by Kay | Dec 19, 2011 | Reviews |
Pure by Julianna Baggott
Series: Pure #1
Published by Headline
Pages: 448
Genres: Dystopian YA, Young Adult
Source: Received for review from publishers
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Rating: We know you are here, our brothers and sisters... Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.
Thoughts: I wanted to wait for this book to come out before I raved about it. Honest to God, I planned on waiting. Because, really, I loathe it when people rave about books that aren’t available for puchase. But in this case, I just couldn’t keep it all in. This book is fan-bloody-tastic, and I need to share.
Pure is quite possibly the most terrifying YA novel out there… which is saying quite a bit. The Hunger Games was terrifying, as was Blood Magic and The Replacement. But the very premise on which Pure is based is so horror-film terrifying that it has to take the cake as the scariest YA book I’ve ever read.
Ok, so how do I explain?
Well, Pure is set in a post-apocalyptic world. But unlike a lot of books, it isn’t set 50 years after the apocalypse – this end-of-the-world is in living memory. And the people suffering hurt all the more because they can remember the time when they weren’t in pain.
Pain, you ask? Well, that’s an understatement. Pure is set after a nuclear explosion has decimated the world. But the problem isn’t with the casualties of death, it’s with the pseudo-scientific effects of the radiation. At the time of the attack, people were merged with their surroundings. By surroundings I mean objects, animals, trees, dirt, and even other people. They fused together and everyone became, well, everyone else.
To say that this event made people less-than-friendly is an understatement. While the fused survivors are to be pitied, they are also the most fearful characters I’ve read in a long time. I found the whole premise utterly realistic and utterly haunting. Pure held me captive.
The reason, however, that Pure isn’t getting 5 stars has to do with the nitty-gritty character business. While I surprised myself by enjoying the multi-narrator style, there were things I found a bit too coincidental. Not to mention that some of the relationships in the novel felt rather… rushed. Unfortunately, these inconsistencies kept me slightly apart from the main characters. My hope is that I grow to understand them more in the next novels!
Bottom line? Pure is an original, steampunk-esque take on dystopian fiction. It’s the stuff of nightmares and you’re going to love it.
by Kay | Oct 8, 2011 | Reviews |
Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
Published by Speak
Pages: 272
Genres: Science Fiction YA, Young Adult
Source: Purchased myself
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Rating: With a past too terrible to speak of, and a bleak, lonely future ahead of her, Aerin Renning is shocked to find she has earned a place at the most exclusive school in the universe. Aerin excels at Academy 7 in all but debate, where Dane Madousin - son of one of the most powerful men in the Alliance - consistently outtalks her. Fortunately Aerin consistently outwits him at sparring. They are at the top of their class until Dane jeopardizes everything and Aerin is unintentionally dragged down with him. When the pair is given a joint punishment, an unexpected friendship - and romance - begins to form. But Dane and Aerin both harbor dangerous secrets, and the two are linked in ways neither of them could ever have imagined...
Thoughts: There is only one thing I hate about this book: it’s too damn short! I could have kept on reading Academy 7 for another 500 pages – it was just that good.
Don’t be fooled by the cover: Academy 7 is Science Fiction YA. But like all good Science Fiction it is about so much more than space, it’s about character. And even while it is all about character, it’s also about politics, and intelligence, and standing up and thinking for yourself. Academy 7 managed to weave a complex world behind the main narrative – a world both believable and intriguing that would have kept me hooked even if I hadn’t liked the main story. It’s part what makes any book great, but in Academy 7 it is what made it brilliant.
While there was a romance between the two main characters – Aerin and Dane – Academy 7 wasn’t about them getting together… it was about them getting over the misery that had been their lives. Both Aerin and Dane reminded me, in a way, of Katniss from The Hunger Games. Neither one of them wanted to open up to each other, but life brought them together to do just that. I love it when characters need to overcome real emotional obstacles… when their bond with another character develops out of the mistrust that everyone feels for strangers. Aerin and Dane were complex individuals, and watching them grow together was just beautiful…
I also loved how intellectual this book was. Academy 7 is an institute that brings together the brightest minds in the galaxy, and it shows. Aerin and Dane are there because of their extraordinary intelligence, and Anne Osterlund lets it shine through the pages. Here’s what I mean:
Aerin was reminded frequently over the next two months that Dane was still exasperating: the way he drilled her on the small points of an argument, then turned and argued the flip side against her in class; the way he refused to use certain openings in combat, claiming that to do so went against his sense of moral conduct; the way he managed to let others’ snide remarks slide past him as if they meant nothing. If Aerin had been asked at the end of their second term to describe Dane, the first word she would have used would have been maddening. She would also have added stubborn, intelligent, and, to her surprise, funny. His sense of humor, couched in irony, took her a while to appreciate, but it was also bluntly honest; and, by the start of Academia’s damp season, she found herself looking forward to his unvarnished opinions on every topic from flight paths to Ausyan philosophy.
There were no pedestals in Dane’s world. No crystal vases to be treated with supreme care. No heroes. But there was a constant willingness to take out a topic, test it, shake it apart, mix up the pieces, and test them again.
Perhaps that’s why he spends time with me, Aerin found herself thinking one afternoon as she negotiated the Great Hall’s uneven stairs on her way to report for work. Because I haven’t made up my mind about this part of the universe.
– Chapter 14, Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
In case you hadn’t gathered, I just loved this book. There were a few flaws, mainly due to the short length of the novel. I think Anne Osterlund had enough plot to fill at least 100 more pages and it was a shame to see some pretty key scenes rushed into a few pages. But the somewhat-uneven pacing is not enough to distract from the sheer brilliance of this novel.
Bottom line? Academy 7 is a stunning, emotional, and realistic novel. I adored the characters, the verse, and – hell – even the villains. When I say YA fiction can be astounding, this is the type of novel I’m talking about!
Note: Academy 7 reads as a standalone novel and will likely remain a standalone. Although Anne Osterlund envisioned the book as the first in a trilogy, there aren’t any plans to publish any more in this series (although, please, someone tell me I’m wrong about this!). It’s depressing when I think about it…
by Kay | Sep 29, 2011 | Reviews |
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Published by Hodder & Stoughton, Little Brown Books for Young Readers on September 29th 2011
Pages: 448
Genres: Paranormal YA, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Source: Received for review from publishers
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Rating: There once was a young artist called Karou who drew tales of monsters and demons that delighted and enthralled those around her. But she has a secret, a secret that ties her to a dusty subterranean chamber, where her beloved guardian brokers dark deals in a place that is not here. A place that is Elsewhere. Living with one foot in each world, Karou has never really known which one is her true home.
Now the doors to Elsewhere closing . . .
Thoughts: I was expecting great things from Laini Taylor, and I got them. I got them in spades. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is probably the most unique paranormal Young Adult novel I’ve ever read. Absolutely everything took me by surprise: the characters, the universe and – amazingly – even the romance.
US cover
Daughter of Smoke and Bone starts off in Prague, narrated by multi-lingual, blue-haired, and tattooed Karou. In between trips to gothic cafes and studying at an art school, she tries to keep up a secret life in a magical world. And before you start imagining Diagon Alley, let me clarify. Karou’s other world is filled with body parts and bizarre creatures, it is rough around the edges and dark in the centre… dark but not evil, per-say.
While there are plenty of more detailed reviews out there, you really should not know more than that. Because past the introduction? Everything goes haywire. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a book about angels and demons, but it is also not about angels and demons. It is about forbidden love, but it is about so much more than forbidden love. It is a book that takes every stereotype you’ve ever loathed and turns them into something magical and utterly unique. I was stunned by how Laini Taylor could make me accept things that – only ten pages before – I would have thought utterly implausible or unjustifiable. It turns out, all I needed was a stellar author guiding me!
The only thing that keeps me from giving this a full five stars – and there really is only one thing, this novel is almost perfection in writing – is the central romantic relationship. While I loved both characters individually, I wasn’t completely sold on them together. I think I just need some more time to become enamoured with the two of them together… something the next novel should accomplish!
One final note: Brimstone. Brimstone, Brimstone, Brimstone. He was the one and only character that made me tear up in this book, and just thinking about him gives me a lump in my throat. Apparently I have a thing for tender-hearted father figures who show little-to-no emotion – and if you do too, you’ll love him just as much as I did. ♥
Bottom line? Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a book about wishes and monsters, hope and betrayal, love lost and love found, teeth and smoke. Read it.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is out today in the UK. Go get a copy!
by Kay | Aug 14, 2011 | Reviews, Summer Shorts |
Summer Shorts is weekly feature of short story/novella reviews, posted every Saturday of July and August, 2011. Every week has a different theme – be it featuring a specific anthology, a particular genre, or a great author.
Last week I reviewed two stories from the special YA edition of Subterranean magazine, and this week I’m featuring another wonderful magazine… Fantasy Magazine, the sister publication to Lightspeed. Fantasy Magazine features some absolutely extraordinary authors and also has audio versions of their fiction available as podcasts. All the ones I’ve heard have been extremely well read, so if you are looking for some new audio fiction check out their itunes page!
The Wolves of Brooklyn by Catherynne M. Valente
(Available here – Valente is the author of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making and other novels.)
Favourite Quote:
I asked one of them once. She’d followed me home from the F train—what I mean is she’d been all the way down on the platform, and when I got off she trotted up after me and followed me—me, specifically. And I turned around in the snow, the fucking snow that never ends, and I yelled: Why? Why are you here? What are you doing? What do you want? I guess that sounds dumb, like a scene in a movie if this were happening in a movie and DiCaprio or whoever was having his big cathartic moment. But I wanted to know so badly. And she—I noticed it was a she. A bitch. She bent her head. God, they are so tall. So tall. Like statues. She bent her head and she licked my cheek. Like I was a baby. She did it just exactly like I was her puppy. Tender, kind. She pressed her forehead against mine and shut her eyes and then she ran off. Like it hadn’t even happened.
Thoughts: The Wolves of Brooklyn is an extraordinary story… there was something about it that I both loved and hated. I’m not sure what it was exactly but, like everyone else in this story, it had something to do with the wolves.
Valente’s tale is rather simple, in a way. One day, wolves turn up in Brooklyn. They don’t talk or heal diseases, but neither are they your Yellowstone variety canid. They are huge, magical wolves that control the city and everyone in it. They are simultaneously loved and feared… because, yes, they do eat people on occasion. It’s an extraordinary concept.
But the idea unnerved me. I love wolves and loathe stories that set them up as the villains. However, The Wolves of Brooklyn never really defines the wolves as good or evil… they just are. The wolves are a force of nature beyond everything else in the tale. It is unnerving and stunning all at once. And to have this amazing concept directed by such a talented writer… well, it completely transported me.
Bottom line? Valente delivers a true modern fairy tale. The Wolves of Brooklyn is a Grimm’s Fairy tale set in a twenty-first century world: gorgeous, unnerving, and utterly realistic.
by Kay | Jul 30, 2011 | Reviews, Summer Shorts |
Summer Shorts is weekly feature of short story/novella reviews, posted every Saturday of July and August, 2011. Every week has a different theme – be it featuring a specific anthology, a particular genre, or a great author.
Last week I reviewed two stories from the fantastic on-line science fiction magazine Lightspeed. This week, I’m reviewing two fantastic tales – one novella, one short story – by one of my favourite authors: Patricia Briggs.
If you don’t know Ms. Briggs, you should remedy that immediately! She writes the fantastic Mercy Thompson series – which features werewolves, coyotes, the best vampires ever written, mechanics, trailers, and some scary, scary fey. Both of these stories are set in that verse.
Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs
Thoughts: So, I started reading Cry Wolf – the first novel in Briggs’ series about Anna and Charles – and remembered that there was a story that came before the novel: Alpha and Omega. I put the book aside at page 50, and picked up Alpha and Omega. And now? Now I am trying to work out new ways to say “wow”.
Patricia Briggs is an amazing writer. She writes stunning, character driven novels without having to go over-the-top with the style of her prose. This talent transcends into her short stories flawlessly. Alpha and Omega tells the story of the first meeting between werewolves Charles (Samuel’s brother, if you read the Mercy Thompson series) and Anna. Anna has been the victim of her alpha and her Chicago pack, who changed her against her will, raped her and kept her at the edge of starvation. Needless to say, she is not in a good place when we meet her.
Knowing that, how on earth could Briggs consider throwing her into a relationship with Charles, whose wolf immediately chooses Anna to be his mate? Instant mating for an abuse victim? How is that supposed to feel realistic? Well, Briggs manages. Aiding her in the plot development are the jumps between different points of view. Unlike her Mercy novels, Alpha and Omega is told by both Anna and Charles – so we see how uncomfortable they both are with the new connection. Knowing that Charles is truly a stand-up wolf makes it easy to root for him.
Bottom line? While Alpha and Omega is the first installment in Briggs’ Anna and Charles series, it wraps up well. There’s no need to read Cry Wolf afterwards but I am certain you’ll want to!
The Star of David by Patricia Briggs
Thoughts: Oh, Ms. Briggs. I absolutely love you and wish you didn’t have to eat or sleep so that you could spend dedicate more of your life to writing. *pines*
So, The Star of David. First off: it is (mostly) narrated by a man – a werewolf man. It’s the first time I’ve ever read anything by Briggs not narrated by a woman and it wasn’t until I’d finished that I realised that there might have been a difference. There isn’t. Briggs rocks any gender. Second thing you should know: while it is set in the Mercy/Alpha and Omega verse, it stars all new characters. If you’ve never read any Briggs, you can read The Star of David and not worry about a thing.
There’s a tonne of action, emotional drama, and character angst in The Star of David. It’s a much shorter tale than Alpha and Omega – a real short story. And yet Briggs still manages to get more than enough in. I’d love to meet David again in one of her other novels (although I might have and just don’t remember). He’s a mercenary, sure, but he is also such a delicate puppy under all that fur.
Bottom line? Another brilliant tale by Patricia Briggs. Her werewolf series is an absolute gem – short stories included!
