Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Captain Mog
Jun 17, 2011
Also, sorry to do this twice but: "Dorothy Must Die" is one of my new favorite YA books, if not one of my new favorite books ever. Please, do read it. It's phenomenal. It's "The Wizard of Oz", if Dorothy was an evil dictator, if Oz was a post-apocalyptic hellscape and filled with creepy monsters and great, likable characters.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Fremry
Nov 4, 2003

Grawl posted:

At least watch the movie WarGames, since it really ties into the story. Other than that, here's a list of other references. Growing up in the 80s/90s will certainly help.

Thanks for this. I hadn't actually seen WarGames, and I watched it before reading. Definitely a good tip.

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Captain Mog posted:

Also, sorry to do this twice but: "Dorothy Must Die" is one of my new favorite YA books, if not one of my new favorite books ever. Please, do read it. It's phenomenal. It's "The Wizard of Oz", if Dorothy was an evil dictator, if Oz was a post-apocalyptic hellscape and filled with creepy monsters and great, likable characters.

I must've missed it the first time, but this sounds very interesting, so thank you for repeating yourself.

Groke
Jul 27, 2007
New Adventures In Mom Strength

Fremry posted:

I was born in 1984, so I'm in a good spot for the references.

You're probably about a decade too young, actally. Ready Player One is basically shameless nostalgia porn for those of us who remember shoving coins into Pac-Man and Galaga machines at the local arcade, in those days when (for example) Michael Jackson was genuinely cool and not the punchline of a bunch of tasteless jokes.

Fremry
Nov 4, 2003

Groke posted:

You're probably about a decade too young, actally. Ready Player One is basically shameless nostalgia porn for those of us who remember shoving coins into Pac-Man and Galaga machines at the local arcade, in those days when (for example) Michael Jackson was genuinely cool and not the punchline of a bunch of tasteless jokes.

Ironically, I got around 3/4's of the references. You'd be surprised how much of that bled into the early 90's. I have a lot of the same memories, only I was 6-8 and they occurred in '90-'92. It also helps that I had an older brother, so a lot of the pop-culture and childhood experiences were "passed down" from him. One reference that totally hit me upside the head was Aladdin's Castle. Our local one went out of business in probably '92, and I haven't given another thought to it until I read that.

Captain Mog
Jun 17, 2011

PT6A posted:

I must've missed it the first time, but this sounds very interesting, so thank you for repeating yourself.

Oh no, I meant that I recommended two separate books highly (Grasshopper Jungle) within the past five posts. Both were excellent and free from the usual YA tropes covered by 90% of the genre out there.

The main character lives in a trailer park and is definitely not your standard "I'm so special and all the vampires on the block love me~" fare. She's bitingly sarcastic but brave to a fault. The dialogue is hilarious and well-written. It's quite gory and violent in parts, too; I'd almost call it horror-fantasy. It's absorbed me in a way that I haven't experienced from YA literature in quite some time. I seriously feel like writing a thank you email to the author.

Captain Mog fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Apr 11, 2014

Grawl
Aug 28, 2008

Do the D.A.N.C.E
1234, fight!
Stick to the B.E.A.T
Get ready to ignite
You were such a P.Y.T
Catching all the lights
Just easy as A.B.C
That's how we make it right
After reading some "serious" literature, I wanted to go back to some easy reading and started with The Golden Compass. Right now I'm halfway through, and it's just... dull. Is this book/series going to pick up, or should I bother with something else after I finish this book?

Jezebel
Sep 6, 2004

Skal!

Grawl posted:

After reading some "serious" literature, I wanted to go back to some easy reading and started with The Golden Compass. Right now I'm halfway through, and it's just... dull. Is this book/series going to pick up, or should I bother with something else after I finish this book?

It does pick up- I felt the second and third books were much stronger. They get deeper and add in a main character that I always forget isn't actually in the first book. It's one of my all-time favorite series though (I've been rereading it ever couple years since I was a kid, and I feel like I get something different from it each time), so my vote is for you to keep going! That said, if you get ~halfway through the second book and still aren't feeling it at all, it's probably not for you.

Jezebel
Sep 6, 2004

Skal!

Captain Mog posted:

Also, sorry to do this twice but: "Dorothy Must Die" is one of my new favorite YA books, if not one of my new favorite books ever. Please, do read it. It's phenomenal. It's "The Wizard of Oz", if Dorothy was an evil dictator, if Oz was a post-apocalyptic hellscape and filled with creepy monsters and great, likable characters.

Thanks for this rec, is was exactly what I needed to distract myself from the horrors of organic chemistry exams. Nothing particularly deep or unique, but just some good, slightly-creepy entertainment. The pacing was a bit off, but made up for my how much I enjoyed the worldbuilding of the dystopian Oz. And I love how the protagonist doesn't spend any time whining about being a freak or wanting to go home. My estimation of the book also went up when Indigo was killed, since that sort of thing isn't usually how YA books roll with their characters.

drat, I love me some Oz things, are there any other decent Oz fanfics reimaginings out there? Or is it just this and Wicked?

Grawl
Aug 28, 2008

Do the D.A.N.C.E
1234, fight!
Stick to the B.E.A.T
Get ready to ignite
You were such a P.Y.T
Catching all the lights
Just easy as A.B.C
That's how we make it right

Jezebel posted:

It does pick up- I felt the second and third books were much stronger. They get deeper and add in a main character that I always forget isn't actually in the first book. It's one of my all-time favorite series though (I've been rereading it ever couple years since I was a kid, and I feel like I get something different from it each time), so my vote is for you to keep going! That said, if you get ~halfway through the second book and still aren't feeling it at all, it's probably not for you.

Thanks for the advice. I just finished book two and that was much better. Now I'm actually curious how this series will end.

screenwritersblues
Sep 13, 2010
Just started Elanor and Park. It's great so far, but I feel sorry for Eleanor. She's clearly from a broken home.

Avshalom
Feb 14, 2012

by Lowtax

mastajake
Oct 3, 2005

My blade is unBENDING!

I just finished Looking for Alaska by John Green and adored it. I picked it up based off a recommendation in a class I'm taking and am mad I waited this long.

bonds0097
Oct 23, 2010

I would cry but I don't think I can spare the moisture.
Pillbug

mastajake posted:

I just finished Looking for Alaska by John Green and adored it. I picked it up based off a recommendation in a class I'm taking and am mad I waited this long.

It's a fantastic book and I would highly recommend reading The Fault in Our Stars, which I think is his best book so far. All his books are pretty great though I would consider Paper Towns his weakest and I have not read the book he collaborated on, Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Seriously though, after reading The Fault in Our Stars I needed a 24-hour moratorium on human contact, I was totally emotionally drained. Such an incredible book.

Stereo
Feb 27, 2014

Get rekt son

Grawl posted:

After reading some "serious" literature, I wanted to go back to some easy reading and started with The Golden Compass. Right now I'm halfway through, and it's just... dull. Is this book/series going to pick up, or should I bother with something else after I finish this book?

It gets so much better, the first book is in my opinion the weakest, while the second is the best. Well worth the read, the whole feel of the series changes drastically towards the final few chapters in the first.

Tupping Liberty
Mar 17, 2008

Never cross an introvert.

bonds0097 posted:

Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

If you have the time and inclination for audiobooks, the audiobook version of WGWG is loving amazing. I had previously started the print book and put it down, but the audiobook was just awesome. I highly HIGHLY recommend the audiobook. You won't regret it.

Chieves
Sep 20, 2010

bonds0097 posted:

It's a fantastic book and I would highly recommend reading The Fault in Our Stars, which I think is his best book so far. All his books are pretty great though I would consider Paper Towns his weakest and I have not read the book he collaborated on, Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Seriously though, after reading The Fault in Our Stars I needed a 24-hour moratorium on human contact, I was totally emotionally drained. Such an incredible book.

I read through TFioS with the girlfriend, and while it wasn't as sad as I was fearing (somebody earlier in the thread best described it as John Green successfully dodging "sadness porn") it still was quite a kick in the gut.

