YA

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

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BLOOD_OF_O_final_cvrWhat a great finale for a wonderful series!  I liked the books quite a lot when I first read them as they were released, and I liked them even more reading the series straight through.  It became more obvious how the characters developed, how the team found strength in each other, and how the stakes were raised higher than ever in the battle between Greek and Roman demigods.

For the first time, we get chapters from Reyna and Nico’s perspectives.  My love for Nico has hopefully already been established, so it is no surprise that I love his chapters.  But Reyna is also amazing, and my love for her grew exponentially now that I read all the books in order and could remember her better.  She doesn’t take center stage until this last book, and boy, does she ever!  I was a little disappointed when seventh-wheel Leo found love, thus “proving” that heroes are only “worthy” if they also have a love story.  But Reyna gives us a hero who is explicitly told that romantic love will not save her…and she’s like, well, that’s disappointing, but I’m going to keep being awesome anyway.  Truly, she is the hero we do not deserve.   Continue reading →

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

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The_House_of_HadesOkay, THIS is my favorite book in the Heroes of Olympus series.  It’s divided into two plots lines, one that follows Percy and Annabeth’s dangerous adventures in Tartarus, and another that follows our remaining seven demigods (plus Nico!) in the Mediterranean.  While I like following Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, and Leo, it is undoubtedly the Tartarus story that makes this my favorite.

Percy and Annabeth are such a great couple, and that’s largely because they are both so well-developed as individuals.  We know that as readers, but Percy and Annabeth know that about each other.  They respect each other’s skills and easily accept each other’s help.  They are a team, and that is the only way they are able to cross the increasingly horrifying world of Tartarus.  Well, that and Bob.   Continue reading →

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

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Okay, so in my review of The Son of Neptune, I said The Mark of Athena was my favorite of the Heroes of Olympus series, and that’s not quite true.  The end of this book is phenomenal, but I found the first half to be a bit slow.  It’s fun to have the seven demigods together, and I liked the story with Narcissus and Echo, but mostly I couldn’t wait for them to leave the United States.  Once they did, the real fun began!

Annabeth is the center of this story, and rightfully so, since she’s been absent throughout the previous two books.  I’m so in love with her character, and how her heroism is based on intelligence instead of brute force.  Her plot line seeking the Athena Parthenos and outwitting Arachne is so good!  If only Riordan would create an entire series from her point of view.  Or a girl in general!  He’s really very good at writing from a female perspective, so I’m anxiously awaiting the…hm…Chinese mythology starring a girl demigod?  Bring it, Riordan!

The rest of the characters are interesting, and it’s always fun to see how they interact with each other in new ways.  But for me, The Mark of Athena is all about Annabeth, so this review will be the same.  Continue reading →

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

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Heroes_of_Olympus_-_The_Son_of_NeptuneI’ve loved rereading the Heroes of Olympus series all at once.  Back when I was waiting for a new book year-to-year, I don’t think I was very impressed by Son of Neptune.  It took me a long time to adjust to Hazel and Frank, because I’m always skeptical of new characters introduced in a world I already love.  But after reading the series to completion, I really enjoyed going back and meeting them again, this time with fondness.

Hazel is far cooler than I remember giving her credit for.  I also really appreciate that her secret is exposed quickly.  In The Lost Hero, I remember being annoyed at Piper and Leo’s drawn out internal struggles.  Finally, a character who shares what’s wrong with her, trusts that her friends will still be her friends, and continues on with the quest despite valid concerns as to what will happen to her.  She’s got such a healthy outlook on the world.   Continue reading →

First & Then by Emma Mills

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23310751This book was so cute!  And despite our protagonist Devon’s love for all things Jane Austen, I was two-thirds through the book before I realized I was reading a Pride and Prejudice retelling.  Maybe I am super dumb, but I like to think that it was also pretty subtle.

You’ve got the proud Ezra with barely any facial expressions but ‘apathetic,’ and you’ve got the prejudiced Devon, who cannot believe what a jerk he is.  But as they are thrown in each other’s paths more often, they learn more about each other and realize they were wrong about their judgments.  Okay, that doesn’t sound subtle.  What Mills does so well is incorporate so much more into her story.  There’s Foster, Devon’s cousin whose addict mom sends him to stay with her, giving her the little brother she never wanted.  There’s Cas and Lindsay, and Devon’s growing awareness that just because the boy she’s crushing on likes The Perfect Girl doesn’t mean Devon has to hate her.  There’s Devon working through her fear of the future by getting excited about college at Reeding.   Continue reading →

Armada by Ernest Cline

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The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

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nessI really enjoyed this book – a satire on all the “Chosen One” YA books, where teenage angst is explained via the metaphor of soul-eating ghosts or romantic vampires.  In The Rest of Us Just Live Here, it’s only the indie kids who have to deal with the supernatural:  Mikey and his friends are struggling to survive their very realistic ordeals:  anxiety attacks and OCD compulsions, eating disorders, overbearing parents, and….okay, so Jared isn’t so normal.  He’s a gay God of the Cats, and he is awesome.

