Book Review: 172 Hours on the Moon by John Harstad

When NASA decides to hold a lottery for eligible teenagers to win a chance to go to the moon, the world pays attention.  It’s been decades since a human set foot on the lunar surface, but now NASA is hoping to drum up publicity for the space program.  Three teens are picked to spend a week on a station on the moon, and it’s certain to be a life-changing event.  The problem is that no one realizes just how life-changing it will be.  There’s something on the moon, and it’s not human.

This tense horror-suspense novel grabs readers from the start and doesn’t let go until the last page. A science fiction novel light on the science and heavy on the fiction, this one will keep readers up late into the night.  Part taut Scandinavian thriller and part straight-up horror novel, this is a story you’ll remember.

Harstad’s prose (translated from Norwegian by Tara F. Chace) is accessible, sparse, and tense.  This is a plot-driven novel, so readers looking for characters with a great deal of depth should look elsewhere.  Although the novel alternates between the three chosen teens’ perspectives as well as a few other characters, it becomes clear early on that this is Norwegian teen Mia’s story.  Tight pacing, especially in the last quarter, helps build the story to a thrilling climax and twisty, surprising conclusion.

Readers shouldn’t go into this one expecting much in the way of plausibility.  The mere fact that the story’s premise involves teenage astronauts should give you all the clues you need for whether or not the story is realistic, but once you get sucked into the horror, it doesn’t matter any more.  This is great suspense, and nothing else matters.

A good twist at the end will satisfy readers.  This is interesting, original, and extremely accessible.  There’s widespread appeal here, and the book’s simple prose makes it accessible to readers across many reading levels.  Recommended for those looking for a good suspense novel with some great thrills and chills.

172 Hours on the Moon by John Harstad. ATOM: 2012.  Borrowed copy.

On Re-Reading a Series: Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

In lieu of a review today, I thought I’d talk a little bit about what it’s like to re-read a series.  I think I’ve talked about re-reading before, and how your relationship to a book can change over time, but I’m speaking very specifically about a particular series right now: The Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris.

With the start of the new year came a fresh reading rut for me, and it’s one that I’m still struggling to crawl out of.  I’ve had a great deal of changes in my personal and professional life over the past several months, and reading has taken a backseat to the demands of my life (see: graduating from a master’s program, applying for jobs, moving in with boyfriend).  It doesn’t help that I’ve felt listless whenever I’ve picked up a book.

Which is why I’ve started re-reading books in search of comfort and something that holds my attention.  I’m still reading new stuff when I’m on  the treadmill, and I’m enjoying a lot of it, but there’s nothing like something you know you like to bring you that cozy feeling.

Re-reading Charlaine Harris’s Sookie series is interesting, because I’ve grown as a reader since I started reading it.  I first read Dead Until Dark years ago, way before TrueBlood became a TV show and before the vampire craze went nutso.  I liked it, but it was definitely out of my wheelhouse.  Here was a mystery featuring a plucky heroine who spends much of her narrative in the minutiae of her life.  There is so much detail about how Sookie spends her time in really unremarkable ways that it’s astounding.

That being said, there’s something comforting about reading about Sookie’s small-town life as a telepathic barmaid who sometimes has really great sex with supernatural creatures.  I’m finding that I’m enjoying the series in a different way: it’s not particularly well-written or well-paced, but there’s enough detail about small-town life and Sookie is a nice enough narrator (for a while, at least) that it’s kind of fun.

Plus, I’m determined to finish the series.  I haven’t read the last few books because they’re so bogged down in the story’s mythology that it’s kind of like drowning.  But I have to finish the series and see if I’m right.

The bonus? Sookie’s clothes, especially in the early books, are HILARIOUSLY bad.  Seriously, why hasn’t someone started a Sookie clothing blog yet?  COMEDY GOLD.

Have you ever read these books?  What do you think?  How do you feel about re-reading series from start to finish?

Book Review: Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough

“Beware of Long Lankin…” is an old English song that warns of a sinister creature who seems to have a penchant for eating babies.  When Cora and her younger sister Mimi are essentially dumped on their elderly aunt in a very isolated village in England, they don’t feel very welcome.  Aunt Ida is absolutely rigid in her house rules, and the girls feel stifled and desperate to get back to London.  They don’t understand their aunt’s fear, and when Cora and some village boys begin to uncover the evil that lurks in the town’s history, she begins to understand what her aunt dreads so much.

Barraclough’s novel doesn’t waste time in setting up the creeping feelings it lends its readers.  From the instant Cora and her sister Mimi are dumped with their Auntie Ida, the girls feel unwelcome.  Their aunt tells them in no uncertain terms that they are to keep the doors and windows locked at all times, no matter how hot it gets inside the cottage.  They aren’t allowed to explore the house or go down to the marshes–especially when the tide is out.  All of this helps to set the stage for the stifling, restrictive feeling the book puts its characters and readers through.

Of course, kids being kids, the rules get broken, and with the help of some local boys looking for summer distractions, things go quickly awry.  Barraclough has multiple points of view narrating the story, and they all work exceedingly well, but this is especially true in the case of Auntie Ida.  As frustrated as Cora and the reader are with Ida’s unwillingness to talk about what’s happening or why she is the way she is, her narrative pieces help unravel the hard, awful life she’s lived.

So many elements of the book work together to create a truly memorable, creepy read, but it’s worth noting that Barraclough keeps her prose tight and her narrative authoritative.  Even though the actual horror isn’t fully exposed until well into the second half of the book, most readers won’t mind: the suspense is that good.

This is a creeping horror story for sophisticated readers looking for something to really sink their teeth into (please, ignore the pun).  Barraclough’s dark, atmospheric novel runs a little long, but the building suspense and vivid characters help to carry the plot towards its chilling conclusion.  Many reviews have already said it, but it bears repeating: be prepared to read the last 100 pages all in one sitting).

Recommended.

Long Lankin by Lindsay Barraclough. Candlewick: 2012. Library copy.

Waiting on Wednesday: Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  Its purpose is to spotlight eagerly-anticipated upcoming releases.

This week I’m eagerly awaiting:

Add MediaAnother Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

Expected Release Date: June 11, 2013

On a cool autumn night, Annaliese Rose Gordon stumbled out of the woods and into a high school party. She was screaming. Drenched in blood. Then she vanished.

A year later, Annaliese is found wandering down a road hundreds of miles away. She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t know how she got there. She only knows one thing: She is not the real Annaliese Rose Gordon.

Now Annaliese is haunted by strange visions and broken memories. Memories of a reckless, desperate wish . . . a bloody razor . . . and the faces of other girls who disappeared. Piece by piece, Annaliese’s fractured memories come together to reveal a violent, endless cycle that she will never escape—unless she can unlock the twisted secrets of her past.

(summary via Goodreads)

I’m not exactly sure what it is about this one that seems so appealing.  It’s going to be a tough read, I think, but it also looks really original and out of the norm for me, so there’s some appeal there for sure.  It doesn’t feel like a June release, as this one would be more apropos for October, but I’ll definitely be devouring it when it’s published.

What are you waiting on this week?

Book Review: Bad Hair Day by Carrie Harris

Kate Grable has scored an internship shadowing the county medical examiner as part of her school’s pre-med program (we’re assuming that high schools have pre-med programs, I guess).  When he’s arrested for murder, she’s left with the bodies.  Then her brother Jonah finds a dead gamer girl, and Kate starts to realize that someone is killing kids–and whoever is doing it is really, really hairy.  Is it a werewolf?  Kate’s skeptical, but if she doesn’t solve the mystery, kids are going to keep dying.

Harris’s follow-up to the frequently funny Bad Taste in Boys starts where the first one left off.  In this very short, very entertaining novel, readers are treated to more of Kate’s geeky science-nerd desire to know what is going on.  Readers also get more time with Kate’s funny younger brother and Kate’s eclectic group of friends.  There’s a lot of the same stuff here, and when it works, it works well.  This is fun, frothy horror-humor.

The novel is definitely campy, but its tongue-in-cheek approach makes readers aware of the fact that the novel knows just how campy it is.  The plot starts rolling right away and doesn’t let up, which should keep even the most reluctant reader hooked.  There aren’t a ton of other titles like this for contemporary YA fans, so this one should stand out in that respect.

Funny, smart, and accessible for younger readers, this one should work for fans of the first in the series and anyone looking for a lighter side to their humor.  The novel is so fun that even the fact that the plot is far-fetched doesn’t really matter.

Bad Hair Day by Carrie Harris. Delacorte Press: 2012. Electronic galley accepted for review via NetGalley.

Book Review: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Cas Lowood can’t get over the fact that the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to hell and sacrificed herself to save him and his friends.  He can’t move on, even though his friends urge him to do so.  He begins to see Anna everywhere, and it starts to mess up his work as a ghost-hunter.  It’s like living in a nightmare, and Cas can’t do anything to help Anna.  Or maybe he can.  With the help of a mysterious and ancient cult, Cas might be able to cross over and help Anna find peace, once and for all.

Blake’s follow-up to last year’s successful and smart horror novel Anna Dressed in Blood offers a satisfying ending to Cas and Anna’s story.  Blake’s smart, sharp writing is infused with wit and a clever self-awareness.  A few pacing problems plague the novel, especially in its middle, but fans of the first book should find this one to be just as much of a page-turner.

Never short on suspense, Blake manages to hook the reader from the beginning and create the very real sense that Cas and his friends live in mortal danger.  Her writing is pitch-perfect, managing to straddle the line between humor and horror without ever going too far in either direction.  The suspense in the story is some of Blake’s best work, and readers will be on the edge of their seats as they wait to see what will happen.

Cas’s voice continues to be consistently authentic.  Blake manages to create a deeply-flawed character whose predicament is unique to say the least: despite the fact that Cas is in love with a gruesome, murderous ghost, readers are sympathetic and maybe even understand his desire to be with a girl who is dead.  It doesn’t have any of the campy feel of so much of the other paranormal offerings out there, because Blake doesn’t shy away from the fact that Anna is more than kind of nasty.

The book starts to feel overly long about the time Cas and Thomas head off to the UK to search for answers.  Although there are still some great thrills after their arrival, something about the novel stalled out there for this reader.  Most readers won’t have the same problem, though, and will be all too happy to keep reading about Cas’s journey.  It would’ve been nice to have a little more of Anna’s presence, though.

Funny, sharp, and well-written, Blake is an author to watch, no matter what she decides to do next.  This is great Halloween-season reading.  Recommended.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. Tor Teen: 2012. Library copy.

Book Review: The Raft by S.A. Bodeen

Because her parents are scientists living on the Midway Atoll, a group of islands in the Pacific, Robie has become something of a seasoned traveler.  Shuttling between those islands and Honolulu, where her aunt lives, has become a complete routine.  But when she has to get home quickly, a decision to take a cargo plane ends up being a total mistake.  When the plane goes down into the water, Robie is stuck on a raft with her co-pilot Max (who is essentially comatose).  The two are stranded in the water, with limited supplies and an even more limited chance of being rescued.

This survival tale from S.A. Bodeen is an engaging take on the adventure genre for teens.  In a story that should appeal to both male and female readers (and whose relatively short length might work for reluctant readers), Bodeen mixes suspense with facts that only occasionally cross over into didacticism.  Of course, that won’t matter to readers who find themselves riveted by Robie’s story.

And it is a riveting tale.  Despite the fact that Robie isn’t an entirely likable character, her often almost stream-of-consciousness narration helps propel the book forward.  Although Robie spends much of the book alone with her own thoughts, the pacing never falters, and readers will tear through this one in their quest to see how it ends.

A strong addition to the adventure/survival genre for teens, this one would pair well with Kristen Tracy’s Sharks & Boys (don’t let the light-ish title fool you).  Recommended for reluctant readers looking for a dash of realism with their danger.

The Raft is out now.

The Raft by S.A. Bodeen. Feiwel & Friends: 2012. Electronic galley accepted for review via NetGalley.

Book Review: Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol

For lonely teenager Anya, a friend seems like a start to fixing her problems.  When she falls down a well and meets the ghost of a girl who lived long before, she thinks she may have actually found a friend–albeit a weird one.  But this new ghost seems intent on sticking around, and as she tries to control more and more of what Anya does, Anya begins to question her choices.

Vera Brosgol’s very creepy, fast-paced graphic novel is an absolute page-turner.  Readers will be quickly sucked into Anya’s world.  As Anya tries to escape the past–both her own Russian-immigrant background as well as her new ghost friend’s presence–readers will be breathless in anticipation of what will happen next.  Brosgol’s writing is sparse, smart, and frequently very funny.  Everything about this one works nearly perfectly.

Beautifully rendered, Brosgol’s simple, clean panels create a modern feel using mainly black and white (with a dash of purple thrown in, too).  Instead of trying to cram a great deal of action into each panel, Brosgol chooses instead to simply create more panels, making the entire story unfold in a way that is easy to follow.  The grayish tint to some of the drawing helps illustrate the moody feel that permeates much of the novel.  It’s eerie, and the drawings only help increase the uneasiness readers are supposed to feel about Anya’s new friend.

Tight storytelling makes this novel whip by.  It won’t be hard for most readers to finish this in a single sitting, and Anya’s relatable, often self-deprecating voice will be something that resonates with most people.  This graphic novel is definitely for the older teen set, but it’s unbelievably satisfying and very clever.

Highly, highly recommended.

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol. First Second: 2011.  Library copy.

Book Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Conor’s mother is terminally ill.  Her struggle with cancer has dragged on and on, and yet Conor remains hopeful because his mother has always told him that everything will be okay.  Then Conor receives a visit from a monster–part hulking creature, part Yew tree–and the monster tells him that he’ll tell Conor three stories in exchange for Connor’s telling of one truthful story.  Conor listens to the monster’s stories and fights against the truth that is welling up inside him.

Much has been made of the fact that Patrick Ness took an idea from Siobhan Dowd–who passed away before she could complete her own version of this story–and ran with it, creating a moving and powerful novel of his own.  This is all true.  Ness is a good writer–his Chaos Walking trilogy showcased that.  A Monster Calls leaves the trilogy in the dust and elevates Ness to a new level of writing.  This book is that good.

The book is full of strong elements, but one of its strongest is the pairing of Ness’s prose with Jim Kay’s pen-and-ink drawings.  The text curves around Kay’s illustrations, almost hugging the drawings.  The darkness of the drawings combined with the darkness of Conor’s world is a perfect, heartbreaking pairing.

In addition to the remarkable text and illustrations, Ness has crafted characters that feel real.  Conor is well-developed, as is his ailing mother and his rather persnickety grandmother.  The dialogue is believable and often poignant.  There’s enough going on just below the surface to keep the reader actively engaged in each character’s plight.  This is not an easy story to tell, but it is told exceedingly well.

Perhaps the most brilliant aspect of Ness’s novel is the way he uses classical elements of horror to tell a story about the horrors of loss.  Utilizing the tropes of the classic horror story, Ness allows Conor to confront his greatest fears and come to grips with his own terrible reality.  It’s nuanced, layered, and very, very real.

This is a book worth reading.  Definitely one of the best books of 2011.  Get your hands on a copy.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Candlewick: 2011.  Library copy.

Book Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Cas Lowood’s father was killed by a vengeful ghost while trying to slay it.  Since his father’s death, Cas has taken up the job himself, using his father’s magical athame to end the life of the spirits who remain after their own deaths.  He and his white-witch mother travel around from place to place, following legends in order to track down deadly specters.  All this traveling has made Cas strong but quite lonely: with no friends to speak of, he is surprised at making them so quickly when he and his mom end up in a small Canadian town to track down a ghost named Anna Dressed in Blood.  What’s even more shocking to Cass is that the bloodthirsty Anna spares his life in a rare moment of humanity.  Faced with more questions than answers, Cas has to figure out what he believes.

Kendare Blake’s latest offering, a horror novel about a teenage boy who takes up the mission after his father’s death,  is scary, funny, and really smart.  Part dark comedy, part horror, and part adventure, Blake manages to balance all the story’s elements while creating vivid characters and a compelling tale.  Never losing suspense or compromising its values, Anna Dressed in Blood is one of this year’s best books for young people.

An outstanding protagonist leads a cast of characters that are remarkably well-drawn for a novel in the horror genre especially.  Cas is funny, vulnerable, and very real, his seventeen-year-old voice authentic.  The characters who populate his world–including his mother, a kitchen witch; and Anna herself–are given detailed personalities and quirks.  Whenever possible, Blake subverts the expected tropes and stereotypes, making for a very refreshing read.

It helps that Blake’s story is full of strong prose, tight plotting, and a story that never loses its suspense.  It’s a violent story–Anna’s fury and her propensity for uncontrollable violence make this one fairly graphic–but it’s also funny and smart.  Recommended for older teens.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.  Tor Teen: 2011.