by Elizabeth Knox
ONE-LINE SUMMARY: Laura is a dreamhunter; someone who can step into the mysterious Place to catch dreams to be later broadcast to others, and must use her skills to complete her father’s mission.
I vaguely remember a time when books just had titles and not series titles. The series title might eventually show up around the time that the 2nd sequel came out, but nowadays it seems like every book has a series name from the beginning. The “Dreamhunter Duet” is one of the first series names I’ve heard that only involved two books, but once I read them, I realized why they belonged together.
Book one, Dreamhunter, does have an ending and not one that leaves you hanging mid-action, but I was glad I had checked out both books at once because I needed to start book two immediately.
Dreamhunter sets up the world — an early 1900s version of this one, with the exception of the Place. The Place exists outside of normal boundaries and only a certain few can enter, and even fewer can “catch” dreams which they bring out to the regular world to perform, so that others can experience them.
Dreamquake begins a bit slowly, though it starts right where Dreamhunter ended. But by the time the book ended, it had gone in a direction I hadn’t expected at all, and found satisfactorily fulfilling.
I wouldn’t mind reading more books set in this world, but the Dreamhunter Duet pretty much covered everything. Highly recommended.
by Naomi Novik
ONE-LINE SUMMARY: A British Naval captain’s life is turned upside-down when he accidentally bonds with a dragon.
I do not normally like historical books, nor is my geography very strong (yes, I get lost driving in my hometown). So I looked at the first page of His Majesty’s Dragon, the first in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, about five separate times before I actually made it to the second page. Rather surprisingly, I found myself caught up in the plot.
Imagine the war (don’t ask me which war; one with Napoleon) with the usual attacks — by land, sea, and air. Except the air attacks involve captains on dragons carrying large crews armed with guns and bombs.
Most aviators begin training at age 7 or so, but Captain Laurence becomes an aviator only after he has already captained several ships. When he captures a French ship that contains a dragon’s egg on it, however, he becomes the unplanned partner of the dragon Temeraire. In book one of this series, Captain Laurence begins to understand what it means to be an aviator as he and Temeraire join the war.
In book two, Throne of Jade, Laurence and Temeraire journey to China where Temeraire’s egg originated and his species live. The Chinese originally gave Temeraire to the French and Laurence must figure out how to keep from being separated from Temeraire. This proves to be more difficult when he and Temeraire see how well dragons are treated in China, where they are not used as soldiers but exalted and respected.
In book three, Black Powder War, Laurence and Temeraire are about to go home from China when they are suddenly give the task of collecting three dragon eggs from Istanbul and transporting them.
The dragon warfare in all the books is fascinating, but don’t get too attached to any of the ground/air crew — people die like crazy.
I’ve already got book four on request, and book five is on its way later this year. These are books that normally I wouldn’t like, and instead, I’m completely fascinated.
by Gabrielle Zevin
ONE-LINE SUMMARY: Naomi, a high school student, suffers a head trauma and consequently cannot remember the last four years of her life.
This is a terrific book. I was a big fan of Zevin’s Elsewhere which has an unusual and moving twist on what happens when you die. Zevin writes the kind of books that make you feel fulfilled after you finish it, but nervous about starting it because you know the book will bring up some deeper stuff that frankly, you don’t want to think about.
It’s difficult to explain the book — somehow, not much happens, but at the same time, everything happens. A teacher once told me that a short story is about the most important event in a person’s life, and a novel is about the most important time period of a person’s life. Memoirs isn’t driven by particular events or conflicts, but covers the most important time in Naomi’s life.
by Ursula K. Le Guin
ONE-LINE SUMMARY: Gry and Orrec are Uplanders and must decide how to use the gifts of their lineage.
This is a terrific book, and I’m only sorry that it’s taken me so long to read it. I saw book three in this series on the New Young Adult Fiction shelf at the library, and it looked interesting. So being the type of person I am, I put the new book back on the shelf and went to look for the first book. Because reading books out of order will destroy the world as we know it.
Gry and Orrec in Gifts reminds me of the protagonists in Sharon Shinn’s Dream-Maker’s Magic. Gifts pass from mother to daughter and father to son, so Orrec is expected to continue in his father’s footsteps by wielding his gift of “unmaking” to secure their lands. Gry has inherited her mother’s gift of being able to call animals to her, and while she likes using her gift to train horses, she is not happy about being asked to call animals to hunters to be slain.
Terrific book — I finished it in one sitting and wish I’d taken out the other books in the series at the same time.
by Lene Kaaberbol
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Dina, the Shamer’s daughter who has recently lost her own Shamer gift, meets her father and discovers that she may also have a serpent gift.
This is the third book in the Shamer Chronicles. While the first two books of the series were good, they weren’t stupendous, and it wasn’t until this one that I thought, “Yes, this is awesome.” In the previous books, I was annoyed with the way the book shifted viewpoints from Dina and her brother, Davin, but I didn’t mind it in this book and I also felt the book was perfect in the way it progressed and ended.
