Review of The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

Razorbill

The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3)
by Richelle Mead
5 Scribbles

The female students at Amberwood Prep are in trouble. There’s a murderer in town, killing the youngest and prettiest of girls. Mrs. Terwilliger suspects it’s a witch intent on absorbing the girls’ youth, power and beauty, but because she has personal connections to the witch in question she must rely on Sydney’s help to find the killer. Can Sydney overcome her aversion to magic long enough to come to Terwilliger’s aid and put a stop to the killings?

As a die-hard Mead fan, I hesitate to review Mead’s work because it’s always so engaging and the plotting is so well done! Truthfully the main conflict above only scratches the surface of the massive amounts of action that occurs throughout. And the character development taking place in this book is superb. The conflict between Sydney and Adrian that began at the conclusion of The Golden Lily is set aside in the wake of the murders, and the two return to their established friendship to try and catch a killer. Or do they? The romantic tension between these two is palpable—will Sydney finally grow a backbone and realize that the doubts she has about the Alchemists and the intolerance she has been taught is not the whole truth? Will she realize that magic may have a place in the world, and that not all vampires are evil? And more importantly, will playboy Adrian finally abandon his partying ways and stick to his new-found chivalrous ways? While markedly different from the romance between Dimitri and Rose in the Vampire Academy series, this potential romance packs just as much heat—in fact, it’s probably a relationship that many of us find we can relate to more easily, because the protagonists are, for the most part, everyday people. Yes, they may be witches and vampires, but neither has any real super-skills or can fight like a ninja! The difference from our reality is that Sydney risks everything and everyone she has ever known and trusted to grow that backbone and “have” Adrian. For many of us, such loss would not be worth it. Additionally, a new little romance is blossoming—will Eddie and Angeline stay together or will Jill take the plunge and reveal herself to Eddie? And just when you thought it was all being worked out, a new character is added to the mix that will shake up Amberwood, and Sydney, in a way the reader never anticipated! I’ve already pre-ordered The Fiery Heart, set to be released November 19, 2013.

Review of the Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Scholastic Press

The Raven Boys
by Maggie Stiefvater
5 Scribbles
Spoiler Alert!

Blue’s eccentric fortune-telling-family has warned her for as long as she can remember that the first boy she kisses, her first love, will die. So when she sees the spirit of a boy destined to die in the upcoming year on St Mark’s Eve, she has to wonder if he’s the one from the prophecy. Regardless of the boy Gansey’s fate, she knows without a doubt that she will be sure to have no part in his impending doom. What she doesn’t know is that destiny has other plans—and she may not have the control over her fortune that she thinks she does.

Stiefvater is one of the most talented artists in YA. She's a painter, a musician, and a writer. But more importantly, she is a phenomenal novelist. What makes her work superior, in addition to her amazing characters, is her gift for taking a work that is paranormal or sci-fi and keeping it grounded in reality.  When Blue and Gansby inevitably meet, the obvious conflict in the story, the kiss, is offset by the highly engaging quest that these two, along with the other Aglinby boys undertake. Gansby believes that an ancient king is asleep along a powerful ley line, and that the one who finds him will be granted a boon.  Stiefvater takes this quest archetype and breathes new life into it by weaving previously exclusive sci-fi elements with a murder mystery and coming-of-age plotline.  Teenagers weary of the typical sci-fi/quest fare will take this brew and gulp it down! Additionally, the characters in this novel are highly engaging, believable and relatable.  For instance, Blue is an incredibly relatable character, even though she lives with an unusually eccentric family. Blue’s mother and aunts are psychic, and yet I never wonder at the skills of this brilliant hodge-podge of eccentric ladies who all live together in estrogen-soaked harmony. When Blue inevitably meets Gansby and his friends, these characters are equally riveting, if not relatable. I love Adam, the poor, tortured academic driven by ambition, and Ronan, the miserable teenager who loves a good fight, and even soft-spoken Noah—who I found to be as solid a character as his more flesh-bound friends...they each became real to me.  In fact, the more central characters, Blue and Gansby, receive less focus than secondary characters, and yet this works quite well for this story and builds the readers investment in the outcome.  Most readers can relate to the struggles of one character or another, in spite of the otherworldly events that take place throughout. Who hasn't longed for more money or struggled financially? Who hasn’t longed to be like someone else, or just to "fit-in"? Who hasn’t tried to try stand apart in order to feel special? Who hasn’t known of an abused friend or been abused themselves? And perhaps most importantly, who hasn’t found camaraderie in a group of diverse friends?  It is these elements that unify the story, lend it power and magnetism, and make it work. And it is these elements that will draw readers (and me) back to the next installment, The Dream Thieves, coming out in September of this year.

Review of Hysteria by Megan Miranda

Walker Children's

Hysteria
by Megan Miranda
4 Scribbles

When Mallory kills her boyfriend Brian in self-defense, her childhood ends. Although she is found innocent, Mallory quickly becomes a social pariah. She is suspected of dishonesty by most in her community and deemed a brutal killer by others, but no one judges Mallory more harshly than she judges herself.  Hoping to escape the haunting memories of that night, Mallory transfers to her father’s alma mater, the elite prep school Monroe, where she can start afresh.  Yet, her past continues to haunt her. And when Mallory is blamed for another untimely death—she begins to wonder what is real and what is “hysteria.”

Although a main thread in the novel is Mallory’s tentative grasp on reality, a constant feeling that she is either being haunted or may be experiencing a sort of psychological hysteria, the tone of this story could not be more real. This sense of the real is the main strength of the novel. So many times when characters die in literature, their death is treated as a novelty, an aside, a fact from the past to be greeted with mild interest at best and with apathy in most cases. Through Mallory’s eyes, the reader begins to grasp the impact of the death. The reader feels what it would be like to take the life of someone else, even in self-defense. They smell the blood, hear the gasps of the dying, sense the spirit leaving the body, stand beside the cold corpse. The reader understands the doubt, the guilt, the second-guessing that victims must go through in the aftermath of such an event. They see the tendency of bystanders to blame the victim. Ironically, Brian becomes a living, breathing person through the haunting that Mallory experiences. Equally realistic is the development of Mallory’s character from a typical, ornery teenager who isn’t above a little manipulation, interested in boys and fun, to the brooding, guilt-written young woman that she becomes. And this transition is not limited to Mallory.  In the space of one evening, she and her best friend Colleen, who shares a bond with Mallory beyond sisterhood, must suddenly “[say] good-bye….To the future…Even if…the future was just tomorrow.” Unlike many of us who experience this transition into adulthood slowly, these characters are not so fortunate. The novel is a sophisticated read to be sure, with a tone and tension (and alas even a line) borrowed from Poe himself, and it is this tone that lends suspense to the work. While less ambitious readers may find the beginning of the novel slow, more advanced readers will appreciate Miranda’s skill. The subtle use of foreshadowing, well-placed flashbacks, superior character development, and the intricately woven mystery will be a treat for these readers who will undoubtedly find themselves engrossed (as I was) from beginning to end.

Review of The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

Razorbill

The Golden Lily (Bloodlines: Book 2)
by Richelle Mead
4 Scribbles

As Syndey’s work draws her closer to Jill, Eddie, and even Adrain, she begins to wonder if her beliefs about Moroi and dhampirs are all wrong. Are Moroi really evil as she was raised to believe?  Worse, as praise rains down upon Sydney from the Alchemist leadership, she wonders if she deserves it. If the leadership really knew how close Sydney was getting to the Moroi, would her supervisors continue to applaud her, or would they send her away to Reeducation Camp and “adjust” her changing values?

Book two has a new expertly-woven mystery to be solved at the Amberwood Prep (in typical Mead fashion), but with additional character development deftly inserted between the action. Romantically speaking, things begin to heat up between Sydney and a forbidden Moroi (who shall not be named here) causing Sydney to examine her previously held beliefs. Could she be falling for a Moroi? And, if she is, would falling for a Moroi be ethical? This book also reveals Sydney’s physical disadvantages. Unlike Eddie, Jill’s guardian, or Rose Hathaway, being human makes Sydney powerless to fight against the vicious Strigoi who are after Jill. Yet, it seems Sydney has another skill that may serve to protect her from the Strigoi, but is it ethical to use those skills? While the novel clearly serves as a bridge in the series, it does not feel like one. Needed backstory is natural, as are the moral dilemmas the characters face, and none of those elements detract from the action. I’ve already ordered book 3, The Indigo Spell, and am hoping to find it in my mailbox tonight (since it was released yesterday). Happy reading fellow Mead-followers!