Review: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

This is a book I thought sounded really good, but I didn't request it on either Edelweiss or Netgalley for some reason. But then I walked into the Barnes and Noble where I work part time and saw it sitting on the manager's desk one day.  I asked right away if I could have it, and I am so glad I did!  I loved this book.  It got 5 stars from me on  Goodreads.  So I guess I'd have to thank the bookstore where I work, as well as the publisher, Razorbill Books and Penguin Teen, for sending a review copy to them. 

This book is set in a world or time period similar to maybe our Ancient Rome.  There are two main characters, Laia and Elias.  Laia is a member of the Scholars, the people that were defeated by the Martials and now live pretty dangerous lives.  Never knowing if they could be accused of doing something against the emperor, or stolen and turned into slaves.  Elias is a soldier, one of the best, for the Martials.  He is what they call a Mask.  These soldiers wear silver masks, masks that as they continue on in their training and schooling, eventually settle onto their faces, growing to be attached.  Except for Elias.  Unlike what he should be doing, he takes his off every day, he may be one of the best in the academy, but he wants nothing more than to be far away from the empire and the horrible things that he has been a part of and watched as he grew up.  Laia has an older brother who draws things.  He goes off during the day instead of helping their grandparents with their healing treatments and Laia wonders what secrets he is keeping.  She sees the things he draws, pictures of people being punished with beatings, or being executed.  He also has drawings of weapons, weapons that he probably shouldn't have ever seen.  In fact, the night that Laia sees these drawings in his book, the Masks pay their family a visit.  Looking for the notebook of drawings.  In the scuffle their grandparents are killed, and as they go to take her brother as prisoner, it is alluded to that she will be taken and raped, or killed.  So when her brother tells her to run, she does.  Even though she feels like a coward afterwards for leaving him. 

Laia goes to the Resistance and asks for their help to try to break her brother out.  It turns out she has a bigger connection to them, her parents were part of the Resistance, a big part, before they were killed.  In order to save her brother, the leader gets Laia a position as a servant for the Commandant and asks her to spy.  Only life with the Commandant is a death threat every other minute.  One slave girl there already has an eye that was taken.  The Cook's face is horribly disfigured from some other punishment. And the first day Laia is there, she gets a beating.  But Laia does her best to stick with it, to find some piece of information that will not only help the Resistance in their fight, but also help them to get her brother out.

Elias has plans to run as soon as he graduates.  But those plans change when one of the Augers tells him that he has a choice.  The Augers know everything, and predict what will happen. But this one doesn't give Elias's plans away.  He only tells him that if he does run, he will become the type of person that he is trying to run from becoming.  And if he stays, he may have the chance to make things better.  Also right at this time Elias runs into Laia at his mother's house.  Not that his mother has any love for him.  She is this cruel Commandant, and she left him to die in the desert when he was a baby.  It was only his grandfather who found him and took him in when he was younger that has brought Elias to where he is now.  But Elias wants only to go back to the life with one of the Tribes that he knew at the beginning of his life.  Shortly after graduation, which Elias decides to stay, something called the Trials begin.  Four of the graduates are chosen to be possible successors to the current Emperor.  These Trials are horrific though.  They could die just from being in them.  And if they don't at least finish the trials, they will be killed for that.  They must win two of the four to be the final winner.  But there are some who seem willing to sabotage Elias's chance.  And then they are set up to fight and have to kill their own friends and comrades.

Together Elias and Laia will meet and in a way, have somewhat of a similar goal.  To escape the horrors of this place, hopefully alive.  While Laia's main thought is to survive only to save her brother's life, she will find that she can't actually trust those that she hopes can help her.  And Elias will learn that his closest friends may have things they have kept from him, and that they may not be able to understand what it is he wants.

Wow, I've said all that stuff, and I don't feel like I've given a very good description of the book.  It is soooooo much more than what I've said here.  The characters are so good, believable.  No instant-love, only some possible attraction.  Bad guys that even when given possible excuses for their reasons behind their evil, you still hate them.  All I know now is that I have to wait until there is a sequel, because I need to know what will happen next for Elias and Laia with the way the book left off. 

