Fantasy

"Red Queen" is set in a world where people are divided based on their blood color, with "reds" being on the lowest part of the social hierarchy and being kept in line and ruled by the "silvers". The silvers have powers, but the reds are normal and have no powers. The book follows Mare Barrow, a red, who gets a servant job at the summer royal castle. While working it is found out that she has powers. The precautions are taken by silvers to prevent unrest in the community, take Mare on a journey, forcing her to leave her world behind for another.
"Red Queen" is beautifully written, from the world-building, to the characters, you get to see all the parts of the arguments and the world. The renowned twist that brought me to this book was amazingly crafted and so hard to see when you get immersed in the story. When the twist happened it surprised me and made me rethink so much that had happened in the book. This book shows moral problems so well, you understand why the books problem is so hard to solve. There are many action scenes/ intricate fighting scenes that you may tune out but it is still a great read because of the writing style. You learn to care for Mare and all her friends as they try to make changes. Your heart will go out to Mare and her mission, so beware, but it is so worth it. This book is so in-depth and makes you care so much about what happens. It would be an amazing addition to any fantasy lovers library and a great read.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is about two young magicians who have been trained since childhood to engage in a duel against each other. However, the two said magicians, Celia and Marco, although being raised to fight each other, both fall into an unexpected love.
I have to admit, the plot sounds pretty promising. However, when I read this novel I found that it was incredibly difficult for me to actually push through and finish it.
The writing is beautiful, but I think it was too beautiful in a way. Everything was written in a very flowery way, in which the whole story was made up of very gorgeous-sounding lines, but nothing really past that. To put it straight, there was no substance in the plot. The majority of the novel was just long pretty sentences describing what was happening, but not exactly drawing us into what the sentences were trying to describe. It was like the author was telling us about everything and how everything looked to the eye, but I felt no spark. It was all descriptions and no action. I didn't feel or read any emotional lines or even felt much of a fondness towards the two protagonists. Celia and Marco kind of just seemed like two mannequins placed in the story for show, but there wasn't really anything that built up their characters to make them seem real or three-dimensional. The characters were all flat, and I couldn't see myself rooting for them, or really caring about anything they did.
Overall, while Morgenstern has a beautifully poetic way with words, I didn't see myself being pulled into the plot she was attempting to conceive.

Reviewer Grade: 11

Petra Peña wants to be a cuentista, a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra’s world is about to change forever. Earth is gone-destroyed by an asteroid. Petra and several hundred humans are voyaging hundreds of years into the future in the hope of saving humanity on a different planet. Before arriving on the new planet Petra and the others will remain in a sleep stasis, downloading information that will help them start over a new planet.

When Petra wakes up, hundreds of years later, she soon discovers the original plan has drastically changed. There is a new group in charge of their spacecraft with a different agenda for those left on board. What does the future hold for Petra and the others? Will she be reunited with her family, and preserve the art of storytelling for future generations?

This is an enjoyable book for ages 12+ who are interested in sci-fi but who might be intimidated to pick up a traditional title from the genre. It’s layered with a beautiful message of family, perseverance, and the lifesaving power of storytelling.

In this second collection of Squirrel Girl comics, you'll once again find Doreen Green trying to balance her life as Squirrel Girl and as a computer science student at Empire State University. This can be quite the balancing act, especially when you have a huge fluffy tail that you have to hide when you're in your civilian persona. While other superheroes have origin stories that explain their tremendous powers, Squirrel Girl is...Squirrel Girl.

Doreen's "unbeatable" title continues to be tested as she uses both her skills as a squirrel person who can communicate with and control squirrels and as a computer science major to defeat villains who terrorize New York City. The fact that she's a superhero who can talk to and control squirrels is just amusing enough that fans of the first collection will likely enjoy this one. However, I wasn't prepared to read a Howard the Duck crossover in this collection, so know that it's not necessarily a volume completely dedicated to Squirrel Girl.

Once again, I enjoyed Ryan North's writing (there's a lot since Dorreen rarely resorts to violence to solve her problems). I haven't read many comic books, so I'm still getting used to the art styles, especially since they are distinctly different between the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl issues and the Howard the Duck issues. And while this volume was entertaining, there is a certain limitation that comes with a superhero whose only abilities revolve around squirrels. Doreen can use only so many iterations of these powers before they become repetitive.

