Category: Young Adult

‘Calamity’ – Brandon Sanderson

While it’s always good to see how an author chooses to resolve a series, this one felt quite different to what I imagined.

This time around David and the Reckoners are following Prof to the city of salt. They know he has something planned, but can’t tell what. They do, however, know that they need to offer him the chance to face his fears and claim the darkness, as opposed to simply killing him now he is an Epic.

The story focuses on the planning and development of resources we aren’t expecting. We see Megan come into her own with her ability to use her powers, and we also see some characters that we wouldn’t expect to get involved playing their part in this battle.

Prof remains a threat. He seems determined to vanquish anyone in a position to oppose him. David and his group come up with some very daring plans. They rescue Tia and even bring back Prof’s child from an alternate world to try and battle him. Nothing is seeming to work.

While I don’t want to give away exactly how this resolves itself, the presence of Calamity is instrumental – as is David’s willingness to confront his own weaknesses and fears.

 

‘Firewalker’ – Josephine Angelini

Having made it back to her own world it was hard to see what would happen to Lily next. She is with Rowan and her family, and the appearance of Rowan seems to have calmed Samantha down a little. Unfortunately, too many people want to know where Lily disappeared to for three months and how she is miraculously healed.

Initially, Lily is reluctant to provide answers. Eventually, under Rowan’s guidance and when a familiar terror from the past turns up in this world, Lily realises she has to trust her friends and create a new coven.

Initially, this doesn’t make much sense. The worlds don’t mix well, and I think a lot more people would have pursued this further in reality. That aside, it was good to see some more characters and definitely good to watch Lily battle with the fact she is still communicating with Lillian.

Before too long, a painful decision has to be made. Lily and her group have to get back to Rowan’s world.

In between the personal character stories, there was a real focus here on the alternative realities and trying to get us to understand Lillian’s actions. We also got to see some interesting developments with regard to the Woven and wha5 Lily’s presence in this world could signify.

 

‘Deceptions’ – Kelley Armstrong

TRUST NO ONE
Olivia Jones is desperate for the truth. The daughter of convicted serial killers, she has begun to suspect that her parents are innocent of their crimes. But who can she trust, in a world where betrayal and deception hide in every shadow?

RISK EVERYTHING
Liv does have one secret weapon: a mysterious sixth sense that helps her to anticipate danger. The trouble is, this rare power comes with its own risks. There are dark forces that want to exploit Liv’s talents – and will stop at nothing to win her to their side.

FACE THE TRUTH
Now Liv must decide, before it’s too late. Who does she love? Who is really on her side? And can she save herself without burning down everything that matters most?

Part of my issue with this was just as soon as we started to look as if we were getting somewhere, things changed tack and we were back on another new route.

Olivia is increasingly having visions. They seem to be memories of events she’s never lived, but their purpose is evident…to help her figure out the reality of her situation.

She and Ricky are still in a loved-up state, but there’s clearly more to this than we first thought. Her friendship with Gabe continues to be a difficult one. There’s plenty of suggestions that both might want more, but it’s never going to be so straightforward.

The love triangle went on and on and on. The developments with the fae and their feud make it pretty clear there’s no easy answer here. Some interesting developments with regard to Olivia’s birth parents – and not all of it is quite as we expect.

By the end of the book I was more than a little frustrated with the main characters, but also wondering how a group of otherworldly creatures can be so rubbish at sorting things out!

 

‘Firefight’ – Brandon Sanderson

Having now acquired the nickname of ‘Steelslayer’ David has got himself in position with the Reckoners and they are on the tail of another Epic. This time, they are heading to the former Manhattan – a hippy-like place that has been submerged by water – in order to fight the epic known as Regalia.

Unfortunately, David has to deal with the fact that he is in love with Megan, the epic known as Firefight, whom everybody else wants to kill because she murdered one of their own. His mentor, Prof, is also an epic and is clearly more than accustomed to using his powers when he needs to.

From the outset, it is evident that nobody is being entirely honest with anyone else. They do a bit of scouting and find another couple of lesser epics that they decide to try and take down in an attempt to draw out their primary target. David masters the art of using his jet-pack (for want of a better term) and the new characters lend a bit of an alternative view to events.

