« Previous Entries
» Next Entries

The Archives

Books, Comedy, Espionage, Fantasy, Grimm, New, Sci Fi, Simon, Space: The Final Frontier
Look at these New Books
22.06.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Harmonic Feedback, by Tara Kelly (280 pages) – Drea has ‘a touch of Asperger’s’, and is obsessed with music. When she moves to a new town AGAIN she – at long last! – makes some friends, and even finds love maybe.

First lines: ‘One in thirty-eight. Bet on a single number in roulette, and those are the odds of winning.‘

Boys That Bite : A Blood Coven Vampire Novel, by Mari Mancusi (262 pages) – Looks like we’ve got a new (and ‘refreshingly different’) vampire series. Sunny is dragged to something called Club Fang by her sister, Rayne, and finds out that the members are not just playing dress-up – she gets bitten and has a week to undo it.

First line: ‘You know, being bitten by a vampire one week before prom really sucks.‘

90 Packets of Instant Noodle, by Deb Fitzpatrick (307 pages) – Joel and his chum Craggs drink, steal, and generally cause havoc together. SO Joel’s dad, with the police, send them off to a remote bush shack for 90 days. Where, presumably! all they have to eat are noodles.

First line: ‘It was Dad who finally snapped over what had been going on.‘

Thirteen Days to Midnight, by Patrick Carman (296 pages) – Jacob Fielding is given the rather enviable power of indestructability, and begins to use his new power for good. BUT there’s a curse to the ability, and he has thirteen days to sort it out.

First line: ‘Jacob Fielding stood in a small room and stared at a body.‘

The Prince of Mist, by Carlos Ruis Zafon (202 pages) – A ‘haunting story of magic, mystery and adventure’, about a boy who moves to a house overlooking the sea and the mysterious (and terrifying!) Prince of the Mist. And a weird, staring cat.

First line: ‘Max would never forget that faraway summer when, almost by chance, he discovered magic.‘

Every Little Thing in the World, by Nina de Gramont (282 pages) – Sydney is sixteen, and going off the rails. So her parents send her to one of those ‘hard-love’ wilderness camps in the Canadian wilds for four weeks of Bear Grylls-lite survivalism. But! She is pregnant. Whatever will she do?

First line: ‘Natalia and I stole her mother’s new blue Cadillac and drove out to Overpeck to find Tommy.‘

The Cardturner : A Novel about a King, a Queen, and a Joker, by Louis Sachar (336 pages) – Alton’s rich, old and blind uncle asks him to attend bridge games with him. Which is a good plan when there’s an inheritance to think about! Alton soon learns a lot about his family history and himself as one mystery after another are discovered.

First line: ‘Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve had it drilled into me that my uncle Lester was my favourite uncle.‘

With a Sword in My Hand, by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem and Pat van Beirs (266 pages) – An ‘enthralling medieval adventure’ about Marguerite, who refuses to conform to type, and learns how to use a sword, ride horses, and outwit the boys. The Court of Flanders has other ideas! This has won loads of awards, and is based on the real Marguerite van Male.

First line: ‘The knights of Flanders and Brabant will swear allegiance to the infant in its cradle.‘

The Beastly Bride : Tales of the Animal People, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (500 pages) – This is a large collection of original stories and poems about shapechangers – werewolves, vampires, and so on – with illustrations by Charles Vess.

I Love You Zelda Bloo, by Gretel Killeen (183 pages) – Zelda Blookwell is the daughter of famous parents. She gets kidnapped when she goes with her mother to interview child soldiers, and while trying to survive she meets – and falls in love with! - Saro.

First line: ‘Help me. Can you help me? Please!‘

Palace Beautiful, by Sarah DeFord Williams (232 pages) – Sadie and best friend Bella find a secret room in the attic of their house, and there they discover a diary written one Helen during the 1918 ‘flu epidemic (which killed 50 million people worldwide!). As the girls try to find out what happened to Helen, Sadie’s ‘worries about her own family come closer to reality.’

First line: ‘My sister Zuzu says no one can remember the day they born, but I do.‘

Dancing in the Dark, by Robyn Bavati (290 pages) – Ditty’s very religious parents forbid her to take ballet lessons. So she starts ballet in secret! Of course the will come a point when the two world clash.

First line: ‘I’m lying on my bed, staring at the peeling paper on the wall in my room.‘

Henrietta Hornbuckle’s Circus of Life, by Michael de Guzman (152 pages) – Twelve-year-old Henrietta is a clown, as are her parents. In fact! Everyone she knows is a clown, because she is with a small travelling circus. She (and the other clowns) are on their way to New York City for a ‘climactic performance’, but first life throws a pie right in her kisser.

First line: ‘She stood at the stern of the ferry as it pulled away from the Connecticut shore.‘

The Alpha Bet, by Stephanie Hale (233 pages) – The admirably-named Grace Kelly Cook is only sixteen when she graduates from high school, and decides to join the Alpha Sorority at college. She lies a little bit on her application! So now she’s fearful of being discovered. And also she has to do something called the ‘Alpha Bet’, a super-secret series of tasks.

First line: ‘“It’s a dorm, Mom, not the Playboy Mansion,” I whisper in her ear, hoping she’ll stop throwing her evil eye looks around at all the kids in my new dorm.‘

Beautiful Monster, by Kate McCaffrey (231 pages) – All this typing! I will just C&P this book’s synopsis. “Tessa’s brother is dead, and her Mum is so deeply enmeshed in grief she might as well be too. Tessa is left with no-one to turn to but Ned. He’s been her staunchest ally, privy to her deepest secrets. But even Ned has a dark side. He knows all her weak spots and will exploit every one to keep her by his side.”

First lines: ‘The school bus hisses to a stop. Tessa Edwards looks up from her maths book as Camilla lifts her bag onto her shoulder.‘

Choppy Socky Blues, by Ed Briant (259 pages) – Jason’s father is a movie stuntman and a karate blackbelt. He’s also a liar who left his family, according to Jason, who vows to never do karate as a consequence. But then Jason meets Tinga, who is gorgeous and is going for her blue belt – Jason (rashly!) says he is too, and the only one who can help him is his dad.

First line: ‘My name is Jason Smallfield, I’m fourteen, and my father is an Imperial storm trooper.‘

Raven Speak, by Diane Lee Wilson (254 pages) – Asa and her horse Rune make a run for it when her clan’s wise man – who is hungry for power (and horsemeat) while Asa’s Viking chief father is away – demands Rune be sacrificed. Asa finds shelter with an old, one-eyed woman with a pair of ravens. The old woman also demands a sacrifice …

First line: ‘In the pale light of a wintry morning seven men saddled their ship across bucking white waves.‘

Split, by Swati Avasthi (282 pages) – Sixteen-year-old Jace is thrown out of his home by his abusive father, and goes to live with his older brother, who long ago left to escape the abuse.

First line: ‘Now I have to start lying. While I stare through the windshield at the building my brother lives in, I try to think up a good lie.‘

A Wizard of Mars, by Diane Duane (549 pages) – This here book is number nine in the Young Wizards series, in which Kit and Nina ‘manage to wangle their way onto an elite team sent to investigate the mysterious, long-sought “message in a bottle” that holds the first clues to the secrets of the ancient Martian race‘

First lines: ‘The problem, Kit thought, scowling at the paper, isn’t the basic shape, so much. It’s what to do with the legs …‘

My Private Pectus, by Shane Thamm (278 pages) – ‘A story about footy, cars and a young man who discovers that revealing his greatest secret is the only way to hold on to the people he loves.‘ (I just copied that from the back cover.)

First line: ‘Dad just landed the job as assistant rugby league coach at St Philip’s College.‘
Books, Exclusive academies for rich kids who form cliques, Fantasy, GLBT, New, Pirates, Sci Fi, Simon
New! Books!? yes.
05.06.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Spells, by Aprilynne Pike (425 pages) – Laurel is a faerie, placed among the humans when she was a baby. A baby faerie! She still lives in the human world (a boyfriend you see) but the faerie realm is threatened, so she’s got to do something about it.

First line: ‘Laurel stood in front of the cabin, scanning the tree line, her throat constricting in a rush of nerves.’

f2m – The Boy Within, by Hazel Edwards and Ryan Kennedy (330 pages) – Skye is in an all-girl punk band, and her world is turned upside-down when she decides to transition to male. Skye becomes Finn, and his family and friends will need to come to terms with this.