The World's Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne

I am grateful to Gotham Books, part of Penguin Publishing for allowing me to get an advance copy of this book through a contest in the Shelf Awareness daily email newsletter.  It's been a while since I've read a memoir, but this one reminded me why I went through the phase a few years ago where I read a ton of them.    This was amazing!  I was so hooked from the minute I picked it up.  My first connection was with the author, Josh Hanagarne's, library job.  It was very similar to being a bookseller in the stories he told of their patrons compared to our customers.  I was afraid at first that I might have trouble getting into a story of someone with Tourette's, not to mention someone of the Mormon faith.  Now wait, I have no problems with those things!  I'm just saying that I often prefer to read books where I feel a connection with the main character/author.  But he drew me in right away with the library anecdotes.  From there on, I was very intrigued by the peek I got into the Mormon faith.  Not to mention as I don't know much about Tourette Syndrome, and as a teacher there is always a possibility I may one day get a student with that.  So all in all it was so interesting.
Each chapter began by listing a Dewey Decimal Classification number, such as 011.62, and then the subject it refers to, Children - Books and Reading.  This first one goes with the first chapter, as we get to start with the author even before his birth, learning about his parents, and what he's learned from them about his early years.  Hearing how his love of reading began, I'm sure my early years were somewhat similar, as my dad has told me stories of how he basically taught me to read on my own at the age of 3.  I seriously can't remember a time in my life when I didn't love books. Even in college, when I didn't really have much time to read for fun, and I didn't really WANT to read the textbooks, I loved getting books, looked forward to when I got them each semester.  I've never understood the whole "smell" of books thing.  If there is a smell, it is a subconscious one for me.  I also just adored his parents.  If I didn't already love my own parents as much as I did, I think I'd want to be raised by Hanagarne's parents.  I loved the way they dealt with everything, and especially his Tourette's.  The fact that they didn't want to make a big deal of it, that he would then always think he couldn't do things because of it, is just wow.  I think of so many students I have that if only they were given that message, maybe they would try so much harder.  And in my classroom I try to treat them that way.
I must say after hearing about how he was raised in the Mormon faith, I am a bit intrigued in learning more about the faith.  No, nothing to do with the polygamy stuff, but the other stuff.  The way it works, how they do certain things at certain times in their lives, all of it sounds pretty incredible.  I remember watching one season of MTV's The Real World, and one of the cast members, Chet Cannon, being a Mormon.  The type of person he was, well, he also really made me more interested in learning about that religion.
As we get into the part where he is really beginning to know just how severe his Tourette's is going to be, it just was so painful to read.  Mostly what I knew, and probably a majority of people without any experience with this condition know, is of  people on tv shows that blurt out inappropriate words and stuff without control.  I didn't realize it could be so bad that they hit themselves, in the face.  That at times it was so hard to control, it was hard for him to find a job, as his hands would move towards sharp machines that would have chopped off whatever got in the way, and he could barely control it.  His father was great to try to help him with this.  This is where the "strongest" part of the title comes in.  He taught his son to weight lift.  To make his body stronger.  Doing this was a big help at first.  It sounds like just the effort of putting his body through these stresses helped to tire it out so that the tics wouldn't occur as much.  Later in life though, once he was happily married, and after many stresses with trying to have children, finally had a son, the tics seemed to come back even worse.  And it was at this point that he got help from a fitness guru.  This guy was a strange duck!  But believe it or not, he did help.  While Hanagarne didn't know for sure just how much, he soon figured it out on his own.
Of course the author is still pretty young, about my brother's age, and so his life is still going.  We end the book on a pretty positive note.  He is still working on the things that help him to control his Tourette Syndrome, while raising his son, and hoping that his son will not end up suffering the way he has with it.  It is also his questioning of his faith as he's gotten older that I really related to as well.  I currently have a lot of questions about faith.  But because, like Hanagarne, I was kind of raised with the church so much a part of my life, it's always in the back of my head.  He explains the way I feel so perfectly, that I can't even summarize it any better than he says in the book.
Now, because I marked a few parts in the book that I really wanted to talk about, I'll go over those next.  One thing is where he is talking about going to the big kettlebell convention and how he sells his 29 Volume Mark Twain set in order to afford to go.  He talks about being susceptible to advertising.  I am soooo like that, I often tell myself how I am an advertiser's dream! (Only I say about a more specific type of dream that is probably inappropriate for me to say on my blog).  Commercials on tv make me want to go to certain restaurants or buy new products at the grocery store with hardly any pressure.  Even just a funny one can make me more positive towards a specific brand.  Another part, when he's talking to his mother about his faith issues, I love that she references the grandma from Flowers in the Attic.  Things like that, books I've read, tv shows I've seen or know about, movies I've seen or know about, I'm a pop culture junkie, and those are the things that strike a chord with me.
If you have a chance to read this book, do.  If you know someone with Tourette's, give them this book, it's such a good book.  I don't know if I can recommend it enough.  If you're a librarian, you'll love all the anecdotes in the story.  I now want to go visit the library where he works just because of how beautiful it sounds from his descriptions.  As a teacher, I love what he says about getting the kids in and interested.  And when he talks about the age when the kids start being "too cool" to act like they enjoy the library?  I'm seeing that with my middle school kids.  And that is where I really love when I can hook those kids back in.  Having them come back to tell me what they're reading, and how excited they are just warms my heart.  And when a parent thanks me for getting their kid to read after they've struggled with it, well that is one of the things that keeps me going when I have as horrible of school years as this has been.
I cannot say enough good things about this book.  In fact I have another author that I just really, really hope to have a chance to meet some day.  Just go, read it now!  :-)

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

This was another of the Penguin YA advanced readers books I got back in August. Wasn't sure if I'd like it. The cover is a little freaky for my taste. I know, I know, don't judge a book by its cover, but be honest, it's hard not to just a little. Anyway, this is another new take on werewolves and love triangles. Once I got into it, I really wanted to keep reading and finish it. Our main character is Calla. She is the alpha wolf of her pack, the nightshades. Since she was a baby she has been promised to marry Renier, the alpha male of another pack, the Wolfbanes. The plan is to combine the two packs into one in order to create a new young pack. In this case, the werewolves are guardians for the Keepers. They protect sacred sites from the Searchers.