Throughout this I was intensely irritated – probably more than I should have been – by David’s repetitive comments about being bad at metaphors. The obvious error each time he did this really annoyed me and i was amazed that nobody had spotted it. Of course, we learn later, it was deliberate just to set up what is meant to be an endearing moment near the end. It wasn’t, but that’s just my opinion.

Once we got underway with the nitty-gritty of this it did get more interesting. It seemed unevenly paced though, although the final moments were definitely interesting. Not entirely sure what we’ll get to see of David in the next one – there’s more to this boy than we’ve been led to believe I’m sure of it – but it definitely looks like it’ll be worth checking out.

 

‘Goddess’ – Josephine Angelini

Having created rather a mess, we now reach the point where the Scions realise they have to use their talents to challenge the gods. Certainly a battle to remember.

Once again, Helen is having to use her skills to do things nobody should have to consider. After the battle in the last book, her, Lucas and Orion have become blood brothers – and Helen has taken on more skills. The question is, can she come up with the answers to prevent the mortal world becoming playthings to the gods?

This reminded me of a game of chess. Characters were each plotting moves, and some of those closest to Helen were being used in the most awful way imaginable. There’s the ongoing love triangle to resolve – though with Helen’s feelings for Lucas never in question, this isn’t much of an issue.

At some points this read like a script for a very high-budget movie. We had all sorts of mythological creatures coming into play, and we get little cameos from everyone…including Zeus.

Having some of our questions answered definitely made certain scenes easier to read. There was a clear sense that not everything was resolved, and the suggestions of what could happen in the future left it in a great place.

 

‘Autoboyography’ – Christina Lauren

I knew very little about this book before picking it up, but I am so pleased that I did.
Our main character is Tanner, a young boy who identifies as bisexual. He is out to his parents, who are supportive and honest with him in such a way that felt like this book should be a call to all parents to read, regardless of their child’s sexuality. His father is Jewish and his mother has had a difficult time, cut off from her Mormon family for supporting her sister when she came out. That family background is crucial to know for this story, as it definitely plays a huge part in how they treat Tanner.
The family have moved to a small town, mostly Mormon, and Tanner has opted to keep quiet about his sexuality. His best friend, Autumn, doesn’t know this pretty important detail about him and he imagines things will tick along until the time he leaves for college…
Then he and Autumn sign up for an elective that involves writing a novel. There’s a student who took the course the previous year who is about to have his book published and who is going to act as a support teacher during the course. The young man concerned, Sebastian Brother, is the son of the local bishop. His life is pretty much set out for him…so, it’s an inevitable complication when Tanner falls for him.
What follows is a time-old story – two people trying to work out how they feel about each other – but the back-drop of the religious background of the characters and the link to the novel-writing process makes this a little more interesting.
I veered from laughing at the cuteness of Tanner and Sebastian as they find the courage to act on their feelings for each other to almost crying at the complications they faced. Throughout, I was struck by the maturity that these characters showed – can’t imagine anyone being so clued-up at that age. Yet there was an underlying bitter-sweet feeling as the shadow of Sebastian’s struggle with his religion never went away.
This was not a book I’d heard much about prior to reading and that feels such a shame as it had such a positive feel to it. It created such a range of emotions, and there was a real honesty to the characters/their experience that I couldn’t help but fall for.

 

‘Dreamless’ – Josephine Angelini

In many ways, a standard second part of a trilogy but this was ultimately frustrating as so much was unresolved.

Helen is having to deal with the sudden arrival of her real mother. There’s weird things happening in Helen’s dreams and nobody is quite sure how to resolve the issues from recent events.

We quickly learn that a Helen is a descender and has the ability to travel into the underworld. She is, according to prophecy, the one who will do what is needed to beat the curse of the Furies. Unfortunately, she won’t be doing it with Lucas by her side.

The relationship element irritated me. They’re being very honourable and avoiding each other as it could start a war. However, they are still clearly enamoured and only being prevented from doing anything because they’re told they are first cousins. Helen’s mum clearly indicates this isn’t the case so it seems she has other reasons for wanting to keep them separate – which may be where Orion comes in.

So, a weird love triangle. An awful lot of hanging around in hell and not really getting any further with anything…all while someone evil decides to play god and try to engineer a situation that can be used to their advantage. There’s more nods to mythology and an awful lot suggested as to what might come next.

 

‘Starcrossed’ – Josephine Angelini

When Helen hears the news of a new family coming to live in their small Nantucket home she thinks it might herald a new experience…talk about an understatement!

From the off we can see that there’s something unusual about Helen. It’s not until she meets the new family and attacks Lucas at school that she comes to see there’s more to the odd experiences she’s had over time. For reasons she doesn’t know straight away she is both irresistibly drawn to Lucas at the same time as wanting to kill him. Nobody can see a way out of this but, eventually, they end up reconciling their obvious differences.

What follows is unusual to say the least!

We see to have an awful lot of things going on here. We have: a mysterious family; unexpected skills; unusual situations that some know about but not others; weird dreams; unexplained nighttime activity and descendants of Greek gods with special skills.

Breaking the story into separate components it’s beyond ridiculous. The love-story is clearly doomed from the start, and we don’t ever get any hints that it’ll be anything other than a disaster. Helen is more than a little reckless with her safety and new friendships, but with everyone hiding details it’s perhaps inevitable that problems will arise.

While it may be far-fetched the story was relatively engaging. The nods to Greek mythology kept it entertaining and it was certainly left in an exciting place for the next phase.

 

‘A Heart So Fierce and Broken’ – Brigid Kemmerer

With rumours circulating about the rightful heir to Emberfall and his magic, there’s a palpable tension to the opening. Grey has gone, and nobody knows where he is, and Rhen is left with growing dissent among his people. Action is needed, but it’s hard to know what course of action is for the best.
Having spent so much time with Rhen and Harper it felt odd to have so little focus on them at first. We jump from their concern to our new character, Lia Mara (the daughter of Karis Luran who is not destined to be queen) and follow Grey in his attempts to hide. Intriguing stuff, but not really what we were expecting.
Before too long we start to see more of what’s going on. We are privy to some key information before other characters, but the real focus is the development of new alliances and certain characters coming to accept who they are and the role they will play in the future.
There’s no denying that some of the actions of key characters felt rather dictated by the plot. It was hard to reconcile certain actions with what we had already been told of them. That gripe aside, we learn a little more about some characters and the potential for where this might go has definitely got me curious. While we were left with a lot of positives I was rather taken aback by the reveal at the end regarding someone we thought would have little future influence. It doesn’t bode well for the future, but I am keen to see where this goes.

 

‘The Hand on the Wall’ – Maureen Johnson

In the tantalizing finale to the Truly Devious trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson expertly tangles her dual narrative threads and ignites an explosive end for all who’ve walked through Ellingham Academy.

What can I say? At the same time as Stevie believes she’s solved the crime of the century, there are three mysterious deaths at Ellingham…are they linked? We get answers, finally, and not all of them are what we might have desired but they most certainly tie things up well.

After her somewhat unexpected return to Ellingham, Stevie is doggedly determined to find out the truth. She, along with the other students, is clearly upset by the deaths of the students, but if Stevie can finally piece together the clues that are in front of her she will get her peace of mind.

Unfortunately, there’s still unexplained issues and the net seems to be drawing in around Stevie. When a storm is forecast Stevie and her small group of friends come up with a daring plan to remain in Ellingham. Their main aim is to support David in his attempts to bring down his father, but Stevie recognises her opportunity to finally resolve the case of Alice Ellingham.

The story involving Stevie and her friends sweeps along. Occasionally they do things that are, to say the least, dangerous but when even your friends call you Nancy Drew it isn’t completely unbelievable. The nods to Agatha Christie were fun to spot, but there was always a modern element that kept this feeling relevant.

What I really enjoyed about this was the snippets of the story from 1937. Learning the truth about what happened and how it links to the modern day was fascinating. It offered some interesting ideas about certain characters, and definitely made it fun to watch others trying to make the links we’d been alerted to.