Category Archives: Fantasy

Review: The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow

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The Scorpion Rules by Erin BowThe Scorpion Rules
by Erin Bow
Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster

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Most of Greta’s memories are from her time spent at the Precepture as a Child of Peace. Though she’s the crown princess of the Pan-Polar kingdom, she and other child royals live together in the secluded school. If their countries declare war on one another, their lives will be forfeit. For Greta, whose homeland stands on the brink of war, reaching adulthood seems an impossibility.

When a new boy enters the Precepture, he’s bound and determined not to let the system dominate him. Greta’s always been careful to follow the rules, but now she finds herself challenged by Elián’s behavior. As their nations inch ever closer to war, he talks of escaping the compound. Hope and terror battle within Greta, but she may not have time to decide the victor before she’s called upon to fulfill her duty.

Wow. Just wow. I devoured this book, page after page as quickly as I could. When I had to put it down, the story stayed in my head. Each of the characters has this really deep individual personality and each really added something significant to the story. I liked that the AI characters didn’t follow the clichéd norms for speech and behavior. The premise – that AI rule earth from a satellite – is really original, and Bow executes the plot with clockwork precision. As each new conflict tore through the tale, I found myself deeper and deeper invested in the lives of the Children of Peace.

The ending definitely set the stage for a follow-up novel. It was intense without seeming like a cliffhanger for its own sake. The ending resolved the crucial conflict but definitely left plenty of things unresolved for the next tale.

If you’re looking for a book that has a diverse, well-drawn set of characters and a strong cerebral feel, this is definitely a book you want to read. Fans of These Broken Stars by Aimee Kaufman and Meagan Spooner or Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee should add this novel to their to-be-read lists.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used very infrequently.

Sexual Content
References to sneaking out at night to have sex, called “going coyote.” A girl confesses that she’d become pregnant and was forced to miscarry. Kissing – girl/girl and boy/girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
References to complete cities being obliterated. Greta remembers one of the Children of Peace who committed suicide and briefly describes what happened. (He used a pitchfork. There was a lot of blood.) Robot minders use electric shocks to keep one rowdy kid in line. A drug is used to induce nightmares in other children who won’t behave. A female hostage is queued for torture. It’s intense but doesn’t get super gruesome.

Drug Content
See sexual content and violence.

Review: Battle of Beings by Nita Tarr

Book Review and Content, Christian World-View, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Battle of Beings by Nita Tarr
CreateSpace

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When Gregory finds himself the winner of a large lottery, he knows there’s only one thing he wants to do with the winnings. He will travel to the Congo to help children. Greg and his two friends make the long journey together, but when they finally reach the mission, something isn’t right. The mission director acts suspiciously, and the children are simply too quiet. Greg and his team need to find out what’s really happening to the children at the mission and rescue them. Greg isn’t acting alone, though. All around and unseen, angels aid his efforts, waging war against a legion of demons who would stop at nothing to destroy every child in the mission.

I liked the way Tarr brought the story into the jungles of Africa. It was a fresh setting that definitely shined through the story. Greg and Jenny were a really cute couple, and some of their antics made me laugh – perhaps even ones that were supposed to be serious, though? I’m not sure.

As for the rhythm of the story itself, I felt like I was reading an early draft. There were characters and scenes that really weren’t well-integrated into the story as a whole. Scenes felt choppy. Characters were, at times, unbelievable. For instance, in one scene an angel character is having a conversation with Jesus and Jesus is clarifying that he indeed made up this word or that idea (all the ideas, because he’s God) and I felt like, the angel has been around for a long time. I couldn’t see him still wondering, hey, did Jesus make that up? Because surely it’s not the first time he’s thought about it after all this time?

On the whole, a lot of the story was interesting. It had a pretty solid plot. The Christian elements are pretty deep, and sometimes written in that sort of church-speak that some readers may find inaccessible. Readers with some familiarity with other novels featuring angels and demons may find this story most interesting and easy to follow.

Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Sexual Content
A boy grabs a girl’s chest and pressures her for sex. She tells him he’s crazy and begins to pray for him.

Spiritual Content
Angels and demons are characters in the story and behave according to Christian ideas. Jesus makes an appearance, having conversations with angels on top of clouds and later disguising himself as a human and participating in a fighting ring. Demons control humans, causing them to harm one another. Prayer and angelic warfare casts them out and returns the human to his or her normal self.

Violence
A creepy guy wears a necklace with human pinky fingers strung on it. Children are forced to take up guns and participate in an army led by a warped man. Giant spiders attack people in the jungle. Angels use swords to fight demons. Demons use canes and other weapons.

Drug Content
None.

Review: Lullaby by Amanda Hocking

Book Review and Content, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , ,

Lullaby byAmanda Hocking
St. Martin’s Griffin

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After Gemma disappeared with Penn and the other Sirens, her sister Harper won’t rest until she tracks them down. She’ll rescue Gemma no matter what it takes. Even if it means spending time with Daniel, whose tanned muscles and bright smile are sure to distract her.

Hidden away in a white beach house, Gemma tries to understand her new Siren needs and abilities. She promises not to run away in a bargain to protect her family and Alex, her boyfriend. At first she’s determined to be miserable, but when that backfires she decides to make the best of it. She tries to enjoy the sea and get to know her fellow Sirens better. Thea has the potential to be an ally, but she won’t easily give up any secrets about Sirens or her own tragic past.

Harper, Alex and Daniel close in on Gemma’s whereabouts. The plan: rescue her from the Sirens and find a way to break the Siren curse so Gemma can be free.

Mermaid stories aren’t hard to find, but this is the first series about sirens I’d ever read. After reading the first book in the series, I wanted to find out what happened to Gemma, a star swimmer-turned-siren and her organized, overprotective sister Harper. Harper’s interactions with the other characters may have been my favorite parts, especially her friendship with her coworker Marcy, whose dry monotone made her offbeat ideas pretty funny at times.

The writing isn’t spectacular. Sometimes passive writing left me disconnected from the story. There were some odd decisions with regard to point-of-view. All characters are referred to by their first names, which seemed strange especially for Harper and Gemma’s parents. The situation with the girls’ parents definitely added to the story and explained some of the girls’ important thoughts and motivations. I just didn’t find it all that believable that they’d refer to their parents as “Brian” and “Nathalie” in the narrative.

I think I liked the first book better than this second one. It seems to fall into the pit that second books often do, where the story winds up feeling like a filler needed to set up for the big finale. Not enough really happened to make it feel like its own novel. Readers interested in mermaid stories might like Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly or Of Poseidon by Anna Banks.

Language Content
Extreme profanity and some crude language used infrequently throughout the story.

Sexual Content
Gemma spends time kissing a couple of boys. Penn uses her Siren abilities to control a young man named Sawyer, whom she appears to be sleeping with. She invites Gemma to join them for sex, but Gemma refuses, grossed out. Both Gemma and Harper reflect on how hot boys are several times throughout the story.

Spiritual Content
The Siren curse began when four girls failed to protect the goddess Demeter’s daughter. Demeter found them swimming and flirting with men, so she transformed them into Sirens, whose songs can convince humans to do their bidding and transform into mermaids and bird-like creatures.

Harper’s friend Marcy decides to hold a séance in an area where a boy was found dead hoping that the boy’s spirit will tell Harper where Gemma and the Sirens have gone. No spirits reveal themselves, so they give up.

Violence (and a bit of a spoiler)
To survive, Sirens must eat the hearts of young men. Gemma refuses to do this at first, but the Siren curse means she becomes more and more susceptible to the desire to feed. She ends up killing a man who is possibly about to rape her.

In one scene, a Siren shoves her hand through a man’s chest and grabs his heart. It’s icky, but brief, and she does not eat the heart.

Drug Content
None.

 

Review: State of Grace by Hilary Badger

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

State of Grace
Hilary Badger
Capstone/Switch Press
Published October 1, 2014

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Wren and her companions live in a beautiful utopian world where pleasure is the highest value. Dot has made all creation good and beautiful, and she’s left instructions for how to live. When strange flashes of another life begin plaguing Wren, she tries to hold on to Dot’s ways and be happy. But as piece after piece of her perfect world begin to crumble, Wren finds it harder and harder to believe.

