is an orphaned human (apparently) raised by chimera--beings of mixed human and animal traits. Of course, there's more to this odd picture than even Karou knows, and the truth begins to unfold when she encounters Akiva, a warrior angel. That in itself isn't a bad thing, but the ensuing focus on the love between Karou and Akiva is a bit too formulaic--even for someone who generally tolerates the teen romance formula to get some good fantasy/SciFi. It's the same complaint I made in my recent discussion of Cassandra Clare's newest book, and I'm wondering if it's simply time to take a bit of a break from TeenLit for a while. There's a sequel in store, of course, and we'll see if I've recovered from romance overload before it's released.  

7.12: Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, Book Two), but Cassandra Clare (2012 hardcover)

Cassandra Clare has a skill for creating a rich fantasy world, replete with angel protectors, vampires, werewolves, demons, warlocks, and just about any supernatural being you can imagine. It's interesting packaging for her novels, which essentially boil down to teen romances. In theory, the supernatural/combat layer may be of interest to male teens, but I suspect that her readership is predominantly teen girls--with middle aged women like myself thrown in for good measure--all the better to brood over the stunningly handsome teen boys involved. 

Clockwork Prince is the second in a prequel series published after Clare's City of Bones books (The fourth of which I reviewed in Entry 35) were under way. Set in Victorian England, Infernal Devices  series readers are introduced to the fact that the battle between good and evil has been waged for a long time (as measured in teen years, at least), and provided the opportunity to explore the mores and clothing of the Victorian era along the way. I reviewed the first in the prequel series in Entry 7, so you can check out the premise there. In this second volume, Tessa's search for who she is--and who she loves--continues. Is she a warlock or something closer to her angelic friends? Will she end up with the angry, brooding, gorgeous angel or the kind, ill, gorgeous angel? Decisions, decisions...

3.12: The Death Cure (Book 3 of the Maze Runner trilogy), by James Dashner (2011 hardcover)

I'm trying to buy fewer books this year, as I've noted in earlier postings, but after the terrible book I last read, it was easy to justify my purchase of The Death Cure when I stopped in Northtown Books after brunch on Sunday. And, I reasoned, if I already have the first two books in this trilogy, don't I have to own the final one?

As you can see, this is the beginning of a very slippery slope. And that's not even when you take into account the fact that I bought two other books--one also the continuation of a series I've started and the other by one of my favorite authors, William Gibson. My friend Diqui, the most dedicated client of the McIntyre Free Public Library, pointed out that she is happy I bought these books, seeing as she too has read the others and looks forward to borrowing them from me. So, yes, the next time you see Diqui, you can let her know that she is a book-purchasing enabler. Obviously, I love her.

Truthfully, I have no regrets about falling off the book-buying wagon. I thoroughly immersed myself in Dashner's final volume of the Maze Runner series (reviewed here in entries 60 and 61) and finished within a day--even with the first week of the semester interrupting. I filled you in on the premise of the series in the earlier entries, so I'll just say that this one does not fail to satisfy. There is plenty of action, amplified by mad scientists, the crazy near-dead masses, and political extremists. And, while I sometimes tire of those evil-scientist characters--Do we really need more anti-science models in today's political climate?--they do make for smart, despicable foes. If you haven't already read The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials, you should start there. If you have already done so, what are you waiting for? Get out and get a copy of The Death Cure. Or stop by and borrow mine and make me feel better about my vice.

95.11: Losers in Space, buy John Barnes (advance uncorrected proof, publication April 2012)

Part of the fun at the NCTE Annual Convention is trolling the exhibit area for freebies. I'm pretty cautious about what I pick up, since I have to haul it across country, and I try to stick to carry-on luggage in my travels. However, the promising sales pitch for this book--teens seeking fame by stowing away on a spaceship with a sociopath loose among them--was strong enough for the novel to make it into my bag. And, pretty much, the sales pitch tells you what you need to know about the book; I'd likely add "futuristic Breakfast Club" to the description to complete the plot. (Of course, today's teen may not find this addition illuminating, but GenXers will get it.) One thing that makes this novel stand out a bit are the 16 regular excerpts--entitled "Notes for the Interested"--that provide explanations of culture, science, and math concepts relevant to the plot. As the book itself points out, these tangents aren't essential to the storyline and an uninterested reader could skip them. Hopefully, though, while considering the effects of celebrity, social media, and romance, a few teen readers may also pick up a few educational tidbits.