Bite-Sized Reviews

In which I notice that, hmmm, I have several books that I meant to review but then I got distracted by new and shiny other books. Life is hard...

Working Stiff by Rachel Caine
Revivalist #1
3 stars

Working Stiff is a dark and interesting take on zombies filled with moral ambiguities and layered characters. While a bit slow in places, it definitely has the potential to become an excellent series. Recommended for fans of My Life as a White Trash Zombie and Unholy Magic -- imagine it as somewhere between the two.

The Cipher by Diana Pharaoh Francis

Crosspointe #1

3 stars

The Cipher gets off to a promising start, and, after stalling a bit in the middle, delivers a solid finish. While the book is a little overly focused on what seems like a strange romance, overall the unusual magic system and the last third or so of the book manage to make up for it. Recommended for fans of Holly Lisle and possibly Kate Elliot.

Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells
Sabina Kane #1
3 stars

Red-Headed Stepchild doesn't do much to stand out from the urban fantasy crowd, but it is an enjoyable read, though Sabina can be annoying at times. Recommended for anyone who's craving more urban fantasy and doesn't need anything particularly new.

Mister Monday by Garth Nix

Keys to the Kingdom #1

3 stars

I find that Garth Nix's works generally have excellent, unique magic systems but fail to live up to their world-building prowess in the storytelling department. Like Nix's other books, Mister Monday has a fascinating world, but the story doesn't really capture the reader's attention until the last third or so. That's not to say the writing is bad -- it's not -- but somehow I always expect the writing to be as compelling as the world. Recommended for fans of The Graveyard Book and a less funny Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout
3 stars

In an almost exact reversal of Garth Nix's strengths, Jennifer L. Armentrout is a captivating writer who doesn't seem to publish anything really original. Like her other works, Cursed is nothing you haven't seen before, but the addictive quality of JLA's writing carries it towards the front of the YA line. Recommended for fans of the usual YA paranormal suspects.




I guess it's no wonder I wasn't in much of a hurry to publish these -- they were all good but not really excellent. I could, however, easily see other readers very much enjoying any of them, depending on tastes, so if one sounds interesting, definitely give it a try. All of them are also the first in their series, so they might be worth trying anyway; the best books often come later.

Review | The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

The Indigo Spell
Richelle Mead
Bloodlines #3
Published 12 Feb 2013
YA urban fantasy
4.5 stars

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch--a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood--or else she might be next.

Bite-Sized Review
The Indigo Spell is a spectacular continuation of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy spinoff, with enough suspense, action, and romance to make any reader happy.

Chocolate (things I liked)
-The balance and pacing in this book are just about perfect. There are several different stories going on at the same time, and all of them are both important and interesting. Because the plotlines cover the Alchemists, magic, and Sydney and Adrian's relationship, there's really an excellent balance of suspense and romance.

-Sydney and Adrian are a brilliant couple. At the beginning of this series, I actually wasn't sure about their relationship, but they are astonishingly good for one another. Richelle Mead has done a great job building their relationship.

-Let's not forget about the secondary characters. Jill, Eddie, Angeline, Trey, Ms. Terwelliger, and all the others have interesting, complementary personalities. The Amberwood "family" has grown so much over the series. Of course they can be annoying sometimes, but then, so can any family.

Brussels Sprouts (things I didn't like)
-Having to wait until November for The Fiery Heart!

Review | Unravel Me by Taherah Mafi

Unravel Me
Taherah Mafi
Shatter Me #2
Published 5 Feb 2013 by HarperCollins
YA post-apocalyptic
4 stars

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick

it's almost

time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

Bite-Sized Review

Once again, Taherah Mafi's spectacular writing makes a fairly standard YA dystopian stand out from the rest. With exciting reveals and plenty of action, Unravel Me will appeal to any fan of Shatter Me.

Chocolate (things I liked)
-I happened to glance at my review for Shatter Me after reading Unravel Me, and I saw this:

The contrast between Warner and Adam was spectacular. They were really mirror images of each other, and seeing their interactions with Juliette and each other was fascinating. Warner was an excellent villain; his motivations and actions were completely understandable, while Adam made a great hero. Normally I don't like love triangles, but this one is a little different – for one thing, Juliette doesn't love Warner, and for another, Adam and Warner balance each other so perfectly that this is just another aspect of their duality.

and I wanted to go back in time and say to my past self, "Kate-of-2012, you have no idea." Everything just gets more complicated in this book, and once the shock wears off, somehow Taherah Mafi makes it all seem inevitable rather than contrived.

-Mafi is one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Her imagery is nothing short of brilliant, and her creativity really makes this series stand out from the rest. There's not quite as much of the crossing-out and repetition in this book -- I know some people weren't fans -- which makes sense because Juliette's situation is more stable. Ish. It's really amazing how much the writing changes with Juliette's state of mind; when she's feeling off-balance, that's when the "crazy" writing comes back. It's incredible how well the writing fits Juliette's character.

-I wasn't a huge fan of Juliette and Adam's relationship in the first book. I thought Juliette was far more dependent on Adam than any healthy person should be. So I'm happy that she does grow and learn to interact with other people normally in this book. She still has a long way to go, but she makes progress.

