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Science Fiction & FantasyFictionHistorical FictionFantasy

A high-brow British historical with a dose of magic

Review by Chika Gujarathi

Vic James’ debut novel, Gilded Cage, is set in Britain in a time where grand estates, class, pedigree, and money separate those with power and influence from those without. To assume that this is a story about some bygone era would be a mistake, however. In fact, where we start is far in the future, where the British society as we know it today has been replaced by a republic ruled by the Skilled. The Skilled, also called the Equals, are aristocrats with a mysterious natural gift of magic inherited only through pure breeding. But unlike the banished mutants of superhero films, the Skilled have managed to rise and rule with their wizardry. Being governed are the commoners, who are doomed in more ways than one, but the biggest blow is slavedays—a required 10-year sentence of back-breaking work. Choose to start young and it destroys you forever; choose to start old and you might never make it out alive. James’ saga starts as the Hadleys, a family of five from Manchester, are assigned to spend their slavedays at the Kyneston estate of the most powerful Skilled family, the Jardines. The Hadleys feel lucky for being assigned to a beautiful estate rather than a Dickensian workhouse—until they realize that teenage Luke was not invited. Instead, he is sent to one of the worse slavetowns, Millbrook. But, amongst its cruelty and oppression he finds the courage to be part of a revolution.  Luke isn’t the only rebel however: The Jardines too have an heir who has a secret plot to remake the world. Alongside the political drama also lies a budding love story between Abi Hadley and Jenner Jardine.

For those who can barely get enough of the British dramas like “Downton Abbey” or the magical worlds of J.K. Rowling, Gilded Cage reads like a perfect amalgamation of the two worlds. In this debut, James has successfully created anticipation for what’s to come. A great book to start your new series obsession.

Vic James’ debut novel, Gilded Cage, is set in Britain in a time where grand estates, class, pedigree, and money separate those with power and influence from those without. To assume that this is a story about some bygone era would be a mistake, however. In fact, where we start is far in the future, where the British society as we know it today has been replaced by a republic ruled by the Skilled. The Skilled, also called the Equals, are aristocrats with a mysterious natural gift of magic inherited only through pure breeding. But unlike the banished mutants of superhero films, the Skilled have managed to rise and rule with their wizardry.

Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAFantasy

Dangerous delights

Review by Jill Ratzan

For seven years, Scarlett writes letters to Legend, the head of the mysterious traveling half-carnival, half-game Caraval. And for seven years, she gets no reply. Then, just before Scarlett is supposed to wed a count she’s never met—an arranged marriage that will rescue herself and her sister from their abusive father—three Caraval tickets appear. Soon Scarlett, her sister, Tella, and a new acquaintance find themselves swept into the magical world of Caraval, where they have five nights to win the game and its tempting prize: the granting of a single wish.

Caraval is full of sensory delights, from glittering castles to carousels made of rose petals to edible silver bells. But darkness lurks below the surface-level gaiety: Caraval’s magic traps its players inside their lodgings from sunrise to sunset; nightmares and lies serve as currency; and a labyrinth of underground tunnels intensifies players’ fears.

Debut author Stephanie Garber weaves a suspenseful mystery as Scarlett interprets (and misinterprets) clues, navigates hidden identities and attempts to solve the puzzles of Caraval. But Garber’s true strength is her use of multisensory imagery. When Scarlett first enters Caraval, for example, “soft golden lights licked her arms,” heat envelopes her that “tasted like light, bubbly on her tongue,” and she finds herself surrounded by “a canopy of crystal chandeliers,” “plush cranberry rugs” and “golden . . . spindles that arched around heavy red velvet drapes.” A teaser at the book’s end promises a follow-up novel that readers will fervently anticipate.

 

Jill Ratzan matches readers with books in a small library in southeastern Pennsylvania.

