I wanted to enjoy Virals by Kathy Reichs so much more than I did and I have to agree with some of the reviewers on Goodreads who suggested that Reichs may have been pressured into writing a YA book because of the success of her books for the adult market. But this really seems to be cashing in on the Tempe Brennan books - which in full disclosure I haven't read. I think one of the problems with Virals for me at least was hat the book never really decides what it wants to be - horror/science fiction, forensic mystery, high school drama? It has elements of everything thrown in, but never really picks a genre. Ordinarily I have no problem with combining genres, but this book only barely scratches the surface of the issues it covers despite its length (the hardcover version is around 450 pages, although admittedly there's a lot of white space).

The characters are not particularly engaging and it's hard to relate to the main character (Tory). She's going through a lot in her life, having lost her mother, moved house to a tiny island community with a father she never knew she had, discovered she's the niece of famous forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan and getting caught in the middle of some crazy science experiments and everyday high school drama as a fish out of water in a school for rich kids. But somehow her character is superficial and difficult to engage with. Her pack of best friends are almost indistinguishable from each other although we're told several times that one of them is Jewish and his mother is a bit of a caricature of a Jewish mother. I may read other books in this series, but I'm not going to put them at the top of the list. Overall, I had a bad reading week this week also slogging through The Scarlet Letter for the first time (for no apparent reason other than that I hadn't read it before). Let's hope I pick up some more interesting books next week!

Having read most of Maggie Stiefvater's more recent books, I picked up a second hand copy of Lament recently. It's the first in a trilogy that's currently missing its third book, which makes me hesitant to read book two because I don't want to be left hanging. I actually feel like Lament itself has left me hanging, particularly as I know that the second book, Ballad, focuses on different characters and I still want to know what happens to the main characters from the first book. While Lament does have an ending, it doesn't have a sense of finality. I suppose the same could be said of the ending of the Shiver trilogy by the same author. Stiefvater obviously doesn't mind leaving some big questions about her main characters' futures up in the air, but I didn't really find the ending to the Shiver trilogy satisfying and I'm worried that there won't BE an ending to the Lament trilogy if the third book never appears (or possibly even if it does).

But having griped about endings for a paragraph, I have to say that as with all of this author's books the writing style is simply beautiful and the characters are wonderfully engaging. I can't describe what it is about Stiefvater's style that grabs me so much. It seems somehow different from all of the other YA voices out there even when she's dealing with the familiar themes of growing up, falling in love, and making sacrifices for those who mean the most to us. The plot of Lament evidences shades of Twilight in its dynamics between the main characters (impossible love between creatures of different ages and species), but the setting and context is very different and the writing is transcendent.

Stiefvater herself is an accomplished musician and much of this story revolves around music and the characters' relationship to music. All of the musically oriented passages really shine. It's original and lyrical and engrossing which is why I'm all the more disappointed that there may not be a third book forthcoming. I sorely hope Stiefvater decides to finish the series either before or after she finishes The Raven Boys trilogy.

I met debut YA author Mindy McGinnis at the SCBWI regional conference in Northern Ohio this year and was impressed by her quiet thoughtfulness which shines through in her novel, Not a Drop to Drink. One of the cover reviewers of the hardback edition at least (Ilsa Bick) compares McGinnis to a cross between Laura Ingalls Wilder and Cormac McCarthy and I think it's spot on. This is a dystopian novel with a difference. It's not action-packed adventure and excitement. Rather, it's a thoughtful and at times horrifying meditation on the depths to which the human race might descend if a commodity such as water became scarce.

While we hear a little about what's going on in the big cities, this book is set in rural Ohio and is told from the perspective of a girl (Lynn) who has holed up alone with her mother in the family home to protect their water source, their pond, from outsiders. Lynn's  mother has raised her to be tough and a survivor, and has omitted social graces and affection from her upbringing. This results in a character somewhat like Katniss from the Hunger Games i.e. a good person who does what she has to do to survive, but who has hidden depths that are discovered when she's finally confronted with the need to accommodate new people in her life.

The pace of the narrative is pensive, but never dull. The setting is contained within a small section of the countryside. Even though there are plenty of woods and open fields, the book has an (I assume intentionally) claustrophobic feel to it. The characters are well drawn and often surprising and the time span is large for such a short(ish) book. It's not a difficult book to read in terms of style - easy and accessible for younger readers. However, it is difficult in terms of the bittersweet themes it contains. A unique take on the modern YA dystopia. I'm glad I picked it up.

A Spark Unseen is the second, and I'm hoping final, book in the Dark Unwinding series by recent SCBWI find, author Sharon Cameron. I've read and enjoyed both books and that's why I'm seriously hoping this doesn't turn out to be a trilogy. The first book left questions unanswered which were beautifully answered in the second book with a lovely feeling of finality. There are still questions open at the end of book two, but they don't need to be resolved in a third book. They really don't!! Don't succumb to pressure to write more books in a series if it's already DONE!!!

