Cress: the Lunar Chronicles book 3 by Marissa Meyer 552 pages

The third book in the sci-fi/dystopian twist on fairy tales that is The Lunar Chronicles ramps up all the pre-existing tension of the first two books.  The romance, violence, and drama are all set to new highs.  This had just the right amount of romance for me, since I don't care for the bodice-rippers.  It really takes a back seat to the adventure and action surrounding all the main characters.  Cress (Rapunzel) has been held captive on a space station for years, using her tech skills to hide Lunar ships, spy on Earthens and do the bidding of the horrible Sybil Mira.  When her story gets woven into the main story of Linh Cinder, everything starts to get buck wild.  I can't wait to read the fourth book!

Scarlet: Book 2 of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer 454 pages

Scarlet's grandmother is missing and the police refuse to accept Scarlet's theory that she was kidnapped.  A mysterious street fighter named Wolf offers to help, but how far can she trust him?  Meanwhile, Cinder is going to have to break out of prison and start figuring out how to take down Queen Levana.  This installment is full of action and adventure.  This is a solid sequel that only makes you want to snag the next book immediately!

Freakling by Lana Krumwiede 309 pages

This was another book that I started reading to see if it would be a better fit in our juvenile section or in teen literature and got completely hooked.  I read the first few chapters online, but then had to wait impatiently for it to arrive so I could finish it.  I was hooked in the first chapter.  This was a really well written, never forced, first in a series that I really look forward to carrying on.  Taemon is a young man in a society where everyone uses psi (basically telekinesis) to do everything.  No one uses their hands to eat, drink, get dressed.  In fact, it's considered vulgar to do so.  Taemon has an additional ability that his parents have warned him to keep hidden.  He can send his mind wandering into basically anything to see how it works, right down to the atomic level.  Any differences can be dangerous and make him a target, so he does his best to keep that to himself.  His brother, Yens, has dreams of power and is determined to be named the True Son.  Yens is also quite cruel and manipulative.  Through a traumatic and volatile interaction, Taemon loses his power of telekinesis.  He is then sent to the 'dud farm', a colony outside his city where psiless people live.  He adapts quickly to this kind and friendly environment, but discovers some very dangerous secrets.  Taemon may be the only one who can stop a war and save thousands of lives.  This was book one of the Psi Chronicles and I am really looking forward to reading the next one!  I highly recommend this book to kids fifth grade and up who like a book that keeps them guessing and who enjoys the dystopian genre.

Allegiant by Veronica Roth, 544 pages

It's been a good two weeks since I finished "Allegiant" book 3 in the dystopian young adult trilogy by Veronica Roth.

If I was a thirteen year-old I would have been wonderfully devastated by the book.  As a nearly 50 year-old I thought, hmm, let me think about this for a while.

And really, what more could you ask of a story?

Insurgent by Veronica Roth, 544 pages

"Insurgent" is book 2 of the wildly popular young-adult "Divergent" trilogy that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Chicago.

This books picks up immediately where book one, "Divergent" leaves off.  I enjoyed the book and the series but because I was lucky enough to listen to all three in sequence, one after the other, as soon as I finished this one I started number three and it got lost in the overall story.

My recommendation is listen or read these books one after the other, in the right order to truly enjoy the ride and the story.

Divergent by Veronica Roth, 496 pages

I waited to start the Divergent series until I could actually listen to all three books in the series right in a row.  I am definitely glad to have waited because I finished Divergent today which ended with a big cliff hanger.  I started Insurgent today, book 2, and it started up immediately where Divergent left off.

The trilogy is set in a future dystopian Chicago.  For those adults who haven't plunged into dystopian teen books, Merriam Webster defines dystopia as "an imaginary place where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly."

The main character is Beatrice, who has grown up in the Abnegation faction.  There are 5 factions in society and everyone must choose a faction or become factionless - think dregs of society here.  Beatrice chooses to leave Abnegation for Dauntless, but finds what she really is is Divergent, which means she has the characteristics of more than one faction and that is very dangerous.

This is a typical wild ride, fast paced, adrenaline driven teen tale.  Great fun even though bad things happen to good people.

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch 278 pages

This was the last book on the Truman award list that I had to read this year, and I'm a little disappointed that I saved it for last.  I don't know if I'm really giving it a fair shake, as I am just done to death with the dystopic future books that spawned by the hundreds after the success of The Hunger Games.  This is a story about a teenage boy who has lost everyone except his father to Plague Number Eleven and the world that is its aftermath.  After an attempt to do the right thing, he and his father have to flee from some dangerous men, his father becomes critically injured in the process and Steven (the main character) is left in a pretty awful predicament.  Enter some unknown men who take Steven and his father back to their town where Steven a) doesn't feel is right, since he has only lived on the "path", scavenging for whatever might be worth trade and b) he is suspected of being a spy for another community nearby.  Cue up the love interest and show me the way to the nearest exit, please.  Again, I fear that my attitude toward this is just because of the over-saturation of the genre, but it is what it is.