by Rick Yancey
ages: 14+
First sentence: “There will be no awakening.”
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We knew the aliens were coming; we saw their ship when it passed Mars. But little did we know what we was in store for us.

The first wave hit: an electromagnetic pulse that cut all our power. The second wave was a bomb that created a tsunami which destroyed the coasts. The third wave was a contagious disease that had a 90 percent fatality rate. And the fourth wave were snipers, picking off the stragglers.

Cassie is one of those: she, her father, and her younger brother Sam all managed to make it through the first three waves intact, only to be separated at a refugee camp. Soldiers took Sam, killed her father, and now she’s on the run for her life. She can’t trust anyone, she’s barely surviving. And yet, she made a promise to Sam: to find him, because family needs to stay together. The only question: will she survive the fifth wave?

Holy crap, this all sorts of intense. Going in, I was expecting it to be scary, and so I was surprised that it wasn’t. The aliens aren’t gross, menacing creatures, but rather distant forces bent on cleansing the planet. I wasn’t terrified of them, bur rather in awe. Amazed. Completely blown away. And even though Yancey uses some tried-and-true humans are resilient and strong and therefore can conquer the world tropes, he does so in ways that are new and refreshing. There are no magical or supernatural powers, no high-tech blow-em-up sequences, no kidnapping. Just good-old-human grit. And there’s a LOT of that. Think Zombieland, but with aliens.

The book made me mistrust everything in it. I was looking for clues, making connections, working hard to figure everything out. And in the end, I was still blown away by the twists and turns.

Awesome.

by Lois Ruby
ages: 12+
First sentence: “‘;I cannot believe we’re moving into that creaky old bed-and-breakfast,’ I mutter for about the hundredth time.
Review copy given to me by a manger at work because Ruby’s got a Wichita connection and I think she may be coming…

I kind of wanted to like this one, cheezy tag line (“What if you fell in love with a ghost?”) notwithstanding. The idea behind it sounded very, very promising: a Philidelphia girl, Lori Chase, moves to Gettysburg to run a B&B with her parents just before the re-enactment starts. She sees the ghost of a Union soldier (cute and young, of course), who tells her that he was murdered, and she needs to solve it before midnight on July 3rd, two days away. Of course she can do that, right?

But, even with a creepy/cool premise, the book went NOWHERE. It was a lot more creepy than cool — she fell in instalove with a dead guy? — and absolutely flat. No emotional pull whatsoever. And even though there was a (cute and young, of course) real guy to distract Lori, she fell for the murdered guy. Sure. Whatever.

There was also this weird subplot involving cranky old people who were on a treasure hunt for Abraham Lincoln’s ring, which felt Scooby-Doo-ish and not at all convincing. Not to mention the heavy-handed lecturing about how re-enactors are just playing at this whole War thing and Not Taking It Seriously At All. (Ruby should read Confederates in the Attic. Just saying.) I’m in a pickle now, though. What if she really is coming to the store? Do I go — I’ve been going to all the MG/YA events, in the hopes that they’ll have more?? Or do I stay home?

Because, truly, this was terrible.

by Leigh Bardugo
ages: 12+
First sentence: “The boy and the girl had once dreamed of ships, long ago, before they’d ever seen the True Sea.”
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Review copy passed on to me by my manager at work.
Others in the series: Shadow and Bone

If you haven’t read Shadow and Bone first, be warned: there are spoilers.

Mal and Alina are on the run after their little run-in (to say the least) with the Darkling, hiding out in far away places, running from both Alina’s new-found power and the Darkling, whom they know is hunting them. Alina’s gone back to hiding her power — not only that she’s the Sun Summoner, but the collar/amplifier that binds her to the Darkling.

Except they can’t run forever, and the Darkling captures them again. They’re taken north, this time, to find yet another mythical beast, to make yet another amplifier for Alina. Except things don’t go exactly as planned: Alina and Mal end up in yet another player’s grasp, back in Ravka, as Alina tries to figure out her power and how to stop the Darkling once and for all, and still — somehow — remain true to Mal as well as the person she’s becoming.

Okay, yeah, all that is very cryptic. But there are a couple of twists and turns that I don’t want to give away. The relationship between Mal and Alina still bugs me, but I do like where Bardugo is going with it. I just happen to like other characters (who shall Remain Nameless) better. I like what is happening with the magic in the world, and the way she uses mythology and religion and science to support it. I actually like what she’s done with the Darkling as well. He’s still a bit bully-ish, but there is some complexity showing. And the climax is pretty intense.

Again: I’m quite curious to see where she’s going with the final book in this trilogy. Too bad I have to wait a whole year for it!

by Margaret Stohl
ages: 12+
First sentence: “One tiny gray dot, no bigger than a freckle, marks the inside of the baby’s chubby arm.”
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I am making a declaration: alien invasions are the new dystopian. Maybe it’s just a stand-alone trend (yes, I am going to read The 5th Wave), but really: I think there’s some interesting ground to be covered with alien invasions.

Stohl’s take on it is this: seventeen years ago the aliens — now called the House of Lords — took over the world in a single attack. Their mother ship took over the Pentagon (why is it always America?), and they took out all the world’s major cities, instantly killing billions of people. They planted what’s come to be known as Icons near thirteen of the major cities left — Moscow, Paris, and L.A. — to keep control over the rest of the human population. The humans never see them (the Rebellion — of course there’s one — calls them the No Face); their only interaction with the House of Lords is through the Ambassadors in the cities.

Doloria — Dol to her friends — is a survivor of that day. No one knows why really. She’s been living at an orphanage outside of L.A. — called the Hole now — living there, in relative safety. Her most curious trait: the one gray dot on her wrist, and her ability to read other people’s thoughts and emotions. Her best friend is Furo — Ro — another like her: he has two red dots, and a propensity for fighting. They don’t think much of their powers until Dol’s 17th birthday, when the Embassy captures them and brings them in for “tests”. There they meet two others like them: the ambassador’s son, Lucas (three dots, can charm people into doing what he wants) and Tima (four dots; she’s called the Freak, but her talent — aside from shocking people with huge bursts of electricity when she’s angry — isn’t really explained). Together the four of them (if they can stop fighting) may be able to push back against the aliens who have kept the world hostage for so long.

On the one hand, I really liked Stohl’s vision of the alien invasion. It wasn’t little green men, and I appreciated that she left everything so vague. In many ways that was more intense. I liked the idea of the Icons, and the civilization that sprung up around them. I wanted her to spend more time there. And, to tell the truth, less on Dol. Because she grated on me (as did the love triangle. Really. *sigh*). In fact, I’m not sure I really liked any of the characters; they were all pretty bland. Even with the bland characters and predictable love story, the world building was enough to keep me interested and curious enough to wonder where Stohl is going to go next.

by Rachel Hawkins
ages: 12+
First sentence: “Killing a vampire is actually a lot easier than you’d think.”
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Release date: May 14, 2013
Review copy provided by my place of employment.
(You don’t have to, but you might want to read Hex Hall, Demonglass, and Spell Bound first.)

Izzy Brannick has spent her life fighting monsters. She’s the youngest daughter of the last surviving Brannick, and she’s got fighting spirit. Except, something went wrong, and her older sister has disappeared. Nothing’s quite been the same since then, the least of which is the new tension between Izzy and her mom. For a multitude of reasons, they end up packing up and moving to Ideal, Mississippi, on the trail of a murderous ghost, as Izzy’s first solo mission. 

And as part of that, she gets to go to high school. Surely a Brannick can handle that. Right?

Much like the other Hex Hall novels, this was a lot of fun. It’s not as magical as I was expecting, which is silly of me because Izzy’s not a Prodigium, but rather someone who is able to detect magic. It is also not very creepy (even with a murderous ghost about), which (after Anna Dressed in Blood) is also something
I appreciated.

It is, however, a very simple, very enjoyable love story. The friends — Romy, Dex, and Anderson —  that Izzy makes during her brief sojourn in high school — joining the Paranormal Management Society (the PMSs) — more than make up for the lack of magical adventure. The four together have a great chemistry, and the eventual (probably predictable) pairing off was quite satisfying. (Yes, there is a really hot make out scene in a cave. Not many people can pull that off.)

Is it as good as the Hex Hall series? Probably not. But that didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying the fun.

by Robin LaFevers
ages: 14+
First sentence: “I did not arrive at the convent of Saint Mortain some green stripling.”
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Review copy provided by my place of employment.
Others in the series: Grave Mercy

For a year, I have been trying to handsell Grave Mercy to customers here in Wichita by telling them it’s a book about very awesome, kick-butt Nuns of Death. (Because, seriously: why wouldn’t  you want to read a book about a kick-butt nun of death??) But I have not had a single success: no one has bought the book. (So much so that we haven’t gotten Dark Triumph in.) After finishing this one, though, I think I need to change my tactic: while the main characters are assassins, these are rich, layered, fascinating works of Historical Fiction, with adventure, passion, and politics (not just country politics, but those between men and women), at every turn. For the adult readers, who don’t normally go for the YA stuff: if you liked Discovery of Witches or Outlander or any Phillippa Gregory book, you will love this one.

The overarching story of Duchess Anne’s attempt to hold on to Brittany in the late 15th century picks up where it left off in Grave Mercy (not necessary to read, but helpful): she’s holed up in Rennes trying to figure out who’s trustworthy, while her main adversary (and vile human being) d’Albret is in Nantes, plotting against her (he wants the kingdom any way possible, and she turned him down for marriage). The nominal story, however, is not Duchess Anne’s but rather, Sybella’s, one of those assassin nuns. She’s been sent to infiltrate d’Albret’s household, get information, and possibly kill d’Albret, if she can get close enough. D’Albret’s house is not a happy place for any woman (all five of his previous wives from less-than-natural causes), but Sybella has one more layer to this madness: she is d’Albret’s daughter.

I’ll just wrap this up by saying this: it’s dark — there is evil in Sybella’s world, and that doesn’t make for an easy read — but it’s not so dark that it’s unreadable. I loved the romance; it came on slowly, and for once the romantic interest wasn’t Tall, Dark, and Handsome. I loved how LaFevers played with the politics of men and women, and how Sybella used everything she had to work with in her favor. She is smart, yet she doubts herself and her mission, making her a wonderfully complex character.

I can’t wait to read the next one.

by Leigh Bardugo
ages: 12+
First sentence: “The servants called them malenchki, little ghosts, because they were the smallest and the youngest, and because they haunted the Duke’s house like giggling phantoms, darting in and out of rooms, hiding in cupboards to eavesdrop, sneaking into the kitchen to steal the last of the summer peaches.”
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I know I’m not the last person to read this one, but I feel that way. Especially since (even with its myriad of glowing reviews) I was planning on skipping it altogether. Until I got handed an ARC of the second one. Then I figured, sure, why not jump on this bandwagon.

For those of you under a rock: Mal and Alina are orphans in a country vaguely patterned after Russia. They grew up in an orphanage, best friends and companions. As they grew up, they went to school and joine the country’s First Army, Mal as a tracker, Alina as a cartographer. And all is fine, until they cross the Fold — a patch of solid darkness full of Evil Things — and Alina saves everyone by bursting into light. It turns out that she’s a Sun Summoner, someone that the second most powerful man in the country, The Darkling, needs desperately. Suddenly, Alina finds herself thrust in the middle of the most powerful community in the country, that of the magic-maker Grishas, trying to figure out what’s real, and how on earth she’s going to handle herself, let alone save the country.

One of the things I really appreciated about this book was that the magic and the setting were all very unique. I think I’ve read Russian-influenced magic books before, but Bardugo has taken the heart of Russian culture and woven it through her book. That was something I could get behind and appreciate. I also liked that the magic was organic: for the most part, the characters’ magic was something that was inside them, a natural talent. I liked the diversity of magic, and how — when things were going well — everyone could work together to create something greater.

All that said, I didn’t really adore it wholeheartedly. I liked Mal well enough as a friend (and I was glad for the Lets Be Friends First element), but there just wasn’t a strong enough connection for me (showing rather than telling, maybe?). And while I was fascinated with the Darkling, I didn’t like the twist near the end. It felt.. forced… to me.

Even with the drawbacks, I am curious to see where Alina’s story goes from here.

by Jodi Lynn Anderson
ages: 12+
First sentence: “She stands on the cliffs, near the old crumbling stone house.”
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I am not a fan of Peter Pan. I find it sexist, annoying, and underdeveloped. And so, a retelling of the story wasn’t on my radar as something I really needed (or wanted) to read.

But this (this month’s YAckers pick) retelling, from Tiger Lily’s point of view, not only gives the Peter Pan story some depth, it softens the immaturity of Pan, and gives power to both Tiger Lily and Tinker Bell (though Wendy still comes off as a brat), which is something I admired.

Tiger Lily is the daughter of the Sky People’s shaman. She doesn’t quite fit in: she’s brusk and boyish, preferring the quiet of the woods to the busy-ness of her people. She is willing to follow tradition, and be a part of the community, so when she’s engaged to a brute of a man, she doesn’t argue. But then, quite by accident, she meets Peter. Peter, with his magnetic personality, impulsiveness, and winning smile. Tiger Lily doesn’t mean to fall in love. She doesn’t mean to get so involved in his life that she’s willing to give up everything she has. And yet, she finds Peter irresistible and can’t stay away.

The most unique thing about this book, I think, is that while it’s Tiger Lily’s story, Tinker Bell is the narrator.  It seemed like an odd choice at first, but as the story went on, I understood the choice. First, it gave the reader insight into Tink’s character — no longer is she “just” the fairy, but rather a vital and integral part of the story. Second, a story from Tiger Lily’s point of view would lack…. elegance. She wasn’t a terribly aware person, and probably didn’t know what she was feeling half the time. Tink was more aware, more knowledgeable about what was going on, and thus a more reliable narrator.

The other thing I really enjoyed was what Anderson did with the minor characters. Aside from Wendy, who doesn’t show up until 2/3 of the way through the book and basically serves no purpose, the rest of the minor characters — from the shaman Tik Tok; to Tiger Lily’s friend Pine Sap; to Hook and (especially) Smee — were given rich back stories and explanations behind their actions. It’s wonderfully faithful to the original story, while being it’s own creation.

Additionally, the writing was lovely. At it’s heart, it’s a story of first love, and Anderson captures all the turbulence of that perfectly. I didn’t think I wanted to read this one, but in the end, I’m so glad I did.