High school is murder

 

Dead Rules (She loved her boyfriend to death) by R.S. Russell is a warning to boys everywhere. 

Jana Webster is madly in love with Michael Haynes – she introduces herself on the school bus as Jana Webster of Webster and Haynes. What she hasn’t yet realised is that she is dead and on her way to Dead School. When she gets a day off school to attend her own funeral, she begins to put together a plan to kill her boyfriend so that they can be together forever.  

Will she discover the truth about her death and how Michael really felt about her before it is too late for him – and for her? 

 

 

In Shift by Em Bailey it doesn’t take long before new girl, Miranda Vaile, becomes Katie’s BFF. It seems to Olive, that Miranda is taking everything from Katie – her look, her status, her boyfriend, and perhaps even her will to live. Olive is afraid for her ex-best friend but she has too many issues of her own such as coping with the aftermath of the Incident, her guilt over her part in her parents’ break-up, and working out how she feels about the new boy.

Is she already too late to save Katie? This is teenage angst with a malevolent twist.

 

 

Hartley, the main character in Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday, keeps finding herself the focus of high school gossip for all the wrong reasons. This time it’s because her soon to be ex-boyfriend has been two-timing her. As if that wasn’t bad enough, when she goes to confront her almost ex, she discovers the other girl in his bedroom – dead. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time seems to be Hartley’s forte.

Despite the fact that here’s yet another mother who inflicts strange vegetarian dishes on her long-suffering teenage daughter, this is an interesting and quirky murder mystery.

 

 

Vee, in Slide by Jill Hathaway, knows that her sister’s friend didn’t kill herself. She also knows her best friend’s deepest secrets but not because he has confided in her. Just by coming into direct contact with an object, Vee can slide into the mind of the person who owned or touched the object last. That’s how she came to be in the girl’s bedroom - inside the killer’s head - just after the murder had been committed.

Vee can’t tell the truth about her ability – why would anyone believe her when her own father didn’t? – but maybe she can use it to track down the killer and protect those she loves.

Good Luck

Lots of luck for the Standard Grade English exam tomorrow and for the rest of the SQA exams.

If “The Hunger Games” has whetted your appetite for dystopian sci-fi

Yes, I highly recommend the film and the trilogy of books, but you might also want to check out other sci-fi and fantasy novels reviewed on this blog. Here are a few of the books I have read recently.

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi.

Aria lives in the protected dome of Reverie where much of her life is conducted in virtual Realms via her Smarteye and Smartscreen.  When she is abandoned in the outer wasteland she is certain that she will die. Then she encounters Perry, an Outsider, a savage who needs to discover a way into the dome to rescue his nephew who has been kidnapped.

The relationship between the two main characters is what makes this novel worth reading. In her quest to find her missing mother, Aria finds out so much more than she could ever have imagined, not just about the lies that those in charge have been covering up but about herself and who and what she is.

Starters by Lissa Price.

When Callie’s parents succumb to the disease that has wiped out all but the old and the young who were vaccinated against it, she is forced to live rough with her seven-year-old brother, Tyler. They have no grandparents (Enders) to look after them and must be vigilant at all times to evade the marshals who round-up those youngsters (Starters) who have no one to sponsor them and take them to the institutions.

Tyler is ill and Callie has no money for medicine or a decent place for them to live, which is why she finds herself at Prime Destinations. She can earn the money she needs, if she simply agrees to loan her body to rich Enders who wish to experience being young again. Whilst her mind is in stasis, a ‘renter’ will use her body for a few days, a week, or even a month, then her consciousness will be returned to her body.

When Callie ‘wakes up’ in a night club dressed in clothes that are not her own, her first instinct is to return to Prime Destinations to have them put right whatever has gone wrong, but a voice inside her head warns her not to. The next time she wakes, she has a gun in her hand.

Look out for the sequel Enders due out at the end of the year.

The Partials by Dan Wells reminds me a little of Blade Runner and the replicants and the question of what it is that makes us human.

A virus has killed off all but the tiny fraction of the world’s population that has proved to be immune. However, no child born since the release of the virus has survived longer than three days. 16 year-old Kira lives on Long Island. The youngest person alive is almost 14. There is no longer any need for schools and teachers have been reassigned to more useful tasks. Every female over the age of 18 is compelled under the Hope Act to become pregnant in the ‘hope’ that a cure can be found and that the human race can have a future.

Kira, a trainee medic, is devastated when she witnesses the death of yet another newborn baby and then she learns that the age limit of 18 is to be lowered to 16. She is certain that the solution lies with the Partials. Partials are genetically engineered soldiers who rebelled against their human creators, then released the virus, RM. As the Partials are not affected by the virus, Kira believes that the answer to the cure lies in their blood. Of course, the ‘truth’ turns out to be a lot more complicated.

I am looking forward to seeing how the story continues.

The Repossession by Sam Hawksmoor.

It may come as no surprise to you that I am a big Star Trek fan. I loved what they did in the most recent film as the original series with Captain Kirk, Spock and Bones, despite the terrible special effects and scenery, is still my favourite. In The Repossession, a group of scientists,  funded by a shadowy, all-powerful company, is attempting to make the teleportation of human beings a reality. Anyone who saw the episode where Captain Kirk was split in two by the transporter and realised that he needed the darker aspects of his personality – such as ruthless ambition – as well as his compassion in order to be the person and leader that he was, will know that the process is fraught with danger.

At the start of the novel, parents in Spurlake are frantic as teenagers are disappearing without trace. Genie, meanwhile, spends the summer not just locked but caged in her room. Her mother, under the influence of the horrendous Reverend Schneider, claims that Genie is possessed by the devil. Then one of the missing teens appears to Genie and tells her she is next. Can Rian save her before it is too late?

If you haven’t read The Declaration by Gemma Malley, you simply must. (There is a review on this blog.) The Killables is the start of a new series by her. After the Horrors, the City was established and all of its citizens underwent an operation  – the New Baptism – to remove the amygdala,   that part of the brain that controls evil thoughts and strong emotions. Now the five thousand inhabitants of the city live in peace under the guidance of the Brother. The Great Leader is too fragile now to be seen in public so it falls upon the Brother to lead the weekly Gatherings in the Meeting House.

All of the citizens are labelled according to the level of their goodness with the As (like Lucas) being the most worthy. Lucas runs the System that controls everything and everyone in the City. Evie is a B. She is matched with Lucas but is in love with his younger brother, Raffy. She and Raffy regularly meet in secret to talk or steal a kiss.

When Raffy discovers a ‘flaw’ in the System, Evie finds out that her whole life has been based on lies. 

I enjoyed the book and will certainly read the sequel – especially as I want to see what happens to Lucas. However, I still prefer The Declaration. 

Pandemonium is the sequel to Delirium by Lauren Oliver. As in The Killables, strong emotions are considered dangerous. Love is a disease which must be ‘cured’. Children are taught to avoid, even fear, physical contact and affection and ‘cured’ parents can never truly love their children.

Lena has escaped but life outside in the Wilds is hard, even harder than she imagined. Only thinking and dreaming of Alex, who was shot at the end of the first novel, gives her the strength to survive without him.

The story is divided into two – Then and Now – telling of what happens to Lena immediately after her escape, and then months later when she is sent to New York where she meets Julian. Julian is being used to promote the DFA’s (Deliria-Free America) call for the cure to be given earlier. Julian himself has volunteered to be cured even though the procedure will almost certainly kill him.

As this is the second book of a trilogy we are, inevitably, left on a cliffhanger.

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting and Incarnate by Jodi Meadows are a blend of sci-fi fantasy and even fairytale.

In The Pledge, Charlaina lives in a land ruled by a ruthless queen. The classes are strictly divided by language. It is a crime punishable by death to acknowledge a conversation spoken in the language of a class above your own. Charlie understands all languages – even those she has never heard before.  If she is to survive she must keep her ability a secret even from her friends especially now that the queen is becoming increasingly desperate to hold on to her throne.

In Incarnate for thousands of years the same one million souls have been reincarnated over and over again in different bodies, keeping intact their memories and experiences from previous lives. Then the unthinkable happens – a soul is lost and a baby – Ana – is born with a completely new soul. Her mother, Li, takes her away to live in isolation and tells her that she is a nosoul and has no worth.

