Last Princess

The Last Princess Galaxy Craze

First there were the Seventeen Days-- 17 days of hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. So much ash was spewed into the air they rarely see the sun anymore.

Eliza's mother, the queen, was poisoned while Eliza watched. Her unborn little brother was quickly born, but is forever ill because of the poison. Food and water and fuel are scarce.

As the book opens, Eliza, her older sister Mary, and brother are returning to London after spending a carefree summer at Balmoral. Before she leaves, Eliza's best friend warns her about what the adults have been keeping from them all summer-- there's a brutal rebel group that's gaining ground and territory and its leader is the same man who assassinated the queen. Once they return, the palace is overrun by rebels, the king is shot (again in front of Eliza) Mary and Jamie are captured and the palace is burned to the ground.

Eliza swears revenge for her family and knows the only way to get to the leader is by joining the rebel forces. She walks straight into the enemy camp but hiding her true identity is harder than she thought...

Fun action adventure, light romance, and a destroyed London. I want to know more of the politics of the rebel group and also why the King had that much power-- much more than any modern king has held. The twist about the romantic interest was easy to spot, but I didn't mind. I liked how that story played out. The end was a bit tidy, but ah well. I don't have a lot to say about it. Eliza was pretty awesome. A few of her moves were a bit beyond belief, but they were so awesome I DON'T CARE. It was a very fun read and am very much looking forward to the sequel.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Dark Life

Dark Life Kat Falls

So, I'm not as awesome a writer as Kat Falls, so I can't seamlessly build a world into a story. I'll have to explain the world, then the story.

The World-- there was a massive series of earthquakes and floods and large portions of the US slid into the ocean. The remaining population live in stack cities, with millions of people crammed into a square mile. Space is at an absolute premium. The only place there is space is on the ocean floor, where farmers homestead out land and grow food for the Topside. There's a distrust between those who live Below (derogatorily called Dark Life) and the Topsiders. In addition to a lot of cool technology that makes life on the ocean floor possible, there are also the politics at play. The Commonwealth of States has been under emergency law for the past 20-some years, ever since the Rising. Now, in the Commonwealth of States, All of the forty-five states had two representatives in the assembly to vote on the state's behalf. As a lowly territory, we got on representative who wasn't allowed to vote, and we didn't even choose him.*

The story-- Tensions between the Topside and the Territory reach a breaking point when the Seablite gang keeps hijacking the territory's supply ships. Then the gang starts attacking settlements. Meanwhile, Ty finds Gemma, a Topside girl who's looking for her brother, a prospector who's missing. Then there's the whole mystery of Dark Gifts-- people think that children born below have a Dark Gift, a super power or something because the pressure messes with their brain development. Ty insists they aren't real, but he's also chasing down secrets of his own past, and hoping the territory lasts long enough so he can stake his own claim.

It's kinda hard to explain and there's a lot there, which you don't notice until you're trying to explain it, because what Falls has written is a fast-paced action/adventure/sci-fi fest of awesome. She seamlessly works in all this info about the world and the back story and the politics and Ty and Gemma's relationship and their past and the Seablite gang and how it all ties together and... damn.

It's exciting and fun, but also just really, really good.

According to my sources, there will be at least 2 sequels, and there are definitely places this story can go, especially with the political situation, but it doesn't *have* to have a sequel, but I want one, which makes it a winner in my book.


*So basically... the Benthic Territory is DC. Ok, DC gets to choose their rep, but...

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Old Books--Lots of Reviews

Unblogged books, in order of reading-- we have 2 left from October of 2006... (short and pithy, because I don't remember these books very well.)

The Last Book In The Universe Rodman Philbrick

Spaz is an epileptic living in a post-apocalyptic world. There are no books, just mind probes that leave people empty shells of nothing. In order to save his sister, he has to cross several border lands, dealing with their gangs and security to get to the land of the "proves"-- the promised land populated by people who have been genetically improved.

An excellent adventure.

Wait for Me An Na

Yawn. Mina has lied about her academic prowress and that's about to come bite her in the butt. Her mom's a total bitch. She's been stealing from the family's dry-cleaning business. She likes this guy. Her little sister's deaf and depends on her for everything.

It could have been good, but... eh. It dragged and was boring and Mina was totally unsympathetic and so I didn't really care.

Woo-hoo! Unto November!

Pop! Aury Wallington

This was fun, nothing fantastic, but a nice little book about losing your virginity. Marit wants it gone, but freaks out when things get physical. Enter best friend Jamie, who isn't really a good choice for sex without attachment, because Marit still likes hot-boy Noah.

While the plot is a little unrealistic and happy-go-lucky, it's the kind I like in fun, sunny afternoon reads.

The sex scenes are hilariously accurate.

Lowji Discovers America Candace Fleming

A funny little book about a young boy trying to fit into small-town Illinois after growing up in Bombay. Moving just after school gets out, Lowji is bored and wants a pet. He quickly convinces his grouchy land-lady that a cat would help with the mouse problem and a dog would be a good burglar alarm, Lowji wins over the neighborhood.

Cute and written in the formal, slightly stilted English of a non-native speaker.

Post-Apocalyptic Children's Lit

Yes, such a genre exsists. I'm totally serious.

The City of Ember By Jeanne DuPrau

Doon's outburst on job assingment day disturbed Lina-- Ember couldn't be dying. But as Lina runs around the city as a messenger, she starts to see that Doon was right. Ember is dying. The blackouts come more and more often and they're lasting for longer. Supplies are running out. Peaches are now just a legend. There is very little new paper. Colored pencils are a special, rare, luxury. What if the lights never come back on? Can Doon and Lina find another way?

City of Ember is half mystery, as the kids try and piece together lost instructions that were half eaten by Lina's baby sister. But why does Ember exsist in the first place? Why do they live in world where there is only the city and nothing else? Where there isn't any light? Where everything depends on the generator? What happens with the generator fails?

Some of these questions are answered in the sequel, The People of Sparks where we learn that the world new the end was coming--through war, famine, and disease--and created a new colony underground. When they come above ground, and meet with the survivors of the great wars, will the two cultures survive? Will they get along? Can they?

I love DuPrau's use of language. She manages to perfectly capture so many small details-- such as the papery smell of tomatoes. She can evoke so many senses with just a few words--truly astounding. Ember was great, but the message of Sparks was so heavy-handed that it ruined the book. I'm interested in seeing how the prequel, The Prophet of Yonwood, ends up being.

The Big Wave Pearl S. Buck

Kino lives on a mountain by the sea in Japan while his best friend, Jiya, lives in the fishing village on the beach. Kino fears the volcano three mountains over and Jiya fears the anger of the sea. One day, the volcano and the sea battle, resulting in a giant wave that washes away the entire fishing village—and Jiya’s entire family. The main meat of this story is how Jiya learns to live again after watching the destruction of his entire family, village, and world.

Buck manages to convey so much in a very little space. She manages to span a life-time, and a full cycle of grief very potently and truly, all in a mere 64 pages. Excellent.

And, although it's not post-apocalyptic, Lois Lowry's The Giver is as dystopian as it gets... and dystopian chidlren's literature is almost as disturbing as post-apocalyptic literature (this is a visceral reaction. I really enjoyed the books I'm talking about right now, they're great books and good for children, but at first glance, the notion of such genres of children's lit exsisting give me pause. But I'm a optimistic hippie like that.)

Anyway, Jonas has been assigned to be the Reciever. He holds the memories of the community's past. A past where people were related to their families. Where there was emotion. Where there were holidays and hills and snow and sunburn... where there was pain, but also real joy... Where there was color.

But years and years ago, the people made a shift to sameness. Now there are no hills. Husbands and wives are assigned to each other and do not look on each other's nudity. When you reach puberty, you are given medication to stop "the stirrings". Children are assigned to family units. Each one has one boy and one girl. Because of genetic engineering, people look a lot a like. But it is not all happy. Anything that isn't perfect--babies that cry too much, old people, are "released".

And once Jonas discovers that releasing is just an euphanism for euthanasia... his vision of the community and what it stands for falls apart.

Powerful.