Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow

Pages: 293

Intended Audience:  Mature Teens

Genre: Supernatural Science Fiction

Notes for parents: Coarse language and scenes of violence

The Back Cover

Dad? Zombie.

Mom? Long gone.

Me? Well, that’s the scary part.

The Real World is a frightening place. Just ask sixteen-year-old orphan Dru Anderson, a tough girl who has taken down her fair share of bad guys. She’s armed, dangerous, and ready to kill first and ask questions later. So it’s gonna take a while to figure out who she can trust…

Dru Anderson has been “strange” for as long as she can remember, traveling from town to town with her father to hunt the things that go bump in the night. It’s a weird life, but a good one—until it all explodes in an icy, broken-down Dakota town, when a hungry zombie busts through her kitchen door. Alone, terrified, and trapped, Dru’s going to need every inch of her wit and training to stay alive. The monsters have decided to hunt back—and this time, Dru’s on their menu. Chances of survival? Slim to none.

If she can’t last until sunup, it’s game-over.

What the Back Cover doesn’t tell you:

This is the first book of a series. Dru and her father are paranormal hunters. When she loses her dad (I’ll let you read about how that happens), she has to figure out on her own how to escape the strange creatures that are hunting her. She soon learns that there is a lot more to the Real World than she thought.

What’s good?

The story is fresh. Dru is a kick-butt character with a long list of skills and a quick wit. The supporting characters, including Graves and Christophe are well-drawn and interesting. The setting is harsh and well-suited to the cold evil that lurks after dark.  

Best part: The flaming dog.

What’s not so good?

The story is slow. While there are definitely some exciting parts, I found I had to slog through a lot of banter to get there. Also, I’m not found of a lot of her word choices. Her use of uncommon phrases like “water plashed,” “gormless idiots,” and “barked my hip,” felt awkward and a bit pretentious since it was supposedly coming from a sixteen-year-old. As well, I found the author’s overuse of religious curse words bordered on offensive.

Worst part: Ineffective similes and metaphors.

Recommendations þþþoo

It was good, but sluggish. The story itself was suspenseful and the plot was quite unique. Hopefully the pace picks up in future books in the series.

St. Crow, Lili. Strange Angels. New York: Razor Bill, 2009.

The Morganville Vampires: Vol. 1 by Rachel Caine

Pages:  452

Intended Audience: Mature Teens

Genre: Supernatural Science Fiction

Notes for parents: There is strong language, violence, and other mature themes.

The Back Cover

GLASS HOUSES

Morganville is a small college town in the heart of Texas that has its share of quirky characters—and some evil ones too. When student Claire Danvers moves off campus into one of Morganville’s oldest houses, she finds that her roommates don’t show many signs of life. But they’ll have Claire’s back when the town’s deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood.

THE DEAD GIRLS’ DANCE

Claire Danvers has her share of challenges—like living among creatures of the night. On the upside, she has a great roommate (who tends to disappear at sunup) and a new boyfriend. Now a fraternity is throwing its annual Dead Girls’ Dance and—surprise!—Claire and her equally outcast friend have been invited. When they find out why, all hell breaks loose, because this time both the living and the dead are ready to tear up the night.

What the Back Cover doesn’t tell you:

GLASS HOUSES

This volume covers the first two books in the series, originally published in 2006 and 2007. Sixteen-year-old Claire is super smart and starting university. Her parents don’t want her to go too far, so they send her to a state college in the small town of Morganville to get a little experience being away from home before going off to a bigger school. It turns out Morganville is populated by bullies, crooked cops, and a lot of vampires.

THE DEAD GIRLS’ DANCE

The description of this second story leaves out pretty much everything! The dance is a blip in the story. The real story is about Shane’s father coming to town looking to avenge the deaths of his daughter and wife. Shane struggles with his part in his father’s plans.

What’s good?

GLASS HOUSES

Caine’s characterization is fantastic. She does a great job of establishing Claire as a sympathetic heroine right from the start. Her roommates at the Glass House are vivid and very likeable, and Monica and the rest of the bad people are wonderfully believable, despite the fairly stereotyped personalities. The story’s pacing barely affords a moment to breathe, and the capacity for violence adds suspense and a considerable shock value. Besides the violence, there is a fair amount of other mature content, but it’s never gratuitous and complements the story well.

THE DEAD GIRLS’ DANCE

The tireless pace continues in The Dead Girls’ Dance. Several new characters are introduced and well done. The city of Morganville becomes a character of its own as the characters explore it.

Best part: Michael

What’s not so good?

GLASS HOUSES

The setup for the premise is pretty lame. Basically Eve tells Claire that Morganville is full of vampires, Claire laughs, spends half a day wondering if Eve is crazy, and then just seems to accept it all without asking too many questions. Luckily once that’s out of the way, the story gets good.

THE DEAD GIRLS’ DANCE

Why title this book The Dead Girls’ Dance? There’s nothing paranormal about the dance and they’re only there for a chapter. Besides that, my only other complaint is some inconsistency with the characters: Claire flashes between mousey and courageous; Monica flips from heartless to weepy; Shane is good, then bad, then good… It was a bit tedious.

