Category Teen Books

Oct 18 2013
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Book Review: Prodigy by Marie Lu

ProdigyTitle: Prodigy

Author: Marie Lu

Series: Legend #2

Genre: Teen Dystopian

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: Injured and on the run, it has been seven days since June and Day barely escaped Los Angeles and the Republic with their lives. Day is believed dead having lost his own brother to an execution squad who thought they were assassinating him. June is now the Republic’s most wanted traitor. Desperate for help, they turn to the Patriots – a vigilante rebel group sworn to bring down the Republic. But can they trust them or have they unwittingly become pawns in the most terrifying of political games?

Prodigy

The Review:

I always find the second book in a trilogy to be the most difficult to write a review for – they’re often little more than transitional stories. The only thing I can really do is compare it to the first one and figure out if I like the direction is going in preparation of the third one. Sometimes you luck out and get a second book that winds up being the best in the series… as good as Prodigy was, that was not the case here.

Not to say it wasn’t a great book. I enjoyed it thoroughly, I just liked Legend a bit more. I think the difference for me was pacing – Prodigy was considerably slower, lacking that fast-paced decision-making I enjoyed so much about the first one. A lot of things happened to advance the plot, it just didn’t feel as pivotal… At least until the end, where the story culminated into a powerful conclusion (which happens to be my favorite part of the series so far).

Another thing I enjoyed was learning about a handful of side characters who had a much stronger role this time around. They really helped broaden the conflicts and kept the story fresh and interesting. I would say what I’m most looking forward to in Champion is to see how all of these characters are going to work together.

Overall, the quality of the writing and the overall appeal of Prodigy was every bit as good as Legend. I am extremely excited to find out how the story ends in Champion coming out November 5!

Recommended Reading: for dystopian fans! Especially those who prefer edgy (rather than romantic) dystopians like Hunger Games and Divergent.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Oct 13 2013
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Book Review: Inhuman by Kat Falls

13517617Title: Inhuman

Author: Kat Falls

Series: Fetch #1

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: America has been ravaged by a war that has left the eastern half of the country riddled with mutation. Many of the people there exhibit varying degrees of animal traits. Even the plantlife has gone feral. Crossing from west to east is supposed to be forbidden, but sometimes it’s necessary. Some enter the Savage Zone to provide humanitarian relief. Sixteen-year-old Lane’s father goes there to retrieve lost artifacts—he is a Fetch. It’s a dangerous life, but rewarding—until he’s caught. Desperate to save her father, Lane agrees to complete his latest job. That means leaving behind her life of comfort and risking life and limb—and her very DNA—in the Savage Zone. But she’s not alone. In order to complete her objective, Lane strikes a deal with handsome, roguish Rafe. In exchange for his help as a guide, Lane is supposed to sneak him back west. But though Rafe doesn’t exhibit any signs of “manimal” mutation, he’s hardly civilized . . . and he may not be trustworthy.

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The Review:

This is one of those books where reading the overview doesn’t fully prepare you for what’s in store. It started out business as usual, but eventually took on an odd Alice in Wonderland feel that still managed to remain entirely dystopian. I wasn’t displeased with the somewhat disconcerting direction of the story, but it definitely threw me for a loop!

It does take a while for the plot to get weird, which is a good thing because it allowed me to fully appreciate how good the writing was. Falls kept the nature of the feral zone a complete mystery at first, which perked my curiosity and left me all the more eager to discover what was on the other side. It got me involved, in a way, and was part of the reason why I had a difficult time putting it down. I also really enjoyed the characters, specifically the two male leads – more so then even the female protagonist. There was some mystery shrouding each one and I was curious to see how their stories would unfold.

For the most part, Falls did a good job backing up her concepts with science – it helped give reason to and otherwise ridiculous world. On occasion, however, she would sacrifice feasibility in favor of creativity – a choice that I didn’t fully appreciate. It gave the story a creepy yet whimsical feel, but would have been stronger with just the creepy element. For example, she tweaked the rules of the science (as far as I understood it) so she could introduce piranha bats and chimpanzee moles. It was really far-fetched, even within the realms of her explanations. I feel like virus-infected man-eating bats and burrowing chimpanzees would have been just as scary – perhaps more because it’s more believable than chimpanzees sporadically breeding with moles… Just saying.

Overall, this is a dystopian I won’t likely forget. I’m not usually a fan of whimsical or far-fetched concepts, but I didn’t mind those elements here. I loved her writing enough to pick up the next book because, despite the hesitance I feel about the story concept, I earnestly could not put it down.

Recommended Reading: for dystopian fans who are sick of the same old stuff. Also, for fans of Alice in Wonderland whimsy who want to see it taken in a totally new direction!

