Although Bell was born on Earth, he remembers nothing about life on the Blue Planet. The 11-year-old has grown up on Mars with four other kids, six adult scientists, and one cat. He knows nothing of his biological parents; he and all the children in their settlement have been raised collectively, so everyone in the colony is one big family. Despite his unique living situation, Bell's just an ordinary kid—he does chores, has school lessons, argues with his siblings, and eats casserole (made of algae, but still) for dinner. He wonders about lots of things: what it's like to live among forests and a variety of animals on Earth, what's coming in on the next supply ship (chocolate!), and what secrets the adults are hiding. Bell knows there are other settlements nearby, so why don't the humans on Mars interact with each other? Are the other scientists, all from countries other than the U.S., really as dangerous as the adults say? What are the other colonies like? Are there kids there? 

When a virus hits the colony, leaving all the adults desperately ill, it's up to Bell and his siblings to save them. But how? In desperation, they risk everything to find the human settlements they've been told never to contact. What they discover shocks them. As they learn what really happened between the adults on Mars, they must use their new knowledge, plus every resource at their disposal, to help the people they love. Can Bell and his ordinary, sheltered crew of kids really save the day, let alone the planet? Maybe not, but they have to try...

Science fiction really isn't my thing, so I hesitated a little to pick up The Lion of Mars, the newest standalone middle grade novel by Jennifer L. Holm. I shouldn't have because the book really isn't about spaceships or robots or aliens—at its heart, it's about family. The setting is unique, the characters are likable, the plot is compelling, and the vibe is upbeat. While the story revolves around a scary event, the tale remains warm, uplifting, and entertaining. Many valuable lessons—about friendship, forgiveness, found family, kindness, etc.—are taught through the kids' experiences. More than any other book I've read this year, The Lion of Mars made me smile. I loved it.

(Readalikes: Hm, I can't think of anything. You?)

Once upon a time, Paige Miller had big plans for her life.  She was going to rock her last year of high school basketball, accept a full-ride athletic scholarship to UConn, then aim for a career in the WNBA.  That was before everyone got sick, before she herself fell ill.  When she wakes up in her bedroom attached to an IV, Paige realizes she's been in a coma and that everything—not just her world, but the entire world—has changed completely.  Not only has her family been wiped out by the lethal flu, but there are few, if any, other people still alive.  Life is no longer about basketball.  Now it's about survival.

When Paige decides to venture out into the empty world, she's ecstatic to encounter another teenager.  Trey Dawson is also an athlete, also alone.  Although he has more answers than Paige, neither knows exactly what's going on.  As they navigate their way through their strange new reality, they make some shocking discoveries about what's happening and why.  Armed with this knowledge, they have a slim chance to save what's left of humanity.  Can they succeed against a threat that's much, much worse than a deadly virus?

I enjoyed Rae Carson's Gold Seer trilogy, so I was excited when I learned she had a new book coming out.  And a YA post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel at that.  Yes, please!  Although as it turns out, there's nothing super original or memorable about Any Sign of Life (available October 12, 2021), I still enjoyed the read.  It's tense, fast-paced, and exciting.  The characters are likable despite not being very complex or fleshed-out.  I definitely wanted them to be victorious, even if they didn't quite feel like real live people.  While I generally prefer realistic doomsday scenarios, this more sci-fi version still appeals.  I assume Any Sign of Life is the beginning of a series and, while I can't say I'm chomping at the bit for the next installment, I'm always here for an entertaining end-of-the-world novel.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of Alone by Meghan E. Freeman and of the Partials series by Dan Wells)

A strange, horrifying phenomenon is sweeping across the nation.  Authorities have dubbed it False Memory Syndrome (FMS).  No one quite understands the devastating affliction, which swamps the sufferer with memories they don't recognize or understand, leading to disorientation, confusion, terror, and madness.  It's contagious—and deadly.

New York City policeman Barry Sutton has seen too much FMS violence and death.  He's determined to stop it.  But how?

Neuroscientist Helena Smith has been hired by Marcus Slade, an inventor worth billions, to create a technology capable of preserving people's most precious memories.  Haunted by her mother's rapidly progressing Alzheimer's, Helena works tirelessly in a secret lab off the coast of California to make the technology a reality before it's too late to save her mom.   

