Category: Spectacular Speculative Fiction

Stubborn red-headed Victorian heroine Gemma Doyle is back in this brilliant sequel to Libba Bray’s best-selling A Great and Terrible Beauty. The girls from Spence are looking forward to spending a nice, quiet Christmas at home, away from the terrors of the otherwordly Realms and the twisted magic they have inadvertently set free there. But the mysterious Raksana have something else in mind…they send Kartik to Gemma to persuade her to journey into the Realms again and bind the magic she loosed when she defeated Circe the first time. But do the Raksana have Gemma’s best interest at heart? Does Gemma have the strength to bring back the Order? And is Pippa REALLY dead? Have no idea what I’m talking about? The go right out to your nearest public library or bookstore and get caught up by reading A Great and Terrible Beauty (review on this list below) so that you’ll be all set to plunge into the pages of this steamy, dreamy sequel!

In Tally Youngblood’s futuristic world, pretty is everything. The government has decided that if everyone looks the same, wars over ethnic and cultural differences will die a natural death and everyone will be peaceful…and Pretty. Life is just a waiting room, until that magical 16th birthday when government sanctioned surgeons nip and tuck former adolescent Uglies into gorgeous, cookie-cutter Pretties, who get to party nonstop and never worry about tomorrow. Until Tally meets Shay, all she wants is to be pretty. But then Shay tells her about a far away phantom society called the Smoke where people actually choose to stay Ugly and don’t care about parties. When Shay suddenly disappears, the government wants to know why. They tell Tally she must lead them to Shay or risk being Ugly forever. How can Tally choose between her best friend and her future? And does she have any hope at all of finding Shay? Or the Smoke? Uglies is an edge of your seat thriller, strong social commentary and richly characterized story, all rolled into one. It will have you thinking twice about your addiction to Extreme Make-Over! And the cliff-hanging ending will have you racing back to the library to check out the next three books in the series:Pretties, Specials, and Extras.

Like a girl in a fairy tale, Sloe is trapped in an icy land. She has been forced to live, with her mother, a fallen queen, in a hovel on the edge of a frozen waste. There is no grass, trees, or birds–only snow, poisoned ground, and endless cold. Sloe’s only distraction from her numbing life is the magic her mother makes in the dead of night, with glass tubes and mysterious powders. When Sloe is sent away to the school of the enemy, her mother makes her promise to guard the magic with her life, should her mother ever be forced to leave their hovel. Now, the worst has happened. Sloe has returned to find her mother gone and the magic tubes left for her to carry to safety. There is a compass, and a map for her to follow. But this is no fairy tale. Instead, this is Ann Halam’s dark vision of the future, where a brilliant scientist is thrown in prison with her little girl for harboring the secrets of animal life in a world that saw it’s last horse, elephant and cheetah long before Sloe was even born. In Sloe’s test tubes are living pieces of DNA that she must carry across a continent to save not only herself and her mother, but all of animal-kind. Brilliant, breath-taking and edge-of-your-seat thrilling, Halam melds fairytale constructs with cutting-edge science in a story so thought-provoking, Siberia is a place you’ll want to visit again and again, despite the chill factor!

Toni V is part of a society of evolved humans who have left polluted planet Earth and now live and work in a world that revolves around one precious commodity: water. Toni V not only likes water, he longs for it. He and his fellow work detail mates can’t wait to take a dip in the company pool at the end of a long dusty day of demolishing old buildings and fill their gills with oxygen rich, wonderfully wet water. Toni V knows that “shirking is for losers,” so he’s nervous about stopping work for even a minute to examine the contents of an old water can he digs up. What he finds is a diary (on paper, of all the quaint old fashioned things!) written by a girl named Pelly D. Pelly D. lived a very posh life in the days before the War and the bombs that destroyed the buildings that Toni V. is now working to clear away. Toni V. doesn’t know much about the war, only that the General’s motto, “back to work, back to normal” doesn’t encourage much retrospection. At first, reading Pelly D’s diary is fun – she led the kind of life that Toni V can only fantasize about. But the more he reads, the more he is troubled by Pelly D.’s circumstances. Why must she submit to a “voluntary” testing of her DNA? Why are her family and friends being stripped of their goods and homes and forced to take a barcode on their hand? When he reaches the end of the diary, Toni V. knows in his heart what has happened to Pelly D. But does he have the strength to share it with others who, like him, have been blissfully unaware of the horrific past that their new nation is being built on? I have not felt chills like this from reading a book since turning the last page of the very fine Feed by M. T. Anderson. (further down on this list) And when I read the author’s note that mentioned she was inspired by diaries found buried beneath the site of the Warsaw Ghetto, I knew I had just finished a modern sci-fi classic. Read it, then pass it on to at least six friends. Never forget.

