Tag: Britain

Posted in Fantasy, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

2025 is all about the dragons: A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

A Language of Dragons, by S.F. Williamson, (Jan 2025, HarperCollins), $19.99, ISBN: 9780063353848

Ages 13+

Dragons have always been popular, but 2025 is shaping up to be THE year for Dragon Lit. We all know about Onyx Storm hitting shelves later this month, but do you know about A Language of Dragons? Pull up a chair, let’s talk. Set in an alternate London in 1923, dragons are in the world but it’s an uneasy existence with humans. A rigid class system is in place that moves people up and down among classes like chess pieces. Viv Featherswallow isn’t concerned with any of this, though. She’s got a level of privilege as a member of the Second Class, and has her life sorted: she’s going to get a summer internship studying dragon languages and attain a comfortable job as a dragon translator. She may have done some awful things to keep her comfortable spot, but she did what she has to do. Until the night her parents are arrested for being part of a rebellion. Viv’s world is turned upside down; desperate, she leaves her sister with family friends, focused on one task that will destroy evidence against her parents. All she has to do is free one dragon. By midnight, she’s sparked a civil war. Viv is brought to Bletchley Park as a codebreaker – translate the dragons’ hidden language, and she and her family will go free. But it’s never that simple, and the more Viv discovers about the hidden language, the more she learns about the Peace Agreement between Britannia and the dragons, and the corruption that goes all the way to the top: the Prime Minister. Will Viv give the Prime Minister the information she needs, putting all of dragonkind at risk, or will she risk her family’s safety? A Language of Dragons has it all: a conflicted heroine, a romance, and a richly layered story with very high stakes. Unputdownable for fantasy fans and dragon aficionados.

A Language of Dragons has a starred review from School Library Journal.

Posted in Historical Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

Regency romance and mystery: Duels & Deception

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Duels & Deception, by Cindy Anstey, (Apr. 2017, Macmillan/Swoon Reads), $10.99, ISBN: 9781250119094

Recommended for readers 12+

It’s 1817, and Lydia Whitfield is an English society heiress with her future planned out for her – even her marriage partner is planned for her, thanks to her departed father. She will run the family estate until her marriage, when Lord Aldershot, her intended, will take over the day to day work. Until then, her drunkard uncle and his unbearable wife and daughters are living at Roseberry Hall with Lydia and her mother. She wants to be free of her meddling uncle, so she contacts Mr. Robert Newton, a law clerk, to begin drawing up marriage contracts, and everything seems to be progressing nicely. Until Lydia is kidnapped!

Lydia is taken as she’s about to meet with Mr. Newton regarding the contracts, and he ends up a victim of circumstance; first kidnapped with her, then rudely thrown out of the coach. But the kidnappers aren’t very thorough, and make it way too easy for Lydia to escape (with Robert’s help). Lydia starts wondering if the kidnapping had far deeper motives than a ransom, and Mr. Newton is too happy to help her investigate. After all, it keeps him close to Lydia, who he finds himself falling for… and she feels the same about him. Can the two get to the bottom of the plot and work through their feelings for one another while maintaining a sense of propriety?

Duels & Deception is a fun mix of proper Regency romance and a complex whodunit. The kidnapping comes with an interesting twist that stands out, and the main characters engage in witty, flirty banter that is sweet and funny. I did struggle with the pace of the novel at times, but overall, romance and historical fiction fans will enjoy this one. A glossary and discussion questions round out the book.

Duels & Deception was named one of Entertainment Weekly‘s 35 Most Anticipated YA Novels of 2017 and received a starred review from Voya magazine. Add Cindy Anstey’s previous historical romance, Love, Lies & Spies to your booktalking list, and spice it up a little with some superpowers, courtesy of Tarun Shanker’s These Vicious Masks series.

Posted in Uncategorized

dotwav – Are You Listening?

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

dotwavdotwav, by Mike A. Lancaster, (Sept. 2016, Sky Pony Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781510704046

Recommended for ages 12+

Ani Lee is a 15 year-old hacker who’s been given a file to keep safe. It’s no ordinary file, and people are after it – after Ani.

Joe is a 17 year-old American living in London, working for a top secret arm of British intelligence. He’s got a chip in his head that helps him control his violent temper, and it gives him some pretty incredible abilities. He’s checking out a new music craze among nerds – X-Core – and a possible link between this underground music scene and the disappearance of an old school friend.

Joe and Ani meet as their investigations converge, and they realize that the .wav file is no ordinary sound file. There’s something in that file that’s causing some pretty crazy reactions, and it’s directly linked to the X-Core movement. Conspiracy theorists, put on your tin foil hats, because the plot goes all the way up and involves some very important people. People who will kill to get what they want.

I do miss a good cyberpunk novel, and dove into dotwav, looking forward to a good technothriller. And dotwav is a good read, it just didn’t knock my socks off like I hoped it would. Something in the execution just fell a little flat for me. There were quite a few instances of over-explanation and soapboxing that dialed my interest down, for starters. I didn’t feel like I was invested enough in the characters to root for or against them. I did like where they went with the .wav file’s origin, but the conspiracy faltered a little. The ending left the possibility of a sequel open.

Add this to your shelves if you have techno-thriller, cyberpunk readers. I’d display it with some Cory Doctorow books, particularly Little Brother; for readers bridging the middle grade-YA gap, I’d also put out a copy of Dragons vs Drones. I know I’m dating myself, but I’d talk up Mr. Robot and the James Bond movies – and all the cool gadgets! – to flesh out Ani and Joe’s backgrounds and make them a little more tangible to my readers.