Leviathan - Scott Westerfield

There is nothing better than reading a good book and then realizing that both sequels have already been released so you won't have to wait at all before reading the next two books. This is exactly what happened to me with Leviathan. Leviathan is the story of Deryn Sharpe a young girl posing as a boy in order to serve in the British Air Force at the beginning of WWI and Prince Aleksander son of the murdered Arch Duke and Duchess of Austria- Hungary. Alek is on the run from German forces who he has discovered have murdered his parents, and Deryn is hiding her sex, pretending to be a boy, on board the airship Leviathan. They meet after an air battle between German forces and the Leviathan in the mountains of Switzerland.

Leviathan is not just a run of the mill historical fiction story. Westerfield has created a whole new conflict for his readers. In this war the British are using DNA technology in order to fabricate animals and weapons for military purposes. In fact the Leviathan is a hydrogen filled whale that contains entire ecosystems of other animals or 'beasties' as Deryn calls them. The Germans and their allies on the other hand use incredible machines and technology to fight their wars. His descriptions of these fantastical animals and machines are wonderful and the illustrations certainly added to my enjoyment of the book.

If you like historical fiction or alternate history this is the book for you!

Enjoy!

The Diviners -- Libba Bray

Set in 1920's New York city The Diviners by Libba Bray walks a delightfully fine line between an action packed adventure and a creepy horror story. Much to her delight our protagonist Evie O' Neill has been banished from her small town home and sent to live with her uncle in New York. At home Evie was always one step across the line pushing the limits of acceptable behaviour, but in New York she's right at home frequenting speakeasies with her friends and living the high life of the young and wealthy in the 1920's. But Evie has a secret. She can read people's pasts from objects they have carried with them, and when her uncle is called upon to help investigators solve a string of occult related murders Evie begins to realize that her talent may have more importance and farther reaching consequences than she ever imagined.

I quite enjoyed this book! It was fast paced and in spite of its large size (over 500 pages) it never felt like I had to push through the "boring parts" to get to the end. Evie was a fun and lovely yet flawed main character and I enjoyed how seemingly disconnected story lines came together throughout the book. The ending especially left me wanting more, and I was surprised to find that characters that at first seemed harmless and secondary become such dastardly villains. Bray really knows how to create fantasy fiction that blends seamlessly into the real world, with myth and magic becoming an underground culture that we all secretly hope exists somewhere.

I'm not normally someone who can read an even slightly scary book and recover quickly so I have to say that they gruesome murders and evil spirits made me stay up late finishing chapters so I knew our heroine and her friends were safe and I dashing up stair cases at night time with shivers going down my spine.

Well worth a read!
Enjoy!

Looking for Alaska - John Green

Another hit by John Green. The first book I read by him was The Fault in Our Stars which was recommended to me by a friend and was so heart breakingly lovely that I couldn't help but try and find every other book he's written and read them all. Looking for Alaska was just as well written, and the twist at the end had me sobbing.

Looking for Alaska is written from the perspective of Miles Halter, or "Pudge" a teenager looking for "the great perhaps". Pudge convinces his parents to send him to Culver Creek boarding school in Alabama where he meets the two people who will be the most important additions to his new life. There's his roommate Chip or "the Colonel" and the beautiful, outgoing Alaska Young. At Culver Creek pranks are the life blood of the student body. They play them regularly and on an escalating scale. Pudge's introduction to this particular aspect of life at Culver is to be wrapped in tape and thrown into the lake on campus.

The book is filled with typical teenage angst and tension, but it is really beautifully written and John Green has quickly become one of my favorite Young Adult authors.

Enjoy!

Enchanted - Alethea Kontis

A lovely twisted fairy tale based largely on the tale of the frog prince, Sunday is the seventh daughter of Seven who is also the seventh daughter of a fairly unimaginative mother. Sunday is a writer, however since everything she writes about comes true she only writes about the past. She writes stories about her many brothers and sisters who are the characters from many familiar fairy tales. Sunday meets the frog grumble at a small pond in the forest near her house. Several times she kisses him without effect but one day after discovering how she really feels about him she kisses him after she has left to go home he changes and becomes a prince once more, however Sunday has no knowledge of the transformation and is heartbroken thinking that he has become fully frog and is gone forever. 

