Imposter bk 1

Tessa can touch people and absorb their DNA, and then she can change her appearance to whoever she has just ‘downloaded’. She’s been in training for two years to become a part of the FEA (Forces with Extraordinary Abilities), a secret branch of the FBI…and she’s just been given her first mission.

Her moral compass is screaming out, trying to tell her that what she’s being asked to do is wrong. But this is what she’s been trained to do, and getting on with it throws Tessa in the deep end and reveals her personal hell to the reader.

Defector bk 2

After surviving her first mission, Tessa is selected to be flung back into the insanity that is the life of an FEA agent. The kicker is that her best friend has been abducted and getting her back isn’t going simple.

Skeletons are being discovered in closets and things that were mostly black and white have become a disastrous muddle of grey.

This series is extremely addictive and there is something in it for everyone: suspense, romance, betrayal, political intrigue and action, action and more action… oh, and explosions. Woohoo!

Susanne’s characters feel extremely real, even though they may come with fictional added extras. Many of them have tragic back-stories and you can forgive them for the most part because they’re just working for people who gave them a better life. I love the self-realisation that occurs over these two books. The character arcs allow questions to be asked and answers to not be pretty.

If I were put in the same position as Tessa, there is no question that I wouldn’t handle it as well as she does.

Marissa Meyer, author of Cinder, has given this book high praise. I agree that if fun and suspense is your thing, you should pick these books up and give them a go.

Imposter

Paperback, 320 pages

Published January 2nd 2014 by Hodder Children’s Books (first published May 28th 2013)

ISBN 1444916173 (ISBN13: 9781444916171)

Defector

Paperback, 312 pages

Published August 7th 2014 by Hodder Children’s Books (first published November 13th 2013)

ISBN 1444916181 (ISBN13: 9781444916188)

It is New Year’s Eve and the world is celebrating. For Schuyler Van Alen, however, that is a luxury that she cannot afford. In her world – the world of angels and demons, Heaven and Hell, Blue Bloods and Conduits – there is no reason to celebrate; and less time. Jack Force, the boy she loves, has been missing for months and might well be dead. Even that is not something that Schuyler has time to dwell on because Lucifer is moving against those who would oppose him; and Schuyler tops that list.

She is the key to unlocking the Gate of Promise and leading her people to Paradise, if only she can figure out how. And she has to figure it out soon, or Lucifer will destroy the gate and take away the only chance she has. Luckily she is not alone. Her best friend, Oliver, is with her as always, and she has allies with the werewolves. She may also have friends who are closer to Lucifer than to her.

Gates of Paradise is the seventh and final book in the Blue Bloods series. For a series that has been running since 2006, you would expect an epic finale. And, in some ways, you get it.

Gates of Paradise brings together all of the characters that the Blue Bloods series has been built on. In their own ways, they are all working toward winning the looming final battle. Whether they are rallying their forces, trying to solve the puzzle of the key to the gate, or weakening Lucifer, each person has a part to play.

This strategic team-work coupled with the flash-backs to mistakes made in the past – or in past lives – builds a solid foundation for an epic showdown. But, for all the build-up towards it, the final battle is a disappointment. It’s an almost blink and you’ll miss it affair. This would be fine if there were few or no repercussions to the battle; but well-known characters are cut down in a casual sentence and entire clashes of powerful foes are summed up in equally few words. It feels as though de la Cruz is racing toward an invisible finish line. It’s a pity because the ideas touched on in the final scenes – love, sacrifice, weakness – are handled well; they’re just not as fleshed out as they should be.

Ultimately though, I think that fans will get what they would have wanted out of the end of this series. A final journey with the characters they have loved through previous books – Bliss, Lawson, Schuyler, Jack and Mimi Force, Kingsley and Oliver – a chance at seeing how the battle changes them and a look at how the survivors adapt to their new lives without the threat of death hanging heavy over them.

Gates of Paradise – Melissa de la Cruz

Atom Books (January 15, 2013)

ISBN: 9781907411502

When a plane goes down in the ocean, only one survivor is found – a sixteen year old girl who has no memory of her past.