Ness starts each chapter with a summary of what crazy shenanigans the indie kids are getting up to–what the plot of a stereotypical YA book would be.  For instance, Chapter 7 begins:

Chapter the seventh, in which Satchel and the rest of the indie kids share their grief for Kerouac by throwing stones soulfully into a nearby lake; wandering off on her own, Satchel takes the amulet in her hand and has a vision of the single most handsome boy she’s ever seen in her life; Dylan, finding her, takes the opportunity to kiss her, and though his lips taste of honey and vegan patchouli, she pushes him away, revealing what the amulet told her; “The Immortals are here,” she says.

And then the chapter is actually about Mikey visiting his grandma in a nursing home and coping with the fact that Alzheimer’s is horrifying.  It’s a neat set-up, where every once in a while Satchel will stumble through the main plot on her wild quest, but Mikey, Meredith, Henna, and Jared are unconcerned.  They’ve got their own issues to deal with.

Mikey’s family is really something special (in the YA world).  I loved the depth of their dysfunction.  His dad is a barely functioning alcoholic, his mom is an ambitious politician, his older sister died for three minutes after her anorexia put her into cardiac arrest, and his younger sister is obsessed with boy bands.  Mikey himself has an anxiety disorder.  I really loved that, although there were hints of his parent’s underlying love for him, relationships weren’t resolved tidily by the end of the book.  The best thing for him really is to leave for college and put some distance between himself and his parents.

I also loved how Ness dealt with Mikey’s anxiety.  It was crushing to see him get trapped in loops of washing his hands.  It was reassuring to see his friends help him in his moments of weakness.  And (especially as a counselor) it was awesome to see him admit he needed professional help and started seeing a therapist.

I really enjoyed The Rest of Us Just Live Here.  It was a great reminder that even those without cosmic responsibility have an important life….and that if you’re ever going to have a character who is a minor deity, he should always be a God of Cats.   Continue reading →

The Edge by Roland Smith

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The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow

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What a strange book!  It just…didn’t do anything that I expected it to do. 518Eq5pqzcL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_ I was anticipating a Hunger Games-style revolution, but…nope.  And I think I love it?  Because it was so unexpected, and I really like when books surprise me.  But because it’s outside the established narrative, my insides are all confused!  Probably you should also read it and draw your own conclusions, but here are a few thoughts anyway:

The setting is awesome.  400+ years in the future, an AI named Talis has taken over control of the planet, ruling with a semi-benevolent but iron hand.  To keep peace between nations (in a world where water is scarce so tensions run high), all rulers must send a child to specific Preceptures where they will learn to run nations…and be held hostage.  If a nation goes to war, their child is murdered.

Greta is a princess hostage, and until Elian comes, she never bothers to question the system.  It’s all she knows.  But then she begins to question things, and this is where I thought things would be typical, and they would revolt and start a new world order.  But…everything EXCEPT that happened.  There’s a revolution, of sorts, and also torture, stalemates, negotiating, AIs, and a LOT of ambiguity.  This is the book’s strong suit, I think.

Talis (who steps into the story about halfway through) is, like I said earlier, a brutal but semi-benevolent AI ruling the world.  He’s also hilarious and snarky, and I couldn’t help but like him while being terrified of his every move.  Then there’s the Abbot, an AI who runs the Prefecture and tortures students, but who saves Greta and is kind of a good guy?  And the humans!  They’re a mess!  They also torture people, hold people hostage, and murder people.  So….in the question of whether humans or AI should rule the world, this book answers with a resounding “¯\_(ツ)_/¯.”  And I like that.  Also I really like Talis, did I mention that?  Ambiguous AI are my new interest, apparently.   Continue reading →

Winter by Marissa Meyer

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Winter-finalOkay, this might be awful, but I wasn’t blown away by Winter, the last installment in The Lunar Chronicles.  I think maybe it was too long?  All the action takes place on Luna, but there’s just so much back and forth and splitting up and reuniting, and…I don’t know!  I liked it, but I wasn’t desperate to read it the way I expected.

The characters remain amazing.  Meyer has found a way to make her heroines and heroes both strong and vulnerable.  The women are especially powerful – the final confrontation between Cinder and Levana was an epic standoff…between two women!  That doesn’t happen nearly enough.  I also really liked Winter, and how her mental breakdowns were viewed as weakness by ignorant bad guys, but as strength by those who know her.  And Thorne remains the dashing snarky hero of my heart.   Continue reading →