The Star Catcher by Molly Dean

October 14, 2014 By 12 Comments

STAR
The Star Catcher by Molly Dean
Publisher: Wild Child Publshing
Genre: Contemporary, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Suspense/Mystery, YA
Length: Full Length (239 pages)
Age Recommendation: 10+
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Orchid

When fifteen year-old Hawke feels fed up with not being able to walk, he escapes in his mind to a misty island filled with moorlands, ancient forests, and monolithic stones: a place where he can move and run and accomplish heroic quests.

His life is turned upside down, though, when he’s thrust into this dream world and finds it real! He becomes ‘Star Catcher.’ The job? Track and collect shooting stars or meteors sent from a more advanced civilization, which have powers that protect the island from approaching evil. He finds many helpers along the way: a serving girl who can communicate with animals and create light, an alluring mermaid, a savvy one-eyed crow, and an old farmer with a secret.
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Hawke must also discover what’s going on inside the imposing mansion called Moon House. Why do rooms change? Why do objects mysteriously shift? Who lives inside the old forest behind the place—and why is the Star Catcher forbidden to enter it? And most importantly, who are Hawke and his stars really battling against? An evil genius? A pirate-like group called the Shrikers who have taken over the island? An Ancient Magic? Or, maybe an aspect of himself?

Hawke’s life sucks – his legs are paralyzed, he’s confined to his bed, his father has left, his mother is unhappy and trying to find solace. Hawke escapes the real world and dives into a world of dreams where he becomes the star catcher. He has to catch five stars as they fall from the sky – one every other day – and when he has caught the last star the magic will return to the strange land.

The world of Hawke’s dreams is very well thought out and each trip to find a star is like a different jewel in a necklace. Similar but each an individual in its own right. Hawke is typical of a young teenage boy but Emma, the girl servant at the Moon House, has several different facets to her character. Evil is easy to recognize as it comes in the guise of the Shrikers and Facsimiles but working out who the good guys are takes a little more time.

This story has a smattering of various animals, humans and mythical creatures. They confuse, assist or act against Hawke and as the reader I never knew which way each character would go.

I found this book to be very attention grabbing. At first it dragged a little but once Hawke started his travels in the other world I had to keep reading to see what happened next. While not the usual mystery and adventure, this fantasy certainly has a hint of magic, mystery and adventure. All make this a worthwhile read.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Silent Circle by Cassandra Larsen

October 13, 2014 By Leave a Comment

CIRCLE
Silent Circle by Cassandra Larsen
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, YA
Length: Short Story (138 pages)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Orchid

“Most teens get a car for their seventeenth birthday. Me? I get inducted into a freaky coven of witches.”

When Emerson wakes up on her seventeenth birthday, she has no idea that her life will change forever.

After her mother’s inexplicable suicide three years ago, she’s gotten used to the scorn and sideways looks of her classmates. She knows everyone thinks her mother was crazy, and that it’s only a matter of time before Emerson cracks herself. So when Emerson starts seeing things and hearing voices, she begins to think that the rest of the town may be right. That is, until Caiden, an enigmatic guy from her class, tells her that she’s a witch, just like her mother.
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But when Emerson nearly kills a girl at a party, she discovers just how dangerous these powers can be. Now it’s up to Caiden to train her before she hurts anyone else.

Most teens get a car for their seventeenth birthday. Me? I get inducted into a freaky coven of witches.

The first sentence of the book describes the story perfectly. First in this series the scene is set, and the characters are truly believable for the setting. There was enough mystery to attract my interest and Emerson, the heroine and trainee witch, had the usual angst of a seventeen year old. What she really needs is to find out why her mother committed suicide. Or did she?

Sebastian, her boyfriend shows jealousy but something about him doesn’t seem quite right. Is he hiding his true self? I believe I solved this by the end of the book, but won’t give my solution here as it would be a spoiler.

Caiden, the witch trainer, is the cause of Sebastian’s jealousy and Emerson feels her boyfriend’s being unreasonable. Caiden could be a love interest, but Emerson has too much going on in her life to concentrate on anyone but Sebastian.

So why do I only give this a 4.5 rating? This is due to the missing words in the text and incorrect grammar throughout the book. If this could be sorted out with a good editing I wouldn’t hesitate to give it a five.

