Archive | November 2012

Dearly Departed by Lia Habel

The world has changed and life as one knows it has reverted to a futuristic time mixed with the beauty and grace of the Victorian era. Fancy dress and high tech gadgets are the norm for seventeen-year-old Nora Dearly. The term at her finishing school has come to an end and she awaits her aunt’s carriage with patience and slight dread. Orphaned from the recent death of her father, Nora finds comfort through best friend Pamela as they venture home to New Victoria.

It was supposed to be a quiet first night back. Determined to find comfort in one of her favourite war films she shared with her father, a commotion outside derails her thoughts as the walking dead burst into her home. As Nora scampers to the roof, strangers rescue her but she’s horrified that even the handsome Bram is dead as well. Alone and surrounded by zombies, Nora must find strength within if she’s going to escape and return home.

I’ve never read anything steampunk before and I found myself pleasantly surprised how well this YA romance with zombies worked. Zombies aren’t all hungry monsters, but some have been given five years of an undead kind of life before succumbing to the final death. The idea is well executed and for those that need depth within a YA, look no further for Habel has thought of everything!

Steampunk fans will enjoy this book, and for those that don’t understand the genre will enjoy it just as must. There are excellent settings, cool gadgets and zombies falling in love. It was an exciting read that didn’t have my heart beating in fear but thrilled as I turned the pages in wonder about the fate of the characters. I can’t wait to read more from Habel and the next installment in the series.

Peeking Light

Nov5

Another Thank You

Nov4

It wasn’t that long ago I was thanking everyone who’d liked my posts and followed my blog. This I hit another milestone:

A 100 likes and my blog is still in its first year! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that followed and commented on my posts. I hope to continue bringing you reviews on interesting YA books and exciting things that happen in this amazing industry!

Contact by Chris Morphew

Nov3

Contact begins minutes after the first book ends, with Peter as the narrator.

Peter’s life continues to get worse. Sure moving to Phoenix was great at the beginning, but ever since the latest community member Luke arrived everything’s spun out of control. Now he’s discovered that the leader of the town, Shackleton has created ‘Tabitha’, a plague that will destroy the world’s population in 80 days.

As Peter fights for his feelings against Luke over Jordan, the adults in power are ordered by Shackleton to place the three under strict watch. Regardless, the trio are determined to find the source of the ringing phone. If there are working phones in Phoenix, they just need to find one to be able to contact the outside and call for help. The stakes are raised as the teenagers engage in a dangerous tug of war against Shackleton. They’ll have to decide what’s more important, saving the world or saving their lives…

He’s done it again! Morphew’s ability to continue with the thrills and the mystery is executed brilliantly. I loved his idea of switching point of views with the three characters. I found Peter to be more likeable than Luke, and his sense of humour in trying to be romantically involved with Jordan was an engaging touch.

This book has more action, and some gore that jars the readers back to the seriousness of the world coming to an end. Perhaps the best part about the second book is how there are still many more questions to be answered. Why are all the people brought to Phoenix? What truly is Shackleton’s point of exterminating the rest of the population? What if the project doesn’t goes accordingly to plan? The only criticism I have is that I want the disaster to happen already, but at the end of this book there’s still 70 days to go. I’ll keep reading, because Morphew has stepped up the game in book two, so I can only wonder what’s to come in book 3 Mutation…