The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 480
Year 2013 (7 May)
Buy: Paperback
Source: Bought copy

Review
It seems only fair to warn you that, should you pick up Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave, whether in innocence or with deep intent, you will lose all sense of time and self. Your sleep will be invaded by the urgent compulsion to read and your need to communicate with other humans will degenerate to ‘shhhh’ sounds. I picked it up on one day and finished it the next with big bags under my eyes. It’s not a short book, not that that makes any difference to the drive to finish it once you’ve started. The longer the better.

The 5th Wave is a story about alien invasion (and not about waves, which was my pre-reading mistake), told by a number of youngsters who have survived the initial four waves of terror which have wiped out most if not all of their families and left so few alive to fight the threat. They all live in dread of the fifth wave. What will it be and when will it happen? They all know it must come because it is horrifically clear to the few left that no human is meant to survive this cleansing of the planet. This sounds exciting and blimey it is!

Young Adult science fiction done well is unbeatable in my eyes. But Rick Yancey has not only raised the bar, he’s also removed some of my difficulties with YA fiction on the strength of his superb characterisation. I don’t expect YA fiction to be aimed at me (I am more youngish than young) but I do want it to be populated by believable characters, including the teens. I was one once, after all. The central figure of The 5th Wave is Cassie, a 16-year-old young woman who worries about her self-image, boys, seeming vulnerable, at the same time that she worries about whether The Silencers will kill her dead. The beauty is she knows how this would seem. She worries about it. She is a witty, warm, living, breathing young woman on the page and I empathised with her completely and liked her very much indeed. There is a little romance here but it’s fragile, fraught and full of feeling.

Cassie is such a strong character and we see so much of the story through her troubled eyes that she’s hard to compete with but there are others too who have left a strong impression here. I’m mentioning no names – I would really like you to discover the people of this novel for yourself.

You expect sound worldbuilding in a good YA SF novel and you certainly get it here. We follow the decay of daily and family life, of normality, through the waves. You also expect a thrilling plot and you’ll find it here by the bucketload. Rick Yancey has written a story so tightly plotted and packed with imagination that it’s almost impossible to put the book down at the end of a chapter. The structure and plot are designed to pull you in and the characters ensnare you deeper. The prose balances perfectly the action of the story with the thoughts of the characters. The tension between the two is superb.

If I read a YA novel I enjoy more this year, I’ll be very happy indeed. The 5th Wave is published today. Buy it.

Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon

Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Pages: 350
Year: 2013 (2 May)
Buy: Paperback
Source: Review copy

Review
Zenn Scarlett is no ordinary 17 year old. She is a novice Exovet, or alien vet, on Mars at a time when the planet is separated from Earth by a Rift, its inhabitants looking instead starwards, its explorers travelling across great distances on spaceships powered by Indra, enormous beasts who tunnel through the lightyears, directed by Shepherds, carrying mankind from one far planet to another. Zenn’s ambition is to be an Exovet like her late mother, treating exotic alien species from across the Galaxy that are dropped off on the planet because of this unique care. These are no ordinary patients, not in the least. They can be the size of villages, they can fly, leap or soar, they can be as small as a handful or as dangerous as a T-Rex. Some can even help out around the place. But while Zenn and her uncle Otho are focused on providing care for their patients, the inhabitants of Mars are facing hardships not least due to the Rift. Land and resources are becoming limited. Handy, then, that the lease of Otho’s centre should be up for renewal. Quite apart from the land issue, not all of the inhabitants of Mars are happy to have such monsters about. As Zenn works hard to finish her training, these are difficult days.

With Zenn Scarlett, Christian Schoon has begun what promises to be a thoroughly enjoyable and beguiling series of science fiction novels for young adults. Zenn herself is an appealing heroine, dealing with considerable parent issues – especially the death of her mother in appalling circumstances – while suffering the more usual and earthly problems associated with these years. She wants to do what’s right and she wants to achieve her professional goal to become a qualified Exovet but the presence of Liam, a local towner, is a reminder that life should not be all work. But these thoughts and troubles are secondary to Zenn’s drive to prove her ability as an Exovet to her uncle. But, things don’t always go right. Perhaps not everything is under her control. It’s possible, though, that something very odd is going on.

The glory of Zenn Scarlett, though, without doubt, are the alien lifeforms that Zenn must treat. They are mind blowing. These scenes captivated my imagination, especially as the novel progressed. I’m spoiling none of these here.

