Young Adult Archives - Page 9 of 16

Tithe by Holly Black: Book Review

Kaye Fierch's mom is a wannabe rocker. When her latest boyfriend attacks her, Kaye and her mom are left with no choice but to move back in with Kaye's grandmother, who lives on the shore. When Kaye was younger and they lived there, she had a lot of faerie friends. Now she's looking for them again and she can't find them. Then she finds an injured knight of the Unseelie Court in the woods and assists him. Now it seems like everyone in faerie needs something from her. Some even want to put her in danger. First of all, I am no longer a young adult, so I'm not exactly the target audience for this. I do usually enjoy YA books though. This one was just okay. For some reason, the underage drinking and partying that goes on in just a few scenes bothered me. Also, the characters and the story weren't fleshed out all that well. I feel like the author was onto a good story, but she could have done more with it. I'm left trying to decide if she did it on purpose. This could be aimed at much younger readers than I think. And it is a faerie tale. Traditional faerie tales seem to be pretty simple, from what I remember. So that could be the case. But really, I was left a little dissatisfied that the book felt like it was lacking something. I won't be reading the next one. Reviewed November 17, 2008 Read an excerpt. Find author Holly Black on her website, her blog, and Twitter. Buy Tithe at Malaprop’s | Better World Books Friday Flashback Reviews are a weekly feature here on The Introverted Reader. These are old reviews I wrote on GoodReads. Thanks to Angieville and her Retro Friday Reviews for…

Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L. A. Meyer: Book Review

Synopsis from GoodReads: After being forced to leave HMS Dolphin and Jaimy, her true love, Jacky Faber is making a new start at the elite Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston. But growing up on the streets of London and fighting pirates never prepared Jacky for her toughest battle yet: learning how to be a fine lady. Everything she does is wrong. Her embroidery is deplorable, her French is atrocious, and her table manners--disgusting! Then there's the small matter of her blue anchor tattoo. . . . Despite her best efforts, Jacky can't seem to stay out of trouble long enough to dedicate herself to being ladylike. But what fun would that be, anyway? I loved Jacky Faber when I read the first book in the series, Bloody Jack. Then I listened to the second book on audio. Holy cow! I'd heard these audiobooks were awesome but I really didn't understand until I picked one up for myself. Katherine Kellgren brought Jacky to life for me. Narrating in a Cockney accent that I loved, she crowed in triumph, cried in sadness, and took her with me on every emotion in between. It was amazing and a joy to listen to. I already felt this was a strong start to a series, but I will definitely be continuing in the audio format. I can't imagine separating Kellgren and Jacky now! I've waited too long to review this book, but from what I can remember, this second entry is darker than the first. Yeah, the more I think about it, parts got downright dark and creepy. I was seriously worried for Jacky. It was huge fun to see her in a group of proper young Boston schoolgirls. They don't know what hits them when Jacky walks in! We can all…

Cinder by Marissa Meyer: Book Review

4 Stars. I had my reservations about this. I love me a retold fairy tale, don't get me wrong. But it's all science-fictiony. Cyborgs? Androids? Not my thing. And then it's set in a future that sounds a little post-apocalyptic? Definitely not my thing. And yet, searching around for something mildly dystopian to read for a reading [...]

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys: Book Review

4.5 Stars. Oh my goodness. How did I not know about this? I've come across vague statements about how many millions of people died under Stalin's regime in the past. I didn't realize the scale of it, if that makes sense. I somehow thought it was smaller groups of "dissenters" killed across many, many years and across a vast [...]

