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Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.

Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.

THE ELITE by Kiera Cass is the second book in her best-selling trilogy. America is still struggling with the promise of a life of royalty, especially as those around her struggle. But she has begun to realize that being at the castle is about more than just love, it is about life.

Some may pass this book off a simple teen tale of romance but it is so much more. Weaved throughout the story are the socioeconomic issues that face our society today. Rebellion, the separation of rich and poor, equality… these are all topics raised in THE ELITE as America struggles to fully understand the complexities of the country she thought she knew.

While I typically only write about Princes of the half-blood variety, Kiera Cass has masterfully weaved this latest installment. While THE SELECTION was about love, THE ELITE is about loyalty. This novel raises the question of at what price someone is willing to make a difference. Six girls remain in The Selection, some fight for the crown but America finds she must fight for so much more.

The palace is full of secrets. Secrets that some will suffer for, that some will break hearts, secrets that could cost people their lives and secrets that could change the very structure of the world in which America was raised. It is up to America to determine where her loyalties lie, before it is too late.

THE ELITE is available now.

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“You can’t touch me,” I whisper.

I’m lying, is what I don’t tell him.

He can touch me, is what I’ll never tell him.

But things happen when people touch me.

Strange things.

Bad things.

No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.

But Juliette has plans of her own.

After a lifetime without freedom, she’s finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she’d lost forever.

Every so often an book comes along with a voice that is more unique than parseltongue. It’s rare to find an author willing to take the leap and try something new, almost as rare as someone staying conscious through a lecture by professor Binns. Therefore, it must be celebrating when found.

SHATTER ME is the first novel in a trilogy written by Tahereh Mafi. The novel is told from the point of view of Juliette. A woman who is mad is treated as though she is insane by those around her. Juliet has a curse a gift. Her touch is lethal, but the only thing she’s wanted is to not be alone be accepted.

SHATTER ME allows Juliette to take the reader along on her journey as she struggles to understand her disease her power. She is a walking, talking cruciatus curse and the only way she can protect the people she cares about is to understand her own strength. SHATTER ME is a gripping, thought-provoking and unique look into the ways that those that are “different” are treated and the affect that can have on society. With engaging characters and a unique plot the reader will be left wondering who the real villains and victims are when people are treated as weapons.

The book’s sequel UNRAVEL ME,  out February 5^th, takes Juliette’s story a step further. With more awareness of who she is it is time to decide what she will become. Juliette must make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that may be life or death.

SHATTER ME is available in stores now. UNRAVEL ME releases on February 5^th.

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For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime.

It is a reality in today’s world that some people will never escape the life that has been laid out for them since birth. Some people will never want to. Others have an idea of what they expect their life to be and then realize the life they’ve always dreamed of may not compare to the future they could have. This is the situation faced by America, the main character in THE SELECTION by Kiera Cass.

Raised in a caste system in which it is nearly impossible to move out of poverty, America Singer has made her peace with the life she was given. There is no sorting hat in Illea  to determine where a person belongs.  Her life is planned out and she is willing to struggle through poverty to marry Aspen, her secret love, who is a caste below her. However, fate steps in and America finds herself in the nightmare of being one of the Selected. She must now leave her home to enter a fierce competition with thirty five other women to compete for a crown she doesn’t want. The palace is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks, which are nowhere near as deadly as some of the other competitors. Girls will do ANYTHING to win the heart of Prince Maxon, who American realizes is not the pompous royal she imaged him to be.  Now it is up to America to determine what she really wants, because that decision could change the fate of an entire kingdom.

I don’t typically write about books that involved princes (at least ones that are not of the half-blood variety) but Kiera Cass has created a truly engaging novel. The strengths of her book are in the world building and characters that she’s created, who seem to apparate out of the page so the reader is forced to empathize with them. Feelings are gross, but Kiera forces you to have them. Each member of the Selection has their own unique personality and let’s just say some would get along splendidly with Draco Malfoy. The fight for the crown makes me think that I should have had some of these girls guarding my diadem horcrux. While it does have dresses and catfight there is so much more to this novel which bases itself in political intrigue, obligation to family and questions about social structure.