Brussels Sprouts (things I didn't like)
-Angst is a little overly prevalent in this book. Juliette could do so much, if she would just stop freaking out every eleven seconds. Obviously she's not going to go from no-experience-of-normal-human-interaction to fine right away, but as a couple of characters pointed out to her, of course everything seems terrible if she's thinking about it to the exclusion of anything else.

Recommended for
Anyone who enjoyed Shatter Me. Everyone else should read Shatter Me, and then Unravel Me will be recommended for you too.

Quality: Excellent
Enjoyability: Excellent

Review | Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Published 2010 by Knopf Books for Young Readers (Random House)
YA contemporary
4 stars

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own.

Bite-Sized Review
I didn't expect to like this book nearly as much as I did. I loved the characters and the writing from both authors. This book is definitely going to become a Christmas tradition.

Chocolate (things I liked)
-Dash. Dash might be one of my all-time favorite characters. I liked him so much that I actually used the highlighting feature on my Kindle, which I have done approximately once before (to see how it worked). Dash says things like

My parents hadn't spoken to each other in eight years, which gave me a lot of leeway in the determination of factual accuracy, and therefore a lot of time to myself.

I love the phrase "leeway in the determination of factual accuracy." It makes my fond-of-linguistic-quirks brain smile. And then there's

I had always felt that mittens were a few steps back on the evolutionary scale -- why, I wondered, would we want to make ourselves into a less agile version of a lobster?

which is just hilarious. I think that's the most I've geeked out over a character in a while, so that's probably enough for you to get the idea. (Dash is awesome.)

-In fairness, I liked the other characters as well. The appropriately-named Boomer, who couldn't seem to say anything without fourteen exclamation points; Mrs. Basil E., who might be the coolest great-aunt anyone has ever had; the titular Lily, who was occasionally exasperating but very relatable. What was even more appealing, though, was how the notebook changed the characters, even those who were only peripherally connected to it. Even though this book is touted as a romance, I think it is really more of a coming-of-age novel, and it does it very well.

-I think my favorite part of this book was actually the beginning, watching Dash and Lily trying to top one another's increasingly absurd dares in the notebook. Although there was also the Thing With The Dog And The Baby, which was just brilliant.

Brussels Sprouts (things I didn't like)
-There was a point somewhere around the middle of the book where the plot slowed and failed to be as fascinating as the rest of the book. A bit later it did pick up again, and then it was back to its captivating self, but for a while there I thought it had peaked way too early.

-I have said before that YA contemporary romance is sort of far from one of my favorite genres, and while this book is an impressive exception to that rule, there were times when I felt it was...excessively YA-contemporary-romance-y. Which, in the book's defense, is what it was supposed to be, so I guess it's not really a fair thing to list against the book. Um...look, a reindeer!

Review | Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone
Leigh Bardugo
Grisha #1
Published June 2012 by Henry Holt & Co. (Macmillan)
YA fantasy
3 stars

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

Bite-Sized Review
I'm kind of conflicted about this one. I really enjoyed it, but it also had a lot of serious problems.

Chocolate
-As I said, this was a highly enjoyable book. I finished it quickly and it flowed very well. Pacing, writing, plot -- all good. And because I was so satisfied with the reading experience, I know I will read the next one, despite all of the following flaws.

Brussels Sprouts
-When I first started reading the book. I was excited. "Yay!" I thought. "A book about Russian mythology!" I took Russian for two years in college, but most of what I know of Russian myths I learned from the Kate Daniels series, so I was eager to learn more.

Not so fast. Ravka is basically nothing like Russia, except for some similarity of language sounds. It's disappointing how little research went into this book -- even I, with my two years of mostly-forgotten Russian, noticed several mistakes and no reference to actual Russian myths.

As a fantasy writer, you have two choices. You can either make up your world entirely, in which case you have to be sure to actually put enough effort into worldbuilding to keep your setting from looking like a crappy copy of some time in history, or, you can make your novel a reflection of a real historical period, like Guy Gavriel Kay, in which case you have to do a crap ton of research. Leigh Bardugo, unfortunately, opted for something in between these two paths, which basically means she was too lazy to do either the research or the imagining and ended up stumbling through the woods of directionlessness. If you want a recounting of the actual errors and failures of the book regarding Russian mythology and culture, take a look at Tatiana's review on The Readventurer -- she does a much better job discussing the issue than I could. But basically, let's just say that the setting was less than satisfactory.

-Oh, YA authors. Why is it that all of your characters are exactly the same? There is the shy but spunky outcast heroine narrator with latent powers that will make everyone suddenly respect her, the male friend without much of a personality who might be something more, and the hot, mysterious newcomer who teaches said heroine about her newfound abilities. Go through a list of YA paranormal or fantasy titles and you will find that nearly every one of them fits the bill. Why is this the formula that all YA authors have suddenly decided to follow? Is it too much to ask for something different here?

Recommended for
Fans of YA fantasy like Grave Mercy who aren't necessarily too concerned with setting quality or at least can overlook it.

