Title: The Dead-Tossed Waves

Author: Carrie Ryan

Genre: Horror, Post-Apocalypse/Dystopia, Young Adult

Publisher: Delacorte
Publication Date: March 2010
Hardcover: 416 Pages

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She’s content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she’s ever known, and all she needs for happiness.

But life after the Return is never safe, and there are threats even the Barrier can’t hold back.

Gabry’s mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but like the dead in their world, secrets don’t stay buried. And now, Gabry’s world is crumbling.

One night beyond the Barrier…

One boy Gabry’s known forever and one veiled in mystery…

One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned.

Gabry knows only one thing: if she is to have any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother’s past.

Stand alone or series: Book 2 in a planned trilogy, however can be read as a stand alone novel.

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: I am a huge Carrie Ryan fangirl. Her first novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth was one of my Top 10 Reads of 2009 – needless to say, I was chomping at the bit (ho-ho!) for the chance to read The Dead-Tossed Waves.

Review:

On the shore of a horizon-spanning placid ocean is a lighthouse, its beacon a lone, strong light in the night, cutting through the darkness that enshrouds the seaside town of Vista. With her mother, Mary, Gabrielle tends to the shore, living a life of relative calm and security. When the Mudo wash up on the shore following high tides, Gabry helps her mother decapitate and dispatch of them, as is their duty as keepers in the small town. Gabry has always known a life of safety behind the village barriers; a beloved daughter, a dear best friend, and maybe even one day, someone’s girlfriend. When her friends decide to sneak over the barrier for a night in the rundown amusement park just outside the walls, Gabry is terrified. She has never broken the rules and does not wish to step beyond the safety of her world; especially not into a place where the insatiable Mudo could be lurking. But, urged on by her best friend Cira and the boy that makes her heart race, Catcher, Gabry sneaks out with the others into the ruins. It is here that she shares her first kiss with Catcher, and revels in the promise that her life holds. All of those dreams and hopes, however, come crashing down – a “breaker” senses the humans nearby, and sprints towards the group of teens, infecting and killing three of the group, Catcher among them. In an instant, Gabrielle’s life, and her friends’ lives, have been turned upside down. While Gabry is able to escape, her surviving friends aren’t so lucky, and are sentenced to service with the Recruiters – the force that patrols and protects the villages of the loose confederation from the Mudo threat – but without reward of citizenship at the end of their two year term. To Gabry’s mind, this is a death sentence – and still shocked by the loss of Catcher to infection, she’s also losing everyone she’s ever known. When Cira begs her to find out, to follow her brother Catcher until his demise, Gabry cannot refuse – and so she makes her way across the sea of the dead, and beyond the barriers of her safe, now shattered, world.

Well, wow. The Dead-Tossed Waves was my numero uno; my absolute MOST highly anticipated novel of 2010. In other words, The Dead-Tossed Waves had quite a bill to live up to – and, for the most part, I am happy to report that it does.

There’s a strength of plot and of continuity with The Dead-Tossed Waves. We readers get ANSWERS in this book. We learn why some of the Mudo/Unconsecrated are fast, and some are slow; we finally see the origins of Mary’s village in the forest of hands and teeth; we learn about the outside world, how it is governed, and what future is available to the living, surviving amongst the undead.

Beyond the strengths in terms of plotting, The Dead-Tossed Waves works so well because of how tragically flawed and heartrendingly human all of its characters are. This novel is a continuation of The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but instead of following protagonist Mary, the novel follows Mary’s daughter in an interesting twist. Inevitably, this invites a whole bunch of comparisons between Mary and Gabry, as heroines and narrators. Gabry is not as winsome as her mother – but that’s a tough legacy to live up to. Heck, even Gabrielle knows this, as she constantly compares herself to her mother! Countless times, she extrapolates about her lack of strength, her lack of curiosity and lack of a sense of adventure – especially since her mother was willing to risk so much on a mere dream. Though, Gabry is much more like her mother than she gives herself credit for – she too makes a number of impulsive, not-so-hot decisions yet is strong in her own, different way. It should be said, however, that Gabry is ever-so-slightly irritating with her emotional equivocating between two devoted boys (seriously, where do YA heroines find these guys?), and in her tendency to put blame on herself for EVERYTHING (which reads as slightly ego-centric).

But… isn’t that what people are really like?

Not always brave and strong, not always right, not always knowing what they want, not in tune with where their hearts lie? I loved that Gabry was terrified, paralyzed by fear, and unlike Mary. In stark contrast to her mother, who grew up with dreams bigger than her village’s fences could contain and who lost her family to the Unconsecrated, Gabry has grown up in love, and in a home sheltered in safety. Does that make her “weak”? I don’t think so. In fact, it makes it harder for her, because she has so much more to lose. And the most endearing thing about Gabry is the fact that she is so afraid of the outside world, and in spite of that fear, she does take the risk and lives, challenging the barriers that have held the Unconsecrated/Mudo out, but also trapping her in, too. And that, dear readers, is really, really freaking cool.

Beyond the first-person protagonist, the other characters of The Dead-Tossed Waves are similarly endearing. Elias, the boy shrouded in mystery, is awesome. He is a shadowed, uncertain figure; an outsider that uses Gabry’s mother’s terminology to describe the Mudo – Unconsecrated. Then there’s Catcher, Gabry’s first love interest – who also is a very interesting character, connected to Gabry in a way that Elias never really can be.

All this said, The Dead-Tossed Waves is by no means a perfect novel. It falls short of its predecessor, straying towards the melodramatic in its last few chapters, with plot twists thrown in to tear apart characters for the sole reason of emotional exploitation. There’s also the familiar YA syndrome of two dreamy dudes head-over-heels in love with the same girl, and you know how that song goes. Yet, despite these minor drawbacks, The Dead-Tossed Waves is a beautiful, heartwrenching novel. These are very genuine characters, in an impossible, terrifying reality, confronted with the choice to survive, or to live.

And that, my friends, makes all the difference in the world.

You’ve got to love (or at least respect) an author that does not shy away from heartache. When you live in a forest of jagged teeth and sickly moans, on the shores of a sea teeming with bloated, ever-hungry corpses, you are unquestionably surrounded by death. Death is inevitable. And for all this sorrow and bitterness, The Dead-Tossed Waves is tempered with hope, and with love. That’s a wonderful, rare thing. Written throughout with Carrie Ryan’s dazzling, almost poetic, poignant prose, The Dead-Tossed Waves is a novel to be read over and over again.

I loved it. And I cannot wait for more from this incredibly talented author.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the first chapter:

The story goes that even after the Return they tried to keep the roller coasters going. They said it reminded them of the before time. When they didn’t have to worry about people rising from the dead, when they didn’t have to build fences and walls and barriers to protect themselves from the masses of Mudo constantly seeking human flesh. When the living weren’t forever hunted.

They said it made them feel normal.

And so even while the Mudo—neighbors and friends who’d been infected, died and Returned—pulled at the fences surrounding the amusement park, they kept the rides moving.

Even after the Forest was shut off, one last gasp at sequestering the infection and containing the Mudo, the carousel kept turning, the coasters kept rumbling, the teacups kept spinning. Though my town of Vista was far away from the core of the Protectorate, they hoped people would come fly along the coasters. Would still want to forget.

But then travel became too difficult. People were concerned with trying to survive and little could make them forget the reality of the world they lived in. The coasters slowly crumbled outside the old city perched at the tip of a long treacherous road along the coast. Everyone simply forgot about them, one other aspect of pre-Return life that gradually dimmed in the memories and stories passed down from year to year.

I never really thought about them until tonight—when my best friend’s older brother invites us to sneak past the Barriers and into the ruins of the amusement park with him and his friends.

“Come on, Gabry,” Cira whines, dancing around me. I can almost feel the energy and excitement buzzing off her skin. We stand next to the Barrier that separates Vista from the ruins of the old city, the thick wooden wall keeping the dangers of the world out and us safely in. Already a few of the older kids have skimmed over the top, their feet a flash against the night sky. I rub my palms against my legs, my heart a thrum in my chest.

There are a thousand reasons why I don’t want to go with them into the ruins, not the least of which is that it’s forbidden. But there’s one reason I do want to take the risk. I glance past Cira to her brother and his eyes catch mine. I can’t stop the seep of heat crawling up my neck as I dart my gaze away, hoping he didn’t notice me looking and at the same time desperately wishing he did.

“Gabry?” he asks, his head tilted to the side. From his lips my name curls around my ears. An invitation.

Afraid of the tangle of words twisting around my own tongue, I swallow and place my hand against the thick wood of the Barrier. I’ve never been past it before. It’s against the rules to leave the town without permission and it’s also risky. While mostof the ruins are bordered by old fences from after the Return, Mudo can still get through them. They can still attack us.

“We shouldn’t,” I say, more to myself than to Cira or Catcher. Cira just rolls her eyes; she’s already jumping with desire to join the others. She grabs my arm with a barely repressed squeal.

“This is our chance,” she whispers to me. I don’t tell her what I’ve been thinking—that it’s our chance to get in trouble at best and I don’t want to think about what could happen at worst.

But she knows me well enough to read my thoughts. “No one’s been infected in years,” she says, trying to convince me. “Catcher and them go out there all the time. It’s totally safe.”

Safe—a relative term. A word my mother always uses with a hard edge to her voice.

Additional Thoughts: Delacorte has released new covers for both The Forest of Hands and Teeth (for the paperback version), and the current cover of The Dead-Tossed Waves is another replacement for an earlier model. I, for one, prefer the older covers. The new ones are still rather pretty, but more…commercial. I suppose that’s a good thing for a book, but those first covers are so hauntingly gorgeous! Any thoughts?

Also, make sure to stop by later today as we host a stop on the official blog tour for Carrie Ryan’s release!

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire

Title: Boneshaker

Author: Cherie Priest

Genre: Steampunk/SF/Horror

Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: September 2009
Paperback: 416 pages

Stand alone or series: Book 1 in the Clockwork Century series

In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

How did we get this book: We bought our copies

Why did we read this book: It’s Steampunk week and Boneshaker has been praised to the skies by Steampunkers, reviewers and recently even made into Library Journal’s list of “Core” Steampunk titles.

REVIEW:

First Impressions:

Ana: Boneshaker is another book I had been looking forward to reading for a long time and holding off to until we had our Steampunk Week. Given the amount of praise it received, the fact that very recently it made into Library Journal’s list of core Steampunk titles and the fact that Cherie Priest seems to really know what she is talking about, I had great expectations about the book. And they were sort of met, as overall the book proved to be a solid read. I liked most specially its sympathetic duo of mother-son protagonists, the lovely writing, and the setting (an alternate 19th century Seattle). Plus, Zombies and Pirates = fun! However, upon reflection, the very premise of the book did not hold to close scrutiny and ironically, that includes the very Steampunk nature of the story.

Thea: I have to agree wholeheartedly with Ana on this one. I was ecstatic with Boneshaker’s unique premise – Civil War Era Steampunk Zombies! Hiyo! Sign me up!

And…well, Boneshaker is a bit of a mixed bag. The premise is wonderfully imaginative, but, as Ana says, kind of implodes on itself when subjected to any level of scrutiny. This history is a mess as is the actual source of the zombification of Seattle’s inhabitants – and I’m not exactly sure I’d label this as a true work of Steampunk. That said, I enjoyed the overall story and the horror aspects of the book, and certainly read it eagerly enough, which counts for a lot.

On the Plot:

Ana: It’s the 1880s, and the United States is still plagued by the legacy of the Civil War. In Seattle it has been 16 years since the eccentric scientist Leviticus Blue built his Boneshaker, a tunnelling machine built to drill through the ice fields of Alaska. The machine went berserk in the middle of the town basically destroying it all and in the process hitting the underground reserves of a mysterious gas – the Blight – which, if inhaled, turns people into Zombies. The inhabitants of the town fled, authorities built a huge wall which has been keeping the gas and the zombies (or “rotters”) in.