THE SELECTION is available now.

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More than anything, Tom Raines wants to be important, though his shadowy life is anything but that. For years, Tom’s drifted from casino to casino with his unlucky gambler of a dad, gaming for their survival. Keeping a roof over their heads depends on a careful combination of skill, luck, con artistry, and staying invisible.

Then one day, Tom stops being invisible. Someone’s been watching his virtual-reality prowess, and he’s offered the incredible—a place at the Pentagonal Spire, an elite military academy. There, Tom’s instincts for combat will be put to the test, and if he passes, he’ll become a member of the Intrasolar Forces, helping to lead his country to victory in World War Three. Finally, he’ll be someone important: a superhuman war machine with the tech skills that every virtual-reality warrior dreams of. Life at the Spire holds everything that Tom’s always wanted—friends, the possibility of a girlfriend, and a life where his every action matters—but what will it cost him?

Gripping and provocative, S. J. Kincaid’s futuristic thrill ride of a debut crackles with memorable characters, tremendous wit, and a vision of the future that asks startling, timely questions about the melding of humanity and technology

Reality is difficult, virtual reality is easy. You can be anything you want online, complete impossible tasks you could never accomplish in real life. But what if your virtual world became a reality? Typically I write about books with an element of magic. Insignia is to technology what Harry Potter is to magic. Muggles dream of being able to take the Hogwarts express to attend school in the magical world JK Rowling created. Those who love technology will sit and dream that the technological advances of Insignia will soon become their reality.

The world created by S. J. Kinkaid in Insignia is a science fiction lover’s dream, and yet it still contains enough reality to seem possible. Tom (horrible, horrible name) is sent to school to determine if he has the skills necessary to help win World War 3, a battle fought in virtual reality. Tom is given a chip which is essentially able to transfigure his mind into a computer. It is the combination of the realism of Tom’s experiences at school and the fantasy aspects of this fantastic technology that makes the plot of this book.

While the plot is engaging it is the characters and their relationships that make this book so compelling. The friendships and fights (and appealing allure of a certain Dark Lord) in Harry Potter are what draw the reader in. Tom’s world at school is full of allies and enemies he could have never imagined, all of whom help to build his story and shape his character. While feelings are gross, S J Kincaid’s ability to evoke them from the reader are what makes Insignia such a success.

You’re reading this review online so the ability of technology to teach, train and terrorize should not be a surprise. Much of our world today is completely dependent on the internet and virtual reality. What if computer games, that virtual world, could save the real world or lead to its destruction? Tom’s journey is engrossing as Insignia brings into question where technology is headed, and what that means for the future.

Insignia is available now.

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Vis in magia, in vita vi. In magic there is power, and in power, life.

I rarely use the word ‘spellbinding’ when describing a novel. I hold magic with too much reverence to use the word loosely. However, SKYLARK by Meagan Spooner gets the honor of that distinction. From the first chapter the reader is apparated into a mesmerizing world of technology meets magic.

There are a lot of books about magic. A lot. Enough to fill the Hogwarts library several times over, more books than hair product used by Draco Malfoy. However, there are not that many new stories. It is incredibly rare to have a book that cannot be equated to another, previously written, tale. Too often novels tout themselves as a “new” Harry Potter or “Hunger Games meets Lord of The Rings” etc. Books try to ride on the success of other plotlines and use their names for their own achievement. There are a lot of “Toms” in the world. This book is not a Tom, it is a Lord Voldemort. SKYLARK stands alone. The unique narrative and brilliant world created by Meagan Spooner will, I have no doubt, create a legion of other novels that try to claim that they are “like SKYLARK.”

For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley waited for the day when her Resource would be harvested and she would finally be an adult. After the harvest she expected a small role in the regular, orderly operation of the City within the Wall. She expected to do her part to maintain the refuge for the last survivors of the Wars. She expected to be a tiny cog in the larger clockwork of the city.

Lark did not expect to become the City’s power supply.

For fifteen years, Lark Ainsley believed in a lie. Now she must escape the only world she’s ever known…or face a fate more unimaginable than death.

Lark Ainsley, is a girl with magic in a Muggle-ish world where her power is seen as literally as power (fuel) rather than a fundamental part of a human being. It is a world the reader will both be enchanted and horrified by. Fleeing the home she has always been told is her only safe haven, Lark must survive in a world she’s been told has been branded with a permanent Dark Mark.

This is a story of discovery but not in the traditional telling of over introspection and morals. Instead, this is the about the discovery of magic. The discovery of power. The discovery of the grim dangers of the world. And the discovery of avoiding what lurks deep in the shadows. Lark is not thrust into sudden understanding, her character builds through her journey. She does not have all the answers and that is what makes her compelling.

There is some magic inside everyone (with the exception of the Dursleys). Meagan Spooner understand this & the true reason people connect to stories of magic. She realizes that true magic is not something you believe in but something you know. An inherent nature that helps define a person. This is magic at its deepest, most natural. The magic of this story is dark, dangerous and enchanting and it makes this story worth reading.

Want to win a SKYLARK prize? Everyone is a winner! Your time has finally come, Hufflepuffs!

http://www.meaganspooner.com/the-skys-the-limit-contest-for-skylark/

SKYLARK will be available August 1^st.

If you’re interested in learning more about SKYLARK or Meagan Spooner visit her website at http://www.meaganspooner.com.

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Atlantis, or as I prefer to call it: “Underwater Chamber of Secrets,” has more myth and legend surrounding it than Merlin himself. While many people have written about the fantasy surrounding the tale, Kevin Emerson manages to bring a fresh and engaging twist to the story in his new, dystopian book The Lost Code.

The rise in dystopian novels may seem like a fad meant to build off the success of the Hunger Games trilogy however, in reality, the reason people like to read dystopian fiction is because the end of the world is not that hard to imagine. In fact, some people *ahem* imagine it daily. While warfare, depleting resources and muggles continuing to breed more muggles are the most immediate causes of the world’s problems; there is one more: technology.

Kevin Emerson takes the real elements of global warmings increasingly talked about threat and combines it with fantasy. He manages to artfully depict the world of his characters in such a way their crumbling society’s fate seems almost inevitable.

The story focuses on Owen Parker, a young man who thought he was ordinary, but who is about to discover that he is so much more. History tends to repeat itself, to societies own detrement.  If Owen can unlock the lost code in his genes, he may be able to discover the forgotten knowledge of his ancestry and discover the secrets of Atlantis that might just save the world.

The Lost Code manages to bring a new and engaging twist to an often told tale. One that is compelling and mysterious enough to make the reader want to borrow a time-turner so they might have access to the next book immediately.

“What is oldest will be new, what was lost shall be found”

While this may sound like a riddle fit for the outside of Gringotts. In reality, it is the eerie message passed along in The Lost Code. A compelling read for anyone who is a fan of the dystopian genre.

The Lost Code is available in bookstores now.

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When something is forbidden it makes it so that you must have it. That’s just the way of the world. Immediately upon being told that we can’t have something, that it’s wrong, we NEED it. The Fallen series by Lauren Kate deals in large part with what happens when what is forbidden for you… is a person. It is a story about how one choice can change everything and what someone is willing to do to keep what they have been told they cannot have.

The Fallen series tells the story of Lucinda Price, a girl who discovers that she is the key in a great war between Heaven and Hell. Upon arriving at her new boarding school, Sword and Cross, Luce can tell that there is something different about some of the other students. This feeling is only amplified after she meets Daniel Girgori. Feeling an immediate connection to him, Luce senses that she has met him before. I won’t spoil the (SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE) book for anyone who hasn’t read it but will say that Fallen deals mainly with Luce discovering the true identity of her new friends and the truth about herself.  

