Phoenix

Said, S. F. Phoenix. 2016. 496p. ISBN 978-0763688509. Available at FIC SAI on the library shelves.

Lucky has always been uncomfortable in his own body. It’s almost like it doesn’t fit right. His father, a major in the army, is missing somewhere in the galaxy. His mother possesses so many secrets it is impossible to know who she really is. Ever since he was a child, Lucky has been longing to go offworld and travel among the stars. In a dream, he swims towards a star, only to wake up covered with ashes. In his sleep, he incinerated both his clothes and his bedsheets sheets without harming himself. His mother recognizes the danger and they flee, for Shadow Guards, government agents, are now after them.

Lucky and his mother secure passage offworld aboard an Axxa ship, not a small feat given that there is now a complete grounding of the entire space fleet following a terrorist attack. The alien Axxa have cloven hooves and tall horns, and are considered devils. Axxa and humans are at war, and the Axxa who live in human-controlled space are displaced refugees with no rights. Lucky meets Frollix and Bixa, an Axxa brother and sister team ready to escape the planet. As Shadow Guards desperately chase Lucky, he must control his strange fire curse before the fire consumes him, while finding his missing father at the far end of the galaxy to finally get the answers he so deeply crave. With enemies on both sides, can Lucky count on Bixa and Frollix?

Readers of this book will also enjoy Game Slaves about videogame characters who seek to escape their virtual environment.

Cruel Beauty

Hodge, Rosamund. Cruel Beauty. 2014. 352p. ISBN 9780062224736. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

For nine hundred years, the Gentle Lord has ruled over Arcadia. The Lord of Bargains, he protects the inhabitants (mostly) from the shadow demons that lurk on the edge of the world. Sundered from the rest of the world, Arcadia has been mostly at peace, but even while protected there are weak minds and hearts who are willing to pay any price to obtain favors. And thus these mortal men and women seek the Gentle Lord and agree to foolish bargains with him.

At seventeen years old, Nyx and her younger twin sister Astraia should have all their lives in front of them. Unfortunately, this is only true for Astraia, for Nyx is to marry the Gentle Lord. Seventeen years ago, her father made a bargain with the Gentle Lord: Let his wife have children, and in exchange he would marry his daughter to him. The wish was granted. Nyx and Astraia were born, but their mother died in childbirth. Thus, their father was deprived of his love. And as Astraia looks more like her mother and Nyx more like her father, it has been easier for him to not love Nyx and instead prepare her for the day she would be taken away by the Gentle Lord.

Trained to kill and to destroy the Gentle Lord’s house, Nyx is apprehensive when the day comes. But she quickly realizes that the Gentle Lord is in fact more than a cruel demon. Though all powerful, he does not force himself upon her, but instead sets her on a quest to discover how to free both of them from this prison that is Arcadia. Ignifex has a slave, a shadow called Shade. Nyx discovers that Shade is the last prince of the kingdom, forever enslaved to Ignifex nine hundred years ago by the gods for his offense. Both Shade and Ignifex share many characteristics, and Nyx is the only one who can save them both while rescuing her country from its isolation.

But when the choice comes, will she choose the Lord, the slave, or Arcadia? Based on the Beauty and the Beast myth, this story also incorporates several elements of Greek mythology. Fantasy readers will enjoy this love triangle in an exotic locale, and will certainly be clamoring for more.

Deep and Dark and Dangerous

Hahn, Mary Downing. Deep and Dark and Dangerous. 2007. 187p. ISBN 9780-618-66545-7. Available at FIC HAH on the library shelves.

When Claire and Dulcie were young, they used to travel to Maine during the summer to spend time at their grandparents’ cottage on the lake. But something happened and ever since they haven’t been back.

At the beginning of March, Ali discovers a box left over from her grandmother’s passing five years ago. In it, along with old books, she discovers an aged photograph. On it are both her mother Claire and her aunt Dulcie, but the photo has been torn and someone is missing from it. All that can be seen is a hand. On the back are the names of her mother and aunt, as well as T. The rest of the name is torn.  Who is that person? When she brings the photo to her mother, her mother panics and she throws the photo out, telling Ali she doesn’t remember that day at all.

When her aunt Dulcie and her five-years-old daughter Emma come and visit, Ali brings up the photo again, much to her mother’s disapproval. Dulcie also says she doesn’t remember this T person nor that specific day. But she has a proposition for Ali. Dulcie had the cottage fixed, and she wants to spend the summer there doing art. Would Ali come with her to babysit Emma? Despite Claire’s reluctance, Ali enthusiastically agrees to go.

Within the first few days, Ali and Emma meet Sissy, a scrawny girl wearing a faded bathing suit. Sissy is mean and vicious, yet Emma really likes her and tries to emulate her. There is something creepy about Sissy, but Ali can’t put her finger on her. Then Sissy brings up Teresa, a girl who drowned in the lake the last summer Claire and Dulcie spent at the lake. Teresa’s body was never found, and Sissy implies that both Claire and Dulcie were responsible for her murder. But why is Sissy so angry? And what lurks at the bottom of the lake?

Fans of Closing for the Season will enjoy this ghost story.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Stiefvater, Maggie. Blue Lily, Lily Blue. 2015. 391p. ISBN 978-0-5454-2496-7. Available at FIC STI on the library shelves.

With the summer coming to an end, Aglionby's Raven Boys are getting ready to go back to school, and so is Blue. Having spent most days looking searching for the Welsh king Glendower, they are not very keen on returning for their senior year.

Malory, Gansey’s professor friend from England comes over to assist him in the search. Adam must deal with the repercussions of pressing charges against his father as well as his new role as caretaker of Cabeswater. Ronan is still mad at the world but returns to his father’s estate to search for a way to bring back all of the Dream Thieves' creations that currently sleep away.

Mr. Gray remains at 300 Fox Way with Persephone and Calla, but Maura is gone, having disappeared in Cabeswater’s underground tunnels in her own quest. And there is yet another new Latin teacher in town: Greenmantle, Mr. Gray’s employer, has taken the position to find and punish Mr. Gray and those he loves.

Pursued by Greenmantle and led by a foretold tale that there are three sleepers below, Blue and her friends decide that their only option is to dig deep in Cabeswater and explore the caves underneath the ley line. One of the sleepers must be awakened, and one must not. But what about the others?

As the Raven Boys and Blue get closer to discovering Glendower, the cost keeps on mounting. As they are forced to face their worst fears and wake up one of the sleepers, their loss may be too large to comprehend.

A Turn of Light

Czerneda, Julie E. A Turn of Light. Book 1 of the Night’s Edge series. 2013. 864p. ISBN 9780756407070. Available at FIC CZE on the library shelves.

The small village of Marrowdell is isolated in the northern reaches of the country of Roth, bound on one side by the Bone Hills and the lazy river that runs from them. The colonists who arrived here two decades ago are hearty and healthy, and live long lives. But most visitors cannot stay, for their nights are populated with nightmares. And not everything is what it seems. Toads lay eggs. The wheat harvests itself. It’s almost as if a spirit watches over Marrowdell

Jenn Nalynn was born here, and on the eve of her 19th birthday, she cannot wait to escape. All of her life she’s been willing herself elsewhere. Her most precious possession is a faded map showing a large part of the world, and all of these places attract her. What mysteries lay beyond the limits of her small village? Living with her father and her older sister Pegg, Jenn is ready to leave with her aunt after the fall festival.

For as long as she can remember, Jenn has spent time in the meadow at Night’s edge, near the Bone hills. There, her friend Wisp lives. Invisible, Wisp talks to Jenn, but, more importantly, he listens to her. If she could only have one wish, it would be to bring Wisp to her. When she stumbles upon a magic ritual, she decides to turn Will into a man so they can live happily ever after.

Meanwhile, Bannan Larmensu’s war has concluded with a peace treaty, and the countryside where he fought as a truthseer has been turned over to the enemy. Surrendering his weapon, he makes his way north to the farthest place in Roth, where he hopes to settle with his loyal companion and fellow soldier Tyr and his warhorse Scourge. He arrives in Marrowdell in time to see the results of Jenn’s wishing, when Wisp, now Wyll, falls in the river and must be rescued.

