Enders by Lissa Price

My hand went to the back of my head and I swore I could feel the chip underneath my skin. But I couldn’t, or course: it was buried deeply under the metal  blocking plate. It was just the surrounding scar tissue I felt, hard and unforgiving.

Published by Doubleday Children’s Books in December 2013

Pages - 273

Goodreads Summary

Someone is after Starters like Callie and Michael - teens with chips in their brains. They want to experiment on anyone left over from Prime Destinations -With the body bank destroyed, Callie no longer has to rent herself out to creepy Enders. But Enders can still get inside her mind and make her do things she doesn't want to do. Like hurt someone she loves. Having the chip removed could save her life - but it could also silence the voice in her head that might belong to her father. Callie has flashes of her ex-renter Helena's memories, too . . . and the Old Man is back, filling her with fear. Who is real and who is masquerading in a teen body?
No one is ever who they appear to be, not even the Old Man. Determined to find out who he really is and grasping at the hope of a normal life for herself and her younger brother, Callie is ready to fight for the truth. Even it if kills her.

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I feel like I have waited ages for this book. Starters may have actually blown my mind, so Enders had really big shoes to fill. The whole premise behind this series is just so gobsmackingly good. Imagine if someone could take over your body when ever they felt like it. Wouldn’t you feel violated in some way? I certainly would and it’s no surprise that Callie wants the chip removed from her brain.

Callie is a gutsy girl who always puts others before herself. Her brother’s safety is paramount to her and she will do whatever she can to make sure he is OK. Her rather unusual and weird relationship with the Old Man is pivotal to the story. There is so much more to him than we ever thought while reading the first book.

Emma was not the character I was expecting. I had such visions of her future with Callie and I was surprised by her personality. I couldn’t warm to her at all.

This book is more explosive than the first and had a strong Hunger Games feel to it as the teens with chips fight for survival. Lots of questions answered by the end  but I did feel the story hadn’t completely fini

shed.

I enjoyed Enders, but I have to admit that in comparison to Starters, it really didn’t match up.  However on it’s own, Enders was very good. I know that sounds a bit lame, but when you think how utterly amazing Starters was, it was a bit of a let down that Enders wasn’t as fantastic, but if you read it as stand alone, I am pretty sure you would love it.

On the whole, a good conclusion to an amazing debut.

The Oathbreaker’s Shadow by Amy McCullough

Raim sat in the crook of an old, cracked tree, one leg dangling in the breeze, his head leaning back against the trunk. Long, needle-like leaves shaded him from the oppressive heat and hid him from the view of his grand-father, in case he was looking to assign him yet another chore. He just wanted a moment for himself.

Pages - 405

Published by Doubleday in June 2013

Goodreads Summary

Fifteen-year-old Raim lives in a world where you tie a knot for every promise that you make. Break that promise and you are scarred for life, and cast out into the desert.
Raim has worn a simple knot around his wrist for as long as he can remember. No one knows where it came from, and which promise of his it symbolises, but he barely thinks about it at all—not since becoming the most promising young fighter ever to train for the elite Yun guard. But on the most important day of his life, when he binds his life to his best friend (and future king) Khareh, the string bursts into flames and sears a dark mark into his skin.
Scarred now as an oath-breaker, Raim has two options: run, or be killed.

*****

I was excited about this book from the first time I heard about it and I was really pleased it didn’t let me down. This is an extremely well written, evenly paced action novel that engulfs you and transports you to a world of fantasy.  I can’t believe how quickly I was lost in the story. The premise just blew me away. The idea of promise knots that can be broken to cause someone a life time of misery is just outstanding. Two people make a promise and a knot is tied to represent it. Should the promise be broken, the person would be physically scarred and haunted by a constantly abusive shadow.

The writing is the type that just flows off the page. Each sentence carefully crafted to allow the prose to flow beautifully. It’s the kind of book you want to quote from.

Raim is one of those characters, you instantly admire and care for. On one hand, he is strong and prepared to be the warrior he has trained all his life to be. Yet on the other hand, you see a softer, caring side - a loyal friend and family member, who will do anything to protect the ones he loves. I loved the twist in the relationship between Raim and Khareh, as oaths are finally broken. It was extremely clever how the author portrayed the two opposing versions of Khareh. The emotions of each character are easily identified allowing the secondary characters to stand out just as well as the main ones. 

The setting was breath taking. The author has portrayed the imaginary world of Darhan in such intricate detail, that you can easily visualise it.

The story builds in pace gradually to an epic ending. I really was pleased with the way it ended. A stunning work of fantasy. I am so eager to read the final book in this dualogy.

The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laban

Published by Doubleday 20th January 2013

305 pages

As Duncan walked through the stone archway leading into the senior dorm, he had two things on his mind: what ‘treasure’ had been left behind for him and his Tragedy Paper. Well, maybe three things: he was also worried about which room he was going to get.

Goodreads Review

Tim Macbeth, a seventeen-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious Irving School, where the motto is “Enter here to be and find a friend.” A friend is the last thing Tim expects or wants—he just hopes to get through his senior year unnoticed. Yet, despite his efforts to blend into the background, he finds himself falling for the quintessential “It” girl, Vanessa Sheller, girlfriend of Irving’s most popular boy. To Tim's surprise, Vanessa is into him, too, but she can kiss her social status goodbye if anyone ever finds out. Tim and Vanessa begin a clandestine romance, but looming over them is the Tragedy Paper, Irving’s version of a senior year thesis, assigned by the school’s least forgiving teacher.

Jumping between viewpoints of the love-struck Tim and Duncan, a current senior about to uncover the truth of Tim and Vanessa, The Tragedy Paper is a compelling tale of forbidden love and the lengths people will go to keep their secrets.

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Review by Sophie Duffy

I really enjoyed The Tragedy Paper. It is a combination of Harry Potter without the magic, the quirkiness of The Gilmore Girls’ and the intrigue and emotion of the Dead Poets Society. 

The novel is beautifully written in an easily accessible style. A great example of less is more. I could picture the action and the boarding school setting and was never bored by pointless description or excessive exposition. I think the dual viewpoint keeps the novel fresh and the reader engaged. As the novel progresses, the more hooked I was, waiting with trepidation to find out what the big secret was. LaBan is very good at building up tension and delivering results.

This is a coming-of-age story. Finding your place in the world and establishing an identity that is something other than what has always been given you. Tim, an albino, has always been just that: an albino. Now he has the chance to be accepted into the inner circle of cool kids, under the jurisdiction of Patrick. And Tim takes this chance. 

But to add complications into the mix there is also a love interest: Vanessa, Patrick’s girlfriend. Tim is love struck but never knows where he stands. Vanessa blows hot and cold and stays with Patrick even though he can be callous and shallow. Why does she like Tim so much? Is she leading him on or is there more to her feelings for him?

Running parallel to this is the story of Duncan and Daisy. Duncan is allocated Tim’s room the year after he leaves under difficult circumstances. He discovers some CDs that Tim has left him. The ‘treasure’. It is Tim’s version of events of the year before.  As Duncan listens to the CDs we hear the story of Tim and Vanessa and find out what happened one tragic night.

The two stories intertwine and reflect each other and there are resonances of the elements of tragedy that every final year student has to study for a big project known as The Tragedy Paper.

The boarding school atmosphere is authentic and easy to connect with. It’s a privileged world but one with its fair share of problems and conflicts that you would find in any school: boy v. girl, teacher v. student, popular v. unpopular etc. And, as anywhere, it is friendship, compassion, courage and truth that count. 

I thoroughly recommend this debut novel, which has been compared to Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why.  I look forward to future novels by Elizabeth LaBan.

The Devil Walks by Anne Fine

'The devil walks . . . But the devil can make no headway if he has no help. We must invite him in . . .'

Pages - 277

Published by Doubleday Childrens - an imprint of Random House Children's Books

Book kindly sent by publisher.

Right from the very beginning, my life was strange. It didn't seem that way to me, of course. I'm sure, deep down, everyone in the world believes their life rolls on the way lives are supposed to go and it's the others who are off the track. But mine was the most peculiar start because of the way I'd been raised. 

It was - oh, put it bluntly, Daniel! - halfway to mad. 

Daniel has spent the first years of his life raised in secrecy by his mother. When the town discovers his existence, they quickly take him away and put his mother into an asylum. With his mother gone, his only link to the past, is an  intricately built doll's house.

On discovering the house is based on his mother's original home whilst growing up, his warden begins searching for the house. Eventually he finds it and brings Daniel to the attention of his Uncle Severin, who has an uncanny resemblance with a doll from the doll's house. 

Uncle Severin takes Daniel to live with him, but Daniel soon realises that his uncle is being more than kind. His uncle is desperate to get his hands on the doll which Daniel believes has a life of its own. Can Daniel stop his uncle?

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Oh my, this was  a deliciously dark tale. From the beginning, you are quite disturbed by Daniel's mother, who appears to be quite insane. You are desperate for him to be taken out of her care and find yourself wondering a little if she suffers from Munchhausen Syndrome by Proxy. Clearly, she has some issues, if she is raising her son, never to leave his bedroom and keeping him in bed night and day, convincing him that he is ill. 

Luckily he is discovered by a neighbour and sent to live with the local doctor providing him with a loving home, which allows him to become stronger and healthy. Wouldn't it be nice, if we could believe that now he would be happy for ever after? Unfortunately, his step uncle Severin offers to take him in and Daniels' life really takes a turn for the worse.

Daniel is a really strong character, who just goes from strength to strength as the book progresses, allowing him to face his fears head on by the climatic scenes at the end of the book.

I am unsure of when this book is set or in which country. I am presuming it was set in Victorian times, due to the mode of transport and other aspects discussed within the book, but I couldn't definitely be sure.

I loved the richness of the prose, leading me in a gloriously Gothic tale. The book feels immensely dark from cover to cover. You get a real sense of Daniel's fear at staying in his uncle's house. His Uncle Severin keeps you on your toes as he carousels between his Jekyll and Hyde persona's. I found myself never quite sure of his intentions until the very end. 

I was pleased to be able to forgive Daniel's mother as the book progressed, because I realised her reasons for her actions and knew that in the same circumstances I would do the same. Very clever writing on behalf of the author to show such different perceptions for one character. 

This book touches on some very dark practices that I was surprised to find in the book, but loved reading about. Thankfully Daniel reaches out into the darkness to bring light back into the book by the end. 

If you are a long term Anne Fine fan, you will know that she is an eclectic writer, so do not expect anything that you have read before. This book takes you strolling down dark and mysterious lanes, before abandoning you in the dark.  A must read for all Victorian Gothic fans.