REVIEW: KISS OF LIFE - DANIEL WATERS

From Amazon.co.uk: When Phoebe’s best friend Adam takes a bullet for her, it proves everyone right - Adam is in love with her. And now that he’s come back to life, Phoebe’s more important than ever. A zombie can come back from death faster if they’re loved - and kissed… which means Phoebe has to say goodbye to Tommy Williams, the other zombie in her life. While coaxing Adam back to reality and fending off Tommy’s advances, Phoebe tries to carry on as normal. But what’s normal when teenagers are rising from the dead and scores of others want nothing more than to send them back to their graves? And does having a zombie boyfriend make Phoebe a target too?

Zombies. They’re a puzzling species. As a major fan of fantasy and horror, I adore most supernatural archetypes, especially when they’re the love interest for a human protagonist. Werewolves? No problem. Faeries? Love ’em. Vampires? Can’t get enough. So why is it I’m a little reluctant about z-romance? Don’t get me wrong, I love me some zombies when they’re trying to eat human brains. What could be scarier then the infected in 28 Days Later, or more desperate than the unconsecrated in The Forest of Hands and Teeth? Very little, that’s what. And yet, as romantic leads… I’m not so convinced.

Somehow, I managed to put these feelings aside when I read Daniel Waters’ Generation Dead. If you haven’t read it yet and don’t want to stop! reading! here! to avoid the spoilers ahead… the premise is that teenagers across America are rising from the grave, causing the rest of the nation to basically freak out. These ‘living impaired’ or ‘differently biotic’ kids generally just want the chance to go about their living deaths in peace - going to school, dating, minding their own business - but face a whole heap of prejudice from the majority of living people. I took a leap with Generation Dead. I told myself to stop thinking about the fact that some of these characters are basically corpses and therefore icky, and to engage with the social commentary. There were, after all, fascinating parallels with many types of prejudice that pervade our society - and if it gets readers thinking about how they can contribute to overcoming prejudice (their own and other people’s), that’s a wonderful thing. That was enough for me, and I found a lot to enjoy in Generation Dead.

The problem is, Kiss of Life is a sequel. I’ve already taken on board the message from the first book and marvelled at Daniel Waters’ cleverness in drawing these parallels. To enjoy Kiss of Life, I was going to need more than a message. I was going to need pages filled with emotion, or a can't-put-it-down plot, or major character-love. Did I find it? Um…

My initial attempt at reading Kiss of Life fizzled out pretty fast. The book opens with newlydead Adam adjusting - or rather, not adjusting - to his undeath. To illustrate the physical difficulty of this, some chapters are told from Adam’s point of view, as he tries to get his words out in a stilted stream-of-consciousness that I actually found quite tired at first. Goth-girl Phoebe is trying her hardest to be there for him, largely out of guilt - after all, he died trying to save her. Overall, I felt as though I’d been here before. The inner turmoil about whether she really loved Adam, or just owed him her support didn’t seem that far removed from her feelings about Tommy in Generation Dead. I certainly wasn’t hooked, and I ended up putting the book to one side in favour of other reads I was more excited about.

I’m a big believer in second chances, and I also know that sometimes it’s not the book, it’s me. So, this weekend I went back to Kiss of Life. This attempt was more successful. The Phoebe / Adam storyline seems all-over-the-place - first it’s a love triangle, then it’s not, then maybe it is - and that really didn’t pick up for me. However, the secondary characters really come into their own in this instalment. There’s a sweet romance involving Colette, and Phoebe’s friendship with zombie Karen DeSonne was another high point. Karen is so fully reanimated that she’s able to pass as a living girl, and as someone who is accepted by the beating hearts but identifies as a zombie she’s full of conflict, which makes for a truly fascinating character. There are also revelations about the Hunter Foundation that I didn’t see coming, which set up some promising material for the next book in the series.

However, I found Kiss of Life ultimately lacking in action. This book won't be the one to convince me that zombies can be romantic - less because of the ickiness, and more because I just didn't like the romantic leads enough. If you adored Generation Dead, you'll probably enjoy this one, because it's more of the same. As in Generation Dead, the prejudice against zombies is a major focus of this sequel - and although Waters goes a little deeper with this theme in Kiss of Life, I think the point was made well enough the first time around.

In My Mailbox (4)

In My Mailbox (4)

Thanks to the awesome Kristi of The Story Siren for hosting this meme.

Plague 99 - Jean Ure
From book cover: How can three teenagers, Fran, Harriet and Shahid, survive a plague that has killed their parents and left London a ghost town? Fran is gentle, used to being led by Harriet, Harriet is used to having fun, Shahid is used to taking orders from his autocratic father. Now they just have one another…

I love end of the world books, and this is one I’m going to reread for Time Travel Tuesday. It’s about a teenager who returns from a wilderness trip to find that almost everyone in London has died from a deadly disease. It’s set almost exactly where I grew up, making it a particularly spooky read for me the first time round.


Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
From book cover: Katniss Everdeen survived The Hunger Games. Now the Capitol wants revenge.


Does this one need any explanation?

Already read and reviewed (and fangirled over) below.




Forever - Judy Blume
Summary from Amazon: There's a first for everything. When you build up something in your mind -- really imagine it, wish for it -- sometimes, when it actually happens, it doesn't live up to your expectations. True love is nothing like that.
Especially not for Katherine and Michael, who can't get enough of each other. Their relationship is unique: sincere, intense, and fun all at the same time. Although they haven't been together all that long, they know it's serious. A whole world opens up as young passion and sexuality bloom.
But it's senior year of high school, and there are big changes ahead. Michael and Katherine are destined for another big "first": a decision. Is this the love of a lifetime, or the very beginning of a lifetime of love?

Donna at Bites posted about ALA’s Banned Books Week on Thursday, and I decided it would be interesting to join in and write some related posts about frequently ‘challenged’ YA books. Judy Blume’s Forever was the seventh most challenged book in the 1990s so I’m starting with that one.

Review: Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

From book cover: Katniss Everdeen survived the Hunger Games. Now the Capitol wants revenge.

Anticipation is a funny thing. Like many people, I loved The Hunger Games, and I’ve been looking forward to book two in the series ever since I read the words ‘end of book one’. My excitement about Catching Fire has been steadily building all year until this week when, quite frankly, I was practically grinding my teeth with excitement. Then the moment came. I had the book in my hands. I had time set aside to read. And then, at the last minute, I got a little bit nervous. Had I overhyped this book in my own mind, to the point where it could never live up to my expectations?

As it turned out, no, I hadn’t. Catching Fire is every bit as exhilarating, as satisfying and as compelling as I’d hoped. Not many books could live up to the anticipation I’d felt about the sequel to The Hunger Games, but this one did on every level. The story thrilled me, the characters found their way instantly back into my heart, and I lost myself in Katniss Everdeen’s world all over again.

Suzanne Collins has widened her scope in this book, so this time around we find out more about the world outside of the hunger games tournament itself. We meet the ruthless President Snow, visit other districts on Katniss and Peeta’s victory tour, and begin to understand the true extent - and limits - of the Capitol’s power. At the same time, we follow Katniss’s deepening relationships with those around her, and witness her beginning to look beyond her concern for the safety of those she loves and towards a concern about everyone and anyone who is oppressed by the Capitol. Katniss has choices to make, and it’s not initially clear which path she’ll follow. Then, a third of the way into the book, just as it seems clear what she’ll do, comes a complete shocker of a twist - and suddenly the stakes have trebled.

As in The Hunger Games, the world-building in Catching Fire is exemplary. One of my favourite things about the series is the fact that it takes place in a future version of our world that has changed beyond recognition in some ways, whilst in others it’s more familiar to us than it is to Katniss herself. I’d still love to know what exactly happened to the world as we know it to turn it into the one that Katniss knows, but it’s the small differences that are most fascinating. The squirrel-like animal that Katniss eats for one meal might be a genetically engineered hybrid of her time, or it might be something completely familiar to the reader that she’s never seen before. Her shock and fear at witnessing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation might be surprising to us, and yet she’s unfazed to find a force field around the top of a tall building to stop potential suicides from jumping off.

I read Catching Fire at breakneck speed, and I have to confess that no matter how much I told myself to slow down and fully experience the journey, I just couldn’t help racing through each page to find out what would happen next. With some books, I probably wouldn’t have felt in the least bit torn about this - I’d have just enjoyed the feeling of being caught up in the story, and not given it a second thought. However, in a Suzanne Collins book there is much to appreciate beyond the bare bones of the story itself, and for this reason I will definitely be giving this book a (less manic) second read. Now I know what happens, I’ll have the patience to retrace my steps and enjoy how it happens. I can recall some of the tiny details that foreshadowed the major twist at the end of the book, but I’m very confident that - as with The Hunger Games - a reread will unearth a whole lot more besides.

I’m not sure I can agree with those who say that this book is better than the first. It goes deeper than the first book, it raises the stakes, and Katniss develops satisfyingly as a heroine - but I can’t think of any way in which it definitively surpasses The Hunger Games. The ending is more of a cliffhanger, but that's a mixed blessing when you're probably going to be hanging for an entire year! What I can say is that it’s every bit as good, and that’s a big enough achievement for any sequel with so much to live up to. They’re both a must-read, and if you haven’t read The Hunger Games then my advice is to get both, set aside a few days and prepare to become obsessed. This one’s compulsive.

Throwdown Thursday (3)

Throwdown Thursday is a new meme started by Kate at The Neverending Shelf. This is a weekly thing where we tackle books with similar characters, covers, themes, etc. to determine which one rocks more. And it is up to YOU to determine the winner!

Last week, my throwdown was between Cyn Balog’s Fairy Tale and Aprilynne Pike’s Wings. And the winner was…

Actually, it was a tie. It seems you guys think this blog is big enough for the both of ’em, and I would have to agree.

My throwdown this week is between two YA books in the speculative fiction genre where, whatever else the protagonists do, there's a pretty good chance they're going under the knife. In the first, all teenagers undergo drastic surgery at sixteen - new noses, new teeth, new bones… whether they want them or not. In the second, any teenager who isn’t wanted can be ‘unwound’ for their body parts: dissected while they’re still alive… until they’re not.





Uglies by Scott Westerfeld?











Or Unwind by Neal Shusterman?







Which one gets your vote?

Waiting On Wednesday (3): Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This morning, as I was on my way to work, it was clear to me what my Waiting On Wednesday pick would be. A book I've been desperate to read for months and months and months. A book I've dreamt about. A book that the phrase 'waiting on' was invented for.

Summary from Amazon: After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen returns to her district, hoping for a peaceful future. But Katniss starts to hear rumours of a deadly rebellion against the Capitol. A rebellion that she and Peeta have helped to create. As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. Unless Katniss and Peeta can convince the world that they are still lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying...

On my way to work this morning, I started to write this post in my head. Basically what it came down to was this: how can anyone who has read The Hunger Games not be desperate to read Catching Fire? I just don't think it's possible. As far as I knew, the UK release was scheduled for the 1st September, the same as the US one - and I couldn't wait.

And then, people, a beautiful thing happened. I was walking past my favourite bookstore, having a little daydream in which I walked in to the YA section and Catching Fire was already on the shelf. So I went inside (hey, I just can't pass a bookstore without going in). And there it was, just like in my daydream. Catching Fire. So I picked it up, and bought it, thinking all the time that the assistant would suddenly tell me it was out by mistake and snatch my dreams away. When I made it out of the store with my copy, it was all I could do not to break into a run.