Briar Wilkes and her son Zeke leave just outside the walls and try to make do with her meagre salary as a worker at the water treatment plant (filtering the effects of the Plight) . Their lives are not easy since Briar is the widow of the infamous Leviticus Blue and no one will let her forget that, including her son. In an attempt to prove that his father was in fact not the criminal that everybody thinks he is, Zeke sneaks into the walled City in search for clues sand a desperate Briar goes after him when his only viable way out collapses after an earthquake and in the process discovers that are people still living inside. She must find him and quick, before the rotters – or someone worse – find them first.

As plots go, Boneshaker’s start off with a lot of potential. The impetus for the story – a mother who admitted not being the most perfect and open of mothers, in search of her son and to try and mend their relationship spoke to me like only a character-driven story can speak. It is also undeniable that Cherie Priest’s prose is lovely and enticing. I have nothing to say against pacing (it is rocketing good fun!) or against the overall plotting: mother searches son in parallel stories, both run from zombies, run into pirates, danger abound, there is a villain who might or might not Leviticus Blue himself. It is all actually pretty good.

It is just when you think about the details that things start to fall through.

For example: there is a lack of real science. It puzzled me for example, that it had been 16 years since the accident happened and yet there were no scientists studying the phenomenon – where did it come from? What was it? How to reverse it? Well, that does not sound Steampunk ish at all. I would expect at least one mad scientist somewhere making a dash to understand it. Furthermore, can a wall really stop the spreading of a gas? For 16 years? Without any leaks? Without it rising above it? Leaking through pipes? Really? Sometimes, I wondered if the gas was not a mere excuse for the use of Goggles and masks – making it a choice for Steampunk Aesthetics than for Steampunk Science – especially when there is barely an appearance of the very Boneshaker of the title.

Another thing that made me wonder (and wonder and wonder): Briar discovers that there were people still living in the inside. Citizens of Seattle, basically living like scavengers , forever having to wear masks and living in fear of the zombies and I asked myself over and again: why? Why would anyone stay if they didn’t have to? Surely there were alternative – better ones, than to live in a place where you can’t go outside where you can’t breathe, where you can’t get any real food because of a mortal Gas that can turn you into a zombie? Surely.

Yes, Steampunk can be fun but Scott Westerfelf has proved with his Leviathan that you can have a Steampunk novel that is both fun and yet rich with Steampunk elements that actually matter.

Having said that: I sustain that I did have a great time reading the novel, despite these misgivings. I find this series has a great potential. Who knows, perhaps the sequels will be more Steampunk heavy?

Thea: What Ana said. When reading Boneshaker, two things immediately jumped out at me:

1. There’s a huge “buyability” problem with the story.

As Ana mentions, the solution to deal with Seattle was to wall it off – literally, with a big wall. And this would protect the rest of the world from zombies, and from the mysterious “Blight.” Which is a gas. I repeat – a gas. How exactly does a stone wall contain a gas? This seems a little silly. THen, given the fact that Seattle is the rainiest city in the continental United States, how in heck can the Blight gas be so prevalent as to completely ensheath the city, impervious to the months and months of rain that should clear the air? Furthermore, how is the Blight still leaking out after 16 years? This must be quite a reservoir indeed – and if the rain isn’t washing it away, and an accumulation of 16 years’ worth of a thick gas is spreading through Seattle, wouldn’t it have been enough to spread a little further (as opposed to being contained by the walls)? And Ana makes a good point – why wouldn’t the government, or some enterprising scientist or company for that matter, be interested in finding out what exactly the Blight is? After 16 years, no one is interested in discovering why the gas turns people into zombies? No one wants to know where the gas came from, what it is, and if it exists anywhere else in the country? Heck, even allowing that US government is so shattered and preoccupied by the legacy of the Civil War (which requires a huge effort to suspend disbelief in and of itself), wouldn’t anyone be interested in weaponizing this gas? I was kind of surprised and disappointed that Ms. Priest didn’t go there, it seems so obvious – the Blight as a biochemical weapon to be harnessed for the American Civil War and perhaps for the inevitable World War?! – but perhaps that’s fodder for a future book.

Beyond the haziness of the Blight (lame pun intended), there’s also a problem in terms of believability of era, and technology. Which brings me to my second point:

2. The technology and science aspects are so vague as to suggest that Boneshaker is much more of an aesthetic work.

And this is totally fine – just like with genres like Science Fiction, you can get the hard Stephen Baxter stuff, or the softer, Gene Roddenberry stuff. But my problem with Boneshakeris that the time period and the steampunk aesthetic are irrelevant to the storyline (yes, the bone-shaking drill unleashed the gas that caused the zombies and the premise of the novel, but this could have been any drill. You don’t even see the drill until the end of the book, and the cataclysmic effect is completely off-stage). This might have been the distant future or present day or even on another earth-like planet. For example, the characters speak in the modern vernacular, so it’s easy to forget the time period altogether. And if you can take away the technology, and if you can take away the time period and are essentially left with the same story, these elements are superfluous.

I should also note that Ms. Priest has an afterward to the book in which she claims that all of the historical inconsistencies (so far as the size, importance, development and specifics of Seattle) are intentional – which explains why certain buildings and landmarks are completed and/or in different areas than they are in real life. But my points still remain – I imagine that Cherie Priest is very connected to Seattle and thus chose to write Boneshaker in this locale, but it seems like too much of a stretch to truly work. If this had been in New York, or Philadelphia for example, I think it would have worked to the book’s credit. Or set it in a totally new city altogether, bypassing all of these other historical/structural/environmental critiques.

In any case, despite all of my reservations, I really did enjoy Boneshaker in its capacity as an SF horror novel and a page-turner. A mother set on finding her son in a zombie infested city? How could I not love this?! The pacing is excellent and although a little too contemporary to work in the time period, Ms. Priest has undeniably strong narrative technique and a gift for storytelling. This alone is more than enough to recommend the novel, even if it’s a little skimpy on the details.

On The Characters:

Ana: I think of the greatest strengths of the novel are its engaging and sympathetic characters. I absolutely loved Briar and Zere both as separate entities and their relationship. Especially because they were so freaking flawed and sometimes even annoying. Zeke behaved like a quintessential teenager – prone to do stupid things, but with the heart in the right place. Same thing goes for Briar – I really liked how she reflected upon her reasons for keeping secrets from her son and the moment she decided to change it all. She is fierce Plus, there is one revelation in the end, which even though I saw coming from a mile away, I still thought was awesome and made all the difference in the world adding an extra layer of complexity of the novel – and every single mention of a certain character from the start.

There are also a plethora of secondary characters that although not really that well-developed, were actually pretty entertaining in their own way. I was quite fond of the air pirates (especially Cly) and the underground refugees Lucy the one-armed barmaid and Jeremiah.

Thea: I have to agree with Ana in that the characters are a great asset to Boneshaker. I loved Briar, in particular, as the flawed mother that loves her son, no matter what. There’s a pivotal scene at the end of the book, a confession, that is so heart-wrenchingly honest and moving, it truly makes the book. Ezekiel, or Zeke, as Briar’s son felt a little less developed as a character to me, however. Yes, he was very much a teenager, and very believable in his quest to exonerate his grandfather’s legacy, and even his father (the creator of the titled Boneshaker) – but other than this desire, he lacks the well-rounded finish that his mother has in abundance.

Other secondary characters pop in and out and are enjoyable additions – in particular I loved Lucy, the one-armed barkeep and, a Native American Princess (who is nothing like the princess you have in mind, I guarantee it), and the gruff, lovable Jeremiah Swakhammer. Of course, there’s also the shadowy, nefarious Dr. Minnericht that runs Seattle’s underground ruins with an iron fist…

Altogether, an enjoyable and connecting cast.

BUT IS IT STEAMPUNK?

Ana: Weeeeell. There are undeniably, elements generally related to Steampunk in this novel. Alternate history. CHECK. Goggles, Dirigibles, some Steam technology, CHECK. A mad scientist. CHECK. However, I think those elements are only skin deep – remove them and they wouldn’t really make a difference to that world (although obviously they do to this story) . Those elements seem too confined to be really Steampunk-ish. But then again, the Steampunk seal has been signed, sealed and delivered by Steampunk luminaries from all over the place so what the hell do I know?

Thea: I’m sorta of the same mind as Ana here. Yes, there are steampunk elements up the wazoo (what with the bone-shaking drill, goggles, a couple of airships, and other strange inventions sprinkled throughout)…but is it really steampunk? I guess it really depends on your definition. For me, the aesthetic elements were strong but somewhat irrelevant, and it’s not the best example of a steampunk novel in my personal opinion. There’s no radical social critique, nor is there a dazzlingly central technological element. But, as Ana says, what the hell do I know? I can understand why this is labeled as steampunk, but I also understand why some folks might not see it as such.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the prologue:

From Unlikely Episodes in Western History

Chapter 7, “Seattle’s Walled and Peculiar State.”
Work in progress, by Hale Quarter.
1880

Unpaved, uneven trails pretended to be roads; they tied the nation’s coasts together like laces holding a boot, binding it with crossed strings and crossed fingers. And over the great river, across the plains, between the mountain passes the settlers pushed from east to west. They trickled over the Rockies in dribs and drabs, in wagons and coaches.

Or this is how it began.

In California there were nuggets the size of walnuts lying on the ground—or so it was said, and truth travels slowly when rumors have wings of gold. The trickle of humanity became a magnificent flow. The glittering western shores swarmed with prospectors, pushing their luck and pushing their pans into the gravelly streams, praying for fortunes.

In time, the earth grew crowded, and claims became more tenuous. Gold came out of the ground in dust so fine that the men who mined it could’ve inhaled it.

In 1850 another rumor, winged and sparkling, came swiftly from the north.

The Klondike, it said. Come and cut your way through the ice you find there. A fortune in gold awaits a determined enough man.

The tide shifted, and looked to the northern latitudes. This meant very, very good things for the last frontier stop before the Canadian border—a backwater mill town on Puget Sound called Seattle after the native chief of the local tribes. The muddy village became a tiny empire nearly overnight as explorers and prospectors paused to trade and stock up on supplies.

While American legislators argued over whether or not to buy the Alaska territory, Russia hedged its bets and considered its asking price. If the land really was pocked with gold deposits, the game would absolutely change; but even if a steady supply of gold could be located, could it be retrieved? A potential vein, spotted intermittently but mostly buried beneath a hundred feet of permanent ice, would make for an ideal testing ground.

In 1860, the Russians announced a contest, offering a 100,000 ruble prize to the inventor who could produce or propose a machine that could mine through ice in search of gold. And in this way, a scientific arms race began despite a budding civil war.

Across the Pacific Northwest big machines and small machines were tinkered into existence. They were tricky affairs designed to withstand bitter cold and tear through turf that was frozen diamond-hard. They were powered by steam and coal, and lubricated with special solutions that protected their mechanisms from the elements. These machines were made for men to drive like stagecoaches, or designed to dig on their own, controlled by clockwork and ingenious guiding devices.

But none of them were rugged enough to tackle the buried vein, and the Russians were on the verge of selling the land to America for a relative pittance… when a Seattle inventor approached them with plans for an amazing machine. It would be the greatest mining vehicle ever constructed: fifty feet long and fully mechanized, powered by compressed steam. It would boast three primary drilling and cutting heads, positioned at the front of the craft; and a system of spiral shoveling devices mounted along the back and sides would scoop the bored-through ice, rocks, or earth back out of the drilling path. Carefully weighted and meticulously reinforced, this machine could drill in an almost perfect vertical or horizontal path, depending on the whims of the man in the driver’s seat. Its precision would be unprecedented, and its power would set the standard for all such devices to come.

But it had not yet been built.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: It is also worth mentioning that Boneshaker comes in a beautiful package. Not only is the cover gorgeous (although irrelevant and misleading), but the book itself is printed on thick paper in this lovely rust brown print, lending even more to the steampunk aesthetic.

Rating:

Ana: 7 – Very Good

Thea: 7 – Very Good (Though it was a close call, bordering a 6)

Reading Next: A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire

Title: Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron

Author: Jasper Fforde

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Dystopia

Publisher: Viking (US) / Hodder & Stoughton General (UK)
Publication Date: December 2009 (US) / January 2010 (UK)
Hardcover: 400 pages (US)

Part social satire, part romance, part revolutionary thriller, Shades of Grey tells of a battle against overwhelming odds. In a society where the ability to see the higher end of the color spectrum denotes a better social standing, Eddie Russet belongs to the low-level House of Red and can see his own color—but no other. The sky, the grass, and everything in between are all just shades of grey, and must be colorized by artificial means.

Eddie’s world wasn’t always like this. There’s evidence of a never-discussed disaster and now, many years later, technology is poor, news sporadic, the notion of change abhorrent, and nighttime is terrifying: no one can see in the dark. Everyone abides by a bizarre regime of rules and regulations, a system of merits and demerits, where punishment can result in permanent expulsion.

Eddie, who works for the Color Control Agency, might well have lived out his rose-tinted life without a hitch. But that changes when he becomes smitten with Jane, a Grey Nightseer from the dark, unlit side of the village. She shows Eddie that all is not well with the world he thinks is just and good. Together, they engage in dangerous revolutionary talk.

Stunningly imaginative, very funny, tightly plotted, and with sly satirical digs at our own society, this novel is for those who loved Thursday Next but want to be transported somewhere equally wild, only darker; a world where the black and white of moral standpoints have been reduced to shades of grey.

Stand alone or series: Book 1 of a planned trilogy

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: You already know my weakness for all things apocalyptic and dystopian. Blend that addiction with the quirky, absurdist style of Jasper Fforde, an innovative use of color, and I am a happy, happy girl.

Review:

It began with my father not wanting to see the Last Rabbit and ended up with my being eaten by a carnivorous plant. It wasn’t really what I’d planned for myself – I’d hoped to marry into the Oxbloods and join their dynastic string empire. But that was four days ago, before I met Jane, retrieved the Caravaggio and explored High Saffron. So instead of enjoying aspirations of Chromatic advancement, I was wholly immersed within the digestive soup of a yateveo tree. It was all frightfully inconvenient.

So begins the narrative of Eddie Russett; twenty-years old, son of a well-reputed Swatchman (doctor of sorts), almost engaged to the well-connected Constance Oxblood, and secretly can perceive of a shockingly high percentage of Red. Eddie’s world is a Colortocracy, with a strict hierarchy (called the Chromatic Scale) based on the colors that individuals can perceive – Purples are the highest, followed by Greens, Yellows, Blues, Oranges, Reds, and, at the very bottom of the scale, the subservient Greys (incapable of perceiving any significant amount of any color). While each class can perceive of their own color in nature, every other color appears gray – unless it’s artificially painted and enhanced (a very expensive, and seen by some as a garish, ostentatious flaunting of wealth).

As such, Eddie, although part of the nouveaux couleur Russett family, has a carefully planned, bright future ahead of him. That is, until he and his father are sent out by the Collective from their cushy city life in Jade-Under-Lime on assignment to East Carmine, in the Outer Fringes of society – Eddie’s father is to fill in Swatchman position, while Eddie is assigned to conduct a census of all the chairs in the town (as Eddie explains, “Head Office is worried that the chair density might have dropped below the proscribed 1.8 per person.”). On the way to East Carmine, however, everything changes for the young Russett. He and his father discover a Grey masquerading as a Purple and a beautiful but prickly young Grey named Jane – whom Eddie instantly is smitten with (at their first meeting she threatens to break his. When they finally reach the Outer Fringes, Eddie discovers secret plots, cutthroat politics, and murder cover-ups – and again that strange, abrasive (but beautiful, retrousse-nosed) Jane. Eddie begins to question his entire society, and why he was sent out to East Carmine in the first place.

Shades of Grey is unquestionably one of the most deeply original books I have ever read. It’s bizarre, it’s absurd, it’s detail-laden, and, well, it’s…awesome. As quirky and smart as this book is, Mr. Fforde’s writing and his strange world never feels forced or contrived (a “trying-too-hard” pitfall I’ve unfortunately seen in other works of quirky, absurdist fiction). Rather, Shades of Grey puts me in the mind of the strange, delightful humor and world building of Terry Pratchett. Part of Mr. Fforde’s success is in those devilish details, as I adored all of the details in this novel. The ridiculous rules imposed on this Colortocratic society (“The Word of Munsell was the Rules, and the Rules were the Word of Munsell,”) range from an absolute prohibition on the production of spoons (causing a spoon shortage, making spoons one of the most valuable commodities), acronyms are outlawed, and handkerchiefs must be changed daily (and always folded). These rules are enumerated in pre-chapter epigraphs throughout the book, for example:

1.1.19.02.006: Team sports are mandatory in order to build character. Character is there to give purpose to team sports.

or

3.6.23.12.028: Ovaltine may not be drunk at any time other than before bed.

These sort of flourishes are everywhere, delighting and enhancing the reader’s picture of the world. Trains and the occasional Model-T are the primary modes of transportation (and are very limited). Familiar ancient relics are in this strange new world too – the Oz Monument (yes, for that Oz), the boardgame Risk, the strange A Christmas Story like throwback to Ovaltine.

In the midst of this rich, bizarre bouquet, the plotting falls second to the world building. Which is perfectly fine by me, as the story thread is there, and though it’s left behind at times for description, there’s enough mystery and plot to keep readers thoroughly engaged. In terms of characters, they too come short when compared to the details of the novel, but they are still undeniably compelling. The first person narrative voice of Eddie is delightful – he’s a bit of an unintentional fool, in his schoolboyish optimism, his crush on the antagonistic Jane, and his unquenchable curiosity. Jane is another stellar character too – her first lines to Eddie floor me (upon being elbow-grabbed by our intrepid hero, she responds, “Touch me again and I’ll break your fucking jaw.”). The other, assorted characters are varied and quirky, adding, if you’ll accept a lame pun, another layer of color to the story.

And then, there’s the reason I picked up this book in the first place – the dystopian and post-apocalyptic elements. And, I’m happy to report, just as with the details and world building aspects of the Shades of Grey, the dystopian angle is exquisite. One thing I absofreakinglutely love in a book is an author that doesn’t hand-hold his or her readers – unlike, say, the most recent episodes of LOST where subtext is as elusive as a hot shower. That is to say, Mr. Fforde lets these dystopian elements and the backstory of his world come out gradually, as Eddie reveals, piecemeal, little clues about the history of the Collective. What eventually becomes clear is that something has happened to Eddie’s world (referred to throughout merely as “The Something That Happened”), that changed everything – people became only able to see certain colors, chaos ensued until the great Munsell imposed order with a set of rigid, unchangeable rules. Outside of the Colortocracy’s borders there are the dreaded “Riffraff” – only alluded to as savage, uncivilized heathens. And then, there’s “The Rot” – a mysterious, fast-acting disease that infects citizens seemingly at random, and for which there is no cure. There’s a stagnation of ideas, a loss of technology (relics of which remain, silent and unused). These dystopian elements are little tidbits, revealed throughout the book (biochemical weapons, the presence of dangerous things in the Night, the intense fear and sensitivity the people in this world have to the dark)…and it’s very cool stuff.

In fact, the only place where Shades of Grey falls a little short is in extending some social commentary or analysis (as the blurb of the novel alludes to). The Color caste system is unflinching and based not necessarily on birth or wealth, but on the percentage of color seen (as taken in the one time only Ishihara exam) – an intriguing idea. But Mr. Fforde doesn’t really go into a true social critique of his color-caste world, which seems almost an automatic assumption. He could have taken this in a commentary on race, on apartheid, on classism, in a satyrical way. Reading, I found myself asking a number of questions that didn’t really get addressed – for example, are all these peoples’ skin tones the same? Even in shades of grey, a black person would look different than a white one. I even found myself questioning if these characters were even really PEOPLE at all! I felt like it could have been a lost Twilight Zone episode, in which Eddie, Jane and all those in this strange Collective are dolls or automatons. Regardless, even though Mr. Fforde never really “goes there” and doesn’t address any deeper rooted issues, this just means there’s room for exploration of these in the next two books. Plus, everything else is so wonderful in Shades of Grey, I could care less.

Overall, I loved this novel. LOVED it. I cannot wait for more, with the next two books!

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

A Morning in Vermillion

2.4.16.55.021: Males are to wear dress code #6 during inter-Collective travel. Hats are encouraged but not mandatory.

It began with my father not wanting to see the Last Rabbit and ended up with my being eaten by a carnivorous plant. It wasn’t really what I’d planned for myself— I’d hoped to marry into the Oxbloods and join their dynastic string empire. But that was four days ago, before I met Jane, retrieved the Caravaggio and explored High Saffron. So instead of enjoying aspirations of Chromatic advancement, I was wholly immersed within the digestive soup of a yateveo tree. It was all frightfully inconvenient.

But it wasn’t all bad, for the following reasons: First, I was lucky to have landed upside down. I would drown in under a minute, which was far, far preferable to being dissolved alive over the space of a few weeks. Second, and more important, I wasn’t going to die ignorant. I had discovered something that no amount of merits can buy you: the truth. Not the whole truth, but a pretty big part of it. And that was why this was all frightfully inconvenient. I wouldn’t get to do anything with it. And this truth was too big and too terrible to ignore. Still, at least I’d held it in my hands for a full hour and understood what it meant.

I didn’t set out to discover a truth. I was actually sent to the Outer Fringes to conduct a chair census and learn some humility. But the truth inevitably found me, as important truths often do, like a lost thought in need of a mind. I found Jane, too, or perhaps she found me. It doesn’t really matter. We found each other. And although she was Grey and I was Red, we shared a common thirst for justice that transcended Chromatic politics. I loved her, and what’s more, I was beginning to think that she loved me. After all, she did apologize before she pushed me into the leafless expanse below the spread of the yateveo, and she wouldn’t have done that if she’d felt nothing.

So that’s why we’re back here, four days earlier, in the town of Vermillion, the regional hub of Red Sector West. My father and I had arrived by train the day before and overnighted at the Green Dragon. We had attended Morning Chant and were now seated for breakfast, disheartened but not surprised that the early Greys had already taken the bacon, and it remained only in exquisite odor. We had a few hours before our train and had decided to squeeze in some sightseeing.

“We could always go and see the Last Rabbit,” I suggested. “I’m told it’s unmissable.”

But Dad was not to be easily swayed by the rabbit’s uniqueness. He said we’d never see the Badly Drawn Map, the Oz Memorial, the color garden and the rabbit before our train departed. He also pointed out that not only did Vermillion’s museum have the best collection of Vimto bottles anywhere in the Collective, but on Mondays and Thursdays they demonstrated a gramophone.

“A fourteen- second clip of ‘Something Got Me Started,’ ” he said, as if something vaguely Red- related would swing it.

But I wasn’t quite ready to concede my choice.

“The rabbit’s getting pretty old,” I persisted, having read the safety briefing in the “How Best to Enjoy Your Rabbit Experience” leaflet, “and petting is no longer mandatory.”

“It’s not the petting,” said Dad with a shudder, “it’s the ears. In any event,” he continued with an air of finality, “I can have a productive and fulfilling life having never seen a rabbit.”

This was true, and so could I. It was just that I’d promised my best friend, Fenton, and five others that I would log the lonely bun’s Taxa number on their behalf and thus allow them to note it as “proxy seen” in their animal- spotter books. I’d even charged them twenty- five cents each for the privilege— then blew the lot on licorice for Constance and a new pair of synthetic red shoelaces for me.

Dad and I bartered like this for a while, and he eventually agreed to visit all of the town’s attractions but in a circular manner, to save on shoe leather. The rabbit came last, after the color garden.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: As I’ve mentioned before, there are two more adventures planned for Eddie and company – Painting by Numbers and The Gordini Protocols.

Understandably this review might be a little confusing – and reading Shades of Grey takes some getting used to as there’s a lot of terminology and crazy stuff going on. Luckily, Jasper Fforde has an awesome primer on his book website to help keep things straight. The website also has a ton of awesome extras, such as an interview with Jasper Fforde, downloadable content, and a series of wicked cool movies – there’s the official book trailer:

…and then check out one of these National Color ” Peril Infogandas”:

I need to read more Jasper Fforde. STAT. Suggestions, anyone?

Also, on one final note – aren’t these covers grand? Both the US and UK ones truly rock.

Verdict: Skimpy on the thematic punch, but delectably juicy in all the details, world building and characters – I loved this book. Shades of Grey is seriously smart, chock full of bizarre humor with brains and heart. This is an amazing, truly original, highly imaginative work of fiction. And it is at this point my single favorite read of 2010.

(Ok, one last note – I know these books are marketed in the “literary fiction” section of bookstores, but this is a feast for the dystopian, for the Terry Pratchett-lover, for the Douglass Adams fan. Seriously. READ IT, folks!)

Rating: 9 – Damn Near Perfection

Reading Next: Spider’s Bite by Jennifer Estep

Title: Incarceron

Author: Catherine Fisher

Genre: Dystopia, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Dial (US) / Hodder Children’s Books (UK)
Publication Date: January 2010 / May 2007
Hardcover: 448 Pages (US)

Incarceron is a prison so vast that it contains not only cells, but also metal forests, dilapidated cities, and vast wilderness. Finn, a seventeen-year-old prisoner, has no memory of his childhood and is sure that he came from Outside Incarceron. Very few prisoners believe that there is an Outside, however, which makes escape seems impossible.

And then Finn finds a crystal key that allows him to communicate with a girl named Claudia. She claims to live Outside—she is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, and doomed to an arranged marriage. Finn is determined to escape the prison and Claudia believes she can help him. But they don’t realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye, and escape will take their greatest courage and cost more than they know. Because Incarceron is alive.

Stand alone or series: Book 1 of the Incarceron Series

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: Incarceron has garnered a lot of buzz online – I’ve been seeing widgets for it all over the place. Not to mention, it’s a dystopian YA novel, about a living prison. How could I resist? I immediately began hounding folks for a review copy.

Review:

Incarceron is a vast, encompassing prison. Instead of steel bars and cell blocks, however, Incarceron is a world in itself; it is a metal world where nothing is created nor wasted, where stars and sky are near forgotten fairy tales, where all live in a cutthroat world, fighting for food and survival. Even more than that, Incarceron is alive – it observes everything that goes on within its walls, it’s red seeing eye omnipresent to the mortals within. Incarceron is all they have ever known – although there is a myth about one man, a prophet named Sapphique, that was the only one able to escape to the mysterious outside.

Finn is a child of Incarceron, remembering only when he woke up in a dark, squalid cell two years ago, mad with fear and lost memories. Now seventeen, Finn has been forced by circumstance to join a crew of “Scum” – that is, ruthless thieves and bandits, that call themselves the Comitatus. One day, Finn makes a shocking discovery – a crystal key, whose design matches the tattoo on Finn’s wrist. The key, which Finn and those around him believe could be the way out of Incarceron, also turns out to be a communication device, and Finn finds himself able to speak to a mysterious girl, named Claudia.

On the outside of Incarceron, Claudia is the daughter of the Incarceron’s Warden, and set to marry the prince of the realm. Frustrated with her bleak future and the cutthroat political games in which she finds herself ensnared, Claudia is determined to prove that the monarchy is corrupt, and to find a way to instigate change in the static, innovation-fearing kingdom – and the way she plans to do this, is to discover Incarceron’s secrets. When she finds a crystal key in her father’s study, she finds a link to a world that is nothing like the ideal utopia that Incarceron was supposed to be – and she and Finn must work together to bring him out of Incarceron, and into the “real” world.

And with Incarceron itself watching, waiting, and toying with its inhabitants, Claudia and Finn’s task is no small feat.

Incarceron is an amazing feat of a novel from author Catherine Fisher. The book, actually initially published in the UK back in 2007, is part dystopian critique, part science fiction parable, part fantasy. This is not an easy blend to pull together, but Ms. Fisher does it with aplomb. Her world building in particular is PHENOMENAL. I loved the oddity of advanced technology in a royalty-imposed archaic time period – the monarchs and nobles emulate the late medieval western model of courts, down to the dress, castles and mannerisms. But this is not a medieval society! Claudia’s world has incredibly advanced technology, from “skin wands” to give humans the permanent appearance of youth to programable holograms, to artificial intelligence and reality-shifting tools. Despite this technology, however, those in power have resisted any change, abandoning their advanced tools in order to embrace the ways of old, in an attempt to control the population – which rings as very familiar. There’s also Incarceron itself, which is a whole new world on its own. Initially an experiment to create a perfect world for the unruly masses, of course went wrong. The concept of a utopia that is actually a dystopia isn’t really a new one, but this Ms. Fisher writes it so well, and with such awesome variation within Incarceron itself, of A.I. gone horribly awry, it hardly matters.

In terms of plotting, Incarceron is also surefooted, as it packs in revelation upon revelation, surprises, and twists at an expert pace. I could not put Incarceron down – Ms. Fisher is one hell of a storyteller.

Finally, what is a book without its characters? The cast of this novel is similarly well-rounded, though at first glance, they are very standard, fantasy archetypes. There’s the rebellious, intelligent (and beautiful) future queen; the orphaned boy thief with a heart of gold and a destiny to save the land; the calm, wise teacher; the jealous, handsome, morally-ambiguous best friend; the ragamuffin tag along girl; the zealous, prophecy-driven priest; the power-usurping, beautifully cruel queen; etc. These are very familiar character molds, no doubt about it – but as Incarceron progresses, the characters are shown in different ways. Not one thing is exactly how it seems, and that goes for characters as well. In particular, I loved the character of Claudia’s father – the cold, immutable, powerful Warden of Incarceron, Lord John Arlex. I loved the insights to his character throughout the book, especially in his strained relationship with Claudia’s tutor, Jared, and the Warden’s terrified – yet defiant – daughter, Claudia. (There’s one particular scene near the end of the book between these three characters that is made of mind-blowing awesomeness.)

So far as protagonists go, Claudia is as plucky as they come, but it is Finn that captures hearts with his vision, his trusting friendships, and his courage. The other character I truly enjoyed is the morally ambiguous Keiro – handsome and power-hungry, different characters have different interpretations of Keiro. Finn, as his oath-brother, is tied to Keiro by an unbreakable bond – should one of them die, it is the other’s responsibility to avenge them at any cost. And, as a loyal friend, Finn knows Keiro’s flaws, his hunger for power, his recklessness, but he also believes that underneath it all, Keiro would do anything for Finn. Other characters, however, are not so generous, as Keiro is seen as a rogue, out only to use Finn to get him out of Incarceron, no matter the cost. In any case, Keiro is a character that isn’t easy to peg, and I’m excited to see what happens with him in the next book.

With its breathtaking world-building, admirable characters, and exceptional plotting, Incarceron is a dystopian, sci-fi gem. I loved it, and I cannot wait for the next book in the series, Sapphique!

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

Finn had been flung on his face and chained to the stone slabs of the transitway.

His arms, spread wide, were weighted with links so heavy, he could barely drag his wrists off the ground. His ankles were tangled in a slithering mass of metal, bolted through a ring in the pavement. He couldn’t raise his chest to get enough air. He lay exhausted, the stone icy against his cheek.

But the Civicry were coming at last.

He felt them before he heard them; vibrations in the ground, starting tiny and growing until they shivered in his teeth and nerves. Then noises in the darkness, the rumble of migration trucks, the slow hollow clang of wheel rims. Dragging his head around, he shook dirty hair out of his eyes and saw how the parallel grooves in the floor arrowed straight under his body. He was chained directly across the tracks.

Sweat slicked his forehead. Gripping the frosted links with one glove he hauled his chest up and gasped in a breath. The air was acrid and smelled of oil.

It was no use yelling yet. They were too far off and wouldn’t hear him over the clamor of the wheels until they were well into the vast hall. He would have to time it exactly. Too late, and the trucks couldn’t be stopped, and he would be crushed. Desperately, he tried to avoid the other thought. That they might see him and hear him and not even care.

Lights.

Small, bobbing, handheld lights. Concentrating, he counted nine, eleven, twelve; then counted them again to have a number that was firm, that would stand against the nausea choking his throat.

Nuzzling his face against the torn sleeve for some comfort he thought of Keiro, his grin, the last mocking little slap as he’d checked the lock and stepped back into the dark. He whispered the name, a bitter whisper: “Keiro.”

Vast halls and invisible galleries swallowed it. Fog hung in the metallic air. The trucks clanged and groaned.

He could see people now, trudging. They emerged from the darkness so muffled against the cold, it was hard to tell if they were children or old, bent women. Probably children—the aged, if they kept any, would ride on the trams, with the goods. A black-and-white ragged flag draped the leading truck; he could see its design, a heraldic bird with a silver bolt in its beak.

“Stop!” he called. “Look! Down here!”

The grinding of machinery shuddered the floor. It whined in his bones. He clenched his hands as the sheer weight and impetus of the trucks came home to him, the smell of sweat from the massed ranks of men pushing them, the rattle and slither of piled goods. He waited, forcing his terror down, second by second testing his nerve against death, not breathing, not letting himself break, because he was Finn the Starseer, he could do this. Until from nowhere a sweating panic erupted and he heaved himself up and screamed, “Did you hear me! Stop! Stop!”

They came on.

The noise was unbearable. Now he howled and kicked and struggled, because the terrible momentum of the loaded trucks would slide relentlessly, loom over him, darken him, crush his bones and body in slow inevitable agony.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: As I mentioned above, Incarceron was originally published in the UK in 2007. Similarly, the sequel to Incarceron has already been published in the UK, though it makes its way to the US early next year. Here’s the skinny:

Finn has escaped from the terrible living Prison of Incarceron, but its memory torments him, because his brother Keiro is still inside. Outside, Claudia insists he must be king, but Finn doubts even his own identity. Is he the lost prince Giles? Or are his memories no more than another construct of his imprisonment? And can you be free if your friends are still captive? Can you be free if your world is frozen in time? Can you be free if you don’t even know who you are? Inside Incarceron, has the crazy sorcerer Rix really found the Glove of Sapphique, the only man the Prison ever loved. Sapphique, whose image fires Incarceron with the desire to escape its own nature. If Keiro steals the glove, will he bring destruction to the world? Inside. Outside. All seeking freedom. Like Sapphique.

Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, check out the cool book trailer for Incarceron:

Verdict: A truly awesome blend of science fiction and fantasy in a future dystopian setting, Incarceron is a book not to be missed. Easily one of my favorite reads of 2010 thus far, and recommended to all.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison

Title: NUM8ERS

Author: Rachel Ward

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic (US & UK)
Publication Date: January 2009 (UK) / February 2010 (US)
Hardcover: 336 pages (US)

Ever since she was child, Jem has kept a secret: Whenever she meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die. Burdened with such awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. The two plan a trip to the city. But while waiting to ride the Eye ferris wheel, Jem is terrified to see that all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today’s number. Today’s date. Terrorists are going to attack London. Jem’s world is about to explode!

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I read this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: The cover completely caught my eye, and despite the immense cheesiness of the blurb, I was hooked by the premise of the book. Plus, I really loved the last Chicken House title I read (the supremely excellent Raiders’ Ransom by Emily Diamant), and Numbers was a similar competition-winning novella that was turned into a book. I’m a sucker for this kind of thing.

Review:

NUM8ERS is Rachel Ward’s debut novel about a young girl named Jem, and a unique ability. When Jem looks into peoples’ eyes, she can see their number; that is, Jem can see the date of any person’s death. It’s a realization that Jem has made when she was seven after discovering her own mother dead of a heroin overdose. Now, at fifteen years old, Jem has been shuffled to different foster homes, labeled as a problem child for her taciturn behavior and disinterest in school and lack of direction. After cutting class from her latest school, she comes across one of her peers – a lanky, exuberant boy named Spider. And Jem notices immediately that Spider only has a few short weeks left to live. Against her instincts and her own strict rules, Jem begins to spend time with Spider, and the two become friends quickly, bonding in their shared differences. One afternoon on an attempt to impress Jem, Spider takes her on a trip to the London Eye – but Jem soon notices something bizarre and unsettling; everyone at the Eye has the same death date. Freaked out, she drags Spider running from the site, only to see the Eye get blown up a few minutes later. The police hear reports of the two teens fleeing the scene before the blast, and a nationwide search is on for them – and both Jem and Spider fear that they will be thrown into prison forever as scapegoats for the terrorist attack. Both of them know that no one could possibly believe that a screw-up foster kid and stereotyped black, drug dealing teen could have predicted the impossible. Together, Jem and Spider make their way across the English countryside, sleeping in the cold and avoiding towns at all costs. But as the authorities close in on them – and with Spider’s own death date looming – Jem must face a harsh reality.

NUM8ERS is author Rachel Ward’s first novel, which made it to publication after catching the eye of a Chicken House editor at the Frome Festival. And, as a debut novel, NUM8ERS has a lot of good to recommend it, but is not without its unevenness and weaknesses. The strongest thing about Ms. Ward’s debut is in the strength of her characters. As a character study, NUM8ERS soars. I absolutely freaking *loved* how the characters were DIFFERENT from the suburbanite white kids one always reads about in YA novels. Jem is screwed up. Like, really screwed up in the head. But it’s incredibly believable, and compelling. If you saw your mother overdose on heroin and were shipped around from home to home, and could see the impending deaths of everyone around you once you made eye contact with them, you’d be screwed up too. Jem’s not likeable, nor is she “cute” or perky or smart or anything like that – she’s simply Jem. Quiet, sullen, overwhelmingly (yet understandably) negative Jem. And, in spite of her curmudgeonly exterior and at times vitriolic thoughts, she’s an eminently relatable, genuine character. A lot of the time, mainstream YA novels tend to stick with characterizations that safely fall around the same median – though there are variations, most heroines fall under the “safe and normal” category, i.e. pretty white girl, decent home life (besides the odd misunderstanding with family members/daddy or mommy issues), smart in school (or talented in some related arena), etc. Jem and her friend and love interest Spider (who is black, lanky, stinky, energetic and contagiously exuberant) are so real and different. They aren’t cliched – there’s no “outsiders with hearts of gold beneath jagged exterior” blandness here. Both characters have their own issues, and I loved that Ms. Ward doesn’t attempt to romanticize or idealize them in any way. They simply…are. The relationship between these two “misfits” is very distinct from anything I’ve read on the YA market at present; refreshingly so. Take for example this exchange in the classroom between Jem, Spider, and her teacher:

We put our things in our bags or stuffed them into pockets, and waited for the standard bollocking: “Unacceptable behavior…Letting yourselves down…Lack of respect…” But it didn’t happen.

Instead, he waked up and down between the desks, stopping and saying something to each of us before going on to the next one. “Unemployed.” “Checkout girl.” “Garbageman.” When he got to me, he didn’t even pause. “Cleaning lady,” he said and carried on walking. He worked his way back to the front, turned and faced us. “OK, how did that make you feel?”

We stared at our desks or out the window. It had made us feel exactly how he wanted us to feel. Like shit. We all knew what sort of futures were waiting for us after school, didn’t need a puffed-up little tit like him to remind us.

Then Spider blurted out, “I feel fine, sir. It’s just your opinion, isn’t it? It don’t mean shit. I can do anything I want, can’t I? [...] Five years’ time, I’m gonna be cruising the streets in my black BMW, got some vibes on the sound system, got money in my pocket.” The other boys jeered.

McNulty looked at him witheringly. “And how, Dawson, are you going to do that?”

“Bit of this, bit of that, sir. Buying and selling.”

McNulty’s face changed. “Theft, Dawson? Drug dealing?” he said coldly. He shook his head. “I’m almost speechless, Dawson. Breaking the law, peddling in misery. Is that all you can aspire to?”

“It’s the only way any of us are going to get any cash, man. What do you drive, sir? That little red Astra in the parking lot? Teaching? Working for twenty years? I’m tellin’ you, I ain’t driving no Astra.”

“Sit down on your chair, Dawson, and shut up. Someone else, please. Jem, what about you?”

How could I possibly know what was going to happen to me? I didn’t even know where I was going to be living in a year’s time. Why was this man torturing us, making us squirm like this? I took a deep breath and said, as sweet as I could manage, “Me, sir? I know what I want.”

“Oh, good. Carry on.”

I made myself look him right in the eye. 12252023. How old was he now? Forty-eight? Forty-nine? He’d go just around the time he retired, then. On Christmas Day, too. Life’s cruel, isn’t it? Christmas spoiled for his family for the rest of their lives. Serve him right, the cruel bastard.

“Sir,” I said, “I want to be exactly…like…you.”

He brightened for a second, a half smile forming, then realized I was taking the mick. His face shut down, and he shook his head.

Jem’s voice as a narrator, and Spider’s too, are the strongest parts of this book. Also, stylistically, I loved that Jem would “break the fourth wall” – that is, directly address the reader.

But characters aside, on the plotting side, things were unfortunately weaker. The main conflict in the story, revolving around Spider and Jem’s fleeing from the police and taking refuge wherever they can makes NUM8ERS a thriller and a love story. While both of these genre elements are well written, it also meant there was little time (actually, no time) to explore the actually SF elements of the story. While I loved the premise and concept of seeing someone’s deathdate (which totally reminds me of Shinigami eyes from the epic Death Note manga. I love Death Note. Seriously.), NUM8ERS felt significantly lacking in the development of Jem’s particular “gift.” In contrast to another debut YA novelist, Jen Nadol, Ms. Ward does not explore the more interesting, philosophical implications of Jem’s capability – whereas in The Mark, Cassie’s ability to see a person’s impending death is explored to varying degrees (can you change someone’s death date, the ages-old question of fate versus free will, etc).

And, most egregiously, the ending of NUM8ERS was melodramatic, rushed, and contrived. Not a fan. BUT, that said, NUM8ERS has enough to recommend it, based on its characters alone. Ms. Ward has a forthcoming sequel next year, and I’m hoping that it will improve on the regretful low-note the first book left me with.

Notable Quotes/Parts: You can read the first chapter of NUM8ERS online via its Scholastic website HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Make sure to check out the official NUM8ERS website HERE. Also, you can see the book trailer below:

Rating: 7 – Very Good. In spite of its disappointing ending and lack of SF development, NUM8ERS has a lot going for it, especially if you’re looking for well-rounded characters outside the norm.

THE GIVEAWAY:

As promised, we have a giveaway! Up for grabs we have one GRAND PRIZE and two RUNNER-UP prizes!

The contest is open to addresses in the U.S. ONLY, and will run until Saturday, March 20th at 11:59 PM (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment here. Only ONE comment per person! Multiple entries will be automatically disqualified. Good luck!

Today we bring you Jen Nadol – debut author of young adult speculative fiction title, The Mark. We were very impressed with her first book, so we were thrilled when Jen agreed to have a chat with us.

Ladies and gents, please give it up for the talented Jen Nadol!

The Book Smugglers: First and foremost, thanks for taking the time to “chat” with us! The Mark is your debut novel, about a sixteen-year-old girl that can see a person’s imminent death. Can you tell us a bit about your book, and what the impetus was for you to write about a girl being able to “see” the time of a person’s death?

Jen: The idea of knowing it was someone’s last day just kind of came to me when I was trying to think of a story idea. There’s so much conflict and possibility inherent in a “gift” like that and so many directions it can take you …it really got my brain churning. Enough that I knew I could write a book – or more! – about it.

The Book Smugglers: If you had Cassie’s power and saw a stranger with the mark, would you tell them that they are going to die within the day?

Jen: I really don’t know. I think I’d struggle with it, much as Cassie does. There are so many ways it can go wrong and so many it can go right. It’s almost an impossible question.

The Book Smugglers: You graduated from university and started an everyday job, and years later decided to write a young adult novel. Why or what made you decide to write a book? Have you always been a writer?

Jen: I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but for most of my life wrote only when the mood struck which meant I could – and did – go long periods without writing at all. I think that’s how, in the years working my everyday job, I actually forgot I’d meant to write. It just kind of slipped away. Then, I stopped working to stay home with kids and, in the shock of not having a “job”, remembered I had this buried thing that I’d never really given a fair try. I couldn’t believe I’d honestly forgotten it. But I had. I’m stubborn enough that, once I’d decided to try writing a book, I wasn’t going to quit until I’d done it. That’s how I learned that, to be a writer, you can’t wait until the mood strikes. You just sit down and write.

The Book Smugglers: The YA genre is one that seems impervious to economic/publisher hardships, and has been experiencing a pretty crazy boom in popularity and crossover appeal over the past few years. Why did you choose to write a young adult novel? Do you have any favorite YA authors or books you admire?

Jen: I didn’t even realize I was writing YA. When I was growing up, the genre didn’t really exist so I’d never read it. It was only after the book was done and on submission to agents that one of them told me that she didn’t think it was an adult novel at all – which is how I was submitting it – but YA. Wow, I realized. It is! And so is everything else I want to write. Duh!

YA is pretty much all I read now. Some of the books I’ve loved: The Hunger Games, After by Amy Efaw, Dirty Little Secrets by CJ Omololu, Life As We Knew It, anything by Scott Westerfeld, Wake by Lisa McMann…should I stop now?

The Book Smugglers: The idea of “the mark” is an intriguing one, and you draw on numerous philosophies in your book (Aristotle, Socrates and Kierkegaard, to name a few). Did you do a lot of research to flesh out the mythology of this power? Perhaps attend any philosophy classes, as Cassie does in your book?

Jen: I took Philosophy in college and remember the class pretty well because it was hard. I didn’t need to re-immerse myself in the setting, but definitely in the material. I read a LOT of philosophy – waaaayyy more than made it into The Mark. And, I did a bunch of research on the mythology as well.

The Book Smugglers: What writing projects do you have on the horizon? Will there be a sequel to The Mark (pretty pretty PLEASE!)?

Jen: Yes, there is a sequel that I’m just starting edits on with Bloomsbury. It will be out sometime in 2011. And I have three other YA novels in early stages, patiently waiting their turn.

The Book Smugglers: The world is about to end, and you can save ONE book, ONE movie, and ONE TV show. QUICK! What are they?

Jen: Where am I going with these things if the world is ending? Won’t I die too? Or am I getting on a spaceship like in that Bruce Willis movie where the oil riggers blow up the asteroid? And no, that would not be the movie I save.

Irl, I’d save things that would help me survive, but since I don’t know where I’m going, I’ll save the most comprehensive Thesaurus I can find, Fletch and Lost.

The Book Smugglers: We Book Smugglers are faced with constant threats and criticisms from our significant others concerning the sheer volume of books we purchase and read – hence, we have resorted to ’smuggling books’ home to escape scrutinizing eyes. Have you ever had to smuggle books?

Jen: Okay, this is terrible, but I was staying at a friend’s house over some break or other in college and started reading a book that was on their parents’ bookshelf, but I didn’t get through it and smuggled it out in my bag so I could finish. Isn’t that awful? Why didn’t I just ask if I could borrow it? And it was some trashy paperback mystery to boot.

My books seem to go missing all the time, though, so I think karma’s come back around…

About Jen Nadol: I grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania, hometown of Taylor Swift, John Updike and A.S. King.

This is me in high school. I liked to dye my hair, shop at thrift stores and listen to a lot of Depeche Mode, The Cure, and Erasure. My favorite book was The Stand.

THE MARK is my first novel.

We’d like to send out a huge Book Smuggler THANK YOU to Jen for the interview! You can read more about Jen and The Mark online at her official website, or on her blog, From the Desk of Jen Nadol.

Title: The Mark

Author: Jen Nadol

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: January 2010
Hardcover: 240 pages

Stand alone or series: Book one in a planned series.

Cassandra Renfield has always seen the mark—a glow around certain people reminiscent of candlelight. But the one time she mentioned it, it was dismissed as a trick of the light. Until the day she watches a man awash in the mark die. After searching her memories, Cassie realizes she can see a person’s imminent death. Not how or where, only when: today.

Armed with a vague understanding of the light, Cassie begins to explore her “gift,” seeking those marked for death and probing the line between decision and destiny. Though she’s careful to hide her secret—even from her new philosophy-obsessed boyfriend—with each impending death comes the temptation to test fate. But so many questions remain. How does the mark work? Why is she the only one who sees it? And finally, the most important of all: If you know today is someone’s last, should you tell them?

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: The idea of being able to predict death, the age-old question of fate versus free will, destiny versus choice – it’s a juxtaposition that has sparked debate throughout human history. When I read the blurb for Jen Nadol’s debut effort, I was instantly intrigued – Ms. Nadol attempts to take on this question head-on with her young adult novel, and I had to see how it all would play out.

Review:

When Cassandra was six, she saw it for the first time. A steady glow, surrounding a group of children on the school playground. By the end of the day, all those children were dead – killed in a fatal bus accident. Since that day, Cassie has seen the telltale mark a few times over the course of her young life, ignoring it and refusing to believe in what it may signify. When she turns sixteen, however, Cassie faces undeniable evidence of the mark’s true meaning. She follows a man on the bus bearing the glow, and watches his gruesome demise in a street accident. Unable to ignore her “gift” any longer, Cassie must face her incredible ability and decide if she can (or if she should) try to change the future. When she is sent to stay with her last living relative for the summer, Cassie turns to the past for answers. She researches her own parents’ deaths (both were killed in a car accident when Cassie was just two-years old), and audits the local university’s introduction to philosophy course. And what Cassie discovers, about herself, her past, and her gift holds deeper implications than she ever could have imagined.

The Mark is Jen Nadol’s debut novel, and she certainly makes a memorable first impression. Though the actual premise isn’t anything particularly groundbreaking, Ms. Nadol’s take on the age-old debate between predestination and choice is gripping stuff. Even better, Ms. Nadol goes beyond the gimmick of knowing when someone will die – she makes her protagonist, young Cassie, confront the actual moral issues involved, too. The result is a much more comprehensive picture: beyond the surface-level question, “Can I prevent this death from happening?” Cass asks herself the more thoughtful and ambiguous question, “If I can prevent it from happening, should I do it?” I loved the idea that a teen heroine when faced with this incredible gift/curse would want to understand all of the moral implications of her actions, and enroll in a college-level philosophy class – not to mention, the class is a very clever way for Ms. Nadol to explain different philosophical schools of thought without data dumping (or relying on some terrible, contrived google search/library research scene – you know the kind I’m talking about. In movies, for example, when the intrepid heroine runs a search for “Springfield Farmhouse Dead Girl Cold One” or opens a random old book in the library and magically finds a specific chapter titled, “Farmhouses Under Gypsy Curse And How To Break Said Curse.” But I digress…). In terms of writing, Ms. Nadol’s style is simple and direct, making a quick read of The Mark’s 240 pages. Though there’s a lot of predictability to certain elements of the story from very early on, the strength of the characters and the underlying moral issues are more than enough to make up for any shortcomings in terms of finesse or subtlety in plot.

Cassandra (a dead giveaway kind of name) is a fantastic heroine. She’s quiet, thoughtful, intelligent but still very much the uncertain teen coping with an impossible ability that is so much larger than herself. Cassie comes to informed decisions on her own and doesn’t take crap, even though she’s not especially assertive – making her all the more admirable as a heroine. I especially appreciated that there is no enduring truest of true love relationships tied to her supernatural ability. Cassie does have a romantic relationship with her T.A. – the nineteen-year old Lucas, and I really liked the way Ms. Nadol handled this aspect of the story. Cassie, in her first real serious relationship is the sixteen-year old pretending to be two years older (which I’m sure many female readers can empathize with!), and her relationship with Lucas feels incredibly genuine (and familiar) – not idealized or candy-coated in any way. I love how grounded and real all the relationships were, for that matter, be it between Cass and Lucas or Cass and her estranged, workaholic aunt. No sparkles, no contrived heart to heart confessionals, just…reality. It’s incredibly refreshing.

And then, there’s the actual thing that got me picking up this book in the first place: the Great Dilemma, Fate versus Free Will. The very existence of the titled mark holds numerous implications, and raises many intriguing questions, implicitly. Is everything predestined? Is the timing of a person’s death fixed, ever unchanging? Or is what Cassie sees a mere signifier and something she can change? And, of course, if that is the case and Cassie can change a person’s destiny, should she do it? And at what cost?

I will not spoil you, dear readers, but rest assured that all of these questions are addressed, and they are very, very interestingly handled. The Mark’s last third is truly incredible stuff, and the implications of that final revelation, those last 30 pages or so, is made. of. awesome. Even if it wasn’t set up very well, I loved the direction Ms. Nadol took the ending of the story in. The implications this final revelation holds for future books in this series has me salivating. I can only hope that a sequel is underway, and will be available very soon. And by soon, I mean NOW.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

There is nothing like the gut-hollowing experience of watching someone die, especially when you know it’s coming.

I saw the man with the mark at the bus stop on Wilson Boulevard when I crossed Butter Lane, as I did walking to school every day. I wanted to look away, pretend he wasn’t there and run for the safety of algebra and honors English, but I didn’t. I had promised myself. So I turned right and walked two blocks to the Plexiglas shelter, where we stood silently. It was a misty March day, the chill of winter still in the air. I slid my hand into the outer pocket of my book bag and felt for the change that always jangled around in there. I was counting out eighty-five cents for the ride when he asked, “You know when the B3 comes?”

His skin was smooth and his dark hair threaded with the slightest of gray. He was younger than I’d expected, than I’d have hoped. It limited the possibilities in an unpleasant way. I looked down, trying to ignore the hazy light that surrounded him.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Make sure to stick around, as later today we interview Jen Nadol about her debut novel!

Verdict: No silly fluff here, Ms. Nadol’s debut novel grapples with some heavy issues, and I loved every second of it. The Mark is a book to be savored by deep-thinking readers…and I’m already eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Unknown by Rachel Caine

Title: Veracity

Author: Laura Bynum

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Dystopian, Thriller

Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: January 2010
Hardcover: 376 pages

Harper Adams was six years old in 2012 when an act of viral terrorism wiped out one-half of the country’s population. Out of the ashes rose a new government, the Confederation of the Willing, dedicated to maintaining order at any cost. The populace is controlled via government-sanctioned sex and drugs, a brutal police force known as the Blue Coats, and a device called the slate, a mandatory implant that monitors every word a person speaks. To utter a Red-Listed, forbidden word is to risk physical punishment or even death.

But there are those who resist. Guided by the fabled “Book of Noah,” they are determined to shake the people from their apathy and ignorance, and are prepared to start a war in the name of freedom. The newest member of this resistance is Harper — a woman driven by memories of a daughter lost, a daughter whose very name was erased by the Red List. And she possesses a power that could make her the underground warriors’ ultimate weapon — or the instrument of their destruction.

In the tradition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Laura Bynum has written an astonishing debut novel about a chilling, all-too-plausible future in which speech is a weapon and security comes at the highest price of all.

Stand Alone or Series: Stand alone novel

How Did I Get This Book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why Did I Read This Book: That synopsis floored me – a future dystopian techno-thriller. Clearly, I could not resist. Not to mention the fabulous reviews that started to pop up around the interwebs…

Review:

In 2012, the United States and much of the rest of the world was devastated by a deadly pandemic. Following those dark, fear-filled years, a new government emerged to preserve law and order. In 2045, The Confederation of the Willing rules the nation with an iron fist. In exchange for inoculations against the plague and the comfort of stability, people have given up their basic human freedoms. The pseudo-religious, totalitarian Confederation has a list of strict, unyielding rules. Every move a citizen makes is monitored since childhood; every word they utter recorded and evaluated. Every man, woman and child in the Confederation is implanted with a “slate” – a biomechanical implant that sends severe shocks should its host say a “red-listed” (that is, forbidden) word. There is no more music, or art, or creative expression, and even words are deleted from human consciousness. Words like “courage,” “poem,” “ego,” “freedom,” “democracy,” and “veracity” are taboo, punishable by state-sanctioned rape, torture, and death.

Harper Adams was a six-year-old girl when the pandemic struck, and since then has been elevated to the position of Alpha Monitor. As a powerful, gifted “sentient” – one who has the ability to read auras, emotions, and histories of people and objects – the state has forced her into its employ ever since she was eighteen. As a powerful monitor, Harper has seen and been a part of terrible things, catching and identifying “terrorists” for the Confederation, against her will. Harper has been willing to deal with the stress and guilt of her job in order to keep her daughter, named Veracity, safe and healthy, but when her best friend and fellow Monitor Candace is discovered as a member of the rebellion and is killed along with her own daughter, Hannah, Harper knows she can no longer head down the same path. Approached by members of the mysterious rebellion – a group of dedicated individuals whose ideology is centered around the mysterious and Confederation banned Book of Noah – Harper decides she can no longer stand idly by and let what happened to Hannah and Candace happen to her daughter. Harper is determined to break her slate and to become a member of the revolt, and to break the shackles of fear and power that the government has over its people.

Veracity, the debut novel from Laura Bynum, is an ambitious undertaking. Following in the footsteps of dystopian works such as George Orwell’s 1984, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, and written in the style of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaiden’s Tale, Veracity is a solid, sure-footed entry in one of my favorite subgenres of speculative fiction. Ms. Bynum has a beautiful, distinctly poetic style that makes Veracity a lush, eminently readable book, despite its non-linear narrative style. The book itself is split into nine parts, each introduced by a particular “red-listed” word. Though the story only truly encompasses a tiny, final stage of the rebellion and lacks breakneck action, it’s a skilled, beautiful and even-paced read.

Ms. Bynum allows her novel to unfold through the perspective of first person narrator Harper Adams, both in “real time” (2045, as Harper makes her break with the Confederation and joins the resistance) and in a series of interspersed flashbacks from Harper’s childhood and the dramatic events leading up to her decision to rebel against the government. The narrative style, reminiscent of Margaret Atwood as mentioned above, is stunningly effective and surprisingly not confusing at all. Rather, the back and forth narration gives readers a closer bond and an understanding of narrator Harper, allowing us to see why she’s made the decisions she has. There’s a sense of intimacy and empathy with Harper as she struggles to save her daughter. In fact, the most touching, believable, human thing about Harper was her emotional devotion to her child; the fact that all of this, the danger she faces each day is for her little girl – a girl whose very name the government took away. Ms. Bynum’s other characters are similarly fleshed out and sympathetic – in particular, I found myself loving Ezra, the hardened prostitute devoted to the resistance (and to giving Harper a hard time), and a particular Blue Coat (the goon-like police officers of the state, given free reign to rape, torture, maim and murder), whom I will not name or spoil.

