The Selection by Kiera Cass

Synopsis

Thirty-five beautiful girls. Thirty-five beautiful rivals…

It’s the chance of a lifetime and 17-year-old America Singer should feel lucky. She has been chosen for The Selection, a reality TV lottery in which the special few compete for gorgeous Prince Maxon's love.

Swept up in a world of elaborate gowns, glittering jewels and decadent feasts, America is living a new and glamorous life. And the prince takes a special interest in her, much to the outrage of the others.

Rivalry within The Selection is fierce and not all of the girls are prepared to play by the rules. But what they don’t know is that America has a secret — one which could throw the whole competition… and change her life forever.

This has to be the prettiest book of the year and for that reason alone I wanted to get a copy. It also sounded like a fun read so I was looking forward to its arrive. The synopsis and the first few pages did bring to mind a kinder, softer alternative to many popular dystopian I've seen in the last couple of years. America Singer receives a letter offering her the chance to go into a lottery giving her a chance to be one of thirty-five girls making up The Selection which means she could be wife to the prince. She's not keen as she's already in love but due to her caste as a five there's a chance to improve the prospects for her family. Then there's Aspen, a six and America's secret boyfriend. When he asks her to enter she can't refuse. Of course, there's no way she can be picked - right?

Obviously she is and her life explodes into chaos. First she's whisked off to the castle, meets the thirty four other girls and so begins the competition for Prince Maxon's hand. From this point on it was a bit like a dystopian America's Next Top Model - I loved it. It's a whirlwind of makeovers, dresses, filming, girls being sent home and general shenanigans. Initially, America just wants to see the week out, expecting at any moment to be sent home. After a surprise meeting with the Prince her time at the palace changes from one of surviving for a few days to a different role. America also has to decide who she can trust and keep an eye of the girls vying to stab her in the back. All of this is filmed and streamed into every home so not only will America become famous but her prospects have improved overnight.

I really enjoyed The Selection. America is a good-hearted heroine who goes into the Selection with a set agenda. Of course, things change as America's plan unravels. It's not all froth - the country is under pressure from rebels and the royal family have married off their daughters to get allies. America's family struggle through seasonal work but the lower castes have a far more desperate life. By the time I'd got to the last third of the book I was reading faster and faster to see if she made the choice I wanted her to. At one point I was grinding my teeth as I was worried my hopes weren't going to come to fruition. So, I invested far more into a book that I was expecting just to be pretty and diverting. I can't wait to read the sequel.

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions by Melissa Marr & Kelley Armstrong

Synopsis

A collection of fourteen original teen paranormal short stories from some of today’s bestselling YA talent, united with the common theme of road trips, and edited by bestselling authors Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong.

I'm so excited about short story month here on MFB as there's been loads of great anthologies out this year. Also, it gives me a chance to settle down with the ones that I've collected for this month. I may well revisit this collection later in November but at the moment I adored the story by Jackson Pearce, Things About Love which follows Lawrence from As You Wish. Lawrence is hoping to start a relationship, find someone to love and who will love him.

However genie Juliet appears and she wants to know more about love. Everything she understands about it comes from films or books. She believes that if she kisses a human then she'll understand more. Lawrence agrees to help her and rejects her offer in return - to make the object of his desire, Jeffrey, show interest in him. What starts as a simple request becomes more complicated by the second and Juliet realises that love and emotions aren't as simple as she once thought. Far from being heartless she learns far more than she expected. The ending of the story was gorgeous too - I could happily read a whole book about Lawrence.

I enjoyed the stories by Melissa Marr and Rachel Caine too but won't review them here as both will spoil the series for those who haven't read them. I think that's what attracts me most about anthologies - I can often find out little side stories or follow-ups on my favourite characters.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old American girl Rory has just arrived at boarding school in London when a Jack the Ripper copycat-killer begins terrorising the city. All the hallmarks of his infamous murders are frighteningly present, but there are few clues to the killer’s identity. “Rippermania” grabs hold of modern-day London, and the police are stumped with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. In an unknown city with few friends to turn to, Rory makes a chilling discovery… Could the copycat murderer really be Jack the Ripper back from the grave?

I'm a big lover of creepy, gritty urban stuff so I'm not sure why I didn't rip this from the shelves as soon as it was released. I kept seeing great reviews of it and wondering why I hadn't bought a copy. Anyway, I put that right and sat down on Sunday and was instantly drawn into this modern-day London world that Maureen Johnson had created. I was pretty much sold as she walked her character Rory down the streets of the East End. I don't really know anything about Jack the Ripper apart from the usual facts like no-one knowing who he was and so on. However, I learnt that most of what I thought I knew was in fact untrue.

Rory (or Aurora which she hates being called) has always wanted to come to London to study and gets her chance when her parents move to England for work. I loved how Rory adapts to everything and she has such a wry sense of humour that even in the darkest moments she could be replied upon for a great comment. Before she even arrived in London the first "Ripper-esque" murder has taken place and the capital has gone mad. By the day of the second murder Rory has made great friends and is sneaking out to watch events unfold from a nearby roof. What happens on her return journey I found more than a little chilling.

There's so much to love in this book. Rory has great friends, I adored quiet but determined Jazza with her tea obsession. I joined with both of them in their hatred of Charlotte the head girl. One of my favourite characters was Jo and there's a really poignant scene between her and Rory which I read again as soon as I'd finished the book. The way that Rippermania grips the country is brilliantly done with the attitude of the public, the reliance on the BBC and the way that the hysteria builds. There's also a great deal of fascinating history seamlessly blended in about "dead" underground stations and war-time tragedies. I'm being deliberately woolly about the plot as I don't want to give even the tiniest thing away.

For me this was almost a perfect urban fantasy and I'm so glad this is part one of a series (Shades of London) so that I can immerse myself back into the mysterious, weird and creepy world that Maureen Johnson has created.

Guest Review - Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones

Recurring visitor, friend and all-round cool guy, Darren from Bookzone for Boys and I share a love for all things action and adventure and thrillers.  We also have a deep shared fondness of Diana Wynne Jones so when in turn offered to review her most recent boo, we jumped at the chance.  Here is Darren, as part of Under 14's Only, chatting to us about Earwig and the Witch.

***

Diana Wynne Jones


Since I started The Book Zone I have been incredibly fortunate to meet some fantastic authors whose work I have loved. It is always wonderful to see how passionate they are bout their work and about encouraging kids to read. However, for me there will always be a few regrets in my world of reading, mostly related to the authors I have loved but because they are no longer with us I will never get to meet and tell them how much I loved their work. Roald Dahl is the most obvious example, but on 26 March 2011 another much loved author also joined this list, much to the great sadness of her legions of fans worldwide. I am of course talking about the legendary Diana Wynne Jones, whose Howl's Moving Castle and Castle In The Air both rank amongst my all-time favourite fantasy stories. I therefore jumped at the chance when I was contacted by Tiffany at HarperCollins asking if I would like to review Earwig and the Witch, the last book Diana wrote before passing away.

The blurb:

Everyone knows that orphanages are horrible places. But Earwig has a surprising amount of power over everyone else at St Morwald’s Home for Children, and loves it there. So the last thing she wants is to be sent to live with the very strange Bella Yaga…

Earwig was left at St Morwald's as a baby. Unlike the other children, she loves it there, mostly because she has the run of the place and seems to be able to persuade people to do as she wants. Then one day Earwig is chosen to live with a very strange couple: Bella Yaga, her new 'mother', is actually a horrible witch. Earwig will need all her ingenuity (and some help from a talking cat) to survive…

Earwig and the Witch is classic Diana Wynne Jones, although it is written for a younger audience than the two books I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Compared to these it is a short story (140 pages with largish text and line spacing) that would have great appeal to the 7+ age range as a self-reader who for slightly younger children as a bedtime book read by a parent. Short though it may be it is still nothing short of wonderful and it still contains many of the DWJ traits we have come to know and love: a clever, resourceful protagonist; quirky, interesting characters; lashings of mystery and magic; and humour that will make you and your child giggle incessantly. The story is also accompanied by the beautiful (and equally quirky) illustrations of Marion Lindsay, images that in my opinion capture that tone of the story perfectly.

Earwig has lived in St Morwald's Home for Children ever since she was left on its doorstep as a baby, with the following rather unusual note to explain her abandonment:

“Got the other twelve witches all chasing me. I'll be back for her when I've shook them off. It may take years. Her name is Earwig.”

Differing from many orphanages in children's fiction, St Morwald's has been a very happy place for Earwig to grow up in, although this is in no small part to her seeming ability to get the people around her to do exactly as she says. She likes it so much there that whenever it was the day when people who wanted to be foster parents came to visit the orphanage Earwig would somehow manage to make herself very “unlovable”, and avoid being chosen for fostering. Until the day that Bella Yaga the witch, and her creepy companion Mandrake come calling, and without any hesitation decide to take Earwig home with them. So begins the greatest challenge of Earwig's life so far as she must find a way of exerting her control over this sinister and darkly magical couple.

I would not be surprised if this helps book helps to create a new generation of Diana Wynne Jones fans as those who read it grow up and seek out more of her classic works.

I feel a little mean in that I have one small criticism of this book though, and that is simply that it is that the ending comes around far too soon, and seems a little rushed. I am left wondering whether it was originally intended to be a series or part of a volume of short stories featuring Earwig, especially as that note that was attached to her when she was left on the steps of the orphanage seems to suggest that there could have been a wonderful back-story for Earwig to discover in the future. That one small (and admittedly selfish) gripe aside, this book would make a wonderful present for a child, both because of its story and its beautiful cover and illustrations.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

She turns to the future in a world that’s falling apart.

For sixteen-year-old Tris, the world changes in a heartbeat when she is forced to make a terrible choice. Turning her back on her family, Tris ventures out, alone, determined to find out where she truly belongs. Shocked by the brutality of her new life, Tris can trust no one. And yet she is drawn to a boy who seems to both threaten and protect her. The hardest choices may yet lie ahead…. A debut novel that will leave you breathless.

I am loathe to be another person banging their drum about Divergent and how good it is.  I read Divergent some months ago, because Zoe Marriott could not shut up about it.  She won a copy directly from Veronica Roth and the copy was annotated with these tiny yellow stickys in which Veronica had given glimpses about things like music she listened to whilst she wrote certain scenes etc. I discreetly asked Zoe for her copy and she in turn told Lynsey Newton to pass it on to me to read and it was eventually sent to me with a sticker that said this:

I mean, how on earth could I resist?

And I subsequently read the book in one sitting, cover to cover and adored it. I loved it so much that I started handselling it to everyone I spoke with.  But do you think I could sit down and write a review about it?  It was hard.  It hurt my brain.  So instead I continued to handsell it on Twitter and to my SCBWI friends and to their kids.

This book is superb.  It deals, in quite an adult fashion, with an incredibly difficult choice at a very young age.  How do you choose somewhere to spend the rest of your life? I mean, you are still growing up and don't have all the tools to make this overwhelming decision.  Here, I remembered what it felt like being 15 and having to decide which subjects I wanted to take for the rest of my school career that will ultimately guide me to what I will study when going to university.  It blew my mind.  And it certainly blew Tris's mind as she stood there, having to wait and decide which of the factions she will be going for.  Even though the choice was limited to Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) they seemed far too many choices and yet, equally, far too few.

I am sure most of you know which choice Tris makes but it makes for interesting reading to see her fulfil that choice, the repercussions and the consequences, the lies and the subterfuge that takes place surrounding her choice.

And of course, from this, the whole story hinges on Tris becoming part of her group, figuring out the hierachy of this world and learning about the untruths about the various factions they are told for a variety of reasons.

If, for any reason, you've been looking at Divergent and thought: too much hype, not my thing, girl protagonist, nothing is as good as Hunger Games, I urge you with all my heart to re-look at Divergent and to give it a go.  The writing is superb, as is the world Ms. Roth has created.  Tris is an amazing character and grows so much in Divergent.  Yes, there is a bit of a love interest, and Four is a great match for Tris.  He is a real boy, a strong and independent young man and you can see why Tris falls for him.  And before you put up your hand and say: "eeew, kissing" - I'm happy to say, there is more action, more tooling up with weapons and doing crazy stunts, than there is kissing or staring at each other in a loving fashion.

I feel that I've not done Divergent the justice it deserves with this write-up.  My heart still swells too much thinking about it and I know I want to re-read it soon.  I'm linking to a few others here as I want to give you a taste of what others thought about it.  Here is Zoe Marriott's review which I loved because, as a published writer, she has the opportunity to see the mechanics behind the story and yet, it did not put her off and she loves it.  And this review is from The Booksmugglers whose opinions I value highly and then finally, a review from My words Ate Me (who may just have the coolest blog name EVER!) and who I don't know from a bar of soap, but would like to.

Divergent is one of those books that makes you think.  You read it, put it down and pick it up again.  The good news is that the second book in the series is called INSURGENT and that it is out soonish, but that is all we know right now.  *bites knuckles* Am looking forward to reading the second book very soon indeed.

(PPS #2) Tobias and the Super Spooky Ghost Book by Tom Percival

Tobias and the Super Spooky Ghost Book by Tom Percival is our second Picture Book Saturday feature.  Check out the review below!

Night after night, Tobias the lonely ghost hangs around his empty house, longing for fun - but nothing ever happens.  Until one day a little girl moves in...Tobias can't wait to play some spooky tricks, but he might just be in for a few surprises himself!

Tobias is only small and he lives in this giant ramshackle home with a variety of far older ghosts.  He's lonely and he's bored. Until a little girl called Eliza moves in with her parents (they are alive).  Tobias sees this as the perfect chance to play various spooky tricks on Eliza.  And he wastes no time doing it.

Eliza is of course, as all little girls called Lizzie or Eliza, not that easy to scare and she very soon sees Tobias off with the very book of scary ghostly spells he used on her.  The tables are turned and Tobias runs off scared, until Eliza realises that the creatures she unleashed aren't going back into the book of spells.

All ends well though, thanks to a quick thinking Uncle.  And after extracting a promise from both young people to behave themselves things turn out okay.  Tobias and Eliza are initially tentative of each other but become friends quite quickly and get up to all sorts of mischief.

A great little picture book with truly wonderful illustrations by Tom Percival (whom I met and my copy is signed!) I really loved the wonderful illustrations and would quite happily frame some of the pictures for the wall.  They are bright and vivid and encourages young readers to look further than just what you can initially see on the surface.  I also loved that Tobias has the chance to make a friend his own age, even if there is such a big difference between the two of them (being dead and all) but I also loved that Eliza stood up for herself and gave as good as she got, even if she had to be saved in the end.

This is Tom's great website and find a cool Halloween party pack to download.

MFB spends a Friday with Kath Langrish

I have been a big fan of Ms. Langrish's Seven Miles of Steel Thistles website for some time, especially the series she ran on recently on "Fairytale Reflections" in which she chatted to a variety of amazing authors about fairy tale reimaginings, favourite tales and influences, amongst other things.  I was also very keen to read Kath's novels for younger / teen readers the Troll Fell books.  But I heard a rumour that the books were going to be combined into one book and so I waited.  And waited.  And then unexpectedly Kath asked me if I wanted to be part of the blogtour to celebrate the release of the updated combined 3 Troll Fell novels and I gibbered insanely and of course, I agreed. 

I devoured West of the Moon in a few sittings.  I had been going through my phase of Norse and North European fairy tales at that stage and so this slotted straight in there in what I was reading for my own research and enjoyment.

But here's the thing: the review I'm about to write isn't about the whole book.  I'm keeping that review for later when I run my annual "Viking Week" event later this year.  What I will be reviewing is the first book in West of the Moon, the original Troll Fell novel which, in my humble opinion is one of the best openings to a series for younger readers that I've read in a long old time.

It starts like this:

Original cover, no longer available

The Coming of Uncle Baldur


Peer Ulfsson stood miserably at his father's funeral pyre, watching the sparks whirl up like millions of shining spirits streaking away into the dark.

Dizzily he followed their bright career, unwilling to lower his eyes. The fire gobbled everything like a starving monster, crackling and crunching on bone-dry branches, hissing and spitting on green timber, licking up dribbles of resin from bleeding chunks of pinewood.

The heat struck his face and scorched his clothes. Tears baked on his cheeks. But his back was freezing, and a raw wind fingered the nape of his neck.

Father! thought Peer desperately. Where have you gone?

Suddenly he was sure the whole thing must be a bad dream. If he turned round, his father would be standing close, ready to give him a comforting squeeze. Behind me - just behind me! thought Peer. He turned slowly, stiffly, wanting to see his father's thin, tanned face carved with deep lines of laughter and life. The black wind cut tears from his eyes. The sloping shingle beach ran steep and empty into the sea.

A small body bumped Peer's legs. He reached down. His dog Loki leaned against him, a rough-haired, flea-bitten brown mongrel - all the family Peer had left. Friends and neighbours crowded in a ring around the pyre, patiently watching and waiting. Their faces were curves of light and hollows of darkness: the flames lit up their steaming breath like dragon-smoke; they blew on their fingers and turned up their collars against the piercing wind.

The pyre flung violent shadows up and down the beach. Stones bigger than a man's head blackened and cracked around it. Hidden in its white depths his father's body lay, folded in flames.

