Thrive (The Overthrow, Book 3)

(If you haven't, I encourage you to read Bloom and Hatch, Books 1 and 2 in The Overthrow series, first. You'll want to know the whole story. Really.)

 

Written by Kenneth Oppel

HarperCollins

978-1-4434-5691-3

404 pp.

Ages 10-14

May 2021

 

First there were the black grasses, strangling vines and pit plants (Bloom, 2020). Then came the eggs that developed into mosquito birds, giant water striders and horrific mega-worms (Hatch, 2020). Now, in the conclusion to Kenneth Oppel's The Overthrow trilogy, the cryptogens themselves are coming to invade. But will they succeed in overthrowing humans for the planet?

Being a teen is hard enough but, for Anaya, Petra and Seth who have dealt with strange allergies and physical ailments all their lives, things have gotten a lot stranger since learning that they have cryptogenic DNA that has given them extraordinary powers but also unconventional bodies. Anaya is a runner, with unusual body hair and claws. Petra has an affinity for swimming and has scaly skin and a tail. Seth is a flyer with razor-sharp wings and a powerful sound weapon. During the horrific experimentation on the kids and others like them at the hands of the nasty Dr. Ritter, they learned that they are able to telepathically communicate with each other and Anaya was able to connect with the cryptogen she calls Terra. 

 

This connection has lead to the arrival of a ship, at the conclusion of Hatch and the beginning of Thrive, from which a trio of rebel cryptogens have emerged. Terra, who is a runner and scientist as well as pilot, is accompanied by another scientist, a swimmer for whom Petra uses the pronouns ze and zir, and a flyer who was a military leader, hence their moniker of him as the general. Together the three cryptogens had formed an alliance, and a rebel movement of several hundred was established to overthrow the flyers who have used their sound power to keep runners and swimmers enslaved to them. 

The rebels admit that Anaya, Petra and Seth, as well as the other hybrid children, had been implanted with DNA to help produce a virus to destroy the flyers' ability to use sound as a weapon and thus to help them defeat their oppressors. Now the rebels have come to earth to retrieve that hidden DNA.

 

While Petra helps the swimmer to get materials needed to repair their ship and Anaya works with Terra to develop the virus, Seth worries for Esta, a hybrid flyer such as himself, with whom he'd bonded at Dr. Ritter's bunker facility. Learning that Esta, like most hybrid cryptogens, is being detained at an internment camp, Seth sneaks out to rescue her and ends up captured along with Esta and others by the primary ship of invaders. Now Seth has to decide whether he agrees with Esta who believes the cryptogen commander, a flyer, really has their best interests at heart, or whether a rebellion against the flyers is necessary to stop the oppression of the runners and swimmers and an invasion of earth.

Kenneth Oppel pounds out his story of an alien invasion and rebellion with little respite for the reader, just as there was none for the trio of teens who are thrown from one alarming situation to the next. Even before the initial arrival of terrifying plants and menacing creatures, Anaya, Petra and Seth have had to manage their physical stresses. Now with the menace of extraterrestrials, they have to balance being seen as both threats and saviours, and doing what they can, what they want to and what they'd rather not. There's always some new threat with which they must deal and, as they are punched with pressure after pressure, as each new creature and knowledge is revealed, Kenneth Oppel takes the reader with them. As such, Thrive is an intense read, throwing the reader along with the story's characters, from one dangerous situation to the next, manoeuvring on a flying platform, being swallowed by a wall, fighting off a wolverine squid or plunging through the atmosphere in a pod with limited oxygen. The action is relentless and it's not until the very end that Kenneth Oppel lets us know how The Overthrow, the series and the operation, actually turns out. I won't give away the ending but I will reassure that the wild ride that is Thrive leaves room for a sigh and a promise for resolution.

He was half human, half cryptogen, but for the first time in his life, he was starting to feel whole. (pg. 404)

• • • • • • •

The Overthrow (a.k.a. Bloom Trilogy) 

Bloom (2020)

Hatch (2020)

Thrive (2021)

Ghosts: Book launch (Winnipeg, MB)

The final book in David A. Robertson's 

The Reckoner Trilogy 

is set to be released!

•••••••••

First came

Strangers

  Written by David A. Robertson
HighWater Press
978-1-55379-676-3
216 pp.
Ages 14+2017

Reviewed here

then 

Monsters

 Written by David A. Robertson
HighWater Press
978-1-55379-748-7
246 pp.
Ages 14+

2018 

Reviewed here

and now

Ghosts

 The Reckoner Trilogy, Book 3

Written by David A. Robertson

HighWater Press

978-1-55379-762-3

241 pp.

Ages 14+

May 2019 

which launches

Thursday, May 30, 2019

at

7 p.m.

McNally Robinson Booksellers

Grant Park in the Atrium

Winnipeg, MB

Author David A. Robertson 

will be in attendance at this event

hosted by CBC's Shelagh Rogers

with

special guest writer Warren Cariou

The Triumphant: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

It's finally here!

The final book in

The Valiant Trilogy

Fallon's story began in

The Valiant

and her fight continued in

 The Defiant

Now

author

Lesley Livingston

completes Fallon's story with

the launch 

of

The Triumphant

Written by Lesley Livingston

Razorbill

9780451480682

416 pp.

Ages 12+

February 2019

on 

Thursday, March 7, 2019

(sorry for the short notice!)

7 -10 p.m. 

at

Dominion Pub and Kitchen

500 Queen St. E.

Toronto, ON

The event is open to all ages! 

(Don't let the pub in the venue name dissuade you from taking in this event.)

⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔⚔

The following blurb about the book comes from Penguin Random House Canada at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/577072/the-triumphant-by-lesley-livingston/9780451480682:

The final book in the Valiant series takes Fallon and her warrior sisters on an epic journey from the corrupt Roman Republic to the wonder of the ancient world: Alexandria, Egypt.

In the wake of their victorious fight to win back the Ludus Achillea, Fallon and her gladiatrix sisters have become the toast of the Republic. However, as a consequence of his actions during the Ludus uprising, Fallon's love Cai has been stripped of his Decurion rank and cast down to serve as one of Caesar's gladiators.

Amid fighting for Cai's freedom, Fallon soon learns that Caesar's enemies are plotting against him and planning to get revenge on his fearsome gladiatrices. When Caesar is murdered by these conspirators, Fallon and the girls lose any sort of protection they once had. Fallon also realizes that the foreign queen Cleopatra is now in grave danger.

Fallon rallies her war band and Cai's friends to get Cleopatra out of the city, and the group heads to the safety of Cleo's homeland, Alexandria, Egypt. Once there, the gladiatrices are promised a place of honor in the queen's elite guard, but is that what any of them really want? 

The Stone Heart: The Nameless City, Book 2

Written and illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks

Colored by Jordie Bellaire

First Second

978-1-62672-159-3

243 pp.

Ages 8-13

2017

Yesterday I jumped on The Nameless City bandwagon with my review of the first book in this trilogy (The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks, First Second, 2016) and am fortunate to have been able to read the second book The Stone Heart immediately. Now I just wish September 2018, the release date for Book 3 The Divided Earth, wasn't months away.

When we left the Nameless City in Book 1 of the series, Kaidu and Rat had helped save the ruler, the General of All Blades, and his son Erzi from assassination.  It is three months later and the General is proceeding with the plan of General Andren, Kaidu's father, to unite the factions of the Nameless City and beyond in one council.  Erzi believes the plan absurd but more so because he had always envisioned himself as the city's next ruler.

"You promised it to me." (pg. 19)

From The Stone Heart 

by Faith Erin Hicks

The secret of how the Northern People tunnelled through the mountain is at the heart of the power struggle and peace in the Nameless City and it seems everyone wants to learn all they can. There are legends of a great fire that could burn through rock and flesh but it is generally accepted that, even if the formula were discovered, perhaps hidden by the monks at the Stone Heart, no one now has the ability to translate their language.  Through back stories, we learn that Erzi's bodyguard, Mura, once lived at the monastery at the Stone Heart and was turned out after which she was rescued by Erzi.  She obviously harbours much bitterness towards the monks and this comes to play after Erzi becomes the new General of All Blades and the search for the formula drives them to storm the Stone Heart for answers.

