Powerful Debut

Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown

New York : Henry Holt and Co., 2020.

294 p. ; 22 cm.

This is a super creative and really well written debut YA novel.  The subtitle of Black Girl Unlimited is The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard, and it's back cover states, it is "Part memoir, part magic" - and these are two good clues to the power of this novel. This is no Harry Potter wizardry, but instead a kind of rare natural/supernatural inheritance of access to the power and mystery of the "in between zone." 

The novel deals head on with hard issues of sexual assault, drug addiction, poverty and crime - but does it in a way that is not despairing, but also not falsely optimistic. The hero of this novel is the main character, Echo Brown (see, there's the part memoir) who is academically talented and motivated. She only gradually realizes that she is a wizard and that her power as one is limited but can grow.  One of the coolest aspects is that as a wizard she can occasionally stop time and use that stopped time to try and influence others for the better.

The novel is a great story of the power of determination, bravery, family ties, intellectual curiosity and bravery in the face of addiction, poverty, racism and violence. 

My only hesitations with the novel (which I was surprised to not see brought up in reviews) are the heavy use of vernacular from characters in her poor neighborhood (including her Mom and brothers). And then there is an unfortunate description of one of the most powerful elderly women wizards as being "a quarter Cherokee on her mother's side" according to everyone in Echo's neighborhood, and who is also said to have "learned all her magic stuff from her grandmother." 

That said, it's a powerful novel about obstacles and triumphs facing a young black girl as she comes of age and gets in touch with her inner strength and power.

     

Art Lives!

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older 

New York, NY : Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., c2015.    

297 p. ; 20 cm. 

I had been wanting to read this book for quite a while. I was going to read it during Hispanic Heritage Month, but a students checked out the copies we had (which is great!). So when they came back in I checked it out to myself and read it.

Shadowshaper is the debut novel writers dream of - it was a "Top Ten" on ALA and YALSA lists, a "Best Book of the Year" at NPR and Publishers Weekly, and received stellar reviews, etc. The praise was not undeserved. It's a wonderfully creative novel - undergirded by concerns of ethnic heritage, sexism, gentrification, cultural appropriation - that manages to be a supernatural thriller, urban fantasy, and coming of age story all at once.

At the heart of the story is Sierra a Puerto Rican teen artist/muralist living in Brooklyn. As the story unfolds she learns that her powers are not just artistic, but connected to an age old spiritual power that allows her to bring spirits into her works of art - literally bringing them to life.  This of course would be a ho-hum story without an evil force that seeks to destroy shadowshapers like Sierra so as to gather all that power into himself.  It is a life-and-death danger and Sierra must confront it head on with the help of a another shadowshaping artist - Robbie - and her friends and brother.  The battle between the forces of Sierra and her allies and their nemesis provides the action of the novel.

For some this action will be what draws and holds them in the story.  For me this was the weakest part of the novel. The climactic battle scenes feel like they owe too much action movie staging. I found the most moving parts of the novel were the beginnings of Sierra's understanding of her powers and the descriptions of the art works coming to life, and her meeting with her grandmother's spirit.  But that's me, and I recognize that the gruesome creatures and the bone-crunching fights will be what keeps many readers going right to the satisfying end.

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2018.

1st ed.

447 p. ; 22 cm. 

A mother and her two teen daughters relocate to the wrong island to move past the grief of the father's recent death. It's the wrong island because it has a history of being a place where every ten years or so a girl goes missing - and one more has just disappeared before they arrive.  And the pace of these crimes is picking up fast.

This is not a novel about any ordinary human serial killer.  The villain is a supernatural monster whose feasting on its victims is pretty gruesome stuff!  I won't give a ton of spoilers, except to note that the newly arrived family is soon right at the center of the action,  along with two other teen females who live on the island.  Though most on the island have no clue about the monster, it does have allies and enemies among humans - both on the island and back on the mainland.  

A lot of the "fun" of this novel is learning bit by bit what's happening and who's involved - and with the way the plot picks up its pace so that by the end you are turning pages to see just what's going to happen.  Along the way there are deaths, betrayals, love, romance and danger (of course).

For me, I didn't care so much for the supernatural elements of the novel - the natural world is tied up in the paranormal events in which horses, moths, the sea and even the rocks all get involved.  But there is a strong gothic-horror atmospherism to this tale, along with interesting characters, and a strong underlying feminism that keeps it all moving. So if you are into thrilling horror with a strong infusion of action and paranormal energies and monsters then this novel will keep you satisfied right to its last page.      

Gruesome Transformations

Nightstruck by Jenna Black
New York : Tor Teen, a Tom Doherty associates book, 2016.
302 p. ; 22 cm.

This was an exciting, creative, and very readable paranormal, horror novel. The hero of this tale, Becket, unwittingly becomes the bridge to a portal to evil forces, allowing them to enter the regular world and wreak havoc in Philadelphia.  At sunset inanimate objects come to life inflicting injury and death on anyone caught outside. People are safe from these terrifying "constructs" as long as they are indoors, but some of the people caught outside become Nightstrucks - accomplices to the forces violence and mayhem taking over the city at night - and they can enter homes and do violence.

The novel builds in horror and suspense as it goes on, claiming surprising victims and pitting the hero of the novel against her best friend who has become one of the Nightstruck.  The hero also gets to find romance in this terrible time, so all is not bad...

However, the novel has a few problems, that remain unanswered.  The above mentioned best friend is unlikable before her transformation, and absolutely horrid afterward - and yet the hero of the novel just can't seem to fully reject her.  Also one has to wonder why the supernatural horror is limited to the boundaries of Philadelphia?

Problems aside, the novel is exciting and keeps one's attention.  Its ending is pretty surprising and clearly invites a sequel.  The reviews of the sequel are not very good, and I started it and had to agree that the first few pages were pretty bad.  Maybe the author should have let it end at one installment, but my guess is that she was under pressure to drag it out into at least a trilogy and maybe more, which is too bad.

     

A Hell of a Read

Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2014.
343 p. ; 22 cm.

This was just what the doctor ordered.  A fun, excitingly plotted high school adventure and romance featuring the drama crowd and - unexpectedly - a very handsome young male librarian who just happens to be a demon wreaking havoc on the school for his nefarious plot to take over the underworld throne...

Sounds crazy, right?  Yes.  The best part is that the book just rolls with the nonsense and if your roll with it you get caught up in the main character's heroic quest to save her best friend from an eternity of being a demon's consort, to save her school from a pending massacre, and to - create the best stage props ever for the school production of Sweeney Todd.

It's a really enjoyable mix of the supernatural plus high school friendships/romance plus thrills and danger.  If you've been lost in following the hellish news of the world, this fun romp with a strong female hero is a welcome break.

    

Cruel Justice

Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant
New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2015.
260, 12 p. ; 21 cm. 

Michael Grant is no stranger to writing bestsellers - his sprawling Gone series is popular, and I'm guessing this new series will do pretty well, too. 

The novel opens with a confused and disoriented main character seemingly lost in a surreal, magical and ominous reality of mists, muted colors and strange characters.  As the novel develops the reader learns that it is a supernatural world of spirits, demons, and demigods that lies behind everyday reality - and is the realm in which justice and injustice are exacted against rather puny and powerless humans who transgress against the moral order.

Grant is good at creating a frightening, magical and oppressive atmosphere and conveying the ways in which fear and imagination can be as terrifying as actual physical events. 

The writing is a little uneven.  I found that it got better as it went along.  The plotting is pretty good, though my guess is that readers will question question just how immoral some of the actions of characters are.  Is it really so terrible to kill off an animal that has been badly hurt in an accident - does it require the intervention of the cosmic forces of good and evil?

Problems aside, I think that readers wanting a creative horror novel will enjoy this read.  As School Library Journal put it in a review, the book will "delight those readers who enjoy a little gore and horror in their books."

Classic Yuck!

The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey
New York : Simon & Schuster BFYR, c2010.
424 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.

Yancey's follow-up to The Monstrumologist is great; I think an even better book than the first. As in The Monstrumologist there is plenty of gruesome gore and supernatural violence - bodies turn up flayed, eviscerated, and missing eyes and faces. There are basements full of green sewage and dead bodies. What raises this book above all the ick is it's finely crafted plot and superbly drawn main characters - Dr. Warthrop the late 19th century monstrumologist and his orphaned assistant are fully developed and interesting characters.

The framing of this novel, like the first one, is a clever device attributing the story to the journals of a very old, deceased William Henry - giving the novel an air of authenticity. It also benefits from many references to people and events of the period, so that it reads a bit like historical fiction - but without the dullness that genre sometimes exhibits.

Our book group at the high school just finished Stephen King's Pet Sematary - and the contrast couldn't be greater. Where King's writing is sloppy and uneven, this book was tight and elegant. I'm definitely a fan.

Werewolves, and Vampires, and Shadow Hunters, Oh My!

City of Bones

by Cassandra Clare
New York : Simon Pulse, 2007.
1st U.S. ed.
340 p. ; 24 cm.

I have to be up front and admit that this is not really my kind of book, but that being said, it was a fun read with a very imaginative and compelling plot. Where does one start with this realistic/fantasy set in New York. Regular high school girl Clara Fray quickly finds out she's anything but regular and quickly becomes part of the world that we regular folks (mundanes) never see. It is a world of demon killers (shadow hunters), down worlders, raveners, the Forsaken, magic, portals, etc. (you get the picture). The story revolves around Clara coming into her own as she seeks to find out who she really is, how she can save her mother, and who she can love and trust.

Clara is an admirable protagonist - not ridiculously smart, but smart, brave, loyal and oddly normal. The strange coexistence of magic and the normal world recalls Rowling, Gaiman, and Meyer. The plot has just enough romance along with plenty of fights, blood and scariness.

This is the first book in a trilogy, and I assume it will be popular.

Not For the Breakfast Table

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yance
New York : Simon & Schuster BFYR, c2009.
434 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.

This book is a Printz honor book - and it is a compelling read. This book would be a great step up for fans of the Cirque du Freak series. There is lot (and I mean lots) of gore and bloodshed. Because most of the violence is committed by monsters that are like humanoid great white sharks, it is more fantastical and less offensive than simple murder and mayhem stories.

The book is well-plotted and conceived, cleverly nested as a story from the late 1800s as conveyed in the journals of an old man who has passed away in a retirement home.

The novel has also features a likable orphan protagonist and uses many of the stock in trade tricks of Gothic horror - gloomy midnights in graveyards, basement labs, and underground lairs where the last monsters must be hunted. The novel has some creative touches in references to the civil war period and to the gruesome habits of parasites (an interesting comparison could be made to Peeps in this regard.)