When Ana is eighteen she sets out for the city of Heart to find out who and what she is. On the way she is attacked by sylph and rescued by Sam. She, in turn, rescues Sam and together they journey to Heart to convince the people there to embrace all that Ana’s existence might mean for their community.

The novel raises lots of questions, not least our acceptance or lack thereof of those who are different. Would we live our life differently if we knew we would live over and over again, in a different body each time, as a male or a female, and with the memory of each and every death intact?

MEDIUMS in all shapes and sizes

The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting is the third book in The Body Finder series.

Violet is now part of a special investigative team made up of teenagers with psychic abilities. Violet is drawn to the bodies of the dead. Each dead person (or animal) carries a unique echo which might be a sound or smell or image. That same echo clings to the killer which means that Violet can match the murder with his or her victim(s).

Violet contiues to struggle to try to live a normal life whilst trying to cope with her special ability. Before long, Violet comes to the attention of ‘the collector’, a serial killer who targets young women. Can the others save her before he adds her to his collection?

The parts of the novel which take the reader into the mind of the collector are particularly chilling.

A tense addition to the series – with a twist at the end.

 

Unleashed: A Life and Death Job by Ali Sparkes is the first book in the Unleashed series about a group of teenagers with special powers.

In this novel, Lisa and Mia are supposed to be having a well-earned break. Mia is a healer but helping others, particularly those she cares about, drains her energy. Lisa is psychic and can see and hear the dead. Determined to make the most of her holiday, she refuses to acknowledge the drowned girl that haunts her hotel room every day (and soaks the carpet) and the other ghosts in the hotel lobby. However, when her spirit guide, Sylvie, warns her of danger and she is caught up in the kidnap of a teenage girl, it seems that Lisa’s shopping spree will have to be put on hold. Luckily, she has help in the form of Mystic Michael, a dishy TV psychic, who turns out to have some real psychic power after all.

Set in London, this is a fast-paced adventure with a supernatural twist.

 

Clarity by Kim Harrington

Clarity “Clare” Fern lives in a tourist town with her mother and brother. Together they offer tourists psychic “readings”. Clare’s mother can read people’s thoughts (all mothers can do a bit of that!); her brother, Perry, can speak to the dead; and Claire gets visions from objects, which is why people at school think she’s a freak. Things were better when she was going out with Justin, the mayor’s son, until she had a vision of him with another girl and dumped him. Justin wants her back but Claire can’t forgive him.

When a teenage girl is murdered, Clare teams up with Justin and Gabriel, the hot son of the town’s new detective, to help find the killer. Things get really complicated when Clare discovers not only that Perry was with the girl in her hotel room shortly before her death, making him a chief suspect, but also that Gabriel hates psychics and thinks she’s a fraud.

A murder mystery with a psychic twist – and romance thrown in.

(In Perception, Clare finally chooses between Justin and Gabriel. If there are to be more books in the series then I suspect that Clare will eventually discover that neither Justin nor Gabriel is right for her and her soul mate has been close by all along.)

A Dark Lord trapped in the body of a teenage boy; vampires; zombie mothers and fathers who snack on children; a mad Roman emperor guarded by invincible soldiers from the future …

a weak, skinny boy who makes a deal with Death whilst on a quest to become an executioner like his father; a group of teens who discover a rock that could change the world as we know it, forever; spies who use nano-technology in a bid to control the world’s most powerful people…

Fabulous books for boys – and girls.

You might already have heard of Darren Shan through his vampire series which begins with Cirque du Freak. The Thin Executioner tells the story of Jebel Rum who wants, more than anything, to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an executioner (a very prestigious job). However, he is far too weak and skinny. When he is humiliated in public by his father, he sets out on a journey that will change his life forever – if he survives. As in all the best quests, Jebel learns a lot about himself as well as the different people he meets.

A dark tale but ultimately very satisfying.