First line: ‘Tick the box. M or F.‘

Where I Belong, by Gillian Cross (340 pages) – Human smuggling, Somalia, and supermodels!

First line: ‘Spin the globe, boy,’ my father used to say.‘

Jaguar Warrior, by Sandy Fussell (212 pages) – Atl is an Aztec boy who runs from captivity (and human sacrifice I think?) towards freedom. Who can blame him!

First line: ‘“Why isn’t that boy dead yet?” When the captain shouts, even the temple walls shiver.‘

Shadow of the Dragon: Book 2 – Elspeth, by Kate O’Hearn (374 pages) – The king’s ‘First Law’ is an incredibly restrictive bunch of rules preventing girls from going anywhere near dragons (torture then execution you see) but Elspeth and her sister Kira aren’t having any of it.

First line: ‘The heavy rain that fell from the stormy skies around them did little to dampen the celebrations of the dragon riders cutting through the thick dark clouds.‘

Witchfinder : Dawn of the Demontide, by William Hussey (337 pages) – The Demontide is coming, and Jake Harker is ‘the only one who can stop it.’ Sounds pretty grim! This is the first book in a planned trilogy. There is an official website here.

First line: ‘“HELP! Someone – anyone – please, help me!”‘

Thief Eyes, by Janni Lee Simner (259 pages) – Sixteen-year-old Haley goes to Iceland with her father to try to find her mother, who disappeared there some time ago. She touches a magic coin Hallgerd (Haley’s ancestor – and a sorceress!) that curses her. Haley now needs to break the spell, and sets off with the gorgeous but dangerous Ari.

First line: ‘ Icy rain blew into my hood and dripped down my neck as I knelt on the mossy stones.‘

Bead, Boys, and Bangles, by Sophia Bennett (304 pages) – This is the second book in the Threads series, which is about four girls and ‘their amazing adventure with fashion.’ In this installment Crow’s designs may be manufactured by children in India!

First line: ‘I’ve never seen Crow look so scared. And this time she’s got a point.‘

Greener Grass, by Caroline Pignat (276 pages) – Ireland 1847. The Great Famine! Kit’s family is to be evicted – is there anything she can do to help her family? She will do anything.

First line: ‘They say home is where the heart is. I believed that, once.‘

Borderline, by Allan Stratton (298 pages) – Sami is the only Muslim at his private school. When is father is implicated in a terrorist plot, Sami’s ‘must fight to keep his world from unraveling.’ A thriller!

First line: ‘I’m next door in Andy’s driveway, shooting hoops with him and Marty.‘

Alchemy and Meggy Swann, by Karen Cushman (167 pages) – Meggy is sent from her country village to Elizabethan-era London. From a dire beginning she works her way to improve her lot in the same way that her father, an achemist, attempts to turn base metal into gold.

First line: ‘“Ye toads and vipers,” the girl said, as her granny often had, “ye toads and vipers,” and she snuffled a great snuffle that echoed in the empty room.‘

Burned : A House of Night Novel, by P. C. and Kristin Cast (323 pages) – Book seven in the series, and one of the Most Wanted books this month. Having not read this I do not know what is going on. High Priestesses! Neferet! Bringing back Zoey!

First line: ‘Kalona lifted his hands. He didn’t hesitate.‘

Sources of Light, by Margaret McMullan (233 pages) – Mississippi, 1962, and fourteen-year-old Sam ‘learns to use her camera to look for the shades of gray’ in a black and white world.

First line: ‘The year after my father died, my mother took a job teaching at a small college in Jackson, Mississippi.‘

Spirit Bound : A Vampire Academy Novel, by Richelle Mead (489 pages) – This is the fifth novel in the series. And what happens? ‘Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s and to her best friend, Lissa. But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he’s out there, somewhere. He has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. Only this time, he won’t rest until Rose joins him–forever.’ So says the catalogue.

First line: ‘There’s a big difference between death threats and love letters – even if the person writing the death threats still claims to actually love you.‘

Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins (323 pages) – Sixteen-year-old Sophie discovers she’s a witch, but after screwing up a love spell she’s sent to Hecate ‘Hex’ Hall, a reform school for witches, shapeshifters, and faeries. Also ghosts and a vampire. There’s a mystery predator also.

