On the Radar

On the Smugglers’ Radar

On The Smugglers’ Radar” is a new feature for books that have caught our eye: books we have heard of via other bloggers, directly from publishers, and/or from our regular incursions into the Amazon jungle. Thus, the Smugglers’ Radar was born. Because we want far more books than we can possibly buy or review (what else is new?), we thought we would make the Smugglers’ Radar into a weekly feature – so YOU can tell us which books you have on your radar as well!

On Ana’s Radar:

oooo LOOK! We finally get to see the cover of one of my most anticipated reads this year:

Victoria hates nonsense. There is no need for it when your life is perfect. The only smudge on her pristine life is her best friend Lawrence. He is a disaster–lazy and dreamy, shirt always untucked, obsessed with his silly piano. Victoria often wonders why she ever bothered being his friend. (Lawrence does, too.)

But then Lawrence goes missing. And he’s not the only one. Victoria soon discovers that Mrs. Cavendish’s children’s home is not what it appears to be. Kids go in but come out . . . different, or they don’t come out at all.

If anyone can sort this out, it’s Victoria, even if it means getting a little messy.

Shadow and Bone sounds absolutely, incredibly fantastic. High Fantasy, female protagonist, no mention of a “darkly mysterious boy” in the blurb (seriously, I can’t take those anymore) (unless you count the “the mysterious Darkling”) (damn it). STILL! I wants it precious…

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near-impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one unlikely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves is life – a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha… and the secrets of her heart.

Sherwood Smith has a new book coming out August this year. It looks good:

“When twelve-year-old Lady Lilah decides to disguise herself and sneak out of the palace one night, she has more of an adventure than she expected — for she learns very quickly that the country is on the edge of revolution. When she sneaks back in, she learns something even more surprising: her older brother Peitar is one of the forces behind it all.

The revolution happens before all of his plans are in place, and brings unexpected chaos and violence. Lilah and her friends, leaving their old lives behind, are determined to help however they can. But what can four kids do? Become spies, of course!”

I’ve had Aliette de Bodard’s Aztec mystery-fantasy books on my radar for a while now. An omnibus edition – Obsidian and Blood – with the trigogy will be released later on this year and I will totally be reading that:

Servant of the Underworld: Year One-Knife, Tenochtitlan – the capital of the Aztecs. The end of the world is kept at bay only by the magic of human sacrifice. A priestess disappears from an empty room drenched in blood. Acatl, high priest, must find her, or break the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Harbinger of the Storm: The year is Two House and the Mexica Empire teeters on the brink of destruction, lying vulnerable to the flesh-eating star-demons – and to the return of their creator, a malevolent goddess only held in check by the Protector God’s power. The council is convening to choose a new emperor, but when a councilman is found dead, only Acatl, High Priest of the Dead, can solve the mystery.

Master of the House of Darts: The year is Three Rabbit, and the storm is coming… The coronation war for the new Emperor has just ended in a failure, the armies retreating with a mere forty prisoners of war – not near enough sacrifices to ensure the favor of the gods. When one of those prisoners of war dies of a magical illness, Acatl, High Priest for the Dead, is summoned to investigate.

Although this is definitely Thea-territory, sometimes, I am just in the mood for a historical Ghost-story…

When the Price family moves into Cowleigh Lodge while their home is being repaired, fourteen-year-old Hannah discovers that the ghost of a girl who died there at age eleven wants help unraveling the mystery of her 1877 death.





On Thea’s Radar:

I apologize for the exclamation points and caps locking but, OMG OMG OMG THE SECOND BOOK IN KENNETH OPPEL’S THIS DARK ENDEAVOR SERIES!!!!!!

Devotion turns deadly in this second Gothic thriller from Kenneth Oppel.

When does obsession become madness? Tragedy has forced sixteen-year-old Victor Frankenstein to swear off alchemy forever. He burns the Dark Library. He vows he will never dabble in the dark sciences again—just as he vows he will no longer covet Elizabeth, his brother’s betrothed.

