Anything but Dead and Gone

Before Benny and the others finally left to fend for themselves in the Rot and Ruin, there were bad things happening that didn't even involve zombies. Unbeknownst to them, bad, bad people had survived and even thrived in a world where the dead rose to eat the living. In Dead and Gone, a story Jonathan Maberry wrote to precede Flesh and Bone, the third book in the series, we get to see just how our new character, Riot, came to find the group. 

The Night Church is the epitome of terror, established by a serial killer who anoints his followers as Reapers, meant to quiet the living and bring them back as the walking dead. But the daughter of his second in command doesn't want to live the life of a Reaper anymore.  She manages to get away, but Sister Margaret is too valuable for the Night Church to let her go. Now she is on the run, fighting through the gray people to escape the Reapers, but they forgot one thing. She isn't Sister Margaret anymore. She is Riot, and Riot is in control of her own life. 

First of all, if you have read anything by Jonathan Maberry, you know what a fabulous writer he is. Whether his adult or young adult stories, they are equally as enthralling and exciting, so it is no surprise this simple, short little story would be jut as fabulous. Riot is a butt-kicken girl and the people she encounters out in the Rot and Ruin are just as awesome. If you have read the Rot and Ruin series, pick this up, but even if you haven't, maybe reading this short story will convince you to read more!

How Do You Hide a Dragon?

The life of the Draki isn't easy. Have you ever tried hiding a dragon? What about a whole pride of dragons? But the hunters and the enkros (scientists who torture and dismember dragons) make life particularly dangerous. Jacinda has survived, but in Hidden, she risks her own life to save that of her pride member. Even when it means giving herself to the enkros.

Jacinda bonded with Cassian, but the bond was in name only. She truly loves Will, but responsibility to her pride changes her ability to make decisions based on her emotions. Now that Cassian's sister has been taken to the enkros, she can feel his pain through the bond and knows she must save Miriam. Doing so, however, means letting herself be captured and taken to the enkros, a fate no Draki would choose for themselves.

Inside the enkros headquarters, Jacinda learns just how awful the scientists are. While Drakis go into the lab, they never come out. But Jacinda, Will, and Cassian won't rest until they free Miriam. Inside, Jacinda is pitted against a terrifying gray dragon with razor sharp scales. She survives, barely, but the enkros take her to be tagged with a tracking device. Cassian and Will couldn't have come at a more perfect time, saving her from the implanted device, but Miriam wasn't so lucky. Now they have to outrun hunters who know where they are, and the only safe place they know if is the pride, but returning to the pride means putting them all at risk. Choices aren't always easy, and Jacinda has been plagued by enough of her own tough choices, but the safety of the pride is the toughest one she has had to weather. What will she decide?

This was a very exciting conclusion to this interesting young series. We all have an idea of "the perfect ending," which might not be the perfect ending for some characters, but we know what we want to happen. We also know what the easy ending would be- something that doesn't rock the boat too much and leaves us warm and fuzzy inside. Jordan took a risk with this conclusion by not giving you everything you wanted. You won't be disappointed, but you won't feel warm and fuzzy either. In a book full of tough choices, some of those choices were bound to lead to sacrifices, and that is exactly what happened in Hidden.

I loved where this series went, and I think it matured and grew up in content dynamics as it aged. It went from a clear middle reader series to a final book that expects more from its readers in the depth and breadth. This conclusion proved Jordan knows how to elevate her readers as they progress through her stories, and I am looking forward to her next endeavor!

A Long, Difficult Road

Sometimes I wonder if authors forget that writing a young adult novel means they are writing for... young adults. Young Adults are not always the strongest readers. They aren't adults. In fact, for young adults, reading for pleasure is a huge part in developing their language skills, such as vocabulary, comprehension, and decoding. Therefore, I have no idea why authors would choose to write a YA novel and make it impossible for young adults to read... but sadly, that is exactly what Moira Young has done with Blood Red Road. She created an awesome story that I would never give to my students.

Saba lives in Silverlake with her family and not much more. There is almost nothing left in Silverlake besides her father's grieving misery for his dead wife. Saba and her twin brother, Lugh, are inseparable, but Saba has a tough time dealing with her younger sister Emmi. When riders come to their home, kill their father, and take Lugh away, Saba knows she will go to the ends of the earth to find her brother. She sets off to leave Emmi with an old family friend and find where the riders took her brother.

As soon as she deposits Emmi with the family friend, she realizes Emmi has followed her (and stolen the friend's horse). She agrees to let Emmi come along, and when they bump into a kooky old couple, the Pinches, they are grateful for the food and water the couple shares with them. As they finish their food, it becomes quickly apparent the old couple has drugged them and intends to kidnap them. The Pinches take them to Hopetown, the city filled with drugged maniacs, thieves, and crazy people. They intend to make Saba fight in the gladiator ring while keeping Emmi hostage to ensure Saba does as she's told.

In Hopetown, Saba starts to learn about this side of the world. The people of Hopetown are kept under control by the King and his drug, chaal. Enough chaal will keep anyone under control, but too much makes them crazy. The King harvests the chaal in the Freedom Fields and distributes it to keep his subjects coming back for more. Even his slaves are under the spell of the chaal. Hopetown is the worst, a place where drugged out lunatics pay to watch children battle and if someone loses three times, they run the gauntlet. The gauntlet is a narrow path surrounded by the citizens of Hopetown who literally rip the loser to pieces.

From Hopetown, Saba becomes an unbeatable gladiator nicknamed the Angel of Death, manages to team up with the Freehawks- a group of touch girls who want to tear Hopetown down from the inside out, and meets a guy named Jack who makes her forget everything she is supposed to be doing. Together, the group head off to the Freedom Fields to get back Lugh and make sure the King doesn't hurt anyone ever again. But can they make it in time?

The story is great. Honestly. It is exciting, well-paced, great characters, and there was a solid ending that can lead to a sequel but isn't a cliffhanger. I loved this story. The writing on the other hand? Hated it. With a passion. The story is written in Saba's point of view and told completely in her dialect, which reminds me of hillbilly slang. I could have tolerated this if it was only the dialogue in this dialect, but the entire 500 pages is written like this. And sometimes, the spelling changes have absolutely no effect on the pronunciation ("wurm" for "worm"), so it seems Ms. Young just wanted to make the book difficult to read. Once I had suffered through 20 or so pages, I got used to the writing, but every time I put the book down, when I picked it up again I had to fight for another 20 pages to get used to it again- it was frustrating. Add to that the complete lack of dialogue punctuation (quotation marks), and you have one big hot mess on your hands.

The result of this writing style means I have a fantastic, exciting YA novel I would never give to a Young Adult. Young Adults are still familiarizing themselves with spelling, grammar, mechanics, etc. Why would I give them a book that completely destroyed all the rules I have spent so long teaching them? As a little experiment, I brought the book to work and asked one of my strong readers to read the first few pages aloud to me (we read aloud every day). After five pages he gave up. He stumbled over every other word and could barely understand what he was reading because he spent so much time decoding ("pratikally" for practically). Those five pages effectively made this young man feel like he couldn't read again. What purpose did this language serve if it alienates the target audience?

So my advice for Ms. Young is to stop trying to ride the wave of YA dystopia and make a choice: you either write a YA book that young adults can read, or you keep the book as is and sell it to the adult post-apocalyptic/dystopia junkies. You can't have both. What you get is a book teachers and parents simply won't give their kids. And honestly, that is just plain sad because it was a really great story!