magic – Heise Reads & Recommends

MMGM: THE REAL BOY Blog Tour & Author Interview

Jillian Heise — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 11:30:00 +0000

Title: THE REAL BOY
Author: Anne Ursu
Publisher: Walden Pond Press
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Number of Pages: 288
Source of Book: ARC & finished copy from publisher in exchange for honest review

On an island on the edge of an immense sea there is a city, a forest, and a boy. The city is called Asteri, a perfect city that was saved by the magic woven into its walls from a devastating plague that swept through the world over a hundred years before. The forest is called the Barrow, a vast wood of ancient trees that encircles the city and feeds the earth with magic. And the boy is called Oscar, a shop boy for the most powerful magician in the Barrow. Oscar spends his days in a small room in the dark cellar of his master’s shop, grinding herbs and dreaming of the wizards who once lived on the island generations ago. Oscar’s world is small, but he likes it that way. The real world is vast, strange, and unpredictable. And Oscar does not quite fit in it.

But it’s been a long time since anyone who could call himself a wizard walked the world, and now that world is changing. Children in the city are falling ill, and something sinister lurks in the forest. Oscar has long been content to stay in his small room in the cellar, comforted in the knowledge that the magic that flows from the trees will keep his island safe. Now, even magic may not be enough to save it.

My Review/Recommendation Post

I am so thrilled to be participating in The Real Boy Blog Tour today!

THE REAL BOY was a joy to read and is, without a doubt, one of my all time favorite middle grades books. It is so beautifully written. I’m extra excited today because I get to welcome Anne Ursu to my blog with an interview conducted by her editor, Jordan Brown.

I enjoyed reading their conversation and hope you will, too.

JORDAN: It’s interesting to me that this is the first book you’ve written that takes place in a completely invented world – your previous fantasy books have all had some sort of significant tether to our world (America, specifically), and feature characters from the present day.

ANNE: A few months before starting this book, I thought confidently to myself that I was most interested in contemporary fantasy–that is taking characters from our world and putting them in fantastical situations–and I probably would never write a true fantasy. It was a convenient decision because I’ve always thought writing a fantasy like that would be impossible.

I’ve noticed that the instant you proclaim anything confidently about your writing, the writing gods smite you. And so naturally the idea I became enraptured with could only be told as a high fantasy. So to say I wanted to try something new would not be quite accurate. I was dragged kicking and screaming.

JORDAN: Always the best way to start a new manuscript. What inspired the story, and inspired you to make such a shift in how you write?

ANNE: The entire idea for the book came to me while I was watching a marionette show, and so by the time I walked out of the show I knew a few things. I knew I was in a magical forest where the trees were the spirits of old wizards, I knew magical goods would be a commodity, I knew Oscar, my protagonist, was servant to a magician and worked with herbs. I tend to make a few decisions and then just start writing and see what happens. It’s not a particularly clean or efficient process!

JORDAN: And yet, at the same time, the world still manages to feel “real,” and did even in your first draft.

ANNE: Well, good. I wanted to have a few unifying principles so everything felt coherent. This involved making some decisions that wouldn’t end up in the book, but would help me as I went along. I placed the island in an alternate universe eastern Mediterranean–and I put the book in time so I could keep the technology consistent. I chose the year 1675–I knew I wanted an early modern society–and so when I needed to put in some detail I would figure out, say, what a carriage might have looked like then. I also tried to account for those pesky human needs like food and shelter, making sure there were resources on the island as well as a history of trade with other countries. I’m not a detail person, so I needed some things to ground me.

I’m glad the world held together in the first draft. I felt like I was handing you a drawer full of unmatched socks.

JORDAN: Oh, it was a huge mess, generally. But the world, at least, was baseline consistent. When I first started to dig into the editing work, the first thing I started making notes on was the wizard trees, and the long history of this world that we’re only given brief glimpses of in the book itself.

ANNE: It was a small mess.

One of the many reasons writers need editors, aside from editors’ obvious charm and gentle attention to their writers’ psyches, is we might not have put all of the things in our head actually on the page. So if you’re not living in our head, which few people are, things that are perfectly clear to the writer are not clear at all to the reader. I needed you to tell me what you weren’t getting–even if I maybe didn’t seem so grateful at the time.

Sometimes we’d spend a long time trying to discuss a plot point and eventually realize there was some baseline thing about the world I hadn’t communicated–like you assumed the Shining City was rather small, speaking in terms of geography and population, and so a lot of what happened didn’t make sense to you. Maybe because I never gave any sense of how big it was in the book. But mostly we ended up needing to get on the same page in terms of ideas–what I was going for with some of the plot elements. We’d talk back and forth about details of the world and its history, and sometimes in that conversation it would become clear that we’d need to go back and talk about the fundamental themes of the book–how people react to fear, etc–before we could do anything else. You needed to know what the heck I was trying to do.

JORDAN: Exactly. I think it was when we were talking about the backstory of the wizard trees that we realized the important thing at issue wasn’t the backstory itself, or even the way in which the backstory had been twisted into a lie – but rather why the people of the Shining City needed the lie.

ANNE: Right. And I’d start babbling about master narratives and Puritans and making things even more confused. I knew what I was trying to do on an instinctive level, but that wasn’t quite enough to put all the pieces together on the page. And then there was a time when I was working on the last draft I called my mom over and she and I sat down at the dining room table and talked back and forth for an hour only about the backstory, the things that happened hundreds of years before the book opens, before we got it solidified. Sometimes you need your mom.

Of course, little of this backstory we generated actually shows up in the book. But I needed to know it so the book itself made sense.

Which gets back to the first point: fantasy is hard.

JORDAN: True words. Do you ever see yourself writing another fantasy set in an invented world?

ANNE: There you are again with your Can we talk about the next book? You should live in the moment.

Click Here to enter

Check out the other stops on The Real Boy Blog Tour

Monday, 9/30 – Maria’s Melange – Maria’s Take on The Real Boy + Giveaway

Tuesday, 10/1 – There’s a Book – Danielle’s Take on The Real Boy + Giveaway

Wednesday, 10/2 – sharpread – Colby Interviews Anne

Thursday, 10/3 – Novel Sounds – Elena’s Take on The Real Boy + Giveaway

Friday, 10/4 – Word Spelunking – Aeicha Interviews Anne

Saturday, 10/5 – The Hiding Spot – Sara’s Take on The Real Boy + Giveaway

Sunday, 10/6 – The Brain Lair – Kathy’s Take on The Real Boy + Giveaway

Monday, 10/7 – Read, Write, Reflect – Anne Talks Oscar with Katherine

Tuesday, 10/8 – Librarian’s Quest – Margie’s Take on The Real Boy + Giveaway

Wednesday, 10/9 – Buried in Books – Heather’s Take on The Real Boy + Giveaway

Thursday, 10/10 – The Book Monsters – Kristen’s Take on The Real Boy + Giveaway

Friday, 10/11 – Cari’s Book Blog – Cari’s Take on The Real Boy + An Interview with Anne

Saturday, 10/12 – Unleashing Readers – Kellee Interviews Illustrator Erin McGuire

Sunday, 10/13 – Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers – Gina’s Take on The Real Boy + Giveaway

Monday, 10/14 – Heise Reads and Recommends – Editor Jordan Brown Interviews Anne

Tuesday, 10/15 – Bulldog Readers Blog – The Bulldog Readers Debut Their Book Trailer

Happy Book Birthday, THE REAL BOY!

Jillian Heise — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 21:00:00 +0000

I’m so thrilled that you can finally get your hands on one of the most magical books I’ve read this year!

Happy book birthday to Anne Ursu and THE REAL BOY!

