Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
Fantasy Literature for Young Adults (over the age of 12).
City of Secrets by Mary Hoffman
It’s Always Somehow Connected to the di Chimici…
City of Secrets is the fourth book in Mary Hoffman’s Stravaganza series, but by this stage they’re wearing a little thin. They’re still very well written, but the freshness and originality of the first couple of books are long gone and what’s left is just formulaic.
The concept itself is great and somewhat reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.
July 7th, 2011. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Mary Hoffman | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
City of Flowers by Mary Hoffman
They Want To Take All My Sons!
This, the third book in the Stravaganza series, is almost twice the size of the first installment, City of Masks, and I can’t help but feel that its pacing suffers as a result. Though still rich in detail and description, City of Flowers feels rather sluggish at times, with none of the intrigue or urgency that filled the pages of its predecessors. It picks up considerably toward the end of the novel,
June 30th, 2011. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Mary Hoffman | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Duke is in a Dangerous Mood…
City of Stars is the second in Mary Hoffman‘s Stravaganza series (of which there are currently five installments), following on from City of Masks. The basic premise of the story is based on people known as the Stravagante: a select group of individuals from our world who can transport in their sleep to the country of Talia, an alternative version of Italy in the sixteenth century.
June 27th, 2011. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Mary Hoffman | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Flying Blind is the first in Deborah Cooke’s Dragon Diaries series, the young adult spinoff of her Dragonfire paranormal romance novels. The Dragon Diaries are set in the near future, and the heroine and her peers are the children of the protagonists of the Dragonfire books.
Zoë Sorensson has always been told she has a great destiny: she is the Wyvern, which means she’s the only female Pyr (dragon shapeshifter) of her generation, and is supposed to have certain powers beneficial to her fellow Pyr.
June 21st, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Deborah Cooke | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Goliath is the concluding third book in Scott Westerfeld’s LEVIATHAN trilogy (imagine that — a trilogy with only three books) and it brings a wonderfully entertaining YA steampunk/alternate WWI series to a suitably strong close. I won’t bother recapping the world or background since you really need to read books one and two first, so read my review of Leviathan (above) to catch up on the backstory if you’d like.
Goliath picks up shortly after the events of Behemoth,
June 3rd, 2011. Bill Capossere, Rebecca Fisher and Marion Deeds´s rating: 4.5 | Scott Westerfeld | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Mackie Doyle is a Replacement — a changeling. When he was a baby, the fairies left him in the crib when they took the real Malcolm Doyle away. His family knows this, but he needs to keep it a secret from the rest of Gentry, his hometown. Mackie tries to be a normal teenager — he goes to school, the teenage night club, and to parties. But he can’t go to church where his father is the pastor because it’s painful to stand on the consecrated land.
May 26th, 2011. Kat Hooper and Rebecca Fisher | Brenna Yovanoff | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Heart of Gold, Word of Honour, Time of Trial, Moment of Truth by Michael Pryor
“Charmingly old-fashioned” is how I would describe Michael Pryor’s series The Laws of Magic, which begins with Blaze of Glory (reviewed above) and continues with Heart of Gold, Word of Honour, Time of Trial, and the most recent,
May 24th, 2011. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Michael Pryor | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
For much of her life, Pierce has been haunted by a mysterious young man. She first met him when she was a little girl, but was told he was a figment of her imagination. When she was fifteen, she had a near-death experience and met him again in a strange landscape. Several times since, when she was threatened, the man appeared and put the threatening party in a world of hurt. Now, Pierce and her mother have moved to Isla Huesos, Florida — Mom’s hometown — for a fresh start.
May 20th, 2011. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 2 | Meg Cabot | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Department Nineteen, by Will Hill, is the beginning to a new young adult series involving a top-secret organization dedicated to destroying the vampires that have infiltrated society, along with the rare but occasional monster. It’s a kind of James Bond/Alex Rider meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, fast-paced, action-filled coming of age story with some flaws — a few implausible moments, some predictability — but a strong backstory, a likable main character, and its fast pace will more than make up for those flaws with its young adult audience.
May 15th, 2011. Bill Capossere´s rating: 4 | Will Hill | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
You Can’t Murder the Truth!
The second of the prequel trilogy to Philip Reeve’s wonderful Hungry Cities series continues Reeve’s imaginative, exhilarating, unpredictable story of life in a post-apocalyptic world where seagulls have rudimentary communication skills, people live in houses that can be hoisted up and down hillsides, and an ominous event known as the Downsizing has left technology beyond the understanding of the human population.
In this brave new world lives Fever Crumb, an engineer who has left the city of London in order to join the traveling theatre known as the Lyceum,
May 4th, 2011. Rebecca Fisher and Bill Capossere´s rating: 4.5, 5 | Philip Reeve | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no 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.