It is the End... Or Is It?

Some things are never as they seem, and After the End, by Amy Plum is no exception. A story within a story that leads to another story, this is one post-apocalyptic tale you haven't heard before... because nothing is as it seems. 

Juneau was raised to be the next Sage for her community. Using the earth and its energy, the Sage can communicate in a way completely foreign to the humans of the past. Then again, much of the post-apocalyptic landscape after devastating World War III would be foreign to the humans of the past. Juneau's parents, among others, escaped the war-torn wasteland to hide and survive in an isolated area of Alaska. They live off the land and with the land. But when Juneau's entire community disappears while she is on a hunt, along with the sighting of a helicopter- a piece of technology that should be long gone with another way of life, she knows she must find them. 

Meanwhile, there are a lot of people looking for Juneau. When she makes her way back into the United States, she doesn't find what she expected. Life is carrying on normally. In fact, it appears there never was a war. Determined to find her parents, cynical, skeptical Juneau picks her way through the country looking for her people. When she comes across Miles, she has no use for the disrespectful boy, but he has a reason to go along with her- he wants to help capture her and curry his father's favor. While Juneau doesn't trust him, she also isn't aware of the depth of his deceit. The only thing she cares about are her people. 

I was totally surprised by this book! I expected your typical post-apocalyptic story (clearly didn't read the description too carefully before starting it) and I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and differences of the story. I even really liked Juneau- a girl completely out of her element in the modern world after growing up surviving in the Alaskan wilderness. It was refreshing and even comical at times to see her trying to make her way with so little knowledge of survival in a world of technology.

My one confusion was Miles. There are these moments when Juneau really feels drawn to him, and I just don't get. Usually I like the wise-guy with a heart of gold character, but Miles didn't have that redemption for me. Instead he seemed like a pompous, self-serving little twit most of the time and his few moments of unboorishness were so few and far between they left me undeterred in my original opinion of him. Overall, I liked this story and there were a lot of unanswered questions that I look forward to exploring in the sequel. I just hope Miles stops being such a darned twerp!

Exposed and Fabulous

Some kids just can't help themselves. They find themselves in trouble regardless of where they go or what they do. Tory Brennan seems to be drawn to the craziest situations like a moth to a flame. In the fourth Virals book by Kathy and Brendan Reichs, Exposure, Tory and the other Virals find themselves caught between life and death... again! 

After the Gamemaster was stopped and the Virals found out their pack member Ben was helping him, nothing has been the same. Ben was expelled and lives with his mother, which makes it easy for Tory, Hi, and Shelton to avoid him. The problem is, even if they feel betrayed by Ben, they still never feel whole without him. He is the fifth member of the pack with the three kids and Tory's wolf-dog Coop. When the pack is apart, their powers are disjointed. When twins from school are kidnapped and the killer leaves a Zodiac card behind, Tory and the others just can't help themselves. They have to investigate. Even with everyone from their parents to the headmaster to the police watching them after their involvement with the Gamemaster, they can't help themselves. They know they can find things the investigators overlooked. 

The problem is, they do find clues to the disappearance of the twins, and when they realize the police aren't making any real progress, they can't help themselves but get further involved. The deeper they get, the more they realize the story behind this kidnapping isn't what it appears to be. To make matters worse, their separation and struggles within the pack have left their powers a little wonky. Now, when they flare, it feels like the flare is completely consuming them. When hunting a kidnapper, there is nothing worse than going from 100 to 0 in 10 seconds flat. Now the pack is in danger, but can they get themselves out of this one?

These books are so much fun and so adventurous, it is hard not to get sucked into them. Each time these kids get sucked into another dangerous adventure, I know I should be skeptical, but I just don't care that in reality, their parents would have left this island already. I just love how much fun the story is! And it really is fun. From start to finish, you know they are going to get into trouble, they are going to work together as a pack, and by golly, those bad guys are going to get what is coming to them! On a whole, the stories are predictable, but their bits and pieces are not. There are always twists and turns around each corner to keep you hooked, which is why I love them so much. 

I love these books for mature middle readers. They are fun, exciting, easy reads, and fabulous for strong middle readers. Because they are just clean, fun stories, you don't have to be afraid to give them to an inappropriate reader. My one complaint was toward the end when the pack was split, the narrator remained first person but it jumped from Tory to Hi and back and forth. It took me a while to figure out who on earth was speaking, and it would certainly confuse unfamiliar readers. I wish there was a better way to acknowledge the narrator at that point. Otherwise, you are going to love them all- Tory, Hi, the rest of the pack, even scary Whitney! And when you get to the end, you will be delighted to find out there most certainly HAS to be another book!

Can You Break the Code?

The Virals are not immune to trouble and adventure. In fact, both trouble and adventure seem to hunt them down and find them. In the third Virals novel Code, by Kathy and Brendan Reichs, we see how the superhuman pack reacts to a game that loses its "fun" appeal with the first bomb.

Tory Brennan is no stranger to adventure. After she and her three best guy friends, all of whom are the children of the scientists on the very island where they were exposed to a mad scientists experiment that turned them into a superhuman wolf pack, solved a crazy pirate's treasure hunt to find enough gold doubloons to save the island and LIRI, the lab, they became fairly legendary. Unfortunately, legendary still doesn't earn them any friends at the snooty private school that pegs them as "scholarship brats". But Tory and her friends Hi, Shelton, and Ben are too interested in their lives as Virals and the next adventure to care much about typical teen drama. 

When Hi starts geocaching, he is delighted to find a first time cache on Loggerhead Island, the very place where the research laboratory is located. Although his friends think geocaching is silly, when he finds an ornate Japanese puzzle box with a bizarre clue inside, they can't help but be intrigued by the thrill of the hunt. It takes them a while to break the clue, but their Flare doesn't let them down. While it might be invasive to be able to read one another's thoughts and act like a pack, they can't scoff at the benefits. But when they find the second clue, it seems they have stumbled upon a sick joke left by an even more disturbing individual who calls himself the Gamemaker. Now they must solve the clues int he time the Gamemaker gives them or they will be responsible for the deaths of countless innocent people. But the Gamemaker didn't plan on one very important detail when he targeted the Virals- a pack never gives up and never loses. 

This is such a fun, entertaining series. It really is perfect, good, clean fun for any reader, boy or girl, middle reader or young adult. Even adults would enjoy this fun series that keeps them guessing and trying to solve the mystery. I think the language is simple enough for lower skilled students, but the appeal is really in the fast-paced entertainment. You will be hard-pressed to find a reader who wasn't hanging on every situation the Virals found themselves in. The protagonist is fairly young, 14, so it might seem a little too young for a more mature reader, but I imagine they will quickly get sucked up into the excitement pretty quickly!

My one sticky wicket with this story was the final reveal at the end. I just didn't like it the way I have liked the big reveal of the evil mastermind behind the badness in the other books. This one was far less satisfying, but I still enjoyed the story. In fact, I am really looking forward to the next book. These books are so fast that I feel like I just devour them. Can't wait to devour the next! 

The End isn't as Final as You Thought

At the conclusion of the Nightshade series, many readers were left aghast at Andrea Cremer's ending (I was surprised, a little sad, but appreciative of the surprising ending). It might have been a surprising ending, but it was certainly a conclusion. In Aftermath, Cremer takes a conclusion full of finality and with a few short pages, makes things not so final again...

The Keepers have been destroyed, but Logan, son of the Nightshade's Keeper, is still free. Adne knows she should enjoy her life free of the wolf, the Keeper's and the threat of monsters worse than anything this world could deliver, but she has a sinking feeling something bad is coming. The war might have been won, but there is still plenty of evil running free.

Well, I thought this was going to wrap things up even more, but it seems to be acting as a bridge to some new spin-off series? I am not saying I didn't enjoy this little teaser, but I certainly hope Cremer plans to follow through on what she set up with this story- a continuation from the conclusion of Bloodrose and on. Otherwise, that was just mean!

New Perspective on Nightshade

If you loved the Nightshade series as much as I did, you are also probably just as anxious for the prequel series to be released in August. I know this little eBook came out before the final book in the series, Bloodrose, but it can really be read anywhere after the first book, Nightshade. However, it gives vital information about the second book, Wolfsbane, making it best read after the second book. Still, having finished the final book in the original series, it wasn't a waste for me. It gave a different perspective to a part of the story that was hard to read about and hard to accept.

When Callie runs away with Shay, she knows she has left behind. What she doesn't know is she has abandoned her brother to a fate worse than any of them could imagine- a life without his wolf half. Captured by the Keepers and the other pack, Ansel is left to suffer both his own grief and the torture at the hands of the Keepers and wraiths. But they have a solution for him that might return everything he lost. The only catch is he has to betray the one person he loves unconditionally.

This bridge story from Ansel's perspective really illuminated things for me. I remember this part of the series when Ansel betrayed Callie, but seeing it from his perspective makes you pity him, not want to smack him silly like I did when his motives were first exposed. I liked this little novella a lot and was happy Cremer put it out there. It satisfied my need for Nightshade at least for a few moments! Now I REALLY need the next series to start!

Fast Paced Action Will Seize You

When we think of "accidentally walked into an experiment and was infected" we think of Peter Parker and crazy Spidey Senses, right? Well what if they were just kids who wanted to save some animals who ended up becoming part animal themselves? When Tory and her friends were infected in Kathy Reichs first novel in the series, Virals, they gained wolf senses. Now they have super hearing, sight, smell, taste, and sometimes even telepathy. But that doesn't keep them out of trouble in Seizure.

Tory and the other three in the "pack" get to live in island paradise of the Carolinas because their parents all work at the laboratory on one of the islands. Thanks to the bad press surrounding the animal testing a crazy scientist was conducting that the wolf pack unearthed (and subsequently gained their wolf-ish-ness), the lab is closing and the island is being sold. The three boys are ready to give up, but Tory won't let the pack get broken up, especially if selling the island endangers the wolves and monkeys and other animals on the island. She has a plan to save the island but no one, not even the rest of the pack, can really imagine it working out.

The plan involves Anne Bonney, the famous female pirate who was supposed to have buried her treasure in Charleston. Tory is convinced they, especially with their super super senses, can find the treasure and have enough money to buy the island and keep them all together. Whether it be stealing a treasured map from a local museum, swindling a pawn broker, escaping thugs, discovering centuries-old pirate booby traps, breaking out their crazy former classmate from the loony bin, or deciphering clues left by shifty pirates, the pack can't seem to give up with Tory at the helm. She just knows the treasure is still out there and nothing will stop her from saving the island... not even endangering the lives of the entire pack!

This was a really fun story with a lot of action to keep you hooked. I am not sure how we went from science experiments to pirates in this series, but I didn't mind! It was something like Pirates of the Caribbean meets National Treasure, complete with deadly booby traps and tricky clues. But Tory is a fun, headstrong character who won't give up when she sets her mind to something. The boys in the pack don't really know what they get themselves into until it is too late, and they make hilarious supporting characters.

The story is long but fast-paced and clean enough for any middle school through high school student. Anyone who is a fan of the Bones series would most likely enjoy this series (and Temperance Brennan even makes a couple of brief appearances). They are kind of goofy at times, but there is nothing wrong with that! I couldn't put the book down! The action was a lot of fun and kept you wondering what was around the next corner. And trust me... you won't see anything coming!