5 Waves of Pure Genius

There are good authors and then there are authors who have made some kind of Faustian deal. Everything they write is brilliant. For me, Rick Yancey is one of those authors. Having followed the Monstrumologist series from its beginning, I couldn't wait to see what Yancey did with The 5th Wave, an entirely different kind of story. All I have to say is, Rick Yancey, you didn't fail me brother!

No one can predict what would happen if an alien race decided to invade earth, but we can pretty much bet they wouldn't travel all that way to just make friends and coexist. The 1st Wave began when they took out all the power. The 2nd Wave took advantage of our tumultuous planet and its fragile fault lines. The 3rd Wave used our own viruses and spread them through a innocuous and beautiful species, our birds, turning them into the carriers of the plague. After the 4th Wave, no one could be trusted. They looked like us, they talked like us, and the Others had fully infiltrated our kind. But the 5th Wave. That was pure genius. Evil genius, of course, but genius nonetheless. 

Cassie has lost everything, but only her brother could still be alive. After failing the one truth about this new world (Trust No One), she lost her brother to the Others. Now, she will do anything to get him back, but she has no idea where they took him. She misses the days when her biggest worry was whether or not Ben Parrish, the boy she had a crush on, even noticed her. She never anticipated a world where she would be skulking through the countryside with an M-16 strapped to her back. When she is shot by a Silencer, she assumes her promise to find her brother will be broken, but Evan Walker's miraculous appearance could change the tides for Cassie. But will she break the cardinal rule? Can she trust him?

Meanwhile Zombie is at Camp Haven training to fight the Others with the rest of the kids. The training is brutal, but when you have the fate of the human species riding on your shoulders, you do anything you can. When he is saddled with a really young boy named Nugget, he should think of self-preservation and leave the kid to fend for himself, but there is something about Nugget that makes Zombie want to protect him. He can't fully explain it, but there is also something strange about the camp. Of course, digging too deep might reveal information Zombie wasn't ready to learn. 

If I was a lesser person, I would have called into work just to read this book in one sitting. It was that amazing. Despite the length of the book, it read like it was 20 pages. Now, I have read Yancey's Monstrumologist series and loved every minute of it. It was witty and sharp. But this series takes Yancey to a whole new level. I don't throw the word genius around often, but Yancey truly earns that title. He knows how to write dialogue, suspense, human emotion, and everything in between. If you haven't read Yancey's work before, this is the place to start. You won't be sorry.

This world Yancey built is so twisted and so frightening, I couldn't stop reading but was simultaneously terrified to keep going. The Waves of destruction the Others washed down upon the world were so brilliant and horrendous at the same time, you will find yourself praying we never make that first encounter! But the tricky part is that the aliens, while the premise for the story, are really more of a background to the true story: the humans. The people on earth, fighting for their planet and their species, are the true meat to this story. The unflappable nature of people when all hope seems lost to pick themselves up and march on makes for a truly inspiring story. I loved this book, and I know you will too. It would be great for a variety of readers, adult and young adult. It is so exciting and enthralling, and no one's attention would wan from start to finish. So, my dearest Yancey, you are either a brilliant Other, or you are one tricky genius! Keep the stories coming, because brilliance needs to step out into the world!

Drowning in an Ugly World

When the world falls apart, the power struggle to gobble up the pieces will get ugly. From religious radicals to pseudo-militaries who are nothing more than vicious men with weapons, no one will be safe from the greed and lack of humanity, especially the innocent. To the world at large, they have become the weak to be consumed and disposed of. In The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi, the world couldn't get much uglier.

Mahlia's life has never been easy, but after she was captured by soldiers and her hand was cut off, she was doomed in a world where you don't survive long if you can't take care of herself. Luckily for her, Mouse was there to save her. Now she apprentices for the doctor in their village and scrapes by with a pretty decent life: a job, a friend, and a purpose. But all that changes when a group of soldiers come searching for a wounded half-man (soldier experiments that combined men with animals to create the ultimate fighters). In their search, they hold the village hostage as they hunt, but Mahlia has a secret. She knows exactly where the half-man is. And he is holding Mouse hostage.

When Mahlia and Mouse stumbled upon the half-man who was half-dead, he still had enough rage in him to grab Mouse. Mahlia convinces him to let her get antibiotics at the village in exchange for Mouse, but the soldiers ruin her plan. Desperate Mahlia refuses to lose Mouse, but despite her best efforts, everything goes wrong. Now she is left with Tool, the half-man, and the soldiers have taken Mouse with them. Tool is the only one who knows the world outside their village, and it isn't pretty. He begrudgingly agrees to help her find her friend because if there is one thing he remembers, it is having a true pack.

First of all, you have to know that if you are reading this story thinking it is an extension of Shipbreaker, it truly isn't. It may be set in the same world, but the stories are wildly different (and frankly the setting, other than both being post-apocalyptic, are as well). There isn't much of anything to connect these stories, so I am confused as to why Bacigalupi would consider this the second book in the Shipbreaker series. Still, it was a gruesome and ugly story set in a terrifying world. One thing Bacigalupi doesn't do with his YA stories is hold anything back. They are as gritty as the world he created. That means they are also pretty violent, and if your reader isn't ready for that kind of violence, this isn't the kind of story they should read.

As for the post-apocalyptic literary world, this is a great example of loyalty and friendship in an ugly, ugly world. I liked the story, but not as much as I liked Shipbreaker. The ending of the story also wasn't my style, but it might be fine for you. I would certainly pass this story on to any number of students of mine. It would be a perfect book for a young man who struggled to find a book to hold his interest as the action stretches from the very beginning to the very end. 

Dyslexic-Centric Titles from Stoke Books

On the American Dyslexia Association's blog this morning was an announcement that Stoke Books has released a list of titles that are written about dyslexics and for dyslexics. These books are written for middle readers through young adults, but they are written at a 3rd or 4th grade reading level to accommodate struggling readers. The blog described the books:

"The books are commissioned, edited and designed to break down the barriers that can stop teens from wanting to read due to lack of confidence and reluctance through visual stress and dyslexia. The font, spacing, editing, paper and short, punchy chapter structure all help readers focus on the most important thing – the compelling story."

In addition:

"The paper in each book is lightly tinted to reduce glare, tackle visual stress, and stop words appearing to ‘dance’ on the page. The font is designed to make each letter as distinctive as possible, to help with word and character recognition, promote good eye-tracking, and lead the eye onwards. The layout is carefully calculated to ensure words and letters don’t encroach on each other and confuse the eye, give enough text per line to allow readers to ‘chunk’ for meaning."

The books have flashy, bright covers and are clearly trying to draw in struggling readers. I think this is a great idea, but often these publishers overlook one very important aspect of a dyslexic's life: they want to be like every other non-dyslexic peer. They don't necessarily want special books and special classes. They want to read what their friends are reading. They already feel different and separating them further with these special books doesn't help that fact.

Still, I appreciate the trend of publishers to consider the different reading levels of their readers, and in particular, to focus on the struggling readers. Granted, this publisher is a UK based company, but we have seen this trend across the pond as well. Now all we have to do is try to keep them from making the books look quite so cheesy and maybe our kids will seek them out!

I Fell Prey to This Series

With Andrew Fukuda's The Hunt, I found myself bumfuzzled that someone could write a tale of vampires that was whole-heartedly original. Now, with the sequel The Prey, I find myself bowled over that this story could continue with the same powerhouse energy as its predecessor. But it did! 

Gene and the others barely made it out of the Heper Institute alive, but they haven't fully survived just yet. As they flow down the river on the boat, groups of vampires follow them in the darkness, sacrificing being caught in the sun just to enjoy the flesh of a real live person. When the attacks start to thin, the group thinks they have won, but the vampires are getting smarter. Where they used to be slaves to their lust for flesh and unable to refocus long enough to plot and plan, these new groups aren't afraid to work together. But the group just has to make it a little longer and they will find the Sanctuary, the place where humans can live free of the vampires.

When they finally make it to the sanctuary, life isn't all flowers and milk and honey. Women's feet are disfigured and any defiant women are branded and punished. Men, however, live like kings! Gene and Sissy are instantly skeptical about the false utopia, but the leaders of the town squash any chances they have of getting answers, and Gene's hopes of finding his father are dashed when he learns of his suicide. But if the Sanctuary is so wonderful, why would his father take his own life? And where do all the supplies come that keep the town living such a plush life? While Gene and Sissy think there is something more sinister going on in the town, the alternative may be something far worse than they are willing to admit. 

OK, I am not a night owl. In fact, if I stay up too late, it takes me days to catch up (my age showing through!). But this book? It was so addicting, I was up ALL NIGHT reading this book! I am suffering this morning for it, but darn it, it was worth it! The Prey is so exciting and terrifying you won't be able to stop reading, so pick it up when you have enough time to read the whole thing! 

The idea of a false utopia has always intrigued me because the opposite of a utopia should be a dystopia, but it really isn't. The false nature of a utopia is usually so subversive and hidden, it makes it inherently different from a true dystopia where the world has gone to hell in a handbag and isn't afraid to let that shine. In fact, I think these false utopias (think The Giver or Delirium) are almost scarier than a world where you know to expect awful things around every corner and can prepare for them. That is the beauty of the Sanctuary in The Prey. The answers are never clear, and the next step is always a bigger risk than you can imagine. I loved that Sissy and Gene knew the Sanctuary was false, but the other boys couldn't see through the abundant food and pliant ladies. And when Sissy and Gene tried to make decisions of where to go, no choice was the safe one. They were more than caught between a rock and a hard place. They were caught between a swirling vortex to hell and an erupting volcano full of molten lava- and it was ugly!

This story is exciting, fast-paced, and violent. I can easily get my students (usually boys) who are tough to find a book for to read this book. They scoff and claim they "hate reading", but when given this series, they devour it (pun intended!). This is a series that should grace all library and classroom shelves and be pulled out for those difficult readers. You won't even need to sell them this series. Just read the first chapter and they will be hooked! 

Classic Tale of the Tripods

Sometimes when you are struggling to find the next book to read, it is good to just reread an old favorite. For me, The White Mountains by John Christopher was one of the first young adult stories I read as an adult, and it was the first story I enjoyed with a student. It had been well over a decade since I read it, so I thought I would pick it up again. And I am glad I did!

Will has always known his Capping Day was coming, but until now, it didn't seem like something to worry about. But as his day grows nearer, he gets more and more worried about the idea of allowing one of the tripods to put a metal cap in his head that would control his thoughts. Everyone in his village had it done and seems content, but there is something about the process that doesn't sit well with Will.

When a Vagrant (a person whose Capping didn't go well) approaches him about the Capping, he is interested in hearing the man's perspective. But it turns out the man wasn't Capped at all. He was masquerading as a Capped Vagrant, but in reality, he was a rebel recruiting unCapped young adults to bring to the White Mountains- a place where the rebels are safe from the Tripods and can plot to take the world back. Will decides to head to the White Mountains, and along the way he acquires two new friends, Henry and Beanpole. But the three boys have a long way to go to the White Mountains and between them and sanctuary are many many tripods. 

This story was written almost 50 years ago and still it is one our kids today could enjoy. I have seen a few comparisons to War of the Worlds, but this story takes place well after the tripods have taken over the world. No one really fights back and everyone accepts the Capping with a complacency that makes them even easier to manipulate and control. The idea of choosing the easier road because you don't want to make life harder with the fight for freedom is a universal theme especially relevant for today's children. Kids who are so far removed from wide-spread social protest don't really understand fighting for freedoms and rights, so this story could easily be related to the current events of our students' lives. 

While this is more of a middle reader, it is a great series for young adults who also like to read science fiction. The stories are easy to read, so they might be best for an older student who has a lower reading skill level. Christopher's stories are classic, and they will survive long after the tripods come to Cap us! So if you have a sci-fi junky who has burned through everything, pass this gem on. You won't be sorry!

Nick Isn't So Invincible!

Nick's realization that there is more out there by way of the supernatural continues in Sherrilyn Kenyon's Invincible, the second book in the Chronicles of Nick. Unfortunately, so do the life-threatening situations!

Nick survived half his school turning into zombies and trying to eat him and his friends, but he isn't knocking his new-found abilities. Although, his ability to see through the glamours of supernatural creatures lets him know just how many creatures there are in New Orleans that are far from human. But, his new boss also gets his mom a new job where she doesn't have to dance, makes more money, and happier, so he can't complain. 

Life in school, however, hasn't improved. As the poor scholarship kid, he is still the outcast among the rich kids, and no one lets him forget it. When the football coach coaxes him back onto the team and blackmails him into stealing things from other kids, Nick knows something is up. He hits up his supernatural and human friends to help him dig up the truth behind this new coach, and what he finds out might be just as deadly as a pack of groaning football jock zombies!

These are fun stories! They are witty, the dialogue is pithy, and they keep you entertained from cover to cover. They are, however, quite young in how they read. The stories are still exciting and hilarious, so that makes these great books for a younger student who wants more mature reading, but still requires age-appropriate content. I might give this to an older student with a lower reading level, but I would make sure it was a student who didn't need more mature subject matter and enjoyed an easy read.

Nick is a typical wise-guy high school student with a chip on his shoulder and an attitude to match. He is fun to read about because he always has a witty quip to put people in their place. This witty dialogue, while quick and perceptive, is easy to follow and keeps the mood of the book light while the content deals with some ugly stuff! I like these books for a range of low-skilled readers, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series!

Approaching the Heavenly Gate

The vampires are really fallen angels, but they are divided amongst themselves. Some continue to side with Lucifer, but others need to stop the Dark Prince from waging war on heaven itself. In Melissa de la Cruz's final Blue Bloods novel, Gates of Paradise, the final battle is primed, but the risks are bigger than anyone imagined.

Schuyler has sacrificed everything to continue the work of her mother, the great angel Gabrielle, but nothing seems to have worked. Lucifer is still gaining power and the Silver Bloods have scared all the vampires into hiding. Schuyler and her best friend Oliver know they must protect the Gates of Paradise from the Dark Prince and his plans, but she doesn't even know how to find it. Mimi, on the other hand, has gotten over wanting to kill her heavenly twin for leaving her for Schuyler, but Mimi and Jack were called back to service by Lucifer. While they don't actually want to help the Dark Prince, they must convince him they are in his service in order to protect the ones they love; the problem is Lucifer is much smarter than even they, his trusted two, give him credit for.

Bliss is no longer a vampire, but she has folded into the Wolf Pack. With Fenrir and the other wolves at her side, she thinks they can give Lucifer a good fight to stop his corruption of heaven. The problem is she no longer has the powers as a new Red Blood that she once had as a Blue Blood. Just investigating the destruction of the Repository becomes dangerous, since she can't protect herself. But the true story lies with Michael and Gabrielle generations upon generations ago. How did they stray apart? What came between them? And what, ultimately, allowed Lucifer to get to this point?

My relationship with this series went up and down at times, but I actually really liked this conclusion. At a couple points in the novel, I was confused as to how everything was going to play out, but I was happy everything all eventually worked out in the end the way I wanted it to. Again, I liked the multiple stories carrying on simultaneously; it built the suspense and kept me going to find out what was going to happen next. Sometimes it got a little confusing, but I still liked the rotating perspective.

As for the series as a whole, I think this is a good series for middle readers who are just starting to branch out into YA books. It is a little juvenile at times, but the story matures with each installment. It always joke that it is "Twilight meets Gossip Girl", but it is certainly more than that. There is much more the the story behind the vampires, and the whole fallen angel angle makes this a unique story. I can't say I am totally sad to see this series end, because I was ready for it to conclude, but I did certainly enjoy it while it was going.