Worst part: GLASS HOUSES – The beginning. THE DEAD GIRLS’ DANCE – the title and description.

Recommendations þþþoo

Vampire lovers will enjoy this series. Vampire likers will like this unique approach to the classic vampire tale. Vampire fence-sitters may appreciate the fast pace. Vampire haters should skip it.

Caine, Rachel. The Morganville Vampires: Volume 1. New York: New American Library, 2009.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Pages: 387

Intended Audience: Teens and Mature Tweens

Genre: Science Fiction

Notes for parents: None

The Inside Cover

Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder’s brain interface has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it “a matter of national security,” but Cinder suspects it’s more serious than he’s letting on.

Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder’s intentions are derailed when her younger step-sister, and only human friend, is infected with the fatal plague that’s been devastating Earth for a decade. Blaming Cinder for her daughter’s illness, Cinder’s stepmother volunteers her body for plague research, an “honor” that no one has survived.

But it doesn’t take long for the scientists to discover something unusual about their new guinea pig. Something others would kill for.

What the Back Cover doesn’t tell you:

This is the first book in The Lunar Chronicles. Book two won’t be out until 2013.

What’s good?

I love a strong female character. Cinder is a smart, resourceful, talented mechanic who happens to have a few motorized parts which makes her a cyborg – the bane of her society. Cinder is highly likeable, her “step” mother is deliciously hateable, and Prince Kai is perfectly charming. The fairy tale “evil queen” is the Lunar Queen Levana who is appropriately creepy and volatile. The setting itself is a great character with its crowded market, hovers, portscreens, androids, and, of course, a royal ball.

Best part: Iko, the android.

What’s not so good?

The main plot was totally predictable. I don’t imagine anyone will NOT see what’s coming. Luckily there are enough twists and turns to make it highly readable and several subplots that entertain. There were many little details that annoyed me: like how her she calls her adoptive family her step family, or how she hides her cyborg status from the prince which seems to go against her strong personality. It was never enough to ruin the story, but I found it distracting at times.

Worst part: Predictability.

Recommendations þþþoo

Modern fairy tales are all the rage, and this futuristic Cinderella (which at times seems a little more Anastasia) is fresh and imaginative. It’s gritty and high tech, and very engaging.

Meyer, Marissa. Cinder. New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2012 (Hardcover)

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Pages: 335

Intended Audience: Teens and Mature Tweens

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Notes for parents: Nothing, really. Even when they swear they say “bleep.” There is some mild violence but nothing even slightly graphic.

The Back Cover

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie’s dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

What the Back Cover doesn’t tell you:

The cover pretty much tells you everything you need to know.

What’s good?

This is a unique, refreshing paranormal story. It had a good balance of teenage angst and first love jitters, with a suspense-driven plot and a sarcastic, highly likeable main character. Oddly, as I read this, I kept thinking, Wow, this would make a great movie. Eventually I looked it up on imdb.com and sure enough, a movie is in the works.

Best part: Lend – even I had a crush on him!

What’s not so good?

This is the first book of a trilogy—thank goodness—because a lot of things were left hanging.

Worst part: IPCA’s indifference to the power of faeries seemed a little far-fetched.

Recommendations þþþoo

It was very entertaining, but I have to admit that I’m not very motivated to go out and find the next two books. However, if they were sitting in front of me and I didn’t have a whole stack of other books to read, I’d probably continue with the series. It was good. In fact, it was a lot of fun. And if it ever becomes a movie, I would definitely go see it.

White, Kiersten. Paranormalcy.  New York: HarperCollins, 2010.

Heist Society by Ally Carter

Pages: 287

Intended Audience: Teens

Genre: crime caper

Notes for parents: Elements of criminal activity

The Back Cover

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own--scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.

Soon, Kat’s friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster’s priceless art collection has been stolen and he wants it returned. Only a master thief could have pulled off this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and, hopefully, just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s (very crooked) history—and with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

What the Back Cover doesn’t tell you:

The cover covers it pretty well. Kat is a teenaged professional thief who gets out of the business, but is pulled back in when she’s called on to pull off a tough job in order to help her father.

What’s good?

The story has a quick pace and a great cast of characters. The plot was simple and fairly predictable, but had enough twists and turns to keep it fresh. I was particularly impressed with how well most of the characters were drawn—even minor characters like Marcus, Mr. Stein and Gregory Wainwright were interesting!

Best part: World War II art history lesson.

What’s not so good?

The main character was lacklustre. The other characters are so well-drawn and charismatic that Katarina comes up flat in comparison. Her personality was so even she seemed almost emotionless.

Worst part: Kat’s father didn’t seem like a father worth helping.

Recommendations þþþoo

I read another review that called this “Oceans Eleven for teens.” I think that’s a pretty accurate description. It’s an uncomplicated crime adventure with style and good characterization. It’s a quick, fun read.

Carter, Ally. Heist Society. New York: Disney-Hyperion, 2010.