I found the opening scene to Troll Fell utterly devastating.  Peer's reaction to his father's death felt very vivid and very clear to me.  I ached for him.  But I was also deeply intrigued.  The funeral flames had not even reached their climax when a large thumping and incredibly brutish character turned up in the shape of Uncle Baldur, not even an uncle Peer knew he had.  It turns out his father had walked away from the life he lead at the mill he grew up at, as he just could not stand being with his step-brothers.  And sadly now with Peer's father's death, the uncles can lay claim to Peer's inheritance and he has to go and live with them in their rundown mill.

Ms. Langrish took great care crafting these odious uncles.  Very little redeemed them.  They were careless ruffians with uncouth manners, being incredibly selfish and they clearly believed the world had done them wrong and therefore everyone (and the world) owed them.  It is not a far stretch of the imagination to figure out the kind of life Peer would lead with them.  He effectively becomes their slave and he has to labour in the mill whilst they go about their business of being scruffy individuals.

Peer makes friends with a vibrant and lovely young girl, Hilde, who lives near the Mill with her parents and younger siblings. Hilde is the type of heroine we want to read about: steadfast, funny, quick to make friends, reliable and competent. She's also a thinker and fast on her feet.  She meets Peer and realises that he is nothing like his vile uncles and of course, the friendship that develops between Peer and Hilde takes some time, but it is a steady one.

In the world of West of the Moon what are supernatural beings to you and I are real dangers to the human  inhabitants.  Trolls, creatures who live in lakes, hobgoblins and creatures from folklore and legend rub shoulders with humans on a daily basis and it is when Hilde's dad decides to go a-Viking, that the trolls start wreaking havoc around their small farmstead. Tie that in with the animosity between the two louts at the mill and Hilde's family, and there is a recipe for conniving and high jinks.

Original Cover

There are times that you read a book and you can tell a writer is a storyteller.  Ms. Langrish is a storyteller - she relishes the stories and the legends of things that go bump in the night, mixed with rich folklore and mythology.  And her characters are all also storytellers.  There are stories within stories here - parents tell stories to children, friends tell stories to each other.  It really enhances Troll Fell making it more than the sum of its parts.  My only complaint would have been, if I had been a first time reader of the series, that the wait between books 1 and 2 and 3 would have seemed far too long.  Although Troll Fell wraps things up quite neatly in itself, you do realise that there is a bigger story being told than just Peer and Hilde's stories. I look forward to sharing with you what happens in books 2 and 3 during my Viking Week later this year.

Enough from me, here is my guest post from Kath Langrish about the craft of writing and the folklore used in West of the Moon.

What is the hardest part of the writing process?


Making a start! You know, in the fairy tales, when the princess has to climb the glass mountain? That’s the way it feels when I set about writing a new book. There’s this ghostly, glassy, perfect pinnacle rising up and up ahead, wreathed in mists and it can be very daunting. It’s so difficult things getting the beginning right, and I can never go on until I’ve got it right, it’s like a launch platform. I generally go over the first few pages anything up to thirty times before I’m happy with them.

What about the folklore in your books – do you do much research?

I do, and I love it. That’s one of the best parts, spending hours wrapped up in old books of folklore and fairy tales. For ‘West of the Moon’ I read widely in the Norse tradition – not myths about gods, but tales of trolls and neckans and water spirits - for example the fearsome draug or draugr (pronounced roughly droirer with a rolled r) who sails the seas in half a boat with a crew of drowned men. His scream foretells storms and doom. And there’s also a Native American element of folkloric personages, mainly from the traditions of the Mi’kmaq of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, including the jenu: a sort of cannibal ice giant. I spent about six months in the Bodliean researching those tales!

How would you finish this sentence: A successful author is someone who…


How do you measure success? Somehow it keeps moving ahead of us, like the horizon you never quite reach. Before I was published, success meant simply that – getting into print. Then, of course, you start to measure success against better sales, or higher profile, or awards. But in fact, I’d say a successful author is someone whose books you want to re-read.

What are you writing next?


I’m about to begin taking the first few slippery steps up the glass mountain. My next book (or two: this may well spill over into a duet or a trilogy) will have a very different kind of setting: a drowned London three hundred years into the future. I have some strong characters I’m getting to know, and there’ll be mythical and folklore references as well as a sci-fi feel. I’m very, very excited about it…

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?


Please take the time to think. Thinking is just as much part of creating a novel as actually setting the words down. Don’t feel pressured to start too early, and don’t feel guilty if you’re not hammering out those two thousand words a day. (Me? I sometimes don’t write more than fifty. Or I end up with fewer words at the end of the day, because I’ve been cutting and unpicking.) Often, if you get stuck, it’s a sign that you’re veering off course with the book – maybe trying to force a character to do something they wouldn’t. Give yourself time out. Go off and do something different and let your subconscious mind come up with the answers.

Original cover

What a great bit of advice in this last section - it is all really very pertinent to my current situation! 

**COMPETITION TIME**

I have ONE copy of West of the Moon to give away and I'm throwing it open iinternationally. Yes, people - world-wide.  In order to be counted as an entry, recommend to us some of your favourite reworkings of mythology/folklore/fairy tales.  I have an insatiable appetite for these and I know a lot of readers on MFB are the same.  So share what you've found and remember, when entering, leave some way for me to get hold of you via email or Twitter.

The competition will run from today, 18th March to next Friday, 25th March.

Be sure to follow Kath and her blog-tour to Girls Without a Bookshelf on Monday, 21st March 2011.

The Pain Merchants by Janice Hardy

Nya has a secret she must never share… A gift she must never use… And a sister whose life depends on both. This astonishing debut novel is the first in the epic dystopian fantasy adventure trilogy, THE HEALING WARS.