Title: THE REAL BOY

Author: Anne Ursu
Publisher: Walden Pond Press
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Number of Pages: 288
Source of Book: ARC from publisher

On an island on the edge of an immense sea there is a city, a forest, and a boy. The city is called Asteri, a perfect city that was saved by the magic woven into its walls from a devastating plague that swept through the world over a hundred years before. The forest is called the Barrow, a vast wood of ancient trees that encircles the city and feeds the earth with magic. And the boy is called Oscar, a shop boy for the most powerful magician in the Barrow. Oscar spends his days in a small room in the dark cellar of his master’s shop, grinding herbs and dreaming of the wizards who once lived on the island generations ago. Oscar’s world is small, but he likes it that way. The real world is vast, strange, and unpredictable. And Oscar does not quite fit in it.
But it’s been a long time since anyone who could call himself a wizard walked the world, and now that world is changing. Children in the city are falling ill, and something sinister lurks in the forest. Oscar has long been content to stay in his small room in the cellar, comforted in the knowledge that the magic that flows from the trees will keep his island safe. Now, even magic may not be enough to save it.

First Thought: Without a doubt one of the best books I’ve read this year. A mesmerizing and enchanting story.

Anne Ursu‘s THE REAL BOY is a mesmerizing and enchanting story of friendship, courage, and magic with an endearing main character who just wants to be “normal.” It’s a story that shows the reader what it means to be hopeful in the face of lost hope. It’s a story that begs to be read.

Ursu has created an intriguing fantasy world filled with magical elements, yet the explanations show that the magic been declining over the years. The mythology she creates for this world is fascinating and shows the reader the depth to which their magical ancestors cared about the people of this town. The contrast between the people of Asteri and the people in the Barrow adds an element of class differences that, when added to the lonliness of Oscar’s situation and his uncertainty, creates even more of a divide leading him to feel like he just doesn’t get it.

The beauty of the main character, Oscar, is that he really isn’t sure what’s happening, so the reader gets to go along on the journey of discovery with him. We get to be a part of his awakening and realization that there may not be one particular way to be “normal” even if he may think there is. His interactions with the other inhabitants of the Barrow, including the magician he works for, show that he is a curious boy, but one who doesn’t necessarily have the same way of interacting socially…no doubt related to his orphan status and not remembering his past. This leads to a bit of a mystery as he finds clues that may lead to the truth about his past, although he is not sure he wants to know the truth.

In THE REAL BOY, Anne Ursu again demonstrates a lyrical quality to her writing that had me going back and rereading sections because of the stunningly beautiful descriptions she weaves together. There is such magic in her writing…beyond the story, and just with the way she puts words together and describes things. I felt as if I was there in the Barrow, in the woods, living this story with Oscar and seeing the entrancing settings around him. Being so drawn into that world creates an even richer experience for me as a reader.

I feel compelled to add that one of the strongest elements of this story for me, was having heard Anne’s story. She wrote this thinking about her son, and I feel that the message, for so many other children that may be struggling with something that makes them feel not quite “normal” at times, is such a strong one. Being different doesn’t make you not real. We are all real…we are just different versions of reality.

Final Thoughts: My favorite middle grades books I’ve read in a long time. Please read THE REAL BOY this fall.

RIFT by Andrea Cremer

Jillian Heise — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:07:00 +0000

Title: RIFT (NIGHTSHADE prequel series)
Author: Andrea Cremer
Publisher: Philomel (a Penguin imprint)
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Number of Pages: 448
Source of Book: ARC from publisher at IRA

Chronicling the rise of
the Keepers, this is the stunning prequel to Andrea Cremer’s
internationally bestselling Nightshade trilogy!

Sixteen-year-old
Ember Morrow is promised to a group called Conatus after one of their
healers saves her mother’s life. Once she arrives, Ember finds joy in
wielding swords, learning magic, and fighting the encroaching darkness
loose in the world. She also finds herself falling in love with her
mentor, the dashing, brooding, and powerful Barrow Hess. When the
knights realize Eira, one of their leaders, is dabbling in dark magic,
Ember and Barrow must choose whether to follow Eira into the nether
realm or to pledge their lives to destroying her and her kind.

With action, adventure, magic, and tantalizing sensuality, this book is as fast-paced and breathtaking as the Nightshade novels.

It’s no big secret that I love Andrea Cremer’s books – her debut, NIGHTSHADE, was my book obsession of 2010, and I enjoyed the whole series so I was very much looking forward to reading RIFT when I heard about it and knew it was a prequel series. The nice thing about RIFT, as a prequel, is that you can read it without having read the NIGHTSHADE series books, but if you have read them, you’ll see some of the connections being made hundreds of years in the past. I have to say that I think this was my favorite of Andrea Cremer’s books and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

I’m a sucker for strong female main characters, and Ember is a kick-butt heroine who is strong and determined (another trademark of Cremer’s books). She’s not willing to just go along with the status quo, she wants a better (and more interesting) life for herself. She does have vulnerability, too, in fact, the relationship she builds with her horse is really special. I’m not normally a horse person, but the way in which their horses were their own characters in this story, and so important to the people, added a dimension of relationships to this story that was unexpected. As per usual in Andrea Cremer’s books, there is a cast of intriguing, entertaining, maddening, and interesting supporting characters as well.

There is also action in this book with the training scenes and the fighting, but I was almost wishing there were more training scenes. I wanted more fighting with the awesome weapons that come up in this story and the way in which Ember was trained by Barrow was a great way to build tension and develop their relationship. Speaking of their relationship, one thing I was wondering was how old Barrow actually is. Ember is 16, and this takes place a long time ago, but I was picturing Barrow as quite a bit older, so I was having a bit of trouble believing the relationship. Early on in the my reading the book, I asked on twitter because it was throwing me off, and Andrea responded that Barrow is 23. That helped me in reading RIFT because he seemed a lot older to me at first (to which Andrea Cremer reminded me on twitter that he was “raised in a militant order so he has more gravitas than a typical lad”). I have to say, he may be one of the most considerate romantic leads I’ve read recently. He’s a good guy in a time when we need more good guys in YA books!

One of the things I really like about Andrea Cremer’s writing is that I am instantly sucked into these worlds she creates, and I don’t want to leave them. I experienced it with NIGHTSHADE, WOLFSBANE, and BLOODROSE, and I experienced it again with RIFT. She definitely knows how to write some great scenes with romances developing, while still staying appropriate for younger teens, too. Cremer also builds a world well-steeped in history, and it comes across as well-researched and accurate (which I know was kind of her day job that she has a PhD in, so that makes sense), but still interesting and drawing me further into the story. I did notice (which I remembered from the last series) that there are quite a few scenes of conversations that serve as exposition and I have to remember to pay careful attention to them so I know what’s going on with the backstory/history of the world, but as long as I remember that, I can stay in tune with the story. One concern I did have was that I thought one of the major plot points
was a little predictable, or maybe obviously foreshadowed, but then when
I read the synopsis, I realized it mentions it, so it’s not meant to be
that much of a surprise.

RIFT is just as good as NIGHTSHADE (if not better), but a totally different kind of story. The historical world of this fiction is well-drawn. I really, really liked some of these characters and the relationship journey that Ember takes in this book. I also liked the completeness of this as a book on its own, but also how it clearly sets up for what comes next, but it didn’t feel like a cliffhanger ending that would make me crazy – it has its own ending that feels complete. But, I still can’t wait to read the next book in this series, RISE, releasing in January!

THRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J. Maas

Jillian Heise — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Title: THRONE OF GLASS
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Number of Pages: 416
Source of Book: ARC from publisher at IRA

After serving out a
year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes,
18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown
Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must
act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her
opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the
empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats
her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for
three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her
training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging
and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a
little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in
her… but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her
best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead… quickly
followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she
becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads
her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

THRONE OF GLASS was a thrilling, exciting epic fantasy book with magic, action, intrigue, secrets, lies, manipulations, romance, friendships, assassins and some unexpected elements. Sarah J. Maas has written an enthralling book, which, while dense, was a page-turner. I was happily surprised by some of the twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, which made it even more interesting as I discovered truths along with the characters. It’s an interesting mix of magic within a medieval fantasy type of story. The magic is alluded to at the beginning, but doesn’t come in again until a bit later. There is a fully realized fantasy world within these pages-both with the elements of the king and his endeavors to take over the kingdom and the magical elements of the Wyrd and forests beyond. *Note: As this was an ARC, there was no artwork, but I imagine the final book may have a map of some sort that would enhance understanding of this world.

From the very start, 18 year-old Celaena is endearing and inspiring as a strong, determined, kick-butt heroine even after being locked up for slave labor for the past year. She’s so smart…and lethal within seconds. Her ability to be the renowned assassin she is at such a young age, along with her determined nature drew me into this story even more. Yet, her vulnerability and desire for acceptance in the midst of her strength and intelligence is perhaps what drew me to her the most. She is constantly thinking and analyzing escape routes, but is a teen girl who just wants to have a friend at the same time. There seems to be a little something extra to Celaena that we have yet to discover. Interestingly, the book is written in third person; although, it mostly felt as if we got to know what Celaena was thinking more than any other character, so it did at times seem as if she was narrating. As we see her struggles to regain strength and figure out how to earn her way to freedom, we also see her ability to fight any man (or beast) and win along with her cunning mind that led to her becoming the kingdom’s most feared assassin by the age of 17. Beyond just her journey, we’re also given insight into the struggles that Prince Dorian is having with his father’s style of being king, and Chaol’s struggles to remain impassive as the Captain of the Guard against his blooming trust of Celaena as he gets to know her more. These two, along with other secondary characters, add an element of humanity to this story beyond just the magic and champion’s competition. And, yes, it’s another YA book with a love triangle-ish storyline, but for some reason, it didn’t bother me in this book. Although, I was definitely pulling for one of the guys to edge the other one out in the end.

Even with the element of romance and a female main character, I think there’s enough action, fighting, political intrigue, and gruesomeness to hand this one off to guys as well (don’t let the cover deceive you). I can see the Game of Thrones for the YA set comparisons – especially with the strength of the elements of the political maneuvering with the king along with the hidden magical elements. It was a thoroughly enjoyable book, but it wasn’t necessarily a quick-read. I did feel that it was a little densely written (just requiring more attention and thinking-not a bad thing) and the unfamiliar names caused me a little trouble in the beginning until I could get comfortable with a pronunciation in my own head. *And, of course, as I was writing this post, I found this pronunciation guide on the author’s website. Overall, a definite should read for me to recommend to others and I can’t wait to see what’s coming next for these characters and this world!

While you’re waiting for THRONE OF GLASS to release on August 7th, you can read the four novellas that tell the backstory of Celaena Sardotheien: The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, The Assassin and the Desert, The Assassin and the Underworld, The Assassin and the Empire. I enjoyed reading them even after I read the whole book. They give a greater depth and insight into Celaena’s character and what has made her who she is.

MMGM: KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES by Shannon Messenger

Jillian Heise — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Title: KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES
Author: Shannon Messenger
Publisher: Aladdin (a Simon & Schuster imprint)
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Number of Pages: 488
Source of Book: ARC from publisher at ALA

In this riveting debut,
a telepathic girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new
world–before the wrong person finds the answer first.

Twelve-year-old
Sophie has never quite fit into her life. She’s skipped multiple grades
and doesn’t really connect with the older kids at school, but she’s not
comfortable with her family, either. And Sophie has a secret–she’s a
Telepath, someone who can read minds. But the day Sophie meets Fitz, a
mysterious (and adorable) boy, she learns she’s not alone. He’s a
Telepath too, and it turns out the reason she has never felt at home is
that, well…she isn’t. Fitz opens Sophie’s eyes to a shocking truth,
and almost instantly she is forced to leave behind her family for a new
life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known.

But
Sophie still has secrets, and they’re buried deep in her memory for
good reason: The answers are dangerous and in high-demand. What is her
true identity, and why was she hidden among humans? The truth could mean
life or death–and time is running out.

*I was going to hold off on this review until a little bit closer to the release, but I’m so excited to share my love of it that I just couldn’t wait! And, since it’s my first Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post, it’s only appropriate that it’s Shannon Messenger’s book. It could have all just been gush, gush, gushing recommendation, but I tried to format it in a little bit more productive way.

A few months from now you’ll be able to get this book, and you should (especially if you live or work with middle schoolers in any capacity)! KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES blew me away. I knew I really liked Shannon Messenger from following her on twitter and on her blog, and then when I heard she had a middle grades and a young adult book coming out as her debut, I was really looking forward to reading them-especially when I read the summary of each. As a middle school teacher, I was hoping I would like KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES, and I am happy to say that I loved it! I would definitely recommend this middle grades magical fantasy to fans of HARRY POTTER and THE UNWANTEDS. It is a long book, but as it is written so well for the middle grades level, it isn’t overwhelming. There is something just so engaging and fun and entertaining in Shannon Messenger’s third person, descriptive, writing style, and I devoured this book in two days and didn’t want to stop reading until I knew what would happen to these characters and world I wanted to be a part of.

Let’s talk about Setting: Shannon Messenger has created an astoundingly creative fantasy world within KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from the summary alone, and I never expected the “place that is vastly different form what she has ever known” to be so well-developed and thought out. As I was reading an advance reader copy, it was missing the map artwork, so I look forward to getting a finished copy to enhance the reading experience even more. The world of the elves (and not what you ever pictured elves to be) is filled with fantastical creatures (especially love Iggy!), magically evolved elements, and cities built with beyond-this-world materials. This parallel world is such a discovery, not only for Sophie, but for the reader as well. The way it is described made me want to go live there as well. Beyond the Lost Cities within the elven world themselves, there is also Foxfire, which is the school for the nobility that Sophie ends up in. It is a school where she will be trained in her special ability and where she discovers people, places, things, strength, and friendships beyond what she ever would have imagined, and what I would have imagined as well.

We have to talk about Characters: KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES is full of interesting, multidimensional characters. The only thing that threw me a little bit as I read this book was the
number of characters because their names are not ones we’re used to
hearing, so it did take awhile to keep track of who was who in the
beginning. Not only do we get Sophie who has to make some tough decisions and look for people to support her, but we also get Fitz and his family, along with a multitude of other characters throughout the elf world. We see some of the most interesting jobs as Sophie meets these characters which adds to our understanding of how this world works. As she goes to school, we also meet Dex and Keefe among other classmates, and these two become some of the most entertaining characters to interact with Sophie. I kind of adore Keefe myself. He is the snarky guy who brings the humor that Sophie so desperately needs as she adjusts to her new life, and deep down, he is a really good, caring boy. We get some hints as to deeper things going on with Keefe, and I hope we get more of him in the next book. I also really adore Sophie. She has core values that I admire and fights for what she believes and knows is the right thing, even if it means she might get into trouble. I rooted for her as she is a young girl with so much strength and determination to do the right thing and help those she cares about. She is a strong character for the audience of this book.

Talking about Family is important: Sophie has to leave her family to join this hidden world where she actually belongs, and that means she is in a new place, realizing everything she thought she knew is not the way the world actually works, and has no family to rely on and call her own. When she gets placed with guardians to take responsibility for her, she has a whole new set of relationship dynamics to work on. In the end, the storyline with Sophie searching for family and her understanding of loss, adds such depth to the character and the overall book, and adds a dimension that I think many kids will relate to. I know these elements of searching for family to love her and support her and call her own brought some of the most poignant moments of the story for me. Because what child doesn’t want a family to feel safe with and loved by? There was much more of an emotional element to this book than I expected going into it, and that’s a great thing.

Now let’s talk about Plot: While all of the subplots going on in this book add depth and interest to the story, the overall conflict at hand is a mystery as to why Sophie was living in the human world. Unfortunately, as Sophie is so young, the adults looking into things don’t want to include her in the search, but as the clues build up, Sophie has to take it upon herself to try to find out what’s happening and why and who is behind it. Messenger has written a novel with a tightly woven plot strongly balancing small elements, character development, descriptive details, world-building information, and enough action to keep things moving at an engaging pace.

I want to talk Sequel: I know a sequel is coming, and I can’t wait to read it! Although I knew there would be a book following this one, I still feel that this book wrapped up its storyline in a satisfying way. There are no major cliffhangers here, but it still sets up where the second book will go for the next school year. I appreciate this so much because I don’t feel like I’ve been left hanging, but I’m left with enough of a love for this book/world/characters that I definitely want to get my hands on the next book asap, and I hope you’ll feel that way about this one, too!

I think this book will be a big middle grades hit for those who like fantasy and mystery books. From the Preface at the very start, I was hooked on the story as I was instantly pulled into what would have happened to get Sophie to this point. As the story wound it’s way toward that time near the end, it became even more engaging. I think if you are a teacher or librarian or parent of middle school age kids, you and they will feel the same. I absolutely recommend you get KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES in October.

THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater (early recommendation)

Jillian Heise — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 20:26:00 +0000

Title: THE RAVEN BOYS
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Number of Pages: 416
Source of Book: ARC from ALA

“There are only two
reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said.
“Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every
year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the
soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this
year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His
name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at
Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away
from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But
Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it
all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much
more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven
Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege
around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and
Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but
says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been
warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this
would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the
strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races,
comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and
the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

I’m a huge Maggie Stiefvater fan. I’ve read all of her books and was eagerly anticipating THE RAVEN BOYS from the minute I heard about it. This was the first book I went to find at ALA and it was the first one I read on the plane when I flew home from the conference. I was not disappointed. I can say, without hesitation, that this is my favorite Maggie Stiefvater novel so far. She has once again outdone herself with an utterly original world, characters, and storyline that left me clamoring for more.

I’ve always appreciated Maggie Stiefvater’s lyrical writing style, and it continues in this book; however, it almost seemed a little more accessible in this book, but with the typical Maggie flourishes and beautiful descriptions. I get lost in the world of her writing. Maggie has again created a setting that comes alive in the magical town of Henrietta, Virginia. There are places in this town that have more to them than what appears at first glance, and exploring them is part of the fun of this story. Discovering the supernaturally magical elements of this story is even more fun. I appreciated how seamlessly these magical elements were woven into the thread of this narrative and town and characters, and that made them seem so normal and realistic that I never questioned any of the things that were happening to or around them. Everything is explained just as much as I need it to be for me to understand and go along with it as it was happening. Ultimately, there is a type of quest to this story that I believe is going to carry through the whole series. Although this book is clearly setting up the series in a strong way, it still felt like a complete story on its own and I never felt like it was just exposition for the whole series. I was left with questions, but even more so, I was left with wanting to spend more time with this characters and find out what will happen with them next.

Once again Maggie Stiefvater has written characters that I love spending time with and discovering more about. Blue is a strong female character who is confident in herself and doesn’t let what anyone thinks bother her. She is her own person and owns it. She also has some issues within her family she has to come to terms with as she learns more throughout this story. The Raven Boys from Aglionby Academy; Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah, are each endearing in their own way, and they’re all a little bit broken. I truly felt for the boys in this story. Their bond and way of looking out for and supporting each other was admirable, yet they didn’t always do what I hoped they would, but they did what seemed so right for their characters. Oh, how I adored these boys. I just really wanted to swoop in and fix everything for them. There is so much more depth to them than there at first seems, and it is revealed so slowly and masterfully as to make me feel for them even more. There is a bit of a romantic element to this story what with Blue not being able to kiss her true love or he will die, and some interest with a couple of the boys, but I think part of what I loved about this book is that it was about so much more than that. Because of everything else going on with the magical elements, and the boys’ backstories, and the mystery elements, it became about so much more. And all that more was really great.

THE RAVEN BOYS is a unique book, and it’s one that I dearly hope other readers will fall in love with as much as I did. There was just something about this one that struck a chord with me, and I hope it will for many more readers as well. I’ll leave you with one important warning if you are a person who typically peeks at the end of a book before you start-don’t do it in this one! The last line is brutal-both revealing a major secret/revelation, but also making me just want to keep reading-unfortunately, there’s not another book yet (although there will be four in the series). I will be eagerly anticipating book two in The Raven Cycle, as I hope you will too after reading THE RAVEN BOYS when it comes out in September.