By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Mystery & Suspense, Mystery & Suspense (YA), Romance (YA), Sci Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

A hidden past and an uncertain future.  There are mysteries around every shady corner in Atlantia, a crumbling underwater world, once hailed as the last outpost of humanity on earth.  But now, the formerly glorious city is barely breathing, hanging on by the annual exchange of minerals (and people) for food and resources from their long-estranged sister city Above.  The people are restless, afraid, engaged in black market trading in their Deepmarket, and looking to the corrupt priesthood for answers and hope. At the center of this dying world is Rio, daughter of the recently deceased woman who was the beloved leader of their people, and whose mysteriousRead More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure, Action & Adventure (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Multicultural, Multicultural (YA), Mystery & Suspense, Mystery & Suspense (YA), Sci Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Legendary comic book writer Stan Lee‘s first prose novel, Convergence, is going to fly off your shelves.   A mismatched group of regular teens has suddenly been imbued with mystical ancient powers, linked to the animals of the Chinese zodiac.   At the center is 14 year old Chinese American Steven Lee, who has never really felt like he fits in anywhere and more than anything, wishes he could be a hero.  On a school trip to Hong Kong, Steven stumbles into an underground cavern where he’s unwittingly caught up in an energy convergence that gives him the deadly powers of the Tiger.  Steven’s power comesRead More →

By:
On:
In: Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

When ice caps collapsed and lowlands flooded, earth was in chaos, human survival was in jeopardy, and people grew desperate.   Out of this chaos grew two superpowers that seized the few resources remaining.  These actions led to civil wars and to international breakdown.   During an economy-crushing petroleum embargo, many Earthbound individuals fled to Lunar Base, “a beacon of humanity for the glory of science” (47). Through mind-numbing propaganda, not unlike that spewed in 1984 by George Orwell, lunar citizens recite a National Anthem and other political slogans that brainwash them into believing untruths about security, life essentials, employment, and community connections.  Organized much like theRead More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure (YA), Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Boston, Massachusetts, teen turned Montana transplant, Tella Holloway has taken on the challenge of the Brimstone Bleed to save her brother Cody’s life.  Tella used to be “the girl who catalogued sandwich shops by which had the best oatmeal cookies.  Now [she’s] the girl who catalogs death and the girl who vows revenge” (187).  She’s not the lone Contender in this competition that covers four ecosystems: desert, jungle, ocean, and mountain; each with its own misery, dangers, and threats.  Because it is a sequel, Salt and Stone by Victoria Scott features the last two ecosystems and picks up the plot where Fire and Flood leftRead More →

By:
On:
In: Mystery & Suspense (YA), Romance (YA), Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

“The universe is in fact a multiverse. Countless dimensions exist, all layered within one another.  Each dimension represents one set of possibilities. Essentially, everything that can happen does happen.” (6)  I love this idea.  Not only as the premise for Claudia Gray‘s new series, which debuts this Fall with A Thousand Pieces of You, but as a thought experiment and a beacon of wonder.  One tiny choice can change your destiny, right? Imagine who you’d be if you’d chosen another career, a different partner, or even driven to work on a different route.  Of course, all these minor changes probably don’t amount to much inRead More →

By:
On:
In: Mystery & Suspense (YA), Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Tomorrow’s the Big Day.  Seventeen years and not much to show for it.  The day of the Senior Prom; but for Denton Little, it’s his last day on Earth.  Tomorrow, somehow, he’ll die. Ever since his Death Date was revealed to him at age five, Denton’s just wanted to “live a normal life.”  Not one for taking risks or pushing the envelope, Denton doesn’t really have much of a list of accomplishments or awesome experiences to call his own, just a lot of run of the mill, boring stuff.  Sure, some people in this world where your death date is determined based on genetics, statistics,Read More →

By:
On:
In: Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Those who bristle at the mention of fantasy literature often suggest that believing in magic or miracles is a snare and a crutch, that society will only realize its full potential if we depend on our brains and strong arms instead.  But where would we be without hope, that irrational but powerful force with the ability to magic us back to mental health and give us the strength to carry on against impossible odds?  This is one of the questions posed by Lauren Kate in Water Fall, a novel that explores the power of emotions in the context of an ancient conflict between the SleepingRead More →

By:
On:
In: Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

Gamers often play video games for the thrill of the game, for the confidence-building rewards as they move from level to level, or for the opportunity to act in a heroic role.  Others play for the power, competition, action, and sometimes violence experienced vicariously through the game. Although it is not played online but in real life, BZRK Apocalypse by Michael Grant describes a conflict that resembles a massive multiplayer online game (MMOG).  Grant’s science fiction thriller is the last in the BZRK trilogy, and the stakes in this final battle are high; the fate of BZRK players is death or madness.  Sixteen-year-old Sadie McLure, akaRead More →

By:
On:
In: Action & Adventure (YA), General Book Reviews, Mystery & Suspense (YA), Realistic Fiction (YA), Romance (YA), Sci-Fi & Fantasy (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
With: 0 Comments

One part mystery, one part science fiction, and one part realism with a dash of romance and a huge helping of dystopian fiction, Now That You’re Here by Amy K. Nichols is a multi-genre novel, one that potentially holds appeal for a wide variety of readers.   It plays what if in many of the intriguing ways that Libba Bray posed possibilities in Going Bovine. Set in Phoenix, Arizona, Nichols book explores the presence of parallel universes and whether teleportation—universe jumping—may occur via electromagnetism.  And who better to perform the research than a couple of teens seeking a science fair project? Eevee Solomon, a sophomore at Palo BreaRead More →