Quality: Fair
Enjoyability: Excellent

Review | The City's Son by Tom Pollock

The City's Son
Tom Pollock
The Skyscraper Throne #1
Published September 2012 by Flux (Llewellyn)
YA urban fantasy
4 stars

Running from her traitorous best friend and her estranged father, graffiti artist Beth Bradley is looking for sanctuary. What she finds is Urchin, the ragged and cocky crown prince of London’s mystical underworld. Urchin opens Beth’s eyes to the city she’s never truly seen-where vast spiders crawl telephone wires seeking voices to steal, railwraiths escape their tethers, and statues conceal an ancient priesthood robed in bronze.

But it all teeters on the brink of destruction. Amid rumors that Urchin’s goddess mother will soon return from her 15-year exile, Reach, a malign god of urban decay, wants the young prince dead. Helping Urchin raise an alleyway army to reclaim his skyscraper throne, Beth soon forgets her old life. But when her best friend is captured, Beth must choose between this wondrous existence and the life she left behind.

Bite-Sized Review
The City's Son was a well-written book with an absolutely brilliant concept. I loved it, and I will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

Chocolate
-The best thing about this book was the unique and amazing premise. Basically, the city of London is alive in a very literal sense -- streetlamps, statues, trains, cranes, all come to life and interact with the son of the city's goddess. It's something I've never seen before, and I really loved it.

-This is a very well-written book -- some of the prose is just beautiful. It's also well organized. Point of view switches mainly between two characters, Beth and Filius Viae. Beth's perspective (as well as that of the secondary characters) is in third person past, while Fil's is first person present, making distinguishing between them very simple.

-I loved that this didn't feel like a typical YA book. The romance is very understated and not just a whole bunch of pent-up lust. The characters have depth and credibility. The danger is real and intense.

Brussels Sprouts
-The book got off to a little bit of a slow start, but honestly, that's not really a complaint. I just had to put something here.

Recommended for
Fans of Charles de Lint and China Miéville, or anyone who thinks a living city and a war between its gods sounds interesting and who doesn't need everything laid out for them.

Review | The Twilight Kingdom by Anthea Sharp

The Twilight Kingdom
Anthea Sharp
Feyland #3
Published December 2012 by Anthea Sharp
YA modern fairy tale
ARC from the author
4 stars

THEIR LAST CHANCE…

Jennet Carter and Tam Linn are almost out of time. Feyland, the most immersive computer game ever designed, is about to be released into the world—along with the Realm of Faerie’s dangerous magic.

WIN THE GAME…

The faeries, desperate to break free from their realm, have set treacherous plans in motion. Despite magical allies of their own, Jennet and Tam have no idea what dire threats await, both in-game and out.

OR DIE TRYING…

Battling for their lives against the united powers of the Dark Queen and Bright King, Jennet and Tam’s quest to stop the fey takes them into the perilous Twilight Kingdom, where illusion reigns—and magic can break all the rules.

Bite-Sized Review

Yet another addictive installment in the Feyland series from Anthea Sharp. I love this series and would recommend it highly to anyone who might be interested.

King-Sized Review

Probably my favorite part of this series is how real it feels. Oddly enough, the books are like the novel version of the Feyland game they feature -- you go in expecting something fun and interesting, and it turns out to be a lot more than you expected. Usually, no matter how exciting or interesting I find a book, I don't get little twinges of nerves or happiness while I'm reading. The Feyland series is a happy exception. I love reading these books because they seem so real while I'm reading them. Anthea Sharp's writing makes me truly share the characters' experiences, and that's the kind of ability you don't often see, which is all the more reason to relish it when you do.

The Twilight Kingdom brings Tam and Jennet closer to the release of the full simulation game Feyland, an event they must stop or face the Realm of Faerie taking over the real world. Fortunately, they've been selected as part of Feyland's beta-testing team, giving them another opportunity to prevent its distribution. The beta-testing also gives us the chance to meet some new characters. I wish we could have seen more of Spark, who seemed like she might have had a very interesting story of her own, but I enjoyed getting to know Zeg better and appreciated Roy's development in this book.

I don't want to talk too much about the plot, because I want you to read the book and that would spoil them, but I will say that I was surprised. I have a huge soft spot for...the Elder Fey...and I liked the way Anthea worked this one out.

Basically, this is a great series that deserves more attention. The books are quick and exciting reads, and if you like stories based on fairy tales, or if you enjoyed both the portrayal of the fae in Mercy Thompson and October Daye and the virtual world of Ready Player One, you will love this series. Now go away and read The Dark Realm. Come back to me when you're done.

Review | The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go
Patrick Ness
Chaos Walking #1
Published 2008 by Candlewick
YA dystopia
Borrowed from library
4 stars

From Goodreads: Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

Bite-Sized Review
I really enjoyed this book. It doesn't pull punches, and does a spectacular job portraying how people react to difficult situations and choices. I couldn't put it down, and I definitely recommend it.

King-Sized Review
First off, this book is not for anyone who wants their characters to be Right and Pure Of Heart, all the time. Viola and Todd face impossible choices, and sometimes they choose wrong. They see terrible things, experience terrible things, and occasionally they even do terrible things. In my opinion, this makes The Knife of Never Letting Go a better book. The fact that the characters try and sometimes fail to be good people, particularly given the circumstances they live in, makes the book much more realistic and believable.

The story itself is fast-paced and exciting. As is appropriate for a dystopian novel, you're never quite sure what's true, only that there's something wrong with what the characters have already been told. There are a couple points where it gets a little annoying that no one will tell Todd and Viola the truth, but they move too quickly to spend enough time with any one person long enough for them to really talk, so that's not unbelievable.

I quite liked the world here: people are telepathic and it's a disaster. It's absolutely the way mind-reading would probably work if people could really do it. No one really wants to hear people's uncensored thoughts, and that's how it is in the world. They just can't help it, and there are other complications that you might not expect.

The book does end in a pretty serious cliffhanger, so I definitely suggest you have book 2 on hand when you finish this one. You'll want it.

Review | Dreamless by Josephine Angelini

Dreamless
Josephine Angelini
Starcrossed #2
Published May 2012 by HarperTeen
YA mythological romance
Borrowed from the library
2.5 stars

Bite-Sized Review
Dreamless was one part angst, one part blah, and one part engaging. Overall I'd say it was sort of a wash; great for fans of All The YA, not recommended for people who are tired of all the same old, same old. I'm not sorry I read it, but I was underwhelmed.

King-Sized Review
I read Starcrossed about a year and a half ago, and it turns out I don't remember it very well. I remember that I enjoyed it (okay, my review indicates that I enjoyed it), and that's about it. So unfortunately, I can't explain to you what I was thinking at the time, but having just finished Dreamless, I really don't think Starcrossed would have been much better. Just goes to show you, tastes evolve, even in a year or so.

Anyway, Dreamless. It starts shortly after Starcrossed left off, with the impossibly perfect Helen trying to find the Furies in the Underworld in order to relieve the demigod Scions of the curse that induces members of different Houses to try to kill one another. Of course, this task is more difficult than it seems, and there are always people trying to interfere.

I will say that I like the world here. I'm a huge mythology fan, and the idea of having the gods trapped on Olympus is an interesting one. The Scions and the way they repeat the stories of previous demigods also make for a good story. Some of their abilities get a little far into the "Mary Sue" realm, but sometimes there are actually proportionate drawbacks that go with them, as in Cassandra's case.

However, as far as Mary Sues go, Helen is the kind of example that would make Laurel K. Hamilton roll her eyes. She is absolutely, stunningly beautiful, has a necklace that makes her impervious to harm, can hit people with bolts of lightning, is the only person in the known universe who can descend to the Underworld on her own, and freaking flies. Yes, Helen faces challenges, but at the same time, how many supernatural abilities can one person have? We all know the great powers=great responsibilities quote from Spiderman, but what people often forget that's crucial to keep fantasy from seeming ridiculous is that great power also has to come with some serious limitations or suspension of disbelief gets...suspended.

Granted, this isn't a problem unique to Dreamless, and wouldn't be quite as bad if Helen weren't so annoying. She is never, ever happy. Her perspective drips with melancholic melodrama, mostly about her former boyfriend whom she now believes is her cousin, Lucas. And in Dreamless, we are "rewarded" with the addition of yet another potential love interest, Orion, the Scion of another House. I am personally opposed to love triangles in 99 percent of all cases, so this was not a welcome development.

Nor was Lucas's inexplicable decision to make Helen hate him so they could stay apart. Why is it that YA love interests do this? Do they really think their girlfriends are too stupid or emotional to understand why they can't be together if they just explain it? Sure, it's obvious to me as the reader that Helen and Lucas are going to end up not being related, but of course there's no way for them to know that. Still, I have no clue why Lucas felt the need to push Helen away like that. This is another frustrating trend in YA novels.

Like I said, there were some engaging parts. Basically, the bits where there was real action were interesting, so that was a plus. Overall, I'd say if YA is your thing, you'll enjoy this book, but if the thought of reading about another love triangle-cum-sudden discovery of consanguinuity makes you gag, look for something else.

Review | The Bright Court by Anthea Sharp

The Bright Court
Anthea Sharp
Feyland #2
Published May 2012
YA modern fairy tale
Review copy from the author
4 stars

Bite-Sized Review
The Bright Court was a great followup to the first book, The Dark Realm. Feyland is a fascinating, enthralling modern fairy tale, and I can't wait to read the next book. Definitely recommended.

King-Sized Review
I have something terrible and shocking to confess. Don't freak out - but I don't really like YA as a whole. It has a tendency to be juvenile (I shouldn't be surprised by this, should I), consumed by relationships (like anyone really knows what they want at 16), and kind of generic (I wish people would stop re-writing Twilight with different supernatural creatures). Luckily, some authors, like Maggie Stiefvater, Holly Black, Rachel Vincent, and a few others, manage to step outside the usual trends and write books that are honestly excellent, not just for YA but in general.

Anthea Sharp is one of the good ones. Feyland is a fascinating world, one that merges magic and technology skillfully and seamlessly. I know. You're looking at the description and thinking, "Fairies and video games? Are you sure this isn't just someone combining World of Warcraft and Tron in a book?" Fear not, curious readers. The Bright Court, like its predecessor, The Dark Realm, is much less about video games than it is about bargains, necessity, and even a little bit of love. In this series, the fae resemble classic stories more than in most other books, something I really appreciate. They're dangerous and cruel, and most importantly, they are most definitely not human. I can't think of anything in the worldbuilding I would want to change or complain about.

