I have loved everything Sarah Dessen has written and this was no exception. You've got the girl not looking for a commitment, the famous parent, the boy next door, the quirky and memorable friends (including a cameo from Jason from The Truth about Forever, as well as a few other characters you may remember from books past). It's a romance without being a romance.
In this sci-fi take on Sleeping Beauty, Rose is the daughter of rich corporate CEOs, and has just been awoken from her stasis tube by a kiss. The "prince" is Bren, who is fairly shocked and freaked out when Rose awakens... especially after she tells him her name. Turns out Rose has been in stasis for 62 years. Her parents and boyfriend are long gone, and since her parents never left a will, their company, UniCorp, has suddenly returned to her ownership.
This was definitely psychologically thrilling. I wanted to find out what had happened to Ariel. The whole novel was somewhat vague, and the crossed out writing might annoy some readers, but I loved the way the story was built around these mysterious photographs (like another novel later on my list...). I liked that everything was not spelled out in a crystal clear way, the photographs were often blurry, double-exposed, or just really tiny. The title (taken from a song) rang true to me: you can never really know someone, and everyone has different selves depending on who they're with.
I had been hesitant to read this series before I won a copy of Demonglass, but once I'd read Hex Hall I realized that this wasn't some cheesy witch series - it was actually good! What I loved most about this series is Sophie's sarcasm. She was hilarious even as she gets into some crazy situations and tries to use her magic powers. I also loved the catty way a lot of the secondary characters behaved. This was very light reading and a lot of fun!
This is a very different book for Lauren Myracle. I've only read Bliss, which was dark but in a horror movie kind of way, and seen the TTYL series which look like lighthearted relationship books. The atmosphere in Shine was small town deep South, hot and sweaty and lonely, dark not in a "horror" kind of way but instead a "small town secrets" kind of way. The reveal at the end was surprising, and I liked that every character had good and bad traits, so I got to care about them even if they weren't perfect. When I heard that this book was nominated for the National Book Award, I was not surprised - I was more surprised to find that the nomination had been a mistake!
This series continues to gain steam, weaving storylines together and exploring implications of the kids' situation from every angle. Characters die, some are resurrected, new characters arrive. The end of this volume implies something very serious for upcoming books. Even now I'm wondering how it would be possible for these kids to conquer their situation. I am eagerly looking forward to the final 2 volumes in the series!
One of my favorite children's books of all time is The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg, and finally here is a whole book of short stories based on the illustrations! These are stories that would appeal to a wide range of children and teens, and probably many adults as well, just like the original book. The stories are filled with magic and creepy twists. One of my favorite stories in the collection was "Just Deserts" by M.T. Anderson, I think because I had always thought this was a typo - shouldn't it be "just desserts"? The variation in spelling is explained in the story, and I did not see the twist coming. "The House on Maple Street" by Stephen King was another of my favorites. I was very intrigued by the "Oscar and Alphonse" story by Chris van Allsburg himself - did he write other stories based on The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, and where are they? Though I've read many of his books, this short story seemed a departure from the children's stories.
After loving the Chaos Walking trilogy, I was raring to read a new book from Patrick Ness. This story was told beautifully - I had no idea where it was going. The illustrations were an interesting touch and definitely integral to the story. I like how the tone sounded almost like a fairy tale (albeit a very dark one). I am sure this one will be winning awards in the coming year!
Maggie Stiefvater wrote in the introduction that she was always told to write the book she wanted to see on the shelves of a bookstore. I didn't know it before, but I guess I always wanted to see a book like this on the shelves, too - I'm always looking for more young adult horse books. It's a horse book that is definitely young adult and not really meant for younger readers, and there is a romance driving the story and a lot of interesting family storylines as well. And there's a little bit of horror, too, which makes me the most happy.
I loved the idea of creating a story around these strange (and real!) photographs, which have continued to haunt me. The story was fast paced and thoroughly interesting, and will appeal to a wide audience - from ages 10 or so up to adults - it's one of those books that I've been recommending like crazy!
So that's my top 10 - comment with your favorites!
0 comments:
Post a Comment