Teen Tuesday Audiobook Review: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Happy Tuesday! Well, the Hunter's Moon sure put on a show last night as it waxes toward full tomorrow. I hope the weather cooperates and we can continue to bask in its light. And, I could see Orion nearly halfway up at 5 AM. I've been watching him make his way across the pre-sunrise sky since September. I will never forgot the morning I looked out from my deck at the beach at 3AM one August. I saw Orion appear to rise from the ocean.

Well, TMS Readers, I did it. An eighth grader has been telling me that I needed to read The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani for years! She might be a little obsessed with this series and its author. The hype is real!

Teen Tuesday features The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. This fantasy fairy tale series starter was published in 2013 and was the author's debut. Its 14+ hours fly by as listeners are transported into Agatha and Sophie's adventures. Every four years in their village, two children, age 12 or older are kidnapped, never to be seen again, presumably transported to the School for Good and Evil. While most of the villager dread this arrival, Sophie believes herself to be a princess and hopes for it. She goes about her day doing good, especially seeking out homely Agatha, who lives in a cemetery. Agatha just wants to be left alone. A surprise happens on the day of the kidnapping and both girls end up in unexpected circumstances.
The world-building is quite vivid and the many characters add charm, humor or menace as Sophie and Agatha try to find where they truly belong. Not surprisingly, this cinematic epic has been adapted for film and is be released on Netflix soon.

Thanks to my student for the recommendation! I'm hooked.

Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review: Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston. Read by Imani Parks. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~11 hours. HarperAudio/ Balzer+Bray/ HarperCollins Publishers, January, 2021. 9780063057968.

Middle Grade Monday features Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston. This fantasy series starter is the author's debut and getting a lot of well-deserved Newbery buzz.

Thirteen-year-old Amari Peters has had it. She's a scholarship student at a fancy prep school and hates it. She's not as smart as her perfect older brother, Quinton, and is bullied relentlessly for being a scholarship student as well as the fact that her brother is missing-implying he was into drugs. Amari and her single-mom don't believe that for a second, but even the police have stopped investigating his disappearance. Now, she's facing expulsion for fighting and grounded as well. Then, she receives a mysterious package containing a message from her brother.

She learns that he was working for the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation and was one of their top agents. He and his partner were working on a case and disappeared. The message was to be delivered to Amari should something happen to him, but Amari refuses to believe that he's dead. He has recommended her to attend summer camp at the bureau. She wants to attend so that she can investigate Quinton's disappearance herself. Once there, she discovers that she has a magical power-only it's illegal.

Normal-kid-who-discovers-they-are-magical is a trope that has been done before, but this one feels fresh. It's fast-paced, suspenseful, twisty and narrated by gritty, gutsy Amari, whom readers will instantly root for. The world-building is excellent. The diverse cast of characters are all intriguing and the mystery is excellently constructed, with plenty of suspects and red herrings. I can't wait for the next installment of the Supernatural Investigations series.

I will be reading that book with my eyes however. I found the narration uneven, with odd pauses that distracted from the enjoyment of the story. 

Middle Grade Monday: Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz

Image: Macmillan

Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz. The Chronicles of Never After series #1. Roaring Brook Press/ Macmillan, December, 2020. 9781250311214. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publicist.)

Middle Grade Monday features Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz. Filomena Jefferson-Cho just can't cut a break! Smothered by over-protective adoptive parents and bullied mercilessly at her private school, she takes refuge in reading - specifically The Thirteenth Fairy series. She can't wait for the final installment and is thrilled when her parents allow her to walk to the bookstore by herself to buy it. Only, it turns out there is no book and no explanation as to why. Heartbroken, Filomena trudges home and soon realizes that she's being followed. 

Who are these strange boys? Turns out they are Jack Stalker and his sidekick, Alistair. They've come through a portal from Never After. Their kingdom is in peril. Can Filomena help?

This fairy tale mash-up was huge fun. Fans of Chris Colfer's Land of Stories series will just love this! (I think it's even better.) Filomena is a winning main character. The story is humorous and fast-paced, as well as just familiar enough with dashes of surprise. 

Highly recommended! The second installment, The Stolen Slipper, is due out December 7, 2021. Sign me up!

Teen Tuesday: Student Recommendation: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. 495 p. HarperCollins Publisher, May, 2013. 9780062104896.

Teen Tuesday is a student guest post. Lia recommends The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. It's a book/ series I keep meaning to get to but haven't yet read. Here's Lia's recommendation: 

Teen Tuesday features The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. This funny and intense fantasy was published in 2013. The School for Good and Evil tells the story of Sophie and Agatha, two best friends. Agatha is hideous and lonely, whilst Sophie is proper and beautiful. Legend has it that every four years, two children, one humane and one sinful, get kidnapped to go to the fabled School for Good and Evil. Students learn how to become heroes and villains to graduate into fairy tales. Sophie expects to go to the School for Good and Agatha the School for Evil, but the scenario is very different. When things get uncontrolled with princes, friends, and most of all, magic, the girls have to find a way to go home before it's too late.

Thanks Lia! I really want to read this series now!

Teen Tuesday: The King of Crows by Libba Bray

Image: LBYR

The King of Crows by Libba Bray. Diviners Series #4. 560 p. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, February, 2020. 9780316532624. (Review of book borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features The King of Crows by Libba Bray. This book concludes the paranormal quartet that started ten years ago with The Diviners. This series is not for the faint of heart. The books are massively long (over 500 pages in each, with one weighing in at nearly 600). The stories contain  quite a bit of violence and are absolutely terrifying, but rich in history. The 1920s New York City setting of the first three books is quite vivid and the characters are flawed and memorable. 

Wanted by the U.S. government and still hunted by the Shadow Men, the Diviners have to leave the city in search of a girl in Nebraska who has contacted Isiah telepathically. The friends get separated and what ensues is basically a road trip across America showing some of the uglier sides of our history - the rampant racism and sexism that oppressed people of color and women. Henry, Memphis and Bill head to New Orleans on a train; Jericho and Ling hide out with a traveling all-girl jazz band; and Evie, Theta, Isiah and Sam join a traveling circus. Mature teen readers who have read the first three books will not be disappointed.
I fell in love with this book on page one. Even though it was forever since Before the Devil Takes you and longer since I gobbled up an arc of The Diviners, I picked up with Evie and her crew immediately. Bray has the ability to immerse the reader in the world she has created. Her writing is gorgeously literary yet accessible. Her characters are memorable. Some are absolutely terrifying; but you wouldn't mind grabbing a beer and hanging with others. And, her political commentary is astute in nearly all her books.

I will admit that the story did lag a bit in the middle and the man in the stovepipe hat wasn't nearly as frightening as in the earlier books. Still, I did have to read the climax through freely flowing tears. I can't wait to see what Libba Bray has planned for us next. 

Teen Tuesday: Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu

Image: Penguin Random House

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu. DC Icons #2. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~9 hours. Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, January, 2018. 9780525525561. 

Teen Tuesday features book #2 of the DC Icons series in which popular YA authors imagine the teen years/ coming-of-age of four popular DC superheroes. Batman: nightwalker was written by Marie Lu, whose "Legend" trilogy is a TMS favorite. 

Billionaire Bruce Wayne is about to turn eighteen and will inherit his family's wealth. A terrorist organization called the Nightwalkers is targeting Gotham City's wealthiest citizens to murder and electronically steal their fortunes. The Gotham City PD captured Madeleine Wallace and imprisoned her in Arkham Asylum but she is not talking - except to Bruce Wayne, who happens to be doing community service for interfering with a police investigation. The police brass enlist Bruce's help. But can he trust either side?

This was perhaps the most intriguing of the four DC Icons books I read. Still, it felt a bit juvenile, cops and robber-ish, as in, improbable coincidences and plot holes. The new-to-me narrator was engaging and paced his performance well. The action was nearly non-stop making this plot-driven book appealing to those readers who crave page-turners. 

Teen Tuesday: Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray. The Diviners book 3. Unabridged audiobook on seventeen compact discs. 21 hours and 21 minutes. Read by January LaVoy. PenguinRandom House, October, 2017. 9780449808832. (Reviewed from finished recording borrowed from public library. Print copy purchased.)

This Teen Tuesday is not for the faint of heart or the average middle school reader. Additionally, don't read Before the Devil Breaks You without reading the first two books of The Diviners series, The Diviners and Lair of Dreams. This paranormal horror story is set in New York City during the Roaring 20s. Evil has been unleashed on the world and the ghosts are restless. They are being amassed by The King of Crows, aka The Man in the Stovepipe Hat, and it's up to The Diviners to get to the bottom of the mystery of who was responsible for releasing the king. Spectral menaces are not the only danger for the crew. The Shadow Men are also after them. As the Diviners move closer to uncovering the meaning of The Buffalo Project, their lives are at risk. The cliffhanger ending will leave readers panting for the next installment.

I adore this series. I read The Diviners as an arc with my eyes and reread it with my ears when the book released. I was positutely tickled by January LaVoy's performance. She really brought an already amazing story to yet another level of brilliance. I made a conscious decision to read Lair of Dreams with my ears. Again, the range of LaVoy's voices and her consistent excellence in keeping track of all those distinct voices is just astonishing. Before the Devil Breaks You hits the ground running. New characters are introduced. The suspense ratchets up. Surprises are unfolded. All-in-all, quite magnificent and chilling.

Middle Grade Monday: The Silver Mask by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

The Silver Mask by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. 232 p. The Magisterium series #4. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., October, 2017. 9780545522366. (Finished copy courtesy of publisher for review)

Here's what went on the morning announcements: Middle Grade Monday features The Silver Mask by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. This is book four in the Magisterium series so if you haven’t read the series, go start it right now with The Iron Trials. If you’re a fan of this terrific fantasy series, you need this book! The only problem with it is that we have to wait for another year to find out what happens in the fifth and final book of the series.

Fuller review: It is six months after the conclusion of The Bronze Key. Aaron is dead and Call is a prisoner in the panopticon. He's basically in isolation - no visitors, chained, 24/7 guards who keep their distance from the Enemy of Death. Oh, and he's interrogated. Frequently. 

He's surprised to be visited by Jasper, of all people. Then it's Jasper's turn to be surprised as he's caught up in a jail break when Tamara shows up to spirit Call away. Only, they are betrayed and they all end up prisoners on an island with Alex and Master Joseph. Call is tasked with finishing Constantine's work. He has to find a way to bring the dead to life. 

The pace is whiplash fast. This installment hits the ground running and doesn't leave you much room to breath as plot twists and surprises abound. Tears threatened and big questions were asked and not quite answered. Fans of this series will not be disappointed. They have been panting for this installment and will be gasping for the final installment. Too bad it'll be at least a year before we find out what's in store for Callum Hunt.