If only these things were not so tempting.

When he and Elizabeth discover a portal into the spirit world, they cannot resist. Together with Victor’s twin, Konrad, and their friend Henry, the four venture into a place of infinite possibilities where power and passion reign. But as they search for the knowledge to raise the dead, they unknowingly unlock a darkness from which they may never return.

Then there’s this forthcoming post-apocalyptic dystopian YA novel. (I know, I know, you’re rolling your eyes. But I’m still into the trend!) (This cover isn’t very appealing, though. Why is her hair the exact same color of her dress? WEIRD.)

Sixteen-year-old Tess lives in a compound in what was once the Western United States, now decimated after a devastating fourth World War. But long before that, life as we knew it had been irrevocably changed, as women mysteriously lost the ability to bring forth life. Faced with the extinction of the human race, the government began the Council of Creators, meant to search out alternative methods of creating life. The resulting artificial human beings, or Chosen Ones, were extraordinarily beautiful, unbelievably strong, and unabashedly deadly.

Life is bleak, but uncomplicated for Tess as she follows the rigid rules of her dystopian society, until the day she begins work at Templeton, the training facility for newly created Chosen Ones. There, she meets James, a Chosen One whose odd love of music and reading rivals only her own. The attraction between the two is immediate in its intensity—and overwhelming in its danger.

But there is more to the goings-on at Templeton than Tess ever knew, and as the veil is lifted from her eyes, she uncovers a dark underground movement bent not on taking down the Chosen Ones, but the Council itself. Will Tess be able to stand up to those who would oppress her, even if it means giving up the only happiness in her life?

I am SO excited to read fellow book blogger (and now debut novelist!) Phoebe North’s book, Starglass! Just a placeholder cover for now, but still!

For five hundred years, passengers on the generation ship Asherah have lived a regimented lifestyle meant to ensure they reach their destination across the stars. Jobs are selected by the High Council; unmarried citizens find themselves matched; every couple has two children–one boy, and one girl–created for them in a lab. This is how their population has remained steady, and rebellion has been suppressed.

But this rigid life doesn’t work for everyone on the ship. It certainly doesn’t work for sixteen-year-old Terra. She lost her mother to cancer years ago. Now she’s working a job she hates, while her father pushes her toward marrying a boy she knows will never love her back. Terra’s done her best to swallow her lumps and be good, like the generations that have come before her. But when she stumbles across a murder in the ship’s long-abandoned engine rooms, she gets sucked in to a plot to murder the ship’s captain.

The rebels know that Terra has nothing left to lose, but they don’t know that she’s starting to fall for the boy she’s meant to kill. Soon Terra learns that “doing your duty” isn’t as simple as it seems.

I have no idea how this book escaped me, since I’m a huge Michael Grant fan, but now that it is officially on my radar, I know I’ll be buying a copy very soon.

Set in the near future, a conspiracy is afoot to create a perfect and perfectly controlled world. The Armstrong Fancy Gift Corporation is a front for the conjoined Armstrong twins, Charles and Benjamin, and the plot to create their own version of utopia.

A shadowy guerilla group known as BZRK form a nascent resistance movement. Both sides develop sophisticated nanotechnology to achieve their goals:

-The Armstrong twins develop the nanobot, a stealth device that latches onto the brains of unsuspecting citizens
-BZRK’s DNA-derived biots are deployed to search out and destroy the insidious bots. If biots are destroyed, the brain cells of their DNA-donor also die. Hence the name BZRK.

I love the premise of this next book: an apocalypse in which air itself is gone. Awesome.

Inhale. Exhale. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe . . .

The world is dead.
The survivors live under the protection of Breathe, the corporation that found a way to manufacture oxygen-rich air.

ALINA
has been stealing for a long time. She’s a little jittery, but not terrified. All she knows is that she’s never been caught before. If she’s careful, it’ll be easy. If she’s careful.

QUINN
should be worried about Alina and a bit afraid for himself, too, but even though this is dangerous, it’s also the most interesting thing to happen to him in ages. It isn’t every day that the girl of your dreams asks you to rescue her.

