Review: Walk on Earth a Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy #1) by Rae Carson

First, thanks to Greenwillow Books and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I really enjoyed the first book in this author's other series, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, when I read it for the Truman Award nomination in Misssouri, back in 2013.  Even though I haven't read on in that series yet, I knew I had to try this one when I heard it.  And I guess I had assumed it would be more of a fantasy story, when really it is a historical fiction story with a tiny fantasy element in it.  But it doesn't matter that it was different than I thought, I still loved it!  And knowing it is part of a series, I am so eager for the 2nd book, and don't know how I'll wait until next year for it! 

The story is set back in the time of the Gold Rush.  The main character is Leah, and she lives in Georgia with her mother and father.  Leah has an ability that she can sense gold.  If it is anywhere near, she gets a little tickle in her brain and it is something that gets stronger as she gets closer, or as the amount of the gold gets bigger.  To the point she can barely avoid it without getting a horrible headache or sick.  Her best friend is a boy named Jefferson who has an Irish father and a Native American mother.  His father has a horrible temper and treats Jefferson really bad.  One day Jefferson shows up at school with a flyer about people traveling to California in search of a treasure trove of gold that is proclaimed to be there.  After one horrible day with his father, he comes and tries to convince Leah to leave with him.  He tells her she could come as his wife, or they could be brother and sister. But she doesn't want to leave her parents, her father is sick, and anyway, she loves them.  And she's sure that at some point they will probably head that way. 

Then the unthinkable happens. Leah comes home to find her parents have been killed.  Whoever it was has also taken the gold they had hidden away.  Her Uncle Hiram, who she's rarely seen, shows up about the same time to take over as her guardian.  And with her senses, she is able to sense that he is probably the one who killed them and took their gold.  It seems he knows what she can do, and she doesn't want to stay to help him. She knows it will not be good. So she finds a way to take off on her own, she cuts her hair, dresses as a boy, and follows others on their way.  She leaves a false trail for her uncle.  Along the way she is able to get hooked up with some other wagon trains and groups.  She even runs into Jefferson again in Independence, Missouri. 

On the trail there will be many hard times, she will learn to work hard to try to keep her cover as a boy.  At the same time things will happen to her, she will start to have her body change, as any girl her age might be doing.  There will be injuries, and deaths, and need to find food and water.  They will run into Indians and other dangers.  The whole time she must try to keep being a girl a secret, and try to figure out just what her relationship with Jefferson is.  Not to mention hiding her ability to find gold.

Such a great book, I could barely put it down any time I was reading it on break at work.  As I said in the first paragraph, I loved it so much, I don't know how I'm going to wait until the next one comes out.  Hopefully I can get an egalley of it as well.  I highly recommend this historical fiction for teens.  It will be a definite addition to the school library where I work as well!

Review: The Fall by Bethany Griffin

Thanks again to Greenwillow Books and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I had been hearing so much about it that I've been excited for when it would come time on my TBR list to read it.  I've actually not read the Edgar Allan Poe story that it's based on The Fall of the House of Usher, but have read other Poe stories and so was definitely intrigued.  And now after reading this, I must say I am going to want to go back and read that story as well.  This was definitely a captivating read.  While I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it, I know that it did keep me reading and needing to know what was going to happen. Although I'm not quite sure if we really found out for sure at the end the definite fates of the Ushers.

Our main character is Madeline Usher, who has a twin brother named Roderick.  They live in the Usher mansion with their father and mother, as well as a team of doctors there to study the curse, and supposedly to find a cure for it.  You see all the Ushers die young, and usually are quite insane, or on their way to being completely insane by the time of their death.  The book is written with each chapter jumping around to either a different age in Madeline's life, or else an entry from the journal of an ancestor, Lisbeth Usher.  The youngest we get is nine for Madeline.  It is this year when her mother decides to send Roderick away to school.  To get him away from the house, so that he may have a chance to live and maybe escape the curse.  Their mother is cruel, especially to Madeline.  So that is one reason that Madeline is upset about Roderick leaving.  The other is that she doesn't understand why anyone would want to leave.  At this young age she feels like the house is only out to protect them, and she thinks the house is her friend.  But as her father gets older and more insane, he begins to give her warnings.  At one time he even tries to get her away from the house, to try to save her as it seems Roderick will be saved.  But that one time he gets sick from leaving, and Madeline passes out and doesn't remember anything about where they were.  As Madeline gets older, she comes to pretty much accept that she will live there her life.  When her mother passes away, she is then the heir to receive the curse, and the doctors begin to study her, and she begins to see that the house isn't looking out for them.  She thinks maybe she will find a romance with the new young doctor that comes to work there.  But then it seems he might have a fiancee.  When she shows up, Emily, Madeline thinks maybe now she will have a friend.  Friends make her see that maybe she should try really hard to get away.  And so she tries to figure out how she could possibly break the curse, maybe the only way to do it.  The answer may be in Lisbeth's diary, or else in her grandmother's hidden study, where there are piles and piles of books to look through.  Towards the end she may be getting her wish of her brother coming back to stay, but not at a price she wants.  And while she may find the way to possibly break the curse, again, it may not be a price she wants to pay.

