Zom-B ~ Darren Shan review

Zom-B (Zom-B #1)
Cliff Nielsen, Illustrator
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
October 16, 2012
174 pages
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London's news coverage is filled with reports of zombie attacks in Ireland. People there are being murdered and eaten by zombies that fill the streets at night. B's mother is, of course, terrified by the apparent zombie outbreak and what it could soon mean for London - and her family.

B, though has other worries. Growing up with a father who hates, whose fists drive his point home, B's learned it's easier to go along with his hatred of blacks, Muslims, anyone different than to speak up - than to think anything different. It even gets B in fights at school for having some of the same beliefs, of seeming to.

Things all change when zombies do show up in London, at the school even and B's forced to work with anyone - regardless of skin color or ancestry - able to keep it together enough to stay alive.


Zom-B may not have been what I was expecting. The first half to maybe even two thirds of this, yes, short, novel are a zombie novel in the same way that This Is Not a Test was a zombie book: You know they're coming, you know they're out there, you know something bad will eventually happen but it's all but a contemporary. But, rest assured, there are zombies - and as this is a series, I'm guessing there will be only more to come.

The beginning, almost contemporary part of this book deals a lot with B's father's racism and B's struggle with that. Does going along with your father to avoid his wrath, even agreeing with and/or rationalizing his beliefs mean you really agree with him?

This is a great debate for a character to have (internal or otherwise) and I actually quite liked how condensed, how sparse it was. It felt like we got to see just enough of the relationship between B and B's father to understand B's turmoil. It didn't make B an entirely sympathetic character, nor did it make B an entirely unsympathetic character.

There's a great twist close to the end that I loved and cast most of the rest of the story (earlier parts included) in a different light. I love how it was done - and that it was.

This is the first book in the Zom-B series and it seems to get things set up well for the subsequent books in the series. The ending isn't as frustrating as those of the Larten Crepsley series, by the same author, but it definitely leaves you hanging and curious for Book 2 - Zom-B: Underground out in January.


Rating: 8/10

 


thank you to LBYR for my copy of the book to review

Brothers to the Death ~ Darren Shan review

Brothers to the Death (Larten Crepsley #4)
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
May 15, 2012
272 pages
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* My reviews of Birth of a Killer (#1), Ocean of Blood (#2), and Palace of the Damned (#3) - this review may contain spoilers for some of those *

 Just when Larten is finally ready to make his way back to Vampire Mountain and his vampire kin, he's pulled into a very human conflict. The Nazis are coming to power and while the vampires have made it their way not to interfere with human struggles, the Nazis have made their own efforts to pull the vampire in, though, so they can't completely turn a blind eye.

The impending human war is not the only one to worry about. The vampires and vampaneze conflict still has not gone away. Some are even back to calling for all out war. Both wars will take their toll on Larten and those closest to him as he finishes his journey towards becoming the vampire from Cirque Du Freak series.


Brothers to the Death pulls in a almost all of the characters (vampire as well as a few human) who were involved in the three previous books of this series. It's great to see how they've all progressed and how they're relationships all weave together - sometimes causing conflict.

This last book, more so than the others, involves current events - from World War II era and both before and after - to help shape Larten and tell his tale.

The story covers a long time period - about a century - while focusing on a pretty contained set of events and their aftermath - so readers get a great sense of how those things affect Larten and how he both deals with them and grows from them without the story getting too bogged down in the day to day (or even week to week or month to month) which wouldn't fit with the character.

We've seen Larten as a young, impoverished boy working with silk worms in a factory, we saw him as the young Cub vampire finding his way - drinking and making a general ruckus - we saw him find love and now we see it all come full circle, really. Whether readers have read the Cirque Du Freak series or not, this is a great either introduction to or expansion on the Larten Crepsley character. You really have a great sense of not only who he is but why he is that way and how he got that way, where he's come from after reading this prequel series.

This series works well as a standalone but likely much, much better as a supplement to the original or a brilliant introduction for new readers who have yet to start that series.

Rating: 8/10


Thank you to LBYR for my copy of this book for review :)

The Hunt ~ Andrew Fukuda (eARC) review

The Hunt (The Hunt #1)
St Martin's Griffin
May 8, 2012
393 pages
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Don't sweat. Don't laugh. Don't smile. Don't show surprise. Just don't draw any attention to yourself. These are the rules he's grown up hearing everyday of his life. He's not like the people of the world - people who sleep during the day in sleep holds on the ceiling and would, literally, eat him alive if they knew what he was. If they caught even the smallest scent of his blood.

