With limited memories of his previous life, Thomas arrives in a frightening world, trapped in a hostile maze with fifty other boys. Before he is fully acclimated to his new home, an unprecedented event occurs: a girl arrives, claiming she will be the last person to join them before collapsing into a coma. Thomas reels,feeling that this girl is familiar to him. He can’t stop thinking about her or feeling an intense desire to become a Runner, a member of the elite group of boys who set out into the maze daily, attempting to create a map to the exit.
When the group’s leader, and the leader of the Runners become trapped in the maze, Thomas rushes in to rescue them without considering the consequences: a night surrounded by fierce monsters called Grievers. As he struggles to survive the night, Thomas begins to understand what the boys must do in order to escape the maze. When the girl confesses that she has triggered the ending of the way of life the boys endure, Thomas realizes they must make their move now.
Though the opening is clouded with the intense confusion of the protagonist, the story and its world eventually becomes more clear, and readers are able to invest in Thomas and his friends. In addition to the unique dystopian setting, Dashner creates language used by the boys in place of profanity. While cleverly conceived, the words are overused to the point of obnoxiousness. The Maze Runner contains some dark elements. For instance, a Griever’s sting causes its victim to have a mental breakdown and to experience horrible memories from the past. Grievers attack the boys, and sometimes each other. However, the relationships between the characters are touching and the story’s tension builds steadily. The twist ending makes it difficult for readers not to immediately begin the second installment of the series.
The movie based on the book The Maze Runner is expected to hit the big screen in September 2014.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
No profanity. Characters use alternate words in place of swearing.
Sexual Content When the girl arrives, a few of the boys make comments claiming her. Before anyone can lay a hand on her, the leader makes it clear that harming her in any way will not be tolerated.
Spiritual Content None.
Violence Half-machine, half-animal creatures called Grievers roam the maze at night, attacking and stinging any boys in their paths. Stings cause a reaction referred to as the Changing, which can cause some mad or violent outbursts.
Drug Content
A serum must be taken to save anyone stung by a Griever.
When her father is assassinated, fifteen year-old Laila, her mother and younger brother escape their tumultuous homeland to America. As Laila explores her new freedoms, she learns that what she grew up believing about her father – that he was a king and her family royalty – is not how the rest of the world saw his rule. The ugly words – dictator, tyrant – slam into her, turning her past upside down. She watches helplessly from across the world as her uncle continues the regime of violence and destruction.
Laila joins a school for the first time in her life and struggles to fit in to the complex high school hierarchy. At home, her mother attempts to continue the way of life the family enjoyed in their homeland, a life of luxury and excess. What little money they had quickly runs out, and Laila discovers her mother making secret agreements with the American agent who helped them escape to the US. The agreements force Laila’s friendship with another family from her homeland, one who lives on the other side of the battle lines. Friendship does not come easily, and every time Laila thinks she understands what her mother is doing, the game shifts and new objectives become important. Her mother insists Laila’s younger brother will be king, but Laila can’t help wondering if that is even possible and what it will cost.
For author J C Carleson, The Tyrant’s Daughter began as a question. As the world watched events unfold in Iraq, Carleson wondered about the families of men like Bin Laden and Saddam Houssein. What are their stories? What must it have been like for the man known of the international community as a terrorist or ruthless dictator to be one’s loving father? Though this story examines the violence from a great distance, the shock and tragedy of these events rings out from its pages. Laila’s journey both to find her place in a new home and her new understanding of the events in her past make The Tyrant’s Daughter a dynamic story and a worthy read.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Moderate word choice, mild frequency.
Sexual Content Laila embraces the freedom that being in the United States allows her. She dances intimately with a stranger and makes out with a classmate in a car. She seems willing to have sex with this boy, but he stops her before any clothes come off.
Spiritual Content Laila’s uncle is a devout Muslim and a harsh judge of others who do not live out their faith as he does. Laila’s family is nonreligious.
Violence Though Laila does not witness her father’s assassination, she recalls the moments immediately after, including seeing her mother’s blood-drenched clothing. On an outing with her family once, the armored car approaches a body left in the street and rolls over it. Laila is sickened. Laila’s uncle slaps her mother hard and tries to slap Laila, but her mother protects her. In an argument, Laila’s mother slaps her.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Three brothers and a young girl fight for survival within the towering walls of the Safe Lands. Despite its name, the city is ravaged with disease and infested with corruption. Each brother follows a mission: to find a cure for the sick; to free the captives; to take down the Safe Lands in a rebellion.
The second in her Safe Lands series, Outcasts is quickly earning a reputation as an intense story set in a captivating world. As a fan of Williamson’s fantasy series, Blood of Kings, I’ve been eager to get lost in another story by this worthy author.
The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson
Release date: 11/9/13
Lonely Gisela spends her days serving her stepmother and grasping at memories of a happier childhood. When a handsome Duke throw a grand ball, Gisela is determined to attend and to have one last glimpse of the beauty of her past.
