Airman by Eoin Colfer is a swashbuckling adventure.  Born in a plunging hot-air balloon in 1878, Conor Broekhart is destined to fly.  Raised on the fictional Saltee Islands off the coast of Ireland, Conor lives an idyllic life, like a son to the benevolent king, and best friends with Princess Isabella.  He is just beginning to experiment with building flying machines with his tutor, and shifting into a romantic relationship with the princess, when his world is shattered by the murderous Marshall Bonvilain.  Bonvilain kills the king and frames Conor, forcing him to work in the grueling diamond mines.  But Conor will find a way to fly again, in more ways than one.  This is a fast-paced and exciting adventure, filled with delightful characters and rich detail.

The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau is a fitting conclusion to The Books of Ember quartet.  Lina and Doon who lead their fellow citizen out of the underground city of Ember, (built before a great catastrophe to be the only light in a dark world), now live above ground with the people of the village of Sparks.  However, supplies and spirits are low.  When a book Doon believes was meant for the citizens of Ember comes into his possession, he convinces Lina to journey back to Ember with him.  There, they make some remarkable discoveries that require all of their puzzle-solving skills.  Lina and Doon are engaging characters whose friendship shines through their adventures in this well-wrought conclusion to the science fiction quartet.  (Forthcoming 8/2008)

Into the Wild and Out of the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst are fabulous fairy-tale novels detailing Julie, the twelve-year-old daughter of Rapunzel.  Despite her magical heritage, Julie is trying to live a normal life, but when The Wild under bed escapes, her town is being taken over by the world of fairy-tales, and it is up to Julie to save her friends, and family, and even her enemies.  Durst fractures fairy-tales in an inventive way and has penned two books carry readers around an intriguing array of twists and turns.

The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott takes the tale of "The Wild Swans" and expands it into a magical and romantic novel.  Princess Alexandra grows up adoring her older brothers, and following in her mother's footsteps as she learns to heal with herbs.  When an evil beast murders her mother, Alexandra's father ventures into the forest to kill it.  Instead he returns enthralled to a beautiful woman.  Alexandra and her brothers can sense her evil, but when they try to cast her out, her brothers are turned into swans and Alexandra is sent into exile.  But it is in her banishment that she begins to understand her own power and to seek a way to save her brothers and her kingdom.  A lush and lovely tale.

Impossible by Nancy Werlin spins a realistic fantasy from the ballad, Scarborough Fair.  When seventeen-year-old Lucy, a much-loved foster child, discovers that her family is under a curse of a cruel elfin lord, she is determined to do whatever she has to in order to defeat him and break the curse.  Werlin's luminous prose weaves readers directly into the tale, feeling their hearts beat with the very true-to-life characters.  A fantasy so engrossing that it is impossible to put down.  (Forthcoming 9/2008)

Reviewed Jan. 1, 2008

Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey is a gritty story of two young people, Haph and Sadima.  The parallel narratives intertwine but do not intersect until the end of the novel which is the first in the Resurrection of Magic trilogy.  Haph, a young man of a wealthy family, is sent by his hated father to study magic.  In this school, they don't teach charms and potions.  In this school Haph and the other boys must learn to use magic on their own, or they will literally starve to death, and they are not allowed to help each other.  Sadima's mother was killed and robbed by a supposed magic-wielder on the night Sadima was born.  Her father and her brother don't want to know anything about her gift of speaking with animals.  When Sadima runs away from home, she finds the wizards who teach in the brutal school of magic, but their secret ways are hidden from her.  This gripping novel leaves readers eager to know what happens next.  It was nominated for a National Book Award.  The sequel, Sacred Scars is coming out in April, 2009.


Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley is a masterfully told story of, Jake, a contemporary teen living in an alternate America.  In this America, Smokehill is a national park dedicated to preserving the dwindling dragon population.  When Jake, on his first solo camping expedition in the park, stumbles across a dragon dying from a wound inflicted by a poacher, he rescues her only baby dragon left alive.  He dedicates his life to caring for and protecting his new charge.  By the time readers finish the novel, they will feel as if they too, can raise a baby dragon.  McKinley's best book since The Hero and the Crown.

Larklight and it's sequel Starcross by Philip Reeve are delightful science fiction adventures with a decidedly Victorian flare.  Art Mumby and his sister Myrtle live in the British Empire of 1851, and in this case that empire extends into space, for Sir Isaac Newton discovered how to navigate the "aether" (space).  In the first adventure, they live with their father in a ramshackle house called Larklight which has its own gravity generator.  When giant spiders attack, brother and sister barely escape, only to land in a muddle on the moon.  They are rescued by the dastardly pirate, Jack Havock and his crew of aliens, and then their adventures truly begin.  In the sequel, the Mumby family journeys to Starcross on holiday and discover a bevy of nefarious top hats plotting to take over the galaxy.  Fabulous rip-roaring adventure!  The newest book in the series, Mothstorm, is due out Oct. of 2008 and is as exhilarating as the previous titles.


Reviewed Sept. 7, 2007