Changeless (Parasol Protectorate Series) If you haven't checked out the new paranormal series by Gail Carriger you are missing out terribly. The first book Soulless, got me hooked and this one was even better.
Alexia is a curse-breaker. A soulless preternatural that can render vampires fangless and werewolves tooth and clawless. She is married to the alpha werewolf in London and has some political prowess of her own. Using her smarts and a very interesting parasol, she matches wits with assassins and some very bad food on a dirigible. With her French maid, a suspicious inventor and the rest of her gaggle of friends and servants, she descends on Scotland to figure out the latest mystery plaguing the supernatural community.
This book does not disappoint. It is a page turner and you will catch yourself laughing out loud. Sleep is optional while reading this author. I don't think I can wait for September for her newest installment.
Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #10)
I love love love the Sookie Stackhouse books! It's like jumping into someone else's weird world every time I read one. Each of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series books is deliciously entertaining and I have been enjoying reading about Sookie's life and adventures since book one!
Dead In The Family picks up after the Fairy War, which was traumatic for Sookie both mentally and physically. Things should be getting back to normal as she continues her steamy relationship with Eric, but trouble is always around the corner in Bon Temp, LA. Not only does Sookie have an unwanted house guest, but tensions are rising over the recently outted Shifters. Nothing is ever easy when Supes are involved.
These books are endlessly entertaining, but at the same time, not much happens throughout the book. Honestly, I like that. It's like peaking into Sookie's world and experiencing all of the weirdness with her. I now impatiently look forward to book 11 as Harris has kept my intrigue and has also set up a lot upon which to continue.
Jekel Loves Hyde is coming out in May!
As soon as I finished the last page of Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, I immediately rushed to the computer to look up Beth Fantaskey's other books. To my dismay, there were none. So when I came across the advance reading copy of Jekel Loves Hyde, I was delighted! It didn't let me down, either!
Jekel Loves Hyde is a great love story with twists and turns and an ending as unpredictable as Fantaskey's first novel. It is also a murder mystery heavily enmeshed in the lore of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (although not a retelling).
The funeral of Jill Jekel's father opens the novel and is the introduction to the character, Tristen Hyde, the dark, unusual student from England. He waits in the back of the cemetery until Jill is about to break down and then unexpectedly approaches her and lets her cry on his shoulder, tells her "It does get better, hurt less. Trust me, Jill," then leaves.
The story resumes with the first day of school. Jill and Tristen go to school together and share a chemistry class. Jill's mother is not coping with her new life as a widow at all, and Tristen's father is distant and demanding. Both are good chemistry students and Jill recruits Tristen to help her win a chemistry scholarship. Don't be fooled by the innocent-sounding plot, however: it quickly turns ugly and gets complicated. I'm not telling any more of that though; you'll have to read it for yourself!
The story is dual-narrated by Jill and Tristen alternately, but is does nothing to alleviate the suspense. When one narrator leaves you on a cliff-hanger, you turn to the next chapter only to find that it's the other character and you have to wait! I read the book in one sitting and was dead to the world furiously turning pages until I finished (much to my family's dismay!). So for teens and older kids, it's a great book! For adults, it's a quick read but still definitely worth it so be sure to check it out this May!
Keep 'em coming, Beth Fantaskey!
A long loved adult author has made her way into teen fiction with the recent Darkest Powers series. Kelley Armstrong (Women of the Otherworld series), shows she can impact all age groups with heroine Chloe Saunders.
The Darkest Powers series, The Summoning, The Awakening, and the newest installment The Reckoning, follows a group of supernatural teens as they battle to survive. Armstrong incorporates several supernatural elements including werewolves, witches, sorcerers, and necromancers.
It is a great follow-up series to anyone who is having difficulty finding something to read after finishing the addicting Twilight series (you know what I mean!). It features exciting characters with twists and turns all the way through.
The Summoning (Darkest Powers Series #1)
The Awakening (Darkest Powers Series #2)
The Reckoning (Darkest Powers Series #3)
After reading his short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts, you understand that Joe Hill can write anything and make it believable. And he should, since he is also Steven King’s son. Horns, his second novel, is about the good and evil in all of us, about love and hate, about family and secrets, and about religion, philosophy, and revenge. The story focuses on a poor soul named Ig, who wakes up after a morning of debauchery with demonic horns on his head. They come with strange powers, and – like any gift of the devil – have consequences. As Ig learns to use the horns he is turned toward investigating the murder of his true love, Merrin, for which he was the prime suspect. You root for Ig, even as he becomes more demonic, and you loathe the villain, who is among the top creepiest you’ll ever read. Horns is a great book, and Joe Hill is a major, major talent.
Cassie isn’t like the other teenagers that she knows. She doesn’t even know any other teenagers. Her life has been spent entirely in the Arctic, accompanying her father as he tags and researches polar bears. Knowing nothing else, she loves this life, and polar bears have become her passion, too.
On the day before her 18th birthday, she crosses paths with the most amazing polar bear she has ever seen. He reminds her of the Polar Bear King, who according to her grandmother's legends, kidnapped her mother. Although she never believed that story, she did grow up without a mother. Come to think of it, her grandmother also disappeared from her life as a young girl. However, I digress. Let’s get back to the story. So, when she sees this bear she absolutely must tag him for herself, not only because he is magnificent, but also to prove that she is grown up and can accomplish things on her own. Cassie loses the bear, but the next day he visits her… as the Polar Bear King. She must come to terms with the fact that the fairy tale is true, and she is now to be his bride. Trying to dodge her fate, Cassie makes a deal with him. She agrees to be his bride in exchange for her mother’s rescue. Disbelievingly, her mother shortly reappears and Cassie must uphold her end up the bargain.
Bear is forced to leave her, with no explanation. This sends Cassie on a terrifying adventure to unexplained and unimagined realms in order to rescue Bear and in turn, restore the balance of the natural world. Her task seems impossible until she starts to mature, understanding the value of family, friendship, and love.
This novel is an extraordinary and unique read…great for those who believe in fairy tales, even better for those who don’t.
This was recommended to me and it did not disappoint. It had everything I was looking for in a gritty SF novel - a complex world where the future is well-defined and unique, great characters and action, and a touch of noir. In a future world where a person's consciousness can be "resleeved" into other bodies, an ex-military soldier is brought out of his century long prison sentence to investigate the apparent suicide of a wealthy immortal, who also happens to be the client. If the opening chapter doesn't hook you, check your pulse.
The cover art intrigued me first. It lacked the fantasy cliches. But the jacket sounded like a Harry Potter wanna-be, so I resisted. When I read a favorable review, which also mentioned that the author was a senior writer for Time magazine and a book critic, I took another look at that cover. What is it about the drab misty glade that is so interesting? The prose hooked me quickly and I laughed at the good-humored stabs at Harry Potter, Narnia, and Tolkien. In fact, I wonder if Mr. Grossman didn't write The Magicians in the way he would have liked the others to have been written ... for adults (Arctic fox orgy anyone?). So if you are a fan of Harry and Narnia and are an adult (at least technically), then you should love this fresh take on all things magical. In our store there are six of us who have read it, and the number is growing. Positive reviews abound.
This young adult series, with a supernatural twist, is kind of like a mixture of several other stories rolled into one. There is the girl who used to be popular and now has secrets and is an outcast...there is the mysterious boy she is drawn to...there is mind-reading...there are people who seem to live forever.
While the story has some holes, I enjoyed reading all three books currently published and will definitely pick up the next one when it comes out. I found Ever to be a very interesting main character and loved reading about her interactions with Damon. Without giving too much away, I liked how Alyson Noel described some of the places Ever and Damon went and definitely felt like I was there, too.
This series is for you if you want a quick, entertaining read and won't be too critical. I'm not saying they aren't good (if they weren't, I wouldn't have read them all!), but read it with an open mind and I think you will enjoy the story.
Further Reading:
Blue Moon (Immortals Series #2)
Shadowland (Immortals Series #3)
Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron is the first volume in a new series from bestselling author Jasper Fforde. The world conjured in this series is in some aspects like our own - there's tea, jam, bacon (if the Greys don't eat it all first), team sports, linoleum, forks and knives - but it is also quite different, particularly in respect to color (also, there aren't very many spoons). One's place and path in life is determined by one's ability to see colors in the visible light spectrum; Purples (and Ultraviolets) are upperclass with classes arranged in descending wavelength and Greys (those who see no color) at the bottom of the heap. This is the world of Eddie Russett, sent to East Carmine to conduct a chair census and learn some humility. But the Outer Fringes don't quite follow the Rules like Eddie is used to and he soon finds his well-planned life turned topsy-turvy in only a few days.
