Hold on to your fish-net stockings because the action in DEAD GIRL’S DANCE starts on the first page and never lets up. The story begins exactly where the first book in the Morganville series, GLASS HOUSES, leaves off. Claire, Eve, and Shane are in shock over what Shane’s father and his buddies have done to Michael. 

Shane’s father has returned to Morganville with one thing in mind. He wants to kill as many vampires as he can, even if he gets killed in the process. After the trauma Shane’s family went through with the loss of his sister, and subsequently, his mother, Shane and his father cooked up a plan for revenge. Shane’s phone call to his father set the plan in motion and once his father arrives, Shane realizes what a mistake he’s made. 

The protection Claire, Eve, Shane, and Michael have under the Founder is in jeopardy now that Shane’s dad is causing problems. If they are thought to be involved in any kind of plan to kill the vampires, their protection will be removed and it will be open season on the occupants of the Glass House – and believe me, there are plenty of vampires and people in Morganville that want to see them dead. When one of the most powerful vampires in town turns up dead, Shane is accused of the crime and sentenced to death and it is up to Claire and Eve to find a way to save him. 

Readers will enjoy it when Claire’s nemesis, Monica, gets a little of what’s coming to her when the tables are turned and she is put in the victim role. Also be looking for relationships to blossom over the course of DEAD GIRL’S DANCE, both in love and friendship. We also meet a new, likeable character named Sam. He offers aid to Claire and Eve when they are in desperate need of help. 

The only drawback with this book is that it isn’t a stand alone story. In order to understand the reason behind much of the action it would be better to read the first book in the series, GLASS HOUSES. However, in my opinion, this isn’t a major drawback at all since it leads you to another great book by Rachel Caine. DEAD GIRLS’ DANCE is one of the best books in the series and the shocking ending will leave you panting and begging for the next installment.

NOTE: You should read the first book in this series, DARK LIFE, before you read this one. RIP TIDE is not a stand alone novel.

While stashing the family’s latest seaweed harvest, Ty and Gemma come across a sunken township – a giant water craft where people live and make a living. While investigating, Ty realizes there are people inside – but quickly sees they are dead.  Close inspection of the outside of the township reveals that all the hatches have been chained and locked from the outside.  Who would sink a township and kill all those people?

When Ty’s parents are kidnapped during a crop sale, he and Gemma learn more than they ever wanted to know about the problems on the townships.  Ty doesn’t feel the Sea Guard is providing enough support to search for his parents so he and Gemma go about following clues on their own. Their search takes them to some of the most dangerous places on the ocean. 

Ty and Gemma are determined to find his parents and are willing to do whatever it takes. Ty will have to survive several brushes with death and Gemma will have to overcome her fear of the water – all this while deception awaits around every corner. It’s pretty bad when your best option is to team up with an outlaw gang.

RIP TIDE isn’t as good as the first book in this series, but it is still worth reading. Kat Falls continues to reveal more and more about life after The Rise. The amazing underwater world is still fascinating. I’d love to live there myself as long as I could stay away from deadly monsters and dangerous outlaws.

After devastating earthquakes shatter continents and flood entire regions, humans are forced to live in stack cities with hardly any space to call their own. The only ones with any space to spread out are the pioneers willing to take a risk and live under the water on the ocean floor.  A group of settlers have set up elaborate farms in order to make a living subsea.

Ty has lived under water his entire life. In fact, he was the first child born subsea. The idea of living Topside sends shivers through him – all those people crammed together baking in the hot sun.  Ty looks forward to the day when he turns 18 and is able to make a claim for his own land on the ocean floor, but when outlaws attack his and his neighbor’s homesteads Ty is thrust in to danger and adventure. Will he be able to save the settlers’ way of life? Will he be able to help Gemma, a girl from Topside, find her brother undersea? Will he be able to keep his secret about the Dark Life?

Kat Falls has created an interesting world under the sea. Ty is a great character to get to know. The relationship between him and Gemma is fun to watch develop. The amazing technological gadgets really add to the world the author created.  I loved the oxygen-infused liquid. Before diving, you inhale the Liquigen pack into your lungs and it allows you to go under water without worrying about breathing.  When done, all you do is inhale air and the Liquigen evaporates, allowing you to breath like normal.  How cool!

Here is your chance to win a copy of Alyson Noel’s next book in the Riley Bloom series. All you have to do is enter using the form at the bottom of the post. Please enter by Friday, September 23rd.

Here is a little about the book.