First line: ‘Felicia Miller was crying in the bathroom. Again.‘

The Reckoning : The Darkest Power, by Kelley Armstrong (391 pages) – Book three! Chloe is fifteen and is a genetically engineered necromancer, and has feelings for a sorcerer and his brother, a werewolf, all the while on the run from the corporation that created her (and the others).

First line: ‘After four nights on the run, I was finally safe, tucked into bed and enjoying the deep, dreamless sleep of the dead … until the dead decided they’d really rather have me awake.‘

Koh Tabu, by Ann Kelley (260 pages) – A group of girls are stranded on an island after their boat is blown off course. It’s all an adventure to begin with but quickly becomes an all-girl Lord of the Flies + Man Vs Wild mashup.

First line: ‘It all began with my mother changing her mind.‘

Rich and Mad, by William Nicholson (341 pages)
The Island, by Sarah Singleton (294 pages)
Ondine : The Summer of Shambles, by Ebony McKenna (291 pages)
Because I Am Furniture, by Thalia Chaltas (352 pages)
Books, Fantasy, Horror, New, Sci Fi, Simon
New Books finally
15.05.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Here are some new books. There are too many to write up! I would be here all day. SO here is a pretty collage of many the book covers, all helpfully hyperlinked to the catalogue entries of each book (which should provide an adequate description). So yeah, you will have to judge these books by their covers I guess.
Books, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, New, Sci Fi, Simon
New Books (so many)
17.04.10 | Permalink | Comment?

There are LOTS of new books this week! There are far too many to go into any great detail, so we will have to be mercilessly brief with most of them. Click through to the catalogue for more information about them why don’t you.

