Ash by Malinda Lo
Started: 1/28/19
Finished: 1/30/19
I like fairy tale retellings, and I very much enjoyed this Cinderella retelling with actual fairies (like the fae, the cannot-be-trusted types) in the background.
YA
Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones
Started: 1/13/19
Finished: 1/14/19
The Goblin King in this book is SO very David Bowie, which is great. I think the characterization of the main character shifts halfway through, and not for the better. Her motivations aren’t consistent, and she gets all worked up about things that could be resolved if she would just TALK to the guy. Same goes for him, of course. On the other hand, she’s a teenager, and she’s acting like a teenager, so maybe I should be praising the author for her realism instead.
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Started: 1/11/19
Finished: 1/12/19
Music and humans and dragons and secrets and love and a plucky heroine. There’s a sequel!
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Started: 12/27/18
Finished: 12/30/18
It got rave reviews, but now that I’ve read it, I’m not sure why. The story jumps from section to section, there are parts that don’t fit at all, and we’re inside the main character’s head, but the character’s not fully developed. There’s too much telling instead of showing, and at the same time not enough telling to understand her motivations.
The Girl With The Red Balloon by Katherine Locke
Started: 11/23/18
Finished: 11/27/18
Young adult novel with a little time travel, a little magic, and some linked narratives. Mostly set in East Germany in the late 80s, which is a setting I don’t think I’ve ever read before. Pretty good!
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
Started: 10/5/18
Finished: 10/10/18
A Sherlock Holmes story told in the present day boarding school, with teenagers for Holmes and Watson. Lots of fun, first in a series.
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
Started: 9/5/18
Finished: 9/7/18
A well-off Victorian teenager with a bad attitude goes on an adventure with his best friend (who he’s secretly in love with) and his sister (who is awesome and gets her own sequel).
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Started: 8/17/18
Finished: 8/24/18
Sequel to Six of Crows, nice wrap-up to that story. Adventure, heists, magic, plots within plots – good stuff.
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Started: 8/7/18
Finished: 8/11/18
LOVED this. The Civil War got interrupted by the zombie apocalypse, and while slavery technically ended (because everyone is needed to fight zombies), really all the former slaves got drafted to be the front line in the fight against the zombies. Young adult, really strong voice, great main character. I think (I hope) there will be a sequel.
The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller
Started: 7/17/18
Finished: 7/21/18
I’m really not sure if I liked this. It was interesting, and there’s an open question about the abilities the kid had (Did he actually have them? Did those things really happen?), but aside from that, it’s about a teenager, his relationships, and his eating disorder.
Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher
Started: 7/6/18
Finished: 7/12/18
It’s a Baba Yaga story, it’s an Alice in Wonderland story, and of course it’s neither of those, but it was really good, and I really enjoyed the characters.
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
Started: 7/1/18
Finished: 7/3/18
I loved this book. It’s fantasy – boy finds himself in a land with elves and mermaids and so on, which is always good for me – but the characters (all teenagers, followed from age 13 to 18) are written so realistically it’s easy to forget this is fantasy. (Fantasy novels don’t always do characters justice.)
Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
Started: 6/26/18
Finished: 6/27/18
Third (last) in the Binti series, it’s an immediate sequel to the second one and doesn’t stand as well on its own, but it wraps up the trilogy nicely (and is still very good).
Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
Started: 6/16/18
Finished: 6/17/18
Second in the Binti series, Binti comes home on a visit from the university and finds trouble. Possibly better than the first one. SO GOOD.
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Started: 6/15/18
Finished: 6/16/18
Young adult novella, set in a future with tech that looks like magic. A young woman belongs to an insular African village and leaves it (runs away?) to go to an interstellar university. The first in a trilogy. SO GOOD.
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Started: 5/26/18
Finished: 5/28/18
A girl at a remote boarding school is determined to solve a decades-old mystery about a disappearance from that very school. Fun read, but only the first in the series is out. The first book does NOT wrap everything up neatly. You’ve been warned.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Started: 2/19/18
Finished: 2/19/18
I flew through this YA novel/thriller. I have a minor quibble with one of the ways the title is used, but otherwise, this was pretty good.