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Review: Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

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Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2)
Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic Press
Published September 17, 2013

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About DREAM THIEVES

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he’s not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys – a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan’s secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface – changing everything in its wake.

Of THE RAVEN BOYS, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY wrote, “Maggie Stiefvater’s can’t-put-it-down paranormal adventure will leave you clamoring for book two.” Now the second book is here, with the same wild imagination, dark romance, and heart-stopping twists that only Maggie Stiefvater can conjure.

My Review

This series is one I return to again and again to listen to the audiobooks, because I LOVE listening to Will Patton read the story. So I’ve probably listened to DREAM THIEVES at least three times, but somehow I hadn’t reviewed it until now. I think I kept getting lost in the story and forgetting to make notes on the content for the review.

At any rate, it’s probably obvious that I enjoy the story, since I keep reading it. I love the tension between Blue and Gansey. And I love going with Ronan into his dreams. I’m always fascinated with him as a character because he’s so angry but somehow so loveable? Maybe because he’s so loyal underneath his grouchy exterior. He’s trying to figure things out, to fix things that have been broken either by him or someone else, and I love those things about him.

Gansey’s sister Helen is also one of my favorites. I think I would totally read a spin-off series or fan fiction where she’s the main character. She’s efficient and brilliant, all sharp observations and quick problem-solving. I love it.

On the whole, I think DREAM THIEVES might be my favorite book in the series. I haven’t read CALL DOWN THE HAWK yet, but I love Ronan’s character, and I got a copy of the book recently, so I suspect I’ll be checking it out soon.

Check out my reviews of other RAVEN CYCLE books.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
There are hints that one character is gay, but nothing overtly confirmed in this book.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to kissing between boy and girl. One embrace which is full of tension. Some intense kissing between man and woman and references to going to bed together.

Spiritual Content
Blue’s mother and her housemates are all psychics with varying areas of specialty. They do tarot card readings. They read objects and can tell things about them.

Ronan is Catholic and attends church with his brothers. Ronan can also take objects from his dreams.

Gansey is searching for a fabled king who, legend says, will grant a wish to whoever finds him. Adam has agreed to serve as the hands and eyes of a magical forest. (No one is exactly sure what this truly means, but it’s obvious that he’s changed by this promise.)

Violent Content
Fighting between boys. Monsters follow Ronan from his dream into reality and attack him and his friend. A hired assassin beats up Ronan’s brother (not shown) and later attacks other men. A boy sets cars on fire.

Drug Content
Ronan and another boy drink alcohol and take pills. The other boy seems to do other drugs, too. Adam drinks at a party– at first he thinks it’s ginger ale, and then later things he’s been given champagne.

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Review: Not if I Can Help It by Carolyn Mackler

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Not If I Can Help It
Carolyn Mackler
Scholastic Press
July 30, 2019

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About Not If I Can Help It

Willa likes certain things to be certain ways. Her socks have to be soft . . . and definitely can’t have irritating tags on the inside. She loves the crunch of popcorn and nachos . . . but is grossed out by the crunch of a baby carrot. And slimy foods? Those are the worst.

Willa can manage all these things — but there are some things she can’t deal with, like her father’s big news. He’s been keeping a big secret from her . . . that he’s been dating the mom of Willa’s best friend Ruby. Willa does NOT like the idea of them being together. And she does NOT like the idea of combining families. And she does NOT like the idea of her best friend becoming her sister overnight. Will she go along with all of these changes? NOT if she can help it!

My Review

Just when I needed a spunky heroine in my life, I found Willa in NOT IF I CAN HELP IT. She has fierce opinions and specific ideas about how she wants things to go. Some of these things are related to her Sensory Processing Disorder, like her needs for clothes to fit a certain way and feel a certain way, but others are simply her own personal preference, like where she wants to go to school next year, and who her dad happens to be dating.

After her dad and her best friend Ruby’s mom announce that they’re dating, Willa realizes she and Ruby aren’t on the same page about it. This begins a big challenge to their relationship and a challenge to Willa’s way of looking at things. She begins to learn that situations and relationships don’t a;ways look the same from other people’s points of view.

For me, that process is precisely what makes this book amazing. Willa navigates that tug-of-war between her own preferences and needs and those of the other important people in her life, mainly her dad and her best friend. She remains a fierce person, fiercely committed to her way of thinking, but also fiercely committed to the people she loves, which makes her all the more lovable and amazing.

NOT IF I CAN HELP IT makes a great read for kids navigating transitions to blended families in their own lives or helping them develop empathy and understanding for the transition in the lives of people close to them. It’s also a great pick for encouraging understanding and empathy toward children with sensory issues. I highly recommend it.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 up.

Representation
Willa has Sensory Processing Disorder. Another character battles anxiety. Willa’s best friend, Ruby in Indian-American. One minor character is gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of NOT IF I CAN HELP IT in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Last of Her Name by Jessica Khoury

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

Last of Her Name
Jessica Khoury
Scholastic Press
Published February 26, 2019

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About Last of Her Name

Sixteen years ago, rebellion swept the galaxy known as the Belt of Jewels. Every member of the royal family was murdered–down to their youngest child, Princess Anya–and the Union government rose in its place. But Stacia doesn’t think much about politics. She spends her days half-wild, rambling her father’s vineyard with her closest friends, Clio and Pol.

That all changes the day a Union ship appears in town, carrying the leader of the Belt himself, the Direktor Eminent. The Direktor claims that Princess Anya is alive, and that Stacia’s sleepy village is a den of empire loyalists, intent on hiding her. When Stacia is identified as the lost princess, her provincial home explodes into a nightmare.

Pol smuggles her away to a hidden escape ship in the chaos, leaving Clio in the hands of the Union. With everything she knows threading away into stars, Stacia sets her heart on a single mission. She will find and rescue Clio, even with the whole galaxy on her trail.

My Review

Okay, wow. I really wanted to read this book after reading and loving FORBIDDEN WISH by the same author. It’s so different, though, that I kept hesitating to read it, but I’m glad I finally jumped into LAST OF HER NAME

I think my favorite part is the story world. The belt of planets named for jewels with different environments and different humans adapted to life on those planets made it seem really believable and unique. It felt like Star Wars meets Anastasia, and I loved that.

Some parts of the story felt a little slow to me, especially toward the middle of the book. I felt like it took a long time for Stacia to come into her own and begin to make strategic moves and become an active player in her story. Early in the story especially, she seemed to look to others a lot for what to do. I think I really got hooked on the book once she began to take charge and make decisions herself.

On the whole, though, I think the characters are really memorable and well-developed. I loved the way Stacia ended up with a team around her, and I loved each of those characters. I think fans of Claudia Gray’s DEFY THE STARS and Beth Revis’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE will want to read LAST OF HER NAME.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Stacia is white and human. Other characters are adapted humans (some have horns or can manipulate gravity or have other abilities) and face prejudice from unadapted humans.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Intense kissing between a boy and girl while they lie side by side on a bunk. Two minor female characters appear to have romantic feelings for one another.

Spiritual Content
Space travel is based on the use of a prism, which contains energy. Each prism is connected to other prisms.

Violent Content
Some scenes show characters being executed by military personnel. Some scenes imply that torture or execution happens off-scene. Situations of peril occur throughout.

Drug Content
Some adults consume alcohol.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of LAST OF HER NAME in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Everland by Wendy Spinale

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Everland
Wendy Spinale
Scholastic Press
Published on May 10, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Everland
The only way to grow up is to survive.

London has been destroyed in a blitz of bombs and disease. The only ones who have survived the destruction and the outbreak of a deadly virus are children, among them sixteen-year-old Gwen Darling and her younger siblings, Joanna and Mikey. They spend their nights scavenging and their days avoiding the deadly Marauders—the German army led by the cutthroat Captain Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer.

Unsure if the virus has spread past England’s borders but desperate to leave, Captain Hook is on the hunt for a cure, which he thinks can be found in one of the surviving children. He and his Marauders stalk the streets snatching children for experimentation. None ever return.

Until one day when they grab Joanna. Gwen will stop at nothing to get her sister back, but as she sets out, she crosses paths with a daredevil named Pete. Pete offers the assistance of his gang of Lost Boys and the fierce sharpshooter Bella, who have all been living in a city hidden underground. But in a place where help has a steep price and every promise is bound by blood, it might cost Gwen more than she bargained for. And are Gwen, Pete, the Lost Boys, and Bella enough to outsmart the ruthless Captain Hook?

My Review
If I had to summarize my thoughts on this book into one word, it would be: clever. I’ve been curious about Everland for a long time but worried that a post-apocalyptic Peter Pan would be weird or cheesy or something. It wasn’t! I loved the way Spinale used elements from the original story in new ways. Remnants of a German army who call themselves Marauders as the pirates in the story. Children who’ve escaped the warfare to live underground and who call themselves Lost Boys. The lack of girls and adults among the survivors explained by the fact that the disease which killed so much of the population targets females and grown-ups.

The plot moves quickly, and danger lurks around every turn. Once I started reading this book, I couldn’t stop. If I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about the story and wondering what would happen next! Bella was probably my favorite character. She’s smart and bold and frank. A bit capricious, as you’d expect, but since she’s a twelve-year-old girl, it’s hard to dislike her.

I loved the steampunk elements of the story, too. The zeppelins and steam trains and Bella’s metal wings. So many cool details made Everland a sharply memorable book. If you liked the Lunar Chronicles (like Cinder) or Spindle Fire by Alexa Hillyer (though Everland is not as dark), you need Everland on your reading list.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Main characters are white. Hook is German. Gwen and the others are English.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A couple of lines like so-and-so let loose a string of profanity. No actual profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Vague reference to the fact that if Gwen is the last girl, she might be in danger of being assaulted. It’s super vague and no real danger happens on that topic. At one point boys snicker a bit about her joining their group and she comments that she doesn’t even want to know what they’re thinking. One brief kiss between a boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Hook recalls a childhood memory: he offered his mother an apple, not knowing it was poisoned. She retaliates by destroying his eye. He brands a boy with hot metal. Some brief violence in fights involving knives and gunshots. In one scene, a boy gets attacked by crocodiles. It happens quickly, and the crocs drag him away. At one point, a girl cuts off a boy’s hand and throws it to crocodiles.

Drug Content
Hook drinks from a bottle of rum. Lost Boys drink what appears to be beer.

Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)
Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press
Published on August 24, 2010

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About Mockingjay
Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans–except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay–no matter what the personal cost.

My Review
This is my least favorite book in the Hunger Games series. I still enjoyed reading it, but I felt like Katniss remains a passive character for much of the beginning. I really wanted her to go on the mission to rescue Peeta (though I guess this would have made the book super long) instead of staying home feeling lost.

I thought it was clever the way the whole world sort of becomes an arena as Katniss and the rebel army advance toward the Capitol. The political elements of the story deepen as well, and the rebel force and its leader aren’t quite the benevolent group Katniss had hoped they’d be. On the whole, Mockingjay takes a darker tone than the previous books. While the first two stories show Katniss and others in the arena for sport, now she faces off against the Capitol in warfare. As the war gets more desperate, the rebels face some moral dilemmas concerning battle strategies. The Capitol has sacrificed the children of the districts every year for seventy-five years. Does this mean it’s okay for the rebels to attack Capitol children?

Katniss argues against these kinds of tactics, but not all of her allies agree with her. And as the war grows ever bloodier, even she begins to consider some of these more desperate payback attacks. It showed how easily war makes us forget the humanity of the other side.

I liked the new side characters Katniss works with as the Mockingjay. And I loved the way her relationship with Peeta unfolds, even though it involves a lot of disillusionment on both sides. I feel like that allowed them to rebuild their connection from scratch, and on more even footing since they each had to face some flaws in each other.

I’m not sorry to have read this whole series. (I’ve read it more than once, actually, but for some reason I hadn’t managed to review it before now.) This one has a bit more violence than the others (or maybe it seems more violent because of the context of war), so see the content information below for more specifics.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
All major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a boy and girl. Finnick reveals that in the Capitol he and other attractive tributes were forced to have sexual encounters with wealthy citizens who purchased their time. Katniss remembers a time a man teased her about buying a kiss from him.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to torture. Scenes show some carnage from triggered traps. A net of barbed wire slices up a soldier. A bomb blows another’s limbs off. Bombs kill children and medics. An assassin shoots and kills a political figure.

Katniss and Gale disagree about methods of warfare. Gale believes any violence against the Capitol is justified, since the Capital has used and continues to use awful tactics against the rebels. Katniss believes the rebels must have a higher value of life, and especially a regard for the lives of innocents like children and civilians.

Katniss has nightmares about people who’ve died coming back to haunt her and trying to kill her. She also remembers and sings a song her father taught her about a man talking to his lover and asking her to “meet [him] in the hanging tree.”

Drug Content
Katniss and Joanna takes morphling to alleviate pain due to her injuries. It’s a highly addictive drug and both girls feel the pull of addiction from taking it. Haymitch drinks alcohol.

Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

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Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press
Published on September 1, 2009

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About Catching Fire
Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol – a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

My Review
I feel like The Hunger Games is a hard act to follow. In that first book, the whole idea of the Arena, the districts and Capitol were so stark and fresh. In Catching Fire, we already acclimated to the brutality and high stakes of Katniss’s world. So only the plot events can be fresh and new.

I thought the characters, in particular the other victors, added a lot to the story. They were very different from each other and different than the tributes Katniss faced in the Arena in The Hunger Games. Katniss and Peeta’s complementary strengths carry into this book, too. His love for her and his savviness with understanding emotions and motives, which Katniss is pretty much blind to, and her ability to solve puzzles and survive dictate their ability to survive the traps the Capitol sets for them. It also makes them a great couple, even if Katniss stays a bit slow to realize what her true feelings are regarding Peeta and Gale.

Side note: I’ve never liked those names—Peeta and Gale. They both seem kind of feminine to me. The names, not the characters. But it has never bothered me enough to interfere with my ability to read and enjoy the books.

In the first book, Katniss uses physical strength to survive the Arena. Here, she has to rely more on her ability to solve puzzles and choose the right allies. I liked the message, again, that violence isn’t the answer. That instead, cleverness and unity can destroy a powerful enemy.

I’ve listened to Catching Fire as an audiobook at least twice, but I think more often than that. I feel like it’s rare for me to find a dystopian series that I like all the way through where the story, characters, and premise all have equal weight and draw. This one probably tops that list for me. Right up there with Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Central characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Katniss and Peeta spend nights together sleeping and comforting one another through nightmares. No sexual contact. At one point Peeta claims he and Katniss have married in secret and she’s pregnant.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Tributes fight in the arena, killing one another. Some brief, graphic descriptions.

Drug Content
Haymitch spends a lot of time drunk. Katniss and Peeta both squirrel away some liquor for him in case there’s ever a shortage (since it’s against the law to make or sell), which is a pretty enabling thing to do. After receiving some terrible news, Katniss drinks some of the liquor with Haymitch and gets pretty drunk herself.