Dickerson won my heart as a reader with her debut novel The Healer’s Apprentice, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. The beautiful simplicity of the story and the lovely characters she creates are difficult to resist. I am eager to get my eyes on her latest happily ever after story, inspired by the familiar tale of Cinderella in The Captive Maiden.
Cress (The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer
Expected release date: 2/4/14
The third novel in the Lunar Chronicles series, Cress follows the story of a girl briefly mentioned in the series’ acclaimed story, Cinder. The story features unforgettable cast members, including Cinder, Captain Thorne, Scarlet, Wolf and the dreadful Queen Levana.
With Meyer’s gift for a perfect meld of sci-fi and fairy tales retold, this series is one not to miss. Cinder was a fabulous story and very clean content-wise. I’m very hopeful to find Cress to be another gem.
Shadow Hand by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Expected release date: 2/25/14
The day of Lady Daylily’s wedding draws near. Unlike the princesses of fairy tales, she will wed not her true love, but his awkward and foolish cousin. Daylily has always been the dutiful daughter. This time, however, she rebels, disappearing into the legendary Wilderlands and the land of Faerie. Though not her true love, her betrothed pursues her into peril, determined to rescue her.
If you’ve followed my blog long, you’ll be familiar with this name. Stengl continually amazes me with her brilliant characters and sharp dialogue. She possesses an elusive ability to seamlessly draw symbolism into her stories without distracting from the tales. Shadow Hand revisits a fascinating character from an earlier novel in the Tales of Goldstone Wood called Veiled Rose. I can hardly wait until this one hits the shelves.
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
Release date: 2/1/11
A young Japanese boy dreams of one day being a Samurai warrior It seems impossible, since he is the son of a fisherman. When he is stranded and then rescued by sailors on an American vessel, Manjiro begins a grand journey that will take him across the globe.
I stumbled upon this inspired-by-history novel on a rack of books for sale at the public library last summer and was immediately intrigued. My mother recently added it to her library, and has raved about the craftsmanship of the story and the power in its telling. I may have to snag this one as soon as she finishes the last page.
Stay Where You Are and Then Leave by John Boyne
Release date: 3/25/14
From the author who penned The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, an unforgettable tale of two boys who become unlikely friends during World War II comes an intriguing story about the son of a World War I soldier. His father promises not to go away, but then he leaves on a secret mission. Four years later, the boy discovers that his father is being treated in a local hospital. He vows to find his father and bring him home. I’m hopeful to find this novel every bit as engrossing and moving as Boyne’s WW II story.
Interrupted by Rachel Coker
Release date: 3/27/12
In the midst of the Great Depression, Allie’s whole life implodes. Her mother succumbs to illness and Allie is sent to a new family far away. Still lost in her grief, Allie isolates herself from the new family faces around her. The last person she hopes to see is the one she blames for her mother’s death, but her former best friend isn’t going to let Allie off so easily. Interrupted landed on my reading list when it was nominated as a finalist for the 2013 Christy Award.
The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes
Release date: 9/17/13
Henkes captured my household with his delightful children’s stories about two charming mice in Chrysanthemum and Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse. The quirky characters and layers of humor meant for adult and child alike made these oft-repeated bed-time tales. I was thrilled to see this book announced and can’t wait to see what glories he brings to middle grade fiction.
The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson
Expected release date: 3/25/14
Piper scrapes out a meager existence by finding and selling scraps on Meteor Fields. When she finds a strange girl amidst the flotsam, she immediately recognizes the mark that changes everything. The girl’s arm bears the Mark of the Dragonfly, an emblem which means her return home will mean a payday to trump paydays for Piper, if she can just get there. Thus begins a grand adventure.
Something about the description of this book reminds me of the magical world created by Marissa Meyer in the Lunar Chronicles. Without having read the book, it’s difficult to say whether this is an accurate hunch. But two girls on a dangerous journey, one returning to the past and the other grasping at the only hope for her future… what’s not to like? I’m intrigued.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Release date: 5/20/09
This book may well turn out to be one of those good ones that somehow slipped past unnoticed. I’ve heard some buzz about it lately, and since it was first recommended to me by a friend, I’m more curious than ever to get into this story set in a world in which parents of a child who reaches the age of thirteen have the ability to choose whether to keep the child or to have them “unwound,” and essentially destroyed.
Eleven-year-old Ophelia’s father brings her and her older sister Alice to a magical museum in a city in which it always snows. When science-loving Ophelia wanders off to explore the museum in search of dinosaurs and fossils, she finds a boy locked in a small room. He tells an impossible story and asks for her help. Ophelia, who only believes things that can be scientifically proven, is torn about helping the boy, who says he must find a magical sword, and the One Other, who can kill the evil Snow Queen before the queen’s clock chimes and the world ends. Deciding to at least free the boy, Ophelia embarks on a strange journey filled with mysterious creatures.
Since her mother’s death three months ago, Ophelia, her father, and sister have been isolated from one another. The quest to save the strange boy proves to be a journey toward healing for Ophelia and her family as well.
My Review
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy is a whimsical tale full of fascinating creatures and loveable characters. Though Ophelia herself is the real hero, her father finds his strength and stands with her in a demonstration of protection and solidarity. Middle grade readers will enjoy Ophelia’s tale, and the emotional journey she faces is sure to encourage readers dealing with losses of their own.
Profanity/ Crude Language Content No profanity.
Sexual Content None.
Spiritual Content Ophelia faces a horde of ghosts who were once young girls captured by the Snow Queen. Later Ophelia feels herself guided by an inner voice she believes is her mother speaking to her from beyond the grave.
Violence When the queen’s clock chimes, the Snow Queen will destroy the Marvelous Boy unless he and Ophelia can find the One Other, who can use an enchanted sword to kill her. This culminates in a battle scene, but very little blood is shed.
Drug Content None.
Note: I received an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Seventeen year-old Michelle Pearce is barely scraping by. Her grades plummet. The bullying she endures at school only escalates. Even the perky high school counselor seems a bit over her head with Michelle and the fury penned inside her.
Enter Nate. He’s just about the last thing Michelle wants hanging around the gas station she works. Impossibly tall and somber, Nate is just too nice to dislike. She tries. Fails.
They begin working together and at first out of boredom, Michelle pries into Nate’s life. She finds more sadness and more compassion than she could have imagined. Through him, she learns an entirely different way of responding to the awfulness life seems to keep dishing out.
Part of a new line of teen-written novels, Paper Hearts is penned by an eighteen year-old author who writes teen angst with authenticity and power. Michelle’s fierce anger can be so intense that it’s almost off-putting. The salve is in the softer characters (Nate and his grandmother) who bring out the flighty wounded girl under the tough exterior. Next to the rest of the cast, Michelle’s mother, counselor and boss lack complexity and remain a little two-dimensional. Despite this, the novel is an impressive achievement for a debut writer.
Language Content
Extreme words, moderate frequency.
Sexual Content One character briefly recounts sexual abuse. One scene includes a jumbled description of a man sexually assaulting a woman. Several crude sexual comments.
Spiritual Content None.
Violence At school, a group of girls bully and humiliate Michelle, destroying her clothes and possessions, physically attacking her. Michelle’s mom throws a candle jar at her, and glass shatters in Michelle’s hair. See sexual content for additional details.
Drug Content
Michelle and Nate share a bottle of sparkling wine. Both are under 21. Michelle smokes cigarettes.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Girl Who Played Chess With an Angel by Tessa Apa
From my review: “As she wrestles with her father’s sudden death and her mother’s bitterness, Florence begins to see life beyond her own needs. In her tenuous friendship with Max, she finds the courage to ask an even bigger question: is God real? Both Max and her mother are quick to provide their own answers to this deep question, but that’s not enough… Filled with yearning and honesty, Florence’s journey is as captivating as she is. Apa dares to dive deep, to genuinely question, and to allow her characters that which makes them so human: permission to doubt. She brings an authenticity to her debut novel that few authors are able to show in stories of spiritual journeys. This is a very worthy read.”
Secrets of the Realm by Bev Stout
From my review: “Annie wants nothing of the frills and restrictions of female life, especially now that she’s had a taste of the sea. But if her identity is discovered, will she have any choice over her future? Though it begins a little roughly, the story quickly rights itself, launching into a great adventure at sea, peppered with memorable characters, moments of suspense and heartache. Readers will enjoy losing themselves in the rich tapestry of history. Secrets of the Realm is also available as an audiobook.”
Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light by Jaimie M. Engle
From my review: “Inspired by true historical events, this middle grade adventure novel weaves history together with mythical creatures and memorable characters to create a highly entertaining story. Though this is Engle’s debut novel, she handles story like a pro, barely giving the reader a moment to catch breath before leaping off into new twists and turns. Readers who enjoy middle grade adventure stories will not be disappointed in this charming tale.”
Edna in the Desert by Maddy Lederman
From my review: “Lederman creates a memorable cast of characters, each unique and fascinating. As a parent, it’s frightening to witness Edna’s cool confidence and mastery at manipulation. One wants to slap them all the way to parenting classes. Edna’s grandmother is probably the most complex and interesting character of the cast. The narrative is peppered with truly insightful moments, though frequent ricochets from one character’s deep point-of-view to another’s sometimes interrupt the flow of the story. The deepening of Edna’s character and values and the closeness she develops with her grandparents make this a sweet, moving story.”
Trisk by Kenny X
From my review: “Sports fans be warned: Trisk is packed with high-energy, over-the-top action. Non-sports fans: the sharp wit of the author and the high stakes of the game make this debut novel a hard one to put down. While a few passages delve into the techniques and strategy of the game for which the book is titled, much of the story centers around the underdog team and its star member, his struggle to remain honorable and valiant in the face of an amoral country drowning in a sports obsession. The story is told with a sort of wry, intelligent voice, though sometimes it drifts into metaphors which obscure what’s actually happening and become confusing. For the most part, the writing is as entertaining as the story itself.”