So... what was a Waiting On Wednesday pick this morning has turned into a Not Waiting On Wednesday post. You'll have to excuse me now. I'm off to read!

Time Travel Tuesday: The Giver - Lois Lowry

At I Was A Teenage Book Geek, Tuesdays are for time travel. Every week, I’ll delve into the YA bookshelves of years gone by and review a book that most definitely isn’t a new release. It might not even be a recent release. It might be five years old, or ten, or twenty. So that’s the deal: I’ll read it, and let you know whether I think it’s worth you reading it too. The book won’t necessarily be about time travel. Although it might be.

I first read Lois Lowry’s The Giver in the nineties, back when I still used the internet for pointless things like assignments rather than trawling the YA book blogs for potential wishlist fodder. This may be why it only recently came to my attention that Lowry has since published two companion books, A Gathering Blue and The Messenger. I don't know about you, but I tend to think it’s important to reread a book in preparation for a long-awaited sequel.

Eleven-year-old Jonas lives in a perfect world where sameness is the key to happiness. All children are the offspring of specially selected birthmothers they will never know, are looked after by communal nurturers until age one, and are then named by the Elders and placed with their chosen parents. Every morning, each family shares any dreams they may have had. There’s no conflict, no crime, and very little physical pain. At nine all children are given bicycles, and at twelve the Elders bestow upon them the career path they will follow.

At his turning-twelve ceremony, when his peers receive assignments as Doctors or Engineers, Jonas is selected for a role he knows nothing about: Receiver of Memory. He is sent to the current Receiver for training, and here he begins to find out exactly what his world is missing. He alone is to receive the memories of life before this perfect world - of concepts, sensations and feelings his world has no place for. He is to experience pain. He alone is to see.

Rereading this book, I was mainly struck by how clever it is. In the opening chapters, Jonas seems to be happy. He’s a little puzzled that an apple seems to ‘change’ in front of him in a way he can’t explain, but he’s secure in his world, and the other characters seem to treat each other with respect. Anyone exhibiting rudeness towards another person apologises at once; this is always answered with an acceptance of the apology. However, Lowry weaves in insidious little details - the community’s rules about imprecision of language, and the way Jonas’s seven-year-old sister refers to her toy elephant as her ‘comfort object’ - that gradually build into an awareness that there is something seriously wrong with this perfect world of sameness.

The Giver is a concise but powerful read. We never find out how Jonas’s society has achieved its culture of sameness, and although I would love to know how Lowry would explain this, it’s really not necessary to appreciate the book’s message. This is the kind of book that stays with you. If you haven’t read The Giver yet, you should.

Review: How to Ditch Your Fairy - Justine Larbalestier

From book jacket: Welcome to New Avalon, where everyone has a personal fairy. Though invisible to the naked eye, a personal fairy - like a specialized good luck charm - is vital to a person’s success. It might just determine whether you make a sports team, pass a class, or find that perfect outfit. But for fourteen-year-old Charlie, having a Parking Fairy is worse than having nothing at all—especially when the school bully carts her around like his own personal parking pass. Enter: The Plan. At first, teaming up with archenemy Fiorenze (who has an All-The-Boys-Like-You Fairy) seems like a great idea. But when Charlie unexpectedly gets her heart’s desire, it isn’t at all what she thought it would be like, and she’ll have resort to extraordinary measures to set things right. The question is: will Charlie herself survive the fairy ditching experiment?

The thing about Justine Larbalestier is, she writes the most perfect first chapters in existence. Okay, that’s actually just one thing about her. She also populates her books with insanely likeable characters, and she gives them great voice. How To Ditch Your Fairy is no exception. My copy arrived in the mail as I was on my way out, and I took it in the car with me. I meant to just glance at the first pages, but I was basically hooked from the first sentence - much to the annoyance of my mother, who was depending on me to map-read, and could have done without the intermittent snorts of mirth.

Fourteen year old Charlie is the sporty and stubborn heroine who wants to ditch her parking fairy in favour of a more exciting one. I don’t often read books with sporty protagonists - for some reason, heroines in fantasy tend to be bookish themselves - and I found Charlie’s self-discipline and dedication refreshing. Plus, she’s funny! I instantly found myself rooting for her, hoping that she could ditch her parking fairy, and that the object of her crush - new boy Steffi - would somehow see what he was missing.

Larbalestier is pretty vague about where HTDYF is set. New Avalon is described in an author’s note as an imaginary country, perhaps in the future, that may be an amalgam of Australia and the United States of America. As a reader, this means that you know the story is sort of rooted in reality, but not really… which is an interesting place to be. It also means that Steffi, who has recently moved to New Avalon, can criticise certain aspects of local behaviour without criticising real natives of a real city… and readers might just question whether they’re like that, without feeling they’re under personal attack. Nifty. This brings me to New Avalon’s unique slang. Maybe it’s a love-it-or-hate-it thing, but I loved it. I especially appreciated the glossary at the back of the book, giving definitions of words like doos, doxhead and spoffs. Actually, the meanings are always clear from the context, but the glossary is just cute.

The only criticism I have is that, having read the book - swept along by Charlie’s compellingly witty narration - I’m not sure what its overall message is. Actually, scratch that: I’m not even sure if it has an overall message. Don’t get me wrong, I can read a book that’s merely fun and not give two hoots whether it has anything to say or not. It’s just that, early on, I thought I knew where this book was going. I was beginning to think that the faires weren’t real, or that they represented potential, and actually what Charlie had to do was realise this and take control of her own destiny, and develop her own talents. Kind of like a comic, light-hearted version of Kristin Cashore’s ‘graces’. But - without giving too much away - the ending of the book kind of wiped out this theory, and I was left a little bit confused. It felt like this train of thought had just evaporated. I have three possible explanations for this:

1) The message is that it’s okay to believe in things that seem impossible. They might be true.
2) There are other messages in this book. The fairies may or may not be real. Get over it.
3) I fail at reading.

On this occasion, I’m inclined to go with a blend of all three. (Although, if the last option is the truth, I guess I would say that). This confusion about the book’s message didn’t diminish my enjoyment of HTDYF… it just temporarily distracted me from my enjoyment.

Overall, HTDYF is a fun, fast-paced and hugely original read with first-class world-building. I would definitely recommend this book for times when you’re all melodrama’ed out and just feel like reading something that will make you smile. Besides, who doesn’t want to believe in fairies?

In My Mailbox (3)

Thanks to Kristi of The Story Siren for hosting this fantastic meme.

How to Ditch Your Fairy - Justine Larbalestier

From book cover: I have a parking fairy. I’m fourteen years old. I can’t drive. I don’t like cars and I have a parking fairy. Rochelle gets a clothes-shopping fairy and is always well-attired; I get a parking fairy and I always smell faintly of gasoline. How fair is that?

I have been coveting this book for ages. I was trying really hard to make myself wait for the paperback version, honestly! I told myself quite firmly that paperbacks are easier to handle, they’re lighter to carry around with me, and they’re better for the environment.

On this occasion, ‘myself’ did not listen, and my hardback copy arrived Saturday morning.

Yay for my inner rebel!

Obernewtyn - Isobelle Carmody

Elspeth is one of a new breed born into a hostile world struggling back from destruction. A world where the all-powerful Council holds full sway and brutally stamps out any dissension… For Elspeth, with her ability to farseek, it is only a matter of time before she is declared Misfit and sent to an uncertain future at the sinister mountain keep of Obernewtyn. But what secrets does Obernewtyn hold? And what do the evil Madame Vega and Alexi relentlessly seek? Elspeth’s powers seem inexorably to be linked with the fate of Obernewtyn, and only she can stop them from unleashing the evil forces of the past…

I read a review of this over at Rhiannon Hart’s blog, and had one of those ‘how come I haven’t already read this book?’ moments. So I’m fixing that.

The Giver - Lois Lowry

From book cover: It is a perfect world - conformity and happiness are a way of life.

But for Jonas, things are different.

While his friends are selected to be doctors or teachers, Jonas is sent to an old, tired man - The Giver - where he begins to discover the dark secrets that lie beneath the surface of his world.

I’m revisiting this one. I remember it being awesome, and figured it was time for a reread.

Fragile Eternity - Melissa Marr

From book cover: Seth never expected to settle down forever - but that was before Aislinn. Unfortunately, forever takes on a whole new meaning when your girlfriend is a faerie queen…

Aislinn never expected to rule the very creatures which had always terrified her - but that was before Keenan. He stole her mortality, and now she faces challenges and enticements beyond any she’d ever imagined.

Wicked Lovely is one of my favourite fairy books, so I’m pretty excited about catching up with Ash, Seth and Keenan. Fingers crossed the magic is still there this time around.

True fact: I didn’t quite connect with Ink Exchange in the same way, but I did get a tattoo after reading it. Coincidence? I think not.

Feature Length Award Special

I Was A Teenage Book Geek has only been up for around three weeks, so I am genuinely amazed and thrilled to have received a few awards from my fellow bloggers. I was going to save my nominations up until I’d been going a little longer… you know, so the recipients might have maybe heard of my blog by then… but hey, I just couldn’t wait any more.

First up, I got the Zombie Chicken award from Jessica at A BookLover’s Diary. In case you don't know, Jessica's blog has a really fun rating system... which I am envious of!


The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all.

Who am I to risk the wrath of the zombie chickens? Nobody, that’s who. Luckily, it wasn’t hard to choose five bloggers whose posts I would brave undead poultry for. (Okay, it was hard to choose just five!) My nominees:

1. Alex and Lauren at A Flight of Minds
2. Rhiannon Hart
3. Steph Su at Steph Su Reads
4. Jenny at Wondrous Reads
5. Zombie Girrrl at Crackin’ Spines and Takin’ Names

Secondly, I was the lucky recipient of a Lemonade Award from Rachel at her amazingly varied blog, The Obsessive Reader.


The Lemonade Award is a feel good award that shows great attitude or gratitude. Here are the rules for accepting this award:

Put the Lemonade Award logo on your blog or post.
Nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude.
Link your nominees within your post.
Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award.

Isn’t this a great idea for an award? On this one I’ve selected bloggers whose posts have a positive attitude about them. My ten nominees are:

1. Kristi at The Story Siren
2. Kelsey at The Book Scout
3. Sophie at So Many Books, So Little Time
4. B.A.M. Book Reviews
5. Reggie at The Undercover Booklover
6. Katie at Read What You Know
7. Rebecca at Everything To Do With Books
8. Shalonda at Shalonda’s Blog
9. Carrie at Carrie’s YA Bookshelf
10. Lauren at Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf

Finally, I have been awarded the Let’s Be Friends award by Rhiannon Hart (check out her fantastic Dystopian reading challenge!) and Kelsey at The Book Scout - a blog that is especially good for finding out about fun-sounding reads you might not have heard of.


Blogs that receive the Let’s Be Friends Award are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers.

My eight nominees:

1. Jessica - A BookLover’s Diary
2. Rachel - The Obsessive Reader
3. Fay at Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm
4. Kate at The Neverending Shelf
5. Mary - The Sweet Bookshelf
6. Casey at A Passion For Books
7. Jo at Ink and Paper
8. April at Good Books and Good Wine

I follow a lot of blogs in addition to these, so I have to give a shout out to everyone on my blog roll too. You all rock!

Review: Incarceron - Catherine Fisher

From book cover: Imagine a prison so vast that it contains cells and corridors, forests, cities and seas. Imagine a prisoner with no memory, sure he came from Outside - though the prison has been sealed for centuries and only one man has ever escaped. Imagine a girl in a manor house, in a society where time is forbidden, held in a 17th-century-world run by computers, doomed to an arranged marriage, tangled in an assassination plot she dreads and desires. One inside, one outside. But both imprisoned. Imagine Incarceron.

I hadn’t heard of Catherine Fisher until nine days ago, when I happened to check out a Waiting on Wednesday post about Incarceron at Carrie’s YA Bookshelf. The summary immediately piqued my interest and I ordered a copy on a whim, figuring that if this novel was even half as good as it sounded, it would still be worth a look.

It has been one hundred and fifty years since the ruling society sealed all ‘undesirables’ away in Incarceron, along with seventy Sapienti to ‘guide’ the inmates. The descendents of the original prisoners are still contained within, trapped in a brutal existence and uncertain whether there is any ‘outside’. Among the prisoners is Finn, who believes that there is an outside and that he came from it. In contrast, those on the outside - like Claudia Arlexa, daughter of the prison’s warden - live in a world that is a near-perfect recreation of the 17th century, bound by the era’s protocol and mistakenly believing Incarceron to be a paradise.

First things first: Catherine Fisher is a master world-builder. In Incarceron she has created not one but two worlds, with distinct societies and technologies, each richly-imagined and fascinating in premise. Those who enjoy intricate details about fictional worlds will find plenty here to marvel at - be it scheduled rain showers in Claudia’s, or half-organic, half-machine sheep in Finn’s.

If this book is lacking in any area, it would be characterisation. Incarceron is very tightly plotted - the story is filled with twists and turns, and nothing is ever quite as it first appears. Although this meant I couldn’t put the book down, many of the characters never quite became as ‘real’ to me as the worlds they inhabit. Overall, this wasn’t a problem because the story and world-building were so extraordinary. I didn’t want the book to dwell on the love triangle that seemed to be brewing - I was too busy reading as fast as I could, trying to find out what happens next.

Naturally, the book ended on a cliffhanger - lucky for me, the sequel, Sapphique - is already available in the UK. I would recommend Incarceron to readers who enjoy fantasy or speculative fiction, or anyone who is just looking for something a little out of the ordinary. This book is one of a kind.

Throwdown Thursday (2)

Throwdown Thursday is a new meme started by Kate at The Neverending Shelf. This is a weekly thing where we tackle books with similar characters, covers, themes, etc. to determine which one rocks more. And it is up to YOU to determine the winner!

Last week, I threwdown (is that a word?) Robin Wasserman’s Skinned and Mary E. Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna Fox. Kind of a toughie, since I personally love them both. The winner was…





Jenna Fox. By a landslide!







My Throwdown this Thursday is between two books which both feature characters who seem like ordinary teenagers… until they grow wings.


Which one gets your vote? Wings or Fairy Tale? Just leave a comment below telling me which of the reads you're backing, and why. Your word, my friends, is law.

Waiting On Wednesday (2): This World We Live In - Susan Beth Pfeffer

Waiting On Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Summary from Amazon: It's been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate. For Miranda Evans life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce. The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda’s father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda’s complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.

Fiction about the end of our world really thrills me, and Life As We Knew It is one of my favourite examples. It’s terrifying and yet uplifting, with that this could actually happen fascination that gets me every time. When I first heard that the follow-up, The Dead And The Gone, concerned an entirely different cast of characters, I was a little disappointed. After all, I loved Miranda from the first book. I had been on a journey with her; I had laughed and cried with her and willed her to make it.

Of course, then I read The Dead and The Gone, and I loved Alex and Julie from that book in equal measure. In fact, Alex is one of my favourite teen boy characters from any book ever. He’s the big brother every girl could do with.

Then I discovered on the ’net that Susan Beth Pfeffer was writing a third book in the sequence, entitled This World We Live In. I was wiser this time around. I added it to my wishlist, and looked forward to meeting whatever characters she had in store for us - safe in the knowledge they’d be awesome.

And then I read the summary, and my heart did a happy dance. Miranda and Alex are back... and together... in the same book.

I couldn’t find a final version of the cover online, but you can go here to Susan Beth Pfeffer’s blog to check out a photo she took of it herself. I’ll be waiting till 2010 for this one, but I know it’ll be worth the wait.

Time Travel Tuesday: Children of the Dust - Louise Lawrence

It’s the eighties. You’re sixteen. You’re watching The Breakfast Club, maybe rockin’ a pair of Madonna-inspired fingerless gloves, and looking forward to the year 2000 when cars can fly. So far, so fun. Except that at the back of your mind, you’re also pretty scared that if the leaders of nations don’t stop shooting their mouths off at each other, there’s a very real chance that the world is going to end in nuclear war.

Lucky for me, I didn’t read Louise Lawrence’s Children of the Dust until the nineties, by which time the threat of nuclear holocaust seemed a little less real. I say lucky for me because this book is terrifying, and I can only imagine what it would be like to read the opening scenes thinking ‘this could happen tomorrow'.

In the eighties, the UK government prepared a set of guidelines for what civilians should do in the event of nuclear attack. Seal one room of your house against the radiation; build a shelter inside; and don’t come out until it’s safe. Children of the Dust opens with fifteen-year-old Sarah running like hell to get home before the bomb falls. She and her stepmother barricade the family into one room with supplies of food and water, and prepare to stay inside - in the dark - for the predicted fourteen days it’ll take for the fall-out to clear. Then the world ends.

To describe Children of the Dust as unflinching is an understatement. Louise Lawrence did not write this book to put her YA readers’ minds at rest - within the first twenty pages, Sarah suggests to her stepmother that they get hold of a gun and end it all. What follows is the story of how the survivors fare over the next few generations; those who die from radiation sickness, those who are left to adapt to the effects of the radiation and a new planet, and those who have managed to secure a place in a government shelter. Gradually, a new species rises from the ashes: there's a happy ending to be had, but not in Sarah's lifetime.

Even though we live our lives today feeling pretty much free of the threat of nuclear holocaust, this book is still very relevant. We could still destroy the planet, and each other. A natural disaster could destroy it for us. There’s still a lot to be scared by here.

Verdict: Epic, fascinating, and unforgettable.

In My Mailbox (2)

Thanks to Kristi of The Story Siren for hosting this meme.

I ordered a lot of books online this week. So far, these are the ones that have arrived. Now, if someone knows the name of a site where I can order enough time to read them all, I’ll be set.

The Resistance - Gemma Malley

From book cover: The year is 2140. Peter and Anna are living as ‘legals’ but continue to rebel against the laws of the state. Impatient to see action as an agent in the Underground, Peter is tasked with infiltrating the Pincent Pharma Corporation to find out what’s going on in the secret Longevity programme.

I love speculative fiction, so they had me at ‘The year is 2140’. This one is the sequel to Malley’s fascinating debut The Declaration.

Incarceron - Catherine Fisher

From book cover: Imagine a prison so vast that it contains cells and corridors, forests, cities and seas. Imagine a prisoner with no memory, sure he came from Outside - though the prison has been sealed for centuries and only one man has ever escaped.

I hadn’t heard of this one until this week, when it was featured as a Waiting on Wednesday pick at the awesome Carrie’s YA Bookshelf. I think the summary sounds fascinating.

Children of The Dust - Louise Lawrence

From book cover: When war breaks out, the world we know is destroyed within minutes. Sarah can see no hope ahead, just a slow and painful death. But she is strong. Out of the dust a new world is born, with a new vision of the future.

This is one I’ve read before, but my copy was donated to a charity shop long ago (not by me) to 'make room for new books'. Now I have my own place, and if I need more room for books I can just throw out the furniture or something. I’m feeling the need to read this again.

Fairy Tale - Cyn Balog

Quote from book: “So, um. Some fairies want to kidnap you. Why? Do you have the one ring to rule them all?”
“They’ve come to take me home,” he says softly.

Arrived on Friday, read overnight, reviewed on Saturday (below). How beautiful is that cover?

Review: Fairytale - Cyn Balog

From book cover: Morgan Sparks and Cam Browne are a match made in heaven. They’ve been best friends since birth, they tell each other everything, and oh yeah - they’re totally hot for each other.

But a week before their joint sweet sixteen bash, everything changes. Cam’s awkward cousin Pip comes to stay, and Cam starts acting distant. Morgan is stunned when her formerly perfect boyfriend seems to be drifting away.

When Morgan demands answers, she’s shocked to discover the reason for Cam’s distance. It isn’t another girl - it’s another world. Pip claims that Cam is a fairy. No, seriously. A fairy. And now his people want Cam to return to their world and take his rightful place as Fairy King.

Determined to keep Cam with her, Morgan plots to fool the fairies. But as Cam continues to change she has to decide once and for all if he really is her destiny, and if their “perfect” love can weather an uncertain future.

Morgan Sparks is an unusual heroine for a YA fairy book. She’s a little bit selfish, a little bit whiny, and during the first half of Fairy Tale I wasn’t sure whether I liked her. I did like the reference to her ‘hearty Neutrogena scrubbing’ and ‘daily application of Whitestrips’ - who doesn’t get sick of those effortlessly-beautiful-and-don’t-even-know-it types? I also loved her sarcasm. Not so much her boyfriend-dependence, or her little asides about how Cam’s so perfect and she’s so ordinary next to him.

When her boyfriend finds out he’s a fairy, switched with the real Cam Browne at birth, the first thing on Morgan’s mind isn’t how he feels about it. It’s that he’s meant to leave for the fairy Otherworld on the day she’s planned their super sweet-sixteen party.

For a while there, I was in danger of totally missing the point of this book. Sure, Cam’s the one who finds out he’s really a fairy, but this is Morgan’s story. They’ve been inseparable for as long as she can remember, then suddenly Cam has this whole new identity of his own. The question is, who will Morgan be now? Everyone knows that Cam Browne can do anything, but what can Morgan Sparks do?

The answer to this question unfolds in a Fairy Tale that is unpredictable, poignant, and sprinkled with laugh-out-loud one-liners. This isn’t a hardcore fairy book - in fact, Morgan’s journey could well be similar if her boyfriend had merely decided to go away to college - and there’s plenty here for those who haven’t yet been bitten by the fairy bug. However, as a fairy fangirl I loved the original take on the changeling idea. From a soap-opera obsessed father to a fairy guide that looks rather like a glob of pink hair gel, Cyn Balog’s debut is unique and full of spark, with an ending that I can only describe as perfect. Miss this one, and you're missing out.

Throwdown Thursday (1)

Kate at The Neverending Shelf has just started this meme, which looks pretty fun to me. The idea is to take two books that share a similarity - like cover, theme or characters - and vote on which one rocks the most.

I’ll kick my first Throwdown Thursday off with two YA novels that tackle similar speculative fiction themes in very different ways.

So...which told it better?

The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Mary E. Pearson

or


Skinned - Robin Wasserman

Voting runs until next Thursday. To vote, just leave a comment below.

Waiting On Wednesday (1): The Returners - Gemma Malley

Waiting On Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This is my first crack at it.

I’m waiting on… The Returners by Gemma Malley.

