I Actually NEED It 8

I Actually NEED It is an extremely irregular feature where I express my desire, or rather need, for certain books that haven't come out or aren't available at my library yet.  To learn about the reason behind the name, check out my inaugural I Actually NEED It post.


XVI by Julia Karr
This appears to be the year of dystopian YA lit.  I happen to need more of this in my diet.  Plus, I've been following the goings on of Karr and her fellow dystopian writers at the League of Extraordinary Writers, which is lots of fun.  Coming January 2011.

 
The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher 
Same here - more fun dystopian lit (if you can call dystopian lit "fun").  Plus, come on, you know it's entirely possible for our future selves to be fighting wars over water.  That will come out of our eyelashes, of course.  Coming January 2011.

 
The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa 
I've really enjoyed the Iron Fey series thus far and I expect great things from this third volume.  Coming February 2011.

 
Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel 
I was pleasantly surprised (for the most part) by Infinite Days, a vampire romance that had some excellent vampire mythos.  I'm intrigued to see where Maizel takes the story next.  Coming March 2010.

Outside In by Maria V. Snyder
Loved completely Inside Out and this futuristic-scifi-sorta-dystopian world Snyder's created.  Not to mention loads of other Snyder books.  I'm sure it won't disappoint.  Coming March 2011.


Wither by Lauren DeStefano 
More dystopian with an awesome cover?  Yes, please.  Plus, it arrived for me in the mail this week.  Yeah!  Coming March 2011.


Human.4 by Mike Lancaster 
Um, I sound like a broken record, but this sounds like an awesome futury sci-fi creepy maybe dystopian story with a side of hypnotism.  Very cool.  Coming March 2011.

Steel by Carrie Vaughn 
Tough chick with sword?  Check.  Pirates?  Check.  Count me in.  Coming March 2011.

Eona by Alison Goodman
One of my favorite books of 2009 is finally, finally getting its sequel.  I adored Eon and can't wait to devour this next book.  Coming April 2011.


My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison 
Rallison writes funny books and I haven't read nearly enough of them.  However, I really liked My Fair Godmother, so I'm certainly planning to enjoy this one.  Coming April 2011.


Memento Nora by Angie Smibert 
And we're back to the dystopian debuts from the League.  Another fascinating-sounding book with very chilling similarities to our own world.  Coming April 2011.


The Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan
I have previously expressed my love for this series and especially the sibling relationships it contains.  I'm super thrilled to see where her characters go and what they choose to do.  Coming May 2011.

Corsets and Clockwork by Various Authors 
I'm becoming a big fan of steampunk and this collection of short stories has lots of awesome authors who contributed, including Maria Snyder, who you should know by now I adore.  Coming May 2011.

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine
Yeah for a new fairy tale from the queen of fairy tales!  I've loved quite a few of Levine's previous fairy tales and I have high hopes for this newest one.  Coming May 2011.

Divergent by Veronica Roth
Just add this to my list of dystopian delights and include a touch of a librarian who raved about it.  Must read.  Coming May 2011.

Nightspell by Leah Cypess 
While I didn't adore Mistwood as much as I wanted to, I want more from Cypess, who created an excellent new world and intriguing characters.  Coming May 2011.

 
The Revenant by Sonia Gensler 
Ok, I don't really have any good reasons for this one.  It just looks and sounds deliciously creepy.  Coming June 2011.

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce 
I have a long-time love for fairy-tale retellings and Sisters Red was quite good.  I really want more fairy tale fun from Pearce.  Plus, seriously, that cover rocks in a creepy and disturbing way.  Coming June 2011.


Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
I've been impressed mostly by the writing of this series and the supporting characters, but I'm invested all the way to find out what happens next.  Coming July 2011.

What do you actually NEED?

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Book Review: Darklight by Lesley Livingston

Darklight by Lesley Livingston
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: December 2009
ISBN: 9780061575426
Source: Library

 

Kelley's life has not been the same since she faced the Wild Hunt after Samhain Gate opened.  And ever since she learned she was a faerie princess, daughter of the Winter King and the Autumn Queen.  Now Sonny, her changeling Janus boyfriend, has been sent to faerie to defeat the rest of the Wild Hunt and she is left in the mortal world.  Despite missing him all the time, she manages to get into all kinds of tricky situations involving fae and other frightening creatures who are out to get her.  But, when she ends up back in Faerie, she and Sonny must face a deadly foe who is seeking to destroy them both.

Things I Liked:
I do like the beautiful setting Livingston has created for her Faerie and human worlds.  I love the descriptions and the way she sets up scenes and places so realistically.  Often, I felt and saw and smelled exactly what the characters experienced.  I am a big fan of some of the minor characters like Bob and Jack and Tyff.  I find them interesting and entertaining - admittedly more so than Kelley and Sonny.  They are kind of what kept me reading (well, and there was some pretty good action).  Here's a taste of the setting:

The late April breeze sifting through the cracked-open window bared sharp, chilly teeth, but in spite of that, Kelley's sheets were soaked with sweat, and she felt almost feverish. p 38

Things I Didn't Like:
I wasn't really interested in the story.  Mostly, this was because I felt like it wasn't going anywhere in particular - there seemed to be an awful lot of scenes of Kelley being stupid and chased by bad guys.  Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but I just couldn't follow the plot of this one.  It did pick up at the end, but by then I didn't care as much, so I skimmed through it.  Definitely not as satisfying as the first installment.  I know there are lots of fans who enjoyed it, so be sure to check what others said about it.  It was just cliff-hanger-y enough for me to probably pick up (or read a spoilery review of) the last one. 

Read-alikes:
Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston
Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr
Lament and Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@
quite a few uses, but mostly milder words

mrg-factor: X
really only kissing and longing to kiss

v-factor: ->->->
there was a lot of fighting and action, not too gory

Overall rating: **

Do plots and characters from multiple books sometimes start to run together in your head?

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Book Review: Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve

Posted as part of Tween Tuesday, hosted by GreenBeanTeenQueen.

Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication date: April 2010
ISBN: 9780545207195
Source: Library

 

Fever Crumb has grown up knowing she's an orphan.  Being raised by Dr. Crumb to be the only female engineer has also set her apart.  But her first assignment to aid an archaeologist with a project leads her into trouble.  Not only is she accused of being a Scrivener (a nonhuman race who once ruled the city of London), but she's also having memories and thoughts that aren't her own.  The worst part is, how can she know if she's a Scrivener or not?  And will it matter to the hunter who's sworn to rid the town of all Scriven?

Things I Liked:
What a fun and original story!  I loved the setting and feeling.  It was futuristic, but it also felt very much like steampunk, with some historical elements mixed with old fashioned technology.  The unique place and time, as well as the unique characters and dynamics of society was what made this book so delightful.  The story itself was very good too - kept you guessing, wondering who Fever was and why she was experiencing strange memories.  I will definitely be getting my hands on the Hungry City Chronicles soon! Here are some favorite parts:

"During the Scriven era there was a fashion for women to name their children after whatever ailments they suffered from while they were pregnant.  I have heard of people named 'backache,' 'Diarrhea'..."
"I knew a man once called Craving-For-Pickled-Onions McNee." p44

There were big lumbering cargo hoys like herds of sauropods, but Ruan's favorites were the gaudy, speedy tinker barges and traveling fairs.  Half the size of the sluggish hoys and twice as fast, they were painted in a million lurid shades, decked out with flags and chrome, and mirrors, and hung each night with strings of saffron lanterns.  Dizzy op-art spirals whirled on their wheel hubs, and their exhaust stacks were striped like gypsies' stockings.  And along their sides, in cutout letters as high as house fronts, they wore their names... p 79

Perhaps he realized, there at the end, that immortality wasn't won by designing engines, or building sky-high statues, or stuffing your thoughts into other heads, but just by keeping your children and their children safe, so that they could carry something of you on into the future.  Not your opinions, or your silly memories of pools and parties and kissing people in parks, but the deeper memories, written in your genes; the shape of a nose, the curve of an eyebrow, the little habits and mannerisms which endure through families, through history. p 294

Things I Didn't Like:
There were sometimes so many new things going on and strange words to describe them that I became lost.  It is something most science fiction or high fantasy worlds deal with, I think.  But, I caught on soon enough and enjoyed the rest quite a lot.

Read-alikes:
Hungry City Chronicles by Philip Reeve (Fever Crumb is a prequel to this series)
Leviathan and Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
while almost all is in futuristic language, some is still recognizable

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: ->->
some action violence and intense scenes

Overall rating: ****

What kinds of crazy things would you envision for humanity thousands of years from now?

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