A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner (316 pages) – This is the fourth in a series (the other titles are The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia) which has AT LONG LAST arrived. We’ve written about the series before, actually, because we like it a lot! This one seems to be more about Sophos? (I haven’t read it yet.) One of my favourite characters and so I’m as pleased as Punch.
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin, by Josh Berk (248 pages) – Will Halpin is ‘hefty’ and deaf, and when he is transferred to a new school he is bullied or ignored. This doesn’t stop him from teaming up with the second least popular kid at school, and solving the mystery that surrounds the death of a popular football player
Into the Wilderness : Book two of Blood of the Lamb Trilogy, by Mandy Hager (336 pages) – The first book in the series – The Crossing - is up for a NZ Post Book Award in the YA fiction category. The series is written by a Wellingtonian! And is about a not-too-distant dystopian future, set on a (fictitious) Pacific island
This World We Live In, by Susan Beth Pfeffer (239 pages) – The third book in a series; a meteor has crashed into the moon, and the Earth’s climate is catastrophically changed
Possessed, by Kate Cann (327 pages) – A girl gets a job in the country, away from her tedious London life, and is befriended by a spooky group of people in an eerie old house
Happyface, by Stephen Emond (306 pages) – Another school-transferral-type-story: this one told in an illustrated journal by someone who reinvents himself at his new school
Crazy Beautiful, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (193 pages) – S0rt of a retelling of the Beauty & the Beast, shifted to the present and the beast is Lucius, who lost both hands in an accident and chooses to wear hooks
City of Cannibals, by Ricki Thompson (268 pages) – High drama during the English Reformation
Crash Into Me, by Albert Borris (257 pages) – Four suicidal teens find reasons to live during road-trip
A Non-Blonde Cheerleader in Love, by Kieran Scott (240 pages) – Non-blonde cheerleader falls in love?
The Billionaire’s Curse, by Richard Newsome (355 pages) – Book 1 of trilogy about teen billionaire sleuths
Back Home, by Julia Keller (194 pages) – A girl’s war-injured dad returns and he ain’t the same
Dawn, by Kevin Brooks (250 pages) – A teen girl’s abusive upbringing leads her to contemplate killing God
Day of the Assassins : A Jack Christie Novel, by Johnny O’Brien (211 pages) – Jack is sent back in time to stop WWI, but someone is out to stop him
The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod : Eleventh Grade Burns, by Heather Brewer (309 pages) – Vladimir Tod is the only half-vampire around, which is a bit like being the vampire world’s Harry Potter – special, but loads of enemies
The Crowfield Curse, by Pat Walsh (319 pages) – A medieval ghost story, shortlisted for the Times Children’s Fiction Competition 2008
My So-Called Afterlife, by Tamsyn Murray (184 pages) – Lucy is a ghost, who discovers that being dead doesn’t mean you can’t meet gorgeous guys and hunt down your murderer
Me, Myself, and Ike, by K. L. Denman (192 pages) – Kit used to have a lot of friends, but as he progressively develops schizophrenia he stands to lose everything
Beautiful : Truth’s Found When Beauty’s Lost, by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma (266 pages) – Ellie is beautiful, but when she loses her looks in an accident she must reconsider her life and her Christian beliefs
Duplikate, by Cherry Cheva (242 pages) – Kate somehow develops a computer-generated twin, handily
Coffeehouse Angel, by Suzanne Selfors (276 pages) – Katrina gives a cup of coffee to a homeless guy, who tells her that he’s an angel and in recompense will fulfill her deepest wish for true happiness
Cathy’s Ring, by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman (149 pages) – The sequel to Cathy’s Book and Cathy’s Key
Tapas and Tears, by Chris Higgins (264 pages) – Jaime is forced to go to Spain for a school exchange trip, and her life is changed FOREVER
Albatross, by Josie Bloss (229 pages) – “Taut and emotionally wrenching” – Meg Cabot
Nobody Girl, by Sara Manning (368 pages) – Bea heads to Spain but heads off to Paris to find her father, and falls in love on the way
Tangled, by Carolyn Mackler (308 pages) – Four teens stay in a Caribbean resort and their lives are changed FOREVER
They Never Came Back, by Caroline B. Cooney (200 pages) – A page-turner about identity, greed, and fugitives
Sweet, Hereafter, by Angela Johnson (118 pages) – Sweet leaves her family to live with Curtis, who has just been recalled to Iraq
The Squire’s Quest, by Gerald Morris (272 pages) – This is the ninth and latest book in The Squire’s Tales series, in which the hero goes on his longest and most fantastical adventure yet
Jameela, by Rukhsana Khan (177 pages) – Jameela lives in a devasted village in Afghanistan, and when her new stepmother doesn’t want her, she’s left alone in an orphanage
Daughter of Fire and Ice, by Marie-Louise Jensen (325 pages) – Thora is kidnapped by Vikings and manages to escape on a boat set for Iceland with the gorgeous Bjorn
Rikers High, by Paul Volponi (246 pages) – Martin is in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, but when he gets to go to the prison’s highschool he has a chance to turn his life around
After Ever After, by Jordan Sonnenblick (260 pages) – A ‘tender, hopeful, and funny story’ about Jeffrey, who is no longer a boy with cancer but rather a teen in remission
Epitaph Road, by David Patneaude (266 pages) – It is 2097 and the world is run by, and populated with, women, after 97% of men have been wiped out by a virus
Flash Burnout, by L. K. Madigan (325 pages) – A comedy romance about a boy with a camera, a girlfriend, and a friend who is a girl
The Ring, by Bobbie Pyron (252 page) – Mardie is a teenage girl whose life is going off the tracks, but when she joins a boxing club her life is changed FOREVER
Books, Fantasy, GLBT, New, Sci Fi, Simon, Writing
New Books
19.02.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Only a few new books this week.

The Splendour Falls, by Rosemary Clement-Moore (220 pages) – Sylvie is a ballerina. She broke a leg, her father died, and her mother remarried! Also, she might be losing her mind (or it might be ghosts). To cheer her up her mother moves her from an Manhattan apartment to a haunted Alabama mansion, where she meets the mysterious yet attractive Rhys.

First line: ‘For months, I relived the pas de deux in my dreams, in that multisensory Technicolor of a memory I’d much rather forget.‘

The Polar Bear Ward, edited by Tessa Duder and James Norcliffe (118 pages) -This is the seventh Re-Draft anthology, which we finally have (it came out in 2008!) It collects works by young NZ writers and poets.

