Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu

We first met Kelcie Murphy in the middle grade fantasy Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for Unbreakable Arts (2022) when she (much to her astonishment) qualifies for a magical school in the Summerlands, a place where Irish mythology is real.  She discovers she has magical gifts, is descended from a minor goddess, finds her father is still alive (but imprisoned for being a traitor) and helps save the Summerlands from a terrible danger, and makes friends (and more).  

She returns to school in Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu (July 25, 2023, Starscape)  Summer is still at war with winter, Kelcie's father is still imprisoned, and the Summerland faces its most dire threat in millennia.  And a saboteur from the Winterlands, Lexis, is one of her classmates.  Lexis is on a mission to steal the Heart of Danu, the source of all light and warmth, and if she succeeds, Winter will win once and for all, for everyone in Summer will die.

And Kelcie's mother, the omen of doom, seems to think Kelcie can save the day.  Which she does, with the help of her close group of friends.  But it's a tough challenge.  Kelcie is treated with lots of suspicion, not just because of her father, but because on that side of the family she is Formorian --the predecessors of the summer folk.  The Formorians are kept partitioned in a particularly nasty bit of the Summerlands, and only now are Formorian students being welcomed to the Academy.  And Lexis is always a step ahead of her...

There are mythological monstrous challenges galore, which will please readers who love vivid action and adventure.  (Kelcie also has a magical animal companion, a cù sìth named Striker, who will delight many young readers).  I myself preferred the first book, which has much more of the magical school experience in it, including more time focused on friendship and belonging, but that's just me; the parts of this one I most enjoyed were the those that focused on Kelcie and her particular coterie, though I was a bit frustrated that one particular bit of tension never got explained to my satisfaction (the way Niall distances himself from Kelcie...).  

 This second book, though, takes on bigger, real-world challenges, which I appreciated.  How can two lands, at war for ages, who have hurt each other badly, find peace?  There's a satisfying resolution to this particular story at the end of the book, but there's lots left for book #3!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.

Conjure Island, by Eden Royce

I was very impressed by Eden Royce's middle grade fantasy, Root Magic, and so was naturally excited about her new book, Conjure Island (June 27, 2023, Walden Pond), and was not disappointed.  In fact it is my favorite new middle grade fantasy of the year so far, the one I read most intently lost in the story.  I am always there for magical school stories, though after reading so many it's always a lovely surprise when they feel fresh and new and transport me vividly right there with the main character.  

In this case, the main character is an eleven-year-old girl named Del, sent to stay with a great-grandmother she didn't know she had when a medical emergency sends her grandmother to the hospital while her dad is deployed.  Packed off to an island of the coast of South Carolina, Del embarks on a summer she'll never forget.  Turns out her grandmother runs a school for conjure magic, and she's expected to start learning it!

Del had no idea that magic was real, or that her family was part of a long line of conjure users. When she arrives on the island and is confronted with this truth, it is (naturally) a huge shock, one that comes with lots of feelings--why did her grandmother never say anything about this, and why did she leave the island when she was still a teenager, never to return?  

Del is determined to answer these questions, but she can't do it alone.  With her growing knowledge of conjure magic, and help not just from her new friend Eva, but from a magical library, a ghost, and even a truly intimidating magical alligator, that the sad story from long ago becomes clear, and she can help her great grandmother set things to rights.  And not just that, but she can begin to take up the work of her ancestors, protecting and preserving the magic and its people.

I very much appreciated that there was no great magical malevolent antagonist.  Instead, Del's challenges are very real world relatable--overcoming the closed-in protective shield she's developed to cope with constantly being the new girl in school, that makes it hard to trust her new friend, and learning to trust herself as well, and to ask for help when she needs it.  And I appreciated as well that though Del has a gift for conjure, she doesn't immediately become a magical wunderkind, but has to put in work.  

It is really everything I love in a magical school story, and if you love the Southern Gothic genre as well, you will love it even more!

Check out the Conjure Island_Educators Guide, which has great background on the story and the real world history that is at the heart of the book, as well as tons of helpful content for educators.  

Thank you, Walden Pond, for including me in the book tour!

CONJURE ISLAND Blog Tour

June 27 Nerdy Book Club  @nerdybookclub

June 27 Unleashing Readers.   @unleashreaders

June 27 Helping Kids Rise @helpingkidsrise

June 28 Charlotte's Library @charlotteslibrary

June 28  StoryMamas @storymamas

June 29  LitCoachLou @litcoachlou

June 29  A Library Mama @librarymama

June 29  Teachers Who Read @teachers_read

Secret of the Shadow Beasts, by Diane Magras

I've read lots and lots of good books so far this year, but this past week, for the first  time in ages, I started one after supper (Secret of the Shadow Beasts, by Diane Magras), and read and read and then had an oh no moment when I realized it was almost midnight (usually I'm safely in bed at ten, and wake up around five thirty) and I hadn't quite finished the book yet....a terrible dilemma.  I finished it though because there really wasn't a choice, but sadly did not quite give the people of Rhode Island, for whom I work, my absolute shiny and alert best the next day.....(happily I have lots to do that isn't rocket science on which lives are depending, so it's ok, and I have no regrets).

This (very good, very gripping) book is set in a world where nightfall brings forth venomous shadow beasts, and everyone with sense huddles inside protected buildings.  The shadow beasts are slower to attack kids and some kids are immune, and these kids are taken from their families when they are little and trained to be beast fighters.  Nora could have been one of them, but her father wouldn't let her be taken. Now he has been killed by a shadow beast, Nora decides for herself that she will put the last few years of her childhood immunity to work keeping other people from the same fate.

And she goes off to get to trained, but there are far too few kids, and far too many shadow beasts, so when she shows unusual aptitude, she's quickly slotted into the Hawks, one of the fighting brigades comprised of handful of children, and sent off on her first two week mission.  Even immune kids can be killed by shadow beasts, if they are attacked enough times, and the Hawks just suffered the loss of one of their crew, Lucy. Nora is taking her place.  The Hawks are also kids taken from their families when they were seven or so, and so they have become a tight knit found family; it takes a while for Nora to be fully part of the group.  So things aren't exactly happy triumphant monster slaying.  

And the number of shadow beasts keeps growing....there's a sinister reason behind it (the titular secret), and Nora and her fellow Hawks might be the only ones able to survive the incredibly dangerous, almost insane, mission to set the balance right again.  (lots of interesting bits of plot here, that I shan't talk about for reasons).

bonus points for:

comfort reading for the characters!  there's one bit where the kids have some down time, and visit a bookstore to load themselves up with escapist material, and I loved seeing the different genres they liked.

an adult who adults!  The Hawks, and other brigades, don't go out alone; there's a grown-up with them to do the driving, help with game plans and emergencies,  and keep morale up. This grown-up, rather disturbingly, also acts as beast bait (kids being less likely to be attacked).  In any event, the Hawks grown-up is a good one, and I was really glad they had him.

trauma that was not splashed all over the place but dealt with in a moving, slow burn sort of way--these kids have been dealt a rotten hand, and are working through tough things, and Nora is something of a catalyst that helps with this.

NB--Secret of the Shadow Beasts (June 14th 2022, Dial Books), is eligible for this years Cybils Awards (in Elementary/Middle Grade speculative fiction).  Starting this Wednesday, the 17th, you can apply to be a panelist on for this category, or one of the others....here's a blog post of mine with more info.

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, by Anne Ursu

 

I just finished The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, by Anne Ursu, and I think it is her best book yet (which is saying a lot!)

It's the story of Marya, a girl growing up in the shadow of a brother who seems destined to become one of elite sorcerers who keep the country safe from a mysterious, magical, deadly plague of shadowy monsters.  While he studies, she looks after the goats.  She's girl who can't fit herself into the mold of "good girl," as expected by society, and her parents, who she is constantly disappointing.  When the sorcerers show up to test her brother to see if he has the gift for magic, she reaches peak disappointing-ness (although to be fair, goats will be goats....).

Then soon after a letter arrives, summoning Marya to Dragomir Academy, a far off school for "troubled girls" and her mother can't get her out of the house fast enough

Dragomir Academy exists to shape troubled girls into useful, docile girls, many of whom find places doing useful work helping the sorcerers (all men).  There are lots of rules, and Marya, not optimistic from the get go, is pretty certain that she doesn't have what it takes to fold herself into following them all.  And though the girls get a good education, it's one that's not answering all Marya's questions.

The one true champion of her childhood was a neighbor, Madame Bandu, a master weaver who secretly taught Marya to read, and who also taught her to question and challenge.

"When you hear a story powerful people tell about themselves, and you're wondering if it's true," Madame said, "ask yourself, who does the story serve?" (page 76).

And Marya asks this about the stories at the heart of the Academy, and at the heart of the patriarchal magic of her country.  The answers she finds upend everything....

This is a great book, especially if you like undaunted girls using brains and courage to smash magical patriarchies.  It wasn't a very comfy book, though, because much of the story is about the school attempting to smash girls' brains, courage, and individuality.  Though it's a girls boarding school story, this agenda means that there isn't a huge amount of comfy girl school friendship at Dragomir Academy.  One of the things that bothered me most about the school wasn't the brainwashing, indoctrination, and shaming (though these were all troubling) but the rule that the girls weren't allowed to talk about their pasts.  It's a rule designed to limit bonding, to limit individuality, to force the girls to fit the mold of their new life, and I hated it! (both as a person and a reader--many of the girls seemed like empty shells).

Despite the schools best efforts, though, there was one other girl in the school who shone so brightly she couldn't be diminished, and this girl becomes Maryu's friend and ally in mystery solving, and I loved her!  

As a lover of textiles in fantasy, I also very much appreciated the role that women's art of sewing and weaving played in the mystery and its solving.  As a lover of libraries and archives, I liked exploring those of the school along with Maryu.  And as someone who loves many men and boys, I liked that Maryu's brother staged his own rebellion against the expectation of family and society, and came back into her life as an ally (it is not an anti-male book).

Towards the end of the book, I was very strongly reminded of how Ursula Le Guin, realizing she had created a magical patriarchy in her Earthsea books, set about writing new ones to smash it to pieces.  At the book's virtual launch last night, I asked Anne Ursu if Le Guin had been in her thoughts at all.  Turns out another author (William Alexander) had recommended Tales from Earthsea to her during the writing of this book.....and so I was not wrong in hearing echoes that made me appreciate this new story even more!

Short answer--read the book!  Ask yourself "who does the story serve?" and smash the patriarchy, magical or otherwise!  

and go read Anne's essay, "On Monsters," at Nerdy Book Club!

The Ash House, by Angharad Walker

The Ash House, by Angharad Walker (Chicken House, February 2, 2021), is a disturbing, gripping middle grade story of kids in a sanctuary, a sanctuary that is also a place of mortal peril. I'm not sure I "liked" it, but I did find it utterly absorbing, especially once I stopped trying to make sense of everything. This is impossible because many central questions, like "is this real?" aren't definitely answered. But, the strangeness aside, it is essentially a story of children surviving on their own trying to be good, and brave, and faithful to one another, and as such I found it profoundly moving.

It begins with an eleven year old kid, hospitalized for chronic, debilitating pain in his back, abruptly deposited at what he thinks must be some kind of convalescent home out in the country. There he's greeted by a resident boy, Dom (short for Freedom), who takes him under his wing and introduces him to the Ash House and its residents, all of whom are kids. He also gives the new kid a name--Solitude (Sol for short), a name as Nice as everyone else's. The concept of Niceness is the central precept of the Headmaster who founded the Ash House and brought the kids to live there.

But the beloved Headmaster has been gone for three years, and the kids are on their own, trying to keep things going the way he would have wanted, trying hard to live up to their names....

Sol is confused. It is a strange, strange place, with many peculiarities, like magical (?) drifting ash, and savage, unnatural beasts (?) prowling (to keep the children safe, or to keep them from leaving?). The other children can't remember anywhere else, and the longer Sol stays at Ash House, the more his old life fades.


I don't know if the Ash House is real, or some supernatural place, or what. But the kids who call it home love their Headmaster, who has taught them the precepts of Niceness, and loved and cared for them. They do not want to leave, although as they can't conceive of an outside world, this is something of a moot point. This is in itself pretty screwed up. But it gets worse.

Ash House isn't a convalescent home where Sol will be cured. Being sick there is the worst thing that could happen. Because then the Doctor comes, and no one is safe.

(the next bit is spoiler; I have to reveal a central fact about the story in order to talk about it).

The Doctor, who has no medical training or skill, basically plunges in to fix the sick kids and screws up. One kid has died. One is badly scarred. And now it's Sol's turn. But the real awfulness is that the Doctor is the same person as the Headmaster, ala Jeckel and Hyde. The kids have trained themselves to hide sickness and to never let the Doctor get them alone, trying to stay away from his interest until the Headmaster is back.

(end spoiler)

And so, whether or not the unbelievable bits are real, or real with a veneer of traumatized kid metaphor making them seem impossible, or utterly unreal, if is a fact that this is a group of kids in a abusive situation, and there has been so much gaslighting/brainwashing that they are trapped. But Sol, who was not raised there, is able to see that staying and hoping for the Headmaster to return isn't the answer.

It's an incredibly vivid story, the sort with lots and lots of description that is so well integrated into the story that you don't really register why your mind is making such clear pictures. It's a suspenseful mystery, as the reader, along with Sol, tries to figure out what's happening. It requires considerable suspension of disbelief, and readers who get cross if there's no closure of explanation will get very cross (there's a letter from the publisher at the beginning, in which she says she doesn't herself know what really happened). It's also the story of a group of children taking their survival into their own hands, and desperately trying to keep their community together, and I cared about them lots by the end of the story!

I can't think of any middle grade book much like it. I can, however, say that it is great for the 11-12 year old readers who are going to love Nova Ren Suma's books when they are teenagers! (which should give those who have read A Room Away from the Wolves and The Walls Around Us an idea of what The Ash House feels like, only middle grade...)