As FMS becomes more widespread and dangerous, Barry becomes increasingly desperate.  When he meets Helena, he realizes it's up to the two of them to save humanity.  As the world around them crumbles and unmakes itself, the two are swept up in a frantic race against time that's becoming more impossible to win with every passing second ...

I'm not a big sci-fi reader, but I am a huge Blake Crouch fan.  Dark Matter—which was one of my favorite reads of 2017—absolutely blew my mind, so I was all in for Crouch's newest, Recursion.  While I didn't end up loving it quite as much as Dark Matter, I still found Recursion to be a stunning, mind-spinner of a read.  The novel is tense, exciting, suspenseful, and thought-provoking.  Barry and Helen are both brave, sympathetic characters, whom I cared about easily.  I whipped through Recursion fast and furious, needing to know what happens next and if our heroes would ultimately be successful.  Needless to say, I really enjoyed this one.  If you dig complex, intriguing sci-fi puzzles wrapped in a pulse-pounding, adrenaline rush of a story, then this is the book for you.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of Dark Matter by Blake Crouch)

Tasia "Sia" Gianopoulos has spent so much time in the water over the last 17 years of her life that it seems she was born with gills.  These days, she's diving not just for fun but because, with her dad in prison, she and her mom desperately need the money.  Their charter scuba diving business allows them to do what they love and pay the bills.  

Leading diving expeditions to shipwrecks in the Florida Keys is second nature to Sia, but she has an odd, unsettling feeling about visiting the U.S.S. Andrew.  Something about the trip just feels off.  When one of the divers die, the whole group desperately tries to get back to land.  An attack by a horrifying sea monster leaves divers dead, the Gianopoulos' boats in ruins, and four kids stranded on a remote island.  With a thick jungle at their backs and a sea of deadly water in front, there is no escape route.  As the days wear on with no rescue in sight, Sia, her younger brother, and two kids who are virtually strangers to them must learn how to survive on an island where nothing is as it seems.  Can they learn its strange ways?  Can they defeat the sea monster that guards the terrifying secret that may be their only way home?  

When a book is described as LOST meets Stranger Things, it leads the reader to expect a certain level of greatness.  Did Fractured Tide, a debut YA sci fi/horror novel by Leslie Lutz, deliver?  I'm not sure it's possible to totally meet the expectations of such an illustrious billing, but the book offers a story that is tense, tightly-plotted, and exciting.  Told through letters Sia writes to her father, the tale has an intimate feel that just adds to the plot's intensity.  With the urgency of LOST and the eeriness of Stranger Things, it uses classic sci fi/horror elements to keep the reader on the edge of their seat while they burn through the pages to see what happens next.  Entertaining and satisfying, Fractured Tide is simply a good read.  Despite some violence and gore, it's also a mostly clean read that I can hand to my 15-year-old LOST lover without reservation.  I love that.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of When We Were Lost by Kevin Wignall)

  

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

With the world in shambles after a crippling apocalypse, Lynn McBride and her family have found safety in the wilds of the Yukon Territory.  It's not an easy life they live, nor a simple one.  Every day, they must battle the harsh weather, find enough food to sustain them, and deal with the loneliness and boredom that come from seeing the same four faces day in and day out, year after year after year.  Although Lynn is grateful for her safety, she longs for something more.

"More" comes in the form of Jackson Day, a 27-year-old stranger she finds wandering the barren landscape with his dog.  Jax is the first new person Lynn has seen in seven years; bringing him home seems like a natural, normal gesture.  Not everyone in Lynn's family is glad to see him, though, especially when he triggers a chain of events that will have deadly consequences for the McBrides.  Before long, Lynn will find herself traversing a frigid, hostile world toward an unknown future in a ruined world.  It's up to her to save the world.  Can she do it?

I had very high hopes for The Wolves of Winter, a debut novel by Tyrell Johnson that has been described as "written in a post-apocalyptic tradition that spans The Hunger Games and Station Eleven but blazes its own distinctive path."  With that kind of acclamation, I expected to be knocked off my feet by excessive wow.  Did that happen?  Not exactly.  While The Wolves of Winter offers an absorbing survival tale set against an intriguing, atmospheric backdrop, the story adds little originality to the genre.  The plot remains very basic, nothing you won't find in dozens of other post-apocalyptic stories.  While this is a comparatively quiet tale with lyrical prose reminiscent of Station Eleven, it's nowhere near as unique or compelling as The Hunger Games and there's little about it that's truly distinct.  That being said, I enjoyed the novel overall.  I didn't love it, but I liked it enough to be interested in reading more from its author, a talented newcomer.

(Readalikes:  similar in tone to Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel; story reminds me of the Partials trilogy [Partials; Fragments; and Ruins] by Dan Wells) 

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for strong language and violence

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Fredtown is a bright, clean village where adults and children live in harmony and love.  Twelve-year-old Rosi and her 5-year-old brother, Bobo, enjoy living in the pleasant utopia.  They know their "Fred-parents" are not their biological mother and father; they also know that they were placed in Fredtown because it was unsafe for them to live in the city where they were born.  Although Rosi and Bobo—along with the other kids in Fredtown—are curious about their origins, mostly they are content with their peaceful lives away from their biological homes.  

Then, something terrible happens.  The children are forced out of Fredtown.  Terrified, they're packed onto a plane and returned to their birth parents.  For the first time ever, Rosi, Bobo, and their friends are confronted with the ugly realities of poverty, cruelty, violence, and prejudice.  "Home" is a bleak, ruined world.  Used to comfort and affection from loving Fred-parents, Rosi and Bobo are frightened by the grim, unkind strangers who are their mother and father.

As Rosi learns to navigate life in this odd new world, it soon becomes apparent that the adults in her life are hiding some dangerous secrets.  In a world that seems built on lies, Rosi wants the truth.  And she'll stop at nothing to get it.

Children of Exile, the first book in a dystopian trilogy by Margaret Peterson Haddix, is an unsettling novel that asks important questions about identity, prejudice, love vs. hate, and nature vs. nurture.  Young readers will be drawn in not by its big themes, but by the story's mysterious, suspenseful vibe.  They'll enjoy plenty of action, interesting characters, and the constant question of what's really going on in Rosi's new world.  Although the tale is disquieting, it's not graphic, making it a safe choice for readers who enjoy dystopian stories but need PG content.  I've enjoyed many of Haddix's books and while Children of Exile certainly isn't my favorite of hers, it's still a compelling read.  Kids, especially sci fi and dystopian fans, should enjoy it.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a little of the City of Ember books by Jeanne DuPrau)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for violence and scary images

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Protected from the toxic air outside, a whole city of people live in a silo that extends 144 floors underground.  With no elevator or alternative way to move quickly from the bottom of the structure to the top (or vice versa), the residents remain mostly on their own floors, rarely making the arduous trip up to the first.  There's little to see there, anyway—only a ruined world, desolate and deadly.  Why bother?  Leaving the silo altogether would be suicide, so no one dares.  Only those who are forced out flee the safe, subterranean world.  Exile means almost instant death; no one survives that sentence.  

When the silo's venerable, long-time sheriff makes the shocking decision to leave the silo, he sets a life-changing chain of events in motion.  He selects a surprising candidate to take his place, 34-year-old mechanic Juliette "Jules" Nichols.  Unused to the comparative luxury of life on the silo's top floors, she struggles to find her place tackling a new job in an unfamiliar neighborhood.  Although she has no experience in law enforcement, she's smart and determined to do her job well.  It's only as she begins to study the inner workings of her community, however, that Jules realizes it's not quite the utopia it seems to be.  In fact, the silo hides some devastating secrets—revelations that could change everything.  The more Jules uncovers, the more her tenuous place at the top is jeopardized.  In order to make crucial changes, she'll have to risk everything to expose long-buried truth.  Will her efforts be successful?  Or will hers be the next corpse rotting away just outside the silo's sheltering walls?

Wool, the first book in a post-apocalyptic/dystopian trilogy by Hugh Howey, is a beast of a book.  At 500+ pages, it's hefty and yet, the novel never drags.  Propulsive and engrossing, it speeds along, capturing the reader's attention with complex characters, imaginative world-building, and an intriguing plot.  Yes, the novel embraces typical dystopian elements that will undoubtedly feel familiar to genre fans.  At the same time, though, Howey's inventive world manages to feel fresh and new.  Everything about this vividly-detailed book kept me completely riveted.  I ate Wool up and cannot wait to get going with Shift, the second installment in this addictive series.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of Icebreaker by Lian Tanner; The Compound by S.A. Bodeen; and The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (a dozen or so F-bombs, plus milder expletives), violence, and blood/gore

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of Wool from Amazon with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Born on the Northumbrian coast of England, Jamie Allenby has always longed for the wide open space of ... space.  When given the chance to relocate off-world at 22, she takes it.  Now 38, she's a veterinarian living on Soltaire, a planet roughly the size of Russia.  Jamie gains consciousness one day after suffering from a debilitating fever to find that the deadly virus has killed most of Soltaire's 10,000 inhabitants.  Fearing she's the only survivor, she heads out looking for others.  It's a desperate, frantic search through an endless, empty landscape. 

Eventually, Jamie finds a ragtag group of survivors, which includes Callan Jacobs, the captain of a spaceship.  Against the advice of his crew, Callan has been landing wherever he can in an effort to save as many humans as possible.  Relieved to be rescued, Jamie sets her sights on Planet Earth.  She and her estranged lover, Daniel, always said they'd meet in Northumberland if—when—their world in the stars ended. 

Turns out, Jamie's not the only one with an ambitious plan.  Others have their own ideas about how to move on, rebuild, and repopulate the human race.  Torn between duty, desperation, and desire, Jamie must decide what she really wants and how much she's willing to risk to get it.  With opposition around every corner, it will take all her strength, all her courage, to make her own future worth living.

The Space Between the Stars, a debut novel by English short story writer Anne Corlett, tells a sci fi tale unlike any other I've read.  Unlike most space age adventures, this one is quiet, contemplative, and fiercely character-driven.  Its brilliance comes not from elaborate world-building or creative creature-inventing, but from its ruminations on what it means to be human.  This isn't to say the novel's boring.  It's not.  Not at all.  There's more than enough action to keep a reader flipping pages.  That's just not what makes the book memorable.  Instead, it's the novel's chilling (without being too gory or graphic) vibe; vivid, lovely prose; and its thought-provoking questions that cause it to linger in the reader's mind long after they finish it.  I loved this unique novel and can't wait for more from its promising author.  

(Readalikes:  Reminded me a little of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (a handful of F-bombs, plus milder expletives), mild sexual content, violence, and blood/gore

To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of The Space Between the Stars from the generous folks at Penguin Random House.  Thank you!

 

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Even though there are maps tacked up all over his bedroom walls, Sebastian is not the kind of boy who longs for adventure.  He's certainly not the type who goes looking for it.  In fact, he prefers his life just the way it is—safe, predictable, and logical.  So, why does a cryptic sign posted in a dingy alley make him so darn curious?  What is it about The Explorers Society that keeps tugging at his underactive imagination?  

Most illogically, it's a pig in a tiny hat who grants Sebastian entrance into the mysterious society's headquarters.  What he finds inside are people and stories so mind-boggling he can hardly believe they're real.  The Explorers Society is a fun place to hang out, especially since Sebastian's not required to do any adventuring for himself.  

When 11-year-old Evie Drake appears on the Society's doorstep, however, everything changes.  Suddenly, Sebastian finds himself in the middle of a grand adventure complete with a missing explorer, a puzzling mystery, and two sinister bad guys hot on his trail.  Sebastian wants to help Evie find her missing grandfather—he really does—but he's no Indiana Jones.  How can he solve the mystery, rescue Mr. Drake, and keep himself and Evie safe from goons with guns?  It's impossible.  Especially for a risk-averse, panic-attack prone boy like Sebastian.  He's no hero.  Or is he?

The Door in the Alley, the first book in a new series by Adrienne Kress, is a fun-filled, action-packed adventure perfect for armchair explorers.  Featuring a quirky, conversational narrator, it's an upbeat tale with plenty of twists, turns, and surprises.  Sebastian and Evie make a likeable team—it's easy to root for them as they work together to save the only family member Evie has left.  The Door in the Alley is an easy, exciting read that middle graders will surely eat right up.  Personally, I can't wait to see what happens next to this dynamic duo.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of York by Laura Ruby; also of books by Lemony Snicket, Psuedonymous Bosch, and Chris Grabenstein)

Grade:

 

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

 

for violence and scenes of peril

To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of The Door in the Alley from the generous folks at Random House Kids.  Thank you! 

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