The last book in the series, The Shamer’s War, is also very good. I didn’t like the way the war concluded, but all the other plot points came together nicely. I’m always a little hesitant to recommend books in a series, because I like to read everything in order, but that can be tough when slogging through earlier books that may not be as good as later ones (see: Tamora Pierce). That being said, the first two in the series are interesting and the last two are terrific.
The Shamer’s gift, by the way, is the ability to look at someone and make them feel ashamed of their own behavior. The serpent gift is…well, I’m not entirely clear on that. I thought I knew what it was, but book four describes a different serpent gift.
The author wrote these books in her native Danish and then translated them herself into English. My only regret is that her other books have not yet been translated.
By Scott Westerfeld
ONE LINE SUMMARY: A carrier of a strain of vampirism, Cal hunts peeps (parasite-positive people) and learns why he is different from them.
I must have been hiding under a rock or something, because I had never heard of Scott Westerfeld until this year. Two of his books are nominated for the Andre Norton Award given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers who also give out the Nebula Awards. (Interestingly, Westerfeld’s wife, Justine Larbalestier is also nominated for the Andre Norton Award.)
I’ve now read Westerfeld’s Midnighters trilogy, and have been waiting (and waiting) for my library to get the first book of another of his trilogies, Uglies, which is constantly checked out.
So far, Peeps is by far the best book. Although I felt like I never knew Cal at all, the book has so much going on that I didn’t really miss him. And the book is about Cal discovering himself so it seemed normal that I didn’t know him either.
Now that I think about it, this would make a great movie. I’m not sure why it hasn’t been optioned yet, given that the Midnighters series has been optioned as a TV show by the WB, and a few others optioned as films.
Westerfeld’s also won a bunch of awards for his adult and YA fiction. This dude is prolific.
by Susan Beth Pfeffer
ONE LINE SUMMARY: In a series of diary entries, Miranda relates her life when an asteriod knocks the moon out of orbit which results in worldwide devastation.
I’ll be honest with you. I know Pfeffer solely from the book Kid Power which is great, but covers about as many serious topics as the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. This book came as a total surprise to me, even though with the book summary, I kind of figured it was not going to be as light-hearted as Kid Power.
This is engrossing, deeply moving, and utterly fascinating. I would love to know what happens next (will there be a sequel?), because this is not one of those books that gives you a tidy ending with all the loose ends wrapped up. I normally love tidy endings but as much as I wanted to know what would happen to Miranda and her family, I also thought the ending was perfect, for this kind of story.
After I finished this, I crept around my house, feeling like the world was coming to an end.
by Sharon Shinn
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Fiona, the daughter of a Safe-Keeper, tries to become a Safe-Keeper and in the process learns who she really is.
I’m a fan of Shinn’s Samaria novels, but I had no idea that she wrote young adult/children’s books also. This book was so engrossing that I read it straight through in one sitting.
Safe-keepers are in charge of hearing and keeping secrets told to them by the people in their village, and although I didn’t actually like Fiona much herself, I liked the world that was described. My only complaint about this book is that there appears to be no direct sequel to it yet (if at all). The ending of this book is such that it feels like a “To Be Continued…” type of non-ending.
Still good, still recommended, just…write a sequel to this!!
by Tamora Pierce
ONE LINE SUMMARY: This series of four books covers Keladry’s progress from female page to lady knight.
I admit that when I read the first Tortall series by Pierce, the Song of the Lioness series, I couldn’t understand how in the world Pierce was so popular and had so many books published. The writing, frankly, was quite terrible.
I heard from someone that the writing got better, though, so I pushed my way through all four of the books in that series. I moved on from there to the Immortals quartet, and was pleasantly surprised to find myself engrossed in the plot. The only issue I had was with the last book in that series, which was boring.
Now I’ve just finished the Protector of the Small series, and I quite enjoyed them (other than the animal death..ugh). I couldn’t put the books down, and as soon as I finished one of the books, I moved right on to the next one. Pierce’s writing is so much improved that although I like to read books in order and like my series to be complete, I would still suggest that anyone picking up a book by this author skip the entire Song of the Lioness series.
by Diane Duane
ONE LINE SUMMARY (Wizard’s Holiday): Nita and Kit go on an exchange program that requires them to help a planet’s civilization choose between their current way of life and a more uncertain one, while Dairine hosts three aliens and saves Earth.
ONE LINE SUMMARY (Wizards At War): Nita, Kit, Dairine, the three visiting aliens, and Kit’s sister help defeat the Lone One and discover a new Power, the bright side of the Lone one, while all older wizards lose their power.
I am reviewing these two books together because Wizards At War follows so closely after Wizard’s Holiday and seems more like a continuation of the same story, than a new chapter in the Young Wizards series. These, the 7th and 8th books of the series, are the best ones so far, and I’m glad to see that it sounds like Duane will be continuing the series.
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