Graveminder by Melissa Marr: Book Review

Rebekkah Barrow has left the town of Claysville behind. She keeps in touch with a few people, including her "adopted" grandmother, but otherwise she's a free spirit roaming the earth. One day she gets a phone call that her grandmother has passed away. She heads back to Claysville for the funeral and learns that her grandmother was actually murdered. There's more to it than that though; Rebekkah and her on-again-off-again boyfriend Byron both sense it. There are secrets in Claysville, and Rebekkah and Byron must learn them before time runs out for everyone. This could have been so good. I loved the idea. The Barrow women are graveminders, assiduously tending the graves of the town residents. It's obvious from the beginning what is going on and I liked it. But the story just kept circling around and around and around the why of things. There's a lot of drama between Rebekkah and Byron, both in the past and their present. They fight, they make up, they decide they don't have time for fighting, and then they disagree again and have to have another "discussion." It was exhausting! But not in any kind of interesting way. Just in an "Oh my gosh, can we please just get back to the dead people now?" kind of way. I did actually like Byron. He was trying his very best to figure out what was going on, take care of Rebekkah, and respect her wishes. Rebekkah was my downfall. Deep down, she knew what she wanted but she kept fighting it and fighting Byron and I just got so tired of it. I didn't really care about her or her personal drama. I wanted to know why these crazy things were happening. The ending slightly redeemed it because it was fairly horrifying. There had…

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Book Review

What’s left of North America has been divided up into 12 districts. Katniss lives in district 12, the poorest district. She’s learned to buck the system and hunt to keep her family alive. But one day something happens that leaves her thinking only of her own survival. I was surprised by how much I liked this. Several of my friends have loved it, but this sounds pretty dystopic and I’ve realized that’s not my thing. But I decided to go ahead and give it a try after it was chosen for one of my groups’ monthly reads, and I’m so glad I did. The dystopia thing is there, but I was so busy rooting for Katniss to survive that I didn’t really even notice it too much. I was also worried that it would be horribly violent, but it wasn’t too bad. I’m probably about middle-of-the-road in terms of my tolerance of that kind of thing. I really liked Katniss. She’s a born survivor--rough, tough, surly, fierce, and fiercely protective. She’s also pretty clueless about any kind of relationship and a big softy underneath that hard-as-nails exterior. At times, I did feel like the author was manipulating the story just to get herself out of corners that she had painted herself into. But once I thought about it, that manipulation was absolutely in keeping with the situation in which Katniss found herself. I was so caught up in this book that I hated the ending. I knew going in that this was the first in a series, but it still felt like a huge cliffhanger. It was really probably the only place she could end this installment, but I’m chomping at the bit for the next one. Luckily, I don’t think I have too long to wait. Reviewed August 11,…

The Girl Who Was on Fire, edited by Leah Wilson: Book Review

Editor Leah Wilson has collected a series of thirteen essays from various young adult authors, each addressing a different aspect of The Hunger Games trilogy. How do I put this? I'm not really a huge analyzer of books. Sure, I write plenty of reviews, but in those I just write what I liked (or not) and why. That's really about as far as I go. Back in my English class days, I could produce solid essays but since graduating, I've gotten to be a lazy reader. I'll occasionally think about the more obvious themes in a book, but then I pick up the next one and move on. This collection impressed me because of the amount of thought that went into each and every essay. I had mused briefly about some of the topics, I think my sister and I even discussed a few of them, but these authors all went above and beyond in their analyses. My favorite was "Team Katniss" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This was one essay that overlapped with a conversation my sister and I had. Why "Team Peeta" or "Team Gale"? Why not "Team Katniss"? Katniss is pretty freaking awesome on her own. Barnes presents her argument better than Rachel or I ever did. I just loved it. I also really enjoyed "Community in the Face of Tyranny" by Bree Despain. I don't recall thinking much about the (lack of) community in the world of Panem. Despain argues that part of Katniss's magic comes from her ability to foster a sense of community wherever she goes. It's true, and I liked it. At first, I thought entries by Cara Lockwood and Terri Clark were a little more light-hearted but even these surprised me with their depth. Lockwood writes about the "Not So Weird Science" of…

