Rick Riordan posted on Twitter last night that he just finished his draft of a new Camp Half-Blood book and was sending it off to his editor. It is on schedule to be released this Fall.
I predict that it’s going to focus on a new set of campers. (Reading Last Olympian’s final chapters gives you some strong hints.)
Superhero books (not comic books/graphic novels – they’ve always been there) are continuing to increase in popularity/selection. I feel Brian Singer is part to thank for that with the first X-Men movie and Superman Returns. Superheroes are grittier, more realistic, and don’t always run around in their pajamas.
In Powerless, main character Daniel moves to a new town and struggles to make friends (does every MG/YA hero need to re-locate before the plot can begin? Is it a symbol of unease?). He befriends a group of kids who share a secret – they are Supers. Some can fly, others can hear ants digging holes, and one just smells really, really bad.
The hook for this superhero novel is that at age 13 the kids routinely lose their powers. This is what separates it from most books, where the kids traditionally grow into their powers and responsibilities. The transition into adulthood is represented here by a loss of memory and abilities.
What made the book for me is the villain. I don’t want to reveal too much because figuring out the villain’s motivation is central to enjoyment of the story.
Superhero tropes run rampant through the book. Matthew Cody knows his stuff. Another fun aspect is that Daniel, a powerless individual, has Sherlock Holmes as a role model. Daniel adopts some of Holmes’ philosophies and uses detective skills. Since I am a much bigger fan of Batman than Superman, I appreciated a hero who put clues together and didn’t just fly right by with superspeed.
Powerless is a fun novel for the middle grade readers, so junior high librarians would be wise to put it on their shelves.
Frank Beddor was the first author that I hosted in my library, so the Looking Glass Wars has a bit of nostalgia for me. When I read Beddor’s books, I can hear his voice coming through (and when the narrative gets excited, I remember when he jumped on a desk and yelled to the kids).
Arch Enemy has the same fun from the other books. Hatter Madigan shows up (I’d be angry if he didn’t) complete with his Millinery arsenal. As in Seeing Redd, we witness more of the Hatter’s family life. This book definitely has an emphasis on developing the character of Homburg Molly. She’s the one to show up in England and interact with the Liddells and Charles Dodgson.
We get to see more of Dodgson’s day-to-day life. What makes it LGW, though, is when the assassin with razor blade fingerprints shows up to harass the Liddells.
You definitely need to read the first two books in order to understand Arch Enemy. It had been a couple of years since I did, so it took me some time to recall the plotline of the others. Beddor does a good job of re-describing characters but does not spend much time re-telling history.
If you’re a fan of the caterpillar oracle council, you get to see the whole rainbow discussing the fate of Wonderland. Part of the intrigue is trying to figure out the caterpillars’ motivation. Pay attention to them, though, because their part grows throughout the book.
For me the ending seemed kind of rushed. I was reading, thinking, “There’s ten pages left…how is this going to resolve?” I pictured Alyss and Dodge as in their teens but then some artwork inside the book makes Dodge look more Han Solo-ish. Also, there’s a marriage proposal brewing that came out of nowhere. Sure, it adds to the relationship with Alyss and Dodge, but it seemed kindof tacked on to me. I’d be interested to hear other people’s thoughts.
This is an enjoyable book and fans of the series won’t be disappointed. It says that it’s the conclusion of the trilogy, but Beddor left the world wide open for more exploration. Expect more Hatter comics and online games.
I welcomed in 2010 (or MMX, as I’m going to call it) by finishing Heist Society by Ally Carter. I’m a huge fan of the Gallagher Girls series, so I was very interested to see how this new set of books would play out.
It is a new series, to be clear. Cammie does not show up at all, although I think a Cammie vs. Kat showdown (in the same degree as a Batman vs. Superman, Spider-man vs. Wolverine conflict) is in order. Kat demonstrates the same strong protagonist characteristics as Cammie. I would argue Kat shows even more.
The set-up is that Kat has left the family business of thieving and has tried to pull off the ultimate con: live a normal life at a boarding school. News of her father’s trouble reaches her and she must get back into the game to save her dad.
If you are a fan of movies like Oceans 11 or The Italian Job, this is a must-read. Kat has to assemble her crew and each contributes their special abilities towards the goal of robbing the Henley. You’ve got your tech person, your pickpocket, and your diplomatic “face”. How the crew cases the museum is pretty funny and the tone highlights the fact that these characters are not the villains of the book, even if they are trying to steal thousands of dollars worth of paintings. There is genuine concern for the characters’ safety, but not to the extreme of Hunger Games/Catching Fire.