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Amari and the Night Brothers, by B.B. Alston

Happy release day eve to Amari and the Night Brothers, by B.B. Alston (Jan 19, 2020)! It's the start of a middle grade fantasy series that might well become the childhood defining magical reading for current 9 -12 year olds (there's already a movie in development).

When we meet Amari, her scholarship at a snooty private school is about to be taken away, after she snapped when, not for the first time, a classmate was an elitist, racist piece of work. Amari and her mom live in subsidized housing, but Amari knows that doesn't define her. After all, her big brother Quinton was wildly successful in school, and could have gone to an Ivy League college. He didn't though; instead he got a mysterious job and then disappeared without a trace. Amari refuses to believe he won't come home again. And so she's grounded, depressed, and sad about letting her hardworking mother down, and angry about it all.

Then there's a mysterious delivery of a message from Quinton himself, of the best fantasy sort, that sends Amari off to the same "leadership camp" Quinton went to a few years back. And again it is the best fantasy sort of summer camp--a training ground for magical youth, who will as adults be tasked with keeping ordinary humans safe from magical entities, working for the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Quinton ended up being one of the most famous agent of them all, and Amari is sure that the Bureau knows a lot more than they are telling her about what happened to him. But in order to stay at the Bureau's school long enough to find the truth, she'll have to prove her magical worth.

Most of the other kids are legacies, raised with privilege by families associated with the Bureau, so Amari's at a disadvantage. And many of the kids are just as nastily elitist as her old antagonists. Fortunately, her room-mate, a technologically brilliant were-dragon girl (nice STEM focused girl rep!), is a lovely and loyal friend, and one of the most golden boys of them all extends his friendship and support.

Amari needs all the support she can get when it turns out that she is one of the rare people born with a forbidden level of magic. She knows she's not a threat, but many in power at the Bureau, and many of the kids, aren't convinced. Especially since there is a real threat, one that is growing dangerously close to toppling the Bureau and destroying the détente between humans and magical beings....And since Quinton's disappearance is linked to this threat, Amari's search for answers puts her very deep in harms way....

There's obviously a familiar pattern here--kid with difficulties in the real world turns out to be magically special, goes to a magic school that is flamboyantly full of wonders, is faced with a series of trials that have to be passed, makes friends and enemies with the other kids and confronts evil in a way that leaves room for more books.   It's a type of story I like, and B. B. Alston does a great job making this version of it entertaining and amusing and fascinating, with lots of the small quirky details. And so just at this level it was a book I enjoyed very much.

Three things make this rise to the top of this particular sub-genre in my mind. The first is that Amari's primary motivation isn't to be best or most heroic (having grown up in the shadow of a brilliant older sibling, she's in the habit of selling herself short). Instead, she is focused on finding her brother, which gives the story a nice touch of emotional weight, while also adding mystery to the mix. 

The second is that the book includes contemporary social issues of racism and discrimination, and how these effect kids.  Not in a preachy way, but as a matter of fact. For instance, Amari is frustrated by how little effort has been made by law enforcement to find Quinton--because he's a young black man who sends home money but has no documented job, the authorities are comfortable assuming the worst about him and writing him off.

But of course, on a happier note, the main thing that sets this apart is black girl magic, plain and simple--a black girl being the best and most magical of them all for the first time (I'm pretty sure it's the first time) in this sort of middle grade fantasy. I can't wait for the next book!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Wishes and Wellingtons, by Julie Berry

Wishes and Wellingtons, by Julie Berry (Sourcebooks, October 2020, first published as an Audible Original in 2018), is a middle grade fantasy in the tradition of E. Nesbit that will delight anyone who loves reading about feisty girls finding magic and struggling to control it!

Maeve wants to be a world-famous cricket player, or perhaps an explorer, or both, but Victorian England isn't offering her many opportunities for either.  For the moment she stuck at a boarding school for "Upright Young Ladies," and when the book begins, she's being made to sort through the trash as punishment for her latest transgression against the rules of upright young lady-ship.  

But fortune smiles on her (perhaps) when she finds a sardine tin in which a djinni has been trapped.  The power of magical wishes is hers...but she only has three of them, and the djinni isn't going to help her make the best use of them.  On the contrary...

Though Maeve wastes her first wish on a silly bit of revenge against another girl, she is fortunate to have two more level headed allies--an orphan boy from the adjacent charitable home (who hopes to get his own chance with the sardine tin), and her best friend Alice, a girl from a wealthy family who's quieter personality makes her good foil for Maeve.

The three of them use Maeve's second wish to take them on an adventure in search of treasure--and they find themselves in the ancestral home of the djinni himself!  It's a place of curses and angry spirits, and needless to say it doesn't make them rich.  With only one wish left, how will Maeve foil the plotting of a powerful business man who's found out about the sardine tin djinn, and make a better future for herself and her friends?

It's touch and go, but she does it, and I was happy to cheer her own!

I myself am a big fan of Nesbit (The Phoenix and the Carpet and The Story of the Amulet in particular, despite the discomfort of some racist and classist elements typical of their time), and of Edward Eager, who follows in her footsteps with stories of kids finding magic (with much less for modern readers to object to), and then figuring out its rules.  Maeve obviously hasn't read these books, and it takes her a while to really think things through.  The evil business man, who threatens Maeve's family, gives her a worthwhile foe, and it's lots of fun to watch him getting his comeuppance!  I was a bit disappointed that the djinni didn't get more of a redemption arc, but you can't have everything.

A great read if you are in the mood for a light  historical fantasy romp that's lots of fun!  I dunno if kids these days ever read Nesbit and Eager, but this would conceivable be a great gateway to her books, and so I endorse it wholeheartedly for that reason as well as for its own sake!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Secret of White Stone Gate, by Julia Nobel

The Secret of White Stone Gate, by Julia Nobel (Sourcebooks Young Readers, March 3 2020) is just as exciting a read as the first book in the series, The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane.  If the prospect of  mystery, attempted murder, and friendship drama at an English boarding school appeals, look no further than these books!

Emmy can't wait to get back to Wellsworth, the boarding school where she made the first best friends of her life, was plunged into an environment of academic rigor, and was almost murdered by the school's head of security, a man named Jonas.  She's hoping the last bit is over and done with.  Jonas, saw her throw the medallions her father, another order member, had entrusted her with, that would unlock the treasure trove of the order, into the ocean, and he no longer works at the school.  So she's glad to catch up with Lola and Jack, and glad to get to know Jack's very appealing new room-mate...

She doesn't get much chance to be a happy, ordinary student.  Lola is framed for theft after the money raised by the school fundraiser disappears, and she's expelled from school.  Emmy and Jack are  determined to clear her name. They suspect the snooty Latin Club, the feeder group for the order, and with Jack's room-mate enlisted to help (he has excellent hacker skills and also the social credentials to be accepted by the club), they set to work.