At first glance, this is definitely a different book. The idea of reading a utopian story really appealed to me, and I think Badger really delivered on that idea. Of course we’re suspicious of the perfect world right from the start, but even that works for the story. In some ways the suspicion which is so well-voiced by Blaze is really what propels the story forward.

The most powerful moment comes when Wren is faced with the knowledge that what she’s believed to be true is based on lies. She must decide if she’s strong enough to pursue the truth or if she can allow herself to be lulled back into ignorance. Can she be happy if she knows it’s all fake? Badger captures the unraveling of the pure dystopian world, juxtaposing Wren’s breakdown against the echoes of bliss still experienced by other characters, revealing the truth in an almost horrifying clarity worthy of big league sci-fi writers.

Readers who enjoy Ursula K. LeGuin (particularly The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas) should absolutely give State of Grace a read.

Language Content
No profanity.

Sexual Content
Characters are encouraged to have sex (referred to as hooking up) as often as they want with whomever they want, as long as it’s not with the same person twice (some couples choose same sex, others choose opposite sex. Anything goes.) In the Books of Dot, pleasure and fun are the highest values.

A boy uses Dot’s principles to manipulate girls into having sex with him. There aren’t a lot of details given. Wren recognizes that there’s something wrong with this, but isn’t immediately able to pinpoint what.

Other hooking up scenes aren’t described either. Wren does refer to the boys’ “willies” and the girls’ “tatas” here and there. Clothing is also optional.

There’s a brief reference to a porn site and a nudist colony.

Spiritual Content
Characters worship Dot as their creator. She is an all-knowing goddess who left instructions within several books. One character claims to hear Dot’s voice. Each character is required to fill a bag with a special fruit as an offering to Dot each day. (See below for more information that includes a spoiler.)

Violence
A boy slits the neck of a deer and guts it. It’s a bit gruesome, which is kind of the point the author is making. A boy’s neck is cut later. There are some flashbacks which include information about a boy beating someone to death.

Drug Content
A boy encourages a girl to take prescription drugs and smoke cigarettes with him.

Spoiler
(Spiritual Content continued) Wren learns that everything she believed about Dot has been made up. She’s frustrated and angry, but also a bit relieved, because it was getting a little Lord of the Flies there for a while. At the end of the book she reflects on the difference between her earlier life and the present. She knows that anyone who has died isn’t out there with Dot. They simply don’t exist anymore. She has zero faith, and that’s implied to be this very superior experience.

Given her earlier time, it’s understandable that faith has left her with this strong aversion and that she’s chosen not to believe anything like that anymore, but some readers may be bothered by the implication that atheism is a superior way to live.

 

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Review: Mercy’s Prince by Katy Huth Jones

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Mercy’s Prince by Katy Huth Jones
Quinlan Creek Press

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Prince Valerian longs to become a scholar, a dream spurned by his family in his war-torn kingdom. When the crowned prince is cut down in battle, Valerian must step forward to lead his father’s army to war. To wear the crown he never wanted, he will have to prove his worth to a people who value power over philosophy.

Mercy, a healer from a peaceful village, loses everything dear to her in one terrible morning. She joins the prince and his companion to rally the people and defeat the Horde that would destroy them all. The prince will need every ally if he is to stop the lizard-like beasts who seek to annihilate his people.

Right from the beginning I wanted to root for Valerian. There were a couple of quickly passing moments where I hesitated a little bit, but he’s definitely the classic form of one of my favorite heroes – a good guy in a tough place who has to make some really hard choices. I felt much the same way about Mercy.

So often right now YA features stories in which the protagonists whine about how terrible things are and how they just want to do things their own way. These guys are not like that at all. Mercy’s Prince definitely has that more classic feel, where the characters get handed tasks they never wanted and they man up and work to make the best of things. I found that attitude really admirable, and while I enjoy a good rebel, too, this story felt fresh and lovely. My only complaint with regard to characters is that Mercy’s little brother was kind of flat for me. At the beginning he was kind of a trouble-maker and then suddenly, he turned into this constantly helpful cooperative four year-old. I kind of wanted to see more conflict there, more sides of his behavior. He’s not a huge part of the story, though, so that didn’t really detract from my enjoyment much at all.

Though the narrative isn’t perhaps as polished as stories coming from mammoth publishing houses, love for the characters and an intriguing plot kept me turning page after page each time I sat down to read. Mercy’s Prince is easily one of the best indie novels I’ve ever read. I highly recommend it to readers who enjoy Mary Weber’s Storm Siren Trilogy or Jill Williamson’s Blood of Kings series.

Language Content
No profanity.

Sexual Content
Brief references to a couple looking forward to their wedding night, as in looking forward to being “one flesh.” It’s pretty tactful.

Spiritual Content
All the members of Mercy’s village have taken an oath of pacifism in response to their faith in the Most High God. Some characters possess Gifts – to See into the thoughts of others, to supernaturally Heal others, etc. (The capital letters are used in the story to indicate the use of the supernatural gift.)

Dragons exist and can speak to humans and one another mind to mind.

Violence
Prince Valerian witnesses his brother’s death. He’s cut down by a lizard-like enemy. Several battle scenes depict warfare between men and the lizard-like Horde. A group of soldiers massacre an entire village of civilians. Assassins attempt to kill the prince and his companions. These events are described with some level of detail. The story doesn’t dwell too long on the gory stuff, but there are some descriptions that really sensitive readers might be uncomfortable with.

Drug Content
References to a festival at which men become drunk and rowdy. The major characters see this as a dangerous behavior and withdraw from the event.

Review: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

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The School for Good and Evil (School for Good and Evil #1)
Soman Chainani
HarperCollins
Published on May 4, 2013

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Each year the schoolmaster collects two children from Sophie’s village. She longs to be chosen to attend the School for Good and grow up to be a fairy tale princess. Her best friend Agatha, hopes only to be left alone. When the schoolmaster comes to collect the children, Sophie is chosen, and all her dreams are about to come true.

Except the schoomaster’s servants deposit her in the School of Evil and send Agatha to the School of Good. Clearly there’s been a mistake, one Sophie will do anything to correct. Agatha agrees that something has gone horribly wrong. She is determined to find a way to escape the school with Sophie and return home to her village. But what if there is no escape? What if the schoolmaster hasn’t made a mistake, and in fact, Sophie and Agatha belong exactly where he’s sent them?

My Review

When I saw THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL sitting on the shelf in our local bookstore, my daughter and I were in the middle of the Ever After High series by Shannon Hale. While we both loved the upbeat story and its modern fairy tale feel, I liked that this series looked similar but perhaps more complex.

The story is a bit meatier than the Ever After High series, but it’s also a bit cruder. Agatha, surrounded by curious princes and princesses in the School for Good, passes gas at them to buy her time to escape. Later, she disguises herself as a roach. One of the students in the School for Evil turns rat poop into chocolate.

Over all, the message is a familiar important one. Sophie’s outward beauty isn’t what makes her good. Her shallowness and disdain for others much more heavily define her. Agatha doesn’t see herself as lovely, but her compassion and kindness mark her as a true princess.

I’m not sure that readers of Ever After High would necessarily gravitate toward THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL because the tone is so different, but definitely readers who enjoyed THE THICKETY: A PATH BEGINS by J. A. White should definitely give this one a go.

Content Notes

Profanity or Crude Language
No profanity. Brief crude references to bodily functions.

Sexual Content
In the tradition of modern fairy tales, it’s not the prince and true love’s kiss that break an evil spell. Instead, a kiss between Agatha and Sophie seals the pivotal moment. It’s less romantic and more symbolic.

Spiritual Content
Children who attend the School for Evil will grow up to be villains (including witches) in fairy tale stories. Students learn to use magic spells to bring help or harm to others.

Violence
Mild battle situations. No gore.

Drug Content
None.