Fifteen-year-old Nya is one of Geveg’s many orphans; she survives on odd jobs and optimism in a city crippled by a failed war for independence. Nya has a deadly secret. She is a Taker, someone who can extract pain and injury from others, but with unusual differences. Her sister Tali and other normal Takers become Healer’s League apprentices and put their extracted pain into enchanted metal, pynvium. But Nya can’t dump pain in this way. All she can do is shift it from person to person. When Nya’s secret is revealed to the pain merchants and the Healer’s League she is flung into danger. Then a ferry accident floods the city with injured, Takers start disappearing from the Healer’s League and Nya’s strange abilities are suddenly in demand. Her principles and endurance are tested to the limit when Nya’s deadly powers become the only thing that can save her sister's life.

Good fantasy for the YA market is always such a treat to read. Especially when it is done as well as The Pain Merchants. The writing is super easy to read as it flows and draws you in and before you know it, you're a hundred pages in and you realise you've not blinked enough.  And then you make excuses to catch a few more pages of reading by taking a longer commuting route to work...

Nya's predicament is that she has the ability to take in a lot of pain when healing people who are injured. She can then pass this pain onto another person and it's generally called shifting the pain and it makes her a Taker. It is a rare ability and one that is frowned on by the authorities. Nya's younger sister, Tali, is being trained as a Healer at the League. There are different levels of healing and Tali is still quite young, but she is good at what she does. The healers empty the pain they absorb into a large stone called pynvium and trouble starts when a) pynvium shipments are late in arriving due to a war taking place elsewhere and b) the pyvium that is around becomes very expensive to obtain.

Nya lives a hand-to-mouth existence. She's good friends with hunger and is used to working hard doing menial tasks to get enough money to pay for her rent or for food. When the ferry accident happens she wades in to help as many people as she can. But the toll of so many injured people is high and some are badly hurt and a lot of them die as a consequence.

Nya is abducted and taken to a pain merchant's shop and asked to perform a healing. She refuses, insisting that the damage done to the injured person is too great and that it would kill the person she's shifting the pain to. But then the old man, a fisherman, begs her to go ahead and do it. He's been promised a great deal of money to take the pain of the nobleman's child and the money should be able to help his family survive, even if he dies. Nya herself is offered a considerable amount of money to to shift the pain. In the end, she reluctantly agrees to do what they ask of her.

Nya also helps a young man, a boy only slightly older than herself. His dad had been caught up in the ferry accident and the boy, Danello, begs Nya to please help them. He can't pay in much money but he can offer her a place to sleep and some food. Nya is destitute and she agrees. She shifts some of Danelle's dad's pain to him and his twin brothers but she keeps a lot of it for herself.

This is only the start of Nya's troubles. Soon it becomes clear that word of Nya's gift has spread. People are actively searching for her and when she meets with Tali at the local park she tells Nya that some of the novices at the Healer's League are disappearing. They are taken from their beds and then they are just gone, never to return. Then, not too long later, word reaches Nya that Tali herself has disappeared. Nya goes out of her mind with worry. Tali is her sister, she is prepared to do anything to find her sister.

There is a lot going on in The Pain Merchants but the author makes juggling it all look easy. I already mentioned how ridiculously easy it was to get stuck into The Pain Merchants. The writing is great, the plot is not necessarily something new, not for old hand fantasy readers like myself, but what keeps it fresh is the characters, especially Nya. The voice reminded me strongly of Fire by Kristen Cashore - in that you never doubted Nya for one instance. You knew that this girl could suck it up and get on with it. Her voice was always clear, it never wavered and the fact that she kept moving forward, no matter what setbacks she faced, endeared her to me.

Great kudos to the author for creating a very believable situation for the story to be rooted in. The political machinations are touched on with a deft hand and it never gets so heavy that it bogs down the story and I really thought it helped move the overall feel of the story along. You slowly become aware of the world outside of Geveg, of the overall unhappiness of the long-time residents who have become second class citizens when their city was taken over by the Baseeri after the Duke decided to add it to his conquests. More refugees trickle in from nearby states as the Duke continues with his rampage across the lands, subjecting everyone to his iron rule.

It is up to Nya, Danello and Nya's friend Aylin to figure out what exactly is going on in the Healer's League and even so, once they find out what's going on, what will they do about it? That is, if they can do something about it.

A thoughtful, fast paced fantasy novel that would suit younger as well as older adult and established readers of the genre. It is also one of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize shortlisted titles which is a great bit of luck as it is really a good, satisfying read.

Find Janice Hardy's website here.  The Pain Merchants is out now and published by Harper Collins UK.

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

Synopsis:

Buffy meets Dr Who meets Ghostbusters in this thrilling new book you won't want to put down!


Stephanie's uncle Gordon is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction.

Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source – the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard.

When all hell breaks loose, it's lucky for Skulduggery that he's already dead. Though he's about to discover that being a skeleton doesn't stop you from being tortured, if the torturer is determined enough. And if there's anything Skulduggery hates, it's torture…

Will evil win the day? Will Stephanie and Skulduggery stop bickering long enough to stop it? One thing's for sure: evil won't know what's hit it.

I've had Skulduggery Pleasant on my bookshelf for ages and ages.  I bought it maybe over a year ago, the first one, that is and it's taken me this long to push aside my concerns to actually sit down and read it. 

My concerns were normal ones: will I be able to suspend my disbelief that a skeleton can be a main character in a book?  How over the top will it be and will I actually like the characters?  Especially the titular Skulduggery himself. I had doubts - I loved the covers and having spoken to younger folk about the books, I suspected I may be in for a treat.

If you're a long-time reader on MFB you'll know how I am always happy to say how stupid and wrong I've been about things in the past.  This is no different.  I've wasted a year since buying the first one, when I could have been running amok with Skulduggery and Valkyrie.  But, you know what convinced me to read it?  An article by the author Derek Landy in one of the writing magazines I'm subscribed to.  I was struck by his voice and thought that if he could carry that voice across into SP, I'm being an eejit not reading it.  So I packed it into my commuting bag and hey presto, I subsequently fell for Skulduggery, Valkryie, Tannith, China and Mr. Blush, among others.