There used to be more like him, but now, he seems to be the only one left.

Following his father's rules and a set of careful daily grooming rituals he's been able to avoid detection, but when the ruler calls another Heper Hunt - where the people hunt a captive, bred and raised group of those who, like him bleed, and need water to survive it's all put in danger His elaborately constructed charade is in danger of collapsing after he's chosen to be a hunter.

Can he make it through this alive?


The Hunt twists the usual idea of a vampire story on its head. Instead of the vampires hiding in the shadows and being the outcasts of society, their lives in danger if people ever found them out, it's other way round. There's even more of a twist in The Hunt, actually, in that the creatures we would think of as vampires - those with fangs who can't go out in daylight, drink blood are referred to as people and those who we'd think of as the people are instead the 'other,' the minority and are called hepers.

(I think it's worth noting that while the general 'vampires are in charge, people are in danger - the old idea is flipped' premise might be similar to The Immortal Rules, the two stories are very different and whether you liked one, didn't or never heard of it, consider the other separately. Though, I love that they are both breathing some new life into YA vampire tales.)

The main character has been working his whole life to fit in, to not stand out, not to draw attention to himself. His father hammered a set of rules into his head over and over while he was still there - what not to do (things that the 'people' don't) and what to do (Never forget who you are) and taught him things to do that would keep him looking - and smelling (or not smelling) like them. We get to see the struggles he has through routine things because of the differences in how the world is not set up - how dark it always is even inside, for instance. But, we also learn a lot about the people and how they function, what they're like through observation, casual remarks about his life.

Once the hunt - and preparation for it - get started we learn more about the society and not only how things are but how they view hepers. A lot of humor comes into play here as well as some potential romance.  With the plot being what it is, there's always, at least, some underlying tension - is he going to be found out, isn't he? What about now?

While I absolutely enjoyed learning about the people (vampires) and the hepers (people) and how that current world seems to be, I really would have liked some more character development. Not necessarily for secondary characters (though I did, oddly, find myself feeling more sympathetic towards one of the characters I don't believe was supposed to be that sympathetic), but at least for the main few. The plot seemed to be much stronger than the characters and when the ending was coming up it was hard to connect that much with two of the characters or care.

The ending was quite brilliant and left me so, so anxious to know when the second book in this series!

(And with Darren Shan's vampire series ending with the last The Saga of Larten Crepsley book out - I'll have a review this week or early next - I know someone else I'm going to try to get to read The Hunt.)


Rating: 9/10



Other Books You Might Enjoy: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion and Infinity (Chronicles of Nick #1) by Sherrilyn Kenyon


advance copy received from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers - thank you :)

The Last Princess ~ Galaxy Craze (eARC) review

The Last Princess
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
May 1, 2012
295 pages
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After the Seventeen Days destroyed almost all that Eliza - and the rest of England (and likely the world - knew as modern civilization, people are left struggling for things they used to find commonplace. Clean water to drink is now a luxury, nearly all of the animals (save the snakes, worms and leaches) have died out of the forests, a coal powered train had to be brought out of a museum and used for transportation. Electricity is gone. People are scavenging for food.

Isolated from the rest of the world and what may or may not be going on there, Britain is a desolate place.

Meanwhile, though, Eliza and the rest of her family, the British royal family, is still living relatively well. They have more food than the others. They're still throwing a ball. It will be a far cry from the balls thrown for previous courts, but it's still a ball.

And it angers some people. Including the revolutionaries determined to overthrow the royals.

When blood is shed in the palace, Eliza is the only one able to escape. Determine not only to rescue her family - whom she hopes are still alive - but also to extract revenge on the man who has caused her grief, Eliza sets out on a journey. A journey that will cause her more pain, lead to more bloodshed and cause her to make choices she never thought she would have to make.


A great mix of a young royal - almost like Anastasia with shades or Marie Antoinette - with a bit Joan of Arc thrown in to the mix. With family relationships, friendships and personal struggles mixed in with the violence that comes and the post-apocalyptic Britain, The Last Princess should appeal to a wide audience - in both and gender.

With The Last Princess readers get a bit of the royal flavor - that bit extra that Eliza and her siblings enjoy thanks to their father being the King of England - but it's tampered  by the book being set after the Seventeen Days. While we never get an exact description of all that the Seventeen Days entailed, it all but destroyed the world. Britain is still reeling from it and trying to recover - and perhaps the King could make a few more concessions than he has.

