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This is a cute kid story that has Molly moving with her parents and younger brother on the moon and how she needs to use her imagination to play since she could only take one toy with her. There is lesson on sharing since they only have the two twos between them. And there is a lesson in the story about gravity on the moon as well. A nice book for any kid that is interested in space.
The conclusion to this children’s series that was reference in another series written by author under her regular name. Avery and Zib are almost at the end of their journey to the Impossible City. But before they can get there Zib is injured and they need to find help in the Kingdom of the Queen of Wands but they must also not stray from the improbable road, and choices are made that have lasting consequences in the Up and Under and for all of the party. A satisfying ending to the series and a fun aside to the Alchemical Journeys series where these books play a bit of a role in that storyline. The narration on the audio was very good.
Even with this being the second book in the series I don’t think a reader will be that lost if they jump in here. There are two types of booksellers the right and the left. The left use magic and the right doesn’t but both work together to contain magic in England. Susan is a friend of some booksellers and gets called in during an emergency to use her magic to save her friend Merlin, who has been sucked into a magical map. Once he is rescued then a plot is discovered about who made the map and what is being kept there. A fun read and I hope there will be more in this series.
The third book in the series so far really needs to be read in order. This is no longer an adventure for the kids, Avery is unhappy with Zib about choices made along the way and with the exception of a positive outcome for the Crow Girl because of Zib this wasn’t much good that happened along the way for the kids. I’ll be reading the next one to see where they end up next on their journey.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
#16 Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean
Mar. 29th, 2022 01:41 pmThis direct sequel to Tokyo Ever After, follows what happens when Izumi’s mom comes for a visit to the palace and doesn’t leave. The torch both the Crown Prince and Izumi’s mom have carried for each other has never really faltered. Prince Toshihito has proposed to Hanako and she has accepted. Now the only stumbling blocks seem to be her background and the Imperial Household. Izzy is trying to be the perfect princess, so things will go more smoothly for her parents. Izzy applies to college, finds a new boyfriend and hosts one of her friends from Mount Shasta over the winter holidays. There is also some bonding with her and her cousins along the way. There is room at the end of the book for another one and I am certainly waiting on word for it.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
Zetian lives in a world that girls are not valued and some are sold off to the military to help pilot the giant mechas that defend the people. The problem with the mechas is that they need both a male and female pilot, but for some reason the women usually die from it but the men live. She has agreed to go to the army instead of getting married to avenge the death of her sister after being paired with a highly ranked pilot. But the tables are turned in the mecha and the ace pilot does and Zetain become ann Iron Widow, something that isn’t talked about and hushed up whenever possible. So to punish and hopefully kill her they pair her with the best pilot but it seems they are a good match. But the best pilot is a comdemed criminal that was only spared the death penalty because of his pilot potential. Now the both of them are trying to change how they are treated and possibly the entire system as well.
This was a great book and the final bit of the book was a great cliffhanger that makes me can’t wait for the next one.
This is a sweet kids book about missing someone and cooking their recipes to feel closer to them. Neela misses her Paati and makes her sauce to jar so she can share it with her when she comes to visit. The book also covers info about farm workers and foods in season. A nice story and great illustrations.
This is the direct sequel to Over the Woodward Wall , the children’s book that featured in Middlegame. Zib and Avery are continuing their journey to the Impossible City with the Crow Girl and Niamh. They fall into debt with a pirate captain after seeking shelter for the night in her cottage. A week’s worth of work for the night’s stay seems to be an ok trade with the pirate crew treating them fairly well. But there is a mystery on the ship and a book of Up and Under fairy tales that will bring the mystery to light.
This is more of a middle book in the series and the children still have more traveling to do. Not sure where their journey will take them but it is a fun ride.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
#46 Briarheart by Mercedes Lackey
Sep. 21st, 2021 02:15 pmThis YA retelling of Sleeping Beauty is certainly a bit different. The main character is Miriam, the older non royal half sister of Aurora. Miriam’s father was the King’s Champion and best friend. When he died the King married his widow and that is how you have a non-royal older sibling. The kingdom is small, but they do plan for invasions. Miriam is training to be a baker so if they are invaded, she can hide in one of the town bakeries. At Aurora’s christening everything is done to make sure no one is not invited but of course that doesn’t work out when one of the Dark Fey hides from the Kingdom so they don’t know to invite them to the ceremony. Miriam loves her little sister and throws her body in front of the curse being hurled and surprisingly destroys it and doesn’t die in the process. At this point now everyone is full defense mode to protect the baby from the fey that will come back and curse her. Miriam becomes part of her sister’s guard and does some growing up along the way. The book is set up to be the first book in the series but doesn’t leave you hanging at the end. This was an interesting retelling of the story and I’m interested to see where it goes.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
#44 The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik
Sep. 17th, 2021 01:05 pm The second book in the series starts right as the last book ends with El trying to figure out the message her mother was able to send to her with the incoming freshmen. Now a senior and most of the time is trying to stay alive and figure out a way to get everyone out of the school at graduation in one piece. There is lots of planning and practice and in bits and pieces you find out more on how the school was built. The book does end on a real cliffhanger so we will have to wait to see book 3. I enjoyed this one a bit more than the previous one since El is now dealing with more students and isn’t being treated like a social pariah for the book.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
Young Hellboy: The Hidden Land
by Mike Mignola, Craig Rousseau, Thomas Sniegoski , Dave Stewart
This is the story of young Hellboy and his father heading to South America to some digs. Their plane crashes due to someone trying to kill Hellboy before he brings about the end of the world. As they are recued from giant crabs by an even larger ape they are separated on the shore. The action is over the top much like the comic book young Hellboy was telling his father about on the plane. By the end of their adventure their memory is erased, and they are rescued. I was almost waiting for it was all a dream to be said on the last page. This is very much a collection for a younger fan or a Hellboy reader completest.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
This is a cute YA of a Japanese American girl finding out that her unknown to her father is the crown prince of Japan. When her best friend sees an inscription in a book of Izumi’s mom leads to some internet sleuthing to figure out just who the mystery dad is. Izumi’s mom had lied about her relationship to her daughter and had never told the prince that she was pregnant after he left Harvard. She does give her daughter the contact info of one of the prince’s friends from collage and she sends an email. Of course the story leaks and the Japanese press is on her doorstep and she soon finds herself off to Japan. The one part that bothered me in all of this is that Izumi never bothered to read or study the binder of info sent to her to prep her for the trip. For a kid that was curious it seems she wanted to go into all of this blind. It does help the story along as she is blundering around in the rarified world. There is a happy ending to all of this and it was an enjoyable book to listen to.
Mona is a bakery wizard, her powers are confined to baked goods and not the bigger and flashier powers of wizards that work for the army to protect the city. But someone is hunting down any and all magic users in her town and when she finds a dead body in her bakery and barely survives her own brush with death she runs into hiding with only the help of her gingerbread man sidekick and the brother of the girl found dead. Mona wants to do the right things to keep her home safe but someone else has other plans. There is a lot of thinking out of the box for Mona as she learns how to use dough in new ways to keep herself and the town safe. This is definitely a YA book but doesn’t make it any less of a fun read.
Some teens feel like they are destined for something more but Tina knows it. Tina is a clone of an alien commander that has been hidden on Earth with a rescue beacon implanted in her that will come to life and take her to the people she doesn’t know. Problems start as soon as the beacon goes off and her clone progenitor’s enemies come hunting her before her extraction can happen. Tina gets rescued and her artist best friend comes along for the ride. Problems quickly crop up when the crew of the ship tries to give her the memories of her previous life and they quickly find out it doesn’t work for any info that has significant personal meaning to her. She can operate a ship but she doesn’t know anything about how to be the leader everyone needs her to be. The book wraps up well but there are two more planned in the series. Tina does grow in the book and learns to make her own path instead of just continuing what her clone parent had started.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
This is a fun fantasy middle grade book that has fun and also reminds kids about the power of words. Goblins come over to our side of the world and steal words that the speaker has said without any true feeling behind them. Sam has found that “sorry” is a great word to get him out of trouble and make things easier. When an goblin and his grandmother cross into our world to take those words to power their magic, Sam finds that life is very tough without it. To make matters worse the young goblin also takes “regret” and “apologize”. Sam finds out just how hard it is when he can no longer apologize to his friend about something he said to upset her on the last day. And now he must find a way to get his words back and make things right with his friend.
The magic world of the goblins was interesting and some readers may want to see more of how life is for them and how they go about using thoughtless words to fuel their magic. There is some technology innovations on that side that are causing issues for them and I could see more books set in this world.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
This is a book that featured in another book written by the same author. This is a pen name for Seanan McGuire and the book was mentioned quite a bit in Middlegame. Two quite different children who live separate lives but live on the same street are both detoured to cross a stone wall on their way to their separate schools one day. Zib is more of a free spirt and Avery is a pressed shirt kind of kid. But they bond on their journey to the Impossible City to be able to return home. This is a middle grade fantasy that the reader doesn’t need to have read anything before it. I’ll keep my eye out for the next one and maybe reread Middlegame to remind myself of how much of this book did show up in it besides the title.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
#59 A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
Sep. 28th, 2020 01:42 pmEl is a junior trying to stay alive at a magic school that has no problems with their student body feeding the monsters inside. The school has no teachers anyone can see and monsters are constantly snacking on the student body. The monsters eat the magic that blossoms in magic users at puberty. To graduate you have to be able to fight your way to the gate that opens up on graduation day. And families have no contact with their children from the time they go in until the time they come out, if they ever come out. El isn’t popular since people think she is using malia instead of mana. She doesn’t since she was told at a young age about a prophecy that said she would bring the downfall of the magical enclaves. El’s mother protected her from everything and is a well-known mana only magic user but now she is on her own with only the crystals her mom sent in with her to help her store mana.
Orion has been saving as many of his schoolmates from the monsters as he can and the monsters are starving. Orion and El slowly become friends when he realizes that she isn’t trying to be his friend like everyone else since he is the son of the leader of the New York enclave and a powerful magician. The seniors are not happy with Orion since he has been starving the monsters that the seniors will have to fight in a few days in order to make it out of the graduation hall. Orion and El and several other students start to work together to stop them from being sacrificed in place of the graduating class.
The last line of the book is a great kicker when El gets a letter from home that come in with a newly arrived freshman. This is the only way current students get messages from the outside world and there is a weight limit of what the kids can bring in with them. And it endears the new freshmen to the older students so they will keep an eye out on the new arrivals and hopefully help them stay alive.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
Orion has been saving as many of his schoolmates from the monsters as he can and the monsters are starving. Orion and El slowly become friends when he realizes that she isn’t trying to be his friend like everyone else since he is the son of the leader of the New York enclave and a powerful magician. The seniors are not happy with Orion since he has been starving the monsters that the seniors will have to fight in a few days in order to make it out of the graduation hall. Orion and El and several other students start to work together to stop them from being sacrificed in place of the graduating class.
The last line of the book is a great kicker when El gets a letter from home that come in with a newly arrived freshman. This is the only way current students get messages from the outside world and there is a weight limit of what the kids can bring in with them. And it endears the new freshmen to the older students so they will keep an eye out on the new arrivals and hopefully help them stay alive.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
This YA novel is set in an alternate England. Merlin works for the Left Handed Booksellers and meets Susan as he is trying to get information from a crime boss about his mother’s death several years before. Susan is new to London as she has arrived to go to college and also maybe find out about her absent father. Merlin introduces her to his sister Vivien, a Right Handed Bookseller and explains what the booksellers do. The left fights and the right are more cerebral while they try to keep everything about the magical world away from most people. With the few clues that Susan has about her dad and the attacks she has been under as soon she has arrived in London the booksellers get involved with her. The story zooms along as Merlin and Vivien are separated from Susan by an unknown force. Everything comes together in the end along with the mystery of Merlin and Susan’s mother’s death.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.
#11 Riverland by Fran Wilde
Mar. 25th, 2019 11:43 amSpoiler space
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This is a YA / middle grade book that deals with violence in the home and uses a portal fantasy framework for the sisters to deal with what happens at home. A portal to Riverland appears under Eleanor’s bed and both girls tumble into a river basin area where so many things are made up of trash that has come through from our world. Turns out there is a compact between Riverland and sister’s family that goes back generations, but no one knows about it now. Now Eleanor must try and keep up a facade of peace at home and solve the problems of Riverland and still do well at school. This was a bit of a hard read because the anger isn’t glossed over that the girls go thought and there is no perfect solution the problems, but it certainly makes for a better book because of it.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
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This is a YA / middle grade book that deals with violence in the home and uses a portal fantasy framework for the sisters to deal with what happens at home. A portal to Riverland appears under Eleanor’s bed and both girls tumble into a river basin area where so many things are made up of trash that has come through from our world. Turns out there is a compact between Riverland and sister’s family that goes back generations, but no one knows about it now. Now Eleanor must try and keep up a facade of peace at home and solve the problems of Riverland and still do well at school. This was a bit of a hard read because the anger isn’t glossed over that the girls go thought and there is no perfect solution the problems, but it certainly makes for a better book because of it.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
This is a beautiful graphic novel in a fantasy setting with lots of fanatical creatures with mostly normal lives. Greta is learning to become a blacksmith from her mother. One day she finds a small tea dragon in the market and with info from her mom she gets it back to its home. There she learns about tea dragons and the special tea you make from leaves from their horns. It is a very sweet story with new friendships being made and learning new things.
