Goddess

Title: Goddess
Series: Starcrossed #3
Author: Josephine Angelini
Pages: 464 (ebook)
Published: May 23rd 2013
Published by: Macmillan Children's Books

After accidentally unleashing the gods from their captivity on Olympus, Helen must find a way to re-imprison them without starting a devastating war. But the gods are angry, and their thirst for blood already has a body count.

To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a diabolical Tyrant is lurking among them, which drives a wedge between the once-solid group of friends. As the gods use the Scions against one another, Lucas’s life hangs in the balance. Still unsure whether she loves him or Orion, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, for war is coming to her shores.

In Josephine Angelini’s compelling conclusion to the masterfully woven Starcrossed trilogy, a goddess must rise above it all to change a destiny that’s been written in the stars. With worlds built just as fast as they crumble, love and war collide in an all-out battle that will leave no question unanswered and no heart untouched.

After being thrust into the centre of a feud she didn't know existed, Helen has inadvertently caused disaster to come about. And now she must fight for not only her own survival, but for the survival of all she holds dear. Her friends, her family, and the mortals of the world are all relying on her.

Helen did become a bit ridiculously all-powerful, but luckily fighting is most definitely not the centre of this story, so it wasn't particularly annoying. And it is of course this fact that perpetuates most of the story - if that hadn't come about, in fact, there wouldn't really have been a story at all.

There was a lot more fighting going on in this book, and I'd like to say that you got to see the Scions using more of their abilities this time around, but it just wasn't really the case. It was more that you knew the fighting was going on, but you were always somewhere else at the time, or it was just them displaying their superior fighting skills against each other and being pretty well matched. You do get some pretty good God-ability showing off, but again a fair portion of this is reported (literally - as news stories) rather than being seen in the story itself. So this aspect was a little disappointing - why have you characters able to do all these cool things if they hardly actually do them?

I don't know much about the story of Helen and Paris, but I wasn't particularly a fan of the changes that were made - though not significant, I don't think. On the other hand, imagining them as other couples through history was nice, even if we only got to see one of these in detail. I would have liked to see more past lives be they well known or not. There were nice parallels drawn between the original Greek stories of Troy for the other characters - everyone had their place. You'd been told enough to see them and to somewhat predict what might be coming when allegiances are drawn, but I was so caught up in the story it didn't really occur to me to do this It was more of a recognition after the fact on my part, but for those properly paying attention there may be fewer surprises than there were for me.

And of course there are all these secrets. They've been sitting there, brewing for all of the last book and most of this one. And you're waiting for them to be revealed. And you know it's coming and it's so tense and you just want to know how it's all going to come out and how everyone's going to react, and why they were hidden. And most importantly - will they find out in time?

This is a wonderful ending to an amazing series, and one which I ended up enjoying a lot more than I was expecting to. Everything is finished up satisfactorily, though there are hints that there may be more to come and not everything will stay as it is forever.

Dreamless

Title: Dreamless
Series: Starcrossed #2
Author: Josephine Angelini
Pages: 496 (ebook)
Published: May 29th 2012
Published by: HarperTeen

Can true love be forgotten?

As the only Scion who can descend into the Underworld, Helen Hamilton has been given a nearly impossible task. By night she wanders through Hades, trying to stop the endless cycle of revenge that has cursed her family. By day she struggles to overcome the fatigue that is rapidly eroding her sanity. Without Lucas by her side, Helen is not sure she has the strength to go on.

Just as Helen is pushed to her breaking point, a mysterious new Scion comes to her rescue. Funny and brave, Orion shields her from the dangers of the Underworld. But time is running out—a ruthless foe plots against them, and the Furies’ cry for blood is growing louder.

As the ancient Greek world collides with the mortal one, Helen’s sheltered life on Nantucket descends into chaos. But the hardest task of all will be forgetting Lucas Delos.

Josephine Angelini’s compelling saga becomes ever more intricate and spellbinding as an unforgettable love triangle emerges and the eternal cycle of revenge intensifies. Eagerly awaited, this sequel to the internationally bestselling STARCROSSED delivers a gritty, action-packed love story that exceeds expectation.

This book picks up right from where Starcrossed left off - no pesky interval to catch up on, right back in there with the story and the action for these characters. Now Helen has to come to terms with all that she learned in Starcrossed and try to readjust her life around the information. It impacts her relationships with just about everyone she holds dear: her father, her best friend Giggles and her now-forbidden love Lucas. But the Gods and the Fates aren't going to give up, and her life is only going to get more complicated.

So, in all honesty I read most of this book while half asleep. Because I couldn't put it down. And then I went and bought the next one and started reading that straight off! I find these books incredibly engrossing, between the characters, the storyline and the things you know and certain leading characters don't - you know they're going to find out the big secret, but not when. Or why it's been hidden. Or how they're going to react when they do find out. So many things just waiting to be found out!

There's a lot more Greek-ness to this one than the last, but I still wasn't lost in amongst it all. Any new introductions - be they ideas or gods - were clearly explained without too much information being dumped on you. And there were some pretty cool things done with the traditional aspect of Greek mythology. Again, I don't really know that much so can't say how true any of it is, but it makes for a very enjoyable read in my eyes. I do, however, know something about the traditional story of Helen and Paris Oops, just realised that's actually from the start of the third book!

This is in quite a lot of ways the typical middle book in a YA/PNR series. Two of the characters fall in love, but things get in the way in the second one, keeping them apart. Distance, their own stupidness, whatever. This time, though, it is quite a major thing, but still rather formulaic in that respect. Still, it was a reason I hadn't come across before, so it's going to be interesting seeing just how they react to this and how they manage given the hugeness of the revelation.

There is also a problem of - unless I'm missing something - quite a major plot point when it comes to the thing that's keeping them apart. And it's so obvious and so significant I can't see how none of the characters have seen it. Which makes me think I might have just missed something or misunderstand some vital point, but if not...that puts a serious downer on all these super-intelligent demigods.

In this book you get to learn more about the whole Delos family, not just a whole but getting to know each of them better. And they're all still really likeable people! None of them are stupid or annoying (come on - you know there's usually at least one!) and they all do what they think is right based on their own characters and what is going on. I'm going to commend this series again on the characters making believable decisions.

It's also commendable for avoiding the trap many second-books fall into: so much setting up for the finale in the third book that it's rather lacking in terms of actual story itself. Not so here, which is always nice to see. While there is plenty of setting up for the third book, I didn't feel lost in it and that the story of this book had been sacrificed for its sake.

The end of the book leaves some major cliffhangers as to what's going to happen next, and I cannot wait to see how everything resolves!

Starcrossed

Title: Starcrossed
Series: Starcrossed #1
Author: Josephine Angelini
Pages: 501 (ebook)
Published: 31st May 2011
Published by: HarperTeen

How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

Helen Hamilton has always stood out: she's unusually tall, strong and fast. She's also exceptionally beautiful, but this is so far from her mind that it's not until very far into the book that I really noticed that fact. (Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention, but I'd like to think it's the former). She's devoted to her dad, after her mother walked out on them when Helen was only a few months old, and her best friend Giggles (at this point I cannot for the life of me remember her actual name). She tries to stay out of trouble, stay unnoticed. And she succeeds. Until a new family moves onto the remote island where she lives, and the first time she sees one of the kids in school she tries to kill him.

Paranormal Romance books (PNR) get a lot of bad press. Understandably. Many of them aren't great, and are written to jump on the bandwagon main-streamed by Twilight. Ordinary girl/boy falls in love with mythical being of some description. They can't be together for x, y, z, but fight through in spite of everything. All is wonderful! *eyelash flutter and sigh* But it's PNR books like this that restore my faith in the genre, because every so often I do come across one that is wonderful, and I really enjoy reading it. Of course, this means I have to wade through all the rubbish ones looking for the good ones (probably with more misses than hits), but every time I'm about to give up on the genre I come across a book like this.

The characters are wonderful and you can really believe in their decisions and how they feel in different situations. The plot has up and downs and twists, and it's quite clear from the end of the book that there's something more going on though I literally have no idea what that is! But I'm going to go buy the next book really soon so I can find out!

Helen is a particularly great leading lady. She just wants to be normal and fit in, trying her very hardest to not stand out in any way and failing quite miserably. Because of the life she's lead, she's sensible and down-to-earth, but she isn't bland along with it. She can be moody and she falls out with people - both friends and family - and acts like a regular teenage girl in so many ways. Her best friend, Giggles - nicknamed for her distinctive laugh - is a nice counterpoint, and often offers a lighter counterpoint to whatever may be going on. I always imagined her as an Alice Cullen-esque figure and character (Twilight - I know! Don't shoot me...), prancing around the place and being slightly mischievous and sneaky.

The Delos family seems to encompass all the different stereotypes you can. Of course they're all ridiculously pretty (what would PNR be without ridiculously pretty people?!), but besides that you have the really ridiculously pretty one, the sporty one, the quiet sensitive one, the mystical one, and the guys-guy. I think I covered them all... But they're still all likeable characters. Again, they're very down-to-earth (probably because of the situation they're in in life in general and what they believe is at stake) and seem just like a normal, very large, family.

I don't know that much about Greek mythology so I can't really comment on the veracity of any of that side of things, but as an ignorant observer I understood a lot of what was going on, and the informative bits weren't unwieldy or annoying. You're told enough so you understand the relevant history, but you aren't overloaded with unnecessary information - which I think could be quite easy given the shear depth of stuff that could be delved into.

Yeah, it took me a little while to really get going with this book, but once I did I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to see where Helen and Lucas go after the shocking revelation at the end of this part of their story.

Fire Study

Title: Fire Study
Series: Study Series #3
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Pages: 441 (paperback)
Published: January 16th 2009
Published by: MIRA Books

The apprenticeship is over
Now the real test has begun

When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder — able to capture and release souls—spreads like wildfire, people grow uneasy. Already Yelena's unusual abilities and past have set her apart. As the Council debates Yelena's fate, she receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by a murderous sorcerer she has defeated before.…

Honor sets Yelena on a path that will test the limits of her skills, and the hope of reuniting with her beloved spurs her onward. Her journey is fraught with allies, enemies, lovers and would-be assassins, each of questionable loyalty. Yelena will have but one chance to prove herself—and save the land she holds dear.

In Magic Study, we started to discover more about Yelena: her history, and her way with magic. This, the last in the Study Series thus far (though there is talk of a follow-up trilogy), ties up all of the ends left open in Magic Study. Yelena has to try and find the truth when it comes to her Soul Finder powers, and the prejudice - and sometimes hatred - which comes with the stigma of this name. Of course, that's not the only thing going on and Yelena has to deal with the continued threat of enemies made in previous stories.

This book, unfortunately, continues on the downward trend in the progression of the series. There's a lot of dire situations put in just because it makes the story 'more interesting'. It seems like every couple of chapters that Yelena is put into a life-threatening situation and it begins to work the opposite, becoming repetitive. Although it can be said that there are at least different challenges to overcome in each book when it comes to \using magic: for everyone, but Yelena in particular.

So while the story isn't up to the same standard as the earlier books, all the great characters from the first get their screen time (though in my opinion, Valek could always do with more). There are some great moments where we see Yelena and Valek experiencing problems in their relationship. Up until this point it's been all happy-wonderful-in-love stuff, so it was nice to see that it isn't always perfect for them either. Their disagreements were realistic, as were their resolutions. Both fit with the characters that have been built in the other two books and felt like things that genuinely would have come about for them rather than being put in for the sake of it.

We also get to see a bit more of Yelena's immediate family, Lief in particular, and the development of those relationships were nice. Though her relationship with her parents seems a bit easy considering they hadn't seen each other for so long, with Lief it followed a believable line both for the circumstances and the animosity he feels towards her.

The end of this book was dragged out quite a lot, and it definitely could have been shortened without serious detriment to the book as a whole. Indeed, the whole thing probably could have done with some tightening up to make the story more streamlined and less repetitive.

But as I said before, there are rumours of a second trilogy following Yelena, and I will definitely be reading at least the first. Why? Because of the central characters: Yelena, Valek, Ari and Janco are some of my favourite fictional characters, each unique with their own personalities and yet fitting together to make a good team - both for get things done, and to make for good reading. Here's hoping it next book will be an improvement on this, and get back to the awesomeness that was Poison Study.

Not a bad book by any means, but the repetitiveness of the situations bring it down a little, though the characters are - as always - wonderful.

Magic Study

Title: Magic Study
Series: Study Series #2
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Pages: 419 (paperback)
Published: May 16th 2008 (first published 2006)
Published by: MIRA Books

You know your life is bad when you miss your days as a poison taster... 

With an execution order on her head, Yelena has no choice but to escape to Sitia, the land of her birth. With only a year to master her magic - or face death - Yelena must begin her apprenticeship and travels to the Four Towers of the Magician's Keep.

But nothing in Sitia is familiar. Not the family to whom she is a stranger. Not the unsettling new facets of her magic. Nor the brother who resents her return. As she struggles to understand where she belongs and how to control her rare powers, a rogue magician emerges - and Yelena catches his eye.

Suddenly she is embroiled in battle of good against evil. And once again it will be her magical abilities that will either save her life...or be her downfall.

When we left Yelena in Poison Study she was on her way to returning to her home country of Sitia. Escaping a death warrant in the process, but also leaving behind her friends Ari and Janco and her soul mate. But this move is supposed to be a good thing. She hopes to be reunited with the family she doesn't remember and also to finally have the chance to learn about her magic rather than just fearing it and trying to hide it from those around her. Unfortunately, not everything goes to plan. Her brother is less than welcoming, and it isn't long until Yelena finds herself in trouble once more, though at least it wasn't her fault this time. Now she and the other Magicians of Sitia have just a few weeks to track down a serial killer bent on becoming an unbeatable magician through stealing the magic of others.

This book pretty much sticks to the same formula as the last one. Yelena is thrust into a new situation and everyone hates her, for one reason or another. She ignores this and gets on with what she has to do, gradually winning people to her side while working on the solving a mystery. And hey, it worked last time round - don't fix what isn't broken and all that. There is more depth this time though - not only is she missing those back in Ixia, but the people who don't like her are (or rather, should be) closer to her and the bad guys she's dealing with are a lot more dangerous.

Yelena really is a great leading lady, though. She's strong willed, knows what she wants and isn't afraid of doing in, no matter what others say. She softens some in this book; between meeting her family and her vulnerability when it comes to Valek there are more things that can hurt her, and more people she's trying to look out for.

There are a whole bunch of new characters introduced, and while the bad guys are a step up from Poison Study, most of the new friends Yelena (eventually) makes don't have a patch on Ari and Janco. Luckily, we are not deprived of their presence for the entirety of the book, and we get more of Ari's big-brother-over-protectiveness and Janco's rhymes and the banter between the two of them, and Yelena.

Of the new people she meets, most of them just seem like tide-overs. People for her to interact with (and get help and information from) until her Ixian posse show up. The one notable exception in my mind is Fisk - a beggar boy whom Yelena befriends and helps. He's clever and quick and is one of my favourite new characters. Yelena's brother Leif is another interesting character, and getting to know him and see and understand his behaviour and motivations is a nice aside to the central story. He hates Yelena, mistrusting her from the off, and is one of the fiercest believers in her status as an Ixian spy. It was nice that not everyone instantly welcomed her back with open arms and provided a nice counter-point to all the people who were quite easily won over.

