This is Sword & Sorcery at its finest! There is swashbuckling action and adventure aplenty, but also a good deal of heart and character development as well. The plot will keep you guessing the whole way through…and this is the first in a series of six (although each book stands alone), so there’s plenty more to enjoy!
Archives: Book Reviews
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
This book has been described as “The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars” and I couldn’t agree more. When Simon, the creator of the school’s gossip app, mysteriously dies in detention, the police are suspicious of everyone who was also in detention that day.
Bronwyn – the Ivy league bound valedictorian
Addy – the pretty, homecoming queen
Nate – the outcast with a criminal record
Cooper – the jock who everyone likes
Not only did they have the opportunity to kill Simon, each of them also had a secret Simon was poised to expose on his app. How far would they be willing to go to protect themselves?
If this book was a TV series, you would binge watch it straight through. The central mystery will keep you reading from the start, which is full of twists and turns. McManus does an excellent job of creating suspense. It is the characters that make this read truly enjoyable. You feel like you know each one based on stereotypes from other teen books and movies, but they all grow in interesting ways and eventually defy the common tropes that inspired the author. Recommended for thriller and mystery readers. Also recommended as an audio book.
The Wicker King by K. Ancrum
The Wicker King is a strange, mixed-media book that is sure to be a polarizing addition to our collection. It follows two best friends as one uncovers a fantasy kingdom and a dark quest that may or may not be a descent into madness. Told through traditional narrative as well as photos, music, and ephemera from the lives of the two boys this book is quite forward thinking and, to me, exciting to read. I really enjoyed the adventure these two take, and the planned sequel sounds exciting as well. Fans of LGBTQIA literature and realistic fantasy should find this book enjoyable.
Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani
Pashmina is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel focusing on, Priyanka, a high school student who’s just won a contest for her cartoons. This contest provides Priyanka the opportunity to travel to India, where all her family’s from. Priyanka has never been, and it takes a lot on convincing to get her mother to agree for her to go. Priyanka hopes that this trip will finally provide her with answers about her past, like who her dad is and why her mom refuses to talk about him. Until Pri won this trip, she only could imagine traveling to India, with the help of a special pashmina she found in a closet. Turns out the pashmina has a story of all its own. Pri will have to discover the pashmina’s origins and her own during her trip to India.
Honk! Splat! Vroom!, illustrated and written by Barry Gott
A bunch of mice in colorful race cars try to outmaneuver each other in this fast-paced, near-wordless, action-packed romp for the young fans of all things cars. Right at the starting line young readers know they will be in for a turbulent contest when a mouse in a blue car sneezes just as the race starts. “Go!” yells a mouse with a green flag, “Ah-choo!” sneezes the mouse, and “VROOM!” go the cars leaving the sneezy mouse in the dust. Will this competitor ever catch up? Using vibrant digital illustrations, artist Barry Gott deftly captures the chaos and movement of the zooming vehicles, and does a great job with the animals’ various expressions (I love their determined faces as they take wild wide turns). A great slapstick moment occurs early on when the mouse in the blue car bounces on the helmets of the other four, now trapped in mud. The little critter giggles at them but then ends up misjudging a jump and ends up stranded in a stream, watching the now freed mice flying through the air over its head with “ha ha”s and honk honks” filling the air. Sudden appearances from a goose and a cat add even more tension and plot twists. Young readers will love how the mouse in the blue car learns that friendship and helping others is more rewarding then winning a trophy. And yet the goofy surprising final image makes sure things never become too saccharine. A giddy delight.
If I Had a Horse, illustrated and written by Gianna Marino
Gianna Marino is a chameleon as an illustrator. When you look at her comical cautionary tale Too Tall Houses, you notice that it’s very different from the melancholic whale bonding tale Following Papa’s Song or the slapsticky Night Animals. I love those books, and others by her, but I have to say If I Had a Horse may now be my favorite book by her. Done completely in silhouettes, the gentle book shows a girl dreaming of befriending a horse. We first see her holding out an apple to the creature. Each page turn shows him getting closer and closer to her. He munches on the apple, and she hugs him and then starts riding on him. Vibrant colors bring out all kinds of emotions, showing the horse and girl not agreeing in some spreads, but then reconciling. The spare text can be applied to any friendship with its ups and downs. What’s interesting about the book is its a story about conquering fears without being overly preachy. The shadows create moods, and the moods create images that stay in the memory long after you close the book. It’s a mesmerizing masterpiece.
Grandma’s Purse, illustrated and written by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Very few picture book artists create warmer or cozier illustrations than Vanessa Brantley-Newton. In this delightful and sweet slice of life story, a little girl has her grandma, affectionately called “Mimi”, show her the contents of her purse. The loving grandmother explains the significance of the objects, from the hairpins that help manage her hair to the change purse her husband brought back to her from Japan ages ago. Brantley-Newton captures the bond between grandparent and child with graceful finesse, and also changes up her illustration style just a tad. The drawings here are a little looser and more child-like than those found in her many other books. Also, Brantley-Newton proves to be a very solid writer here (she often illustrates works written by others), especially when revealing some surprises found in the purse towards the end (family photographs, and of course, a brand new sparkling purse that is a gift for the child narrator). A delight from start to finish.
Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
An updated origin story for Diana, princess of Themyscira by the author of the Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows. Our story opens with Diana saving a drowning Alia and her subsequent adventure in man’s world to end an ancient line of Warbringers – descendants of Helen and catalysts for apocalyptic violence and bloodshed. This book is a refreshing change of pace for Diana and the time she spends in mans world. With a strong focus on female friendship and character development this book will make even the most passive fan fall in love. I will be honest with you, too. Wonder Woman is in my top three favorite fictional characters of all time and going into this book I was very, very wary but Bardugo does her justice. It’s clear she loves Diana as well. This book will appeal to anyone interested in mythology, the comics, or the movie.
Confessions by Kanae Minato
Revenge can have a long shelf life, and often leads to all sorts of unintended consequences. This twisty and often disturbing tale is full of surprises, revealed in the successive confessions of the protagonists involved in the murder of a middle school teacher’s four-year-old daughter.
Minato starts slowly and then gradually intensifies the suspense. She’s an expert at creating intricately plotted stories that dare you to predict the outcome.
The author clearly understands human nature, especially the often muddled and emotion tinged thinking of middle-schoolers, not to mention distraught mothers. The story casts light on the shadows beneath the perfect veneer of Japanese society, resonating across cultures and raising a host of moral issues.
On more than one occasion I found myself gasping, oh my god! You might gasp too as the revelations build and build to an explosive conclusion.
Bull by David Elliott
A powerful and sometimes very funny rethinking of the Minotaur story in verse. Poseidon narrates:
Waddup, bitches?
Am I right or am I right?
That bum Minos deserved what he got.
I mean, I may be a god, but I’m not
Unreasonable, and when I am, so
What?
But Minos, his wife Pasiphae, his engineer Daedalus, his daughter Ariadne, and the Minotaur himself, all get to speak (each in a different form of poetry). Thrilling, propulsive and all too short, this is a great book.
Bull would also be a terrific script for a reader’s theater event. Don’t miss a Greek Myth for our time!
(This book is appropriate for Adults and for teens. The reason Bull isn’t for younger children is the means by which the Minotaur is conceived.)