Gates of Rome, the fifth book in The Time Riders series by Alex Scarrow, takes us, as the title suggests, back to Ancient Rome. In the year 2070, mankind is on the verge of extinction. In a desperate move to rewrite the past and thus change the future, Project Exodus sees 300 Americans being sent back to AD54. Not only do they arrive in the wrong year, they also make the mistake of thinking that because Emperor Caligula is mad, he must be stupid. Liam, Maddy, Sal and Bob must once again go back in time to sort things out.

Writer Alex Scarrow has borrowed two characters – Cato and Macro –  from the Roman Legion series by his brother, Simon.

Dark Lord: The Teenage Years by Jamie Thomson

The Dark Lord finds himself cast out of his world into ours – and into the body of a teenage boy. Dark Lord, now known as Dirk Lloyd, is fostered and has to go to school, do homework and find some way of dealing with the school bully. Imagine his horror when he discovers that in his absence his Iron Tower of Despair has been painted bright pink! With the help of his newly-found friends, he must find a way back home – and soon.

Great fun!

Wolven: The Twilight Circus is the second book in the Wolven series by Di Toft. Nat’s parents have been watching him closely – especially during the full moon – since he was saved from death by a transfusion of his friend Woody’s Wolven blood. Nat hasn’t transformed – yet – but he also hasn’t told them about his new powers and the visions he has been having. A newly revived Vampire Queen, missing children, an eye in a snow globe, the return of Lucas Scale, an invitation to join Nightshift, and a quest to find Woody’s long-lost Wolven clan all add up to a fast-paced adventure.

The end of the novel sets us up nicely for the third book in the series – Dark Wolf Rising.

One of my S1 pupils said that one of the things he liked about the first novel was that Woody didn’t always get his transformation completely right. I can’t wait to find out what he thinks about what happens to Nat in the third book.

I have just sent away for Fear by Michael Grant – the latest in the Gone series. His novel BZRK is very different but no less compelling. Welcome to a world where nanotechnology makes James Bond (and all of his gadgets) obsolete. Much of the spying and fighting takes place “in the meat” – inside people’s bodies. Many of those who control the nanobots and biots (created from the controllers’ own DNA) are teenagers and losing their biots can lead to madness. There is no need to assassinate world leaders if you can control them from within.

Fascinating stuff – and a bit scary!

The Fear by Charlie Higson is the third book in the series that begins with The Enemy and The Dead. I know that the adult survivors of the disease that killed so many people throughout the world are technically not zombies but they are in various stages of decay, they are terrifying, and they do eat children.

You meet some new characters – Shadowman is particularly interesting – as well as catching up with familiar faces, but be warned: your favourite characters may not survive.

Itch by Simon Mayo.

Itchingham Lofte (Itch for short) loves science and has an unusual collection – elements from the periodic table. When he blows off his eyebrows in an experiment, Itch’s mother makes him move his collection out into the shed. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he nearly kills his classmates and teacher with poisonous gas. The latest addition to his collection, however, is more dangerous than Itch and his sister, Chloe, and their cousin, Jack, could ever imagine.

This is the book to make you change your mind if you think science is boring.

World Book Day – Thursday 1st March

Tomorrow is World Book Day.

All pupils attending English classes will be given a World Book Day token worth £1 off the price of a book. As usual there are  special £1 books published to celebrate World Book Day. Follow this link for more details including news of an App you can download free.  World Book Day

 

For fans of sci- fi,  Fever by Lauren DeStefano (the second book in The Chemical Garden trilogy) is a must-read. Be warned it is harrowing towards the end as Rhine finds out more about her father-in-law’s experiments first-hand and gets a little closer to finding her brother.

 

 

Legend by Marie Lu is the first part of a trilogy set in a dystopian future world. The story is told by Day (real name Daniel) and June who have every reason to hate each other (Day murdered June’s brother and she is determined to avenge her brother’s death) but have more in common than they could ever have imagined.

 Here’s a  Greek myth with a modern twist. Of all of the recently published novels which take a modern look at a Greek myth this is my favourite so far. In Everneath by Brodi Ashton, Nikki has spent the last hundred years in the Underworld where Cole, an Everliving,  has fed from her energy.  Meanwhile, for her family and friends only six months have elapsed.

Nikki has six months to make amends and say goodbye properly to her father and brother and, most importantly of all, to Jack, the person she loves with all her heart.

At the end of the six months the Shades will drag her back to the Everneath to the horror of the Tunnels unless she can find some way to alter her fate.

 

 

 

Romantic Reading for Valentine’s Day

Looking for teen romance without vampires or werewolves or other fantasy creatures? Then try these books by Simone Elkeles.

The Perfect Chemistry series

In Perfect Chemistry, Brittany Ellis and Alex Fuentes are forced to work together on a Chemistry project by their teacher. Brittany is popular and wealthy; bad boy Alex is a gang member from the wrong end of town. Alex is more than happy to enter into a bet with his friends that he can get Brittany to fall for him, but he soon finds out that her seemingly perfect life is anything but.

Rules of Attraction  and Chain Reaction focus on Alex’s younger brothers, Carlos and Luis.

Leaving Paradise - More than a year has passed since the night of the accident that left Maggie with a permanent limp. Her next-door neighbour, Caleb, who admitted driving home drunk from a party and hitting Maggie, is due home from juvenile detention. Both families are traumatised by the events of that night and since. Maggie’s injury has left her painfully self-conscious, so how will she cope with seeing Caleb every day?  I’m not going to give anything away, but you’ll definitely want to read the sequel to find out how their story ends.

If you prefer your romance dark and broody – complete with vampires and/or other supes (supernatural creatures) – then you’ll love:

 The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

 

The Iron Fey series by Julie Kawaga

 

And, if you have been reading the Soul Screamer series by Rachel Vincent, in book five, If I Die, Kaylee at long last works out who her soul mate really is – something we’ve known for ages. It’s just a shame that she has only a few days to live.

 

 

Books to chase away the winter blues

Everyone seems to be suffering from the winter blues. Of course, for those sitting or about to sit Prelims that’s understandable. If you are studying for exams, it’s important to set aside some time to rest and relax. For me, the best tonic is to escape into a book.

Here are a few of the books I’ve read and enjoyed this month.

Book of the month for me (and my daughter) has got to be Cinder by Marissa Meyer. It is a mixture of sci-fi and fairytale – a bit like chocolate with a chocolate filling! Cinder is kind, gifted and beautiful and totally unappreciated and exploited by her guardian, but she’s also part human, part cyborg and she keeps the family financially afloat with the money she earns as a mechanic. The wicked queen is determined to marry the prince at any cost – including waging war on the whole planet. The prince knows that she will enslave his people just as she has her own but his options are limited, especially as she may hold the only key to curing the deadly illness that has already claimed the lives of thousands of his people. 

Be warned – the story is set to span four books with the next in the series, Scarlett, not due out until 2013.

 

 

The Young Sherlock Holmes series by Andrew Lane continues with Fire Storm. Much of the action takes place in Edinburgh. The secret behind Mrs Eglantine’s hold on Sherlock’s aunt and uncle is revealed at last. Sherlock has to find a murderer and come to the rescue of both Rufus Stone and Amyus Crowe. The ending sets us up nicely for the next book in the series.

 

 

I also enjoyed Steve Feasey’s Changeling: Blood Wolf. It is quite some time since I read the first book in the series but I quickly picked up the story. This book switches between what happens to Phillipa who, guided and supported by Alexa, is trying to help destroy the demon that possessed her and killed her father, and Troy who goes to Canada in the hope that his uncle can give him the answers he needs. Unfortunately, Troy does not like what his uncle has to tell him. Full of grief and anger, he throws away the amulet that not only has the power to help him through the pain of his transformation on the night of the full moon but is the key to his destiny. This series is well worth a look. The books are full of interesting characters and all kinds of supernatural creatures.

 

 

Todd Strasser is an author I came across a few years ago when I read Boot Camp ( a fascinating and disturbing story of what happens to young teens who are sent to boot camp by their parents to be straightened out) when I was looking for books to recommend for the Personal Study, which is no longer a compulsory part of the Higher and Intermediate English courses. In Blood on My Hands the story is told by Callie Carson, but this is a bit different from the usual trying to fit in with the popular girls at high school story. It begins with Callie being photographed kneeling over Katherine’s dead body and going on the run.  In a series of flashbacks we learn about the sequence of events leading up to the murder and the lives of the various young people involved.

