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Perfectly capturing the enterprising spirit of the turn of the 20th century, Gary Blackwood’s Around the World in 100 Days is an enjoyable update on the classic Around the World in 80 Days.  This time around it’s Phileas Fogg’s only son, Harry, whose vision, guts, and bravado will be tested. Caught with the same fire and courage of his father, Harry embarks rashly on his adventure, but this time it’s to prove to the skeptical world that the motor vehicle, his Flash, is the way of the future. Boldly, and sometimes heedlessly testing the limits of technology, Harry and his mechanical-genius Johnny, along with theRead More →

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Check out this review of Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld from briangriggs.com: “I realized today that there is no main antagonist in the Leviathan/Behemoth series. It’s straight character vs. self and character vs. society. I wonder if that’s why students don’t quite get into the action. The only complaint I’ve received is that there’s so much focus on the history and not on excitement. The “focus on history” comment is an interesting one, considering the book is about giant flying whales and steam-powered mechs. Behemoth is a great sequel to Leviathan. It continues documenting the travels of the airship crew as they delve into the Ottoman Empire.Read More →

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  Lingerby Maggie Stiefvater Lingeris the sequel to Stiefvater’s romance, Shiver.  In Linger, Sam and Grace can now be together, but their life is too complicated: Sam’s the guardian of the pack and there’s trouble when wolf Beck changes a guy name Cole.  As it turns out, Cole is famous rock star so it becomes much harder to keep the pack a secret. Later in the story, Grace start to get sick, which leads to a big surprise at the end. I liked this book because it’s a lot like Romeo and Juliet. I think Linger is a good book for people to read because shows that people will do crazy thingsRead More →

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In a country ruled by the iron grasp of a fanatical, paranoid, cruel despot, people are either cowed into submission or so desperate for freedom they turn to guerilla warfare and terrorism.  To strike closest to the ruler’s inner circle and cause the most upset to the veneer of a “peaceful” society, young women are indoctrinated to sacrifice their lives in a fiery blast.  Innocents die on both sides and few question the madness or the methods or if there’s really any difference between the tyranny of the ruler or the ruthlessness of the freedom fighters. No one until Grace. At 17, she has lived her life amongRead More →

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Jill Jekel is devastated by the murder of her father. When the police discover that he had been involved in illegal activities they lose interest in finding his murderer. Jill discovers that her father had been secretly working in his laboratory in the middle of the night and used her college savings account to fund his experiments!  Now with her mother falling apart, Jill tries to find “normal” again. When the mysterious, handsome Tristen Hyde gives Jill attention and support she finds herself curiously drawn to him. And when their chemistry teacher suggests they work together in a competition for a chance to win a 30K scholarshipRead More →

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In the not-too-distant future, the world has been baked dry and select people live a fairly comfortable existence in walled colonies, dependent on hoarded technology, water reserves, and the resourceful masses who exist outside the enclave walls from whom life-sustaining resources are taken on a regular basis.  Aside from foodstuffs and other tangible goods taken in by the Enclave, the most unsettling quota the masses outside the wall have to provide is newborn babies. That’s the world 16 year old Gaia Stone occupies; she lives outside the Enclave walls and is apprenticed to her mother, one of the few midwives whose sworn duty is to take hours-oldRead More →

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I just finished Matched by Ally Condie and loved it! I rarely read a book cover to cover but I read this one in two days. I had to see where it was going to go! A little bit Hunger Games and a whole lot The Giver, Matched is the story of a 17 year old girl figuring out that the utopian society she lives in might not be as flawless as she always thought. Cassia feels as if she’s waited forever to turn 17 and be “matched” with her perfect mate. At the ceremony, Cassia is both surprised and excited that she is matchedRead More →

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Australian author Richard Harland’s newest book, Worldshaker, is an action-packed, fast-paced thrill ride that grabs the reader from the first page and keeps you riveted until the satisfying conclusion. Col Porpentine is the grandson and heir to the supreme commander of the juggernaut Worldshaker. A technological marvel, Worldshaker carries over 10,000 people, including the nobility from the Old Country (formerly England) on an endless trip around the world, consuming resources and leaving a trail of destruction behind.  Col is a privileged member of the upper decks and has never questioned the order of things, the mastery of his people, and the mission of Worldshaker.  But then he meetsRead More →

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Catherine Fisher’s latest fantasy novel, Incarceron, has recently been released in the US by Dial, and this The Times’ Children’s Book of the Year (2007) is worth picking up. Incarceron is a prison unlike anything you’ve ever imagined: its inmates live their whole lives, from birth to death, in an entirely enclosed world with a vast network of cities, underground tunnels, metal forests, and unbound wilderness, all under the ever-present, all-seeing, sentient Eye of Incarceron.  It has been sealed for centuries and only in legend has anyone ever escaped.  Finn, a 17 year old prisoner, has no memories before waking up in a cell 3 years before. EveryRead More →