Okay, I'm off the trilogy soapbox now and back to the book itself. This is a wonderful sequel to an original steampunk concept with a crazy inventor type coming up with crazy ideas that can be utilized for good and evil. There's a plucky heroine - Katherine - and a somewhat mysterious romantic lead, Lane. Plus sidekicks, villains and some characters who may be playing both sides. The first book is set in England and the second in France and the setting details (including architecture, clothing and weird inventions) are rich and wonderful. The tone is delightfully reserved, despite the pluckiness of the heroine and her determination to save the world and protect the people she loves, including actually LOCATING one of the people she loves in this second book.

While I tend to gravitate toward fast-paced action-adventure stories, the tone of this series is more muted, but I still enjoyed both books and read them very quickly. The characters are engaging and the plots are unique, even among the existing steampunk genre. I found the second book a little slower than the first to pick up steam (no pun intended ... well,  maybe just a little) and get the plot moving, but once the gear shift was engaged, I was hooked. Highly recommend this (fingers crossed) DUOLOGY. Very suitable for older and younger readers alike.

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill was an amazon recommendation for me. I'm not always sucked in to reading everything amazon tells me to but this time I was happy I did. Yes, it's YA sci-fi time travel which could be a pretty lethal combination done badly, but luckily in Terrill's hands the book is a breeze to read with unexpected twists and turns around every corner. And she does her best to avoid/explain time paradoxes such that this reader could suspend her disbelief and get lost in the story. While there's a lot of sci-fi and adventure, the book also covers some of my favorite themes about growing up and discovering who we really are. Terrill uses the technique of creating multiple possible versions of the main characters to show how the choices we make can define our future selves and also how the seeds of our future selves can be found in our present selves if we scratch the surface. She also covers familiar ground about the nature of good versus evil. When do the ends justify the means and when do good intentions create evil acts that can't ever be condoned? The characters are beautifully drawn and the story revolves around a trio of three lead players, although there's a central narrator (Em) and it's her perspective through which the reader experiences the story. It's hard to go into the story in any detail without spoiling the plot which is intricately crafted despite the fast pace. In many ways, the story structure reminds me a little of False Memory by Dan Krokos in terms of the pace, the high stakes for the young characters, and the need to keep a sense of how the same character could turn out differently if subject to different events. However this book, its plot and characters are completely distinct. Terrill's voice stands out as something completely new in the YA sci-fi marketplace and I look forward with interest to what she writes next.

Endless Knight is the second book in Kresley Cole's YA Arcana Chronicles, immediately following the impressive first book, Poison Princess. The series is a YA dystopia with a twist in that the apocalyptic event is caused by the beginning of an ancient game involving characters from the Tarot Cards who have been incarnated (or reincarnated) as teenagers. The game is somewhat akin to the Hunger Games in the sense that these characters are destined to fight to the death and the winner receives immortality ... until the next game. Each character has supernatural powers that match the Tarot card (s)he represents. Thus, the heroine (Evie) as the Empress has power over largely botanical living things and can utilize them as weapons. There's also a huntress, a "fool" who has been destroyed by being privy to everyone else's inner thoughts, a magician, a girl who controls animals - you get the drift. And, of course, the Grim Reaper, who takes on a major role in this second installment.

While I really loved the first book, I was more lukewarm about this one. I think it's because the first one showed us the apocalypse itself. We saw the main characters' lives, hopes and dreams both before and after the apocalypse. This gave the book much more light and shade than the second in the series which basically consists of a bunch of the major players traipsing through the post-apocalyptic wilderness struggling against the elements and a bunch of nasty zombie-like creatures and some cannibals to boot. Evie struggles to re-establish her relationship with bad-boy Jackson who, as a Cajun boy with a good Catholic upbringing, has trouble coming to terms with her supernatural talents. Her task is made more difficult by her growing connection (and the sense of a shared past) with the Grim Reaper himself. Evie also struggles to establish alliances with other tarot characters so she can foil the game and avoid everyone's inevitable (or is it?) battle to the death.

I think the problem for me is that this book is more of a one-note love triangle set against the backdrop of a dystopia than a truly engaging story. The first book set up all sorts of intriguing questions which are more or less put on hold in this book: for example, why the "opening event" (the flash) of this version of the game almost destroyed the whole world while previous games' opening events weren't quite so traumatic; and what's supposed to happen after the game is over. Even Jackson's struggle between religion/morality and his love for Evie isn't as poignant as it seemed it was going to be as set up in the first book. And Evie's struggle to come to terms with who and what she is hits the same notes multiple times. There's very little growth and character development in this book in contrast to the first in the series.