I really enjoyed how Kontis wove the different fairy tales around each other each one fitting perfectly with the one before it to create a really delightful storyline. Sunday and her sisters are each so different from each other a fit perfectly into the old adage of Monday's child is fair of face Tuesday's child is full of grace etc. Her mother's words always come true and her aunt's are fairy godmother's. For those who loved fairy tales as children this book will fit perfectly into your more adult reading list!

Enjoy!

Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo

This was a pretty different read from some of the other fantasy fictions I've read. Set in a late 19th or early 20th century mythical Russia Shadow and Bone blends the opulence of the Russian aristocracy of that era  with some dark and frankly creepy magical elements. Alina is a cartographer for the army of Ravka sent on a large expeditionary mission into the fold. A place of darkness created by a sorcerer thousands of years ago. Within the fold are creatures who feed on the flesh of the living and the only thing that frightens them is light. In Ravka those who have any kind of magic are identified as children and sent away to the palace to learn how to  properly use their magic. As a child Alina and her best friend (and secret love) Mal were tested for magic at the home for orphans where they grow up together neither is discovered to have magic and together they make their way through the world.

When Alina and Mal and the rest of their party make their way into the darkness of the fold they are set upon by thousands of monsters and when Mal is potentially fatally wounded Alina lights up the night with her previously undiscovered power coming to the notice of the Darkling the most powerful sorcerer in Ravka.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read the contrast between the glittering wealth of the Ravkan court and the darkness of the magic that they use strikes just the right cord. Alina is an interesting character with believable flaws and failings, not simply a selfless hero and so many protagonists in fantasy fiction before her. She faces some very difficult choices leaving the life she has known for one that is completely outside her realm of experience. She is suddenly bestowed with not only magic but also wealth and influence, but not all is what it seems and Alina struggles and makes mistakes like any real person would.

Well worth a read!
Enjoy!

Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher

This book is so sad. If you don't like to read sad books perhaps it would be best to take a pass, however, it is also a really deep and emotional look at the consequences of bullying and how deadly they can be. Asher's novel is particularly apt for Canadians right now as there have been string of recent teen suicides.

The book begins with our protagonist Clay arrives home from school to find a package addressed to him and filled with cassette tapes on his front porch. The tapes were recorded by Clay's classmate and crush Hannah who committed suicide days earlier. On the tapes she outlines the thirteen reasons (people responsible) for her suicide. 

This book is so intense that I am struggling to find the words with which to describe it. Hannah's struggles are those faced by most teens today and I think that the book really brings home how small acts can have a huge impact both good and bad on the people around you. Certainly none of the people who Hannah names on her tapes would have felt responsible for her death had they not heard her describe her feelings in the aftermath of their interactions.

Well worth a read

Enjoy

Ship Breaker - Paolo Bacigalupi

Nailer is a ship breaker. This means he spends his days deep in the pipes and ducts of beached oil tankers stripping the valuable wires and metals from the insides of the ship. When you are on a 'light crew' like Nailer and his friends you have to have each other's backs. your crew is your family and you keep each other safe from the dangers that abound in this post apocalyptic United States. When Nailer is betrayed by a member of his light crew and manages to survive everyone thinks he's found his lucky strike, but when a storm washes up a ship worth more than Nailer could earn in a lifetime of breaking ships he knows he's finally found his luck. But when he discovers a survivor on board he has to balance his desire for fortune and his moral compass.

Bacigalupi has created a really interesting world here. In the wreckage of the Southern United States, which have been ravaged by city killing storms and drowned by the rising waters of the ocean the strong survive and the weak perish. The book is a bit scary in that it seems totally believable that in a hundred years the world could be in such a terrible state. Nailer is a great character, believable as a product of his upbringing, but also full of promise.

The book is also the companion of Bacigalupi's The Drowned Cities and features one common character, but it's not necessary to read one before the other.

A really great read!
Enjoy!

Origin - Jessica Khoury

This book was really refreshing. Mostly because of the choices that the main character Pia made throughout the book, but also because it stands alone. I could be wrong Jessica Khoury could be planning on writing 100 more books about Pia, but the ending really suggested to me that Origin was it, and I love that. Sometimes it is so great to read a really good book and to have closure at the end rather than feel like you have to wait another year to find out what happens. Don't get me wrong I love a good series, but Origin was just so satisfying in itself and it's really impressive that Khoury was able to write such a stunning book as her debut at 22 no less. 