When it comes to the story, there's quite a lot of wending around before things really get going. There are plenty of double-blinds, which made it less easy to guess what was coming but also a little frustrating. Even for me at a third read, I'd forgotten most of what happened in the years since I last read it and I didn't remember most of the major plot points - and twists.

This is a book which keeps you guessing, with some pretty good bad guys. The best characters are (for the most part) those brought forward from the first book, but I still enjoyed this book overall.

The Secret Hour

Title: The Secret Hour
Series: Midnighters #1
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Pages: 297 (paperback)
Published: March 1st 2005
Published by: Eos

Nobody is safe in the secret hour.

Strange things happen at midnight in the town of Bixby, Oklahoma.

Time freezes.

Nobody moves.

For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. Only a small group of people know about the secret hour -- only they are free to move about the midnight time.

These people call themselves Midnighters. Each one has a different power that is strongest at midnight: Seer, Mindcaster, Acrobat, Polymath. For years the Midnighters and the dark creatures have shared the secret hour, uneasily avoiding one another. All that changes when the new girl with an unmistakable midnight aura appears at Bixby High School.

Jessica Day is not an outsider like the other Midnighters. She acts perfectly normal in every way. But it soon becomes clear that the dark creatures sense a hidden power in Jessica . . . and they're determined to stop her before she can use it.

A story of courage, shadowy perils, and unexpected destiny, the secret hour is the first volume of the 

mesmerizing Midnighters trilogy by acclaimed author Scott Westerfeld.

Jessica Day moves to Bixby, Oklahoma, when her mother gets a new job at the local aeroplane science centre or whatever. Small-town Bixby is a bit of a shock to the system after living in Chicago, but what is an even bigger shock is finding out she is a 'Midnighter' - one of those rare people who were born on the exact stroke of midnight, and who can access the secret hour claimed by the technology-hating dark creatures. But the big question is, what is her ability?

This book is pretty cool for many reasons. The idea that days are in fact 25 hours long, but that the darklings reclaimed the 25th for their own protection after humanity began developing technology (fire, initially) and fighting back is really inventive. And actually has something to it...if left alone without cues from daylight or clocks, the body falls into a 25-hour-day rhythm. Cool, huh?

Then there's all the maths stuff, just 'cos I'm a bit geeky like that. But in all honesty, I think most people would be impressed with the level of detail reached in the maths-y stuff going on in this book. Everything revolves around numbers in the book - most often the number thirteen. In fact, I was often disappointed when things didn't add up to the number thirteen. Like he'd missed a trick when everybody's names didn't have thirteen letters. Come on, Westerfeld, if you're going to do something, take it all the way! Though I still had a couple of pretty serious geek-out moments when he revealed some things.

But cool background stuff aside, there were some things that let this book down. Namely the characters. Jessica is the lead, and is just a normal girl. She's under pressure from her parents to do well and school, is constantly infuriated by her younger sister and just wants to fit in at her school. This aspect was nice, but my problem was that she wasn't fleshed out any. She was just those things. There didn't seem to be anything to her past that. Maybe we'll get more of a feel for her in the next two books, but that's not really a good enough excuse.

Then there were the supporting cast - the rest of the Midnighters. Rex was pretty good, and you kinda get that the whole Midnighters and their lore thing is pretty much all he is about. He obsesses over it and is constantly thinking about it it seems. Then we have Melissa and Dess - one's a polymath and one's a Mindcaster, and I honestly can't remember which is which. I struggled throughout the book with differentiating between them, because although their powers are very different, they themselves are pretty interchangeable I thought.

The story itself was easy enough to read, but it never really grabbed me. Some books, you start and you never want to stop. Some pick up towards the end, racing to the conclusion and pulling you along with them. Some books you just read, intrigued to find out what happens but not driven to. Unfortunately, this book was one of the latter. This book served well as an introduction to the world of Midnight and I think the other two books in the trilogy will probably benefit from the firm base this one provides. But building that base has unfortunately left the story lacking a little umph.

Really cool idea which hasn't been taken to it's full potential due to other issues. An interesting book, and a series that I may continue with eventually, but I'm by no means certain.

Poison Study

Title: Poison Study
Series: Study Series #1
Author: Maria V Snyder
Pages: 409 (paperback)
Published: September 21st 2007 (originally published 2004)
Published by: Mira Books

Choose:

A quick death

Or slow poison...

Yelena has a choice – be executed for murder, or become food taster to the Commander of Ixia. She leaps at the chance for survival, but her relief may be short-lived.

Life in the palace is full of hazards and secrets. Wily and smart, Yelena must learn to identify poisons before they kill her, recognise whom she can trust and how to spy on those she can’t. And who is the mysterious Southern sorceress who can reach into her head?

When Yelena realises she has extraordinary powers of her own, she faces a whole new problem, for using magic in Ixia is punishable by death...

