Above by Leah Bobet

While the concept of Above was interesting and pretty unique, I never really felt engaged in the book. I don't know if it was because the writing style didn't click with me or because there was never really enough revealed about the story for me to become super involved. The story is told in a broken, lyrical sort of
fashion, thanks to the main character, Matthew, being undereducated yet a teller of stories. The fuzzy background of Safe and all the tales that Matthew keeps and keeps as the Teller were pretty interesting, but I always felt like I was only getting tidbits of the whole history and it was not enough to satisfy me. I wanted more from this book but unfortunately there just weren't a lot of answers here.

I mean, don't get me wrong, it was an okay little read. I liked the storyline, and I was all right with most of the characters, well, most of the characters except Ariel. She drove me a little bonkers with all of her running away and fussiness but I understood more about why she acted that way toward the end of the book; still, I was never in love with her as a character.

The world building was a little shaky; I had a really hard time placing it in a certain time period, but that might have just been because it was from Matthew's point of view and time works differently for him, I suppose. I still wanted to know more about Safe by the time the story finished, and I wanted to know more about some of the characters.

While not particularly fantastic, Above was still a decent read. I just wanted a little more from it, but, eh, I suppose I'll live...

The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox

The Slave Dancer was the Newbery Award winner for 1974; it's an old school book, written in an old school style. Therefore, for people who love modern style writing that's quick or not too prosy, this one probably isn't the one for them. It miiiight not hold the attention of an action-driven kid who is more
interested in racing around the yard than reading, but I think it is a good teaching tool or a launching point so that parents or teachers could talk to kids about slavery, slave ships and the Middle Passage. I think it's also a good novel to give kids who might be interested in learning more about slavery.

This is the story of Jessie, a boy musician who plays his fife for the wrong people and ends up getting shanghaied. He winds up on a slave ship, where he is forced to play his fife while the slaves are on deck so they can dance for exercise. It's also the story of the slaves who are forced aboard the ship as prisoners and property and made to endure a unimaginably awful journey. The pain and suffering and madness of this book is enough to make the hairs on the back of your head stand up. The men who work the slave ship are a tough and terrible lot, and their captain is practically psychotic. They are senselessly violent and few, if any, have any moral qualms about their line of work. The slaves...you can feel their anguish. Many of the scenes are disturbing; they stayed with me long after I finished the book. From the point in the story where the slaves are loaded onto the ship to the point onward is especially difficult to get through due to the exhibitions of cruelty. There is a hopeful ending for more than one character at the end of the book. I thought it was a weighty and powerful read, but it might go over the heads of younger kids. I think middle school/high school would be the most appropriate age group for this book.

Alive!

Hey, I haven't disappeared! I just finished grad school classes for the semester, finally, so all the reviews I put on hold will be coming soon. Huzzah and verily! Meanwhile, my list of to-reads grows ever longer, and the library has gotten a bazillion more books in. This is a great problem since every time I finish a book I feel like...

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

A tale of adventure, treasure, a talking dragon with a funny name, dwarven companions and discovering courage during trying circumstances, The Hobbit is a story that kids, teens and adults have been enjoying for
going on a century. It's the story of a small, fussy little hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who loves his cozy home in the Shire, where no one goes on any adventures or does anything very daring or dangerous. However, they all know what's going on in the town and who's who and who's related to so-and-so and what they ate for breakfast that morning. It's rather like a small Southern American town, actually. Bilbo's a homebody but there's a small spark in him that is still adventurous, thanks to his Took side (shout out to Peregrin Took, Tookishness rule!), and it is this little bit of boldness and a good shove from Gandalf that leads him to join the company of Thorin Oakenshield. This group of dwarves is heading off to the Lonely Mountain (aka Erebor) on a quest to reclaim their treasure from the dragon, Smaug, who took over their kingdom quite a few years back. Dwarves are a proud folk, but eventually Bilbo wins their approval and they actually start looking to him for answers and plans and the like. Their adventures include battling goblins, trekking through a creepy forest, being imprisoned by an Elven king, sneaking back into their own kingdom and then a massive battle. It's easy to sort of lose track of which dwarves are along for the journey (there are 13, so it's a lot of names and many rhyme), but if you do decide to watch The Hobbit movie, they're given rather distinct character traits and appearances. A few stand out in the book, like Thorin, Dori, Balin, Fili, Kili and Bombur; many of the others, poor fellows, sort of fade into the background. Overall, I love this book to pieces, and I would recommend it to basically anyone with a healthy love of fantasy.

Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell

Aliens, robot armor suits, explosions, a psychic little girl, a bounty hunter, a near-magic tech wizard, a romance and a dog. What more are you looking for in a sci-fi book?! I mean, seriously!

So, yeah, I love this book. It's got all of the sorts of action and aliens that a sci-fi girl could want plus really good characters. The story follows Holt, a bounty hunter who's on the run, Mira, who can create fantastical tools using items that seem to have magical properties, and Zoey, a little girl with memory loss who Holt rescues from a crashed alien ship who is far more than she first appears. They live in on a version of Earth that has been conquered by a mysterious alien race that they refer to as the Assembly; Assembly aliens seem to be light or energy based creatures, and I hope we get more info about them in later books. The aliens have basically captured all of the adults, and almost all children are infected with something that is called the Tone, which seems to be a mind-control virus that becomes worse as they grow up; when they reach adulthood, they fall under the influence of the Tone and walk themselves to the nearest alien home base. Harsh. Those who are immune to the Tone are called Heedless, and Holt just happens to be one of these. I'm sort of in love with Holt. I mean, really, a lonely, sarcastic, surly bounty hunter with a dark past whose main goal is survival, plus he has a dog, plus he's very capable, plus he's witty? Yes. Oh, yes, he is good, and just a very enjoyable character besides his inherent awesomeness; he screws up, makes mistakes and has goofy moments. Mira is kick butt and very clever, and I think she'd be an awesome best friend for anyone. She and Holt have a great love-hate-admiration-annoyance thing going on; it was fantastic. Max and Zoey are great sidekicks, and I hope we discover more about Zoey in the next books.

I guess if I had any problems with this book, it was that they spent a lot of time running away from the Assembly...I mean, a lot. Which was sort of necessary, but maybe some of the running bits could be cut out or shortened. Besides that, I really liked the book, everything from the characters to the setting to the plot.

I was very satisfied with the ending of this book. With most YA books, I'm a little shriveled twist of discontent emotions, often quite upset at the current predicament of characters that I've come to enjoy. With Midnight City, I was happy with the ending, though it's not exactly happy and it definitely left me wanting more. It's hard to describe, but I just was really pleased with the ending that Barton provided. I think anyone who is a bit of a sci-fi nut might want to give this book a try!

Thank you, NetGalley.com and St. Martin's Press, for letting me read the galley of this book!