Description from Amazon:

Will Hodge's life is a mess! His mother is dead, he has no friends and he thinks he is being followed by a strange group of people who tell him they know him. But Will can't remember them ...at first. And when he does he doesn't like what he can remember. While Will is struggling with unsettling memories, he learns that his past is a lot deeper than many people's, and he has to find out if he is strong enough to break links with the powerful hold that history has on him. This compelling novel, set in an alternate future, challenges readers to consider the role we all have to play in making our society, and asks how much we are prepared to stand up for what's right.

Oh-so-mysterious! I really haven’t heard anything about this one, but the description has got me intrigued. I just have to read the words ‘alternate future’ and I’m so there.

What are The Returners returning from? What's with the barbed-wire and graves deal on the cover? Why can’t I find any more information about this one *anywhere*?!

Plus, it’s by Gemma Malley, author of one of my favourite dystopian novels, The Declaration.

Release date for this one is currently February 2010. So I’ll be waiting… and waiting… and waiting.

Time Travel Tuesday: Hangin' Out with Cici - Francine Pascal

When I was 12, the Sweet Valley High series - ‘created’ by Francine Pascal - was *the* thing. In my circle of friends, a person’s cool rating was directly proportionate to the number of SVH books they owned. Extra credit for owning a special edition, which were hard to find. I had two. I was badass. Right?

Er, no. At parents’ evening, my mother expressed concern to my English teacher that I was reading ‘mindless fluff’, and that the Sweet Valley books would literally would rot my brain. The next day, my English teacher felt the need to tell me, in front of my entire class, that I was cleverer than these books, and shouldn’t be wasting my ability. Cue major humiliation. I clearly wasn’t badass. I was a book geek. And not even a good one.

Soon after, my mother bought me a copy of Francine Pascal’s Hangin’ Out With Cici. In the book, thirteen-year-old Victoria Martin is - surprise! - having major parent trouble. She’s sick of being told what to do, lectured, and misunderstood, and just can’t see where her mother is coming from. Wait a minute…

Yes, my mother is awesome, but subtle she ain’t. I had every right to be annoyed. First she shows me up, then she uses Francine Pascal against me to prove a point! Except… the book was good, dammit.

After getting caught with drugs (holding them for a friend, obviously), Victoria is on her way home for the parental earbashing of her life. Only somehow she ends up travelling back in time, instead. And there in the past, she makes a friend named Cici. A friend who, in Victoria’s time, has grown up to be… her mother!

Okay, so this book is pretty cheesy. The message isn’t exactly subtle - the book was subsequently re-released with the title My Mother Was Never A Kid - and it was pretty dated when I first read it. But it’s a really cute idea, Victoria is sparky and easy to relate to, and it’s *fun*. Yes, YA readers today have more sophisticated tastes… but this is a classic. And you can get a copy second-hand for just the cost of the postage.

Verdict: Check it out for an easy read - and a serious hit of nostalgia.

In My Mailbox (1)

Thanks to Kristi of The Story Siren for hosting this meme.

City of Glass - Cassandra Clare.

Amid the chaos of war, the Shadowhunters must decide to fight with the vampires, werewolves and other Downworlders - or against them. Meanwhile, Jace and Clary have their own decision to make: should they pursue the love they know is forbidden?


I don't know about you, but I’m thinking they definitely should. I’ve really been looking forward to the final book in this trilogy, because the first two rocked. The Monica in me is a little upset that this cover doesn’t match the first two UK covers, but as a wise person once said, Get! Over! It! So I will.

The Moth Diaries - Rachel Klein

Ernessa is a vampire. She wants me, and only me, to see it. Her hand is guiding mine as I write these words.

Already read and reviewed below. I’ve just heard that this book is being made into a movie, starring Brit actress-and-model Lily Cole. My advice? Don’t wait for the movie.

Kiss of Life - Daniel Waters

When Phoebe’s best friend Adam takes a bullet for her, it proves everyone right - Adam is in love with her. And now that he’s come back to life, Phoebe’s more important than ever. A zombie can come back from death faster if they’re loved - and kissed… which means Phoebe has to say goodbye to Tommy Williams, the other zombie in her life.

I liked Generation Dead, in a ‘but it made me feel a little squeamish’ kind of way. I’m expecting more of the same from this instalment in the series. The cover isn't as fun as the US one, and I have a feeling it won't match the tone of the book as well. It's pretty though.

Review: The Moth Diaries - Rachel Klein

Ernessa is a vampire. She wants me, and only me, to see it. Her hand is guiding mine as I write these words. (from book cover)

The Moth Diaries is, as the title suggests, written in the form of a journal. As she enters her junior year at a girls’ boarding school, psyched to be sharing a suite with her best friend Lucy Blake, the nameless narrator’s decision to keep a diary coincides with the arrival of mysterious new girl Ernessa.

Gradually, her happiness begins to unravel. As her friend drifts away from her and towards Ernessa, the narrator begins to notice strange things about the new girl. She tells herself that what she fears can’t be true - despite the smell coming from Ernessa’s room, despite another pupil having apparently fallen to her death from Ernessa’s window. Despite what she reads about vampires in her dead father’s books. And then Lucy begins to grow weaker and weaker...

The words ‘written in diary format’ do not fill me with excitement. Actually, that’s an understatement. With a few exceptions (Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer, L.J. Adlington’s The Diary of Pelly D), diary-format writing can make me put a book down after only a few pages. Not this time. The narrator of The Moth Diaries is intelligent and compelling, and she drew me in. As I read, the intimate style left me feeling as though I was her, in her world, seeing events through her eyes. Not knowing what was real, or what to believe.

This book is dark, gothic, and disturbing. It’s been out a few years, but I hadn’t heard of it until a bookseller recommended it to me. Before I read it, I checked out a few reviews online and I was intrigued to find that reviewers differed on what the book was about. Some describe it as a vampire story. Others describe it as the story of the narrator’s emotional breakdown. Having read the book, I understand why.