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Oct 3 2013
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Book Review: Book of Enchantments by Patricia C. Wrede

64108Title: Book of Enchantments

Author: Patricia C. Wrede

Series: N/A

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: This witty and charming collection of ten short fantasies includes a story, set in the Enchanted Forest, about Queen Cimorene’s Frying Pan of Doom; a zany yarn about a magical blue chipmunk with a passion for chestnuts; and an eerie tale of a caliph who turns his vizier’s daughter into a wolf.

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The Review: 

This collection of tales by the author of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles was every bit as engaging and whimsical as the stories that captured my imagination as a kid. From a writer’s standpoint, it was also a great study of composing short stories – she even includes authors notes at the end sharing her inspiration behind each story.

My review today is going to be a bit short because, from a reading standpoint, this is one of those books that you don’t analyze, you just have fun with! Reading it really did bring me back to my childhood. I enjoyed all of the stories and appreciated just how different they were from one another. There was everything from a humorous werewolf tale to a haunted castle to a conceited unicorn… And they were all as good as they were different; a little something for everyone. My favorite was the cover story about a wizard who accidentally summons a little blue chipmunk god – adorable!

Overall, since I already had planned on sharing The Enchanted Forest Chronicles with my kids one day, I am delighted to have even more from this author to pass along.

Recommended Reading: for fans of the Enchanted Forest, fairytales, and whimsical short stories!

by Niki Hawkes

Other books you might like:

Sep 5 2013
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Book Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

13514612Title: All Our Yesterdays

Author: Cristin Terrill

Series: Cassandra Chronicles #1

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 5/5 stars!

The Overview: “You have to kill him.” Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain. Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside. Marina has loved her best friend James since the day he moved next door when they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Now someone is trying to kill him. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was.

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 The Review:

All Our Yesterdays seems to garner mixed reactions from the amazing book bloggers I follow. Because it wasn’t getting across-the-board rave reviews, I decided to pass on it. I have to thank the marketing team at Netgalley for putting it back on my radar, because I absolutely loved it! It had me from the first page, and I set aside all my other books until I finished it (which is a rare thing for me, as I usually have about ten different books going at once).

One of my favorite things about this novel (there was a few) is how well the story was organized. Everything unfolded almost effortlessly, yet I know it must’ve taken a ton of work. It flowed so well that I forgot to take notes for this post (which, with really awesome titles, I don’t need the notes anyway because I’m so fired up about them).  In my eyes, it was brilliant.

While the concept and world building were amazing, the real strength of this novel is in character development. Each character was distinct, vibrant, and written well enough to make me feel personally invested in their struggles. The range of dynamics she was able to get surrounding each individuals’ personality blew my mind. They were incredibly profound characters, and I guarantee I won’t be forgetting about them anytime soon.

Time travel is difficult to do well – there always seems to be several frustrating plot holes. If there were inconsistencies in All Our Yesterdays, Terrill hid them well within her explanations of how time travel works. Her concepts mixed with the clear, beautiful writing has me convinced she is a truly brilliant author – you can tell this project took a lot of thought and planning. Even though I read this as a free digital copy, I liked it so much I bought the hardcover the day it came out. I will definitely be reading anything she publishes in the future!

Recommended Reading: this book is fighting for a place in my top five favorite dystopians! Because of that, I plan on recommending it to fans of that genre – especially to those in the mood for something slightly different. Also to anyone wanting an atypical love story.

Thank you NetGalley and Disney Book Group for the chance to read and review this title!

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Aug 28 2013
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Book Review: Countdown by Michelle Rowen

17622950Title: Countdown

Author: Michelle Rowen

Series: N/A

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 2/5 stars

Release Date: September 24, 2013

The Overview: 3 seconds left to live. Once the countdown starts, it cannot be stopped… 2 pawns thrown into a brutal underground reality game. Kira Jordan survived her family’s murder and months on plague-devastated city streets with hard-won savvy and a low-level psi ability. She figures she can handle anything. Until she wakes up in a barren room, chained next to the notorious Rogan Ellis…1 reason Kira will never, ever trust Rogan. Even though both their lives depend on it. Their every move is controlled and televised for a vicious exclusive audience. And as Kira’s psi skill unexpectedly grows and Rogan’s secrets prove evermore deadly, Kira’s only chance of survival is to risk trusting him as much as her instincts. Even if that means running head-on into the one trap she can’t escape. 

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The Review:

I’ve agonized over this review for a couple of weeks now because the book was one of those that didn’t sing to me, even though it had several good attributes. Even so, the bad sort of outweighed the good in my mind and I’ve been trying to figure out why. I think the best way to approach it is to start off by talking about the things I enjoyed:

The overall concept for the book, and even the first chapter had me convinced this was going to be a five-star book. Two strangers are thrown together into a deadly game in which they have to complete all the tasks to survive. The suspense was increased when they realized they had to complete each task before the countdown hits zero or else they died. The life or death competition for survival in this book instantly reminded me of Hunger Games meets The Maze Runner. The characters didn’t know what was going on, save the fact that the tasks were for the amusement of a paying crowd. You can see why I was so excited – Rowen’s concept for this story was out of this world, and the way she told it within the first couple of chapters had me shaking with excitement (I also loved her voice, and enjoyed how well she immersed me in the character).

Then, the more the story moved along, the more the missed opportunities for brilliance began to add up. On to the things I didn’t enjoy:

As mentioned before, the basis for the book was that these two characters had to overcome a series of deadly challenges to make it to the end. The problem was, the challenges weren’t that difficult… or creative. In fact, their lack of development really kind of blew my mind. Most of the tasks took place with a 5 to 10 minute countdown, and by the time I got my brain wrapped around the task, it was already over. I honestly think that if the author had taken a half hour of her time and just brainstormed how to make these challenges interesting, she could’ve come up with something ten times better than what she had. Instead, what I felt were her biggest selling points of the novel came across as nothing but throw-away scenes. It showed a relative lack of awareness to setting and world-building, and I think those are non-negotiable elements when writing dystopians.

After finishing the book, I found out through Goodreads that this author writes under a different name (Morgan Rhodes) and that I have read a book by her in the past (Falling Kingdoms). I laughed when I discovered this because I discussed in that review how disappointed I was in the world-building. I also found out that this book was originally published as a romance novel and was adapted for a teen audience. It actually clarified a few question marks I had about why a female teen protagonist was seemingly okay (even though not thrilled) with a large audience of unknown spectators seeing her naked (and, additionally, why she was so un-conflicted about jumping in bed with a boy, but that’s another story). All I’m saying is that there were several parts of the book where I felt the author forgot her audience, and after seeing this story’s origins, am no longer confused.

Overall, I’m really bummed about this novel and what it could have been. 

Recommended Reading: for those of you who have to read every dystopian on the market because you just can’t help yourselves.

by Niki Hawkes

Other dystopians you might like more:

Partials Review   •   Legend Review   •   The 5th Wave Review   •   Divergent Review   •  Pure Review

Thank you Net Galley and Harlequin Teen for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Aug 22 2013
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Book Review: Broken Forest by Eliza Tilton

17797999Title: Broken Forest

Author: Eliza Tilton

Series: The Daath Chronicles #1

Genre: Teen Fantasy/Teen Religion

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

The Overview: Hopeless he’ll never be more than the boy who didn’t save his brother, 17-year-old Avikar accepts his life as the family stable boy, trying to forget the past. But when his sister, Jeslyn, is kidnapped, the thought of losing another sibling catapults him on a desperate quest. With his best friend by his side, and using the tracking skills he learned from his father, he discovers Jeslyn has been taken, kidnapped by one Lucino, the young lord of Daath, a mystical place thought only to exist in fables. And Lucino has plans for Jeslyn. His shape-shifting brethren feed off the auras of humans, and Jeslyn’s golden hue is exactly what Lucino needs to increase his power. The longer it takes Avikar to reach her, the more entranced she becomes with Lucino’s world, and the harder it will be for Avikar to set her free.

He failed his family once. He won’t fail again.

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The Review:

I broke my “only request one book from Netgalley at a time” rule for this book (five minutes after I created the rule, but who’s counting). The cover and the overview sold me immediately – how can you resist either one? For the first fifty pages or so, I feel like I got exactly what I signed up for: an amazing adventure, and endearing male protagonist, and a magical setting. Somewhere after that, however, the author made some plot choices that really brought the story down for me.

There were parts that were a bit preachy… and self-righteous. Whether you agree with the morals or not, it’s usually less effective to fling them at people. It was blatant and needlessly so, as I think the author could have easily integrated it into the story a little better. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a theme or moral to your story, you just have to camouflage it because, generally, people don’t enjoy being preached to. The thing I found odd was that the story and characters provided a strong enough moral compass that the book really didn’t even need such heavy-handed drop-ins. And they really were just kind of clunked in there – each “thou shall not…” was delivered in a two-page passage, telling us things are wrong in a way that’s not likely to come across as anything but condescending.

More than once I have found myself reading an ARC because I felt a sense of obligation (rather than any real investment in the story). Imagine my delight when I realized I was picking up this book because I earnestly wanted to, not because I knew I should. About the third time it preached at me, that eagerness had all but vanished and I eventually had to force myself to finish it. All I can say is: what a shame. Tilton is obviously a very talented writer, I just think she decided the moral was more important than the story (which is great for a religious title, not so much for a teen fantasy).

Overall, allegorical stories just aren’t my thing and I probably won’t be picking up the second book. I actually don’t think the heavy moral overtones will bother many other people. I wouldn’t be surprised if the book got several four or five star reviews. It had a nice voice and overall plot, and even a few memorable characters with strong POV’s.

Recommended Reading: for those of you who don’t mind fantasies with religious overtones. Perhaps also to those who love fairytales but are in the mood for something slightly different.

 Other Books you might like:

 Poison Review