Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
Fantasy Literature for Young Adults (over the age of 12).
A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge
Here in the UK, Frances Hardinge is everywhere. Her new book, A Skinful of Shadows (2017), was plastered all over the London underground in the run-up to its publication, thrusting Hardinge into the mainstream.
I heard Hardinge talk about A Skinful of Shadows at a local bookshop and she admitted that she’d felt some pressure when writing. I can’t help wonder if this pressure somehow seeped into the novel as she wrote.
May 28th, 2020. Katie Burton and Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3, 5 | Frances Hardinge | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
Tavia is a siren. This fact is enough trouble to her that she’s trying to contact the spirit of her grandmother (who was also a siren) to learn whether there’s any way to rid herself of the power.
Her best friend/adopted sister Effie isn’t really a mermaid; she just plays one at the Renaissance Faire. She’s a totally normal human — or so she thinks.
A Song Below Water (2020), by Bethany C. Morrow,
May 27th, 2020. Kelly Lasiter and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Bethany C. Morrow | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant
There’s a scene in Kester Grant’s The Court of Miracles (2020) where an entire room of nobles is hypnotized by the head of the assassin’s guild into doing something horrific, but which they are wholly oblivious to. It’s an apt scene to note, because while this first book in the COURT OF MIRACLES trilogy is far from horrific (really, far from it), Grant is such a fluid writer that she lulls you into a sort of readerly trance,
May 26th, 2020. Bill Capossere´s rating: 3.5 | Kester Grant | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Aurora Burning (2020), the second book in Amie Kaufman’s and Jay Kristoff’s young adult SF AURORA CYCLE series, follows the tension-filled, nonstop space adventures of the teenage crew of Squad 312, recent graduates of the Aurora Academy. In the first book, Aurora Rising, the crew visited the forbidden planet of Octavia III and discovered, to their horror, that an alien hivemind, called the Ra’haam, has taken over the planet and is bent,
May 26th, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray
The thing about STAR WARS tie-in books is that they can never contradict what happens in the films, which means they also can’t have stakes that are particularly high. The big galaxy-shaping events have to be saved for the big screen.
So it makes sense that a lot of them come across as “filler” or “prequel” stories, which add details and background to things we already know have happened. In the case of Leia: Princess of Alderaan,
April 15th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Claudia Gray | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Apparently the market for breathless YA romances with sexy vampires isn’t fully saturated yet, because Crave (2020), a new paranormal romance thriller by Tracy Wolff that cheerfully admits to being inspired by Twilight — check out the blatant knock-off cover — offers readers a slightly updated take on the genre.
When her parents are killed in an automobile accident, high-school-aged Grace reluctantly leaves San Diego and travels to the remote, icy interior of Alaska, where her uncle Finn is headmaster of an exclusive boarding school,
April 13th, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2 | Tracy Wolff | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz
The ALEX RIDER books have always veered on the side of realism (as opposed to other teen-targeted spy stories such as Spy Kids and Kim Possible) but even I was surprised by just how dark the third book in Anthony Horowitz‘s series actually got.
Having been recruited and trained by MI6 in order to infiltrate locations and undergo missions in which teenagers go unnoticed, fourteen year old Alex is happy to be free of espionage and just hanging out with the lovely Sabina Pleasure (a Bond girl if ever there was one).
April 10th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3.5 | Anthony Horowitz | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Superman: Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Peña
In comparison with the other three books in the DC ICONS COLLECTION, I’m afraid I have to say that Superman’s entry is not the best. As with the others, it explores the adolescence of a famous superhero before he or she donned a mask and cloak, and in this case, focuses on farm-boy Clark Kent realizing that strange things are happening in his rural hometown of Smallville.
Along with his best friend Lana Lang (reimagined for the first time as a would-be reporter) Clark gradually becomes aware of a sudden corporate interest in the farms of Smallville,
April 9th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 2.5 | Matt de la Peña | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas
The DC ICONS COLLECTION has a very simple premise: take a famous DC superhero, give them to a popular YA author, and have them craft a story about each character’s adolescence, well before they put on their capes and tights and started crime-fighting. It allows the authors to delve into a part of each character’s life that’s not often explored (well, except for Clark Kent on Smallville) and give us stories about superheroes that aren’t comic books or filmic adaptations.
April 8th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 4 | Sarah J. Maas | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu
Superheroes permeate nearly every facet of pop-culture these days, and someone at Penguin Books found a way to capitalize on that popularity: round up some successful YA authors and have them write original stories about the most famous DC superheroes while still in their adolescence (the heroes, not the authors).
Therefore the DC ICONS COLLECTION gives us new stories about Wonder Woman, Batman, Catwoman and Superman before they adopt their later personas, most of them no more than seventeen or eighteen years old at the time these tales are set.
April 7th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher´s rating: 3 | Marie Lu | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
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Susan, glad you enjoyed. Samuel Jackson should absolutely play him in the movie!