In a fictional island kingdom off the Irish coast in the 1880’s, young Conor Broekhart leads a charmed life. As the beloved son of the head of King Nicholas’s sharpshooters, Conor is treated like royalty himself. He plays and plots with Princess Isabella, and learns self-defense and aeronautical design at the knee of the king’s best friend and Parisian scientist Victor Vigny. Together, they dream of creating the first heavier-than-air flying machine that will catapult man into the heavens. But all those dreams come to an abrupt end the day teenage Conor accidentally witnesses the double murder of his king and his adored tutor. Framed for the murders by the traitorous commander of the king’s army, Hugo Bonvilain, Conor is condemned to rot in an inescapable prison while his parents and Isabella are led to believe he is dead. At first, Conor wishes that were the case. But slowly, his resolve to escape grows until he fashions an outrageous plan that will either win his freedom or take his life. It is impossible to dig or swim your way off the prison island of Little Saltee. But if Conor’s plan works, he’ll just take to the air and fly…this historically flavored fantasy is pure white-knuckled pleasure from start to finish. Full swash-buckling swordplay, dizzying rescues from great heights and breathtaking escapes, Airman takes off quickly and lands with a satisfying thump. If you enjoy the adventures of Alex Rider, Matt Cruse, or even the clever machinations of Andy Dufresne, the brilliant hero of Stephen King’s Shawshank Redemption, then you’re going to want to book a flight with Conor Broekhart.
Category: Spectacular Speculative Fiction
Science fiction and Fantasy Reads for Teens
Night Road by A.M. Jenkins
Whatever you do, don’t call them “vampires.†Why, they’re nothing like those cartoon-ish pasty-faced blood-suckers who hiss and turn into bats. Cole and his crew may be immortal and allergic to sunlight, but that’s about all they share in common with the murderous undead who haunt every strip mall multiplex screen. Instead, they call themselves “hemovores,†blood-eaters who got that way from a “smart virus†that rewired their systems to crave hemoglobin instead of hamburgers. Quiet and subtle, hemovores revere the humans they feed on, realizing that they would soon die without their life-giving blood. Now Cole, who after centuries still hasn’t fully adjusted to the hemovore life himself, must teach newly turned Gordon how to get around after dark. The best place to do that is the open road, where a new town every night guarantees that no one notices if a feed goes wrong. Except Gordon’s not exactly the most cooperative student. And, despite the decades under his belt, Cole is hardly a patient teacher. So when these two take a road trip together along with Cole’s wise-cracking friend Sandor, nothing goes as planned, and before long these hemovores are on the run—from each other. A moody and broody look at what it means to live (and drive) forever, this is the perfect choice for that next long car trip with your parents that feels ENDLESS.
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
In modern day L.A., Lark is a savvy, white-collar criminal trying to assemble a new crew to assist in his perfect plan-to-end-all-plans. Peabody is a tired middle-aged cop who cares more about his family than his dead-end job. And Anthony is a newly hired dogcatcher who’s just fallen in love. These three men couldn’t be more different. But their lives become intertwined when Peabody is called on to investigate the disappearance and deaths of several of Anthony’s kennel colleagues. Suddenly, L.A.’s dogcatchers are dropping like flies. But Anthony’s too ga-ga over his new flame to wonder if he’s next. If he only knew his girl’s true nature, he wouldn’t just be worried, he’d be outta there faster than you could say, “here, boy!†Because she wears fur under her silky smooth skin, and answers to Lark, who, besides being a criminal mastermind, also happens to be a werewolf bent on world domination. Anthony’s girl is just one of his many disciples. Anthony and Peabody don’t know it yet, but they’re about to come into uncomfortably close contact with some very sharp teeth! You follow me so far? Good, because that’s only the first twenty pages or so. What comes next is an intricately plotted dog-eat-dog tale of blood, money and fangs that defies definition. First time adult novelist Toby Barlow has written a romantic supernatural noir mystery (in blank verse, no less!) that will keep you guessing right up until the final dogfight. If you are addicted to Stephen King or devoted to Dean Koontz, then Sharp Teeth is right up your dark alley. A four-star thriller—go fetch ST from your nearest library or bookstore asap! This one can’t wait to be read in paperback, it’s that cool AND that hot!
Coraline: the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman, adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell
I was initially a little worried when I discovered there was going to be a graphic novel version of the Neil Gaiman insta-horror-classic, Coraline. Even though I neglected to post a review here of the original novel when it first came out (see original cover at the bottom), I absolutely loved it and still promote it like crazy to my students. Would creating a GN version enhance or destroy the black magic of the initial work? For those of you not in the know, the title character is an only child who lives on a rambling old country estate with her busy working parents. She is bored with her solitary life, wishes her parents would pay more attention to her, and longs for adventure. Then Coraline discovers a door in the old house that leads into another world that is a mirror-version of her own. The two parents in this world dote on her and hang on her every word, and the toys in her room in this world are far more interesting than the boring old toys in her real room. Except, sometimes they…move when Coraline isn’t looking, and instead of a dog or a cat to play with, there are big, black rats. Her attentive new parents are great—except they have black buttons instead of eyes, and keep wanting to sew buttons onto Coraline’s face, too. When Coraline decides she’d rather live her own world, the “other mother†gets angry and kidnaps her real mother and father. Now Coraline must return to the other side of the door and play a dangerous game with the other mother in order to 
save herself and her parents. My fears that the GN wouldn’t do justice to Gaiman’s work were groundless—P. Craig Russell’s illustrations were just right, and matched the creepy visions I had in my head after reading the original. Seeing the “other mother†on the page in all her black-buttoned glory was a sinister treat, and the scene when the “other father†shambles up the cellar stairs in pursuit of Coraline after she has ripped the buttons from his melting face is completely terrifying! I strongly recommend checking this one out if you loved the novel, or are just a fan of horror comics.
Bloodsong by Melvin Burgess
In a future dystopian London, peopled with human-animal hybrids and organic machines that can grow their own flesh, 15-year-old Sigurd is determined to recreate the peaceful kingdom his father Sigmund originated, which was bombed out of existence with his father’s assassination. Now England is ruled by a patchwork of squabbling warlords, and to unite them, Sigurd must make a great show of power. He does so by forging a sword from the shattered remnants of a magic knife that was gifted to his father by the god Odin himself, and slaying the terrifying, half-machine dragon Fafnir. He bathes in the monster’s blood, which makes his skin impermeable to gun or sword, except for one small spot between his shoulder blades. Once gifted with this near-immortality, he sets about his Herculean task, braving Hel-fire, the pain of the grave (and rising from the dead) and horrific battles, while always radiating calm and good cheer. But eventually, his big heart spells his doom when three women become determined to possess him—dead or alive. Does even a demi-god stand a chance against not just one but three scorned women? This brutally violent stand-alone sequel to the equally powerful Bloodtide is based on a 13th century Icelandic legend called the Volsunga saga, and therefore brimming with the sorts of bloody battles and high body count you would expect from a Viking epic. I love the transformative power of this modernized classic (which was one of my 2007 Top Ten), but with an ending worthy of the Saw movies, this is not even PG-13 fare. If you love myth-mashes, but dismemberments make you hurl, try Chris Wooding’s Poison or Donna Jo Napoli’s Sirena instead.
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
The Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
In this companion book to Pfeffer’s phenomenal Life As We Knew It, seventeen-year-old Alex Morales deals with the day-to-day drudgery of the apocalypse in New York City. An asteroid has struck the moon, nudging it closer to Earth and upsetting the balance of the tides. This causes tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, bringing civilization to a standstill worldwide. Alex, who lives on the upper West side of Manhattan, is trying to take care of his two younger sisters on his own, as his Mami stuck in Queens and his Papi is away in Puerto Rico. Like Miranda from LAWKI, Alex must make some tough choices as the new head of the family in order to make sure that he and his sisters survive, including breaking into other apartments in his building to forage for canned goods, and “body shopping†with his friend Kevin—which consists of picking over the ever growing number of corpses that litter the city streets for goods they can trade for food. Even as his life grows more and more surreal, Alex and his sisters cling to their Catholic faith and school to provide structure in a world gone completely mad. Will the siblings make it out of NYC alive? And if they do, what kind of world is waiting for them on the mainland? While I throughly enjoyed this novel, I have to admit that it didn’t strike the same chord in my heart as LAWKI. It may have something to do with the fact that in LAWKI, Miranda’s story is told in first person (“I said, I did”) and in TD&TG, Alex’s story is told in third person (“He said, he did.”) And maybe it strikes a little too close to home–living in NYC, it’s not fun imagining myself in Alex’s shoes and having to scavenge in my neighbor’s abandoned apartments for food! However, I still recommend you go out and get it a.s.a.p. Just keep a good supply of peanut M&M’s and bottled water handy…
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Lady’s maid Dashti may look meek, but her inner fortitude is far more than that of her fragile Lady Saren. When Lady Saren is condemned to seven years in a locked tower by her father for not marrying evil Lord Khaser, Dashti is the one who rations the food, sings the songs of healing to ease her lady’s anxiety, and chases the rats from their precious stores of food. When Lady Saren’s true love, Lord Tegus, comes calling through the tower’s only opening (a chamber pot dump hole), it is also Dashti who must speak to him, under her shy lady’s orders. After a few such intimate, whispered visits, Dashti is horrified to discover that she is in love with her lady’s man. She writes it all down in her Book of a Thousand Days; her forbidden thoughts of Tegus, her despair that her lady will ever come out of her depression, her fear that they will not survive the tower imprisonment. But survive they do, and before Dashti knows it, they are on to another adventure where she will need to call on the strength of her ancestors to keep them both alive. Finally, they come to the point where Dashti’s precious Book will either save their skins, or condemn Dashti to death. Will Dashti, a lowly mucker girl, be able to claim both her life and the love of a lord? This rarely told Grimm fairy tale, re-imagined by Hale to have taken place on the Mongolian steppes, is a sweeping romantic epic that will steal your heart even as it makes it race with excitement. It’s one of the best fractured fairy tales I’ve ever read, and the fact that Hale sets it in a real time and place makes it even more rich. Follow this one up with Donna Jo Napoli’s historically imagined Pied Piper story, Breath.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Oh, Harry, I’m gonna miss ya.