Is Ernessa a vampire, or is the narrator suffering from delusions? That’s the question, and I won’t tell you what I think the answer is. What I will tell you is to read it, and make up your own mind.

Review: Sea Change - Aimee Friedman

Summary from Amazon.com: 16-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science...and not so great with boys. After major drama with her boyfriend and (now ex) best friend, she's happy to spend the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother's estate.
There, Miranda finds new friends and an island with a mysterious, mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can't make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship...and reality.
Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something that she never could have imagined?

I’m surprised there aren’t more YA books about selkies. After reading Melissa Marr’s awesome short story ‘Love Struck’ in the Love Is Hell anthology, I went on an internet trawl for more selkie tales. What I found was Aimee Friedman’s Sea Change.

Reading this book is like having a really beautiful dream. Friedman’s writing is enchanting and evocative, and I was left with memories of Selkie Island that seemed almost as real as if I’d been there myself. Miranda is a likeably down to earth heroine, and her romance with Leo has that sweet ‘first love’ feeling about it.

If anything, I guess this book may be a little too dreamlike for some. If you like your YA paranormal romances heavy on the superpowers, magic and melodrama, be prepared for a change of pace. Sea Change is not a really deep read - it’s a light but captivating story, like a breath of sea air.

YA authors writing about fairies tend to give their fey creations a dark edge - they’re not the twee little creatures your Granny told you about; they’re spiky and dangerous. I was expecting Sea Change to take a similar line on selkies, but Aimee Friedman has given Miranda an edge instead - she’s a logic-wielding New Yorker dropped into a setting where past blends with present, and myth with reality. As events on Selkie Island unfold, she doesn’t know what to believe - and as a reader, I found myself willing the impossible to be true.

Time Travel Tuesday: Locked In Time - Lois Duncan

I really was a teenage book geek. In the days before Twilight, before broadband - before blogging, people! - there I was, nerding out at my library’s YA section. The aim of ‘Time Travel Tuesday’ is to blog some of those YA titles that I didn’t get to blog the first time around. They deserve it!

My first pick is Locked In Time by Lois Duncan, the story of a girl named Nore who goes to stay with her recently remarried father, and slowly realises his new family has been hiding a major secret for a long time. A very long time, if you get my drift.

It’s a book that has stayed in my mind since I first read it. Recently I felt the need to reread it. You know, just to see whether the love was justified.

Overall, I think it was. I can’t deny that Locked in Time has dated a little, and that Nore doesn’t have as much girl power as I’d like. However, Duncan is a master of suspense. The story still hooked me, and there’s a genuine sadness running through it. There’s a little Twilight-ness in there too. If they reprinted this book with a black and red cover, it’d sell heaps.

Verdict: still nerding out over this one, and you can get it secondhand for cheap. Read it!

Admiring From Afar: Ash - Malinda Lo

There are times when I really hate living in England. And not just when it rains all summer, either. (Although then too).

The US gets Malinda Lo’s Ash - a lesbian retelling of Cinderella - in less than a month. Here in the UK we’ll be waiting until March 2010. March! 2010!

There is so much about this book that was already making me desperate to read it. Mostly the promised romance. And the buzz it's been generating. And the fairytaleness.

Then today I encountered the first chapter at Malinda Lo’s blog and it is beautiful. I’ll either be importing a copy this September, or moving to America.

If you haven't read Chapter One yet, visit Malinda Lo's blog here. But don't blame me if it makes you realise you just can't wait either.

Review: Graceling - Kristin Cashore

From book cover: In a world where people born with an exceptional skill, known as a Grace, are both feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises: the Grace of killing.

There are some books I covet for months before their release date. There are some that I put on my Amazon wish list and mark as highest priority in the hope that my sweetheart will buy them for me (this has never happened); some that I buy on pre-order; and some that I order from the US because I just! can’t! wait! for the UK release.

Graceling was not one of these books. I’d heard about it, figured it sounded like a ‘maybe’, and actually kinda confused it with The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb. (In my defense, there’s something vaguely similar about the US cover art, if you scrunch your eyes up.) However, I buy a lot of books. I go through must-haves pretty fast (speed-reading is my Grace) and end up polishing off pined-for releases in a day, so last week I finally got around to ordering this one.

Katsa has been a killer since she was eight years old, when her Grace announced itself in a way that has shaped her life ever since. Her uncle, King Randa, uses her to exact revenge on those who displease him - the ultimate human weapon - and most people are afraid of her. In an effort to control her own destiny, Katsa has started ‘The Council’ - secretly using her Grace and her allies to do good.

It was only after I started reading that I realised how much I loved the idea of Graces. They are so much more than the mere medieval-times superpowers I had assumed them to be. They form gradually, they’re shaped by the individual who possesses them, and they’re open to interpretation. Graceling is not about a girl who kills real good, it’s about a girl deciding that she’ll work out who she is and what she's going to do with it, thank you very much.

The only trouble I had with Graceling was the third-person POV. I prefer first-person, because it makes me feel closer to the characters. However, this novel wouldn’t have worked as well in first-person - a feared and near-friendless Lady killer sharing her innermost thoughts from page one? - so this is more my own failing. All I would say is that anyone else with a strong first-person bias should persevere with Graceling because chances are, you will come to love Katsa through the eyes of characters like Raffin and Po and Bitterblue. I did.

Without giving too much away, there’s also a love story. It’s the best kind of love story, because it feels as though Kristin Cashore invented the characters and put them in a situation together and *they* just fell in love. It feels inevitable and understandable, and the characters keep their own identities.

I have learned my lesson. Cashore’s future releases, Fire and Bitterblue, are going on my must-have list. Especially Bitterblue, because I can’t wait to see what Cashore has in store for her. My speed-reading Grace has done me a favour this time.