The iphone has kindle apps, and now the DS will get some books, so maybe ebooks will finally be a viable idea. With all the format wars going on right, it just doesn’t make sense to sink the money into a device thats only good for reading some books.

My only problem with that right now is that this might only be in the UK. Now, I think there shouldn’t be any problem playing a UK game, but buying it might be harder.

Full article.

There is also a related contest on Eoin Colfer’s website. Win a DSi and Artemis Fowl.

And Catching Fire will finally be out in paperback come July.

Full article here.

By Michael Grant

Release Date:
Available Now
Katherine Tegen Books

Ratings
Action
Romance
Characters
Overall

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In an instant all the adults are gone. Everyone over fifteen vanishes. Leaving behind teens, children, and toddlers. A new society not able to deal with no bedtimes, no kisses for boo-boos, and especially not ready to deal with the ambitious teens and bullies who see this as their time to rule.

Sam never wanted to be a hero, but once before he took over when the school bus driver had a heart attack. He saved a bus full of kids that day, and now they expect him to be the hero once more. But all he wants to do is go surf.

But as things fall apart around him, as the true intentions of Cain, the teen ready to be their savior, are quickly revealed, and especially as his 15th birthday nears, Sam realizes that he has to step up, be the savior once more, if just to save his own life.

Wow. This book blew me away. And I had gone into it thinking I probably wouldn’t enjoy it that much. It’s a thick book, intimidatingly thick, and it’s one of those premises that sounds interesting, but you just know it could be done horribly by the wrong author. So I thought this might be the kind of book that I would read a few chapters, decide it wasn’t that good, and walk away from. Little did I know I wouldn’t be able to put it down until I finished it, only to immediately pick up the next book. For such a long book it has an amazing pace and I can’t recall anything I would say needed to be cut (though sometimes I wish something would have been cut, just because I don’t like bad things happening to characters I like, and Grant is not afraid to make bad things happen).

One aspect I really loved was how well Grant was able to make the teenagers/kids really act their ages. Sure, there were lots of moments I wished they would act older, that they wouldn’t be such *kids* but that was one of the best done elements of the book. No adult ideas on how kids should act, these were real kids dealing with a crisis. In general all the characters were well done and unique, I had very little trouble telling anyone apart or forgetting who a character was that hadn’t appeared for a while. Moral ambiguity and the problems of what’s "right" in a crisis also came across well, with might vs. democracy vs. charisma being an early element as the kids try to figure out how to govern their new home (something no one who should take the job really wants to do). These elements make me compare the book to Lord of the Flies, and it is similarly scary in those elements.

I did wonder though why 15 was the cut off for an "adult". Seems like 16 or 18 would have made more sense. I guess it was in part because that was how many years ago the meteor hit, but that only makes so much sense. I’d complain about how even by the end of the second book I didn’t really feel like I had any concrete idea why all of this happened and how, except that it never really mattered to me while reading. The books are so well done that I don’t really find myself caring what brought them to this situation, I’m just fascinated by watching them deal with it.

I’m very surprised I haven’t heard anything about this book. I’ve seen it around, but don’t remember any "You have to read this, it’ll stick with you" sorts of recommendations like Hunger Games got. Yet it deserves the same sort of praise. My personal theory is that because the main character is a boy, and most of the readers/reviewers I hear from are like me and tend towards girl narrators (girls its seems, consciously or unconsciously, tend to be drawn to strong female narrators), they are therefore less likely to give a book like this a chance.Yet, don’t despair lovers of strong females! There are plenty of great girls in these books, from the smart bookworm who is the brains behind the leader (though she’s happy not to be the one ultimately in charge) to the tough healer who just wants it to be over and to stop being so special.

Ratings Reasons:
Action 5 – You’d think a book as long as this would drag, yet it moves at an incredible pace. I don’t recall ever setting it down and being hesistant to go back to it.

Romance 4 – The romance is decent, but for some reason, I just wasn’t quite feeling it. Maybe it was all the other things going on that were more important. Which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the ships.

Characters 5 – There were a lot of characters, yet they all came alive and I felt their pain, hope, and confusion.

Overall 5 – Read it. Please, I want someone to talk to about it! I definitely think this book, and the sequel Hunger, should be getting more buzz.

