Contaminated by Em Garner Review

Contaminated by Em Garner is a post-apocalyptic YA novel, I won it on Goodreads. It's the story of Velvet and her sister, Opal. They are orphans as a result of a prion disease outbreak that is the result of a diet drink, ThinPro, being contaminated with unsafe proteins. The disease results in aggressive behavior, loss of speech, increased clumsiness, and other symptoms that give the infected a zombie-like appearance but without them actually being dead.

The book begins with Violet going to a kennel, where the neutralized, contaminated people (or Connies) are kept so that family members can reclaim them. The contaminated people are neutralized with a shock collar. Violet is looking for her mother.

Violet is struggling to survive and support her sister in this new world, she goes to school for half a day and then works the rest of the day. Though the contamination affect different areas of the country in different degrees, many basic services haven't been restored. There is martial law and curfews. Feral Connies still show up periodically, as the illness can lie dormant for extended periods of time based on how much a person drank and how contaminated the batch was.

I haven't read any of Em Garner's novels for adults, I hadn't even heard of her until running across this book on the FirstReads giveaway list. The story is an easy and quick read, it is well paced. The characters are pretty believable. There were a few spots that even made me laugh, especially one bit about kissing, boys, and pizza. It's an infection story more than a zombie one, but the world she set up works well. I look forward to reading the next book.

Happy reading!

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

This was a case in which I saw the movie long before I read the book. We saw the film in 3D, it was amazing, and I'm usually not a big fan of 3D. The images were striking, riveting, and sometimes upsetting.

I am a fan of Gaiman's work in general, I really enjoyed Coraline. I know that many adults find it much too scary for children because it terrifies them. Children have a different perspective on the story, they see it as an adventure story.

Coraline is the tale of a young girl with rather inattentive parents. They are loving just very busy. The family has recently moved into a new home that is part of a larger house divided into several apartments. There is a pair of sisters who are aging stage actresses with dogs downstairs. Upstairs is a Russian man who is training a mouse circus.

Coraline is unhappy and bored with her life, as many kids get. (Especially when they have moved to a new place and don't have any friends.) She begins exploring the house and the area around it, this includes a strange door that leads to a brick wall. Well, it leads to a brick wall some of the time. One day while her mother is out shopping, she opens the door and there is a tunnel. Being a curious child, she follows it. 

 

On the other side of the tunnel, she discovers a world much like her own yet full of disturbing differences.  The "other mother" is awaiting on the other side of the door. She wishes Coraline to stay with her forever, but Coraline senses that something is wrong. She challenges the "other mother".

I really enjoyed the book, and the movie was an absolutely fabulous adaptation. Sadly, my imagination couldn't live up to the visuals provided by the movie. This is a great book for boys and girls of all ages.

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld

This is the final volume of Scott Westerfeld's steampunk trilogy. I've been eagerly awaiting this book, and went to the Mall of America to get it signed. Sadly, the line was very small to meet Mr. Westerfeld. My daughter and I were first in line, which was good. I say it was sad because the giant book-signing line was for a book from a Playboy bunny airing her dirty laundry. It upsets me that an idiot that is famous for taking off her clothes and having a rocky marriage to a basketball player draws more people than a story like Goliath and a talent like Scott Westerfeld.

In case you missed the other books in the series, or my reviews of them, let me sum it all up for you. The story is set in an alternate version of World War I. In this universe, the Archduke Ferdinand has a son that is orphaned by his assassination. His son, Alek, goes into hiding after the death of his parents and hopes to gain his father's place in the royal family one day. Austria-Hungary is part of the Clanker powers (they've developed advanced machinery that mostly runs on steam power). While he is in hiding an English air ship crashes nearby, and he assists in their rescue. England and Austria-Hungary are on opposite sides of the war and a deep philosophical difference. England is a Darwinist nation, this means that they have developed their technology through altering animals genetic code to make them useful in a variety of ways. The airship is actually an altered whale and strongly resembles a zeppelin.

Our main protagonist is Dylan, a.k.a. Deryn, Sharp. She is a midshipman on the Leviathan and is pretending to be a boy in order to service in the military. She is quick, strong, and smart. Dylan and Alek form an unlikely friendship, and Dylan falls for Alek. In the latest volume, Dylan's secret is revealed to some, and almost given away completely. We also see a few true to life historical figures such as Nicolas Tesla, Pancho Villa, and William Hearst.

One of the things that I really enjoy about this series besides the characters and story is the wonderful art drawn by Keith Thompson. Unfortunately, my favorite creature design, the weaponized manta ray ship, was not available online. There was no way, I was going to break the spine of my signed edition by putting in on the scanner. But each picture in the book is as detailed and as beautiful on the one on the right. I really wish more adult books would get back to illustrated novels, it really adds a little something. It's sad that it has mostly become a dead art in the West.

I can't say that the story offers any surprises for experienced readers, but it is enjoyable and well told. The creatures and locations are brought to vivid life by Westerfeld's deft and eloquent descriptions, and complimented beautifully by Thompson's finely detailed illustrations.

Virals by Kathy Reichs

Virals is the first is a YA series by Kathy Reichs, who came to popular culture through her books about Temperance Brennan and their t.v. show adaptation, Bones. The main character, and our narrator, is Tory Brennan (Temperance's niece). I have only read the first Bones book, though I've watched the t.v. show regularly, so I can't say whether this series is a true spin off or not. I plan on reading more of both the Temperance and Tory Brennan series.

I ear-read rather than eye-read this books. The young lady, Cristin Milioti, that did the voice work did a fabulous job. This book even had a few sound effects related to certain occurrences. This surprised me at first, most audiobooks I've read don't include sound effects but rely solely on the actor's voice. Maybe this one was different because it was a YA book, it was well done and didn't distract from the story.

Tory has just moved from Pennsylvania to South Carolina. The reason for her move? Her mother has died in a car accident and she has moved in with her father, Kit. Neither of them has known of the others existence for the 14 years of her life. Considering the circumstances, Tory is exceedingly well adjusted. She is a genuinely good kid, if her actions aren't always careful or legal. Like her famous aunt, she is very intelligent and loves science. Her father's house is on a small island owned by the University, only other university employees live on it. As a result, Tory becomes with the three teen boys that also live on the island. They also love science, though different aspects. The kids go to a fancy prep school on the mainland, this is one of the perks offered by the college to attract researchers to take the job on the remote research island.

The kid's love to go the research island by boat and observe the wolf-dogs and the wild monkeys (yes, you read that correctly). This habit annoys their parents' supervisor, and he is always trying to prove that they have broken a rule so that he can ban them forever. They have noticed that one of the wolf-dog pups is missing and that the pack is acting strangely (its because the missing pup is locked up in one of the labs), while trying to discover the cause of the strange behavior Tory discovers a pair of old dog tags. Being an ever curious teen, and solver of puzzles, Tory insists they find out who the dog tags belonged to and how they got on the island.

This discovery in turn leads to the discovery of a dead body. Shortly, after discovering the body they all become very ill. It turns out that they caught an unknown disease when they rescued the wolf-pup, dubbed Cooper. Once they are over the sick symptoms, they begin to notice heightened senses and unusually high levels of strength. But these powers are interment. In the course of their investigation into the dog tags and dead body, they have angered a mysterious person that is trying to stop their investigation by any means possible.

The story is fast paced, entertaining, with moments of true and deep emotions (some sweet, others sad). It is a YA book, but due to some of the language it contains I would say it's best for upper middle school or high school. I really enjoyed it.

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

The Monstrumologist is a young adult horror novel, and won the Michael L. Printz Honor Award. For those of you that do not know what a Monstrumologist is, it is a Cryptid hunter. If that doesn't help, this may not be the book for you. But in case you are still curious, a cryptid is a creature that hasn't been proven to exist such as the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, or El Chupacabra.

The story is set in the Northeastern United States in the April of 1888. It is the story of Pellinore Warthrop, a Monstrumologist, and Will Henry, his 12 year old orphaned charge and assistant.Warthop and Will Henry are tied together by circumstance. Will Henry's father was Warthop's assistant before his death. Will was orphaned in a fire, the events leading up to the fire are linked with his father's work for Warthop. The point that they are all each other has left in the world is hit home repeatedly, and pointedly. Both characters seem to be torn as to whether this is something that they are happy or miserable about. As with real world relationships, their's is a complicated one wound up in history, guilt, obligation, etc.

In case you need a visual

The adventure begins very quickly, with a stranger, Erasmus Grey, knocking on the door in the middle of the night bearing a monstrous load in his cart. He brings the corpse of a young girl entwined in the embrace of a monster, an Anthropophagi. Warthop is excited, while Will Henry is horrified (this is his first real experience with the darker side of his employer's work). Once Warthop has separated the pair, and completed his necropsy, Warthop has Grey lead them to the site of his discovery.

Warthop's approach is to always use logic when making a decision. This practice does not serve him well in this instance, and he quickly realizes that he and Will Henry are in over their heads. They retreat to do more research and call in some help. Things continue to spiral out of control as the story progresses.

The narrative is set up as a diary written by Will Henry in his later years as he reflects back on his life. We are seeing it through the eyes of a modern researcher who is reading the journals after his death, at 131 years old. I know that the found diary isn't a new story device, but Yancey does it well. Another thing Yancey does well is describe the horrific details of the monsters, their lair, and the deaths of their victims. My husband began reading this before me, and balked when I told him it was a young adult book because of the graphic nature of the narrative. It' not graphic to the point of making you nauseous, but he definitely utilizes the gross out factor. The language used by the characters also adds quiet a bit to the ambiance of the story, it seems quite authentic to the time period.

If you are a horror fan, I recommend this book, adults are included in this recommendation. I look forward to the sequel.

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

I have been eagerly awaiting this book since I finished the first book in the series, Leviathan. His cliffhanger ending was quite effective in getting me to want to know what would happen next. The adventure resumes almost immediately after the end of the first book.

The Leviathan makes it to Constantinople to complete it's secret mission. The ships that damaged it have already arrived, and have offered themselves in service to the Sultan. The Sultan has stayed neutral in the war so far, and they are hoping to sway him to enter on behalf of the Clanker forces. Dr. Barlow follows through on the arranged meeting with the Sultan to offer the apology gift to replace the ships that were ordered but not delivered due to the start of the war. Understandably, this breach of contract had angered the Sultan, as he had paid quite a bit of money for them. However, the meeting is sabotaged by some of the court when the egg that was to be the Sultan's gift was crushed. In order to ease the Sultan's anger and buy time to stay in the city, Dr. Barlow offers him the Leviathan itself. It also gives the Darwinists a chance to come up with another plan to reach the enemy ships.

In the mean time, Alek and his men know that they must leave the Leviathan before it departs from Constantinople or face being prisoners of war. Deryn assists them in this effort, though it is technically treason. Since Deryn is aware of Alek's secret, she is also aware that he could bring an end to the war. She has also fallen in love with him, so that is also a factor in her decision. After the escape Deryn is called before the Captain, she is terrified that her treachery has been discovered. Instead, she is surprise to be awarded a medal of honor and given a top secret mission.

While Deryn is fulfilling her mission, Alek is making contact with a group of rebels that wish to overthrow the Sultan. Deryn's fellow soldiers are captured during the mission, so she heads into town to find Alek. Together with the rebels, Alek and Deryn hatch a plan to defeat the Sultan.

Once again, Westerfeld's descriptions of the unique machines and creatures that populate this world are stunning. The combatants are much closer to each other during battle in this book. The Orient Express even makes an appearance. The climax of the novel is built well, and stops at a very satisfying moment. It lets you know that there is more to come, while not dropping the audience as roughly as the end of Leviathan did. This series is entertaining for adults and kids alike. I look forward to reading the final chapter of the tale, Goliath when it comes out.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

I really enjoyed the first three books of the Uglies series by Mr. Westerfeld, so I was very excited to read another of his works. Though I really enjoyed the other books, I was a bit unsure about this one. Steampunk has a very different pace than other forms of science fiction and I wasn't sure if his writing style would translate well into the new genre. I have to admit, I picked this book up partly because he wrote it and partly because the book is so beautifully designed. I've converted to mostly reading e-books (I love the convenience and the savings.), but if publishers would create more bound books of this quality, I'd buy both versions instead of just one. The dust jacket, the map on the end covers, and the illustrations are brilliantly executed.

The story starts off with the assassination of Arch-Duke Ferdinand of Austria in 1914, who is survived by his 15 year old son Alek.This diverges from the history that we all know. Austria and it's allies are the Central Powers, Clankers, people that rely on mechanical technology. In fact, Alek is awoke in the middle of the night by his father's loyal retainers. He thinks they are going on a night training exercise since his mother is out of town and does not approve, when in reality his parents are already dead. Alek is on the run from his own countrymen as well as his country's enemies.

Deryn Sharp is a young girl pretending to be a boy, Dylan, in order to enter the British Air Service. Britain is a part of the Entente Powers, aka the Darwinists. The Darwinists genetically engineer creatures to serve as messengers, weapons, and transportation.

The Clankers and Darwinists are strongly at odds politically, and scientifically. The Clankers consider the genetically mutation animals to be abominations against nature and God. While the Darwinists consider the Clanker's machines clumsy and wasteful.

Both Deryn and Alek are dealing with the loss of a parent, or both parents. They are adjusting to their new place in the world, and learning new skills. The action is fast paced from the very beginning, I don't think I ran into a single slow spot in the whole story. Westerfeld's descriptions of the creatures and machines are vivid. There is good character development, especially considering that it is the first volume of a trilogy. My only frustration was the sudden ending. I was not expecting the story to end so abruptly, the cliffhanger ending was deliberate. I really wanted the tale to continue, luckily the second volume is due out next month.

If you enjoy steampunk, or if you enjoyed the Uglies series, I'm sure you would enjoy this book.

The Graveyard Book

During our road trip, at least on the way up north, we mostly listened to music. As the driver, I felt the need for something different on the way home. I thought a good audio book would be a great way to help keep my mind alert during the trip, it was a good idea. The challenge was to find something the whole family would enjoy. The daughter was unsure about the idea of an audio book, but became completely entranced. Luckily, I was able to preview the audio books before purchasing one. I would not purchase any audio book without listening to a preview first. Even if the story is excellent, a bad reader will ruin the book and lose the audience. The search was successful. We will definitely be utilizing audio books more on future road trips.


I picked Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book because we had all enjoyed the movie Coraline based on the book by Mr. Gaiman (I still need to read the book, but my to-be-read list seems to grow exponentially.). My husband and I have also enjoyed many of his other works. In this production of the book, the author reads it himself. Neil Gaiman is an excellent reader, this may be due to his experience as a father reading to his own children. His voice was expressive, and he did excellent voices for the different characters.

This book won many awards including the Hugo and the Locus Award. It is the first book to win the Newbery and Carnegie Awards in the same year. Gaiman combines action, humor, history, mythology, and sincere emotional moments masterfully within this tale.

The story is about a boy that survives the murder of his family by a mysterious man named Jack. The boy stumbles into a graveyard, gains the protection of the ghosts that live there, and cannot leave without risking the man finding him. The ghosts name him Nobody Owens, Bod for short. He also has a enigmatic guardian named Silas, who acquires him the necessities of life such as food and clothing, as the ghosts can't leave the graveyard.

Most plot points are revealed to the audience as they are revealed to Bod, this adds to the suspense for the reader or listener as the case may be. Bod is mostly educated by people in the graveyard, so he acquires a very unique and thorough knowledge of history. Time skips are utilized to hit the important points in Bod's development into a young man, and keeps the story moving well. Bod is a very likable character, a mostly well-behaved child with and innate curiosity about the world, which sometimes leads him into adventures and precarious situations. There are some surprising twists in the story, especially for younger readers. Adults with experience may be less surprised at the twists, but they are enjoyable and well handled.

Overall, I really recommend this book, especially if you like fantasy/adventure stories.

Un Lun Dun Review

Un Lun Dun is China Mieville's first young adult novel. As indicated by the title it is set in an alternate version of London. It has been compared to Louis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, though I can not speak directly to this as I have yet to read that work, I can see why the comparison has been made based on the movie adaptations.

The tale begins in London, with our main characters Zanna and Deeba. They begin to notice that strange occurrences are happening, things like a fox watching Zanna during recess. Zanna is attacked by a dark cloud, and stays several nights at Deeba's house. The girls are awoken by the sound of something scratching at the window, it's a broken umbrella. Zanna decides to follow it, dragging Deeba in her wake. They end up in Un Lun Dun with no way home. Needless to say, the girls are scared and confused.

Upon their arrival they are chased by a pile of rubbish and promptly rescued by a boy named Hemi. A friendly tailor notices that the girls are new in town, and chases Hemi off. He's half-ghost, and the living don't trust the ghosts. Zanna then learns that she is the "Chosen One" and is meant to save Un Lun Dun from the Smog. But Obaday, the tailor, won't say anything else. He insists on taking her to see the Propheseers, who will tell her what see must do. Zanna and Deeba meet the Propheseers, but things do not go as predicted. The "Chosen One" is injured in the first battle. We learn that people, things, and ideas can travel between our world and the world of Un Lun Dun. There are several other plot twists, which would be quite surprising to the young readers that are the intended audience. They are handled very well, even if as an adult you can guess that they are coming, they do not feel forced or artificial.

The world of Un Lun Dun is full of unique creatures and objects, as are Mieville's other worlds. I admit I was a bit concerned about Mieville's vocabulary when it came to writing a young adult novel. He is quite fond of big words that make educated adults reach for a dictionary, so I wasn't sure if he could pull back and make his wonderful prose accessible to children. He did so superbly. He gave us several emotionally touching scenes throughout the book. There was a lot of focus on the value of friendship in this story. There was particular good-bye scene which reminded me very much of Dorothy's farewells in The Wizard of Oz.

Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone that enjoys fantasy, or is looking for a book to share with a young person in their life.

Good reading everyone.

Inkdeath A Review

How many times have you wished that you could actually enter the story you are reading? How many have wished that you could read a character out of a book and into your living room? Has a string of words ever immersed so deeply in tale that you have to be startled back into this world by a loved one?

Cornelia Funke weaves a tale that does just that in her Inkheart series. I just finished the third and final book in the trilogy, Inkdeath. This series is the story of Mo, a bookbinder, and Meggie, his daughter. Meggie loves books as much as her father. Two things in Meggie's life bother her, the fact that she has never known her mother and that her father never reads aloud to her. What she does not know is that the two things are related. You may be curious as to how they could be related. Mo has the ability to read characters out of books, and people into them. Once his wife disappears, he refuses to read aloud ever again, afraid that his daughter will disappear too.

The language is beautiful in these stories. The quotes used to open each chapter encompass the feel of it very well, and add to your reading list. This is young adult literature at its finest. And the richness of the text is inspiring to all ages. She does a masterful job of capturing the power of words and the imagination. The books became more enthralling and intense as the series progressed.

If you are a fantasy fan, I consider them a must read. I am a huge fan of Harry Potter, but this series is much deeper and more fulfilling in many ways. Definitely has a wider range of appeal, as anyone that loves the written word can identify with the sentiments found within the story.