For seven years, Scarlett writes letters to Legend, the head of the mysterious traveling half-carnival, half-game Caraval. And for seven years, she gets no reply. Then, just before Scarlett is supposed to wed a count she’s never met—an arranged marriage that will rescue herself and her sister from their abusive father—three Caraval tickets appear. Soon Scarlett, her sister, Tella, and a new acquaintance find themselves swept into the magical world of Caraval, where they have five nights to win the game and its tempting prize: the granting of a single wish.

Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAFantasy

Carve the Mark

Review by Cat Acree

In 2011, 23-year-old Veronica Roth’s debut, Divergent, set the stage for a series that would become a worldwide phenomenon. And while the series is ripe for obsessing, Roth took the story of Tris Prior to a shocking place—a place not every fan wanted to go. This unflinching pursuit of weighted questions carries over to her new duology as Roth considers faith and loyalty within a sci-fi setting. Carve the Mark is set in a solar system where a supreme force called the current flows through all beings, imbuing people with gifts similar to X-Men abilities.

The story opens when Akos and his older brother are kidnapped from their peaceful home in Thuvhe, in the northern part of their icy planet, by Shotet soldiers. The Shotet are an unrecognized nation of scavengers and warriors, and as their prisoner, gentle Akos (a win for Hufflepuff heroes) is trained as a soldier and charged with attending to hard-edged Cyra, the sister of the tyrannical Shotet ruler. Their friendship will change them both, but this is a world bound by fate, where kills are marked on the arms of killers. Loyalty to one’s family is everything, and it seems violence may be the only way to change that.

Roth’s cultural worldbuilding is meticulous and intricate, although explanatory passages slow the novel’s pace. But Roth’s conjuring of religions, belief systems and language differences is well done, and her prose has strengthened with this new series. Diehard Roth fans will be rewarded.

This article was originally published in the February 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Veronica Roth returns with a new sci-fi series.
Science Fiction & FantasyFictionFantasy

A masterful reimagining of ‘The Tempest’

Review by Savanna Walker

Jacqueline Carey, author of the fantasy classic Kushiel’s Dart, weds her lyrical prose to one of Shakespeare’s most enigmatic plays in Miranda and Caliban. This haunting tale of innocence, sensuality and rebellion tells the story of the vengeful magician Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, and his servant, Caliban, before the events of The Tempest.

The novel begins when Prospero forces Caliban into his service. Miranda, still a young girl, quickly takes to Caliban, helping her father in his efforts to “civilize” him. As the narrative draws ever closer to the events of Shakespeare’s play, Miranda and Caliban struggle to define their lives outside of the roles preordained for them.

Carey clearly has great respect and affection for Shakespeare’s work, but is unafraid to engage with the text from a modern perspective. The corroding effects of colonialism and vengeance, themes that ran under the surface of the original play, have immediate and heartbreaking effects here. The world of Prospero’s island is as rich and vital as it is harsh and unforgiving, and Carey deftly navigates the growing maturity of her two main characters, imbuing the pivotal moments in Miranda and Caliban’s development with shocking beauty and deeply felt emotion.

Revisions and retellings of Shakespeare’s plays are frequent, but Carey reshapes The Tempest with an uncommon grace and startling clarity. She understands the devastating impact choices, no matter how innocent, can make.

 

This article was originally published in the February 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Jacqueline Carey, author of the fantasy classic Kushiel’s Dart, weds her lyrical prose to one of Shakespeare’s most enigmatic plays in Miranda and Caliban. This haunting tale of innocence, sensuality and rebellion tells the story of the vengeful magician Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, and his servant, Caliban, before the events of The Tempest.
Science Fiction & FantasyFictionScience Fiction

All Our Wrong Todays

Review by Cat Acree

Amid the deluge of unreliable, devious narrators that compose so much of recent fiction, meet Tom Barren. He’s refreshingly truthful, completely forthright—and an abject failure. In the debut novel from Toronto author and screenwriter Elan Mastai, Tom would like to tell you how he screwed up the future.