Feyland has a fairly limited cast of main characters, with secondary characters more sketches than fully fleshed-out figures. Normally I would frown upon this practice, but here it actually fits perfectly with the mood of the story, making it seem more like a fairy tale. (Hey, at least Feyland's characters get real names.) The main characters, Jenet and Tam, exhibit a refreshing lack of angst and (thus far) impending love triangles (hooray!). Their problems originate in socio-economic differences as well as fairy troubles, which, now that I think about it, adds again to the fairy-tale atmosphere.

Overall, I've found this series to be impressively well-written and captivating. I definitely recommend giving The Dark Realm a try and picking up this one as well.

Review | Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel

Dust Girl
Sarah Zettel
The American Fairy Tale Trilogy #1
Published June 26, 2012 by Random House Children's
YA urban fantasy
Review copy from NetGalley
3 stars

Bite-Sized Review
Dust Girl stood out from the YA crowd by virtue of its unusual setting and interesting characters. Several of the fairies were truly creepy, and there's plenty to keep this story going.

King-Sized Review
I think this might be the first book I've read that was set in the Dust Bowl. I can't really speak to the book's historical accuracy, since what I know about the period is pretty much "lots of dust, no rain, and no money," but it seemed like it could be accurate. I appreciated the very strong influence the setting had on the story as well – sometimes it seems like many books could really take place anywhere and be more or less the same, but that definitely wasn't the case in Callie's story.

The story begins in the tiny and shrinking town of Slow Run, Kansas, where Callie lives with her mother. Callie would love to leave the doomed town and move to somewhere she wouldn't choke on dust and struggle to find food, but her mother insists that they must wait there for Callie's father – who vanished before she was born. When Callie's mother disappears in a dust storm, several mysterious visitors convince Callie to leave the town to find her mother, along with Jack, a boy she met during the storm. Along the way, Callie learns about her heritage and her family.

Dust Girl was a fairly short, quick read, with decent characters and a good pace. Callie is a likable main character, though nothing about her stands out particularly. The story itself was the best part, with some interesting takes on fairies and several well-written, suspenseful scenes.

One aspect of the book that I particularly appreciated was the lack of the angsty romance that's such a YA staple. While the potential for romance clearly exists, it definitely took a backseat in this book. It may actually have been locked in the trunk. It was a nice change from one of the things I frequently dislike about YA books.

Overall, Dust Girl was a good start and definitely made me want to read the next book in the series.

Quality: Good
Enjoyability: Good

Review | Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Lies Beneath
Anne Greenwood Brown
Lies Beneath #1
Published June 12, 2012 by Delacorte (Random House)
YA paranormal romance
3 stars
Egalley from NetGalley

Bite-Sized Review
For the first few chapters, I thought I would hate this book, but in the end I actually enjoyed it. It was a good light read, and the male narrator was enough of a change from Everything Else to make it a bit more interesting.

King-Sized Review
Lies Beneath is basically the same book as about a dozen others I've read in the past year. Dangerous boy with superpowers, semi-normal girl, issues, etc. The only differences are that Calder is a merman rather than a vampire or nephilim or werewolf or whatever else is out there, which isn't really a lot, and that he's the narrator, which is a slightly more interesting twist but still wouldn't have been enough to make me like the book on its own. However, in the end, it turned out to be a pretty good book.

When the Hancock family moves back to Lake Superior, Calder and his sisters see it as the perfect opportunity to exact their revenge for the death of their mother. Calder is elected most likely to be able to get close to one of the two daughters, but finds himself falling in love with Lily Hancock. As you can see, it's definitely a rather cliched storyline, though on the plus side, no vampires. (I'm tired of vampires.) The story doesn't really provide surprises, but it is pretty well-written and well-paced, and Calder's perspective, while a little angsty, is an unusual take on the story – one that, happily, doesn't involve him falling head-over-heels in love the first time he sees Lily.

I do have a couple of issues with the book. It's a little overly moralizing in places; any moral a story contains should always be implicit, or you risk alienating your audience. Luckily this is only a small problem in a couple of places, and not bad enough to be really annoying. I wasn't terribly impressed with one or two of the plot decisions – once again, I feel I must point out that the plot serves the characters and not the other way around. Anything else is jarring and wrecks the whole suspension of disbelief thing. Again, not a huge issue in this book, but enough of one that I feel compelled to point it out.

Otherwise, if you're looking for a light beach read, Lies Beneath would be a good choice, because who wouldn't want to read about killer mermaids while sitting next to a large body of water. It's a fun book, with a story typical of YA, and if you like that sort of thing you'll certainly enjoy this book. However, if you're bored with the standard YA paranormal romance, Lies Beneath probably isn't for you.

Quality: Acceptable
Enjoyability: Good

In the same aisle
Die for Me by Amy Plum
Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Review | Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Where Things Come Back
John Corey Whaley
Published 2011 by Atheneum (Simon & Schuster)
YA contemporary
3 stars

Bite-Sized Review
I liked this book, but didn't love it. I think I would have been happier if it had felt more complete, but while it was a good story, the ending seemed abrupt.

