The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong - YA review

click on cover for excerpt link

The Awakening
Kelley Armstrong
young adult
Dark Powers #2
2009

Cover - I like the covers to this series.  It's simple, and yet dramatic enough to get your attention.  In the first novel, the pendant is a different cover.  This has some meaning, though at first it isn't clear what.  It becomes clear later. 

I've always enjoyed the Women of the Otherworld novels by Kelley Armstrong.  So when I found she was writing a YA series (she was one of the first adult UF writers to delve into the YA market) I knew I was going to give at least the first novel in the series a try.  I did, I read The Summoning when it first came out in 2008, and I enjoyed it enough to buy the sequel when it was released.  Then of course, it languished on my bookshelf.  I then bought the third in the series, and yet I STILL didn't read it.  Finally, a blogger had this new meme out called "Why Haven't I Read You?", so I took part one week, using The Awakening.  And after taking the time to transcribe some of the first page in my post, I thought - man, I really ought to read this.  So when I finished the book I was reading, I went ahead and read The Awakening.  Then I went right into the third novel - The Reckoning.  Of course, now I want to grab the next trilogy in this setting - because, Kelley Armstrong can write a young adult novel that keeps even an older woman like me interested.  That's sayin' a lot. 

In The Awakening, Chloe and her friends (Derek, Simon, and Tori) have escaped the halfway house they were running away from, only to be caught again.  Chloe and Tori became separated from Simon and Derek, were captured and when The Awakening opens, they are being held in a secret facility.  The Doc from the halfway house is playing Mr. Nice, trying to get Chloe to trust him.  Tori's mom is full of hate, even toward her own daughter.

Luckily for Chloe, she has the help of Liz, the ghost of her roommate from the first book.  Liz still has to come to terms with being undead, but is learning how to function as a ghost.

There's a problem.  The docs have found Derek's backpack, with his insulin.  They're trying to get Tori and Chloe to give them info on where the rendezvouz site is.  On top of being pressured to give the boys up, Chloe is meeting some other ghosts in the facility.

The Awakening is the story of how Chloe and Tori end up going with the evil doctors to look for a rendezvous, how they end up escaping their clutches and meet up with the boys.  From there, they have to avoid being recaptured and try to make it to the home of an old family friend of Derek and Simon's father.  This is their hope for safety and help finding their missing dad.

The four of them have to get along - Tori has always been hard to live with, or even to spend more than a few minutes with.  The boys have no loyalty at all to her, but they let her come along because Chloe insists.

This is a fun read, with plenty of suspense and some dangerous moments the kids endure.  The narration is great, with my only issue being the occasional words that I really don't think a teen would use - some of the phrasing is too much like an uber-edutcated adult, nothing I would expect a 15 or 16 year old to be thinking or saying.  Happily for me, this was infrequent, because that is the kind of thing that will yank me right out of a story.  I'll be FEELIN' the story, in the book, completely engrossed, and the wrong turn of phrase, something that doesn't match the characters will jar me right out of it.

Bottom line, though, is that when the book is finished, I ended up with a good feeling of having read a pretty good book, and wanting to read more.

One of the things I like about this book, is that while we don't see any of the characters from the Women of the Otherworld series in the novels, we're still in the same world.  It's not common knowledge that werewolves, demons or magic users exist; teens that are exhibiting signs of magical ability or were abilities are taken by this particular group, convinced they have a mental illness and studied...with the hint of a dangerous future.

This young adult series is another facet of Armstrongs Women of the Otherworld.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer - review

Cinder
Marissa Meyer
young adult/SciFi
2012

***** (five out of six stars)

cover - I absolutely LOVE this cover.  The leg, the inner works, the Red SHOE.   That's a damn sexy SHOE.  OhMyGod, it's a hell of a cover.  :)


'prologue' I don't think I can truly say that I don't read much young adult fiction anymore...  When I met J.A. Campbell, I started reading her work, because she's a good writer and she concentrates on Young Adult.  So I read her stuff - woman is writing faster than I can keep up, but I love her Clanless series, as well as her Doc series.  Then I also became very interested in what kind of fiction Lilith Saintcrow would come up with for the young adult market.  Under the name of Lili St. Crow she has written an amazing series (Strange Angels).  Because I was familiar with Kelley Armstrong's adult fiction, I've read at least one of her young adult series...(plan to read more, one is waiting for me right now...).  And then, because of J.A. Campbell, again, I've read Need, and a few other novels.  Well, for the first time (discounting Lili St.Crow's work) I bought a young adult novel for myself to read ON PURPOSE.  And it kept me interested. 

Interested enough to finish reading.  I am always wary of reading teen-age angsty type of romance along with the inevitable personality that I've come to expect with a teen character...but I think I haven't been totally aware of how much writers have brought along the average teen character.  If other genres have been coming into the 21st century...if young people today are becoming mature faster than ever before, then why have I doubted that a teen character could also do so?  Thankfully, this book has a teen character that is just mature enough not to drive me crazy, and yet young enough to feel like a teen.  Yeah - I'm picky like that.  Having never been a very innocent or naiive teen myself, I never really had much patience for the truly naive and innocent, or unaware.

But I'm getting off track....Cinder was a fun take on the old Cinderella fairytale.  Of course Cinderella has be retold many times in a variety of ways, but I think I'm very partial to this SciFi cyborg version of Cinderella.  Cinder is a cyborg - a human with computer programming and metal parts.  Earth has undergone many changes - one of them being that the moon (Luna) has been colonized and is now treated as a planet, complete with an evil queen (the evil stepmother character).  And the city is New Beijing, where a plague has been spreading that has affected the palace, leaving the prince in line to be emporer before he's quite ready.  This is just a taste of what Cinder is about.  There's so much more.

Cinder is living as a ward of woman with two daughters of her own.  As a cyborg, and a ward, Cinder has less rights than a human.  And she is expected to turn over all her earnings to the 'stepmother'.  There is a twist on the stepsisters - only one really hates her, the other one loves her.  Cinder is a mechanic, one who many people rely on to fix things that others can't fix - this is how she comes into contact with her prince (THE PRINCE! )

Enough of the recap, or summary.  Marissa Meyer's narration is interesting.  Her dialogue is pretty good, very believable.  One of the things I really liked about the story is Cinder's anger - she wasn't the all suffering character that is usually part of a fairytale.  Nope, this girl has spirit, and even though she's stuck at the moment, she does let her anger out once in a while, even when she knows she shouldn't.  It's pretty fun.

The evil stepmother type of character is actually portrayed by two characters - Cinder's guardian and the queen of Luna.  The people of Luna have powers, the power to use a type of glamour, and the queen is one of the strongest.  This plays a part later in the novel. 

The book was fun to read - I got through it in one day.  I liked it enough to consider buying the sequel, Scarlett.  I want to find out what happens with Cinder, since even though the novel had a good ending, it wasn't a quite complete ending.  It's kind of left up in the air just how Cinder is going to get out of a certain predicament, and is she actually going to end up with the prince?  might not.

Desert Dreams (Into The West #4) by J.A. Campbell

Desert Dreams
Into the West #4
e-book
J.A. Campbell
echelon press

cover love - I just love all the covers of this series. Each cover seems to get better, and they all tie into the series. This cover is especially scenic and reminds me of my long ago trip to Colorado/Utah area, where we drove through and around different canyons. The rock formations (I'm sure there is a more accurate terms for these particular canyon land) are way more colorful than they seem at first glance...

Desert Dreams is the fourth installment of the Into The West series of shorts. I like to call this a serial story, though Into The West is complete with the sixth installment. **if you haven't read ANY of this series, the beginning story is Westward, Yo!; it's a very good idea to start at the beginning of this series. At 99 cents per story, these e-books are reasonable and you get a lot for a buck.**There's an over-all story arc over the six stories and each of the short stories has it's own plot and resolution.
Fun for me is the cliff hangers at the end of each - I'm one of those who enjoy a good cliff hanger ending. In the last story (Silver Rush), there was the best ever cliff hanger. Tina (the main character) had this compelling NEED to find Rowe, so she prepared for a day or two in the desert and went through The Canyon to find him. Only things didn't go as she planned; she ended up wandering around and became disoriented. Silver Rush ended with her passing out and vaguely seeing someone looming over - friend or foe?
Luckily for Tina she was found by a friendly tribe of Native Americans. She meets up with Rowe and together they go on a trip to find a silver mine that will hopefully turn the tide concerning the range war between Matheson and Ol'Man Taggart. On this adventure Tina gets a bit more than she bargained for from a trail ride. Rowe and their guide teach her a bit of desert lore, how to find water, how to stay alive, etc. Their plan is to find the location of the silver mine, let Taggart know and stay out of the line of fire while performing their mission. Not easy to do.
While it's easy to sum up this installment in a paragraph, there is more than easily explained. I enjoyed reading about Tina's recovery from her desert/dehydration ordeal; the ride itself, with the sights and conversations between Rowe and Tina - they have the beginnings of a romance stirring. There's a couple times where danger lurks - a couple run-ins with human and animal enemies and Tina is put to the test on her survival skills.
Ms Campbell really seems to know how to capture how a normally intelligent and practical teen can make decisions that seem so good to her (Tina) at the time, yet are decisions that grownups - with our life experiences and wisdom wouldn't necessarily make. She's also pretty good at capturing the sometimes awkward and sweet beginnings of a romance without going over the top with the hot and heavy. Which is very refreshing. She has a way with words that tell a story without a lot of frills. There's enough description that you know Tina is in a desert, in a dangerous situation or having a sweet moment, yet you aren't overwhelmed with words. Sometimes authors go a little overboard with words. Ms Campbell does not, and she gets the point across. I enjoy her writing quite a bit - you might notice that I don't mention many young adult novels. I don't tend to read them, yet I've found myself enjoying each young adult novel written by J. A. Campbell.
I would recommend these short stories to many readers - especially to younger readers who find themselves needing to read something, yet don't like to read much. You're not going to get overwhelmed with formal dialog, formal writing and a lot of "filler" words. You're going to get a story that is tightly written and gets to the situations soon. I think a lot of different teens will enjoy this series. Best of all - the teens sound like teens. The dialog between characters sound refreshingly NORMAL.
Next in the series is Sagebrush Song Give this series a look - you won't regret it.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - review

The Hunger Games

Young Adult Fantasy

Suzanne Collins

*****

Cover - I love that this is a YA book, featuring a young girl, and a cover that DOES NOT FEATURE a girl with flowing, translucent material that turns into either smoke or some other design floating delicately around the edges of the cover....Don't get me wrong - some of the young adult covers are absolutely beautiful - but like all other genres, when there's a good cover revealed then it gets used and re-used in all possible versions. And there are so many versions! This cover has a pin that the mayor's daughter has given to Katniss along with the suggestion of a target scope.