As with all of Cole's books, the writing is very clear, the pace brisk, the characters well drawn and the plot easy to follow. But there's not as much plot as I would have liked here. Parents should also be warned that there's some sex scenes in this book that are pretty racy for a younger audience, certainly more racy than the first book where the main romantic relationship was more noble, chaste and sweet. I'm not prepared to give up on this series just yet, but I do hope there's more depth in the next book and that Cole doesn't rely so much on action sequences and sex scenes to keep the reader engaged.

And today it's back to SECOND books in a trilogy as I've just finished Maria V Snyder's Scent of Magic, the sequel to Touch of Power. Even though I generally love Snyder's writing, I was in two minds going in with this book. I had read mixed reviews. Those that hadn't liked the book as much as the first one had complained that there wasn't much interaction between the hero and heroine (Kerrick and Avry). Unlike the first book, this one is told from alternating points of view of the two characters and they are both off on separate adventures. I have to agree with those who made that criticism. What made the first book really sharp was the relationship between Kerrick and Avry and to some extent also secondary character Belen's relationship with each of them. In this book, all three characters spend most of their time apart and Belen doesn't get much page time at all. The chapters in Avry's perspective are in first person and those in Kerrick's perspective are written in third person, but that wasn't so much a problem for me - it was just that we didn't get much of the leads interacting with each other. The other issue I had with this book is that there seemed to be a lot going on, on one level, but it felt like nothing much was happening on another. While there were dramatic political and military machinations afoot, the book didn't have the same sense of urgency and high stakes as the first one. The characters seemed to be taking the challenges a lot more in their stride here and not reacting as meaningfully as in the first installment.

The story also ended on a cliffhanger which I didn't love, but it wasn't too terrible and won't stop me from picking up the third book when it comes out.

Overall, this was a somewhat disappointing second installment, although it was still very readable and I still managed to tear through it in a couple of days. It just didn't hold my attention to the same extent as the first one. I suspect Snyder will redeem herself in the final installment and I am looking forward to it with interest. I think the problem here is that it is a "second book" that needs to position the characters for the final book so there was too much "positioning" and not enough character and emotion.  I'm betting the third one will be stronger.

Rainbow Rowell's new book, Fangirl, was highly recommended to me by YA fantasy author Cinda Williams Chima and I owe her a big debt of gratitude because I don't know that I would have found the book (or Eleanor & Park, previously reviewed) otherwise. Fangirl was so original and fun and Rowell has obviously done a LOT of research into the fanfic community. She has created a whole "fake-real" fantasy series (the Simon Snow series) about which her main character (Cath) and occasionally Cath's twin sister (Wren) write fan fiction. Throughout the book, in between the main chapters, Rowell gives us snippets of the Simon Snow "canon " ie the real books in the series as well as snippets of Cath's fanfic about Simon and his roommate at the Watford school for mages, Baz the vampire. The Simon Snow series, to me at least, reads like a combination riff on Harry Potter and Twilight (at least to the extent vampires are hiding in plain sight in a school for wizards).

The real story of this book, however, is Cath coming to terms with being a freshman at a college she didn't want to go to in the first place, but was dragged to by her twin sister who doesn't want to be her roommate and doesn't particularly want to include her in their new college life, despite having done everything together in high school. Cath struggles to find her way, forge new relationships and generally deal with growing up. She also deals with leaving their dad alone at home when she and Wren go to college in circumstances where Wren doesn't want to be much help with him. And he does need some help. The other nice addition to a book about "writing" is that Cath is also in an advanced English class and, in this context, struggles with what it means to be a writer, the difference between "original" writing and borrowing someone else's characters and situations in the fanfic context. There's also a very subtle discussion that comes up in various aspects of the English class about what does and doesn't count as plagiarism in modern fiction. So from that point of view the book is instructive and interesting. I haven't seen anything like this before in the YA genre, although in some ways there are aspects of Tobias Wolff's Old School reflected in the themes Rowell taps here.

I don't know if I'd describe this as YA or new adult, or a combination of both. It deals with a lot of "new adult" themes like college life, but also high school level relationships. As with all of Rowell's writing the romance is cute and sweet, and the characters are somewhat clueless. I couldn't help being sucked up into it and hoping it all worked out in the end. There's nothing overly graphic on the page so the book is suitable for younger and older audiences alike. This is such a great book I'm sure I'll read it more than once, and that's saying a lot for me. Get your geek on and pick up a copy!

So here's 8 year old Zach's thoughts on Aussie children's classic, The Magic Pudding ...

"I like Magic Pudding. It is very funny. I like the part when they try to take a bite of the pudding but then it talks and it turns into a person and I like the fantasy because of the talking animals and how they have personal features. The chapters are silly even though there's four. There's first slice, second slice, third slice, and fourth slice. And every chapter has its own colored page. The main character is a koala, the penguin, the uncle and the pudding. I think you will enjoy to read this book too just like I did."

