By: Carrie Ryan
Year: 2009
Genre: Teen

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It’s pretty clear early on what this novel is: a post-apocalyptic zombie book aimed at teens. Mary is living in a small village surrounded by tall, chain-link fences. And zombies. Well, “Unconsecrated” as they’re called in this book. Once a year they have marriage ceremonies for those few young people who get married. Mary’s “true love” is marrying another and no one seems interested in her. Right away, Mary’s mother is bitten by a zombie and sent into the “Forest of Hands and Teeth” (you know, because aside from trees, there are biting and scratching zombies). She is sent there because Mary can’t stand to have her mother killed. This action causes Mary’s brother to disown her, making her homeless so she must go live with the “Sisters” who run the village. Much goes on quickly: Mary sees a woman arrive from the forest who is not a zombie. Mary talks to this woman, Gabrielle, through paper-thin walls and learns she is from another village and that the ocean (which Mary has only heard of through her mother’s stories) is real. Eventually, we see that Gabrielle was somehow turned into a zombie. The reason why and the explanation of how are never addressed though we’re lead to believe it was the Sisterhood for some reason. Gabrielle is a lightening-fast and extra-vicious zombie and eventually breaks through the fence. Without giving too much away, Mary and her companions escape through a system of gates which keeps them safe from the Unconsecrated. The book is the story of her experiences.

It is here that I have to admit something: I didn’t like Mary. She is self-absorbed and selfish. Her quest to find the ocean directly leads to the death and injury of friends and family. Mary keeps to herself important information. This obsessive secret-keeping leads to many of the problems in her life. She is passionately in love with a boy from afar. While we are led to believe they were friends as children (it is a very small village), Mary doesn’t appear to know anything about him. She is in love with an ideal and a LOT of pain comes from that idealized love. It is written from Mary’s point of view. Since she is a loner, there are not many conversations to fill the book. It really is everything as Mary sees it.

This book is labeled “teen” but that seems to be a distinction only by the publisher. There really isn’t an indication of Mary’s age. I assumed she was in her late teens while a friend thought she was 16. Neither of us have any real foundation for those ages. This book is easy to read though some parts are pretty graphic. I guess that makes it a teen novel.

This is the first book in a series, but I have no desire to read the rest of the books. While the story was interesting enough for me to want to finish it, I don’t care what happens to the characters or Mary’s family (there was an excerpt of the next book in the copy I had. It is told from the point-of-view of Mary’s daughter, so she must have found some happiness). This is not a new story nor is is the best re-telling of an old, “heard it before” story. There is no depth to any of the characters, there is no growth, there is no learning or evolution. The way Mary is at the beginning of the book is the way Mary is in the middle of the book is the way Mary is at the end of the book.

I may be alone in my review of this book (though not really because of the reviews on Amazon, 13 people only gave it one star). If you check out the link above to Amazon, there is an “Amazon Exclusive” review of the book plus an interview with the author. Reviewer Scott Westerfeld obviously loved this book and found much more depth than I did. According to the review, this novel tells of the teen plight against authority and traditional roles that stifle American youth of today. I have to say, reading Westerfeld’s review made me want to love this book. I would have loved the book he described. Instead I think author Ryan gives us an old story in an old format with an unlikable character. She also made backhanded stabs at organized religion that I find insulting and all-too-common in today’s society.

This wasn’t a terrible book. It was interesting and written well enough. I just didn’t like Mary and I didn’t care what happened to her. I’ve read better teen books and much better zombie books.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars (because really, I’ve read worse)

By: Jason Shiga
Year: 2010
Genre: Youth

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Chocolate or vanilla icecream? Your choice will determine the fate of your character “Meanwhile.” This is an utterly fascinating book. For those old enough to remember, it has the feel of a “Choose your own adventure” book but it was created as a comic book. As you make decisions, the story evolves. Each choice has a “pipe” you will follow through the panels of your story and eventually matches a tab on the edge of the pages. That tab will take you to another page, more story panels and eventually more choices.

The story is pretty simple: you will always end up meeting a professor in a lab (well, except for one, critical choice when you won’t). He has three inventions you can try: a time machine, a mind reading device and a probability box that doubles as a world-destroying box. So of course, as any good science fiction professor who puts invention before safety, he allows you to have free rein of the devices! Which do you try first? What do you decided to do with each invention? Can you destroy the world or alter the timeline of your own life (what do you think?)?

This is an amazing book. The story is quite simple but Shiga throws in some unexpected plot developments (you know, that destroying the world and altering the timeline thing). It’s also an addicting book. My son brought it home from school and left it on the kitchen table. Every time I walked by, I found that I kept picking it up and—not following any one story line—opening the book at random and following the story from the middle. I was just mesmerized by the intricacy that must have gone into planning this book visually and in production. The pipes and tabs must match up, and they match up on both sides of the pages so the tabs don’t just work on the right-hand page, but also on the left (meaning you don’t just read this book front-to-back, but also back-to-front).

Even though this is a book for teens, it’s great fun for any age (except maybe some elementary and younger readers… some of the themes are a little deep and dark). To be honest, this book more often than not leads to destruction. Or death. Or the collapsing of timelines. But it’s fun to see how many ways you can end the world. And if you do end up reading this, let me know if any of your choices gets you to the squid.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By: Eoin Colfer
Year: 2001
Genre:  Teen

Amazon.com summary:

Eoin Colfer describes his new book, Artemis Fowl, as “Die Hard with fairies.” He’s not far wrong.

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history. With two trusty sidekicks in tow, he hatches a cunning plot to divest the fairyfolk of their pot of gold. Of course, he isn’t foolish enough to believe in all that “gold at the end of the rainbow” nonsense. Rather, he knows that the only way to separate the little people from their stash is to kidnap one of them and wait for the ransom to arrive. But when the time comes to put his plan into action, he doesn’t count on the appearance of the extrasmall, pointy-eared Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaisance) Unit—and her senior officer, Commander Root, a man (sorry, elf) who will stop at nothing to get her back.

Fantastic stuff from beginning to end, Artemis Fowl is a rip-roaring, 21st-century romp of the highest order. The author has let his imagination run riot by combining folklore, fantasy, and a fistful of high-tech funk in an outrageously devilish book that could well do for fairies what Harry Potter has done for wizardry. But be warned: this is no gentle frolic, so don’t be fooled by the fairy subject matter. Instead, what we have here is well-written, sophisticated, rough ‘n’ tumble storytelling with enough high-octane attitude to make it a seriously cool read for anyone over the age of 10. –Susan Harrison

I can hear it now—”‘Die Hard’ with fairies? Yeah, right.” But you know what, I think it’s true. This book is wonderful and fun. The main character is a little snot: He’s a brilliant, he’s got a specially trained bodyguard/butler and he’s a little bit wicked.

When I picked up this book, I was tired of random sex, violence and swearing in cheap paperbacks. I don’t mind those things, as long as they are organic to the plot. But authors now are including graphic sex because it’s expected. Characters are swearing because it makes them “gritty” not because their character would use the F-word at the start and end of every exposition. I turned to young adult novels to get away from the “just because” features of adult novels.

This is a great read. Currently my son is reading this book (after I’ve been on him for years to read it!) and he loves it. It is fun, it is creative and it is a pretty fast read. I have great respect for an author who can take a silly little idea—a world where fairies still exist, centaurs are smarter then the offspring of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and LEPrecon isn’t a little guy in a jaunty hat but a group of highly trained fairies who help hide the fact that creatures like this still exist—and write a compelling, believable novel. Colfer most certainly accomplished this. What I found truly wonderful was Colfer’s ability to make Artmis a wicked, young middle-schooler that you end up cheering for by the end.

There isn’t a whole lot redeeming about Artemis, but you will find yourself sucked into this world and then wanting to read more. Thankfully, there are more books and unlike other long-running series I’ve stuck it out with, so far I haven’t been disappointed with any of the Artemis Fowl books. The nice thing is, you can enjoy this with the kids in your life, too.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars