Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
Fantasy Literature for Young Adults (over the age of 12).
You May Now Kill the Bride by R.L. Stine
If you’re an adult who enjoyed R.L. Stine’s GOOSEBUMPS series as a kid and/or his FEAR STREET series as a teenager, then his new RETURN TO FEAR STREET series, beginning with You May Now Kill the Bride (2018), will surely pluck some of your nostalgic heart-strings. (The distressed, much-read appearance of the cover is an obvious nod to that very appeal.) I devoured Stine’s work as a young reader, so I wondered,
September 27th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3 | R.L. Stine | Horror, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn
Summers at Castle Auburn (2001) was my first exposure to Sharon Shinn‘s fantasies, and it was pretty much insta-love for me (I like to think that Shinn returns my affections in a distant and anonymous fan-appreciation kind of way). It instantly set me off on a search for more of her books.
Corie is the teenaged illegitimate daughter of a nobleman who died before the story begins, but the royal family is still keeping close tabs on her.
September 27th, 2018. Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Sharon Shinn | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Haunted (2003) is the fifth novel in Meg Cabot’s MEDIATOR series. You’ll want to read the previous books first: Shadowland, Ninth Key, Reunion, and Darkest Hour.
In my review of Darkest Hour I said that the series was getting more complex after we meet a guy named Paul (super rich and super hot,
September 26th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Meg Cabot | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
This, my friends, is how young adult fantasy is done. In The Blue Sword, Robin McKinley has created a world out of whole cloth and polished it until it shines. Or in this case, until it is a dusty desert full of horse riding warriors, a dwindling magic, demon barbarians invading from the north, and civilized white men invading from across the ocean. McKinley is a master of prose, and this book has stood the test of time for almost 25 years now.
September 10th, 2018. Ruth Arnell and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Robin McKinley | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
“You really have the most alarming way, Susannah, of getting yourself into scrapes.”
Darkest Hour is the fourth book in Meg Cabot’s MEDIATOR series. It’d be best to read the previous books, Shadowland, Ninth Key, and Reunion before picking up Darkest Hour. While each short book has a stand-alone story,
September 7th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Meg Cabot | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Wavesong & The Stone Key by Isabelle Carmody
Every book in Isabelle Carmody‘s THE OBERNEWTYN CHRONICLES is longer than the one before, which accounts for the splitting of the fifth volume into two parts. Though The Stone Key (2008) was originally published by Penguin as a singular book, American publisher Random House divided it into Wavesong and The Stone Key, turning the original volume into the fifth and sixth books in the series.
September 3rd, 2018. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Isobelle Carmody | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Ninth Key is the second book in Meg Cabot’s MEDIATOR series about Suze, a high school student who can interact with restless ghosts. She helps them settle their affairs on Earth so they can move on to wherever they’re supposed to go (she doesn’t know what happens after they leave Earth). In Shadowland, the first MEDIATOR book, Suze and her mom had just moved from New York to northern California so her mom,
August 30th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Meg Cabot | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
My usual response to reading any book by Diana Wynne Jones is: “how does she come up with this stuff?” This is swiftly followed by bewilderment (especially in the wake of Harry Potter) that nobody has ever adapted any of her work, despite the fact her stories would make for excellent on-screen entertainment.
Dogsbody (1975) is no exception. It begins by introducing the immortal Dog Star Sirius, who is in serious trouble with his peers.
August 30th, 2018. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 5 | Diana Wynne Jones | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie
Hundreds of years into the future, humanity abandoned Earth and embarked upon an interstellar mission aboard a cluster of ships which eventually became the Fleet. Fleet ships are policed and protected by an elite squad of mechanically-augmented super-soldiers known as Scela, who serve the whims of the Chancellor and enforce her laws (along with a rigid social caste system). Aisha Un-Haad is desperate to provide a good life for her younger siblings, but her deck janitor’s salary isn’t enough to cover her plague-infected brother’s medical bills, so the only option left is to join the Scela.
August 3rd, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 3 | Emily Skrutskie | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Nyxia Unleashed by Scott Reintgen
Emmett Atwater, a sixteen-year-old African American from Detroit, has spent the last year on board a spaceship owned by Babel Communications, lured in ― along with nineteen other disadvantaged teenagers from across the globe ― by Babel’s offer of immense wealth if he will travel to Eden and mine as much of the priceless mineral nyxia as possible on behalf of Babel for a year or so. Then he and the others can return home to a life of permanent ease. **Recapping Book 1 in the rest of this paragraph at a high level,
July 18th, 2018. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Scott Reintgen | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
Do it! One of the best things I've read in recent years.
This reminds me. I want to read Addie LaRue.
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.