You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Young Adult’ category.
Tahereh Mafi
Allen and Unwin (2011)
ISBN: 978-1-74237-820-6
Reviewed by Tehani Wessely
Shatter Me is an impressive debut novel from Tahereh Mafi, employing an unusual structural style to tell a not-quite-linear narrative following characters you come to love and loathe. While not marketed as such, it is apparently book one of a trilogy, but don’t let that deter you – this book stands alone quite well, and comes to a satisfying conclusion while leaving you wanting more.
Juliette is in isolation, restricted to a cell to “protect” society from her deadly touch. She thinks she might be going insane, in solitary confinement, and when her captors throw a young man into the cell with her, she’s certain of it, sure that one or both of them is intended now to die. But Adam is not what he appears, and it seems that the Reestablishment – the organisation that gained power after the world tried to destroy itself – has other plans for Juliette. Can she somehow gain back control of her own life, and perhaps even find a semblance of a normal life?
Brigid Kemmerer
Elementals, book 1
Kensington
ISBN: 9780758272812
Reviewed by Tamara Felsinger
Do you remember the days before YA paranormals were big, and you actually enjoyed the genre?
No? This book isn’t for you.
Yes? That’s a different story.
I cringe at the thought of reading YA paranormals these days, but I couldn’t say no to this one. The plot sounded so similar to my first manuscript that I just had to see how the author did it. Now I’m so glad I had the chance to read Storm. While some of the YA clichés are still there, Storm has enough to help it stand out from the crowd. It felt like it was written by someone who actually remembered what it was like to be a teenager. It awoke the teen-fangurl in me, something not many other books have been able to claim. Plus there are five super hot guys in it.
Garth Nix
Allen & Unwin (2012)
ISBN: 978 1 74175 861 0
Reviewed by Jason Nahrung
The foundation of this YA space opera from Garth Nix in a proposed computer game is apparent, but well controlled and logical. What is a quest if not a series of challenges, each developing a strength and teaching a lesson?
For Khemri, those lessons can be lethal, and increasingly serve to acquaint him with what it means to be human, or rather, an everyday citizen. To think, that someone might sacrifice themselves for another, out of desire and not coercion…
Khemri is one of millions of enhanced, purpose-crafted princes who control the empire within a bureaucratic framework of priests under an overarching Imperial Mind. Nix’s universe utilises three core technologies: mechanical, biological and psychic. It’s a wonderfully drawn world, from its terminology to its weaponry and medical tech, communications and transport, to the computer game idea of respawning or resurrection, new Battlestar Galactica style, after death. Read the rest of this entry »
Lauren Oliver
Delirium, book 2
HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780062101990
Reviewed by Stephanie Gunn
Pandemonium is the second book in Lauren Oliver’s YA trilogy beginning with Delirium.
In the future world of these books, love has been declared a disease – deemed amor deliria nervosa. Several decades after its identification as a disease, and forty-three years before the events of Delirium, a cure was discovered. When people reach the age of eighteen, they undergo brain surgery to cure them of the deliria. Before the cure, they are assessed and matched to the individual they are to marry and have children with.
Lena, the teenage protagonist of the books, had assumed that, like her older sister, she would be cured when she turned eighteen. Lena looked forward to her cure, and to freedom from the disease. Her mother had been driven mad by the deliria, remaining in love with her family and friends despite three attempted cures. In Deliria, Lena’s carefully planned life was upturned when she met Alex, an uncured “Invalid”, and she succumbed to the deliria herself, falling in love with Alex.
Kady Cross
Steampunk Chronicles, book 2
Harlequin
ISBN: 9780373210534
Reviewed by Tehani Wessely
I discovered this series by chance, attracted by the gorgeous cover of the first book, The Girl in the Steel Corset, on the shelves of my local variety store. I picked it up on a whim, and absolutely loved it, so was delighted to be able to get a review copy of this, the second book, from NetGalley.
Finley Jayne has experienced a lot of life in her sixteen years. She’s not what you would call “normal”, but is working towards living her life as a whole person – rather than a conflicted creature not even she trusts – with the help of her “straynge band of mysfit” friends, including noble Griffin, super smart and sweet Emily, and strong and surly Sam. When the misadventures of their new friend Jasper take them to America, Finley and her troupe take on a new adversary, all the while still learning about their own abilities, figuring out how their friendships work, and discovering who can truly be trusted. Read the rest of this entry »
Rae Carson
Fire and Thorns, book 1
Gollancz (2011)
ISBN: 9780575099142
Reviewed by Stephanie Gunn
Fire and Thorns (released as The Girl of Fire and Thorns in the United States) is the first book in the YA Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson, and is Carson’s debut novel.