Wonder is a book that I wanted to review myself, but 8 year old Zach insisted on sharing his thoughts even though he hasn't finished reading yet. In fact, I think he's barely started. But for what it's worth, here's his thoughts ...

[POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW]

"I like the book Wonder. It's very creative. I really like chapter 2 because the mean doctor kept farting and then she let out the biggest smelliest fart in the history of farts which finally woke up the passed out doctor and then the mother could finally see August. And the bad doctor turned out to be good, and he only has a few friends. But almost all of his friends know him really well because two of his friends knew him since they were babies. By the way, Wonder is a number 1 New York bestseller."

That's it for now!

With Tandem, the first in a new YA trilogy, Anna Jarzab has filled what appears to be a gap in sci-fi stories for young folks. Why are there so few parallel worlds stories and so many post-apocalyptic dystopias? Nothing against post-apocalyptic dystopia. But there have to be other things to write about. This book is a great entry into a neglected category. The characters are real and drew me in. I had great sympathy for the plucky heroine (Sasha) who is drawn out of her own world and into a parallel universe as a missing princess, no less. And the romantic lead (Thomas), who also has a double on our version of earth is a strong yet sympathetic character. The political intrigue in the alternate world (Aurora) is beautifully set-up. I have to say that at some points in the earlier part of the novel, the pace lags a little while Jarzab sets up the politics, but that can't be helped with world-building at this level. And the pace in the second half of the book is terrific. Did I mention I like a fast-paced sci-fi adventure romance???

And I can't say that the ending disappointed me. Anyone who reads this blog knows that one of my pet peeves is trilogies/series that utilize cliffhanger endings to ensure a readership for the next book. Not so with Tandem. While obviously there's more story to be told, the characters' individual journeys are nicely wrapped up with acts of heroism and sacrifice. I want to read the next book, but I'll be happy in the meantime because the ending here was satisfying. Even though some of the characters (maybe all of them) are still arguably in danger at the end of the book, no one's fingertips are clutching a window ledge (although one character ends up dangling from a rooftop in the middle of the book. Hope that doesn't give too much away.)

I haven't read anything else by Jarzab, but I'm going to remedy that soon She's a confident, daring writer who has managed to contribute something new and different to the YA sci-fi marketplace. Parallel worlds rule! (Anyone remember the TV series, Sliders, BTW?)

I have literally just finished the third in Marie Lu's Legend trilogy, Champion. And I've realized that I'm reading a lot of "last books in a series" lately. Other than mixed feelings about the final book in Veronica Roth's Divergent series, I can't say I've been disappointed by any of the rash of final books I've read in the last month or so. And Champion is no exception. Lu brings June and Day's story full circle and brings at least some resolution to the political struggles between the Colonies and the Republic in this largely satisfying conclusion to the series.

This book didn't have the high levels of raw emotional power as the previous two in the series, but I think that's because June and Day (still alternate narrators) spend much of this story apart. I found in the earlier books that a lot of the power in the narrative came from the relationship between the two characters when they're together on the page. There's also a lot of fight/action scenes in this book that perhaps could have been a little shorter.

But those are very nitpicky points. The level of Lu's writing is as strong as always and she moves the story forward at a rapid pace. Day's brother, Eden, plays a larger role in this book and it's nice to get him some more page-time because the concept of saving him has been such a strong focus in the series. It's nice to see Eden grow and come into his own as a character here.

Lu also makes life a lot more difficult for Day as his health is failing and it's a race against time to save him. He's also struggling to reconcile his feelings for June and to make sure his brother has some semblance of a future. He's not as cocky and sure of himself as he's been in previous books and this adds a nice new dimension to him. June is as strong and determined as always and, toward the end of the book, she has to make a very difficult decision which she does with heartbreaking grace and wisdom.

Brava to Lu for bringing this trilogy home in a way that should satisfy all of her fans. We'll be looking out with great anticipation for whatever she writes next.

I must be one of the few YA fans who has never read anything by Rainbow Rowell so I remedied that on an airplane flight (why do all the inflight announcements stress the pronouns in every sentence?) and today I finished Eleanor and Park with plans to read Fangirl next. Eleanor and Park is such an unusual book it's hard to describe it. A number of book reviews describe it as a YA romance which it undoubtedly is, but it's so much more than that. Not only are both protagonists unusual characters (half Asian boy struggling with his cultural identity and misfit girl), but they are dealing with difficulties in their home lives that are not necessarily the norm in YA contemporary fiction.

The book tells the story from the two competing perspectives - Eleanor's and Park's. However, rather than dedicate one chapter to each character, the author plays with the format and swings back and forth from one character to the other when it suits the story. Rowell is really a master of this form (mistress of this form?) and it shows from page one. The story takes a while to warm up, as indeed does the friendship and then blossoming romantic relationship between the leads. But once it gets going it's hard to put down. The characters' respective voices are quirky and authentic and it's set in the 1980s with references to battery operated cassette tape players (and many mixed tapes to boot!). So this adds another unique dimension to a YA romance market that is overcrowded with extremely contemporary books.