Shades of Grey is delightful and just what I expected of a Jasper Fforde novel - witty, clever, and absurd - so I was prepared to enjoy Eddie's story but there is a darkness to this novel. The dystopian world of Chromatacia is evocative of We, Brave New World, and 1984 with issues of class, self-determination, and freedom at the heart of the story. The suggestion that something sinister lurks at the heart of Chromatacia sets the stage for a fantastic story arc to carry through the next two books in the trilogy. I also greatly enjoyed Fforde's ability to build this world, making it understandable and believable to the reader, without resorting to stretches of exposition. Shades of Grey has a little something for everyone - action, romance, thrills, yucks - and it's a great book to start off the new year.
For a little "something extra" visit the Jasper Fforde website - click on the "Shades of Grey" graphic to access the special features for Shades of Grey and see what was rolling around Fforde's bean while writing the book.
Jeff Vandermeer's latest is a tough one to categorize. Is it Fantasy?, New Weird?, Hardboiled Detective?, or Science Fiction? Yes. But the easiest way to describe it is "The best book you haven't read this year." Mixing genre tropes has become such a common practice among writers today, that it can become easy to overlook titles as just another Paranormal Romance, or Detective Fantasy, etc. Don't do that with Finch. This is that perfect mix. Finch is Lovecraft, Chandler, and so much more.
Finch is the last book in the Ambergris cycle, following City of Saints and Madmen and Shriek, and like its predecessors works perfectly as a stand alone, so don't feel you have to read the first 2 before Finch (but they are great too). John Finch's latest case is a double murder that looks to be unsolvable. With his inhuman Grey Cap bosses (who make Big Brother's government seem Utopian) demanding results he sets to find the truth, through the decrepit, decaying, and transforming Ambergris. Every clue found leads more questions and more enemies that each are trying to pull Finch in their direction. By turn funny, compassionate, brutal, dark, weird, and packed with beautifully crafted prose, Finch is like nothing you have read before.
Finch is that rare book that you can't wait to read, stealing every free moment you have until you are finished, and one that you can't stop recommending to friends, strangers, family. Best Book of the Year!
If you need something to hold you over until George R.R. Martin finishes the long-awaited A Dance of Dragons, then give his protégé, Daniel Abraham, a try. His Long Price Quartet is elegantly written, complementing the elegance of its peoples who use poses to accentuate their words. The most fascinating aspect of his series, however, is the relationships between poet and andat. Poets, in this sense, find the perfect combination of words to describe a god (andat), thus binding it in human form. If they fail, they die excruciating deaths. Once an andat is captured, the poet must struggle constantly to control it. This gives the poets unimaginable power, but mostly they use the andat for economic reasons, such as mining, or extracting seeds from cotton. Meanwhile, the andat want nothing more than to escape. It is a beautifully written and unique series, and the best handselling point is that there is no waiting for the next book. The quartet is complete.
Some of you may have seen my posts about Sookie Stackhouse and the Southern Vampire Novels. This is the most recent addition to the collection. Be aware before you get too excited: this is a collection of short stories already published in various anthologies! Nevertheless, I am a diehard fan of the series (aka I cannot WAIT for more!) and loved getting to stave off my craving for a little longer. The wait between books can sometimes feel like forever so a little extra Sookie was nice. That being said, if you're NOT a diehard fan just looking for every last little bit of Sookie you can get, this will probably not be satisfying for you. The stories are pretty short (even as short stories go) and don't really have much to them. They feel more like deleted scenes from previous books (which I happen to like to watch in movies so that works for me). It fills in some interesting tidbits. You get to see when Sookie first hears about (and then meets) Claude. You also get to see her first encounter with Mr. Cataliades and her first run-in with the Queen of Louisiana. There's also a little bit of Bubba (and who doesn't love that?) and some insight into Eric's personality. There's also a part where you realize that Niall actually is a pretty cool guy to have as a great-grandfather (if a bit unconventional in the way he handles Christmas gifts...).
All in all I liked it a whole lot but will tailor my recommendation just for people who feel the same way I do about picking up every little bit possible. Enjoy these deleted scenes and I'll be back in May when the next book comes out!
PS - The short story collections are Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, Many Bloody Returns, Bite, Unusual Suspects, and Powers of Detection.
I enjoy listening to audio books. I find that time passes much more quickly at work or on long drive when I have one playing. For me, the two most important things I look for in a new audio book are a great story and a great reader, which is why I loved the Chronicles of Narnia CD Box Set. You probably already know that the stories by C. S. Lewis are classic works of fantasy, but the great actors that were recruited to perform for the audio versions--including Patrick Stewart, Kenneth Branagh, and Lynn Redgrave--increase their enjoyability greatly. My personal favorite on this collection is The Magician's Nephew as read by Michael York; I could listen to him read the phone book and never get bored. I would recommend this collection to both adults and children; it's the perfect choice for family road trips.
I read a Garth Nix book when I was much younger, called Shade's Children and loved it. I was doing my closing walk-through the kids department and saw the set of Seventh Tower Series 1-3 books just sitting there. On a whim, I picked it up. The first chapter is incredibly full of suspense and leaves you not knowing what happens for the entire first book (the second chapter starts a flashback). The books are short, fun, and fast-paced so I could read each one in about a day. As a matter of fact, I finished 4, 5, and 6 between the hours of 11 pm and 6 am one night when I should have been sleeping for school the next day because I was so enrapt I could not bear to not finish the entire series. I highly suggest if you are going to start these, you get the combined books (you can order 1-3 all in one book and 4-6 all in one book) because they each end on cliffhangers. Luckily, I didn't have to wait in between books.
While clearly written for juvenile readers, the series was quite thought-provoking and deeply into the realm of science fiction/fantasy. The entire series takes place in a world that could be ours in the distant future perhaps, in which a "veil" covers the planet and keeps out the sun (and shadows, coincidentally, which makes more sense later on). As a result, there are those who live in "the castle" kept warm by lava floes under the ground and lit by sunstones, and those who live on the ice and have adapted to the dark and freezing temperatures. When one accustomed to the castle winds up on the ice, an impressive adventure ensues. The main character, Tal, has to use only what limited magic he's been taught and the unwilling help of an icecarl, to get back to the castle, get a sunstone, travel to the spirit world of Aenir to get a shadowguard and save his mother, protect his brother and sister, and find his father. Or at least that's how it begins. He also manages to discover corruption and an ensuing war that his family is caught up in.
I recommend these books for children, teens, and adults. Adults - take a day off from what you normally read and enjoy something you don't usually do. You might just be surprised!
The rest of the books are: Castle (Seventh Tower Series #2), Aenir (Seventh Tower Series #3), Above the Veil (Seventh Tower Series #4), Into Battle (Seventh Tower Series #5), and The Violet Keystone (Seventh Tower Series #6). The sets are Seventh Tower(1-3) and Seventh Tower (4-6).
How does memory constitute identity? What is it to be human? Such immense questions underlie much of the gripping drama in Stephanie Meyer's latest novel, The Host. Melanie, a protagonist of this psychological thriller, guides her other part using memories and her internal voice. She helps her other part to adapt to new challenging emotions, pains, and relationships. Trapped between two societies, they find themselves on a quest to find loved ones and learn who can be trusted. If you did not find any interest to read Meyer's Twilight series, than perhaps you were waiting for her to exhibit her talent in this science fiction novel that is likely to be the premiere of a new exciting series.
Whenever someone asks me what the best book I've read this year is, I answer with The Hunger Games. In Katniss Everdeen's world, which is set in a not-so-different future, America has come to be run by a totalitarian government, and has simply been divided into thirteen districts. The people of Katniss's District 12 live mostly in poverty, thanks to the legend of District 13. The story goes that District 13 tried to rebel against the government, which then nuked the entire district. In order to keep the remaining twelve districts from trying anything similar, the government came up with the Hunger Games.
Every year, all children from the ages of 12-18 must enter their name in the Reaping. One boy and one girl from each district are selected at random to participate as tributes in the Hunger Games, in which all twenty-four children must fight to the death in a diabolical stadium. The Games are all broadcast live, and they don't end until there is only one child left alive. The prize for winning? Food, wealth, and a sturdy home for the winner and their family for the rest of their life. Poor children can enter their names into the Reaping more than once for an extra rations of food, making their chances of being picked even greater -- but the risk is worth it, since the government controls the trade of food between districts so tightly. The Games are a symbol of the government's power to the people of the districts, but to those who live in the Capitol (a place of great wealth, vanity, and frivolity), the Games are pure entertainment. It's a twisted mess of survival and reality television where drama and danger can earn you helpful gifts from your sponsors based on how much the Capitol viewers like you.
