Catching Up

I've been remiss in posting reviews over the last several weeks, as I frantically tried to read as many Cybils nominees as possible before the deadline. Now that the nominating committee has finished our work, I'm going to try to catch up and post reviews of some of those books that I've read in the last few weeks.

Book Review: A Darkling Plain

A Darkling Plain

by Philip Reeve

A Darkling Plain is book 4 and the conclusion of The Hungry City Chronicles. Normally, I would have preferred to read the books in order, but since this was a Cybils nominee, I didn't have the time to read the first three books before reading this one. However, A Darkling Plain stands well on its own, and I didn't have any problem understanding it without the benefit of having read the previous books in the series.

The series takes place in a futuristic world in which huge mobile cities compete for resources, eating smaller towns and cities, in something called Municipal Darwinism. There is a war between the supporters of the cities, called tractionists, and the Green Storm, who oppose the cities for the destruction they wreak upon the earth. A Darkling Plain takes place during an uneasy truce between the two factions. The new leader of the Green Storm, General Naga, has sent his wife to an African city called Zagwa to negotiate peace. The negotiations go well, except for an interruption caused by forces trying to assassinate Lady Naga. The assassination attempt is foiled by a young man named Theo, who is later recruited to return Lady Naga home safely. Unfortunately, Lada Naga's staff has been inflitrated, and Lady Naga and Theo are captured.

Meanwhile, an aviator named Tom Natsworthy runs into a woman that he believes he knew decades before in the now destroyed traction city of London. Tom and his daughter Wren embark on a search to uncover the mystery behind the woman, a search that may lead them to London itself. In another city, Tom's estranged wife Hester, accompanied by a stalker (a kind of cyborg built on a resurrected human) named Grike, rescues Theo and reluctantly finds herself drawn ever more into the situation with Lady Naga. As various forces work to destabilize the truce, war threatens and the future of humanity is at stake.

A Darkling Plain was a very enjoyable book. The technical details should appeal to those who prefer their science fiction hard, but the technology never bogs down the story, which is quite exciting and moves along quickly. Nor does technology overpower character; at its heart this is a human drama, and the characters (even the resurrected stalkers) are fascinating and well-developed. Obviously all the characters have a history in the previous books, but even without having read those books I came to care for the characters and became wrapped up in their stories. I recommend this book for any teen or adult science fiction fans.

While the book stands fine on its own, if you haven't read this book, you'll probably want to start with book 1, Mortal Engines. The other two books are Predator's Gold and Infernal Devices. I look forward to going back and reading these earlier books.

A Darkling Plain Is available now in the UK and will be released in June 2007 in the US. Buy it from Amazon UK or Preorder it from Amazon.com.

A Darkling Plain is a Cybils nominee

Tags: book review | children's books | young adult books | science fiction | philip reeve

Cybils F/SF weekly wrapup: 12/24/06 - 12/31/06

It was a close thing, but the fantasy and science fiction nominating committee turned in our shortlist today! You'll have to wait until tomorrow (January 1) to see the list, but I think that we chose five really excellent books for the shortlist. All the shortlists will be announced on the Cybils site starting at around 9:15 AM; every 15 minutes another list will be posted. It's so exciting to see it coming to fruition after months of hard work! After the lists are posted, the judging committees will get to work reading the shortlisted books and choosing one of them to be a winner.

Choosing only five books from the 88 nominated in our category was hard! There were so many excellent books nominated, and we each had our favorites, but in the end we came up with a great list that represents a good cross-section of readers in the genre. I'll be blogging more about the process after the short list annnouncements, and undoubtedly, so will my fellow nominating committee members Erin, Gail, Kim, and Michele.

The following books have been reviewed by members of the fantasy and science fiction committees in the week between December 24 and December 31:

• Avielle of Rhia by Dia Calhoun: reviewed by Kim
  
• Beka Cooper: Terrier by Tamora Pierce: reviewed by Cassie
  
• Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer: reviewed by Kim
  
• The Last Dragon by Silvana de Mari: reviewed by Gail | Kim
  
• Silver City by Cliff McNish: reviewed by Gail
  
• Travels of Thelonious by Susan Schade and Jon Buller: reviewed by Michele
  

View the complete list of Cybils fantasy and science fiction nominations, including links to all reviews by the F/SF committees

Keep up with the Cybils by subscribing to the feed at the Cybils site. Every day (except Sunday) we'll be posting a new "review of the day" of a nominated book.

Tags: children's books | young adult books | fantasy | science fiction | book awards | cybils

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that your 2007 is filled with magic, mystery, and adventure!

Cybils F/SF weekly wrapup: 12/17/06 - 12/24/06

With only a few days to go, the fantasy and science fiction nominating committee is making good progress. We started with 28 books on our shortlist, and we've pruned that down to 15. The last part is going to be the hardest, though; we each have our favorite books that we're unwilling to sacrifice, and things may get bloody before we're done!

The following books have been reviewed by members of the fantasy and science fiction committees in the week between December 17 and December 24:

• Beka Cooper: Terrier by Tamora Pierce: reviewed by Gail | Michele | Kim
  
• The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle by Catherine Webb: reviewed by Gail
  
• The Eye Pocket: The Fantastic Society of Peculiar Adventurers by E J Crow: reviewed by Michele
  
• Gossamer by Lois Lowry: reviewed by Michele
  
• The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor: reviewed by Kim
  
• Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud: reviewed by Gail
  
• Pucker by Melanie Gideon: reviewed by Michele
  
• Sir Thursday by Garth Nix: reviewed by Gail | Kim
  
• The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 by P J Haarsma: reviewed by Michele
  

View the complete list of Cybils fantasy and science fiction nominations, including links to all reviews by the F/SF committees

Keep up with the Cybils by subscribing to the feed at the Cybils site. Every day (except Sunday) we'll be posting a new "review of the day" of a nominated book.

Tags: children's books | young adult books | fantasy | science fiction | book awards | cybils

Cybils nominees updated

I just updated the complete list of Cybils fantasy and science fiction nominees to include all reviews up to December 17th. I also added one nominee which was transferred to us from the YA category after I published the list: The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle.

View the complete list of fantasy and science fiction nominees

Harry Potter 7 title announced!

The title for Harry Potter book 7 has been announced: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. No publication date has been announced yet, but we must be getting close!

Thanks to Michele of Scholar's Blog for the news!

Michael Buckley/Sisters Grimm chat transcript

A couple of weeks ago, we had a chat with Michael Buckley, author of the Sisters Grimm books on our fan site. It was fascinating and a lot of fun. Topics included writing, humor, and fairy tales, and he gave us some hints about what to expect in future books in the series! You can view the transcript of the chat here.

Gifts for your favorite character

The holidays are here, and if you're like most people, you've been scouring the malls trying to find the perfect gift for family and friends. But Gregory K. of GottaBook asks what gifts you'd get your favorite kidlit characters. Head on over to GottaBook and read the great suggestions so far, then leave your own in the comments.

Cybils F/SF weekly wrapup: 12/10/06 - 12/17/06

As we head into the home stretch of the Cybils nomination period, the fantasy and science fiction nominating committee has been power reading! Most of our nominating committee members have been reading an average of a book a day. Everyone on the committee takes the responsibility very seriously, and is determined to do the best job possible under the circumstances. Although it's been fun, we're starting to approach the burnout stage, as evidenced by frequent headaches, difficulty concentrating, and general stress among some of the committee members.

Funny things start to happen when you read so many books one after the other in such a short time frame. The books start to blur together, and you start to see connections between unrelated books. It's kind of a Darwinian environment for books; the strong ones are the ones that can survive the blurring and stand out.

It'll be interesting to see what comes out of the process. We all have strong opinions, but those opinions don't always agree. There's no clear winners yet, but certain books are starting to emerge as favorites. All I can tell you is that by January 1, we will have a list of five outstanding, top-notch books for the judging committee to consider.

