An American Stieg Larsson Novel: Blink and Caution (Wynne-Jones)

Blink is a homeless boy on the streets. Caution is a girl living with a drug dealer and running from her own private guilt. However, when Blink finds a cell phone in a hotel room, he stumbles into a strange puzzle regarding a kidnapping where the facts don't quite add up. Soon, Cuation is pulled into the mix as well, and she and Blink work together to solve this mystery.

I was pretty pleased with Blink & Caution. Wynne-Jones alternates writing the book from Caution and Blink's point of view, and this choice helped pick up. I also greatly enjoyed the plot--it was a well-written thriller that reminded me of Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy in terms of secrets and puzzles. Definetely check it out if you're looking for something quick. I would not recommend it for younger teens, but eighth graders and above could handle it.

A Crew of Drunken Pilots: The Black Lung Captain (Wooding)

No, they're not airship pirates, but that hasn't stopped Darian Frey from daydreaming about it from time to time.* The crew of the Ketty Jay are back in The Black Lung Captain, the second installment in Chris Wooding's Tales of the Ketty Jay series. When Captain Grist approaches the crew with a job offer, Darian Frey thinks that this money-making scheme sounds pretty straightforward. Getting Crake, the crew's daemonist, to open a magical door in exchange for a split of the profits sounds easy, even though Crake has been quickly driving down the path of alcoholism. Needless to say, things are not as straightforward as they seem, and things go bad for Frey and his rag-tag crew. This time however, in addition to fighting for himself and his crew, Frey is rushing to make sure thousands don't pay for his mistake.

SFFWorld commented that The Black Lung Captain was better than the first, Retribution Falls. I agree--I got to know the characters better, and this fact made the book feel a lot more lively to me. The conflicts between the crew and with themselves also made for an interesting read, especially paired with the well-written action scenes. I also liked the fact that the stakes were higher than the last book and that the characters were forced to confront their own problems--many of which have been present since the first book--in order to deal with the greater problem. It was a thrilling and funny book, and I look forward to the third (out in October, I believe).

*If you have not listened to Abney Park's "Airship Pirate", I highly recomend it as it goes well with the book.

13 Reasons Why (Jay Asher)

Have you ever wanted to know what pulled someone to suicide? What drove them to pull the trigger, tie the noose, take the pills? 13 Reasons Why takes you into the factors into the decision of one Hannah Baker.

Clay Jensen receives a package with several cassette tapes inside. When he plays the first one, he hears the voice of Hannah Baker, a girl from school who had recently killed herself. She explains that the tapes give thirteen reasons for why she killed herself, and that those involved are the ones on the list of the tapes' recipients. Clay starts to listen and soon becomes drawn into her story. In doing so, he sees a very different side to his world.

Trust me when I say you will also be drawn in. I plowed through this book and had some extremely strong reactions to this book. 13 Reasons Why is not unnecessarily graphic ( the book does not go into the details of Hannah's death nor some of the more sexual scenes), so my reactions were not tied to that. This book is simply powerfully constructed. The novel is written as a kind of dialogue between Hannah's voice on the tapes and Clay's reactions and responses. This dialogue both takes the reader to an understanding of how one can get into such a dark minds and, more importantly, demonstrates how everyone affects the decision. That includes those around the one who does the deed and those around that individual. I think that Asher's perspective adds something to the discourse on suicide. It seems like suicides portrayed as either severely ill individuals or simply victims. That is not how life works, and Asher makes that gray area, well, quite clear.

A side note: If you want to hear excerpts from the tapes, go to http://www.thirteenreasonswhy.com/tapes.php.

Beautiful prose, compelling plot, and excellent gore: The Reapers Are The Angels (Bell)

...Yeah, that pretty much sums up my opinion of The Reapers Are The Angels, a young adult novel by Alden Bell. The novel is set up in a United States--with a focus on the South--where the dead walk, and certain precautions (i.e. head-shots) must be taken to make sure the dead stay dead. The novel follows Temple, a teenage girl with a thoughtful personality and a wicked skill with a gurkha knife (seriously, she does) as she navigates a world that has been badly broken. However, the world may not be the biggest thing Temple has to contend with...

There were so many things I liked about this book--my three part summary in the title pretty much sums it up, but let me explain myself. Alden Bell has written a captivating piece of work--his descriptions, use of the third person present, and lovely diction and imagery really drew me into the work. Additionally, as stated in the third part of the action, the gore--er action--is pretty fantastic and well-described. Don't worry-it's not horribly over-the-top, but is still well-described like the rest of the book. The plot itself--while it could have gotten old because it was fairly episodic--was compelling, particularly because, at the same time, the reader gets a lot of Temple's personal ruminations. Temple's self-exploration is what makes a lot of the book so interesting and to an extent relatable. There's a great twist at the end...I won't tell you what it is. Just know that it's very well-done. All in all, The Reapers are the Angels was a rather enjoyable book--not necessairly the deepest book I've ever read, altough it did have some meaning. Definetely check this one out if you're looking for something quick, but well-written and fun to read.