16-year-old Katniss, of course, ends up as a tribute in the Hunger Games. Katniss is a born fighter -- she alone has provided food for her family since her father died. She relies only on herself, and is very clever and stubborn. She has a real chance of winning the games and coming home like she promised her little sister she would. She steels herself to be ready to do what's necessary to get home, but when the Games begin, she finds that she has more trouble with the concept of killing the other tributes than she realized. This compassion, and the subsequent anger and frustration at the world she lives in, is part of what makes Katniss such a relatable narrator. She is forced to become a person she doesn't like (which includes killing and participating in a fake romance to garner sympathy from viewers) in order to survive.
Once you pick up The Hunger Games, you won't be able to put it down. It's definitely a thrill ride, with Katniss facing inevitable death with every turn of the page, but it's also got plenty of heart, as Katniss struggles to remain herself through this horrible ordeal. The series is classified as Teen, but it has widespread appeal, and adults will love it, too.
And once you've devoured The Hunger Games, you can pick up the second book in the trology, Catching Fire, which was just released. Catching Fire is just as terrifyingly good as the first book, but it delves even more into the history and politics of the Capitol and the Districts, and you'll discover the lengths the Capitol is willing to go to in order to crush any sign of a rebellion.
Jimmy Stark, a small-time magician from Los Angeles, has spent the past eleven years in hell. He's been fighting demons gladiator-style for their entertainment, and somehow he's survived. But when he finds out that the same people who betrayed him by banishing him to hell have killed the only woman he ever loved, he manages to break out of hell to seek his revenge. This ends up involving taking over the video store now run by the bottom-rung magician from the group who betrayed Stark, but that's all part of the fun. Sandman Slim is part urban fantasy and part gritty detective novel. It's also downright hilarious at times. Stark has a sarcastic wit to rival Harry Dresden's, keeps a severed head (living, just temporarily detached from its body) in his closet for questioning, and has to convince the video store clerk to teach him about the internet. No doubt any fan of The Dresden Files will love Sandman Slim -- like Dresden, Stark is cynical and heavy on the sarcasm, not to mention technology-illiterate, but Sandman is R-rated to Dresden's PG-13. The tone is much darker, and Stark is a man on a mission, hell-bent on revenge. I'd definitely recommend this to fans of Dresden, or of any of Neil Gaiman's work, but this is a great choice for anyone who likes fantasy and is looking for something new and engaging.
This is one of my all-time favorite books. I have read it more times than I can count and have given it as a gift to every friend, family member, or person I don't know very well who needed a gift because it is great for all age groups and different types of people. You don't have to be a science fiction fan to enjoy it, although Ender's Game and its sequel, Speaker for the Dead, both won the Hugo and Nebula awards for outstanding sci fi. I first found Ender's Game in my middle school library and picked it up because it said something about gifted children and I had been in gifted classes so I thought it might be about something like that. I read it in a little under a week and was completely hooked. I immediately wanted everyone I knew to read it because I felt like it was something that needed to be shared. I read it a few years later in high school and found whole new aspects of it I'd never noticed the first time. I started following the rest of the series, which divides and follows two main characters (I followed both). The next books that follow the character, Bean, stay in the same difficulty level. The ones that follow Ender turn into more hard-core science fiction, but were still thrilling. For this reason, the book is sometimes coded as children's, sometimes teen, and sometimes adult science fiction. It can definitely be read and enjoyed at any age! The story itself is essentially about an Earth of the future, united under a world government that formed when the "Buggers" attacked Earth decades earlier. Since that time the International Fleet has started taking incredibly bright young children away to Battle School, a space station designed solely for training future soldiers. Andrew (Ender) Wiggin is an illegal "third" in the population controlled world but the International Fleet has already turned down his older brother, Peter, and older sister, Valentine, for Battle School so his parents are allowed a third child. Ender winds up in Battle School having to participate with his "army" in a series of war-games. Meanwhile his brother and sister manipulate Earth's politics and we learn more about the International Fleet. The conclusion is shocking and hits hard, leaving you hoping there's more. And there is of course!