“Riley’s finding that the afterlife can be a lonely place when all you do is focus on work. So she goes to the place where dreams happen, hoping to find a way to contact her sister, Ever. She meets the director, who tells her about the two ways to send dreams. As a Dream Jumper, a person can jump into a dreamer’s dream, share a message, and participate. As a Dreamweaver, an entire dream can be created in a studio and sent to the dreamer. But Dreamweaving was outlawed decades ago, and the studio was boarded up. Thinking it’s her only way to reach out to her sister, Riley goes in search of the old studio. There she finds a ghost boy, who’s been creating and sending nightmares to people for years. In order to stop him and reach out to Ever, Riley is going to have to confront and overcome her own fears.”

Alyson Noël continues the bestselling story of Riley Bloom as she learns how dreams are made and tries to make contact with her sister, Ever.

Rather than give a traditional review I’m going to just give the reasons I love this series. CHANGES is #12 of the Harry Dresden series so reviewing this title would give away some important plot points of the earlier books. I’ve read books #1 – #11 and listened to the audiobooks of #1 – #3 even after I’d already read them. James Marsters (SPIKE from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is the narrator and he does a fantastic job of bringing Harry to life.

Harry Dresden is a wizard.  In fact, he is the only public wizard in Chicago and even has an ad in the phone book to try and drum up business.  He does work for the Chicago PD on occasion whenever they have cases that seem “strange.”

Harry Dresden comes into contact with other wizards, both good and bad, vampires, werewolves, faeries, and a myriad of other supernatural beings.  He does it all with sarcastic humor that will make the reader laugh out loud.

Jim Butcher also does a great job of developing his secondary characters in this series, the most important probably being Karrin Murphy. (Sidenote: My name is Karin – if only Jim Butcher would have left out that extra R it would have been spelled just like mine.  Also, I loved hearing James Marsters say my name on the audio book.  If only he were whispering it in my ear!! HA HA HA)

Specifically, about CHANGES, it is probably the best book in the series. Jim Butcher gives his readers a thrilling ride and leaves them begging for the next installment. If you haven’t read this series yet, go get the first one NOW!!!

I gave it the YA CROSSOVER button because there is no reason high school kids couldn’t read and enjoy this series. There isn’t much sex or language to worry about.

Here is the book list in order:

1. Storm Front (2000)
2. Fool Moon (2000)
3. Grave Peril (2001)
4. Summer Knight (2002)
5. Death Masks (2003)
6. Blood Rites (2004)
7. Dead Beat (2005)
8. Proven Guilty (2006)
9. White Night (2007)
10. Small Favor (2008)
11. Turn Coat (2009)
12. Changes (2010)
13. Ghost Story (2011) – not released yet

Let me start out by saying, you’ll want to read the first two books in this series before picking up PASSING STRANGE.  If you don’t, you’ll be lost on the ins and outs of the plots and characters. You can find my reviews for the first two books below:

GENERATION DEAD #1
KISS OF LIFE #2

The author, Daniel Waters, takes a different approach with PASSING STRANGE.  The first two books focus on Phoebe and her struggles as she braves the world of high school in a world where some teens are coming back from the dead.  Her heart is pulled in two different directions – she is fascinated with Tommy, a new differently-biotic boy that enrolls at school, but at the same time, has growing feelings for Adam, her long-time friend and next-door neighbor. PASSING STRANGE tells the story of an important, but side character named Karen DeSonne.

Karen is one of the most advanced/high functioning zombies anyone has ever seen. She moves with grace, speaks without hitches, and is the envy of even the traditionally-biotic girls at school.  Since the events that took place in KISS OF LIFE that led to the laws preventing the differently-biotic from being in public without a legal guardian and attending school, Karen has been the only zombie out in the open. In fact, Karen isn’t just out in the open as a zombie, but she is “passing” as a traditionally-biotic teenager.  With the help of dyed hair and blue contacts, Karen got a job at the local mall and begins to use her ability to blend in to help the differently-biotic cause.

When Karen has the chance to infiltrate the enemy to gain information that could shine light on a conspiracy to make the zombies look guilty of crimes they didn’t commit, she doesn’t hesitate. She puts herself in many dangerous situations with one of the most active anti-zombie radicals to date. Knowing she can help allows her to keep meeting Pete – even when he wants to kiss her.

The reader learns a lot about Karen in this novel. Karen has always appeared happy-go-lucky in the previous books so it was interesting to find out she isn’t very happy.  She has a lot to be sad about and you’ll sympathize with her as she explains everything going on in her life and eventually reveals a huge secret.

I’ve loved every one of the GENERATION DEAD books and PASSING STRANGE is no different. It only took me a day to finish and I was extremely happy with the hopeful ending.  I can’t wait for the next installment to this wonderfully unique series.  Thanks, Dan! Keep up the good work.