That said, John Green's original ending involving Hazel and Peter starting a shoot-off with a Mexican drug cartel sounds absolutely amazing and I would love to see the first draft of that.

screenwritersblues
Sep 13, 2010
A few days ago, I just finished a book called Winger by Andrew Smith. I can honestly say that it was the best YA book that I've read, I can even say that knocked TFiOS out of that top spot. Its about a rugby player named Ryan Dean West and his life at probably the strictest private school that I've ever read about (it's so bad that they don't even allow the students to have cell phones or computers for personal use). It's a solid read and also a roller coaster that doesn't let up. I also liked the fact that there were graphs and comics in throughout the book that gave you an idea of what Ryan Dean was thinking. Pick it up if you haven't already.

achillesforever6
Apr 23, 2012

psst you wanna do a communism?
I just learned that Rick Riordian is doing a book on Greek Mythology that is done in a snarky retelling of old myths.
http://www.rickriordan.com/my-books/percy-jackson/percy-jackson-olympians/percy-jacksons-greek-gods.aspx

drat it I was going to write that book :negative:

God its only a few months till Blood of Olympus comes out too.

noirstronaut
Aug 10, 2012

by Cowcaster
I'm starting an online book club for one of my sites (you're welcome to join!) and we're reading Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones first. I've read a few chapters and it's not bad, but the writing a little bit off. There are many instances where you can tell she tried to quickly go for the semi-plot twist. There are also some points where she introduces things, but then certain parts are there to explain it and feels like it's out of place. Overall, it's really interesting to say the least.

Kraps
Sep 9, 2011

This avatar was paid for by the Silent Majority.
Read The Apothecary when my niece had it, I think it's amazing. The Red Scare! Communist sympathizers! Secret magic book! Nuclear tests! Teen protagonists who aren't dumb!

noirstronaut
Aug 10, 2012

by Cowcaster
Hey, you guys are welcome to join my aforementioned Book Club (announced just now) http://culturemilk.com/2014/book-club/

If you hate it, you can make fun of me and call me a horrible writer/person etc!

Laverna
Mar 21, 2013


God, I love YA novels! They're very indulgent to pick up now and again to read.
I'll try and remember some of my fonder ones here but it's been a while since I've read some of them so I don't know how they stand up quality-of-writing-wise, since little adolescent me wasn't very discerning. They're all perfectly enjoyable though and I definitely recommend!


The Wind Singer by William Nicholson
I love this book, it's about a pair of twins named Kestrel and Bowman who live in a city where everyone has to take exams from a very young age which decide where they're allowed to live, what jobs they're allowed to do and basically where they stand in the social order. Kestrel gets in trouble for rebelling against the exams and flees the city where she finds out that they're all in great danger.
It's harder to describe than I thought it would be, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the descriptions of all the different groups of people they meet and the story is so interesting.
It is part of a series with two other books that come after it (Slaves of the Mastery and Firesong) and I've read them but don't remember them as well, they aren't quite as gripping in my opinion and this book stand perfectly well on its own.


Anything by Frances Hardinge, ever.
I don't often read books specifically because of the author but after reading two of her books I went and read all the others I could find.
The one I've read most recently is A Face Like Glass about an underground city which is famous for its extremely skilled crafters but everyone in the city is incapable of expressing emotion, that is something that has to be learnt and is taught by Facesmiths. Except for a young girl who accidentally winds up in this place and has a face which shows so much emotion that she's forced to wear a mask.
This was a really great book and something I love about Hardinge's novels are the dark twists that they have, which are surprisingly grim for the age group they appear to be aimed at, in my opinion at least.
I also recommend Fly By Night and Gullstruck Island by her.


My final recommendation is the series of books which were the highlight of my pre-teen years and which I am still incredibly fond of.
The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell.
These two are just so good at making stories, I've really loved all of their collaborations that I've read. The stories are just so quirky and involving and Riddell's illustrations really capture the whole feeling of the story.
The Edge Chronicles are a series of books all set on the same world called, well, "The Edge". I won't go into the world much because there's so much to it but it's full of weird creatures and natural phenomenon; like the Rock Garden where floating rocks are harvested to create Sky ships, or the Twilight Woods where people who enter there slowly lose their minds but never die and wander around in the woods forever.
The Chronicles are made up of three different trilogies which are each connected to the others in that the protagonist is somehow related to the other protagonists but I think that each of them stands on their own, I don't think the order that they're read in makes a huge difference. What's interesting is how much the world changes in between each series, all the places are still recognisable but changed in some fundamental way.
Basically it's a series whose strength really lies in the world it creates more than the stories it tells. Don't get me wrong, the stories are great just a bit harder to describe.
I'd suggest starting with either Beyond the Deepwoods or Curse of the Gloamglozer.
I recommend reading these if you love weird worlds and interesting creatures. Because this series offers a lot of those.


Wow, sorry if I got a bit ahead of myself here.
I hope someone tries reading and enjoys some of these books, and I hope my descriptions haven't been too unhelpful considering it's almost 3am...

Mrfreezewarning
Feb 2, 2010

All these goddamn books need more descriptions of boobies in them!
Can someone help me identify a series? It had Roswell type aliens and the typical YA team of teenagers saving the world. I remember one could speak every language in the universe by listening to it, another could learn to fight, or do anything physical just by watching it be done. I remember a cover with a silver hand, and a story about a kid they think can become an ally of their's but he ends up being some sort of deep cover alien assassin and even he didn't know it. Google fails me. I think I saw it in the mid 90's.

END OF AN ERROR
May 16, 2003

IT'S LEGO, not Legos. Heh


Pendergast posted:

Picked up The Giver at the library today. I saw the trailer in the Divergent movie. Doubt it will be anything like the movie and that is probably a good thing. Of course Jonas looks way older than twelve. (haven't started, just read the back) I know it is easier to use older teens and such but that is one of my pet peeves.

Easily one of my favorite books ever, but good lord the movie looks awful. All of the action scenes in the preview... yeah, there aren't "action" scenes like that in the book. But apparently even the author said they had to add action to the movie or it would be boring.... or you know, just don't make the movie and ruin the story, always an option.

I was going through my books today trying to find something to read again, I found the Chaos Walking Series (Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, Monsters of Men). I read these a few years ago, but can't remember anything about them really, besides "the noise" or whatever. Should I bother reading them again? I obviously enjoyed them if I own all 3, I think. Anyone read them recently?

cptn_dr
Sep 7, 2011

Seven for beauty that blossoms and dies


Trip Daddy X posted:

I was going through my books today trying to find something to read again, I found the Chaos Walking Series (Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, Monsters of Men). I read these a few years ago, but can't remember anything about them really, besides "the noise" or whatever. Should I bother reading them again? I obviously enjoyed them if I own all 3, I think. Anyone read them recently?

Haven't read them recently, but I think Patrick Ness is one of the best authors working in YA today, so I'll just go ahead and recommend a re-read.

Neremworld
Dec 3, 2007

by exmarx
I literally just got done reading the Otherbound and it basically is one of my favorite novels period. Really impressive for a first-time YA writer. It's a... modern/fantasy novel, set on both Earth and an unnamed fantasy world of magic.

There are two protagonists: Nolan Santiago, a 17 year old hispanic high schooler with a disabled leg and perpetually hosed up by his seizures. Or rather, that's what regular people think they are, but whenever he closes his eyes or blinks, he catches fragments of another world, through the eyes of...

Amara, a slavegirl in the Dunelands. She is the property of a deposed-since-she-was-a-toddler princess by the name of Cilla. She is Cilla's bodyguard in more ways then one, as the princess has a lethal curse inflicted on her that will cause her to potentially die if she is hurt and blood is drawn. Amara and her boyfriend/fellow slave Maart and Jorn the powerful if overwhelmed-by-stress Mage are the only ones willing to stand at Cilla's side.

Jezebel
Sep 6, 2004

Skal!