While Fallen centers on Luce discovering who (what?) her friends are, the sequels Torment and Passion find Luce trying to discover her role in the great war between Heaven and Hell and how to change her fate. Lauren Kate takes a story with familiar elements and transforms it into an completely original and engaging epic fantasy that compels you to keep reading with the force of an imperius curse. These books are must reads for anyone who is a fan of the fantasy genre.

Rapture, the final book in the series, deals with the end.  It’s a thrilling book filled with love (ew), loss and lessons about what really defines a person. Luce must make the ultimate choice. There is always a price for the forbidden things you want. Sometimes it’s a piece of your soul, sometimes… it’s your heart. A surprising and dramatic end to her series, Rapture brings the end to Luce’s story, and perhaps to it all…

Rapture is available in bookstores now.

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Heroes can be boring. Someone who always does the right thing at the right time is not realistic. Everyone has a bit of a villain in them and when an author can create a character that you want to know more about, that you HAVE to know more about, even when they’re seemingly doing the “wrong” thing? Someone who challenges  the main character and makes the reader think? That is the type of author who will create a book you can’t put down. Leigh Bardugo is that author and Shadow and Bone is that book.        

Bardugo understands magic. Shadow and Bone is the first novel in the Grisha Trilogy. Its heroine, Alina Starkov, has never been good at anything.  An orphan (what is it with those orphans?), she and her best friend were trained to be part of the army. Ravka, a once-great nation, has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. When Alina’s best friend is attacked during a crossing of the Shadow Fold she reveals a dormant power inside herself that might be able to save her kingdom… or destroy it.

Shadow and Bone is filled with sensational, wonderful magic. (Magic that would make McGonagall shutter and a Death Eater salivate). The Grisha are a powerful, magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. Each member of the Grisha has access to different niche powers. Trained in the art of fighting, the Grisha serve the Darkling, who is their leader and commands an arsenal of impressive, and deadly, powers himself.

Once Alina’s power reveals itself she must train with the the Grisha to figure out how to master and wield her own magic. However,  in accessing her power, Alina being consumed by it as well. The thing about magic is that people underestimate it. “With great power comes great responsibility.” Not only personal responsibility, but deciding what level of control you will allow other’s over your personal power.

 There is a thin line between good and evil. One person’s hero is another’s villain and everyone is the hero in their own story. The mistake of so many authors is that they take that thin line and try to make it thicker and thicker. The “hero” gets the narrative, the back-story, and the focus while all you know of the “villain,” well, is that they’re “bad.”  You’re forced to accept this fact without being given the benefit of what motivates them, their back story, and their reasons behind what they do.  A villain that can make you care? Whose actions can make you feel and hate them, rather than the character or author telling you to do so? THAT is a true villain.

Bardugo’s Darkling is a powerful character, both in the magic that he wields and the spells he casts over the reader. Both Alina and the reader must work to determine their true feelings about who he is and what he does. The strength of Shadow and Bone is in the world that Bardugo has created. Fascinating, unique and magical it is a place you at once want to visit… and also fear. A difficult mix to create and a fantastic success for Bardugo’s first novel which leaves you begging for the second to release.

Shadow and Bone is in stores now. Accio a copy immediately.

Ps. Those who order the book from http://leighbardugo.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/pre-order-news-map-swagger/ will have a chance to get extras with their copy.

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It is our dreams that keep us alive. Without goals, imagination and ambition we would have nothing to strive for. A world without dreams is a bleak, Dursleyish thought, and it is a risk of being a reality for the main character in Josephine Angelini’s Dreamless.

Dreamless is the second book in the Starcrossed trilogy. The first book, Starcrossed, released in 2011. For those who have not read (and should rectify that immediately) the books, they are a modern retelling of traditional Greek mythology. There are many different kinds of magic. The origins and use of magic are viewed and interpreted differently throughout the world. In Greek mythology, it is the gods, and their descendents, who have powers.

Starcrossed delves into the life of Helen Hamilton, a “normal” girl who finds she is really a Scion (offspring) of the gods. Helen not only has to come to terms with her newly found powers but with the role she must play in an epic battle that has been going on for centuries.

Scions are claimed by one of four Houses (hmmm, familiar) and spend their lives violently warring with the other Houses to repay a blood feud from the Trojan War.  Helen’s life is complicated when she meets, and finds herself drawn to, Lucas, a member of a rival House. This goes about as well as a Hufflepuff falling in love with a Death Eater, as Helen is fated to restart a war if they fall in love. Together, the two seek to find a way to bring an end to the battling of the Houses while questioning whether one can ever truly beat fate.

While Stracrossed is about Helen finding out about her true identity and the world to which is she tied, Dreamless finds Helen literally going to hell and back to try and change her destiny. The book is not just a love story but also (for all you Divination and prophecy lovers out there) a question of if we ever truly have control and if one person can make all the difference. While these are heavy underlying themes, the book combines wit and (deadly) humor to make it a fun read.

Starcrossed and Dreamless bring together the modern and ancient worlds in a story that has more twists and turns that a Triwizard maze. It is refreshing (and addicting) to read a story that is able to combine epic fantasy with the everyday. Combining well-known characters within Greek mythology with those of her own creation, Angelini’s writing pulls you in more than a summoning charm with its unique yet relatable storyline. The ending of Dreamless is more painful than a cruciatus curse as it leaves you wanting more.

]]> http://lv7thinks.com/?feed=rss2&p=337 0 http://lv7thinks.com/?p=332 http://lv7thinks.com/?p=332#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 23:02:02 +0000 admin http://lv7thinks.com/?p=332

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Today we are sitting down to interview Veronica Roth, author of NY Times best-selling novel Divergent and its sequel Insurgent which is in stores now. By “we” I am referring to me, myself and I… also known as my horcruxes.

Veronica, I’d thank you for speaking with me today but it’s not like you really had a choice. I’ll release the body-bind curse after you’ve answered some questions… maybe.

LV: Could you briefly describe the plot of Divergent for those non-Ravenclaws who were imperiused into reading this interview and might not have picked up the book yet?

VR: It’s about a girl who lives in futuristic Chicago (a land much different from Hogwarts) that is divided into five factions, each one dedicated to cultivating a particular virtue in its members (which is a lot like Hogwarts, actually): selflessness, bravery, honesty, kindness, or intelligence. She, along with all other sixteen year olds in her society, gets the opportunity to decide whether she wants to stay with her family in the faction she was raised in, or switch to another one. The book is about that choice and its consequences.

LV: JK Rowling has famously said that the idea for Harry Potter “strolled into her head fully formed” on a train ride. Was your experience for this trilogy something similar?

VR: Ha! Not at all. The idea came to me in bits and pieces– simulated realities here, fearless psychopaths there, a huge group of people dressed entirely in gray here, someone jumping off a roof there…until one day, I found a way to put them all together.

LV: There are five factions in your book which seem to mildly mirror the four Hogwarts houses. For instance, Ravenclaw/Erudite and Amity/Hufflepuff. The Abnegation would have been muggles (don’t argue, it’s true)

However, it seems that Dauntless, the courageous, is almost a mix of Gryffindor and Slytherin. Would you say that’s accurate?

VR: Oh, I don’t know– I think Slytherins are far more cunning than the Dauntless, who approach life with a complete lack of subtlety. IE: for destruction purposes, the Slytherins would choose a chisel and the Dauntless would choose a giant freaking sledgehammer. I’d say Slytherin and Ravenclaw would both be in Erudite.

LV: In your opinion, why is it that the line between good and evil seems to get hazy when bravery is concerned? Is that something that you touch upon in your books?

VR: This was a huge question in the first book, but ultimately I think the problem is not with bravery itself but with how people misinterpret bravery. Some people decide that bravery is demonstrated with violence or mercilessness or even risk-taking. And if you push bravery too far in those directions, you often end up with cowardice—Tris remarks in the middle of the book that bullying is cowardly, for example, even though it looks like a demonstration of strength. I think her ultimate conclusion is that selflessness and bravery are often the same thing, and that makes the line between good and evil a lot less hazy for her.

LV: What Hogwarts House do you think your characters would have fallen into?

VR: Tris and Christina would be Gryffindors. Caleb would be a Ravenclaw. Tobias would be a Hufflepuff. (Think about it.)

LV: I think it’s safe to say Eric would have signed up to be a Death Eater, correct?

VR: Decidedly yes.

LV: Are there any other characters you think would have wisely gotten a Dark Mark?

VR: Peter, probably, though you might have to remind him that butter knives are not nearly as effective as wands. Also Jeanine, Drew, Molly…

LV: Hm, it seems some of your characters need to rethink their priorities. Speaking of your characters, do you think Tris or Four believe in magic?

VR: No. They’re Abnegation, remember? Muggles!

LV: We already know the fears Tris would see if she came across a dementor, however, if Tris conjured a Patronus what would her happy thought be and what animal form would it take?

VR: Her happy thought would probably be ziplining off the Hancock building. And the animal form would be…a raven. Figure that one out.

LV: You frequently kill people… in your books. I like that. Is that something you ever regret as an author? Are more characters going to be avada kedavraed as the series progresses?

VR: Sometimes after I kill people I look back and think, “but they would have been so useful! DAMMIT!” But it forces me to be more creative, since I have a “no bringing characters back to life” policy. And yes, I’m a bit avada kedavra happy– something you probably understand.

LV: In a similar vein, are we going to be introduced to new main characters in the next two books? If so, who is your favorite?

VR: I think the “main” characters remain almost the same in book two, though some of them become far more prominent than they were in book one. My favorite new character is Evelyn. I can’t tell you who she is without spoiling something, but she is a complicated person.

LV: Many popular series nowadays prominently feature a love triangle. I have always disliked this, mainly because love is gross. You have maintained that there won’t be a love triangle in your books; was this a conscious choice in order to deviate from other series?

VR: While I sometimes like a good love triangle, I often feel that they’re a way to artificially create tension between the love interests that doesn’t actually exist. I thought it would be more challenging for me to explore the tension that exists in new relationships, particularly when the people involved are in a difficult life situation, rather than throwing someone else into the mix. Also, Tris isn’t an indecisive person, so I would have trouble imagining her torn between two people. She would just pick one and deal with the consequences.

LV: Is it hard to be the only one who knows what is going to happen in your books? Do you have to put a silencing charm on yourself sometimes not to spoil what is yet to come?

VR: You know, it’s not. I’ve always had a problem describing plots and storylines to people, so the whole “nope, can’t say that, it’s a spoiler” thing has been remarkably useful in social situations.

LV: One of the reasons people love the Potter series so much is that with each additional book more moments of the prior books fell into place and made sense. It seems that in Insurgent we are going to dive into the Chamber of Secrets a bit and that Divergent was setting up the background for what is to come in the next two books, is that correct?

VR: One of the only things I really outlined at the beginning was when certain world-building and story questions would be answered. For example, the question “what is a Divergent, actually?” is something I think I answer in all three books, with varying degrees of depth. I like a slowly unfolding series myself, so hopefully people can be patient as they wait for answers. They will come! Eventually!

LV: If we were gifted with Professor Trewlaney’s visions of the future (the 1% that are actually accurate) what would we know to expect in Insurgent?

VR: In Insurgent, Tris is freer to move around inside the city, rather than having to stick with her faction, so you should expect more insight into the other groups in the city (Amity, Erudite, Candor, and the factionless). Also, you should expect death, destruction, and mayhem. As usual.

LV: As you know, I am very devoted to Anagrams. Did you know your name is an anagram for hot carnivore? Anything we should know about that….?

VR: I like steak.

LV: Finally, everyone knows that you can’t lie to the Dark Lord. What are two true things that will happen in Insurgent and one lie in no particular order.

VR: Caleb shoots someone. Tris goes under truth serum. A building explodes.

Hmmm you seem to be gifted in the art of occulmency, I’m not sure which is the lie. I suppose we’ll have to read and find out…

Divergent is currently available in hardcover and soft cover. Its sequel, Insurgent will be in stores May 1^st. Pick it up. This is not a request.