In the world Matt Cruse inhabits, planes were never invented, and instead, air travel is booked through massive dirigibles, or blimps. Matt is a young cabin boy aboard The Aurora, a luxury blimp that was also the home and workplace of his late father. While on duty one day, Matt helps recover a balloon, that holds in its basket a sick old man. The man tells Matt wild stories of flying creatures before he lapses into a coma and dies. A year later, Matt encounters the man’s headstrong granddaughter, Kate, who is in possession of his diary. The book clearly states the old man’s belief that he had discovered a new species of flying mammal, which he dubbed “cloud cats.” Kate, with Matt’s help, hopes to somehow get off the Aurora and explore the island that her grandfather identified as the home base of the cats. But before Matt can argue Kate out of this wild scheme, the airship is attacked by pirates, and Matt is forced to decide between the two loves of his life–one old, one new, one massive blimp, one beautiful girl. Enchanting and wonderfully imaginative, this book has the same passionate and adventurous flavor as the movie “Titanic,” except in the air!

Soon-to-be-sixteen Chloe King’s day starts out pretty good–she skips school with her two best buds to hang at Coit Tower in her hometown of San Fran. They have coffee, a great view, and each other. Chloe couldn’t ask for a more perfect day. But that’s when things start to turn a little sour. Chloe gets too close to the tower’s edge and takes a nasty spill that would kill anyone else. But not Chloe. At least, not today. To her friends’ surprise, Chloe rises from the dead only to discover a brand new springiness to her step, sharp night vision and claws that come out when she’s pissed. What’s happening to her? Does it have something to do with the cute dark haired guy who’s been hanging around the thrift store where she works? And what’s up with the scary ninja dude who keeps showing up with his throwing stars and pledges to destroy her in the name of “The Order of the Tenth Blade?” While Chloe uncovers some of the answers, the rest await readers in the next book of this cool cat series. Can you say, “HEL-lo, Kitty”?

The Gothic novel is not dead, as proven by this simply delicious page-turner penned by the fabulous Libba Bray. All the elements are here: a tortured heroine named Gemma who witnesses her mother’s horrific murder, a gloomy old boarding school with a dark supernatural secret at it’s core, and three witchy classmates who become the catalyst for Gemma’s discovery of a ghostly, ghastly power that could destroy them all!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Sorry, couldn’t help giving a deep, hand-wringing villainous burst of laughter) You’ll want to read this one in bed, with a box of chocolates and all the lights on.

Nathaniel is a angry, smart, and somewhat cocky magician’s apprentice bent on revenge. Bartimaeus is a bored, brilliant, and somewhat annoyed ages-old djinn (genie) who’s bent on getting away from Nathaniel. Except that’s impossible. Because young Nat knows the right words to call up and bind Bart, Bart has to do his bidding. Bart, used to being called into service by powerful kings or queens or heads of state, can’t bear the fact that he has to listen to a snot-nosed kid barely into his teens. And Nat can’t stand the fact that Bart won’t take him seriously. And what he wants Bart to seriously do is steal the most powerful object in the alternate land of London: the amulet of Samarkand. Nat wants the amulet so he can lord it over it’s former owner, a powerful and slimy magician who humiliated him when he was just a baby wizard. But, as you may expect, there’s a few snags along the way…Bartimeus’s voice is the funniest voice I’ve heard in fiction in a long while. For a rip-snortingly hilarious read that rivals those books about Hogwarts, give the Amulet of Samarkand a spin.

Susan’s life is perfect. She has a perfect family, perfect blond hair, and gets perfect grades. Except for her one perfectly awful secret, her life looks ideal from the outside. No one knows that Susan’s perfect dad hits her perfect mom whenever he gets mad at Susan. The only way for Susan to keep her mom from getting hurt is to be perfect–all the time. It will take three flesh and blood, not-so perfect friends, and two friendly ethereal entities (a dead boy named Edmund and a kindly haunted house named, what else? House) to help Susan break free of her perfect hell. Who wants to be perfect, anyway? A rich, atmospheric, and not always straightforward novel full of life, love, and suspense, Bones had me racing to find it’s two companion novels, A Red Heart of Memories and Past the Size of Dreaming.

Reformed teen thief Jack Morgan is having a bad day. First, he’s forced to hide out on an uninhabited planet while on the lam for a crime that, for once, he didn’t commit. Now a spaceship has just crashed nearby, and while scavaging the wreakage for loot, a giant dragon-like alien attacked, or rather, ATTACHED himself to Jack. Now, Jack finds himself dealing with Dracos, a K’Da, which is a race of dragon warrior poets. Dracos is smart, soft spoken, and a deadly fighter. But for all his strength and cunning, he can only live 6 hours at a time with out a human host to hug. When Dracos is sharing Jack’s bod, he looks exactly like a body-sized dragon tattoo. Because when K’da go all symbiotic on you, they become two dimensional. Confused? So is Jack. But it becomes pretty clear pretty quick that the crash of Dracos’s ship and Jack being framed on his last job are somehow linked. This unusual pair just has to find how! A totally excellent adventure, Dragon and Thief is an awesome introduction to sci-fi for those who have had bad experiences with it in the past.