After an excellent prologue, the novel settled down to a style that I felt was comfortably aimed at a younger readership. In the second half, though, the pace picked up and the adventure took off and I moved towards the edge of my seat. This half was very hard to put down while I found the first a little difficult to pick up. This was aggravated by some of the teenage angst, the wandering, temporarily unfocused plot and the wearisome cuteness of Zenn’s annoying little alien pet, Katie. Offsetting Katie, though, is the very likable and fun swarm-insect assistant Hamish who is trying to learn independence of thought – not easy for a giant alien bug. However, as I say, these early irritations do iron themselves out as the novel proceeds and by the end I was more than ready to read the next book in the series.

I think that any youngster with a love of animals and a fascination for the wonders of space will be enchanted by Zenn Scarlett and its strong, warm and brave heroine.

Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 400
Year: 2013
Buy: Hardback
Source: Bought copy

Review
I cannot get enough of Young Adult science fiction. If done well, it can make my eyes boggle with wonder as I let myself be carried off to marvellous worlds, whether hostile or magnificent – or both. The Across the Universe trilogy by Beth Revis is one of the finest examples I’ve read and here at last, in Shades of Earth, we have the end. This inevitably provokes mixed feelings – pleasure at discovering the destiny of Amy and Elder, satisfaction that I now have the complete set to reread, but sadness that this is it.

Firstly and most importantly, Shades of Earth is a good final novel. If you’ve read Across the Universe and A Million Suns, then you will not be disappointed. Beth Revis has looked after Amy and Elder. But, if you haven’t read the preceding novels then I advise you step no further. You have to have read these earlier accounts of the voyage of starship Godspeed first in order to see where it ends up and how.

Shades of Earth begins with the decision of much of the crew of Godspeed to land a part of the ship and its people on the longed for planet of Centauri-Earth. Elder embarks onto the jungle planet along with his homogeneous people, now freed of the sedative drug Phydus, and the startling red-haired Amy. With them are the sleeping chambers or pods of scientists and soldiers frozen generations ago, including Amy’s parents. On landing, the sleepers are awoken and this makes for one of the great differences from the previous novels. Having asserted his leadership on Godspeed against Eldest and Orion and others, now Elder has a different kind of rival; a man who has not experienced centuries of life aboard Godspeed and has no idea of the cost that this made on the ship’s crew – Colonel Martin, Amy’s father. In a new environment, on a mysterious planet, with a dominant set of old world masters, Elder and his people are completely detached from what they know, even though they are well aware that this landing on Centauri-Earth is the entire object of their existence. But just imagine how it must feel for those newly awoken.

We remember from Across the Universe, of course, the terrifying freezing process that put the Martin family in their pods for the centuries’ long journey to the new Earth. After reading about that, we’re bound to feel more for Colonel Martin and his wife than Elder can. Elder has other rivals for Amy’s affections too.

Another new element to the trilogy is the planet of Centauri-Alpha itself. Godspeed might have sailed towards the new Earth for generations but in Shades of Earth here it is. The claustrophobic environment of the ship is now replaced by a fertile jungle world, rich with oxygen and – more unexpectedly – signs of humanity. But it’s not long before people are picked off one by one by monsters in the jungle, terrifying and gruesome and secret. This drama intensifies and heats the rivalry between the awoken sleepers and the original Godspeeders. Amy is right there in the middle, caught between the two. Elder has his own battles as he tries to secure the planet for his people. Drastic measures are called for. And now is the time we learn the answers to some of the great mysteries of the first two novels, not least concerning Phydus.

Shades of Earth is a thrilling novel. It takes up the excitement of the previous novels and lifts it up a notch. It brings together the two worlds of Godspeed and Centauri-Earth in an explosion of emotion and menace while being different and original from the two wonderful preceding novels. As before the narrative is split between Any and Elder and Amy continues to fill the heart of the novel – here more than ever she is caught between two worlds. But I had more time for Elder in Shades of Earth. He might be out of his comfort zone but he responds with courage. I was also glad that, although much of the action takes place on the planet, there is still time for Godspeed, an extraordinarily well-visualised ship.

I look forward very much to visiting the worlds that Beth Revis will take me to next.

