Cloudy With a Chance of Books

In an alternative Europe, Darwinists have successful unraveled and recombined the stuff of life to create new animals. The Leviathan is a Darwinist engineered giant dirigible that is primarily sperm whale, but encompasses a whole ecosystem of animals each working to keep the Leviathan military airship aloft. Deryn disguises herself as a boy in order to realize her dreams of flying in the Royal Air Service and serves aboard Leviathan.

Westerfeld reimagines the first world war as a battle between the British and French Darwinists with their genetically engineered animals built for battle and the Austro-Hungarian Clankers with their mechanically advanced tanks and walkers which remind me of creations from the video game Battletech.

Half of the story is told from Deryn’s perspective as she hides her gender to enlist.  The other half is told from the perspective of Alek who is the orphaned child of Archduke Ferdinand whose murder triggers The Great War.  The orphaned Alek hides in the mountains of Switzerland with his trusted advisors hoping to avoid capture or assassination.  When Leviathan is sent on a special mission to carry Darwinist created eggs out of Britain, she crashes bringing Alek and Deryn’s stories together.

This delivered a number of reading pleasures.  I love stories of girls in disguise infilitrating male institutions and Deryn’s story of hiding her identity in order to fly was thrilling.  The Darwinist creatures and clanker tanks were fascinating creations and made for some epic battle scenes.  The larger political intrigue driving the action left mysteries and suspense for the sequels.  If you know something about WWI it is fun to note the changes, but the reader doesn’t need to know that history.  I would recommend this strongly to readers who enjoyed Airborn by Oppel or Airman by Colfer.  It is very different from Westerfeld’s Uglies books, but every bit as well written and enjoyable.  Keith Thompson’s illustrations paired nicely with the text and did not make the book more juvenile for me.  Instead, the illustrations added a coolness and I think teens who enjoy graphic novels will particularly appreciate them.  448p., 2009.

Jake’s parents have disappeared on an archaelogical expedition. They send Jake and his older sister, Kady, each half of an ancient Mayan coin. When the artifacts his parents recovered from their last expedition are displayed in London, Jake visits the exhibit. He puts the coin halves into a miniature golden pyramid which pulls him and his sister into another world.  In this world Native Americans fly on dinosaurs and Romans live alongside Mayans in a valley protected by the power of crystals. This valley is in danger from the rising power of the Skull King and his unnatural creations.  Jake makes two good friends, a Mayan girl and a Roman boy, with whom he will fight the Skull King and his warriors.

This book reminds me of Narnia as siblings who love each other but don’t always like each other are pulled across time to a land where a battle rages against a powerful evil.  Instead of religious undertones it is pinned on scientific principles.  The nature of light and the theory of continental drift both figure prominently in the plot.  The Skull King who literally wears shadows is less willing to use charm than the White Witch, but both plan to rule and sap the land of its vitality.  Jake is driven to pursue the discipline that his parents loved.  The author has provided Jake a host of mysteries and he takes them on like a young Indiana Jones.  There is plenty of action for this young adventurer and the unanswered questions about his parents’ fate will drive readers to want to pick up the upcoming sequel.

I enjoyed this book and think it is a great read for 6th – 8th graders particular those who like MacHale’s Pendragon books or Indiana Jones.  Pure adventure. 399p., 2009.

Toby gets a summer job at the new franchise of Killer Pizza which serves up pizzas with names like “the Frankensausage” or “the Montrosity.” He’s looking forward to learning some cooking skills to help him with his dream of becoming a celebrity chef. However, it turns out Killer Pizza is a front for a monster hunting organization that protects an unsuspecting public from man-eating monsters and Toby is their newest recruit. He begins training in weapons, monster lore and surveillance. Toby isn’t certain he has what it takes to be an MCO (monster containment officer). When fellow recruit Annabel is captured by a pack of guttata shapeshifters, Toby and Strobe are on their own to rescue her.

A team of misfits are recruited to take on monsters. This book had a fun premise and kept the fun coming with dangerous monsters and daring rescues. The monsters were deadly and some minor characters were eaten. The pack leader of the shapeshifting guttata was scary. Give this to graduates of the Goosebumps series who want to take their horror reading to the next level.
346p., 2009.

In a dark future city run by the ruthless Chaosonic corporation, a rebel organization called “the Deck” launches resistance missions.  Agent Six of Hearts is the Deck’s best field operative.  He infiltrates enemy installations with ease escaping with valuable intel past hundreds of security forces without killing a single enemy soldier.  Six has a secret only known by King of Hearts who runs the field operations.  Six is a product of the Lab’s Falcon project to create indestructible human soldiers by illegal genetic tampering.  In this book Six is sent back to the Lab to stop their new project to create more soldiers from his genome.

Heath knows how to write action and there is almost no page of this book that lacks for it.  Jumping off a dam in a hail of bullets, fighting a robotic killing machine, escaping attacking sharks, and more. . .  Six is a superhuman and his ability to outsmart and outfight the enemy is satisfyingly clever.  Underneath his cool superhuman façade, he does wonder just how human he is and his meetings with other superhumans from the Falcon project cause him to further question who he is.  The Deck’s secrets remain and I expect another book to illuminate the identities and motives of “the Jokers” who run the Deck.  A great read for fans of spy action. 312p., 2008 (first published in Australia in 2006)

This is the third book in the trilogy that began with Airborn. Matt Kruse who aspires to captain a hydrium powered airship finds himself invited to train to become one of the first astralnauts. His aristocratic girlfriend, Kate, is invited aboard the first space mission as a scientific expert on high-altitude life. Matt and Kate must keep their relationship a secret in tight quarters as Kate’s parents would not approve the match. This becomes the least of their worries when the cable tethering the ship to its satellite is attacked by alien life.

The book begins with Matt’s daring high altitude foiling of a terrorist bombing and the action does not let up from there. Between terrorist threats against the space mission and inhospitable aliens, the danger never stops. Matt and Kate’s romance also comes under threat when she must agree to become engaged to another man in order to be allowed on the space mission by her parents.

This is a swashbuckling, high-action romance with wide appeal. Despite the knucklebiting danger, Oppel takes time for humor too. I loved the monkey taken on the space flight who learns he can propel himself with monkey farts in zero gravity. I listened to Airborn, the first of the series, as an audiobook and think it makes a great listen for family road trips. It is better to begin at the beginning and enjoy all three books, though this could stand alone. 390p., 2009.

It starts with Sam’s unwise choice to steal fireworks from a truck. But, what started as simple mischief gets him captured by an UnderEarth goblin general and forced to fight in the goblin arena against giant bugs.

Sam, the budding delinquent, and P.J., the police chief’s teenage son, run over an escaped goblin in a “borrowed” police car. They discover UnderEarth a world where goblins have cities and a small band of humans guard the surface entrances into our world to protect the rest of humanity. Goblins have quite the taste for eating humans – they find them tasty in almost any preparation – alive, raw, skinned, cooked, and roasted. Entering UnderEarth at a time of upheaval, the human protectors have been overcome in a goblin attack and there is a fight amongst the goblins for who will be the next ruling Great Goblin, Sam and P.J. find they need all their skills to survive and find their way back to the surface.

The chapters were short and action-packed – switching back and forth from P.J. to Sam’s perspective. With its fast pace, humorous goblins, brutal fights – this one will be popular with action fans. I recommend it to those looking for a fast read who aren’t afraid of human eating goblins (warning – a few minor characters do get eaten). 232p., 2008.

Jack and his father are exploring an untouched wilderness in Africa tagging lions for research when their plane goes down. Jack is the only survivor and finds himself alone in a harsh savannah with hungry lions. He is discovered by an ape-like creature far-advanced from other apes, but not quite human. His alliance with this creature who he names Stoneboy may keep him alive long enough to be rescued.

Jack has to learn to hunt to eat and he has to outsmart a pack of lions who view him as prey. His alliance with Stoneboy is central to the story as he learns survival skills from Stoneboy and teaches Stoneboy skills – like creating fire. At its core, this is a survival story with very palpable danger at every turn. Jack struggles to find food, avoid being eaten and figure out how best to be found by rescuers. The fast-paced plot and in depth look at lions’ pack behavior and prehistoric hominids adds depth to a tale of wilderness survival. 248p., 2008.

Orphaned Conn picks the pocket of the wizard Neverly using his quick fingers to take the wizard’s locus magiculus stone. When the stolen magic stone does not destroy him, the wizard decides there is something special about the boy and takes him on as an apprentice. Neverly is working to discover why the magic of the town of Wellmet is fading. Conn has been given a month to find his own locus magiculus stone (every wizard must have one) or he will lose his apprenticeship and be back on the streets. Conn will need every bit of his newly learned magic to save Wellmet and escape Underlord Crow’s schemes for him.

A compellingly clever and likeable protagonist makes this fantasy shine above the rest. I loved Conn’s adventures as a cat after he learns the spell to change himself into his animal alter-ego. Of the strong supporting cast of characters, my favorite is the hired muscle Benet – a tough guy who also knits sweaters. I highly recommend this new fantasy! The Duchess’s intelligent daughter also figures to be prominent in the series as it continues giving a heroine as well as a hero to this satisfying beginning to a fantasy series. 419p., 2008.

A giant genetically engineered T-Rex named TIM is the Earth’s only hope against a nanobot Swarm bent on consuming everything in its path. Two teens find themselves trying to save London. Chris is mystically linked to the Earth’s defender, the man-made dinosaur TIM. Anna is the daughter of the scientist who has disassembled himself down to the atomic level to become the leader of the nanobot swarm.

The battle sequences are clearly written by a fan of monster movies as Big Ben is hurled as a weapon and the Parliament building comes crashing down. Anna was the stronger of the two characters for me. Chris got awfully whiny by the end of the book with his “why me?” refrain which detracted from the overall action fun of the book.

I think action and budding sci-fi monster fans will appreciate this. Giant monsters are wreaking havoc on the whole of London and only two teenagers can save the world! Plus that nanobot swarm was really scary. 284p., 2008.>

Coriko has lived as a slave for much of his life. He and his cellmate, Pippa, dig for shards at the beach and trade them to their masters, the Spears, for food. During a ritual drowning that the Spears use to punish the Diggers, Coriko meets two newly captured slaves who share his language. These new friends turn his thoughts to the outside world. They speak of escape. Coriko’s cellmate Pippa is a great thinker who fears the time the Spears call Separation when she and Coriko will be separated before they become adults. Pippa is the first to notice that the Spears are behaving differently and changing long held routines. They are afraid of something. When war comes to the slave colony, it is a chance to escape if the Diggers can survive the arrows of the attackers and avoid being locked in the flooding caves they have called home.

This book was a gripping look at slave life. Coriko’s lack of understanding of the wider world allows the reader to wonder along with him about how and why the Spears act as they do. The friendships between the slave children born of necessity and the need to survive pull the reader into the world more deeply. This was a strong survival story with a look at what it might be like to be taken as a child slave. 195p., 2008 (originally published in Canada 2001)