Extras:
First off, immediatly upon finishing reading this book, read Hunger. Its just as good and interesting, and makes everything even more complex and fascinating.

This seems to be Michael Grant’s first book, but at least his website has a few cool features. First, there is a story on the front page, from the point of view of a character I can’t quite place. Plus, you can find out tips about how to survive in the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone) and take a quiz that will tell you your likelihood of survival. Not counting that I’m over 15 to start with, I scored a 10, so I’d probably survive. Maybe. If I chose the right side.

If you haven’t already read it, another book I’d highly recommend along these lines is Hunger Games. It’s an amazing book and has a similar theme of children/teens surviving in a harsh world, without grownups. Of course, in their world, the grownups are watching them fight to the death.

Lord of the Flies is of course the other book that comes to mind, and now I’m rather sad I haven’t read it in years. Perhaps I’ll have to pick up a copy sometime soon, as most of what I remember of it is actually from the Simpson’s episode.

Parents: 13 + This can be a harsh book, in fact, depending on the kid I might even go higher to saying 16+. There isn’t any sex (though some typical teenage longings), but the characters are in a bad situation that only gets worse. There is violence, death, and teens being as cruel to each other as some of the worst dictators have been. But, it’s also an amazing study of human nature and society, much along the lines of Lord of the Flies.

And the thing I hate most about love triangles is that there seem to be only three ways to end them. (Here I’m only talking about love triangles where all three characters are real parts of the story, and this doesn’t count for unrequited love usually either.)

1. One of the competitors turns out to be evil/bad/too self-involved, some characteristic that makes it perfectly reasonable for the girl to say goodbye to him. Now, this can be well done where the main character has to make a decision about killing a former friend/lover, but in general it’s pretty obvious from the get-go to at least the audience that the love interest is going to turn out bad.

2. Another character is added into a mix who the leftover member of the love triangle can fall in love with. I like this option best, especially if I’ve grown to like the leftover person.

3. Leftover has to die. Typically saving main character’s life/allowing them to live. I hate this option. And now I’ve run into two books in the last month where I could tell pretty early on that that was where the book was headed. One of those books I put down, figuring I’ll pick it up later, the other was one I’m already invested in, so I have to finish it. But I’m almost happier to be prepared that he is going to die. Took me about half the book to figure it out, and I’m a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t realize it earlier. If you want to know what book it is, well, just think about what I’m all excited about just being released. Yeah. I’m invested, but I’ll probably cry when I get there. I did flip to the back of the book to make sure that what I thought was going to happen does happen. I’m mean to myself like that.

So, in general I don’t like love triangles. Every once in awhile one will come along that I think is so well written, so tragic, that I fall in love with it anyways. Wicked (musical) is like that for me, with Glinda, Fiyero, and Elphaba… but even that one has a somewhat tragic ending.

Love triangles just don’t seem to end well. -_-

**Edit -
So I must of misread something at the end of that book I was reading and second guy didn’t die. Though, there is one more book and I wouldn’t be suprised if he didn’t make it to the end. At least the girl finally seemed to have made her choice. Whidh is a little surprising cause I think the author likes the other guy better. So who knows, maybe the “winner” will die instead. Books sometimes pull that as well.

Happy Reading!

By Raina Telgemeier &
Dave Roman
Illustrated by Anzu

Release Date:
Available Now
Del Rey

Ratings
Action
Romance
Characters
Overall

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Kitty Pride has an annoying tendency of falling through the floor. This mutant power marks her as different from those around her, and when a mysterious "old friend of the family" offers her a place at a school filled with students just like her, she decides it’s better than constant teasing and hatred. Now she is the newest student at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and the first girl this school full of boys has seen in a while.

Immediately the boys of the intimidating Hellfire Club invite her into their inner circle. Kitty, shocked at having so many boys suddenly noticing her, eagerly accepts. But she soon realizes that this group of elite boys are only out for their own interests and their interests include making sure humans know that mutants are far superior. How could this end but in disaster?

