I’m a big Scott Westerfeld fan and was pretty psyched to start reading Zeroes. It is the story about 6 teenagers who each have a unique, special power. I wouldn’t call them “super powers,” though they were pretty cool: Flicker is blind but can see through other people’s eyes. Crash is able to “feel” electric and electronic fields and manipulate them. Mob can influence the mood of a crowd. Anonymous is someone who people immediately forget about. Scam has a…
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The Star-Touched Queen takes place in the milieu of Hindu mythology: the worlds of gods, goddesses, demons, illusion, and reincarnation.  The story is about Maya, a young princess in a kingdom that has long been at war with the many surrounding kingdoms.  In a bid to bring peace, her father the king proposes that Maya choose and marry one of the competing rulers.  She is dismayed by this unexpected future thrust upon her and as she contemplates her choice, a…
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The Fifth Season is a compelling and multifaceted story set on a geologically unstable and volatile “Earth”.  Earthquakes and volcanoes are a constant threat and if severe enough can cause a fifth season, or extended winter, due to the amount of dust and ash sent up into the atmosphere.  Tsunamis created by “shakes” can wipe out entire coastal communities.  The effect of the ensuing fifth season can last for years or even decades and is marked by widespread death and…
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I just finished listening to The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman.  The narrator, Fiona Hardingham, an accomplished actress and reader, picked me up, transported me to Regency London and set me down among the aristocracy. It is 1812 and Lady Helen Wrexhall is 18 and ready to go out and live life to its fullest.  She is eagerly and nervously preparing for her upcoming debut at the royal court, after which her life will be filled with friends, balls,…
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I was immediately hooked by The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge.  As an anthropologist, I had read a number of works by “armchair anthropologists” that tracked the history of science through the Victorian era, the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species, the gradual unearthing of fossils that called into question a worldview based on counting generations in the Old Testament, and the debates that attempted to reconcile religion and science.  Enter Faith Sunderly, the 14-year-old daughter of an Anglican rector/gentleman scientist.  Faith is…
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Cindy spoke highly of Truthwitch, by Susan Dennard, so I decided to read it also.  Her review of Truthwitch really does a good job of summing up the book, so I won’t cover the same ground.  Rather, I’ll report that the book was fun to read and that its fast pace held my interest throughout.  The imagining of the fantasy world is very rich but it does not bog the story down.  Instead, it is revealed through the story.  The world…
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Sefia, the main character of The Reader, had a happy childhood and was loved by her parents and close to her Aunt.  However, they had prepared her a hiding place in case something bad happened.  One day assassins come and kill her parents and she goes into her secret room where she finds an unusual object, a book.  In this world, books are pretty much unheard of and no one knows how to read.  She escapes through a tunnel, finds her…
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Smoke by Dan Vyleta is one of Cindy’s favorites in our Hugo reading quest.  She spoke so highly of it that I thought I should read it also.  I started off with the first disk of the audiobook, but when that had to be returned to the library I continued with the hardcover.  The audiobook is great and the reader, Allan Corduner, enhanced the experience. In our world, if you have a bad thought, likely no one would know.  But in…
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This young adult book was a great read and should satisfy teens and young-at-heart adults who yearn for adventure, humor, close calls and an engaging fast-actioned book set in an original and well-constructed world. Safiya is a Truthwitch.  She can tell when someone is telling the truth or lying, which makes her valuable to those in power.  Her best friend and confidante, Iseult, is a Threadwitch and Safi’s “Threadsister”.  She can see a person’s emotions as colored threads emanating from…
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All the Birds in the Sky opens up with a six year old girl, Patricia, finding a wounded bird.  Immediately I felt I was entering the magical world of a fairy tale and thought that this would have been a great book to have read to my kids when they were young. It is at this young age that Patricia discovers her magical powers and that she is a witch.  In the next chapter, Laurence, who is the co-protagonist in…
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