BONES OF FAERIE by Janni Lee Simner – REVIEW

 

 

Random House Books for Young Readers – January 27, 2009

Liza didn’t witness the war between the humans and the Faeries, but she lives with the after effects.

In Franklin Falls, a town devastated like all the others during the war, the townspeople are fearful of magic.  Since the war and all the death caused by the Faeries, they fell nothing good can come from it. 

When Liza’s baby sister was born with eyes as silver as moonlight and faerie-pale hair as clear as glass, her father did what was expected.  He took her up on a hillside and abandoned her.  He said, “If the faerie folk want her, let them take her.”  Liza slipped out of the house later that night in an attempt to save her sister, but it was too late – the animals got there first.

Three weeks after losing her sister, Liza’s life changes forever.  Strange visions keep popping into her head.  The visions scare her and lead her to believe she has magic inside of her just like her sister did.  Liza runs from everything she’s known.  She runs away from Franklin Falls and into the woods she’s been warned against all her life.   Her only companions are her cat and a boy named Matthew – who has secrets of his own.

Together they make their way through dangerous terrain hoping to find answers to the many questions they have.  What they find out leaves them questioning everything they’ve been taught.

BONES OF FAERIE is a fast-paced story.  As a reader, it is easy to get attached to the characters.  Liza’s visions are marked by italics for easy identification throughout the story and the language is clean which makes this appropriate for even young fantasy fans. 

Click here to visit the BONES OF FAERIE website.

Be sure to stop by Janni Lee Simner’s page too.

As a bonus, here is a short story set in the same world as BONES OF FAERIE.

 

 

 

Bones of Faerie

 

CITY OF GLASS by Cassandra Clare – REVIEW

 

 

Coming March 2009

The third and final installment in the Mortal Instruments trilogy definitely lives up to the reputation of the first two – CITY OF BONES and CITY OF ASHES.  CITY OF GLASS picks up a short time after CITY OF ASHES ends.  Clary has a mission.  Madeleine, her mother’s friend, is possibly the only person who knows how to wake her mother from a coma.  Clary will have to travel to Alicante in Idris to get what she needs.

Alicante is the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters.  It is known as the City of Glass because of the beautifully tall glass towers that guard the city from harm.  The only way to get to Idris is through a portal and Magnus, the warlock, has arranged one.  Clary is planning to go through the portal with Jace and the Lightwoods.  The only problem is, Jace doesn’t want Clary to go so he lies to her about when he and the Lightwoods are leaving.  He thinks it is too dangerous for Clary. 

After being left behind, Clary eventually finds her way to Alicante.  She uses her ability to create runes and makes a portal for herself.  Being new to the Shadowhunter world, Clary doesn’t know that using a portal and entering the city without permission is against the law. If she is found she could be put to death. 

Once in the City of Glass, Clary is thrown in the middle of the largest battle the Shadowhunters have ever had to face.  Valentine’s evil plans are in the final stages and everyone is on full alert, not knowing what he will do next.  Jace and Clary’s complicated relationship keeps them just as confused as ever, but provides great excitement for the reader. 

Cassandra Clare works magic with this novel.  The excitement begins on the first page and doesn’t stop until the final sentence.  She brings everything full circle for a completely satisfying ending – even though fans would be more than happy to read about these beloved characters forever.  One thing Cassandra Clare fans need to keep an eye out for is the release of THE CLOCKWORK PRINCESS: VOLUME 1 of THE INFERNAL DEVICES.  THE INFERNAL DEVICES is a trilogy of prequels set one hundred and forty years ago in Victorian England.  Tessa, a warlock, is the main character.  The first prequel to the Mortal Instruments trilogy is scheduled to be released Fall 2010.

 

NEED by Carrie Jones

Zara hasn’t been herself lately and people are starting to get worried about her.  Since the death of her step-father, Zara has fallen deeper and deeper into a pit of despair.  Her mother decides to send her to live with her grandmother in Maine in the hopes that a change of scenery might perk her up a bit.  Zara doesn’t realize that other, more sinister, reasons are behind the move as well.

Zara begins school the day after she arrives in Maine.  Her grandmother feels that getting Zara in a normal routine is the best way to combat her depression.  Once there, she meets the normal characters usual found in a high school.  There is the Queen Bee, Megan, the quirky new best friend, Issy, and the hunks battling for Zara’s attention, Nick and Ian.

Zara attempts to move on with her life, but being back in the town her step-father grew up just reminds her of how much she misses him.  It also doesn’t help that a strange man keeps lurking around her.  Who is this man and does he mean her harm?  Who can she trust in this town full of strange people?  Which boy should she rely on to tell her the truth – Nick or Ian?

Carrie Jones has written a touching and emotional novel that contains many elements of a great fantasy novel.  The suspense is palpable when Zara struggles to make sense of the odd events in her life.  Readers will come to love many of the characters and will definately want to know more about them by the end of the novel.

 

NEED by Carrie Jones – REVIEW

Zara hasn’t been herself lately and people are starting to get worried about her.  Since the death of her step-father, Zara has fallen deeper and deeper into a pit of despair.  Her mother decides to send her to live with her grandmother in Maine in the hopes that a change of scenery might perk her up a bit.  Zara doesn’t realize that other, more sinister, reasons are behind the move as well.

Zara begins school the day after she arrives in Maine.  Her grandmother feels that getting Zara in a normal routine is the best way to combat her depression.  Once there, she meets the normal characters usual found in a high school.  There is the Queen Bee, Megan, the quirky new best friend, Issy, and the hunks battling for Zara’s attention, Nick and Ian.

Zara attempts to move on with her life, but being back in the town her step-father grew up just reminds her of how much she misses him.  It also doesn’t help that a strange man keeps lurking around her.  Who is this man and does he mean her harm?  Who can she trust in this town full of strange people?  Which boy should she rely on to tell her the truth – Nick or Ian?

Carrie Jones has written a touching and emotional novel that contains many elements of a great fantasy novel.  The suspense is palpable when Zara struggles to make sense of the odd events in her life.  Readers will come to love many of the characters and will definately want to know more about them by the end of the novel.

 

Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst BOOK TRAILER

 

HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY by Justine Larbalestier

Charlie has a parking fairy.  For a fourteen-year-old who can’t even drive, a parking fairy is pretty useless.  Charlie would much rather have a shopping fairy like her best friend or even a bathroom fairy.  At least that way she’d never have to go to the restroom in the middle of a movie.  Charlie always smells like gasoline and people constantly bug her to go places with them so they can benefit from her fairy and get great parking spaces.  Charlie has had enough. She has decided – NO – vowed to get rid of her fairy.

One way Charlie thinks she can ditch her fairy is to prevent it from doing its job.  She isn’t going to ride in any vehicle until her fairy is gone.  The problem? Walking everywhere is causing her to be late to school so she is racking up demerits faster than she can get ride of them.

Another situation causing Charlie stress is a new boy at school.  Steffi is handsome, interesting, and seems to be showing interest in her.  UNTIL he sees Fiorenza and her stupid “All The Boys Like You” fairy.

Charlie develops a drastic plan.  She even teams up with her nemesis, Fiorenza, to take care of her fairy problem once and for all.

HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY by Justine Larbalestier is a delightful story about fairies, friendship, and first love.  Some nonsense words are interspersed throughout the book to replace selected vocabulary. Determining the meaning of a word is easy by using the context of the sentence, but for those who want to be sure, there is a glossary at the back of the book.  The author has even included a cool list of common fairies.

 

HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY by Justine Larbalestier – REVIEW

Charlie has a parking fairy.  For a fourteen-year-old who can’t even drive, a parking fairy is pretty useless.  Charlie would much rather have a shopping fairy like her best friend or even a bathroom fairy.  At least that way she’d never have to go to the restroom in the middle of a movie.  Charlie always smells like gasoline and people constantly bug her to go places with them so they can benefit from her fairy and get great parking spaces.  Charlie has had enough. She has decided – NO – vowed to get rid of her fairy.

One way Charlie thinks she can ditch her fairy is to prevent it from doing its job.  She isn’t going to ride in any vehicle until her fairy is gone.  The problem? Walking everywhere is causing her to be late to school so she is racking up demerits faster than she can get ride of them.

Another situation causing Charlie stress is a new boy at school.  Steffi is handsome, interesting, and seems to be showing interest in her.  UNTIL he sees Fiorenza and her stupid “All The Boys Like You” fairy.

Charlie develops a drastic plan.  She even teams up with her nemesis, Fiorenza, to take care of her fairy problem once and for all.

HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY by Justine Larbalestier is a delightful story about fairies, friendship, and first love.  Some nonsense words are interspersed throughout the book to replace selected vocabulary. Determining the meaning of a word is easy by using the context of the sentence, but for those who want to be sure, there is a glossary at the back of the book.  The author has even included a cool list of common fairies.

 

EPIC by Conor Kostick

What if the quality of your life depended on how well you played a MMORPG?  What’s a MMORPG you ask?  It is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.  Well, on New Earth that is exactly the way life is.

On New Earth, violence is illegal.  Epic (the MMORPG) was created for people to clip up, enter the world of Epic, and take out their agression on fictional characters rather than doing harm to a real person.  However, over the years, the purpose of the game shifted and became the determining factor for what kind of job you had, where you were able to live, and what supplies you received.  Central Allocations, a small group of people in charge of all the decisions, controls everything.

Erik’s family is having a tough time.  They have had some solar panels break and aren’t able to produce enough olives to meet their quota.  Their attempts at getting replacement solar panels have been unsuccessful and the family is afraid Central Allocations will require them to move to the salt mines for punishment.  In addition to the family problems, Erik isn’t doing well in the game himself.  In order to have a chance to go to University you must accumulate wealth and status in Epic.  Erik just continues to get his characters killed because he trys to kill the same dragon everytime he enters the game.  His last “death” is the final straw though.  Out of frustration he does something he has never done before.  Erik creates a character that is female instead of his usual male character that resembles him in real life.  Instead of going by his own name he chooses one he thinks befits a beautiful character – Cindella.  Immediately upon entering the game as Cindella, things begin to look up.  Characters that are a part of the game begin talking to her and giving her things.  Soon she realizes the characters are pointing her toward a quest.

With his newfound status in Epic, Erik uses his accumulating wealth and the help of his friends to take on Central Allocations – once and for all.  They are up against the most dangerous players of all.  Ones with more wealth and experience.  But, if Erik can defeat Central Allocations, he’ll be able to save his family and possibly create a better life for them and those of his friends – possibly even the world.

EPIC is an interesting story.  There is no problem keeping up with the “real” world and the “Epic” world.  The author does a great job of distinguishing the two.  If you enjoy Fantasy or Sci-Fi, then you’ll enjoy this story.  There is a sequel called SAGA that has already been released.

 

Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor (The Sequel to The Looking Glass Wars)

 

If you haven’t read The Looking Glass Wars be aware there will be some spoilers in the following review.

This is the second book in The Looking Glass wars series.  I absolutely loved the first book, but this one was a little hard for me to read.  I had to force myself to continue through the chapters.

Seeing Redd follows Redd in her quest to gather forces in order to continue her fight against Alyss.  The only thing is, since Redd went into the Heart Crystal at the end of The Looking Glass Wars, she had to wait for someone to generate her, using their imagination, into the real world.  Finally, she gets a painter to paint a picture of her and The Cat which allows them to come off the canvas and join the world.

Meanwhile in Wonderland, King Arch from Boarderland is assembling his own forces to fight against Alyss in order to take over ALL of Wonderland.  He is using Redd as a scapegoat to keep the blame off of him.  He kidnaps Hatter’s daughter in order to force him to come and work for him and things begin to fall apart in Wonderland when Alyss is overwhelmed by attacks at every border.  Eventually, there is a huge event that leaves many in Wonderland helpless.

Redd eventually makes it back to Wonderland after completing her maze and claiming her power.  Battles ensue, people get hurt, and Redd is defeated (kind of).  However, life will never be the same in Wonderland again.  Alyss has lost something extremely important and will have to learn to live a new life.

I’m sure there will be a third book in this series and it might be better than Seeing Redd.  This could be a bridge book.  One needed to connect the story from the first book to the third book.  I can picture more interested events to come.

 

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

What if Alice in Wonderland were a true story? What if Lewis Carroll listened to Alice recite her story and thinking she had a sympathetic ear in an unsympathetic world told of all the amazing things that happen in Wonderland? What if instead of believing her, he thought she was making up the outlandish story by using her overactive imagination? This is precisely the idea behind THE LOOKING GLASS WARS.

Young Alyss Heart is a princess in the prosperous world of Wonderland. Her mother, Queen Genevieve and her father King Nolan love her dearly, doting on her any time they can. Everything is as it should be at the beginning of her seventh birthday, her friends, including her best friend Dodge, family, and servants are all enjoying themselves and eating tarty tarts to their hearts content. Only King Nolan is absent, but he is on his way. He has been taking care of military matters with King Arch, the leader of the neighboring Borderland.

However, evil is quickly approaching. Alyss’ Aunt Redd is leading her army of soldiers into Wonderland to take over. Redd feels cheated of the crown. She feels she should be Queen of Wonderland, instead of her sister Genevieve. Redd, after killing her own mother, leaves Wonderland and begins to plot her coup.

The moment trouble is announced at Heart Palace, Queen Genevieve takes Alyss with her into the royal chambers hoping for safety, but Redd busts her way in. The only way Genevieve can save Alyss is to send her into the looking glass along with the royal body guard, Hatter Madigan. They escape, but are being followed by Redd’s deadly assassin, The Cat. Their only chance is to jump into the Pool of Tears and swim to safety. However, the Pool of Tears is a place that no one has ever returned from. They have no idea where it leads. Hatter and Alyss get separated; Alyss lands in England and Hatter in Paris.

Alyss eventually ends up in an orphanage and is adopted by the Liddell family and made to feel extremely silly for talking about Wonderland. That is, until she meets the man who turns out to be Lewis Carroll. She tells her story and he begins to write it down. When she finds out he turned it into a children’s fairy tale she is outraged and never speaks to him again.

Hatter spends thirteen years going from place to place, using the unusual mode of transportation of water puddles, searching for Alyss. Finally he sees a copy of Alice in Wonderland in a store and tracks her down. He finds her on the day of her wedding to the Prince of England. Hatter takes her away and manages to reach Wonderland. After being reunited with her tutor, Hatter, and especially Dodge, who she has missed the most, Alyss learns to use her imagination again and takes on Redd for the well being of Wonderland.

This fantastical story is exciting and entertaining. Any fan of the story of Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll will love reading the “real” story. The imagination of Frank Beddor is amazing.