King-Sized Review
Where Things Come Back is told from two perspectives. First is Cullen Witter, a seventeen-year-old stifled by his tiny town in Arkansas. At the same time a depressed birdwatcher thinks he's found a species of woodpecker that was thought to be extinct, Cullen's younger brother vanishes without a trace. Cullen is a fascinating narrator, treating most of the rest of the town with contempt as their obsession with the woodpecker distracts from his family's search for Gabriel. While his chapters are mostly in first person, he occasionally shifts into third person to distance himself from the situation or to imagine some wildly unlikely outcome. Said unlikely outcome usually involved zombies, which was fun.

The second perspective was that of Benton, an uncertain missionary in Africa. This one's a little harder to describe than Cullen's without spoilers, but in some ways it was more interesting. To be totally honest, these chapters sort of straddled the border between interesting and obnoxious, though they managed to stay mostly on the interesting side. Crazy people are special like that. But interesting or obnoxious, these passages are very well written, enough that I could believe the characters believed in their motivations, even the obviously insane ones. That's pretty impressive.

The small town of Lily, Arkansas was a fascinating setting. Never having lived in a really small town like that, I had previously thought of it as something of a mythological creature, but Whaley managed to bring Lily to life in this story. The town was absolutely essential to the book, even outside the woodpecker craze. It affected the story in all of the ways the varied cast interacted, in the way they behaved, even the way they thought.

My biggest issue with this book was in the ending. Even though some of the plot was concluded, a lot of the loose ends were just left hanging, and I was left on the last page thinking, "Well, then what happened?" Even the pieces that had an ending didn't quite resolve – there was no wrapping up at all. The book just sort of ended, which I'm generally not a huge fan of.

But don't let that stop you from reading this book. It's interesting and well written. The characters are really individuals and the setting is excellent. It's a bit slow, so you might not want to pick it up if you're looking for epic battles, but it's a good book.

Quality: Good
Enjoyability: Good

Review | Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent
Veronica Roth
Divergent #2
Published May 1, 2012 by Harper Teen
YA dystopian/adventure
4 stars

Bite-Sized Review
Insurgent is just as thrilling and action-packed as Divergent. Fans of the previous book will be quickly drawn in by this spectacular sequel.

King-Sized Review
Sometimes the second book in a trilogy falls a little flat. The author treats it as a bridge to the conclusion rather than a story in itself, and the entire book consists only of setup for the ending. I have to admit, I was a little worried about this possibility when I started Insurgent.

It's okay, though. Insurgent is awesome.

Insurgent is so awesome that I read it in one sitting. Not one day (although okay, yes, it was one day), but I literally sat down and did not get up until I finished the book. It is utterly action-packed, with barely enough time to grasp one thing before it moves you right along to the next fight. The pace was simply brilliant; maybe if I'd had time to sit down and think for a few minutes I would have gotten more than a vague idea of what the big reveal was, but as it was, my predictions were always distracted by the next scene.

The story starts off right where Divergent left off, with basically no time spent on recapping. Luckily, Veronica Roth has written a background post for everyone who read Divergent months ago and forgot a lot of the details, and I used this resource a lot in the first few pages. After that I got sucked into the story and forgot about the post, not to mention all of the internet.

Insurgent doesn't really seem like a YA book. Every time someone mentioned that Tris was only sixteen, I thought, "Wait. Really?" The characters in this book have a maturity born of hardship and pain, and don't at all act like teenagers most of the time. In some cases, that might be difficult to believe, but here it never seems fake because of all they've been through. While there is a little bit of drama, it's terribly minor in comparison with everything else that happens, which is something I definitely appreciated.

This is a pretty dark book, though of course it has some great comic relief. Bad things happen. Parts are shocking, though some of it wasn't much of a surprise. I really can't wait to see what Ms. Roth has in store for us next. I'm sure it will be spectacular.

Quality: Excellent
Enjoyability: Excellent

In the same aisle
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi
Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Review | Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

Struck
Jennifer Bosworth
Struck #1
Published May 8, 2012 by FSG BYR (Macmillan)
YA apocalyptic
3 stars

Bite-Sized Review
Struck is a good story about the end of the world, though with mediocre characters. It's still worth a read: well-paced and exciting, with a decent sense of mystery.

King-Sized Reivew
Struck takes place not after the apocalypse but right in the middle of it. Mia, who has been struck by lighting countless times, now lives in LA, a place where it almost never storms. Unfortunately, when it rains in LA, it pours, as the recent massive storm and subsequent devastating earthquake proved. In the wake of the disasters, two groups, the religious cult of the Followers of Rance Ridley Prophet and their opponents, the Seekers (who were basically also a cult, just not religious), want Mia on their side, because the worst is yet to come, and whatever it is, Mia will be in the middle of the lightning.

Struck was a good if fairly standard example of YA paranormal(ish) literature. There's some originality here – people gain their power by being struck by lightning rather than the many other means used in other sources – but for the most part Struck similar to the rest of its kind: fate of the world rests in the hands of one person who has no idea of her destiny, love interest with secrets, powerful, unscrupulous people in need of some serious thwarting, et cetera. The lightning feature was definitely interesting and gave the book a little extra spark. (Not even going to bother pretending – that pun was totally intentional.) But it's a popular story because it works, and Jennifer Bosworth does a good job with it here. The pace of the story is good, without any dragging or confusion.

