Wings

New author Aprilynne Pike will entrance teens with her brilliant debut novel Wings. Fifteen-year-old Laurel has started her first year in a new city and at a new school. Adjusting to these different surroundings is going surprisingly well, until Laurel wakes up one day with a giant flower growing on her back. The petals are beautiful, almost like wings, but Laurel is naturally concerned about this new development. She and her new friend David run a series of simple tests and conclude that Laurel may not be human, but rather a highly developed species of plant. A trip back to Laurel's old home brings her into contact with Tamani, who reveals that Laurel is actually a faerie who was sent on a mission as a young seedling to inherit the land from her adoptive parents so that the gateway to Avalon can remain under faerie protection. Laurel must do what she can to ensure that her parents do not sell their land to the creepy Mr. Barnes, all the while balancing her growing feelings for both David and Tamani.

This book just sucked me in. It's quite a page-turner, elegant and exciting at the same time. It will easily appeal to fans of Twilight since the two books have such a similar writing style and few like elements (the blending of our modern world with the fantastic, a heroine torn between two loves). The way that science was used to support the fact that Laurel is a faerie was very well thought out, and the scenes where Laurel and David worked together to figure out what was happening to her were some of my favorites from the book. The romantic tension was brilliant, and I loved the slowly budding romance between Laurel and David. And readers, if Laurel's draw to Tamani seems a little sudden and unwarranted, just keep reading - a reason will present itself in the end!

Overall Grade: A



I'm really hoping that there's a sequel in the works. The book was wrapped up in a satisfying way, but there's enough loose ends and romantic tension that this could easily turn into a short series. I haven't been able to dig up a reliable confirmation that Pike is working on a sequel, but I'll be sure to keep my eyes open for one.

EDIT: Not four hours after I posted this review, Aprilynne Pike herself found it and left her comments! Many thanks to her for confirming that yes, there are sequels in the works for us to look forward to. Feel free to see what she had to say by reading the comments to this entry. While you're there, follow the links back to her blog to see what she has to say about writing, her family, other books and authors, and being a best-selling author.

GoodReads Widget

Hello everyone!

If you look to the right on the sidebar of this blog, you may notice that I've added something new. This widget shows the 20 books that I have most recently read. While I don't document every single book that I read on this blog, I am very, very good about keeping my GoodReads account updated, so if you're curious to see what else I've been looking at feel free to take a look. You can click on the books in the widget and see the book's page on GoodReads and even read my reviews. I don't always go into a lot of detail with these reviews, but it's usually a sentence or two explaining what I loved or didn't love about a book.

But if you read so many books, Sandy, then how do you decide which ones to talk about on this blog? Well, the process for picking books to talk about in detail isn't particularly scientific. I try to update the blog with a new book once a week, and I always try to pick books that I've read recently so that I can talk about them while they are still fresh in my mind. I usually try to pick books that stand out in my mind for whatever reason, either because I loved (or hated) it or because I thought it was truly unique in some way. Sometimes I select a book simply because I think it will be relatively easy to write about. But whatever the reason,just remember that there's a whole world of children's and teen literature out there to explore - dive in and check it out!

The Magic Thief: Stolen

Conn is a boy who isn't entirely sure of his age and has for years made his living on the streets of Wellmet picking pockets and locks. One day, he attempts to pick the pocket of Nevery, a wizard who had been banished from the city for twenty years. When Conn's quick fingers come up with Nevery's locus magicalicus - the stone that a wizard uses to focus his magic - Nevery is surprised that Conn isn't instantly killed by the stone's power. Curious, Nevery does something he's never done before and takes Conn in as his apprentice. Now Conn must work with his often difficult master to learn everything a wizard needs to know and find a locus magicalicus of his own.

Meanwhile, the level of magic present in Wellmet is quickly dropping. It soon becomes clear that without magic the city will die. Nevery is placed in charge of the investigation that will hopefully uncover the cause of this problem, but Conn instinctually knows that Nevery's conclusions aren't quite right. But what is a lowly wizard's apprentice to do about it, especially when his master won't listen and most of the other people in the city think of him as simply a gutterboy?

This is a great fantasy read, and I'd quickly recommend it to the youngest readers of Harry Potter. Author Sarah Prineas uses a lot of vivid descriptions to pull the reader into the story and has created an exciting cast of characters ranges from Benet, the hired muscle who knits and bakes, to the dutches who banished Nevery and clearly does not like magic, to the apprentice of another wizard who clearly does not have the city's interests at heart. The book is thick- just over 400 pages - but the font is large and the story is so exciting and the characters so engaging that many readers will fly through the book.

Overall Grade: A

There's also a sequel that's just recently hit stores! The Magic Thief: Lost picks up where the story left off and follows Conn's adventures as Nevery's apprentice.

Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado

Have I ever mentioned how much great non-fiction is out there for children and teens? Here's an example of a really engaging piece of work that I read recently:

Written by award-winning author Marc Aronson, Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado documents the life of - you guessed it - Sir Walter Ralegh. Those of you who paid attention during your English classes might remember that Sir Walter Ralegh was a great poet. Those who prefered History might recall that he sponsored England's first attempt at a colony in America, which ultimately ended in disaster. In this book, Aronson goes beyond thes traditional looks at Ralegh's life and discusses how this incredible man fits into England's history. Begining with Ralegh's lowly birth and concluding with his execution, this book describes how Ralegh constantly strove to find favor with his beloved Queen Elizabeth and would take on various roles of a soldier, poet, sponsor, and explorer to please her.

When I look back at what I knew about Sir Walter Ralegh and the time period in which he lived before reading this book and what I understand afterward, I cannot believe how much of a difference a change in perspective can make. It was fascinating to really see events such as Elizabeth I's reign and English colonization actually taking place at the same time - the connection between the two events is sometimes lost as the first is discussed in European history, which the latter is a major part of American history curricula. To help the reader make these connections, an excellent timeline can be found at the end of the book which lays out events from Ralegh's life alongside major events in English history, literature and the sciences, and The New World. Plenty of maps and paintings also enhance the text.

Definitely recommended for middle and high-school readers.

Overall Grade: A