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books

Vortex by S. J. Kincaid

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In Vortex, Tom Raines is now a Middle Company cadet, having passed his first year as a plebe in the Pentagonal Spire and judged worthy to continue his training as a combatant in the Intrasolar Forces. As his training continues, he learns more about the combatant system: how to be a tactical fighter as well as how the powers-that-be (the corporations) run it all. He also hopes to make amends with Medusa. Amid all of this, he must contend with some old enemies, as well as some new ones, as he gets drawn into some bigger fights that are well over his head.
One of the things that really impresses me about these books is Kincaid’s way of writing about the corporation-run world, which is more believable in this installment than the last. It’s an easy step for me as a reader to get from the covert power that many companies exercise upon our political process now to the overt power they have in Tom’s future world. I wouldn’t call this series a dystopia, but it does a much better job than a lot of dystopias do at postulating a believable future world built upon problems in the current one.
And because it’s explained through action, not infodumps, it’s quite chilling to read about. It’s also not done in a heavy-handed way, in a way that makes you feel like you’re Learning a Lesson. The issue can be quite complex, but Kincaid writes about it in a way that is accessible and understandable. (For more science fiction that addresses this topic, I’d recommend the excellent tv series Continuum, which is appropriate for teens as well, and even features one rather prominently.) It’s also a nice change from a future world that’s controlled by an authoritarian government, which is a little tired by now.
Tom is a great character. He’s quite smart, but he also misses so many obvious things, making huge mistakes in the process. He’s not always nice, either, even to his friends. He lets his emotions get the better of him. He chooses sometimes to exact some petty revenge instead of taking the high road, shooting himself in the foot in the process. It’s all very authentic. I feel like I know kids like Tom. I feel like I was him sometimes as a teen.
Vortex tackles a lot of tough issues, but it’s also very, very funny. Tom and his friends have great repartee. They prank each other constantly. At one point, another Middle company cadet gives Tom’s neural processor a computer virus that makes him see imaginary gnomes everywhere. All Middle company cadets learn how to hook into a system that allows them to communicate to each other via thought, and the results are hilarious, since all thoughts are communicated, not just those they intend to send.
This is a terrific second book in the series, and just a terrific book overall. It’s funny, meaningful, exciting, and well-written. I want to push these books (beginning with Insignia) into the hands of anyone who’s looking for a good SF read. It’s much better than most, with a fully-realized world and a unique concept. Highly recommended.
Review copy provided by the publisher. Vortex is available now.

Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown

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Ashleigh’s boyfriend Kaleb is going to college at the end of summer, leaving her behind to get through two more years of high school. She’s worried, though, his leaving means he’ll be suddenly interested in other girls. More mature girls. Girls who will distract Kaleb and tear him away from her.

It’s at a party when Ashleigh’s friends convince her to send him a nude photo. No way would Kaleb forget her then. But when that photo gets around, Ashleigh finds she’s going to lose more than just her boyfriend.

Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown explores sexting and the consequences thereof. It reminded me a lot of Susan Vaught’s Going Underground (reviewed here) and for sure, it’s a very contemporary topic with very real consequences for today’s teens.

Brown’s novel alternates in its timeline. It’s set in the present during Ashleigh’s court-required community service, and between these chapters are those set as flashbacks to when she chooses to send the message and how it transports through the school. Through to getting her in trouble, too. Brown masterfully weaves the backstory in with the current time and she does so while building tension in the story. It never feels like information dropping but instead, the backstory informs the place Ashleigh is in now. It’s also clear early on that the romance is long gone, and it was worthwhile to see how the relationship between Ashleigh and Kaleb ended through this storytelling method, rather than getting something short and snipped about it being over.

Ashleigh’s punishment is for her to do a set number of hours of research on the issue of sexting and develop pamphlets and posters to educate other students about the consequences of it. Even though it’s a creative punishment and allows for Brown to offer a pat conclusion to the story, it’s also sort of boring and unrealistic. See, Ashleigh has quite a bit of privilege, even if it’s not acknowledged through the story. This privilege is a double-edged sword though. Her dad is a superintendant in the school distract she attends, so when the news breaks about the sexting issue, suddenly, her father’s job is in jeopardy. There’s a subplot about whether or not the community will push for her father to resign, but I think because of his position, Ashleigh’s punishment is less severe than it could have been (and thus, less interesting to read about). Maybe that’s an unfair assessment, but because this plot has been done before and done quite well in Vaught’s book, there’s been a standard set.