I’ve been dubious about this title since its first press release. In concept, I liked the idea, a manga/shojo reimagining of the X-Men. In practice, I have some issues with the manga. One thing though before I start sounding all negative is that the art is absolutely beautiful! Some American mangas can come off as looking very American, but this one could easily be mistaken for coming from Japan. The plot also feels very manga-y. From the beginning, I knew the art was going to be amazing, because I’d talked to one of the authors at Stumptown Comic Fest a year ago. I’d asked her about Jean Grey (one of my favorite characters) and I saw the sketches, and she will be appearing in the next volume (she’s a teacher). I tried asking if there would be any romance with Scott (who is a student in this), but she didn’t give a spoiler response, just a shrug of "it’s manga." So I’ll have to see next volume!

The down sides for me come from how the authors chose to “reinterpret” things. My biggest issue is the major change in personality for Bobby aka Iceman. In the original group and ever since then, he’s been the class clown, a jokester. He wasn’t so much in the movies, but I forgave it. Here they’ve decided that since his powers are with ice, he must have an icy personality. Yuck. So far, he acts nothing like the Bobby I’ve always loved. The rest of the characters are decent, I might not like the entirety of the reinterpretation, but I can understand what the authors were going for. Kitty though seems relatively bland, and I feel like it didn’t really matter if it was her or just some new shojo heroine (then again, a lot of people will argue that shojo heroines as a whole are bland and interchangeable). I did love her fear of heights and flying though, which makes perfect sense for someone who can’t control their ability to phase through solid objects (like the floor) and I don’t remember that fear from the comics.

Something that bothers me though is why is Kitty the only girl? I mean, there are plenty of female mutants out there, and yes, I realize it’s for plot purposes and a typical shojo plot. Buuuut, it just seems silly to me, and I’d like to see an explanation. At least in manga it’s usually that it’s the first year that girls have been allowed at an all boys school. It especially bugs me when they make it look like it’s a pretty big school. In the original X-Men, Jean was the first girl, but she was also only the fifth student all together. It’s really hard for me to give a clear recommendation on this book. I enjoyed it, but I can definitely see other fans hating it. The reader who barely knows X-Men, but enjoys manga, superheroes, or mutant stories, will probably enjoy it. Really, other than the Bobby personality issue, I think I could really enjoy this manga. It has a good feel and it’s at least as good as most X-Men redoes. Oh, and a prediction for next volume. It says at the end that there will be more girls at Xavier’s in the next book, so I’m predicting that we’ll see Emma and Rogue. I already know we should be seeing Jean, but she will be a teacher not a student.

Ratings Reasons:
Action 4 - The action scenes move well and are easy to follow, though it’s not exactly a high action plot.

Romance 3 - Eh, it’s sorta there. She likes the bad boy, in part because a boy is paying attention to her, then realizes he really is a bad boy, and realizes who she really has a crush on. It was all right, but not thrilling.

Characters 3 1/2 - I like most of them, ‘cept for Bobby as a I said before, and Kitty was a bit flat. But, in general, they felt like good manga recasting.

Overall 4 - I liked this, though I’m still dubious about it and not quite sure why I enjoyed it. I think like all comic book redoes, you’ve gotta embrace that it is a reinterpratation, and in this case, they are also following the confines of a genre. Old things will be changed, though a good redo keeps a lot familiar, just with a new twist. If you’re a fan of X-Men, superheroes, or shojo mangas, give it a try, from the library if you don’t want to spend the money. It has potential and it speaks to the manga and X-Men lover in me, so I will certainly be picking up the next book. Now, if they ruin Jean Grey, you will see a very very scathing review of the next book.

Extras:
I love the X-Men, but it’s not something that’s easy to get started on. Personally, my favorite run goes from about 1980 to 1990. If you don’t really want to dig through hundreds of comics, I would recommend the 1990’s cartoon X-Men, the 2000’s cartoon X-Men Evolution, or even the new Wolverine and the X-Men. The first two movies are also great X-Men stories. After that, I recommend you pick a character you like, go online to find out what their most important comic issues are, and start from there. That’s what I did back when I was a hardcore X-Men fan.

If you feel like reading more manga after this, another title worth checking out is Ouran High School Host Club, which really seems like it was a big inspiration for this reimagining.

Parents: 13+ Nothing much bad here, just your typical manga stuff. A little violence, a little romance. Still, I’d recommend it for the slightly older reader.

If I could ask the authors some questions, they would be the following:
Why did you choose to use Kitty Pryde instead of Jean Grey, who of course was the original first woman at the school, or Rogue, who is always a fan favorite? Fans who are mostly familiar with the newer media X-Men titles might not be as familiar with Kitty Pryde. Granted, she had a small role in the new movies, and she had a part in X-men Evolution. Still, it seems like there are more popular girls to use.

Why the changes in Bobby’s personality? He has always been defined as a class clown. This change strikes me as the biggest personality redo in the manga.

Why leave Jean Grey and Hank/Beast as the only original X-men who are adults? Hank I can understand, but it seems rather odd to see Jean as an “adult” (though since we haven’t seen her yet, perhaps she is merely in her early twenties) when others like Scott are portrayed as teens.

Do you think hard core X-Men fans will enjoy this manga, or are you writing more for the casual audience who enjoys manga more?

And, as if we needed more types of Twilight, I don’t think I remembered to post on the Twilight Manga from Yen Press.

Seriously, I enjoyed the first three books, the fourth creeped me out, but I just don’t get it… Except, I do get it. Because if I was 13, I would have been absolutely obsessed with these books.

Though I’ve gotta say, I think Robert Pattinson is more creepy looking than sexy.

By Jane Yolen

Release Date:
Available Now
Harcourt Children’s Books

Ratings
Action
Romance
Characters
Overall

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Jakkin and Akki are back, and their troubles are far from over. Previously they’ve been branded as rebels and chased to the hills, but now they are back in civilization and old "friends" are drawing them back into danger. They can’t trust anyone but each other, though their own insecurities help to prevent even that. Heart’s Blood’s brood is following them closely, but not even dragons have the power to get them out of this mess.

I’ve been waiting for this book for years. My copy of the third book in this series, A Sending of Dragons, contains a blurb about this one along with a sample chapter, yet that book came out in 1987 (though I believe my edition is from early 2000). This was beginning to feel like one of those books that would never get published! I highly recommend going back and reading the first three books before you get to this one (whether you’re rereading or starting fresh) as they work better as parts of a whole. This book though has a pretty definite ending, so I’m not sure if any more are planned. Obviously more takes place in this world after the ending, but she does a little bit of fast-forwarding via an encyclopedia article at the end of the book, showing us some of the fate of the characters. Despite the long time period between books, the books still fit nicely together, though you can tell that Yolen has improved and changed her writing craft a bit since the third one was published. In addition to Jakkin’s narrative, we now have get the story from Akki’s point of view as well, necessary as they are separated for much of the book.

This is one of those books that isn’t quite like anything you’ve read before. Yolen creates a wonderful world filled with hard western living and dragons to be trained. Both human and dragon characters are complex, though the dragons are definitely not your “let’s just make them like humans but not quite” cop-outs that you sometimes get when a dragon is a main character. Instead, it’s much more like a boy and his dog sort of story, where the animal is clearly an animal, yet has a life and personality all its own. And of course you often wonder if the animal is smarter than the people!

A great thing about Yolen’s writing is that she clearly understands the world that she is writing about. You just know that she has notebooks full of notes, though thankfully she isn’t the kind of author to make you read long paragraphs that do nothing more than give more backstory.

Ratings Reasons:
Action 5 – Well plotted and action packed, there is plenty for the action addict to enjoy.

Romance 4 – I’d haveliked a little more depth and development to the main romance, as it seems like despite four books, the romance is still rather juvenile. I don’t know if it’s the characters, or the author’s expectations of readership, but I just wanted it to have moved forward a little more. I’m sorry, two teenagers all on their own for a year are totally gonna have done it by now.

Characters 5 – I loved them all. From the heroes to the villains, and the morally ambiguous people in-between.

Overall 5 – If you’ve enjoyed the previous books, then it doesn’t take much guessing to know you’d enjoy this one as well. And if you haven’t picked them up yet, now is the perfect time.

Extras:
Jane Yolen has written plenty of books, and has many more on their way! Upcoming is a graphic novel I’m excited about, called The Last Dragon and it is being published by Dark Horse in 2010. Her website gives you plenty of info about past titles, and you’d be surprised at how many books of hers you’ve probably read since you were a little kid. Her site has lots of information about all of her different books, and I found this quote interesting "I wrote these books because I love dragons. Jakkin and Akki are based on my children who are now in their thirties. Austar is of course named after Australia, which was a penal colony for the British two hundred years ago. I hope in the future to write a fourth book–if I can come up with a plot!"

Another two of my favorite dragon book series start with Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede and Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George. If you like dragon books, all of these titles give us great dragons that aren’t just firebreathing lizards, but ones that have distinct personalities and traits.

Parents: 13+ - I think this will appeal a lot more to the teen reader than a younger one, but there isn’t really any content that I would find objectionable for a younger reader. It just feels like a teen/adult book to me.

Diamond Secret

by Suzanne Weyn

Release Date:
Buy it Today
Simon Pulse

Ratings
Action
Romance
Characters
Overall

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Nadya is a mischievous kitchen girl in a Russian tavern. Having nearly drowned in the Iset River during the turmoil of the Revolution, she has no memory of her past and longs for the life she cannot remember.

Then two young men arrive at the tavern and announce that Nadya’s long-lost grandmother has sent them to find her. Yearning for family and friendship, she agrees to accompany them to Paris for the joyful reunion. Nadya eagerly embarks on her journey, never dreaming it will be one of laughter, love — and betrayal. (summary from Amazon)

For good and bad, this book reminded me a lot of the movie Anastasia. Little details were different, and the magic was removed, but it was still extremely similar and followed the same basic plot. But, I loved that movie. It’s probably still one of my all time favorites, and this book appealed to me for the same reasons I loved the movie. So, I still enjoyed the book a lot despite strong similarities (I wouldn’t call it a knock-off/rip-off, but I would understand if someone else said that).

The historic details were much better though, and Weyn painted the time period well. I enjoy Weyn’s writing style and her use of history, but I wish that she’d been able to find a way to give the tale a new twist, instead of just kind of expanding on the movie. I also enjoyed Sergei (not-Dimitri)’s partner, who I felt was much better developed than his counterpart in the movie (not that I didn’t love Vladimir).

For those who enjoy the Once Upon a Time series, especially Weyn’s books in it (which are typically my favorite), I recommend reading the book, but just accept up front that it’s a lot like the movie–it’ll be much easier to read that way.

The book was also awfully predictable, more so than the typical book in this series. I think it was the title, because the title gives away the "mystery" pretty early in the book. As soon as she starts dreaming about a diamond, you know it’s pretty essential to the plot, even more so than just that a reader knows to pay attention to a character’s dream.

Ratings Reasons:
Action 3 1/2 - Like most books in the series, this one moves at a pretty good clip and it probably has a bit more traditional action than some of the series.

Romance 4 - I liked the romance, but I also found it a touch predictable and obvious, but I can’t fault it that much for those qualities, because I tend to expect and enjoy that in this series of books. The secondary romance, the other main character searching for his missing wife, was also heart-touching.

Characters 3 1/2 - Not deep, but enjoyable.

Overall 3 1/2 - Just accept the similarities to the movie and move on from there. I was a major Anastasia fan girl when the movie came out, so I found myself enjoying it. It’s not the best book in the series, but it’s still a good addition.

Extras:
The Once Upon a Time series is getting pretty big. In general I’ve found every book in this series to at least be an enjoyable light read, but some are definitely better than others. Some of my favorites have been the Crimson Thread (probably the best in my opinion), The Story Teller’s Daughter, Scarlet Moon, and The Night Dance. But all the books will give you a nice quick read that should at least be more enjoyable than staring out the bus window on your morning commute.

If you haven’t seen the Anastasia movie by Fox, go pick up a copy today! This was a great movie with a fun soundtrack, just don’t expect much historical accuracy.

Like always, wikipedia has a lot of information about the real Anastasia and all the controversy surrounding her death and whether or not she might have lived. Unfortunately, we now know that she was most definitely a victim of that bloody bloody night. Yet another time period we need to remember so that we don’t repeat.

I don’t know of any other good fiction books about Anastasia, so if you have any titles to recommend, please do! I’d also be interested in simply similar stories, though in fantasy, the last heir to the throne can be a pretty basic plot point.

Parents: 13+ The book gets slightly graphic about the night Anastasia’s family was killed and could be a little disturbing to a younger reader.

Plus, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters has been announced and has a lovely cover.
http://www.amazon.com/Sense-Sensibility-Monsters-Jane-Austen/dp/1594744424