More Squirrel Girl action with a Howard the Duck crossover, I give The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Big Squirrels Don't Cry 3.5 stars out of 5.

A Deadly Education follows a young sorceress, Galadriel, struggling to survive inside the Scholomance, a school floating outside our reality in a dark void. The school is home to thousands of mals that want nothing more than to tear apart the school's young, squishy magicians, and after the fabled graduation that usually kills about half of the already picked-off graduating class, barely a quarter of students make it. Galadriel, known as El, has to dodge these murderous mals, classmates turned dark, treacherous beasts in the vents, punishing curriculum, her own inclination towards dark magic, and a suspiciously helpful and heroic classmate if she hopes to graduate junior year.
Like all Harry Potter obsessed children, I've read my fair share of the magic school knockoffs that popped up to rake in our sweet, sweet income after the former's stunning success. I've read about fun schools, dark schools, elf schools, schools with just a little magic, schools with way too much magic, complicated schools, normal schools with some sparkle, and everything in between. While these have all varied in quality, none have come close to replicating the same unique nature of the Harry Potter franchise, likely in large part to their resemblance, as readers see "magic school" and can only think of it as a less impressive Hogwarts. This book stands out heavily from the rest, and is one of the first one of these I've read and genuinely thought "Hey, maybe this isn't a blatant attempt to capitalize on my generation's Harry Potter obsession." Instead of capitalizing on the fun shenanigans and beautiful imagery of magic as the Harry Potter books, and most subsequent knockoffs, this book is immediately sobering. Instead of trying to transport the reader to a world of magic beings and sparkling wands, the book opens with a near death experience of the main character, then proceeds to hammer in the normality of the situation. It introduces a strict barter system, the mundaneness of horrible deaths, the need for constant vigilance, and the constant threat of a horrible demise looming over every characters head in El's matter-of-fact, blunt voice. There's no funerals or scandals when someone dies, only remembering where there body is to watch out for the mals that will devour it. Every minute of these teenagers' lives is calculating the odds and risks to get them out alive, fully knowing that most of those with them won't make it out. And its a really, really fun read.
The way the authors shows the creative and all-encompassing ways these characters keep themselves safe from monsters that are literally everywhere makes every moment and character decision fascinating. Just getting a meal involves putting wards on tables, finding sun lamps to sit under, making sure your food isn't poisoned, avoiding the mals hiding in or around the food, and getting a spot far enough from the doors to make sure you aren't first in line if something large and hungry charges in. The amount of thought and detail and danger the author weaves into her world is truly astounding, and gives it that special flavor that finally isn't "Harry Potter but a little to the left." The tone and voice of the book is completely distinct from anything I've ever read. Lots of books try to sell that "we're constantly in danger" bit, but it rarely works since the main cast has plot armor and all the side characters that die get appropriate sadness and deep reflections on the fragility of life from the main characters. When someone dies in this book, they're dead, and that's it, and the characters have to move on or their distraction will get them dead too. It's like a war story set inside a high school, with children talking about rationing empathy and leaving their friends corpses on tables like its just a part of life. And its sad, sure, but the bluntness of it all makes it such a no-nonsense, tight narrative that you can't really grudge it that.
It helps that the narrator, El, is a very logical person, who views deaths as inconvenient but inevitable while still seeming to be a generally kind person. El herself is also very well fleshed out, clearly given her own distinct motivations and temperament. She's hardworking and resourceful, while also being bitingly sarcastic. She has flaws and problems, but watching her work through these throughout the story is immensely satisfying. Her friends and foils get the same treatment. While they're definitely not as well explored as El, they're all characters in their own right, who are also fun to watch survive. And we're all aware of the fact that it would be very easy and in character with the world for them to die, making the stakes gripping and giving the book a quality that makes it almost impossible to put down. There's also this really great main side character who acts like the classic YA protagonist with a ton of idealism and heroism and genuine kindness, and El just thinks he's a huge idiot for some really good reasons that are kind of a reflection on the usual idea of the "hero" as a whole, and their dynamic is super fun!
I read this book maybe six months ago, and I'm rereading it now, and I'm thinking of buying it because it is just that good! It has a distinct tone and a unique world that is explained by a main character we like and fleshed out by a school we can't help but want to know more about. The only real critique I have of this book is the fact that its a bit heavy on exposition, especially in the beginning, but the world is so strange and intense that I was fine learning about it, no matter how long it dragged on. All in all, this book is amazing, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants salty and cool heroines, side characters with protagonist flavor, an extremely vivid and dangerous world, some good emotional wringing, and a conclusion that promises so much more!
Reviewer Grade: 11