BEA
wants to tell him that none of this is fair; they’d planned a trip together, the two of them, and she’d hoped he’d discover her out here, not another girl.

And as they walk into the Outlands with two days’ worth of oxygen in their tanks, everything they believe will be shattered. Will they be able to make it back? Will they want to?

Another awesome sounding book, featuring a virus that kills of children, and turns survivors into something powerful and dangerous.

When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something frightening enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have been cursed with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby has spent nearly half her life desperately trying to hide the fact that she’s outwitted the camp’s sorting system—that she isn’t powerless, or safe. She’s one of the dangerous ones… and everyone knows what happens to them.

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of teens who escaped their own camp, pursued along the way by terrifying bounty hunters. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close to him. Not after what happened to her parents.

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Before the end, Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.

This title, another dystopian style tale, also sounds fully awesome.

Within the walls of Baalboden, beneath the shadow of the city’s brutal leader, Rachel Adams has a secret. While other girls sew dresses, host dinner parties, and obey their male Protectors, Rachel knows how to survive in the wilderness and deftly wield a sword. When her father, Jared, fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector, her father’s apprentice, Logan—the same boy Rachel declared her love for two years ago, and the same boy who handed her heart right back to her. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father’s survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself. But treason against the Commander carries a heavy price, and what awaits her in the Wasteland could destroy her.

At nineteen, Logan McEntire is many things. Orphan. Outcast. Inventor. As apprentice to the city’s top courier, Logan is focused on learning his trade so he can escape the tyranny of Baalboden. But his plan never included being responsible for his mentor’s impulsive daughter. Logan is determined to protect her, but when his escape plan goes wrong and Rachel pays the price, he realizes he has more at stake than disappointing Jared.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can’t be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.

Aaaand last one – a fantasyish post-apocalyptic YA novel. (I know. Stop judging me! This one has pirates!)

A lost colony is reborn in this heart-pounding fantasy adventure set in the near future . . .

Sixteen-year-old Thomas has always been an outsider. The first child born without the power of an Element—earth, water, wind or fire—he has little to offer his tiny, remote Outer Banks colony. Or so the Guardians would have him believe.

In the wake of an unforeseen storm, desperate pirates kidnap the Guardians, intent on claiming the island as their own. Caught between the plague-ridden mainland and the advancing pirates, Thomas and his friends fight for survival in the battered remains of a mysterious abandoned settlement. But the secrets they unearth will turn Thomas’ world upside-down, and bring to light not only a treacherous past but also a future more dangerous than he can possibly imagine.

And that’s it from us! What books do you have on YOUR radar?

13 Comments

  • Estara
    March 3, 2012 at 4:13 am

    Spy Princess, of course! But being a Sherwood Smith aficionado that was on my radar in any case. This is another Sartorias-deles story, as I understand, but we have some more middle grade heroes. I like all the intertwining strands and shall be interested whether it is in the current timeline (Crown Duel is probably the most famous book of those so far) or somewhere in the past like Inda, or maybe even in-between.

    Also, ladies, if you don’t mind I’d like to direct your attention to another book that might be on your radar when it becomes available: Judith Tarr is crowd-sourcing a revision of her newest YA novel, with three heroines in three timelines (the oldest one being Ancient Egypt, the youngest one being the future) having to deal with the same thread.

    Readers helping out with $5 dollars will already get the ebook, available from Book View Café in various formats this winter (Sherwood Smith did a revision critique for the book, so now JT has an idea of where to start). This book has never been published before.

    If you haven’t read her yet, how come? She’s the goddess of historically based fantasy (especially where horses are concerned).

    Description of the novel Living in Threes:

    Three lives, three times, one world: a mystery that spans millennia. LIVING IN THREES is the story of three young women in three different ages of the world, who work together across space and time to solve an ancient mystery and end a terrible plague.

    Here’s an excerpt for the Ancient Egypt timeline posted for everyone at Kickstarter.