There is, of course, a budding romance in this novel, and it happens between Ashleigh and another teen who is spending time in community service. Except, Mack won’t let on why he’s doing time in service. Eventually he does let Ashleigh in, but even that feels a little underwhelming in execution. He offers Ashleigh a way to reconsider her position and even forces her to check her privilege, which was what she needed in order to carry on with her life. It hadn’t been easy to go back to school and deal with being called a slut and a whore, of course.

Thousand Words certainly has appeal and it’s well-written. It’s another addition to the shelf of quality books tackling important and everyday challenges of being a teen which readers have come to expect of Jennifer Brown. That said, it didn’t have quite the sparkle to it that Susan Vaught’s title did, and maybe it comes down to the fact that Ashleigh never quite had a voice of her own. It’s not that she’s dependent upon the actions of everyone else in the book — she’s not — but rather, she’s not entirely memorable as a character. All we know of her is that she runs periodically, that she spends time in thrift stores once in a while, that she’s an athlete, and that, yeah, she’s the girl who send a naked photo of herself to her boyfriend. Beyond that, we don’t get to know her on a deeper level, nor do we come away with a bigger picture of what her future may hold, other than she’s willing to stand up for herself. In the end, I wanted a better sense of who this girl was, but instead, I was left with a little bit of a didactic message about how one mistake doesn’t ruin your life. Also, of course, the message about how many teens participate in sexting and how it’s going to be an issue infiltrating teen lives as long as cell phones with camera capabilities exist.

Thousand Words is available now from Little, Brown. Review copy received from the publisher.

The Savage Fortress by Sarwat Chadda

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Thirteen year old Ash Mistry, along with his little sister Lucky, is visiting his aunt and uncle in India for the summer. Though he’s of Indian descent, he doesn’t feel much of a connection to the place, having grown up in England. Actually, he kind of wishes he were back in England anyway, since the heat in India is killing him and there’s nothing much exciting going on.

And then his uncle is summoned to the home of Lord Savage, a very wealthy and powerful man with connections to Indian antiquities. Savage offers his uncle – an archaeologist – a job, but the uncle is wary and ultimately refuses, despite the promised huge paycheck. Ash, who had been wandering the fortress, is unlucky enough to stumble upon Savage’s secret – he has rakshasas (demons) in his employ, and Savage’s offer of employment to Ash’s uncle is not what it seems. Savage’s actual aim is to release Ravana, an ancient demon king, who he hopes will grant him immortality.

Ash’s discovery sets Savage and his rakshasas after him, and what follows is an action-packed adventure as Ash, Lucky, and a band of allies – including a rakshasa named Parvati who has her own vendetta against Ravana – fight to stay one step ahead of Savage. Ash – a chubby nerd – finds he has hidden powers, both in terms of character as well as magic. 

Aside from the inclusion of Indian mythology, which is refreshing, the story itself is fairly generic. I found myself disengaging quite a lot once the first portion of the story had passed, and I can’t really blame narrator Bruce Mann, who does a fine job. I suppose I’ve just read this story all too often – the loner kid discovers he has hidden powers and is able to avert the end of the world through magic and a few plucky friends. It’s well told and exciting enough, but doesn’t have the oomph that would propel it to an above average read for me.

All that said, for kids who haven’t yet lived enough years to grow weary of these stories (after all, they’re the audience, not adult me), The Savage Fortress is a solid choice. I liked it about as well as I did the Percy Jackson stories, to which it’s a natural readalike. Hand this to the kids who can’t get enough of mythology and have already read all of Riordan’s books. (Loki’s Wolves by Marr and Armstrong is another likely readalike, though I’ve yet to read it. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen a huge crop of middle grade mythology novels aside from Riordan’s, and it makes me wonder if Riordan has cornered the market on it.)

Audiobook provided by the publisher.

Get Genrefied: Historical Fiction

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Every month, we’re highlighting one genre within YA fiction as part of Angela’s reader’s advisory challenge. So far, we’ve discussed horror, science fiction, high fantasy, mysteries and thrillers, verse novels, and contemporary realistic fiction. July’s focus is historical fiction. 

The definition of historical fiction is something I feel strongly about. (Perhaps not as strongly as I feel about the definition of a dystopia, but the feelings are there nonetheless.) In the simplest terms, historical fiction is a story set in the past, but it’s important to go beyond just that simple definition. There are a couple of other essential things to know: 

A story set in a time period contemporaneous to its publication date is not historical fiction.

Jane Austen wrote about her own time; ergo, her works are not historical fiction. This also means that all the authors writing contemporary fiction in 2013 will not be considered to have written historical fiction by readers in 2050.  Of course, these types of stories may certainly appeal to fans of historical fiction.

Stories set in the recent past are still historical fiction.

Ask yourself: Is the time period of this book vital to its story, or could it be set in this year without any loss of sense or meaning? If the past time period is vital, it’s historical fiction. (So all those books set in the 80s that rely on lack of a cell phone are historical fiction.) This means that a 30-year old writing a story about a teenager’s experiences with 9/11 is writing historical fiction, even though the writer lived through it herself.

This is hard for a lot of people to reconcile. I remember having a discussion with my grandmother, who lived through World War II, about whether WWII stories were historical fiction, and I was surprised when she said she didn’t consider them so. It’s easy for us younger adults to think about WWII stories as historical fiction, but so many of us won’t push it further and realize that stories set in times when we were kids are historical as well. I know there will be people who disagree, but they are wrong. (There’s some honesty for you.)

It should be noted that historical fiction can often cross genres (a common theme in our genre guides!). Historical mysteries and romances are popular in the adult world, and they’re making a splash in the YA world as well. Historical fantasy is experiencing a surge in popularity thanks in large part, I think, to Grave Mercy (see Elizabeth May’s The Falconer and Amy Butler Greenfield’s Chantress).

If you’re looking to brush up on your knowledge of historical fiction, check out the following:

  • The Scott O’Dell award is given each year to a children’s or young adult book published in the previous year. The recipients of this award tend to skew young. The winning title must have been published by an American publisher, and the author must be a United States citizen.
  • Corsets, Cutlasses, and Candlesticks is a blog run by a group of debut YA and middle grade historical fiction authors whose books are being published in 2013 or 2014. They write regularly about their books and about writing historical fiction (including trends, authenticity, and fashion). 
  • The History Girls are a group of authors who write historical fiction for all ages, including Mary Hoffman, Mary Hooper, Celia Rees, and Adele Geras. They post almost daily on a number of topics.
  • The Historical Novel Society aims to “review all US and UK mainstream published titles,” which is quite an undertaking. They include young adult titles, and membership is open to anyone interested in historical novels.
  • There are a few authors who turn out a historical fiction novel rather reliably every year or so: Carolyn Meyer, Ann Rinaldi, Mary Hooper, Michaela MacColl, Esther Friesner, Susanne Dunlap. Their backlists are worth checking out. (Readers: are there any I’ve missed?)

Historical fiction has the potential to be incredibly varied and diverse, but there are times and places that are more popular – the 1920s, World War II, and Victorian and Tudor England are perennial favorites. (Personally, I’d love to see more ancient and prehistoric fiction.) Like much of the world of English-language fiction, there seems to be a significant lack of non-Western stories and stories featuring people of color. In the list of historical fiction titles published since 2012 below, I tried to seek out those books not set in Europe or North America, and I quite simply didn’t find very many. Please chime in with suggestions in the comments, particularly if you know of some set in Asia or Africa. All descriptions are from Worldcat or Goodreads.

 
Born of Illusion by Teri Brown: Set in 1920s New York City, this is the story of budding magician Anna
Van Housen, who has spent her whole life playing sidekick to her
faux-medium mother–and trying to hide the fact the she actually
possesses the very abilities her mother fakes.

A Moment Comes by Jennifer Bradbury: As the partition of India nears in 1947 bringing violence even to
Jalandhar, Tariq, a Muslim, finds himself caught between his forbidden
interest in Anupreet, a Sikh girl, and Margaret, a British girl whose
affection for him might help with his dream of studying at Oxford.

The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats: In medieval Wales, follows Cecily whose family is lured by cheap land
and the duty of all Englishman to help keep down the “vicious”
Welshmen, and Gwenhwyfar, a Welsh girl who must wait hand and foot on
her new English mistress. Kimberly’s review

Spirit’s Chosen by Esther M. Friesner (sequel to Spirit’s Princess): As Himiko traverses ancient Japan in order to free enslaved members of
her clan, she encounters members of many other tribes and emerges as the
leader who will unify them.

Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield: “Sing, and the darkness will find you.” This warning has haunted
fifteen-year-old Lucy ever since she was eight and shipwrecked on a
lonely island. Lucy’s guardian, Norrie, has lots of rules, but the most
important is that Lucy must never sing. Not ever. Now it is 1667, Lucy
is fifteen, and on All Hallows’ Eve, Lucy hears a tantalizing melody on
the wind. She can’t help but sing—and she is swept into darkness.

The Disgrace of Kitty Grey by Mary Hooper: A hugely romantic new novel set in the time of Jane Austen, from the popular author of Fallen Grace.

Velvet by Mary Hooper: In Victorian London, orphaned Velvet leaves her backbreaking job in a
steam laundry for the mysterious and exciting world of famed
spiritualist Madame Savoya, who harbors dangerous secrets.

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers (companion book to Grave Mercy): Sybella’s duty as Death’s assassin in 15th-century France forces her
return home to the personal hell that she had finally escaped. Love and
romance, history and magic, vengeance and salvation converge in this
sequel to Grave Mercy. Kimberly’s review

The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y. S. Lee (third in a series): Queen Victoria has a problem: there’s a petty thief at work in
Buckingham Palace. Charged with discretion, the Agency assigns
quick-witted Mary Quinn to the case. Posing as a domestic in the royal
household and fending off the attentions of a feckless Prince of Wales
are challenge enough, but when the prince witnesses a murder in an opium
den — and scandal threatens the royal family — Mary learns that the
accused killer may be someone very close to her. Kimberly’s review

Gilt by Katherine Longshore: In 1539, Kitty Tylney and her best friend Cat Howard–the audacious,
self-proclaimed “Queen of Misrule”–both servants to the Duchess of
Norfolk, move to the court of King Henry VIII, who fancies Cat, and when
Cat becomes queen, Kitty must learn to navigate the complexities and
dangers of the royal court.

Tarnish by Katherine Longshore: King Henry VIII’s interest in Anne Boleyn could give her an opportunity
to make a real impact in a world with few choices for women, but when
poet Thomas Wyatt reveals he’s fallen for her, Anne must choose between
true love and the chance to make history.

Nobody’s Secret by Michaela MacColl: When fifteen-year-old Emily Dickinson meets a charming, enigmatic young
man who playfully refuses to tell her his name, she is intrigued–so
when he is found dead in her family’s pond in Amherst she is determined
to discover his secret, no matter how dangerous it may prove to be. Kimberly’s review

  
Maid of Secrets by Jennifer McGowan: In 1559 England, Meg, an orphaned thief, is pressed into service and
trained as a member of the Maids of Honor, Queen Elizabeth I’s secret
all-female guard, but her loyalty is tested when she falls in love with a
Spanish courtier who may be a threat.

Victoria Rebels by Carolyn Meyer: Through diary entries, reveals the life of Britain’s strong-willed
and short-tempered Queen Victoria from the age of eight through her
twenty-fourth birthday, up to her third wedding anniversary with her
beloved Albert in 1843.