I truly enjoyed Veracity, especially for the vision of a dystopian totalitarian state that Ms. Bynum was able to create. The idea of “slates,” of a government that embodies censorship to the point of eliminating very words from the human consciousness, is a very powerful, terrifying thing. Perhaps one of the most terrifying things of all about Veracity is that this dystopian future Ms. Bynum has created does not seem so implausible. In times of fear and crisis, human liberties are traded for stability, and this cognizant, post-9/11 novel takes that premise to a truly frightening extreme. Also, I should mention that there is a strong super-natural/paranormal element to the novel as well in the telekinetic and psychic sort of powers that Harper has as a “sentient.” Her ability to read auras and “see colors” identifies her as a very important person to both the Confederation and to the resistance, and she plays a pivotal part in the final showdown because of her unique abilities. While this could very easily have been a breaking point for the novel – the juxtaposition of these very tangible, very real fears side by side these more fantastical elements – Ms. Bynum integrates the supernatural with the mundane seamlessly, and makes it an integral part of Harper’s character, and to the story at large.

There was a lot to love with Veracity, and I finished the book feeling fulfilled and rewarded. Yes, there were also a few drawbacks, most notably a tendency toward some stuffy high-handedness towards the end of the novel (rousing speeches about the greatness of democracy and the american nation that was, etc). There’s also a little bit of the deus ex machina to the ultimate battle (everything seemed to unfold so easily, in comparison to how difficult everything else was earlier in the book), and I wish that more time had been devoted to that dramatic conclusion. But these quibbles are minor overall. I found Veracity to be every bit as good as advertised, and eagerly look forward to reading more from Laura Bynum in the future.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

AUGUST 4, 2045, EARLY AFTERNOON.

The deeper I get into the prairie, the more I realize that what I’ve been told about the wastelands is false. The trees here are green. The crops, tall and heavy with corn. There are no black clouds threatening to drip acid onto my car, no checkpoints full of frothing police ready to execute every onerous code they see fit. I haven’t seen a Blue Coat since Wernthal. God willing, it will stay that way.

An old farmer is hitchwalking down a line of corn. I see him in my rearview mirror as a blotch of spoiled yellow. This is how our world considers the inhabitants of this land. Spoiled and decrepit, not useful. But neither are they considered clever enough to pose a threat. So they enjoy the otherwise restricted bounty of nature. A wide-open sky. Grass. Neon-free, unfettered space. I envy them this, but only so much. We live in different prisons, but in prisons nonetheless. Theirs is made up of memories of the beforetime. Mine, of concrete walls and security checkpoints, of no birdsong and no breeze.

Fewer line boards are posted alongside the roads out here. Just one every few dozen miles instead of the standard one per block. Posters of non-sexually attractive housewives blink as I drive by. Stay Happy, at mile marker 1. Stay Healthy, at mile 32. Remember the Pandemic. Mile marker 78.

Used to be something different. Honor Those Who’ve Fallen, to communicate the whole of it. But the word honor got too many people thinking. The concept sparked a small fire in those of us not quite doused out, and we began to discuss the dishonorable things required of all citizens living here, things that didn’t get printed on line boards. And so in small, quiet ceremony, in the ripping down of a hundred thousand posters, honor had the honor of being our first Red Listed word. We woke the next morning to Safety First and We Don’t Want to Go Back to the Way Things Were, Do We?

The countryside is more beautiful than I remember, even like this. Bales of trash instead of baled-up hay. Abandoned farmhouses dotting the land like weeping sores. I can’t stand to see their burnt or age-worn structures, or their insides seeping out onto the unmowed lawns. I was born in the country, as were my best memories. I won’t desecrate them by noticing these shells of civilization zipping past my car windows. In fact, I’ll go faster. It’s unlikely Blue Coats will pick me up on the way to my break site anyway. They won’t be out patrolling in the heat, in the wastelands where nothing happens. They’ll come later when the Fatherboard sees I’ve gone rogue. It will be the most excitement they’ve had in months.

Maybe they won’t be carrying guns. Not all Blue Coats get them. Most guns are reserved for the brigade lined up outside the National House like dominoes. Tin soldiers in tidy rows, they flash weaponry used to guard President and his cabinet of Ministers. Keep people from considering assassination, keep those who try anyway from achieving their goal. Guns also go to police assigned to specific jobs. Hunting down runners and the quick dispatch of terrorists.

Aside from this ignoble guard, the largely gun-free system has flourished. Fists, elbows, knees, mouths, teeth, the fleshy weapons carried by men, the ones used to inflict more intimate punishments — these broadcast an absolute and terrifying power the business end of a pistol doesn’t match. When a Blue Coat exacts a punishment, scars are left and people see them.

I try not to think about the Blue Coats and what may happen to me if I’m caught. At least I will have finally stood up.

You can read the full chapter, and the first SEVEN chapters online via Simon & Schuster’s “Browse Inside” feature, available online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: I don’t know what it is about the timing of our book reviews lately, but a lot of Veracity had me thinking of the recently released Book of Eli (starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman). Both follow a post-apocalyptic dystopian America, both have a prominent, ideological book that is the center of so much conflict.

I haven’t seen Book of Eli, and I’ll probably wait for it on rental (as with Legion from last week’s review of Archangel’s Kiss), but it’s a funny coincidence…

On another tangent, since we’ve been focusing on covers lately, I have to say that the cover for Veracity seems very…blah to me. In an attempt to crossover and appeal to non-genre/literary fiction fans, perhaps? It’s very nondescript and boring and I’m not sure what sort of feeling or detail it was supposed to capture (perhaps it’s an interpretation of Harper’s color-seeing abilities?), which is unfortunate considering it’s such a strong book! Any thoughts?

Verdict: A solid debut effort from an incredibly talented new author, Veracity is a book that is not to be missed by the dystopian aficionado. Blending elements of the supernatural with all-too-familiar, very real fears, this is a cautionary tale to take to heart. Absolutely recommended.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Impact by Douglas Preston

Title: Mr. Shivers

Author: Robert Jackson Bennett

Genre: Horror, Historical Fiction

Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: January 2010
Hardcover: 336 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: Ever since I saw the mockup of the haunting cover and read the synopsis from Orbit, I was instantly hooked. Billed as an apocalyptic-style horror novel set during the American Great Depression (one of my favorite periods of study as a history major), I could not resist.

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
It is the time of the Great Depression. The dustbowl has turned the western skies red and thousands leave their homes seeking a better life. Marcus Connelly seeks not a new life, but a death – a death for the mysterious scarred man who murdered his daughter. And soon he learns that he is not alone. Countless others have lost someone to the scarred man. They band together to track him, but as they get closer, Connelly begins to suspect that the man they are hunting is more than human. As the pursuit becomes increasingly desperate, Connelly must decide just how much he is willing to sacrifice to get his revenge.

Review:

Mr. Shivers was easily one of the most highly anticipated novels of early 2010 for me – the blend of horror, gritty realism, and the bleakness of the Great Depression setting instantly appealed to me, and I was ecstatic when I received an ARC for the title. Add to that the overwhelmingly positive reviews from the heavy-hitters like Publisher’s Weekly, the Guardian, and Library Journal, and I was one very excited girl.

Unfortunately, Mr. Shivers simply could not deliver. All sound and fury, but ultimately with little to say, I found myself hollowly disengaged and sadly disappointed with this debut novel from Mr. Robert Jackson Bennett.

Marcus Connelly (simply referred to throughout the book as Connelly) is a man that has lost everything. His young daughter has been killed by a mysterious, legend of a man whose face is marred by three long scars. Unable to move on with his life, Connelly’s marriage deteriorates, and he decides to leave to find – and exact revenge – on the gray man that murdered his daughter, the man that the hobos riding the rails call “the Shiver Man.” All Connelly knows is that he must travel west and he makes his way across an arid, devastated American landscape, from Tennessee to Oklahoma, hitching rides and stowing away on trains with other men in search of a better future. Along the way, Connelly learns that he is not alone in his quest as he comes across another trio of men out for blood, payment for the wake of death and destruction left in the scarred man’s path. As the group closes in their pursuit, hot on the Shiver Man’s trail, they gradually begin to realize he may not be any mere man – and Connelly learns, all but too late, that all revenge comes at an unimaginable cost.

Mr. Shivers is the debut novel from Robert Jackson Bennett, and it has a wicked good premise – at its onset, Mr. Shivers is a strong, attention-grabbing novel. The initial descriptions of the Depression-ravaged landscape, complete with Hoovervilles, dust storms, and the constant presence of the railroad are evocative and well-painted, as is the desolate, gray mood of the novel. Indeed, Mr. Shivers begins with a bang, banking on the strength of its morose setting. The historical perspective feels a little shaky at times (with regard to slang/colloquialisms and geography), but Mr. Bennett’s atmosphere in the novel is undeniably compelling. However, as the story unfolds, it’s very easy to see where it is going to end up. There’s a good deal of predictability here, which is unfortunate for so strong a start and premise (barely within the book’s first act, the old adage about those seeking monsters becoming them immediately comes to mind). This isn’t a particularly bad thing, provided that the characters and level of writing are strong. Unfortunately, they weren’t.

As a protagonist, Connelly is simply drawn. He’s a very tall & broad, intimidating, bearded man that does not like to speak. In many ways, he’s empty; a husk following the death of his daughter. This characterization is actually quite effective, at least in the beginning, but Connelly never manifests any semblance of a personality or tone as a character, nor do any of the other secondary cast members in the book (who read like flat stereotypes: an ex-priest, a Jew, a brash young man). There’s absolutely nothing in the way of character development here, which, unfortunately is another point against Mr. Shivers. This, however, would have been forgivable had the writing been impeccable…but once again, I found myself disappointed.

Mr. Bennett’s writing style, unfortunately, comes across as self-indulgent. Every conversation Connelly has in this book (or rather, that he listens to, as he does not speak much), every extended section of descriptive prose feels so melodramatically self-important as to seem…well, silly and derivative. For example,

He looked up at the stars again and considered this spot on the land, this tree he sat under. These empty square feet of land had always been here, would always be here. To this place he was no more than a dream. And he wondered about those who had come before, wandering over the plains, treading this spot. People that came before nature. Animals that came before sunlight. Perhaps it had been so. He touched the coarse earth. Once something had died here. It was a fact of chance. Some animal had dragged itself to this spot or many had fallen, limbs askew, its lifeblood leaking onto the earth. And then perhaps it had lifted its thoughtless eyes to the infinity above, looked at the endless, bejeweled dark, just as Connelly was now, and made some sound, some mewling cry. Asking a question. Begging for a few seconds more. And then expired, maybe leaving its questions behind.

This is perhaps a matter of personal taste, but the constant presence of these sorts of passages throughout the book were grating and felt amateur, the work of an author trying very hard to sound poetic and significant but failing, at least to me as a reader. I also found myself uncomfortable with some of the more religious and patriotic undertones to the novel, but this is, again, a matter of personal taste.

Mr. Shivers is also distinctly reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (Connelly is a character very similar to Shadow, and the traveling story and American backdrop is also very familiar), as it is of early Stephen King (in particular, The Gunslinger with Roland’s ages-old pursuit of The Man in Black versus Conelly’s Man in Gray). Unfortunately, Mr. Shivers lacks the resonance or skill of these two master storytellers, and the end result is something more derivative and bland. There are good ideas in this book, but Mr. Bennett stumbles, lacking in the execution of these ideas. The plot is cumbersome and the writing overwrought. I finished Mr. Shivers with an overall feeling of disappointment.

