Newest Teens Reviews

Teens

Rat Runners by Oisin McGann

Teens

Nimmo lives in a London of the future. It's not a great place to be. Under constant surveillance by the WatchWorld network and its Robocop-style Safe-Guards, even the slightest transgression brings you into very unwelcome attention from the authorities. Life is particularly difficult for Nimmo. His parents are in prison and he must live below the radar of WatchWorld, amid the city's underground criminals. As you can imagine, Nimmo has skills. And this is why gang boss Move-Easy calls him in when a case containing valuable black market credit cards goes missing. Nimmo, together with sibling grifters Manikin and FX, and teen geek Scope, are to find the case or face Move-Easy's chief goons. Full review...

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, Book 2) by Marissa Meyer

Teens

The events of last time are but media chatter as we start book two, with a French farmgirl being worried. Her grandmother has been missing for over a fortnight, and the police think there's no case for them to solve. Our girl is even more worried when her dad, long missing presumed drunk, turns up to ransack the farm looking for something that must have been left behind – something that her kidnappers need. Things might look up with the arrival of a good-looking man, the epitome of calm power and strong senses, but while he seems concerned and claims his innocence, dad points him out as one of the gang behind the crime. How much can he be trusted? Either way, things must be investigated – and so our heroine, Scarlet, complete with her favourite riding-red hoodie, must go off into the unknown –alongside the man his fellow underground fighters call Wolf… Full review...

Arcadia Burns by Kai Meyer

Teens

If you haven't read the first book in this series, then STEP AWAY FROM THIS PARTICULAR COOKIE AISLE! There will be spoilers. Full review...

The Hanged Man Rises by Sarah Naughton

Teens

The Wigman is at large, murdering children. You'd think this would be the first concern for Titus Adams, as he's only fifteen, his parents are incorrigible drunks and he has a young sister, Hannah, to look out for. But in London in the late 1800s, there are more pressing concerns than serial killers on the loose. Like how to pay the rent. Like where the next meal is coming from. Like staying out of the workhouse. Like keeping your sister on the right side of the law. Thankfully, Titus has a friend in Inspector Pilsbury. He doesn't arrest Hannah when she's caught with pickpockets. He feeds her and keeps her safe at the station until Titus comes to collect her. Full review...

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

Teens

The celebration of Alcatraz's thirteenth birthday is quite a muted one – he gets a thirteen-year old parcel of sand in the post, claimed to be his inheritance from his birth parents, and he burns down the kitchen in his foster home – the latest in a long line of disasters that have followed him in his short accident-prone life. Expecting to just be farmed out to more foster parents, instead he is the subject of a battle between an armed man and a strange old fellow claiming to be Alcatraz's grandfather. What's more the guy says Al's abilities in breaking things are a Talent with a capital T, and the sands – that were stolen overnight – are a great threat to the world in the hands of Librarians (with a capital L). Against all his own instincts, our anti-hero goes with the latter man, finding his destiny in freeing the western world from the evil Librarians, and telling us about it later as an adult in a most sardonic fashion. Full review...

Smuggler's Kiss by Marie-Louise Jensen

Teens

Fifteen-year-old Isabelle has given up on life. Walking into the sea, she is ready to drown herself - until she changes her mind, too late. But instead of drowning, she's pulled from the waves by smugglers. While the crew aren't all happy that a couple of their men have jeopardized them by rescuing her, she quickly becomes useful to them and starts to get a thrill from helping to evade the Preventives. Can she be happy in her new life, or will her dark secret catch up with her? Full review...

Hysteria by Megan Miranda

Teens

Shunned by many of her former friends after killing her boyfriend in self-defence, and unable to remember the details of his death, Mallory feels haunted by his presence. When her parents send her to boarding school, will this be a chance for a fresh start, or will her past catch up with her even there? Full review...

How to Fall by Jane Casey

Teens

Freya dies after a fall from a cliff. But was it an accident, suicide, or - horror of horrors - murder?

Jess Tennant can't bear a mystery and so she sets out to solve the mystery of the death of the cousin she never met. She meets with nothing but obstruction and hostility, but perhaps it's little wonder. Not only is Jess a stranger in the parochial town of Port Sentinel, she is also the spitting image of Freya. She unsettles everyone for these reasons but, even despite them, Jess is an unsettling girl. She's blunt, direct, and she never takes no for an answer. Full review...

Everbound by Brodi Ashton

Teens

This is the second in the Everneath trilogy and picks up two months from where the first book finished. Two months ago the Tunnels of the Everneath came to claim Nikki Beckett, to take her back to the Underworld where she would be used as a human battery forever. That night, Nikki's boyfriend, Jack, made the ultimate sacrifice and took Nikki's place in the Everneath. Now, Nikki is haunted by Jack, who appears in her dreams every night, lost, confused and slowly having the life sucked out of him. On the Surface everybody is blaming Nikki for Jack's disappearance; Jack's Mum has hired a Private Detective who's following Nikki around, convinced that she will take him to Jack. Full review...

The Twyning by Terence Blacker

Fantasy

Efren is a nobody in the kingdom of rats till he witnesses the kidnapping of the king. His future changes in a moment as he's sent up to the human world to rescue him. Talking of humans, 11 year old Peter is abandoned by his parents and left to scrape a living from London's streets. His affinity with animals gives him the name 'Dogboy' and employment with rat catcher Bob and scientist Dr Ross-Gibbon. The Doctor's ambition is to encourage humanity to annihilate the rats by dragging them into a war. Efren and Dogboy, both insignificant in their own worlds, must make both man and rodent see sense; easier said than done. Full review...