Imagine, if you can, a world where to visit the ocean you have to wear a space suit to protect you from the poisoned air and water, and where steaks are grown in sheets of filet mignon, because DNA research has allowed farmers to bypass that whole cow business. A world where there is no more “outside” and suburbs are stacked on top of each other, each with their own “sun” that they can turn on and off. In this world, Titus and his friends all have a “feed” or mini-computer in their heads that allows them to chat, watch television, and buy the latest jeans–constantly and simultaneously. In fact, they are so over stimulated that they don’t care that there are no more trees or grass or ozone layer. And why should they care about something they’ve never seen? Then Titus meets Violet, who sees things for how they really are–and they’re not pretty. Once Titus sees his world through Violet’s eyes, he can never go back to his carefree, careless existence. But is it possible to break free of the feed? And what kind of life awaits you if you do? If you read one book this semester, this summer, this year–READ THIS ONE. You will either, a) become deeply suspicious of advertising, b) turn off MTV–possibly for good. or c) buy a copy for all your friends because it is both the best, and most disturbing book you’ve ever read.

This is probably the most violent, gory, incestuous, and just plain sickening books I have ever read. It’s also one of the most complex and brilliant, which is why I’m including it on RR. But be forewarned, this is not a story for the faint-hearted or weak-stomached. Based on Icelandic/Norse myth, Bloodtide is a disaster story that takes place in a ravaged, futuristic London. There are two main warring tribes–the Volsons and the Conors, who are constantly fighting over land and the right to rule all the people of London and the accompanying countryside. The head Volson, Val, tries to make peace with the head Conor (also named Conor) by offering his 14 year old daughter Signy’s hand in marriage. Signy’s smart, cute and no slouch with a sword, so Conor agrees. But he’s planning a terrible double-cross–when Signey’s dad and brothers come to Conor’s palace to toast her wedding, Conor looses his army on them and ruthlessly murders them all. This includes chaining up her three brothers to be eaten by a huge, brutish half-wild boar, half man. (that’s the scene where I almost lost my lunch) Except her twin bro, Siggy, manages to escape (and that’s the scene where I laughed my head off. Siggy gets out of reach of the pigman, who can’t climb and keeps calling him “Dinna,” begging Siggy to come down so “Piggy” can eat him, nice and gently:) Siggy flees to the countryside and begins to raise a rebellion against Conor and his crew. Meanwhile, Signy has her own problems back at the palace, dealing with her paranoid psychotic husband and mourning her family’s total annihilation. And folks, that’s just the first few chapters. There’s also a magic knife everyone wants, a shape-shifting cat woman, and loads of other “half-men” who are scary combinations of people, animals and machine. Plus, rampant violence, poverty, dead people hung by their feet, and some Norse gods running around. The story telling is difficult, with many voices chiming in, some in a bastardized Cockney accent. You’re either gonna love it or hate it, but I guarantee, if you make all the way to the end, you’ll never forget it.

I always enjoy it when a author tries something new, and Pete Hautman is always coming up with something different. He’s written realistic and fantasy-type stuff, and also novels for adults. And now a first-rate science fiction about the end of the world as we know it. In 2028, a huge flu hits the world and wipes out most of human-kind. There’s only two types of people left–those who were never exposed to the virus, and those few that lived through it, called Survivors. You can tell Survivors apart from others, because the flu leaves them all completely hairless and missing some vital human ability–their eyesight, hearing, or not being able to read or understand language anymore. This story is told by four teens who live on the edge of the Grand Canyon–Ceej and Tim, who are best friends, Harryette, Ceej’s sister and also a Survivor, and Isabella, a Hopi Indian who tries to lead them all to a mythical “hole” somewhere in the Canyon that will take them to another world where there is no flu. While they’re searching, they’re being pursued by the Kinkas, a nasty group of Survivors who think it’s their job to expose anyone they meet to the flu virus, so that only “pure” Survivors are left on the planet. A whole bunch of other stuff happens as well, but I hope I’ve hyped enough of Hole in the Sky to wet your whistle for some seriously good post-apocalyptic fiction!

Grad student Andrea Mitchell is screwed. She signed on to be part of a revolutionary time travel project where scientists have opened a portal into the 16th century. She had planned to live with and study the Sterkram clan of tribesman (think something similar to Mel Gibson and his crew in Braveheart) and write a book about their way of life that would change anthropology studies forever. But instead, she has been caught in a political power-play between the loyal but also murderous Sterkarms and the greedy corporate suits who are funding the study. The suits want her to teach them how to take advantage of the Sterkarms so that the natural resources of their unspoiled land can be taken, and the Sterkrams just want Andrea to stay on their side of the portal, marry one of their young men and forget all about things like running water and central heating. While Andrea tries to decide what to do, her Sterkarm boyfriend Per is badly hurt on a raid, and she convinces the suits to take him into the 21st century where he will receive better medical treatment. While there, Per discovers the suit’s evil plan and then…well…just imagine what happens when crafty 16th century barbarians clash with technologically advanced corporate moguls. The result isn’t pretty, people, but is it ever edge-of-your- seat exciting! A truly amazing sci-fi, historical adventure that could make a science fiction fan out of even hard core, realistic fiction reader me.