Yelena is dragged out of prison, emerging from her cell half-starved and filthy for the first time in seasons. She is convinced she is on her way to her death, but instead she is offered a position as a food taster to the Commander of Ixia, the man who overthrew the old regime years ago and implemented his own strict laws. It is Valek, the Commander's ruthless assassin, who offers Yelena the position and who trains her to detect the many different poisons she may come across. Her life is reliant on her ability to pick up on any detected poisons, evade the father of the man she murdered, and keep her magic unnoticed by those around her.

I um-ed and ah-ed over this book for a long time before finally buying it. From a second hand shop - I wasn't entirely convinced so decided to hedge my bets. This was about...4? 5? years ago, and it is now one of my favourite books. I just get sucked into the characters and the story and the relationships and the intrigue. It's very easy to read and an engaging story, so I can just whizz through it in a day or two any time I need a break from tougher reads or when I want to read something I love.

The characters are probably the strongest part of the book for me, though. Yelena is a great lead, and her development through the book is both logical (given what is going on) and heart-warming. Her back-story is revealed in bits and pieces as the book continues, and seeing what she's been through and what she's becoming really helps you warm to her. Though of course not everything goes her way, and there are several times when things go very wrong which was nice to see. Yelena has to work to achieve everything, and you
don't get anyone helping her just for the sake of the story. The relationships she builds are believable and based on something. Valek is a very interesting character, probably in part because you don't really get much of a handle on him. You mainly see the harsh assassin who killed the entirety of the royal family, allowing for the coup to take place, but there are undertones of something more to him. And I will admit to being ever so slightly a little bit in love with him. Because he's awesome!

There are numerous other secondary characters, many of them just as likeable as the central characters. The "power twins" Ari and Janco are particularly note-worthy. Best of friends and slightly opposites, they are amusing and lovely and are among the first to befriend Yelena upon her appointment as food taster.

When it comes to the story, there's enough mystery to keep you interested, both in terms of the circumstances leading up to Yelena's imprisonment and what is going on in the present. You start off not knowing anything and wondering about so much, guessing what might have happened and who might be plotting now. There's always something going on, someone to suspect or some danger to be escaped or recovered from and I find it so easy to get lost in the story and not even notice the pages disappearing.

In terms of the writing style, it is the just the way I like it. I'm not a particularly visual person, and there aren't huge amounts of description in it. Enough so you have ideas of what people look like, and what they're wearing (uniforms! Uniforms everywhere! No need for excessive description there) but you aren't drowning in paragraphs of the stuff. Maybe not for some people, but great for me.

A great, easy read with wonderful characters.

The Ask and the Answer

Title: The Ask and the Answer
Series: Chaos Walking #2
Author: Patrick Ness
Pages: 517 (paperback)
Published: 2011
Published by: Walker Books

Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. 

Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor's new order. 

But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is she even still alive? And who are the mysterious Answer? 

And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode...

This second thrilling volume in the Chaos Walking trilogy is a tense, shocking and deeply moving novel about resistance under the most extreme pressure.

Todd and Viola spent The Knife of Never Letting Go racing to reach Haven, hoping there to find refuge from the men of Prentiss Town, Todd's home, and the army issuing from there. But the end of their journey was just one disaster after another, and nothing turned out the way they were hoping. Now, they're in New Prentiss Town, each trapped by the promise of the other. In the last book we saw their relationship develop, and now we're seeing this being used against them.

This book had a very different feel than the last, and was in fact a lot easier for me to read. The last one was all from Todd's point of view, whereas here we also follow Viola's story as we follow the story of the two predominant groups emerging in New Prentiss town: the Ask, and the Answer. Each is fighting for what they believe in and each believes their is the best way, the only way, the world can work. Attacks are made, people are killed, and lies are told.

Though this is still definitely a kid's book, there are some darker themes than the first in the series with racism (against the Spackle - the native species of the colonised planet) and terrorism both quite heavily prevalent in this book. In fact, it was probably this maturation between the two that made it easier for me to read. Running away from a murderous army looking to take over the world isn't something I can really relate to, but racism and terrorism - unfortunately - are things we see far too much of. On top of this, there isn't as much 'noise' (the people of the planet being infected with a virus which makes them able to hear each others thoughts) featured, just making it easier for me not to get distracted by things go on on the next page or whatever.

Neither Todd nor Viola seemed to particularly change over the course of the book; rather, their presence impacts those around them, be it for better or for worse. Davy Prentiss Jr. is the most notable example of this, Todd's presence significantly impacting his life in a way I did not see coming at all. Because this is the first time we've seen them develop relationships that lasted more than a few hours, given the nature of the last book when they were constantly on the move. It was nice seeing them interact with new people consistently, and there are some relationships I'm intrigued to follow and see where they go.

There were some major events going on at the end of the story, and even more than the last one we're left with a cliff-hanger. I'm looking forward to the resolution of the story, and seeing where Todd and Viola end up.

Lockdown

Title: Lockdown
Series: Escape from Furnace #1
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Pages: 273 (paperback)
Published: August 3rd 2010
Published by: Square Fish

Furnace Penitentiary: the world’s most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth’s surface. Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, sentenced to life without parole, “new fish” Alex Sawyer knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to a death behind bars, in the darkness at the bottom of the world. Except in Furnace, death is the least of his worries. Soon Alex discovers that the prison is a place of pure evil, where inhuman creatures in gas masks stalk the corridors at night, where giants in black suits drag screaming inmates into the shadows, where deformed beasts can be heard howling from the blood-drenched tunnels below. And behind everything is the mysterious, all-powerful warden, a man as cruel and dangerous as the devil himself, whose unthinkable acts have consequences that stretch far beyond the walls of the prison.

Together with a bunch of inmates—some innocent kids who have been framed, others cold-blooded killers—Alex plans an escape. But as he starts to uncover the truth about Furnace’s deeper, darker purpose, Alex’s actions grow ever more dangerous, and he must risk everything to expose this nightmare that’s hidden from the eyes of the world.

Alex is a school bully turned petty thief. He and his friend Toby break into people's houses and steal cash and electronics, namely for the kick it seems. Until one night it all goes wrong, and Alex is framed for murder. He soon finds himself on the way to Furnace Prison for young offenders. A prison staffed by incredibly strong men; men with gasmasks attached to their faces (something like this being the image I had in my head for this); and all run by a man with weird eyes. Escape is impossible.

I quite enjoyed this; it wasn't a particularly difficult read, though not as creepy as I was expecting based on the blurb, and the descriptions of the emotions of the main character - Alex - were generally done very well. My one complaint in this area was that Alex seemed to adjust to prison life a little too easily. He gets into the swing of everything very well, and in places it felt like he was acting like he'd been there a lot longer than he had. Other descriptions weren't so good, unfortunately, and they often felt caricature-ish. Over-exaggerated architecture and characters were unbelievable, with the Judge who sentences Alex and the description of the outside of the prison particularly standing out in my mind in this respect.

I'm quite intrigued as to what has happened for the world depicted here to end up the way it has. We're told that after a riot by teenagers where hundreds of people were killed they introduced a zero-tolerance policy on young offenders, but this seems very extreme for the circumstance and I get the feeling that something more is going on. In general the story goes nicely with good pacing, though a few plot holes. He also has a tendency to forewarn when something is coming rather than it just happening. Like, "It was the worst thing I'd ever seen, up until four days later at least." Then just carries on the with the story. These little asides seemed a little pointless to me, and means you know Alex survives because he's obviously narrating from the future so there's less tension.

The escape plan which Alex comes up with is quite ingenious, though I have to question it's feasibly quite heavily. Minor spoiler: I've never tried knotting rubber gloves, but I can't imagine it's easy, or air-tight. And of course the other kids knew you were up to something - you think they didn't notice you 'sneaking' around all the time?!

I'll probably keep an eye out for the next book being on sale or something. It ended on a cliffhanger so I'm intrigued to see what happens next but not overly or anything.

Oh, and a minor point which bothers me a bit: the main character is called Alex. As is the author. I don't know why this feels slightly wrong to me.

Undead

Title: Undead
Series: Undead #1
Author: Kirsty McKay
Pages: 294
Published: September 1st 2011
Published by: Chicken House

Being new at school bites. But at least it doesn't kill you. Mostly.

Bobby thinks she might well be on the School Trip from Hell. Too bad she's a noob, too bad her classmates don't rate her weirdo accent and too bad that Scotland is having the worst blizzard since the Ice Age. Looks like she's going to be on this school bus for a quite a while; could things get much worse?

Yep. They could.

Inexplicably, her classmates start dying...and then they come back to life again...and what's more, they're very, very hungry.

With nowhere to run and no contact with the outside world, Bobby is thrown together with a raggle-taggle group of survivors at a roadside café. There's indie kid drop-out Smitty, the class beauty queen Alice, dweeby Pete and two near useless adults: a half-conscious bus driver and a volatile petrol station attendant.

The frenemies struggle to stay alive - through explosions, deadly battles and a breakneck chase through the snowbound wilderness. Somehow they have to make it to safety - and get some answers - no matter what the cost.

Can they survive the Undead? And each other?

Roberta - 'Bobby' - has just moved back to the UK from the USA. After being dragged over there at age 9, she's now been dragged back and she is not happy about it. Then she's forced to go on a school skiing trip. Then she's forced to fight for her life against the undead whilst trying to get along with what remains of her class, none of whom she even likes. Not exactly the most fun period of her life, I'm sure you can understand.

This was a very easy read, and quite a clichéd appearance by zombies: arms held out in front of them, shuffling along and groaning. Maybe the target audience has some impact on this - it is very much a YA (young adult) novel so the alternative scarier options are maybe out. Having zombies which are super quick and strong a la I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (/the Will Smith film) or The Passage by Justin Cronin. But then I really quite enjoy the TV show The Walking Dead which has a similar kind of zombie, but more creeping tension. Maybe my real problem with the zombies here is that they aren't really scary. They're stumbling, shuffling distant horrors. There are very few interactions between them and the characters, and even then I never really felt that the central characters were in any real level of danger. You can pretty much tell who is going to turn.

And the characters fulfilled all the clichés too. Awkward new girl with no friends, check; rebellious bad boy with a hidden side, check; intelligent geeky guy, check; dumb popular girl, check; 'improbable' romance easily visible from the first few pages, check.

This is also very obviously the first in a series: while the story is concluded, the bigger story is left dangling open with very little resolved or explained. And I've got to admit that this has got me a little intrigued. I do want to know what happens next, what the national - global - consequences are of what is seen in the first book, as well as the why this all happened in the first place.

While not particularly descriptive, the writing is good. The author gets teenage language down quite well, as well as the interactions. All the flouncing and teasing and gentle mocking flirtation that comes with being 15/16. None of the conclusions they reach are jumped to - at least none of the ones that are taken completely seriously. There are jokes about Alcoholics Anonymous zombies, but Bobby doesn't assume anything until she's seen it, and there are no amazing leaps of logic which was nice to see. They know what they know, and that's it - a nice change from characters finding out one piece of information and instantly extrapolating everything from it.

This was a read for my book club (due to meet last night but cancelled because of Euro 2012), and something I never would have picked up otherwise. It is a YA book, but the blurb on my copy makes it sound very YA and that put me off a little even knowing I had to read it. And yeah, it's not the greatest book ever written or anything, but it is a good quick read that doesn't require too much thought. Will I carry on the series? I don't know yet...maybe.

The Warrior Heir

Title: The Warrior Heir
Series: The Heir Chronicles #1
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Pages: 426 (paperback)
Published: February 27th 2007
Published by: Hyperion

Before he knew about the Roses, 16-year-old Jack lived an unremarkable life in the small Ohio town of Trinity. Only the medicine he has to take daily and the thick scar above his heart set him apart from the other high-schoolers. Then one day Jack skips his medicine. Suddenly, he is stronger, fiercer, and more confident than ever before. And it feels great until he loses control of his own strength and nearly kills another player during soccer team tryouts. Soon, Jack learns the startling truth about himself: He is Weirlind; part of an underground society of magical people who live among us. At the head of this magical society sit the feuding houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose, whose power is determined by playing The Game. A magical tournament in which each house sponsors a warrior to fight to the death, The winning house ruling the Weir. As if his bizarre magical heritage isn't enough, Jack finds out that he s not just another member of Weirlind, he's one of the last of the warriors at a time when both houses are scouting for a player. Jack's performance on the soccer field has alerted the entire magical community to the fact that he's in Trinity. And until one of the houses is declared Jack's official sponsor, they'll stop at nothing to get Jack to fight for them.

Jackson Swift is just a regular teenage boy. He goes to school, hangs out with his friends and plays football. Then one weekend his aunt turns up and drags him and his two best friends - Will and Finch - off to hunt of one of his ancestors. Their investigation leads them to digging up a box in a graveyard in the middle of the night, a box holding a magic sword which Jack has to put to use sooner than expected when they are attacked by a wizard. All three are suddenly aware of a whole other side to the world, one with wizards, enchanters, soothsayers and warriors. The Weir.

The start of the story was quite a lot of history, all of it necessary but not particularly exciting. Still readable, but nothing special. It gets better when you catch up to the modern day and start to follow Jack, but for me the story didn't really find its stride until the first big fight sequence where Jack is very much thrown in at the deep end. After that the adventure just kept coming - there was always something happening. Of course there were a couple of things that didn't add up, or quite make sense, but for me it was the magical things which helped Jack out slightly too conveniently which I had issues with.

I very much liked the magical world told about here where Weir and Anaweir (those without any abilities) coexist without the non-magical peoples knowing a thing about it. We only see little bits of most of the magics available here especially since Jack is a warrior and they don't have anything overtly magical about them. We see bits and pieces of other stuff, but not in any detail and I'm interested to see what else will be revealed. Their safety is in the secrecy, and the Anaweir know nothing. Even in Weir families: if a child is born without a stone - the source of their power - they are kept completely in the dark. I had issues with this as I didn't see how it was entirely feasible that it could be pulled off. But then there's magic available, so things are maybe more concealable.

Jack was a good leading character. He didn't just do what he was told or blindly follow the path he was set on, he wanted to know why he should do things, and he was quite logical about the whole thing. He wasn't willing to accept the first answer that was given to him and was quick to see flaws in things that didn't make sense. Will and Fitch were good secondary characters, though I'm not entirely sure what purpose they served. They turned up places slightly too conveniently sometimes and for no particular reason. They didn't really seem to actually do anything. Jack's Aunt Linda was my favourite character. She seems like she'd be a lot of fun to be around, but also someone you do not want to get on the wrong side of. There's a lot of her history that's alluded to and you know she spends her time off around the world. I kinda want to know more about her and her history, and I hope she or another Enchanter becomes a more central character in one of the later books.

For me, a wonderful moment in the book was when they came to Cumbria in the north of England - my home county. I wasn't expecting a whole lot of reference to things, but it was still vaguely exciting considering how in the middle of nowhere it is. But it provides the perfect setting for a magical battleground centuries old. There's some other stuff in England - well, London - but there's a point where a woman in Carlisle says "You appalling young hooligan" which made me giggle a little...I can't imagine any northerner saying this at all. Or indeed many non-northerners either. Though it does sum up the stereotypical image of the English quite well I think!

Overall, a very interesting book with a good magical world and a series which I'm looking forward to continuing with.

The Knife of Never Letting Go

Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go
Series: Chaos Walking #1
Author: Patrick Ness
Pages: 479 (paperback)
Published: October 22nd 2008
Published by: Walker

Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

I've seen this book about for a while, and even though I've only really heard good things of it it still never particularly interested me. But then a friend recommended it to me, and then a couple weeks ago I found an offer to get the whole trilogy for a fiver so I thought, why not? It's not like I have loads of other books sitting on my shelves waiting to be read or anything... *ahem*

Todd lives in Prentisstown, the last settlement on a planet colonised by humans only twenty years earlier. Everyone else died in a war with the natives of the land - Spackle. During this time they also released a virus which killed the women and meant that the men could hear each others' thoughts. Todd is counting down the days until his 13th birthday, the day he is counted as a man. He is the only boy left in Prentisstown. When he and his dog Manchee are in the swamp one day, though, they come across something - silence. And the silence turns out to be a girl - Viola. This sends them on a run for their lives across the planet, when Todd has never been further from home than the edge of the swamp.

I actually enjoyed this book a lot more than I was expecting to. The story was intriguing, and there are mysteries surrounding the circumstances so you know there's something missing but not what. There are hints and clues and you kinda have an idea, but you don't get the whole picture. And the ending! You find everything out and there's this huge like bombshell and so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what happens next. I will admit there were a couple of bits which I had issues with believing but for most part it was fine.

You don't see much of the planet which has been colonised, but what you do see is great. Another virus released by the Spackle meant to kill their animals actually means they can talk, and there are a couple of creatures Todd and Viola come across which are wonderful. And Manchee! Manchee is Todd's dog and he is absolutely adorable with his speech. Ness has done a great job of giving just an ordinary dog a voice both in what he says and the way he does it, the repetition and the attention getting, what actually makes up his thoughts.

And similarly with Todd - he hasn't had a proper education and can't read or write with any degree of proficiency so when he comes across big words these are spelt phonetically. While I found this a little distracting at first, you soon get into it and I think it's a great addition to the story and shows Todd really well. The interaction between Todd and Viola is also great. For him this is someone completely new, and the first person he has ever come across who's thoughts he can't know instantly - and loudly. And she has to learn to deal with this, with someone who has no practice at reading body language and getting to know people. The development there was really well - and really believably - done.

When Todd hears the thoughts of others they are done in a different font - more like handwriting, bigger, bolder, showing how much they intrude. I found this a little distracting because I'd see them across the page and my eyes will be drawn to them and distract me from what I should actually be doing.

Interesting concept and looking forward to what the next book has to offer.

Angelfall

Title: Angelfall 
Series: Penryn & the End of Days #1
Author: Susan Ee
Pages: 255 (ebook)
Published: May 21st 2011
Published by: Feral Dream

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back. 

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel. 

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl. 

Travelling through a dark and twisted Northern California, the have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Penryn is the responsible one in her family despite only being 17 herself. Both her younger sister and her mother are disabled - one paralysed from the waist down, the other afflicted with paranoid schizophrenia. Not great when things start to get really crazy. When they, along with the rest of the world, are thrown into 'The End of Days' Penryn does her utmost to make sure they are all going to still be together at the end of it, no matter what it takes.

I really enjoyed this book. It was incredibly easy to read and only took me two days to get through. The writing is beautiful at times, the first few paragraphs in particular stand out in my memory, and Ee is wonderful at describing the characters' surroundings. Unfortunately, this is sometimes taken that little bit too far and I would find myself wondering exactly why we needed to know certain things about various places because it seemed to bear no relevance to the story, instead simply being their for the sake of it or to show that Ee had done her research and knew exactly what she was talking about or whatever.

Penryn is a wonderful and incredibly likeable character, and I especially like her sense of humour. She is strong in herself and has very clear (and sensible) motivations which she refuses to compromise on no matter what situation she finds herself in. Her mother's schizophrenia is an interesting twist, especially given the situation the world has been thrust into. For a woman who already imagines demons are stalking her, the sudden arrival of angels and the descent of society into chaos only makes matters worse. When I was studying psychology we touched on schizophrenia, and I've got to say I think the depiction of the disorder is done very well, though her few appearances strike me as a little too timely on occasion. Raffe is the typical paranormal guy - amazingly gorgeous and completely unattainable. His angelic nature is very clear in the decisions he makes, though there is the not-so-underlying desire to regain his wings working there too and you're never really clear on how much this in motivating him in certain circumstances.

But while I liked all the characters you are supposed to it never really got past that at all. I've read some books where I love the characters and this just wasn't one of those books for me. While I was caught up in the story, I wasn't caught up in their lives. There were points where this was nearly reached, and I'm hopeful that spending more time with them in the next book will do it for me.

Most of the story is pretty clear cut: reach x to achieve y, overcoming various obstacles along the way, but the pace is good and there is always something different getting in the way, and all of them unavoidable. What I hate in books in when the characters make all their own problems by making stupid decisions. Yeah, nobody's perfect, but I will only tolerate so much stupidity from any one character. Happily, I can say that this wasn't a problem here.

There are a couple of quite creepy/tense moments through the course of the story, and then some quite shocking but incredibly compelling reveals at the end. These cast light on some mysteries from earlier in the book but leave you (or me at least) wanting to know where all this will lead. Most definitely looking forward to reading the next book in this series.