The 13 Curses, by Michelle Harrison (454 pages) – This is the sequel to 13 Treasures. Rowan Fox makes a deal with the fairy court; she will find the cursed charms from a bracelet in exchange for her brother, who was stolen by the fairies. And there’s no guarantee the fairies will keep their side of the bargain – they have a secret up their little fairy sleeves.

First line: ‘As midnight approached in Hangman’s Wood two girls fled through the forest, desperately searching for a way out.‘

The Phoenix Files : Contact, by Chris Morphew (309 pages) – This is the second book in a series. It is part sci-fi, part thiller, part conspiracy theory paranioa, and it’s all leading up to the end of the world. Great stuff! There’s a website here.

First line: ‘Someone’s phone was ringing.‘

The Medusa Project : The Hostage, by Sophie McKenzie (244 pages) – This is also the second book in a series. It also has a website! This series is about four teens, who all exhibit psychic abilities. They are brought together to secretly fight crime – with their minds.

First line: ‘Like I didn’t have enough problems?‘

Winter’s End, by Jean-Claude Mourlevat (trans. Anthea Bell) (415 page) – This is originally French, and it’s also been released as Winter Song. It made one of our Top 10 lists (Books in Which Winter Stars) under that title, and you can read about it there.

First line: ‘At a sign from the supervisor, a girl in the front row rose to her feet and went over to press the metal switch.‘

About a Girl, by Joanne Horniman (188 pages)
Raven Summer, by David Almond (198 pages)
Books, Fantasy, Horror, New, Sci Fi, Simon
New books
04.02.10 | Permalink | Comment?

There are not many new books this week. But there are enough to keep you going.

Hunger, by Michael Grant (600 pages) – This weighty tome is the sequel to Gone (we mention it here), and here is its official website. Which will save me writing a synopsis!

First line: ‘Sam Temple was on his board.‘

Hell’s Heroes, by Darren Shan (235 pages) – This here book is the tenth in The Demonata series. It is also the last! Luckily for me it too is a series with its own website. The copy I have here is signed by the author btw.

First lines: ‘“I miss Cal,” Dervish says. “We fought a lot when we were young, like all brothers, but we were always there for one another.”‘

The Uninvited, by Tim Wynne-Jones (351 pages) – Catalogue says: ‘After a disturbing freshman year at New York University, Mimi is happy to get away to her father’s remote Canadian cottage only to discover a stranger living there who has never heard of her or her father and who is convinced that Mimi is responsible for leaving sinister tokens around the property.’ The tokens are are like dead animals and creepy, Blair Witch-like things. Creeeeepy.

First line: ‘Waylin Pitney was gone.‘

Blue Plate Special, by Michelle D. Kwasney (366 pages) – Three girls from different decades (70s, 90s, and the 00s) learn about empathy, forgiveness, and self-respect as their stories weave together.

First line: ‘“Register found is now open with no waiting,” a celing voice booms, interrupting the Stevie Wonder tune playing over the intercom.‘

Nothing But Ghosts, by Beth Kephart (278 pages) – Katie’s mother has died and she is left to live with her genius, art-restoring father in a massive old house. She gets a job at an estate and along with a pair of brothers and a ‘glamorous librarian’ (obviously all librarians are glamorous) she ’soon becomes embroiled in decoding a mystery.’ ‘Heartfelt, lyrical,’ says the blurb.

First line: ‘There are the things that have been and the things that haven’t happened yet.‘

Lips Touch : Three Times, by Laini Taylor (265 pages) – Here is collected three stories (all nicely illustrated, in my opinion!) about romance. There is a strong fairy-tale/supernatural flavour to each story as well.

First line (of the first story): ‘There is a certain kind of girl the goblins crave.‘

Alice in Love & War, by Ann Turnbull (324 pages) – 1644, England, and the Civil War leads an army of Royalists to Alice Newcombe’s uncle’s farm. She falls in love with a soldier, Robin, and leaves the farm to travel with him (well, she travels with the other army women).

First line: ‘Alice was upstairs stripping beds, the windows flung open to sweeten the air, when she heard the drums.‘

Blood Ninja, by Nick Lake (369 pages) – This has ninjas. It also has vampires. It is set in imperial Japan. What more could you possibly want in a book? NOT MUCH. “A fast-paced, gripping book with ninjas. It’s all I ask for, really.” – Conn Iggulden, author of The Dangerous Book for Boys.

