Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
Fantasy Literature for Young Adults (over the age of 12).
Fire & Heist by Sarah Beth Durst
I’d only previously read Sarah Beth Durst’s QUEENS OF RENTHIA series, so I was excited to have the chance to read Fire & Heist (2018), her latest YA novel. I never know whether an author whose adult work is enjoyable will write well for a young adult audience — or vice versa — but I’m pleased to be able to report that Durst is clearly adept at writing for any age group, and particularly so for nerdy readers.
December 11th, 2018. Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Sarah Beth Durst | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Girl with the Dragon Heart by Stephanie Burgis
Stephanie Burgis follows up last year’s award-nominated middle grade fantasy The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart with The Girl with the Dragon Heart (2018), the second book in her TALES FROM THE CHOCOLATE HEART series. The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart followed the escapades of Aventurine, a chocolate-loving young dragon enchanted into the shape of a young girl. The focus now shifts to Aventurine’s friend Silke,
December 10th, 2018. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 3.5 | Stephanie Burgis | Children, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
“Fear was the superpower they all possessed. And unlike Midsummer’s monsters, there was no limit to the number of people they could control with it.”
Vic James wraps up her hard-hitting DARK GIFTS fantasy trilogy with Bright Ruin (2018), which picks up right where the second book, Tarnished City, left off. This series is set an alternative version of our world where a minority, called the “Equals,” has powerful magical gifts.
December 6th, 2018. Tadiana Jones and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Vic James | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 8 comments |
Legendary (2018) is the second novel in the CARAVAL trilogy. The third novel, Finale, is due out in May of 2019. I entered this series midstream, after sisters Donatella (Tella) and Scarlet have escaped their father’s controlling grip and freed themselves from the hold of their first Caraval competition. Now Tella is about to dive back into the stream for the sake of a debt she incurred in Caraval.
December 4th, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 0.1 | Stephanie Garber | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Warning: This review will contain spoilers for the previous MEDIATOR books. If you’re interested in this series, please don’t read this review, but take a look at the first book, Shadowland, instead.
Remembrance (2016), the seventh novel in Meg Cabot’s MEDIATOR series, was published 11 years after fans thought the series was finished with Twilight (though Cabot prepared readers for reentry with the novella Proposal,
November 29th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 1.5 | Meg Cabot | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Silver Dream by Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves & Mallory Reaves
This review will contain spoilers for the first INTERWORLD book, InterWorld. You should read InterWorld (2007) before beginning The Silver Dream (2013).
Joey Harker, the Walker, is now almost 17 years old and he has so far survived as a member of the InterWorld, the military organization made up of all the Joeys in the altiverses who have come together to protect their earths from the Hex and the Binary.
November 28th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Neil Gaiman | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Interworld by Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves
Joey Harker thinks he’s a pretty normal kid except that he’s got a horrible sense of direction. When his social studies teacher makes the kids try to find their way back to school after being dropped off somewhere in town, Joey gets lost. That’s when he discovers there’s a good reason for his deficit — he’s a Walker. In fact, he’s THE Walker. He can travel through all the (heretofore unknown to Joey) alternate earths.
When Joey accidentally walks out of our earth,
November 21st, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Neil Gaiman | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Fans of Meg Cabot’s MEDIATOR series thought it was over back in 2005 with Twilight, but in 2016, Cabot published this novella as book “6.5” before publishing another full novel (Remembrance) that year. This review will have some spoilers for the series, so please don’t read further if you intend to read MEDIATOR.
Suze is now in college and Jesse is in med school.
November 7th, 2018. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Meg Cabot | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Umbertouched by Livia Blackburne
Livia Blackburne’s second novel in the ROSEMARKED duology, Umbertouched (2018) follows the story of plague-infected Zivah and -recovered Dineas as they escape imperial quarantine to return to their tribe and village, prepare them for imperial attack, and try to widely expose the rogue physician who had used the plague to deliberately infect imperial troops.
Tension between Dineas and Zivah remains consistent and credible, despite Zivah’s having restored his memory. Zivah feels guilt for the lingering negative impact of the treatment and psychological burden of having,
November 2nd, 2018. Taya Okerlund´s rating: 3 | Livia Blackburne | Young Adult | Giveaway!, SFF Reviews | 7 comments |
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
“Here is a small fact. You are going to die.”
It is Death who speaks the novel’s opening lines. And Death himself, for the duration of Markus Zusak’s bestselling novel, will be our narrator. It is 1939 in Nazi Germany and whilst he takes away an increasing amount of souls, Death muses on the unravelling of humanity.
Upon taking the soul of a young boy on a train, Death notices a girl. Her name is Liesel Meminger and she has just watched her brother die.
November 1st, 2018. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 5 | Markus Zusak | Edge, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
This book made no sense to me at all. I was hoping for some explanations at the end but it…
Oh, Marion, you say "but dark" as if it were a bad thing! 😂
Hammer Studios is... reborn? I only ever read the "Kane" stories, which I found good but dark. It's a little…
Oh...and the men used the name "The Great Northern Expedition" to throw people off as to their actual destination, even…
Oh, it IS, Marion! It is!