Cinders & Sapphires by Leila Rasheed: The intertwined lives of the prominent Averley family and the servants
of Somerton Court are forever changed when an old secret comes to light. Kimberly’s review

Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross: When Maude Pichon runs
away from provincial Brittany to Paris, her romantic dreams vanish as
quickly as her savings. Desperate for work, she answers an unusual ad.
The Durandeau Agency provides its clients with a unique service—the
beauty foil. Hire a plain friend and become instantly more attractive. 

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys: Josie, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a French Quarter prostitute,
is striving to escape 1950 New Orleans and enroll at prestigious Smith
College when she becomes entangled in a murder investigation.

Passion Blue by Victoria Strauss: In fifteenth-century Italy, seventeen-year-old Giulia, a Count’s
illegitimate daughter, buys a talisman hoping it will bring her true
love to save her from life in a convent, but once there she begins to
learn the painter’s craft, including how to make the coveted paint,
Passion blue, and to question her true heart’s desire. Kimberly’s review

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and
the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage and great
courage as she relates what she must do to survive while keeping secret
all that she can. Kimberly’s review

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters: In San Diego in 1918, as deadly influenza and World War I take their
toll, sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches desperate mourners
flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort and, despite her
scientific leanings, must consider if ghosts are real when her first
love, killed in battle, returns. Kimberly’s review

Below are a few books to keep an eye out for later this year or early 2014.

Love Disguised by Lisa Klein: After a mixed-up courtship with the Hathaway sisters ends badly,
eighteen-year-old Will Shakespeare jumps at the chance to go to London,
where he can pursue his dream of becoming an actor and where he is about
to meet the girl who will change his life forever. (July 2013)

VIII by H. M. Castor: VIII is the story of
Hal: a young, handsome, gifted warrior, who believes he has been chosen
to lead his people. But he is plagued by the ghosts of his family’s
violent past and once he rises to power, he turns to murder and
rapacious cruelty. He is Henry VIII. (August 2013)

Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy by Elizabeth Kiem: After a harrowing defection to the United States in 1982, Russian
teenager Marya and her father settle in Brooklyn, where Marya is drawn
into a web of intrigue involving her gift of foresight, her mother’s
disappearance, and a boy she cannot bring herself to trust.
 

The Falconer by Elizabeth May: Lady Aileana Kameron,
the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, was destined for a life
carefully planned around Edinburgh’s social events – right up until a
faery killed her mother. Now it’s the 1844 winter season and
Aileana slaughters faeries in secret, in between the endless round of
parties, tea and balls. (September 2013)

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein: When young American pilot Rose Justice is captured by Nazis and sent to
Ravensbrück, the notorious women’s concentration camp, she finds hope
in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery, and friendship of her
fellow prisoners. (September 2013)

Beauty’s Daughter: The Story of Hermione and Helen of Troy by Carolyn Meyer: When renowned beauty Helen runs off to Troy with Prince Paris, her
enraged husband, King Menelaus, starts the Trojan War, leaving their
plain daughter, Hermione, alone to witness the deaths of heroes on both
sides and longing to find her own love and place in the world. (October 2013)

A Most Dangerous Deception by Sarah Zettel: In 1716 London, an orphaned sixteen-year-old girl from a good family
impersonates a lady-in-waiting only to discover that the real girl was
murdered, the court harbors a nest of spies, and the handsome young
artist who is helping her solve the mystery might be a spy himself. (November 2013)

A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller: A teen in Edwardian
London, after getting expelled from her French boarding school, pursues
her passion for art—and for an attractive police constable—despite the
restrictions of her upper-class family. (January 2014)

So You Want to Read YA?: Guest Post from Gwenda Bond (author of Blackwood)

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This week’s guest post comes to us from Gwenda Bond, author of Blackwood and the forthcoming The Woken Gods (Strange Chemistry, September).



Gwenda Bond is the author of the YA novels Blackwood (out now), The Woken Gods (Sept. 2013), and Girl on a Wire (summer 2014). Blackwood is currently in development as a TV series by MTV and Lionsgate. She is also a contributing writer for Publishers Weekly and regularly reviews for Locus Magazine. Her nonfiction work has appeared in the Washington Post, Lightspeed, and Strange Horizons, among others, and she has an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in a hundred-year-old house in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband, author Christopher Rowe, and their menagerie. You can find her online at her website (www.GwendaBond.com) or on twitter (@gwenda).




The danger of being a serial book recommender (I am a book pusher, but hey, there are far worse things to be) is that when faced with the amazing posts that have already appeared in this series and the vast sea of my go-to recommendations, I froze up. You have no idea how many iterations of this I’ve started, how many different types of ways I’ve considered focusing this list. Because: I want to recommend all the great YA I love and think most anyone dipping an eyeball into the waters of YA reading would love as well.

But in the interest of space and time (and Kelly’s patient waiting for me to Finish This Up), I finally decided on a list of some of my favorites, most lesser known but some iconic, that I feel push at the boundaries of the kind of story the authors are telling or of people’s assumptions about what YA is or should be. Still, there are so many books I had to leave out, ghost novels in the shadows I’d love to recommend to you some other time. (In fact, I keep a running semi- up-to-date list of reading recommendations here.) Anyway, all of these are books I have continued recommending long after I first encountered them, a surefire sign that they belonged on this list.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart. Here we have a feminist boarding school novel that is relevant, political, and fun. I would have become obsessed with this book as a teenager (shocking to no one, I’m sure, that I was quite the prankster), and was obsessed with it in an entirely different way as an adult. This is a novel that doesn’t take the easy way out, and subverts the narrative we expect at the beginning in such a pleasing way.

The Dreamhunter Duet by Elizabeth Knox. The two books that comprise the Dreamhunter Duet–Dreamhunter and Dreamquake–are Knox’s masterpieces to date, set in an Edwardian-era fantasyland inspired by New Zealand. There is a geographic anomaly known as “the Place”that only dreamhunters can enter, societal intrigue, and a girl with a sand golem. Also, one of my favorite friendships between girls. Majestic, sweeping, and imbued with rich oddity.

The Catalogue of the Universe by Margaret Mahy. Let’s go back in time a little to one of my favorite romances, period. This is the story of an unlikely pair of lovers, who start the book as friends–the beautiful and witty Angela May and the brilliant but nerdy Tycho Potter. A strange and satisfying book about the immensity of the universe and finding a place in it anyway.

Freak Magnet by Andrew Auseon. Another of my favorite romances, and one I’m mentioning because it’s criminally underknown. Did you love Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park? Do you love John Green’s work? Because I do, and Auseon is who I’d recommend if your answers are also yes. Freak Magnet follows Charlie Wyatt, aka the Freak (a Superman-obsessed stargazer), and Gloria Aboud, aka the Freak Magnet (a writer, she records the many who approach her in her notebook), as their relationship gets complicated. I cared about these characters so much and was surprised by them in ways that have lingered.

Valiant by Holly Black. I could recommend any of Holly Black’s books, because I love them all. You should definitely read her recent Curse Workers series, too. But I’m putting this one on because it’s one of my favorite reinventions of an old story. This retelling of Beauty and the Beast centers on main character Val’s journey as she flees an old life that’s falling apart and ends up in service to a troll named Ravus. The novel produces constantly raised stakes and memorable characters that result in a fresh and immersive faery tale.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson. This is one of those books that sometimes gets mentioned in “but is it really YA?”contexts, but I believe it is and that it’s also essential reading. I urge you if you haven’t read it yet and are about to: read nothing else about it. All you need to know is that a boy named Octavian lives in the strange world of the College of Lucidity, a household of men known by numbers instead of names, in which he is the subject of an experiment. Baroque, emotionally gripping, and thematically dense.

Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom, edited by Leonard Marcus. You didn’t see this one coming, now did you? So, it’s more about children’s literature than YA, but I believe that Leonard Marcus (a giant of a scholar) is an excellent starting point for anyone who wants to understand this part of the literary world. And there’s no more enjoyable place to begin than with famous editor Ursula Nordstrom’s correspondence to authors and illustrators you probably remember well from your own childhood, no matter what age you are. She’s the Dorothy Parker of children’s literature, and if that doesn’t make you pick this up, well, then, I’m shaking my head, because no one can help you.