Between Shades of Gray (Spetys)

Lina Vilkas is fifteen when the Soviet NKVD comes for her family. After being shoved into cattle cars with many other Lithuanian deportees, they make the long journey from Lithuania to Siberia. The rest of the book focuses on the horrifying conditions, slavery, and terror Lina, her family and the other Lithuanian deportees suffer at the hands of the Soviets.

I generally had a positive reaction to Between Shades of Gray. Ruta Sepetys censors very little of the horrors faced and describes everything that happens to Lina and the others in stark detail. Given how little the public knows about what happened on the Eastern Front during WWII, I think that this choice is entirely appropriate. Sepetys, additionally, is also not unnecessarily graphic, so this book could be accessible to very mature eight graders and above (the book is technically classified as young adult). There are also some really tender moments as well in the interactions between the deportees, who struggled to save each other in the face of others who wished to make them suffer. The contrast between the simplistic language and the details is well-done, and pulls the reader into the content. I also liked Lina as a character who is fiery and brave, who documents this story to make others aware of it. I did have some minor problems with the writing--I found it a bit rough at times and found the all-capitalized exclamations unnecessary, but this is understandable as it was her first novel. Despite these faults, my overall of the book was positive.

I also believe that this book should be read because it illuminates an obscure part of the history. What happened in Eastern Europe is only recently being uncovered from the proverbial carpet it was swept under during the war and for many years following (the Soviet archives were only recently opened to the public). I took a history class on the Eastern Front and was blown away by the brutality there. This story has filled in my understanding of what went on during this time period. So, I appreciate that Sepetys has put forth this story.

If you find yourself interested in Sepetys' perspective and history lesson, go here. The video is well-done and offers additional perspective, so I would recommend you do so.

You Win or You Die: The Game of Thrones (Martin)

I'm sure there are a gazillion other reviews for this book already online, but I will still throw in my sword onto the side of praising George R.R. Martin. For those who haven't heard what this book's about, let me give you a very basic run-down. When the solemn and upright Lord Eddard Stark is named the Hand of the King to his best friend Robert Baratheon, he is plunged into court intrigues where it is nearly impossible to tell who is friend and foe.

Yes, I know that summary is extremely vague. Go read the book--there is a ton more to it, as the eight hundred seven pages can attest.

Despite the book's extreme length, I remained consistently interested in the plot. George R.R.Martin chose to tell the story from multiple perspectives--including Stark's children and wife, and a couple of his political opponents--and these switches were what really kept my interest. Martin's characters are extremely life-like. They have one clear aspect that they display with regularity, but then there are other scenes that fleshed them out and made me question them and kept me turning pages. I also liked how Martin did not just let the "good guys" have the right--it added further depth to the already intriguing plot and, again, kept me reading. I was also quite impressed with the world he has created. It is clearly a fantasy setting, but, in this book, magic was not a huge factor. I liked that difference and am curious to see if he will keep the magic to a minimum in the later books.

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Knowledge After an Apocalypse: A Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller, Jr.)

Okay, I'll admit this is an older book--it was originally published in 1959--but I just can't help myself. Additionally, this blog is not simply for newer books--although you'll see new ones on here as well. Anyways, onto the review!

A Canticle for Lebowitz follows the story of the cycle of human knowledge development. In this world, the apocalypse has just occurred--true to fears born out of WWII, several nations nuke each other, creating a stark, desert world. In the beginning of a new era, the human survivors turned against their so-called advanced culture and knowledge. They execute learned men are executed and burn the books of this now destroyed civilization. In the chaos, a man by the name of Leibowitz, with other like-minded individuals, gathers books that survived and stores them to await the day when people turn to them. As a result, an order of monks, known as the Order of Leibowitz, forms, to collect and protect these old texts until the world wants them back. The book follows this new civilization and its relationship to the order and their cache of books.

My general reaction can be summed up in one word: whoa. Walter M. Miller, Jr. does a fantastic job building the world--and making it believable. Granted most apocalyptic stories these days involve zombies, but still I could definetely see the events playing out once the apocalypse (although it's highly unlikely that I'll actually live through the actual blast to see if my predictions are right). I was immensely impressed with Miller, Jr.'s ability to pull the reader in. Even though he did not stick with just one particular cast of characters, I became engaged with each group that took the reader through a particular point in time. I loved how he took the reader through the development of this new civilization and, really, humanity. The book hit me especially hard at the end; I still haven't decided whether I agree with his worldview. If anyone's read it, please share your thoughts on the ending. All in all, it is a most worthy book, and I demand that you go read it. Right now.