The Society of S by Susan Hubbard: Book Review

The Society of S is about Ariella Montero, a very sheltered, educated 13-year-old growing up in Saratoga Springs, NY. Her father is a brilliant, handsome, reclusive research scientist who is home-schooling Ari and raising her alone. Ari's mother left them immediately after Ari's birth. Their Victorian mansion is full of secrets that Ari decides to investigate. This was just okay for me. I have to admit that this is a young adult book and I'm not a young adult, but that doesn't usually bother me. The book is well-written, and the story is interesting, but I think my biggest problem was in believing that this was supposed to be pages from a 13-year-old's journal. There might be 13-year-old geniuses out there who are this introspective, thoughtful, and well-written, but they're few and far between. I just had a hard time buying it for that reason. And, this is kind of a small thing, but there are interjections thrown in that would just throw me off. Like, "I think in colors. Do you?" Okay, is she really talking to me, or is she supposed to be telling this story to someone? That wasn't cleared up until the very last pages, although, if I'd really thought about, I could probably have figured it out in the first couple of pages. Obviously I wasn't paying that much attention. All in all, I really just felt like this author, while telling a completely different story, was really just trying to cash in on the popularity of Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series. Read those instead, but if you're left hungry for more, you might want to turn to this one. Just be warned that you probably won't enjoy it as much. Reviewed January 19, 2008 Read an excerpt. Find author Susan Hubbard on her website and…

Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce: Book Review

If I had read these books when I was the right age, they would probably have gotten 4 or 5 stars, but I'm a little too old for them now. These are 4 novels about Alanna of Trebond, a girl who wants to be a knight. Unfortunately, the last female knight in her country lived 100 years ago and her preoccupied father has decreed that she will be fostered out to learn to be a lady. Alanna's twin brother, Thom, forges a couple of letters and Alanna takes his place in the school for knights and Thom happily goes off to become a sorceror. Needless to say, Alanna has to disguise herself as a boy to be accepted into the school and she forces herself to work twice as hard as the other knights-in-training to prove to herself that she's in the right place. She has lots of adventures and saves the kingdom numerous times. Along the way she learns to accept herself as both a knight and a woman and that there is still room in a knight's life for love. The writing in these books was a little simplistic, but they are young adult books. Alanna's character struggles with the things that most girls her age stuggle with and she was a likeable character. The other characters were pretty one-dimensional, but they were described well enough that I either loved them or hated them. There weren't many I was indifferent to. I guess I've gotten used to reading big epic fantasies, because after every battle, I was like, "Is that it? This should have gone on a lot longer." There wasn't a lot of transition. Alanna just moved from major plot point to major plot point, which can be a good thing, but I felt in this case…

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Review

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR SHIVER AND LINGER!!! Now that Grace is a wolf, Sam finds himself at loose ends. He and Cole are rattling around Beck's house and generally irritating each other. Mr. Culpeper is still determined to do something about the local wolf problem. Cole is determined to find a cure. The wolves' lives are in the balance as this trilogy races to its conclusion. I've waited entirely too long to write this review so it will be short and vague. I still really, really like Cole and Isabel, which is weird because I think I would loathe them in real life. But when contrasted with Sam's passiveness, I'm drawn to their action and determination, even if does appear to be self-destructive. Sam? He's just too good. Like, if you kicked him, he would just look at you with big hurt eyes silently asking how you could do this to him as you drew your foot back to kick him again. Grow a spine, dude. I don't think I was entirely caught up in the book until about halfway through. At first it felt like more of the same. Sam misses Grace and Beck. Isabel is angry. Mr. Culpeper is angry. Shelby is crazy. Cole seems to be angry. But Cole and Isabel are driving this book. When it became apparent what was going on, my interest definitely piqued. When I knew I was getting close to the big climax, I sat for a couple of hours in my dining room chair, hanging over my empty dinner plate, reading for the finish because I could not put the book down long enough to even put my plate away. When I finally finished, I was stiff from sitting in one position too long and I had to do some major scrubbing…