Perhaps it's the way Eliza is forced to go out on her own and feels vengeful but it reminds me almost of Avi's Cripsin series a bit or perhaps of Darren Shan's Larten Crepsley series (just, you know, minus the vampire bit). I will say that Eliza seems stronger than both of those characters. (Likely due to her starting circumstance and the writers goal for the characters.)

The characters - Eliza, especially - in this novel are well written and their relationships are strong and not only make sense, but assist the story. The plot was great (a revolution much like the French moved to England after a sort of apocalypse) was incredibly logical and fun to read about. There were things that seemed to not ever get completely explained (like what the Seventeen Days was, who the Roamers were - or how they came to be) that left me wondering a bit and a few things were predictable. Other than that, though, things were greatly enjoyable and the little details (the lamps, the snakes, etc were nice inclusions.

While Eliza is a princess - and the title, of course, mentions that - The Last Princess' content should appeal to male YA (and possibly upper MG) readers as well. She's a female main character, but she's a tough  one - both physically and mentally - as she fights to make sure she is not, in fact, The Last Princess.


Rating: 9/10


thank you to LBYR and NetGalley for my egalley of this title

The Immortal Rules ~ Julie Kagawa (eARC) review

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)
HarlequinTEEN
April 24, 2012
485 pages
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Allison Sekemoto lives in a future world where vampires rule and humans are kept as their cattle to provide them with food (blood) - and slaves to do any menial labor they don't wish to do. As an unregistered, Allison lives in the Fringe, not forced to scheduled bloodlettings, but also scavenging for food and struggling for safety.

With the near constant threat of being killed, being eaten by them, it's no wonder Allie hates vampires like she does. It's all she has some days.

But then she's attacked and given one final choice: die or become one of them. And she makes a decision she never thought she would. The girl who's always fought for survival isn't done yet.

Now, one of the things she's always despised, Allie must learn their rules in order to survive. The most important one of all: go too long without human blood and you'll go mad.

Allie's new life as a vampire will take her to places she never thought she'd go - places she never dreamed existed . . . now if only she can survive them and herself.



The Immortal Rules kicks off with leaps and bounds of tension and suspense and only builds on it. The tension lets up at times, but it never fully disappears, bringing readers on for quite a ride as they follow Allie on her journey. Or, at least, this phase of it.

Anyone who thinks vampire books are just trying to be another Twilight really needs to pick up The Immortal Rules. Kagawa takes us back more to how vampires need to be. Allie does still have some humanity in her but there are also really, really nasty vampires. They refer to themselves as monsters (and not in a self pitying, give-me-a-hug way, either) and do bite people and people die. They're not sparkly Twilight vamps . . . they're not even quite Buffy vamps.

The Immortal Rules takes places about sixty years after a plague has wiped out most of the humans, leaving  the vampires now in charge of  the majority of those that are left. Adding a sort of post apocalyptic dystopian with a vampire story was definitely unique - and having people aware of vampires (obviously) was also a new twist I liked.

Allie's story reads more like Resident Evil or a great kick-butt action movie with a female lead. She's a fantastic fighter. She's got this mission . . . all while fighting with what it means to be a vampire but not be like the ones she spent all those years growing up hating. (That the book came across that way is great actually, since the series has been optioned for a movie!)

Can't wait to see where the next book takes things - even more so after reading the first one and knowing the basis for everything!


Rating: 9/10


Other books you might like:  The Saga of Larten Crepsley  books by Darren Shan and Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield

thanks to Harlequin and NetGalley for the egalley of this title to read and review



and don't forget to visit the fantastic Blood of Eden website:

Palace of the Damned ~ Darren Shan review

Palace of the Damned (The Saga of Larten Crepsley #3)
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
October 3, 2011
256 pages
Amazon/Goodreads

(contains spoilers for Books 1 & 2 of the Saga of Larten Crepsley - those reviews)

Picking up exactly where Ocean of Blood left off, Palace of the Damned is the penultimate book in this prequel (to Circus of the Damned) quartet. After killing the ship's entire crew - as revenge for their killing Malora after his 'vampiracy' was revealed to the crew, is on the run. With a baby in his care - keeping it safe from the cannibal on the ship - Larten now has more to worry about than his own needs.

Tired of the vampiric life, Larten no longer has the thirst for he hunt and hides out in Paris as a human. It is there where he finds love - and maybe even some happiness.

But how long can Larten really hide out as a human before his inner darkness and he's forced to return to the dark, to his clan. And will he be safe anywhere or will his enemies find him?

One thing's for sure, one way or another, Larten's path is sure to be perilous and lead to deaths.


Palace of the Damned is great, it brings out more of Larten's humanity while also contrasting that with just how not human he is. After the first book introduced us to Larten's true human life and his beginnings as a assistant and the second brought in more of the vampire politics, it's great to see a different side to Larten.

As someone who's reading this prequel series before reading Circque du Freak, I know that I am missing some of what readers of that series will get out of this series. The characters that are in this series, I'm sure will pop up in the latter series (at least some of them) and whether you read that first or this first, it'll be great to know their back stories as well.

It didn't feel like there was as much action in this installment as in the others, but it definitely brought a necessary bit of Larten's life to light.

This series definitely stops in the middle of scenes and on cliffhangers and Palace of the Damned's ending is no different - it will have you almost counting the days until May when the final Saga of Larten Crepsley book releases.


8/10 - thank you to Faye at Little, Brown for my copy of this book

Ocean of Blood ~ Darren Shan review

Ocean of Blood (The Saga of Larten Crepsley #2)

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

April 28, 2011

256 pages
Amazon

(Birth of a Killer The Saga of Larten Crepsley #1 review here)

Ocean of Blood is the second book in a four book prequel series-- to author Darren Shan's wildly popular Cirque Du Freak series. Picking up not too long after the ending of Birth of a Killer the first book in the series, this book tells of Larten and Wester's life on their own.

Readers are taken on the journey with the two vampires as they explore what it means to be on their own. They also get to see where the two end up -- at least for now.


Ocean of Blood is more (than Birth of a Killer) about the vampire world and its politics. More of the hierarchy and how things are achieved is explored. Through the two men's (or boy's, depending on how you look at them) adventures, we get to meet new vampires and see more of how the vampires operate outside of the small society portrayed in Birth of a Killer.

A lot more of Larten's personality is also unveiled in this second novel. He's grown a lot, both from where he was at the start of the first novel and over the course of this second. Readers are taken with him as he explores what it is he might want out of this life as a vampire (but, of course, there are two more novels in which to possibly find that out).

Readers of the Cirque Du Freak series will probably know where everything is leading but should enjoy seeing how the character(s) make their way there. Readers who haven't read the Cirque Du Freak series will likely very much want to after reading Ocean of Blood.

Very much like Birth of a Killer, Ocean of Blood ends on a cliffhanger--with a 'to be continued'--something that seems much more like the end of a chapter than the end of a novel. It will leave readers nearly salivating for book three . . .

8/10

Thank you to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Faye Bi for my copy of this book for review!

Birth of a Killer ~ Darren Shan review

Birth of a Killer (The Saga of Larten Crepsley #1)

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

October 5, 2010

272 pages
Goodreads/Amazon

Birth of a Killer is the first in Shan’s new four book series The Saga of Larten Crepsley. The new series is a prequel to the Cirque du Freak series.

Tracing the early years of Larten Crepsley this first book introduces us to him as a young boy working in a silk factory with his cousin. After a terrible incident, you g Larten kills the abusive factory foreman. Forced to flee, a young, poor boy in the early 1800s has just killed his boss, Larten seeks refuge in a cemetery crypt.

Only to find it occupied.

It’s here that he meets vampire Seba Nile, already 500-years-old. Seba explains to Larten, who already believes in witches and other supernatural beings, that vampires are, in fact, real. He also explains how vampires, such as him, differ from the vampires of legend.


Readers of the Cirque du Freak series possibly already know more of what transpires after this, but for those that have not, I’m going to stop the summary there ….

While I would imagine a reader would get more out of the Larten Crepsley books if they’d already read the Cirque du Freak series (knowing some of the characters, etc), it’s more than possible to read and enjoy Birth of a Killer with no previous knowledge of the characters, world or author (I did).

Birth of a Killer covers about twenty years and has a lot of explanation of the vampire world, rules and introduces a lot of characters. There is very, very little blood or gore (or even mention of it). There is violence—usually in fisticuffs or other fighting, but it’s all very middle grade suitable.

Most of the book is really about getting to know the character and where he came from—the title of the book is not at all misleading.

It’s too early to say if this series will lead readers to Ciruqe du Freak books but I know (from being told emphatically) that lovers of the Cirque du Freak series love this series as well and are awaiting the future books.

I will have Book Two, Ocean of Blood reviewed either this week of early next week.

8/10