Tattoo Atlas Review

Tattoo Atlas by Tim Floreen
I think if I read this book two or three times I’d get deeper insight every time, having only read it once, this is my impression.  A contemporary YA examination of empathy and the nature of mental illness.  The first chapter confused me because the narrator wasn’t present.  There were a couple of those chapters within the story I think they could have been let go to just roll with the first person POV which was so perfect for the raw emotion of this story.
The way Floreen writes the narrator is so perfect when I read it I felt those emotions.  Alex is such a beautiful character and the relationship between him and Tor, then Franklin is relatable.  You want Alex to have a happy ending.  You want everything to be ok in the end, but that’s not how the world works.  In this social and political climate that dose of realism, that pain heaped onto the back of this teenager, is needed to help us avoid complacency.
Introducing Franklin, he’s instantly identified as a sociopath and that label has such a stigma, anyone would assume a that person would be evil.  In this case, obviously, Floreen wrote it to be that way; however, I think in service to the mental health community, there should have been more of a divide, a finite diagnosis of Franklin’s sociopathic tendencies.  Feeding into assumptions and stigma doesn’t help anyone.
In the end, it comes down to the three boys: Alex, Franklin, and Tor.  And all they want is to survive each other and love freely.  The big question that Alex likes to ponder is: can evil be cured?  As I read I thought about this question quite often, but I can’t say I came up with any decent conclusions, so I’ll leave that for you guys to mull over.
Great contemporary by Tim Floreen!

The Rule of Mirrors Review

The Rule of Mirrors by Caragh O’Brien is the second installment into the Vault of Dreamers series and much as the first book did takes an artistic science fiction leap into the mind (or in this case minds) of Rosie Sinclair.
At the end of the last book Rosie’s primary conscious personality split off and followed her memory of her little sister while the secondary or unconscious personality stayed in her body.  As a result, her secondary personality was able to develop independent of her.
O’Brien developed the “second Rosie” much as any writer would develop a new character, though there were similarities between her and “first Rosie”.  By the time I got about halfway through, I was reading two completely separate characters, but the growth was so subtle and so carefully done.
An interesting and exciting read.  I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

The Boy Who Killed Grant Parker by Kat Spears

The Boy Who Killed Grant Parker by Kat Spears could have easily fallen to the YA wayside, but for the shear emotion developed into Luke Grayson.  Because Spears had to emotionally break this character, the point of view is perfect.
In first person, the reader is Luke, becomes Luke, who becomes Grant in a sense.  Although this results in secondary and tertiary characters being underdeveloped, the potency that is the “Grant Parker” persona almost develops as a character in its own right.
Luke is an unassuming boy who likes indie and punk music, has a more or less apathetic attitude towards education, and could care less about sports.  Basically, the opposite of Grant Parker.  After the fight that lands Grant in a coma and Luke a potential murderer, Grant’s girlfriend, Penny, invites Luke in to fill the “Grant Parker” role.
The “Grant Parker” persona slowly eats away at Luke, destroying what little life he had in his father’s little town, destroying him.  It became a cancer growing more malignant until homecoming night when the persona actually manifested itself to Luke in a drunken hallucination.
The Boy Who Killed Grant Parker is not an after school special.  It’s not a flyaway contemporary YA novel or high school romance.  It’s just a story about a boy.

Enclave by Ann Aguirre Review

Enclave by Ann Aguirre is a post-apocalyptic novel, the first in the Razorland series.  This installment follows Deuce, a huntress from an underground society, as she is forced to find her way in the world above.  Her hunting partner Fade has followed her and together they search for peace in a dystopic world.
Enclave can easily be rounded out by examining the status of the “other”.  In this world, each society Deuce and Fade come into contact with has adapted in a different way.  By telling the story through Deuce, it allows a sense of innocence in the observations of the cultures they come into contact with.  It humanizes each society.
I love how Aguirre parallels Fade and Deuce’s relationship with the story by George Macdonald, The Day Boy and the Night Girl.  The way she’s structured Deuce’s story alongside Nycteris is beautiful and so perfect for how the character develops.
Looking forward to more.

The Wall of Storms Review

The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu is the second installment of The Dandelion Dynasty and it does not disappoint.  Liu continues to use his epic poetic style as he did with The Grace of Kings that so mirrors ancient mythology while also commenting on modern social issues and philosophy.  He made this book so applicable to current events it’s delightfully quotable.

Where The Grace of Kings was centered around a war, division, heroes, and tyrants, The Wall of Storms focused on unity, family, philosophy, and education.  Liu takes risks early on by not building on the wars that made The Grace of Kings.  Instead he uses a foundation of philosophy and social commentary.  Everything from women’s rights and social equality to education reform is addressed by characters throughout the story as motivations and bases for world building.  Liu developed a complex society based on the ideals of these philosophers and the interpretations of their words to the point that the story is almost completely dependent upon them.  Even The Grace of Kings would have major holes in its narrative if there was no Kon Fiji.  Being able to see and understand that thought process, those intellectual developments was brilliant and so well done.  With a book like this it would be so easy to overdo the intellectual aspects and bore the reader or not put enough of the intellectual aspects in and confuse the reader.  Liu found a perfect balance.

If I were an English teacher, I would use these books in my class.

The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer Review

The Inventor’s Secret by Andrea Cremer builds on a rebellion in a timeline where the U.S. loses the war of independence and the colonies are still ruled by The British Empire.  The main characters, Charlotte, Ashley, and Jack are leaders of a ragtag group of children hiding from the Empire until they are old enough to join the resistance themselves and be reunited with their parents on the front.
Cremer wrote this in third person limited POV choosing Charlotte as her voice.  This could not have been a better choice for Cremer.  Not only does it allow a strong female character to show her ability to take to the action, but when she goes undercover in the New York, it shows she can be feminine as well.
Something I found most interesting was the emphasis on the ancient Greek pantheon.  This seems to seep into every crevice of life within the resistance and the Empire whether they realize it or not.  It is based on an ancient Greek book of the dead that the inventor, Hacket Bromley was able to bring dead flesh back to life.  Knowledge is guarded by the priestesses of Athene.  It follows the characters everywhere, even in the way they dress.
It hits the ground running on page one and doesn’t stop.
There’s more adventure ahead for these rebels, and I can’t wait to see what’s next

Hell Bent By Devon Monk Review

Hell Bent by Devon Monk is a traditional urban fantasy told with a new narrative voice.  Devon Monk has made a name for herself in the urban fantasy genre with the Allie Beckstrom Series, but narrating as Shamus Flynn, she packs a whole new set of skills.
This is a narrative style I’ve seldom seen done well enough to work.  It’s something I call stream-of-consciousness narration.  Monk narrates in first person as Shamus Flynn, but doesn’t bother making him proper or even and often grammatically correct.  With a character like Flynn, this is a perfect narrative because that’s how he operates.  Off the cuff.  Outside the law.  No rules, no games.
Shamus Flynn is an unwilling wielder of Death magic and a Breaker.  With his partner Terric Conley he can Break magic now that dark and light have been brought together.  Terric is of course Flynn’s polar opposite and a wielder of Life magic.  The story opens with a generous helping of their relationship which also helps get the action going and some of the back story out of the way.
Enter Dessa Leeds.  Ex-government spy seeking vengeance for her brother’s death.  She knows Flynn can get her to the killer, but more than that, can make the bastard pay.  Flynn knows who the killer is and that Dessa knows more than she’s telling.
Between government experiment groups, crime syndicates, and just your everyday dust-up Flynn has a lot going on, and all he really wants to do is drink it all away.
Now this story comes after the Allie Beckstrom Series which I have not read but says enough about what the reader needs to know in the world to have it stand alone.  It’s rough and tumble classic urban fantasy, Monk of course has set up her own mythology, magic, and rules by which it works and then places these brilliantly developed characters into the chaotic mess of it.
I truly enjoyed it.