Well done Ms Larsen, I look forward to reading the second book which you gave a preview of at the end of this one.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Chicken River Dance by A.N. Irvano

October 13, 2014 By Leave a Comment

CHICKEN
Chicken River Dance by A.N. Irvano
Publisher: Falling Horse Books
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Full Length (242 pages)
Age Recommendation: 16+
Heat Level: Spicy
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Young members of Ryan’s family are killed and he follows an inherent need to crush the crooks that run the killings. He is aided by Cecilia, a girl he has been getting to know for months and her mother, a shaman. Life in the Oakland projects can not move on until the extraordinary and unreal events are able to be questioned. Buoyed by the cultures, conversations, and characters of the people in it, small cultures can survive when small criminals exist.He lets his life’s losses carry him to find that not everything, if anything, can be revolutionized or bettered in this life and time of the American West.

Justice doesn’t always happen automatically. Sometimes you have to seek it out.
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At first I wasn’t quite sure what I thought of Ryan. His emotional response to a family tragedy early on in the plot wasn’t at all what I would have expected from anyone who had just experienced such a terrible event. He was clearly incredibly smart and thoughtful, but it wasn’t until the author explained the reasons behind his reluctance to express his feelings that I really came to like this character. Every question I had about him in the beginning was answered in full, and I enjoyed watching his development over the course of this novel.

It would have been helpful to have more detailed introductions of the secondary characters. The actual number of them was just right for something this length, but so little time was spent explaining how everyone was connected to Ryan that it took me a while to put all of the pieces together. It was most confusing when I was trying to figure out who was and was not related to him.

The romantic subplot caught me by surprise due to how quickly it happened. The chemistry between the characters involved in it was strong, though, and seeing how both of them reacted to falling in love added depth to their personalities that would not have otherwise been there. It ended up working quite well with everything else that was going on in this tale.

I would have also liked to see more differentiation between the voices of the various characters. Everyone tended to use the same patterns of speech no matter who they were or what circumstances they found themselves in. The dialogue itself was often poetic. It was especially well suited to Ryan’s personality when he was describing his surroundings or remembering something, but the formality of it was out of place during the most exciting scenes.

Some philosophical questions are much easier to answer than are others. Ryan’s startling self-awareness for someone his age lead to a much deeper analysis of the meaning of life than I was expecting when I started the first chapter. It was especially interesting to see what Ryan had to say about social justice and the tension between the needs of individuals versus the needs of their communities.

Chicken River Dance is the kind of story that I’d recommend to teens and adult readers alike.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Glodwyn’s Treasure Chest by L. Sydney Abel, Helen Alexander, Janice Clark, Penny Estelle, Mary Filmer, Elizabeth Grace, Vincent Noot, Esma Race, Wesley Tallant, Michael Thal, B. Well, Gary Winstead

October 10, 2014 By Leave a Comment

CHEST
Glodwyn’s Treasure Chest by L. Sydney Abel, Helen Alexander, Janice Clark, Penny Estelle, Mary Filmer, Elizabeth Grace, Vincent Noot, Esma Race, Wesley Tallant, Michael Thal, B. Well, Gary Winstead
 Publisher: Crimson Cloak Publishing
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (39 pages)
Age Recommendation: 6+
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Glodwyn’s Treasure Chest contains twelve charming short stories for children, collected by a gnome.
With fairy stories, “dragons” and alligators, time-travelling children, a Firehouse Dog and a Pony which refuses to be ridden, there is something for everyone in this gem of a book.

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Story time is one of the most relaxing parts of the day.

One of my favourite selections was “The Dragon Said Moo.” In it a boy named Daniel must entertain his two young, impressionable cousins on the family farm while their parents discuss adult matters indoors. Daniel’s solution to this problem is incredibly creative and memorable. I really enjoyed this one and could see it becoming part of a series if the author has any interest in expanding it.

There were a few missteps along the way. “Curiosity and the Two Princesses” begins with a girl named Viola who is reluctantly being taken to a playdate with one of her classmates, Curiosity. The premise of their adventures is well-developed, but the plot soon takes a turn that I found far too dark for the age group for which it was intended. “The Cute Family Go Ballooning” also needed to be adjusted. The illustration that accompanied it was bright and colorful, but the plot itself was barely developed at all. It felt like the description of a children’s book instead of a complete short story.

“The Pony No-one Could Ride” shows one family’s attempt to tame a pony for their son. The descriptions of daily life on a ranch used just enough detail to sketch out the hardships of working outdoors with large animals over many years. What I liked the most about it, though, was its incredibly wide range of appeal. The conflict is serious enough to keep the attention of older kids and adults, but it can also easily be shared with preschoolers.

It was difficult to pick an age recommendation for this anthology because the tales in it are written for children as young as two and as old as six or seven. The wide range of styles and topics is fascinating, but there is material here that is too scary for preschoolers. It would be a good idea to preview the longer ones in particular before sharing them with very young or sensitive children.