I'm sure I'm not doing the book justice here. You really just have to read it. It's suitable for a wide age range. Even though there's some violence and romance, there's nothing explicit rendered on the page so that it should be accessible to young readers. And adults will undoubtedly enjoy it too because the setting really is a blast from the past and the characters stay with you after you've finished reading. Looking forward to reading Fangirl now.

Finally finished the Seven Realms YA fantasy series by Cinda Williams Chima. The final (and fourth) book, The Crimson Crown, is a wonderfully satisfying ending to the story. Everything is not tied up in a neat, nice package in terms of the political struggles that plague the realms, but hope is on the horizon. And Han and Raisa's respective journeys are played out in thoughtful and vivid detail. Can't say too much more without giving out spoilers, but both characters have to face what they truly want out of life and decide what they're prepared to sacrifice to get it.

My one minor disappointment is that Amon and Micah didn't really have much to do in this book in terms of character development and story. While they were such interesting characters in their own right in earlier books, in this book, they're more strategic pawns in Han and Raisa's stories than characters at the centers of their own narratives. I suppose this was necessary because there's so much going on in the series story-wise and the author had to tie it all together at the end and couldn't be focusing in too many different directions or the book would never have ended. But I LOVED Amon in earlier books and was intrigued by Micah, and was a little disappointed that each of them got less "page space" here and less going on in their own stories.

The adult characters - the previous generation(s) of wizards, clan members etc played a larger role in this book than in some of the earlier books because their secrets and stories had to be fleshed out to make way for all the big revelations in this book. And there were some wonderful surprises there. And of course, as with the other books, the author's use of fantasy world-building techniques and the creation of her dialects and court manners was superb. So many times I just paused and thought of how beautiful a particular passage sounded. And as usual Carol Monda's narration of the audiobook version was downright terrific. I'm going to look up what else she's narrated because she really nails a complex case of diverse characters. So all in all I loved the Seven Realms and am sorry to see it end. I know Cinda has talked about possibly writing another book and I hope she does (nudge, nudge). But for now, I'll have to dive into the Heir Chronicles for my fix of Cinda's magic and wizadry.

What can I say about Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo? An amazing second installment in a debut fantasy trilogy, following the first book Shadow and Bone. I enjoyed the first book very much but I LOVED the second book, which is quite unusual for a trilogy. Often the second book is a let-down and the author either redeems the series (or doesn't) in the final installment. In this case I can't wait for the final installment because not only did Bardugo develop the plot and characters brilliantly, heartbreakingly, and believably, but she also added some wonderful new characters. In particular Sturmhond - I won't say anything more than that for fear of spoilers other than saying he's one of the most fun, engaging and unusual characters in recent YA fiction and he really brings out the best in terms of character development in the heroine of the series, Alina.

The book takes up pretty much where book 1 left off but there's no dawdling around plotwise. Mal and Alina are thrown back into the action when the Darkling reappears. No one REALLY thought he died in book 1, did they? Apologies for the spoiler if they did. Then it's on. A race to the truth, to raise armies - light versus dark - and poor Alina has to question her role in the whole thing. Is she really an instrument of evil or an instrument of good? And in either case, can she and Mal ever find a way to be together or are their destinies simply on separate courses? I tore through this book in two days and would have finished it in one if my kids hadn't completely tired me out last night so I was amazingly too tired to read in bed.

Highly recommend this book, particularly to anyone who felt lukewarm about the first book. This book steps up the stakes, the characters, and the action in leaps and bounds.

Wow! What an unexpected little treasure Lips Touch Three Times turned out to be. Part graphic novel, part anthology of novellas, this combination effort by Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy) and Jim Di Bartolo is truly unique. Laini Taylor wrote, and Jim Di Bartolo illustrated, a series of three fairytale-like stories that revolve around the central theme of a "first kiss" but really are so much more. This is billed as a YA book and won several YA awards by all counts, but I couldn't see anything particularly YA about it, other than that several of the characters were young, but many of the key figures in each story were older and the themes were very mature and universal. Each of the stories is very different in style and setting to the others, but they all contain a fairytale/myth-like quality where no one is truly bad and no one is truly good and the endings cannot be classed as happy or sad but are really a combination of both in each case. Taylor drew her inspiration for each tale from existing poems and myths, but created visions that were all her own and that were brought to life in astounding detail and authenticity by Di Bartolo's illustrations. I suppose in terms of YA-audiences, there is nothing unsuitable for younger readers in these stories and they would be great discussion-starters about larger themes in life and about writing techniques generally for those interested in creative writing.

Each story stands alone and they range from about 70 to about 100 pages in length. They could be read alone or together, but even though they're relatively short (at least compared to a novel), you have to concentrate when you read them so you don't miss any of the rich and unusual details. These are not at all light, quick reads, but thought-provoking narratives that you may want to read more than once to get the most out of them.

I'd highly recommend this for anyone looking for something unusual and different with an ethereal old-fashioned fairytale like quality - and especially for those who are eagerly awaiting the final installment of Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy.

Yeah, I'm just joshing about the "dystology" terminology. I've always wondered what to call a four-book dystopian series. Really! Or maybe dystology only applies when a planned sequel morphs into three additional books over and above the first one??

Anyway, enough of that ....

I really enjoyed UnSouled, the third in the Unwind DYSTOLOGY by Neal Shusterman. And I was glad I did. I had adored the first book despite thinking it's really not suitable for a YA audience. Forget Hunger Games. Unwind will REALLY give your kids nightmares. But then I was so-so about the second book, UnWholly. And I have to admit I never read the mini-story UnStrung although I'm sure I'll get around to it sometime. It's been a while since I read UnWholly but it just didn't stay with me the same way UnWind did. I think it's because too much of that book focused on the development of new character, the "rewind" Camus Comprix (Cam). While he's undoubtedly an intriguing character and he plays an essential role in book 3, I felt that book 2 was bogged down with a focus on who and what he is (and isn't). In my view, Shusterman effectively redeemed himself in book 3 by focusing back on the main characters from the first book, while still giving enough space to develop Cam's storyline and to introduce some new characters who were also very engaging. I also liked the way there was more reference in UnSouled to the time before the current political mess of the storyworld, further explaining how things came to be as they are.

Yes, as with book 2, UnSouled ends on a bit of a cliffhanger or at least ends with the characters repositioning for the action of the next book. But that didn't bother me so much. I felt that all the characters grew and developed and the plot thickened nicely. I was neither overwhelmed with information nor bored by lack of pacing - and that was kind of how I felt about book 2. I have to admit I tore through UnSouled in a day (admittedly it WAS a Sunday so I didn't have to work!) I had been planning just to read a few chapters to see how I liked it, but then I couldn't put it down. Definitely a good read, but I still question whether this series is YA or adult. And you have to LOVE the creepy cover design. My two year old keeps pointing at it and saying "babies!" If only she new the horrible truth of this dystopia ... or maybe not.

Not wanting her brother to have all the fun, 6 year old Emily has stepped up to the plate to share her thoughts on the recent scholastic book fair at her elementary school. Take it away Emily ...

"They had girl Darkness chapter books and some of them had ten chapters. I saw a Junie B Thanksgiving book. It had nine chapters. My favorite books are Lego Friends New Girl in Town, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and Stick and Style Cupcake Notebook. I want to go back next year because I want to get some fun girl chapter books."

Let's hear it for the girls!!!!

YAY!!!!

8 year old Zach has been reading Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan and Brian Selznick. Here are his thoughts ...

[SPOILER ALERT]

"Riding Freedom is about a little girl with her parents. She falls with her parents off a cliff. Her parents die and she survives and she gets adopted in an orphanage and then she has three friends - Verne, Hayward and Freedom. Freedom gets sick and dies. Hayward gets adopted and then Verne helps her escape the mean orphanage. I really liked the book, especially the part where she has to escape."

I had been looking forward to reading Horde, by Ann Aguirre, the last book in the Razorland trilogy, and then of course completely missed the announcement when it was released. But I made up for that and tore into it this week. I am a huge fan of Aguirre's work, particularly her plucky but sometimes clueless female leads, and Deuce in the Razorland trilogy is no exception. Horde was a very satisfying final installment to the story, nicely tying up everyone's stories (more or less) and really bringing Stalker to the fore for some highly dramatic moments.

Fade is recovering from his horrific experiences with the "muties" and is struggling to re-form his relationship with Deuce despite his fear of being physically touched. Aguirre handles this aspect of the story sensitively and effectively, although I found that Fade maybe approached the problem more head-on and with more determination than I had been expecting at the end of the second book. He seemed very badly broken at the end of book 2 (Outpost) and almost too ready to address his desire to be with Deuce again at the beginning of book 3 even though this book takes off pretty immediately after the end of book 2 in terms of timeline.

One original aspect of this book is how much research Aguirre did into the ways in which battles might have been fought given the technologies these folks did (or didn't) have available to them. In her author's notes at the end she talks about how much research she did on civil war battle tactics and it shows in the writing. I suppose one slight downside of all the research is there is perhaps a smidgeon too much attention to battle strategy in this book potentially to the detriment of character development and story. There's a LOT of battle scenes and a LOT of tactics which are written very well and are very original in terms of placing them in a sci-fi/dystopian setting, but occasionally I felt "okay, enough already with the tactics, let's get on with the story". That's a minor point because the book held my interest from the first page to the last through some really melancholy moments and much dystopian despair and disaster. And Deuce remains determined to be "The Huntress", to raise her army to defeat the Horde, and to see her mission through to the end whatever life - and the world - throws in her way. She also continues her character arc towards growing up and deciding that there might be more to life than battles if she can just succeed with her mission. Highly recommend the whole trilogy and the final installment doesn't disappoint.

Still powering through Cinda Williams Chima's Seven Realms series, and today finished The Gray Wolf Throne (book 3 out of 4). While I'm keen to see how the story finishes, I'm going to be sad when I get to the end because I'm really falling in love with this unlikely cast of characters who are often forced together despite their political and religious differences. In Book 3, Chima continues to engage in some amazing world-building, creating more rituals of queen crowning and social nicety. The tone of this book reminded me a little of The Empire Strikes Back in the original Star Wars franchise - the book that's essential to set things up for the final battle, but where most of the characters end up pining for something they can't have, and all of them have to make sacrifices for the greater good.

Like the second book, this book focuses on the younger characters and keeps the adult characters waiting in the wings for the most part. In many ways, it's the younger characters that are most interesting and are certainly the focal point of the story. Most of this book focuses on the perspectives of Princess Raisa and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Han Alistair, although we get a few glimpses into the perspective of all-around nice-guy Amon Byrne who does his best but always seems to be making sacrifices. Will he truly find a happy ending??? He's one of my favorite characters and in the audiobook version of this story is still beautifully voiced with gentle restraint by narrator Carol Monda.

There's more political maneuvering in this book than in some of the previous installments, thus promising some high level revelations at the global and hopefully also the personal level in the final book for each of the main characters. And will Micah Bayar prove to be the good guy everyone hopes he can be at the end of the day?? More later when I read book 4!

I know I'm going to sound like an absolute philistine for saying this, but I found The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt to be about 200 pages too long. And I'm referring specifically to the last 200 pages or so. I'm a huge fan of The Secret History and have read The Little Friend, although I didn't enjoy it as much as The Secret History. Thus, like others, I generally very high expectations for Tartt's work which is probably why I can be easily disappointed. The Goldfinch is a masterful achievement in many ways. In the space of the book, the author presents rounded and thoughtful views about the nature of life and death, love and loss, good and evil, and the role of art in informing who were are and how we cope with the world around us. Even though the book revolves around the world of visual art and antiques, many of Tartt's thoughts about these issues could equally apply to music and the literary arts. She muses on all the "big themes" in a book that nevertheless focuses tightly on the life of one single narrator (Theo Decker). She writes in the first person point of view as the young man grows up and comes to terms with who he is, which in itself is a great achievement. For a woman writer to put herself into the mind of a young man growing up and to reflect his growth so effectively is a testament to Tartt's talent as an author. The cast of secondary characters is also beautifully developed. There are no stereotypes here except, perhaps for the last section which is the part I had trouble with as a reader.

So here's the problem for me: Tartt spends so much time developing an intricate plot and a complex cast of characters, but in the last section, everything becomes a little larger-than-life, drawn-out and almost farcical. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not but I found it difficult to read because I was disappointed that a couple of the more complex and engaging characters in the book seemed more over-the-top and two dimensional toward the end than they had been earlier in the story and I couldn't immediately see why this was necessary, or indeed whether it was intentional. I understand that Tartt wants the hero (or perhaps "anti-hero" would be a better term) to experience a major life crisis to come to a new equilibrium at the very end, but the crisis seemed melodramatic and overplayed.

Other than my disappointment at the final section before the ultimate resolution, there wasn't much I could criticize. Even though the book is very long and there area lot of characters and locations and plot points to keep track of, it's engaging and beautifully written. So I was flying through it until I reached the last section and then became a little lost and disappointed. I would definitely recommend this book to others, particularly for the powerful themes it engages. I'm curious to see what Tartt does for her next project.

Forgive me for saying this, but I couldn't resist referring to the second book in Cinda Williams Chima's Seven Realms series as "The Seven Realms Goes to Hogwarts", and I mean that in a good way. In The Exiled Queen, Han and Raisa and all their comrades who escaped various dangers at the end of book one make the trek to Oden's Ford respectively to train and hide from danger. This book allows the characters in many ways to be kids and students and escape from their previous lives as street lords and princesses and all manner of other things. And yes there are components of the schooling (those for the wizards in Mystwerk House) that resemble some of Harry Potter & Co's time at Hogwarts, but there is also military training for Raisa and her crew (including Amon) at Wein House. There's taverns and cider and sorcery and tons of schoolwork!

This book focuses more squarely on the younger characters than the first book. There are some new adult characters - notably the teachers at the schools and the mysterious "Crow" who befriends Han in a wizard dreamworld. But the grown-up soldiers and wizards and royal folk from book one play a minimal role here, allowing the reader to get to know the younger characters better. The romantic triangle that was hinted at in book one is developed more fully - and a little heartbreakingly - in this book. But there's still plenty of room for development in book three, which I have just started.

I'm sticking with the audiobook versions of these books because of Carol Monda's wonderful narration. She captures all the characters voices beautifully. I particularly like her calm, but increasingly "on the edge" rendition of poor Amon who does his best but always seems to be letting Raisa slip through his fingers both literally and figuratively. Monda's rendition of Han is also terrific - capturing both his rough edges and the gentleness in his heart. And of course Raisa is a firebrand whose inner strength shines through whatever terrible position she ends up in.

Someone commented on my post on the first book that this series gets better and better (and Carol Monda's narration never fails to enhance the strength of the books). I have to agree. I'm keeping reading and looking forward to reviewing the rest of the books.

I can't remember how I came across Gifted by Nikita Lalwani, a debut novel that was nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2007, but it was certainly an interesting read. It is a debut novel dealing with a number of complex issues, including cross-cultural and academic challenges. It is the story of the daughter (Rumi) of Indian immigrants to Cardiff who is exceptionally gifted at mathematics and whose father drives her to take her high school examinations early so she can be admitted to the mathematics department at Oxford at 15. She deals with the awkwardness of growing up in a somewhat foreign culture even though she herself was not born in India. She's thus not really Indian nor is she really English, a feeling many children of immigrants can likely relate to.

Nevertheless she is "different" from her peers both because of her cultural background and because she's a "brainiac" whose father drives her mercilessly to achieve in her chosen field. For a debut novel, the book is very well written and covers a lot of ground in a relatively small number of pages. It's just under 300 pages long which probably isn't long enough to do justice to everything Lalwani seems to be trying to achieve here. I noticed that the reviews for the book were mixed and I can understand why. The writing style is masterful and it is easy to relate to Rumi and her challenges. However, some of the other characters are more two-dimensional (particularly Rumi's parents) and it's a bit difficult to get a handle on them. The ending is also a little forced and melodramatic.

While this is not necessarily a book for young readers, I suspect some teen readers might benefit from looking at it. It certainly brings to the fore problems of being "different" and the awkwardness of growing up when it's difficult to find a niche in the world. In terms of younger readers, there are a couple of "sexual awakening" scenes, but nothing too explicit. Thus, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book for a tween audience, but older teens should be fine with it.

I haven't read anything else by Lalwani, but I'm certainly going to look out for her other writing in the future.

So, how to review Allegiant, the third and final installment in Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy, without giving away any spoilers? Hmmm...

I'm going to try to do it because there are plenty of other websites where you can go to get spoilers, so the most I'll say is the ending is a bit of an unexpected shock and readers have been divided over it. But for me, the book was a bit of a let-down in other ways and I think it was almost the ending that "saved" it. The plot as a whole kind of meandered around between two fairly indistinguishable points of view (Tris' and Tobias') for a long time and then climaxed quickly and shockingly in the last few chapters. Without that ending, there wouldn't have been much memorable about the book.

Now, that does sound pretty harsh and I really don't mean it to. Veronica Roth is an amazing writer, particularly for someone so young. And I think the real problem she created for herself was at the end of book 2 (Insurgent) where she changed the rules of the game (ie the dystopian world) entirely. It was kind of like "you know everything you readers have invested into this society over the last two books, well it was all made up". Having done that, and having turned all her wonderful world-building work into a bit of a paper tiger, she had limited options for where to go in book 3. So I guess I didn't have particularly high hopes for it, and given the difficult task she had set up for herself at the end of book 2, she really didn't do all that badly with the material she had left to work with. Her writing style is still engaging and the characters are still relatable (although they are all a little "flatter" and more "two dimensional" in this book than the previous installments).

In some ways the other problem Roth had created for herself at the end of book 2 was that she had really completed her heroine (Tris') character/story arc in that book and she had to make book 3 more about developing Tobias' character, but he's in many ways simply not as interesting a character as Tris. He was also a less "likeable" character in book 2 than book 1 so, as a reader, I was a little less willing to become engaged in what effectively turns into his story in book 3.

Having said all this, I've also read that Veronica Roth has been rather dismayed about the reception of this book and I can't help feeling bad about that because the trilogy as a whole is a masterful achievement even though the third book kind of goes off on a tangent and loses some of the pace and energy of the earlier installments. So, unlike some other reviewers, I wouldn't say that the third book spoils the whole trilogy for me or that I'll never read it again. And I will definitely read more of what Roth writes in the future. I simply think she unwittingly set herself up for a fall in this final book by where she decided to take us all at the end of the previous book. So Be Brave, Veronica! You're a great writer and I hope to see lots more from you in the future.