Definitely one that required attention as you were reading, but it kept my attention, it wasn't that I struggled with it.  It did jump around a bit at first, but towards the end it was all kind of linear timewise for the story.  And each chapter was labeled with the age of Madeline or whether it was the diary of Lisbeth.  So at the end when it was almost the same title for each chapter, well that seemed a little redundant, even if it did make sense.  The house made those within crazy whether they were the "heirs" or maybe even just had some Usher blood in them.  The ghosts of Ushers past lived there, and it was possible that all the servants, as well as even the doctors had that link to the family, enough to make them actually be there more to help the house, than to cure any curse.  But the background of where the curse came from was really well devised and made a great start to the family's story.

I think anyone that enjoys Poe's works will probably enjoy the writing in this.  It isn't your normal "horror" type of scary story.  And of course it is set in an earlier time, so it is a bit historical in that way.  It could be considered a great gothic horror story.  So I do recommend it, not as a quick easy read, but as a good, thinking read.

Review: Stray by Elissa Sussman

First, thanks to Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I have really been into fairy tale re-tellings, as well as just reimaginings or stories with the characters from those fairy tales.  And this story ended up not disappointing. 

The main character is Princess Aislynn.  In the world she lives in women have magic, but are not supposed to use it.  They are supposed to follow the "Path"  and prepare themselves for a life with their future husband and without magic.  Girls who fail at holding their magic in will get redirected to be fairy godmothers.  The fairy godmothers are allowed to use magic.  And every princess, or girl on her path to her future life with her husband, has their own fairy godmother.  Aislynn has always had a little trouble holding her magic in.  She has learned when it is seeming to bubble up that she can stop it by causing herself some kind of bodily harm.  And so she has cuts and scars all over her legs.  A place that is hidden with her tights and long dresses.  But right when it is time for her big Introduction Ball, one of the other girls there, a very hateful girl, upsets her so much that she can't control the magic.  And from that she is redirected to become a fairy godmother.  She now will lose her loving heart, and become the help for another princess.  This time it is a well-known princess, Linnea, and she is at a new school, far away from her family.  At this new school she makes new friends.  A maid named Brigid, a gardener named Thackery, as well as the carriage driver named Ford.  And she learns that maybe not all she was taught as a princess is true.  Maybe those that she was always taught were evil aren't necessarily the ones causing the problems.  And maybe those they've always thought they needed to follow their directions and rules are the ones that should be feared.

A great idea of who fairy godmothers are or might have been before they became as we know them.  Now, there doesn't list a sequel on Goodreads, but it does say this is the first in a collection of intertwined stories, and I don't know how long I can wait to read the next one!  Especially since this had a bit of a cliffhanger ending.  This one did start off a bit slow for me, but soon it picked up and I could barely put it down to work, to sleep, to do anything else.  There are still many questions I have about this world, and so as I said, I'm very eager for the next story to come out.  A definite recommendation for anyone who enjoys fairy tales reimagined.

Review: The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

First thanks to Greenwillow Books, HarperCollins, and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I have followed this author as a blogger for a while now, and was very excited to be able to read this book when I saw it was available. 

This was a pretty quick read.  It had lots of action, and not a lot of time spent explaining things when it wasn't needed.  I think this helped the story move along very quickly, although I spent probably the first half of the book wondering, okay what is causing all this?  That's not a bad thing at all though, that is what kept me turning pages, the need to know more. 

The main character is Meadow, she is 15, and her whole life her father has trained her to be able to not only defend herself if needed, but to kill in the cases it might be required.  The reason for this is that at a certain point she will try to jump on a train and be taken to the Initiative to get a job.  Getting a job there means extra rations for her family.  Her family is her father, her older brother, and her younger sister.  Her mother was killed by the murders that seem to be happening during what is called the Dark Time, when all people are supposed to stay home and be safe.  This is a future where no one gets sick. they have these tags in them that have nanos that cure any injuries. They don't necessarily save them from scars, but at least they heal quickly and don't get sick.  Meadow's brother Koi didn't pass the test to work for the Initiative, because he was unable to kill, the final test.  Meadow is sure she can do it, as she wants to get in and try to solve the murder of her mother.

The other main character is Zephyr.  And he has killed.  What he doesn't know is why he kills.  He is a Ward, which means that he has no family and lives in a tent with other Wards.  He works every day helping to pick up the bodies of the people murdered over night.  He has dreamed of a beautiful girl with silver hair.  And one day he will run into her, because she is Meadow.  Meadow will be drawn to him, and together they will find there is a conspiracy of some sort.  One that puts Meadow in trouble, so that she must go on the run.  But she doesn't know if she can trust Zephyr, since he tried to kill her. 

As they're on the run, you could use the old saying, "the plot thickens".  More and more things are brought to light about this dystopian society.  We learn things about Meadow's family that make even more questions for Meadow and Zephyr to try to answer. 

While I got a lot of answers by the end, I still need to know more and what else is going to happen.  So, I'll be waiting for another book, and also plan to read the novella, The Fear Trials.

A great dystopian read full of action and mystery, really hard to put down once you pick it up.