Book Warriors

While the book Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox is not a perfect book, it did get me so wrapped up in its world that I was dying to find out what happens in Book Two–Dreamquake. Lucky for me it is already out (the benefit of starting a series of books that is already published) and even better than Book One. Dreamquake picks up with the final scene of Dreamhunter and tells it from an alternative perspective, which both catches up the reader and gives a new angle to the scene. From there the plot picks up speed with Laura and her Sandman on the run for forcing her nightmare on the Dream Opera Crowd, the Dream Regulatory Body building a secret, dangerous project in the Place, and, not to be overshadowed, Rose’s debut into society. Laura and Sandy’s relationship blossoms, though her continued and deepening reliance on her Sandman causes tension with those around her. The pace is fast, the drama high, and once the pieces of the puzzle came together I was left astounded by the author’s imagination and storytelling abilities. Full of suspense, romance, and questions, this installment brings the duet to highly satisfying close.

Enter a world very like our own around the turn of the century (1900, not 2000). It is a world where automobiles are still newfangled toys for the rich, where ladies still wear long dresses, and where wealthy young girls attend finishing schools to prepare them for coming out into society. Laura and Rose are cousins living in this world of privilege each with one parent who is of high society and one parent who is a famous and rich dreamhunter. The dreamhunters are people who can enter an otherworld where dreams reside and bring the dreams back for sale to hospitals, the government, and public dream opera houses. Some dreams are used to heal, some to soothe, some to delight and the best dreamhunters (and Laura’s father and Rose’s mother are the best) can earn fortunes.

But all is not as it seems. Laura’s father is acting stranger and stranger, and Laura and Rose are about to make their Try to find out if they will become dreamhunters themselves. The girls’ charmed life is quickly spinning out of control and they soon have a dire mystery to solve.

The pacing on this novel is a little slow at times, but the premise is so interesting and the world so compelling that I plowed through and was rewarded with cliffhanger of an ending. The good news is that Book Two is already out and was named a Printz Honor book this year so I won’t have to wait to find out what happens next and the story is only going to get better. If you love fantasy, especially ones by Garth Nix and Libba Bray, you’ll definitely enjoy this imaginative and spellbinding tale by Elizabeth Knox.

Each year the American Library Association gives out the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature and awards “Honor” status (like an honorable mention) to 3 or 4 other finalists for the award. I often feel conflicted about the books that get chosen and 2008’s selections are no exception. One of the honor books is Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins. It is the story of a demon (that’s right, demon, as in hell) who realizes after centuries on the job tormenting sinners in hell that the Creator isn’t going to notice if he slips away for a vacation. The demon, who is called many things, among which Kiriel is his favorite, jumps into the body of a slacker teenaged boy who is seconds away from dying in an accident. As Kiriel sees it, “the fact that he missed the last two seconds of his life didn’t really matter; I could see exactly what was going to happen.”

Kiriel sets out to experience all he can of life before he is caught and sent back. He revels in the details, the taste of ketchup, the feel of writing with a pencil, the sound of traffic. He wants to test all the 7 deadly sins to find out what the big deal is, and in the space of a couple days realizes why humans get so worked up with jealousy, lust, wrath and the rest.

The book is funny, poignant, and ultimately life-affirming as the demon makes your realize all you take for granted in your own life. So why do I feel conflicted about the book being honored by the Printz committee? Well I agree the book is very good, and asks a lot of interesting questions, but I’m not sure I agree it was one of the top 5 best YA books of the year. Still, I’m glad the book is getting recognition, because it is a fun read and one that will make you count your blessings.

This latest novel by Peter Cameron pulls off the difficult task of making a difficult, troubled, antisocial narrator completely sympathetic and lovable. James Sveck, an eighteen year-old outsider is intelligent, philosophical, and yes, even “charming” (as the front cover suggests) but he has problems showing all this to the outside world. James has been accepted to prestigious Brown College, but he has no desire to go, because people, particularly people his own age distress him. In his words, “I just don’t enjoy being with people. People, at least in my experience, rarely say anything interesting to each other. They always talk about their lives and they don’t have very interesting lives. So I get impatient.”

It would be easy to detest someone that brutally honest and snobbish. And yet I found myself continually cutting him slack, in part because I felt sorry for his obvious social anxiety and, also because his character flaws are interesting and complicated in the grand tradition of Holden Caufield. Like Holden, James rejects those who try to help him (his parents, his psychiatrist), believing them to be more interested their own wants than in listening to him. Like Holden, he has one family member who truly gets him, in his case, his grandmother. Like Holden, his few attempts to reach out to the world fail–often spectacularly as when he tries his hand at expressing his attraction to a coworker and when he is chosen to go to Washington D.C. to represent New York at a national student program about the government.

With beautiful metaphors and a true sense of “voice,” Peter Cameron tells a compelling story about a young man failing to thrive in the modern world. You may not know first hand the kind of anxiety and depression that James feels, but this story will help you identify with, understand, and empathize with him.

First off, for those of you science fiction fans unfamiliar with Octavia Butler, add her to your list right now. Octavia Butler is one of most respected and beloved writers of the genre, a great talent whose life was cut short in 2006. Fledglingwas her final book and her first “vampire romance,” a subgenre she had recently stumbled on and had grown to enjoy.

Despite the inspiration, Butler’s vampire romance is quite different than most in its class. At the book’s opening, the main character, Shori, wakes up badly burned, shot, and clueless as to who she is our how she got there. She is picked up by a local who assumes she is a preteen girl from the look of her, but by her actions proves she is far more experienced than her appearance. He and Shori quickly figure out she is a vampire, but not the kind legend suggests. Together they begin unraveling the pieces of her life before, discovering that she is genetic experiment within the vampire community and uncovering a dangerous plot to destroy her and her family.

The novel isn’t a page burner. It asks too many important questions about race, sexuality, gender, and individuality to skim read. But if you like your science fiction thought-provoking and philosophically challenging, you’ll enjoy this dramatic, disturbing, and powerful read.