But then Jonas re-emerges, and begins to threaten Emmy again.  He wants to find out where Emmy's father is, something Emmy herself doesn't know, and he's not quite convinced she doesn't still have the medallions.  And he makes it clear that he will hurt the people she cares about if she doesn't cooperate....

It's an exciting mystery, with a pleasantly middle grade gothic feel to it at times, ending up in a big showdown at a map exhibit at the British Library (I do love it when old maps are involved!), and although the immediate dangers of this installment are resolved, there's clearly room for more (I say hopefully....).  The characters are relatable to anyone in middle school, yet the British boarding school is a strange and fascinating setting for (most) American kids, and it will feel almost like a fantasy setting, what with the mysterious sinister Order and the medallions that can unlock lost passageways (nb: it is not fantasy).  The danger picks up at a nice tempo, building toward an exciting rush at the end.  Emmy is a great main character--she is not particularly gifted (she's no Nancy Drew character of ridiculous competence), but she is a loyal, determined friend, a good soccer player, and smart enough to figure out important clues.

Particularly recommended to young Anglophile fans of school stories who love fantasy for its adventures and escape from real life, who might be looking for a break from magical gifts and spells.  I enjoyed it lots as a grown-up, and would have loved it as a young reader.

disclaimer: review copy (gratefully, and with pleased excitement) received from the publisher.

The Mystwick School of Musicraft, by Jessica Khoury

The Mystwick School of Musicraft, by Jessica Khoury, is a fun read for those who like magical school stories with determined kids finding their true gifts.

Amelia Jones is the best in her village at musicraft-the art of mixing music and magic-and she's determined to gain admittance to the Mystwick School, one of the most prestigious in the world.  It's where her mother, who died when she was little, went, and it's all Amelia wants.  When she botches her audition, she's sure she hasn't gotten in, but to her great surprise, she gets an acceptance letter.  And so she's off on a magical trip around the world, in a dirigible powered by magic organ music, that gathers her classmates and takes them to the school off in the Colorado mountains.

But once she's there, it's discovered that she is the wrong Amelia Jones.  Another Amelia, brilliant at both piano playing and spell crafting, was supposed to have gotten the letter, but she has just tragically died.  The staff at the school are very doubtful about giving the wrong Amelia her place, but decide to take her on a trial basis.   She's determined to work harder than everyone to prove her worth, but her flute playing isn't nearly as good as everyone else's music, and her magic doesn't always work out right...and on top of that, her new roommate was best friends with the other Amelia, and of course resents her tremendously, and to make things even worse, she realizes she's being haunted...possibly by the other Amelia.

But eventually her roommate, and a friendly boy in her class, start helping her figure out what's happening.  In order to try to set things right, they break school rules and experiment with a forbidden dark spell, which doesn't go well.  And in the end, the whole school is in danger and Amelia realizes that she has a special, valuable gift after all and deserves a place in the world of magical music.

It doesn't break tremendously new ground, but it's a pleasant read with enough new interest provided by the music.  The growing threat posed by the ghost and the dark magic add nice tension, while remaining a problem the kids can solve by working together.  There's nothing really to find fault with, but it never quite became a book I found myself loving, though I can imagine many 9-11 year olds enjoying it more than I did.  Amelia isn't a brilliant instrumentalist, and so there was never the passion for the music in and of itself taking over the pages, which I would have liked.  Apparently the audiobook, where you get to listen to all the music powering the magic, is wonderful, and in fact sounds so appealing I want to check it out.

A Problematic Paradox, by Eliot Sappingfield

A Problematic Paradox, by Eliot Sappingfield  (Putnam, middle grade, Jan. 2018), is a great pick for kids who enjoy wild and whacky sci fi school stories, and for those who love stories of smart, misfit girls finally finding their people.

Nikola Kross is that sort of girl.  Her intellect and knowledge has antagonized just about everyone in her boring, normal school in North Dakota.  Her father, a mad-scientist inventor type, has rigged up a comfortable enough home of the two of them in an abandoned warehouse store, but although he's taught Nikola a lot, and provided her with a state of the art security system and incredible escape plan just in case things go wrong, he hasn't given her much affection.

Fortunately, when a nasty, non-human monster going by the name of Tabbabitha shows up after school to kidnap Nikola, after already taking her father, the security system and escape plan kick in.  Nikola finds her self a student at the most unusual school on earth, a place for genius kids who are both human (the minority) and not so human kids with extraordinary abilities.  She has a lot of catch up (quantum mechanics and the manipulation of reality not being on the curriculum of her old school), and she has even more figuring out to do.

Questions like "who the heck are these people?" and "can I finally make friends?" keep Nikola busy.  And happily, she does make friends; her new room-mate, though she has little in common with Nikola, turns out to be just who she needs, and vice versa (the way the two of them sort out how they are going to co-habitate is lovely reading!).  And of course the larger, more explosive sort of questions keep her and her companions busy as well, as they try to foil Tabbabitha's evil plottings and schemings for world domination.

It's a fun read, slowed at tad by the amount of explanations readers (and Nikola) need to make sense of things, but not so much so as to be bothersome.  The friendship thread of the story was my favorite part; I found the school slightly less appealing, probably because I am older than the target audience and rather more jaded (does every school have to come with a beautiful mean girl?), but also because the headmistress got on my nerves lots (she's intended to be unhelpful, and succeeds....).  Also perhaps because I'm not personally interested in devices that need batteries and equations.  (Pushing further into introspection-maybe I didn't like the school because I would fail if I went there....).  On a more positive note, I thought the larger conflict part was interesting (I was afraid after meeting the over-the-top Tabbabitha and her henchmonsters that it would be farcical, but it wasn't).

So short answer--I enjoyed reading it, parts very much indeed, but it's not a personal most loved favorite though it is one I'd strongly recommend to readers who do like devices and devisings, and smart girls who are good at both!

Kirkus gave it a star, referencing "an endless parade of jokes (both sly and knee-slapping)." I am now wondering if I need to read the book again, because when I read it yesterday I was amused by many things but cannot recall a single "joke" (unless you count Tabbabitha's name).  Perhaps they are jokes only people who like batteries and equations will notice.  If you have read it and slapped your knee, let me know so that I can appreciate with more precision my failure as a reader!

The Queen of Blood, by Sarah Beth Durst

I'm as confident as can be that if I were to make a list of my five favorite books of the year in December, The Queen of Blood, by Sarah Beth Durst (September 2016), would be right up there.  I haven't enjoyed a fantasy book this much for ages, and if your taste in books is at all similar to mine, I'm willing to bet you will love it too!

Daleina's world is one in which elemental spirits are both necessary for life and growth, and an ever present danger.  The spirits are wild and savage, both creators and killers.  Only the power of the Queen of Renthia keeps the balance in check, though other women, from hedge witches making charms to the Queen's heirs, trained in the mastery of spirits, have a measure of power that allows them to bend the spirits to their will.  When Dalenia is still a child, her village is attacked by spirits, which the Queen should not have allowed to happen.  Dalenia finds the power in herself to keep her own family safe, but around them all the other villagers are slaughtered horribly.  She is determined to gain more power and knowledge, so that she can keep her family safe, and save others from the fate from which she hadn't been able to save her friends and neighbors.