While it took me a while to finally get around to the last book in the Demon Cycle series, I'm glad I put the time in to complete it. The initial concept laid out in The Warded Man was so interesting that I had to see it play out to the end. The Core wraps up this series with an ending that was mostly inevitable while also managing to add more subplots that merely padded out an already large conclusion to this series.

Overall, my main qualm with the Demon Cycle series is that it is a prime example of "Men Writing Women." This trope is evident in many places across this series but seems most egregious in The Core with its depiction of childbirth (especially the one at the beginning). I understand that many fantasy worlds are based on medieval Europe, but that doesn't mean the writer has to be so heavy-handed with sexism and misogyny. The fact that Leesha's character was written as a counterpoint to this doesn't hold up very well when she also eventually falls into these tropes.

Ultimately, The Core delivers on the "grand battle" between humans and demons that could only come about after the humans stopped killing themselves long enough to create an alliance against the demons. Even with a well-written climactic battle, it felt so delayed and crammed near the end of the book that it was almost a disappointment. However, the strength of the worldbuilding carried this book along, as it did in the previous books in this series. If you can ignore some of its rough edges, I recommend the Demon Cycle for anyone looking for dark adult fantasy.

An action-packed ending to a series with some "Men Writing Women" issues, I give The Core 4.0 stars out of 5.

Something I feel is underappreciated in book series is when authors don't try to cram in as much material and side stories as possible to pad each of the books to be longer than they should be. Keeping the core books of a series concise helps drive the main plot forward without requiring larger and larger volumes to tie up all the loose ends introduced along the way. The Lunar Chronicles excels in this. Look no further than the "prequel," Fairest, and the collection of short stories and epilogue that is Stars Above for proof of this restraint.

I can appreciate that worldbuilding will often create so much content that it doesn't always make sense to include it in the actual storytelling. Still, some origin stories might seem interesting, only to find out that most of these moments of exposition happened along the way as the character's motives are revealed to the reader. Ergo, some stories don't need to be told. Stars Above has some stories like this, but it also contains a few worth reading, the best of which is the pseudo-epilogue to the Lunar Chronicles.

With so many different fairy tales to pull from into the Lunar Chronicles, I'm glad that Marissa Meyer had some restraint in recognizing when some of them wouldn't work with the main narrative of Cinder's rise to claim her rightful throne. The "Little Mermaid" story in this collection works on its own, but I would find myself hard-pressed to see how it would add anything to the overarching plot of the Lunar Chronicles without reworking the whole thing. Even so, it's a good story that any fan of this series will likely enjoy.

Some necessary (and not so necessary) short stories that round out the Lunar Chronicles, I give Stars Above 3.5 stars out of 5.

If there's one thing I appreciate with a series, it's when all the loose ends are tied up by the end. In the fourth and final installment in the Lunar Chronicles series, Marissa Meyer manages to wrap up all the disparate parts of the story that had been running in parallel for three books. Not only does this series have a satisfying ending, but there's even enough time to flesh out the titular character, Winter, so that her presence makes sense in the context of the whole series. Still, even if the backstory for Levanna in Fairest isn't directly needed to understand more of Winter's character in this book, it certainly helped that I had already read it going into this final chapter of the series.

While my standard qualms with the "teenage girl" style of characterizations remain for this book (as it has for the entire series), the dialogue feels very natural (as it has for the entire series). Ultimately, though, it feels like the ending takes forever to arrive, especially since the audience has already known for some time that Cinder is the true heir—a fact that only became apparent to her in the last few books. Plus, there's the almost constant sexual tension that runs through these books as well. I've never wanted to scream at fictional characters, "Kiss already!" so much in my life.

I will say that the sci-fi fairy tale reimagining Meyer does in the Lunar Chronicles is unique in its interpretation while also remaining relatively close to the source material's references. And while there were moments where the characters might have been annoying, all of their motivations were clear and drove them to make decisions that felt logical based on their background. Overall, I think this has become one of my favorite series lately, and I'm now looking forward to reading more of what Marissa Meyer has to offer.

A satisfying ending to the best series of sci-fi fairy tale reimaginings, I give Winter 4.0 stars out of 5.

Gearbreakers is a story with two subjects. First, there's Eris, a revolutionary with a burning hatred for Godolia, the all powerful government that killed her parents and regulates her home with the giant mechas known as Windups. She has dedicated her life to destroying these Windups, and any who dare pilot them. Second, there's Sona, a Windup pilot that is scheming to destroy Godolia from the inside. When the two of them meet after one of Eris' destructive escapades goes sideways, their clashing backgrounds and mirrored desires forges an unlikely friendship, one that will change both of their lives as they know it.
This book is unusual for its genre from the get go. It's clearly a YA dystopia, with its young, child soldier protagonists with appropriately angsty personalities set against a terrifying yet monolithic totalitarian government. I've read plenty of these in my time, like most of my generation, and I'm very familiar with the elements. In this book, the usual elements are subverted immediately. Instead of starting out with a bland everyman that, despite having a hard life, isn't usually directly opposed to the system they're in, this book cuts to the chase. The first voice of the story, Sona, is introduced already chock-full of rage. The entire first chapter begins in medias res, completely skipping the usual revelations and training montages and directing us straight to a character who has just been transformed and is very ticked about this. This is something the book does very well: it trusts its audience to grasp the situation at hand, without needing the exposition many books like this are heavy in, often using heavy and lyrical prose to do so. This is another thing: the prose. The book is unexpectedly poetic in many places, which is also generally strange for the genre. I'm not talking about clunky metaphors about birds and technology, although there is a lot of stuff about technology. Just the writing itself is beautiful, interweaving metaphors and similes and personification and all that fun stuff seamlessly with the literal. This also makes the novel seem older than its setting and genre, more like an old folk tale about ancient gods and classic heroes than a YA dystopia about robots and lasers. Another bright spot in the novel is its vibrant tone, especially with the characters. Every character is brimming with emotion and character and motivations. And they're all unspeakably angry. This author is younger than most, and this definitely shows in the portrayal of the younger characters in the novel. In many books written by older authors, the teenage characters often exhibit the cynicism and stoicism of that older generation in the face of social injustice. While this leads to cool-headed, logical heroes to aspire to, none of them have the same instant relatability with the younger generation as these angry characters do. Most teenagers, in the face of unfairness, get unreasonably angry. Its a fact of life, and having unabashedly angry female teen characters who scream and yell and blow stuff up in the face of their terrible circumstances instead of passing out or something is surprisingly refreshing. The two main characters, and their deep seated anger in the face of trauma and injustice, as well as their different ways of reacting to their similar demons, makes for some great chemistry and explorations of their characters. I will admit, most other characters didn't get similar levels of development, but they were each memorable and likable in unique and fun ways.
All in all, I would simply describe this book as fun and refreshing. The action and characters and writing is all fun, and the way the author subverts typical expectations in unique and interesting ways is refreshing! I would recommend this to anyone in the mood for lots of robots, good emotional conflicts, lots of sadness, lots of laughs, and some cathartically angry female characters.
Reviewer Grade: 11

Falcon Quinn and his friends Megan Crofton and Max Parsons get on a bus that they think is taking them to their normal mundane school...
Well are they in for a surprise... They do go to a school, but not just any school. They go to The Academy for Monsters, where they are supposed to learn how to suppress their monster sides. Falcon however doesn't even know what his monster nature is.. and he certainly doesn't want to suppress it. Then on the day when they have to find out their monster natures... Falcon discovers that although he is half monster, he is also half Guardian or Monster killer. While Falcons old and new friends discover their roles; Max is a Sasquatch, Megan is a wind elemental, and his new friends Pearl, Destynee, Lincoln, Sparkbolt, and Weems are a Chuprakabra, a Giant Slug, a Werebear, a Frankenstein, and a Ghoul respectively, Falcon has to worry about getting killed for what he is. Read the book to discover which side Falcon will take, whether he will ever truly find himself, and whether his friends will still stick with him once they find out the truth...... A Review by Valkyrie a 9th grader.