Book Review: Hunger by Donna Jo Napoli

Hunger is a great introduction for younger teens to what is commonly known as the Irish Potato Famine.

The story is told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old girl, Lorraine. Her family are tenant farmers and Hunger depicts the extreme hardships of the Irish people during the long winter with no food.

Because of a chance meeting in the woods, Lorraine meets a rich English girl, Susannah, who is the landlord's daughter.  Susannah is privileged and has no idea of the suffering of her father's tenants. She has been told they are lazy. Lorraine tries to set her straight, and Susannah at least helps her with some additional food.

Starvation brings with it diseases and death, and Napoli doesn't shy away from this truth.  The English are not made to look very good.

The ending does leave the reader with some hope, but if you read the detailed history of Ireland at the end of the book, there is still a lot of hardship ahead for these people.

Hunger would be most appealing to middle-grade students, but older students with an interest can also learn from this tale. Hunger is a relatively short book and keeps your attention, so reluctant readers interested in historical fiction should be pointed to this one.

Published by Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman, February 13, 2018
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
272 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Audio Book Review: Morning Star by Pierce Brown

Morning Star is the third book in the Red Rising Trilogy and will whip your emotions around like a tornado.

This review may have spoilers from the previous books, Red Rising and Golden Son, so proceed with caution...

Darrow is a captive at the beginning of Morning Star. But we know he's been in many, many hopeless positions before, so somehow he's going to get out of this one. And he does.

If you read my reviews of Red Rising and Golden Son, then you will recognize some of the same statements in this review.  This is a war book.  There are battles and more battles.  Characters get killed. There is never a respite.  So many betrayals and surprises.

Along with the battles are epic twists and turns. There is never a dull moment.  As I have said about all three of these books, they are bit long and drawn out.  I actually finished this one by reading the ending (rather than listening) because I was getting tired of waiting. There is a lot of brutality and suffering. And, there are so many characters.  It had been so long since I read Golden Son. I had a hard time getting my bearings since Brown doesn't really give you much of a review.

I don't think these books are Young Adult, as I have been saying in my previous reviews.  The world is very complex.  There is nothing to keep teens from enjoying this series, but it's going to take more of a commitment than they are used to.

Morning Star is supposed to be the conclusion.  It even says that on the back of my copy.  But there is a new 4th book that was released January 16 called Iron Gold. Now that the war is over, Iron Gold is about the rebuilding.

The narrator, Tim Gerard Reynolds, does a great job.  He sounds a bit like like Anthony Hopkins. I'll quote from my review of Golden Son: Those who enjoy adventure, fearsome battles, and fantastical worlds and creatures will not want to miss the Red Rising Trilogy.

Published by Del Rey, 2016, audio by Recorded Books, 2016
Audiobook obtained from the library
518 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: 13 Minutes, by Sarah Pinborough

13 Minutes isn't an ordinary story.  Don't think you have it figured out -- well, at least not a first.

Tasha ends up in the freezing river and is clinically dead for 13 Minutes. She wakes up not remembering anything of the entire 24 hours before she ended up there.

Tasha is the most popular girl at school, and along with her two friends, Jenny and Hayley, are called The Barbies. Becca used to be Tasha's best friend, along with Hayley, but when Jenny showed up, Tasha was quick to discard Becca.

Now, after Tasha's accident, Becca decides to visit her in the hospital.  After Tasha recovers she reconciles with Becca and they start to build a new friendship.  Hayley and Jenny don't like this. And they are acting very weird about Tasha's accident.

So begins Tasha's and Becca's attempt to figure out what really happened to Tasha and what did Jenny and Hayley have to do with it?

That's really all I want to say about the plot. It seems like the ending--like we all know what happens--at about 60% of the book. I must say, I almost got a bit bored prior to this point.  There was a little bit of a drop in pace, but that makes the rest of the book even better! So how can the wrap-up be over 100 pages long? Like I said, you haven't figured it out--yet.

13 Minutes is a well-crafted page-turner that you won't be able to stop thinking about. It is very entertaining, if tragic, to see how everything unfolds.  Pinborough carries the reader along as all is revealed, and it's a juicy ride, fraught with betrayal, romance, back-stabbing, and lies!

Give 13 Minutes to your teens who love twisted, exciting mysteries that will easily keep their attention. I think 13 Minutes would be a great option for reluctant readers.  It grabs you, and it reads fast. Enjoy!

Published by Flatiron, October 3, 2017
Copy obtained from the library
343 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

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Book Review: The Great Alone, by Kristen Hannah

There are so many things I loved about Hannah's latest novel, The Great Alone. She once again proves what a talented writer she is.

Leni's father has PTSD since he returned home after being a POW during the Vietnam War.  It is 1974. He can't hold a job; he has terrible nightmares and a terrible temper that he takes out on Leni's mother, Cora. When the opportunity arises for them to move to a very remote part of Alaska, they pack up their VW van and move, hoping for a better life.  They are totally unprepared for the harshness of this place.  And the long, brutal, dark winters only serve to make Leni's father worse.

With the help of the generous and knowledgeable townspeople, they learn to grow and hunt for food and how to preserve it for the long winter. They also learn to protect themselves from predators, like bears.

I loved the historical aspect.  Leni was born the same year that I was.  I could relate to all the references, political and cultural, to the 1970s. Although, I wasn't as tough as Leni!

I loved the Alaskan survival aspect. These people spent every waking moment during the long days of a very short summer working to stock up enough food for the winter.  They had to tend animals and learn how to keep them alive during the winter.  They had no running water or electricity.  No indoor plumbing. Then they spent the long nights of winter trying to stay warm and safe.  Hannah doesn't make this sound like a romantic Alaskan adventure.  She's brutally honest.

I loved the family dynamic, and how the PTSD aspect played out. Leni's father, Ernt, is scary.  And her mother loves him and can't live without him.  It makes for a lot of tension.  It is scary when they realize he's about to go off, and there is nothing they can do to protect themselves. Cora is stupid and blind.  But she has memories of her husband before the war and can't let him go. He gets crazier and crazier, and Cora is more and more blinded. As a reader, you know that eventually, something has got to give.

I loved the romance. Leni falls in love with Matthew Walker whose dad is the rich guy in town, and of course, Ernt hates him.  I won't say too much more, but it's heartbreaking.

I loved the ending. It's tragic.  It's happy. It made me tear up (and, you may recall, I'm not a cryer.)  So yeah, Hannah got me.

The pacing is perfect.  I just can't think of anything even remotely negative about The Great Alone. It's a great book for teens.  There is nothing at all objectionable, and the main character is a teen. So those who enjoy "romantic survival drama" stories will go for The Great Alone. This is sure to be a favorite of 2018.

Published by St. Martin's, February 6, 2018
eARC obtained from NetGalley and Edelweiss
448 pages

Rating: 5/5

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Book Review: The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

The Belles, while a bit bloated, ended up captivating, and I found my heart pounding at the end.

In Orleans, the fantasy world of the Belles, the people are born grey and ugly.  They must rely on The Belles (and a lot of money) to make them beautiful and refresh their beauty over and over. Camellia and her sisters have trained to be Belles their entire life.  At the final competition, one will be chosen as The Favorite and become the Belle to the queen and her court.

Camellia is disappointed when she is not chosen as the favorite, but her best friend, Amber is.  Soon, however, Camellia is summoned to the palace to be the favorite, and she has no idea what has happened to Amber. Thus begins her slow realization that the secrets of Orleans and the Belles are horrific, all the while realizing she is helpless to change anything.  She finds herself in grave danger and the tension mounts as she tries to do what is right without risking life and limb.

The Belles, at almost 500 pages, is overly descriptive and drags a bit at the beginning. The whole beauty transformation that the Belles perform is very vague.  We are told over and over about all the equipment, makeup, and potions in their toolbox, but almost none of this is ever used.  The transformation seems to be purely magical.

Why does every YA book have to be pushing 500 pages? *steps on soapbox* I just find it disappointing that I will have a very hard time getting a large portion of my students to even take this book off the shelf because of its size, even though it is a compelling novel that lovers of fantasy worlds and the underdog fighting for justice would really enjoy.  And there is no reason it needs to be this long. Even the first Harry Potter book was only 300 pages long. (The last book was significantly longer, but we were hooked by then!) *steps off soapbox*

However... I really enjoyed The Belles. Once I got to the final third of the book, the tension is building, the danger seems insurmountable and the pulse quickens.  There is a nice, complete ending, although still enough questions to be answered that the next book will be anticipated. Teens who enjoy fantasy involving royalty where the weak and powerless are trying to break the oppression of the powerful will enjoy The Belles.

Published by Freeform, February 6, 2018
ARC obtained from School Library Connection Magazine
497 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: The Traitor Prince, by C. J. Redwine @cjredwine

I really enjoyed The Shadow Queen and The Wish Granter, so there was no way I wasn't going to experience The Traitor Prince. The Ravenspire series are companion novels so you can read any of them separately.

The Traitor Prince is a retelling of The False Prince and The Prince and the Pauper. But Redwine's retellings are very loose. This one, like the others, is action-packed and filled with quite a bit of violence.

Javan, the real prince, has been away at school for ten years.  While there, his father, the king, is being slowly poisoned by his uncle.  The uncle has been training his son to take the prince's place.  The plan is to kill the prince before he returns home after his graduation.

But Javan survives, although he is thrown into a brutal, deadly prison.  He must figure out a way to survive, escape, and convince his father that he is the true prince. With the help of a prison slave, Sadja, he works toward this goal.  But the obstacles seem insurmountable, given that Javan must survive the powerful beasts in the annual tournament.  The prize is an audience with the King.  But the beasts are terrifying and nothing like anything Javan has ever faced.

Javan is a good guy.  You can't help but root for him, given that he has been treated so unfairly. Sadja is also a sympathetic character, given that she has been enslaved since she was a child.  She has magical powers that she can't use, but she's tough. The romance is inevitable but doesn't overpower the story.

I did think the middle part of the book, when Javan is in prison, goes on a bit long.  But there is a lot of action, so I guess I just wanted Javan and Sadja to get to the happy ending. Mostly just impatience on my part.

Even if you aren't a fan of retellings, this is an enjoyable fantasy/adventure.  And if you do like retellings, I would highly recommend The Traitor Prince, as well as the entire Ravenspire Series.

Published by Balzer + Bray, February 13, 2018
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
416 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, by Alan Bradley

It sounds like The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, at number nine, may be the final Flavia de Luce novel.  And I am so going to miss her!

If you are at all a fan of murder mysteries and haven't experienced Flavia, I strongly encourage you to pick one of these books up.  She's a very precocious and intelligent young lady that will keep you in stitches. Any fan of chemistry (and especially poisons) will fall in love.

In The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, Flavia and her sisters are on holiday with Dogger, the family servant.  It turns out Dogger is a pretty astute sleuth himself, and the pairing of Flavia and Dogger is priceless.

While in a rowboat on a river, Flavia sticks her hand in the water and comes up with a dead body.  Only Flavia! Of course, thus begins her relentless pursuit of the criminal, even though the local constable says this drowning was an accident.  Flavia is out to prove otherwise, and in the process, finds herself in grave danger (as usual.)

These stories never get old.  Each episode of Flavia's antics is new and exciting in its own way.  The chemistry and poisons are always different too!

I've already said it.  You need to experience these for yourself.  The first one is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and it has won all sorts of awards. So it's not just me. I hardly ever re-read books, but I'm seriously considering starting at the beginning of Flavia's adventures again.

Published by Delacorte, January 30, 2018
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
384pages

Rating: 5/5

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Waiting on Wednesday: Furyborn by Claire Legrand @clairelegrand

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, originally hosted by Breaking the Spine.  I'm not sure I've ever participated.  Not for a long time, at least.  So I'm not sure if anyone is hosting this anymore.

Anyway, I was given an ARC for review and I loved it so much that I wanted to bring it to your attention so you can be on the lookout for it!

Two Queens will rise.
One with the power to save the world.
One with the power to destroy it.
They carry your fate in their hands.

When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.

One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable―until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world―and of each other. (Publisher's marketing.)

Furyborn, by Claire Legrand
On-Sale- 5/22/2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-5662-3
Young Adult Fiction
Published by Sourcebooks Fire

I really enjoyed this one and, unfortunately, there will be a long wait for the next book in The Empirium Trilogy.  Look for my review in early May.

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Book Review: Sunday Silence, by Nicci French

Sunday Silence is, I believe, the fifth novel in the Frieda Klein series.  Even though I've not read any other books by French, I enjoyed this one very much.

A decomposing body has been found under the floor in Frieda's house. Freida knows this is a message from Dean Reeve, even though everyone else thinks Dean died over seven years ago.  The case goes cold until violent acts against people close to Freida begin to occur.  But is this the work of Reeve?

The tension mounts nicely as Frieda and the police scramble to figure out what is going on.  And of course, the police don't always agree with Frieda. At about the halfway point the reader finds out who the perpetrator is, and at about 2/3 of the way, Frieda figures out who it is.  But that doesn't take away from the suspense.  And finding the necessary proof won't be easy.

I didn't know Frieda, and if I had read some earlier books, I'm sure I would have related to the characters a bit more easily.  She's a psychologist who has assisted police investigations in the past, with mixed reviews. Prior cases are mentioned, and several may be related to this case.  But I did get to know Frieda and the other characters well enough while reading Sunday Silence. These stories are British, and I enjoy that aspect also. I think you might as well start with the first one, and I'd like to do that someday.

French writes suspense well. Sunday Silence moves quickly and easily held my interest.  I was a bit confused by the ending -- not quite sure what happened there. But it seems like Frieda is going to be back. I would recommend this author and this series if you like a suspense-filled crime drama.

Published by William Morrow, January 9, 2018
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
416 pages

Rating: 4/5

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