Swendson, Shanna. Rebel Mechanics.

Swendson, Shanna.  Rebel Mechanics.  Macmillan/Farrar Strauss  2015  310p  $17.99  ISBN 978-0-374-30009-8   ms/hs  Science fiction  E-BN    

In 1888, Verity Newton leaves England for the New World to find work.  She manages to get a job as governess in a wealthy magical home.  She soon learns that there are secrets to be explored and romances to be explored while she performs her job.

Readers will be on edge as she falls for a rebel inventor and agrees to help the underground movement by reporting on various activities in the magical world to which she has access.  There is also lots of excitement as she takes a ride on new devices created by an underground society of mechanics and engineers with non-magical sources of power.

Readers will like Verity.  She is an honest and quick-witted person who learns from her mistakes.

In the author’ s note, Shanna explains that this work represents an alternate reality in which she ponders the question of what might have happened differently if the American Revolution hadn't happened, and the ruling class had magical powers.  What would our technology, industry, and social atmosphere look like today?
     

Summary: A young seventeen-year-old gets a job as a governess in a magical family.  She also falls in love with a rebel mechanic and wonders if “all is fair in love and revolution.”    

Spies-Fiction, Magic-Fiction                                --Linda McNeil

Bosworth, Jennifer. Struck.

Bosworth, Jennifer.     Struck.     Macmillan/Farrar Strauss      373p  $17.99  978-0-374-37283-5           jr/sr       VG-BN    Science fiction  

Mia Price is a lightning addict -- that is to say, Mia is one of those human beings who can take a lightning strike into her body and still survive.  She discovers that there are more people like her in the city of Los Angeles, where she lives.  As the story opens, she and her family are trying to survive in a disaster area that was struck by lightning and experienced an earthquake.

 
After the disaster, school opens and the city agrees to feed any kid who goes back to school and give them coupons to buy food.  Mia and her brother go to school every day, but at home her mother is trying to deal with the shock of the earthquake that almost killed her.  In the midst of all this, there are two groups taking advantage of the disaster and the people who are in shock by inviting them to attend religious revivals.

Mia finds herself caught between the two groups, and she does not understand why they are so interested in her.  When the truth comes out, she has to act fast to help save her mother, her brother, and her sanity.

This is a very good story about survival under devastating conditions.  The heroine keeps it together and is able to figure everything out, and she is willing to sacrifice her life for her family. -- Magna Diaz
                 

Natural disasters – Fiction                              

Bell, Hilari. Traitor’s Son.

Bell, Hilari.  Traitor’s Son.  Houghton Mifflin 250p  $16.99      978-0-547-19621-3  ms/hs            E-BN        Fantasy/Science fiction

This is a sequel to Trickster’s Girl.  Jase is waiting for his father’s client at the Canadian border when shooting breaks out and he dives for cover.  When he raises his head he sees a girl making signs at him, and then she throws something his way.  It looks like a medicine bag!  He just isn’t sure what is inside it.  Jase picks up the client and moves on in his Tesla car.  Since he isn’t sure what is in the bag, he decides not to tell anyone he has it until he figures out what it contains.  He does not want to be accused of drug dealing.

When Raven finds Jase, he thinks he is very lucky, because Raven is a very beautiful Native girl; however, then she shape shifts into a raven, a real one. Jase freaks out, but Raven has tied him down so that he cannot run and has to listen.  When Raven explains who she is and what is in the medicine bag, Jase wants to give it back and forget all about it, but then things get more complicated.  He discovers that he has inherited from his Native culture the ability to dream walk, and he must deal with the great powers of his dreams. Then his grandmother gets stuck in the dream world, and it is up to him to save her, as well as the world of nature, but in order to do that he will need to face his greatest fear.

This is an excellent stand-alone book.  You do not have to read the first book to understand what is happening in the second one.  The author does an excellent job of developing the story independently of Trickster’s Girl, but drops hints that the first book set up possibilities for the second book. 

Native Americans – Fiction, Fantasy – Fiction, Tricksters – Fiction    

n  Magna Diaz

Pearson, Mary E. The Fox Inheritance

Pearson, Mary E.  The Fox Inheritance      

Henry Holt/macmillan children's pub group 2011  295p  16.99 978-0-8050-8829-8      ms/hs VG-BN Science fiction   

       After the car accident that supposedly killed them, Locke and Kara‘s minds have been preserved digitally for 260 years.  A mysterious scientist gives them new bodies, but when they realize his intentions, they escape into a bizarre new world.    In this sequel to The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Locke and Kara’s minds have been digitally preserved in boxes for 260 years.  When they are “resurrected” by the mysterious Dr. Gatsbro, they become “floor models” for an illegal industry where BioPerfect bodies are paired with digitally preserved minds, allowing individual immortality.  Told from Locke’s point of view, their escape, aided by a half-Bot and the widow of a rebel leader, is taught, fraught with obstacles, a revelation and a journey of discovery.  Thought-provoking and well-crafted dystopian science fiction, although more could have been done to establish the political background of this futuristic, post-civil war United States.  This work stands well on its own, but readers will want to go back and read The Adoration of Jenna Fox to complete the back story.
                  Biotechnology, Ethics   Pat Naismith

 

Cronin, Justin. The Passage.

Cronin, Justin The Passage
Ballantine see Random 2010 766p 27.00
978-0-345-50496-8 hs/adult Apocalyptic Fiction E-BN


A secret military experiment goes wrong yielding super warrior vampires that terrorize all humans who retreat into walled fortresses. A young girl holds the key to overcoming these creatures. Science fiction/fantasy/romance lovers will all enjoy. Grades 7-adult. A stunner of a novel integrating a top secret military experiment on humans with a vampire story all set within an apocalyptic futuristic time. Told from many personal viewpoints as well as journals and historical records, the plot weaves between current and past experiences without losing the reader. Amy, an illegitimate six-year old who is unaffected by the vampires, is abandoned by her mother at a convent. A top secret military experiment in Colorado injects twelve death row inmates with a virus that will make them super strong and almost indestructible – a way to create super warriors to fight in the American wars. What they have created is a vampirish, blood thirsty creature that infects others and the result is total loyalty to the host vampire. A settlement of humans trying to defy the vampires is so well described, the reader understands their lifestyle and customs. The story is fast paced and segues between Amy’s story and the lives of the settlement residents until they merge into one grand surge toward “home”. Pithy comments about the environment, energy use, and government control or lack thereof will resonate with the reader. Techie readers, romance readers, vampire readers will all appreciate this well-crafted novel. Surely a sequel will follow. Spellbinding reading that ends on a hopeful note. For grades 7-adult. Science fiction McNicol,Lois

Connolly, John. The Gates.

Connolly, John. The Gates.
Simon & Schuster/Little Brown 2009 296p 24.00 978-1-4391-7263-6 ms/jr Samuel Johnson discovers that some of his neighbors are working for the Devil, who is planning a takeover of the Earth. The ensuing fantasy cum sci-fi adventure will leave young readers breathless and entertained. This book has everything for the fantasy lover ... humor, action, friendship, and a touch of science fiction. There are even footnotes (like the ones in the Bartameus series). It will appeal to students in grades 4-8 who like a good adventure story and are not put off by the presence of demons and Satan himself. The main character, Samuel, is very sympathetic, and his frequent complaint that adults don’t believe what young people tell them will hit the mark with readers. The author seems to indicate that this is the first in a series. Kennedy, Carol

Ness, Patrick. The Ask and the Answer.

Ness, Patrick. The Ask and the Answer.
Candlewick Press 2009 519 18.99 978-0-7636-4490-1 ms/hs This sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go continues the story of Todd and Viola, as they are separated, each with an uneasy allegiance to warring sides in this devastating look at ideology and psychological domination. Confusing, at first, to those who have not read The Knife of Letting Go, this novel soon takes on its own relentless personality, fast becoming a such a compelling story that readers will not be able to put it down. It ultimately proves difficult for teens Todd and Viola to decide where the allegiance lies, except to each other. Two opposing charismatic leaders use the teens’ unyielding desire to find and care for each other to disastrous advantage. The Mayor, a sociopath, from whom the teens were fleeing, coerces Todd into believing him and, at times, committing horrendous acts. Viola begins to believe in the cause of Mistress Coyle, and begins bombing sites as part of the Answer. Both finally realize that they are being used, as the novel rushes headlong to a cliff-hanger ending. Brilliant, dark and unrelenting, this title is definitely for more mature readers. Fans of dystopic fiction will want to read the entire series. Nominated for 2010 ALA Best Books for Young Adults. Note: I had conflicted ideas about recommending this book because we only received an advance reading copy. However, the story and the characters were so compelling that I felt that it should be nominated for Books of Note.
Naismith, Pat

Beck, Ian. PastWorld.

Beck, Ian. PastWorld.
Bloomsbury see St. Martins 2009 355p 16.99 978-1-59990-040-7 ms/hs

It is 2048 in London. The Corporation has created PastWorld as a diversion for people to visit and see what the world was like to live in without all of the modern technologies. However, it seems that murder and mayhem are the same in both worlds. The author has written a fast paced and intriguing story of two people, Eve and Caleb, whose world will connect in a most unusual ending. In 2048 in Pastworld, London is foggy and living conditions have only the bare basics available to them. Yet people sign up to board airships to get dressed in period costumes and experience the curiosities of the theme park. Eve has lived in the simulation all of her life. She escapes her protector to find out about her life and joins a circus. She takes to the high wire to dazzle crowds with her abilities. Caleb on the other hand comes to the theme park with his father, who worked for Buckland Corporation and was one of the creators of the simulation. The readers will love reading the spell binding escapades of both Eve and Caleb along with Bible J. and other colorful characters. The story is fast paced with many twists and turns to keep the readers entranced and guessing. The tenseness builds until the final chapter when pieces start to fall in place with an catastrophic and spell binding ending that also is heart warming to the readers. McNeil, Linda

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Quofum. by Alan Dean Foster

Foster, Alan Dean. Quofum.
Ballantine (Random), 2008, 285p, $25.00, 978-0345-49605-8.

A scientific team is sent to Quorfum, a planet that sometimes isn’t where it should be in the galaxy. It is a thriller where scientifically ordered scientist have to deal with a world that is not logical, ordered, or rational. Unusual residents and odd occurrences are the norm for everyday activities.

The author has written a novel that will hold the interests of science fiction and adventure readers. It moves rapidly from one event to another constantly keeping the readers in suspense. It is also setting up further adventures for our scientists.
The wide variety of aliens shows a great imagination and humor. I thoroughly enjoyed the Stick-jellies to the fuzzies, to the hardshells, to the spikers with their unusual burrowing abilities. Each day the scientists discovered and catalogued never before seen flora and fauna with very unusual abilities. Several of these unusual inhabitants of this strange world were aggressive enough for the team to erect an electrified perimeter screen.
Scientists being what they are constantly try to find new and unusual things. This striving for the unknown led the scientist to an unbelievable discovery underground in a labyrinth of an energized warren of tubes.
All readers will enjoy this thriller and stay on the edge of their seats until the end. At which time they will be looking for the next book in the series to be printed. LM