I feel like Kat has more focus on her objectives than Cammie did. Cammie could be distracted very easily by Zach and Josh. Kat still has two boys to try and figure out, but her long-time friend Hale outclasses Nick the pickpocket by far. (I know that this point will become an issue of debate in February when Heist Society hits the shelves, but come on! Hale is awesome.)
The book does have a more mature feel than the Gallagher Girls, a fact enhanced by Kat’s level of maturity. It’s not like there’s any questionable content; you can just tell that Kat has seen more of the world. The author mixes references to historical events and actual locations with fictional characters, locales, and pieces of art. It’s a great world that Ally Carter has envisioned.
What’s really exciting is to see Ally Carter mature as a writer with each book she creates. It would be easy for a series writer to slack off with one of the books ([cough]Final Warning[/cough]) and many times I finish book one to a series thinking that more plot could have gone into the first book. Heist Society has great pacing and can stand alone as its own book. You definitely want to hang out with the likes of Uncle Eddie and Bobby Bishop more (and figure out who framed Kat’s dad), but you could stop at Heist Society and know you’ve enjoyed a complete story.
I wouldn’t recommend stopping after just one book, though. Ally’s currently working on book two while we wait for GG4: Only the Good Spy Young to come out in June. Make sure you grab a copy of Heist Society in February (librarians, you’ll want multiple copies).
Over the weekend, when I wasn’t figuring out Google Wave, I finished Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz. Stormbreaker (as well as Haddix’s Among the Hidden) was the first YA book I read as a junior high teacher and it helped me to see how that market of books has developed over the years. If you remember my review of Ghost in the Machine by Patrick Carman, I made reference to how much I enjoyed Scorpia (my favorite of the series) and how Ark Angel was a letdown for me. (Yes, I’ve read Snakehead.)
As I began Crocodile Tears, I thought, “Can this get me back from ‘I enjoy the series’ to ‘I rave about the series’?”
I love how Horowitz starts out the novels with an opening scene much like a James Bond movie. We see minor characters involved in some sort of trauma, introducing a sliver of the main conflict. We also don’t see Alex Rider, for the most part. Chapter one gets you hooked with a disaster at a nuclear power plant. A charity swoops in to help immediately and we are instantly suspicious that the charity may have known ahead of time when the disaster was going to happen.
I was nervous, at first. I’m a huge supporter of helping out wherever you can, even internationally, so I was hoping that Horowitz would not paint a jaded view on aid organizations. There’s a great conversation where Alex Rider is defending people who donate because it’s the right thing to do, not because they’re playing some kind of game.
Desmond McCain is a good villain in the spy movie sense. There are some times where the cheaper, easier way to win would be to just kill Alex and be done with it. Nope. Just like it’s mentioned in Pixar’s Incredibles, the villain monologues and explains the plan, trusting the henchmen to finish the job. Not the most logical way to enact your evil schemes, but it definitely fits the style.
A student and I had debated on whether Alex Rider had actually killed anyone in his books. The villains pursue him to the “Captain Ahab” level of obsession to their own demise. In this one it’s pretty clear: bad guy is going to kill Alex, Alex kills him first – but it’s under a spy code of morality.
Alex is angst-ier this time around.
Something that I had lost sight of is that the entire series has just been one year in Alex’s life. In other words, he has missed a TON of school. Crocodile Tears highlights this; the adults finally realize that this 14 year-old should probably attend a full day of school from time to time.
It’s definitely not the end to the series. There is still room for Alex to grow throughout the years. Crocodile Tears is an enjoyable read. (I’m still biased towards Scorpia, but I’m excited to see where the series goes.)
There are many books with the title Way of the Warrior, so if you want to read this book, make sure it’s the book by Andrew Matthews.
I picked up this book because it was a short read. After a big epic-type book like Leviathan, I wanted a book that I could speed through. Also, despite their popularity, there are not many stories about samurai in the YA market (or at least ones that promise a little bit of realism). I started it wondering how authentic the book would be to 16th century Japanese lifestyle.
The Way of the Warrior by Andrew Matthews is the story of Jimmu, a 10 year-old boy whose father dies in the first chapter of the book. Jimmu is then taken in by Nichiren, his father’s bodyguard. The set-up for the quest is that they will search for Lord Ankan, the person responsible for destroying Jimmu’s family.