I loved Pia. I thought she was a really interesting character. She is immortal, and she lives in the facility where she was created by scientists who have spent their entire lives trying to create her. One day Pia finally breaks free from the fence by which she is surrounded to go into the jungle and explore. There she meets Eio a boy who has grown up in the jungle and her life changes direction quite rapidly from there. When we first meet her Pia's main goal  is to become a part of the team that is working on creating other being like her. Other immortals so that she won't have to be alone anymore. Once she meets Eio and the other denizens of the jungle she slowly begins to realize that being a scientist and behaving 'rationally' are not all that they seem to be. Something is not right. 

A wonderful story with a great cast of characters, which creates some worrying thoughts about the world we live in and the lengths that people might go to in order to become immortal.

Enjoy!

Unwind - Neal Shusterman

Unwind by Neal Shusterman was a scary read. In it the United States have had a second civil war between pro- choice and pro- life armies. The compromise that was created in order to end the conflict was that life is sacred up until the age of 13, but when the child is between the ages of 13 and 18 their parents can choose to have them Unwound. Being unwound basically means that the unlucky teenager is dismembered, with their body parts and organs being donated to those in need or those who simply aren't happy with their eyes, hair etc. Thus the members of government who created the legislation and the parents who choose to have their children unwound are alleviated of their guilt, since the child is not really dead, they are just living a different existence. 

The premise seems a bit silly at first, I mean who would possibly think that it is acceptable to end the lives of thousands of teenagers simply because they're behaving badly, or are a financial burden. But, Shusterman has crafted Unwind  in such a way that the entire story seems totally plausible. 

The story focuses on three very different teenagers who are being unwound for very different reasons. Connor is an out of control teenager whose parents decide to have him unwound so they won't have to deal with him any longer ( I do have to say though that one would think having the threat of being unwound hanging over your head would be enough to stop you from rebelling against your parents...). Risa who was abandoned by her parents and became a ward of the state and is not quite talented enough at the piano to warrant the government paying for her survival. Finally there is Lev, who is a tithe, which means his parents conceived him for the express purpose of having him be unwound. I really liked all three characters, though I do have to say that I felt that Lev really went through the biggest range of development and certainly he changed the most out of our three main characters. 

There are sequels which are likely well written and enjoyable, but I think that Unwind reads well as a stand alone novel. A really interesting read.

Enjoy!

Graceling - Kristin Cashore

I loved this book. It was highly recommended by a fellow book lover and she couldn't have been more right. Graceling has so much going for it. The main character is reminiscent of Katniss from The Hunger Games (and not just because of her name) she kicks some serious butt as one of her world's people who are "graced" with a range of talents. Her's it seems is fighting. In the kingdom where Katsa lives those who are "graced" with talents automatically become the property of the King, Randa, who uses his niece Katsa as his own personal torturer and assassin. Katsa, however, has other ideas about how to use her talents. She and her compatriots have begun an underground movement to help the oppressed people of her kingdom and the other six kingdoms as well. 

Unlike Katniss, Katsa has a considerable amount of agency when it comes to decision making. I mean who is going to argue with a woman who has been 'graced' with a talent for killing people? Not me. 

I really liked Katsa as well as the other main characters in the book. I felt that the plot moved quickly enough  to keep me interested, but slowly enough to not feel rushed or like Cashore was trying to pour too many plot points into the story. Every aspect of the plot flowed together nicely and the love story was another aspect of the story that was really interesting. Katsa's love interest Po is well written and well rounded. It is easy to see how the two fit together and nothing feels forced.

I also loved the sequels Fire and Bitterblue which give background and depth to Katsa's story as one of the sequels takes place before Graceling and the other takes place years after. 

A must read!

Enjoy!

The Goddess Test - Aimee Carter

To be quite honest, don't bother.

The book has an interesting premise. Henry (who is really the God Hades) needs a new wife and Kate is going to be the latest in a series of young women who will be put to the test in order to become Queen of the Underworld. The only issue is that every other girl who has taken the test has been killed. That small piece of information would have had me running to begin with but Kate, whose mother is dying of cancer, decides that taking the test will be worth it, since Henry/ Hades tells her he can keep her mother alive through the winter if she'll take the test.

Now Kate has just moved from NYC to the small town of Eden (her mother's hometown) as her mother's last wish. She starts school at the local high school, where right off the bat she meets James, who quickly becomes her best friend, and a cast of other high school characters, who *SPOILER ALERT* turn out to be the rest of the Gods of Olympus.

I have to say that finding out everyone she met in Eden was a God was not as enormous a shock as it seems to have been for Kate. She takes classes to learn about the Gods for heavens sake and she can't see that boy crazy Ava is really Aphrodite, I mean come on... I have no idea why Kate isn't just incredibly pissed by the end of the book. Her whole life has been set up to prepare her for the test and she never really had much choice. If I had been in her shoes and found out that my dying mother who I spent years caring for instead of enjoying my teenage years had been a Goddess who was in fact immortal, I would have lost it. Her whole reasoning for taking the test would be gone.

I thought the Goddess Test was going to be a girly Percy Jackson, but I was disappointed. There was no action at all and the plot moved at a snail's pace.

Not a favorite

The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater

In The Scorpio Races Maggie Steifvater blends myth and magic with the modern world to create a really wonderful read. The story in  really interesting with the water horses of Irish legend coming to life on the tiny island of Thisby which is located, I would imagine, somewhere in the Atlantic. Stiefvater mixes magical elements with real life facts to make a believable story about flesh eating horses who emerge from the ocean each November to both terrify and enchant the locals. As the water horses (called Capaill Uisce by the natives of Thisby) surface each November brave and foolish riders try to capture them to use as mounts in the annual Scorpio Races.

The story is told from the perspective of two prospective competitors in the races. Kate who goes by Puck and Sean Kendrick. Sean is a returning participant who has won the races for a number of years running, Puck is racing out of desperation. Both desperately need to win the race, Sean to finally own his beloved water horse and Puck to save her family's home. If she races Puck will be the first girl ever to do so and she faces not just the challenge of finding and taming one of the incredibly dangerous Capaill Uisce (who happened to have killed and eaten her parents), but also the challenge of overcoming the discrimination of her neighbours.

There is of course a love story woven into The Scorpio Races, but refreshingly there is no love triangle and Puck's feelings for her love interest are clear and simple. It is a small part of the story, but does create a lovely side plot and make for an interesting end to the story.

All in all a very original read!
Enjoy!

Enclave - Ann Aguirre

In this post apocalyptic thriller our main character Deuce has just graduated from being a 'brat' (an unnamed child) to being a Huntress, one of the elite warriors of her small community. The enclave where Deuce lives is situated in the remains of the New York City subway and is constantly under the threat of both starvation and of being over run by the monsters living in the tunnels that they call "freaks". Deuce has spent her whole life waiting to become a Huntress, however her illusions of becoming one of the warrior brethren are quickly shattered as she becomes aware of the politics that lie beneath the seemingly perfect exterior.

I really enjoyed Enclave. I thought Deuce was an interesting character and that the world she lived in underground was just as believable as any other post apocalyptic read, and there are certainly many! As with most Young Adult fiction there is a budding romance and Deuce has mixed feelings about the boy she has her eyes on. However, the romance does not detract from the main plot line of the story, but adds to it. Deuce is a kick butt heroine who certainly does not need a boy to protect her from anybody and she proves it time and again. I really liked how she and Fade (her hunting partner and love interest) are equals, working together to protect each other, rather than either of them making enormous sacrifices for the sake of the other.

The book also takes an interesting turn half way through as our main characters find their way out of the tunnels and into the world above, which Deuce has always believed to be uninhabitable. The world above is even more dangerous than the world underground and Deuce needs all of her fighting and survival skills to survive the surface.

Overall a great plot, engaging characters and an interesting premise! I'm looking forward to reading the sequel!

**The sequel Outpost was almost as good as the first book, looking forward to the third!**

***Third book also great! Interesting twist!***

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- Time Indian - Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part- Time Indian is a really interesting read. It tells the story of Junior who lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Junior is an intelligent young man who happens to have been born prematurely and the resulting effects cause him to be bullied by both his peers and adults on the reserve. Junior takes solace in drawing his own cartoons which pepper the book and add wonderfully to the story. 

Junior finally realizes that school on the reserve is not going to get him where he wants to go in life and he makes a momentous decision to go to high school off the reserve. This decision certainly doesn’t make his life on the reserve any easier he is now trapped between people on the reserve calling him a traitor and shunning him, and the students at his almost entirely white school excluding him because he’s from the reserve. 

His life is really hard and the book is difficult to read but it really is an uplifting story about a young man who makes really difficult choices so he can do what’s best for himself and his family.

An excellent read.

Enjoy!

The Selection - Kiera Cass

The Selection by Kiera Cass was a good read. The story was fun and the protagonist, America was pretty interesting and multi-faceted. However, it was certainly a stereotypical Young Adult novel, There were no unexpected plot twists and out protagonist has, predictably, fallen for two men.

The story is set in post-apocolyptic United States. in this world society has been split into numerical castes, with ones being at the top i.e. the Royal Family, and eights, being the homeless, at the bottom. it is an incredibly rigid system with marriage to a higher caste member the only way up for women and joining the army one of the only ways up for men. America is a five, so she is close enough to the bottom to be hungry most of the time. 

Every time the Prince comes of age there is a Selection and in our story Prince Maxon is ready to find a wife. So 35 women from across the country are chosen to compete. Ostensibly America has no interest in marrying the Prince, since she is in love with handsome, honorable and dirt poor Aspen. He is a six so their love is a secret since America'a parents are unlikely to allow her to marry 'down'. It is Aspen who convinces America she should enter the Selection process. Obviously she is chosen and much to everyone's shock, she is chosen.

Of course she initially has no intention of fighting for Maxon's hand with the other Selected, but I'm sure you can guess how that turns out!

For me the most interesting part of the book is the warfare that is occuring between the official government and several rebel factions. We don't hear too much about it in this book but their involvment is sure to increase in the rest of the series.

A fun and easy read!

Enjoy!

Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity is hands down one of the best Young Adult books I have read in a long time. Elizabeth Wein has created a story that is both engaging and heart breaking. It is a story of friendship and loss, with the stories of two best friends so perfectly interwoven that the end, when it comes, is completely unexpected.

Code Name Verity  begins in England just after the beginning of the Second World War. We are introduced to our two young protagonists through the writings  of a young woman who has been captured by the Gestapo (Nazi secret police) in occupied France. She describes the unlikely meeting between two even unliklier friends. Maddie, is a young woman who wants nothing more than to spend her life in the air, flying any kind of airplane she can get her hands on. From rural England Maddie has spent her childhood living with her Grandparents who have encouraged her to make use of her natural mechanic ability. Once the war begins, England needs every pilot they can get their hands on and Maddie begins flying with regularity, saving the behinds of several male flight crews and gaining the respect of everyone she works with and the notice of Air Transport Auxiliary  who need pilots to ferry British spies.

Queenie is a member of the Scottish aristocracy who because of her innate ability as an actress and her perfect German has been recruited as a spy. The first half of the book is written from her perspective, and it is from her that we learn everything we know of Maddie and their relationship. We also learn of how Queenie ended up in occupied France and why she is writing down the story of their friendship. 

To be perfectly honest the beginning of the book with difficult to get into, however once the story begins to emerge it caught me hook, line and sinker and I couldn’t put it down. The facts were so well researched that they faded into the background, allowing the reader to concentrate on the story rather than on the historical background. Elizabeth Wein has certainly outdone herself with this book. I highly recommend the read. It is certainly a difficult subject though so keep that in mind if picking the book.

Enjoy!

Divergent - Veronica Roth

One of the best post Hunger Games Young Adult books that I have read. Divergent stars another kick ass heroine, though she comes from a decidedly different background than Katniss. In Divergent Beatrice Prior lives in a post apocalyptic society that has split itself into five factions based on personality traits. In Candor for example they cherish the truth and in Dauntless, courage. On their 16th birthday each member of society is asked to choose which of the five factions they will join. Before making this choice Beatrice takes a personality test designed to tell her which faction she is best suited for. But when something goes wrong during the test Beatrice realizes that the choice may not be so clear cut after all.

In Divergent Veronica Roth has created a really interesting world populated by believable characters and nasty villains. The plot progresses at a quick pace, but it never feels as though she’s rushing through the story. There is of course a romantic subplot, but while it is an important aspect of the story line it never over powers the book or detracts from the plot. 

A great read if you’re looking for something to cure your Hunger Games hangover!