Lurking In The Shadows

 

Expected Publication:  September 26th, 2013

Shadows

By: Robin McKinley

Nancy Paulsen Books

ISBN-13:  9780399165795

 

Maggie knows something’s off about Val, her mom’s new husband. Val is from Oldworld, where they still use magic, and he won’t have any tech in his office-shed behind the house. But—more importantly—what are the huge, horrible, jagged, jumpy shadows following him around? Magic is illegal in Newworld, which is all about science. The magic-carrying gene was disabled two generations ago, back when Maggie’s great-grandmother was a notable magician. But that was a long time ago.

Then Maggie meets Casimir, the most beautiful boy she has ever seen. He’s from Oldworld too—and he’s heard of Maggie’s stepfather, and has a guess about Val’s shadows. Maggie doesn’t want to know . . . until earth-shattering events force her to depend on Val and his shadows. And perhaps on her own heritage.

In this dangerously unstable world, neither science nor magic has the necessary answers, but a truce between them is impossible. And although the two are supposed to be incompatible, Maggie’s discovering the world will need both to survive.

Review

 

     It's Maggie's Senior Year of high school and she's determined to enjoy herself.  But with an extremely creepy new Stepfather who seems to be covered in shadows and may or may not be an illegal magician, Maggie is seriously stressed out.  When strange things begin happening and Maggie is drawn into them against her will, can she keep herself and her family safe?  Also, just what dangerous secrets have her friends been keeping from her.  And is magic really gone from her genes, or is Maggie more special than she ever imagined?
     I am a fan of Robin McKinley, but I like her best when she is writing high fantasy books such as her Damar novels The Blue Sword and The Hero and The Crown.  That said, I was excited to be able to read a new novel by her that sounded like a foray into contemporary magic.  This book was far more of an odd cross between science and the most tantalizing hints of magic that McKinley could write, without actually giving us the full-fledged kind I long for as a reader!  I disliked the way I was thrown into the odd terminology that McKinley seemed to have created from thin air.  I'm still not quite sure what cobeys and silverbugs are even a few days after I've finished reading the book.  I felt consistently lost and annoyed at the sink or swim feel of the world-building.  Things did get better as the book progressed, but I had some feelings of confusion up to the very end.  The differences between the different lands (Oldworld = magic, Newworld = science) were interesting and the choice to make one scientific governmentally and the other magical was intriguing.  It built the conflict for the majority of the book, but it wasn't a very active conflict until close to the ending.  Mostly the novel's conflict centers around Maggie and her much misunderstood Stepfather Val for a good portion, until the shit really starts to hit the fan when Maggie shows unexpected talents (won't say anything further on it!).   
     I think the strongest thing about this novel was the characters.  I really did not like Maggie all that much.  Yes, she was a strong protagonist.  But her colloquialisms (she said 'critters' instead of 'animals' and it made me want to axe-murder her so hard) got on my nerves and the innocence, bordering on downright stupidity of her mindset made me want to dropkick her a few times.  Her relationships with her best friends Jill and Takahiro were what saved her for me.  They were each strong, fleshed out characters on their own (Taks especially) and I enjoyed watching them come into their own.  Also the family dynamic between Maggie, her Mom, Val and her brother Ran was so realistic it made me cringe at some points in sympathy.  All of Maggie's animals also have distinctive personalities and my favorite in particular was a mysterious creature called Hix (untraditional to say the least).  The addition of origami as an important plot device was interesting and entirely unique.  I feel like all the action in this book happened in the last 75 pages or so and that didn't help me to enjoy it any more, as I already felt like it dragged and got confusing/boring for a fair bit.  The way it ended was decent in terms of wrapping up the main plots, but it still left things wide open for a sequel.  Especially in the case of Casimir, who is an afterthought of a character who only seems to exist as a romantic interest for Maggie and later on, Jill.  I would be interested in knowing his backstory which was pretty vague.  All in all, not one of my favorite reads of the year but I appreciate it's strength in characterization and ability to confuse the heck out of me!  I would recommend for fans of her more intricately detailed works, such as Pegasus and Sunshine.

VERDICT:  2.5/5  Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie.  No favors or money were exchanged for this review.  This book's expected publication is September 26th, 2013.*

You Better Apply Yourself Quickly

Expected Publication:  April 30th, 2013

The Boyfriend App

By: Katie Sise

Balzar + Bray

ISBN-13: 9780062195265

In The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise, super-smart, somewhat geeky Audrey McCarthy can’t wait to get out of high school. Her father’s death and the transformation of her one-time BFF, Blake Dawkins, into her worst nightmare have her longing for the new start college will bring.

But college takes money. So Audrey decides she has to win the competition for the best app designed by a high schooler—and the $200,000 that comes with it. She develops something she calls the Boyfriend App, and suddenly she’s the talk of the school and getting kissed by the hottest boys around. But can the Boyfriend App bring Audrey true love?

Review

     Audrey just wants for her high school days to be a thing of the past.  Perfectly content with her geek status, Audrey is only envious of one thing - how easy it is for the popular girls to get a guy's attention.  So when a contest is announced by the biggest technology corporation Public, for a scholarship awarded to whoever creates the most popular/innovative app, Audrey gets an idea - the Boyfriend App.  It's like a cross between Match.com and instant love radar.  With the help of her cousin Lindsey, some really awesome friends and Aiden, the guy who might be something more, can she win the scholarship money?  Or will it even matter when Audrey finds out a very sinister thing happening under the surface of Public's company?  Will they be exposed or will they get away with corrupting the youth of the world through subliminal messages?  Audrey was an interesting heroine for me, because she was not AT ALL predictable for the first half of the book.  She had personality, her own sense of self and definite strength against all the bad stuff aimed at her by her former best friend.  The boy confusion was understandable at first, but got old when her confusion turned into super-unrealistic naivete.   The battle between Public and their rival, along with Public's sinister use of subliminal frequencies to extract certain behaviors from people reminded me surprisingly enough of the Josie and the Pussycats movie from 2001 with Rachel Leigh Cook.  It made me laugh inside my head for most of the book.  A lot of the plot was horribly contrived and nowhere near the realm of believability. but I absolutely adored the humor of this book and the fact that the heroine is using her smarts toward a goal other than a boy (but capitalizing on her classmates hormones at the same time).  It was hilarious to read about Lindsey (her fashion diva cousin) and nerdy friend Nigit's unexpected relationship, in which he begins dressing like Michael Jackson...WTF?  My main complaint would be the completely unbelievable, weird science type plot events, the resolution and the overall devolving of the characters.  It was a cute fluff read, but not much else and it tried too hard to be taken seriously.  The constant, obvious satire of Apple became too much even for me.

VERDICT:  2.5/5  Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. It will be available for purchase on April 30th, 2013.*

Madness Is In The Blood

Expected Publication: January 29th, 2013

The Madman's Daughter (The Madman's Daughter # 1)

By: Megan Shepherd

Balzer + Bray

ISBN-13: 9780062128027

In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect.

Review

     Juliet Moreau is just trying to survive, working as a maid among lecherous old men in the University she cleans for a living.  At sixteen, she still remembers the charmed life she shared with her Mother and Father, before the latter (a famous scientist and professor) was accused of heinous crimes and destroyed by scandal.  Forced to flee London, Juliet has always assumed that her Father, the infamous Dr. Moreau was dead.  Otherwise why hadn't he come to save her and her Mother?  But when she discovers that her Father has been living on a remote island, Juliet accompanies his assistant (their former servant boy) Montgomery back, to ascertain for herself whether or not the accusations were true.  With her Mother dead, she has no other family left and wants to believe in his innocence.  Did her Father practice the illegal vivisection, the dissection of live animals?  Or was he doing something far more horrific and with longer-lasting consequences.  With the help of castaway Edward, she is determined to figure out whether her Father is innocent once and for all.  Juliet is also torn between the passion she has for Montgomery and her interest in Edward.  But when the natives' restless natures explode, will any of them live long enough to escape?  

     This book was truly astounding.  My only complaint being that yet again, there is a FREAKING LOVE TRIANGLE!!!   So sick of them that I could scream.  Although, the ending definitely resolved the situation fairly quickly.  The moral issues in this book are ones that still make themselves relevant to me, a reader almost 150 years after the original story by H.G. Wells was written.  Juliet is a truly likable, feisty heroine.  I identified with her quest to believe in her Father's innocence and the mixed feelings/confusion she had about the origins of the natives on the island.  Dr. Moreau was completely insane - brilliant in an entirely twisted way.  The truth about Juliet's disease and injections made me completely revolted, but I still loved her.  That says something great for Shepherd's writing.  The dilemma of Montgomery was so epically drawn and still completely true to the split loyalties of someone doing something they know is wrong - but doing it out of compassion and love.  Overall, the shocking ending to the book, including the conclusion to the mysterious identity of a 'creature' slaughtering villagers and who escapes the island, had me gripped and practically howling in frustration.  In certain ways I am happy that this is going to be a series after the strong feelings it invoked in me, but I am also very hesitant to believe that another book would be as good as this one.  Highly recommended for readers who like a little science-fiction/horror fix, with a dash of classic literature thrown in.  A proclivity to Gothic romance can't hurt either.

VERDICT:  4.90/5  Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. It will be available for purchase on January 29th, 2013.*