Though her power is far from strong, she is accepted (barely) at an academy for the honing of talent, a place where possible heirs to the Queen are trained.  Though she does well on the academic side of things, all the girls around her are much better at coercing the spirits to obey them.  And Dalenia becomes pretty sure that she doesn't have what it takes to be an heir.  But then Ven, the disgraced former champion of the Queen, chooses her to be his protégée.  He doesn't see her lack of raw power, but instead appreciates her strength of will, her intelligence, and her ability to think outside the box.  Travelling with Ven from village to village, where bloody attacks are continuing, she grows more confident in her ability to direct the elemental spirits, and she is accepted as one of the pool of fifty heirs, from whom the next queen will be chosen by the spirits. 

When at last the reasons why the Queen is not stopping these attacks becomes revealed, a new Queen is needed.   Dalenia, still full of doubt, takes her place with the other heirs...and, just saying, this isn't called The Queen of Blood for nothing.

So if you like rich world building of magical complexity with a constant knife edge between mortal peril and wonder, a dash of political intrigue, and fantasy school stories (my favorite part of the book was the Academy--I like boarding school stories lots), do look for this one!  It is also one of the more sex-positive books I've read in a while.  In a minor episode, Dalenia and a young man with whom she is friendly but not In Love decide to have sex for mutual enjoyment and comfort; they continue to be friendly.  She goes on to have a more romantic, but still not Star Spangled Love of Destiny with another very nice young man, but since she's caught up in life-threatening danger most of the time they are together, there's not much page time for their romance to be at the top of her mind.  There's also a reference to birth control, which you don't see much of in fantasy.

Though this is marketed as an adult book, it seems to me that it would also be a great one to offer to a young teen.  The plot is essentially a child growing up, and coming to believe in herself (although Dalenia is always aware of her lack of raw power); it is a very encouraging sort of story for those who measure themselves against others and feel they are wanting.  And really it felt like a book I'd give an older middle school kid who was looking for something un-childish to read, because the focus of the plot on the skills to be acquired and the dangers to be overcome is very much a middle-grade sort of story, as opposed to Young Adult books, in which the identity of the main character is often centered around romance.  I also think a nice dose of mutually consensual sex is a healthy thing to offer young readers starting to think about things.  Thanks to The Hunger Games, gory violence isn't really anything young readers aren't familiar with, so the fact that there's a lot of that here isn't much of an issue.  Although some of the horrible things are really horrible....

But back to The Queen of Blood.  It  is a very good read, that made me late for work. It makes tremendously vivid pictures in the mind, and though I'll be re-reading it, I don't really need to, because it is all so beautifully clear.  It is a stand-alone book, but since it's billed as "Book 1 of the Queen's of Renthia," there should be more.  And there is lots more I want--I want to explore the tension of the relationship between humans and spirits.  I want to know more about the tensions with neighboring kingdoms.  And I want to know what happens to one of Dalenia's classmates, a strong character who sets off on her own path whose story isn't resolved.  And of course I want to be sure that Dalenia survives....

Here's the Kirkus review, which goes into some of the plot points in more detail, but which basically agrees with me that this is a good book!

disclaimer: review copy received from the author

The Bronze Key (Magisterium Book 3)

So back in The Iron Trial (the link takes you to my review, a favorite of mine) the first book of the Magisterium series by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, the three main characters, students together at a school for magic, are given this following cheerful (not) prophecy about themselves:  'One will die, one will fail, another is already dead.'  Cal, the main character, learned in the first two books that he is the one who is already dead, in a strange and twisted sense of having had his soul kicked out of his body in infancy, and replaced by that of the arch villain of bad magic, aka The Eater of Death, who is now dead (except of his soul, which is apparently thriving in the form of Cal, despite his reluctance to be an arch-villain himself).   Which leaves the other two bits for Tamara and Aaron, the best friends Cal could ever imagine.  In The Bronze Key (Scholastic Press, upper MG, August 30, 2016), the third book of the series, another part of the prediction is revealed (and don't go reading reviews on Goodreads, or it will be spoiled!).

But even though Cal knows he's the one that's "already dead" he doesn't want to be killed...and unfortunately someone is hellbent on doing just that.  Tamara, Aaron, and Cal don't listen to the reassurances of the grown-ups, and try to find who is behind the attempts on Cal's life, and things go magically wrong and get worse.

And that's it from me about the plot.

But I can say that this was a cracking good installment in the series, and if you enjoyed the first two books, you'll read this in a single sitting!  Cal and co. are not just caught up in tangled pasts and difficult magics, but they are young teens coping with being young teens, and each of them has particular difficulties to cope with--Aaron's dad is in prison, Tamara's big sister ended up, through magical mischance, as an imprisoned fire elemental, and a fellow student has an awkward crush on Cal, and Havoc, his chaos ridden wolf pup, is in danger (and he's the soul of the Eater of Death, which doesn't build Confidence).

The pages turn very quickly, and the ending is a whammer of terrible Feels.

I can't wait for book 4!

This is a series I'm happy to enthusiastically recommend to the fantasy loving 12 or 13 year old who wants the magical adventure to take center stage, and isn't interested in the romance that takes up so much time in so much (but by no means all!) YA.  Which reminds me that I should tempt my own 13 year old with it...he will like Havoc the wolf cub lots.

School for Sidekicks, by Kelly McCullough, for Timeslip Tuesday

Ok, yes well.  This is one of those Timeslip Tuesday books where to identify it as such is a spoiler, but to not identify it as such fails to bring it to the attention of those who like time travel (and leaves me without a T.T. book for two weeks in a row).  I'll try not to spoil any particulars, though.

School for Sidekicks, by Kelly McCullough, is about an ordinary kid named Evan (nerdy and  bullied, which is the norm in MG sci fi/fantasy these days) who dreams of becoming a super hero like Captain Commanding, fighting the bad super villains and saving the day.  In Evan's version of earth, that's not as far fetched a dream as it would be in ours, because a strange bomb a generation back gave a bunch of people superpowers (and killed a considerably larger number), and even in Evan's time sometimes kids get powers...And Evan's dream comes true.  He gets them.  Enough powers to be taken by the government and sent to a special school for super power training, along with a bunch of other variously talented kids.

So far, pretty ordinary story.  Here's what makes it interesting--there are secrets at this school (like the fact that it's on Mars).   It's not just a training school, it's a testing ground, and the reason the kids need to be tested is the same reason why no one actually gets to kill a super villain.  Someone has come from the future because they know people with superpowers are going to be needed....And that is pretty interesting, and the time travel is used to good effect.

On a smaller scale, things become interesting as well when Evan is apprenticed as a Sidekick to Foxman, an ex-alcoholic whose superpower is technological enhancement--every gadget he designs, or flying Foxcar he builds, works stupendously when he's the one using it.  Foxman doesn't want to be a warm fuzzy mentor, but he and Evan work things out between them, and Foxman helps Evan build bridges back to his parents, upset because their son has chosen superhero-ness over family (and might get damaged as a result).  Evan's too young for actual sidekick missions, but Foxman isn't a rule-follower, and the result is that Evan gets more adventures than most super-powered kids his age, dragging his classmates along with him.

After a slow start in which Evan is mostly just whinny, the pace picks up and I enjoyed it more and more, and would very much like to read the sequel sooner rather than later! 

Note on diversity: for the first time since I started thinking about rainbow sprinkle diversity, I have found an example, one that bothered me quite a bit and kicked me out of the story:  "The taller of the girls had the ball when I first spotted them.  She was Native American, with long dark hair and a bright smile" (page 69).   How the heck does Evan know a kid in this context is Native American? I don't think he can just by looking at her.  And since the fact that she is Native American  has no bearing whatsoever on anything she says or does in the rest of the book, it seems like she's identified as such just as a deliberate adding of diversity--a rainbow sprinkle.

The Copper Gauntlet, by Holly Back and Cassandra Clare

The Copper Gauntlet (Magisterium Book 2), by Holly Back and Cassandra Clare (Scholastic, MG, Sept 2015), continues the story of three young wizards in training in an underground school of magic, who were introduced in The Iron Trial (my review).  I enjoyed that one very much, being a huge fan of schools of magic, and although the adventures of this second book actually didn't much take place at the school, I am at this point committed to the characters and the story and will follow along happily wherever they choose to go.

What makes the series interesting to me is that the dynamic is not so much about learning to be powerful, or learning necessary skills to triumph over the bad adversary, but much more about the dynamics of friendship and trusting not only your peers but yourself.  For Callum, the central protagonist, this is all a rather fraught issue, because he is a reincarnation of the Big Bad Guy, who stuck his soul into Callum's baby self so he could try to bring his plans (defeating death) to fruition with better luck next time.   Although the Number 1 henchman, who survived that first big face-off, is totally a tool with no obvious redeeming features other than strength of conviction and loyalty, the Big Bad Guy is actually not necessarily bad (he was, after all, Callum's father's best friend), and his reasons for trying to defeat death are not unsympathetic. 

This doesn't particularly set Callum's mind at rest, though.  Callum spends a lot of time wondering when the seeds of Dark Lord are going to sprout within him, and wondering if his father really wants him dead, so he doesn't turn into Darklord 2.0.  And Callum's friends, who he is keeping this a secret from, spend a lot of time being his good friends, while trying to come to terms with who they themselves are, and what family, school, and fate, expect from them. 

Callum is also a rather rare middle grade hero who has a disability that doesn't either contribute to his abilities or which is magically healed (though I guess it might be in a future book).  He has a badly damaged leg, and walking is painful for him.  This disability doesn't define him, but it does affect him in a realistic way, and the authors keep it nicely in mind when moving him from place to place within the story.

So lots of character stuff, which I like!  And an exciting storyline involving near-death magical encounters, lots of questions raised and a few answered, and plenty of page time for Callum's pet chaos ridden wolf cub (although he's almost not a cub at all anymore).  This is one of my favorite on-going MG series, and I can't wait till the next book.

Although this series is pretty clearly "middle grade" I think it's a good one for older MG readers moving toward YA-ness; I think older readers will appreciate the ambiguities more, and the interplay between the various characters (which don't, thank goodness, appear to be heading toward a love triangle) feels more complicated than is often the case in younger MG. 

The Scorpion Rules, by Erin Bow

Erin Bow's YA books are not exactly comfy--the heroines of her stories (Plain Kate, Sorrow's Knot) must navigated complicated worlds in which contentment is precarious, and is balanced with darkness and loss.  The Scorpion Rules, her most recent book, fits this description to a t. 

In a future world, desperate for peace, a collective bargain was made.  An artificial intelligence known as Talis keeps watch over the various nations of Earth, enforcing peace with the threat of death.  Cities are destroyed when the peace is broken.  And hostage children, the dearest ones of the various rulers, are gathered together in an enclave, knowing that they will be killed if their nations go to war. 

One of these so-called Children of Peace is Greta, daughter of a queen of North America.  If she can make it to 18 years old, she will be free, and so she calmly goes about her life, being instructed by her AI teacher, working on the enclaves farm, keeping to the pattern of the days dictated to her.  She is so much the good hostage child that she doesn't even sneak off with the other teens to play "coyotes" (euphemism!)  in the dark night outside.   But then a catalyst from outside shatters the calm of her life.  Elian, son of a new American alliance that is threatening to make war with Greta's homeland, arrives, and he refuses to be a docile hostage.   He is tortured as a result, while the other Children of Peace watch.  And Greta knows that his people declare war on hers, which seems likely, the two of them will die.

Her  peace of mind is cracked both by the horrible implications of his presence, and by his stubborn defiance.   And a new Greta emerges from the structure of her controlled life, one who questions, who loves, who wants a future of her own making....But Talis is watching, always watching, and for him, death is not just an abstract threat.

So basically the book is about Greta growing from Good Hostage Child to strong, passionate, questioning young woman, and as this happens, there's a very gripping ratcheting up of the tension not just of her personal situation but of the lives of those around her, and the lives of thousands of strangers who Talis could kill at any time.  I was so afraid reading it that it would have a heartbreaking ending, and was glad that although tense as all get out, it wasn't all devastation and darkness....There is lots and lots of room for a sequel, but it ends at a good ending point, where there is hope (hanging fro a thread) for a different sort of peace to come.

I don't want to spoil things, but I do want to say, to help those who want to find such  books, that the teen romance at the heart of the book is LGBT, and this was an unexpected and tender romance that tightened the knot around my heart just beautifully!

In short, The Scorpion Rules isn't exactly a comfy kids at a farm school fooling around with each other sort of book, although almost it is (I put my boarding school label on it!); instead, it's that sort of book but with the very real threat of death, and no possibility of escape, hanging constantly over the kids, beautifully written and achingly engrossing.  I read it two months ago, and it is still crystal clear in my mind.

The Dungeoneers, by John David Anderson, with Interview and Giveaway!

It's  my pleasure today to be a stop on the blog tour for The Dungeoneers, by John David Anderson (Walden Pond Press, MG, June 23, 2015).  This fun and exciting story is one to add to the summer reading pile of any kid who dreams of treasure seeking and goblin bashing!

Colm's family is struggling; his father can't make and sell enough shoes to keep him and his eight sisters comfortably feed.  So Colm decides to take things into his own hands; literally--it turns out that he has a natural gift for pickpocketing.  When things go wrong, he's in danger of having one hand cut off by the law, but he's saved by a mysterious stranger, Finn, a smooth talking master rouge who takes Colm on as his protégée.  Finn is a member of the most famous league of Dungeoneers in the land--adventurers who routinely go into danger below ground in search of treasure. 

Colm becomes a student at the league's headquarters, partnered with three other kids who have their own roles to play in their future dungeon diving adventures.  There's Serene, a druid in training, who can commune with nature (as long as it's not nature in the form of giant spiders), Quinn, whose magical abilities are hampered by a nervous stutter when he's trying to use them, and Lena, determined to be the best barbarian warrior ever.

So basically it's the story of a school that trains Dungeon and Dragons-esque parties of adventurers....but as Colm's abilities as a rogue and a thief grow, he has to learn the hard way who he can really trust.  And when he and his cohort find themselves in an a real dungeon adventure far above their pay-grade, they have to learn the hard way how to stay alive.....

Give this one to any kid who enjoys stories about kids at magical schools, and definitely give it to any young fantasy game players you might happen to have on hand!  I myself enjoyed it lots--the adventure part is combined with pleasing character interaction parts, and the action is gracefully introduced into the story, without overwhelming the less frenetic school and friendship side of things.

And now it's my pleasure to welcome John David Anderson here today!  My questions for him are in blue.

1. I'm going to pitch The Dungeoneers to my own boys as a perfect read for Dungeons and Dragons characters, and I'm wondering if you yourself were/are a D. and D. person?  If so, were you by any chance a rogue or a thief yourself?  If not, have you played similar games?

I’ve never actually played hard-core, full-on, roll-for-crit D&D, but I’ve played plenty of less-involved versions (dungeon-diving board games, Pathfinders Adventure Card Game and the like). I’ve also played plenty of computer role-playing games, so I’ve had the chance to vicariously goblin bash using a variety of personas. Usually I go for the kick-butt Amazon warrior princess or the dark sorcerer type who summons undead things to do his bidding. I’m usually not a rogue or thief because, frankly, I can’t imagine myself ever being that crafty (though I can imagine myself as an Amazon princess—go figure).

2.  There's a certain moral ambiguity (not that ambiguous) about several of the character in this book, and in your earlier books as well....is this something that just happens, or that is part of your grand plan from the get go?   Have you gotten any pushback from gatekeepers about this?

Moral ambiguity is at the heart of what makes fiction interesting. If I knew from the very start how my characters were going to behave at every possible moral crossroads I’m afraid I would get bored with them myself. I enjoy writing characters who struggle with right and wrong, who are questioning the ideologies around them and trying to find one that they can work with and stand behind, because that’s what adolescents are just starting to do (and what some adults continue to struggle with). I think both readers and gatekeepers appreciate a little moral complexity. Yes—we want our protagonists to do the right thing in the end, but if we can play with the definition of “right” along the way, it not only provides a more intriguing journey, but also gives us more to talk about when it’s over.

3.  lt interesting to me also that your books place kids in the difficult position of having grown-ups trying to make their moral decisions for them, and then having to trust, or not, their own feelings.  It this something that draws you to writing for middle grade kids, as opposed to YA, where the protagonists strike out on their own more blatantly from the get go?

Dang, that’s astute. Yes, that’s both a boon and a bane of middle grade fiction, that your characters are granted limited agency due to their age (it would be so much easier if they could just drive places!), but are often thrown into a world where their decisions suddenly matter. They still need guidance, but they are just starting to recognize the power they have to change their environment, impact other people, even rebel against their parents’ teachings. Maybe that’s why I like to write about twelve-year-olds who cast spells, pick locks, or have super senses, because it empowers them to trust in their own autonomy. That moment when you realize that your actions matter—and just as importantly—that your parents/guardians/Obi Wan Kenobis won’t be able to swoop in and clean up the mess you’ve made—it’s frightening, but it also makes for a compelling story and some much-needed evolution.

3.  Will there be more books continuing Colm and co.'s adventures?  Will the quality of the food improve?  Will we get to meet any of his sisters in any great depth?

I have yet to write a book where the food is good. I realize that. It’s a running theme. One day, I hope to, though it might require me learning how to cook first.

As for sequels to The Dungeoneers, I certainly hope so. I am quite fond of all of the characters and would love to discover what they do next. I never write a book with a sequel in mind, but as soon as I finished this one I began dreaming up further adventures. Hopefully The Dungeoneers will find its audience and leave them hungry for more. If not, I suppose I can at least write a little pamphlet called “The Candolry Sisters’ Guide to Tormenting Your Brother.”   

4.  My kids' school offers a lock picking class (although they call it "introduction to lock mechanics" to avoid Legal Issues).  Did you learn any lock picking yourself in preparation for this story?  Or practice in any other way (I, for instance, could practice walking through the lego minefield of my kids' playroom as "trap-avoidance.")

Your kids’ school is awesome! Do they offer classes in safe cracking and computer hacking? What about trap making? Fireball flinging? I have jimmied a few locks before (all my own, due to an inability to remember where I’ve put keys). I did book-research, but I refrained from buying an actual lock-pick set and breaking into my neighbor’s house (“I’m researching for my next novel, officer, really!”). I think my entire childhood was spent practicing to be a dungeoneer though. My favorite activity was covering the floor with throw pillows and pretending the carpet was lava, jumping from safe spot to safe spot to get at the treasure buried under the couch cushions (usually about thirteen cents, a gum wrapper, and a stale potato chip). Ah, those were the days.

Thanks for interviewing me, Charlotte. Hope you enjoyed the book!

Dave
John David Anderson is the author of Sidekicked and Minion (both very good!  The links go to my reviews). A dedicated root beer connoisseur in his spare time, he lives with his wife, two kids, and perpetually whiny cat in Indianapolis. You can visit him online at www.johndavidanderson.org,
or you can find him on twitter-- @anderson_author and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnDavidAndersonAuthor?ref=hl

Thanks very much, Dave! 

And now the giveaway--thanks to Walden Pond Press, I can offer a signed finished hardcover of The Dungeoneers!  Just leave a comment between now and midnight next Wednesday June 17, making sure there's some way to contact you!  (US and Canada only).

Here are the other stops on the Dungeoneers Blog Tour:

6/2/2015 Maria's Melange                                    ​                             
6/5/2015 Unleashing Readers                                              
6/6/2015 The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia            

6/7/2015 Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers         
6/8/2015 This Kid Reviews Books                                   
6/8/2015 Ms Yingling Reads                             ​         
6/9/2015 Read Now Sleep Later                         
6/11/2015   Nerdy Book Club                     

6/12/2015 The Hiding Spot                         

Wings of Fire: Moon Rising, by Tui T. Sutherland- my favorite of the series (because dragons at boarding school is awesome)

I am on a strict mission not to bring new books (bought or borrowed) into the home until I have read down my tbr pile.  But at the same time, being a good mother is important to me.  Therefore, it was with entirely unselfish motives that I bought Wings of Fire: Moon Rising, by Tui T. Sutherland (Scholastic, Dec. 1, 2014) for my eleven year old son (he was very pleased, and sat down and read it in a single sitting), and it would have made the house messy (making me a bad mother) to have left the book lying around until I'd finished my tbr pile, so of course I had to read it myself.  The fact that I truly enjoyed the first five books in the series about young dragons from different dragon factions bring peace to a war-land was immaterial (or not).

Anyway, I really enjoyed Moon Rising.   Tui T. Sutherland had not anticipated the series continuing on  when she started the whole thing, and the first five books tell a complete story ending with Peace.  But of course Peace is something that has to be worked at, and there were lots of loose ends of different dragon stories, and so the story goes on! (Yay!)

This book is perhaps my favorite of the series.  The dragons of the first books have founded a school that will be an institute for cross-cultural dragon understanding and learning, and they've gathered together young dragons (many of whom are deeply scarred by their experiences in the war, and most of whom distrust/fear/loath each other) to be the first students.   One of these students is Moonwatcher, a young Nightwing who has the Nightwing powers of telepathy and prophecy that were thought to be lost.  

Moon is overwhelmed by the mental clamor of all the dragons around her....but then her mind hears what sounds like a dangerous plot that could threaten the school...and then, on top of that, her mind makes contact with another Nightwing (a truly mysterious strange powerful is-he-good-or-bad dragon and it is all very interesting indeed) and she and her cohort of dragons (one from each tribe) are plunged into a dangerous mystery.

The Wings of Fire series is an excellent one to give upper elementary school readers--some tolerance for harsh and vivid violence is required, but alongside the horrors of war and its aftermath, strong messages of friendship, tolerance, and forgiveness are presented in a way that will appeal tremendously to young readers.

But what I really truly liked in this installment is the new kid at boarding school story that's a large part of the book--all the details of the different dragons, and their worries and concerns, and the classes and classrooms and teachers....I love good school stories.  And I love Moon and her friends. 

Mind Games, by Kiersten White

Mind Games, by Kiersten White (HarperTeen, Feb 2013, YA), is a book so gripping that it held my attention while I read almost all of it cover to cover while waiting for my car to be fixed--and given that I was in a hideously uncomfy plastic chair, in anxious circumstances viz the fate of the car, this says a lot, I think.

If I had to sum it up in one sentence, it would be "a psychological mystery/thriller, with a smart, fierce heroine,  similar in vibe to The Hunger Games but with a narrower focus viz world-building, cast of characters, and premise."

But since I generally allow myself three paragraphs, or so, here they are:

Two orphaned sisters, each with a psychic ability, are imprisoned in an institution masking as a magnificent school.   For Annie, the older sister, who is blind, the "school" offered all the educational opportunities she craved.  And so, though every preternaturally honed instinct in Fia's mind screamed that it was wrong, the sisters were enrolled.

Those who ran the school were at first only interested in Annie's ability to see the future.  But when they realized just what Fia's gifts entailed, and how easily she could be controlled by threats to her sister, they knew they could never let her go.  And so Fia is made into a tool of violence, sent out on criminal missions for her mysterious masters...and Annie is a hostage.

If it goes on much longer, Fia will break.  But Fia is about to find out who she can trust...and to finally chose her own path for the first time since her nightmare began.

So the story is told in the present, as Fia is beginning to follow a path that might lead to escape, but there are plentiful flashbacks that tell of violence and tension and really gripping psychological manipulation verging on horror, and some scenes from Annie's perspective as well.  By the time events come to a head, the reader knows both sisters pretty well, and I felt nicely invested in Fia and her situation, curious about the mystery behind the "school," and anxious to know how it all played out.

My one reservation is Annie.   She's the older sister, but her parents set up (with the best of intentions) a kind of nasty dynamic of Fia being the one to look after her, because of Annie being blind.  And Annie has lived her life accepting this, not fighting much against it.  She does have  spurt of being an Active Participant in events toward the end, but mostly she is "passive blind sister,"  and her journey to active participation isn't desperately well-developed.  (In plain English, Annie annoyed me).

Once sentence summary: Gripping, disturbing, and a good one for the YA reader who wants wants a thrilling read, starring a kick-ass heroine, that is neither a Dystopian with a capital D (although the particulars are far from Utopian) or a paranormal romance (although there is a whiff of love story).

Will I read it again?  Perhaps, though it isn't a book I'll keep assuming I will want to.  I can easily imagine, though, being happy to read it again if, in two or three years, I went back to the car repair shop and someone has left a copy of it there....

disclaimer:  ARC received from the publisher, left by accident in car repair shop (I think), finished with the help of a library copy.

Note on cover:  I do not think the young woman on the cover is a good representation of Fia.  Her eyes look a tad too limpid, and it is not clear that you are about to read a book about a teenage girl who is forced to kill.  However, the UK publishers of Mind Games decided to make sure there was no ambiguity:

The Madness Underneath, by Maureen Johnson (with ARC giveaway!)

I very much enjoyed The Name of the Star, the first book in Maureen Johnson's Shades of London series.  It's the story of a southern girl, Rory, who comes to London for a year in an exclusive boarding school--only to find herself menaced by of a truly creepy killer who is recreating the murders of Jack the Ripper.   Rory begins to realize that there is more to the murders than meets the eye, because it turns out that Rory can see ghosts...and ghosts are involved.  She's not alone in that ability, and is recruited by the small unit (3 young people) of London's police force who are responsible for handling the ghostly crimes of London--but will Rory be able to help them track down the murderer, or will she end up dead herself?  And in the meantime, there's the whole culture shock of life at a British boarding school....

The Madness Underneath (Putnam, Feb. 26 2013)  begins as Rory has more or less recovered physically from the knife wound she got at the end of book one.  Her parents agree to let her return to school....but it's not exactly going to be a peaceful end of term experience for her.  For one thing, she has a new, unique, ability--her touch can dispel ghosts--and since the devices that were able to do this all got destroyed in Book 1, she is the only actual weapon the small police ghost force has to work with.  Her place within that force is uncertain, as Stephan, the leader of that team, is reluctant to recruit her and swear her to a life of secrecy and lies...

But when faced with murderous spirits, and a plot by some very sinister folks indeed to capture Rory and use her for their own ends (this was a slightly odd plot, a bit jarring), there's no way for her to just sit quietly at school and worry about her homework....

Though there are many creepy and exciting goings on, this isn't a book full of non stop action.  I myself like this--non stop action gives me a headache.  Instead, there is lots here about Rory as a person, struggling both with her feelings (toward boys and toward her new ability), and struggling academically.  I must confess I became so worried about her academic struggles that I wanted to flip to the end to see if she flunked out or not.   But then I got interested in the actual plot of ghosts and mysteries and bad guys, and since it was becoming all too clear that Rory was doomed academically, I was able to focus on what was actually Happening.

But oh, Maureen Johnson, why did you have to give me that one full voltage scene of beautiful romantic tension only to snatch it away from me?

Courtesy of the publisher, I have an ARC of The Madness Underneath to give away (US only); please enter by next Wednesday, Feb. 13, at midnight!  It's my first rafflecopter giveaway; I hope it works. Edited to add:  It didn't work.  For one thing, it made me answer the question "What makes you smile" which did Not make me smile and for another it gave extra entries for following rafflecopter on twitter.  So I am going back to --Please enter by leaving a comment that includes some way to reach you!