    If you’re wandering by and wondering what this project is, here’s a sample. It’s one of three intertwined stories, three lives that weave in and out and through one another across thousands of years. (The others are present day and far future.) This is the first and the earliest. I hope you enjoy.

    =================

    Meritre

    A hawk hung on the pinnacle of heaven. From the temple far below, it looked like a bird of metal suspended in the sky.

    The sun’s heat was fierce, but Meritre shivered. The choir was so much smaller than it had been a year ago: so many lost, so many voices silenced. Of those whom the plague had left, too many were thin and pale, and their singing barely rippled the air above the courtyard.

    They would be strong again. New voices would join the chorus. Pharaoh had promised, swearing that the promise came from the great god Amon himself.

    Today, there were only twelve singers, and somehow they had to sing as if there were three times that many. The plague was gone at last. In just nine days there would be a royal rite of celebration, and the choir would sing the responses.

    The mistress of the chorus struck the stone paving with her rod. “Again,” she said. “Clearer, louder, stronger. The king will be here, and the king’s daughter. Give them a hymn worthy of the god himself.”

    Meritre filled her heart and head and throat with the song and poured it out with all the strength she had. Eleven voices joined with hers, swelling until they filled the great court with its brilliantly painted columns and its ranks of statues both royal and divine. Even the blue vault of heaven and the hawk of Horus hovering in it seemed to pause, struck motionless by the sound.

    One voice faltered, lost its power and swiftly died. It was the one of them all that Meritre knew best, the purest and until now the strongest.

    She turned in time to see her mother fall. The singers on either side leaped to catch her, but Meritre was there first. Her knees were bruised from the pavement; her mother was a dead weight in her arms.

    Aweret still breathed, though shallowly. Her skin was damp and unnaturally cold.

    The plague came with a cough and a burning fever. These chills must be something else, something less deadly–from the heat, maybe. It was terribly hot in the courtyard, and they had been rehearsing since the early morning. It was a miracle that no one else had fainted.

    One of the temple servants brought a cup full of barley water. Meritre held it to her mother’s lips. Aweret drank a sip or two, then turned her head away.

    The mistress of the chorus was a sharp and irritable woman, but her heart was kind. She insisted on sending Aweret home in a chair like one of the priests. Aweret was weak enough not to object–and that frightened Meritre all over again.

    She held herself together well enough to make her way home, though she hardly remembered the streets between. Those were much less crowded than they used to be, and the markets were almost empty.

    The servants from the temple helped her carry Aweret up to the roof where there was a fan and a shade and as much coolness as anyone could find in this season. No one else was in the house. Father and the boys were in the king’s workshop, carving statues as they did every day except festival days.

    Meritre dampened the shade in the jar of water that she always kept filled, and hung it up to catch the wind. It cooled the air where Aweret lay. She sighed, and Meritre thought she looked a little less pale.

    The cat who had chosen to live in this house came gliding out of air as cats could do. It sprang up onto the cot and curled in the curve of Aweret’s hip.

    Aweret was well guarded now. Meritre wanted to stay beside her, too, but there was too much to do: bread to bake, beer to brew, dinner to get ready for the others when they came home in the evening. She stooped to kiss Aweret’s forehead and smooth her hair.

    Her eyes were open, and they were clear. Meritre never meant to burst into tears.

    Aweret caught Meritre’s hand before she could spin away, and said, “I’m well. I’m not sick or dying.”

    “Then what?” Meritre tried, but she could not keep the anger out of her voice. “You scared half my souls out of me.”

    “I am sorry,” Aweret said. “I wasn’t sure, you see, and I didn’t want to tell anyone, even your father, for fear it wouldn’t be true. But while we were singing, while the rays of the god were bathing my face, I knew. I’m afraid it overwhelmed me.”

    “You are sick,” Meritre said, “or the sun has driven you insane.”

    “Oh, no,” Aweret said, laughing. “Here. It’s here.” She laid Meritre’s hand on her middle, where it was always gently rounded, but maybe, now, just a little more.