The characters weren't bad, but I didn't love them. They were just sort of there, without much personality or depth. They didn't really make me feel anything for them, which was a little disappointing. There were aspects that I liked, such as the fact that I only figured out Jeremy's big secret in a flash of intuition about 70 percent in, which is pretty much the ideal way to figure things out in books, but that's not so much a character quality as a storytelling quality. They mostly didn't really seem like real people. My indifference towards the characters was the main reason I didn't love the book, because I enjoyed the storyline and the world quite a bit.

I know some people have said they're uncomfortable with the prominence of religion in this book, but if anything, the book comes across as anti-religious; the Followers are definitely not the good guys, and, at least in my reading, were pretty clearly portrayed as worse than the more mystical, secret-society-esque Seekers. So don't let that stop you from reading the book, if you're worried about it. The story does focus a lot on apocalyptic events, but each group has different opinions of the origin of these calamities.

The apocalyptic climax does make me wonder a little about where the second book is supposed to go from here. It's the same issue I had with season 6 of Supernatural: how do you find something with more tension than the apocalypse? It's pretty tough to find a tougher time than the end of the world. But I'm sure I'll pick it up anyway, because I did enjoy Struck and I'm curious.

Quality: Acceptable
Enjoyability: Good

In the same aisle
Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi
Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Review | Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky
Veronica Rossi
Under the Never Sky #1
Published January 3, 2012 by Harper Collins
YA science fiction/post-apocalyptic
3 stars

Bite-Sized Review
Under the Never Sky is an exciting post-apocalyptic story that fans of the genre will certainly enjoy. It's definitely worth reading if you're interested.

King-Sized Review
You're thrown into the middle of this book with little introduction. Aria gets thrown out of her enclosed home with startling rapidity and no time for a sense of what goes on in the pod-thingy or why it exists. However, things do eventually become a little clearer as the book goes on, and it's worth working your way through the first few chapters to read the rest of the tale.

Essentially, something went wrong in the atmosphere. It gave rise to dangerous storms known as Aether storms and caused a large portion of humanity to move to domed cities, kept sane by a virtual reality interface called the Realms. Aria was content where she was until her mother went missing. That's the reason she was in the agriculture dome when the fire started, and the reason she was exile. She expected to die right away, killed by cannibals or Outsiders or the air itself. When she ran into an Outsider, she had no choice but to stay with him and hope he could help her find her mother.

The story alternates between Aria's and Perry's perspectives, which gives a good view of both Outsider and Dweller cultures. It's a creative world that could be either Earth in a vastly altered future or another world – which one it is isn't really important. Though not new, the scifi elements were interesting and well done. It's a little confusing at first, but it works itself out so that you know what you need to without info-dumping, which is pleasant.

The characters ended up being good despite a shaky start. Aria managed to be shockingly stupid sometimes, but she grew on me throughout the book. And while Perry started out as kind of selfish and annoying, I got to like him too. The minor characters (read: Roar) were probably my favorite.

Overall, Under the Never Sky is a good read, especially if you like dystopian/post-apocalyptic books. I'll definitely be reading the next book.

Quality: Good
Enjoyability: Good

In the same aisle
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Partials by Dan Wells
Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi

Review | The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules 
Julie Kagawa
Blood of Eden #1
Published April 24, 2012 by Harlequin Teen
YA paranormal/post-apocalyptic
Review copy from NetGalley
4 stars

Bite-Sized Review
The Immortal Rules is filled with action and interesting characters, just the way I like it. A definite must-read for fans of Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires series.


King-Sized Review
The Immortal Rules begins with an execution.

I think this is supposed to be shocking, but it's very difficult to shock my fiction-reading brain. It's seen a lot. So instead of going, "Oh my God, they're executing teenagers!" I was using my years of reading political fantasy to think, "that's really not the most effective way to achieve long-term control over a population." That wasn't a great start.

Fortunately, it got much better. The story was enjoyable despite the occasional "how could you possibly think this might end even sort of well?" choice. Allie, an Unregistered living in a city ruled by vampires and surrounded by zombies (Rabids), struggles each day to survive. She hates the vampires with a passion. But when she has to choose between dying and being changed into a vampire herself, she chooses survival and begins a whole new life - or the vampire equivalent, anyway.

Especially at the beginning of the book, Allie reminded me of Katniss: focused on her own survival, but willing to do whatever it takes to protect her "family." She claims to be selfish and willing to let her friends die so she can live, but that's obviously not the case.

After Allie is forced to leave her city, she joins a group of people seeking a human city, a place with no vampires. While the time in the wilderness was certainly interesting, I wanted to know more about vampire society. Hopefully this will happen in book two.

Quality: Good
Enjoyability: Good

In the same aisle
Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

Review | Tomorrow Land by Mani Mancusi

Tomorrow Land
Mani Mancusi
Published March 8, 2012 by NLA Digital
YA dystopian/post-apocalyptic romance
Review copy from NetGalley

Bite-Sized Review
Tomorrow Land was much more of a YA romance than anything else, which basically means that it wasn't my kind of thing. I found the characters extremely angsty and numerous elements of the plot absurd.

