Newest Teens Reviews
Teens
Furnace: Fugitives by Alexander Gordon Smith
It has taken three books for Alex to get out of prison. He wouldn't have been there if the powers-that-be hadn't framed him for murder, and he would have found it a better experience were it a regular prison. But no. Over those three books we have seen just what lives and works in the completely subterranean nightmare - The Warden, Mr Furnace, and the evil creatures they are both making, breeding and employing down there. But the whole experience has come at a cost. Alex has been around these evil men too much, and they are changing him too - making him one of their tools. It's only now, on the outside for the first time, that Alex gets a clearer picture of just how many tools there are - and just how much evil has been spread. Full review...
Scat by Carl Hiaasen
Nick and his friend Marta are ordinary kids. They don't look for trouble, and they don't cause it. But when an unpopular teacher punishes a difficult classmate by making him write an essay about his pimples, then trouble can't be far away. The teacher goes missing during a wildfire, and Duane (nicknamed Smoke, because he has a reputation for setting fires) gets the blame. But the evidence doesn't add up, and our young heroes decide it's up to them to discover the truth. Full review...
Blade: Risking All by Tim Bowler
It's the final chapter. There's nothing let now but the last confrontation. Blade has nothing left to lose and at last revenge is in sight. Under pressure from the porkers and the gangs, and with his private empire crumbling, Hawk has retreated to his remote hideout. Blade is there, waiting. But Hawk is surrounded by a private army of security. Dozens of grinks and gobbos lie between Blade and his nemesis and getting past them isn't going to be easy. But Blade has his instinct back and nothing is going to stand in his way. Losing is not an option. But can he beat the man who has never known defeat? Can he find redemption? Full review...
Shadow Wave (CHERUB) by Robert Muchamore
A shadow wave is a tidal flow that happens after a tsunami, and it can be deadly because it travels in the opposite direction and is often unexpected. Robert Muchamore's latest book in the CHERUB series is named after this phenomenon, and tells what happens when a bunch of young CHERUB secret agents and their teachers get caught up in the chaos in Malaysia which follows the 2004 earthquake and tsunami. They rescue impoverished villagers and help them begin rebuilding their homes, only to see all their hard work destroyed by government officials who use the disaster as an excuse to take away the fishermen's land and use it to build hotels for rich foreigners. Muchamore pulls no punches as he shows how greed and corruption win out over people's right to keep to their traditional lifestyles. Full review...
Bad Tuesdays 3: Blood Alchemy by Benjamin J Myers
Chess and her brothers have been separated. Box and Splinter are incarcerated on a prison planet, at the mercy of the Twisted Symmetry and their Dog Troopers. Chess is just as much of a prisoner - she's being "protected" by The Committee and languishes in a safe house, itching to be free. None of the three intend on being locked up for long. Chess wants to find out who she really is and then to get on with destroying the Brain that feeds off the energy of innocent children, and Box wants to get back to Chess and help protect her. And Splinter, well, he's got ideas of his own and they certainly don't include an agonising death at the hands of his captors. Full review...
Secrets of Tamarind by Nadia Aguiar
The Island of Tamarind is once again under threat, from the evils of the Red Coral. Once more Simon and his sisters Maya and Penny (but mostly Simon) must save the island that only they can reach, as it lies in some exotic Bermuda Triangle. For a second book running they must breach the barriers, solve mysteries surrounding their native friend Helix's legacy, and the native magical element ophalla, and put the island to rights. Full review...
The Fallen: Fallen and Leviathan by Thomas E Sniegoski
Thousands of years ago, a bunch of angels fell in love with human women. For their sins, they were cast out of Heaven. Their children are the Nephilim. They are hunted by Verchiel, leader of the Powers, hell-bent (excuse the pun!) on destroying them, especially the leader who prophecy says will lead them. On his 18th birthday, Aaron Corbet has a strange dream of weapons clanging and angels descending on a battlefield... and wakes up able to speak and understand any language, including that of his dog Gabriel. We can see where this is going, can't we? Full review...
