Lockstep by Karl Schroeder: The Pain of Time Away

Lockstep by Karl Schroeder Published: March 25th, 2014 Publisher: Tor Books Genre(s): Science Fiction, Young Adult Format: eBook Length: 352 pages Lockstep is a fantastic, entertaining novel that I find a bit difficult to summarize. The short version is that it will probably appeal to readers of young adult and hard scifi, but existing experience … Read more

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

Published: October 12, 2010 Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy Format: eBook Length: 352 pages In Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, Sam LaCroix is a college drop-out with a dead-end job at a burger joint. He just coasts along, hanging out with his friends/coworkers Ramon, Brooke and Frank, never quite satisfied with his … Read more

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Published: September 27th 2011 Publisher: Walker Books Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy, Horror Format: Hardcover Length: 215 pages A Monster Calls is a young adult book with a deceptively simple plot – a thirteen year-old boy wakes up in the middle of the night and discovers a monster in his back yard – that reveals an … Read more

Young Adult: Just Another “Dumbed-Down” Genre

Recently while thoroughly frittering away an evening online, I decided to respond to a commenter who was doing a bit of trolling with some admittedly low-hanging fruit. The thread was over at io9, which actually has what I consider the rare comments section worth reading, and it was on their post about essential SF&F reads … Read more

Every Day by David Levithan

Published: August 28th, 2012 Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy Format: Hardcover Length: 336 pages Note: The narrator of Every Day is essentially genderless, but for simplicity’s sake I use male pronouns throughout this review. David Levithan is an interesting standout in the young adult / fiction world. He seems more … Read more

Shift by Kim Curran

Published: September 4, 2012 Publisher: Strange Chemistry Genre(s): Science Fiction, Young Adult, Horror Format: eBook Length: 320 pages Shift is the story of Scott Tyler, a British teenager who accidentally discovers that he has the power to “shift” between possible realities by changing his past decisions. Along with this discovery comes his entry into a … Read more

Across The Universe by Beth Revis

Published: January 11, 2011 Publisher: Razorbill Genre(s): Young Adult, Science Fiction, Romance Format: Hardcover Pages: 416 Across the Universe is a mash-up of scifi, mystery, and young-adult fiction, with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. In a nutshell, it tells the story of a colony seed-ship on a journey towards a distant … Read more