She cannot recall her name, her face or her life before the accident. When a mysterious boy shows up, claiming to know her, she doesn’t know what to believe. But believing him means giving up any illusion of safety she has.

Usually, I try to keep reviews relatively spoiler-free, but the main premise of Unremembered doesn’t begin until about half-way through the book; so, it’s impossible to discuss without giving away some major plot-points: be warned!

I wouldn’t say that Unremembered starts out slow; but, it does explore a lot of Violet/Sera’s reactions to everything around her. When no one comes forward to claim her, she has to try to understand the way the world works with the help of her new foster family. This is one of the most interesting parts of the story, seeing how she struggles with everyday words and ideas, while being able to solve complex puzzles in record time.

Unremembered has an amazing premise. Amnesia, a super-smart girl, a shady organisation and a mysterious boy who may or may not be a friend. Unfortunately, there is something lacking in the execution of the story. For my part, I think it is complexity. Brody is playing with some serious ethical dilemmas here, but instead of delving into the mess, she sweeps it aside to follow a basic story-line. This isn’t a problem. Some of the best stories are uncomplicated; but, considering the moral issues that Unremembered stirs up, I would really love to see more analysis in that regard.

Violet/Sera’s abnormal intelligence and lack of understanding of current trends, along with the fact that she initially thinks that the year is 1609, makes it clear from not-very-far-in that this is a time-travel novel, though the reveal doesn’t come until much later. This too, Brody could have handled with more intricacy. Time does not merely change technology, it changes entire mindsets. The whole structure of the social and political world should alter with time, but Brody’s characters all seem to be in keeping with our time, not theirs.

Unremembered is in no way a bad novel. It’s beautifully crafted, compelling and easy to read. However, it could have been so much more. It has all of the ingredients for a gripping dystopian action-adventure; it just comes out a bit fluffier.

Unremembered would best suit YA readers who liked their romance with a side of fantasy, rather than liking fantasy with a dash of romance. While there are heavy sci-fi elements to the story, none of them are explored deeply. It’s more of a romance-action-adventure with a little mystery thrown in. Anyone who has read and loved Lauren Kate or Becca Fitzpatrick should relish this one.

Unremembered – Jessica Brody

Macmillan (February 28, 2013)

ISBN: 9781447221128

In this novel, the first of Justin Woolley’s new YA fantasy series, Australia is a very changed place. The cities have been overrun by ghouls and humankind has retreated inward to the Red Centre – the last place most of us would want to have to survive in. The epicentre of this last stand of civilisation is the walled township of Alice, which governs and protects the surrounding farms and smaller townships. Protection comes in the form of a ghoul-busting army – the Diggers – and the care and maintenance of a twelve foot, ghoul-proof fence. Those of you who are grinning already at the twist on some well-known references will enjoy what else is in store.

Dust is one of a few townships that lie on the very edges of this boundary. Like outback towns of old, it functions as a marketplace for the outlying farmers to visit once a month and sell their produce. What sort of produce, apart from livestock, would you be likely to get from a farm in the middle of a desert? Well… dirt, mostly. Enriched dirt, that is and has become a very precious commodity.

Once again proving the tenacity of the human race, the Dirt Farmers of Alice have managed to scrape a viable living from enriching the soil itself with fertiliser and selling it in volume to crop growers. It is on one such farm that we meet Squid Blanchflower, a timid orphan boy who has grown to the age of sixteen under the ‘care’ of his Aunt and Uncle on their dirt farm. Squid has known nothing but hard work and hard treatment since he can first remember. Despite this, he is a thoughtful young man with a hunger for knowledge, whose largest dream is to be allowed to study at the local school.

Back in the bustling centre of Alice, Lynnette is also struggling with unreachable dreams for her future. But where Squid has nothing, Lynn has it all. The only daughter of Colonel Hermannsburg, chief military advisor to the Administration and a widower, she has all of the education, food and comforts she could ever want. And yet all she craves is a life in the army, the one doorway permanently closed to her by the rules of society. To add to her frustration, her adopted brother has just been sworn in to the Diggers after graduating from training with distinction. After spending every spare moment secretly teaching herself swordcraft and tactics, the injustice is nearly more than she can bear. But girls do not become Diggers, just as dirt farmers do not become scholars.