The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley
Michael Vyner's father died when Michael was just a baby. He was a hero, sacrificing himself to save the life of Sir Stephen Clarendon whilst fighting for the British Empire in Afghanistan. This was precious little comfort to Michael and his mother, who resented the rich man's largesse over the years, wishing for the man they lost and not the charity of the man he saved. So, when Michael's mother dies too and he finds himself all alone in the world, he is not entirely overjoyed to discover that Sir Stephen is now his guardian and has invited him to spend Christmas at Hawton Mere. Full review...
Deep Secret by Berlie Doherty
Every now and again them there publisher people do this reviewer a big favour and reissue a book that she missed first time around. This is one of those now and thens. Anybody who loves words - child or adult - will love the way Berlie Doherty writes. Her graceful, lyrical prose just floats from the page and you lose yourself in the worlds she creates. She's known for her versatility too - writing realistic books about contemporary issues, fantasies and, as here with Deep Secret, historical novels. Full review...
Angel by L A Weatherly
If you loved the Twilight series, you will also love Angel, the first book in a new paranormal trilogy. However, even if you are among those who didn't see the attraction of Ms Meyer's books, there's a very good chance you will enjoy this: L A Weatherly is a gifted writer, and her take on paranormal romance is expertly crafted, full of exciting plot twists and well-rounded characters. Full review...
Blood Ransom by Sophie McKenzie
It's not enough to find out you're a clone and to have both a renegade scientist and a fundamentalist terrorist group trying to kill you. Oh no. Because when MI5 and the FBI relocate you, they condemn you to living thousands of miles away from the only other person in the world that might understand what you've been through. It's safer that way, apparently. Full review...
Moorehawke Trilogy: The Crowded Shadows by Celine Kiernan
At the end of the first book of the Moorehawke Trilogy, The Poison Throne, Wynter Moorhawke, her childhood friend Razi, and her romantic interest Christopher were all desperately trying to find Razi's half-brother Alberon, whose father Jonathon appeared to be driven insane. I thought I knew exactly what to expect from this second novel in the sequence, but was thrown sideways by the massive detour taken. Full review...
The Children of the Lost by David Whitley
Mark and Lily have left Agora and they have no idea what to expect from the land beyond the city walls. They have been brought up within a rigid system based on barter in a city where everything can be traded: goods, services, people, even emotions are up for sale. They have also been taught that outside the city walls is a wilderness, with no civilised life. Do bear in mind here that their idea of civilisation is Agora…They are ill equipped to survive, and immediately make things worse by arguing with one another. Mark is furious with Lily for her part in their banishment and his actions lead to Lily being placed in great danger. Full review...
Immortal Remains (Weirdsville) by Rook Hastings
Welcome back to Weirdsville, sorry Woodsville, the town set in a truly creepy hollow, whose forest contains the greatest concentration of ghosts you'll find anywhere in England. Fresh from vanquishing a ghost army and enabling Emily to pass on to the other side and be reunited with her mother, our four reluctant ghosthunters have a new mystery to solve. Freak accidents have killed four local girls in the last four months, and Charlotte is convinced she will be next. She's the only one left alive from a seance she and her friends took part in, and she is certain that death is stalking her. Full review...
Trash by Andy Mulligan
Raphael lives in Behala, a slum that's grown up around a landfill site in an unnamed South American country. He's a dumpsite boy - this means he and his family scrape a living by combing through the detritus of richer people's lives. Behala replaced Smoky Mountain, another slum that got so dangerous that landslides killed dozens of people and the authorities closed it. What a home, eh? But Raphael has a smile that lights up his whole face and lifts the spirits of all those upon whom he bestows it. And he has good things in his life - a close extended family, a best friend called Gardo - and an exciting secret. Full review...
Dread Pirate Fleur and the Hangman's Noose by Sara Starbuck
When a mysterious young girl in a barrel is fished from the sea and rescued by the pirate ship belonging to Fleur's uncle William, it seems bad news might be on the way. The girl turns out to have psychic abilities - and they're just about to hit landfall at Salem, right in time for the witch-hunts. But worse is to come. William gets captured there, and someone Fleur thought long dead starts to take his place on board instead. Fleur then has to skipper the craft herself, on a rescue mission, in a very tense domestic situation. That's hard enough when you're a mere teenaged girl, against ruffians and pirates, but when the ship has secrets of her own to be revealed... Full review...
The Young Chieftain by Ken Howard
One minute, Jamie Doran is playing basketball with his friends in downtown LA, the next he's en route to the island of Doran in Scotland to bury his father. James Doran, you see, had been Doran's clan chieftain. The island proves a culture shock for cosmpolitan Jamie. It's remote and dilapidated, there's no internet or mobile phone access, and the only TV is in the community centre. Jamie's grandmother isn't welcoming either - in fact, she barely bothers to hide her distate for her black daughter-in-law and mixed race grandson. Full review...
Lies (Gone) by Michael Grant
Sam is tired of being heroic. Tired of being relied upon. But he resents being sidelined by his own girlfriend. Astrid's Town Council is busy bringing bureaucracy and officialdom to the FAYZ, but will it ever do anything other than procrastinate? Sam doesn't think so and he's painfully aware that danger lurks around every corner. Zil's band of freak-haters are gearing up to cause some damage, Caine is down but not out, and food is still in short supply. Tensions are growing and the Town Council isn't up to the job. And what's worse is that Sam doesn't think he is, either... Full review...
The Night of the Solstice by L J Smith
Claudia knew she wasn't really supposed to follow the fox - not on her own, to the old, forbidden house on the hill. But she did. And it will change everything. The fox is the familiar of Morgana Shee, powerful sorceress and only guardian of the passageway to another universe, Wildworld. But Morgana has gone missing and she must be found before the solstice, for then the gateway will be open to all, including Cadal Forge, an evil magician dedicated to conquering Earth. Claudia, and her siblings, Charles, Jane and leader Alys, must find her. And find her quickly, for everything hangs in the balance on the night of the Winter Solstice. Full review...
Cherry Crush: The Chocolate Box Girls by Cathy Cassidy
When Cherry Costello told her teachers that she was leaving Glasgow and moving to live in a cliff-top house in Somerset where her father would make organic chocolates everyone thought that it was just another of her tall tales. But this one was true. Not only was Cherry moving to Somerset the Costellos, father and daughter, were going to live with his girlfriend and her four daughters. From it just being the two of them there would be seven altogether. How will Cherry cope? And how will the Tanberry family cope with two new members? Full review...
Half a Sister by Kelly McKain
When Hannah's parents begin to have whispered, but obviously heated discussions about something her immediate thought is that they're splitting up. There's quite a bit of that at school and Hannah would hate it to happen to her. But when it all comes out the reality is rather different. Sam has just discovered that he has a fifteen year old daughter living in Paris and that her mother has been in a serious car accident. Sam sees no alternative but to bring Ellie to live with them, but Charlotte is worried about how this will affect their daughter. When it's put to Hannah she has visions of long girly chats and swopping clothes and makeup and agrees without further thought. To begin with it's everything she hoped it would be but then a darker side of Ellie emerges and life turns into a nightmare for Hannah. Full review...
Kiss Me Deadly by Tricia Telep (Editor)
What do Peter Pan, werecats, vampires, teenage zombies, and unicorn hunters have in common? Possibly very little... but they all appear as central characters in stories in this often enchanting anthology of stories of supernatural romance. Full review...
The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight by Jenny Valentine
Runaway Chap walks into a hostel off the street. He's in need of a meal and a bed for the night. As the workers question him, trying to get a history, they notice his resemblance to a poster of a boy who's been missing for two years. Chap isn't Cassiel Roadnight. Chap isn't anyone. But the temptation is there: become Cassiel. Get a family. Live in a home. Become someone. And so he takes the chance and the new identity. Full review...
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
We last saw Nora and Patch at the end of Hush, Hush - lovely title, that! - battered after a Nephilim conflict, but very much together. Patch is no longer fallen, has been given back guardian angel status and the threat to Nora is no more. You'd think everything would go swimmingly after that, wouldn't you? But you know and I know that falling in love with any kind of angel, fallen or otherwise, isn't conducive to a normal life. Full review...
Lost Dogs by Garrett Carr
Some extraordinary children are to be found in the Northern Irish port-town of Hardglass. One, Akeem, has in fact just arrived - a stowaway on a cargo ship. Elsewhere, friends Andrew and Ewan are waiting to see the result of Ewan's father's trial for being a weapons dealer. While their friend May is newly residing at a most unusual school, one whose pupils have talents to match her singular one of sensing and empathising with the thoughts of animals. It's a gang of people brought together in a natural, realistic way, with some fantastic factors to their lives that are only going to get heightened. For said weapons, allegedly going on their way to be decommissioned, will soon be on the same cargo boat Akeem has just left - and they're weapons from the darker side of horror... Full review...
A Trick of the Dark by B R Collins
What if you found a way to cheat death? What if it left you pain-free forever, both physically and emotionally? But what if it also meant you had to split your soul, and that left you unable to touch anyone ever again? After Zach and Annis are dragged to France for a family reconciliation events are set in motion that cannot be undone. Annis sees Zach killed by a the tumbling wall of an old ruined house, yet moments later he is standing, unharmed, in front of her. As she tries to help Zach, and appease her bitter, broken parents, she is dragged deeper and deeper into the horror of Zach's situation. Full review...
The Legacy by Gemma Malley
Longevity isn't working. The drug that prolongs life expectancy indefinitely appears to have reached its own life expectancy. A terrible virus is wreaking havoc across Britain and the sluggish immune systems of the Legals simply can't cope. Consumed by a desperate thirst, they're dying horrible deaths, leaving behind shrivelled and desiccated corpses. It's Richard Pinsent's worst nightmare. Not that Richard cares about people dying, of course. Full review...
Torment by Lauren Kate
Right, first things first. If you haven't read Fallen, go read it - or at least read a review to see whether it sounds like your cup of tea - because this review will inevitably contain significant spoilers for the earlier Lauren Kate novel. Full review...
Blood Crime by John Brindley
Joe is lying in hospital in a meningitis-induced coma. It's the last straw for his mother - Joe has been unable to cope ever since his father died, refusing to believe in a tragic laboratory accident and accusing his ex-research partner and her new boyfriend of murder. Before he became ill, Joe's state of mind had become dangerously unstable, and now it's up to his uncle Frank, a hospital consultant, to save him. But Joe isn't lying there insensible: he's fighting the greatest battle of his life - rushing through his veins and arteries evading the aggressive bacteria, rousing his body to fight back, and trying to work out what really happened to his father and whether his own illness has anything to do with it. Full review...
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No. 1: Night of the Living Rerun; Coyote Moon; Portal Through Time by John Vornholt, Arthur Byron Cover and Alice Henderson
There is something really satisfying about a huge brick of a book: the prospect of settling down for hours and hours of reading pleasure is very tempting. And this book offers an even more tempting lure for Buffy fans, because it contains three whole stories, adding variety to the mix. It's absolutely ideal for a holiday read. Full review...
Bella Should Have Dumped Edward: Controversial Views on the Twilight Series by Michelle Pan
I'm sure die hard (Twi-hard) fans will love this book, since it gives them a little bit more about Bella and Edward and Jacob. All those things they've mulled over since the series ended are encapsulated in the topics raised here. Team Edward need not shake their heads in dismay at the book's title - it's controversial on purpose - and the question of who Bella should have ended up with is looked at from both points of view, along with other issues such as whether she should have become a vampire, the faithfulness of the films to the books and which character readers would most like to be. Full review...
Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
Meet Aura. She was one of the first people in the world to be born after The Shift, beyond which every newborn was opened to the world of the ghosts, hearing and seeing them whether they liked to or not. Her boyfriend, Logan, who she wants to make love to for the first time on the night of his seventeenth birthday, suddenly dies first instead - making him one of the many ghosts Aura might be able to help. But is something of greater help buried in a school project, touching on standing stone circles, the solstices, the mysteries of her own family's past - and a new young man in her life? Full review...
Candor by Pam Bachorz
The children of Candor know how to behave and the children of Candor stick to those rules:
The great are never late.
Healthy breakfasts make for smart minds.
Academics are the key to success.
Always be courteous.
In Candor, everyone is happy. There is no crime. There are no tantrums. There is just respect and cooperation. It is a harmonious place that people from the outside desperately want to relocate to. Full review...
comin 2 gt u by Simon Packham
Sam Tennant is reasonably happy at school, generally gets on alright with people, and doesn't have much to worry about – until he's murdered in the first chapter of this novel. Oh, not really murdered – his character in a game he plays online is killed. But then, the two who kill him refer to him by his real name instead of his computer persona, and he realises that virtual life has just become very nasty indeed. Full review...
Jealousy (Strange Angels) by Lili St Crow
Dru Anderson has finally arrived at the Schola Prima – the main school for the training of wulfen and djamphir. She's supposed to be safe here. Supposed to be. Dru doesn't find life any easier. There's someone who wants her dead, and Dru has to work out who, and who else is loyal to them. Because loyalty is everything in the Order. Full review...
The Edge of Nowhere by John E Smelcer
Could you survive in the wilds of Alaska if you were washed overboard from a fishing boat during a storm and somehow, amazingly, managed to make it to dry land? This is the challenge facing Seth and his loyal dog, Tucker. They are out on Seth's father's fishing boat during a terrible storm and neither Seth's dad or his friend realise that the boy and dog have been washed overboard until they reach home and are found to be missing from the boat. A search party is sent out, but Seth is assumed drowned. Luckily, Seth and his dog manage to get to one of the tiny islands that run along the coast of Alaska, and after realising that no one is coming to help them they slowly make their way hundreds of miles over many months. Will they starve to death, or freeze, or be eaten by bears before they manage to make it home? Full review...
The Blackhope Enigma by Teresa Flavin
14-year old Sunni finds it bad enough that when she's trying to do some research on a famous Fausto Corvo painting in Blackhope Tower's Mariner's Chamber, she gets lumbered with her annoying stepbrother to look after. Add to that the presence of her classmate Blaise, a boy who's better at art than she is, and her day is looking depressing – and that's before Dean mysteriously vanishing when walking around the chamber's labyrinth. Full review...
Finding Sky by Joss Stirling
Sky is upset when her adopted parents decide to move her away from all her friends in London to a small town in America, but tries to make the best of it. She quickly makes some good friends, but one particular guy is strangely attractive, even though he doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with her. Their paths will cross, however, and they'll be thrown together by fate. Full review...
Fade (Wake Trilogy) by Lisa McMann
Janie's story continues. Still unable to control her abilities as a dream catcher, her latest case is proving difficult. Somebody is preying on the students at Fieldridge and the violent and haunting nightmares that Janie has no choice but to watch yield few answers. Being forced to keep her relationship with Cabel secret is putting a serious strain on the pair, and when Janie learns of the terrible consequences of her powers, she wonders if Cabe is just one more of the many sacrifices she'll have to make. Full review...
Tall Story by Candy Gourlay
Andi is a young teenager in the UK. She's not very tall, but she is brilliant at basketball. And she has finally been chosen to play for her school team.
Bernardo is an extremely tall teenager in the Philippines. He lives with his aunt and uncle, and keeps on growing. He is surrounded by superstition, since his name is the same as that of a legendary giant who supposedly protected his village during a major earthquake. Oddly enough, there have not been any earthquakes for some years... ever since Bernardo had his first dramatic growth spurt. Full review...
Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson
Claire was having the perfect sixteenth birthday. Okay, so most of the people probably only turned up for her swimming pool, her hands and ears were itching like crazy and everyone had to leave early because of the werewolf sighting in the forest nearby. But all Claire cared about was Matthew Engle, talking to her and flirting with her and promising to call her later. Then her mother takes her into the woods and reveals a dark and dangerous secret – she and Claire are werewolves. Everything Claire thought she knew about werewolves is wrong, but how can she continue to see Matthew, whose father is leading the hunt for them? Full review...
Withering Tights by Louise Rennison
After killing off Georgia Nicolson in a blaze of hedonism and vampires, it's time for Louise Rennison to start a new series, with a new teenage girl's first-person narrative. This time it's one Tallulah Casey, a lanky girl worried about her knees and underdeveloped cleavage, and off to stay at a posh drama performance workshop centre in the wilds of Yorkshire. Full review...
