'Superpowers' by David J. Schwartz

ISBN: 0307394409
Format: Paperback, 384pp
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Pub. Date: June 2008
Price: $14.95

(Note: this cover is the UK one. I just like it better)

The big question with this one is: Do you have to be a comics fan to get it? Easy answer: No you don’t. But it helps. Reading this novel you can tell the author is a huge fan. Big names like The Hulk, Spider Man, and Batman are dropped pretty early on and a conversation with a comic book store clerk confirms the fandom. But even if you aren’t into the graphic side of life there’s a good chance you’ll find something to like about David J. Schwartz's Superpowers.

“It all started with a party, which is damn convenient if you ask me, and if this weren’t a true story I wouldn’t expect you to believe it.” Marcus Hatch, an ex-reporter for his college paper with a bent toward conspiracy theories, writes in his introduction. He’s the one who recounts the tale of five collage students who suddenly find life holds more than they thought it could. In Wisconsin, on a street called Mifflin, a group of average collage kids get together to celebrate the end of term. The five settle into their home brewed beers never expecting that they will wake up the next morning and everything will have changed.

All five wake up with a superpower. Jack, a farm kid going to school full time and working, brewed the beer and wakes up with speed. Charlie, who has a crush on his neighbor Caroline and always seems to be worrying about something, wakes up with the power of telepathy. Caroline, the flirt that has caught Charlie’s attention, can now fly. Harriet, dedicated to the school paper and her love of music, can now turn invisible at will. Last but not least is Mary Beth who wakes up with super strength, a power that fits her best because out the whole group she could use it the most.

What these five discover is that having superpowers isn’t all fun and games. Each character has hardships and obstacles that they must face and overcome before they can grow and truly understand themselves and the gift they’ve been given. They have to decide if they should keep this to themselves or do some good with it by sharing with the world.

Superpowers will definitely hook you if you’re a 15 and up guy. There’s drinking and some sexual situations so this isn’t a book I’d pass off to anyone younger. And the writing is styled to hit the older market for young adults and beyond. It’s bittersweet, a lesson buried in there if you want to look about morality and responsibility, and if not the story is entertaining and unusual.

We’ve all heard the old adage ‘write what you know’ and to an extent Schwartz has done that. Sure he might not have the superpowers (or does he?) but he lived on Mifflin Street (where the characters live) and spent a lot of time in the area he based his novel around. You can feel that while reading, that this is a real place and real time and that maybe, just maybe, this could really happen.

'A Gathering of Gargoyles' by Meredith Ann Pierce

ISBN: 0316067253
Format: Paperback, 304pp
Publisher: Little Brown Bks Young Readers
Pub. Date: October 2007
Price: $7.99

A Gathering of Gargoyles was first published in 1984 and is the second book in Meredith Anne Pierce’s Darkangel Trilogy. This series just gets better as it goes along and I have to admit that I enjoyed the second book more than the first.

A Gathering of Gargoyles picks up where The Darkangel left off. Aeriel has broken the spell that Irrylath was under and he is no longer a Darkangel. However the White Witch isn’t giving up on Irrylath that easily and she haunts his dreams, helping to create the distance that separates the two. Though they were married and Aeriel loves him dearly, Irrylath wants nothing to do with her.

When Aeriel learns that her part of the battle against the White Witch has not ended, and realizing that Irrylath does not share her feelings, she leaves the haven of Isternes and travels out into the wide world. Traveling across a sea made of dust she sees many strange wonders; dust whales and shrimp, veins of clear blue colored sand, and eventually islands inhabited by people the likes of which she has never before seen.

Aeriel has learned from the Darkangel’s brides, who have passed on and become stars, that the White Witch is still searching for a way to gain control of the world. Her sons, the vampires known as the Darkangels, still roam the world spreading sickness and death. Aeriel must find the guardians of the world, awaken them and gather them to fight the White Witch before it is too late.

The guardians now are few and far between thanks to the Darkangels; they have been chased off or killed, with only their memories left in the minds of the people. But Aeriel is determined to find them. When the White Witch learns that Aeriel is once again moving out in the world she sends her minions after the girl.

In her adventures Aeriel crosses paths with all kinds of creatures and people. A light house keeper that is more than what he seems, thieves and highwaymen, a nameless man, and the gargoyles that she had come to love and eventually released from the Darkangel’s tower fortress. They will all help or hinder Aeriel in her journey, lighten her load or throw burdens on her back as she does everything she can so save the world she knows.

A Gathering of Gargoyles will not disappoint readers and will only leave you waiting breathlessly for the third and final book, The Pearl of the Soul of the World which will be out in February of 2008. Of course like I’ve said before if you can’t wait for the new covers there is always your local used bookstore. But good luck finding a copy, these are the kinds of books that once bought you never give up.

'Erec Rex: The Dragon Eye' by Kaza Kingsley

ISBN: 0978655567
Format: Hardcover, 360pp
Publisher: Firelight Press, Inc.
Price: $17.99

In the world of young adult fiction there are a lot of reading choices you could make. There is something for everyone out there and one of the books we should all be reading is Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye, Kaza Kingsley’s first novel in a new series about an adventurous 12 year old with a glass eye and magical cloudy visions.

Erec Rex is not your average kid, having grown up in a home where slightly odd household items are the norm. Such as an alarm clock that will jump on you if you don’t wake up. But waking up one morning to find a strange babysitter watching over him and his several brothers and sisters and no idea where his mom is doesn’t sit well. When Erec has one of his cloudy visions, a vision that lets him know she could be in trouble, he rushes out to her rescue.

Erec’s vision leads him through a magical door in the sidewalk and down into another world. Bethany, a girl who helped Erec find the door in the first place, goes with him and soon the two are fast friends. Underneath New York a whole different city is bustling and moving along. Strange shops selling silver garments line the street, men and women fly overhead, and doors keep popping in and out of existence.

Unsure of what to do or where to go, Erec and Bethany follow the crowd and end up entering a contest to be the next kings and queens of this strange magical country. Erec discovers where his mom has disappeared to but is unable to help her right away. But since Erec and Bethany are both entered in the contest they decide they might as well stay and try to win. But one bad thing after another is slowing the contests down and it’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt.

There are a ton of mysteries to solve along the way. Who is Erec Rex really? Why was his mom kidnapped and taken to this strange world? Who is behind the mischief in the contests? What do they want?

Great characters people this story and the small touches like a dancing coat rack or a pair of glasses that let you see the person you miss most are icing on the cake. Not to mention the magical remote controls — who wouldn’t want one of those? Also the vivid descriptions of the world are fantastic. Your imagination is given free rein to enjoy all the magical, wacky, wonderful creatures, people, and devices that roam through Ms. Kingsley’s story.

The Dragon’s Eye is a great introduction to a whole new world. This would be a good book to curl up with your little one and read to them or read first yourself and pass it on. The action is constant and just keeps you turning pages as you wonder what could happen next. Erec’s adventures continue with Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness, and I can’t wait to get started.

'Betwixt' by Tara Bray Smith

ISBN: 031606033X
Format: Hardcover, 496pp
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Pub. Date: October 2007
Price: $17.99

In Betwixt, Tara Bray Smith’s young adult debut, the author carefully sets the scene, meticulously building and placing each character in their human environment. But normal teenage things such as parties, parents, and relationships take on new meanings when you realize that these three normal-seeming teenagers are anything but.

Morgan is the perfect girl. Perfect grades and perfect face but underneath the gloss she is cruel and cold-hearted. As you get to know her, as facets of her life are revealed, you realize that she could go either way. The light and the dark are both offering her an option. But Morgan is only out to get as much for herself as possible and in the end she’ll chose the highest bidder.

Nix is something special. Since his childhood he has been able to see a light around a person before they were about to die; depending on the intensity of the light he could tell how long they had left. Because of this he has spent a large portion of his life running from those he cared about. Along the way he has picked up a drug habit to keep the lights at bay and to try to be as normal as possible.

Ondine is a girl that seems to have it all. Not perfect like Morgan, who just happens to be intensely jealous of her, but with her dark skin and violet eyes she is a girl that just seems to have something extraordinary about her. When her parents move away for a year, leaving her in her hometown of Portland to finish out her senior year, Ondine throws a party to end all parties.

There the three that have so little in common come together. What they’ve been feeling for so long, the changes in their bodies and minds, is hinted at. A mysterious boy by the name of Moth tells the three to come to a huge rave, The Ring of Fire, where they will learn the truth about themselves. Nix, who has been running for so long, is told to bring Ondine who is easily lost; while Morgan, headstrong and defiant, finds her own way there.

But the Ring of Fire isn’t what any of them expect. The truths that they learn, the things about themselves that they come to realize are hard for them to swallow. Ondine flat out denies that she could be something other than human. But for Nix, who has been plagued for so long by the rings of light, is relieved that there is an explanation and that maybe, finally he can stop running. Morgan is the only member of the small group to embrace the idea wholeheartedly.

Betwixt is the first in a series, as the author says “The story has just started.” It starts a little slow but builds speed until you are hurtling toward the shocking end and I’m curious to see where Smith will take us next. The idea is solid; she introduces some new ideas and weaves in the old stand bys to create a story that leaves you asking questions. Betwixt is basically a new spin on the classic fairy tales involving changelings and fairies with all the modern trappings of drugs, sex, and rock‘n’roll.

'The Darkangel' by Meredith Ann Pierce

ISBN: 0316067237
Format: Paperback, 256pp
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Price: $7.99

First published in 1982 The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce is the first in the Darkangel trilogy. The series is being reissued by Little, Brown & Company with gorgeous new covers. I have to admit that the cover is what first caught my eye. But I was lucky that it wasn’t just another pretty face, what I found within the pages is a solid young adult fantasy worth reading more than once.

The Darkangel, once a mortal and not quite a vampire, must have 14 brides before he can come into his full power and immortality. He keeps his wives in his cold castle, wraiths without their souls, which he wears in lead vials around his neck. When the Darkangel steals away Eoduin, Aeriel, her slave and friend, vows to avenge her mistress and waits for the Darkangel to return.

But when the Darkangel comes back to claim Aeriel, she finds that he is too beautiful for her to kill. At first she thinks she too will become one of his brides but he scoffs at the idea, claiming that she is too ugly. Instead he has brought her to his castle as a servant; she is to weave the clothes for his brides and when he chooses his 14th and final bride it will be Aeriel that weaves the bridal gown.

Below the castle, in deep caves, lives a little man by the name of Talb. A magician of sorts, he helps Aeriel survive her first few months there, providing her with food and company when the voices of the wraith brides become too much. Aeriel also makes friends with the Darkangel’s gargoyles, bringing them food and coming to love them. She even becomes close to the Darkangel, sharing stories with him and coming to care for him, although she does not realize it at first.

While the Darkangel is cruel and seems heartless, Aeriel still sees some good in him. But when she realizes that with the Darkangel’s final bride he will not only come into his full power but that he will join others of his kind to take over the world, she takes action. With guidance from Talb, Aeriel escapes the Darkangel and goes on a quest to find an object that will help her save his withered soul.

The Darkangel is not the vampire story you might expect. Written years before a revolution was led by authors everywhere towards bodice-ripping novels that featured blood-sucking hunks, Pierce crafted an original fantasy with a vampire at its heart. More adventure and self-discovery than romance, this is a story of Aerial and her growth. Nevertheless the idea of romance is there; the pale beautiful face, the night black wings, the other worldly power, all elements that have followed the vampire into more modern settings.

But leave whatever vampire expectations you have behind you. The Darkangel is solid, finely wrought fantasy with hints of science fiction thrown in. The second book, A Gathering of Gargoyles, was released with its new cover this month with the third and final volume, The Pearl of the Soul of the World, hitting stores in February 2008. If you can’t wait that long, of course there is always local used bookstores and the used section on Amazon. But I’ve always been a sucker for a pretty cover, so I think I’ll just wait it out.

'Seeing Redd' by Frank Beddor

ISBN: 0803731558
Format: Hardcover, 384pp
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Price: $17.99

All the characters from The Looking Glass Wars are back in Frank Beddor's sequel, Seeing Redd. When we last saw Alyss, Dodge, Hatter, Molly and everyone else, they were all settling in happily to a Wonderland with out the tyranny of Redd, who escaped through the Heart Crystal with her deadly assassin, The Cat.

But all is not well in Wonderland when we return. Even with Redd out of the picture, Alyss has enemies. There will always be a few who prefer Black Imagination over White and those few are making trouble for Alyss. Not to mention King Arch of the Borderlands, who with his masculine superiority, believes that no woman, least of all Alyss, is fit to rule a kingdom.

After a mysterious explosion in the Crystal Continuum, Wonderland's form of transportation, Alyss is informed by King Arch that her bodyguard, Molly, has been taken hostage. King Arch claims to be only an intermediary for the real criminals, but Alyss suspects the truth. Arch explains that Hatter Madigan is to come out and negotiate Molly's release. Despite Alyss' direct order that he is to stay in Wonderland, Hatter makes his way into Borderland intent on freeing Molly.

Meanwhile, Redd and The Cat have made it to Earth through the Heart Crystal where Redd gathers an army made of ex-Wonderland citizens and those few Earthlings that have powerful Black Imagination. There she picks up a few shudder-worthy characters including Alistaere, a mad doctor who performs autopsies on people before they die, Siren, a women who can cripple people with the force of her voice, Sacrenoir, a man able to raise flesh eating skeletons, and Vollrath, a member of the tutor species that took a dark turn. With these and many others in tow Redd makes her way back to Wonderland to reclaim the throne from Alyss.

With all this going on around her, Alyss is desperate to make time for Dodge. Most of the hate and bitterness that colored Dodge's life before is gone and Alyss is determined to protect him from the destructive nature of his emotions. Their romance has blossomed and they are just as in love with each other as they were when they were young. But as determined as Alyss is to protect Dodge, he is just as determined to have his revenge on The Cat for killing his father.

With enemies pouring in from all directions at once Alyss must make a difficult decision, Hatter Madigan must deal with his personal life, Dodge must learn to conquer his emotions, and all Redd wants to do is take over the kingdom. Since this is the second in a trilogy there is a bit of a cliffhanger ending. A sort-of tie is called in the final battle and the fight postponed for a later date. What does the future hold for our favorite and not-so-favorite characters? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Seeing Redd moves just as quickly as The Looking Glass Wars. Constant action and intrigue move the reader forward at a break-neck pace. It is just as bloody and gruesome as the first, if not more so. The fight for Wonderland continues, the game hasn't changed, and the players are all more determined than ever to come out on top.

'The Looking Glass Wars' by Frank Beddor

ISBN: 0803731531
Format: Hardcover, 384pp
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Price: $17.99

The Looking Glass Wars is a twist on Lewis Carroll's classic stories Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. With whimsical elements and a boost of modern technology, and playing on the idea that Wonderland is a real place, the author introduces us to Alyss Heart.

Alyss is the future Queen of Wonderland and is celebrating her seventh birthday when her evil aunt Redd attacks the Wonderland palace. The fight is bloody and soon Redd is in control of the kingdom.

With her mother's bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, Alyss escapes into the Pool of Tears, which takes her to 18th century London. Along the way Alyss and Hatter are separated. Alyss lives on the streets with a group of urchins, then in an orphanage, before finally finding a home with the very proper Liddells.

Along the way Alyss must come to terms with the idea that maybe she never was a princess; maybe Wonderland is a place she dreamed up after all.Alyss grows up and attracts the attention of Prince Leopold, whom she agrees to marry, but on the day of the wedding Queen Redd sends her deadly assassin, The Cat, through the Pool of Tears and into Alyss's new world.

Alyss is saved in the nick of time by her Wonderland childhood love Dodge Anders, and whisked back to Wonderland, only to find it changed under Redd's tyrannical rule. Alyss slips easily back into being a part of this magical world, something she tried so hard to deny in Britain, and is soon leading a band of rebels against the evil queen.

The Looking Glass Wars moves quickly, with almost constant action. From Wonderland to 18th century Britain Alyss faces dangers and one complicated situation after another. It's a hard book to put down, as something new is always happening, and it's original even with its basis in the classic story.

Alyss's adventures in Wonderland continue with Seeing Redd, the second in the series, which just hit shelves.

'Eclipse' by Stephenie Meyer

ISBN: 0316160202
Format: Hardcover, 629pp
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Price: $18.99

I remember the first time I saw a copy of Twilight at the bookstore. I picked it up and read the jacket but set it down. I ended up walking to the counter with some other book that had caught my eye. But I got home and I realized that I had made a mistake; I should have bought Twilight. It haunted me, there is no other way to describe the feeling and I went to sleep that night thinking about it. The next day I went out and bought a copy.

I didn’t read it right away. It sat on my bedside, waiting. I knew that as soon as I cracked the spine I would not be able to put it down until I had finished. And I was right. Once I finally did pick it up I couldn’t put it down. I was glued to the story of a high school girl, Bella, falling in love with a vampire, Edward. It sounds so simple, diluted into one line like that - but it wasn’t.

The story continued with New Moon, and Stephenie Meyer introduced a werewolf, Jacob -- a childhood friend of Bella‘s — into the equation. The simple romance of before had been replaced with something much darker. Edward was absent for most of the book and whereas before Stephenie Meyer had shown us a sweet first love she now showed us the first broken heart. The action from before was there. Bella was still facing a danger from Twilight in the form of a vindictive vampire by the name of Victoria, a threat that follows her into Eclipse.

Which picks up with the final months before Bella’s high school graduation. We are reminded of Carlisle’s promise to turn Bella into a vampire after the big event. Bella does not only want this transformation in order to stay with Edward forever, but must become a vampire because if she isn't Bella faces death at the hands of the Volturi, the ruling group of vampires from Italy. Edward of course is still against her changing; desperate for her to have as normal a human life as possible, he promises to protect her at whatever cost.

Bella also finally forgives Jacob for telling her dad about her motorcycle, something he did in New Moon. She tries to bring together Edward and Jacob — mortal enemies and the two most important people in her life — and in the end they form a sort of truce. Bella gets to spend time down in La Push with Jacob and the rest of the pack. But Jacob isn’t willing just to be Bella’s friend and chooses to fight to make her realize that deep down she loves him just as much as he loves her.

Meanwhile, in Seattle there has been a rash of unexplainable murders that soon the Cullen family links with vampire activity. As the murder toll goes higher, the Volturi are more likely to make the trip from Italy to investigate - and while they are there check up on Bella as well. But the situation suddenly changes when Bella realizes that the activity in Seattle is linked to her.

In the end Bella must make choices about who she is and who she loves, and with what sacrifices can she make and still live with herself. The tension flows through the book and in the end bursts with both a physical and emotional battle.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Eclipse is the background of the Cullen family. We find out about both Rosalie’s and Jasper’s pasts. The history that formed them and their reactions towards Bella become clear and the characters much more solid because of this knowledge. I think that is part of the appeal of these books - the fact that you do become so wrapped up in the characters, that they touch places deep inside yourself. It isn’t just Bella and Edward that capture your attention but Charlie, Bella’s dad, Jacob, Alice, and the rest.

Stephenie Meyer is so good at painting the emotional image. Not only are you living Bella’s heartbreak - but your own, too. So good at putting into words the fuzzy over powering feeling of that first heartbreak, and of the second, that you are left breathless in the wake of its passing. It is gripping fiction, and Meyer is much more than just a young adult author; she draws from her reader such an emotional reaction, writes so fluidly and propels the reader forward so effortlessly, she truly is a great author for any age range.

I hit a wide array of emotions while reading Eclipse and once I closed the book I felt emotionally exhausted. When you pick up Twilight, New Moon — and now Eclipse — you must be prepared for the emotional rollercoaster ride of not only being a teenager but a person, with all the thrilling highs and depressing lows that fill everyday life. So, full of trepidation, I’m waiting for the next book and wondering what the future holds for Bella and Edward.

'Worldweavers: Gift of the Unmage' by Alma Alexander

ISBN: 0060839554
Format: Hardcover, 389pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Price: $16.99

In a world where magic is commonplace a double seventh is born. The child of two seventh children, Galathea Winthrop, Thea for short, is expected to be something extraordinary. But after years spent at a magical school and years of failed lessons her parents are about ready to give up. Her father is willing to try one last experiment and decides to send Thea back in time to when magic was pure and connected to the earth.

In some unnamed distant past Thea is sent to study with Cheveyo, an American Indian Mage living in what will become New Mexico. Here the most important lessons Thea learns are the ability to not whine and to have patience; two very important things for her character as up until that point she whines quite bit. But through growth comes knowledge and Thea learns she might not be as hopeless as she feared.

Once she returns from not only a magical journey but a spiritual one as well, Thea must face the fact that in her original world she is still without magic. She is sent to the Wandless Academy, a school for kids who either can’t do magic or can’t be around it for various reasons. Here for the first time, outside the sun-drenched mesas of Cheveyo’s world, Thea feels like she belongs. She quickly makes friends; Magpie, Ben, Terry, and Tess.

The friends are never really fleshed out. Magpie, Thea’s roommate, has a fondness for hurt animals and is always smuggling some poor creature into their shared dorm room. Ben is a gangly red haired boy who sneezes when he smells magic. Terry is a computer genius who can’t speak a word that deals with magic because he has an allergic reaction to it and his sister Tess can’t eat anything that was prepared with magic for the same reason. This is about all the information you get about them and I’m hoping in the next two books you learn more.

Gift of the Unmage is divided between Thea’s journey into the past and her time spent at the Wandless Academy. The trials and tribulations of the first half of the book are only loosely connected to the second half. After Thea discovers she is not a ‘magidim’, her world's term for someone who is not proficient at magic, she then discovers that there is a nameless shapeless threat preying on magic users called Nothing. The problem with this is that we don’t hear about the Nothing until almost half the book is over and suddenly it becomes the main focus. I caught myself wondering if maybe I’d skipped some pages along the way.

Gift of the Unmage is the first in a trilogy. The second book has a working title of Spellspam and is in the process of being edited while the third, no title as of yet, is in the process of being written. There are some great things about Gift of the Unmage; likable characters, an interesting world, and a good grounding in mythology. The use of American Indian mythology particularly was interesting. In the end though this feels as if it’s a set up for bigger and better things. I'm looking forward to reading what comes next.

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' by J.K. Rowling

ISBN: 0545010225
Format: Hardcover, 759pp
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Price:$34.99


Having just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I am to a certain extent at a loss for words. Relief flooded me when I turned the last page and the future of some of my favorite characters had been decided.

I can sum up this book in one word and that word is: WOW.

I had not expected the high body count, when in all reality I should have. Thinking only of J.K. Rowling’s warning that two of her main characters would die I gave no thought to the supporting characters that I had come to love or loathe as well. Looking back now I realize how foolish that was. But when all is said and done I love the book still and the Harry Potter series will be one I read time and again.

With this final chapter I believe that J.K. Rowling has cemented her books as modern classics. These books will sit on shelves for years to come and be recommended by people the world over. I can imagine future generations asking each other ‘Have you read Harry Potter? You haven’t? But you HAVE to!’ Just as I have asked my friends if they had read the Oz series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Lord of the Rings.

Within the first few chapters you are hit, and hit hard, by the almost constant action. Harry is finally leaving the Dursley’s home for the last time; with his seventeenth birthday looming the protection given to an underage wizard is about to be broken. Voldemort is ready in the wings to take advantage of this fact along with his bloodthirsty Death Eaters whose ranks have swollen.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione spend the majority of the book together and secluded from their friends and family. The skills that they had sharpened in the previous six books come into play as each character is forced to use their strengths to keep the weaknesses of the others from destroying them.

With many twists along the way these three search desperately for the horcruxes that will be Voldemort’s downfall. Along the way they learn about the Deathly Hallows, mysterious objects that soon Harry is obsessed with. Stopped or hindered at almost every turn the three survive grievous blows as loyalties are decided.

There are cameo appearances that surprised and delighted me. Lee Jordan, for example, pops up as an underground radio host and I could not help but smile as I remembered the Qudditch games that seemed so dire at the time but looking back seem so lighthearted. And who could forget Professor Umbridge? Well, she gets hers and I don’t think I have ever been so pleased.

In these final pages there is great happiness and great sorrow. Emotions run high as you turn pages and travel from the Ministry of Magic to Gringotts and finally to Hogwarts. It is fitting that it would end where it all started so many years before with the orphan Tom Riddle. Along the way, I can promise, you will need tissue.

For those of you still wondering - yes, there is closure here. Most of the characters' futures were defined or hinted at. But there are a handful that get left to your imagination. While they survived the book I still find myself wondering what happened to them after the final battle. But maybe it is better this way. Maybe this gives us the opportunity as fans to sit together in the future discussing the finer details just as we have discussed who would live and who would die. I’m looking forward to those discussions.

'Faeries of Dreamdark - Blackbringer' by Laini Taylor

ISBN: 0399246304
Format: Hardcover, 368pp
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Price: $17.99

I have to first tell you how much I love this book. Richly detailed and with characters that are simply fascinating, I was enthralled from the first page on. It has been a long time since I have found a fantasy that I love everything about. Laini Taylor's Blackbringer is one of the few.

Never Nigh is the greatest city of the Faeries, buried deep in Dreamdark and surrounded by a network of ancient protective spells that keep evil out. But the Golden Age of the Faeries is long gone. Those ancient spells still hold but the faeries inside have forgotten the magic that wove them and waiting in the dark is an evil that they have forgot as well.

Long ago the devils were captured and trapped into bottles. Humans came along and the faeries retreated into their protected places, spending more time dancing instead of practicing their spells. The devils were forgotten, until the humans began to open the bottles.

Magpie Windwitch travels the wide world with a flock of crows hunting devils - a big job for what the Crows call such a small ‘sprout.’ But Magpie enjoys it and not only that she is good at what she does. More than a little bit of a tomboy, Magpie has grown up with the crows, collecting magic before it fades and is forgotten, recording the details in a book to share with her parents, who are out collecting spells themselves.

Then Magpie finds a bottle that is unlike all the others she has come across. Something different has been let back into the world - something that leaves nothing behind except hunger and darkness. From the catacombs under Rome to the magic of Dreamdark, Magpie follows this evil knowing she is the only one who can stop it.

Wonderful images are brought to mind as we are introduced to cheroot smoking crows, a rat-like imp longing to fly, a beautiful faerie city glittering in the morning light, and the whirling tattoos that cover a faerie’s pointed face. The crows, I have to admit, were my favorite.

Geared towards a younger audience (ages 9-12), Blackbringer is worthy of the adult mind as well. There is a hint of romance but nothing more than a few looks and light flirtation, and a few of the devils are pretty nasty but nothing too over the top. This is great adventure fantasy no matter what age you are.

'Dead Girls' Dance' by Rachel Caine

ISBN: 0451220897
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 256pp
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Price: $5.99

In Glass Houses, book one of The Morganville Vampire series we were introduced to Claire Danvers, a sixteen year old college student in the small Texas town of Morganville. She quickly learns that this college town isn’t what it seems.

Vampires rule the entire population except for the college campus. If the vampires weren’t bad enough, there are two groups locked in a fight to gain control of the town. Claire and her friends, Michael, Eve, and Shane, are stuck in the middle of it.

The Dead Girls’ Dance picks up exactly where Glass Houses left off - with a cliffhanger. I can’t tell you how glad I was to pick this book up and not have missed a single scene of the action. Michael, ghost during the day but solid boy by night, is seemingly killed. But the Glass House isn’t going to let anything happen to its occupants and soon Michael is back in action.

But the distress call that Shane placed to his father, Frank Collins, during the last scene of Glass Houses, brings more hurt than help. A self-proclaimed vampire hunter, Frank has returned to Morganville to clean the place with Shane’s help. One group of the vampires has offered protection to those of the Glass House and Claire and her friends are relatively safe. But Shane’s father doesn’t care about the alliance, or Shane’s friends for that matter, and quickly lands the four teenagers in trouble.

When Shane gets tangled up in his father’s mess, Claire has to discover a way to save him from a horrible death at the hands of the vampires. Desperate to save the boy she loves Claire visits each faction of vampires. But things are not that easy and in the end everyone must make drastic changes in their lives.

If you haven’t read the first book I can guarantee you that you will be a little lost in this one. While it’s easy to figure out the plot and the characters' relationships to each other, they do discuss past events quite a bit. Not to mention you wouldn’t understand why these two sets of vampires are at each others throats.

Some characters are three dimensional — Claire, for example — while others are flat and have not grown enough from the last book to make them interesting. The action in Dead Girls’ Dance is constant while you follow the characters — from page one all the way to the fiery end — with a death grip on the book.

Is this a satisfying follow-up? Yes. Am I looking forward to the next book in the series? Yes. It’s a good story with decent characters. Just don’t expect something out of the ordinary.

'The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After' by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

ISBN: 0152055568
Format: Paperback, 469pp
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Price: $6.95

In Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, the magical adventures of cousins Cecelia and Kate in 1817 England start. But in this England magic is an everyday occurrence and both Cecelia and Kate have a talent for it. The story is told by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer through letters between the two cousins. While one is stuck in the country, the other has a season in London and what first seems like two separate storylines soon converge.

With The Grand Tour, or The Purloined Coronation Regalia, Cecelia and Kate are newly married and traveling across Europe together on a grand tour with their husbands. This time Ms. Wrede and Ms. Stevermer told the story through diary entries and depositions.

The Mislaid Magician, or Ten Years After is exactly what the title says it is. The third installment picks up ten years after Grand Tour and we find Cecelia and Kate still happily married with children. This book is once again told via letters although it is not just Cecelia’s and Kate’s voice we hear but their husbands, James and Thomas, as well.

In this mad-cap adventure Cecelia and James are called to the north of England to discover the whereabouts of a disappeared magician. While Kate and Thomas stay at their country home they keep an eye on their children as well as Cecelia’s. Like in the other two books, two seemingly separate storylines come together in the end.

While Cecelia seems to have all the fun without the children, Kate has all the fun with them. But before things get too comfortable, Kate’s ditzy sister Georgy shows up refusing to say why she has suddenly come to visit. Not only will she not give her reasons but she asks that Kate not tell anyone where she is.

So how are the mislaid magician and the sister in hiding related? You’ll just have to read to find out. You will thoroughly enjoy discovering all the answers as well as the comic mishaps of these two families. I enjoyed reading the ‘letters’ between the characters, each revealing just a little bit more of the story, one more twist in the plot or one more smile.

I’ve read a lot of books that are told in letters or e-mails. Usually it’s a gimmick, one author playing both sides as it were. But having Ms. Wrede and Ms. Stevermer write the letters for their characters gives this book, as well as the others, a much more authentic feel. Cecelia and Kate have such separate real voices it‘s hard to believe that all is really just fiction. It’s a lot like stumbling across your great-grandmother's letters in the attic - but instead of just having part of the story you get to enjoy it all.

'City of Bones - Book One of The Mortal Instruments' by Cassandra Clare

ISBN: 1416914285
Format: Hardcover, 496pp
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's
Price: $17.99

I spend a lot of time in the young adult section at my local bookstore. I will be the first one to admit to a fantasy addiction - all kinds of fantasy but lately I’ve become rather partial to the urban fantasy that has made such a splash with teens across the United States.

There are many names out there producing some great fairy adventure at the moment. And a new name has joined the ranks - Cassandra Clare, author of City of Bones, her first book as well as being the first in The Mortal Instruments trilogy.

A blurb on the back of the book from Justine Larbalestier, Magic of Maddness, claims that City of Bones has it all. While Holly Black, Valiant, says this book is ‘Funny. Dark. And sexy.’ Can one book live up to all this great press? Yes it can.

Clary Fray, short for Clarissa, is a normal girl in a normal world. When she sees a blue-haired boy in a night club attacked and killed by a group of three strange-looking teenagers, things change. But when a bouncer is called and no one can see the three but her, Clary starts to wonder what exactly is happening.

When Clary receives a strange phone call from her mom she rushes home to make sure that everything is alright. What she finds is an apartment in ruins and a demon waiting to eat her. But Clary isn’t a normal girl and she is able to, barely, hold her own against the demon. Soon enough she is rescued by one of the strange teenagers. Jace takes her to the Institute, a place of safety for his kind.

What is happening is that Clary is starting to regain her ‘Sight’, the power that enables her to see the world, and the things in the world, as it really is. Soon she learns that the three teenagers are Shadowhunters: men, women, and teenagers created by mixing the blood of angels with that of men so that they can hunt and kill demons. Alec and Isabelle, the other two strangers from the club, are brother and sister, and Jace came to live with their family when he was ten years old, after the horrific death of his father.

There is a lot happening in City of Bones. Featuring a full cast of characters, twists jump out with every turn of the page as Clary moves through the discovery of herself and the truth that is locked in her memories. Clary’s best friend Simon is one of the more human and believable characters in this novel; his awkwardness is easily recognized from any boy you went to high school with, making him even more lovable.

The Shadowhunters and their world is fantastic. Clear and all too believable, next time I go to a club I know I will be searching the dark corners for the things that go bump in the night. I might even find them.

If any of you are fans of the Modern Faerie Tales of Holly Black, Cassandra Clare’s writing group buddy, you will instantly recognize the small cameo some of her characters have in chapter ten of City of Bones.

'Clary saw a girl about her own age with a smoothly shaved head leaning against a brown-skinned boy with dreadlocks, his face adorned with a dozen piercings. He turned his head as the carriage rolled by as if he could see it, and she caught the gleam of his eyes. One of them was clouded, as though it had no pupil.' (page 174)

The appearance was totally unexpected and completely wonderful. I was thrilled to come across this small bit that ties a world of several authors I love into one.

But there are many things to love about City of Bones, including a cat by the name of Chairman Meow. The adventure can only get better as this trilogy progresses and I will be waiting eagerly for the next installment.

'Abhorsen' by Garth Nix

ISBN: 0060594985
Format: Paperback, 340pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Price: $12.99

I don’t know about you but when I reach the end of a trilogy I get a little sad. I know that all good things must come to an end but I always hate to see it happen. You want the conclusion, you want all those little loose ends tied up, but at the same time you want the adventure to continue.

Abhorsen is the third and final book of The Abhorsen Trilogy and I am sad to see it end. This is an amazing series, with great characters, a fully realized world, and more than enough adventure to keep you turning pages.

Lirael, Sam, Mogget, and the Disreputable Dog have set off to rescue Nick, Sam’s school friend from Ancelstierre. Nick, who does not believe in magic and thinks that everything can be explained by science, has had a fragment of the Destroyer placed in his heart by Hedge the evil necromancer who Sam barely escaped from in Lirael.

Lirael has come to terms with the fact that she is the Abhorsen-in-waiting, with the Abhorsen Sabriel and Kind Touchstone missing it is up to her and Sam to save humankind from the Destroyer. As they travel closer to where Hedge is keeping Nick they fight off the Dead Hands and Gore Crows, each character facing trials of their own.

Meanwhile Nick or rather the fragment of the Destroyer in him is over seeing the excavation of two silver hemispheres that each contain a portion of the Destroyer. Hedge’s plan is to make them whole and release the ancient evil within.

