Roar (Stormheart #1) Cora Carmack Tor Teen ISBN-10: 0765386313 In a land ruled and shaped by violent magical storms, power lies with those who control them. Aurora Pavan comes from one of the oldest Stormling families in existence. Long ago, the ungifted pledged fealty and service to her family in exchange for […]
Shadow Run Adrianne Strickland and Michael Miller Delacorte Press Release Date: March 21, 2017 ISBN 978-0-399-55253-3 “Firefly meets Dune in this action-packed sci-fi adventure about a close-knit, found family of a crew navigating a galaxy of political intrigue and resource-driven power games.” Uh, oh. Anytime you invoke sci-fi classics – […]
Crooked Kingdom Leigh Bardugo Henry Holt and Co. Release Date: September 27, 2016 ISBN 978-1-62779-213-4 Back in March, I wrote a review of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, where I admitted that it’s lead character, Kaz Brekker, had become my new favorite anti-hero. In Crooked Kingdom, the one-sided love affair […]
Steeplejack A. J. Hartley Tor Teen Release Date: June 14, 2016 ISBN 978-0-7653-8342-6 Multiculturalism is a tricky subject to capture, especially when your audience is younger and expects a YA fantasy, not a heavy-handed historical morality play. Kudos to A. J. Hartley, then, for bringing a story that neither shies […]
Shadowshaper Daniel José Older Arthur A. Levine Books Release Date: June 30, 2015 ISBN 978-0-545-59161-4 I am not a teenager (nowhere near). I am not Puerto Rican (or even a person of color). I am not a native New Yorker (been there quite a few times, but never longer than […]
Every Heart a Doorway Seanan McGuire Tor.com Release Date: April 5, 2016 ISBN 978-0-7653-8550-5 I’m just going to come out and say it: this little book is pert’ near perfect. You’ve heard the tales, of fairy abductions and changelings, of witches’ tricks and those children who simply disappeared, never to […]
Ophelia Lisa Klein Bloomsbury USA Childrens Release Date: December 26, 2007 ISBN 978-1-58234-801-8 Earlier this month, word broke on the entertainment wires that Daisy Ridley and Naomi Watts were in negotiations to star in a movie project based on Lisa Klein’s YA novel Ophelia, a story written from the viewpoint […]
Signal to Noise Silvia Moreno-Garcia Solaris Release Date: February 10, 2015 ISBN 978-1-78108-299-7 Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s debut novel, Signal to Noise, had been on many “best of the year” fantasy/YA lists for 2015, but it took me a while before getting around to reading it. I’m glad that I persevered, though; […]
Six of Crows Leigh Bardugo Henry Holt and Company Release Date: September 29, 2015 ISBN 978-1-62779-212-7 For many years, I have had a favorite rapscallion literary character of ill repute: Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger in Charles Dickens’ classic, Oliver Twist. But now, the Dodger has some […]
The Secrets of Solace Jaleigh Johnson Delacorte Books for Young Readers Release Date: March 8, 2016 ISBN 978-0-385-37648-8 Jaleigh Johnson has written an absolutely delightful youth fantasy book with The Secrets of Solace. Although it is geared for children as young as 10 years old, its themes of friendship, family, […]
On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.