One individual in every century is chosen at their baptism by God, a beam of light descending from above to indicate that a Godstone has been lodged in their navel. The Godstone is a living jewel which remains part of their body, only detaching at the bearer’s death. It indicates that the bearer has been chosen by God for greatness, and is required to perform an act of service during their lifetime. None know what this act is, and most of the bearers die young, many apparently without accomplishing their destiny.
Alyxandra Harvey
The Drake Chronicles
Bloomsbury (2011)
ISBN: 978-1-4088-1497-0
Reviewed by Lorraine Cormack
Bleeding Hearts is the fourth book in the Drake chronicles, following on from My Love Lies Bleeding, Blood Feud, and Out for Blood. Like its predecessors, Bleeding Heart is an enjoyable and well written young adult novel.
The Drake Chronicles follow a clear pattern. In each novel one of the seven Drake brothers falls in love. The Drake family are vampires; they are unusual in that they are not “turned” by another vampire – instead, when they turn sixteen they also turn into vampires. This significantly reduces the yuk factor when it comes to their becoming vampires; it also provides a credible explanation for the existence of an entire family of vampires. (There are some flaws if you think too hard, such as the question of why their father doesn’t look sixteen; but generally this is a well constructed world.) Importantly, it also means that we are reading stories of vampires who are either the same age as or only a few years older than the teenage girls they fall in love with. For me, this is less creepy than all those vampires who are one or two hundred years old and still fall for sixteen year olds.
Drink Slay Love
Sarah Beth Durst
Margaret K. McElderry Books (2011)
ISBN: 9781442423732
Reviewed by Tehani Wessely
I loved this from beginning to end – the snarky voice of the narration was excellent and spot on, and it was wonderful to read a YA paranormal that made complete internal sense! There’s so rarely a reason for an immortal vampire to go to school, but Durst supplied a legitimate one here, which was a treat to see.
Pearl is a sixteen year old vampire, living it up and revelling in her immortality and badness, with an almost entirely insane family and archetypical boyfriend egging her on. But things start to change almost immediately when she is staked by a unicorn’s horn, which has both physiological and psychological effects on her. Her family look to exploit her new immunity to the sun, sending her to high school to cultivate teen blood, which has some unexpected side effects of its own. Can Pearl reconcile the new aspects of her nature with her family’s needs and wishes, or must she turn her back on them all to reconcile with her new nature?
Celine Kiernan
Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 978-1-74237-752-0
Reviewed by Lorraine Cormack
Reading Taken Away was a rather unexpected experience, largely because the blurb on the back bore very little resemblance to what the story was actually about. It was quite a good story, and I enjoyed the novel; it’s just that it was not at all what I had anticipated.
The story opens in 1974 on the night that Dom and Pat’s senile grandmother burns down their house. They weren’t rich to start with, but now they have nothing. The family must essentially start again, and to do so they move into the house they normally rent for holidays. It’s not much fun living in a holiday house when you’re not on holiday. A lot of the flaws that you never notice when you’re in a good mood and the place is bursting with relatives suddenly become obvious.
Sarah Silverwood
Nowhere Chronicles, Book 2
ISBN: 978-0-575-09580-9
Gollancz
Reviewed by Lorraine Cormack
The Traitor’s Gate is book two of the Nowhere Chronicles, following on from The Double-Edged Sword. Like the first, this is an outstanding young adult novel which deserves a wide audience, including of older readers.
In volume one, Finmere Tingewick Smith – Fin to his friends – discovered that there are doors between worlds, including the Somewhere (our world) and the Nowhere. The orphaned Fin is not sure of his origins – no one is – but it becomes clear that he is critical to the survival of both worlds. Much intrigue and action followed.
In volume two, the story picks up some months later. Although Fin and his friends thought they had, perhaps, saved the worlds and fulfilled the Prophecy, there are ominous signs of trouble. The Story Holder has not yet been able to reclaim all of the Five Eternal Stories that hold the worlds together. In the Nowhere, something is wandering the streets, attacking people and leaving them mad and dangerous. And in the Somewhere, a crack has appeared in the Prophecy table.
