Book Review: Ten Thousand Skies Above You, by Claudia Gray @claudiagray

Wow. Talk about world building. My favorite thing about Ten Thousand Skies Above You is discovering what Gray has come up with for each dimension that the characters visit.

Marguerite has resisted working for Wyatt Conley, because she knows he's trying to take over all the dimensions. But when Wyatt "splinters" Paul, Marguerite must jump from dimension to dimension collecting his parts while doing some of Wyatt's dirty work. Theo goes with her.

I'm not going to describe the different worlds they encounter, because that's the most fun. How does Gray come up with this? I'm impressed.

I was sucked into Ten Thousand Skies Above You from the very beginning. It's full of action and danger. And the overarching plot moves along as Marguerite discovers more and more with each dimension she visits.

There is a pretty brutal cliffhanger, which I tend to hate, but at least Ten Thousand Skies Above You had a natural stopping point and an end to this part of the story. This one was better than the first, A Thousand Pieces of You, and I think the challenges in the third book will be even more substantial. I, for one, can't wait.

Published by HarperTeen, November 3, 2015
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
432 pages

Rating: 5/5

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Book Review: Illusionarium by Heather Dixon

I was very entertained while reading Illusionarium. However, it doesn't have the "wow" factor to stick with me.

We're in an alternate universe. Jonathan is working with his dad and intends to become a doctor, as is his father. They live on a floating city very far north, so it's very stormy and cold. Everything is covered in ice.

There's a plague in one of the big cities, and the king comes to pick up Jonathan and his father to take them to his lab to find a cure. The queen has this disease, which only women contract and it always kills them in six days.

There's this chemical called fantillium that when breathed in, if you are an illusionarium you can create hallucinations and modify reality so that everyone with you sees what you create. They are supposed to work with a mad scientist that Jonathan's father has worked with before, and she is convinced that it is necessary to use fantillium to find the cure. Jonathan's father thinks she is mad and won't have anything to do with her. Jonathan, however, is more open to this approach, since he is an illusionarium.

There is an alternate universe they travel to and the cure exists there, but Jonathan must pay a huge price to get it. He's put in danger and there are many tense moments. I think the fact that this was all so fantastical made the tension just not that believable. It's kind of like a fairy tale -- you know that everything is going to turn out OK, so you don't get too tense.

The characters are distinct. The evil characters are plenty evil. The "zombies" are totally scary. The side effects of fantillium are interesting and horrid! For fans of steampunk, there are those elements too. The writing is easy and I read Illusionarium very quickly.

For lovers of a fantasy adventure that includes steampunk, Illusionarium might be appealing. For me, it was entertaining, but it's not a book that will leave a lasting impression.

Published by Greenwillow, May 19, 2015
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
368 pages

Rating: 3/5

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Book Review: A Thousand Pieces of You, by Claudia Gray @claudiagray

A Thousand Pieces of You has one of the most unique time travel scenarios I've ever read. Well, it's really not time travel. It's "place travel." Maybe that is why I found it so interesting.

Marguerite, her sister, and her mother are mourning the death of her father.Both her father and her mother are scientists who have been working on a very unique project called the Firebird. Her father has been murdered and  one of his assistants, Paul, has been accused. Paul has deleted all of the pertinent data for the project and has taken the Firebird and disappeared. Both Paul and another assistant, Theo, have been like brothers to Marguerite.

The Firebird is a device that allows a person to travel to another parallel universe. The theory is that there are an infinite number of these dimensions that accounts for every possible outcome of every event. So when you jump to another universe, you take over your own body as it exists in that universe. If you don't have the Firebird to remind you, you can forget your real existence and actually become the person in that universe.

It turns out that Theo has two prototype Firebird devices that he has completed so that he and Marguerite can follow Paul and avenge her father's death. As they travel to the different universes, they encounter many different situations, but always manage to find each other, although sometimes it is difficult.

Marguerite finds out things are not as they seemed. There is also a bit of a romance, and what makes it interesting is that Marguerite must determine if she's in love with the person in just one universe, or does she love that person in her own universe as well.

I really enjoyed the premise of the different universes. It it an interesting topic to think about, and Gray handles it well. The characters were interesting, but really Marguerite is the only one fully developed. I wanted her to succeed but didn't really feel the emotion of the story. There were some conveniences in the plot to help everything move along, but these were few and unremarkable.

A Thousand Pieces of You is the first in a series but this episode thankfully has a conclusion. I am looking forward to another story about this world. I think many teens will enjoy this one too.

Published by HarperTeen, November 4, 2104
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
368 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: Conjured, by Sarah Beth Durst

Conjured wins the prize for the most unique premise of any book I've ever read. I love that. When you read as much as I do, an uncommon book is appreciated.

Eve is being brought to her new home at the beginning of the story. Malcolm, who she is obviously familiar with, and Aunt Nicki, who she doesn't know or trust, are her companions. Eve doesn't remember anything about her past. Not only that, but she doesn't know anything about the world. Like how to undo her seat belt, or what pizza is. Malcolm has been trying to teach her these things for several months.

Eve has visions. After these visions, she blacks out. She doesn't know if the visions are true or just dreams. She knows she's in a witness protection program and that she's had painful surgeries to change the way she looks. The magical killer is still after her. She meets some other kids in the program, but doesn't know whether to trust them or not. They all have weird magical abilities too. Malcolm and Nicki are trying to get Eve to remember what happened during these brutal murders so she can testify.

They get Eve a job as a page at the library, and she meets another page named Zach. Eve and Zach eventually become romantically involved and Zach learns some of Eve's secrets.

There is a lot more to Conjured, but it's best left for you to discover. Conjured is very confusing at times because Eve is confused, and we are hearing the story through her. So we discover all the weirdness right along with Eve.

And Conjured does get weird. About the last 100 pages get very strange and very magical. I really didn't like how steeped in fantasy the resolution turned out to be, but once again, it's really unique. I'm not a huge high fantasy fan, so the otherworldly parts seemed like somewhat of a cop out to me.

If you like books with a lot of unique magic and quite a bit of suspense at the end, you will enjoy Conjured. Just realize that the confusion is all part of the experience.

Published by Walker, 2013
Purchased copy
358  pages (qualifies for my Books You Can Read in a Day Challenge!)

Rating: 3.5/5

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Book Review: Dreams of Gods and Monsters, by Laini Taylor @lainitaylor

What an epic ending Dreams of Gods & Monsters is to an absolutely captivating trilogy.

Dreams of Gods & Monsters is over 600 pages long, and every page is important. There isn't a (beautiful) word wasted. The story is complex, with new characters and the continuation of a mythos so delicious and unique, that the reader finds himself hurtling towards the end wondering how this can possibly play out.

We have our usual main characters, Karou and Akiva, as well as Zuzana and Mik. There's a new character, Eliza, who doesn't seem to fit in, but don't worry -- she will. And every time we think things might be getting better, that they might possibly be in relative safety, all hell breaks loose again and they are back in utter peril.

Angels have appeared on Earth. About 1000 of them, led by Jael, and they want the citizens of Earth to help arm them because the angels have assured the Earth that demons are coming and they need all the help they can get.

Our beloved characters know that this is basically hogwash, and they need to find a way to stop Jael from taking over the earth, as well as Akiva's world.

Taylor does a good job of reminding us what happened in the first two books without retelling the entire story. And I needed that. Dreams of Gods & Monsters is one of those books that really makes you wonder about the mind of the author. How in the world can she come up with this stuff?

Of course there's a continuation of the romance (well, actually romances.) And I really loved the way things turned out for these couples.

It's a good, but not perfect ending. There is still much to do, and I'm wondering about a possible spin-off series? Please?

I'll read anything Taylor writes. Her world building and action-packed plotting are both superb. Some of the characters aren't really developed (too much action to have time for that) but all the important characters are well done.

I can't say enough about the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series. It is an investment, but you will not be disappointed. This is fantasy -- one of my least favorite genres -- but it's so well done, it doesn't seem like fantasy. Don't wait!

Published by Little, Brown BFYR, April 8, 2014
Personal copy
613 pages

Rating: 5/5

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Book Review: As I Wake, by Elizabeth Scott

Rarely has a book kept me thinking, "What the heck?" as much as As I Wake did.

A girl wakes up in a strange bed, in a strange house, in a strange place. She doesn't even know what her own name is. She's lost everything. She screams, faints, and wakes up in a hospital with a person who claims to be her mother. Her mother calls her "Ava." Ava is told she has lost her memory, but the doctors don't know why. Ava thinks she doesn't even belong here.

She starts having dreams, which don't seem like dreams as much as memories. These visions are of herself and her "friends" in a different place, a different life. Many of the people she meets in this new life also exist in the other life. But they are very different, and that life is very different. Very harsh.

Ava begins to remember that she was a spy -- she was spying on someone named Morgan, and they end up in a forbidden relationship. Morgan appears to her in this new life, but he's not really supposed to be there. As you can probably see, there are lots of reasons to say, "What the heck?"

As I Wake kept my interest, mostly because I wanted to figure out what was going on. It was easy to read, and pretty fast-paced. I liked the way Ava analyzed the differences between the people in her old life and new life. She knew a lot about what was "inside" these supposed friends in her new life, because of the way they behaved in the other life. As I Wake did spark some emotions as I was reading. Along with frustration, there was a bit of horror at the conditions of the "other life" although this life is only vaguely alluded to in Ava's visions, so this didn't have as much impact as it could have. And, there is some sadness at the forbidden love aspect.

So, what is that other life? I don't know. That was never explained. I wanted to know more As I Wake is written like a science fiction, but there really isn't any science -- no explanation. There is a romance between Morgan and Ava that is kind of heartbreaking, but what happens at the end doesn't make sense. We were told this "something" isn't possible, and then it happens at the end of the book.

I was pretty confused through the entire book, and then I still felt mostly confused, or maybe I should say unfulfilled, at the end. I can say that As I Wake kept my interest, and I never wanted to stop reading. But after finishing, I was disappointed.

As I Wake wouldn't be the first book I'd recommend to my teens, although there are some I could hand pick that might like it. It's just a hard book to peg -- not really science fiction, fantasy, or horror - although VOYA put it on its "Best of 2010" list for those genres.

Published by Dutton Juvenile, 2011
Copy obtained from the library
269 pages

Rating: 3/5

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