The Raven Boys

The Raven Boys
by Maggie Stiefvater
416 pages
High School+

Blue lives with her mother, plus several other women, all psychics except her.  She has another gift, she amplifies the energy that they read. While she tries to get on with her normal life, she lives under the prophecy she has heard all her life: if she kisses her true love, he will die. Never really interested in guys, it's not that difficult not to kiss her true love.

One year as she is helping with a typical activity- helping one of the psychics on the corpse road.  Each year they go to see who is going to die that year, except Blue never sees anything.  She is just there to share her power.  But this year is different.  This year she sees someone- a boy, a teenager like her, in a raven crested sweater.  When she asks him his name, he tells her Gansey.  Spooked by seeing someone for the first time, she asks the psychic.  She says their are only too possible explanations: either he is your true love, or you kill him.  Unsettled by these choices, Blue is even more unsettle when Gansey makes an appointment with her mother for a psychic reading.

Richard Gansey III is a student at the local private school, but far more interested in studying ley lines and where Glendower, the lost king, is buried.  Along with his friends Adam, Ronan, and Noah, they look for clues, dowse for energy lines, and investigate where this burial site may be.  When the psychics tell him and his friends things too close for comfort, Gansey begins to think he is getting close.  With Blue coming along on adventures, her power starts amplifying his results, getting him further in a month than he had in years.  But one of his companions is more, or less, than he seems.  What will happen as they get closer to finding Glendower?

So, wow...  Such a beautifully written story!  I found myself re-reading sentences for the beauty of the language.  I enjoyed reading this as much for the style as for the story.  Great style, great story!  Loved it!

Many themes and mysteries in this book. Friendship and families are key in this book.  Especially important is the definition of family- who really counts as family?  Along with that

Self exploration and self definition is also huge.  The boys really create their own family, but also are trying to find their own self at the same time.  They each have to discover not only which family they belong to, but how they fit into it, what roles they play, and how dependent they are on each other.  And then Blue comes in and messes it all up!  Once again, Stiefvater has written a book all about relationships and trust.

So, over all, amazing book!  It took me a while to get to it, but I loved it!  Great story, very mysterious and lots to be discovered throughout the story.  The ending seemed a little abrupt (had to make sure I hadn't missed a page) but I just learned there is a sequel!  Woo hoo! That makes me very excited.  Read this, because I bet the sequel will just build off of this.  Stiefvater is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!

False Prince

False Prince
Jennifer A. Nielsen
352 pages
Late Elementary+

Sage is an orphan, stealing food on the street and pennies from pockets.  When he is bought from his orphanage by a nobleman and taken away from all he knows, everything changes. With two other boys, he is taken to a remote mansion and the lessons begin. Instead of his biggest care being where his next meal will come from, it's figuring out what this nobleman wants and how he can escape from him. 

Sage quickly figures out that he has not been taken to be a servant, but to imitate a missing prince whom everyone assumes is dead.  With the recent death of the rest of the royal family, this noble has the plot to be the master behind a puppet prince.  But first, the noble must teach Sage or the others to become the prince. 

Sage does not like this at all.  He wants to return to his previous life, and ignore all the politics.  But when failure means death, he must succeed.  While managing to rebel at every step, Sage still becomes the favored boy to play the prince.  But the more he discovers about this plot, the less he likes it and the nobleman. 

This was a great book!  It's been on my "to read" list for a while, and now that I finally got into it, wow!  While I predicted a little of what happened, there was a lot of "oh my goodness" moments as well.  The plot has a great balance of current events, foreshadowing and action.  Very fast paced and hard to put down.

One big issue brought up: telling the truth versus lying.  Lots of people lie in this book for various reasons.   Some excuse their lies away, so are embarrassed by them, while others hide their lies.  Very few people really take responsibility for their lies.  This looks like this is the first of a series and I can see some of these lies coming back to haunt not only the villains of the story but also the hero.

Overall, I will definitely recommend this book to a lot of people.  Will definitely appeal to boys and girls, and I am very interested to see how this is evolved into a series. I would probably start around 6th grade, mostly because of violence.  No bad language or anything else like that.

Seraphina

Seraphina 
by Rachel Hartman
480 pages
Middle School+

Update!  I read this again for the YALSA 2013 Best of the Best Challenge!  I loved it just as much, if not more than I did last time.  I was more eager to read, so it went really fast this time. The world is so vivid, beautiful and well crafted. 

I noticed this time the glossery in the back, so if there was someone or a place mentioned that I didn't understand, I was able to look it up. For example, several times, Daanites are mentioned with some significance.  Once I looked it up, I understood more about those characters, how it affects them and why they said it when they did.  Very helpful tool!

I also saw lots of foreshadowing, both of events that happen later in the novel, but also stuff that hasn't happened yet.  In addition to all the people in her head that she still needs to meet, there are several more themes that need to be resolved.  The dragon rebellion/civil war will be very interesting!

Still an awesome book!  Definitely recommend it!  I did lower it to middle school age, mostly because I didn't really find anything that is mature content or anything like that which would be inappropriate for middle schoolers.  It is a big book, but I've seen little kids with big books before!

Seraphina lives in a world where humans have made peace with the dragons, trying to live together. Dragons shift into human shape to understand the humans, including their strange and foreign emotions. Dragons see those emotions are diseases, to be excised from the brain. Each species has difficulty understanding the motivations of the others' actions.

Into this world comes Seraphina, child of a human lawyer and musician dragon.  An abomination to either species, she hides her true self from everyone, including herself.  Her musical talents start bringing her into popularity, and the attention of even the royal family.  She must hide your half-dragon nature from everyone, even those she comes to care about. Inside her mind, she keeps a "garden" with characters, who she thought were imaginary, that she starts finding in real life.

On top of all of this, it's the time of the Treaty Festival, the anniversary of peace between the humans and dragons.  Seraphina must help plan the festivities, protect the royal family from unknown plots, and find a rogue dragon who she believes is her grandfather.   How can she reconcile her true self with how others around her will perceive her?  And can she protect all those close to her?

Seraphina is a great book, with a beautiful world that it created.  This book takes the stereotypical relationship between humans and dragons, and takes it to another level.  The world is realistic and even the seemingly minor characters have depth and connections.  While at times it is slow moving, it takes that chance to build the story, and adds layers and layers to the story.

Overall, I really loved Seraphina!  Seraphina herself is a character that I can identify with, and seeing her growth throughout the book was rewarding.  Of course I love dragons, and this was one of the most original story with dragons I've read in a long time.  Seems like it is well set up for a sequel, and if there is one, I will definitely read it!  Recommend it for teens and adults alike!  Great book!