Why I Fight by J. Adams Oaks

Wyatt has been traveling with his uncle since he was twelve years old, when Uncle Spade spirited him away from neglecting parents and took him on the road. They travel constantly, Spade selling goods and visiting his 'ladyfriends' with Wyatt in tow.

When Spade realizes the fighting potential for tall, hulking Wyatt, the teen is dragged into a world of violence and self-destruction. He tells his story directly to the reader in a brutally honest narrative. Not so much about the fighting he does, but why he does it.

Wyatt narrates in the spirit of Forrest Gump, telling his story to someone as he leaves it all behind. The style is difficult to read at first (Oaks uses dashes instead of quotes, and Wyatt's grammar reflects his erratic schooling), but once I got used to it, I was dragged into the story he told.

Food for thought:

• Spade rescued Wyatt from seriously neglectful parents, but how much better was this option? He didn't go to school, had no friends, and essentially lived in a car during his teen years. He worships Spade, but is it justified?
  
• Spade also brought him into fighting, seeing a monetary opportunity in his powerful physique. Wyatt was constantly bloodied and bruised, but he was on top...for a while.

The visual aspects of this novel were powerful additions. The cover reflects Wyatt's gritty story beautifully, and there are blood spatters at the beginning of every chapter. You will not forget that this is a survival story.

The Bottom Line:
Even if you're not a fighter, Wyatt's story is worth learning. Read it when you want something serious.

Crashed by Robin Wasserman

Lia Kahn is done pretending to be normal. She is a mistake, a replacement for the real Lia Kahn that can never be the original. It doesn't matter that she thinks like Lia or acts like Lia, because she is a machine. And she embraces it, living in a refuge for mechs that allows them to be themselves - whatever that is anymore.

But when someone with Lia's face commits mass murder, she is faced with more condemnation than ever. Even worse, the most prominent hater is Auden - Auden, who had accepted her, loved her. Can she overcome the hatred?

Thoughts on the world:
This series is very definitely sci-fi. So how far away are we from uploading our brains into machines? What about self-driving cars, zones (think facebook), and behavior-modifyers? When will we wreck the earth so badly that the sun rarely appears through the smog of pollution?

Thoughts on the characters:

• Lia isn't perfect, and she's not pretending to be perfect. She's just trying to feel something. Why should she care about injury, or even complete destruction of her body, when she'll just be uploaded into a new one?
• We learn more about Jude, Riley, and Ani in this book. Wasn't it nice of the BioMax people to give them working, Caucasian bodies as a consolation prize for being lab rats? Also, venturing into the city has given us a glimpse into the lives of the unfortunate. The world is perfect for those who can afford it...
  
• Lia's dad bailed her out of jail. Why? If he doesn't think that she is his Lia, why bother helping her?

If you like this series:

• The Adoration of Jenna Fox
• Uglies
  

Add your own questions, comments, suggestions...

"Linger" cover revealed

Get the full story from The Compulsive Reader's post.

It certainly holds in the art themes of Shiver...the image of the wolf and girl are much more clear on this cover than the wolf is for Shiver. What could the imagery mean? It looks like the girl is walking away from the wolf, which has my plot-predictors running on overdrive.

Linger will be released in the fall of 2010. It's too long!

NaNoWriMo and other news

Hey, all! November is approaching, which means it's almost time for National Novel Writing Month. The short story: we attempt to write a 50,000-word novel in one month. It won't be pretty, and it certainly won't be publishable (yet), but at the end of the month we can call ourselves novelists.

This is perfect for writers who can't finish a story. Before NaNo-ing, I'd never finished a novel-project before. However, I've won the past two years! It's an amazing experience and people really get into it. And if you win, you get a pretty button like this...So if you even think you want to try it out, go to www.nanowrimo.org and sign up. I'll see you there!

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

"All sixteen-year old Cameron wants is to get through high school - and life - with a minimum effort. It's not a lot to ask. But that's before he's given some bad news: he's sick and he's going to die. Which sucks.

Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possilbe hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure - if he's willing to go in search of it. With the help of Gonzo, a death obsessed, video-gaming dwarf, and a yard gnome who just might be the Viking god Balder, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America of smoothie-drinking happiness cults, parrallel-universe-hopping physicists, mythic New Orleans jazz musicians, whacked-out television game shows, snow-globe vigilantes, and disenfranchised, fame-hungry teens into the heart of what matters most."

I had to take that directly from the book jacket, because nothing I said could describe it better.

Going Bovine is pretty trippy, and you can't go into it expecting a serious read. Cam is living a whirlwind of lifedeathtruthlies that just don't contribute to sense. But at the same time, everything makes sense: once I found the pattern, and went back to reread, every hyper-crazy moment became clear.

And for the record, since I didn't know it myself before reading: Bovine=cow, which is perfect because everything starts with Cam getting mad cow disease.

The Bottom Line: Read it!

Soulstice by Simon Holt

What do you fear?

The second book in The Devouring picks up six months after Reggie saved her brother from the Vours. With the summer solstice approaching, Reggie thinks she's safe from the fear-demons...until someone from the past reappears with grim news. The Vours are not done with Reggie; not even close. She must overcome new challenges - and not all are mythical - if she wants to survive.

The Devouring series is one of few horror novels in YA. These are the books you want to read in the dead of night, but for Soulstice, the dead of night is needed to keep it scary. It certainly has the creepy factor, with haunted house-like settings and descriptions, but it didn't quite measure up to its predecessor.

Reggie ventures into not one but two horrorscapes in this installment, and the psychology of it all is mind-boggling. What are the terrors of a person? The fearscape moves from basic childhood horrors to deeper, darker fears, fears that are locked away so that they can't be found consciously.

In addition, while she's battling the Vours, Reggie must also deal with the humans around town. Quinn's disappearance has police swarming the town, and Reggie's dad still thinks she's acting out. Also, she's not the only one who knows the Vours exist...

Despite this review being somewhat neutral, Soulstice is definitely a book to pick up this month.

After by Amy Efaw

Devon is on trial for the worst of crimes: attempted murder of her newborn baby. No one expected it - not even her. That's right; she didn't know she was pregnant. As she faces trial and a life behind bars, Devon slowly recalls fragments of the last nine months and, through the help of a determined lawyer, understands why she did what she did.

This is a heavy topic, no doubt about it. The concept of abandoning a child is heinous to us, but the first person POV helps to explain how sincere Devon's claim is. She is expected to be perfect in every way, and getting pregnant doesn't even make a blip on that list.

The majority of the plot takes place in jail. It's fascinating to see the juvenile system, as well as all the psychological stuff she has to go through. We only see the trial that decides which court she will be tried in - juvenile or adult - but that in itself is extensive and emotional.

After is amazing. Devon is the type of character who you form emotional attachments to because she feels so real. This isn't just another teen pregnancy novel - it's a story about self-discovery.

A note on the cover: The illustration is deceivingly simplistic, but it represents Devon's situation. There's the self she thinks she knows, and the self that she's been hiding from, that's being thrown into her face now. (incidentally, I didn't notice that her reflection was pregnant until after I finished reading. The eye sees what it expects...)