Reviews
Across the Universe
A Million Suns

Fuse by Julianna Baggott

Publisher: Headline
Pages: 480
Year: 2013 (Hb, 14 February; Kindle, 12 February)
Buy: Hardback, Kindle
Source: Review copy

Review
Pure was a highlight of 2012 for me. Here is a dystopian vision utterly horrific. A vision of a near future so mangled and grotesque that you want to look away but you can’t. A world in which all souls who survived the Detonations are fused with whatever they were holding, clutching, embracing, fixing at the time of the catastrophic explosions. This means women are fused to babies, children to toys, men to the dust beneath their feet and all to glass, metal, plastic, even animals and trees. Even to each other. Except for the select view brought into the Dome for safety before the Detonations. These are the Pure and while the fused outside might once have thought that the Dome was inhabited by benevolent brothers and sisters, waiting for a safe time to open the doors to all, now the fused know that they are abandoned. They are the Wretches. Shining amongst them is Pressia, the girl with a doll for a hand but uncannily practical nonetheless and she returns as our heroine in Fuse.

Fuse is the second in a planned trilogy and so you must read Pure first. This review will inevitably contain a few spoilers for Pure and so only read on if it’s safe to do so.

As Fuse begins a Wretch is found, her fusions cured, her skin soft and unblemished. But the child Wilda is unable to say anything but this: ‘We want our son returned. This girl is proof that we can save you all. If you ignore our plea, we will kill our hostages one at a time’. Willux, the leader of the Dome, wants his son Partridge returned. The pretence is gone. There is nothing that the Dome will not do to the Wretches scrambling for a living outside the walls if they don’t do what is demanded of them. Partridge, Pressia’s brother and an escaped Pure, has his own plans for his father and that involves a return to the Dome. Pressia is on a mission too – she is on the trail of the Seven. The Seven included her mother among their number but now are mostly lost. They alone have the knowledge that Pressia and her followers need to uncover the truth behind the Detonations and the possibility of a cure from their devastating impact on flesh and bone.

Among the characters returning in Fuse are my particular favourites Capitan (or Cap) and Helmud. Brothers fused together they each carry a horrendous burden. Their story develops throughout the novel more so, I’d argue, that any other. Helmud’s complete dependence on his brother, even on his language, is tested repeatedly with Helmud stretching the bond, Cap repelling the closeness, but both learning as the pages go on how to attract the other and not just repel. It is extraordinarily poignant, even more so as both learn how to relate to others around them just as much. This is bad made good but in an extremely sophisticated manner. Cap and Helmud are reason enough to recommend Julianna Baggott’s novels.

There are other familiar figures here too – Lydia is travelling with the Mothers. These fearsome women are fused to the babies their men left them. Their maternal care has mutated into something truly terrible – an obsessive hunt for vengeance. We also meet again Bradwell, Pressia’s love, a young man with living, breathing, wind-flapping birds encaged in his back. It is good to see Pressia again, although it is arguable that such is the strength of the other characters that this time Pressia’s tale is less prominent.

Pure is full of images to remember. I still recall it vividly over a year on. While Fuse has less immediate impact because this rearranged and tortured world is now familiar, there are scenes here that are just as memorable. The dangers faced by our heroes, the fate of one of those closest to us, the dysfunction of the Dome, the transformation of a friend of Partridge into a killer, now mostly animal, the devastation of a pregnancy.

This trilogy deserves a wider readership than a YA tag would suggest. Its language, present tense, is expert, hitting home. Its worldbuilding is second to none. The character development is, in places, as dramatic as the distorted, malevolent environment. Any doubts as to how Pure could ever have a sequel worthy of it are laid to rest with Fuse. It is a substantial book but there are treats on every page. It builds on Pure perfectly; it bodes so well for the final book of the trilogy. Now we must tap our fingers and wait.

TimeRiders 7: The Pirate Kings by Alex Scarrow

Publisher: Puffin
Pages: 416
Year: 2013 (7 February)
Buy: Paperback, Kindle
Source: Bought copy

Review
I look forward to TimeRiders novels obsessively. I can think of very few series that have given me half as much pleasure as this one. They might be targeted at youngsters but they find the youngster in me and it can’t get enough of them. The countdown is on, though. The series will end with the conclusion of the ninth book next year. With so little time left, this seventh novel provides a welcome swashbuckling interlude between the staggering revelations of City of Shadows and the ominous threat of danger promised in The Mayan Prophecy, to be published on 1 August.

Obviously, it barely needs saying that no reader should start a series such as this with Book 2, let alone Book 7. If you haven’t read the others then please read no further as spoilers are inevitable. Instead go back to the beginning and relish the treat you have in store as you catch up with the adventures of our TimeRiders Liam, Maddy and Sal with their seven-foot support units Bob and Becks.

If you are familiar with the series then read on…

This seventh book is slightly different. It takes a step back, giving our team (or at least part of it) a distraction from what they have learned in the previous novel. Now headquartered in late 19th-century London, the team are on their own, free of their mission and apart from their past. Time travel now opens up new opportunities for Liam, Maddy and Sal, plus latest member Rashim. Instead of using time travel to put things right, there is now no place that they can’t go to, no time that they can’t visit and all in the name of fun. For a change.

For reasons known only to Maddy, the TimeRiders choose to go back to 1666 to take a look at the Great Fire of London in action. Although marginally better than the Plague of 1665, the Great Fire is not the safest of environments and before you can say ‘Shiver me timbers’ Liam and Rashim are pressganged into the crew of pirates Caribbean-bound. All Maddy, Bob and the others can do is hope for their friends to stay still long enough to be detected and picked up. Unfortunately, a pirate’s life is not ideal for their purposes. Just as well, then, that Liam and Rashim discover they have a knack for privateering.

While The Pirate Kings contributes relatively little to the the TimeRiders story, it adds a great deal to character development, especially for Liam. He flourishes in his new life but he also has to come to terms with himself as pirate, killer, thief. There are lessons here about the past, though. Alex Scarrow expertly weaves in themes of slavery, hypocrisy, greed. It’s good to get to know Rashim a little bit better, too. He knows better than anyone the need to change the future.

Maddy, Bob and Becks have little to do in The Pirate Kings and I did indeed miss their presence but this book is so much fun. Not only for us, either. Liam as a Pirate King, learning to swash his buckle on the 17th-century high seas, is a joy to behold.

It’s not fun for them all, though. Sal, the quietest member of the group, is undergoing a crisis after the revelations of the previous novel. With Liam possibly lost by choice, here is her own opportunity to find some own answers, not in the past but in the future. While Bob and Becks as well as Maddy take a bit of a back seat in The Pirate Kings, it’s good to learn more about Sal, who is such an enigmatic, curious and saddened soul.

I have had such a fun time reading The Pirate Kings. The pirates’ life is brought to life by Alex Scarrow. Few concessions are made for a young readership. There is violence and gore and the threat of even worse. Scarrow doesn’t condescend to his readers in the least. What he does do is make us care about his characters and want to find out more about the history that they experience. I long for TimeRiders 8 although I fear troublesome times ahead as this wonderful story moves towards its conclusion.

You can find here reviews of:
TimeRiders 2: Day of the Predator
TimeRiders 3: The Doomsday Code
TimeRiders 4: The Eternal War.
TimeRiders 5: Gates of Rome
TimeRiders 6: City of Shadows

Other Alex Scarrow novels:
The Legend of Ellie Quin – review and interview with Alex Scarrow
October Skies
The Candle Man

Meeting the Scarrows.

My tribute to TimeRiders on My Favourite Books

An interview with Alex Scarrow and a review of his latest adventure The Legend of Ellie Quin

Kate with Alex Scarrow (spot Simon…)

A cursory glance through the pages of For Winter Nights would reveal my poorly kept non-secret that I am a huge fan of Alex Scarrow. HUGE! (Obviously, I mean this metaphorically.) TimeRiders continues to be my favourite series of books. I cannot read them fast enough, soon enough or often enough. They might be found on the YA shelves of the bookshops but it would be very unfair for YA readers to keep these fantastic books to themselves. But, on top of this series, Alex has also produced a number of thrillers for adults which are packed with the shocks and psychological realism that makes TimeRiders so edible. It was an unexpected treat to discover that this Christmas Alex was unleashing on his readers a new heroine, Ellie Quin, in an original series of adventures set in a brand new universe. YA SF – perfect.

I’m delighted to include here a Q&A with Alex about TimeRiders and Ellie Quin, but first a review!

The Legend of Ellie Quin (Ellie Quin Book 1)
Published by Grr Books on 23 December, Ellie Quin is available in digital format from Amazon. For a very limited period it is available free. The World According to Ellie Quin (Book 2) and Beneath the Neon Sky (Ellie Quin 3) are also available.

Ellie Quin lives in colonial plot 452 ‘in the middle of this flat, dry, baked-mud world, Harpers Reach’, located in ‘a generally uninteresting region of space; a little piece of nowhere’. Her father farms tubweeds, appallingly bad-tempered plants used to terraform planets through their production of oxygen. When Ellie turns 20, becoming the proud owner of an adult ID card, she sets off for the largest city of the planet, New Haven, a metropolis encased in a dome that also contains every kind of lowlife that one would expect from a dismal frontier planet. And so begins Ellie’s adventure which we, due to clever tricks in the narrative, know to be what the book’s title proclaims – ‘The Legend of Ellie Quin’. It will, we are teased, include an Event.

As with TimeRiders, there is a great supporting cast here and one can hope that we get to know them more as the series continues. This first book is a taster and does just what it sets out to do – pulls the reader in while defining Ellie as a fun, feisty yet vulnerable young heroine who exists in a universe full of quirks and curiosities that are refreshing and can be very funny. They’re also smart. Real life has become even more mixed up with pop culture, with audiences enraptured by Toob Channels and cereal collectibles.

Alex Scarrow knows exactly how to grab our attention and he can do it through characters, gobsmacking twists and the truly weird. This is a great combination for science fiction, where there is no limit to what can happen. In TimeRiders, it is time itself that can be changed and distorted, making the familiar very unfamiliar. With Ellie Quin we find ourselves hundreds of years in the future, in a universe in which everything is possible. I just wish this first novel were longer. At about only 40,000 words, it ends just as you’re hooked and when Ellie is most in need of us. I would recommend, then, that you get hold of all three opening books so that you can happily immerse yourself. Reviews of these other two novels to come.

While I am sad that TimeRiders is approaching its end, it’s good to know that Alex has another strong character for us to get to know, however young we are.

Q&A WITH ALEX SCARROW

As a huge fan of the TimeRiders series, which is now nearer the end than the beginning, I was so pleased to see the appearance of a new series from you. I’ve read the first Ellie Quin and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Where did the inspiration for Ellie Quin come from?
ALEX: Ellie Quin was in part inspired by a story in the classic British comic 2000AD. The story was called Halo Jones and followed the exploits of a very ordinary young protagonist exploring a madcap universe. It was a story that was never finished and pulled mid-way because the comic’s publishers weren’t sure the all-male audience would buy into a less than heroic female central character. Another influence was Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which I loved as a teenager. I remember wishing there really was that insane, wonderful, colourful universe out there to explore.

Why did you choose to base the adventures around a young woman rather than a young man?
ALEX: Female hmmm – I DO seem to gravitate towards female characters, don’t I? Maybe it’s because it feels less obvious to have a female in an adventure story? Perhaps because female characters feel more vulnerable than the chisel-jawed male alternative? I dunno. I think female characters tend to deliver more interesting emotional content than male characters. For example, in TimeRiders, the female support unit Becks has been more interesting to explore than her male counterpart, Bob. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s a guy thing?

You’ve published the first three adventures simultaneously. All three are quite short so I wondered why they weren’t released as one book instead?
ALEX: I’m kinda experimenting with format at the moment. Each instalment is about 40k words, about 1/2 the length of your standard YA novel (which is about 80k words) For ebook format that seemed about right. Future instalments will probably tend towards being a bit longer as, hopefully, readers adopt the series and make it worth my while committing more time to the series. At the moment its all a bit of a gamble of my rather limited time. I’d like Ellie Quin to be successful enough to warrant becoming my next MAIN project. I could easily write a dozen or more books set in this universe.

One of the aspects of Ellie Quin that I really enjoyed are the hints from the future about Ellie’s life and role. This suggests that you have the whole story mapped out as you have TimeRiders?
ALEX: Indeed, there is a definite series arc at work. Although, a little less strictly plotted as TimeRiders as this will allow me a bit more room to explore the universe and stay on planets that interest me more! That’s what lies at the heart of Ellie Quin, the sense of wonder, the freedom in the story for Ellie to explore, wander, discover this rich universe around her. There’ll be so much cool stuff to see!

We only have a little over a month to wait before the seventh TimeRiders novel, The Pirate Kings, is published on 7 February. Can you tell us a little about it?
ALEX: Well obviously there’s pirates in it I’d characterise it as a light hearted romp – something fun before things get really serious and heavy in the last two books.

TimeRiders will finish with the ninth book. I’ll miss Liam, Maddy, Sal and Bob so much! Will it be difficult to let them go or are you happy that it’s time to move on?
ALEX: Oh no – it’s gonna hurt me big time when I wrap up this series. I love these characters. They’ve become so real to me that I swear, it’ll feel like a genuine bereavement when I say goodbye to them. But who knows? I might leave the door open ajar for a follow on series. I can’t really say much more on that at the moment.

You write books for young adults but there’s plenty in them for grown ups too. And then there are your adult thrillers. Are there any more novels for adults on the horizon?
ALEX: Not at the moment. My adult books have been spectacularly unsuccessful. I’m not sure what went wrong there – whether the subject matter simply wasn’t commercial enough. Perhaps it was because I hopped around from one genre to another. It’s really difficult to work out why one book is roaring success and another a damp squib. I might return to writing adult fiction at some point in the future if I come across a killer idea that is begging to be written.

You make science fiction appealing to readers of all ages. Who are your science fiction influences?
ALEX: Stephen King – not really scifi, but a great creator of believable characters. I’m also quite a fanboy of China Mieville. And Arthur C Clarke.

Thanks, Alex!

Reviews
October Skies
The Candle Man
TimeRiders 2: Day of the Predator
TimeRiders 3: The Doomsday Code
TimeRiders 4: The Eternal War
TimeRiders 5: Gates of Rome
TimeRiders 6: City of Shadows
Review of A Thousand Suns and TimeRiders 1 to follow.

TimeRiders 7: The Pirate Kings will be published in the UK on 7 February 2013.

Now available to buy
The Legend of Ellie Quin (Book 1)
The World According to Ellie Quin (Book 2)
Beneath the Neon Sky (Book 3)

Katya’s World by Jonathan L. Howard

Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Pages: 329
Year: 2012
Buy: Paperback, Kindle
Source: Bought copy

Review
Russalka is a watery planet, its colonists living in sealed, watertight cities carved into the ocean’s mountains. The seas are interrupted only by uninhabited poles and manmade platforms from which vessels can launch for other colonies as well as Earth itself. Or at least they did. When we arrive on Russalka, the planet is recovering from years of war with its Earth masters who, having decimated the population and its infrastructure, have again disappeared. The colonists, descended from Russian settlers, have no knowledge of what is going on on Earth, they have no means to travel off the planet, at least yet, and they can only presume that at some time Earth’s military might with its zero tolerance for independent colonies will return. For now, the communities make do with travelling the vast oceans, not all of which are entirely safe.

Our 15-year-old heroine, Katya Kuriakova, is about to begin her first day’s work as an adult. She is submarine navigator on her Uncle Lukyan’s vessel, Pushkin’s Baby. But a routine trip transporting goods is disrupted when an officer of the feared Federal Maritime Authority (the FMA), Suhkalev, commandeers the submarine to transport an infamous pirate, Havilland Kane, into custody. When the submarine is diverted through the Weft, an area of ocean which all captains are wise to avoid, it’s only a matter of time before the mysteries of the deep stir themselves and come after the vessel. Katya gives the horror a name – the Leviathon.

From then on, the adventure explodes into battles with pirates, attacks by unknown vessels, infiltrating spies, the discovery of secret settlements and all out war between different groups. Katya fights to keep her head above the surface but she is no mere victim in events. She interferes whenever she can, making herself indispensable while learning hidden truths about the past conflict with Earth and its legacy for the planet. Nobody is quite what they seem, including the charismatic but dangerous Kane and his partner Tasya the Chertovka, the She-Devil. Who to trust? You can almost taste the danger Katya is in.

Katya’s World is an adventure story through and through. A YA novel, it provides great appeal through its characters. Katya is a fine creation – feisty and independent while vulnerable enough to not be perceived as a threat by the adult antagonists. Arguably, her age is a stumbling block for the novel, making her involvement in every element of its adventure unlikely and unrealistic. Nevertheless, she is an enjoyable character, as are Kane and Tasya. The submarines themselves also have a personality about them. There is a true nautical feel to the narrative. The worldbuilding is good enough for the reader to feel immersed in its underwater realms. The Leviathon itself is also a big highlight.

My one complaint would be that the action is rather relentless. This may not be a drawback to most readers but I would have appreciated more time to draw a breath and explore a little more of the ocean world. I would have liked to know more about the colonists and the different environments as well as given more clues to whatever else might be out there, lurking in the deep. The pirates are good but I would have liked more of the unexpected. Especially as you get a real sense that it could be out there.

But Katya’s World will not stand alone. I hear there is more to come and so I am really looking forward to seeing how the story (and Katya) develops. Howard raises all sorts of intriguing questions about Russalka and its motherplanet. The potential is enormous and very exciting. I can’t get enough of YA science fiction and Katya’s World offers something very original and well done to the genre.

The Roman Mysteries III: The Pirates of Pompeii

Publisher: Orion Childrens
Pages: 197
Year: 2002 (this edn 2012)
Buy: Paperback, Kindle
Source: Review copy

Review
The Pirates of Pompeii is the third of Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Mysteries and picks up right where the most excellent Secrets of Vesuvius (review here) left off – a Pompeii devastated by volcanic eruption. Pirates are preying on the living victims of Vesuvius, the slaves and children wandering on the mountain and on top of the ruins, separated from their masters and families by several feet of ash and pumice. It’s not long before our young group of heroes, led by the indomitable Flavia Gemina, are on the case, risking their necks to discover the identity of the pirates’ secret Patron.

After the trauma of The Secrets of Vesuvius, it’s no easy matter to watch ever-curious Flavia and her friends – Nubia the slave girl, Jonathan, the Jewish-Christian, and brave, tongueless Lupus and their mischief-seeking dogs – confront new dangers in the refugee camps, overflowing from the disaster of the eruption. The pirates are a frightening bunch, not least because they seem to have the backing of someone wealthy and powerful. But who? Flavia is determined to find out.

Above all else, though, The Pirates of Pompeii stands out for its vivid and heart wrenching depiction of Roman child slavery. This episode of the Roman Mysteries looks in particular at the relationship between Flavia and her rescued slave Nubia, a girl who isn’t even called by the name she was given at birth. We get a look at how some other Romans treat their slaves – as does Flavia – and at the treatment dealt out to them if they’re caught escaping. If this novel doesn’t have you in tears then you’re made of much stronger stuff than me.

Caroline Lawrence is a wonderful writer, historian and communicator. Kids will not only be thoroughly entertained by these Roman Mysteries, they’ll also learn so much about this fascinating period of history. Definitely not just for kids, though. Definitely not.

I look forward to the next in the series, The Assassins of Rome, also now reissued with a fantastic new cover.

Other reviews:
The Roman Mysteries II: The Secrets of Vesuvius

Western Mysteries
The Case of the Deadly Desperadoes
The Case of the Good-Looking Corpse

Unwholly by Neal Shusterman

Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 402
Year: 2012
Buy: Hardback, Kindle, Paperback
Source: Bought copy

Review
If, like me, you have read and devoured every last page of Unwind, you will have been longing for Unwholly, the sequel and second in what will now be a trilogy of novels. Their mission: to examine the near future practice of dividing unwanted teens piece by piece, thereby satisfying the demand for donor parts while ridding society of its unwanted. Aided, of course, by the official line that this is not death, or murder, but the process of reaching a higher, meaningful and charitable existence. The divided never die, they are merely transformed and dispersed.

As always with reviews of sequels, there are spoilers ahead and so I would suggest that, if you haven’t read Unwind, you stop right here and go off and do so.

How good it is to return to the stories of Connor, Risa and Lev. All three are suffering the consequences of evading their unwinding and are now celebrated as rebel leaders, representatives of the unwanted or, in the eyes of polite society, the ungrateful, and even as religious figureheads. The path between the three has split. Lev, as the reborn tithe (the one in ten, the white-dressed child dedicated to God to be unwound as an offering) has a role all of his own, even almost a religion of his own. Connor bears the weight of the unwound on his shoulders, saving as many as he can, while Risa must make new sacrifices.

The novel follows the pattern of Unwind with chapters alternating between the perspectives of our three main characters, interspersed with official advertisements for unwinding as well as sections that focus on new additions to the story. Chief among them is Cam, a being completely manufactured from the parts of other teenagers, his soul (if that’s what it is) created by the fragmentary impressions, fractured memories and broken dreams of the hundred divided children that gave him his flesh, bones, muscles, organs and blood. A beautiful individual, he is also an experiment and through him and the people who want to control him we have glimpses into the machinations behind unwinding.

Among the other new characters are liberated tithes, pirate harvesters, police and the few brave souls who work to protect these marked teenagers.

The difficulty with following a novel as original and shocking as Unwind is that it is extremely difficult to replicate that originality and shock. As a result, new characters here remind one of characters in the previous novel. Starkey, the baddie of the piece, is reminiscent of Roland, while tithe Miracolina reminds one of tithe Lev. The impact of such poignant and tragic scenes and characters, such as CyFi, the party at the Admiral’s house and the unwinding of Roland are absent from Unwholly and not replaced by anything approaching the horror and sheer emotion that these moments brought.

Nevertheless, Unwholly is an extremely enjoyable novel in its own right and, as with the best Young Adult fiction, it is a book for all ages. Its only downfall is the supreme achievement of its predecessor.

Unwholly is much more of a mystery novel, following (and leaving) clues to the origins and reasons for unwinding, its perpetrators and opponents, leaving plenty of room for further revelations in the third book. Without doubt, Unwholly packs a punch and, as previously mentioned, if you enjoyed Unwind, there is no way you will be able to resist it. I bought in a US edition. I couldn’t even wait the extra month for the UK release.

Review of Unwind.

Earth Girl by Janet Edwards

Publisher: Harper Voyager
Pages: 400
Year: 2012 (16 August)
Buy: Paperback, Kindle
Source: Review copy

Review
The year is 2788. Many of Earth’s cities lie in ruins. Earth itself has become little more than a subject of study for its colonists who have abandoned the planet for others great distances away, now settled and terraformed and all linked together with portals. Much of humanity might have left Earth but one thing they cannot shake off is a sense of fascination for their past. Intriguingly, then, the young aspire to be historians and archaeologists. The celebrities of this age, the winners of medals and acclaim, are TV historians. Of course, Earth’s historical past might be revered but its present is far less appealing and so, at the end of their studies, the young will make the portal journey back to their adopted planet. Unfortunately, not everyone can make their escape. Some are tied to Earth due to a genetic mishap which renders them allergic to life beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Born off planet, the only action that can save their lives as newborns is an emergency immediate portal to Earth, sometimes with their parents, often without. These Earth-chained humans are Apes or Neanderthals, tolerated and patronised.

One such Ape is our Earth Girl, 18-year-old Jarra, a fiercely intelligent, ambitious and immensely likeable girl who wants nothing more than to be an archaeological explorer of Earth’s past, to be proud and independent as she grows and to be the best that she can possibly be. But, as an Ape (a derogatory term that has become all but official), she can’t attend the best universities which are off world. And so she decides to lie. She pretends to be the daughter of military parents, restricted to Earth while her mother and father heroically contribute to the transformation of distant planets for future colonisation. Reality is very different. Parentless, she is legally entitled to contact her parents now that she has reached adulthood but instead Jarra creates an alternate past so that she can achieve her goals.

As a member of University Asgard, Jarra joins a team of students under the instruction of Playdon at the New York Dig Site. Jarra might be pretending to be someone she is not but she can’t fail to impress due to her experience in archaeology (gained during years tied to Earth) and with her bravery and resourcefulness. Even the suspicious Playdon begins to believe her story and soon she has won the admiration of her team and something a little more from Fian, a young man who is also not afraid to test himself. It’s not long before the students’ teamwork is tested to its very limits as disaster threatens the dig site and before Jarra is taken to the very limit of what she is prepared to do.

And so this is the world created by Janet Edwards in Earth Girl. Extraordinarily, this is Edwards’ debut novel. In order for science fiction to succeed, whether it’s for youngsters, adults or both, it has to ring true. It has to be believed. Not only did I totally believe it, I couldn’t get enough of it. The images of a New York decimated by a disaster, reduced to girders, concrete posts and twisted iron, reclaimed by wolves, is extremely evocative. As is the depiction of a network of planets, all at varying degrees of transformation and each with their own character and difficulties. Some celebrate the libido while others live restricted and chaste lives. Some recreate a new Roman Empire before the destruction brought by Civil War while others are so freshly terraformed they may as well be living in the Wild West.

I love the character of Jarra. She is a heroine to be proud of, not least because she is flawed. She comes into her own as a crucial member of the archaeological digging team, realising her dream, but she undergoes another type of journey, confronting her past and struggling to come to terms with her limitations. All teenagers I would imagine understand what it is like to realise with a shock that you are not indestructible, not all powerful. Jarra is especially fascinating and huggable because she understands the restrictions on her, she has self-knowledge yet she is not invincible and she can crumble. She is always believable and I was prepared to believe in her even when she takes a course that contradicts what we’ve learned about her from our author. Jarra makes us believe in her even when the author would suggest we shouldn’t. That is a great achievement of Earth Girl – Jarra comes to exist in our minds almost beyond the limits of her creator.

So much goes on in Earth Girl. The excitement of the sequence of events facing the digging team matches the drama of what Jarra – and other members of the team – has to face as prejudices, dreams and possibilities are confronted. Incidentally, as an archaeologist myself, the digging scenes, although obviously different from anything I’ve experienced, rang very true.

Earth Girl might be promoted as a Young Adult novel but it deserves a far larger readership than that. I cannot praise this novel enough. Janet Edwards has done a marvellous job in combining threads from a range of genres. With no doubt at all, this is the best YA novel I’ve read this year and I am confident that it will be one of my contenders for novel of the year. Bravo, Janet, and more please!