The following books have been reviewed by the F/SF committee members in the last week:

• Abadazad: The Road to Inconceivable by J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Ploog: reviewed by Gail
  
• Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer: reviewed by Cassie
  
• Changeling by Delia Sherman: reviewed by Michele
  
• Corbenic by Catherine Fisher: reviewed by Gail
  
• Devilish by Maureen Johnson: reviewed by Michele
  
• Here, There Be Dragons by James A Owen: reviewed by Michele (spoiler review)
  
• Into the Woods by Lyn Gardner: reviewed by Gail
  
• London Calling by Edward Bloor: reviewed by Michele
  
• Samurai by Jason Hightman: reviewed by Gail
  
• Septimus Heap: Flyte by Angie Sage: reviewed by Michele (spoiler review)
  
• Travels of Thelonious by Susan Schade and Jon Buller: reviewed by Kim
  
• Undine by Penni Russon: reviewed by Kim
  

In case you're wondering what it's like to be a Cybils nominating committee member, check out Gail's Christmas card photo!

Cybils F/SF weekly wrapup: 11/26/06 - 12/10/06

Last weekend was a busy weekend, and I didn't have time to post my weekly wrapup of reviews from the Cybils fantasy and science fiction committees, so I'm covering two weeks this time. The following books have been reviewed by the Cybils F/SF committees in the last two weeks:

• The Amazing Flight of Darius Frobisher by Bill Harley: reviewed by Michele
  
• Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer: reviewed by Gail
  
• Beka Cooper: Terrier by Tamora Pierce: reviewed by <Sarah
  
• Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz: reviewed by Gail
  
• Devilish by Maureen Johnson: reviewed by Gail
  
• Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz: reviewed by Michele
  
• Fablehaven by Brandon Mull: reviewed by Kim
  
• The Fetch by Chris Humphreys: reviewed by Michele
  
• Gossamer by Lois Lowry: reviewed by Fairrosa
  
• Horse Passages by Jennifer Macaire: reviewed by Sheila
  
• Hellbent by Anthony McGowan: reviewed by Gail
  
• Into the Woods by Lyn Gardner: reviewed by Michele
  
• The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld: reviewed by Gail
  
• The Last Dragon by Silvana de Mari: reviewed by Sheila
  
• London Calling by Edward Bloor: reviewed by Kim
  
• The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor: reviewed by Gail | Erin
  
• Magic Lessons by Justine Larbalestier: reviewed by Kim
  
• The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner: reviewed by Gail
  
• Pucker by Melanie Gideon: reviewed by Kim
  
• Silver City by Cliff McNish: reviewed by Michele
  
• Stones of Abraxas by K Osborn Sullivan: reviewed by Michele
  
• Travels of Thelonious by Susan Schade and Jon Buller: reviewed by Gail
  
• Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett: reviewed by Gail
  
• Wolfproof by Maureen Doyle McQuerry: reviewed by Michele
  

View the complete list of Cybils fantasy and science fiction nominations, including links to all reviews by the F/SF committees

Keep up with the Cybils by subscribing to the feed at the Cybils site. Every day (except Sunday) we'll be posting a new "review of the day" of a nominated book.

Tags: children's books | young adult books | fantasy | science fiction | book awards | cybils

Book Review: Horse Passages

Horse Passages

by Jennifer Macaire

Meagan Cadet and her twin Carl are herders; they take care of the herds of horses that have the ability to open and move through passages in space from one planet to another. The twins' parents and sister were taken by the Raiders, aliens who capture the horses and herders for unknown purpose. No one has ever escaped the raiders.

Meagan and Carl live a solitary life as they follow their herd from planet to planet, and that's ok with them. They like their privacy. But their privacy is interrupted when a herd belonging to the Jeffries brothers appears on the same planet where they are camped. The Jeffries brothers are loud and rambunctious, and Meagan is not happy to have her quiet life disrupted. But time and shared experiences draws the two families together. Then Meagan and Luke Jeffries are captured together by the Raiders, and the two of them must work together and support each other to survive the hardships of life as slaves of the Raiders.

What could be more fun than cowboys in space? Horse Passages is a fun, exciting book that will appeal to both horse lovers and fantasy/science fiction fans. The descriptions of the horses and life with the herds are so real that I could almost smell the horses. The first half of the book follows Meagan's story, and the second half of the book follows Carl, so the book will appeal to both girls and boys.

There were a few things that irked me about this book, such as the tendency of the characters to undergo sudden changes of character without sufficient development, usually due to a crisis. But I doubt that most young people would notice or care.

As the parent of a child who has had a stuttering problem, I liked that the heroine had a stutter. There aren't too many books that have a protagonist who stutters. I was disappointed that the stutter disappeared early in the book (yes, due to a crisis) but I suppose that it's difficult to write an entire book where the protagonist has trouble communicating,

Overall, though, I really enjoyed the book and it held my interest. With horses, space adventure, and a bit of romance thrown in, this is a book that's sure to appeal to preteens and young teens of both genders.

Horse Passages is a Cybils nominee

Tags: book review | children's books | young adult books | fantasy | science fiction | horses

Space, the Final Frontier

This isn't directly related to children's literature, but anyone who grew up reading science fiction like I did can't help but be excited by two news stories that I saw today. The first one is that photographs from Mars indicate that there might actually be liquid water on Mars! NASA has release some kind of before and after photographs showing sediment deposits where there were none seven years ago. Scientists think that the deposits were caused by liquid water from below the surface coming up, flowing down, and then evaporating or freezing. (Apparently the atmosphere on Mars is too thin for there to be liquid water). And indeed, the deposits, which appear as white streaks on the photos, are shaped exactly like a stream of water running downhill. The implication is that there could potentially be life on Mars. Life on Mars!!! Admittedly, we're not talking sentient life here, but even microscopic life on another planet would be revolutionary.

Read the story about water on Mars here and view more photographs here. (Be sure to go to the image gallery and look at the close ups).

The other story is that NASA is considering the possibility of a manned settlement on the moon! Read an article from the Baltimore Sun here and view NASA's moon page here.

We live in exciting times! Science fiction is becoming reality.

Book Review: The Last Dragon

The Last Dragon

by Silvana de Mari

Yorsh is a young elf on his own in the world. The elf village that he lived in was destroyed in a flood caused by the continual rain, and now Yorsh, who is a very young child, has no one to help him. Elves are hated and feared by humans, but when Yorsh meets a human woman who is in equally desperate circumstances, she takes pity on him and helps him out. Later, they meet a human hunter who also joins the group. Hilarious misunderstandings ensue, as elves and humans think very differently. In one such episode, Yorsh, who is horrified at the thought of eating anything that thinks, brings the hunter's meal, a rabbit, back to life, much to the hunter's regret. As time goes on, Yorsh and the humans grow to understand and care for each other. When Yorsh discovers a prophecy involving the last elf and the last dragon, he begins to realize that his future may have some surprises in store.

This book caught me quite by surprise. When I read the description, I thought, "Elves..dragons..prophecy..yeah, yeah, seen it before." But really, The Last Dragon turned out to be quite different than what I expected. It's playful and funny, yet touching and poignant. de Mari is obviously smart, witty, and creative, and it shows in every word of this book. The initial misunderstanding between the elf and the humans is funny, but it could have easily turned into a one trick pony that would have eventually become tiresome. But de Mari is smart enough to not try to sustain it for the entire book. Instead, like a composer writing a symphony, she has created variations on the themes of perception and point of view throughout the book. As Yorsh grows, so does his understanding of the world and the other species around him. Yet even as an adult, he retails a certain quality of childlike innocence that is very appealing. I also like the way de Mari makes clever use of repetition of certain seemingly unimportant elements to create connections between the different parts of the story.

Sensitive kids should be forewarned that there are a couple of sad parts in the book, but it's not overly scary.

The Last Dragon is a Cybils nominee

Tags: book review | children's books | young adult books | fantasy | dragons | elves