Book Review: Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Review of: Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier, translated by Anthea Bell

Genre: Time Travel, YA, Fantasy

Gwenyth Shepherd comes from a family with the gift of time travelers. According to everything she knows, though, the gene has missed her.  The time traveler is expected to be Gwen’s beautiful, educated (though very snotty) cousin Charlotte.  So when Gwen begins to experience the symptoms of time travel–nausea and dizziness–she expects she’s just coming down with the flu.  It’s as much to her surprise as every one else’s when she begins to time travel and it becomes evident that she, not Charlotte, is the newest time traveler of the family. Unfortunately, since nobody expected her to need the education of a time traveler, she is light years behind in the things she “should” know, and expected to work with Gideon, who has been studying time travel related subjects his whole life.  As disagreeable as he seems, they’re going to have to learn to work together and get along, if they are to have any hope of surviving in 18th century England, let alone piecing together the mystery of Gwen’s birth.

Ruby Red is a fast paced trip into a world of time travel and mysteries.  It was everything I expect from a YA time travel novel.  Interesting characters, humor, and a little romance–all tied up in a pretty package with mystery string.  Honestly, when I started it, I didn’t expect to like it so much.  I had downloaded it for a little light Christmas-break reading, nothing too serious.  And then I could not put it down.  The story just flowed right along for me, and I was swept right into it.  I whizzed through Ruby Red in less than a day… and promptly downloaded the other 2 books in the series and finished them just as fast.  I’m not kidding, you guys.  This trilogy had me hooked.

It was a little bit predictable as far as the romance goes, but come on, people.  It’s YA fiction.  You kind of HAVE to have the cheesy romance and a little teenage angst. It didn’t have the dreaded teenage love triangle, which makes it good in my book!  The characters were believable too.  Flawed enough, but still likable.  Except for Charlotte, which I think was kind of the point.  Charlotte is a horrible person and everybody should hate her.  She just made me want to slap her.  It was actually a little irritating to me that Gwen was always so pragmatic about her more irritating family members.  She just tolerated them and tried to avoid them when she could–they never really got a good comeuppance. Oh well.  Apparently I’m supposed to be learning patience right along with Gwen.

If you’re a fan of the fast-paced, lighter story lines of YA fiction, and if you like to delve into fantasy/time travel genres, definitely look into this series.  Hopefully you’ll be as riveted by it as I was!  Have you read Ruby Red?  What did you think?  Let me know in the comments!

I loved it: 5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: The Quantum Door by Jonathan Ballagh

Review of: The Quantum Door by Jonathan Ballagh

Genre: YA, Sci-fi

Brady and Felix have lived outside of a forbidden forest for as long as they can remember, but when a mysterious new neighbor moves in and fences spring up around the forest overnight, their curiosity knows no bounds.  When the strange lights start appearing in the forest too, they feel it is their duty to investigate.  There is no turning back–especially when they find themselves called upon to help save the life of their mysterious new neighbor. Entering the forest plunges them into a world of technology and revelations that challenge everything they thought they knew.

Brady and Felix were young for a YA book, but believable as main characters. There was enough of that sibling rivalry and angst to keep the story moving in the beginning, but you really get a good sense of the depth of a sibling relationship once the main action in the story took over.  There was plenty of interest aspects as far as the sci-fi goes, but I think the relationships were really one of the strongest aspects of the book.  It’s unusual and pretty refreshing to read a book where there are sibling protagonists who work together as equals throughout the story.  Siblings aren’t especially uncommon in YA fiction, but it is uncommon for them to share the responsibility as main characters and work together throughout the story.  I think it’s great to find books that can inspire kids to imagine adventures with their own siblings rather than always treading the path to adventure alone.  It’s the sort of relationship all parents want for their kids.

I know that’s not particularly something that will appeal to kids looking to read this book, but there is plenty of action, technology, and other-worldly sci-fi stuff to sell this book to the younger set.  It’s one that I’m going to recommend to my little brother Sam.  He’s only 9 but a pretty advanced reader and this will be just up his alley.

For my part, I’m not sure whether I would classify this as a YA fiction or more of a middle-grade fiction, but I’m going with YA.  The main characters were younger than I would expect from a YA novel, but it had the reading level and plot intricacy that indicated the next reading level to me. Makes for a perfect book for that advanced younger reader in your life.  There’s still a lot of Christmas break left… just saying!  It’s the most wonderful time of the year for reading 😉

Overall, I really liked it: 4 out of 5 stars.

BOOK REVIEW: Deja Vu by Ian Hocking

Review of: Deja Vu by Ian Hocking (#1 in the Saskia Brandt series)

Genre: Sci-fi, Time Travel

This book was sent to me by the publisher for review for no compensation.  All opinions expressed are my own.

When Saskia Brandt arrives in her office after a depressing long weekend and breakup with her boyfriend, she finds her secretary dead and the blame about to be pinned on her.  With only 12 hours to prove her innocence, she sets about unraveling the mystery, only to arrive at a shocking conclusion.  David Proctor is a renowned professor, but when he gets a call telling him that his intelligent computer is the only one left, it seems he has no choice but to go back to the place where his wife was killed in a bombing twenty years earlier. As the mysteries tighten around Saskia and David, slowly pulling them into the same circle, they must both abandon everything they thought they knew about the events of their lives to discover the truth of their fates.

Sci-fi isn’t one of my usual genres, but time travel fascinates me, particularly when it is complex and very well thought-out. Deja Vu qualified.  From the very first chapter, I felt like it was a roller coaster of action and revelation.

To some extent, it was really difficult to keep up with what was going on in the book.  There were so many little nuances related to the time travel that didn’t make sense until the end.  I think if I had some time to reread it, it’s one of those books that would make more sense on the second time through.

It did read a bit like a brain teaser at points,  but extremely engrossing with some really well thought out, believeable characters.  Since I haven’t read a whole lot of the sci-fi time travel genre, I don’t have anything to really compare it to.  It really doesn’t compare to the historical fiction type time travel novels, because they don’t really focus on the actual act of the time travel or the ramifications of changing the past.  Deja Vu was much more technical and philosophical than that.  So, all I can say is, with my limited experience, I loved it, and I recommend you try it, even if sci-fi time travel isn’t a genre you ever thought you’d enjoy.

I loved it: 5 out of 5 stars.

BOOK REVIEW: The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

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Review of: The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy

The Invasion of the Tearling is the second book in Erika Johansen’s ‘Queen of the Tearling’ series. I reviewed the first book, The Queen of the Tearling, here. Since this is the second book in a series, I can’t guarantee that there won’t be any spoilers for the first book in it–not on purpose, but just because of the way the stories work together. I apologize in advance, but consider this my warning. 😉

When Kelsea Glynn stopped the slave shipments to the neighboring kingdom of Mortmesne, she turned the attention of The Red Queen irrevocably towards her recently acquired kingdom. Now the army of Mortmesne is on the march towards the Tearling, in numbers far beyond anything the Tearling army can reasonably match. Kelsea has grown into her role as queen, but even she is floundering over the solution to such inevitable destruction. Distracting her further is a strange connection she appears to have formed to the past, and an unknown woman named Lily in the time before The Crossing. As the tension ratchets up in Kelsea’s own time, Lily’s past gradually begins to make sense, and the two stories build together, leading to a stunning conclusion.

After reading The Queen of the Tearling, I had high hopes for The Invasion of the Tearling. It took a while, because even though I went on the waitlist, pretty much as soon as my library got the book, it took a few months for it to get to me. It was worth the wait though. I was riveted. Kelsea is just such a strong character. Even in this book, where we came face to face with more of her faults and weaknesses, she truly is a better character because of them.

The Invasion of the Tearling really begins to delve more into the mysterious aspects of these kingdoms. The strange magic that Kelsea’s sapphires seem to produce, the Fetch, and the magic of the Red Queen all get a little more explanation and attention in this book. Plus, there are some exciting revelations about the history of the Tearling.