King-Sized Review
Tomorrow Land takes place in alternating timelines, sometime in the future, where technology has advanced and an AIDS vaccine has been developed, and four years after the End of Days, when the Super Flu killed off much of the adult population and left behind isolated people, kids, and a whole lot of zombies.

When the Super Flu first emerged, Chris and Peyton's relationship was just beginning. They planned to leave together, along with a few other kids from their school, and hide in the mountains until the disease passed. But Peyton never showed up. Four years later, she emerged from the bomb shelter her father modified for her and her mother, and the first person she met was none other than Chris, now called Chase. After some convincing, she agreed to take Chase and the kids he and his brother rescued as she traveled to Disney World to find her father, who might be able to fix the world – and Peyton herself.

I think zombies are a cool concept that is rarely as brilliantly executed. Tomorrow Land was definitely another underwhelming zombie book. It was very heavily romance-oriented, and the romance itself was extraordinarily angsty, neither of which particularly appeal to me. Possibly I should have realized this from reading the blurb, but I pretty much just glanced at the book and said, "Zombies! Awesome razor hands! Want!" and requested it. Unfortunately, the zombies' main role was to provide romantic tension in various ways, which seemed wrong somehow. I need a "misuse of zombies" stamp.

As far as the writing itself goes, it wasn't bad. If you do like romances, possibly with a side of zombies, I imagine you might enjoy this book. Just keep in mind, the characters are pretty self-absorbed and can be absolute idiots about keeping secrets from each other for no reason other than to please the Romantic Tension Gods, whom I believe deserve better sacrifices. There were numerous times when I wanted to shake Peyton or Chase or both during the book, because their complete lack of communication created so many more problems than they actually had.

For a four hundred mile trip on horses with a bunch of kids in tow (I don't actually remember how many; they weren't very important) their journey was laughably hitch-less. There were, of course, a couple of zombie-related Incidents to move the plot along (and pay heed to the Romantic Tension Gods), but the kids hardly ever complained and never misbehaved or ran off and did something stupid. (That was left to our heroic protagonists.) I don't even have kids and I don't believe this.

Personally, I would have preferred a book with a little less romance and a little more dystopian/post-apocalyptic. but I think this book would appeal to people who enjoy romance more and don't mind a little angst. It just wasn't at all for me.

Quality: Fair
Enjoyability: Poor

In the same aisle
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Thoughts | The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
Published January 10, 2012 by Dutton Books (Penguin)
YA contemporary
5 stars

I'm sure you've all seen the many, many rave review of this book, and you don't need another one.

But that's not why I'm not writing a real review. I'm not writing one because I can't.

Oh, sure, I could tell you that there was Epic Crying, not the graceful kind where tears trail silently down your cheeks but the awkward kind where your face gets all blotchy and you stop being able to breathe through your nose and your skin gets dried out from all the salt. And then there was Laughing Too Hard to Breathe, which led to more crying. I could tell you about how Augustus and Hazel are sweet and special, how the writing matches Hazel perfectly, blah blah blah. That would be great, if it mattered.

Spoiler alert (don't worry, not really): it doesn't.

It doesn't matter because this book is far more than the sum of its parts, as nice as those parts are. Describing this book as good or bad would be as ridiculous as calling the whole of existence good or bad. Some things just are. They defy qualification.

This book is infinite, a sigularity compressing time and making the rest of the world disappear. It's also not long enough. It's awful and wonderful, hilarious and tragic, magical and painfully prosaic.

But most of all, it is. And it might, for a moment, remind you that you are too.

Review | The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

The Book of Blood and Shadow 
Robin Wasserman
Published April 10, 2012 by Random House Children's Books
YA suspense
Review copy from NetGalley
4 stars

Bite-Sized Review
Think The Da Vinci Code with teenagers: mysterious artifacts, ancient writings, codes, murder, secret societies, and international travel. Only where I was slightly bored by Dan Brown's novel, I loved Robin Wasserman's. The writing was excellent, the story enthralling, and the characters individual and believable.

King-Sized Review
Nora, our narrator, is not really a typical teenager. For one thing, she knows more Latin than your average Latin teacher thanks to her father the Latin professor. It's how she got the research assistant job at the local college despite the fact that she was a senior in high school. For another, her brother is dead. After his car accident, Nora's parents retreated to their own corners of the world, and she would have done just about anything to escape her family and her old school. And that's how she ended up at a new school, best friends with Chris and later his girlfriend Adriane.

The way Nora reacts to everything that happens to her is very real and very Nora. The writing matched perfectly with her personality, and with her as a narrator, I was never bored or distracted. The supporting cast was also very good, and they seemed like real people rather than characters.

I also particularly loved the way this book handled faith. It was a necessary component of the story, considering they were searching for a device called the "Light of God," but the book came across as neither pro- nor anti-religion. The characters' discussions on the subject came to no real conclusion, but they brought up many good points on both sides.

Now would be the point where I could talk about the plot, but I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that it was suspenseful as well as both surprising and inevitable. If you think this book might appeal to you, I highly recommend you read it. If you're put off by the YA aspect, don't be – the characters and the writing are mature and the book deals with complex and difficult issues. Overall a great book, and I'll be hunting down the rest of Robin Wasserman's works in the near future.

Quality: Excellent
Enjoyability: Outstanding

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Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
The Physik Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova