Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
Fantasy Literature for Young Adults (over the age of 12).
Skin Hunger is two stories in one. Told in alternating chapters, Skin Hunger follows the story of Sadima, a farm girl who can speak to animals. Her mother died when the magician hired to heal her instead stole the family’s few valuables and left her to die as she gave birth to Sadima. Seeking to find someone who can understand her abilities, she runs away to the distant city Limòri and starts keeping house for two budding magicians. The second story concerns Hahp,
July 31st, 2009. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 5 | Kathleen Duey | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
CLASSIFICATION: The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a post-apocalyptic tale of survival, zombies and love. Its M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village” meets George A. Romero meets Stephenie Meyer…
FORMAT/INFO: Page count is 320 pages divided over thirty-six Roman-numbered chapters. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via the protagonist Mary. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is self-contained, but there is ample scope for sequels, and the author is actually working on another book set in the same milieu.
July 29th, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4.5 | Carrie Ryan | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Nobody’s Princess by Esther Friesner
Nobody’s Princess is the story of Helen of Troy as a young woman. Because the world knows who she is as an adult, but there is no record of her childhood, Esther Freisner presents us with a determined, independent woman who wants to learn how to fight like her older brothers and go on adventures and see the world.
The story kind of meanders along following Helen’s realization that she is beautiful and her decision that she wants to be more than just a pretty face.
July 21st, 2009. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 1.5 | Esther Friesner | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
THE NIGHT WORLD: Volume 3 by L.J. Smith
“Four to Stand Between the Light and the Shadow…”
Whereas the first Night World omnibus set up the basic concept for the Night World and the rules in place for its existence, the second began to give the sense that all the stories were interconnected rather than one-off stories. With each installment, more was learned about the history of the sub-world, the concept of soulmates, and (particularly in this final omnibus) the coming of the end of the world. Such was the case for the first nine books in this series,
July 10th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | L.J. Smith | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sadar’s Keep continues the story that began in New Moon.
Three of the four young queens had been found by the end of the first book, and the army that is slowly pulling together around these young woman is starting to find some unusual allies. Midori Snyder focuses the story around the preparations for battle at Sadar’s Keep between the army of the uprising, known as the New Moon, and the Oran military. Sadar’s Keep is also the site of the battle between the current Fire Queen Zorah and her queens 200 years earlier,
July 10th, 2009. Ruth Arnell´s rating: 5 | Midori Snyder | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Suzanne Collins has already proven her talent for storytelling with her recently completed Gregor the Underlander series. In that series, she showed she was able to create strong characters, move plot along quickly, deftly control the rise and fall in tension, and create moving scenes. While there were some weak sections in the series (sometimes the pace moved too quickly, settings often could have been more detailed, and a few characters could have been more richly drawn), by the end she had crafted one of the best YA series to hit the shelves the past few years — a thoughtful,
July 9th, 2009. Bill Capossere, Kelly Lasiter, John Hulet, Terry Weyna and Kat Hooper´s rating: 5 | Suzanne Collins | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Poison Ink by Christopher Golden
Poison Ink is the first YA novel that I’ve ever read by Christopher Golden, and from start to finish, I couldn’t be more impressed. As usual, the first thing that stands out is the author’s top-notch writing. Which in this case encompasses his ability to convincingly adopt the personality of a sixteen-year-old female high school student; faithfully capture domestic, social and high school life — including different cliques, lunch ladies, texting, flirting, and peer pressure — and a gift for witty banter:
“My Clever plan for world domination failed.”
“So what next,
July 8th, 2009. Robert Thompson´s rating: 4.5 | Christopher Golden | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Storyteller and Other Tales by K.V. Johansen
The Storyteller and Other Tales is a book of stories, and I mean that as the highest compliment. I felt like I was transported from the 21st century to some Thane’s hall with a roaring fire and a smoke hole instead of a chimney, while K.V. Johansen wove tales that took me to different and wonderful traditions.
Johansen is a fantasy scholar, and this shows up clearly in this book. The four tales that she presents use widely differing fantasy settings.
July 7th, 2009. Guest´s rating: 5 | K.V. Johansen | Short Fiction, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
THE NIGHT WORLD: Volume 2 by L.J. Smith
“There Is Plenty of Darkness…”
The first omnibus edition of The Night World sets up the basic premise of the Night World, introducing several concepts and characters that pop up again in later books, and are quick, entertaining reads. But it’s not until the fifth story (found in this collection) in the series that things really get moving, and Smith begins to draw on her established history of the Night World, bring back past characters, and begin to set the scene for more epic things to come.
July 2nd, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | L.J. Smith | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Once Upon a Time books are a series of relatively slim volumes that retell traditional fairytales, usually in an updated setting. Water Song: A Retelling of “The Frog Prince”
for example is set during WWII, and with the magical elements removed. Belle is an exception to this rule, as it is set in your typical 19th century time-period and with plenty of emphasis on enchantment and mystery in its second half.
Other reviewers have compared Belle with Robin McKinley‘s Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast.
June 26th, 2009. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2 | Cameron Dokey | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
Looking forward to reading the review.
Always my pleasure, Marion! I'm almost finished with Book #3 now, and hope to be reporting on it very shortly....
After reading your review, I'm quite sure I never read this one, or Book Three for that matter. I loved…
What a fantastic review! I loved how you highlighted the blend of action and character development in "Foundryside." The intricate…
On her blog, "Aunt Beast" says she is in the early stages of working on another Tinfoil Dossier novella, so…