 

 

I read two books by Franny Billingsley, an author new to me. Both have a very appealing and unusual main character.  In The Folk Keeper, Corinna Stonewall has been living disguised as a boy for four years. In her role as Folk Keeper, she has spent much of that time in the darkness of the cellar appeasing the malicious and spiteful ‘Folk’ who would otherwise spoil the milk and cause untold mischief. It is only when she moves to Cliffsend that she gradually learns the truth about her parents and her true nature.

In Chime Briony is convinced that she is wicked; after all, she is responsible for her twin sister’s disability and the fire and flood that almost destroyed their home. Told by her stepmother that she is a witch, Briony is determined to give herself up to the authorities even though she knows that she will be put to death. As her feelings for Eldric grow and develop, Briony begins to understand more clearly her affinity for the marshes and the supernatural creatures who live in and around it.

Both these stories are told in first person. Neither Corinne nor Briony knows the truth behind her strange powers and anyone who has read lots of fantasy books will probably begin picking up clues to their true nature before these naive narrators do. That is part of the charm of the books.

Finally, Fracture by Megan Miranda. Delaney Maxwell should have died when she fell through the ice into the frozen waters below. Her heart stopped for eleven minutes. Against all the odds, she wakes from her coma and despite the brain scans which show brain damage, she seems to be perfectly okay – apart from the fact that she can sense when someone is close to death. She is terrified that rather than predicting these deaths, she might be causing them in some way. Troy who shares her strange new power seems to have at least some of the answers to her questions but can she trust him?

This is a very interesting novel that explores serious issues of life, death, guilt, love , friendship and survival – and it’s free of ghosts, vampires and werewolves.

 

My Top Reads 0f 2011

When I decided I would recommend my favourite books of 2011, I had no idea how difficult it would be. However, after much deliberation, I have chosen the selection below. (I reserve the right to add others I may have overlooked or temporarily forgotten in future posts.)

In no particular order:

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins – Look out for the film.

 Bloodlines by Richelle Mead – the new series following on from the Vampire Academy series which I also heartily recommend.

 

Patrick Ness’s Walking Chaos series – hard-hitting sci-fi at its very best.

The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials, books 1 and 2 in James Dashner’s sci-fi trilogy which boys will enjoy.

The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman – tough and uncompromising fantasy with a tough and uncompromising hero. Great stuff.

 

Divergent by Veronica Roth– I love sci-fi and this pushes all the right buttons.

 

Birthmarked and Prized by Caragh O’Brien – Dystopian sci fi with strong likeable characters defying those who would control their lives.

 

Blood Red Road by Moira Young – a dystopian quest / adventure story.

 

Inside Out and Outside In by Maria V. Snyder. Fabulous sci fi.

 

Cloaked by Alex Flinn – Lots of fairytales rolled into one and given a modern twist.

Wither – the first in the Chemical Garden Trilogy by Lauren DeStefano.

 

Unwind by Neal Shusterman– a terrific book but not for the faint-hearted. (I may have cheated here as I first read this book a few years ago but if you like dystopian fiction this is fantastic – but chilling.)

 

The Iron Fey series by Julia Kagawa – I love this series. In The Iron Queen – book three in the series - Meghan Chase finds herself back in the Nevernever facing seemingly impossible odds. Only she can stop the False King and the poison spread by his iron fey. The two rivals for her love, Ash and Puck, travel with her but ultimately she alone can save both the fey and her mortal family.

The fourth book  – The Iron Knight – was supposed to be released on Jan 6 but is available now – yahoo! Meghan is a gutsy heroine and you’ll love Ash.

 

Raised by Wolves and the sequel, Trial by Fire, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. If you prefer werewolves to vampires, you’ll enjoy this series.

 If you enjoy fantasy and would like a break from vampires and werewolves, I recommend the Faeriewalker series by Jenna Black.

As an English teacher I have the perfect excuse to read lots of books written for teenagers but most – if not all – of the books I read can be enjoyed by adults too.

Here’s to 2012 and lots of great new books.

Merry Christmas

Have a wonderful holiday.

See you next term.