The worst part about this book is that the next one probably won’t be published for a while, since The Invasion only came out in June. Yes, feel my pain. This is the second series that I’ve recently found myself in the uncomfortable position of having to WAIT for books to be published. It’s not cool. THIS is why I like to wait and read books after they’ve been out for years. At least then I don’t know what I’m missing! Delayed gratification sucks.

Just kidding, kind of.

Regardless of all that, I highly recommend this series so far. Read it, and then you can commiserate with me over the misery of waiting for the next book to be published.

I loved it: 5 out of 5 stars

BOOK REVIEW: The Cage by Megan Shepherd

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Review of: The Cage by Megan Shepherd

Genre: YA, Sci-fi

Cora Mason is headed to a ski lodge with her brother, where she hopes that their divorced parents will be able to keep it together just long enough to have a pleasant holiday together, like a real family should. The daughter of a politician, she has been warned and coached about what to do in a kidnapping situation, but all of that information doesn’t really seem relevant when she wakes up in the middle of a desert. Even more puzzling is the variety in terrain around her, and the 5 other young people who are just as startled to be there as she is. What exactly happened? As Cora attempts to unravel the mystery of how she ended up away from her family and in this bizarre environment, she comes to the bone-chilling conclusion that they are being held in an elaborate human zoo. The revelation that they are not even on earth any more, and being held hostage by aliens seals her determination to leave, one way or another. She wants nothing more than to escape, but her companions seem all too willing to settle into the sham of a life laid out before them. Her jailer, Cassian, is the only one who might be able to help her, but will she be able to leave her companions to their own devices, even at the price of her own freedom?

A few months ago I read The Madman’s Daughter series, by Megan Shepherd (read my review of it here). I enjoyed it quite enough to snap up The Cage, when I realized the author was one and the same. That said, one can’t really fairly compare The Madman’s Daughter and The Cage because they are completely different books in different genres. I do really enjoy Shepherd’s writing style, and that is true of both books.
Moving on to the direct review of this book… I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I don’t usually read much sci-fi. I think I should read more, because I always enjoy it. Cora was a good character. She made a lot of sense, and the story fit nicely around her. Throughout the course of the book though, the viewpoint flips from character to character, going through 5 in all. That messed with the continuity for me. I would be whizzing through a chapter, getting more and more confused, only to belatedly realize that it was from a different character’s viewpoint.
I didn’t dislike the other characters, I just think the story would have worked better with a little more continuity.
Besides that mini-gripe, I really appreciated this book. It had a lively pace, and plenty of plot twists. The ending especially threw me for a loop, and placed this book well outside the arena of predictable YA novels.

I’m sure it’s the first in the series–a fact made doubly difficult by the fact that it only just came out, so any sequel will be at least a year away. Guess we have books to look forward to!

If you’re a fan of YA fiction, especially the Dystopian/Sci-fi genres, definitely give this book a whirl!

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

BOOK REVIEW: Winell Road by Kate Foster

Book: Winell Road by Kate Foster

Genre: Middle Grade Sci-fi

Winell Road is the the most boring road in the world. At least, according to Jack Mills. He’s 12 years old and convinced that his home is the last place in the world that anything exciting could or would ever happen. That is, until he spots a UFO flying nearby his house. The adventures only continue as he is approached by aliens and plunged into a world of alternately terrifying and mind-blowing discoveries. Aided by the unnaturally tall girl next door, Jack sets out to figure out what is really going on in Winell Road.

I have to admit–it’s been a long time since I read any middle grade fiction, but when I was approached by the author about reviewing this book, I was pretty excited about it. Even though it isn’t a genre I read a lot of, I do have a younger brother and it’s fun to be able to read/review books that he might enjoy. So, Sam, this one’s for you 😉
As I mentioned in the beginning, Winell Road is sci-fi, and there’s quite a lot of aliens, and action/adventure going on. The plot moves along at a nice clip and there’s not really any time to ever get bored with it. Jack is a pretty funny kid, and so there’s a good bit of humor as well. Some of the humor was definitely geared towards middle grade boys, but hello, that’s the target demographic. It was age appropriate, but not so middle-grade that an older person couldn’t enjoy it.
The tone of the book was pretty casual and sometimes the dialogue felt rushed to me, but I really think that’s just because I haven’t read middle grade fiction in so long. It’s an interesting lane between children’s picture books and YA fiction, marked by mixing great, motive stories and a slightly easier reading level, and I think this book definitely accomplished that. Exciting adventure story and motive plot, but at a younger reading level.

I would definitely recommend this for the crowd of adventuresome 9-12 year olds, and I’m actually going to personally recommend it to my own 9yo brother. If there’s a kid in your life who likes adventure stories, and maybe even some aliens (and let’s face it, what kid doesn’t?) this is the perfect book to get them reading over the holiday weekend.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Updated to add: Winell Road is soon to be available for purchase through Amazon, but for now, you can purchase it directly from the publisher here

BOOK REVIEW: The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd

Book: The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd
Genre: YA, scifi, steampunk

Juliette Moreau has been living on her own in London since her father left her in a flurry of scandal and her mother died shortly thereafter.  When she finds out that he is alive, she will go to any length to join him on the tropical island.  To her horror, he has continued with the depraved scientific experiments that caused the ruin of their family, and before she knows it, she is caught up in the twisted world he has created.  Her only allies are her father’s strikingly handsome servant (Montgomery), and a castaway from another ship (Edward).  As the mystery unfolds around Juliette, she is forced to choose between the love of her father and the morality of his activities on the island.

The Madman’s Daughter is a book I’ve been meaning to read for a while.  Admittedly, not because I knew it was based on an H. G. Wells book–which, I might add, is now right up there on my never-ending list of books I want to read. I’ll probably feel differently about the book, once I’ve read the original version, but I really enjoyed it over last weekend.

It was a clever mixture of curious science, mystery, horror, and even a little romance.  It did employ use of the teenage love triangle–a cliche that I take delight in hating–but it was a good book nonetheless.  It raised some interesting conundrums about morality in medicine.  Though the method in which Juliette’s father conducted his experiments was certainly less than humane, his results were unprecedented and apparently lifesaving.

The Madman’s Daughter is actually the first book in a trilogy.  Did not realize that when I started it, but now I’m excited because it did end on a bit of a cliffhanger.  (Possible SPOILER ahead) Speaking of which, how about that ending?  It was about as mystifying as Jack dying in Titanic because he “couldn’t fit” on the raft Rose was on.  Ugh.  These dang fictional characters, I tell you–they’re always defying normal human expectations!

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

***Affiliate program disclosure: I am not being paid to review this book, but if you do click on the picture and purchase the book through my Amazon link, I will receive a small kickback.  It has no effect on the price that you pay.

Ruins by Dan Wells (Partials #3)

Book: Ruins by Dan Wells (Third and Final book in the Partials series

Genre: Scifi, Dystopian, YA

Since this is the third and final book in the series, if you haven’t read the series yet, but plan to, you’ll probably want to skip this review, unless you really have a thing for spoilers 🙂

You can read my reviews of the first book Partials, and the second book, Fragments by clicking on the underlined names.

When we left Kira and Samm in the end of Fragments, they had both given themselves up as sacrifices of sorts, to two different causes.  A great war is looming on the horizon, with both humans and partials risking everything and on the verge of extinction.  Kira believes she can stop both the war and the extinction, but she is running out of time.

I really hope somebody makes this series into movies.  It would be great.  It’s different enough from series like The Hunger Games or Divergent that it would be bringing something new to the movie entertainment scene, but it has a really fantastic plot, and follows the undeniably popular teenagers-saving-the-world theme.  Throughout all three books, there’s a recurring question of what exactly constitutes humanity.  Can the partials really be considered humans?  If they can’t be considered humans, do humans have the right to eliminate them all on a whim?  I think it’s a really interesting question, and one that was solved in this book by (possible SPOILER) the realization that the survival of both species is dependent on their peaceful coexistence.

After raving earlier about how thrilled I was that Dan Wells skipped the cliche teenage love triangle, I’m a little disappointed to admit that there is a little of that drama in Ruins.  I don’t understand why it’s so popular.  It drives me nuts.  That said, it wasn’t overdone and overdramatic in Ruins.  They all talked about it, resolved their differences, and moved on.  Now, WHY it even had to be an issue in the first place is beyond me.  I think it would have been perfectly within the realm of reason to just let the whole relationship with Marcus and Kira remain dropped, and actually let him move on without the drama of a “Will she pick Samm or Marcus?” conundrum.   That’s just my two bits.

Overall, this was a great ending to a great trilogy.  If you like YA, dystopian, or scifi type books, I would definitely give this series a go!

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Fragments by Dan Wells

Book: Fragments by Dan Wells

Genre: YA, Dystopian

Fragments is the 2nd book in the Partials Trilogy by Dan Wells.  You can read my review of the first book, Partials, here.

Fragments picks up where Partials left off, so if you haven’t read Partials yet but plan to, you’ll probably want to skip this review.  Unless you like spoilers.  Not going to lie, I sometimes do–like spoilers, that is–but that’s another topic for another day.

So, you’ve been warned.

After Kira discovers the cure for RM, she leaves Long Island in search of answers to a whole plethora of questions.  Will they survive?

That sounds like the weakest book description ever, but that really is the gist of the book.  Will. They. Survive?  Nobody knows.  If the Partials and talking dogs don’t kill them, it’s going to be acid rain.  Or maybe they’ll just die of starvation.  Like I said, WHO KNOWS!

That’s the beauty of this book.  Unlike many other popular YA trilogies, this one doesn’t just keep puddling along through the second installment, or, worse, lose momentum, it scoops you up and charges forward.

I was really impressed with Partials, and I remain impressed through Fragments.  That, y’all, is saying something.  I’ve begun to expect the 2nd book–particularly in trilogies–to be lackluster.  My expectations were happily dashed to the ground by this book.  I remain impressed.  *round of applause, please*

The characters developed, the action kept up, and (Praise God and Thank You Dan Wells!) the trite, overdone teenage love triangle was avoided.

I reiterate: if you like YA fiction or Dystopian or Sci-fi or any combination of the above–read this series!

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

BOOK REVIEW: Fragments by Dan Wells

Book: Fragments by Dan Wells

Genre: YA, Dystopian

Fragments is the 2nd book in the Partials Trilogy by Dan Wells.  You can read my review of the first book, Partials, here.

Fragments picks up where Partials left off, so if you haven’t read Partials yet but plan to, you’ll probably want to skip this review.  Unless you like spoilers.  Not going to lie, I sometimes do–like spoilers, that is–but that’s another topic for another day.

So, you’ve been warned.

After Kira discovers the cure for RM, she leaves Long Island in search of answers to a whole plethora of questions.  Will they survive?

That sounds like the weakest book description ever, but that really is the gist of the book.  Will. They. Survive?  Nobody knows.  If the Partials and talking dogs don’t kill them, it’s going to be acid rain.  Or maybe they’ll just die of starvation.  Like I said, WHO KNOWS!

That’s the beauty of this book.  Unlike many other popular YA trilogies, this one doesn’t just keep puddling along through the second installment, or, worse, lose momentum, it scoops you up and charges forward.

I was really impressed with Partials, and I remain impressed through Fragments.  That, y’all, is saying something.  I’ve begun to expect the 2nd book–particularly in trilogies–to be lackluster.  My expectations were happily dashed to the ground by this book.  I remain impressed.  *round of applause, please*

The characters developed, the action kept up, and (Praise God and Thank You Dan Wells!) the trite, overdone teenage love triangle was avoided.

I reiterate: if you like YA fiction or Dystopian or Sci-fi or any combination of the above–read this series!

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars