Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 546

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books

Released: 24th of September 2015

Ethan aka Scam has a voice inside him that'll say whatever people want to hear, whether it's true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn't - like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren't exactly best friends these days.

Enter Nate, aka Bellwether, the group's 'glorious leader.' After Scam's SOS, he pulls the scattered Zeroes back together. But when the rescue blows up in their faces, the Zeroes find themselves propelled into whirlwind encounters with ever more dangerous criminals. At the heart of the chaos they find Kelsie, who can take a crowd in the palm of her hand and tame it or let it loose as she pleases.

What I Have to Say 

Who can resist a superhero book by Scott Westerfeld? I don't know much about the other authors, but their writing blends seamlessly, creating a wonderfully told story from six different perspectives. 

I loved each of the characters in different ways. They all had a distinct and interesting personality to bring to the mix. I think my favourites were Flicker and Anonymous. Flicker because she was so sweet and because of the way her superpower helped a little to compensate for her blindness when other people are around. Anonymous's powers are so sad. His backstory is really tragic. Although the best scenes are where he pops into a scene from nowhere at just the right moment, 

The story worked best because all the characters; their stories and powers all fitted together so well. Mob was separate for a while, but even then she was there. She passed by Scam and was involved so deeply in the story. It shows how well thought out the character were so that they could work so well as a team. 

I can't wait to see how this series develops. 

Becoming Death by Melissa Brown

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 321

Publisher: n/a

Released: 12th of June 2015 

Ever since her father's demise, Madison Clark knew Death had her number. After losing her first job, she is ushered into the cryptic family business. Little does the teenager know her family is hiding a dark secret; they are grim reapers, custodians of souls on their journey to the beyond. Even years of studying comics doesn't prepare Madison for the reality of having a so-called superpower, the ability to kill with just a touch. Madison expects her historic legacy to have benefits beyond immortality but what she doesn't expect is to still be struggling for cash while reaping souls on the side. 

As if being Death's minion wasn't strenuous enough, Madison finds herself back in school with her worst enemy studying the ancient rules, methods and paperwork of her vocation. In a cascade of life changes: her best friend admits he’s in love with her and she starts a new job as a professional mourner, but she can’t help thinking her family might have other secrets. 

Just when things are finally starting to feel normal again Death throws her a curveball: her next victim is someone close to her. Madison must find a way to overcome the strict guidelines of being a grim reaper in order to save their life. 

What I Have To Say 

This book was good as a simple New Adult book. It was good to see a sort of coming of age type story for going out into the adult world, as this is a stage of life that a lot of people are completely unprepared for. It dealt well with the issues surrounding finding work, getting money and generally looking after yourself. This created a lot of the story and it did it really well. 

The grim reaper side of things parallels well with this; New job; going out into a new world; new responsibilities. It works well as a story and I liked the technical side of the reaper business with the app that they use, but I felt it wasn't well built enough. I feel that the system that the grim reaper business had was a really good start but I wish we could have seen more of it. 

All in all, I think it should have been longer. It could have been improved a lot by taking more time to set up the details of the business more as well as the relationship. 

3.5 stars

Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 256

Publisher: Harper Collins

Release: July 1st 2015

A teenage girl will soon discover, there are some things which burn even brighter than fire.

Iris’s father Ernest is at the end of his life.

Her best friend Thurston seems like a distant memory to her.

Her mother has declared war. She means to get her hands on Ernest’s priceless art collection so that she can afford to live the high life.

But Ernest has other ideas. 

There are things he wants Iris to know. Things he can tell her and things that must wait till he’s gone.

What she does after that is up to her

What I Have to Say 

This book was interesting. It took me a while to get into it and it hasn't left me feeling like it was anything special, but there are moments that I can think back to and remember I really enjoyed. I think that for someone out there, this could become their favourite book, but unfortunately for me, it wasn't the one for me. 

There wasn't anything wrong with the book that I can see. I really liked the relationships, or lack thereof, between the characters. Iris' background of not really feeling love and actually despising her mother was really interesting to read. Her friendship with Thurston and Thurston's character in general was one of my favourite parts of the book. I always love an eccentric character and an eccentric character who enjoys doing performance art was sure to win my heart. 

I was also very captured by the descriptions of Hannah and her fakery. It was good to see a character who by very definition hasn't got that much to her, but who is still a very strong, well written character. It is an easy thing to get wrong, making a character bland and uninteresting, but Hannah is just shallow, vain and driven by her greed. She makes the perfect antagonist for Iris, as Iris is striving to form a relationship with her father, Ernest. 

As I said, I enjoyed this book, but don't think it will stay with me as one of my favourites, but I would encourage others to read it as it is well written and full of lively characters. It may not be the book for me, but it could be for you. 

The Kiss by Lucy Courtenay

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 336

Publisher: Hodder Children's Books

Released: 2nd of July 2015

'Aphrodite kissed a mortal once by the light of this moon, many thousands of years ago. It drove him crazy. The next person that he kissed - boum. The craziness travelled like this from person to person. It travelled through time. Everywhere - boum! Tu comprends?'

'Where did it end up?' I whisper. His lips are on my cheek now.

'It ended with me. And now I am going to pass it to you. You will like that, mermaid?'

Imagine the perfect kiss. A legendary kiss that makes people crazy with love. Imagine a summer's night, on a moonlit beach in the South of France, as French boy Laurent kisses 16-year-old Delilah after the best chat-up line she's ever heard.

BOOM!

Delilah is pretty sure the Kiss is fiction, despite her head-spinning holiday fling. But with all the sudden crushes, break-ups and melt-downs happening back at home, the Kiss starts looking a little too real for comfort. If only Delilah could keep track of where it's gone ...

Who knew one kiss could cause this much trouble?

What I Have to Say 

For this book, think Chick Lit meets a Shakespearean farce, with a scattering of Greek mythology thrown in. It took me a while to get into the style of it, but once I got what they were doing, I loved it. It was really funny. 

I really liked the main two girls. Their friendship is one of the most real that I've seen because they fight and they make up, showing that not all friendships are easy. It's something that quite a few YA books are starting to do and it's a trend that I hope continues because perfect YA friendships lead to unrealistic expectations in real life. 

The ending felt a bit rushed though. The bits with the musical and Tabby were fine, but the rest of Delilah's personal resolution seemed to be resolved without any actual resolving happening. (Sorry for being vague, but I'm trying to avoid spoilers). I don't know if anyone else felt the same, but I just felt that wasn't a good enough reason to gain that resolution. 

All in all though, it was a really fun read. 

Millie vs the Machines by Kiera O'Brien

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

My thanks go to Quercus for providing me with this review copy.

Pages: 320

Publisher: Quercus

Released: 6th of August 2015

Within the confines of Oaktree boarding school, Millie Hendrick and her friends are privileged kids in a future world, where robots are hired help for everyone.

But Millie has never trusted the Units. They're just... creepy.

When pupils start disappearing, and no one else shares her increasing terror, how can Millie find out whether she is the only person who can see the truth, or is simply going crazy?

Who can be trusted - and who will be next?

What I Have to Say 

This book was amazing. As I was starting to read it, I was worried that it was a bit predictable, but the unreliability of Millie's mind made it so that you're never sure whether to believe in Millie or everyone else. It creates this whole psychological feel where you're constantly questioning everything and looking for clues as to what's real and what isn't. 

The thing that I really liked about the book, right from the start was the setting. I love a boarding school book to begin with, add in awesome technology and androids and you get something even more special. It's obvious from reading how much work Kiera O'Brien has put into this inventive and immersive world. 

And the ending! It's the kind of book that leaves you with the feeling that you've just read the most amazing book (which a lot of the time you have) and makes you incredibly excited for where the author is going to go next. 

The problem with this book? The next one isn't out until March!! 

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 440

Publisher: Orion Children's Books 

Released: 6th of August 2015

Twenty-five years ago, Elmbridge High burned down. Three people were killed and one pupil, Carly Johnson, disappeared. Now a diary has been found in the ruins of the school. The diary belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly’s identical twin sister. But Carly didn’t have a twin . . . 

Re-opened police records, psychiatric reports, transcripts of video footage and fragments of diary reveal a web of deceit and intrigue, violence and murder, raising a whole lot more questions than it answers.

Who was Kaitlyn and why did she only appear at night? Did she really exist or was she a figment of a disturbed mind? What were the illicit rituals taking place at the school? And just what did happen at Elmbridge in the events leading up to ‘the Johnson Incident’?

What I Have to Say 

I was worried that this book would scare me more than it did, which might be a negative point for some people but it made it better for me. I liked the question of whether it was real or mental illness too. It made it really interesting to read because you're constantly doubting things. 

One thing I really liked was Naida and her Mala practices.  I've not heard much about Mala before, so I was really interested in it from that angle. 

The style of it was really interesting too. I really like books that are written in a variety of styles like this. It mixes it up a little to be reading a diary extract followed by a video transcript.

In Which The Blogger is Drowned by Books

Hey guys, just to let you know that due to getting an unusually large number of review books (not all my fault, I was offered some brilliant ones this month) for at least this month I will be going up to three reviews a week on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

Enjoy!