Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke

December 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke
Release Date: October 1, 2007
Publisher: The Chicken House
Source: Audio Copy
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Buy It: Amazon
In the spirit of DRAGON RIDER and THE THIEF LORD, an enchanting fairy tale told with Cornelia’s trademark warmth and wit: Perfect Funke fare for readers in the middle grades–Cornelia’s “sweet spot”!

Igraine dreams of becoming a famous knight just like her great grandfather, but the truth is, life at the family castle is rather boring. Until the nephew of the baroness-next-door shows up. He’s got a dastardly plan to capture the castle and claim as his own the wonderful singing spell books that belong to Igraine’s magician parents. To make matters worse, at the very moment of the siege, her mom and dad botch a spell, turning themselves into pigs! Aided by a Gentle Giant and a Sorrowful Knight, it’s up to Igraine to be brave and save the day–and the books!

Review

Can you picture growing up wanting to be a knight? Well, Igraine can. That’s all she has ever wanted to be. A knight.

There is a slight problem with this. Igraine is a girl, and girls can’t be knights. That’s a known fact. Igraine doesn’t listen to people when they tell her this. She is an amazingly strong character who likes ‘non-girly’ things. This is of course uncommon during the story’s setting. Igraine’s family also has a secret. They’re magical. Her whole family is. Another problem is Igraine is horrible at magic, unlike her brother Albert who is amazing at anything magical. Her parents are, too; it is their specialty. They have magic singing books, they play with it; Igraine on the other hand has no interest in playing with magic. All she wants to do is have a sword fight with someone!

Everyone thinks Igraine looks funny in her chain mail and noisy armor, plus, not only are girl knights unheard of, so are knights in general. Igraine’s life takes place in what is known as The Tower. No danger has come to The Tower in well, forever, or at least recent memory! Why would someone want to become a knight when they can play with magic?! Igraine fights this exact question throughout Igraine the Brave and along with fighting this question, she figures out who she truly is.

With the help of a Sorrowful Knight, a battle to fight for The Tower, and the fact that her parents don’t stay human throughout the book, Igraine takes the reader on a really fun adventure.

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The Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls By Claire Legrand

December 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls by Claire Legrand
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Source: Library Copy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon
At the Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, you will definitely learn your lesson. A dark, timeless, and heartfelt novel for fans of Coraline and The Mysterious Benedict Society.Victoria hates nonsense. There is no need for it when your life is perfect. The only smudge on her pristine life is her best friend Lawrence. He is a disaster—lazy and dreamy, shirt always untucked, obsessed with his silly piano. Victoria often wonders why she ever bothered being his friend. (Lawrence does too.)

But then Lawrence goes missing. And he’s not the only one. Victoria soon discovers that The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls is not what it appears to be. Kids go in but come out…different. Or they don’t come out at all.

If anyone can sort this out, it’s Victoria—even if it means getting a little messy

Review

This book came highly recommended to me by one of my dear friends. Even with that recommendation I was wary of starting. Mostly because my TBR list is already forever long and I put a lot of thought into adding another book to the list. Okay, who are we kidding, of course I add a lot of books to it. Reason my Goodreads list is currently pushing 400. All of that being said, I am thrilled my friend recommended this book to me. I can tell you I would have never ever picked this up on my own for various reasons; however, I am glad I did. This is a really good/thrilling YA book.

The Cavendish Home For Boys and Girls is at its heart the story of Victoria. Victoria who hates most things, including her only true friend Lawrence. She doesn’t even consider Lawrence a friend, she considers him a project that she needs to fix because he isn’t perfect and often troublesome (to her). One day, however, Lawrence disappears. His parents have a cover story, but even to Victoria the story sounds fake. She is convinced there is more to this story than Lawrence’s parents are letting on. This becomes more obvious when more of Victoria’s class disappears.

Victoria starts to research this when it becomes obvious. She notices people go into the Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, but they rarely come out. When Victoria begins to research this, she notices she has much in common with the owner of the home, Mrs. Cavendish. This is a fact that ends up worrying Victoria, because she hates who Mrs. Cavendish is. Slowly Victoria herself becomes trapped in the Home and starts to break her down. Victoria, the one who always must be strong, starts to break down because of what the house, and Mrs. Cavendish, do to people once they become stuck there.

The ending is amazing and very fitting to the story and will make you look at common aspects of your house twice. Also, have I mentioned the illustrations? They are perfect and even fit the story perfectly. Sarah Watts perfectly captured the tone of the story in an illustration. I only wish Legrand had other YA/MG books out right now for me to read!

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The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

December 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
Release Date: May 10, 2011
Publisher: Fiewel & Friends
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon
Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn’t . . . then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday.

Review

I loved this one, you guys! LOVED IT. I read the beginning of a review for the next book in this series over at The Book Smugglers, so I knew I had to pick it up. The tone of the writing is formal but a little mocking, with September as a little bit of an unreliable narrator. This one is biting and funny and heartbreaking, and there’s no clear villain, not even the Marquess. People die, or are taken, or disappear, never to be seen again. The mythology of how Fairyland connects to Earth is lovely, something I haven’t yet seen, and I know my fairies. This is going to be a short review, because so much happened, and what’s important is what September learns on her journey, about others and about herself.

I bought this one, which isn’t something I often do with a book I haven’t read, because I love fairies and dragons and impetuous twelve-year-old girls who are Somewhat Heartless. And I ended up enjoying myself more than I thought I could, even though the ending, while happy enough, made me cry. The imagery of the different places-a town made of fabrics, and one of baked goods-was incredible, and the isolation I felt when September sailed the Sea made me so lonely for her. There’s a cute little love story, or the beginnings of one, in this too, and it is very sweet. What made this novel for me, though, was the writing and the style of it, so I have a few quotes I’ve taken from the paperback edition of this novel. Check this one out immediately, then head over to Tor.com and read the short story about Mallow, The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland — For Awhile.

“All little girls are terrible, but the Marquess, at least, has a very fine hat.”

“It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else.”

“I suppose that would be true if the earth were round.”
“I’m reasonably sure it is…”
“You’re going to have to stop that sort of backward, old-fashioned thinking, you know. Conservatism is not an attractive trait. Fairyland is a very Scientifick place. We subscribe to all the best journals.”

“I…I don’t think that’s how evolution works…”
“Oh? Your name Charles Darwin all sudden-true?”
“No, it’s just-”
“It’s Survival of Them Who’s Best at Nicking Things, girl!”

“I say, let them as wants to evolve do it and soak the rest.”

“[...] Witches present brewed a bouillabaisse of a long and interesting marriage: five children [...] and a friendly sort of unfaithfulness for all involved”

“Oh, Ell! No, no, don’t be dead, please!”
“Why not?” said Iago. “That’s what happens to friends, eventually. It’s practically what they’re for.”

““One can always bear more love,” the Wyverary purred.”

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The Mysterious Howling (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #1) by Maryrose Wood

November 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Mysterious Howling (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #1) by Maryrose Wood
Release Date: March 1, 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Library Copy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon
Found running wild in the forest of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander, age ten or thereabouts, keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia, perhaps four or five, has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf, age somewhere-in-the-middle, is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.

Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must help them overcome their canine tendencies.

But mysteries abound at Ashton Place: Who are these three wild creatures, and how did they come to live in the vast forests of the estate? Why does Old Timothy, the coachman, lurk around every corner? Will Penelope be able to teach the Incorrigibles table manners and socially useful phrases in time for Lady Constance’s holiday ball? And what on earth is a schottische?

Review

This is the story of Penelope Lumley, a fifteen year old recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females. Penelope is invited to Ashton Place to help the Incorrigibles. Alexander, Cassiopeia, and Beowulf, or the Incorrigibles, were found running wild in the forest of Ashton Place. This fact however does not deter Penelope, she embraces it. She wants to dive right in and teach them how to speak Latin and use a globe; however, the first thing she must teach them to do is to overcome their canine tendencies.

