BZRK by Michael Grant

What if the war of the future takes place not in the deserts of the Middle East or in the mountains of Afghanistan or even in cyberspace, but rather inside your own head? A war for your thoughts, your memories, your very ability to think independently. A nanowar.

Dead to You by Lisa McMann

Dead to You by Lisa McMann
"Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old. Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family. It's a miracle... at first. Then the tensions start to build. His reintroduction to his old life isn't going smoothly, and his family is tearing apart all over again. If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he'd be able to put the pieces back together.

But there's something that's keeping his memory blocked. Something unspeakable..."- summary from Lisa's website

It is no secret I love Lisa's books and this one is no exception. It's more of a contemporary than her other books; even though there's the "something unspeakable" in the summary, it's not paranormal-related. It was however an interesting twist though but it comes at the VERY end and it feels like a HUGE abrupt ending. I mean, I guess it's a good ending that doesn't necessarily need more, but it still feels like there should be more to it.

But anyway, let's move on. Like all of Lisa's books, it's a real pageturner. I read it in less than 24 hours and pretty much in just two sittings. Ethan's story and his adjustment back to his old life is just so real and interesting. The interactions between him and, well, everyone is fascinating and runs the gamut of emotions. His parents are relieved, his little brother is upset and dealing with a lot of emotions, his little sister who was born after he disappeared just accepts his appearance and is very innocent about it.

Overall, it is a great new standalone title from Lisa, though the ending is a bit off. It's definitely worth a look though.

The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont

When a galley of The Starboard Sea landed in the bookstore where I work, I gave the flap copy a quick once-over and set the book back down. A novel about a young man at a boarding school in the 1980s who learns (to incongruously quote Alan Jackson) a lot about living and a little about love. Then something on the cover caught my eye—a blurb from Marilynne Robinson. And while hers may not necessarily be a name meaningful to GLW readers, it is to me: her novels Gilead and Home are among the finest published in the last decade (and I feel bad that I still haven’t read her earlier novel Housekeeping nor any of her nonfiction; note to self: rectify that), and she’s spent years teaching at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. So hers is an opinion that I trust, and if she says that a book is good, there’s a good chance that it’ll be worth the time. And so it was that I took a second look at the novel, and that was a good idea.

Phoning ET

Aliens in Hollywood movies, and in most of the alien-related sci-fi reviewed on this site, are fairly easy to find. They might be trying to eat you for instance, or at least take over the planet, or they might be enemies or allies in some great space-opera war. At worst, very shy aliens might require a package of Reese's Pieces and the faith of a child to lure them out of hiding.

But real aliens are much much harder to find. In fact they're so hard to find that they act like they don't exist at all. Confessions of an Alien Hunter by Seth Shostak, one of the leading scientists for SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) presents the science behind trying to find another intelligent species out among the cosmos.

So far, Shostak admits, in its search for evidence of aliens, SETI has come up with very little, or, to be more precise, absolutely nothing. Does that mean we should give up trying? Shostak doesn't think so. He describes the search for ET as an ancient one. The ancient Greeks, for instance, believed in intelligent species on distant worlds. The dream to contact a non-human culture is one that runs deep in the species, and the implications of a successful search would be profound.

The Flying Beaver Brothers by Maxwell Eaton III

Have you met The Flying Beaver Brothers? These two fun-loving semi-aquatic rodents are the stars of Maxwell Eaton III's new graphic novel series. The first two volumes were released simultaneously, giving me instant gratification as I raced through the first book and immediately reached for the second.

#1: The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan
#2: The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Fishy Business

From the get-go, it's obvious that Ace is the smarter brother, creating contraptions and inventions while his brother, Bub, gets distracted and takes naps. However, the pair work well together, and they are both always important to the plot and the solution. When dealing with evil penguins (who, for some reason, don't have eyeballs), up-to-no-good fishes, and other baddies, the beavers somehow always sort things out - a little intentionally (usually Ace), a little accidentally (usually Bub).

If you like the Babymouse series by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm, you'll like The Flying Beaver Brothers. Similar to the Holms' style, Eaton uses only three colors for his illustrations here: black, white, and one bold accent color. The contrast is not only eye-catching, but also effective, as the accent color is specific to the tone of each volume: blue for volume 1, with all of its shenanigans in the sea, and bright green for volume 2, showcasing the forest and the fishes' (false) efforts to "go green."

Not all graphic novels fall into the read-aloud category, but this series would be fun to read with kids, letting different people play the roles of the different animals. The dialogue is silly and fast, and it's funny without ever being gross or rude. There are lots of giggles to be found in these pages, in these pictures and these words. Writer/illustrator Maxwell Eaton has great comic timing; he takes beats when he needs to, putting in panels without dialogue when needed and showing the characters' reactions and interactions clearly. Also, the character names are really fun to say. How often do you meet someone named Bub? Then there are the penguins, Bob and Bob, one of whom speaks perfect English while the other makes "Ka!" sounds. I loved the scene in book #2 when Bob consults his spatula, whom he named Cynthia earlier in the story. This scene made me laugh out loud, and it included a dialogue-free reaction panel as I mentioned earlier, a classic sitcom beat.

I wonder if Ace and Bub have watched the cartoon The Angry Beavers. I think they'd get a kick out of Daggett and Norbert's zany adventures.

I wonder if Bob and Bob have watched The Wrong Trousers, an animated film by Nick Park which features a villainous penguin named Feathers McGraw. (The Wrong Trousers is easily my favorite Wallace & Gromit outing, and one of the few stop-motion films I've truly enjoyed.)

I really hope there are otters in a future installment, and that they are on the side of good, not evil. Maybe they could be Ace and Bub's long-lost cousins...? In any event, I'll definitely be checking it out.

Age/Reading Level: I recommend this series to ages 8 and up; to families with young kids; and to reluctant readers in elementary school.

Sneak a peek at The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan.

Read the beginning of The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Fishy Business.

There is No Dog by Meg Rosoff

In the beginning, Bob created the heavens and earth, the animals and plants and people -- especially hot babes. Bob is a shiftless teenager, content to eat junk food, lay about in bed and let his dirty clothes moulder in a heap on his bedroom floor. He is also the lord and creator of the Earth and all that inhabit it. And he's in love with Lucy. And when Bob falls in love, it brings about floods and drought and fire and all manner of disaster.

It falls to Mr. B, Bob's aide-de-camp, to try and make things right. But Mr. B is fed up with Bob's lax hand and puts in his resignation. The flood waters are rising, things are looking bad for the Earth. Will the God to whom the humans pray get his head out of his ass and make things right, save his creations? 

As you might have guessed, this book is not for the faint of heart. It's hilarious and irreverent and kind and wonderful. Rosoff is a top-notch novelist, and I can't recommend her novels enough. But let's be frank. Sometimes people find it difficult or distasteful to read about religion in less-than-reverent stories. And that's a shame. Discourse around religion and faith has gotten nasty and charged of late, but I think it's something that's on everyone's mind, even if you don't ascribe to a particular belief system. I think we want to talk about these big questions, want to talk about why we're here, why, when we fall in love, it sometimes feels like the world is imploding around us (literally, in Bob's case). Sometimes the official discourse can feel constrained, too many thou shalts and not enough what ifs. Some of us are lucky enough to have sensitive and intelligent clergy or other people around to hash out these questions. But novels are also great spaces to build these conversations, especially if the books are really funny. I choked on my coffee when I came across the phrase "zepplin tittied trollop."

Department 19 by Will Hill

Abraham van Helsing thought that, after the events described in Dracula, vampires were eradicated and so posed no more threat to humans. In 1892, the famous vampire hunter learned he was wrong. There were still vampires out there, threatening human lives. And so Department 19--England's most secret government organization--was created to fight vampires, werewolves, and other monsters.

The descendants of Department 19's founding families are automatically invited to join the organization, also known as Blacklight, upon their 21st birthday. Jamie Carpenter is only sixteen, but when he learns of Blacklight's existence, he is determined to earn a place in it right away. Because he can't waste any time, not if he wants to find his mother, who was just kidnapped by vampires.

Will Hill's Department 19 is like the Alex Rider spy series on steroids. With, as the van Helsing reference implies, a couple of characters from classic literature and some twists on vampire mythology. It's long--over 500 pages--but filled with action and reads much more quickly than its length might suggest. If you like high octane action and would rather see vampires splatter rather than sparkle, give this book a try. It kicks off a series with the same name; book two will be published in August.

Cold Cereal by Adam Rex

Just what makes those Lucky Charms so "magically delicious™?" Why, the imprisonment of leprechauns, unicorns, uni…cats and other fantastic creatures.

At least, that’s according to Cold Cereal, the new fantasy novel by Adam Rex.

Goodborough, New Jersey, is the home of Goodco, a sugary cereal company that dominates millions of breakfast tables with an iron spoon—er…fist. The town is also the new home of Scottish Play Doe and his family. His mother has just accepted a job there. Scott’s absent dad is a famous actor whose latest claim to fame is punching the Queen of England in the face.

Making friends at a new school is pretty hard when you have a name as strange as Scott’s. Thankfully, he finds some pretty weird friends. Erno and Emily Utz are genius twins who look nothing alike. Their foster father, Mr. Wilson, also works for Goodco and is constantly challenging them with games of coded logic. Like when he suddenly stops using the letter E.

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Locke Lamora is a thief and con artist plying his trade in the ancient city of Camorr. Tricking the nobles of Camorr out of their fortunes is little more than a game for him and his gang, the Gentleman Bastards. But then a mysterious figure known as the Grey King decides to use Locke as a pawn in his bid to take over Camorr's organized crime syndicate. And to make matters worse, the Duke's secret police, the Midnighters, are on Locke's trail for his crimes against the nobles.

I've been burnt out on fantasy novels lately. Instead of fully fledged stories with character development; subtext; and actual, satisfying conclusions, too many fantasy authors are content to stretch one or two good ideas into an entire series, each book ending in a cliffhanger designed to make you buy the next book.

Because of that, I was hesitant when a friend recommended Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora. In fact, he recommended it several times before finally shoving the book in my hands and making me read it.

If You're Sick of Hunger Games Hype . . .

You might have heard, perhaps for the thousandth time within the last few seconds, that The Hunger Games movie is coming out on Friday. (If you haven't heard, let me be the first to welcome you back from Narnia. Not much has happened while you were away, but there is this Hunger Games thing . . .) If you've been to a bookstore--that is, if you can still find a bookstore--you might have come across a display of books under a sign that reads something like "If you liked The Hunger Games, you'll love these!" Somewhere in that display, you will undoubtedly find Nancy Farmer's The House of the Scorpion.

As someone who did like The Hunger Games, I will second that recommendation right here. In fact, I'll go further. I think you might like The House of the Scorpion even if you hated The Hunger Games. You might like The House of the Scorpion even if, just to spite all the hype, you refuse to ever read The Hunger Games for as long as you live.