I don't normally read YA books - I read a few, such as Lili St. Crow, J.A. Campbell and....um....can't think of any others that I'm really into on a regular basis - y'know, the type of auto-buys that I have with many UF or SciFi authors. Right at this moment, the only YA auto-buy novelists that I follow are J.A. Campbell and Lili St.Crow; and St.Crow get's into my auto-buy because she's already on my auto-buy category because I was already following her adult UF books (under the name of Lilith Saint Crow) - J.A. Campbell earned her auto-buy status by virtue of writing, and the fact that I loved a snippet that she let me read long ago. :) My longwinded point is that I don't normally go searching out YA reads. One day, I was bemoaning the fact that I had recently went to the bookstore and couldn't find any new books that interested me enough to buy - now this is in spite of the fact that I have about 100 or so books sitting here waiting for me to crack them open....I have a problem, people! An Addiction problem. And book buying addiction and Book Attention Deficit Disorder (aka B.A.D.D., and it's a genuine faux disorder,) - it's very, very sad (I say with an insane laugh) I was at work at the time, at a school discussing books with a reading teacher. She tells me that I should read this book and pulls out Hunger Games. I told her I wasn't really into YA books (being about FORTY years older than most young readers - well, 35 years younger. sometimes every year counts, y'know) but she said "oh no! you need to try this - it may be young adult, but oh...". So despite my misgivings about reading a story where teens from 12 - 18 are forced to kill each other to win and survive a survival game that's as huge and viewed as the olympics - only instead of wanting to watch, many are forced to watch - I went ahead and borrowed her copy. And of course, she had a first edition copy of the hardback version, which I'm afraid to besmirch, or accidently ruin....so I took the cover off and covered it with "homemade" book cover, only read it when I wasn't eating dinner or other meals, no reading while snacking, no candy while reading, I made sure it was put up high, out of reach of children, etc. Which means I didn't read it around any of the grandchildren...etc. Which means reading The Hunger Games took me almost two weeks to read, even though it was so engrossing that it was hard for me to put down when I did get a chance to pick it up.

Though the subject matter was pretty intense, The Hunger Games was an intensely amazing read. Set in a futuristic post-war, post disaster America now called Panem - people now live in 12 districts that owe tribute to and are oppressed by The Capitol. The book starts out with Katniss getting ready for her daily hunt, and it's only gradually that you find out that not only is this hunting a daily thing with her, but it's illegal, they depend on it to eat, she barters with an illegal black market, and pretty much everyone in town - from the citizens to the "peacekeepers" are in on a quietly blackmarket lifestyle, just so they can survive. The information is given in bits and pieces and it's horrifying to find out that every year, each district is forced to attend, and pretend it's fun - a party like atmosphere like a fourth of July celebration - the yearly "Reaping". The Reaping is a lottery where one girl and one boy is picked each year to attend the Hunger Games - a survival of the fittest type of game where the last person alive is the winner. Horrific.

Katniss's little delicate flower of a sister, on her first reaping is picked. Katness volunteers to go in her place. The other participant is Peeta, the baker's son. Throughout the novel, little bits and pieces of different characters are slowly given, building in layers characters and the history of the Panem and the old United States.

Written in the first person, present tense, I found the narration to be engaging and the dialog between characters very believable. I was at times horrified and entertained - because no matter what, temporary happiness, the first time Kat was able to try different food, saw herself on T.V., was put through a makeover, etc - the underlying theme was these kids had to KILL each other to survive. And of course, if they did survive they were set for life, and their district would benefit a bit by their win.

I'm enjoying the hell out of this story, it's a blend of furistic suspense, big bad government and with just the smallest bit of SciFi - not a lot... (cures, body enhancements, applications, gene-tweaked birds, etc) = but really - there's not much of a fantasy or SciFi twist to things - but then suddenly toward the end comes this WTF moment for me......SPOILER ALERT........

SPOILER ALERT........... (POSTED IN BLACK ON BLACK, SO HIGHLIGHT TO READ)

*

*

there are, I kid you not - some sort of animal/reanimated dead people running around killing people, like Island of Dr. Moroau mixed with re-animated were-people mix....W.T.F. and then a hole in the ground opens up and the oddly mixed animal/were/formerly dead people just walk away - calmly walk away into the ground, and once again. I ask W.T.F.?

*

*

*end of spoiler alert....

now, if you've read this series, you know what I'm referring to - if you haven't I hope the spoiler alert and black font help protect you from spoilers... Whatever was going on - that section didn't seem to quite fit - it seemed kind of suddenly out of the blue, coming from left field, blindsiding someone and then no more hint of things like that until the miraculous medical care....It just didn't quite fit with the rest of the story - unless it's a hint of things to come.......

Regardless of that strange UF/Horror/SciFi interlude, the story was great, with good narration and believable dialog. Kept me engrossed, (and temporarily perplexed). I looked up the other two books on everyone's favorite website for reading the wildly mixed reviews and of course saw that there's a wild mix of reviews of ratings - so once again I'm not sure if the two sequels will be excellent reads or the worst book ever to rest between book covers. I could always skim a few pages at the bookstore and go from there I guess. According to some the books just got better and better, while for others the books were a huge disappointment. Meaning I'll have to read them for myself and find out - based on Collins' writing style though, at least I know the book will be a good read - even if she does insert random SciFi'ish characters. So I enjoyed The Hunger Games, late as I was to the Hunger Game table (haha) and will probably eventually read the sequels.

**disclaimer** - I'm half asleep as I write this, so I hope it makes sense.

Senior Year Bites by J.A. Campbell - review

Senior Year Bites
******

J.A. Campbell
YA, UF, e-book

I love this cover. I also love the previous cover, before SYB was picked up for publishing-but this cover is pretty good, the overall blue tone; the girl is pretty, she looks a little pensive, she could be standing outside a high school, or at the college where she sometimes goes to find...prey.


I have to say, that I loved this novel. I usually don't rate young adult books - (I don't know why, I just haven't been) but I give this one six out of a possible six. I enjoyed everything about this book

Imagine being a young senior high school student. Hanging out with friends, two best friends, thinking about prom maybe, studying, doing homework, doing the normal teen thing. Then imagine being at a sleepover one night and taking up a dare - go to the graveyard at night. This is what Megan does...only Meg gets attacked at the graveyard-she doesn't remember much of the attack. She survives, and yet the thing is kind of vague....except she begins to notice a few things. Sunlight starts to bother her, a lot. She's very, very sleepy during the day. She's having a hard time with the whole food thing - her family and friends are suddenly appetizing....

Meg comes to an understanding of what she's become and tries to deal with it on her own. Afterall there isn't anyone around that would give her any easy answers. She learns how to hunt for food and is slowly learning about some of her newfound abilities - the strength, the whole mind power thing, the extra speed. Of course Meg tries to keep it all a secret, but her mom and friends are beginning to be suspicious of her new behavior and sleep habits. Around this time, strangers appear in town - one of them forms a friendship with one of her best friends. Then, suddenly, some of the food her blood "donators" - donators that Meg had made sure she's left alive and safe- begin to turn up as dead bodies, then things start getting way more complicated and dangerous.

I thoroughly enjoyed Senior Year Bites. Ms Campbell's teen characters SOUND like teens. Her adult characters sound like adults, her "other" characters are different. Senior Year Bites is told in first person and I loved Meg's voice. There were times when Meg was surprised at her self and there were times when she was a little disgusted with her self, yet there were no overly angsty moments. Meg is a strong willed young woman, making the best of her situation. One thing I enjoyed was the lack of a love triangle situation - this is a story of a girl made into a vampire; it's refreshing to read a story with out the addition of the seemingly formulaic presence of two boys who are attracted to and fighting for one young woman. In fact, the beginning romance was with a couple of side characters and still did not include extras.

Another thing that I found refreshing - no info dumps. We learn along with Meg and her friends what is happening, what vampire problems and abilities Meg obtains. In fact, Meg is learning as she goes along. The narration (Meg's voice) and the dialog was good - very believable. I enjoyed the plot and the twists, enjoyed the story very much. So much that I would love to read a sequel. Happily, I have it on good authority (lol - I heard from J.A. Campbell, in fact) that Ms Campbell is working "hard on a the sequel, and hopes to submit it when finished." Oh, I hope so. I hope it's submitted and picked up. I want to see where Meg goes next, what happens - does her mom find out what's going on with Meg? How about her brother (who has been serving in Afghanistan)? Does Meg ever accidently attack anyone at high school? Y'know, because of the whole "wow, these people smell delicious" thing. Does Meg find out more about being a vampire? meet any other vamps? Oh yeah. There's going to be more and I'm certainly willing to buy more from this author. J.A. Campbell is an author to watch (or read, definitely read)

Click on the cover for a link to Decadent publishing. You can buy the e-book directly from them and also read an excerpt from the link. Or you can buy from most online bookstores such as...
Amazon
Amazon. UK
Smashwords (where you can also find links to excerpt of her Into The West Series geared toward young readers)
Omni Lit
Bookstrand

Now, I don't usually provide links to stores unless it's for an excerpt. But I recommend this novel to fantasy lover, vampire lit lovers, and readers of YA fantasy. So go check it out, read an excerpt and show some author love. I'm sure a lot of you will enjoy this novel. I certainly did. :)

The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney - review

The Iron Witch
Karen Mahoney
*****
Young Adult fantasy
available now


I've mentioned how much I love the cover of The Iron Witch on previous posts, so if you've read those, please bear with me. In the story, Donna has these tattoo like markings on her arms. They are curlicues and swirls, they shine in the light. They are made from ink mixed with iron and are magically charged; part of healing done for her as a result of an attack by a creature from Faerie. The cover has these beautifully worked curls and swirls surrounding the cover girl. It's hard to see here, but up close you can see the shiny swirls on her arm also. She's also holding a small bottle which plays a part in the story. I have a U.K. cover, and the pages on the inside - the first page and the last - are also marked with curls and swirls. It's a pretty piece of the book; reminds me of the older books from 70 years and before that used to be embossed with delicate little floral and fine designs on the covers and spine of the books. Rarely see that kind of workmanship on books anymore - so it's nice to see some extra beauty on the covers and inside pages.

I can honestly say that I very much enjoyed reading The Iron Witch. I don't read a lot of Young Adult, but the same applies to Young Adult (for me anyway) as Adult fiction. It has to hold my interest. Normally I look for books that jump into action from the first page, and I prefer lots of action - whether it's fighting, running or laughing situations...Sometimes I get that but then a book slows down for me, and then comes to a complete stop interest-wise. The Iron Witch did start out with a bang - the prologue describes some of the nightmarish night that Donna went through as a child. The first chapter has her waking up from her nightmare. And even though there wasn't the feeling of non-stop adventure, there were things that kept me interested throughout the book.

After the opening prologue/nightmare scene, the book continues at a seemingly sedate pace, but really little things are happening that point towards the danger to come. Donna is attending a party with her best friend, Navin. They've been best friends for a long time, and live right next door to each other. Navin is the one person that Donna feels comfortable with, and even with him she feels like she doesn't quite fit in. Both of them have lost a parent. Donna has freakish strength in her arms - something that she is always aware of, which therefore causes a bit of angst. On top of that, she has these markings on her arms...making her feel like she has to keep them hidden. As a teen, she dreads having anything pointed out as different, and here are two things that mark her as way different - her markings that she keeps hidden by wearing gloves and her freakish strength which she just tries to keep hidden....except for ---- no, spoiler. haha

She goes to a party with Navin, against her instinct to remain in the background at all times. But once there, she ends up looking for a quiet place to hang out, and ends up on the roof with this mysterious boy/man. This guy turns out to be Xan, or Alexander - a kid who had gone off to college and then ended up back at home after a short while. Turns out he has his own reasons to feel like he doesn't quite belong. Xan plays an important part in the story - Donna and Xan strike up an uneasy (at first) yet strong friendship/attraction. They both feel different from others, and both have things to hide...and other than Navin's friendship, the only experience Donna has with other boys are...well probably none.