This of course is easier said than done after years of the children living in the woods by themselves, but Penelope doesn’t mind. She truly is up to the challenge. Things that would faze other nannies, the way they drink, the way they bark is just another bump in the road for her. She takes her time with them and they appreciate it because they slowly become ‘normal’ in the sense that they are proper and can be seen in public by their adoptive parents when they host their upcoming ball.

The Incorrigibles take to Penelope, and she takes to them. They are quickly their own little family. This comes in handy when the mystery of the novel takes place. What is also important is many of the mysteries that take place in this novel don’t actually get answered in this novel, which makes me glad that this is a series.

Also, I am a big believer and fan of audio books. There are two reasons I hit my goodreads goal this year. One: middle grade books and two: audio books. That being said, The Mysterious Howling is a book that needs to be read, not listened to. The illustrations and drawings of this book are almost as important to the book as the story is. Plus, they are adorable.

I adored this book and I hope you do, too.

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Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem

November 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem by Melissa Lemon
Release Date: December 11, 2012
Publisher: Cedar Fort
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon
Stuck in her family’s apple orchards, Kat’s got plenty of work to do and only pesky Jeremy to help. But when Jeremy convinces her to run away, Kat will discover that nothing—and no one—in her life is quite what it seems. Wonderfully reimagined, this is the magical tale of Snow White as you’ve never read it before!

Review
Oh, that summary, it does nothing for this awesome re-telling of Snow White. I mean, yes, it is a re-telling, but the introduction of new characters was fun, plus (!) the story is narrated by the Magic Mirror! How cool is that? I personally would classify this as middle-grade, not YA, because the storytelling is very simple in style, and the Mirror does a lot of telling instead of showing. However, when you kind of know how the story is going to end, does showing really matter as much? Not to me. Besides, I have to think that, because this isn’t third person omniscient, it’s first person limited, so we’re really only being shown what the Mirror sees/infers, and he is not an unbiased narrator. After the disappointment that was Magisterium, SWatQoM was the perfect antidote for me. You begin with Snow’s beginnings. She was born to the evil Queen Radiance, who is absolute ruler of the kingdom of Mayhem, and her husband, Frederick. The King disappears with Katiyana, entrusting her into the care of a relative, before being killed by bandits. Barney is a good caretaker until he becomes blind. Then he hires a helper, Jeremy, and Barney becomes a drunken abuser. That was sad. What follows is Kat’s story after she leaves her uncle’s secluded home. There is a tiny bit of fat-shaming and some comment about Jeremy’s father being “the kind of man who does what his wife says” that I kind of looked at sideways, but most of the vitriol seems directed toward Jeremy’s mother, who is not the nicest person in the world. There’s also a lot of “he looks like a man but he can cook well!” when we meet the dwarves which sort of just made me roll my eyes. Only women can cook in Mischief and Mayhem?

I have to tell you, as much as I liked this one, in the beginning the Mirror creeped me out a little. He seems obsessed with Kat, always talking about wanting to talk to her and be in her life. It seemed strange to me, but I got over it. One thing I hated, though? This line, from the chapter Queen Radiance, “the bodice framed her chest tightly, forcing me to pay attention to the shape of her body.” Okay, no. Just no. This is pretty classic victim-blaming/slut-shaming stuff. “She wore a short skirt, I couldn’t help it!” I know the queen is evil, but maybe she didn’t wear that bodice so you would be forced to notice her body, you jerk. Why assume she did it for you? Why shame her for wearing what she wants? I hate that. Hate it. That made the whole thing lose a star. If a woman is wearing a tight dress, control yourself and be an adult and move on. No one is forcing anyone to look at anything. And maybe Radiance did use magic to enthrall Jasper, but that kind of message sucks. I don’t think it belongs in YA or MG.

All right. Moving on. I like this one, remember? I do! It’s totally possible to like problematic things, and, in my opinion, all of us do. Now, we meet Trevor, who is kind of naive considering his station, or maybe because of his station, sent by Radiance to kill the rediscovered Kat. The majority of the dwarves don’t like him, but Trevor is the one who thinks up the name “Snow Whyte” for Kat (despite the fact that Katiyana apparently means “snow”). He’s a bit of an annoyance, and then some sad things happen, and Kat decides to leave the seven dwarves’ home and check in on her old uncle. That’s another thing I liked about this one. It’s a lot like a traditional fairy tale, with deaths and terror, instead of a sanitized Disney version. Kat hasn’t had the happiest go of it since her uncle lost his sight, and I had a feeling it would only get worse.

There is also humor in this novel, though, once again, I think it’s geared a little more towards tweens than teens, but I love MG, so it didn’t matter to me. Kat is sort of a Mary Sue: she’s good at everything she does, she’s beautiful, she’s kind, people love her, etc, but she also has a bit of a journey in this one. A self-discovery, if you will. There is a little twist, which I figured out about two-thirds of the way through, but I don’t think it ruins anything to see it coming. In all, this one was a humorous, but also unafraid, re-telling of the Snow White tale, and I enjoyed myself immensely while reading it. The way Lemon describes the different courts of Mayhem and Mischief is fun, and I found myself wanting to know more about that world, in the way Frank Beddor expands Wonderland in his Looking Glass Wars series. I am definitely going to go back and read Lemon’s Cinder and Ella, and I hope she has more fairy tales for us in the future!

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Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

October 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Aladdin
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: ★★★★★
Buy It: Amazon
Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret. She’s a Telepath—someone who hears the thoughts of everyone around her. It’s a talent she’s never known how to explain.Everything changes the day she meets Fitz, a mysterious boy who appears out of nowhere and also reads minds. She discovers there’s a place she does belong, and that staying with her family will place her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a place that is vastly different from anything she has ever known.

Sophie has new rules to learn and new skills to master, and not everyone is thrilled that she has come “home.” There are secrets buried deep in Sophie’s memory—secrets about who she really is and why she was hidden among humans—that other people desperately want. Would even kill for.

In this page-turning debut, Shannon Messenger creates a riveting story where one girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world, before the wrong person finds the answer first.

Review

I would love to blame Tina for the fact I’m reviewing a “middle school” book, but Tina isn’t at fault. The author of this book is. That’s right, I’m blaming the author Shannon Messenger. It’s okay, I can, I’m friends with the author. Friends in the sense I bother her via email and twitter. But that won’t skew the review. I recently became friends with Messenger via snark, Saved by the Bell, and mocking of each other. I’ve read her blog for awhile now and quietly kept to myself, one day I wasn’t quiet anymore, commented and we quickly bantered back and forth and amazingly I haven’t scared her yet! (YAY!) It’s probably for the best Shannon doesn’t live closer to me because we would eat all the In-N-Out Cheeseburgers and she would get no work done. But as awesome as Messenger is, her book is even more awesome.

Really, it is possible. Almost every email to Tina during the period of me reading this book involves me yelling at Tina “YOU NEED TO READ KEEPER NOW.” The book is about a girl named Sophie, who’s 12 and in high school. Right?! I didn’t enjoy high school when I had to go through it I can’t picture having to go through it at the age of 12. But Sophie has a secret, Sophie is a Telepath. Has been since the age of 5 and no one knows. However one day a boy name Fitz appears and tells her that she isn’t alone. That he, too, can read minds, but he isn’t from here.

He’s from another world, a world that knows nothing about where she’s from. An ATM? An iPod? They know nothing about this technology. It is an amazing world that Messenger built because it is nothing like the United States in 2012. She had to create a whole new world, that is similar to the world we live in and yet nothing like it at all, all at the same time. Also, Messenger’s world building? Amazing. She thought of everything, down to the smallest detail which is much appreciated as a reader.

Once in the “new world,” Sophie is taken in by a family made up of Grady and Edaline, who have their own background issues, that get explained Messenger makes them, and family such an important part of this story to the point I may have shed a tear or two (okay many) various times in the story because I wanted to reach in and grab certain characters and tell them it would be okay, even though, to be honest, I had no idea myself if everyone would be okay. I only hoped.

Sophie is also extremely realistic. She has a stuffed blue elephant, who she can’t live without and is one of the few things she takes from her current life before going to her new life. She freaks out, she doesn’t fit in, she’s an extremely realistic 12 year old girl. And then there are the boys in her life. The first boy in her life is Fitz. He’s literally the first boy in her new life, he is a fellow telepath who’s parents help her become accustomed to her new world. Then there is Dex, who ends up being her BFF, he hates Fitz with a passion and doesn’t trust him, but trusts Sophie. Last there is the ‘bad’ boy, Keefe. Oh Keefe, he’s snarky, sarcastic, and he ditches class but he really likes Sophie and enjoys mocking Sophie. This is probably one of the reasons I relate to Keefe. I’m not saying that I ditched class, I didn’t. I was the annoying one who was on time and never missed a day (yes, I hate me, too.) But the snark and the mocking? That’s all me. My one friend jokes that if I’m nice to you, you should watch out, I love by being mean. Which is why I relate to Keefe and the snark.

And yes, there is already Team Dex, Team Keefe, and Team Fitz, shockingly I am Team Sophie. Yes, Team Sophie! Girl power! Sophie isn’t a weakling. She handles the fact that her world is legitimately turned upside down quite well. If I was taken away from the only family I ever knew, I’d lose it. And while Sophie did lose it, she had an amazing path to self-discovery throughout this whole book.

I finished this book and wanted to re-read it right away. Lately that rarely happens to me and a book. This book ends on a perfect note and yet leaves me wanting more. Thankfully this is going to be a trilogy. And, Messenger has another series coming out next year! I’d throw confetti in the air if that would be responsible, and I wouldn’t have to clean it up.

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The Icarus Project by Laura Quimby

September 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Icarus Project by Laura Quimby
Release Date: October 1, 2012
Publisher: Amulet Books
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon
More than anything, Maya wants to discover something incredible. Her parents are scientists: Her mother spends most of her time in tropical rainforests, uncovering ancient artifacts, and her dad is obsessed with digging up mammoths. When her father gets invited by an eccentric billionaire to lead a team investigating a mammoth’s remains in the Arctic, Maya begs to come along. Upon her arrival at the isolated camp, the mammoth is quickly revealed to be a fake, but there is something hidden in the ice—something unbelievable. Along with a team of international experts, each with his or her own agenda and theory about the mystery in the ice, Maya learns more about this discovery, which will change her life forever.

Review
It’s that time of year again! You know, late September, you’ve read 70+ books and now you can’t even look at a book without feeling stressed and nauseous? Or is that just me? To cleanse my palate of angsty supernatural YA, I’ve been immersing myself in… supernatural middle-grade. All the fun and adventure without the romance! Perfect! (I’ve also been reading the Ruby Oliver novels, which are so silly and have almost no plot.) This one really doesn’t disappoint either! Maya is a precocious thirteen year old with divorced scientist parents. Her mother is often out of the country and her father has bad luck with grants. She likes colors and connecting them to emotions and she draws in her notebook. She’s super smart and makes connections in her head that I’m not sure I would, plus she has this vast storage of esoteric knowledge gleaned from her scientist parents. She makes for an interesting narrator, which is good considering the book is written in first-person. It’s always a sad day when being in the protag’s head makes you hate them more.

The story gets going pretty quickly, and there’s only a little bit of fact-finding before they reveal the mammoth is fake. I like Maya’s interactions with her father, who sounds like the coolest dad ever, and her adventuring with Kyle, who she doesn’t immediately swoon over. I was dying to know what was actually under the ice during this period too. Dying! I had no idea this story would be fantastical (obviously I am not very good at closely reading summaries), so I was really happy when I discovered there’s a teensy bit of magic in this one! Oh, and something I thought was cute (and entirely contrary to my own thinking), but Maya is okay with the icy tundra being a mammoth graveyard, but it makes her sadder to think of the people the ice might encase. I’m personally sadder for the poor mammoths. Let me segue here into something I didn’t really like: the stereotypes. Russian man tied to the mob and illegal drugs, mystical indigenous women in Alaska, stiff and formal Japanese man. Those characterizations lacked the depth of Maya or Kyle or even Randal.

HOWEVER. The mystery is great and so is Maya. When they unearth their prize, strange things start happening, including very realistic dreaming. Maya goes out one night into the snow and discovers cool things that will spoil you, so I won’t elaborate, but I ended up reading bits and pieces of it to my boyfriend, that’s how much I liked those scenes. I always like storylines that show how much adults root themselves in what’s “real” and forget about magic. Only children can see magic because they haven’t yet learned to ignore it. I believe in magic, though maybe not in the way most books use it. No one can shoot light out of their fingers, of course, but that doesn’t mean magic doesn’t happen. That’s probably my favorite part of middle-grade, the magic of being a kid again, even though I almost always figure out the twists before the protag. (True in this case as well!)

Maya gets a little irrational in the last quarter of the book, though I understand why. She wasn’t on equal standing with the rest of the scientists and didn’t really have the language to explain her feelings to them. Couple that with fear she wouldn’t be believed, and her bad decisions can be understood. Things get really crazy at the end of the novel. I liked this one a lot, both for its elements of “real” and for its magical action. Middle-grade at its (almost) best, in my opinion. Check this one out when it comes to bookstores on October 1!

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A Mutiny in Time (Infinity Ring #1) by James Dashner

September 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon
When best friends Dak Smyth and Sera Froste stumble upon the secret of time travel — a hand-held device known as the Infinity Ring — they’re swept up in a centuries-long secret war for the fate of mankind. Recruited by the Hystorians, a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids learn that history has gone disastrously off course. Now it’s up to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in time to fix the Great Breaks…and to save Dak’s missing parents while they’re at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny!

Review
I am on a middle-grade roll lately, and this isn’t my last one, either. I’ve been meaning to get my hands on this one ever since I found out that Lisa McMann wrote the third book in the Infinity Ring series. My library doesn’t have this one (my library has NOTHING; I always have to request books through ILL), but luckily Scholastic was still awarding ARCs to bloggers through NetGalley. And? I read this one in a single day. So, Dak and Sera live in a futuristic dystopia ruled by the SQ. Time is collapsing, and people are experiencing “Remnants,” remembering things that never happened. Dak’s parents, scientists, are being monitored by a group called the Hystorians, those working to save the world using a 2000 year old plan by Aristotle. There are funny bits characteristic of middle-grade novels; for example, Dak and Sera go to Benedict Arnold Middle School. They are super cute with their totally platonic junior high friendship. My best friend ever is a guy I met when I was fourteen, so I can relate to Sera. There are also bits and pieces of alternate history that made me chuckle, the how the French still have a monarchy. We find out the Hystorians have been spying on Dak’s parents due to the Infinity Ring, and everything starts to get real after Sera activates it.

And I know that the book is about fixing history, and in this one, they have to keep Christopher Columbus’ crew from mutiny. I was super annoyed that they didn’t know they needed to save Columbus (which is irrational, yes, and probably won’t bother 99% of readers, I am just curmudgeonly), but not enough for it to keep me from enjoying the story. Sera is an awesome little future feminist, so of course I loved that. The adventure doesn’t really kick in until nearly three-quarters of the way through the novel, though. The rest is them discovering the Infinity Ring, learning how to use it, and running from the SQ. I really loved Dashner’s writing style though, which was funny with little asides to the reader. It’s written in third-person, something I wish for more novels. I find I dislike the narrators more when I’m stuck in their heads for 300+ pages. Anyway, Dak and Sera and Riq finally figure out that the famous Amancio brothers are not the ones supposed to find the New World, and this breaks Dak’s poor history-loving heart. I won’t spoil whether or not they actually stop the mutiny though. ;)

This one was a nice break from tradition, and in more ways than one! Did you know this series is being written by six different authors? After Dashner, who writes both the first and last in the series, comes Carrie Ryan, Lisa McMann (!!!), Matt de la Pena, Matthew J. Kirby, and Jennifer A. Nielsen. I love round robin-type stories, so I’m super psyched for the upcoming novels. Yay, middle-grade!