You can follow the fight for zombie rights by reading Tommy’s blog.

Visit Daniel Water’s website.

First published – 1998

This 6th installment of The Tomorrow Series finds Ellie and her friends hiding out, once again, in Hell.  After their daring and devasting blow to the enemy in Book 5, they know laying low is the only way they will be able to survive. The enemy is out for blood.

Two new things create complications for the Australian teens. Hell has always been their safe haven. No one has ever found the hideout or even gotten close so they’ve always been able to relax a little while their are there – until now.  Old fires and debris has been found, implying people have been camping out very close to Hell. Ellie and the others can only assume they have been there searching for them.

Ellie, Homer, Lee, Fi, and Kevin also meet up with some other rebels. The problem is, they are young kids no more than 10-years-old or so.  Ellie and the others feel it necessary to protect them by taking them to Hell, but some of the kids don’t want to go, which puts everyone in danger.

While THE NIGHT IS FOR HUNTING isn’t one of the most action packed books of the series, it is still enjoyable and necessary to read. A lot of things happen to force the characters to change – be it in attitude or behavior. I look forward to the final book in the series.

Walker Books – May 3, 2010 (UK)
Candlewick- September 28, 2010 (USA)

MONSTERS OF MEN is the wonderful conclusion to the Chaos Walking Trilogy. It picks up where THE ASK AND THE ANSWER leaves off – right at the beginning of WAR! The Spackle, the Answer, and the Mayor’s army are all converging on New Prentisstown and Todd and Viola are stuck in the middle.

Patrick Ness creates the same heart-pounding suspense in this novel as he did in the first two in the trilogy.  Multiple points of view give the reader a full understanding of what is happening. 

Be sure to set aside a block of time when you start this book – or the first two for that matter.  Once I started, I didn’t want to stop.  I was so worried for Viola and Todd throughout the story.  I was stressed and cringed as I got further into the story – afraid for what Patrick Ness had in store for them.  Patrick Ness made me growl in frustration and brought me to tears.  MONSTERS OF MEN ended perfectly!

Check out my reviews and Q & A with Patrick Ness for more information.

THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO
THE ASK AND THE ANSWER
Q & A with Patrick Ness

First published in 1997

Stranded in their home country of Australia, Ellie, Homer, Lee, Kevin, and Fi struggle to find a way to make a difference in the war.  With no sign of the Kiwi soldiers, they know they are on their own once again.  With security tightening around the area, it is more difficult than ever to move around the occupied areas.

When an amazing opportunity falls into their laps, they can’t ignore it – no matter how dangerous. Knowing they might not make it out alive – Ellie and her friends set out to hurt the invading army and give New Zealand the upper-hand in the battle.

BURNING FOR REVENGE takes Ellie’s story to the 10th degree. Things explode, people are killed, and relationships change. Ellie is forced to examine her feelings about what has been happening during the war – how much she’s changed, how much her friends have changed, and what they are willing to do to survive.

First published 1996

If you haven’t read the other books in the series, BEWARE.  There will be spoilers in this review.

As the story begins, Ellie and her friends, Lee, Homer, Kevin, and Fi, are enjoying a little R & R in New Zealand.  After receiving some much needed medical treatment, they get to enjoy a couple of months of good food, soft beds, and even a little hero treatment. Stories are published in newspapers about all of their accomplishments. Everyone knows them.

You can imagine how hard it was when they found out the New Zealand Army wanted them to return to their hometown, Wirrawee, to serve as guides for Kiwi soldiers. Ellie particularly has a hard time coming to terms with going back to war.

Things move quickly as soon as the orders are issued.  Ellie and the gang pack up again – this time with a dozen trained soldiers in tow.  They return to Hell and set up camp.  After only a few days the mission is in full swing. Ellie and Lee lead the Kiwis to town.  Things go smoothly until Ellie makes a dangerous error – forcing her to retreat back to Hell and leave Lee with the soldiers to complete the assignment.  Neither Lee nor the soldiers make it back to Hell.  After several days, Ellie, Homer, Kevin, and Fi have to decide if they are going to look for them or call the New Zealand commander and ask to be rescued.  Can you guess what they chose? Of course, they head into Wirrawee to see what happened.

DARKNESS BE MY FRIEND is an important novel in the series. While in the past Ellie and her friends have been able to do some major damage to the enemy, the events in this book prove to them that they can’t always have good luck.  Everything they attempt is more difficult and more dangerous.  One upside to this visit to Wirrawee is the information they gather.  Finally, they get word about their families and friends – giving hope to some and providing closure for others. The story ends with Ellie and her friends in a desperate situation. There aren’t many options left and there is only one place for them to hide – Hell.