Time Riders by Alex Scarrow ★★★★☆

A great addition to the time travel genre!

Fiction – YA- Sci-Fi

425 pages

Age Range: 12 - 17 years

Grade Level: 7 – 12

Publication Date: 2010

Time Riders #1

Liam, Maddy and Sal were all rescued from death and disaster to work for a secret agency called Time Riders.  Their purpose is to fix and mitigate the consequences of others playing with time.   But when someone goes into the past in order to fix their future and things start going wrong can these newbies save the human race from total annihilation?

This book starts with a bang and I quickly knew it was going to be an exciting adventure.  The story was very well executed and creative in itself, but add to that how much potential the premise holds the skies the limit(by the way there are several more Time Rider books on the market currently).  The storytelling characters were engaging and broad enough to be interesting while leaving plenty of room for growth.  Mr. Scarrow used the time travel in a very imaginative way and created a fully thought out set of rules and procedures pertaining to it allowing the concept of the books and need for time riders to be legitimized. I also like Mr. Scarrow’s use of suspense with just enough grit to increase the stakes, but not so much as to make it off putting.

Now on the other side of thing the short chapters kind of bugged me.  It made the story telling really jumpy and jarring, but that was probably the point, so in this case it is a matter of preference.  Also there were a couple of places where Mr. Scarrow tried a bit too hard to make this YA, creating awkwardness that did not characterize a majority of the novel.  Okay and now my last major complaint.  One thing that really grated on my nerves was the frequent use of the Lord’s name in vain.  It didn’t add anything to the story or characters and I found it completely unnecessary and rather offensive. 

The Wide-Awake Princess by E.D. Baker ★★★★☆

Magic doesn’t always improve things!

Fiction – Juvenile/YA – Medieval Fantasy

261 pages

Age Level: 10 - 14 | Grade Level: 5 – 8

Publication Date: 2010 

Wide-Awake Princess #1  

When a curse is set in motion Annie, the younger sister of Sleeping Beauty, is the only one immune to the enchanted sleep placed on the castle.  Annie, with a little help from her friends, has to find her sister’s one true love to save the kingdom.

I found this story idea so fascinating and to me my delight I found its execution nicely handled.  The interweaving of fairy tales was well planned and the comfortable writing style a great asset to keeping it somewhat romantic, but not offputtingly so.  Ms. Baker sets the stage perfectly for the body of the story with a great prologue, and allows this fun story to mature at a comfortable rate.  I appreciated some Annie’s insights on how much magic messes up things and that it isn’t a crutch for her.

Ms. Baker does a great job both in world creation and character construction.  Annie is a delightfully real girl, with no artifice added either through the use of magic like others of her noble class in the book or by the author trying to create a character full of perfection.  The different places and kingdoms have enough of their own culture to contrast with what Annie is used to create the feeling that we are all experience new things together.  My only real complaint is that the nobility titles were not used correctly, which is rather minor and probably would only bother me, but unlikely to cause the intended audience any problems.

 

The Icebound Land by John Flanagan ★★★★☆

Well Done

Fiction – YA/Juvenile – Medieval

266 pages

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Publication Date: June 26, 2007

Ranger's Apprentice #3

Halt and Horace follow after Will and Evanlyn to Skandia to set them free from their kidnappers.

This book was a major improvement and I only have good things to say.  The pacing was superb.  The excitement suspense and drama began right from the start.  The story was a bit unexpected and pleasantly surprising.  The writing never broke with the book reality.  I loved the dynamics of differing points of view of the same events and was impressed at how well done the two story lines were done.  All of the characters were fully realized and distinctive from other as well as the different cultures.

I just really enjoyed it and by the end I was clamoring for the next one and so grateful to have a local library with a decent children’s section.

The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde ★★★★☆

Another master piece.

Fiction – YA – Urban Fantasy

289 pages

Age Level: 10 - 14 | Grade Level: 5 - 9

Publication Date: 2013 (in the US)

The Last Dragonslayer #2

Two months after the initial magic power surge magic is slowly rising and Jennifer Strange is trying stave off a takeover of Kazam Mystical Arts Management from a rival magic company.  A contest between the two rivals is set to take place, but with the other side cheating and backed by King Snodd IV the chances of Kazam winning is looking iffy at best.