First line: ‘This was not a good place to be out at night, all alone.‘

The Mitochondrial Curiosities of Marcels 1-19, by Jocelyn Brown (141 pages)
Black Tuesday, by Susan Colebank (264 pages)
The Kites are Flying, by Michael Morpurgo and Laura Carlin (76 pages)
Books, Nostalgia, Sci Fi, Simon
Living in the future
15.01.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Read a children’s book from 1972 (the olden days) which attempted to depict what life would be like in 2010. Which is the year we’re in now, as you are aware! It gets a few thing right, although the robot arm that throws you your toast and the jumpsuits everyone wears are a bit of a stretch.
Books, Fantasy, Horror, New, Sci Fi, Simon
New Books
17.12.09 | Permalink | Comment?

Why hello there. Here are SOME of this week’s (and last week’s) new books. (The rest are forthcoming.)

Lifegame, by Alison Allen-Gray (339 pages) – Fella and Grebe escape from the island to the outside world; a world, so they’ve been led to believe, has been subject to a cataclysmic disaster. But has it? Fella has a diary that belonged to his mother, who came from the Outside. Sci-fi thrill!

First line: ‘The baby was brought to the Orphanage straight from the car accident that killed his mother.’

Threads, by Sophia Bennett (254 pages) – A fairy tale about for London girls and fashion. There’s a website with more details! Interactive. ‘Girls will love it’, says Jacqueline Wilson.

First line: ‘We’re standing in a fashion designer’s studio in Hoxton, admiring ourselves in the mirror.‘

Crossing the Line, by Gillian Philip (267 pages) – Nick’s sister’s boyfriend was murdered; his father drinks and his mother is a religious maniac. He’s also in love with Orla, the sister of his murdered sister’s boyfriend. She (Orla) blames him (Nick) for his (the brother’s) death. Grim.

First line: ‘In this life you have to look after yourself.‘

Forbidden Island, Malcolm Rose (230 pages) – Mike and his pals explore an island off the Scottish coast. There are warnings! But they ignore them and find that the island is much, much more dangerous than other Scottish islands. Like Mull, Eigg, Yell, or even Fuaigh Mòr.

First line: ‘”There’s land ahead!” Mike shouted about the growl of the motor.‘

Morning in a Different Place, by Mary Ann McGuigan (195 pages) – ‘In 1963 in the Bronx, New York, eighth-graders Fiona and Yolanda help one another face hard decisions at home despite family and social opposition to their interracial friendship, but Fiona is on her own when popular classmates start paying attention to her and give her a glimpse of both a different way of life and a new kind of hatefulness.’ (Copied from the catalogue entry. Full credit!)

First line: ‘Now I know what invisible feels like.‘

You Are So Undead To Me, by Stacey Jay (265 pages) – Megan can communicate with zombies, semi-dead people who aren’t too troublesome. But someone in her school uses black magic and she and friend Ethan must team up to save homecoming from a ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!

First line: ‘The cold wind swept across the hill, whistling through the headstones that poked from the ground like dozens of crooked baby teeth.‘

Dreaming of Amelia, by Jaclyn Moriarty (519 pages) – Amelia and Riley have transferred to Ashbury, a rich kids’ school, from Brookfield High. They are brilliant and mysterious, and soon everyone at Ashbury is obsessed with them. However! They have dark secrets. And ghosts. Also, locked doors, femme fatales, madness and passion feature.

First line: ‘My first look at her was her name.‘

The Wisdom of Dead Men, by Oisín McGann (468 pages) – Berto is the head of the ‘rich and ruthless’ Wildenstern family. He and his younger brother, Nate, want to change the cruel ways typical to their family. Nate and his sister-in-law Daisy must also investigate a spate of spontaneous combustion – and the deaths mightn’t be the fault of a Wildenstern.