Firstly - the novel is completely over the top in the sense that it suffers from a high concept - a skeleton that is a detective, a young girl side-kick taking on dangerous minions and facing off against some truly dangerous bad guys...How would they relate? How would the author make it work?

Derek Landy makes Skulduggery work through strong characterisation, a clear sense of fun and bucket loads of sarcasm and trueisms.  Oh, let's not forget about a clever plot, interesting backstories and friends that are as dangerous to know as any enemy.

But mostly, what I loved and appreciated very much in Skulduggery Pleasant is that the main character is a girl.  Stephanie Walker who becomes Valkyrie Cain. She is definitely the fore-runner of characters like Katsa and Katniss, that's for sure.  Albeit much younger than these two very well known heroines of contemporary genre fiction, she holds her own as someone I really do want to hang out with.  When she inherits her uncle Gordon's mansion, she's quite surprised but you know, she's a pretty together kid, sensing that there is more to this than just Gordon being a bit weird.

Events conspire and she is left in the house by herself overnight - and it is then that things go a bit more than just freaky.  Someone tries to break into the house and abduct her.  They mutter about "the key" and of course, Stephanie has no idea what they're on about.  Whilst she's busy defending herself the door gets blasted off its hinges and Skulduggery Pleasant walks in, beats up and tosses out the bad guy.  She recognises him from the funeral and from the reading of the will.  She thinks there's something weird about this sharply dressed man, with his big scarf, sunglasses and hat.  When the reveal comes that SP is actually a skeleton, Stephanie takes it relatively well.  But this first introduction with the pair of them just sparks wonderfully as it's dripping with sarcasm and disbelief. 

It sets the tone of the rest of the book and the series as Stephanie convinces Skulduggery that he definitely needs her help in trying to figure out what is going on.  Who are the bad guys, what do they want, who is Skulduggery, what is the mystery about Stephanie's family and how is it that some of Skulduggery's friends are so dangerous he warns Stephanie not to talk to them?

Packed with action, Stephanie hits the ground running as SP's new side-kick.  Through her eyes were are introduced to a cast of truly gloriously named characters such as Ghastly Bespoke for instance.  As the story unfolds we learn the reason as to why Skulduggery is a skeleton and you can't help but feel for him.  The pathos is very light and we concentrate mostly on Stephanie's coming of age in this book.  We are with her as she realises that her path is different to the norm and how she was right to feel that she was different to ordinary kids at school.  But we also have great character growth in Skulduggery who only reluctantly took her on as a side-kick and in the end, he becomes one of her staunches supporters.

The camaraderie between Stephanie and Skulduggery is an absolute dream to read - they snipe and argue but it is done in a way that never becomes irritating or samey.  Another thing I loved about this is the overall tone of the book.  It is solid and systematic and it never talks down to its readers.  To my mind it's sort of accidental that Stephanie is a younger person.  And importantly, Skulduggery never ever treats Stephanie as a kid and importantly, he never turns around and says: you can't do that, because you're a girl.

I cannot be more pleased with this series.  I'm reading the second book at the moment and it picks up a few months after the events of book 1 and I am so excited to see Stephanie /Valkyrie form a tentative friendship with the amazingly named Tannith Low.

Tannith's role in the first book is one of muscle - she is a great warrior herself and takes on looking after Stephanie to a certain extent.  But again, she never actually smothers or babies Stephanie.  And it makes my little heart happy to see two very strong female characters written about in such a strong and decisive way.  I think I may love Derek Landy just a little.

As Stephanie finds out more about this shadowy dangerous world she now belongs to, she never baulks.  Like so many great female characters gone before, Stephanie keeps moving forward, undeterred by attacks by vampires and other creatures.  With Skulduggery at her side, they form a formidable team and one that the Sanctuary bosses aren't entirely sure they are keen on. 

There are still several mysteries for me to figure out - about Skulduggery and the world he inhabits and I can't recommend this first book in the series enough.  It really surprised me as the writing is just so blindingly good and well, it was a long courtship but I do love Skulduggery Pleasant.  Find the first chapter of the first book here.  I can definitely recommend this to confident readers aged 10+ and importantly, it can be enjoyed by readers of both sexes.

Birth of a Killer by Darren Shan

Synopsis

When Larten escapes the terrible workhouse in which he toils, he doesn’t know that he is running from an early death… into another kind of transformation. After meeting the mysterious vampire Seba Nile while sheltering for the night in a crypt, Larten finds himself drawn into the shadowy world of the vampire Clan. As he travels and learns, Larten finds himself enjoying the adventure he has always dreamed of, seeing a world beyond any he suspected in his poverty-stricken youth. But Larten begins to discover something else, too. Much like death, becoming a vampire is something you can’t come back from…

I read and enjoyed Cirque du Freak and was excited to see that Larten Crepsley is the focus of this new series. The Larten we know is world weary and battle scarred but Birth of a Killer shows us the beginning and his journey into vampirism. Larten comes from crushing poverty; he works seven days a week at a silk factory, a place that can only be described as horrific. It's run by an awful foreman who is so evil he once bit the nose off one of his workers. We meet his parents, brothers and sisters and get to understand his humble start in life. A tragic course of events leave Larten with nowhere to go so he hides out in a crypt and is eating cobwebs when he meets up with his future master; Seba Nile.

Although we know that Larten is destined to become a vampire the story of how he got there is full of twists and turns. I loved seeing his experiences in the Cirque du Freak and a fresher younger Larten than the one I was used to. The story about how he happens to have such bright hair is a great one. This is just one of the unexpected aspects of his background that adds so much to the story. We get a great deal of insight into vampire politics too; as Larten's master is an ancient vampire he is more traditional and strict than Larten is later to his own apprentice.