This story is a quick, nontaxing read with a high level of silliness.  Again Mr. Fforde proves himself a master wordsmith with colorful writing and an imagination that knows no bounds.  He weaves his stories together so they are never straight forward or entirely predictable, keeping the attention of his readers.  I particularly liked his bit about some wizards having the ability to make remote suggestion or sending ideas and that it was banned once it was found out they used it to promote talentless boy bands.  As usual, his characters are well rounded, the world is fleshed out and quirky and everything is up to the high level I have come to expect from Mr. Fforde.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull ★★★☆☆

A refreshing take on fantasy.

Fiction – Juvenile/YA – Urban Fantasy

351 pages

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Publication Date:  2006 

Fablehaven #1

During a rare visit to their grandparents Kendra and Seth learn that the strange estate, Fablehaven, their grandparents’ manage is more than an old house and carefully tended grounds.  Fablehaven is actually one of the last refuges for magical creatures in the world.  When the carefully laid out laws of Fablehaven are broken and an old evil is released only Kendra can save the day if she has courage.

 

The beginning kind of threw me and I would have to say the grittiness of the story does make me question whether the intended reading ages were appropriate.  So as a parent think on your child’s maturity before letting them read it. Though, I really appreciate the loving care Mr. Mull put into creating this book world.  He used beautiful imagery and such a variety of creatures and mythology that it seems like it could really exist. The pacing was great and I just loved watching Kendra and Seth discover the keys and solve the mystery of Fablehaven (definitely a Secret Garden kind of thrill).  I would say this is a fairly gender neutral book, great for anyone interested in fantasy and adventure.  As an adult I liked the newness of the world and Mr. Mull’s fresh take, it never felt stale or over used.  While I wasn’t exactly blown away by the writing or the book as a whole, I liked it enough that I read the rest of the series in quick succession and am considering adding it to my Chosen Ones List.  Also as a side note a teacher friend of mine says it was great to read out loud to her class.

Into the Vampire City by Phil Tucker ★★★☆☆

Kept me guessing!

Fiction – YA – Dystopian/Urban Fantasy

224 pages

Publication Date:  2012

Other Name: Vampire Miami

The Human Revolt #1

Selah Brown chooses to go to the only family she has left in the vampire controlled city of Miami when her father disappears.  Originally on the hunt for her father Selah’s course changes when she unexpectedly gets tangled up with the vampires and a unique gift she possesses reveals itself, putting her family and new friends in danger and even possibly starting a new Vampire War.

Right from the beginning the well-designed book-world and finely crafted characters shine through.  Selah is very dynamic and I found the examination of how people react in survival mode, either holding onto the humanity harder or going no holds bar, fascinating.  Also, having the story take place after things had settled in an uncomfortable holding pattern after the vampire wars was an interesting time to choose and gave the story a unique perspective.  The writing was not to my taste - I found it rough, raw and a bit crowded – but my love for the premise and plot overcame the writing and led to another late night trying fight off my obsessive need to continue the story.  Not only does this plot drip with potential for growth, but I never knew what to expect next during the whole story.  There was one very gross part that bothered me, but luckily it was short and the only one of its kind.  Thanks to www.bookbub.com I was introduced to another book I probably wouldn’t have found otherwise.

The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan ★★★☆☆

Fiction – YA/Juvenile – Medieval

262 pages

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Publication Date:  2005

Ranger's Apprentice #2

Literary Awards:  Children's Book Council of Australia Award, International Success of the Year Award (2007)

Will and Horace are sent on a special mission to their kingdom’s neighboring allies, Celtica, to request help in their fight against Morgarath, but when they arrive the towns are abandoned and frightening new information about Morgarath’s troop movements forces them to rethink their plans.  With the safety of their kingdom hanging in the balance Will and Horace must find a way to thwart Morgarath’s plan.

The orchestration of this novel is leaps and bounds beyond the first.  It has the quality that I had expected in the first and is pretty much an improvement in every way.  The story is more sophisticated and better laid out making the alternating points of view more appropriate. The risk factor is upped and better suited for making this an adventure story.  With a quicker pace and more action it held tightly onto my attention leaving in suspense of what was going to happen next.  The battles were complex and interesting and the ending was exciting and unexpected.  Again I enjoyed the lack of magic and found it unexpectedly refreshing.   Occasionally the writing did trip me up and pushed me out of the story world and I was a little surprised he didn’t draw out the Morgarath storyline, but in comparison to everything else these were minor distractions.