Tom’s self-effacing memoir opens with a dose of physics, as our apologetic hero does his best to explain just how he got stuck in the “dank, grimy horror” that is our 2016. Tom is from an alternate reality, the kind of utopian future that Americans dreamed of in the 1950s. In this technological paradise, the groundbreaking Goettreider Engine uses the Earth’s rotation to power all of humanity. Below-average Tom might be a disappointment to his genius father, but things are generally pretty good for humankind in his 2016. That is, until—in a fit of rage, guilt and grief—Tom defiantly hops into the time machine his father has built and accidentally halts the creation of the Goettreider Engine.

Mastai’s utopian worldbuilding is complex and imaginative, but some of the book’s most memorable sections are when Tom attempts to navigate our “retrograde” world. Here, his family is different: His mother is still alive, his father is kind, and he has a sharp-witted sister. His love is different, and his failures are different. This isn’t your typical time-travel story where the wrong reality needs to be righted.

An entertaining rom-com of errors, All Our Wrong Todays backflips through paradoxes while exploring provocative questions of grief and the multitudes we contain within ourselves. Ultimately, it’s a story about love—and the stupid things we’ll do for it.

Read more: Elan Mastai on ‘All Our Wrong Todays.’

This article was originally published in the February 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In the debut novel from Toronto author and screenwriter Elan Mastai, Tom has stumbled into a very different 2016.
Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAFantasy

Get lost in a book—literally

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Sixteen-year-old Amy Lennox has inherited what she calls her family’s “crazy gene.” She and her mother are crazy enough to spontaneously decide to move from their home in Germany one morning and be on a plane that afternoon. Their destination? The island of Stormsay off the coast of Scotland, where Amy’s grandmother, Mairead Lennox, Lady of Stormsay, lives in a mansion called Lennox House. 

In Lennox House, books are everywhere. There are paintings of people reading, a spectacular oak banister carved in the shape of books and a mysterious, ancient library on the moor nearby, set deep in a cave at the foot of a hill. Amy discovers she has inherited a secret family birthright: She is a book jumper, with the ability to jump inside stories and interact with the characters she finds there. Most of all, as a book jumper, she has a duty to protect literature.

Amy’s training includes practice excursions into The Jungle Book, Oliver Twist and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But, along with a fellow reader named Will, Amy uncovers a disturbing problem: There is a dangerous thief in the book world, a thief who is somehow altering stories and stealing ideas from them. And it’s up to Will and Amy to solve the mystery.

Originally published in Germany, Mechthild Gläser’s novel combines romance, fantasy and adventure. Like Grace Lin’s When the Sea Turned to Silver, The Book Jumper celebrates the enduring power of literature and the integral role that stories can play in young lives.

 

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Sixteen-year-old Amy Lennox has inherited what she calls her family’s “crazy gene.” She and her mother are crazy enough to spontaneously decide to move from their home in Germany one morning and be on a plane that afternoon. Their destination? The island of Stormsay off the coast of Scotland, where Amy’s grandmother, Mairead Lennox, Lady of Stormsay, lives in a mansion called Lennox House. 

FictionHistorical FantasyDebut Fiction

The Bear and the Nightingale

Review by Rachel Hoge

In her first novel, The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden has created a coming-of-age story rooted in folklore, set in the Russian wilderness and surrounded by the magic of winter.

In 14th-century Russia, Vasya is an unusual girl—wild and strong, perceptive and brave—who grew up captivated by her family’s frightening tales and legends. But when Vasya finds the stories to be true, and realizes she has special and coveted abilities, she must protect her family from ancient dangers long believed to be fairy tales.

Arden masterfully portrays the unbridled freedom of her young heroine, as ominous forces loom and the tension heightens between the old ways of the village and the new official religion of Orthodox Christianity. Vasya and her family live in a world of beeswax and wine, of warm ovens and deep sleep, described in gorgeous and lyrical prose. At the novel’s core lies a wonderfully woven family tapestry, with generations of sibling friendship, ancestral insight and marital love.