Like the rest of the country, I’ve been holed up with HP7 for the last few days, dying to know what happened to the Hogwarts crew, while simultaneously hoping this last helping of Harry would never end. I’ve not reviewed any of Harry’s adventures on RR before, as the books are so popular and well known, that there would have been little I could add to the enormous body of critical writing that already surrounds the best-selling series. But with the end of a series that has captivated teen imagination for as long as RR has been on the ‘net, I feel moved to add my two cents at last. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry continues the quest that he and Dumbledore began in Half-Blood Prince: find the remaining horcruxes that contained the tattered remnants of Voldemort’s black soul and destroy them. Joined by Ron and Hermione, Harry and his two BFFs try and puzzle out the obscure clues left them by Dumbledore about where to find the remaining cursed curios. In addition, Harry learns about a trio of objects known as The Deathly Hallows that, possessed together, are rumored to be able to defeat the Grim Reaper himself. Are these objects related to Harry’s quest? Can he use them to destroy the horcruxes? Or are they just a false trail laid by Dumbledore to confound Voldemort, who is hot on Harry’s tail? I can say little more without spoiling the ending for all four of the folks who haven’t read it yet, even though some eager beavers have already posted the entire plot summary on Wikipedia.
Though the outcome of the final tome is often in doubt, one thing remains constant—its length. Like it’s predecessors, Deathly Hallows is a doorstop of 759 pages. And I have to say, about 500 of those pages felt like filler. But when the action comes, it comes hard and fast and violent, and several key players in the Harry Potter epic (not unsurprisingly) lose theirlives. I’ll admit, I shed a tear or two. But, the ending, o the ending! Finally, finally ALL is revealed, including the most hotly debated topic since the end of Book 6
Now, what on earth is J.K. Rowling going to do with all her free time??
Fly on the Wall: how one girl saw EVERYTHING by e. lockhart
When sixteen year old Gretchen Yee casually wishes to be a fly on the wall of the boys’ locker room in order to see if they really are as moronic as they seem, she never expects the powers that be to take her up on it. But lo and behold, suddenly Gretchen (who loves Spiderman and has been reading The Metamorphasis by Kafka) has sprouted multiple legs, wings, and antennae. She has become exactly what she wished for, and in the week she calls the boys’ locker room home, when she’s not fighting the overwhelming fear that she may never be human again, she learns some very interesting facts about the opposite sex. Gretchen sees all their faults, flaws, and surprising strengths; sees her crush Titus stand up to bully Shane, sees boys get beat up as they shower up, and finds out first hand that they are as obsessed with their “gerkins†as girls are with their “biscuits.†Speaking of which, will Gretchen ever get her own “biscuits” back, and finally be able to tell Titus how much she digs him? It’s great to watch life from the wall, but when it’s time to come down, you have to act on what you’ve learned. Jewish/Chinese-American Gretchen, compulsive cartooner and artificial redhead, is a breath of fresh punk air in a pinky blush world of chickety-chick lit. I would totally love this bad-ass little pink book, even if it wasn’t lovingly set in my adopted hometown of NYC, and didn’t mention one of my favorite places of all time, The Angelika Film Center.
