False Memory by Dan Krokos

Submitted by Abby, teen reviewer:

Miranda North wakes up on a park bench and realizes that she's lost her memory. She doesn't know anything about herself except her name and age. Then a strange boy named Peter shows her who she is - an elite genetically altered teen with a shocking ability to incite fear in those around her.

I found this book exciting and unusual.  It was unlike anything I've ever read. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 9. I can't wait to read the sequel! This book is suspenseful, clever, and imaginative.  I loved the whole concept of the story and the believable characters.

False Memory is available in stores August 14th.

Dorchester Terrace by Anne Perry

Dorchester Terrace is the 27th book in Anne Perry’s Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Victorian mystery series. Although reading it was like spending time with old friends, the series is definitely ready to wind down. The author spent more time with side characters than she did with the two main characters. The plot did not grab me, and there was more language that felt out of place than usual. (I don't know - is "go rogue" really a phrase that would have been used about people in this time frame?) If you are a fan of the series, you’ll probably enjoy the book well enough, but if you are new to the series I predict it will be hard to follow and to feel engaged by the characters. I recommend starting with the excellent first book in the series, The Cater Street Hangman.

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

Submitted by Lucas, teen reviewer:

I very much enjoyed reading The Last Dragonslayer by New York Times bestselling author Jasper Fford.  It is a light and humorous book featuring Quarkbeasts, wizards, dragons, and magic in a modern setting. The main character, Jennifer Strange, is a sixteen-year-old indentured female who is forced into running a somewhat crazy magic business (charming away groundhogs, rewiring houses, and unclogging drains). Sadly, in the past few decades, magical power has declined dramatically, and sorcerers are not nearly as strong as they were. However, Big Magic is stirring, and with it a chance to either destroy magic forever, or provide a much needed boost in magical power.

If you are the kind of person who loves dark and serious books about magic, such as The Lord of the Rings or The Mortal Instruments series, don't read this book. This book almost never takes itself seriously, with funny but unlikely conversations taking place in a seemingly crazy world with the only sane person being the main character (it resembles A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in this aspect).  Overall, if you are looking for a laugh and don't take magic too seriously, grab this book before it gets checked out!

The Last Dragonslayer is scheduled to be released in October, 2012.

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

Will Schwalbe and his mother Mary Anne have always talked about books together. So when Mary Anne is diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, mother and son use their time sitting at the cancer center (in waiting rooms, in exam suites, in the room where Mary Anne receives her chemotherapy treatments) to formalize their conversations into a "book club."  Through re-reading old favorites and swapping new titles, Will and Mary Anne find themselves connecting with one another in deep and meaningful ways.  Discussing books gives them a safe framework for talking about some of the issues that weigh heavily on them as Mary Anne's cancer rapidly progresses: faith, family, bravery, and ultimately death.

I loved this book. It was such a beautifully written tribute to Schwalbe's mother that when I finished reading it, I felt as if I had known Mary Anne personally and was grieving her along with her family.  Her sense of humor in the face of a truly humorless situation, her ceaseless commitment to the causes she believed in, and her devotion to her family were inspiring.  The compiled bibliography of all the novels Will & Mary Anne discussed in their "book club" served as an added bonus to what was already a gift of a book.

The End of Your Life Book Club comes out this October.

Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas

Celaena Sardothien is a teen-aged assassin. Celaena is the main character in Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. When she was a child, Celaena’s country was destroyed and her parents murdered in their beds by the King of Adarlan, who also eradicated magic from the world (or tried to). Celaena was found by a cruel master who nonetheless took care of her and trained her to be an assassin. A year before the book begins, she was betrayed, caught, and sent to a death camp. After a year as a slave in the mines, she is visited by the Captain of the Royal Guard and the Crown Prince of Adarlan.

The King is having a competition. The winner will become his champion and enforcer. The Prince has chosen Celaena as his sponsored potential champion. If she bests the other 23 competitors in a series of tests, she will become the champion, serve the King for four years, and then gain her freedom. If she loses, she’ll go back to the mines.

Throne of Glass kept my attention and I enjoyed reading it. It has a nice balance of action and character development. I’m not a fan of love triangles, so that annoyed me a bit, and I also have some major issues with Celaena’s attraction to the son of the man who caused her parents’ death. She does not seem to have any inner struggle over her attraction (and I admit, I found the Captain of the Royal Guard a lot more interesting than the Prince). Still Throne of Glass was a good read.

Anyone who loves fantasy adventure with a strong female lead should give Throne of Glass a try. It’s very entertaining.

Silver by Andrew Motion

With a style echoing that of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, author Andrew Motion has written a sequel to that classic tale of pirates and adventure. Building on the fact that not all the treasure had been removed from the island in the original story, Motion sets the stage for a return trip to that benighted place in order to retrieve the remaining silver. The plan is the idea of aging Long John Silver who is living in London. He sends his daughter, Matty, to convince Jim Hawkin’s son, also named Jim, to steal his father’s map of Treasure Island and come on the voyage. For Matty, her share of the silver offers the opportunity for a life on her own, away from the tavern her parents run in the docks area of London.

The story follows the developing friendship of these two young people as well as the voyage to the island, what is found there and the voyage back. The cover of the book says that  “Motion has written a truly accomplished work of literature - rollicking, heartfelt, and utterly brilliant - that would make Robert Louis Stevenson proud.”  While Stevenson would probably say Motion has done a creditable job, with literary merit keeping in the spirit of his original story, he might find the book hardly rollicking, only modestly heartfelt and less than brilliant. Of course, “Brilliant” is a common, frequently used British expression of enthusiasm, no matter the actual degree of greatness. After all, Motion is British and a former Poet Laureate knighted for his service to literature in 2009. His book was originally published in Great Britain. Its publication date in the U.S. is August 2012.

While entertained by the story and its well-continued style of the original, I was not as thrilled as I had hoped to be upon reading the cover. At the end of Silver one is also left with a feeling that Motion could write a sequel. Maybe Tarnished Silver?

Cynthia Heather

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Every once in a while I read a book that is so good I’m not sure if I can write a review. There is something about reviewing an amazing book that is horribly intimidating—nothing I could ever say will do this justice! Frankly, I find it nerve-racking to comment on something so purely awesome. What is there to say besides “wow”? Cheryl Strayed’s autobiography Wild was almost one of those books for me. Is there any aspect could I possibly rehash? How could any explanation of this book be enough? Then I decided I enjoyed Wild so much I had to talk about it, no matter how inadequately.

I remember when I first heard about the book Eat, Pray, Love.  Many of my most beloved friends raved about how spectacular it was. In their words, I absolutely had to experience this journey of a self discovery. Needless to say, my expectations were high. Then a funny thing happened, I couldn’t even hack it to Italy. I disliked the book that much. Who is this whinny, self-absorbed woman? I really wanted to like it, to experience the same camaraderie with the narrator as my friends, but I couldn’t. Where am I going with this? Well, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild is everything I hoped for in Eat, Pray, Love and then some. She is a woman caught up in pain who has made some self-destructive decisions. The key difference is that I found Cheryl Strayed to be likeable and genuine. I also might be impartial to any story about hiking. Might.

Say what you will about Oprah, but her book-selecting minions know their stuff. There is a reason she resurrected Oprah’s Book Club for this title—it’s that good, people. I strongly recommend Wild to any summer reader looking for an adventurous escape.  

Place a hold on Wild