Neremworld posted:

I literally just got done reading the Otherbound and it basically is one of my favorite novels period. Really impressive for a first-time YA writer. It's a... modern/fantasy novel, set on both Earth and an unnamed fantasy world of magic.

There are two protagonists: Nolan Santiago, a 17 year old hispanic high schooler with a disabled leg and perpetually hosed up by his seizures. Or rather, that's what regular people think they are, but whenever he closes his eyes or blinks, he catches fragments of another world, through the eyes of...

Amara, a slavegirl in the Dunelands. She is the property of a deposed-since-she-was-a-toddler princess by the name of Cilla. She is Cilla's bodyguard in more ways then one, as the princess has a lethal curse inflicted on her that will cause her to potentially die if she is hurt and blood is drawn. Amara and her boyfriend/fellow slave Maart and Jorn the powerful if overwhelmed-by-stress Mage are the only ones willing to stand at Cilla's side.

I LOVED that book. Just finished it the other day, mostly reading non-stop. It was immensely satisfying on every level, and so drat refreshing to read a mature, non-stupid-romance, truly diverse YA book for once. It's doubly impressive that it's the author's first novel. More books about mute bisexual slavegirls and epileptic Nahua amputees, please.

If you liked it, I feel like you might enjoy Sherri Smith's Orleans. It's ostensibly another post-apocalyptic dystopian type, but it definitely doesn't fall into the same tired tropes as most others in that genre. It has a lot of the same qualities that made Otherbound so great.

Jezebel fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Aug 19, 2014

eating only apples
Dec 12, 2009

Shall we dance?

Laverna posted:

The Wind Singer by William Nicholson
I love this book, it's about a pair of twins named Kestrel and Bowman who live in a city where everyone has to take exams from a very young age which decide where they're allowed to live, what jobs they're allowed to do and basically where they stand in the social order. Kestrel gets in trouble for rebelling against the exams and flees the city where she finds out that they're all in great danger.
It's harder to describe than I thought it would be, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the descriptions of all the different groups of people they meet and the story is so interesting.
It is part of a series with two other books that come after it (Slaves of the Mastery and Firesong) and I've read them but don't remember them as well, they aren't quite as gripping in my opinion and this book stand perfectly well on its own.


This trilogy has been among my favourites for years. The Wind Singer is the best of the three, and does stand well alone, but Firesong is really strong too. Firesong does some fun stuff. Very sad ending. It's been a long time since I've read them, might be time for another go.



I've recently reread Garth Nix's Sabriel and it really is one of the best YA fantasy books out there. It's solidly unique, I've never read another setting that's anything like it. I can't describe it and do it justice. It's again part of a trilogy with the first book being the best, the second book being the weakest and the third being much stronger.

Laverna
Mar 21, 2013


eating only apples posted:

This trilogy has been among my favourites for years. The Wind Singer is the best of the three, and does stand well alone, but Firesong is really strong too. Firesong does some fun stuff. Very sad ending. It's been a long time since I've read them, might be time for another go.

I feel the same. I remember the two sequels being enjoyable to read but they just haven't stuck in my memory at all, I vaguely remember a princess and her slave or something. The Wind Singer gave no indication of having any sequels when it ended so I was surprised when I first discovered them. The sequels themselves just seemed so different to the first, like a completely different story that just happened to feature the same characters.

I also enjoyed Sabriel, although I never managed to get through the last book in that series, which is a shame. I think Lirael was just a bit too slow for me so I lost quite a bit of momentum on it. But I loved the font, it was so easy on the eyes.

Neremworld
Dec 3, 2007

by exmarx

Jezebel posted:

I LOVED that book. Just finished it the other day, mostly reading non-stop. It was immensely satisfying on every level, and so drat refreshing to read a mature, non-stupid-romance, truly diverse YA book for once. It's doubly impressive that it's the author's first novel. More books about mute bisexual slavegirls and epileptic Nahua amputees, please.

If you liked it, I feel like you might enjoy Sherri Smith's Orleans. It's ostensibly another post-apocalyptic dystopian type, but it definitely doesn't fall into the same tired tropes as most others in that genre. It has a lot of the same qualities that made Otherbound so great.

