Defiance

Defiance

C. J. Redwine

(Defiance #1)

My rating: ★★

ISBN: 9780062117175
Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Date of publication: August 28, 2012

Age: Grades 8 - 12

Genre: Dystopian

Themes: post-apocalypse, fantasy, dystopian society, romance, tyranny, missing person

Rachel’s father, Jared, has gone missing on his latest courier mission, so the tyrannical Commander must declare him dead and put the 15-year-old girl under a new protector—Logan McEntire, Jared’s apprentice and Rachel’s once upon a time love interest, until he rejected her. Both are furious at the new set up, but Rachel doesn’t really care; she thinks her father is alive and will go to any lengths to get past the walls of Baalboden and its misogynic society to search for him. Logan is determined to protect her, as is his duty and—he soon discovers—his love.

Commander Chase, cruel and powerful, however, has other ideas for the two of them. Outside the walls of the city is a fire-breathing monster, and Chase knows that Jared may have found a way to control it. Rachel and Logan are forced to work together to stop the commander, discovering heartbreak and romance along the way.

While the plot is very dramatic and driven, the teenage angst can be a bit much. Redwine focuses a lot of her writing on emotions, and most of them are depression, hatred, anger, etc. etc. It’s repetitive and wordy; it gets tiresome. The Commander is evil, just because, and does not seem to have much depth. The love Logan starts to feel for Rachel seems to appear from nowhere, quite suddenly, too. And I really thought the fire-breathing monster was just a bit too much. There are better dystopic fiction books available.

Geekhood: Close Encounters of the Girl Kind

Geekhood: Close Encounters of the Girl Kind

Andy Robb

My rating: ★★★★

ISBN: 9781847152312
Publisher: Stripes Publishing

Date of publication: June 4, 2012

Age: Grades 7 - 11

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Themes: Teen boys, dating, relationships, British Lit

Fourteen-year-old Archie is a self-proclaimed geek. He prefers to paint miniatures, hang out at the Hovel, and play Dungeons and Dragons with his friends. And he’s okay with it. But girls don’t talk to him…until Beautiful Girl comes along. Suddenly, Archie discovers that he is willing to go out of his comfort zone to try and win her over, including attacking the school bully, ditching D & D with his friends, and discovering his “Psychic Self,” based on her recommendation. But will she return his love? And what about his friends?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I laughed out loud during most of the book (maybe because I could relate to it more than I care to admit). It is told in first person, with Archie’s Interior Monologue (IM) providing intermittent humorous thoughts and confessions. Its examination into family, friend, and intimate relationships is realistic and relatable. The ending is perfect, too, but I won’t give it away.

Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity

Elizabeth Wein

My rating: ★★★

ISBN: 9781423152194

Publisher: Hyperion

Date of publication: May 15, 2012

Age: Grades 9 and up

Genre: Historical Fiction

Themes: Female pilots, WWII, prisoner of war, Gestapo

Awards: Michael L. Printz Honor Book, Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel, Golden Kite Honor.

A British plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France leaving Kittyhawk, the pilot, stranded, and Verity, the spy, captured by the Gestapo. Written from their points of view, Verity struggles against torture and cruelty of her captors and writes this story as a confession of the truth. Kittyhawk must write her story for the accident report and the investigation that’s sure to follow. Though they are the best of friends, the war makes them face the greatest of their fears.

In a few words, I would say this novel is beautifully depressing. I was heartbroken by the time I finished it. That being said, in terms of a YA novel, I am skeptical. Its plot jumps/breaks, technical jargon, and narrator rambling can make it tedious. I think this would fit the bill for a more mature reader, and I would recommend it, but I don’t know that it’s for everybody.

Impossible

Impossible

Nancy Werlin

My rating: ★

ISBN: 9780142414910

Publisher: Speak

Date of publication: September 18, 2008

Age: Grades 9 and up

Genre: Fantasy

Themes: Curses, rape, teen pregnancy, romance, mental illness

Lucy Scarborough lives with wonderful foster parents, but that is because her mother fell into mental illness after giving birth to her at age 18. It is a topic not usually brought up, until Lucy is raped and left pregnant at the age of 18—just like her mother and, it turns out, like every woman in her family before her. The Scarborough girls are living with an ancient curse, each girl giving birth to another daughter at age 18 and then going crazy. To break the curse, Lucy must do three seemingly impossible tasks to avoid going crazy and to keep her daughter. Luckily, she has true love to help her.

This book is based on a version of the song “Scarborough Fair”—yes, like the one Simon & Garfunkel sing. It is way weird. Way weird. A strange concept with an unrealistic interpretation. Basically, I couldn’t get over the fact that this was based on Simon & Garfunkel. The story was cheesy, the three tasks are utterly ridiculous, and the characters were a tad farfetched. But, hey, if you don’t know who Simon & Garfunkel are, you may better appreciate this strange fantasy than I did.

Warning: Explicit Content
Sexuality