Arden, who has a B.A. in French and Russian literature, spent a year living and studying in Moscow, and her background in Russian culture delivers an added layer of authenticity. She includes a note concerning her transliteration process and a glossary of terms at the end, lending more context to this textured, remarkable blend of history and fantasy.

A commanding opening of an enchanting new series, The Bear and the Nightingale is a must-read for lovers of history, fairy tales and whirlwind adventures. With an unforgettable setting and an exceptional female protagonist, this literary fantasy is a spellbinding read.

RELATED CONTENT: Read a Q&A with Katherine Arden.

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Katherine Arden has created a coming-of-age story rooted in folklore, set in the Russian wilderness and surrounded by the magic of winter.
Science Fiction & FantasyMystery & SuspenseFictionThrillerSuspenseScience Fiction

Pushed to the brink

Review by Barbara Clark

In Normal, Warren Ellis’ exceptional new thriller, foresight strategist Adam Dearborn has just been admitted to a compound called Normal, located on the U.S. west coast. It’s where those who were previously hired to monitor Earth’s degrading civilization are sent when they’re so burned out they can no longer function, well, normally.

The word itself loses much of its meaning in a near-future world where surveillance is constant, and the Normal Head Research Station itself hardly seems a place of safety. One inmate describes the outside world as “a permanent condition of pervasive low-level warfare,” and explains, “We’ve all been sent mad by grief.” The patients at Normal have, they frequently say, spent too much time “gazing into the abyss.”

The compound is abuzz when there’s a bizarre murder the morning after Adam’s arrival. He noticed the strange figure of Mr. Mansfield the previous afternoon, lurking about the edges of Normal’s forest. But Mansfield is missing the next morning, gone from his room and seemingly replaced by a mound of hundreds of crawling insects.

Adam—no model of stability himself—begins a low-key quest to discover what exactly has happened, and whether there’s anyone in Normal who can be trusted. The compound’s inhabitants beguile each other with lies, hysteria or reclusive behavior, as they search for ways to cope with the loss of the normal society they remember. The search leads Adam to an area called Staging, the only place in the compound with access, through the Internet, to the outside. Staging could give access to some answers—or to something much worse.

It’s clear that things have gone badly wrong out in the wider world, where people are now constantly watched by interfering “microdrones.” Ellis excels by inference, offering a chilling picture of the emotional turmoil in a human society that’s come unhinged. More unsettling, at the end of the book, there’s a shocking description of the event that led Adam to untether from his own sanity. 

This slim sci-fi mystery will puzzle, engage your senses and stick with you, maybe popping up days later when one of its passages resonates uncomfortably in the real world outside the book’s pages. Normal chills not by overt action or gory effects, but by slyly transporting readers outside their comfort zone, offering a look into a future that seems increasingly plausible after all.

In Normal, Warren Ellis’ exceptional new thriller, foresight strategist Adam Dearborn has just been admitted to a compound called Normal, located on the U.S. west coast. It’s where those who were previously hired to monitor Earth’s degrading civilization are sent when they’re so burned out they can no longer function, well, normally.

Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAScience Fiction

An ambitious sci-fi tackles tough social issues

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

Set in distant space in a galactic empire, The Diabolic is narrated by Nemesis, a humanoid teenage girl born and bred to be a weapon. Her only job is to protect Sidonia, a senator’s daughter, which she will do at any cost. When Sidonia’s father is suspected of treason, the Emperor orders Sidonia to the capital as a hostage, but Nemesis goes in her place. Upon arrival, Nemesis quickly makes enemies, but she also forms a shaky alliance with the enigmatic Tyrus, who is playing his own dangerous political game. After a tragedy, Nemesis must put her life—and the fate of the empire—into the hands of people she doesn’t fully comprehend.

Nemesis isn’t the most compelling character here. That distinction goes to Tyrus, who has been brought up in a royal household lorded over by a ruthless grandmother akin to King Richard III. His methods of survival and his ability to strategize are impressive, leaving readers to wonder if he can really be trusted.

Like a Primanti Brothers sandwich, there’s a lot stuffed inside the covers of this book: political sabotage, intergalactic travel, planetary negotiations, chemical warfare, feminism, murder, romance and religion. This isn’t science fiction with an emphasis on science, even though a major theme of the book is how the empire manipulates religion and withholds technology in order to subjugate its people. It’s an ambitious page-turner fueled by plot twists, character deaths and high-stakes action.

 

Kimberly Giarratano is the author of Grunge Gods and Graveyards, a young adult paranormal mystery.

This article was originally published in the November 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Set in distant space in a galactic empire, The Diabolic is narrated by Nemesis, a humanoid teenage girl born and bred to be a weapon. Her only job is to protect Sidonia, a senator’s daughter, which she will do at any cost. When Sidonia’s father is suspected of treason, the Emperor orders Sidonia to the capital as a hostage, but Nemesis goes in her place. Upon arrival, Nemesis quickly makes enemies, but she also forms a shaky alliance with the enigmatic Tyrus, who is playing his own dangerous political game. After a tragedy, Nemesis must put her life—and the fate of the empire—into the hands of people she doesn’t fully comprehend.
YA FictionYAScience Fiction

Two sides of a story

Review by Jill Ratzan

Lyra is a replica, one of thousands of clones bred as research subjects at Haven, a top-secret medical research facility on an island off the coast of Florida. Gemma, once a sickly child but now a curious teen, longs to know about Haven and the secrets that her wealthy father might be hiding there. Both Lyra and Gemma are sure that these are the only lives they’ve ever known. And yet both have snippets of memories—a decorated cup, an unusual statue—that don’t quite fit. When an explosion destroys Haven, Lyra and another replica escape, and they soon connect with Gemma and her new friend Jake. As the four teens learn more about Haven and its terrible purpose, they find themselves chased across Florida by secret agents determined to silence them—and revisiting what they thought they knew about their own identities.

The ethics of biotechnology would be enough to make Replica a compelling read, but what truly makes it stand out is its narrative format: The book is arranged so that readers read one girl’s story and then must physically flip the book over to read the other’s. (In an author’s note, Lauren Oliver writes that each story can be read independently, or both can be read together in alternating chapters.) The two stories intersect, with mysteries in one solved by information in the other. Part adventure story, part narrative experiment and part reflection on what it means to be human, Replica forms a cohesive and satisfying whole.

 

Jill Ratzan matches readers with books in a small library in southeastern Pennsylvania.

This article was originally published in the October 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Lyra is a replica, one of thousands of clones bred as research subjects at Haven, a top-secret medical research facility on an island off the coast of Florida. Gemma, once a sickly child but now a curious teen, longs to know about Haven and the secrets that her wealthy father might be hiding there. Both Lyra and Gemma are sure that these are the only lives they’ve ever known. And yet both have snippets of memories—a decorated cup, an unusual statue—that don’t quite fit.
Science Fiction & FantasyFictionSpeculative FictionScience Fiction

The truest love connection?

Review by Carrie Rollwagen

Briddey has it all: a loving family, a great job and a boyfriend, Trent, who wants to get serious. She and Trent plan to take advantage of a scientific breakthrough, the EED: a medical procedure that connects the brains of two romantic partners so they sense each other’s feelings. No more dating guesswork, no more games, no more drama. 

Of course, there are naysayers who think rigging the game of love is a bad idea. Briddey’s family is opposed to the procedure and overwhelms her with constant busybody texts trying to change her mind. Briddey’s weird, genius coworker warns of mysterious EED hazards that he won’t fully describe. And there’s the pesky fact that the EED only works if a couple is truly in love, so if the connection doesn’t form, you’re not soul mates.

Despite the risks, Briddey is eager to take the leap. In the whirlwind of surprises that follow, she battles not only her own demons, but also those of a few others. She becomes the target of a corporate giant, learns more about genetics than ever before, takes refuge in zombie fortresses and secret libraries, reconnects with her heritage and is surprised by her family’s love in a way she never thought possible. 