At one point Lirael almost rescues Nick but the fragment of the Destroyer in him prevents it. Lirael is forced to let him go and watch as Hedge takes Nick and the hemispheres from the Old Kingdom across the Wall and into Ancelstierre.

The final stand is made there, in Ancelstierre, with the whole cast of characters. The ending is anything but anticlimactic. You know that the good will triumph over evil but there is always a price and by the last page of the book I was in tears.

The Abhorsen Trilogy is an original and solid fantasy. Each book has something different to recommend it, and Sabriel could stand on it’s own, but they are strongest as a whole. This is a great trilogy well worth the shelf space and I know that I will read these again.

'Lirael' by Garth Nix

ISBN: 0060590165
Format: Paperback, 464pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Edition Description: First Eos Edition
Price: $12.99

Lirael, published in 2001, is the continuation of The Abhorsen Trilogy that was started by Sabriel in 1995. Sometimes books suffer from being the middle in a trilogy, the bridge that links the very exciting beginning with the hopefully dramatic end. But Garth Nix solves that problem by picking up with a new character and choosing an even larger enemy to defeat.

The story starts in the Old Kingdom with Lirael, a Daughter of the Clayr, 14 years after Sabriel. The Clayrs are able to see the future or the possible future, but Lirael has never felt that she belonged. With each birthday she expects to gain the Sight that would mark her as an adult Clayr, but each birthday comes and goes without the gift. Lirael is given the chance to leave the blue tunic of children behind to take up the yellow of a third assistant librarian until her Sight awakens.

For the first part of the book we see Lirael come to terms with what she feels makes her an outsider. But as she becomes more comfortable with the Library and its contents she begins to explore. When she accidentally lets a dangerous Free Magic creature out of its bindings, the book really picks up the pace.

Meanwhile, across the Wall in Ancelstierre, Prince Sameth, Sabriel and Touchstone’s son, is finishing his last term at school. When his cricket team is attacked by a group of Dead Hands and the necromancer that made them, Sam is the only person who can do anything. He goes into Death to find the necromancer and barely escapes with his life.

Sam comes away scared but alive to make his way home and find out that there are Dead causing problems. His mother, Sabriel, is gone constantly dealing with the Dead and his father, Touchstone, spends his time dealing with Ancelstierre and their radical politics.

When Nick, a friend from school in Ancelstierre, decides to come for a visit, Sam is thrilled. But when Nick crosses across the Wall early with the help of a suspicious guide named Hedge, Sam realizes that something must have gone wrong.

Lirael and Sam both go through many trials before they finally meet. Picking up Mogget from Sabriel, and a new character, the Disreputable Dog, they realize together they must save the Kingdom.

The action in this book is great and you are able to identify with the characters. It was also nice to be able to see some of the changes that Sabriel had brought about in the Old Kingdom. Where once it was a place of fear and decay it has shed the past to move into a bright future. Although there isn’t much of Sabriel in Lirael, and I missed her, it’s a natural progression forward.

The ending however is a cliffhanger. We leave Lirael and Sam on the brink of a darkness, preparing to step up and face an ancient unknown evil. When you finish Lirael you will want the third book, Abhorsen, on hand to continue the story.

'Sabriel' by Garth Nix

ISBN: 0060575816
Format: Paperback, 311pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Price: $12.99

How many times have you been told by friends and relatives that you just have to read the book they have just finished reading and love? I get told that a lot; I get books passed to me and I try to read them, I do. But it just seems as if they are never quite as good as promised.

Sabriel was first published in 1995 and has graced young adult as well as adult-age bookstore shelves since. I’ve walked past it, picked it up to flip pages but have always put the book down again. A few months ago a friend starts listing the greatest fantasy books ever written (in his not so humble opinion) and Sabriel happened to be on the list. So I bought myself a copy and having just finished reading what is the first book in The Abhorsen Trilogy, I have to agree.

Sabriel grows up in a boarding school in Ancelstierre, which is separated by a wall from the Old Kingdom where she was born and where her father still lives. In Ancelstierre magic is not as common as in the Old Kingdom, but Sabriel learns a little from her school and even more from her father. It is Abhorsen’s job to make sure that the dead stay dead.

While Ancelstierre seems like England in the 1930s, the Old Kingdom is solidly in some ancient time before cars and electricity. But the gift of magic gives them things that cars or electricity cannot, and the Old Kingdom’s culture is based on and around magic.

Sabriel can walk in Death and lay the dead to rest, using what is called Charter Magic. Her father has been having her learn things from The Book of the Dead, showing her the paths to walk in Death. Sabriel has known Death all her life and has never questioned her need to know these things; they are just in her blood.

On the eve of an expected visit from her father, a messenger from Death comes instead. The messenger only brings her father’s sword and necromancy bells before it disappears. Immediately Sabriel knows that her father is in trouble and she must save him.

What follows is an adventure full of zombie-like undead to be battled, secrets to be uncovered, and friends to be made. Once started, the story is so hard to put down you will read it in a few days and then pick it up to read it again.

I haven’t read such an original fantasy novel in a long time. The world is solid, whole and deftly constructed, you feel as if you would meet the people who live there and find them no different from yourself. The characters, especially Sabriel, are strong, three-dimensional people you are involved with from the first page on.

I wish that I had discovered this jewel of a novel long ago but now that I have, I too can say “You have to read this book!”

'Glass Houses' by Rachel Caine

ISBN: 0451219945
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 256pp
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Price: $5.99

Claire Danvers is a 16-year-old college freshman in the small town of Morganville, Texas. She hates being stuck at a tiny party college when she could have gone to MIT, Yale, or Caltech. Claire is only in Morganville because it’s close to home; having led a very sheltered life her parents didn’t want her going to college far from home. Too bad they didn’t take a closer look at Morganville before Claire arrived.

Claire is having a hard time at school, not with her classes but with some of the other girls. The leading beauty Monica has made it her personal mission to ruin Claire’s existence. When Monica pushes Claire down a flight of stairs with a promise that Claire will get what’s coming to her, she realizes that the dorms on campus are not a safe place for her to stay.

Claire immediately begins looking for a new place, and in the want ads she finds an advert for a place called The Glass House. It is shared by three roommates who seem to be very close. At first that intimidates Claire but she’s so desperate that she overcomes her shyness and goes out to the house to see if the room that is offered is still available.

Only two of the three roommates are around when Claire arrives: Eve, a very stylish Goth who works in the local coffee shop, and Shane who’s just plain good-looking. Both are over 18 and do not want someone underage living in the house. But when they see the bruises that Claire has from her run-in with Monica they can’t turn her away. Later Claire meets Michael, the mysterious owner of the house who is only around during the night.

Claire learns from the trio that Monica is not an enemy to have and that Morganville is not a place you want to walk around in after dark. Eve explains that most of the town is under the protection of different vampires, the people that are protected wear bracelets with a certain symbol on them.

It’s only a matter of time before the vampires of Morganville notice Claire. Unfortunately being Monica’s enemy has already brought her under their scrutiny. But Claire isn’t alone, and with the help of Eve, Shane, and Michael she can face what is coming.

This is a quick read, full of suspense and even a touch of romance, a page-turning introduction to the Morganville Vampire series. The second book, Dead Girl’s Dance will be released in April of 2007 and I can’t wait to pick up the continuation of Claire’s story. Especially since this one leaves you with a cliffhanger ending.

'Flora Segunda' by Ysabeau S. Wilce

ISBN: 0152054332
Format: Hardcover, 448pp
Publisher: Harcourt
Price: $17.00

Flora Segunda Nemain Fyrdraaca ov Fyrdraaca is last on the family list, and the second Flora. She has a huge name to fill but Flora has spirit - and if anyone could live up to such a heavy name she can.

In a strange, sometimes confusing, mix of slang and old-fashioned language, Flora Segunda is an original adventure about a Girl with Spirit. On the verge of turning 14, the legal adult age in Califa, Flora is getting ready for her Catorcena, the event that celebrates her move into adulthood.

There is to be a huge party which Flora is not looking forward to. There is a family tradition that each member of the Fyrdraaca family joins the Califa military and goes to the Barracks. Flora does not want to go to the Barracks; instead she wants to be a Ranger like her hero, the famous Coyote Queen. Nini Mo along with her sidekick Boy Hansgen were the greatest Rangers in the country’s history and more than anything Flora would like to be one of them.

Flora lives in the ancestral home of the Fyrdraaca’s, Crackpot Hall, which has 11,000 rooms that shift and change at random. The elevator is unreliable and Flora has been warned against using it but she is running late for school and has forgotten her library book in her room. Flora takes the chance and ends up in a part of Crackpot Hall that she has never been before.

she comes across the great library of Crackpot Hall and its banished butler Valefor. Flora’s Mamma banished Valefor long ago and now there is no one to clean but Flora. When Valefor offers to help Flora if she gives him just a little bit of her Will she agrees.

Valefor explains to Flora that because he has been banished he is beginning to fade into Elsewhere. But Valefor says that Flora can stop him from disappearing if she finds his fetish and restores him. But before Flora can save him she finds out the Dainty Pirate who is famous up and down the coast has been captured. The Dainty Pirate is Udo’s hero, her glass-gazing best friend. Together they decide that they must save him.

Flora and Udo have adventure after adventure. With such chapters as 'Discernment Sigil. Smoke. Searching A Tea Caddy." and "Sewers. Clowns. Cherry Cherry Slurps. Sad Songs." -- in which the author pays homage to Marie LaCoste’s poem "Somebody’s Darling" -- this is a hard book to put down.

'Wintersmith' by Terry Pratchett

ISBN: 0060890312
ISBN-13: 9780060890315
Format: Hardcover, 336pp
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Price: $16.99

The best part of a Terry Pratchett novel is the humor. Before you pick one up you have to prepare yourself to burst with laughter. You will laugh out loud in public places (if you read at work, on a plane, train, or automobile) and people will look at you like you have lobsters crawling out of your ears. And the best part? You won‘t be able to help yourself - it‘s Terry Pratchett.

In May 2003 The Wee Free Men hit the shelves of bookstores everywhere and the world came to know Tiffany Aching, another character in the long list of the fantastic Discworld cast. Tiffany is a young witch from the rolling Chalk Hills, where her family owns sheep. Everyone knew that chalk didn’t make a good witch - you need good firm rock for that, but Tiffany proved them all wrong. On June 1, 2004 A Hat Full of Sky brought us Tiffany’s second adventure in which she proves that she could hold her own against the things that go bump in the night, as well as grumpy old witches.

Wintersmith is the third, and hopefully not the last, of Tiffany Aching’s adventures. Tiffany is on the verge of becoming a teenager, as well as in the middle of learning to be a Witch. Not learning magic, no, because she has that in her already, but learning to control and choose things for herself. Learning not only to make the decision but to stand by it as well.

When the Morris Men gather to dance the Black Morris Dance all the witches go to watch. Through the quiet night they stand to bear witness to the dancers bringing in the winter. Tiffany has never been there before and even though she is told to be quiet and be still, she isn‘t. Her feet start to tap and suddenly she leaps into the middle of the dance.

By stepping into the dance Tiffany has come between Winter and Summer, and she has caught Winter’s eye. Winter follows Tiffany home, spinning roses made of ice and returning a lost keepsake but Tiffany knows that under all the sweet puppy love there is only Winter.

For those of you that have read The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky the Feegle’s are back again providing comic relief as well as large acts of small heroism. The tiny blue tattooed men aren’t going to leave Tiffany alone now that she’s 13. They know she still needs looked after even if she doesn’t and if that means reading her diary, well then so be it.

In the end Tiffany finds that there is power in a simple kiss and in the choices that you make. Again she proves herself to be a Witch to be reckoned with, someone with power and of power. Not to mention there are chickens, but I’ll let you find out about those for yourself.