The book reads like a good samurai movie, such as Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai or Hiroshi Inagaki’s Musashi Miyamoto. Because the book is so short, the action sequences move very quickly. It’s not these long, drawn-out Hollywood scenes. One or two sword slashes determine the end of a duel. Something that I did not expect was who would live and who would die by the end of the book. I figured, “Hey. This character has a name, we know his background; he must be…” and then the character was dead on the ground. That kept me guessing and really added to my enjoyment of the story.
Characters that I was pretty certain would make it were the rulers from that time period. I knew that Tokugawa Ieyasu would make it since he eventually helped unite most of Japan. I’ll be honest with you, though. Most of my knowledge of 16th century Japan comes from playing Kessen on the PS2, so I had to check my facts with a little research.
For being such a short story, the characters do develop a little. It’s not all swordfights; there are traces of dialogue (although the conversation sometimes ended in swords being drawn).
Final verdict: I think it’s an enjoyable read, much better than most books that length.
This is one that I had been waiting for for a long time. In my opinion there are not enough books out there about giant robots.
In addition, there are many more books about World War II than World War I. I wonder if it’s because more veterans from WWII are alive, or if our perceptions of the war have clearer boundaries between right and wrong, or maybe it’s because Indiana Jones fought Nazis and we all want to be like Harrison Ford.
Leviathan is a steampunk version of World War I. The Clankers (Westerfeld has such a knack for fun to say words) consist of the Austrians, Germans, and Ottoman Empire. Alek is a Clanker, trained in the art of fighting with giant robots. Steampunk is a subgenre of sci-fi, with the technology being more like Jules Verne and from that transition into the 20th century. The Clanker mechs run off of kerosene, steam, an a whole lot of levers and gears.
The other side fights with genetically engineered whales. I mean, obviously.
You do have the two perspectives, one protagonist from Clanker, the other from Darwinist, and of course they’re going to cross paths – this is a YA book. Deryn has a whole Mulan thing going on, hiding the fact that she’s a girl so that she can enlist for the Darwinist forces. We’ve seen that plot hook done many times before, but it’s a necessity if you’re talking British military from 1914. We’ve also seen the shipwrecked airship mixed with a feisty female scientist, like Ken Oppel’s Airborn series.
Even though many parts of Westerfeld’s book are tropes used in other stories, Westerfeld still puts his fun spin on them for an enjoyable book. Another fun aspect is looking up the real life events and people from World War I to further explore this alternate history. It is a series; I am anxiously awaiting book two. The first booktalks today for book one drew a lot of student interest.
I’ll be honest: when I got an advanced reading copy of The Maze Runner, it was in a bundle with Catching Fire. Me being the Hunger Games fan that I am, I went straight for Catching Fire. I set aside Maze Runner for a little bit. To be fair to James Dashner, I didn’t want to read it so close to another arena survival book that I knew I would obsess over.
I did pick up Maze Runner and enjoyed it. The focus is not so much on nature survival as it is on trying to figure out why the teens are in the maze. Protagonist Thomas has had his memory wiped and wakes up in a box. When the box opens, he is in The Glade, a place for Peter Pan-esque Lost Boys to congregate. Thomas gets curious about the maze and wants to be a Runner to help map out the pathways and perhaps lead the other teens out of the maze.
It is a definite first book to a series. A majority of the book is focused on setting up this strange world and building intrigue into who the creators of the maze are. There are some action sequences throughout, like facing off against maze denizens such as the Grievers, but the big action sequences are saved for the end.
If you are a fan of James Bond, this is a book for you.
Where do all of those supervillains learn their tricks? The Higher Institute of Villainous Education offers many courses that would make other schools cringe. Otto is joined by other students who show promise at becoming villains as they try and figure out exactly why the school was formed.
One of the funnier scenes in the book is when some of the older students are talking with each other about the main enemy agent. He always has a similar style and demeanor, but his face always changes. This is in direct reference to the James Bond movies, parodying how the main character is played by different actors.
Much of the book revolves around different tests, like trying to swing across a pit of spikes using grapple gloves or discovering a way to amplify a superweapon. Where the action really picks up is when Otto and his circle of allies decide to escape from the island compound.
H.I.V.E. is a fun, light-hearted adventure with some larger than life scenes that many junior highers will enjoy.
Scholastic is all over Facebook announcing that there will be a Hunger Games movie scheduled for 2011. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I would like to see it scheduled for summer, like a blockbuster, instead of the normal winter release dates for YA books-turned movies.
You can find more info at the IMDb and the Scholastic page. It’s interesting seeing the illustrations of the characters.
You can also check out the game here.
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