bookshelves of doom

Level 2 -- Lenore Appelhans

In brief:

The more wordy version:

Felicia died shortly before her eighteenth birthday. Since then—she doesn't know how long it's been, though she's sure it's been much, much longer than her admittedly short life lasted—she's been in the same white room wearing the same white shift surrounded by the same group of girls. She occasionally spends time with a few of them—most show no interest in interacting—but mostly, she and the others stay in their personal pods, accessing and watching memories.

Enter Julian. He's the first guy who's ever showed up in Felicia's white world, and his appearance—and subsequent disappearance—coincides with things going blooey. And, CRAZILY ENOUGH, he and Felicia knew each other in real life.

Turns out that the afterlife that Felicia knows isn't what the afterlife is supposed to be: Julian is on the front lines of a rebellion against the angels in charge, and his people don't just want her to join up, they need her to.

Level 2 is both fast-paced and pulse-pounding, and those aspects of it are bound to appeal to readers who like their action sequences cinematic and their stories plot-driven. That isn't to say that Level 2 is only about the action—the shifts between Felicia's memories and her present are especially good—but the action is definitely stronger than the character development or the relationship arcs. There's a strong religion component—one of the prongs of the love triangle (yes, there's a love triangle) is devoutly Christian—and it's nicely done, in that his faith is just a part of who he is, rather than being shoehorned in to make a point of some sort. I'm especially curious to see where that part of the story goes.

There are a few cases of information being relayed in dialogue that feels unlikely and/or forced, and the end comes extremely suddenly—like, the sort of suddenly where it feels like the author said, "DONE NOW, I SHALL WIND THIS UP OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT FEW PAGES!"—but I'm certainly planning on reading the next installment.

Full disclosure: The author of this book is a book blogger; while we've never met in person or had much direct interaction online, her blog is in my feed reader.

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Author page.

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Amazon.

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Book source: Review copy from the publisher.

The Printz winner & honors are...

Printz Winner: IN DARKNESS.

— Leila Roy (@bkshelvesofdoom) January 28, 2013

Printz Honors: ARISTOTLE & DANTE, VERITY, DODGER, WHITE BICYCLE.

— Leila Roy (@bkshelvesofdoom) January 28, 2013

Weeps for my beloved ME & EARL. And THE STORYTELLER.

— Leila Roy (@bkshelvesofdoom) January 28, 2013

So, I've read a measly two out of five: Aristotle & Dante, and Code Name Verity.

The other three are, of course, getting bumped up to the top of my TBR list!

What about you? Which books were you hoping to see on the list?

Today's Newbery/Printz/Caldecott/Morris/etc. day!

As if you didn't already know that, right?

If, like me, you are sadfacedly not in Seattle with the cool kids, you can keep an eye on things as they unfold here and on Twitter at #alamw13.

Titles I'm crossing my fingers for: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Storyteller, Code Name Verity, There is No Dog, I Hunt Killers, and any number of my other faves of the year. You?

Today @KirkusReviews...

...I wrote about Kate Brian's Shadowlands by way of Middle Book Syndrome.

(My train of thought always seems to prefer the most convoluted route possible.)

And, in case you missed it, last week I wrote about Suzanne Weyn's Dr. Frankenstein's Daughters.

More fun for Kiki Strike fans.

Kirsten Miller posted the entirety of The Irregular Guide to New York City over at her blog for free, so zip on over and snag the PDF!

Due to the ALA conference...

...we have to take the week off, so we'll be watching episodes #3 and #4 next week.

In the meantime, entertain yourselves with our commentary from last week:

 

The finalists for the 2013 Minnesota Book Awards have been announced.

The Young People's list is as follows:

Goblin Secrets, by William Alexander:

The combination of steampunky clockwork technology mixes well with the sense of real magic—my favorite mix of the two was in Graba, a Baba Yaga-ish witch who has clockwork chicken legs (as well as the aforementioned moving house)—and as in a lot of old-school children's fantasy, there are genuinely dark and scary bits as well as moments of joy and wonder.

Nothing Special, by Geoff Herbach

Shadow on the Mountain, by Margi Preus:

There's a wonderful balance between Espen's Resistance activities (along with the knowledge that if he's caught, his family will be punished for his actions); his younger sister's interest in his activities, which ultimately leads to her own direct involvement with the Resistance; the split that occurs within his peers between those who join the Resistance and those who join the Nazis; and his own coming of age and burgeoning romance.

Silhouette of a Sparrow, by Molly Beth Griffin

See this page for the rest of the finalists!

Kindle Daily Deal: YA today.

If January has you craving a super-adorable romance, you can't do much better than Anna and the French Kiss, which just-so happens to be $2.99 today.

New YA: January 22-31.

New hardbacks:

Cinders & Sapphires (At Somerton), by Leila Rasheed:

If, like me, you like The Luxe in all of its Bathtub Book Glory—the bitchiness and the period clothing, the page-turning plot twists, the secrets and lies and romantic entanglements—then Cinders and Sapphires will totally be up your alley.

Kiki Strike: The Darkness Dwellers, by Kirsten Miller:

So, I went in with high hopes—which is sometimes a dangerous proposition—but I'm happy to report that Kirsten Miller has done it again: like its predecessors, The Darkness Dwellers is chock-full of excitement, mystery, secrets, disguises, stock market shenanigans, and smartypants humor. There are punches thrown and tires slashed; code-breaking and chemistry and cool tidbits of lesser-known history.

The Madman's Daughter, by Megan Shepherd:

I really, really enjoyed this one: it works as historical fiction, as science fiction, as a horror story, a romance, a coming of age, and as a retelling of H.G. Wells' original. The changes that Shepherd makes, the twists she introduces, they all feel organic and they play off the original and change it, but in ways that complement the Wells, if that makes sense. It changes it without trying to replace it or diminish it, maybe? Whatever it is I'm trying to say (YEESH), it's TOTALLY engrossing, and I TOTALLY DUG IT.

The Archived, by Victoria Schwab

Asunder (Incarnate), by Jodi Meadows

The Prey (Hunt), by Andrew Fukuda

Prodigy: A Legend Novel, by Marie Lu

Shadows in the Silence (Angelfire), by Courtney Allison Moulton

What the Spell (Life's a Witch), by Brittany Geragotelis

Slated, by Teri Terry

Black Ice (Sherlock Holmes: the Legend Begins), by Andrew Lane

Boundless (Unearthly), by Cynthia Hand

Everbound: An Everneath Novel, by Brodi Ashton

The Last Apprentice: Slither (Book 11), by Joseph Delaney

Nobody, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Ravage: A Deviants Novel, by Jeff Sampson

New paperbacks (that I've written about):

Fracture, by Megan Miranda:

It's got some genuinely creepy moments, and rather than Bella's Edward Cullen Hurts Me Because He Loves Me routine, Delaney's reasons for not cutting Troy loose early on are easy (or, they were for me) to identify with: she's trying to understand this power she suddenly has, and what she's supposed to do with it. Well, that and the blackmail thing, but that comes later.

Try Not to Breathe, by Jennifer R. Hubbard:

And, as you may have guessed from the cover art, there's a romance. But it isn't a story in which the Romance Heals All Ills, or even a story about a romance that's necessarily going to Work Out. Rather than a simple romance—and there are some serious moments of steam—it's a story about two people connecting, and about how important, at that specific time, that connection is to both of them.

The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll & Mademoiselle Odile (Shadow Sisters), by James Reese:

The story has a lot going for it. It stars a capable girl who's got a few big secrets and a couple of potential love interests. It features cool science (or is it magic?) and a rarely-covered historical event. In addition to the attractiveness of the premise, much of this book is technically well done: it's clear that the author did quite a lot of research, and the historical details are both interesting and integrated well into the narrative.

Oh, hooray. I love the United Way booksale at the grocery store.

We are now the proud owners of this:

TSR + romance + Choose Your Own Adventure = AMAZING*.

I did dramatic readings from it all the way home.

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*Well, amazingly BAD, but amazing nonetheless.

Mal Peet on cancer in YA.

At the Guardian:

Approximately 16 out of every 100,000 children contract a form of the disease in the US, of whom three will die of it. Each of these tragedies will spread a wider circle of pain, of course, but the fact is that child cancer is comparatively rare and affects relatively few young people. Teenagers see it, correctly, as a horror visited mostly on adults. It is not, therefore, a real and present danger in the way that bullying, sexual humiliation, peer-group rejection and parental severance are. So cancer is not a dangerous subject – it's a safe one. It allows teen authors to wax emotive without being threatening. It allows us to appear to be brave ("unflinching" is the usual term) taboo-busters while jerking tears for all we're worth.

Catherine Ryan Hyde on writing for the teen audience vs. for the adult audience.

At Writing Teen Novels:

I didn’t remove the adult content, because it was not removable. It was essential to the story. (And I got very few complaints about it from the grownups who oversee YA fiction. Probably because it was essential to the story.) I didn’t change the tone or reading level, because, in my opinion, there’s no discernable difference between an adult and a teen reader in terms of reading level or sophistication. The difference seems to rest in issues of what themes are relevant to teen lives.

Plagiarism, wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Another year, another round of scandal:

• At Sparkles and Lightning: "This is the line where I lost it. She's forgiven me? For what? I am the victim! Not her! Yet she plays up the victim role as if she needs to forgive me. I don't think so. No way am I forgiving you when you write something like that."
• At Xpresso Reads: "I hate drama and wanted to settle the matter privately, but after the follow up that arose, and being warned that she was going around telling people I was falsely accusing and bullying her, I have no choice but to show my side of the story."
• At the Annex: "I have spent over a week battling this issue and I'll admit that I wasn't wholly silent with my complaints. But I'd hoped the offending blogger would have seen my rants and quietly removed my images from their site before it came to this - going public."

(first link via Cuddlebuggery)

"If I had a rocket ship/ We'd go places really quick/ Then have the time to stop and get ice cream."

 

Oh, Dwight. You're the stuff.

News about a few upcoming book-to-screen projects.

• Stephenie Meyer's production company—relatedly, I've only read positive stuff about Austenland so far—has optioned Anna Dressed in Blood.
• The CW has given The Selection another chance.
• The Graveyard Book might also still be alive, but as a live action movie (instead of stop motion), and directed by Ron Howard.
• Fox has ordered a pilot based on Lauren Oliver's Delirium.