Donna Underwood's family and circle have secrets, so Donna has learned all her life to keep things secret, this is wearing on her. She's also feeling bad about having to keep secrets from her best friend. Donna lives with her aunt, since her mother is in a confused state of conciousness in a hospital and her father died while saving her from the thing in the forest. Donna is homeschooled ever since an incident at the high school involving teasing students and her strength. She has normal homeschooling along with some alchemy classes with people in the circle. That's one of the secrets Donna has to maintain. Her family and family friends are a secretive order of alchemists - involving magic, experiments, knowledge of the fae, etc.

The Iron Witch, seemingly starting out at a sedate pace, in truth has many small incidents happening that build up to a crescendo of action. Donna at one point figures out that her friend has been kidnapped by the forest elves and in typical teen fashion, tries to handle things on her own.. things become more complicated for her, and she makes decisions that she knows are going to have harsh consequences for herself. This reminded me of being a teen. There were so many times that friends and I tried to handle things on our own, for one reason or another, when we really should have involved an adult. But I think that is a rather common thing for some teens. It's not always logical, but then being a teen isn't always logical. Thank goodness we never had to deal with forest elves, or elf queens!

What I liked about the ending of the book, is that we find out that Donna hasn't been miraculously forgiven by the alchemists and their order - she has to face some possibly severe consequences for her actions...and things might not be fair. I believe that's where the sequel is going to take up. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, The Wood Queen.

The Iron Witch kept my interest for the whole story; I enjoyed this debut novel, with good dialogue, interesting characters and an interesting twist with the possibility of more twists....there is the hint of a mystery beyond the plot of The Iron Witch. Why was young Donna in the forest at the beginning of the book (in her nightmare/memory)....What exactly was going on there? Looking forward to finding out.

Karen Mahoney is also the author of numerous short stories, three of which are published or soon to be published in the following anthologies:

• Falling To Ash in The Eternal Kiss
• The Spirit Jar in Kiss Me Deadly
• The Lost Boy in Wicked Pretty Things

I know for sure that the first two are stories about Moth, a vampire. I'm not sure about the third story. I've read the first Moth short and it would be great to read a complete novel about this character.

Daniel X: Watch The Skies review

Daniel X: Watch the Skies




****
James Patterson

Ned Rust
young adult/sci-fi

251 pages

available now

I'm not sure who sent me the book, if I won it in a contest, or if it was a gift. If I knew, I would send a thank you note. I do appreciate it. This book is now going to be donated to the school library for the 6th, 7th and 8th grade section.

I was all ready to do to bed. I went to bed, and decided to read a bit before I turned out the light (it was already very late). I kept reading until I was finished, so now here I am at the computer again, to post this. Might as well finish up now. : )

I believe that this is the first in a series of books about Daniel X. Daniel X is a teen-age alien hunter with some special powers of his own. He rides a motorbike and can do wheelies on his front tire. He has four imaginary friends, but unlike most kids, he can materialize them and they often help him out when he needs help, or just keep him company when he needs company.

The town of Holliswood is being taken over by aliens - from outer-space. These particular aliens are able to manipulate the radio waves, and t.v. stations to control humans. They also like to eat humans, after they make them dance around, filming them for entertainment. The head alien is a director. Even though there are some horrific things that happen to humans, the way it's written it's not very graphic or gross. Most teens have watched plenty of movies and shows that contain much worse than is shown in this book.

Daniel X needs to find a way to stop the aliens from taking over the town, and eventually the whole world for the purpose of filming, eating and using the world and it's inhabitants as entertainment for the rest of the universe. But the alien in charge of this epic project, (alien no. 5) seems to always be one step ahead of Daniel X, and in fact is planning to use Daniel in the finale of the series that he's filming. Daniel X meets a young girl and her strange parents. He is has quite a challenge solving this crisis, things go wrong but he perseveres.

I found the narrative of this book interesting, and the dialogue between characters was pretty good. There's some snarky dialogue between aliens and Daniel X, and intelligent dialogue between Daniel X and his friends/family. Though gross things are happening, there isn't over the top descriptions, but there is enough to keep a teen or tween interested in the story. Daniel X also is not a do it yourself type of hero, he takes advice and help from his friends...although they are a product of his imagination. Maybe because it's written from the pov of a teenage boy, one who has been hunting aliens, but there doesn't seem to be much to his personality - there's a little history we learn as we read, and little things he quips. He seems to care about animals and humans. It's just not very in depth - the presenting of his personality.