There's plenty of blood and gore to keep horror fans happy but I thought this was a much more grown up book than any of Shan's previous ones. Part of me feels that Larten has endured the worst of life in the opening chapters and that his life improves greatly as soon as he meets Seba. This could be a weakness if it wasn't for the brilliant characterisation by Shan. Larten's struggles, although alien to us, are full of the sort of insecurities than most readers will be able to relate to: girls, socialising, acceptance and rejection. Larten's relationship with Seba is quite touching too as he becomes Larten's surrogate father throughout the years. The story hurtles though time and we see Larten becoming an adult (and a vampire) in this first book although physically he's hardly aged at all.

This new book is full of promise for the rest of the series. I look forward to seeing how Larten copes with the next set of challenges which are heading his way. Also, the complicated vampire hierarchical society will hopefully be more fully explored in the next book. As so many years were covered in this first book I wonder whether the next one will slow down slightly and if so which era of Larten's life will be concentrated upon. Great start to a series with the familiar to allow you to feel as if you've settled down to have a chat with an old friend but enough new material to make it feel fresh.

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Synopsis

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.

Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

I've just finished reading a brilliant book recommendation (The Painted Man - thanks Liz!) so have been suffering from that bereft feeling you get when you want to read it all over again. I've been looking at this book on and off and finally decided to give it a try. Firelight is full of action from the first page. Jacinda and her fellow draki friend Azure are doing something they shouldn't be - flying in daylight. Found by hunters who want her for her beautiful skin and ability to find precious stones, she hides in a cave and is found by hunter Will. He doesn't betray her but more than that he finds her beautiful, not merely an animal to be killed.

By breaking the rules Jacinda's safety is at risk and her Mum takes her away in the middle of the night with her twin sister to start a new life in the desert. Jacinda's mum knows that this dry atmosphere will kill the draki inside her leaving her human. Jacinda's twin, Tamra, never became a draki and is overjoyed with the chance to move out of her sister's shadow. Everybody is happy except Jacinda.

I loved this book (apart from one gripe which I'll come to later) and the difficult family relations give it a great edge. I was as furious as Jacinda that her mum expected her to endure the dry conditions whilst the most important part of her literally withers and dies. While Tamra flourishes at school, popular for the first time in her life, Jacinda is out of place and unimportant until she meets Will again. The connection between them is instant and the development of their relationship is deliciously intense. It's not easy, both of them seem to fight against their bond. Although Jacinda is finding it difficult to transform into her draki form she finds that being in close proximity to Will feeds it. When with him her draki flourishes; a mere kiss has her skin changing and steam threatening to escape her lungs. I absolutely adored Will and Jacinda together; they're everything a teen romance should be.

Obviously there's another boy. In this case it's Cassian, next leader of the pride. As Jacinda is a rare fire-breather he expects to marry her. Of course he isn't going to let her leave the pride without a fight which adds an extra element of drama. In fact, Jacinda finds herself fighting for herself at every turn. This makes her an incredibly likeable heroine and she doesn't make one choice that jarred with me as the reader.

But now to my one negative - this book is too short. Just as the action reaches fever pitch it's over and, dammit, I wanted more. However,the cliff hanger ending is exciting. This is part one of a trilogy and I'll be first in the queue to get the next book. The best word I can use to describe Firelight is breathless. Gorgeous start to a new trilogy which I highly recommend.

Department 19

Potential recruits Mark de Jager, Liz de Jager and Amanda Rutter attended a top secret event at the Churchill War Rooms last night.

Under strict security we were allowed entrance to a highly classified area where we were made to partake of snacks and wine.  Not so bad then.  That was until the briefing.

We were informed in strictest confidence that it is only due to the existence of Department 19 that we as humans are still alive today.  We sat through the briefing and listened with growing amazement to an elaborate tale of dark forces and monsters encroaching on our shores.

It was an eye-opening experience.  We were shocked, to say the least.  Needless to say we were in need of more wine and snacks after the briefing and interview with the chronicler of the case files for Department 19.

The following are some highly classified photos of the event.  Please, whatever you do, make sure not to let the wrong people see these.

Operatives present at the evening looking as concerned about the new recruits as the new recruits looked and felt being in this unfamiliar territory. 

High ranking operatives and case files chronicler, Will Hill. 

We are introduced to the existence of Department 19.

The awful inevitable truth. 

As Mark, Amanda and I continue our training within Department 19 we will be able to share with you more and more, so please, make sure to check back regularly for updates on both MFB and Floor To Ceiling Books.

Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones

When Andrew Hope's magician grandfather dies, he leaves his house and field-of-care to his grandson who spent much of his childhood at the house. Andrew has forgotten much of this, but he remembers the very strong-minded staff and the fact that his grandfather used to put the inedibly large vegetables on the roof of the shed, where they'd have vanished in the morning. He also remembers the very colourful stained glass window in the kitchen door, which he knows it is important to protect. Into this mix comes young Aidan Cain, who turns up from the orphanage asking for safety. Exactly who he is and why he's there is unclear, but a strong connection between the two becomes apparent. There is a mystery to be solved, and nothing is as it appears to be. But nobody can solve the mystery, until they find out exactly what it is!

Diana Wynne Jones is a new-to-me-author. But she's not a new author, of course. Having seen her on the bookshelves at various bookshops and having seen Howl's Moving Castle, I knew who she was, but I've not read any of her books. Until now. I was eventually tempted to buy Enchanted Glass because I loved that cover so much and wanted to own it for myself. I had also heard from the media online that it is a pretty ace book.

I leapt into Enchanted Glass and struggled a bit. I really had issues with her voice and for the longest time I couldn't figure out which way the book was going as it seemed to be a little bit directionless.

*rolls eyes*

Oh, the stupidity of me. HOW could I have doubted someone as skilled as Diana Wynne Jones? Where I thought I was the one floundering, I was being shown Andrew Hope's slightly aimless existence as he moves into his grandfather's old house (Meltstone and tries getting used to everything there. We are shown the peculiar members of staff he has to deal with on a day to day basis and how people in the nearby village fully expect Andrew to know about this mysterious "field of care" business. What is that anyway?

Everyone seems keen to run poor Andrew's business for him. Everyone except young Aidan Cain whom I personally grew to like a great deal. Aiden's grandmother has passed away and he's run away from his foster parents to Meltstone House as he was told by his Gran that he would be safe there.

Andrew was fond of his grandfather and loved his time at Meltstone House as a child. But too many years locked away in an office, lecturing and forgetting that real magic is closer than you might think, has dimmed his perceptions to what is clearly a not average household and responsibilities.

With the help of Stashe Stock, an organised, slightly bossy young woman, Andrew has no choice but to try and figure out what exactly is going on in Meltstone House. On his plate is a border dispute with the obnoxious Mr. Brown who seems intent on taking land that does not belong to him (and threatening neighbours with it), what is the real story of Aiden Caine, what or who is the mysterious creature that eats the oversized vegetables Andrew leaves on the roof of the shed (as instructed by his grandfather all those years ago) and will Mrs. Stock ever stop moving the furniture around? But most importantly, what exactly is this field of care he has been given the responsibility for and what does it do? And what should he do about it?

I genuinely loved this book. It took me by surprise. My initial thoughts were not flattering at all and then suddenly, when I realised what was going on, how things fit together, I had a real facepalm moment of: how did I not see that happening?

Enchanted Glass is a tremendously enjoyable novel for younger readers but also for older and adult readers. It has action, adventure, mystery, suspense, nasty creatures, good people, shapeshifting dogs and countrylife shenanigans. It really has it all and it is written so well. I have got two other books lined up to read by her too, for later this month, so I've definitely become a fan.

Nearly Departed by Rook Hastings

Synopsis:

I've seen a ghost," said Emily. "Well, not seen one exactly. Heard one. At least, I think I have…"

Everything has a rational explanation. Unless it doesn’t. Welcome to Weirdsville…

Woodsville is not like other towns. Night falls a little earlier there, the shadows are darker and denser, and everyone knows it's a place where strange things happen. Even if they won't admit it. Bethan would prefer to be anywhere but here. Jay has his theories, but isn't ready to share. Hashim sees more than he'll say, while Kelly's demons are all too flesh and blood. But Emily's freak-out brings them out of denial and face to face with the supernatural. Anywhere else, Friday night would be date night. But not in Weirdsville…

Ready to be freaked out? Thought so. This little number from Harper Collins Children's Department winged its way to me recently. Now, scary books have to be read at night. So that's what I did with this one. Not quite expecting to freak out quite as much as I did. (Case in point, Mark unexpectedly knocking on the door during the big-ass revelation towards the end of the book, as I was lying on the couch, close to midnight. I think I may have levitated a few centimetres off the couch!)

Our four main characters are swiftly introduced: Bethan, the intelligent girl with the black nailpolish and the wish to live anywhere but here; Kelly, scariest girl in town, quite pretty but with a mouth and attitude on her that scares everyone, except the guy who wants her dead; Jay, geeky kid who knows random things about random things and finally, Hashim, athlete and soccer star who's probably more clever than he lets on and also, a good guy.

It is when Emily, the most quiet, the most mousy and the most unnoticed girl in school pipes up with a confession during English class (they were discussing Hamlet, what with the ghosts and witches and such) and confesses that she's heard a ghost, in her home, that kickstarts Nearly Departed. Alarm bells went off in my head. For a shy character to do something so out of the ordinary, and out of character, knowing the ridicule and vitriol she was exposing herself to, jolted me out of my comfort zone and I realised as a reader, something “other” was going on here. No one will voluntarily say or do something like this to stand out from a crowd, not someone as painfully shy as this girl has been shown to be.

With some clever canoodling by the teacher, Kelly, Jay, Hashin, Bethan and Emily are grouped together to rewrite scenes from Hamlet - updating to be read in modern language. Of course Jay’s over the moon, here’s a chance to figure out if Emily has really heard a ghost. Using amazing persuasive powers, he manages to convince Emily, Kelly and Bethan to meet up after school to talk this through. Hashim legs it, not keen to take part in it.

I’d like to point out here that Ms. Hasting’s has managed to get the dialogue and attitude of these teens just right! I loved the sarcastic comments, snide remarks and temper tantrums - they felt fantastically real and fun to read. It lent a credibility to the characters which I enjoyed exploring.

Out of the whole group, my favourite character has to be Hashim. He just comes across as too cool - but down to earth at the same time, a tough contradiction to bring across. Kelly undergoes the biggest transformation as the story progresses and Jay has to come to terms with some hard family truths (which surprised me and pleased me) whilst Bethan realises that there is more to her than she expected and that Weirdsville needs heroes.

Nearly Departed is a clever book. I should have seen the twist in the tale a mile off but I was so involved, nose to the page, that it took me utterly by surprise. It’s definitely aimed at the older range of young adult readers - purely for the fright factor, I’d say. Also, is a lovely looking book and hopefully ones that boys won’t be too worried about picking up because, at it’s core, Nearly Departed is very much an adventure - an overcoming the monster novel and discovering your destiny type of novel.

To be fair, there is very little on the negative side I would even consider saying about Nearly Departed. Sometimes, you read a book and it just gels so well together, you look back at it and you think: wow, I wish I didn’t read that so that I can read it all over again, afresh, anew, because it’s such fun. This is the case here. My only gripe: I thought it started a bit slow but to be honest, after the initial slowness it picked up pace and shook me around like a ragdol.

A word of warning though: it’s scary. I’m not someone who scares easy but this one...it freaked me a little!

Nearly Departed is out now. Go buy a copy and love Rook Hastings before everyone else!