From The Stone Heart

by Faith Erin Hicks

The clash of peoples who want different things for the Nameless City and for themselves is at the core of The Stone Heart.  Erzi's father is attempting to embrace all who live within the city and outside to help rule but Erzi will not have it, knowing the power he would lose.  How to balance the needs of a few over the greater good is key in The Stone Heart, and, needless to say, there is much violence, discrimination and power struggles as this balance is set askew. Faith Erin Hicks's story is both adventure and character study, a fine mix of "What's going to happen next? and "Did he really do that?"

It is only in The Divided Earth that we will learn how the Nameless City will be saved, and saved it will be surely with Kai and Rat at the front of the pack.

The Nameless City

Written and illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks

Color by Jordie Bellaire

First Second (Roaring Brook Press)

978-1-62672-157-9

232 pp.

Ages 8-13

2016

It's time for me to join the growing fan base of Faith Erin Hicks's The Nameless City graphic novel series before the final book, The Divided Earth, comes out in September 2018.  There is lots to applaud in this first book of the middle grade trilogy (and even more in Book 2, The Stone Heart, which I will review next), not least of which are its diverse cultural landscape and strong characters.  Oh, and did I mention Faith Erin Hicks's vivid artwork inked and coloured by award-winning artist Jordie Bellaire? 

The Nameless City, the place, is probably the most important character in The Nameless City, the book.  It is an incredible metropolis, albeit one akin to that of 13th c. China, that has many names but all those given by outsiders, hence its moniker by those in the know as the Nameless City. Because of a tunnel, created mysteriously by the long-gone Northern People, through the mountain to the ocean, the city has been conquered time and time again. For the past 30 years, the city has been dominated by the Dao whose warrior leader, the General of All Blades, rules over the city.  Kaidu, a thirteen-year-old boy from the Dao homelands, has just arrived at the city's palace to train as a Dao warrior along with other boys under the tutelage of Erzi, son of the General of All Blades, and Erzi's bodyguard, the strange Myra.

From The Nameless City

by Faith Erin Hicks

When Kaidu gets lost outside the palace, he meets Rat, a spry runner and roof-jumper who, in exchange for food, teaches him to race and climb. Rat, who lives at the monastery at the Stone Heart, harbours much anger towards the city's invaders but she warms to Kai and he to her as they attempt to find a way to bring peace to the city and its people.  Of course, there are plots emerging both to bring the city together and to tear it apart, including an assassination attempt on the General and his son, but Kai and Rat are at the heart of trying to make things right for all the inhabitants of the Nameless City.

From The Nameless City 

by Faith Erin Hicks

Faith Erin Hicks may have used ancient China as an informal blueprint for the setting of The Nameless City, but the book is its own story, both in plot and characters, though some scenarios are all too familiar.  The Nameless City may be rich in cultural diversity but, with the numerous groups within the city and outside vying for place, whether to dominate or to live amicably with others, there comes much intolerance and discrimination, mostly between the invaders and the conquered.

From The Nameless City 

by Faith Erin Hicks

Fortunately, Faith Erin Hicks has created a world of possibilities for peace and tolerance, and she's done it with flair and detail, illustrating a passion against bad and for good.  The Nameless City, nominated for a 2017 Silver Birch Fiction award, could promote itself as historical fiction with the credibility of place and time but, for young readers, it's the composite of story and graphics that have made it a hit which inevitably will sustain it through Books 2 and 3.

➣➣➣➣➣➣➣

Check back for my review of Book 2 in The Nameless City trilogy, The Stone Heart (First Second, 2017).

Dragonfly Kites / Pimithaagansa

by Tomson Highway

Illustrated by Julie Flett

Fifth House Publishers

978-1-89725-263-5

32 pp.

Ages 4+

March 2016

The two young Cree brothers from Tomson Highway’s Caribou Song (Fifth House, 2013) return in a new release of the second tale from the author and playwright’s Magical Songs of the North trilogy. This time the boys and their parents and dog Ootsie are heading to spend the summer further north in Manitoba.