Fortunately for Lynn, she has inherited a headstrong, stubborn nature from her mother. Fortunately for Squid, he has the gift of intelligence because a tidal wave of events are about to shatter his small world and lift him to heights he could never have imagined.

A breach has been made in the ghoul-proof fence and a horde of thirsty monsters are lurching across the desert towards humanity. Alice is prepared – they have been training generations of Diggers to defend against just such a threat – but a power struggle between Church and State leads to rash decisions. Some see this crisis as an opportunity for personal glory, others as a chance to seize absolute power.

In Dust, Justin Woolley has given readers a grand old tale with a distinctly modern twist. It’s a very entertaining mash-up of an adventure, an epic fantasy with a Wild West/Steampunk flair, and also zombies. I really liked the frontier-town styling of Alice, and the idea of central Australia as a last bastion of humanity. The addition of medieval religious zealotry and hint at historic human folly having been the root of this battle for survival, make it all the more interesting. There is some very imaginative and successful world-building here and more than a few enjoyable surprises.

I found this to be one of those stories that sneaks up on you. It begins fairly simply down a well-trodden path, introducing original elements along the way, and it would be easy to say it was going to be straightforward and predictable. The story may hold familiar elements for readers of the genre, but that is far from all that there is here. The author has done a great job of gradually layering his story, extending it downwards and outwards until there is a very complex structure on which to hang the adventures of Squid and Lynn. He has achieved this also with an economy of words, great chapter length, and pacing that really rips along.

Both of the central characters were engaging, and their personalities complemented each other without being too obvious. Their back-stories were intriguing and the revelations were well-paced right up to the end. The ghouls were appropriately repulsive and frightening. The violence was gruesome where sensible, for a zombie story, but not excessive. I honestly can’t tell anymore what is considered age-appropriate levels of violence. As a guide, though, I consider this to be mid-level in terms of graphic descriptions.

I was genuinely disappointed when this story ended because the clever devil had gotten me in, and I am looking forward to the next instalment, ‘A Town Called Smoke’.

Zachary, Poppy and Alice are best friends and spend their afternoons making up elaborate worlds for their dolls and action figures to play in: a world ruled by a creepy and ancient Queen – a terrifying doll that is locked inside Poppy’s mother’s cabinet. For Zach and Alice, it’s an escape from the demands their families make on them while; for Poppy, it’s a good outlet for her imagination. Everything changes when Zach’s father decides that he’s too old to be playing with toys and throws them all out.

Zach doesn’t want to tell his friends what has happened, deciding to quit the game instead. He hadn’t reckoned on the Queen. When she starts invading Poppy’s dreams, claiming to be made from the bones of a murdered girl, the three children must take up a quest to set her to rest.

Doll Bones is an epic fantasy quest in the guise of middle-school urban fantasy. It is aimed at a younger age group than the Tale of Modern Faerie or Curse Workers books; but slightly older than the Spiderwick Chronicles.

While the fantasy element of Doll Bones is fascinating, as always, it is the wider social politics that kept my interest. All three children are on the quest to prove something in their real lives. Each of them has their own character arc and as the story unfurls the tensions between them rise. Zachary is hanging on to childhood while his father tries to force him out of it. Alice is struggling against her grandmother who, while her sole guardian, hails from a different generation and background. All of them are keeping secrets and, as with any good quest, those secrets will come out.

With its twelve-year-old protagonists and their interest in toys, Doll Bones is entrenched in middle-grade literature, but it has enough elements that surpass that to appeal to teens and adults. Rather than the often explored dynamic of adults who don’t understand the children – or adults having the answer to everything – the parents and guardians in Doll Bones are just as lost as their kids.

Doll Bones perfectly captures the imaginative fantasy realms that children create while addressing more mature issues like family dysfunction and growing up. It is a deliciously creepy read with characters that you can root for, even when they are in the wrong.

Doll Bones – Holly Black

Doubleday (May 7, 2013)

ISBN: 9780552568111