Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
Fantasy Literature for Young Adults (over the age of 12).
Inked, by Eric Smith, was a solid if uninspiring YA book for much of the first half, albeit with some grating issues, but a downturn in the latter part of the book greatly lowered its entertainment value, leading to a “not recommended” judgment. As usual in these cases, this will be a relatively short review, as I prefer not to pile on an author whom I’m sure put a lot of hard work and love into their work.
The story centers on 18-year-old Caenum and his best friend Dreya,
January 20th, 2015. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2 | Eric Smith | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
More Than This by Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness casts his line with five words, and we are hooked: “Here is the boy, drowning.” Seth is sixteen years old when we meet him, and about to die. He is out at sea with the icy tide dragging him out further and further in a terrifying opening for Ness’s Young Adult novel, More Than This. And then his shoulder blade “snaps in two so loudly he can hear the crack.” Seth drowns.
But impossibly,
December 30th, 2014. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 4 | Patrick Ness | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen by Garth Nix
It’s been over ten years since Garth Nix released a book set in the world of the Old Kingdom, where an ancestral line produces individuals who take on the mantle of the Abhorsen, the necromancer responsible for keeping the dead beyond the Gates where they belong.
Set six hundred years before the events of Sabriel, Clariel is a young woman with dreams of becoming a forester, preferring solitude to anything the city can offer. Unfortunately her mother is one of the most sought after goldsmiths in the world,
December 8th, 2014. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Garth Nix | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Ender’s Game Alive by Orson Scott Card
This review assumes you have read Ender’s Game, or are familiar with it, so it may contain some spoilers for Ender’s Game.
Before becoming one of the of most accomplished science fiction authors of his generation, Orson Scott Card worked as a writer of full-length plays for BYU, where he studied. He also wrote audioplays on LDS Church history. It follows from his experience then, that when Orson Scott Card set his sights on adapting his hit novel Ender’s Game into Ender’s Game Alive,
December 8th, 2014. João Eira´s rating: 4.5 | Orson Scott Card | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger
“It’s most annoying of you to order me to do something I’m going to do anyway. Now it’ll look like I’m obeying you.” ~Miss Sophronia Temminnick
I absolutely adore Gail Carriger’s FINISHING SCHOOL series in which spunky Miss Sophronia Temminnick and her friends are being finished while they learn to finish others. For Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality is not your usual Victorian boarding school. Unbeknownst to its headmistress, those Young Ladies of Quality are being trained to be assassins who will one day serve and protect their queen (or at least Sophronia assumes this — she’s not actually sure yet).
December 3rd, 2014. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Gail Carriger | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
After finally seeing the Broadway musical I felt it was well past time to track down Gregory Maguire‘s Wicked (the inspiration for the musical, which by this stage has probably eclipsed the book in popularity) and read for myself the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Anyone who comes to the book out of a love for the musical is probably in for a nasty shock. Though the musical had its share of darkness and a bittersweet ending,
November 20th, 2014. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Gregory Maguire | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Tricksters by Margaret Mahy
Margaret Mahy was one of New Zealand’s most seminal writers, and one of only a few authors to twice-win the Carnegie Medal — first for The Haunting and then for The Changeover. As good as these books are, my personal favourite is The Tricksters, written for a slightly older audience and filled with her trademark New Zealand scenery, supernatural occurrences, family dramas and the awakening of a young person to adulthood.
November 17th, 2014. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4.5 | Margaret Mahy | Edge, Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Jenna Black’s Replica is a young adult science fiction novel which I read in only one day. Readers who follow my blog might know that when I read a book in a day it means I either loved it or hated it. Well, Replica tries hard, but in the end, it just wasn’t for me.
One of my issues right off the bat is that for a science fiction world, there really isn’t much SciFi in Replica and Black never gives the reader a timeline to reference.
November 6th, 2014. Sarah Chorn´s rating: 2 | Jenna Black | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Ransom Riggs went to film school, made some award-winning short films, and did travel writing and photography before he published Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, his first novel. This young adult fantasy novel uses a number of strange old photographs Riggs either found or borrowed from several collections, and the photos are interspersed with the text. It’s an interesting presentation that adds a lot to the reading experience.
The book has already been optioned by Twentieth Century Fox,
October 31st, 2014. Marion Deeds, Tim Scheidler, Tadiana Jones and Ray McKenzie | Ransom Riggs | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
Jala’s Mask by Mike & Rachel Grinti
I enjoy reading fantasy that stems from a different folkloric basis than the one I grew up in. Middle European, British, Native American and Asian fantasy tropes have been done a lot, so Jala’s Mask, by Mike & Rachel Grinti was a refreshing change.
Jala has grown up in a society similar in some ways to our Polynesian one. Her people can magically shape ships from the material that forms the reefs around their islands. They gather wealth by raiding the mainland.
October 30th, 2014. Marion Deeds´s rating: 3.5 | Mike & Rachel Grinti | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
What a fascinating exploration of Edwige Fenech's contributions to the giallo genre! I love how the post highlights her unique…
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…