Now Bannan and Wyll are engaged in a battle for Jenn’s heart. But something else is tugging at her too. Marrowdell itself is coming alive, and at the Great Turn, the solar eclipse of this lifetime, the edges of the world will fray with the Verge, and wishes will become possible.

An original tale of magic and wishing, the fantasy setting is exquisite and its inhabitants are worth the read.

If you enjoyed this book, you will like Seraphina.

The Dream Thieves

Stiefvater, Maggie. The Dream Thieves. Book 2 of the Raven Cycle. 2013. 439p. ISBN 978-0545424941. FIC STI on the library shelves.

Searching for the mythical Welsh king Glendower led Gansey, Ronan, Blue and Adam to the mysterious forest of Cabeswater in The Raven Boys. Adam’s sacrifice led to the activation of the ley lines surrounding Henrietta, Virginia, and now all sort of paranormal phenomena are occurring throughout  the area. Their destinies begin to tear them apart from one another, though they seek the same goal.

Ronan is the most affected. The ley lines have made his dreams stronger, and now he realizes that he can pull objects and people out of his dreams, much as his father did. They were not the only ones, however. Joseph Kavinsky, another Aglionby boy, is known as a master forger, but everything is a dream for him, and, as he heads down a path of destruction, exclaims to Ronan that “death is just a boring side effect.” Sought by a collector, Ronan’s abilities can be used for good, or for evil…

Adam made a pact with Cabeswater when he sacrificed himself, and now he is bound to protect the forest. But the draining of the ley line as more and more objects are pulled out of Cabeswater threaten to destroy everything. And his relationship with Blue is on the rocks since she won’t kiss him, and he doesn’t know why. Still searching himself, Adam is running out of time to discover his true purpose.

Blue, for her part, is transfixed by her dilemma. Is Adam her true love, or is it Gansey? The arrival of the Gray Man, a hitman hunting for the grey warren, and his immediate attraction to Blue’s mother complicates her life. Her lack of psychic abilities may be her strongest asset, but how can she help her friends find the old king?

Finally, Gansey witnesses forces beyond his control threatening his friends and his own search for Glendower. As others seek the buried king, the race is on to hold his circle and protect them from the deadly menace that slowly draws towards them.

Unusual for a second book in a trilogy, this book is even better than The Raven Boys, and features impossibly well defined characters. Fans of Stievater will not be able to wait for the release of the third book.

The story continues in Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

Maggie Stiefvater's blog post on The Dream Thieves

http://maggiestiefvater.com/blog/the-dream-thieves-video-and-lots-of-fiddly-stuff/

The Raven Boys

Stiefvater, Maggie. The Raven Boys. 2012. 408p. ISBN 978-0-545-42492-9. FIC STI on the library shelves.

Unlike the other members of her family, Blue does not have psychic abilities. Her talent is to enhance the energy connection between the psychic and their targets. Ever since she was born she has been told that she cannot kiss anyone for her true love will die after she kisses him.

Blue is thus surprised when, on St. Mark’s Eve, she sees the outline of a spirit walking the Corpse Road. Every year, she and her mother have come to this little ruin of a church to meet those who will be dead within a year, and though Blue has felt them she has never seen them, until now.

The spirit reveals that his name is Gansey, and Blue can tell that he’s an Aglionby boy, one of the rich elite students at the local private school. Blue is instantly drawn to him, and despite entreaties from her mother, intertwines her fate with Gansey’s as well as that of his three friends, Ronan, Adam, and Noah.

Gansey is on a quest for the lay line that will lead him to an ancient Welsh king, Glendower. But others seek the lay line as well, and everything is not quite as it seems in the little town of Henrietta. When Blue gets involved, she sets in motion events that will lead to someone’s violent death, but also redeeming love and self-discovery.

The story of Gansey and his friends continue in the Dream Thieves.