Megan Bannen’s debut novel, The Bird and the Blade is a rich and poignant story of love, loss, and the bloody struggle for power within a fractured Mongol Empire during the 13th century.
Jinghua lost everything on the day the Mongols invaded her home and slaughtered her people. Now she’s a slave in the house of one of the most powerful warlords of their time: Timur Khan, lord of the Kipchak. But when the Kipchak Khanate is invaded and its army destroyed Jinghua must follow Timur and his son Khalaf as they escape their conquered kingdom if she is to have any chance of returning to her own home.
But when Khalaf enters a deadly game to win the hand of a powerful princess, everything changes. Turandokht is treacherous, beautiful, and heir to the Mongol Empire. The man who weds her will be the next Great Khan, the catch? He must first solve three impossible riddles, or die trying. Soon Jinghua is forced to make an impossible choice: betray the boy she has grown to love, or give him up to the princess who would rather be his death than his bride.
Category Archives: Action & Adventure
A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
In a thrilling sequel to A Torch Against the Night, Sabaa Tahir returns to the world of Laia, Helene and Elias with A Reaper at the Gates. In Reaper, the stakes have been raised for all our favorite characters as the Nightbringer draws closer to his goal.
In the Waiting Place, Elias struggles to take control of his growing powers as Shaeva and Mauth force him and Laia farther apart. At the heart of the Empire Helene has taken control of the Black Guard— and with Harper at her side begins to wrest control from the Commandant. Far away, Laia works with the Tribes and Scholar Rebels to free enslaved Scholars.
But even as the Blood Strike grows in power and Laia gains allies and experience, the Nightbringer too grows closer to freeing the other Jinn. Under his orders Keris Veturia schemes and kills as she works to undermine the new regime.
Reaper at the Gates is probably my favorite book of the series yet. The POV characters have gained a new maturity since the events of A Torch Against the Night, and many of the supporting characters also gain a backstory that helps to enrich the world of Reaper comsiderably.
Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl
Neverworld Wake, by Marisha Pessl, is a stunningly put together story. It tells of a girl named Beatrice who recently lost her boyfriend, Jim, at the end of her senior year of high school. Jim’s death reveals a bounty of unanswered questions, and Beatrice needs to get to the bottom of them. She returns to Wincroft, the mansion belonging to her old best friend. Beatrice and all her friends were separated after Jim’s death. While searching for answers, Beatrice gets swept up into the craziness of the night, and can’t escape. They become trapped, stuck in time. Beatrice and her “friends” are introduced to a confusing place called Neverworld Wake, where they live a century inside a second.
Neverworld Wake is thrilling. It’s impossible to put down. Once you get sucked into the wake yourself, there’s no coming out until the story is finished. It’s hypnotizing; the mere idea of this wake is captivating. There is drama, sadness, adventure, edge-of-your-seat anticipation, and plot twists you could never imagine. This book is bound to become popular among YA readers. It is one of a kind, and I urge everyone to read it. Neverworld Wake is one of the best books I have ever read, and a great addition to the YA genre.
Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian
When Princess Theodosia of Astrea was six, her life was ripped apart. Her peaceful island nation was invaded by the fearsome Kalovaxians, her mother slaughtered, and her people enslaved. Over a decade later, Theodosia is still imprisoned in the palace she once called home. Theodosia is forced to watch as the Keiser runs her country into the ground, and slaughters her people, as each small act of rebellion is etched onto her back with the Theyn’s whip. But with the reappearance of a childhood friend, everything changes. Theodosia has been the Keiser’s pawn for too long, and for better or worse, she soon finds herself a Queen in a perilous game of deception and betrayals. One wrong move means death, and if she wants to win, Theodosia will have to be cunning, brave, and ruthless in order to save her people— and herself.
Theodosia is by far the smartest— and possibly the most ruthless protagonist I have ever read. She’s cunning, manipulative, brave, and unlike most heroes, has excellent survival instincts. But she’s also human, and even as she gets closer to her goal, she finds herself inexorably drawn to the crown prince that she swore to kill. Theodosia soon finds herself trapped, caught between her people, and the boy she may be growing to love.
Ash Princess is a beautiful and heartbreaking story of a girl who has lost everything, and is willing to do anything in order to survive. The writing is beautiful and compelling, the characters diverse and colorful, and the plot a masterpiece of twisting, interlocking tales. Ash Princess is undoubtedly one of the best fantasy novels that can be found on the YA shelf.
MunMun by Jesse Andrews
In MunMun, by Jesse Andrews, a different world is taking place. A world where your amount of money determines your size. For littlepoors, the world is dangerous and full of huge cats, crazy cars, and people accidentally stomping on them. For middles, the world is comfy; everything is their size. They have average lives, but live in fear of becoming poor and being scaled down at any moment For bigs, the world is tiny. They tower over literally everything, and are never completely full or hydrated. They have to eat entire cows and move in slow motion and whisper in order not to kill anyone smaller than them. The whole point of living in this world is to scale up, but the question is, where do you stop?
Warner is born littlepoor, along with his sister Prayer and friend Usher. They travel throughout their little, terrifying lives and try to find ways to scale up. The only problem is, it seems the world is built for everyone bigger. It’s difficult to scale up when it feels like everything is against you
MunMun is unlike anything I’ve ever read. It’s a very interesting take on how money impacts people’s lives. It’s full of adventure, plot twists, betrayals, and interesting friendships. Andrews writes this in a different way, with fascinating spelling/grammar and impeccable descriptions. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a truly crazy story formed from an idea no one has ever seen before.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
When Miles asked his parents to send him to his father’s old boarding school, he had no idea what he was getting himself into. All he was looking for was an escape from the loneliness and drudgery of his everyday life and judging by his fathers wild stories, Culver Creek might be just what he’s looking for. And if he isn’t the most experienced in the wild shenanigans his dad described, well, its high school, what’s the worst that could happen?
What Miles didn’t anticipate was his new roommate Chip, who calls himself the Colonel. The Colonel introduces Miles— newly nicknamed Pudge, to a secret world of midnight pranks, bad alcohol and forbidden adventures. And at the center of it all is Alaska Young; clever, daring, unpredictable, gorgeous Alaska Young.
Looking for Alaska is— surprisingly— among the most insightful and intense books I have encountered in YA literature. Looking for Alaska is, in a way, a more modern and well written version of A Catcher in the Rye, with language and experiences that the twenty first century teen will understand and identify with. Whether you’re a teacher looking for an interesting and meaningful story for your students, or a teen yourself, Looking for Alaska is a fascinating and philosophical story filled with vivid characters and an intriguing plot.
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
From monstrous Daeva to beautiful, fierce Asha, the world of the Bone Witch teems with myth and magic. Tea is a Dark Asha, a Bone Witch, the rarest and most reviled of all the witch-women known as Asha. Born in the village of Knightcross to a family with two low-level witch daughters, Tea was expected to follow in her sister’s footsteps and spend her life helping the village with whatever power she inherited. But when her brother Fox is killed by a monster called a Daeva, everything changed. At his funeral, Tea accidentally raised her brother from the dead, almost killing herself in the process.
Labeled as a Bone Witch, Tea (and Fox) are taken by the Lady Mykaela, one of the last Dark Asha, to the city of Ankyo to begin her training. In Ankyo, Tea will learn to control and use her gift, to sing and dance, and most importantly, how to fight and draw the runes that give an Asha her power. But while the life of an Asha is one filled with beautiful parties, powerful people, and amazing magic, danger lurks in the dark corners of the kingdom. A faction of powerful magic-wielders known as the Faceless hide amongst the normal people, waiting to tear the kingdoms apart; and Daeva rise from their graves only to be slain again by the Dark Asha. But the numbers of the Bone Witches dwindle, and soon Tea must find a way to change the way Dark Asha have lived for thousands of years, lest she lose her own life to it— and drag everyone else down with her.
In this dark and bewitching book, Rin Chupeco weaves a masterful tale of magic and monsters, friendship and betrayal, love and loss. Split between two times and places, Tea’s story is broken at intervals by short glimpses into her future, moments when we see not only who she was, but what she will become. The Bone Witch will draw you deeper into the story with every page, and leave you eager for the sequel.
York: The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby
Laura Ruby delivers a fantastic adventure in York: The Shadow Cipher. This is the first book in the series. It tells the story of a peculiar world ruled by two famous twins, Theodore and Theresa Morningstarr. Back in the 1800’s, these twins were amazing inventors of all sorts of machines and buildings set to use in New York, including the Morningstarr Tower. Right before the two disappeared, they left the ‘Old York Cipher’ in their wake, a series of ciphers and puzzles in the newspaper left for the citizens of New York to solve.
Back in modern day New York, another set of twins, Theo and Tessa (their grandpa was obsessed with the Morningstarrs and their cipher), along with their friend Jaime are being ripped away from their home. They live in one of the original Morningstarr buildings, which are all being demolished by a billionaire real estate developer. Their building, their home, was getting taken away. The kids realize the only way to save their building is to solve the impossible Old York Cipher. Their grandpa had said, while you’re trying to solve the cipher, it’s trying to solve you.
This book is written with so many twisters, you can never expect what comes next. From the moment I started this book, I could not put it down. It is an excellent read for anyone who likes “alternate-history adventure” with mystery and puzzles. There is so much adventure in this high-tech, unimaginable world. I can’t wait for the next book.
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
They Both Die at the End, by Adam Silvera is a heartbreaking, but heartwarming book. It tells the story of two teenagers nearing the end of their life. They live in a world where everyone gets told the day they’re going to die on their phone by a company called ‘Death-Cast’. They usually call around midnight so you can have as much time to say goodbyes and experience all your dreams as soon as possible. People dying are called Deckers. Death-Cast calls Mateo and Rufus today because they’re dying, but not before one more huge adventurous day.
Mateo and Rufus find each other because of an app called ‘Last Friend’, which is meant for Decker strangers to meet up and create a last friend on their End Day. The two boys face the world together, learning everything about each other and facing the fear of death. A violent Rufus and a cautious Mateo turn into the best of friends during their End Day.
Adam Silvera writes an original story, like no plot you’ve ever read. This book will keep you reading, wanting to discover every inch of Rufus and Mateo’s friendship.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeymi
Magic is entrenched deep in the heart of Orïsha. For centuries the silver-haired Maji lived alongside humans, passing their magic down through the generations of their bloodlines. With the help of their patron gods and goddesses they call fire and storms, tame wild beasts, craft great structures out of metal and stone, and even summon the souls of the dead.
But eleven years ago magic disappeared. The defenseless Maji were captured and killed by the soldiers of a ruthless king, sparing only the smallest of their white-haired children. Now those children live in fear, as the lowest caste of the Orïshan society.
Zélie Adebola is a divîner, the daughter of a Maji mother, and was born with the white hair that signals a potential for magic. When Zélie meets Amari, a rogue princess in possession of a stolen magical scroll, everything changes. Chased by the king’s soldiers and Amari’s own brother, the new friends set off on a quest to bring back magic, before it is gone forever. But even with Zélie’s newfound powers, the road will be difficult and dangerous, and soon Zélie finds herself fighting not only the monarchy, but her own treacherous heart.
In this vibrant and beautiful book Tomi Adeymi weaves a story filled with myth and mystery, adventures and romance, and of course- magic. Told from the point of view of three different people, the world of Orïsha, the characters, and the story itself grows deeper and richer with every page. The story will grab you from the first paragraph, and draw you deeper with every page. Children of Blood and Bone is undoubtedly one of those all-too-rare books that worms it’s way into your heart, and stays there forever.