The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron

Confident Readers

Little Mishka finds his cosy world turned upside down after the death of his beloved Babushka Ina. Unable to cope, his desperate mother finds solace in the arms of an abusive, alcoholic boyfriend and things go from bad to worse. When his mother mysteriously disappears, five year old Mishka flees to the heart of the city, where he joins up with a gang of street children, begging and stealing to survive. Full review...

The Prey by Andrew Fukuda

Teens

Having escaped the vampires hunting them on the boat left by the Scientists, Gene, Sissy and the boys make their way down the river and arrive at the Mission. Food is abundant, the place is peaceful, and the Elders promise them a trip on the next train to Civilisation. Gene and Sissy can hardly believe it. But it's soon apparent that the Mission is not all it seems and Gene begins to wonder if they haven't simply exchanged one hellhole for another. Although they find out a great deal more about the Scientist - he developed the Origin, a cure for vampirism - understanding his plans is as frustrating as ever. And with the vampires coming ever closer, even to the Mission itself, and the Elders making moves of their own, time is running out and Gene and Sissy must decide what to do... Full review...

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

Teens

Vanessa is just one of many new students at the New York Ballet Academy - but while they're all trying to become the best dancer, she has her own reasons for being there. Three years ago her older sister disappeared from the school, and she's determined to find out what happened to Margaret. Can she find out? And will the two boys taking an interest in her, charismatic Zeppelin and incredibly intense Justin, help or hinder her search? Full review...

Rift by Andrea Cremer

Teens

After a mysterious healer saved the life of Ember, and her mother, when she was just a baby, Ember was promised to the mysterious order Conatus. It's a debt her father is not happy about paying - determined to see his younger daughter married to a suitable husband, he tries everything in his power to stop Ember joining the order of knights. Full review...

Irresistible by Liz Bankes

Teens

After finishing her GCSEs, Mia gets a job at Radleigh Castle, working as a waitress. She quickly meets fellow worker Dan, who she likes, but is he the boy for her - or would she be better off with Jamie, son of the owners and all-around arrogant idiot. Incredibly, it's a somewhat harder decision than that last sentence would suggest. Full review...

Hostage Three by Nick Lake

Teens

Amy's family have left on a round-the-world trip. The intention is to mend relationships after what has been a turbulent time. Amy has had a meltdown, messing up her A levels, partied too much and gone a bit too far with the piercings. She can't stand her stepmother and guards a catalogue of resentments against her workaholic, remote father. But the voyage turns into crisis when the family's yacht is kidnapped by Somali pirates. And the family is put under even more strain when a relationship develops between Amy and Farouz, the pirates' translator. As Amy learns more about Farouz and his background, she also discovers a great deal about herself, her family, and about life itself... Full review...

The Blog of Maisy Malone by Eve Ainsworth

Teens

Maisy Malone - not her real name, she's not an idiot, you know - has decided to write a blog. She's 17, has just dropped out of sixth form because her lessons all seemed so irrelevant, and is now waiting for her benefits to arrive while she's looking for a job. And jobs are hard to find in the current economic climate. This makes life even more difficult for Maisy than it is for Maisy's friends. Because Maisy's father hasn't had a job in years and is steadily drinking himself into oblivion and her dog, Dave, desperately needs an expensive visit to the vet to sort out his leaky bottom. Full review...

Undone by Cat Clarke

Teens

Jem has always been madly in love with the boy next door. Unfortunately, while Kai is his best friend, she’s not the girl for him. In fact, there is no girl for him – Kai is gay. Jem is one of the only people who knows this, though, until he’s cruelly outed online by someone anonymous. When Kai can’t live with people's reaction to his outing, and kills himself, Jem resolves to find out who was responsible, and bring them down. Full review...

Colin Fischer by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz

Teens

Colin Fischer is just starting high school. It's a time that is both exciting and intimidating to the average student, but Colin is not your average fourteen year old. Colin has Asperger's Syndrome, a neurological condition linked to poor social skills and interpersonal interaction, often characterised by repetitive or obsessive patterns of behaviour. For Colin, a zealot of clear-headed logic and rational deductions (yes, he's a fan of Sherlock Holmes), every social interaction is a mystery that has to be solved. But when a real mystery arrives at school, in the form of a gun going off in the school cafeteria, Colin takes it upon himself to find the real culprit. This leads to a sequence of events which, as his father nicely puts it, involves Colin breaking more rules, starting more trouble and causing more chaos in forty-eight hours, than in all his fourteen years on the planet. Full review...

Zom-B Underground by Darren Shan

Teens

Ok. Before we begin. If you haven't read the first book in this series, DON'T read this review. It contains spoilers. Read my review of the first book, read the first book itself, then come back. If you don't, you'll be sorry. Full review...

Deceit by Deborah White

Teens

Thinking the immortal Doctor defeated, Claire has allowed her modern-day London life to return - almost - to normal. Her father has found a new girlfriend, Lindsay, and Claire quite likes her, despite a nagging guilt about disloyalty to her mother, who is depressed about the divorce and struggling to cope with Claire's new baby brother, Matthew. There's even a boyfriend, Joe, on the scene. Last year's adventure involving a girl from the past, an evil magician ancestor and an ancient prophecy, seem like old news. After all, Doctor Robert died, didn't he? Full review...