Glodwyn’s Treasure Chest is a unique collection that I’d recommend to anyone who is interested in a book that will grow alongside a family for several years.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The Mysterious Mandolin by Aneta Cruz

October 8, 2014 By Leave a Comment

MANDOLIN
The Mysterious Mandolin by Aneta Cruz
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Young Adult/Middle Grade, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical, Paranormal
Length: Short Story (137 pages)
Age Recommendation: 8+
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The Mysterious Mandolin is a tale of two stepsisters whose love for one another must overcome death, wickedness of dark magic, and bullying. This fairy tale juxtaposes the light and the dark side of characters and settings, while it examines the lengths to which people would go in order to achieve what they most desire.

Magic is many things, but it isn’t always predictable.
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The premise caught my attention immediately because I’m a lifelong fan of anything that could be said to begin “once upon a time.” Within a few pages I was hooked and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. The writing was crisp and clean. Given that it was divided into short chapters, I think this would be a good book to read aloud. I enjoyed it so much that I actually read the whole thing over the course of a single day!

The characters were all two-dimensional. While I completely understand that fairy tales make sharp distinctions between right and wrong, this story would have easily earned a much higher rating had the narrator attempted to explain why someone who is surrounded by nothing but negative influences would choose to be good. This would have fit in beautifully with the other messages that are woven into the plot as well.

The metaphors were a lot of fun. Ms. Cruz has an incredibly imaginative approach to describing what are usually completely ordinary experiences. Her writing style is well-suited to this genre. If I had to pick only one of her metaphors as my favourite, it would be the one she used to describe one of her characters trying on a dress. The dress slipped on “like butter onto a hot pan.”

It took me a while to figure out the best age recommendation due to some potentially frightening content. While the violence is written in the highly stylized manner I’d expect to find in this genre and mostly happens offscreen, it was described in just enough detail that I raised my original recommendation by a few years. Some children in early elementary school may be perfectly comfortable with what happens, but this is something that parents and teachers should decide on a case-by-case basis ahead of time.

The Mysterious Mandolin is a good choice for anyone who loves traditional fairy tales.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

By Starlight by Nancy Lindley-Gauthier

October 7, 2014 By Leave a Comment

STARLIGHT
By Starlight by Nancy Lindley-Gauthier
Publisher: Desert Breeze Publishing
Genre: Young Adult/Middle Grade, Suspense/Mystery, Contemporary, Paranormal
Length: Full Length (194 pages)
Age Recommendation: 16+
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The night my best friend Gracie disappeared, I had a nightmare.

A monster loomed from the shadows around the campfire. I ran. The thing stretched after me…

I woke gasping, afraid it might somehow be true. Gracie could always make me feel better – but she didn’t respond to my email. Not that night; not ever.

That’s what lead to my summer camp counselor job here near Gracie’s home. Hiking and canoeing fill every moment but I don’t forget why I’m here. I’m going to find Gracie.

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There’s the local ranger and my campers, but will they believe me? I’m alone with this. Somehow, every step toward Gracie takes me nearer to something scary. This is a mystery I must solve.

If the police can’t solve the mystery of her friend’s disappearance, what chance does Kitsai have of doing it?

Kitsai intrigued me from the beginning. She wavered between acting much younger than her chronological age and understanding the mystery of what happened to her friend better than any of the adults around her. The mixture of maturity and immaturity kept my attention focused on this character even when I didn’t necessarily like her as an individual. She isn’t the kind of person who is easy to figure out. To me that’s a good thing to experience while getting to know the protagonist. A little uncertainty goes a long way in keeping my attention.

With that being said, Kitsai’s character flaws were too serious for this particular tale. She makes decisions that should have never been an option for someone in her occupation. Her lack of insight into why these choices were so potentially dangerous made it hard for me to believe that no one else noticed what was going on. The plot’s explanation for it was partially satisfying, but I would have preferred to see way more time spent exploring why she was so often left to her own devices and poor judgement.

The mystery itself was gripping and well-paced. As someone who once lived in British Columbia, it was eerie for me to pick up on the similarities between this piece of fiction and the real life missing person cases from that province that still remain unsolved. In no way it is necessary to know anything about those cases in order to enjoy this story, but I do think it will be a fun bonus for readers who are familiar with them.

It was never clear to me why the romantic subplot was included. There were so many other, more pressing matters for the characters involved in it to address that the romance felt out of place. This would have made good fodder for a sequel if the author ever decides to write one, but it wasn’t a good fit for this particular adventure.