All these criticisms said, Mr. Bennett clearly does have promise as an author. This is only his debut novel (which probably accounts for the feeling that he’s trying too hard in this book), and there is potential here. Ultimately, Mr. Shivers isn’t a great book, but it’s not a terrible one either.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

By the time the number nineteen crossed the Missouri state line the sun had crawled low in the sky and afternoon was fading into evening. The train had built up a wild head of steam over the last few miles. As Tennessee fell behind it began picking up speed, the wheels chanting and chuckling, the ?elds blurring into jaundice- yellow streaks by the track. A fresh gout of black smoke unfurled from the train’s crown and folded back to clutch the cars like a great black cloak.

Connelly shut his eyes as the wave of smoke ?ew toward him and held on tighter to the side of the cattle car. He wasn’t sure how long he had been hanging there. Maybe a half hour. Maybe more. The crook of his arm was curled around one splintered slat of wood and he had wedged his boots into the cracks below. Every joint in his body ached.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Mr. Shivers has a pretty cool interactive website, which is definitely worth checking out. Also worth taking a look at is the haunting book trailer:

Verdict: Though I was eagerly anticipating this novel, Mr. Shivers failed to live up to the hype. Not without its merits, this is the type of book that may sing to some readers, but, unfortunately, I am not one of them. A plodding, predictable plot, flat characters, and overly-dramatic writing made this a forgettable read for me – though I will give Mr. Bennett’s future endeavors a try.

Rating: 5 – Meh

Reading Next: Need by Carrie Jones

Title: Raiders’ Ransom (UK titles Reavers’ Ransom/Flood Child)

Author: Emily Diamand

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Post-apocalypse, Dystopia, Young Adult

Publisher: The Chicken House (Scholastic) (US & UK)
Publication Date: July 2009 (UK) / December 2009 (US)
Hardcover: 352 pages

Stand alone or series: Book 1 of a planned series

How did I read this book: ARC from Publisher

Why did I read this book: We were sent an ARC for this title from the publisher, and one glance at the synopsis – a flooded, post-apocalyptic London overrun with pirates and danger – and I was sold. Game, set, match.

Summary: (from amazon.com)
It’s the 22nd century and, because of climate change, much of England is underwater. Poor Lilly is out fishing with her trusty sea-cat when greedy raiders pillage the town–and kidnap the prime minister’s daughter. Her village blamed, Lilly decides to find the girl. Off she sails, in secret. And with a ransom: a mysterious talking jewel. “If I save his daughter,” Lilly reasons, “the prime minister’s sure to reward me.” Little does Lilly know that it will take more than grit to outwit the tricky, treacherous piratical tribes!

Review:

The year is 2216, and a thirteen-year old orphan named Lilly leaves the home she shares with her Grandmother on a morning like any other, searching the coastline in her small boat with her seacat (named Cat) for fish. When Lily returns home, however, her life is turned upside down – fearsome Raiders have invaded her village, abducting the Prime Minster’s daughter, burning the village ships, and killing Lilly’s Grandmother. The Prime Minister, furious at his seven-year old daughter’s kidnapping and the cowering villagers who did nothing to prevent the abduction, turns his wrath on the townspeople, forcing all the men and boys into jails with the intent to execute them all as an example. With Lilly’s best friend, Andy and his father among those captured and waiting to be put to death, Lilly decides to take matters into her own hands. Stealing a letter and a rather large, very precious jewel from the Prime Minister’s sister, Lilly cuts off her hair and masquerades as a boy and makes way for Lunden to find the raiders and pay them ransom for Alexandra’s return home. Along the way, Lilly grudgingly befriends a young Raider boy named Zeph – who happens to be the son of the Raider leader responsible for the kidnapping. As their two paths intertwine, Lilly and Zeph come to a crossroads and must decide with whom they will align themselves – especially when it turns out that the large jewel Lilly has taken for ransom is anything but a gem, and instead is something infinitely more precious. The ransom item is in fact a powerful, self-aware war-game computer; a relic from the time before “the Collapse” and the floods that have isolated and destroyed much of lower England. And even more troublesome is how desperately Greater Scotland – the dominating, more advanced nation to the north of the water-logged ten counties of England – wants the computer, and will go to any lengths to recover it.

Ms. Diamand’s novel came to publication after Reavers’ Ransom (the novel’s original title in the UK) won the first ever London Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition, and I have to applaud the judges’ taste. Raiders’ Ransom is a complete surprise of a novel – behind its bubbly, almost cartoonish exterior, it is a swashbuckling adventure and a cautionary post-ecologocial apocalypse thriller, narrated smartly by two different and genuinely likable protagonists. I say this is a “surprise” of a novel because I honestly wasn’t expecting to like it nearly so much as I did – but once I got started with this book, I couldn’t put it down. From its engaging, action-filled plot and its compelling, wholly believable characters, Raiders’ Ransom is an incredible start to a very promising series, reminiscent of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass or J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. (Yeah, I just dropped those two comparisons. That’s right.)

In terms of pure story and plotting, Raiders’ Ransom is awesome in its depth and its simplicity. The novel is deceptively slim, and deceptively quick to read. The writing is such that middle grade readers should have no problems picking up this book – but don’t mistake this for a dearth of sharp, carefully executed, hefty ideas. The simplicity of the book actually works to its favor – there’s no excessive, boring rundown of HOW exactly things became the way they are, no data-dumps concerning humanity’s demise into a sort of 18th century level of existence. That’s not to say that the Collapse isn’t exampined at all – but Ms. Diamand takes a much more clever route in examining humanity’s demise, dropping tantalizing hints and delightful little easter eggs (one of the Raider tribes is from “Chell Sea”, a Metallica t-shirt makes an appearance, and even Harry Potter rears his head in the novel). This also means that there’s little to staunch the flood of action in the book – which is another point in Raiders’ Ransom’s favor. The pacing is impeccable; there’s nary a dull moment in the book. Furthermore, the simplicity of the writing only strengthens the impressions that the narrating characters make on readers – adding an even stronger sense of genuineness to these two young teen protagonists.

Ms. Diamand’s pose sparkles, as she has a gift for storytelling and first person narration – not only does she convincingly create a voice for a thirteen-year old fisher girl in a low-technology post-apocalyptic setting, she also manages to do it for an adolescent Raider boy as well. As each chapter alternates between Lilly’s and Zeph’s narratives, this easily could have been a confusing, jarring read – but Ms. Diamand creates such a distinct voice for each character, it’s easy to discern who is narrating at any given time. Heck, even the dialects of both characters are distinct (and as both of them speak in a sort of derivative slang, this is a pretty big accomplishment). The dual narrators also add a broader understanding of this futuristic vision of a drowned Britain, as told from the clear eyes of two very different children of two very different backgrounds. Lilly, an orphan and fishergirl, reviles the idea of marriage (at thirteen, she should already be paired off and married), and instead of letting her best friend face execution or merely accepting her grim fate following her grandmother’s death, she undertakes the dangerous task of rescuing Alexandra. She’s headstrong and brash, but a truly compelling heroine – especially for young female readers.

Then, there’s Zeph, the Raider boy who so desperately wants to impress his powerful father. The Raiders from Lilly’s perspective re boogeymen – pirates that will eat their captives, and burn and pillage anything in their path. But Zeph offers a different insight to the cutthroat world of Raider Clans and lends a humanity to a group that Ms. Diamand could simply have boiled down to “Bad Guys.” Zeph’s struggles, his sibling rivalry with his older (but illegitimate and therefore lower ranked) brother, his attempts to get his father and his clan to take him seriously and see him as a man are very compelling character storylines. There is so much potential for growth and explication here with Ms. Diamand’s characters; Raiders’ Ransom gives me the feeling that she’s only begun to scratch the surface of this compelling new world and her young characters. In this sense, the novel feels very similar to the world of Ms. Rowling’s Harry Potter – with both first books, there’s this sense of wonder and the possibility for so much to develop as the characters grow older and their adventures continue. And this, dear readers, is a rare, beautiful gift.

Notable Quotes/Parts: Lilly’s dramatic decision:

When I get home, I hurtle about getting clothes, oilskins, a knife, extra rope, my rope splicing kit and what food I can find. Which turns out to be a bag of oats and some hard sea biscuits. Well I’ll just have to catch the rest.

“I’m going on Mrs Denton’s mission,” I say to the empty dark house. Hoping Granny’s there somehow, hoping she can hear me. “So I’ll have to take the money from the jar.”

I put my hand under Granny’s bed and pull out a small jangling jar. Granny’s savings jar, where she was hoarding every extra penny for the winter storms, when it’s too rough to go fishing. The coins rattle out of the jar and I put them into Granny’s purse, which hangs from a loop of leather. I put it round my neck, next to Granny’s locket. It ent heavy, there ent many coins in it, but it should last me. After all, things can’t cost much in London, can they?

I pat my shirt, where the bulge of the purse shows through. I reckon the purse should be safe from muggers, cos all that really shows of it is a bit of leather at my neck. But what about the jewel? All it’d take is one peek and any thief would be after me. After a bit of thinking, I take out my fishing belt. It’s got plenty of pockets for stashing spare line and hooks and all the other stuff you don’t want to go searching for when you’re out.

I wrap the jewel in a dirty cloth, then I squeeze it into the largest pocket of my belt, where it just about fits. It looks bumpy, but I reckon it’ll be safe. After all, who’d ever think there’s a big jewel inside a fisher belt?

I’ve got my bag on my back, and I’m heading for the door, when I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the dark window; round brown face, dark brown eyes, bundled up in stained oilskins, long hair tied back in a ponytail. Girl’s hair. But Mrs Denton said she was looking for a captain or a young lad to do her mission. I take the letter out of my bag, and carefully prise it open, trying not to tear the envelope too badly. I read down through her scrabbly writing, and all her fancy phrases. Halfway down are the words that matter.

“I commend this man to you. Please give him any aid you can.”

This man! I ent a man! How will I explain that to Mrs Denton’s London trader? What if he guesses I took the letter and the jewel? He’d never help me then.

And that’s why I take out Granny’s kitchen scissors, use the window as a mirror, and start to cut my hair. When I’ve finished, I look into the window and there’s a boy looking back at me. I lift my hand to my short hair, and he does the same. I open my mouth at what I’ve done, and he opens his right back. I’m a boy now. A boy who Mrs Denton could have asked to go on a mission.

You can read more about Raiders’ Ransom online at Emily Diamand’s official website HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Check out the awesome Japanese covers for the book:

Awesome, no? Also, check out the upcoming sequel, Flood and Fire out in May 2010.

Flooded England, 2216 …

Lilly Melkun has outwitted the bloodthirsty reavers, who prowl the waters that cover most of England – and has escaped to Cambridge. But Lilly is far from safe, because still in her keeping is PSAI, the last hand-held computer in existence – a now malfunctioning treasure from the past.

Inside the jewel-like computer, is a sinister- looking chip with an unknown purpose. Worse follows, when the professors of Cambridge plug it into an ancient mainframe computer, setting in motion a fiery chain of events leading back to London.

A false anti-terrorist alert has been activated. Strange, out-of-control robots from a long-ago technological time threaten to use ‘maximum force’ to control everything in their way. Once again, it’s up to Lilly, Zeph and friends to save the world from burning.

Verdict: If you couldn’t tell – I loved the book. It will be a fun adventure for younger readers, but also has some surprising heft and depth that will satisfy older ones too (there are no easy bad or good guys – all of the adults in the book are of questionable motives and allegiances, in a very C.S. Lewis kind of way). Absolutely recommended, and I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Witch and Wizard by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet

Giveaway Details:

Hey, it’s another giveaway! We have ONE copy of Raiders’ Ransom to give away to a lucky reader. The contest is open to residents of the US only, and will run until Saturday December 19 at 11:59 pm (PST). To enter, leave a comment here letting us know what your favorite environmental (post) apocalyptic book or movie is. GOOD LUCK!