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Language separates us all in ways that are cultural and expected. We expect to be able to speak to those we share a country with, but we can't imagine a country separate into castes by the language we speak... or can we? Isn't language already a separation between those who can and those who can't In Kimberly Derting's final Pledge novel, The Offering, Charlie finally understands what it means to be a queen.
When Charlie became queen, she did not rid the world of Sabara the tyrant. She fused Sabara's soul to her own. While it hasn't been easy, she has chosen to block out the former queen's negativity and focus on the changes she always dreamed she could make to her country. She disbanded the work camps for orphaned children. She sent their sadistic leaders to their punishment for years of abuse. She disbanded the caste system. Most importantly for a country separated by language, she restored communications. Sabara had cut all communication systems in the country long ago, but at Charlie's insistence, they were replaced and brought the country back together. Sure, this means her enemies could communicate easier as well, but Charlie refused to think of her people with Sabara's paranoia. She was a different kind of queen.
Her scariest threat was Elena, the queen who would do anything to have Sabara's power. Charlie sent her friend, Xander, to forge an accord with Elena, but his long absence has troubled them all. When Elena sends a token of her time with Xander, a piece of him, Charlie gets both messages- the implied one from his severed hand, and the hidden one in the bottom of the box. As a true queen, Charlie knows it is her own duty to set off and stop Elena from the harm she intends for the people Charlie loves. Charlie might be young, but she certainly doesn't underestimate the lengths Elena is willing to go for control of Sabara.
This series and its basis over language as a caste system has always been intriguing to me, especially as a teacher of dyslexics where language is a constant factor in their successes and failures. If you don't believe me, ask a dyslexic about an experience where they had to fill out an application on the spot and couldn't take it home to spell check it or ask someone for help with it. They will tell you what separation language makes between them and a non--dyslexic. So to see Charlie bring the country back together, for better or worse, was great for me. It felt like the same sentiment that fights to uphold the freedom of speech or demonstration even if it means also protecting groups and people you disagree with. If I want my rights, then I can't deny them for anyone. It was a really beautiful sentiment, and I loved watching Charlie blossom into a true queen. She was selfless and brave, and it didn't hurt that she could kick a little butt when needed!
The finale had a slow moment or two, but it really was just one big journey to the final battle against Elena. Charlie was truly the epitome of great leadership while Elena was the quintessential power-hungry leader who can never have enough. As we see the two comparatively, their differences are vast and unmistakable. It was a really nice juxtaposition. So even with a few slow parts, the story was a great ending to a great story. Kimberly Derting proved she could do dystopia with the same ease she did supernatural in the Body Finder series... so what's next?!
We don't need castes and language barriers to separate us from our fellow human beings, but in the sequel to Kimberly Derting's The Pledge, Charlie finds out just how difficult it is to break down the barriers of generations worth of differences. In The Essence, we see a young woman with good intentions who struggles to shake off the pieces of her own past.
Charlie hasn't adjusted at all to being the Queen. Not only does it feel strange for people to refer to her as "your Majesty", but everything about being the queen is difficult, even the table manners. When she defeated Sabara, she didn't expect all that embodies royalty to become her future, but then again, she didn't expect Sabara's essence to attach itself to Charlie's psyche either. While Charlie is trying to exact great change to the country she loves, Sabara is inside her trying harder and harder to gain control over Charlie's body and do what she has done for generations: rule Ludania.
The war inside Charlie's head isn't the only one being waged. The people of her own country are turning against her and the queens of surrounding nations don't trust her. Charlie believes in what she is doing, abolishing the caste system and trying to instill equality among her people, but the people are fighting back. Even the simple act of opening a new school has become a battle field for Charlie and everyone in her wake, innocent or not. She can't control what is going on inside her head, but she won't stop trying to help the people of Ludania.
The fact that the wars in this book are being fought on a global and on a mental scale made the story all the more intriguing. Charlie is a tough girl, but having someone inside your head, someone you didn't hesitate to kill, can't be easy. Imagine the realization that every time you let your guard down, a piece of yourself takes over and you can't stop it? It must be maddening! So the Charlie you remembered form the first book is still there, but she is being consumed by the war being waged inside her head. I really liked this angle, especially when Charlie starts to see more and more of Sabara's memories. It brought a whole new level of sophistication to the story and it kept me from putting the book down.
I think this story has a tiny bit of the sophomore stall because it really needed to take the time to transition Charlie from wayward rebel to unrefined queen. That 180 took some time, but Derting was great at making the transition while still moving the story forward. In all, I barely noticed the stall, but it was there. What I didn't get enough of with this story was more of our supporting characters like Angelina and Max and Xander. We got a lot of Brook, who I love, but I want more from everyone! They are such great characters that you want them to pull out into the spotlight so you can enjoy it. On a whole, however, I loved this book, love this series, and can't wait for the next installment!
There are all kinds of things that go bump in the night. Some things parents know about and others they can't wrap their old minds around. In The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver, Liza knows the Spindlers are real, even if her parents tell her to stop making up stories... and they have taken her brother.
Patrick went to bed as Patrick, but he woke up a Spindler. Liza is sure of it. Her brother's soul has been taken even though they always protect themselves from the Spindlers before bed. No one will believe her that the real Patrick has been taken by creepy spiders monsters who can't be killed. Not one to just let her brother's soul be taken and something else *gasp* being done to harm it, Liza waits until everyone is asleep and goes down to the basement. She knows it is the entrance to the Underground world of the Spindlers, but she didn't expect all the other creatures who lived down there too.
When she first meets a human sized rat named Mirabella, who is wearing a dress, a wig, and an unnecessary amount of make-up, she is taken aback. But Mirabella agrees, albeit reluctantly, to take Liza to the Spindlers. Along the journey to the Spindler nests where they hold the souls to eat, Liza encounters a variety of creatures she never knew existed. Troglogs, and Nocturni, and little glowworm grubs, all become part of Liza's travels to her brother's soul. Some are helpful, some are tricky, but all stand between her and the Real Patrick. And Liza is nothing if not determined.
This was a cute little middle reader that felt like the kind of book you would get if Roald Dahl wrote Alice in Wonderland meets Coraline. It was unique while still having a familiar feel of the greats, which made it even more enjoyable. I loved the little creatures Liza met along the way, and Mirabella in particular was a really multi-dimensional character as Liza's tour guide through the world underneath. The characters were complex without being too complex for the age group the book was intended. The story is simple but will delight young elementary students (either read solo by a strong reader or with parents or teachers for a younger student) through middle school students. If you know someone who liked The BFG or James and the Giant Peach, this is a good next step for you. It truly feels like something written by Dahl, a man who transformed my own status as a child reader. I love the cross-over Oliver has created where she has gone from superb young adult novels to truly epic middle readers. That isn't easy to do, and it truly shows her skills as an author!
Alyson Noel's Fated, the first book in the Soul Seekers series delves into the three worlds: Lowerworld, Middleworld, and Upperworld. We know all three worlds exist, but only the Soul Seekers can walk amongst all three. But for a girl who has never even had a home, how can you imagine the weight of generations worth of traditions resting on your shoulders?
Daire has always lived on the road with her Hollywood make-up artist mother. She travels the globe, but has never truly known what it is like to have a home. When she finds herself on the wrong side of the paparazzi with an insincere, sexy movie star, her mother seeks out the last resort. She ships Daire off to her paternal grandmother, the grandmother Daire has never met. But there is more to Paloma's life than just the small, Native American world around the town of Enchanted. She carries a secret Daire has to know.
Daire's family are all Soul Seekers, ones who can walk between the worlds. When her father died suddenly, the chain of succession was broken and now Paloma must teach Daire about her heritage. Unfortunately, time is running out and the Richter family is getting closer to success with their evil misdeeds that involve an unnatural resurrection of their ancestors. Paloma isn't strong enough to stop them, so Daire is the only one who can. But she has only just learned about her heritage. She can't possibly stop such a plot, could she?
The first 150 pages of this bok were pretty slow, I am afraid. They travel with Daire through her time with her mother to her learning of the Soul Seekers through her vision quest. I think if that whole part had been condensed, the story would have moved faster and held my attention better. I assume now that that is all out of the way, though, it means the subsequent books will also be faster paced. But still, it made it difficult to slog through the beginning of this book. I actually had to put it down for a while and pick it up a week or so later when I had the concentration to force myself through it. By the time I did so, I had barreled through the slow parts and got to where Daire fights Cade Richter, but even that action wasn't nailbiting. Interesting, but nothing stupendous.
I am going to keep going with this series because I think it has potential, and now it also has the benefit of an upward swing, but I sincerely hope it goes with that forward motion. I think it is tough for a series when the first book is so slow and bogged down by back story, especially for a struggling reader. Not only are they not going to finish it, they also aren't going to get to the next story to where all the good stuff is. However, I love the Southwestern Native American aspects of this story. It is nice to see different cultures represented in YA books!
Everyone knows the story of Hades and Persephone. A girl tricked by the God of the Underworld to spend half the year in his domain, and half the year she can escape. But Brodi Ashton takes the story further in Everneath by exploring the daughters of Persephone and the hell they live... literally.
Nikki disappeared six months ago, but for her it was like 100 years. She barely escaped the underworld and Cole, the Everliving who wants to join with her and take over the Underworld. But the escape wasn't the end of it. Returning to her life isn't as easy as one would think. Everyone moved on from her disappearance... everyone except Jack, Nikki's boyfriend before she left who has never stopped searching for her. Incidentally, Jack is the one wisp of a memory she didn't lose in the Underworld and what allowed her connection to earth to help her return.
While Nikki just wants to stay, she knows there is an end to her time on earth. She can either return with Cole and rule, but that requires her to become an Everliving who feeds off souls to remain immortal, or she can give herself to the Tunnels, where her very essence is drained away. After spending more time with Jack, Nikki isn't sure which choice is best, but she does know one thing- the last thing she wants to do is to hurt Jack again.
This was a truly unique spin off the Hades and Persephone myth that didn't deal with them directly, but rather their "offspring" embodied. It was a little difficult to follow in the very beginning, in particular in regards to Jack and Cole. At first, I though Cole might be a guy that, while being a soul sucking rocker, might actually be OK for Nikki since he loved her so much. And at first, Jack was painted as a cheating turd who caused her to seek Cole in the first place. But then more and more of the story was revealed and I wanted to beat Cole with his own guitar and write a cheesy love song for the adorable Jack! It was a great transformation that kept me intrigued throughout the entire book. This might seem like a love triangle, but there isn't much competition both before when you think Cole might be OK and hate Jack and after when you love Jack. I think a love triangle has to have two possible love interests, but there really is only one good guy and one turd each time.
This is a good story for any kid interested in mythology. despite being based on Greek Gods, there is some Egyptian mythology inserted with the idea of the five pieces of a person. It was a really interesting spin off classic mythology, and I think it would hold the attention of many students. The beginning is a little "wispy" and confusing, but eventually you get enough of the story to understand as the pieces are slowly revealed. I look forward to seeing where the series goes, because the end of this book definitely leaves you wanting more!
How does the soul connect to our body? Is it possible to still be you if you lost a limb? A heart? A head? So what makes us who we are? And if we answer that question, what keeps our souls connected to our bodies? In The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams, alchemy has answered those questions, and corrupted the very meaning of life.
Seraphina has been alive for 600 years, but she must change bodies every ten years or so. That is how long it takes for her soul to burn out the host body. Seraphina was made an Incarnate by Cyrus, an alchemist who brought her back to life after she had been attacked. At the time, it seemed like the natural thing to do, save your own life, but now she knows being an Incarnate is anything but natural. In fact, it makes her and the rest of the coven into cold-blooded murderers and she can't take it anymore. She is ready to end her life, permanently.
But cyrus would stop her if he knew what she was planning. He enjoys controlling their coven and wouldn't appreciate Sera leaving them. She has a plan to escape, complete with a get-away vehicle and a way to finish her life for the last time. But nothing goes as plan. And a final act of kindness leads to her demise where a young girl gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her. Sera tries to save her, but the pull f the dying body is too much and Sera's soul takes over Kailey's body. Now stuck inside a 16 year old girl, Sera must find a way to live Kailey's life and stay hidden from Cyrus. What she doesn't expect is for Cyrus to find her so easily and for Sera to truly love the family who took in the woman who ended their daughter's life.
The idea of what makes us who we are has always intrigued me, and it is a question you can mull forever and never truly come to a conclusion for. In this book, we have a lot of questions, some unanswerable, some with necessary answers, but many go unanswered. I was surprised how many loose ends there were throughout this book. In fact, the ending felt more like the end of the first part of one volume rather than the end of an entire installment. There was so much left unsaid and unresolved, it felt unfinished and incomplete. I assume there is a second book since it just *ENDS*, but I haven't checked it out yet. I understand the idea of keeping the reader interested, but too many loose ends can be discouraging.
I did like the story, however, I just wished things were more complete. I liked the idea of jumping bodies and the moral issues attached to ended a life to further your own. It was a great moral dilemma that could encourage great discussions. I hope the next book has more explanations and answers, but fewer questions, of course. And I hope Kailey/Sera gets some resolution. The idea of her trapped between a man she desperately needs to escape and a family she has grown to love is quite an emotional roller coaster.
If your soul came back time and time again, what would you do with each new lifetime? Would you use it to advance your recurring memories and explore new things, or find yourself a comfortable living to just get by? In Jodi Meadows' Incarnate, a new soul is born into a society where everyone has been reincarnated with centuries of memories. If you have ever felt alone, you cannot imagine being the only NewSoul in a world full of very old souls.
When Ana was born, a returning soul was extinguished. Although Ana had nothing to do with that, she has been blamed and ostracized all her life for being a NewSoul. Life with her "mother" is so bad, Ana decides to set off for the city, Heart, in order to find some answers about how she came into existence. She knows the dangers involved in her trek, but life under Li is so intolerable, it is worth the risk. Not far from Li's home, though, she is attacked by Sylph and forced to fall into icy waters to escape. Without the coincidental meeting with a young man named Sam, Ana would be gone.
Sam saves Ana and takes her to Heart himself, but there is more than just charity in the back of his mind. He is intrigued by Ana and wants to know more about her. But once they arrive in Heart, it is very clear that not everyone is intrigued by the NewSoul. Ana is left with Sam as her guardian and forced to educate herself as much as possible about their world. She is eager to learn everything she can, but in her academic travels, Ana finds more and more things that can't be explained. But every question has to have an answer, right?
I am sad to say I struggled with this story a bit. Talk about one heck of a premise, but then you kill it with little world building (despite hints at such a cool world that I craved more detail about it) and a focus on the awkwardness of the two main characters. Here was a world full of reincarnated souls, dragons, Sylph, centaurs, trolls, etc. and I barely saw any of them. Instead the book centered around the strange relationship between Ana and Sam that could have been more effective in a neutral, modern world where I didn't crave setting description and knowledge. If Meadows wanted a romance, she should have just written a romance, not thought up this amazing world only to ignore it for 90% of the story. Although, I was happy to have romance that didn't involve a darned love triangle! But still, it seemed counterproductive to have such a dynamic world that was barely touched upon. I have to say it ruined my perception of the book quite a bit.
I think I will most likely read the second book just to see if things improve in the series, but I am not expecting much based on this book. I hope Meadows does more with the world around Sam and Ana and leaves their awkward glances and misunderstood advances behind. This is appropriate for junior high to high school students, most likely the female demographic because of the heavy focus on romance (unless you have that rare young man who openly admits to liking romance!). I think this story has a lot of potential, and a stellar sequel could fix my perception, but as it stands, I wasn't over the moon for this story.
Do you believe in ghosts? Are they good ghosts, stuck to earth by unfinished business, or are they mean ghosts, there to haunt and hurt people? Do you believe people can talk to ghosts? In Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey, Lenzi reluctantly realizes she "can see dead people".
Lenzi hears voices and is terrified she is going to end up like her father who committed suicide as a result of his schizophrenia. She avoids the voices, but they grow more and more persistent. When a strange young man named Alden arrives and claims he is her Protector and she is a Speaker, she thinks he might be crazy too... until he helps her realizes the voices aren't in her head, they are ghosts who need help resolving issues before moving on. But allowing Alden to help her requires something Lenzi might not be ready for: trust.
In order for Alden to help Lenzi, he has to take his own soul out of his body and put it into hers to remove the Hindered soul that used her body as a vessel. But Lenzi is barely tolerating the fact that she might be a Speaker without having to share her body with other souls. Then she learns that she and Alden have been reincarnated generation after generation and always emerge again with all their memories in tact in order to continue the job easily, but Lenzi's memories are gone and the IC (strange, controlling, government-like board that oversees Protectors and Speakers) claims to have no knowledge of such a thing. But their generational history isn't the only thing Alden has kept from Lenzi. Will she learn the truth before its too late?
So, I really enjoyed the whole Speaker/Protector aspect of this book. I had a few icky moments involved in the soul sharing thing (not a pleasant experience for the Speaker as the new soul enters and exits), but I got over it. But there were a few things I wasn't overly fond of. First, the IC was mostly a horrible, relentless, heartless group that controlled the Speakers and Protectors with little concern for the fact that they were actual people. That bugged me. Then there was Lenzi's dad. It seemed like his hearing voices was going to be a huge part of the story at first, tied to her own voices, but then the resolution went something like: "Nevermind. He was just crazy. But you aren't Lenzi, so forget about mental illness and your father." It was so important one moment then disgracefully ignored the next! I think if you are going to introduce an important element like that, you have to at least give it a solid resolution.
As for characters, I liked Lenzi, but Alden seemed a little wishy washy for me. He was so concerned with Protecting Lenzi, he wouldn't even think of doing anything the IC wouldn't approve of. He was a real "by the books" kind of guy. She was clearly expressing an interest in him that was beyond just business, but he wouldn't hear of it. I think showing a little more interest and desire on his part would have invested my interest in the two of them as an item. But still, I did like them together. And this is yet another novel where you will most likely love the supporting characters more than the main characters. Why can't we have leading characters who are funny, snarky, witty, and harmless pranksters? Why do the main characters pull the broody weight while the supporting characters get to have all the fun? All in all, this is an interesting book that has a new take on souls moving on and the help they need. Not the best, but more than mediocre. I enjoyed it, but there could have been more!