Some people like to live without any modern conveniences when they go camping. Others are much more comfortable having at least occasional access to air conditioning, indoor plumbing, and the Internet. Seeing what happens when various characters get much more or less than they were expecting in these areas provided some much-needed levity in otherwise tense scenes. Including this minor conflict was a good idea.

There are paranormal elements in this book, but they don’t show up right away. The overall themes and tropes are much more heavily weighted toward what one generally expects to find in mysteries and young adult novels. This is the sort of thing I strongly prefer to know ahead of time when deciding what to read which is why I’m mentioning it in this review.

I’d recommend By Starlight to fans of the mystery and young adult genres alike.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

On Parson’s Creek by Richard Sutton

October 6, 2014 By Leave a Comment

CREEK
On Parson’s Creek by Richard Sutton
Publisher: Saille Tales Books
Genre: Young Adult, Suspense/Mystery, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical
Length: Full Length (204 pages)
Age Recommendation: 16+
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

A new teenager in a small, Oregon logging town, Jack Taylor’s bored with school and living in his own head. Walking in the forest, he finds dark mysteries in an old-growth cedar grove near his new home. The story handed down several generations doesn’t tell the tale completely, nor do tales of lurking giants in the trees, an Indian curse, or the abandoned locomotive deep in the woods. As he asks questions of his teachers and local families, he finds himself pushed more and more into a corner from which there is only one way out. With the reluctant help of a local historian, his Physics teacher, a school friend and an ancient logger almost as old as the trees, he begins to put the clues together. The story unravels a community conspiring to hide the entire truth from the world. But, is that wrong? Maybe the world doesn’t need to know.

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The mystery elements are strong in in this book. Jack discovers a handful of clues about what might be going in in the woods early on, but Mr. Sutton doles the rest of them out sparingly. This technique worked well for the setting, especially once the community’s tendency to isolate itself from the outside world is explained. I don’t know if the author has any intention of writing a sequel, but I’d be interested in reading it if he decides to do so. There is still a lot of unexplored territory in this universe.

It would have been helpful to know more about the personalities and quirks of the characters. Their appearances and occupations are described in detail, but I wasn’t able to figure out much else about any of them. I would have liked to know who was gregarious, shy, talkative, or stubborn. The pacing, plot, and themes were all well done. It was only the lack of character development that held this book back from a higher rating.

Mr. Sutton has a smooth writing style that lured me into the plot immediately. The narrator shares his tale a long time after it took place, so some scenes felt a little more polished than I would have expected from a character who had experienced them recently. This technique worked well for this particular series of events, though, due to how much time the author spent working his way up to the most interesting parts of Jack’s discovery.

I’d recommend On Parson’s Creek to adult readers and older teens alike. This is the kind of novel that can easily cross the threshold between these audiences.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

City of Tigers by Leif Chappelle

October 3, 2014 By Leave a Comment

TIGERS
City of Tigers by Leif Chappelle
Publisher: Camel Press
Genre: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Suspense/Mystery, YA
Length: Full Length (282 pgs)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Aloe

Raised by his mother in the small town of Havlandsby, young Sigurd watches the projektors make their rounds, keeping the town lit and warm in the dark, cold winters, ensuring that water fills the wells. Their communion with the elements is as old as the world itself, but the projektors are losing their influence, and fewer of them are being born. Their duties are slowly being taken over by inanimate objects—the machinae—and the people they serve are fleeing their homes in droves for the cities.

After Sigurd’s mother dies, he joins the exodus to Tigrebyn, the City of Tigers, where he must fend for himself among the petty thieves and heartless merchants. Finally Sigurd meets Ragna, who has taken it upon herself to track and protect the remaining projektors, now punished for practicing the ancient art of projeksjon and labeled conspirators against the Crown. Sigurd’s particular art is nothing as mundane as bringing forth light, warmth, and water. Sigurd can command the very air to transform the sounds in his head into complex musical compositions, conducting an invisible orchestra of instruments and effects.
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Sigurd never knew his father. When his mother dies, they tell him he will have to go live with his uncle, her brother. He doesn’t like that idea, so he leaves the village and moves to the city. You can hide in the city, can’t you?

This story is a mix of machina and magic; the machina are almost steampunk in nature and the magic is done by projeksjon. The author has created a world with have and have-nots. Those that are part of the castle and the university have the machina. Those that don’t live there have to depend on their own skills to get along. The gap between the two groups is large and those who are at the bottom resent it.

Sigurd catches their attention by using a power he doesn’t know he owns. He has also found two more children his age, a brother and a sister and they have unusual powers. They also aren’t aware of it. Not knowing what they are capable of is dangerous. Sigurd somehow causes a fire in the square and becomes a wanted terrorist. He’s still not even sure he’s done it, but he has to hide.

This is a long convoluted tale. The children are caught in the middle because they are orphans. The queen and her consorts are playing games with other people’s lives. Sigurd becomes friends with the lady that leads the revolutionary group. You never really know what’s going on or who’s who.

The author’s words flow well, the story keeps you interested and wondering, and it’s a fast ride to the end. I’m afraid I’m not sure I understood the ending. It was odd to me and left me wondering about the other characters. Maybe I missed something as I read or maybe I needed a more obvious explanation, but I didn’t get it. I did enjoy the read, the world building and the characters. That made it worth reading. Why don’t you give it a try and see what you think?

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Falcon Boy and Bewilder Bird versus Dr. Don’t Know in a Battle for all the Life of all the Planets by Barnaby Taylor

October 1, 2014 By Leave a Comment

FALCON
Falcon Boy and Bewilder Bird versus Dr. Don’t Know in a Battle for all the Life of all the Planets by Barnaby Taylor
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Young Adult/Middle Grade, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Contemporary, Action/Adventure
Length: Full Length (167 pages)
Age Recommendation: 8+
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The world is going to be destroyed.

Everyone you know and love will be gone.

The world needs someone to step forward.

Falcon Boy is that someone.
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It’s much easier to talk about saving the world than it is to actually try to do it.

One of the most interesting things about this book has to do with how the narrator jumps from one scene to the next. Sometimes the connections between them weren’t immediately apparent. The narrator isn’t any of the main characters, so he or she has access to information that Falcon Boy and his friends do not. Some of the funniest sections involve the narrator anticipating the audience’s reaction to what is about to happen and explaining why it’s unfolding in that particular way.

There were a lot of characters in this story. At times I had trouble remembering who was who because there were so often introduced in groups. I chuckled at the short, funny backstories the author provided about them, but there were simply too many characters in the plot for something of this length and for this audience.

Speaking of a sense of humour, this book has a great one. It was clearly written for kids based on the subject matter, but there is plenty of humor to be found for adult readers as well. None of the innuendoes are at all inappropriate for its primary audience, but some of them make references that are much more likely to amuse adults than they will elementary students.

Due to the large number of characters there were some pacing issues that began about a third of the way through the plot. So many new faces were introduced one after the other that I had trouble adjusting to Falcon Boy and Bewilder Bird’s predicament once they came back into the plot. A glossary or appendix of some sort would have helped me keep the characters straight without slowing down the action.

The pop culture references were amusing. Almost all of them were general enough that they’ll apply to the tropes found in music and television for many years to come. The few that were more specific talk about things that I expect will remain well known for a long time.

Falcon Boy and Bewilder Bird versus Dr. Don’t Know in a Battle for all the Life of all the Planets has by far the longest title of any book I’ve reviewed here so far. Sometimes fun things come in big packages!

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Ennara and the Fallen Druid by Angela Myron

September 29, 2014 By 2 Comments

DRUID
Ennara and the Fallen Druid by Angela Myron
Publisher: Stardance Publishing
Genre: Young Adult/Middle Grade, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Action/Adventure
Length: Short Story (122 pages)
Age Recommendation: 10+
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

When a mysterious curse threatens to transform everyone into shadowy demons, a magical eleven year-old girl must travel to a sunken city ruin—fighting pirates, monsters, and an undead sorcerer along the way—to find a weapon that can save her world.

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I liked Ennara immediately. She’s brave and resourceful, but she also isn’t afraid to admit it when she doesn’t know something. The explanation for why she knows so much about magic was as satisfying as it was useful. It was even more interesting to see how she reacted to spells and other incantations that she hadn’t actually tried before. I know there is a sequel in the works for this book and am looking forward to seeing what sort of adventures she has next!

There was a lot of backstory that needed to be explained before Ennara’s adventures can begin. The first twenty pages or so were dedicated to explaining her society as well as why people like her are so highly valued. In a full-length novel this amount of detail would have been perfect, but explaining all of it at the beginning of a novella weighed down the pacing at a time when I would have otherwise expected things to move along quickly.

With that being said, the worldbuilding itself was fascinating. The bad guys were deliciously scary. What made them even better was how much about them was left up to the imagination. There were basic descriptions of their abilities and looks, of course, but I liked having a few of my questions about them unanswered because it allowed my imagination to fill in the blanks. It’s rare for me to be just as interested in the villains as I am in the protagonists, but all of the ones in this tale were well worth my time.

Ennara and the Fallen Druid was a fun read. I’d especially recommend it to anyone who enjoys action-heavy fantasy.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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