Crosstalk is a fun technological fairy tale. It’s also a fable that asks us to question the nature of love and the ethics of technology. How much connectivity is too much? Are we too tangled together by social media and constant texting? Connie Willis, an award-winning science fiction writer (To Say Nothing of the Dog), addresses these questions and more with humor and wit. Crosstalk not only asks whether it’s possible to know and connect with another person completely, but also makes us reexamine whether it’s even healthy to try.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Briddey has it all: a loving family, a great job and a boyfriend, Trent, who wants to get serious. She and Trent plan to take advantage of a scientific breakthrough, the EED: a medical procedure that connects the brains of two romantic partners so they sense each other’s feelings. No more dating guesswork, no more games, no more drama.
Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAFantasy

A world without books

Review by Norah Piehl

Sefia has lived a lonely and haunted life, pursued for years by the mysterious forces that brutally killed her father and still seek the enigmatic object—the “book”—that has been entrusted to Sefia for safekeeping. When Sefia’s aunt Nin, the only person who knows the truth about Sefia’s family, is kidnapped, Sefia develops several goals: “Learn what the book was for. Rescue Nin from the people who killed her father. And get her revenge.”

Raised in a society where books and reading are unheard of, Sefia uses her mysterious book to teach herself to read—and by doing so, unlocks not only the power of story but also, possibly, her own marvelous abilities. Archer, a mute and damaged boy whose uncanny talents for fighting and killing may mark him as fulfilling a prophecy, aids Sefia along the way.

Traci Chee’s debut novel, set in a world full of secrets and power struggles, is a dense and rewarding opening to an exciting fantasy trilogy. “Look closer,” exhorts an inscription at the novel’s opening, and readers will feel inspired to look for hidden clues in this intricately and unconventionally structured fantasy novel.

 

This article was originally published in the September 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Sefia has lived a lonely and haunted life, pursued for years by the mysterious forces that brutally killed her father and still seek the enigmatic object—the “book”—that has been entrusted to Sefia for safekeeping. When Sefia’s aunt Nin, the only person who knows the truth about Sefia’s family, is kidnapped, Sefia develops several goals: “Learn what the book was for. Rescue Nin from the people who killed her father. And get her revenge.”
Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAScience Fiction

Fragile truth from lines in a book

Review by Justin Barisich

BookPage Teen Top Pick, September 2016

Set in the fictional land of Canaan, The Forgetting follows one young woman’s journey to discover why all her neighbors forget who they are every 12 years—and how all their hard truths can be so easily bent.

In Canaan, if you don’t write down your memories in your book, you’re destined to forget them and lose all sense of identity. Nadia was just a toddler for her first Forgetting—when her father scratched himself out of her family’s books and abandoned them all. But Nadia knows what he did. While everyone else loses all memories after each Forgetting, Nadia secretly remembers everything, and she’s the only one who’s trying to make sense of their shared truth. 

The next Forgetting is looming just weeks away, and Nadia has grown careless in her race against the clock to learn how to stop it. Gray, the glassblower’s son, catches her breaking the law as she hops the high walls of Canaan, and he demands to see the other side as well. As the two explore the world outside the walls together, their friendship morphs into a romance. But their true love may soon become fiction if they can’t solve the mysteries of Canaan before the next Forgetting. 

The Forgetting is Sharon Cameron’s fourth young adult novel, and she’s grown adept at blurring the lines between fantasy, dystopian and science-fiction genres. Cameron reminds us, through Nadia’s documented memories, that we must learn to appreciate the truth as much as question it, exploring the morality tucked within the fallacy of memory.

 

Justin Barisich is a freelancer, satirist, poet and performer living in Atlanta. More of his writing can be found at littlewritingman.com.

This article was originally published in the September 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Set in the fictional land of Canaan, The Forgetting follows one young woman’s journey to discover why all her neighbors forget who they are every 12 years—and how all their hard truths can be so easily bent.

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