This was a cute, light/horror sci-fi book. The only thing that kind of got to me, was more the set up of the book. There are 91 chapters in this 251 page book. How can that be, do you wonder? most of these chapters are two pages long. As in half of one page (the beginning of the chapter) and half or a little over half of the second page (that would be the ending of this epic chapter). So really, I believe this book could have been condensed into 125 pages (approximately). I don't know if the authors meant for the book to be set up this way as a dramatic way of separating scenes, or if this was done to "flesh out" the book. There were quite a few of the 2-page chapters that could have been combined. A few of the chapters were really a continuation of the previous chapter. That's my only complaint of the book, and it's not anything to do with content or writing talent.

Overall this is a entertaining book, a light read even with the horror aspects; but because of the way the chapters are split up, I might wait for the paperback if I were to buy the book. I was fortunate, though to receive it for free, and am passing it forward to my school library. I would be interested in reading more of James Patterson/Ned Rust novels or James Patterson novels. A student at my school said that his Maximum Ride series is pretty good, and I did buy the first book in that series.

reading challenges

Young Adult Reading Challenge

Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge

Strange Angels, by Lili St. Crow

I was fortunate to receive an ARC of a new young adult novel by Lili St. Crow. Lili St. Crow is a pen name of Lilith Saintcrow, so if you've read any of her work, you know you're in for a great read on her new young adult novel.

The novel is Strange Angels. It features a sixteen year old, Dru Anderson who has been traveling around for years with her father learning about and hunting supernatural "baddies", such as wulfen (werewolves) suckers, (vampires) and zombies. Dru is a pretty tough teenager who has learned from her father how to fight, and from her Gran how to deal with "hinky". She has "the touch", something that is passed along the family. When the book opens she has lost her mother at an early age, and her Gran more recently.

The book starts off with a bang. She dreams of an owl in her room, this owl she refers to as Gran's owl. It usually appears to her when something bad is about to happen. She never gets a chance to tell her father about seeing the owl, and in fact that morning is the last time she sees her father alive. There is a very tense 24 hours of her waiting for her father. During this 24 hours, she goes to school and comes home to an empty house. Her father ends up coming home as a zombie and she ends up having to deal with that.

Dru ends up having to rely on a boy from school, who helps her out when she needs it the most. They end up attacked by wulfen. Her new friend ends up bitten, and Dru has to decide whether to automatically shoot him or take a chance on his not turning.

The entire book is full of action and terror. Dru and her friend Graves have to do some quick growing up, making decisions that no normal teenager has to deal with. The suspense was pretty good. I started reading this book on Friday night, and didn't want to put it down, even when my eyes were closing on their own. When I finished the book, I already was wondering what was going to happen next in Dru's life. There is a sequel planned, this is the first in a new series. I'm am looking forward to the continuing story of Dru.

Lili St.Crow has an awesome way with words. As you're reading you can almost smell what Dru is smelling, feel the intense cold, and picture in your mind what is going on around her. You can get lost in her books. Not one time was I bored - sometimes, no matter how much you like an author's style, there is usually slow bits, but I didn't get that with this book. Dru's character was strong, even though she was terrified of what was happening to her. Glimpses were given of her earlier life without info-dump moments, and even though Dru has obviously not had the most wonderful childhood, there is a strong sense of her family's love - which is refreshing. A lot of authors tend to bog down their characters with horrible childhoods, and bitter family members. There was a tough childhood there, but no bitterness and angst.

Great book, great plot, lots of scary moments and I'm looking forward to any sequels to Strange Angels

Strange Angels will be released in May 2009 as a trade paperback, young adult by Lili St.Crow.