I'll look it up, then, thanks for the recommendation.

Vincie
Oct 31, 2012
Seconding A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge. Very imaginative and original for a YA/middle grade fantasy. Reminiscent of Cat Valente if you're into that.

Speaking of Cat Valente, I was totally disappointed by The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two. Felt like a throwaway filler book, which is all the more of a let-down given that books 1 and 2 were so great. Book 4 looks to have a different protagonist altogether, so maybe that will reinvigorate the series. I'm interested to see how Valente will handle couching a teenage September in the middle grade format, since the series is supposed to end when she's seventeen or eighteen.

eating only apples
Dec 12, 2009

Shall we dance?

Laverna posted:

I also enjoyed Sabriel, although I never managed to get through the last book in that series, which is a shame. I think Lirael was just a bit too slow for me so I lost quite a bit of momentum on it. But I loved the font, it was so easy on the eyes.

Lirael is super slow, yeah. Abhorsen picks up the pace quite a lot and makes a lot of characters far more interesting, Sam, Nick and the villain(s). I reread it often, it's a good one.

I've posted a whole lot about Garth Nix itt :shobon:

Jezebel
Sep 6, 2004

Skal!

eating only apples posted:

Lirael is super slow, yeah. Abhorsen picks up the pace quite a lot and makes a lot of characters far more interesting, Sam, Nick and the villain(s). I reread it often, it's a good one.

I've posted a whole lot about Garth Nix itt :shobon:

Yeah, I just reread the whole trilogy this summer and felt it held up really well. I'm excited about Clariel FINALLY coming out this Fall.

Also I'll never stop telling people to ignore the cover and read Shade's Children, because it's great, but that always feels like a losing battle.



Seriously look at this poo poo, it is the worst thing I've ever seen. I bought an older edition off ebay to avoid it.

Neremworld
Dec 3, 2007

by exmarx

Jezebel posted:

Yeah, I just reread the whole trilogy this summer and felt it held up really well. I'm excited about Clariel FINALLY coming out this Fall.

Also I'll never stop telling people to ignore the cover and read Shade's Children, because it's great, but that always feels like a losing battle.



Seriously look at this poo poo, it is the worst thing I've ever seen. I bought an older edition off ebay to avoid it.

Strangely, even though it'd seem like it was right up my alley, something really put me off when I read this book. I think it was the ending.

nine-gear crow
Aug 10, 2013

Laverna posted:

The Wind Singer by William Nicholson
I love this book, it's about a pair of twins named Kestrel and Bowman who live in a city where everyone has to take exams from a very young age which decide where they're allowed to live, what jobs they're allowed to do and basically where they stand in the social order. Kestrel gets in trouble for rebelling against the exams and flees the city where she finds out that they're all in great danger.
It's harder to describe than I thought it would be, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the descriptions of all the different groups of people they meet and the story is so interesting.
It is part of a series with two other books that come after it (Slaves of the Mastery and Firesong) and I've read them but don't remember them as well, they aren't quite as gripping in my opinion and this book stand perfectly well on its own.

I just want to give another nod to the Wind on Fire books. They really were something beautiful. I actually think all three were equally engaging. Slaves of the Mastery was actually my favourite because it was such a character-driven book (and gets really dark in certain places) compared to the other two which were more plot/journey-driven.

My only complaint is that the second and third books feel like they're part of a completely different series from the first one yet somehow starring the same characters. It starts out as The Giver and then slowly morphs into a low fantasy Dune. But other than that, holy gently caress read all three.

nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Sep 3, 2014

Nettle Soup
Jan 30, 2010

Oh, and Jones was there too.

I found them very allegorical, the main kids basically morph into Jesus as it goes on, complete with the dying for the sins of the world and ascending to heaven at the end, I liked them when I was younger, but I reread them a couple of years ago and just couldn't look past it.

I've been reading the How to Train Your Dragon books lately. At 1-2hrs reading time each, they're very well paced, although they're getting a bit longer as it goes on (From 192 pages around the start to almost 400 for book 10).

They start off fairly simple, with Hiccup kidnapping his first dragon and getting into scrapes as it craps on his fathers bed and eats all the chairs, but they gradually ramp up as he gets older and around book 7 they start going insane.

I hated the film, but it's nothing to do with the books at all apparently, and they're really worth a read! Get physical copies though, borrow them from your 10yr old cousin or a library something, as they're 50% pictures.

Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 12:30 on Sep 3, 2014

SmockJoc
Oct 4, 2004
For any ebook readers here I just released my YA fantasy/steampunk novel in the self-pub thread here. It’s free on amazon for the next five days.

SmockJoc fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Sep 20, 2014

Daylen Drazzi
Mar 10, 2007

Why do I root for Notre Dame? Because I like pain, and disappointment, and anguish. Notre Dame Football has destroyed more dreams than the Irish Potato Famine, and that is the kind of suffering I can get behind.
I went on the emotional read roller coaster and devoured "Heart on a Chain" by Cindy C Bennet, which features such uplifting topics as drug abuse, alcoholism, child abuse, bullying, and teen romance. Main character seemed too good-two-shoes, but at the same time entirely believable. Definitely enjoyed reading it, however. Next book was "Anywhere But Here" by JL Paul, and featured a high school senior who moves in with her aunt to get away from her family, which is dealing with the youngest daughter going missing. The girl is the middle child, with an older brother away at college, a father who stays at work to avoid the family, and a mother obsessed with finding her daughter. All in all a very powerful book. For those looking for a little more light reading and wanting some vicarious living of the life of a mysterious pop singer known as Queen Bee I suggest the Hidden Gem series by India Lee. And let me end with a kick-rear end newly released book by Patty Blount - "Some Boys", which features such wonderful topics such as date rape, slut-shaming, public humiliation, and ostracization.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Daylen Drazzi
Mar 10, 2007

Why do I root for Notre Dame? Because I like pain, and disappointment, and anguish. Notre Dame Football has destroyed more dreams than the Irish Potato Famine, and that is the kind of suffering I can get behind.
Since my last post I decided to check out Kathy Reichs' venture into YA with the series Virals. Four books so far, with a fifth and final book coming out in January. Main character is Tory Brennan, great-niece of Dr Temperance "Bones" Brennan herself, a 14-yr old who was sent to live with her dad six months prior to the start of the book, shortly after her mother was killed by a drunk driver. Her dad never knew he had a daughter, and living on a research island just outside of Charleston, SC doesn't exactly leave a lot of options for socializing. Fortunately Tory (short for Victoria) has company in the form of three boys - Ben, Hi (short for Hiram), and Shelton, and they've all become quickly inseparable, with the boys more than happy to leave leadership and decisions to Tory.

The books are not short, and I found the first three books to be highly enjoyable, with surprising twists and turns that should be expected from someone like Kathy Reichs. I just started the fourth book, and frankly I'm loving every minute of it and disappointed the fifth book isn't out and that the series comes to an end when it does.

Another interesting find is I See You by Frantiska Oliver. Here's the blurb from the book, but let me tell you it doesn't do the book justice:

With shape-shifting abilities, Haven sets out on a path of revenge against child predators, while she searches for the monster who ripped away her innocence, murdered her trust and abused her body. Hoping one day she will come eye to eye with the man who stole from her the only thing that cannot be given back or replaced. But, when she discovers Cassidy and her mysterious Uncle Bryce, Haven’s world of secrecy is exposed. Her solitude life is challenged and the protective walls she built around her scarred heart begin to crumble. Tossing her into uncharted territory and reminding her of forgotten dreams. Struggling with the haunting memories of her past, the inability to trust and the hideous reality of abuse, Haven is thrown into a battle she never expected to fight and feelings she didn’t want to face. But, one question remains. Can a damaged shifter learn to trust and love again? Or, will it destroy what little is left of her shattered heart and allow the shadows of her past the control they relentlessly seek?

A short read, but it pulls you in. I understand that a follow-up book is due to be published in 2015 and I can't wait to check it out.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply