Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

Pages: 197
Intended Audience: Tweens and up
Genre: Graphic novel / Real life
Notes for Parents: None.

The Inside Cover

Three weeks.
Two sisters. One car.
A True Story.
Raina can’t wait to be a big sister. But once Amara is born, things aren’t quite how she expected them to be. Amara is cute, but she’s also a cranky, grouchy baby, and mostly prefers to play by herself. Their relationship doesn’t improve much over the years. But when a baby brother enters the picture, and later, when something doesn’t seem right between their parents, they realize they must figure out how to get along. They are sisters, after all.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:
While this is considered a companion novel to Telgemeier’s earlier graphic novel, Smile, it is a stand-alone story.

What’s good?

As she was in Smile, Raina is delightfully goofy and very relatable. Her sister, Amara, is both annoying and deviously amusing – as any good sister should be. The colour drawings are bright and bold, and wonderfully expressive. Although it’s almost 200 pages, this graphic novel is a quick and easy read, fun, and funny.
Best Part: Mango.

What isn’t good?

For the most part, the story is very simple, with a few complications coming right at the end. I wish the author would have explored those later ideas a little more (unless, perhaps, that’s being saved for another book?).
Worst part: None.

Recommendation þþþþo

Charming, funny, and very reminiscent of my own childhood family road trips, this graphic novel is definitely recommended.

Telgemeier, Raina. Sisters. New York: Graphix, 2014

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Pages: 404
Intended Audience: Teens
Genre: Fantasy / Adventure
Notes for Parents: Some mild language, graphic scenes, and violence.

The Inside Cover

When magic has gone from the world, and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She does not come to kill, but to win her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition to find the greatest assassin in the land, she will become the King’s Champion and be released from prison.
Her name is Celaena Sardothien.
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her.
And a princess from a foreign land will become the one thing Celaena never thought she’d have again: a friend.
But something evil dwells in the castle—and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying, horribly, one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival—and a desperate quest to root out the source of the evil before it destroys her world.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

The author was just 16-years-old when she published an early draft of Throne of Glass on the FictionPress website. “Many years and revisions later, Sarah is delighted to be publishing the final version of Throne of Glass as her debut novel.” This is the first book in a series.

What’s good?

Good pacing and lots of action headline this fantasy adventure. The premise is unique and quite daring – a young, female assassin is rescued from a work prison so she can be part of a competition that will determine who will be the king’s own assassin. A strong female protagonist fronts a cast of likeable characters. Mystery swirls strongly as a string of murders in the palace and the discovery of mystical symbols creates loads of tension and suspense.
Best Part: Chaol.

What isn’t good?

A few inconsistencies distracted from what could have been a crisp, original story. There are no guns (invented in the 14^th century), but Calaena plays a piano (invented in the 18^th century) and eats gummies (invented in the 1920s) and says things like “shove it up you’re a**.” The author’s habit of describing people according to how good-looking they are was annoying. But my biggest issue was the main character. It’s difficult to see 18-year-old famed and feared assassin Celaena as cold and calculating, or even capable of hurting someone, when she hardly trains, she obsesses with her appearance, and she never actually defeats anyone.

Worst part: The cover of the edition I read. (There's an alternate cover that I'll post here that's way cooler.)

Recommendation þþþoo

This story had so much potential! This could bode well for the series, but as a stand-alone story, it’s ultimately about an assassin who never actually proves herself. The romance is dry, the adventure is fleeting, and the mystery fades by the end. However, having said all that, it was entertaining and easy to read. Recommended.

Maas, Sarah J. Throne of Glass. New York: Bloomsbury, 2012.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Pages: 260
Intended Audience: Teens and mature tweens
Genre: Romance/Urban Adventure
Notes for Parents: Has some mature scenes and language

The Back Cover

Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

Author Rachel Cohn wrote Lily’s chapters, and David Levithan wrote Dash’s chapters.

What’s good?
An interesting premise, likeable characters, and good pacing make this a quick and fairly easy read. The writing is first-rate, ornamented with a sophisticated vocabulary and witty dialogue. The story has even amounts of adventure, romance, and humor, with a few philosophical discussions thrown in for good measure. The plot builds to a respectable climax and comes to a satisfying end.
Best Part: “…all the wood had the weight of card catalogs and the fabric seemed soaked in wine. Knee-high sculptures perched in corners and by the fireplace, while jacketless books crowded on shelves, peering down like old professors too tired to speak to one another.” (Dash describing Great-aunt Ida’s parlor, page 149-150)

What isn’t good?

Many of the scenarios felt gimmicky, the plot felt forced, and the teen voices were pretentious, especially Dash who was often arrogant and occasionally rude. The “dog in the park” incident was ridiculous.
Worst part: “She was far from a wee timorous beastie…” (page 217)

Recommendation þþþoo

It read like a book about teenagers written by adults. They were too witty, too clever, and the timing was all too perfect. Nevertheless, I was entertained. Marginally recommended.

Cohn, Rachel and David Levithan. Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares. New York: Ember, 2010.