From Tomson Highway’s reminiscent text and Julie Flett’s creative and evocative illustrations, Dragonfly Kites takes readers to a simpler time and one deep in traditions. A time of traveling north by canoe and erecting a tent by a lake so papa and mama could fish while the boys played by themselves on land, and “think up games with made-up toys.” (pg. 6) The boys are only limited by their imaginations and because their imaginations are so expansive, there are no constraints on their play.

They create personalities from sticks.  They make friends of terns, loons, rabbits, and eaglets.  And they create magical kites from dragonflies and string. But even after the sun sets and the boys are asleep, their dragonfly kites take them on wondrous adventures.

From Dragonfly Kites by Tomson Highway, illus. by Julie Flett

The story of Dragonfly Kites is both uplifting and calming and beautifully captivated by Julie Flett’s illustrations.  The clean lines of her art may appear to be stark but they conjure the lavish environment of the lakes and north of Tomson Highway’s story so persuasively that any “more” would have been too much.

Like Caribou Song, Dragonfly Kites is presented in English and Cree and shares another aspect of traditional Cree ways, the summer in the north. While most young readers could not imagine a whole summer away from their technology, Joe and Cody demonstrate the richness of a life based in family, the natural world and imaginative play is more than enough to fill their days and their dreams.

Crash: The Game, Book 3

by Eve Silver

Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins

978-0-06-219219-6

357 pp.

Ages 13+

June 2015

If you haven't read Rush and Push, Books 1 and 2 respectively of Eve Silver's The Game trilogy, do read them first.  Crash will be all the more enjoyable with the background gleaned from the first two books.  And you'll see why Rush won the 2015 White Pine award of the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading readers' choice award program.


><><><><><><><><><><><><><

Everything that teen Miki Jones thought she knew about the game–in which she and boyfriend Jackson and friend Luka are pulled into by the Committee to fight the alien Drau–comes crashing down in Crash, Eve Silver's final book of her The Game trilogy.

As debilitating and off-centering as the car crash that has landed both Miki's father and her best friend Carly clinging to life in hospital, so is Miki's understanding of how the game works after she finds herself telepathically communicating with an unarmed Drau who pleads for mercy.  This is not the enemy they’ve all been told about.  And now there’s some weird stuff going on in the game, with the players feeling sluggish and images breaking up into pixels, and then it’s not even being played the way they’ve learned it to be.  Even outside the game, Miki keeps getting this creepy feeling like she’s being watched.

So not only is she worrying about her father and Carly and maybe even Jackson leaving her like so many important people in her life already have, now she is brought before the Committee who question her about that encounter with the Drau.  Fortunately, Jackson's sister, Lizzie, who had died in the game but has connected with Miki from a different dimension, instructs Miki how to keep the Committee from getting inside her head and taking over all her memories.

Everything is a muddle.  How is Miki to reconcile what she knows, what she believes, what she feels, and what Jackson says and does, with what they are being told?  Too many inconsistencies and the feeling of being manipulated has Miki on a trajectory to crash through everything she knows or thinks she knows.

Crash is a fitting conclusion, wrapping up The Game trilogy with a very convincing resolution to the story of manipulation for entertainment purposes by an almost omnipotent entity.  And while Eve Silver reassures the reader that there are happy endings for seemingly ill-fated couples and that for those repeatedly overwhelmed by loss it is not endless,  The Game trilogy is a cautionary tale of finding enjoyment in war and destruction, even if it seems to be only in an action-packed role-playing game.  Enjoy the action of the story, including a number of cliff-hangers, but heed its subtle message.  Eve Silver has shared it so expressively, making it worthy of noting.

Raging Star (Dust Lands, Book 3)

Written by Moira Young

Doubleday Canada

978-0385679244

448 pp.

Ages 12+

May, 2014

Proclaimed as "Better than The Hunger Games" (MTV's Hollywood Crush), Moira Young's trilogy Dust Lands embeds the reader in a dystopian world that has the characters struggling first with brutality then survival and finally retribution in this final book, Raging Star.  Set in motion with the abduction of Saba's twin Lugh in Blood Red Road (Doubleday, 2011; reviewed here), Saba has endured life as the cage-fighter known as the Angel of Death, met Jack and the Free Hawks who help her free Lugh, and then part ways as she and Jack attempt to rebuild connections with others, all within the threat of the Pathfinder's establishment of New Eden (Rebel Heart, Doubleday, 2012; reviewed here).

Saba has become the unofficial leader of a motley resistance group that includes Lugh, her younger sister Emmi, the deaf boy Tommo, the raider Creed, Free Hawk Ash, Ike's beautiful Molly and travelling medicine man Slim.  In secret collaboration with Jack who has infiltrated the Tonton, Saba works to sabotage the Pathfinder's (DeMalo's) plans for a new world he has envisioned.  While young teens are paired as Stewards to settle on plots of land in New Eden, babies and children are raised at Eden House to become Stewards, and slaves are used to construct roads and bridges, Saba is unsure of the efficacy of destroying the Pathfinder's work by violent means.  It doesn't help that she is conflicted by her feelings for Jack, who seems less loving to her, and DeMalo, who convincingly suggests that all her friends and family would be safe if she would agree to be his.

Still, encouraged by the very images DeMalo uses to impress others of his vision of a new world, Saba suggests the idea of using non-violence to ensure a New Eden that accepts all, gaining power through bringing families and loved ones together again.  As shrewd as that plan may sound, not everyone believes it to be so.  But Saba has grown as a sister, a leader, and a friend, and she knows to draw on all her skills and experiences to keep those she loves safe while offering hope for a better future. Sadly, as determined as she is, trust is an issue that she still hasn't resolved.

While dystopian literature is hot everywhere, only Moira Young takes readers into a society so unfamiliar in its way of speaking, vocabulary, and way of doing things that it becomes a true representation of life in a post-Wrecker world. We are the Wreckers, those who developed the technology and advances of planes and cars and structures that only exist as ruins or remnants. The Wreckers who dragged the world through global warming, leaving the land a dust bowl of sand storms and infertile soil. And with a crumbling society, education and schooling would have crumbled as well, leaving few characters speaking the English of our Wrecker world. Deciphering their literal and oral vocabulary, from shooters and firesticks to long-lookers and trackways, and spellings such as fer, yer, and git, make it clear that their world has been built on the vestiges of another time and culture. 

With Raging Star, Moira Young has ensured Dust Lands a critical spot on any top ten list of dystopian literature.  Don't be fooled by its lack of film adaptation, not yet any way.  Dust Lands will surpass all other dystopian literature by virtue of its chaotic world, fallible characters, including their relationships, and honest representation of the world we're bringing about through our actions, greed and arrogance.  We can only hope Dust Lands remains a world of literature, not our future.

A Breath of Frost

Written by Alyxandra Harvey

Bloomsbury

978-0-8027-3443-3

496 pp.

Ages 12-18

Released January 2014

Starting to feel a bit of a chill? Not surprising when there's murderous magic and family secrets, as well as a potentially disastrous romance, tingling around young Emma Day in 1814 Regency London.  And she understands none of it.

While attending one of those infernal balls at which young debutantes attempt to win the attention of young gentlemen, seventeen-year-old Emma Day drops and breaks a small bottle of liquid which she carries as a talisman as a connection to her mother, Theodora, who has gone mad.  When an earthquake hits, chaos ensues, with Emma first finding an injured girl, Margaret York, and then witnessing a fire breaking out in the ballroom. Grabbing the first help that she can find is somewhat problematic, as it happens to be the debonaire Cormac Fairfax, the young man who'd kissed her over a year ago and then had ignored her so obviously ever since.  Worse yet, they find Margaret dead and covered in ice with a star-nosed mole exiting her chest!  Consequently, Cormac confuses Emma with talk about what she's done and insists she tell no one.

Confusing becomes even more bizarre as the night progresses and Emma and her two cousins, Gretchen Thorn and Penelope Chadwick, return home from the ball.  Gretchen and her twin brother Godric see the ghost of Margaret York and the strange mole.  Penelope, attending to her mother, Lady Bethany, in her sitting room, picks up a ring and falls into visions of being burned at the stake.  And Emma, determined to find out what is going on, steals away to Cormac's bachelor rooms to learn the truth, but not before she witnesses her hands and chest as if on fire.  Luckily, Emma's visit with Cormac is very revealing on several levels.

First, Emma learns she is a witch, one of the Lovegrove line, to which Theodora, Bethany and Gretchen's mother Cora all belong.  Secondly, Cormac is a Keeper for the Order of the Iron Nail, who keep order amongst those who do magic for nefarious purposes and tells her that a door to the Underworld has opened, perhaps because of Emma's "witch bottle", and as a result, Margaret was murdered.  Finally, it becomes evident that, although Emma feels she has been rejected by Cormac perhaps because of her mother's madness, Cormac is very much attracted to Emma but worries that there will be a conflict because of who she is i.e., a Lovegrove.  (Fortunately, I think Cormac will heed the advice of his wise mother that he should not let being a Keeper prevent him from finding true love.)

At 496 pages, A Breath of Frost is a lengthy read and I can't possibly share all the details within.  However, I can tell you that the Order is frightened by the power of the Lovegroves, and when several more young women are murdered, all frosted over, and Emma is the first to find each of them, the Order has her running as a fugitive.  Fortunately, Cormac does all he can to keep her safe, while enjoying stolen moments with her.  Moreover, there are secrets about Emma's heritage (did I mention she grows antlers?) that must be uncovered and worries about the newly-opened doors to the Underworld and the return of the really horrible Greymalkin Sisters, a trio of evil witches.

As I mentioned, A Breath of Frost is a long read but it has so many key characters and so many subplots, not to mention taking place in several time periods, that I'm surprised Alyxandra Harvey was able to keep it down to under 500 pages!  And how she is going to keep it to a trilogy is beyond comprehension, but I suspect that each book will focus on one of the Lovegrove cousins, this first centered on Emma.  In A Breath of Frost, Alyxandra Harvey has had to introduce the witch and magic contexts, and there are so many nuances to how magic manifests itself in general and for the individual, that there is still so much to learn. And that's just the content.

But A Breath of Frost's magic goes beyond its plots.  It sparkles with unique characters, great dialogue, some heart-grasping romantic interludes, remarkable imagery and a wit that twines throughout.  Take Godric's discomfort when he sees more ghosts: "Just when I thought it was safe to quit drinking." Or the image of a little girl with a toothless grin walking a gryphon on a silver chain down the street of Goblin Market. Alyxandra Harvey has created a lavish supernatural world that has all the perfect ingredients for casting a spell on readers of young adult fantasy, with a touch of true love.

Cover Reveal: Tomorrow's Kingdom

Author Maureen Fergus 

first introduced us to

Persephone and Azriel

in

 The Gypsy King 

by Maureen Fergus

Razorbill

978-0-14-318315-0

434 pp.

Ages 12-16

2012

Reviewed here 

Their adventures continued and 
became more complicated in

 A Fool's Errand 

by Maureen Fergus

Razorbill

978-0-670-06765-7

528 pp.

Ages 12+

October, 2013 

Reviewed here

Now

the cover of the upcoming and 
exciting (I'm sure)

conclusion to the trilogy
has been revealed

 Tomorrow's Kingdom 

 by Maureen Fergus

Razorbill

978-0670067664

448 pp.

Ages 12+

For release July, 2014

July seems a long time to wait to learn whether the evil Mordecai will succeed in his nefarious plans, whether Azriel will forgive Persephone once again for her deceit and whether there will be a happy ending.  But, as I'm sure all my questions will be answered by Maureen Fergus in Tomorrow's Kingdom, I will just have to wait a few more tomorrows.

Starling

by Lesley Livingston

HarperTrophy Canada

978-1-44340-764-9

341 pp.

Ages 12+

2012 

Lesley Livingston takes the fantasy reader back to the New York City of her Wondrous Strange series  but veers off in another direction, now focusing on the Fennrys Wolf, the Janus Guard who'd made an extreme sacrifice at the conclusion of Tempestuous.

The Starling of the title is Mason Starling, a student and avid fencer at the venerable Gosforth Academy.  Well-protected (or over-protected?) by her very wealthy father, Gunnar Starling, and eldest brother Rothgar, Mason suffers from debilitating claustrophobia, courtesy of a childhood prank played on her by her other brother, Rory, during a game of hide-and-seek in which she was locked in a shed for days.  Rory is hardly the caring older brother that Roth is to Mason.  And, sadly, Mason does not have the comfort of a mother, her own dying giving birth.

When Mason, Rory, and their fencing teammates at Gosforth Academy are attacked by horrible, mutable creatures during a violent storm that knocks out all power, a beautiful, naked blond man, who identifies himself as the Fennrys Wolf, comes to their aid.  Beyond using his sword to fight off the creatures he calls draugr,  saving the life of Calum Aristarchos, who is in love with Mason, and reassuring the claustrophobic Mason (when the group shelters itself in a cellar), the Fennrys Wolf has little to offer about himself.  He knows a lot about the draugr and such, but he doesn't know how he knows it.

After Fennrys gathers some clothes from the group he's sedated with magick, he goes off in search of some answers.  He is attacked by centaurs, crosses the East River over a bridge called Hell Gate to Dead Ground, and reconnects with Mason whose dark blue eyes continue to haunt and mesmerize him.  Mason is similarly drawn to Fennrys.  Together they piece together bits of Fennrys' memories, including finding his warehouse apartment and a cache of weapons, and practise fencing, with Mason using a sword which Fennrys gifts to her.  Of course, there seem to be a lot of strange entities coming after them - draugr, fireballs, nixxies - but Fennrys is determined to keep Mason safe.

Meanwhile, through Rory who has secretly availed himself of his father's old diary, the reader learns that the Starlings had dedicated their lives to the service of the Norse gods, by vowing to help bring about Ragnarok, the catastrophic end of the world, and thus the return of the gods to the mortal realm.  There are other clans, however, in service to the gods of Greek and Celtic worlds, for example, who are just as happy to leave the mortal world as is.  But, the appearance of the Fennrys Wolf, who has walked between the mortal world and the Dead, is seen by some as a harbinger of the end or the means by which Ragnarok may begin.  Sadly, unbeknownst to all, Rory who has learned to do magick is determined to follow the Starlings'  destiny.

So, while Fennrys and Mason fall in love, he learns more of his tragic story and the plots to manipulate him, and she questions her choices and tries to resolve discrepancies between what she feels and what she is told.  Ultimately, both Mason and Fennrys become pawns in a larger-than-life plot that could lead to the end of the world.

That synopsis doesn't even come close to the depth and layering of plots and characterizations in Starling.  There's a sharp learning curve about mythological concepts from various civilizations that Lesley Livingston obviously is well versed in.  When they all come together, both in conflict and in harmony, the result is a multi-layered story in which it's almost impossible to know in whom to trust.  That would explain Mason's own confusion: a father who seems to love her; contemptuous and contemptible Rory but her brother just the same; Roth who the readers learn has a few secrets of his own, including an alliance with the servants of the Greek gods; Calum who wants to share with her his fears of the mer-people but blames her for his injuries; and Fennrys, to whom she is drawn and who seems to adore her but whose arrival has resulted in such mayhem.

I'm delighted that Lesley Livingston has chosen to re-introduce the Fennrys Wolf by way of his own series, especially after his heart-breaking ending in Tempestuous.  And her innovative and rich melding of the Faery world with the realms of classic mythology is inspired.  After all, many belief systems, including today's religions, have similar or identical premises upon which they are founded.  With the addition of Mason and Fennrys' romance, sibling rivalries, peer relationships, and a classic good-versus-evil theme, Starling is that first burst of explosion at the onset of Ragnarok - it's startling, it's overwhelming, and it's just the beginning.

*     *     *     *     *     *

The book trailer of Starling from HarperTeen is available for viewing on CanLit for LittleCanadians Book Trailers page.

An additional video of Lesley Livingston recording the audio version of Starling at the CBC studios in Toronto demonstrates why listening to Lesley Livingston read her story is as much of a treat as reading it.

Lesley Livingston Recording Starling at CBC

Published on Aug 20, 2012 by LesleyLivingston on YouTube.

Hemlock

by Kathleen Peacock

Katherine Tegen Books (Imprint of HarperCollins)

978-0-06-204865-3

416 pp.

Ages 14+

Available May 8, 2012

(Reviewed from Advance Reader's Edition)

Since the werewolves came out of the mythological closet twelve years earlier, all communities, including Hemlock, have been dealing with accepting those infected with lupine syndrome and the ramifications of their condition.  In Hemlock, which has been home to Mac Dobson since her father, Hank, abandoned her there with her cousin, Tess, three years ago, werewolves have not been a concern.  That is, not until multiple attacks, some fatal, occur within several weeks and culminate with the murder of Amy, Mac's best friend and the granddaughter of Senator John Walsh.  With evidence pointing to a white-haired werewolf, Senator Walsh desperately enlists the services of Brandon Derby and his vigilante Trackers.  Believing that all werewolves are dangerous to regs (uninfected humans), the Trackers, a civilian group usually given free rein by the authorities, violently haul away suspected werewolves and torment anyone who gets in their way.

While the Trackers aggressively pursue infected humans for internment in rehabilitation camps, Mac, her close friend Kyle, and Amy's boyfriend, Jason, all berate themselves for not being there for Amy the night she was killed.  But, each deals differently in the aftermath of her death.  Mac has cryptic discussions with Amy in terrifying nightmares.  Kyle wants to be there for Mac and get closer to her, but he has to deal with his ex, Heather, who hates Mac and keeps demanding Kyle's attention.  And, although Jason's initial reaction is to find comfort in alcohol and outlandish behaviour, his reaction becomes extreme when he decides to join the Trackers. 

As with any great plot, there are secrets withheld from the reader, but it seems everyone is keeping secrets from Mac.  When secrets are revealed, intermittently and usually unceremoniously (as most secrets are), Mac begins to realize that her history affects how she deals with others.  Having a mother who left before her first birthday and living with a father of dubious principles who also abandons her has left Mac reluctant to share too much of herself.  But, she has learned to be watchful, strategic and forbearing, all of which help her make some very astute determinations about Brandon Derby's motives, about Jason's attitudes, and about Amy's death.  As the narrator and central character around which all subplots revolve, Mac carries the story (although all other characters are strong enough to help with this charge).  She is neither naive nor weak, but she is incredulous when she learns more about Kyle, Jason, Amy, and others.  Kathleen Peacock, a new author from New Brunswick (Hemlock is her debut novel), does an exemplary job of developing Mac's voice into that of a bright seventeen-year-old who diligently reflects on the continuously changing circumstances, including the very nature of her friends and friendships.  Nothing Mac decides to do is unbelievable to the reader.  She attacks new dilemmas with honesty and resolve, and willingly accepts the need to amend her actions.

The horror of the werewolf attacks and of the Trackers' vigilantism is tempered with several romances that thankfully stray from typical boy-girl dating.  Surprisingly these budding loves seem completely realistic considering how many young people (and older ones too) are reluctant to share their true feelings.  Rather than comedic misunderstandings feeding the plot, it is the uncertainly and fear of rejection that allow relationships to progress, albeit haphazardly.

Kathleen Peacock makes Mac a true hero.  While Mac, with a little help from her friends, discovers the truth of Amy's death, her story does not end there.  The epilogue, which reveals what Mac feels she must do next in order to evolve into her true self, not the abandoned girl of her childhood, sets up the sequel to Hemlock perfectly.  Personally, I look forward to this next phase in Mac's journey, especially with regards to how Mac, Kyle and Jason resolve their feelings.  Sadly, the official release date for Hemlock is still a few weeks away, and there is no firm release date or even title for the sequel.  Luckily, I'm confident that I'll appreciate the direction Kathleen Peacock will take Mac and her cohorts when the second book of the trilogy is available.