Tag: crossover YA

Posted in Science Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Dungeon Crawler Carl: Trust me, it’s a YA Crossover

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman, (Aug. 2024, Ace), $30, ISBN: 9780593820247

Ages 14+

Folks, trust me on this one: it’s not listed under Teen/YA, but your gamers, your tabletop fans, your D&D crowd, your SFF readers, all will love this straight up hilarious, wild ride. Originally self-published, Penguin Random House finally got hold of this series and now we can all rejoice that it’s available on more shelves.

It’s the apocalypse, kinda: Carl is a guy going through a break-up when the world ends. No, literally: he’s in a tree, trying to catch his ex’s prize-winning show cat, when he sees his building just… crumbles. Every building is gone, and whoever’s left learns, via a message in the sky, that they’re the newest contestants on an intergalactic game show. Think Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Running Man, and you’re on the right track. Carl enters a tunnel with Princess Donut – of course, he’s taking the cat with him – and learns that the two have to survive a fantasy-type dungeon, complete with power-ups, monsters, and other humans. And Princess Donut can talk now. Dungeon Crawler Carl is nonstop adventure with moments both gross and laugh-out-loud hysterical. Carl isn’t some meathead, blundering his way through a dungeon, nor is he super nerd guy; he’s an ordinary guy trying to keep himself, his cat, and maybe another couple of humans alive until the next level, at least. The book is part of a the LitRPG subgenre, with gamelike elements and full character awareness powering the narrative. I loved this book and can’t wait for the next two – luckily, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario just pubbed last week, and The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook is coming in October.

Posted in Graphic Novels, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Croquette & Empanada: An adorable graphic novel romance

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Croquette & Empanada: A Love Story, by Ana Oncina, (June 2019, Andrews McMeel), $16.99, ISBN: 9781449497064

Ages 14+

This adorable graphic novel works as a YA crossover. Inspired by her relationship with her boyfriend, Croquette & Empanada: A Love Story is a series of slice-of-life glimpses into the relationship between an adorable potato croquette and an empanada. We see them at the beginning of their relationship and as they progress; we see them endure traveling together and putting up with annoying hostel-mates; figure out so-sleeping, and work being a couple at social events.

The artwork is mainly black and white, with peach accents. The characters move in a world inhabited by both human beings and other sentient food. There is sweet humor everywhere – During a romantic dinner, Empanada offers croquette a bite of her favorite food, which he declines. It’s a croquette. Later, she takes a bite out of Croquette’s backside. Empanada says of long-winded Croquette at a party, “He repeats more than garlic” – and who strolls in, but Garlic, who sits down to chat with Croquette, to Empanada’s amusement. Relatable moments abound, from the clean apartment visit at the beginning of a relationship to the more “lived-in” look of a partner in a comfortable, established one; Croquette plans on a productive day… as soon as he takes a quick nap.

A cute graphic novel for teens and adults alike. Light and fun, with sweet and relatable humor and adorable artwork.

Posted in Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Listening to Limetown? Here’s the prequel!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Limetown, by Cote Smith, Zack Akers, & Skip Bronkie, (Nov. 2018, Simon & Schuster), $26, 9781501155642

Ages 14+

If you haven’t listened to Season 1 of the Limetown podcast, I highly recommend it.  It’s a creepy, fictional Serial-type podcast, where a journalist named Lia Haddock investigates a research community where over 300 men, women, and children disappeared, virtually overnight. One of the scientists was uncle, Emile Haddock. The second season’s just started, and there are only six episodes in the first season, so you have time.

The Limetown novel, written by the podcast’s creators, is a prequel that works as a YA crossover novel. Lia and Emile Haddock are the central characters here; Lia is a teen at the time of the novel, which takes place in two time frames: Lia’s adolesence in the immediate aftermath of Limetown, and Emile and Jacob’s – Lia’s father – adolesence and early adulthood. We learn about the roots of Limetown, and Emile’s path in getting there, and we get the formation of Lia’s burgeoning journalism career, what led her to investigate Limetown, and allusions to her being part of the Limetown event.

There are some glaring inconsistencies between the book and the podcast which didn’t sit right with me, to be honest. Lia seems to end the book with a lot more information than she starts out the podcast with, and at points, the narrative tends to lag. Lia’s mother emerges as a fascinating character that I want to learn more about in future episodes of the podcast. I liked discovering characters from the podcast in this novel, but would rather have had a prequel about Limetown itself, rather than have it merged with Lia’s story. Maybe that’s in store for another book? If you’re a fan of the podcast, give the book a shot.

Posted in Science Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Mecha Samurai Empire – Crossover YA/Adult SciFi!

Posted on 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.

Posted in Fantasy, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Crossover YA: The Mermaid by Christina Henry

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Mermaid, by Christina Henry, (June 2018, Berkley Publishing Group), $16, ISBN: 9780399584046

Ages 16+

A mermaid walks out of the sea to live with a man she’s fallen in love with. Years later, the sea takes him away from her. That’s the beginning of the story in Christina Henry’s newest fairy tale for young adults and grownups, The Mermaid. Living in a small seafaring Maine town, most of her neighbors are respectful of Amelia’s – the name her husband gave her – privacy, but rumors have a way of spreading; this time, they spread all the way to New York, and to the ears of none other than The Greatest Showman himself, P.T. Barnum. Barnum dispatches his partner, Levi Lyman, to Maine to talk to the “mermaid” and convince her to become one of Barnum’s spectacles. Amelia, a strong, smart woman in a time when women have no voice, no property, and no agency of their own, she decides – after sending Lyman on his way – to make her way to New York and negotiate with Barnum. She wants to travel the world, and she agrees to work with Barnum on her own terms for six months, in order to be able to finance it. The partnership between the two headstrong characters is tenuous, and Lyman finds himself falling in love with Amelia. The Mermaid is amazing storytelling that has a distinctly feminist voice.

The Mermaid gives us a Barnum that isn’t quite so friendly and fun as Hugh Jackman’s portrayal in The Greatest Showman; this Barnum is concerned with money, who’s paying it out, and how much of it he can make off the back of his “spectacles”. He’s recovering from the backlash of one of his exhibits gone wrong, and trying to recover his reputation; he’s known as a liar and a “humbug” (not exactly untrue); he treats his wife and daughters shabbily, and cares little for anyone outside of himself. That’s enough about him.

Amelia is the star of this story. She’s a real mermaid who touches the lives of those who lay eyes on her. Charity, Barnum’s put-upon wife, resists believing in her at first, but later comes to treasure her friendship with Amelia, finding her own voice to stand up against her bulldozing husband. Caroline, Barnum’s young daughter, is enchanted with the idea of knowing a mermaid, and discovers her own young voice thanks to Amelia. Levi Lyman finds his scruples and love in her stormy eyes. Amelia refuses to be taken advantage of, and demands to be heard. She empowers those around her. She reminds Barnum that at any moment, she can walk away from him and he’ll never find her: she’s a mermaid, for crying out loud, and the Earth is 75% water; good luck finding her. We don’t learn about her family or her people; she is the focus of the novel and the narrative. She stands alone. An adult novel, this can easily cross over into YA/Teen for fantasy readers. There are discussion questions available at the end of the book.

Want more circus and sideshow books? Booktalk and display with Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants and H.P. Wood’s Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet. Want more of Christina Henry’s fairy tales? Check out her website and learn about her other books.

 

 

Water for Elephants

Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet