Category: NetGalley

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The Runestone Saga: Children of Ragnarok by Cinda Williams Chima

The midlands is home to humans, stuck between the worlds of gods and demons. Odin gave much to learn the future and spent his life trying to avoid it. But the end of his world came anyway. Now the midlands is a barbaric place with very little magic and even less hope for the future.

Reggin Eiklund is a thrall, or slave, to Asger Elder, a demon stranded from the fiery world of Muspelheim. She works as a singer, healer, and seer while Asger travels nearby, always watching. He abuses her and draws out her magic to strengthen his own. She is offered a chance to escape to the mysterious Temple at the Grove, promised safety and a chance to learn about the magic she didn’t realize she had.

Eiric Halvosen is an angry young viking, falsely convicted of murdering his mother and step-father. A rich jarl offers to pay the blood fee if Eiric takes on the job of locating the Temple. As he prepares to leave, his half-sister demands to go with him across the sea, along with an untested stranger willing to learn to sail in return for adventure. And it appears that only with her help will Eiric be able to locate the hidden island where the Temple is located.

This is the first in a series, so much of the book is spent worldbuilding. It is a complicated world, especially for those less familiar with Norse Mythology. (Even the movies about Thor barely touch on the information crammed into this book.) It is slow going. Very slow. As a fan of Chima, I pushed on but I don’t know if my high school students will do the same. The story could be tighter and would appeal to many more readers. It is a slog, even for fans of Norse mythology – and Cinda Williams Chima.

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Punching the Air

by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Cover of Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi

Dead to the world 
but somewhere in our souls 
we are both scratching at the walls 
yelling to the sky 
punching the air 
to let everyone and everything know 
that we are in here 
still alive

Amal is sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. Not that anyone is listening to him. He’s black and the victim is white. And in a coma. No one else can clear his name. Now he is in prison and angry. 

On a scale of one to ten
how angry are you?

Eleven, I say

Amal is a reader, an artist, and a poet. He wants to join a poetry class but is too broken to care. The white prisoners are making his life a hell. He doesn’t want to join a black gang. It is only when his crush sends him a letter out of the blue that he grabs onto a tiny bit of hope and of life.

Zoboi make us feel Amal, inside and out. Past, present, and future. Her writing is phenomenal. Give this book to everyone.

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10 Blind Dates

by Ashley Elston

Sophie is spending her winter vacation with her grandparents. She had been hoping to spend it with her boyfriend – but he broke up with her. Now her extended family is determined to show off their matchmaking skills
by running a dating tournament. Ten relatives get to set her up on blind dates and, just like an office pool, they bet on how long the date is, whether or not she had fun, and more. Sophie reluctantly agrees to the deal and has a holiday unlike any before.

A great beach-read with likeable characters, relatable incidents, and cringe-worthy relatives. Sophie comes to realize how special her family is and at the same time, finds herself. Highly recommended purchase. Will appeal to readers of Han, Fitzgerald, and Menon.

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Kind of a Big Deal

by Shannon Hale

Josie was a big deal in high school. A beautiful singer, she always had the lead role and the adoration of the teacher-director in the school plays. He adored her acting so much, he convinced her to head to Broadway to test her luck. So she quit school, packed her bags, and found out that making it on Broadway is much more difficult than she imagined. Now she is in Montana as a nanny for a little girl and spending her time with her nose in a book.

Literally. Because when she opens a book, she actually becomes one of the characters in the book and gets swept up in the action. She starts to look forward to these out-of-reality moments and living her dreams. She meets two people in the books and they become more friends than the ones she is ignoring in real life. And it is getting harder to return to the real world.

While I’m a fan of Shannon Hale, I am not a fan of this book. It felt chaotic and disorganized. This is particularly true of the relationship with her boyfriend. Are they together? Is he losing interest? Does she really care? What about the people in her life now? Pretty much a shrug to me.

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Skyhunter

by Marie Lu

The NetGalley download for this book was just a few chapters. Thank goodness I started it a few days before publication because I didn’t want to put it down.

Talin is a refugee who has been given the chance to fight as a Striker, the elite warriors of her adopted country. When her partner dies in an ambush, she is given a new one. This partner is an escaped soldier from Karensa, the encroaching kingdom her country is fighting. She is determining whether or not to trust him when they are thrust into a fight and he reveals that he is more than meets the eye. And then they inexplicably bond telepathically.

The characters and their friendships is the strongest attraction of the book. It is easy to see that they care enough for each other that they will take on unwinnable odds against them. The world building is great but the distances and areas seem much smaller until they are actually in them. Once she is running towards something she sees and then is on a horse and it still takes her awhile to get there.

Kids will love this action-packed fantasy, especially fans of Marie Lu’s earlier books.

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Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova

King Ferdinand of Puerto Leones has consolidated power over all neighboring countries until almost all are bowing to his might. Except the rebels from the abolished kingdom of Memoria; those who wield forbidden magic. Ren is part of the rebels in the Lynx Unit under the command of Dez, her lover and defender. Her magic is the kind that allows her to take away memories; she spent her early days as a pawn for King Ferdinand turning rebels into husks of themselves with no memory or will of their own. Though she escaped she cannot shake her past.

When Dez is captured by the cruel Bloodied Prince Castian, heir to the crown, Ren infiltrates the castle to finish his task of locating the powerful mind-altering weapon about to be unleashed on them all. She falls back into her former life feigning illness to avoid the inevitable task of clearing the minds of innocent victims while she desperately tries to find the weapon. While searching for clues, she finds support in the most unexpected places and preconceived judgements shattered.

Plenty of twists make this book hard to put down. The characters are multi-dimensional with various motivations and personalities. This epic political fantasy will appeal to fans of Sarah Maas, Marie Rutkoski, and Renee Ahdieh. Looking forward to the sequel.

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Dragon Hoops by Gene Yang

“I’m a story kind of guy”

Gene has writer’s block. He can’t think of anything to write about; nothing is inspiring. And then he overhears chatter about the school basketball team and its chance at competing in the state competition. Gene has no interest in basketball but decides to learn. He works it out with the coach to follow the team on their journey. As the season goes on he becomes much more involved with the boys than he ever expected.

Each chapter looks at a different player and showcases the diversity of the team. Not every black kid has the same backstory, skills, or ambition or are even African-American. Gene shows each boy with all his warts and his glories. He also intertwines his reluctance to feature the disgraced former coach until he realizes that the man deserves to have his story told.

This graphic novel is autobiographical and shines a light on Yang’s creative process as well as his family. The tale is followed by an Epilogue to set facts straight from creative license. His fans, sports-oriented readers, and emerging writers will enjoy the book.

I waited too long to write this review and so did not have access to the preview copy for more details to include. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.

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The Iron Will of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee

Genie Lo is finding that being the Divine Guardian of the Kingdom of California is more work than expected, especially since she doesn’t even want the job. So is being the captain of the volleyball team, making time for her best friend Yunie, and spending time with her boyfriend, Quentin, the Monkey King. Genie is overwhelmed and when her mother gets sick, she reaches the end of her rope. She doesn’t know who she is, what she wants, or where she wants to go. 

She goes on a previously planned weekend trip to Yunie’s cousin at a local university. It is not at all what she expected.

If I had to say what the biggest difference was between the high school scene and college, it would have been the amount of facial hair on the guys. I mean, this was like a lumberjack meetup being held on a crab fishing boat.

And…

By the time I reached the end of the hall I was fairly convinced that the only way college students could communicate was by taking turns explaining reality to each other.

Genie leaves the party and is outside when Ao Guang, Guardian of the Eastern Sea shows up in the swimming pool next to the dorm. Now it appears that she has no other options but to travel interdimensionally to another plane and face the invisible monster, Yin Mo who has just defeated the great general and his army. On the way, she has to travel with a former enemy and to prove that her friend, the goddess Guanyin is worthy to take the place of the Jade King and rule the Divine Heaven.

This sequel has some great lines and scene-stealing minor characters. Genie and Quentin are going through some relationship adjustments as they mature. Genie is growing as a person and realizing that there is not one path and that her limits might be self-imposed. Recommended for readers who enjoy humor with their fractured-mythology stories.

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The Queen’s Assassin

By Melissa de la Cruz

Book cover

Caledon’s father swore a blood oath to the queen of Renovia and it has passed to him. It will continue through his line until the oath is completed. The queen’s daughter, Lilac, has been raised by retired soldiers in a rural village and has taken the name Shadow. She has some magic but is not highly trained; she also has a crush on Caledon. When he is thrown into the worst dungeon, she makes plans to rescue him and tag along on his real mission. Together they travel to the neighboring kingdom, Montrice, to find those who are plotting war against Renovia.

The world-building is incomplete as this is the first of a series. Plenty of questions are left open, particularly the queen’s motives. Definitely for a less sophisticated reader (middle school) as it is fairly predictable. There is high-class flirting, and most likely off-page sex (a young reader wouldn’t catch it) and no swearing.

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Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass

By Mariko Tamaki, Illustrated by Steve Pugh

Book Cover
Harley Quinn Breaking Glass

Teen Harley Quinn arrives at her grandmother’s apartment only to find out that grandma has died. The apartment manager, Mama, takes her on and envelops her into his lovely group of drag queens (and surrogate moms). She enrolls in the local high school, makes friends with a passionate activist, Ivy, and enemies with the local little-rich-boy, John Kane. Harley soon finds her friends at odds with the wealthy Kanes who are destroying the neighborhood by tearing down homes, including Harley’s, and building towers.  Harley has a history of violence and retribution, is easily agitated, and has not yet figured out angels from devils. She gets roped by with the enigmatic Joker not realizing he is one of the devils her mother warned her about and manages to get herself in so much trouble that she is forced underground.

As I am not familiar with the Batman universe, I did not know that “historically” Harlequin was the Joker’s girlfriend until they had a falling out. In this rendition of the story, Harley was never friends with the Joker and quickly becomes his enemy. She is a complicated character with a weird vocabulary (booger is often repeated) and a firm sense of loyalty and willingness to fight for what she perceives as right. The title will appeal to younger teens as well as adult graphic novel readers and Gotham fans.

Preview copy provided by NetGalley