Monthly Archives: April 2016

The Murdstone Trilogy by Mal Peet

30 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by in Adult fiction, Fantasy

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I had read Tamar by Mal Peet, and I loved the story.  When I saw this book show up on our review list, I was glad that I could review it, thinking that it would be as good as the one I had read.  I was VERY wrong.  I read the entire thing, hoping against hope, that I would find something to like about it. The only thing I can say is that it was the biggest piece of twaddle I have ever read.

The main character is a writer of sentimental coming-of-age books for boys.  His agent convinces him that he needs to write a fantasy, because “fantasy sells.”  He can’t bring himself to do it, but in a very Faustian move, he does sell his soul to a “greme” named Pocket Wellfair, who actually writes a fantasy for him. After he becomes a sensation in the fantasy market, his agent tells him that he has to expand his work into a trilogy.  Many unbelievable things occur between the writing of the first book and that of the third book – one of which is that he goes off to an island in the Mediterranean to avoid having to write the thing at all.

I totally get it that Peet is thumbing his nose at writers who are looking out for their own “pocket wellfair.”  I do know that he thinks that writers who write to please their agents – no matter how pleasing or pretty those agents might be – will not be happy nor successful in the long run.  Hats off to Peet for that.

However, the book is loaded with so many British phrases and phonetic pronunciations that no high school student will ever take time to read it.  I’m not sure that many adult readers in the U.S. would choose to read it.  There is no way I could ever recommend the expenditure of limited library funds for this.

Beyond Clueless by Linas Alsenas

25 Monday Apr 2016

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beyond clueless

Whenever teenagers have changes in their lives, they may not always be able to process everything about them and to make good judgements in the face of such changes.  This is true of Marty Sullivan. She has just started high school at a private, single sex Catholic high school, and she is not at all sure of how she will fit in.  Of course, her best friend, Jimmy, goes to another school, so she must find her way without her best support.

She becomes involved in her high school musical.  There are parts for boys in the musical, and the guys are allowed to come from any school in the area.  Since several guys are needed, she gets Jimmy to come try out.  He brings his new boyfriend, Derek.  Derek gets two friends of his, Kirby and Oliver, to try out also.

Marty is drawn to Oliver, but she knows this is ridiculous because he is gay.  Marty thinks that Kirby is Oliver’s boyfriend.  Another boy from a neighboring school seems to be drawn to her, so she goes for him. She, along with her new friend, Xiang, learn that high school isn’t all bad and that things are seldom as they seem on the surface.

This is a great coming-of-age story for teen readers.  One thing I would like to point out is that, while the story is supposed to take place in a suburb of Cleveland, the author calls the town Bracksville.   There is a real town named Brecksville; it is a suburb of Cleveland. I don’t know if the misspelling is intentional or accident.  In any case, I do recommend it for high school libraries, unless your audience would have problems with the reference to gays.

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

23 Saturday Apr 2016

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I began reading this series, Throne of Glass, with the third book, and was delighted when I got a chance to review this volume.  In this tale, Calaena Sardothian has embraced her true identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen; but before she can go home to take her rightful place as Terrasen’s ruler, she must go to Rifthold to rescue her cousin, and a friend, both trapped by  a brutal king.

Aelin, who was trained as an assassin, must destroy demons who do unspeakable things to those they enslave, and she must try to free the magic in the world that has been captured by the king so that magic workers can use it to drive back the forces of evil.

The reader also learns more about Manon, the Wing Leader of the Blackbeak witch coven, and of a young girl named Elide enslaved by her own uncle on the mountain of Morath. Manon can be as blood-thirsty and as cold-hearted as any witch in the coven, but something awakens in her when she is around Elide.  She begins to feel compassion for Elide – a new experience for her.

Aelin, on her quest to save her cousin, learns that one cannot always judge people by what the eye sees; they are often hiding their true identity out of fear.  This is a good lesson for all of us to learn.  We sometime have to look deep into a person to discover who they really are.

The author has skillfully woven together the bits and pieces, both good and evil, of this fantasy world.  She brings all events to a satisfying conclusion, and yet teases the reader into desiring to know more about Manon and Elide and possibly other characters from the Throne of Glass series.

This series is very violent, and is not appropriate for younger readers.  I can only recommend it for those readers high school age and above.  If you have read the other books in the series, you will need to get this one.  It can stand alone, but it is best read in sequence.

Black River Falls by Jeff Hirsch

13 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by in Science Fiction, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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black river falls Cardinal Cassidy is one of the lucky ones in Black River.  He has managed to escape the virus that has ravaged the town.  This virus causes amnesia of events in people’s lives without destroying their scholastic ability.  Families have been torn apart because they no longer recognize each other, and Cardinal’s family is no different.  No one, except Cardinal, remembers who they are, where they worked, or what the world outside of Black River is like.

The National Guard has been sent in, wearing haz-mat suits, to keep the town in quarantine until the scientists can come up with a cure or, at least, a vaccine so that the rest of the world will not be infected by contact with the survivors.  If no cure or vaccine is found, the National Guard is going to insure that no living human being leaves Black Falls.

Hector Gonzolez finds Cardinal living outside of the town.  He realizes that Cardinal is not infected, so he gives him a breathing mask to enable him to go into the town and look for his family.  The mask also enables Cardinal to help little children who cannot remember their families, but they are so young that they need help in surviving.

Cardinal takes these children to his hideout on the mountain because it is not safe for them to be in the town.  Hector keeps Cardinal’s secret, and even helps him with some necessary supplies, but one day the National Guard is ordered to pull out and a private company comes in to take over the control of the quarantined town.  This new group has a totally different approach to solving the problem of the memory virus.

This is a very good sci-fi story, and will cause the reader to examine the possibility of a man-made dangerous virus.  It is written for middle school and/or high school readers.  I definitely recommend it for those readers.