Science Fiction – Page 4

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Crossover YA/Adult SFF: The Nobody People

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Nobody People, by Bob Proehl, (Sept. 2019, Del Rey), $27, ISBN: 978-1-5247-9895-6

Ages 16+

What starts with a horrifying killing spree turns into a story about specially powered teens and adults and their alienation from society in this hefty story by Bob Proehl. Avi is a reporter who’s always chasing the the big story, at the expense of his marriage and his faltering relationship with his young daughter, Emmeline. An assignment in Iraq cost him his leg, and while he recuperates at home, a phone call from a police contact starts Avi off on the hunt again: a teenage boy has seemingly disappeared a chunk of a shopping mall food court and a church. How? As Avi begins an investigation into the case, he discovers that superpowered people walk among us, and that his precocious Emmeline is one, too. From there, we get what reads like a dark X-Men alternate universe, complete with a school for Resonants (the name given to the special-powered) run by a benevolent gentleman named Bishop, and a rebellious group of by-any-means-necessary Resonants, with a shadowy player pulling strings behind the scenes. Avi becomes more of a backdrop character to history as the clash between Resonants and “Damps”, as non-powered folks are called, becomes more tense and leads to a violent conclusion.

There’s an incredible amount of character development and world-building in The Nobody People, and the cast is diverse, making characters of color and gender identity primary characters, rather than relegating them to background or “friends” parts. The first half of the book is by far the stronger half, as the second half of the book gets caught up in itself, changing up a strong subplot to rapidly switch gears and justify the inevitable conflict at the conclusion. Overall, I enjoyed The Nobody People and think dedicated SFF (Sci-Fi Fantasy) readers will like it.

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

LOKI YA IS HERE!

Posted on June 13, 2019June 13, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Loki: Where Mischief Lies, by Mackenzi Lee, (Sept. 2019, Disney Book Group), $17.99, ISBN: 9781368022262

Ages 12+

Disclaimer: I am a rabid Marvel and Loki fangirl. When I heard that Loki was getting his own YA novel, I shrieked just a little bit, and camped out on NetGalley and Edelweiss until the DRC gloriously appeared. In short, I’ve been really, really, flipping excited for this book! So let’s get the show on the road.

Loki is Thor’s younger brother, and still hoping that his father, Odin, will see that he’s just as capable of heroism – and possibly, the throne of Asgard – as his older, golden brother. He and his best friend, the sorceress-in-training Amora, find themselves in deep trouble when they accidentally destroy a powerful artifact. Amora takes the blame for Loki and finds herself banished to Earth; essentially a death sentence for a magical being, because her powers will wither and die slowly. Fast forward some years later, and Loki is sent to Earth to investigate a series of murders in Victorian London. He joins forces with a watchdog organization that believes otherworldly magic is involved in the murders. Dare Loki hope that Amora is still alive and in London? And if she is… is she connected to the murders? Our (well, my) favorite son of Asgard is at a crossroads in this first adventure.

I thoroughly enjoyed Where Mischief Lies. Mackenzi Lee has given us a delightful mix of Marvel/Tom Hiddleston Loki with a sprinkling of gender-fluid Norse myth Loki. He prefers high-heeled boots, sees Midgardian (Earth) society and its concern with binary sexuality and relationships ridiculous, and he’s got a wonderfully snarky way of interacting with people, especially those he sees as below him, which is… basically, everyone. He is also a vulnerable, often fragile, young man coming into his powers and frustrated by the lack of attention from his father, who prizes only traditional masculinity and strength rather than magic and wisdom. You can see Loki’s trajectory from this story to Earth’s favorite villain in years to come.

The writing is page-turning, with witty dialogue, a creepy whodunit, and slow-burn heartache throughout. My head spun a little bit as I tried to connect the dots from myth Loki to present-day Loki (What about Sigyn? His monstrous children? That whole situation with the cave and the venom?), but Mackenzi Lee deftly maneuvers around these questions with an interesting explanation that works for me.

I’m a fan of Mackenzi Lee’s God of Mischief. I’m looking forward to seeing who else she takes on in the Marvel Universe. A solid must-add to collections.

Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Tween Reads

The Adventure Begins with Cogheart – plus, a giveaway!

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Can you believe the buzz on this book? Could this finally be the book that gets the kids in my library asking me for steampunk recommendations?

Cogheart, by Peter Bunzl/Illustrated by Becca Stadtlander (Cover design by Kath Millichope),
(Feb. 2019, Jolly Fish Press), $12.99, ISBN: 9781631632877
Ages 8-12

Cogheart has been the topic of almost every book roundup email I’ve been getting over the last few weeks, and it sounds like there’s a bunch of good reasons. Originally published in the UK in 2016, the book has been winning a slew of awards, including the Awesome Book Award (2018) and Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month (2016). This is one instance where I’m crowing about the book but haven’t read it yet, but as a steampunk fan, I’m excited. Here’s a peek at the plot, straight from author Peter Bunzl’s website:

“Lily’s life is in mortal peril. Her father is missing and now silver-eyed men stalk her through the shadows. What could they want from her?

With her friends – Robert, the clockmaker’s son, and Malkin, her mechanical fox – Lily is plunged into a murky and menacing world. Too soon Lily realizes that those she holds dear may be the very ones to break her heart…

Murder, mayhem and mystery meet in this gripping Victorian steampunk adventure story, featuring two friends, murder and mayhem, airships and automata, and an over-opinionated mechanical fox!”

So we have automatons, airships, clockwork, and Victorian England. The gears of my steampunk heart are chugging with joy! I’ve also done a bit of digging and discovered that Cogheart is the first in a trilogy, so, yay!! Author Peter Bunzl and Jolly Fish have made this a book club gold pick by coming up with free, downloadable activities and discussion prompts, and Cogheart Puppets. Check them out, print them out, and get kids talking.

And just maybe, my kids won’t wonder what the heck is fascinator is anymore, or why I wear one.

Want a shot at winning your own copy of Cogheart? Check out this Rafflecopter giveaway!

Peter Bunzl grew up in London and lives there with his partner Michael. He is a BAFTA-award-winning animator, as well as a writer and filmmaker. To learn more, visit his website, peterbunzl.com.

Twitter: @peterbunzl

Instagram: @peter_bunzl

Praise for COGHEART:

“With great style and panache, the novel deftly winds through the intricacies of friendship and moral choice while maintaining a fun edge.” —Publishers Weekly

“An exciting, fast-paced adventure.” —Booklist

“Introduces dastardly villains, friendly mechanicals, and thrilling airship action. . . . with hair-raising and cinematic charm.” —Kirkus Reviews

Download activities and see the book trailer at jollyfishpress.com/cogheart!

Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Tween Reads

The Dragon Pearl takes Korean mythology to the stars

Posted on December 10, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee, (Jan. 2019, Disney-Hyperion), $16.99, ISBN: 9781368013352

Ages 8-12

The latest from Disney’s Rick Riordan Presents line gives readers a space opera, Korean mythology, ghosts, nonbinary characters, and moral quandaries! Min is a 13-year-old shapeshifting female fox spirit who lives with her widowed mother and extended family on the planet Jinu. Her older brother, Jun, is part of the Space Force – where Min intends to follow him in a few years, when she hits age 16 – but things change when an investigator shows up at Min’s home, with news that Jun has deserted his post and is rumored to be searching for the Dragon Pearl, a mythical object that could help turn planets into paradises… or destroy them. Determined to find her brother and clear his name, Min runs away from home and finds her way onto a starship; when the ship falls under mercenary attack, she wakes up on the very ship her brother served on: the Pale Lightning. Assuming the form of Jang, a cadet who died during the mercenary attack and subsequent rescue attempt, Min tries to unravel the mystery of Jun’s disappearance, and stumbles onto a plot much bigger than she could have imagined. She joins forces with Jang’s friends: Hanuel, a female dragon spirit, and Sujin, a nonbinary goblin spirit and continues her detective work.

Dragon Pearl is a space opera, complete with space battles, intrigue and shifting loyalties, and a mythos, based on Korean mythology, all of which come together to build an epic adventure that middle grade readers will devour. Min faces racism/species-ism as a fox spirit; she and her family present as humans, because foxes have a bad reputation for trickery being untrustworthy. She has to lie to Jang’s friends to keep her secret; that guilt is with her day in and day out, especially as her own friendship with them grows. She has to break rules for the greater good: to find her brother, who’s also considered a deserter. She’ll deal with the fallout as it comes; Min’s family is her priority. Is she a hero? Is she a traitor? It depends on whose point of view you’re viewing from. The same can be said of the Dragon Pearl, which can create a lush homeworld or destroy a planet. Is it a valuable treasure or a cursed trinket?

Let’s talk about the rich characters Yoon Ha Lee creates. Min and her fellow cadets inhabit a universe where rank and personal pronouns are part of the uniform. Sujin, the goblin cadet, uses “they/their” pronouns and no one has an issue with it. Sujin is a funny, creative character whose gender identity fits seamlessly into the Dragon Pearl universe. They wield a magical spork, for heaven’s sake. That’s the exciting news! Haneul is a dragon spirit who can communicate with the weather; the Pale Lightning’s captain is a tiger spirit who exudes charisma and a more than a wee bit of menace. Min, a fox spirit, exudes Charm to head off potential problems at the pass and is clever, constantly thinking of her next moves to get her to her goal. An exciting adventure, moral conflict, and rich character diversity make this one a nice addition to your fantasy middle grade collections, and yet another hit from Rick Riordan’s Disney imprint.

Dragon Pearl has a starred review from Kirkus.

Fiction, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Tween Reads

Sanity & Tallulah are a STEAM Dream Team!

Posted on October 12, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Sanity & Tallulah, by Molly Brooks, (Oct. 2018, Disney-Hyperion), $21.99, ISBN: 9781368008440

Ages 8-12

Life aboard a space station is never boring, especially when you have to cobble things together to keep things running. Sanity Jones, and her best friend, Tallulah Vega-Davisson, certainly know how to keep things interesting aboard Wilnick Station: their latest experiment is Sanity’s project; a three-headed kitten named Princess Sparkle Destroyer of Worlds (one name for each head, naturally!). Princess Sparkle is discovered, but the kitten escapes into the duct system. As the girls go on the search for their pet, before she can get hurt or caught, Dr. Vega, the station’s senior scientist and Tallulah’s mom, has bigger problems on her hands: Wilnick Station is experiencing some big-time glitches that could put the station at risk. While some of the crew point their fingers at Princess Sparkle Destroyer of Worlds, Sanity and Tallulah find evidence of something else in those ducts. They’ve got to solve the mystery and save their kitten, and they may just have to rescue the whole space station!

This is such a positive, fun read. The cast is diverse, with our two heroines coming from African-American and biracial (Latinx-white) families of prominence: Sanity’s dad is Wilnick’s station director, Tallulah is the daughter of the senior scientist. Her white dad rocks a man bun, prosthetic leg, and context clues allude to his being a celebrity heartthrob at some point in the past. There’s humor and technospeak that kids will love. The three-color white, purple, and pink artwork has bold lines and gives a real feel for the sheer size and scope of a space station. Molly Brooks gives readers a vision of a diverse future where strong female characters are valued. A must-add to graphic novel collections – put this with your Zita the Spacegirl and Star Scouts books!

Sanity & Tallulah has starred reviews from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly.

Fiction, Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Tween Reads

Children of Jubilee concludes Margaret Peterson Haddix’s latest series

Posted on October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Fiction, Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Tween Reads

Otherwood mixes time, reality, and a darned good story.

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Otherwood, by Pete Hautman, (Sept. 2018, Candlewick), $16.99, ISBN: 9780763690717

Ages 9-14

Stuey is going on 9 and lives with his widowed mom and grandfather, who’s his best friend. His grandfather has such incredible stories to tell about his father; a bootlegger who bought land to create a golf course and who disappeared without a trace one night. Grandpa Zach dies during an awful storm, and Mom locks away the pages of the book he was writing. There are family secrets that Zach is desperate to know about, but he puts that on hold when he meets Elly Rose, a girl his age who’s new to his town. School’s out, and his friends don’t live nearby, so Elly and her amazing imagination sustain Zach – until something happens between their mothers; something neither of them want to discuss. Zach and Elly meet in secret in the woods, at Elly’s “Castle Rose”, where they share stories. One day, though, the unbelievable happens, and reality splits between the friends. Stuey and Elly Rose separately work to find one another and make things right again.

Candlewick’s authors are bringing it this Fall! I’ve been making my way through their Fall list and have been consumed with each book on it. Otherwood is a fantastic story of friendship, secrets, and loss. We have two narratives that work readers through each main character’s struggle to understand what’s going on and how to fix things while peeling away the layers of secrets that engulf their families. There’s some quantum physics and discussion on alternate reality that will interest science and fantasy fans, and the frustration of fighting against ingrained, linear thinking (i.e., adult thinking) will resonate with readers. Can forgiveness bring two worlds back together? Only one way to find out. Otherwood is a compulsively readable novel with likable characters and an incredible story. A definite must-add to middle grade collections, and a great book to give to your fantasy fans that want something a little more based in reality. Or that uses reality as a jumping-off point. This one’s going on my Mock Newbery list. Booktalk this one with your When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead) fans.

Pete Hautman is a National Book Award winner whose website has links to his author blog, teacher guides, and writing tips. Otherwood has starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus.

Science Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Mecha Samurai Empire – Crossover YA/Adult SciFi!

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Mecha Samurai Empire (United States of Japan #2), by Peter Tieryas, (Sept. 2018, Berkley Publishing Group), $16, ISBN: 9780451490995

Ages 14+

This is a fantastic crossover novel for any sci-fi/fantasy fans, manga and anime fans, and alternate history fans out there. I did NOT want to put this one down!

The backstory: The AXIS powers (primarily Germany and Japan, for purposes of this novel) won what we know as World War II. America is now known as the United States of Japan, and Germany shares control to some degree, of the American territories. It’s an uneasy alliance between Japan and Germany, and the terrorists known as the George Washingtons are always ready to fight.

Now: Makoto Fujimoto is a young man born and raised in California, orphaned by war and raised by an abusive foster home, now a student with one goal: to attend the Berkeley Military Academy and become a mecha pilot. His awful grades threaten his dream, but a chance to work as a civilian mech pilot gives him a chance to get into shape and learn some skills. When his squadron comes under attack by Nazi bio-mechs, he and his surviving squadmate land two spots at the Military Academy, just in time for tensions between the USJ and Nazi Germany to hit an all-time high. There are traitors everywhere… maybe even among Makoto’s old friends.

I LOVED this book. I haven’t read the first book, United States of Japan, and you don’t need to – this adventure takes place in the same universe, but Makoto’s story is entirely his own. (You can bet that I’ve just requested it for myself, and put both books in order cart for the library, though.) There’s fantastic action and world-building; gratuitous mech battles; intrigue, and strong characters. Peter Tieryas creates some wonderfully strong, intelligent female characters and gives his male characters empathy and feeling. Pacific Rim fans, Harry Turtledove fans, and Man in the High Castle fans will dive right into this series, and so will your anime and manga fans. I’ve already booktalked this one to a teen at my library; he fully expects this to be waiting here for him when it hits shelves on September 18th.

Get your geek on and booktalk/display with Garrison Girl and some gundam manga.

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Teen

Garrison Girl: YA in the Attack on Titan universe!

Posted on July 9, 2018July 7, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Garrison Girl: An Attack on Titan novel, by Rachel Aaron, (Aug. 2018, Quirk Books), $12.99, ISBN: 978-1-68369-061-0

Ages 12+

Humanity lives in walled cities while giant titans roam the earth. They’re without sense, without intelligence, motivated by a ravenous hunger for human flesh. The military guards the walls, always watching, always waiting. Rosalie Dumarque is the daughter of a wealthy, prominent general; her only purpose in life is to marry well and bring honor to her family, but that’s not going to work for Rosalie. She graduated from military school with honors, and she wants to fight titans, not get married. She convinces her father to let her serve for the six months before her wedding; he sends her to the Wall Rose Garrison in the hopes that she’ll be scared off. With titans wandering too close to the wall, death is always a possibility; under the command of Jax Cunningham, it’s more of a certainty. But Rosalie, along with new friends Willow and Emmett, are determined to stick it out and improve. At first, Rosalie is looked down on as the rich girl, but her commitment to the wall and Rose Garrison quickly makes her part of the team. She even manages to get through to Jax, who starts seeing her as more than a spoiled rich girl. The specter of her engagement looms as a romance blooms between the two, and when Rosalie decides that six months isn’t enough for her, she risks losing her father’s respect and her family’s support. BUT WHO CARES? THERE ARE TITANS, MAN!

Garrison Girl is a YA novel set in the Attack on Titan universe. Look, I’d never seen an episode or cracked open an Attack on Titan manga in my life before Ivy at Quirk sent me this book; I had a vague notion of what the story is about, so that was good enough for me. I finished the book in a day and a half. I refused to put it down, it was so good. These are original characters in a familiar universe, but if you’ve never set foot in that universe before, fear not! The book gets you up to speed pretty quickly with everything you need to know, and the action hits fast, hard, and brutally. I turned to my 14 year-old, who watches anime and reads manga, and said, “HE ATE A GUY!” My son sagely nodded and said, “Yup. Like a carrot.” I threw the book down on the couch in the break room at work and yelled at the end, and had a coworker comment, “You read books like people watch movies”. Well, yes, I do, and if you read this book, you will too. There are characters you will love and want to shield with your own body, and there are characters you will want to punch until a titan walks by and munches on them like potato chips. The book moves fast, the characters are well-thought out and written, and the action and tension are equally high. Fantasy fans, add this to your TBR. Put this on your Attack on Titan displays.

And, Rachel and Ivy? We’re getting more of this, right? RIGHT?

Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads