Teens
Zom-B Underground by Darren Shan
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
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...
Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff
Hannah's best friend Lillian starved herself to death six months ago. And now she's haunting her. Hannah wants life to resume as normal, but even if she wasn't constantly in the presence of Lillian's ghost, that wouldn't be possible. How can she carry on when her best friend is dead? To add to her problems, girls in her hometown are dying, beaten brutally then arranged in a ritualistic sort of way. Soon Hannah's being haunted by more than just Lillian, each vision more ghastly than the last. Full review...
Splintered by A G Howard
Alyssa Gardner has secrets. She can't tell anyone that bugs and flowers talk to her, or she'll end up in a mental hospital like her mother. All of the women in her family have struggled with mental health problems, ever since her ancestor Alice Liddell inspired Lewis Carroll to write 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. When she's dragged into Wonderland herself, can she break the family curse? Full review...
Me Myself Milly by Penelope Bush
Like so many twins, Milly and Lily might look identical but have very different personalities. Lily had always been the unruly extrovert, while timid Milly was content to be her twin's cautious shadow. But ever since 'The Incident', Milly has been forced into the forefront. When this is combined with a decision to change school and the arrival of new tenants to her house, including an unfriendly and enigmatic American boy her own age, Milly finds her life changing faster than she can keep up with it. Embracing her new life will mean letting go of the bottled up memory of The Incident, but will she ever be strong enough to do so? Full review...
Blood Bonds: The Caravan by Rosanne Licata
Raj is part Arab, part Roman. She's independent and strong-willed - too independent and strong-willed to fit well into a society where women belong in the home and only men can bring change to the world. So she runs away. Disguised as a boy, she is roaming the streets of Antioch when she encounters Bjornolf, a Danish king. Drawn to him in a way she can't explain, Raj stows away on the caravan he is guarding. As the journey continues, Raj must decide whether the terrible dangers to both Bjornolf and herself are worth risking if she reveals her true nature to him... Full review...
Shadows by Paula Weston
It's been a year since Gaby's twin brother, Jude, died in a horrific car accident. The sun, sea and sand of Pan Beach have done a lot to heal her body, but her mind is still raw with grief. Grief that manifests itself as terrifying nightmares of hunting and killing demons with a mysterious boy. So when Gaby meets Rafa, the boy of her dreams, literally, it raises a lot of questions about who she thought she and her brother were. Because Rafa claims to be Jude's best friend, and has the pictures on his phone to prove it. So why can't Gaby remember who he is? Full review...
What's Up With Jody Barton? by Hayley Long
Jody and Jolene are very alike. They have brown hair and dimples, they're both left-handed and they have feet which makes them look, according to Jody, like long-toed mutants. But in lots of ways they are very, very distinct. In fact, despite the fact that they're twins, they were born on different days and are different ages (because of the leap year thing. Read the book if you don't believe it). And as for their taste in music, school subjects and pretty well everything else . . . poles apart. Useful, though, as they divvy up their homework according to preference! Full review...
Pantomime by Laura Lam
Pantomime is almost certainly the best fantasy of the year. That's virtually all I can say about it without getting deep into spoiler territory, which as regular readers will know, I hate. (Oh, actually, I can probably just about tell you that there's a circus in there as well without completely ruining it for you.) I'm not sure whether to praise LR Lam for writing such a phenomenal book or curse her for writing one that's almost completely unreviewable. There's such a big twist early on (which, admittedly, I guessed), that I can't even really say much about the start. Full review...
The Disappeared by C J Harper
Jackson is self-confident, motivated and happy. After all, he attends one of the top Learning Communities and has an AEP score of 98.5. He is destined to become an important part of the Leadership some day. You and I might see Jackson as an insufferable, pompous ass but, since he is surrounded by people like him, Jackson doesn't see it like that.
But then a seemingly random violent attack leaves Jackson battered and bloody and his best friend Wilson dead. When police return him to the Learning Community, Jackson finds his teachers claim not to recognise him and all his records wiped. Dumped in an Academy - a school purportedly for those with lower AEP scores - Jackson's life becomes a hell. Academy students are known as Specials. They're disciplined by electric shocks distributed by teachers in cages. They're fed slop through nozzles in slots. They're encouraged to fight. And they're kept in line by Reds - nominated Specials who get extra food and pride of place in the violent Academy pecking order. Full review...
Sea of Whispers by Tim Bowler
Hetty has grown up on the remote island of Mora. Communication with the outside world is limited and the island relies on its boat, The Pride of Mora. But Hetty herself communicates in another way. She sees visions in the pieces of sea glass washed up on Mora's beaches. Sometimes, too, she hears whispers from the sea. Hetty's visions aren't universally popular with all the islanders but Grandy and Tam and Mackie and her other close friends at least try to understand them. Full review...
Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara
After the death of her boyfriend in a car accident which she survives, Wren Wells retreats to live with her artist father in his studio in the woods of Maine. While she wants to be alone, she doesn't bargain for meeting Cal Owen, also damaged, and falling for him. Full review...
The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna
Eva is an echo. Woven at the Loom, she is a carbon copy of Amarra, a girl loved by her parents so much that they can't bear the thought of losing her. Should anything ever happen to Amarra, Eva will take her place - live in her home, go to her school, even kiss her boyfriend. So Eva's young life is all about Amarra. She eats the same foods, studies the same subjects, reads the same books, watches the same films. When Amarra gets a tattoo, so must Eva. The Weavers impose many rules and if Eva breaks even one of them, her life is forfeit. Full review...
Beyond by Graham McNamee
Teenager Jane's life so far has been plagued by near-fatal accidents. The last one left a nail embedded in her brain and the doctors say surgery is too dangerous. And she sleepwalks at night, walking alone in a daze up the highway. As you can imagine, Jane's parents are beyond worried about her. But they don't know the worst of it. Only Lexi, Jane's best friend and fellow Creep Sister, does. The truth is that Jane's shadow is trying to kill her. Literally. She has no control over it but it has control of her. Full review...
Song Hunter by Sally Prue
A new Ice Age is coming. Winters are getting colder. There are fewer mammoths to hunt and no trees from which to fashion spears to kill them. A small group of Neanderthals is facing starvation this winter. One of them, Mica, is full of ideas to avert the impending doom, but the others simply won't listen to her. If something has never been before then it is nothing and simply not worth thinking about. Even Bear, who loves Mica, won't hear her. One night, Mica hears strange voices calling in the darkness. They fill her with a deep sense of longing. But to whom do these siren voices belong? And do they hold the key to Mica's future? Full review...
Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Three years after Mia lost her parents and brother, and nearly died herself, in a tragic accident in If I Stay, she's a rising star of classical music. Adam is a rock star. They haven't spoken for a long time. Until Mia plays a concert in New York, Adam attends, and she sends word for him to go backstage. Can Adam finally find out what went wrong with their relationship? Full review...
Through To You by Emily Hainsworth
Camden Pike is devastated by the death of his girlfriend Viv in a car accident, and blames himself for it. Then he meets Nina, a girl from a parallel universe. In her world, Viv is still alive, and he realises he doesn't have to let her go and he can be with this other her forever. Will he choose to give up everything he's ever known to be with the person he thought he'd lost, or let go of his girlfriend for good and stay in his own world? Full review...
VIII by HM Castor
Hal is a young boy who believes he is destined for greatness. Despite his father's disdain for him, and preference for his older brother Arthur, Hal believe that he is the subject of a prophecy. He thinks that his 'glory will live down the ages'. Is he right? Full review...
Seconds Away by Harlan Coben
Mickey Bolitar has had enough excitement to last him a lifetime. Helping the Abeona Shelter to rescue his girlfriend Ashley almost saw his best friend Ema killed, but it seems Mickey and his friends aren't out of the woods yet. A shooting has left Rachel - gorgeous, popular Rachel, whose smile makes Mickey's stomach flip - in hospital, her mother dead. The Chief of Police - also Rachel's boyfriend's father - is acting shady, and Rachel herself is sending Mickey cryptic text messages, begging him not to tell anyone else she's speaking to him. Full review...
Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher
"Zoe" has a terrible secret. She feels responsible for the death of a boy. It burns and burns and she has a huge need to confess but has no-one to confess to. And so she decides to become the pen pal of a prisoner on death row in Texas. Her letters to Stuart tell both her story and his. Zoe is a pseudonym - as is her address in "Fiction Road" - but the tale she tells in midnight writing sessions in the garden shed, is true. It's the story of family tension, of a love triangle, and of a grief and guilt almost too big to bear... Full review...
Finale (Hush Hush) by Becca Fitzpatrick
We left Patch and Nora were finally happily together and in love but with a big problem: Nora's vow to her dead father, Hank. Nora must lead the Nephilim in the upcoming war against the fallen angels who possess their bodies each year. If she doesn't, both she and her mother will die. She won't be accepted as leader by the Nephilim if her own boyfriend is a fallen angel, so once again their relationship has to go underground. Nora agrees to a fake relationship with Dante, the second-in-command Nephilim. The scam is easy enough to pull off - they need to spend a lot of time together anyway, as Dante trains Nora's newly Nephilim body for war. Full review...
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
Karou and Akiva once dreamt of a peaceful world, but their dreams look further away from reality than ever. Is there any way that either of them can gain redemption? Full review...
Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
Evie has always been plagued by horrific hallucinations and nightmares. After a stint in a psych clinic, Evie's desperate to get back to life as normal. Unfortunately, returning to her hometown triggers the hallucinations again and Evie starts to realise she is never going to be able to pass for normal. Adding to her problems, a new boy at school is destroying Evie's idea of the perfect relationship with her ideal boyfriend. Jackson is crass and a well known player - so why does Evie find him so tempting? Full review...
Young Sherlock Holmes: Snake Bite by Andrew Lane
It can't be easy, imagining Sherlock Holmes as a boy. So many of his most notable characteristics — for example, his capricious behaviour, his detailed knowledge of so many subjects, and his analytical, sometimes even cold approach to problems — are clearly the result of many years of experiences and studies. Any author brave enough to tackle this challenge must of necessity create a person who is as yet untested in many of the fields for which he will later become famous. Full review...
Angel of Mons by Robin Bennett
Ben Bartops is surprised and horrified about what he sees in the trenches of Belgium in August 1914. So is Sam Lyle, but at least he has the experience of being a career soldier – Ben is a schoolkid from the 21st Century, and shouldn't by rights be in the warzone at all. But something is putting, or taking, or sending, him to the front, and somehow the two lives will intertwine, in very dramatic ways… Full review...
The Feathered Man by Jeremy de Quidt
Klaus is a street kid who has been taken in by Kusselman, the tooth-puller. Kusselman is a hard taskmaster, fond of using a belt to discipline and control his young apprentice, and he isn't fussy where he finds teeth to sell to the rich of the town. So there's nothing unusual in a trip to Frau Drecht's miserable boarding house, home to those with no money and no other place to go. When her residents die off, as they tend to do with depressing regularity, Frau Drecht sells their teeth to Kusselman and their poor, wasted bodies to the School of Anatomy for dissection. Frau Drecht has also taken a street child for a servant. But to keep Liesel in line, Frau Drecht uses a hot iron, not a belt. Full review...
The Dead are Rising (MetaWars) by Jeff Norton
Jonah's father died in the battle for control of the Metasphere. He was a Guardian - a terrorist or freedom fighter, depending how you see things - and he had infiltrated himself into a position of trust with the Millenials, the group supporting the billionaire inventor who created and controlled an online world in which people living in a post peak-oil and devasted Earth spend most of their time. But before he died, Jason Delacroix's memories had been uploaded to the Metasphere as an avatar. Full review...
Bartolome: the Infanta's Pet by Rachel van Kooj and Siobhan Parkinson (translator)
In 17th century Spain, life is run by a strict code of conduct and appearances dictated by the Royal House. It is not a place of kindness or understanding, especially for a dwarf like Bartolome Carrasco. When his father, coachman to the Infanta Margarita, moves his family to Madrid for a better life; Bartolome is kept hidden from the world in a back room. But Bartolome is clever. He hears that a dwarf, just like him, has a position in the Royal household, he begins to educate himself in order to follow his dream and make his family proud. A sudden coach accident brings Bartolome to the attention of the young Infanta, and she demands that he be brought into the court as her pet. Forced to dress and behave as a dog, it seems life is destined to be one humiliation after another. Then, Bartolome meets the artist, Diego Velazquez, court painter who is working on Las Meninas, a portrait of the Royal family centring on the Infanta. A plan is hatched that may free Bartolome from his life of servitude and fear forever. Full review...
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Charlie is very bright but also very shy, introspective and socially awkward. He has a loving and close family who, by and large, support him and give him good advice. But this life lark is a tricky thing. High school is particularly tricky. Having been told to try to participate more, Charlie approaches Patrick and Sam at a football match. They're a couple of school years above him, but they take to him nevertheless and introduce him to their group. He writes about his experiences with his new friends, his family, his favourite teacher and his therapist in letters to a person he's heard about but never met. Full review...
Forget Me Never by Gina Blaxill
Sophie's cousin Dani has never been particularly stable, but Sophie never expected her to commit suicide. When she finds a memory stick in Dani's jeans which suggests that there may have been rather more to her death than there seemed, she does the sensible thing and goes to the police. The police don't seem particularly bothered, though, so Sophie and her friend Reece decide to investigate for themselves - only to find they may be in over their heads. Can they expose the people who caused Dani's death, or will they have enough trouble avoiding becoming victims themselves? Full review...
Flesh & Bone (Rot & Ruin) by Jonathan Maberry
Having escaped the horrors of Gameland at the dreadful cost of losing Tom, Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong must journey through the Rot & Ruin without his warrior smarts. They're in search of the jet they saw in the sky months ago. They hope to find hope, some remains of a civilisation lost after First Night, when the zombie virus spread through the population like wildfire. When life as it was ceased to be. When the undead started to walk... Full review...
What's Left Of Me by Kat Zhang
Addie and Eva are 15 year olds living somewhere in America. They have a mother, a father and a younger brother. But Addie and Eva are not sisters, or twins, in the usual sense. They are two minds who share one body, and they are in trouble. Full review...
Rage Within (Dark Inside) by Jeyn Roberts
We left Aries, Michael, Clementine and Mason in a world they can barely recognise. After a series of devastating earthquakes many people changed. They became murderous monsters that the normal survivors called Baggers. There are few normal people left and they must hide in ruined cities, avoiding death at the hands of the Baggers. And in Rage Within, the battle for survival is about to get even tougher. The Baggers are organising themselves, clearing the streets of bodies and setting up worker camps for captured survivors. Full review...
Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr
In the City of daimons, the fighting is raging. Not war - this is much more organised. The Carnival of Souls is a once in a generation opportunity to change your future. Lower caste Kaleb and Aya, fighting the prejudice agaist women, aim to do just that. Meanwhile, in our world, Mallory knows of the City's existence but not she and her father need to run away so much. These three are about to be drawn together, and the consequences for everyone could be huge. Full review...
Breathe by Sarah Crossan
When the trees were all felled to make crop land to feed an exploding population, oxygen levels on Earth fell. Eventually, the air became unbreathable. A government lottery decided who would live inside the life-saving Pod created by Breathe. Those left on the outside died. Years later, Pod society is divided into Premiums, who have easy lives, plenty of air and positions of power, and Auxiliaries, who labour at endless shifts and pay through the nose for enough oxygen to get by. A resistance group is trying to replant the Earth and reduce dependence on the Pod, but Breathe and the Pod Minister will stop at nothing to crush them. Full review...
Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
There are certain books that you know, right from the first pages, are destined to be classics. There is something about the phrasing, about the concept and about the main character which chime so perfectly together that they cannot fail to move you, to open a window in your world and show you another, deeper truth. Such a book is 'Maggot Moon'. Full review...
Red Glove (Curse Workers 2) by Holly Black
Cassel lives in a world where magic is frowned upon. Practice is banned and everyone wears gloves to prevent being worked. Cassel himself is a transformation worker - the rarest type. And he is the most powerful transformation worker in living memory. This makes him extremely valuable to the crime families who use curses to support and maintain their empires. It also makes him extremely dangerous as far as the authorities are concerned. And that's why Cassel tries to keep his status to himself, since he discovered it in the first book in this Curse Workers sequence. Full review...
Ashes by Ilsa Bick
Beware: it's impossible to review Shadows without giving spoilers for Ashes, the first book in this dystopian trilogy, which ended on a huge cliffhanger.
The world has been devastated by a catastrophic electromagnetic pulse. Many of the young have become Changed - cannabilistic monsters with a penchant for violence. Alex was hiking in the wilderness when it all happened and although she isn't Changed, her senses have heightened and it seems the progression of her terminal brain tumour may have halted. Full review...
Unwholly by Neal Shusterman
At last! It's been five years since Unwind, Neal Shusterman's first book set in a dystopian future where teenage children are unwound - retroactively aborted to provide organs and limbs for transplant surgery. If you're an adult reader, the world of Unwind is very much like Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Unwind had a profound effect on me - as the best books for children do - it was exciting, touching, shocking and, above all, fearless. But there were flashes of humour that made it all bearable. Full review...
The Diviners by Libba Bray
1920's New York City. Jazz and gin mix with murder and mystery. For Evie O'Neill - fresh in from Ohio to the city of her dreams after her demonstration of a strange power caused a scandal in society - this is what she's always dreamed of. But dreams can become nightmares, and when Evie, her uncle Will and their friends find themselves trying to stop a serial killer, she'll have to use all of her wits, as well as her power, to stay alive. Full review...
The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann
Don't get yourself noticed and you won't get yourself hanged.
Such is life for peculiars like Bartholomew Kettle and his sister Hettie. Their mother is human but their - absent - father is a Sidhe, a high fairy. Fairies are contemptuous of the half-breed peculiars and humans distrust and suspect them. Hapless peculiar children are often hanged by humans. And, even more worryingly, bodies of peculiars have been turning up recently, quite dead, covered in ancient faerie script and as empty of bone and organ as they are of life. Full review...
Witch Crag by Kate Cann
Kita lives in a hill fort as part of the sheepmen community. Life since the Great Havoc has been hard and brutish. There are few survivors from the time of technology and nature is gradually retaking the land. There are often droughts and both food and water are often in short supply. For the sheepmen, it's all about survivial. Food, what there is of it, is bland. Days are filled with grinding hard work. Relationships are frowned on. Women are treated like chattels. Although they have an alliance with the horsemen, other groups are avoided and disliked - the farmers, those who live in the ruins of the Old City. Full review...