Judy works the night shift in a grocery store and leads a normal boring life — until she finds a yeti eating all the ice cream in the freezer aisle. Animal Control transfers her call to the Cryptobiological Containment and Rescue Services, who send Monster over. He’s blue, but seems otherwise well equipped to do some monster pest control. The next day, Judy forgets. More like immediately, really. Unfortunately for her, she’s a "light incognizant": she can recognize and absorb magical things happening, but she forgets almost as soon as they’re gone. As opposed to an incognizant — their minds can’t absorb magic at all so they just ignore it — or a cognizant, who sees, understands, and remembers. Life is hardest on light incognizants, because they have to puzzle through only half-remembering weird magical things. Too bad for Judy; things are about to get much worse.

After picking up the yeti at Judy’s grocery store, Monster just keeps running into her. Like he doesn’t have enough to deal with — his paper gnome of an assistant keeps telling him that he’s doing things wrong, his girlfriend is literally a demon, he just wants to sleep for a whole eight hours for once, and he changes to a different color every time he wakes up. But when he’s blue he’s invulnerable to violent harm.

Monster by A. Lee Martinez reads like a Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman novel and keeps you giggling while telling you a fun story that you start to think might just be the way things really do work. Especially if you liked Good Omens, by Pratchett and Gaiman, I’d recommend you give Monster a shot. It’s a little bit fantasy, a little bit mystery, but mostly a comedy. This book is perfect for a long flight or car ride as it’s a quick, easy, and entertaining read.

Jessica Seipel – Savage Branch

Fantasy novels often have unicorns, fairies, and dragons, and these days werewolves and vampires are very popular. Not many books though have griffins as the main characters. Rachel Neumeier’s new adventure, Lord of the Changing Winds, features amazingly original griffins.

These griffins (part eagle, part lion) are purely creatures of fire, bringing a stark red desert with them wherever they roost. Having recently been driven out of their home lands, the griffins have shifted to the green, fertile lands of Feierband without seeking either permission or forgiveness for the encroachment of their desert.

The griffins were displaced after losing battles to earth mages who can damp their fires. They were in desperate need of a fire mage who can heal. The sole remaining griffin mage finds just such a person in a young girl, Kes. She has talent that  would have made her into an earth mage, except that the griffins changed her nature to fire. Many people become outraged on Kes’ behalf, although she seems to accept her changing fate with relative equanimity.

By the time I had figured out the griffin characters (who have unwieldy names) and pieced together the basics of the story, I still wasn’t entirely invested in the story. It takes a little while to become fully absorbed. However, once the introductions and scene are established, the second half of the book provides a fast, furious story full of battles — both of might and of will.

Given the stressed political backdrop, the author has her characters ponder some fairly weighty questions. Among them: What is the appropriate use of military force to maintain a country’s integrity? What constitutes open and informed consent for making decisions? The griffins are so totally alien that basic human assumptions for interaction do not hold true. If the two aggressors have so little common ground, how can negotiations begin? Neumeier gives them a common enemy to combine forces to fight. It will be interesting to see in the next volume whether a common enemy will continue to unite such different races.

Kristen Blount – Administrative Office

Gail Carriger’s debut novel Soulless is best described as enchantingly silly. Taking place in a steampunk version of Victorian London, vampires and werewolves — and other supernaturals — are accepted members of society. And, as in all good Victorian novels, manners matter.

The book opens with our heroine Alexia Tarabotti retiring from a ball to enjoy a small repast in her host’s library. No shy debutante, Miss Tarabotti has ordered refreshments from the butler after finding there was scandalously little on offer in the ball room. Instead of being able to enjoy her tea, she is brazenly attacked by a starving vampire. This just isn’t done! Even worse, she manages to kill the poor thing — although her ballgown is definitely the worse for wear and the treacle tart, most sadly, does not survive.

So, how did this society lady survive such a ghastly occurrence? Quite simply, she is soulless. In order to maintain a world in balance, the supernatural creatures must have a natural predator. Such is our preternatural dear Miss Tarabotti, whose touch reverts vampires and werewolves to mundane human status. Aside from her top-secret abilities, Miss Tarabotti labors under several other social handicaps. Her deceased father was Italian, and she inherited his Mediterranean complex. Also, the spinster has a decided scientific and bookish bent.

After the unfortunate scene in the library, the authorities from the ministry assigned to keep track of supernatural activities join the fray. Although they manage to keep Alexia’s face and name from the press, she must deal again with her social nemesis Lord Woolsey, who rules Britain’s werewolves and runs the aforementioned ministry. Alexia finds him socially appalling, but personally appealing.

Added to this stew of passion and mystery, the excellent authoress Gail Carriger also mixes in young dandies about the town, a best friend with awful taste in hats, a nefarious, scientific gentleman’s club, and a stepfamily who just does not appreciate Alexia. The wit is sly, and the romance bold. Our heroine saves the day, but loses her parasol. She gains much more in the end.

Kristen Blount – Administration Office

Teen summer readers highly recommend these titles:

American Born Chinese by Gene Yang
This book is a graphic novel, in which there are many different stories going on in one book. There are humans, monkey, monsters and much more. Read the book to find out. I really liked this book, because it was a comic, which made it easy and fun to read. This book is great!

- Irma M.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
In the country of Westfalin, the twelve princesses are supposedly cursed. All the princes who attempt to find out why the princesses’ slippers are all worn out after every third night are killed in unfortunate accidents or duels. The princes cannot find the solution even though the king has offered the hand of one of his daughters if the mystery is solved. Unfortunately, the girls are not talking. Galen is a young soldier returning from the war, his parents dead. He seeks work with his aunt and uncle, the king’s gardeners. He begins work as an under-gardener. He asks the king for permission to try and solve the mystery. Quietly, he follows the princesses through a secret passageway to King Under Stone’s realm, where they attend the “Midnight Ball” every night. Galen watches them dance until dawn, working out a plan to free the princesses (especially Rose). On the third day, King Under Stone finds out that some stranger is in his realm, finding some nightshade on the floor. The princesses are taken and do not return to the palace above, and the palace turns frantic. Still underground, Galen kills King Under Stone by stabbing him with a branch of one of the silver trees in the forest behind the gates. King Under Stone is killed, and his oldest son, Illikin, becomes the new King Under Stone. Illikin is killed in the same manner as the first King Under Stone, and the next brother is the King. Galen uses a black wool chain and a silver crucifix to lock the realm of King Under Stone from the regular world. They all return to the palace happily. This book was exciting, action-packed, and great! The events have you on the edge of your seat, and you can’t put the book down.

- Suzie B.

You can read more reviews by our teens here!

Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series is one of the reasons I read Science Fiction.  I distinctly remember my first foray from the kids section of my local library into the intimidating adult stacks. The SF section seemed less scary, partly because I was still attracted to boldly illustrated covers.

Dragonflight had great cover artwork: a girl in a white dress flying on a huge golden dragon. How could I resist? I was instantly hooked by strong, spunky Lessa who defeated amazing odds to become the rider of a queen dragon. 

I loved the book for Lessa, her dragon Ramoth, and F’lar, the leader of the dragon riders. I later came to a greater appreciation for the level of world-building that McCaffrey provides. Pern has a fully-realized civilization of inter-dependent craft halls, ancestral holds, and dragon weyrs. On Pern (Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible), human colonists had to create dragons to combat a devastating natural force called Thread, essentially a deadly rain of alien spores. The holders and crafters tithe to support the dragons and their riders, who in turn provide protection.

When Lessa gains her dragon, no one believes that Pern is in any danger because it’s been hundreds of years since the last cycle of destruction. In the intervening years, dragons and their riders have declined in numbers and in respect. The people outside the dragon weyrs are in revolt against having to tithe. As Thread begins to threaten Pern again, Lessa and her partner F’lar literally must save their world.

I still reread and enjoy this excellent fantasy classic and its sequels every few years. Certain attitudes have not weathered the years well, though. Lessa might have broken ground as a heroine in a book first published in 1968, but she still has to endure essentially abusive behavior. Also, only men can ride fighting dragons. In later books, McCaffrey works to soften some of the thoughtless stereotypes that provide a sour note in an old favorite. The Pern series includes more than a dozen books, but the first three are the best.

Kristen Blount – Administration Office

Imagine you’ve reached the top of your field. You have the respect of your peers, and the devotion of your followers. Then the game changes: your old skills are not the right ones for the new job, and you have different people to work with — some of whom don’t really trust you. 

In Oath of Fealty, Elizabeth Moon puts three older characters (i.e., they are from a previous series and are middle-aged) into that situation. I was pleasantly surprised by these competent adults. So many fantasy novels concentrate on coming of age stories, which necessarily include "on the job" trials and tribulations. Not that this book lacks in trials, and they are thornier than average.

More than 20 years after writing about woman warrior Paksenarrion, Moon returns to other characters from that story. Kieri Phelan has gone from a mercenary captain and rural duke to being king, but he rules a country divided between elves and humans. His court is used to the quieter pace of an older ruler. Captain Dorrin Verrakai, one of Phelan’s captains and now a duke, must confront her family and its evil. She ran away for good reasons, and now returns to clean up a literal and magical mess. Last but not least, Captain Arcolin becomes the commander of Phelan’s mercenary company, after being a captain for many years. He has to learn to accept his new level of authority.

There are almost three novellas in this one book, following each of these characters through their separate adventures. It works as a single story though, as all three grow into new roles that they never sought or expected to fill. In this excellent high fantasy novel, we read about honor, adventure, strange and mystical creatures, true evil, and (hopefully) the triumph of good. Oath of Fealty introduces a promising new series, and is an excellent book in its own right.

Kristen Blount – Administration Office

Maybe you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover — but this gorgeously rich cover is wholly appropriate to its tale of two sisters: Diribani the artist, and Tana the gem expert. Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson retells an old fairy tale about the different gifts bestowed upon two sisters: flowers and frogs. You would think it would be easy to determine which is the better enchantment, wouldn’t you? 

When visiting the local step well to fetch water for a meager dinner, Diribani meets the goddess Naghali who grants her soul’s desire of beauty, and she begins to speak flowers and jewels. When her mother sends her to receive a similar blessing, Tana asks for her family’s safety and begins to speak frogs and snakes. The meeting with the local deity sets both girls’ feet on a road of discovery. Diribani and her fortunate lips are whisked off to the palace where she becomes part of court. Tana, on the other hand, becomes a pilgrim and discovers that her gift is more precious than rubies during plague season.

Tomlinson set this YA fantasy novel in an alternate India, akin to the time of the Mughal Empire. The native sisters worship the twelve local gods and goddesses, including Naghali who has a snake as her symbol. In their land, frogs are considered lucky and snakes are welcome additions in households to keep down the rat population. The tropical setting is perfect for retelling this old, if lesser known, fairy tale. The chapters alternate between the girls, both of whom are highly sympathetic, which is a welcome change from the usual Good Sister and Wicked Sister. These loving siblings help each other discover a new, more mature understanding of all their gifts (magically bestowed and not).

Kristen Blount – Administration Office

The conventional notion is that you have to die before you can go to Hell. Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim turns that expectation on its head. Sandman Slim is a novel about a living man who has been exiled to Satan’s kingdom for 11 years. Upon his escape, he returns to Earth to take revenge on the people who are responsible for his exile.  

He has a busy time of it, too. While the man does sleep now and then, mostly the hero of this book spends his time stealing cars so that he can hunt somebody down or avoid being hunted himself. He also spends a lot of time fighting old enemies, alienating friends, or making new enemies so that, during quiet interludes, he can fight them too. As you may guess, this book, while not particularly short, moves at a breathtaking pace.  

The book also describes a much more complex afterlife than that which many of us were raised to believe. It’s fairly improbable, but just plausible enough to be quite entertaining. Sandman Slim is also clever and imaginative. Pick it up — if you do, I doubt very much that you will be able to put it down. 

Joe McHugh – Administration Office

Simple, sheer delight. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones provides the almost perfect fairy tale for readers of all ages. Wynne Jones’ graceful prose provides an easy transition into a world of magic of all sorts from mundane to the frighteningly bizarre.

Sophie is a young girl who works as a milliner in her stepmother’s shop. She seems content with her ordinary life — until she meets the handsome young wizard Howl, after which her life is never the same. She has a nasty encounter with the Witch of the Wastes that leaves her a young woman in an old woman’s body, flees town, becomes Howl’s housekeeper in his mobile castle, meets a strange scarecrow, corrals Howl’s apprentice, befriends the talking fire Calcifer, and her escapades have only just begun. At the end of her courageous quest, she discovers her true self and helps others do the same.

Howl apparently has two goals in life: 1) To be admired by as many people as possible, and 2) To stop a war. One is obviously a more worthy goal, but it’s amusing to see how the two intertwine. Howl is frightfully self-absorbed, and one of the most interesting characters in decades. He’s a vain and extremely talented wizard who wants to save the world. The book revolves around the mystery of Howl’s heart, and whether Sophie can save it.

Too often adapted screenplays don’t respect their literary origins. How often do you just know that the book is going to be better than the movie? Hayao Miyazaki’s animated feature not only respects the novel, but celebrates its playfulness and serious underlying themes. This is a beautiful and faithful rendition of the novel (even if the book is still better). It also relies on some great voice talent, including Lauren Bacall and Billy Crystal. So read the book, then watch the movie. This is a story I love in any format.

Kristen Blount – Administration Office

Sometimes, authors like to ask "what if?" to see where the imaginary road leads. In The Thirteenth Child, Patricia Wrede asks some interesting what-ifs:

1.  What if the land bridge from Asia to North America never formed?

2.  What if magical animals existed along with prehistoric mammals that never went extinct because the ice age (which caused the land bridge) never occurred?

3.  What if magic was part of everyday life and taught in school along with the three R’s?

4.  What would the frontier look like, given all these other what-ifs?

Wrede walks us down a lovely path into an alternative America. The East Coast has been well established with cities, railroads, and universities, but the interior is still being settled — with all the dangers pertinent to pushing a frontier.

Eff is the last — thirteenth — child of an academic family. Her twin brother, Lan, is the lucky seventh son of a seventh son. To protect Eff from superstitious people bent on blaming a supposedly unlucky child for everything from broken dishes to bad weather, her father accepts a position to teach magical theory at a new university in the Northern Territory. 

Life along the Great Barrier is wildly different than the known parameters (physical and social) of the coastal cities. After all, this world has not just woolly mammoths, but steam dragons too. Eff and her siblings explore their surroundings and their own limits. In the end, Eff has to decide who she wants to be: an unlucky thirteenth child or a powerful magician who works for the good of the community. 

The Thirteenth Child follows the traditions of many stories told about the American frontier, especially those of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Willa Cather, offering its own delightful twists on a familiar tale. I enjoyed traveling this imaginary road with Wrede and seeing where her "what-ifs" lead.

Kristen Blount – Administration Office