The book begins with Calla saving a hiker from a grizzly bear. Something she shouldn't do. She even changes from a wolf to human form to save his life by giving him her blood. Now you might think this is how to create a new werewolf, but it is actually only part of it. They also have some incantation they must recite at the same time, so no, the hiker isn't changed. However, he soon shows up at the private school, in Vail, where Calla and Ren go to school. Turns out, his name is Shay, and he is the nephew of a big wig in the Keepers. And his uncle asks the young wolves to keep an eye out for him. Shay of course remembers what happened to him with Calla. And is intrigued by her. He also knows there are mysterious things going on in this school/town, and sets out to find out what is going on.

Calla is also intrigued by Shay. But one thing we can't tell for sure from this book is if she loves both Shay and Ren. It seems that she cares for both. And while she does tell Shay she loves him, she doesn't say it to Ren, but from her reactions to Ren's advances, it would seem she is interested in some way.

The end is quite a cliffhanger. It seems, as always, that the Keepers aren't quite the good guys that Calla was brought up to believe. And not only does it leave off at a cliff hanger, leading me to believe there is a sequel, when I typed the name in on Goodreads.com, there were sequels already listed, more than one. The fact that there are already this many planned sequels, makes me feel like I should give up my writing aspirations. I have story ideas in my head, but not enough to even finish or flesh out the story for one book, let alone a series. I guess I figure there are so many good authors out there, why should I bother throwing my crap out to be judged and rejected? So, currently debating whether to go ahead and do NaNoWriMo and write my stories just for me, like Stephenie Meyer said she does, instead of thinking what will be an actual published book. Or, to not waste my time. Thinking I'll have so much going on this November with my new online teaching job, that it might be a good idea not to worry about it this year.

Anyway, the book was good, and I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel, which who knows how long till that comes out, because this is an advance readers copy of a book that doesn't come out till October.

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

This is one of the Penguin box of YA advanced readers copies I got last month. The cover as you can see is very creepy looking, almost just like Rosemary's Baby.

Basically the premise is that this is a town where babies disappear out of their cribs all the time, only to be replaced with something that's not quite right. Normally these replacements die young, as what they are cannot deal with things in the normal human world. They're allergic to iron and consecrated ground and blood.

Our main character is Mackie. Mackie is a replacement who has somehow lived to be a teenager. He is allergic to all these things, but his family has helped him to survive somehow. He must make sure though that he keeps a low profile, as the town has in the past killed one other of these replacements for the kidnapping of the babies. It turns out Mackie is needed by these creatures, but the town needs him too. It is time for a sacrifice, and it turns out that it may be Mackie's friend Tate's younger sister that is the sacrifice. Mackie must figure out how to save her, as well as keep his secret from the town, and try to live the life of a teenager.

It is sometimes hard for me to get into YA books that have a male protagonist, and it was a bit at first with this. But once I got into it, I didn't want to put it down. I'm sure this will be a popular book with kids into this sort of story.

The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

This is part of a boxed set that Penguin publisher sent to the bookstore. I actually received 2 of the other books singly through a Shelf Awareness giveaway, but when I saw that the store had all 5 they had advertised to give away that week, I took the whole box home. (After some convincing by Mary at the store) I chose to read them in order of when they are going to be published, and this one is supposed to be due out this August.

As I first began reading it, I was immediately reminded of a book by Suzanne Weyn that I purchased a recent book fair at the school I work at. It was called somewhat unoriginally titled Reincarnation. So I guess that gives you an idea what The Eternal Ones is about. In Reincarnation we go through several different times, cavemen, ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, World War II, Salem witch trials, all kinds of famous time periods. And some we barely touch on. Also the characters in this book sometimes change, like the girl is a guy sometimes and the guy is the girl. I did enjoy the history, and if you look back on my blog, I'm sure I reviewed this book at some point in the past year.

Unlike the Weyn book, Miller's book is much more detailed, and has actual evil involved. Our main character's name is Haven, in this life at least. Ever since she was a little girl Haven has been having visions, and talking about needing to find someone named Ethan. Her grandmother Imogene believes she has a demon and enlists the town preacher to help her. It seems Haven has been cured, the visions seem to stop, until Haven is a senior in high school and sees a young celebrity on the news who has been accused of murder. Haven knows/feels that this is the Ethan she has been looking for. He lives in New York though, and after Haven's latest vision, her grandmother has tightened back up Haven's life, and has now told her she may not go to college in the fall.

Haven's mother gives her a box of things her father had collected before he died in a car accident. Her father had contacted a society in New York called the Ouroboros Society, because he believed his daughter may have been reincarnated, and that was their specialty. In fact, I believe you can even go check out this group as part of the marketing campaign for the book at http://www.theouroborossociety.com/.

Once I got into this, I didn't want to put it down. I will definitely be handselling at the store, put it as my staff rec, as well as recommending it to students at school. I will also suggest my library media specialist look into purchasing it when she has funds. Another website to check if you're interested is http://www.theeteralones.com/.