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Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave by Deron R. Hicks

September 4, 2012 by 3 Comments
Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave by Deron R. Hicks
Release Date: September 4, 2012
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon
Twelve-year-old Colophon Letterford has a serious mystery on her hands. Will she discover the link between her family’s literary legacy and Shakespeare’s tomb before it’s too late? Antique paintings, secret passages, locked mausoleums, a four-hundred-year-old treasure, and a cast of quirky (and some ignoble) characters all add up to a fun original adventure. Readers will revel in a whirlwind journey through literary time and space in real-world locales from Mont St. Michel to Stratford-Upon-Avon to Central Park!

Review
I love middle-grade! I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but I’m nearly done with my undergrad degree in Special Education, and lately I’ve been really interesting in finding good middle-grade novels for my future classroom (here, let me recommend two MG novels by Laura Amy Schlitz, A Drowned Maiden’s Hair and The Night Fairy) so I just really wanted this one when I saw it up on NetGalley. Plus, it’s got a little history thrown in there, which is always a plus when choosing novels for a classroom! This one starts off with a little backstory before we meet Colophon and the modern day Letterfords. Colophon’s family sounds stifling, with a rigid seating hierarchy at Thanksgiving dinner and a strict rule that ownership of the company passes to the eldest child only. Her family is rich, owning a huge home with its own library. Colophon is twelve and has her own laptop. None of this stuff bothered me, but I was kind of amused by all the stuff in the Letterford mansion, the formal way her family spoke, and her interactions with her brother. Plus, I love a good black sheep, and Cousin Julian fits the bill quite well.

As we got into the mystery, I found myself liking Colophon more and more. Where at first she seemed annoyingly inquisitive (a common trait among intellectually gifted children), she later seemed charming and precocious. I started to really like both her and the little mystery she’s solving. While Mull Letterford, Colophon’s father, is trying to save his family’s publishing house in Georgia, Colophon herself eventually travels to London to get down to business trying to find the hidden family treasure. The relationship between Colophon and Julian is fun to watch unfold, because Julian has been almost outcast his whole life. I found it amusing that his way back into the family’s good graces was his twelve year old cousin.

As the book goes on, it becomes increasingly obvious that someone is trying to sabotage Mull’s reign as head of the publishing house. Colophon’s main suspect is her father’s recently reappeared cousin, Treemont. I felt so sorry for Mull during his scenes, but even his catastrophes are humorous (to us, at least), keeping a whimsical air about the whole thing. During all of this, Colophon is with cousin Julian in Stratford-upon-Avon, and while the clues fall into her lap a little to easily, the story is cute and fun, and the mystery is easy to follow. Colophon’s brother, Case, who seems like an insensitive jerk in the beginning, turns out to have some depth in him after all. This one was a quick read, but I enjoyed it immensely.

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Candlewax by C. Bailey Sims

April 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Candlewax by C. Bailey Sims
Release Date: April 3, 2012
Publisher: Terabyte Press
Source: NetGalley
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Buy It: Amazon (Kindle edition)
An Ancient Prophecy. A Powerful Relic. An Insatiable Evil. When all three converge, the fate of every living thing will be in peril.  All her life Catherine had hoped to see a fairrier cat. No book, no scroll provided to her by her tutors had ever mentioned this legend, much to her frustration, and now-at the worse possible time-she was getting her wish. Only, in her wish the cat wasn’t about to kill her.  A 732-year-old fairrier cat the size of a horse has killed his fair share of hunters. Driven to the brink of extinction for the supernatural powers of his coat, is he indeed the last of his kind?  

Sheltered, 16-year-old Catherine is about to find out. Unwitting heir to the Ancient Onyxes, she flees an arranged marriage only to stumble upon the cat’s secrets, the force of the ancient relic she wears, and the dangerous mission they must undertake.  

Hidden under a desert that was once a fertile land, millions of predators are waiting to feast again. Catherine must discover the secret of the Ancient Onyxes and stop the creatures known as trodliks before they consume everything in their path. A whispered prophecy becomes her only guide and a rejected suitor just might be the one warrior she desperately needs. 

Review
Really quick, this is the only link I could find to buy this book.  The ISBN is invalid, according to most sites, and others just don’t recognize the name or author.  Weird, right?  Maybe it will become more widely available after the publication date?  Also, longest summary ever, right?  Jeez.  However, anything with a sentient cat has won me over before I’ve even begun, if I’m honest.  This cat, Pokos, reminds me of Grimalkin from Maguire’s Wicked Years novels: blunt, forward, and not really that sensitive.  Catherine herself sort of starts off badly.  She sneaks out of her palace, gets robbed, and is clotheslined by a branch while fleeing.  Pokos eats her horse.  She is not a happy camper.  From the third chapter, I suspected she had some kind of precognition; she mentions very realistic dreams more than once.  This apparently has to do with being around Pokos.  They pick up another girl, Bessie, in a village and end up running from Catherine’s betrothed, the Candlewax King.  I liked him, Cyril, the Candlewax King.  He’s very haughty, and he and Catherine are off to a bad start, but I think it’ll get better.  There’s a lot of action in the first part, which I appreciated.  Infodumps are no fun for anyone!

I’ll admit to first being annoyed that Catherine disguises Bessie as Princess, because I just felt like I already knew the ending.  I won’t spoil it though.  It was just extremely awkward reading about Cyril picking his way around Bessie, while assuming Catherine is a servant boy.  Cyril is drawn to Catherine-as-Kenneth in a way that makes reading kind of cringeworthy.  I even skimmed most of the detailing-the-landscape-of-Candlewax parts, just hoping someone would figure it out and stop it.  I am put out of my misery after only a few chapters, but man, how I writhed. Things work out though, and Catherine continues on her journey.  We meet The Betrayer, as well, but I won’t spoil his identity.  I’d also like to mention that the trodliks remind me of the Diggers from the Bone World series.  They were gross in those books and they’re gross in this one too!

Another thing that’s gross?  When Catherine and her party arrive in Cinna, she “immediately dislikes” a beautiful, confident-looking woman with a tight bodice.  Lovely.  There’s going to be a Man Stealing Whore in this novel, that was my first thought.  I was wrong about it in this instance, but it’s not uncommon.  I need to rant about it.  Look, people, women can be ugly or beautiful, dainty or not, and still be nice people!  The tightness of the bodice does not reveal a person’s nature, so can we just stop with this bullshit trope?  It shows up in every YA book that has ever existed (okay, that might be hyperbole) and I am sick of it.  Not every story needs a woman out to steal the protag’s man, and really, it’s unrealistic.  Bah.  Granted, Julia isn’t working alone and she wasn’t trying to steal Cyril either, but there is only so much “instant dislike” between female characters that I can take, you know?

I skimmed so much description in this one, but I still liked the way it was written.  Catherine wasn’t overly sheltered or annoying or too stupid to live, and the plot didn’t really drag at all.  It’s pretty vanilla when it comes to the Catherine/Cyril romance, too.  They wait forever to kiss and there’s no way we’re getting even a fade-to-black.  Which is fine.  I guess.  I just liked Catherine and Cyril a lot as people, and they got over their issues really quickly (especially for YA).  Catherine does her own thing and Cyril doesn’t want to “contain” her or anything.  They fall in love.  It’s nice.  They have some sweet scenes that I enjoyed reading.

In all, I liked this one.  It’s sweet and descriptive, with a real plot and a back-burner romance.  Plus, it’s legit fantasy, and I love that.  This one comes out tomorrow, so be sure to check it out if you’re so inclined.

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