Review: Ark Angel

Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



My kids and I have enjoyed all of the Alex Rider books so far but this one simply didn't hold our interest. Perhaps it's because we switched from audio to book format for this one but it just wasn't the same. Or perhaps it was too much of the same story? Regardless, I simply couldn't make myself finish it.



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Review: Ashes (Ashes Trilogy #1)

Ashes (Ashes Trilogy #1) by Ilsa J. Bick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A new trilogy to love! I'm new to the whole zombie theme and I'm surprised by how much I like them. And these zombies aren't even the reanimated dead - more like humans that have changed.

One of my favorite things about this book is that the author didn't feel that anything was off-limits. So often, you have a heroine or hero and their love interest that survive everything, regardless of how implausible. In this book, bad things happen to good people. And people that appear good may actually be bad, bad people end up as good. fabulous ending left me wishing that Shadows (thanks, Wikipedia!) was available and ready to read!



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Review: Museum of Thieves

Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I can't believe I liked a tween book this much, but I did. The city and the guardians aren't they main story - it's more about this wild museum and it's belongings. I enjoyed the story and the rooms. It had the sense of Hogwarts in that it shifted and changed where you were going but it was nothing like Hogwarts in it's inhabitants and belongings. Imagine a building that stores everything that mankind has eradicated for it's dangerous-ness. And then imagine if all of those dangerous things tried to escape. It was a great read and one I'll encourage my kids to read in a year or two.



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Review: The Calling

The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



It's hard to like a book when you don't like the protagonist, but I did. Hazel is an unimpressive leader, an enabled alcoholic and a poor decision maker, but her story was good enough to overcome that. I enjoyed knowing the killer before the climax and the stories of each 'victim' were compelling in their odd combination of hope for release and fear of death.

While the story was good enough to get me to read more by the author (which, by chance, I can't as they won't reveal their actual identity) I won't be reading another book featuring Hazel.



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Review: The Nature of Jade

The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was clearly a teen book, yet different from so many. The main character, Jade, is 18 and a senior. She is an excellent student, volunteers at a zoo...and has panic attacks and fears. I liked the elephants, the boyfriend's family, the insight into friends getting ready to separate, and her relationship with her family.

The writing is beautiful and descriptive and the words paint an image in your mind as you read. I'm a Sarah Dessen fan and feel that this book is a strong competitor for hers.

In the book, I wish things were better for Oliver, though. Poor kid never got a break. I would like a second book that explores Sebastian's life and learn what happens to everyone in the next year. Her parents' lives are changing, Oliver's world is turning upside down, Jade is starting a new life - there's so much left to say.




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Review: Enclave

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



There's a book out there about the Mole People that live underground in New York's subway tunnels and sewers. Enclave gave me a taste of what life would be like if it were even remotely true. In fact, the Burrowers seemed like the elusive Moles.

Darkness, cramped spaces, abandoned stations and trains, fighting for each meal, living in small communities, life expectancy of 20...Girl15 only knows that existence until she becomes a huntress for her enclave. Raised to fight and kill, she ends up topside and has to deal with a world she never expected to see.

I liked it for its novelty and it's approach to revealing the world as it would appear to someone who has never even seen the sun. It was interesting and the main characters (who I won't name since it would be a bit spoilerish) have different lives and understanding of the world. I liked the ending and will likely read the next book in the series.



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Review: Rot & Ruin

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I've never read a zombie book. I've watched a few zombie movies but none really impressed me. I watched the Walking Dead on tv but it was too gory. So why did I read it? Well, I've been trying to force myself into new genres this year and this came up on Recommendations because of my recent foray into teen dystopian.

I didn't expect to like it but I loved it from the first page. In fact, the part about zombie killing simulations at scouts hooked me. I read it twice and had my husband read it. He was not interested at all...but it was too late for me.

The zombies in this post-apocalyptic book are not the zombies of the movies. They are gravity-driven, stay-at-home types of beings, only driven to eat the living when they stumble into them. Easily distracted by fluttering flags and unable to open a door, they are mindless forms that used to be human.

I'm glad this is a series - I'm ready to see where Benny goes next!



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