    Meritre stared. Aweret nodded. Her eyes were full of joy. “It’s an omen,” she said. “The terrible times truly are gone. This child brings blessing to us all.”

    “Gods willing,” Meritre said.

    She was glad–really, she was. But more than that, she was terrified.

    The plague had been kind to her family. It had only killed the baby, little Iry; it had left the rest of them alone.

    Babies were so fragile. Any smallest thing could sweep them away. That had been true of every human life in the plague, but a new one, so young it had just begun to wake to the world, was most vulnerable of all.

    Meritre did not know if she dared to love another sister or brother as she had loved Iry. A part of her had gone away when her sister died, and still had not come back.

    She set another kiss on her mother’s belly where her hand had been. A thought was growing in her, but she needed time to let it take root. “You rest,” she said. “The others will be home soon. I won’t tell them. Unless . . . ?”

    Aweret laid a finger on Meritre’s lips. “It will be our secret for a while.”

    “Not too long,” Meritre said.

    “Oh, no,” said Aweret. “Even a man will notice eventually–and your father has a sharper eye than most.”

    “That’s the sculptor in him,” Meritre said. She claimed back her hand and made herself stand up straight. “Now I really have to go, or dinner will be late, and they’ll all ask too many questions.”

    Want to read a bit more?

    She’s already 81% financed!

  • Phoebe
    March 3, 2012 at 6:52 am

    You guys, you can’t do that to me until I’ve had my coffee!

    <3 Thank you so much. I cannot WAIT to have you read it.

  • Phoebe
    March 3, 2012 at 6:52 am

    Also, Cavendish and a new work from Sherwood? I’m in terrific company. Very excited about those, too.

  • April Books & Wine
    March 3, 2012 at 7:08 am

    Okay that Cavendish book — totally my jam. IT LOOKS SO GOOD OH MY GODDDD.

    Also, Sherwood Smith? I need to lose that v-card, I still have not read her books 🙁

    And Antony John? I loved Five Flavors of Dumb, so I’m curious to see what he does outside of contemporary, also pirates are awesome, so yay Elemental!

  • Emy Shin
    March 3, 2012 at 10:04 am

    I’m so very excited for SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo — perhaps my most looked forward to debut this year. I’m also hoping to read THE DARKEST MINDS.

    And DEFIANCE sounds awesome. I’ll have to mark it down.

  • Rebecca @ Crunchings and Munchings
    March 3, 2012 at 11:07 am

    Omigosh, you just got me excited about the second in the Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series all over again! (I review the first in the series here: http://crunchingsandmunchings.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/my-hideous-proto-progeny/)

  • Liz
    March 3, 2012 at 11:40 am

    @Estara — Sherwood Smith briefly had Spy Princess up on her livejournal a few years ago, although it was under the title Slam Justice. I’m sooooo glad it’s finally getting published! It’s set in the more “modern” time just a few years before Sartor comes out of its enchantment. It was the first thing of hers I read after Crown Duel, and I remember really enjoying it.

  • Estara
    March 3, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    @Liz: That must have been before I discovered her ^^ – great to hear your recommendation!

  • StoryLoverX
    March 3, 2012 at 1:56 pm

    My TBR pile is going to explode! You guys always spotlight amazing books!

  • kara-karina
    March 4, 2012 at 3:17 pm

    Defiiance is definitely on my radar! C.J.’s blog is hilarious and the book synopsis pushed all the right buttons for me. can’t wait!

  • capillya
    March 4, 2012 at 11:35 pm

    Whoa, when did Elemental get a cover?! I love it. And Breathe sounds really intriguing, too!

  • jenn aka the picky girl
    March 14, 2012 at 7:08 pm

    I really really really love the covers of those first two, and the stories sound awesome as well! Have added them to my Goodreads account so I can remember them!

  • Claire Legrand
    March 14, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    !!! Thank you so much for highlighting CAVENDISH! Oh this just made my night. I hope you love it! 🙂

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