Devilish by Maureen Johnson
Jane’s mousy best friend Ally makes a dangerous deal with beautiful and manipulative Lanalee, demon-in-training, in order to gain a little popularity and erase her Catholic high school’s memory of her unfortunate public projectile vomiting incident. But Jane isn’t about to let her best bud sell her eternal soul for some cool clothes and a few high quality hair extensions. When she challenges Lanalee (who she doesn’t believe is REALLY a demon) and offers her own soul in exchange for Ally’s, all hell (literally) breaks loose. How do you fight a cupcake-wielding she-devil? Why, with more sweets, of course, especially chocolate kisses! This sly, sarcastic supernatural story is both funnier and darker than Johnson’s other works, which are also all pretty great. If you like your chick-lit. flavored with a little smoke and brimstone, then Devilish will certainly light your fire!
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Though there is some buzz in the news about a meteor striking the moon, Miranda is too busy worrying about her stepmother’s new baby and final exams to really pay attention. But when the moon is struck so hard that it moved off its orbit, changing its gravitational pull, Miranda has no choice but to sit up and take notice. Because suddenly, the ocean’s tides are turning into tsunamis, earthquakes are leveling entire cites, and volcanoes are spouting deadly ash that is robbing the earth of it’s precious sunlight. In Miranda’s small town in Pennsylvania, the effects aren’t as immediate, but they are just as deadly. Grocery stores are emptied and not re-stocked, gas prices soar, and friendly neighbors turn hostile as each family stockpiles supplies to get them through the winter. Things Miranda has always taken for granted, like clean laundry, chocolate, and prom, have suddenly become things of the past. This is no sensationalistic “Day After Tomorrow,” in fact, what Miranda’s deeply felt, doubt-ridden, and utterly realistic journal entries most reminded me of was The Diary of Anne Frank – a thoughtful compilation of everyday details about what it is like to have your life whittled away bit by bit until one day you look around and realize that life as you knew it had vanished forever. This is a beautifully written, timeless, timely tale that will stay with you long after the cover is closed. My heart still hurts. Magnificent.
Rash by Pete Hautman
In the second half of the twenty first century, Bo Marsten lives in the United Safe States of America, where everything is so safe, it’s completely mind-numbing. To play any sports, you have to wear about 50 pounds of safety gear, and if you call someone a name or, god forbid, get in an actual fistfight; you’re looking at a minimum of two years jail time. The laws are so strict because in the future, the USSA runs on penal work. Everyone doing time works on road crews or food factories. When Bo, who has a few anger management issues, is accused of giving his classmates a psychosomatic rash (because they’re supposedly terrified of him) he is sentenced to several months of pepperoni shooting in a Canadian pizza factory. There, he is noticed by Hammer, the factory boss who also coaches a highly illegal tackle football team. Football is Bo’s first taste of freedom and danger, and he is surprised at how much he likes the rough game. But when his term is up, how can Bo return to the claustrophobic safety of regular society? Which is more important? Being safe, or feeling free? Riffing on everything from global commercialization to political correctness, the always brilliant and multifaceted Hautman is at the top of his game in Rash, a satirical, pointed comedy chock full of intelligent laughs.
Beating Heart by A.M. Jenkins
Cora’s a ghost who’s been haunting her house ever since she was accidentally murdered back in 1897. Evan is a flesh-and-blood boy, who just moved into Cora’s old house with his mom and little sis. While they haven’t formally met, they’re VERY interested in each other. Cora can’t keep her wispy hands off the first hottie she’s seen since the olden days, and Evan can’t stop dreaming about a beautiful fair-haired girl who comes to him at night and gets him all hepped up! But when Evan brings his real girlfriend Carrie over and things get a little hot and heavy, Cora reminds them both with a very real sign that a little kissing can sometimes lead to places you’d never choose to go. A great ghost story about how wrongs can be righted and the right message gotten — even if it’s a few centuries late!
Poison by Chris Wooding
Poison is a cynical girl who doesn’t believe in fairy tales. But when her little sister Azalea is stolen by the evil Scarecrow and replaced with a black-eyed changeling, Poison is willing to do whatever it takes – even travel to the world of Phaerie – to get her back. But the further into Phaerie she goes – past the Bone Witch, the Spider Queen, even the flame-haired, fickle-hearted Lord of Phaerie himself, the more she despairs of ever finding her sister. And then she discovers a plot so diabolical, so gruesome, that it will turn upside down and inside out everything she knew to be good and true – forever. Just the way author Chris Wooding takes everything YOU know about the tired fractured fairy take genre and turns into something so new and different, you’ll be imbibing Poison on a regular basis!