Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
Fantasy Literature for Young Adults (over the age of 12).
Shadowshaper Legacy by Daniel José Older
Shadowshaper Legacy (2020) is the third and final novel in Daniel José Older’s excellent SHADOWSHAPER CYPHER series. While it was not my favorite book in the trilogy, it ends on a high note and concludes the main plot arcs in a satisfying way. This review will contain some spoilers for the first two books.
Shadowhouse Fall saw Sierra merge two magical Houses into the new House of Shadow and Light,
July 10th, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Daniel José Older | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
Siege and Storm (2013) is the second book in Leigh Bardugo‘s GRISHA trilogy, and does what any good sequel should do: expands the world, deepens the characters and raises the stakes. On the other hand, it can’t quite avoid the pitfalls of a typical middle book — being unable to truly start or properly finish anything; it ends on a note that gives the impression the whole thing has been setup for the third and final instalment.
July 10th, 2020. Rebecca Fisher and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Leigh Bardugo | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
YA can be more fickle than its literary cousins. It’s notorious for trends. There were wizards, vampires, and what feels like a decade’s worth of dystopias. The result is a glut of books with sassy female protagonists who discover they have a unique power, are fighting to save the world, and struggling to decide which hunky love interest to pick from in their love triangle. Shadow and Bone doesn’t do anything groundbreaking in terms of avoiding these tropes, but what it does do is tell them in a fresh and innovative way.
July 2nd, 2020. Ray McKenzie, Rebecca Fisher and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5, 4 | Leigh Bardugo | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
It’s been two hundred years since Cinderella met her Prince Charming. Her dream come true has become a nightmare for the girls of Lille. Every year, all eligible young girls must attend the royal ball, where they vie to be selected as brides for Lille’s men. For the girls who are not chosen, there are dire but mysterious consequences.
It’s time for Sophia to debut at the ball, and it’s the last thing she wants to do. For one thing, she’s gay and doesn’t want to marry a man at all.
July 2nd, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Kalynn Bayron | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds
Shadow Captain (2019) is the second novel in Alastair Reynolds’ REVENGER series for young adults. You’ll need to read Revenger first, and this review will have some spoilers for that first book.
It’s been three months since Revenger ended, and Adrana and Fura Ness are back together after Adrana was kidnapped by the evil pirate Bosa Sennen and rescued by Fura. Now the Ness sisters have Bosa’s infamous ship and Fura,
June 17th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Alastair Reynolds | Audio, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Onyii is a battle-hardened soldier, weary of war.
She’s 15.
Her adopted sister, Ify, is even younger and a budding tech genius. The two live in a rebel compound of Biafran girls, hidden by a signal dampener from the Nigerian government. Tochi Onyebuchi gives the reader a little quiet time in the camp, to meet the characters and learn about the technologies they use — and then the camp is discovered, and a riveting battle scene begins. Onyii and Ify are separated,
June 16th, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4.5 | Tochi Onyebuchi | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Destroy All Monsters by Sam J. Miller
It’s interesting reading Sam J. Miller’s Destroy All Monsters (2019) with Akwaeke Emezi’s Pet still fresh in my mind. Both novels deal with child abuse and the question of what a “monster” is. Clearly, these themes are out there in the zeitgeist, and they’re resonating with readers; both books have been named Locus finalists in the Young Adult category.
Destroy All Monsters alternates between two points of view: high school best friends Ash and Solomon.
June 15th, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 3 | Sam J. Miller | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
“If the Ness sisters had a brain cell between them, they’d be back in Mazarile, taking needlecraft lessons from a robot.”
Sisters Adrana and Fura Ness have run away from home, joining the crew of a spaceship captained by a man named Rackamore. Their job on the ship is to use a skull to listen in on chatter that gives them clues about things going on in the universe, such as the location of other ships, gossip, and information about “baubles” that are about to open.
June 15th, 2020. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Alastair Reynolds | Audio, Locus Award, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest
When Laurie Forest’s debut YA fantasy novel The Black Witch was published in 2017, there was a massive explosion of outrage in the Twitterverse and elsewhere online. Accusations of various types of prejudice — racism (albeit based on fantasy races), homophobia, white saviorism, ableism, lookism and more — were hurled against it. In my opinion those charges were unfair and based on a superficial reading of the text, missing the fact that the main character’s prejudices were clearly being shown as unthinking bias and bigotry,
June 10th, 2020. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2.5 | Laurie Forest | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
I loved Laura Ruby’s Bone Gap so much that I was almost afraid to read Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All (2019). How could it possibly live up to my expectations of it? After having read it, I can report that I do still think I liked Bone Gap better, but that Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All is also a good read.
June 5th, 2020. Kelly Lasiter´s rating: 4 | Laura Ruby | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Previous SFF Author: John Wyndham
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…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…