First line: ‘Vicky Miller stumbled dizzily out into the darkness, away from the house and the stranger who lay dead inside it – the man she had just killed.‘

Voices in the Dark : The Last Descendants Trilogy Book II, by Catherine Banner (455 pages) – From the reliable old catalogue, source of so many synopses: ‘Sixteen-year-old Anselm Andros’s world is turned upside-down when he learns the identity of his birth father, and this personal upheaval mirrors that of his country, Malonia, which is on the brink of another war after fifteen years of relative peace.’

First line: ‘I want more than anything to tell you the truth about my life.‘
Books, Exclusive academies for rich kids who form cliques, Grimm, New, Sci Fi, Simon
A Variety of New Books
03.10.09 | Permalink | Comment?

Here’s a small amount of new stuff (no book covers though, as the server’s currently down). The little hooks are how we rate the first sentence.

Fade, by Lisa McMann (248 pages) – the sequel to Wake. Cassandra Clare calls the book “shuddersome”, which is kind of a cool word. The dream catchers Janie and Cabel must expose something horrid that’s going on at Fieldridge High.

First sentence: Janie spirits through the snowy yards from two streets away and slips quietly through the front door of her house.

Hate List, by Jennifer Brown (408 pages) – Val’s boyfriend, Nick, uses a list he and she created (of things and people they hate) to mow down their classmates in the cafeteria. The story is about Val coming to grips with her role in what has happened, the loss of her boyfriend, and how to move on.

First sentence: The scene in the Garvin High School cafeteria, known as the Commons, is being described as “grim” by investigators who are working to identify the victims of a shooting spree that erupted Friday morning.

Killer, by Sara Shepard (A Pretty Little Liars novel, 321 pages) – the sixth book in the series, the first paragraph on the dust jacket says it all: “In picture-perfect Rosewood, Pennsylvania, ash-blond highlights gleam in the winter sun and frozen lakes sparkle like Swarovski crystal. But pictures often lie – and so do Rosewood’s four prettiest girls.”

First sentence: What if, all of a sudden, you could remember every single second of your entire life?

When Irish Guys are Smiling, by Suzanne Supplee (211 pages), and The Great Call of China, by Cynthea Liu (246 pages) – these two titles are part of the series S.A.S.S., or Students Across the Seven Seas, about girls (mostly I think) who go on exchange, experience culture shock, learn about themselves, meet cute guys, and all the other things you’d expect.

Ember Fury, by Cathy Brett (232 pages) – Ember Fury’s parents are celebrities, and they are more interested in their own rise to the top than they are in Ember. So Ember – who hates the whole celebrity world – is a pyromaniac.

First sentence: ‘Fizzzzz … crack … whoosh … It was a tiny tongue at first, then it spread like a rippling, orange blanket over the floorboards and poured itself up the walls.’

Brainjack, by Brian Falkner (438 pages) – Sam Wilson, brilliant teenage computer hacker, has a go at the computer systems of the White House. This reckless obsession leads Sam into a dangerous world of ‘espionage and intrigue; of cybercrime and imminent war.’ Dangerous, sure, but pretty exciting you must admit.

First sentence: ‘On Friday, on his way to school, Sam Wilson brought the United States of America to its knees.‘

Mwah Mwah, by Chloe Rayban (263 pages) – Hannah’s plans for the holidays are foiled by her mother, who sends her off to Paris for a fortnight. Hannah isn’t too happy as she will have to stay with the unpleasant Matthilde (although I think we’d all like to grin and bear it if it means a couple of weeks in Paris).

First sentence: ‘”Mayjesweesewer. Annaseraravy! Weegrobeezoo. Abeeantow.”‘

Swerve, by Phillip Gwynne (228 pages)
Trashed (A Year in Girl Hell), by Meredith Costain (151 pages).
Games, Movies, Sci Fi, Violet Beauregarde
Gamers Rejoice II
01.10.09 | Permalink | Comment?

Judging from a website titled Ultramarines The Movie there is to be an Ultramarines movie. It seems a fair conclusion to reach. What are Ultramarines? Why, they’re genetically-modified super-soldiers in space, and part of the Warhammer 40k gaming universe. The movie probably won’t be out for a while, but once a trailer appears we will post it!

While the library doesn’t have gaming, we do have a rulebook (for the Warhammer fantasy RPG); we also carry White Dwarf magazine, and we have some of the related novels (and here’s 5 good reasons why you should read them if you haven’t already).