Review: U Up?

By Catie Disabato

Available now from Melville House

Review copy

I am a firm believer that protagonists do not have to be likeable. For me to be interested in their story, there must be something intriguing about them, but they don't have to be likeable. U Up? has a protagonist that tests my patience. Eve is relentlessly self-centered, judgmental as hell, and the sort of lesbian who throws around a slur every two seconds like her personal reclamation is activism. (It's a trait that made me wince multiple times a page, on average.) Reading her stream-of-conscious narration was often hellish.

This narration is only broken up by text messages. The poor decision was made, either by publisher Melville House or author Catie Disabato, to print a full-screen of text messages every time instead of just the new texts, often wasting entire pages with repeated texts. In other words, it isn't much of a relief.

In U Up?, Eve is on a rampage because it is the anniversary of her best friend Miggy's suicide and her other best friend Ezra is ghosting her after telling her that he broke up with his girlfriend the night before. Everyone they know tells her to cool it and let him lick his wounds in private, but she's determined that something must have happened to him since he's not answering her calls, and their friendship is extra special.

Oh, and Eve can talk to ghosts. The cover copy mentions that she texts her dead friend Miggy, but I thought that meant she sent texts to the void, saying things to a friend who could no longer speak back. No, she holds conversations with her dead friend Miggy, who also thinks she should cool her jets. Ezra's ex Nozlee can speak to ghosts too, and she and Eve were actually buddies back in New York before they met all their LA friends, because they met in witch school. 

Since U Up? is more literary fiction than speculative fiction, this aspect of the novel tends to recede into the background even though it is the most fascinating thing happening. It's an underbaked element that I kept wishing would be explored more, until it becomes integral to the climax.

I enjoyed the end of the novel more than beginning, partially due to the nature of story about the protagonist going on a journey means that Eve is more bearable by the end. But also because the end has a bunch of weird ghost stuff and that's the best part. 

I found Eve to be a very believable character, but she grated on me too much for me to vibe with her story. I might've enjoyed the full on crazy ghost version of this story, but the one I got dragged for far too long.

Cybils Finalists and My Runner-Ups: YA Speculative Fiction 2015

Another year, another Cybils list.  You can see the full list of finalists at the Cybils website.  I was a member of the panel that decided the YA Speculative Fiction list.  This was quite a strong year!  Our finalists is below.  Please follow the link to see all the blurbs explaining why these are books to read.

AN INHERITANCE OF ASHES by Lisa Bobet
Hallie did not go to war, to that horrible field where a god was slain and old friends were crippled. She stayed home and worked the fields. But in this novel that blurs the lines between fantasy and science fiction, home is a dangerous place full of secrets and festering anger, where the world next door just might come knocking. An Inheritance of Ashes asks us what makes a hero, a community, a family. Leah Bobet’s deftly written sophomore novel will linger in your mind long after there are no more pages to turn.

BONE GAP by Laura Ruby
MORTAL HEART by Robin LaFevers (full review)
THE WALLS AROUND US by Nova Ren Suma (full review)
SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS by April Genevieve Tucholke
SHADOWSHAPER by Daniel José Older
THE SIX by Mark Alpert


Here are my runner-ups to our list, including what I personally consider to be the best YA Speculative Fiction book of the year:

A HISTORY OF GLITTER AND BLOOD by Hannah Moscowitz (full review)
"Missing body parts was nothing to cry about and nothing to take too seriously" is said of the first page of A History of Glitter and Blood, setting the tone for the whole novel.  Purported to be the in-progress memoir of one of the few fairies who survived the war between the fairies and the gnomes, this is a story of trauma, horror, and enduring love and friendship.  Its characters are both numb and fiercely wounded, survivors of haunting violence and mutilated bodies living out a teenage disco fever dream.  The story purposefully struggles to find its rhythm at first as the narrator struggles with facing the truth of what happened, much less telling it.  This richly rewarding novel offers even more pleasures upon re-reading.

DUPLICITY by N.K. Traver
This is a fast-paced book about a hacker who discovers that his mirror image is the good twin and wants a chance to live his life.  The character development shines.

PRAIRIE FIRE by E.K. Johnston (full review)
This book is beautifully written, with a rhythm and a pulse that tangled me up in the story.  The ending was unexpected and tragic, yet fit the book's themes perfectly.

THE SCORPION RULES by Erin Bow
Much like THE SIX, THE SCORPION RULES asks us what it means to be human.  It's a bit heavy on the needless torture, but it is a surprisingly thoughtful book with a subtle love story.

FALLOUT by Gwenda Bond
Teenage Lois Lane is on the case, and she goes after with tenacity.  This start to a series that reimagines Lois Lane's origins is a lot of fun and written on a level that can work for a range of readers.

Cybils 2015: Possible YA Speculative Fiction Nominations

Today is the last day to nominate books for the 10th annual Cybils Awards. You can nominate one book in each category.  Here is the nomination form. I'm a panelist for YA Speculative Fiction, so I'll be focusing on that category.

First, here are some YA Speculative Fiction suggestions from other bloggers:
Stacked
Jean Little Library
Bookshelves of Doom
Unknown
Si, Se Puede--Yes, you can!

I'll second the following suggestions that have not yet been added to the list:

• Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
• Death Marked by Leah Cypress
• Sound by Alexandra Duncan
• Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge
• The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski
• Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz
• Spelled by Betsy Schow
• 13 Days of Midnight by Leo Hunt
• This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner

I'd like to throw the following suggestions into the fray:

• Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
• Ungodly by Kendare Blake
• The Rose Society by Marie Lu
• The Suffering by Rin Chupeco
• The Novice by Taran Matharu
• Tear You Apart by Sarah Cross
• Alive by Chandler Baker
• The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCulloch 
• Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti
• The Second Guard by J.D. Vaughn
• Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay
• The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas
• Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan
• Bones and All by Camille DeAngelis (Note: I was on the street team for this book.)

Review: I Crawl Through It

By A.S. King
Available now from Little, Brown (Hachette)
Review copy
Read my A.S. King tag

From her first novel, THE DUST OF 100 DOGS, A.S. King has been interested in realistic issues but tackled them with fantastic flourishes.  With each of her novels, her popularity and critical acclaim have risen.  I love that she's taken the opportunity not to do the same thing repeatedly, but to push her work further and further into the edges.  I CRAWL THROUGH IT leaps into full surrealism.

The majority of the book is told through the point of view of Stanzi.  (Her name isn't Stanzi.)  She is split into two and finds refuge in her love of biology, always wearing a lab coat and compulsively dissecting frogs.  Some is told by China, who swallowed herself.  Some is told by Lansdowne Cruise, whose hair grows when she lies.  (She has very long hair.)  Some is told by Patricia, who is trapped in a place with no departures.  Their friend Gustav tells none of it, but he is central to the story - as is the helicopter he is building, which Stanzi can only see on Tuesdays.

It's a convoluted story, and on top of the surrealism, all of the narrators are unreliable.  Some truths are easy to find.  We all know what Irenic Brown did to China.  The details can be harder to determine, and much is left to the reader's interpretation.  King has a lot to say.  She sometimes hammers her point in, but she's often subtle.  (I do love the touch that despite there being prominent male characters, there are no male narrators.  This is a book where women's voices have primacy.)

Much is made in the blurb of I CRAWL THROUGH IT, as well as the design of the book itself, about the testing angle.  Yes, there is satire of the modern school curriculum culture.  In many ways I wouldn't pick that out as the central issue of the novel.  I think it has far more to say about how girls' voices are devalued, but maybe that's just me.

I CRAWL THROUGH IT is King's least accessible novel.  I think it accomplishes what King said out to do with it, and that her fans will have a lot of fun tangling through it.  It is definitely not my favorite King novel.  Like GLORY O'BRIEN'S HISTORY OF THE FUTURE, sometimes the polemics take over the story.  However, it is a rich read and a bold artistic statement.

Review: Pivot Point

By Kasie West
Available now from HarperTeen (HarperCollins)
Review copy

Addison Coleman lives in a compound with other people like her who have psychic abilities.  But when her parents decide to divorce, she must choose who to live with.  And when Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future to help guide her way.  Should she leave the compound and live with her father, or stay with her mom and the world she's always known?

If there was one thing I'd change about PIVOT POINT, it would be to see less of the branching paths and more of the outcome.  This isn't a book with many surprises.  But there is quite a bit of pleasure in the journey.

I particularly liked seeing Addie's adjustment to our world in the NORM sections.  (The chapters alternate, PARA and NORM, laying out her two possible lives.)  She's trying to learn to use older technology and tell everyone a fake story about her life and it makes moving more stressful than it already is.  Some bits of the world didn't make much sense - apparently the compound has high-tech bathroom locks.  Look, there's a reason bathroom lock technology hasn't changed in ages.  It's because no one needs an electronic bathroom lock, not unless they're Tony Stark.  But most of the time the worldbuilding was top notch.  If I had a quibble with something, it was addressed later in PIVOT POINT.

Addie's choice is a difficult one.  In one life she is much, much happier - but bad things happen to the people she cares about.  There is a boy in each life.  There is Trevor, who is just a normal guy, and Duke, who is the head jock and someone Addie never thought she'd fall for.  There's only one best friend, Laila, because best friends are irreplaceable.  Laila's not always the best friend, but she has her own home issues.  Her father is a drug addict - trying to control his telepathy - and her mom's a nonentity.  Plus, his dealer keeps coming around and being a total creeper.

The thing I loved most about the contrast between Addie's lives is how each one revealed not only more about what was happening in the background of the other timeline, but about how restrictive life is in the compound.  In both, Addie comes to question things she took for granted, like paras being better than norms and that authority figures would always have her best interests in mind.  And I liked that there was a point to the government being shady and that it had more to do with Addie's life than she thought.

PIVOT POINT is a terrific debut and a great choice for readers who like a little science fiction in their fantasy or a little contemporary in their dystopia.  It drags a touch in the middle, but it's worth it for the genuinely terrifying climax.  I had to keep telling myself that Addie couldn't actually get hurt in a psychic vision.  Unfortunately, she can get hurt after she makes her choice.

Now go make your choice to read this book.

Review: The Twelve-Fingered Boy

First in a trilogy
By John Hornor Jacobs
Available now from Carolrhoda LAB (Lerner)
Review copy

I have got to stop assuming that books are standalones.  When I reached the end of THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY, I couldn't believe it.   I was relieved to learn that two more books were coming and that the story would continue, but all the open threads were a bit of a shock.

The twelve-fingered boy in question is Jack Graves, the new kid as Casimir Pulaski Juvenile Detention Center.  The narrator is his roommate Shreveport "Shreve" Cannon, the biggest candy dealer in all four blocks.  Soon after Jack arrives, a man named Mr. Quincrux shows up to interview him.  Shreve eavesdrops because he has a bad feeling about the man and his interest in Jack - a feeling that turns out to be very prescient.  Soon the two boys are busting out of juvie and desperately running across the country to protect themselves. 

THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY will appeal to fans of the X-Men and Spider-man.  Jack has special abilities, and their encounters with Mr. Quincrux awaken a power in Shreve.  Although they're concerned with keeping themselves alive and safe at first, they start to realize that they might have extra responsibilities due to their extraordinary capabilities.  That's not a thought that comes easily to Shreve, whose short life has taught him that it is acceptable to hurt others to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

John Hornor Jacobs imbues Shreve with a unique, absorbing voice.  His morality is slightly skewed, and he has the potential to grow up to be a good person - or a really bad one.  And his relationship with Jack, who reminds him of his younger brother, is quite sweet.  Their journey across America is harrowing, not just because of who is chasing them and what they might run into, but because the corner they're backed into might turn them into what they're running from.

I'm not enamored with the ending of THE TWELVE-FINGERED BOY.  While Shreve and Jack to manage to accomplish something important, because the ending made the entire novel seem somewhat pointless.  I'm certainly curious about what will happen next, and at least next time I'll know that the end isn't really the end. 

Review: Touching the Surface

By Kimberly Sabatini
Available now from Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)
Review copy

There's something particularly fascinating about books set in the afterlife.  It's a purely unknowable world, yet at the same time one that might actually exist.  In Kimberly Sabatini's afterlife - the Obmil - you get three chances to examine your past and complete your life's journey next time.  Elliot Turner is a Third Timer and knows this is her last chance to get it right.  It's time to go past the surface.

Elliot's journey to self-discovery is complicated by two things.  One, her best friend (who she's shared every life with) has suddenly decided to stay away from her.  Two, there are two guys with whom she feels an instant connection - one intense and broody, the other cheerful and loving.  As it turns out, both boys were pivotal to Elliot's most recent life.

I found the beginning of TOUCHING THE SURFACE somewhat confusing.  The characters Delve into their memories and the first several Delves were rather abrupt.  The content of the Delves was supposed to be somewhat mysterious, considering Elliot doesn't entirely remember what happened, but it took me awhile to get into the rhythm of when she'd switch between past and present.

But once I got into TOUCHING THE SURFACE, I loved it.  Sabatini sets up some predictable elements, but she managed to make them play out in an unpredictable way.  I particularly enjoyed TOUCHING THE SURFACE's treatment of love.  Sabatini doesn't give short shrift to any of its forms.  It can be romantic, platonic, familial, or friendly.  And love in all its forms is important to living.

TOUCHING THE SURFACE is a terrific debut.  Sabatini has shown that she can handle big ideas in an individual, human manner.  I also liked the little glimpses into the journeys other people are making at the Obmil.  This is Elliot's story, but she's in a world where everyone is struggling with their own story.  It's an intriguing take on life after death.  TOUCHING THE SURFACE might be a good novel to introduce contemporary fans to something more fantastical.  It's also a good choice for speculative fiction fans tired of monsters and dystopias and looking for something a little quieter, if no less dramatic.

A More Diverse Universe Review: The People of Paper

By Salvador Plascencia
Art by Sarah Tillman
Out of print from McSweeney's (HC)
Available now from Mariner Books (Houghton Mifflin) (PB)

Aarti of BookLust came up with the idea of the A More Diverse Universe Tour.  From September 23-29, bloggers will be reviewing speculative fiction titles by authors of color.  You can go here to read more about why this tour is happening.  The full schedule is available here.

THE PEOPLE OF PAPER is not an easy book to describe.  You can throw around terms like 'postmodern' and 'magical realism' to try to get a grip on it.  While both of those are accurate, they're too small for THE PEOPLE OF PAPER.  It's a highly experimental novel, ambitious, a mesh of fiction and fact, a meditation on art, the debut of Salvador Plascencia, and it should be a total mess.  There is a character whose name is cut out of the book.  But it's a mesmerizing work that exceeds its ambition and stands apart as something unique and exciting.

I could tell you that there is a woman made of paper in the story.  There is a prophetic baby who speaks in black rectangles.  There is a grown man, Frederico de la Fe, who still wets his bed.  There is the daughter of the man, Little Merced.  There is Saturn, who the man wars against.  There is Saturn, who is the author.  There's enough crazy typography to make TRISTRAM SHANDY and HOUSE OF LEAVES look like your normal left-to-right reading experience.  There is a love story.  There is a gang war.  There are flower pickers.  Most of the book takes place in California, El Monte, to be specific.  But none of the little details can truly prepare you for reading THE PEOPLE OF PAPER.

Yet, it's the small details that linger with you after finishing.  (And okay, the binary chapter, which - if you're like me - you plugged into your computer to find out what it said.  No, I'm not going to give it away.  I was disappointed at first and then liked it.)  THE PEOPLE OF PAPER is a wild ride, but there's a grounding in character that many less-successful experimental novels forget.  Each of the many narrators has a distinct voice.

And, honestly, I can't imagine many readers THE PEOPLE OF PAPER wouldn't appeal to.  It's a book about making art, about writing, about being a character, about reading, about how books work.  It's bibliophile meta that still functions as a story.

Since the A More Diverse Universe Tour is partially about the author, here is some of Plascencia's description of himself, from an interview with the Nashville Review:

"Professionally—albeit a meagerly profitable enterprise—I’m a writer. But I’m not a professional Mexican; that’s Ruben Navarrette’s gig. I’m a Latino. I’m a writer. I identify as both, but not when “Latino” is serving as a modifier. ...

This might seem like I’m contradicting what I said earlier—I’m not—but what was a major [publisher] going to do with an experimental Mexican-American writer? The reality is that—aside from the Cisneros and Dagoberto Gilb, writers who reinforce parochial views of Latinidad—there are very few of us on the majors. Name them. Off the top of my head, I can only think of Alex Espinoza, Joe Loya, and my fellow El Montian Michael Jaime-Becerra. But Joe and Michael were under Rayo, some HarperCollins specialty imprint aimed exclusively at Latinos. The Houghton Mifflin’s and HarperCollins don’t see us as marketable to the general public. There is Luis Rodriguez—a writer that heavily informed me—but even he is pushed as some sort of exotic criminal. ...

But there are obvious advantages, too. Sometimes, for no good reason aside from the fact that I were born south of the Rio Grande, my name gets tangled up with the greats: Bolaño, Borges, García Márquez. I’m never going to complain when that happens."

A small, personal list of suggestions (mostly YA) for further reading:

• AKATA WITCH by Nnedi Okorafor - YA novel in my own TBR
• ALIF THE UNSEEN by G. Willow Wilson - An exciting genre-bender I've reviewed
• ANGEL SANCTUARY by Kaori Yuki - My all-time favorite manga (only 20 volumes!)
• ASH or ADAPTATION by Malinda Lo - Fantasy lovers to the first; sci-fi to the second
• BATTLE ROYALE by Koushun Takumi - Make up your mind about the comparisons to THE HUNGER GAMES; also it's just an interesting read
• CITY OF THE BEASTS by Isabel Allende - This series used to be pretty popular
• THE GIRL WITH BORROWED WINGS by Rinsai Rossetti - A lyrical, lovely debut that I adore
• THE HUNT by Andrew Fukuda - I have this vampire novel on my to-buy list
• LEGEND series by Marie Lu - Loved the first book and awaiting the second
• LOST AND FOUND by Shaun Tan - Anything by him is great but I've reviewed this one
• ONCE UPON A TIME IN AOTEAROA by Tina Makereti - May be harder to find since it's by a Maori writer and published by a small New Zealand press; I only know about it because I received it as a gift
• THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie - Banned Book Week is coming up; make your own decision about the controversy
• SORRY PLEASE THANK YOU: Stories by Charles Yu - Yu is an emerging talent
• TANTALIZE series by Cynthia Leitich Smith - Also has a diverse selection of narrators
• A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS trans. Husain Haddawy - His translation is so much more better than the popular (public domain) one by Sir Richard Burton I'm not even kidding
• THE VICIOUS DEEP by Zoraida Córdova - This is my favorite of the mermaid trend

Review: Every Day

By David Levithan
Available now from Knopf (Random House)
Review copy

Please note: due to the nature of this novel, I sometimes use gender-neutral pronouns to refer to A.  I like the zie/zir construction.

David Levithan is prolific and celebrated, and EVERY DAY is his best book yet.  It's an imaginative premise brought to fruition by lovely writing and a focus on story rather than politics.  It's an absolutely wonderful novel it's really no surprise that it has received rave reviews from professional newspaper critics.

A has neither a gender nor a sexuality.  A wakes up every day in a different body, inhabiting that person's life for a single day before moving on at midnight.  One day A wakes up in Justin's body and falls in love with his girlfriend, Rhiannon.  Suddenly A is differing from zir hosts' normal lives to see her.  One of those hosts even realizes that A was there.  But A keeps taking risks, because it's love.

David Levithan has a lot to say about people.  Since A moves between races, sexualities, genders, and body types, A can see pretty well past the surface and treat everyone as equal.  But zie is not perfect.  A has issues with understanding long-term consequences and can be very pushy with Rhiannon.  (Sometimes way too pushy for my taste.)  And EVERY DAY stays focused on the narrative rather than drifting into polemic.  The passages where A ends up in the body of someone depressed or addicted drift the closest, but it doesn't overwhelm the story.

I haven't seen many reviews that mentioned Nathan's hunt for A, but it really is an interesting aspect of the novel.  It's the event that prompts A to wonder what zir hosts remember after zie leaves.  It leads to A experimenting more with zie's relationships to zir hosts.  Considering how much I love speculative fiction, I liked that A's existence had rules and that the mechanics of zie's existence where explored.

As for the romantic storyline, it was interesting to see A's obsession with Rhiannon.  I don't think I believe that Rhiannon will be zie's only love, as they are still teens, but I do believe A believed that.  The first chapter, when they meet, is just perfect and really made me want to read on and see how things went for those two crazy kids.  I think Levithan delivered.

EVERY DAY is a wonderful book that will appeal to teens and adults.  Lots of books have cool concepts, but few back up that concept with a truly great story.  But Levithan has the chops to pull it off.

Review: Lost and Found

By Shaun Tan
Available now from Arthur A. Levine (Scholastic)
Review copy
Lost and Found: Three by Shaun Tan is a beautiful book. Tan's paintings vary in style, but all of them are full of interesting details. (Okay, not all of them are even paintings. There are collages, for instance.) I've noticed different things in the images everytime I've opened the book. The images stand well on their own, without the accompaniment of text.

The first story in this omnibus is "The Red Tree." This one has the most experimental art; sometimes the style changes between pages. "The Red Tree" gets quite dark, which could make it unappealing to younger children. There aren't many words, but the typography interacts with the pictures in interesting ways. The words are mostly unimportant to "The Red Tree." It's less of a story than a progression through the tone of a story, with misery gripping ever tighter then eventually giving way to hope. "The Red Tree" was my least favorite of the three, but only because the other two are such strong stories.

"Without sense or reason," Shaun Tan (2001)

Next is "The Lost Thing."  I loved the scrapbook style layout of this story. The narrator collects bottle caps and it seems like a fitting layout to express his personality. I also loved the bits of type included in the borders that sometimes show up in the middle of the page. This story would be good to read to a younger child before bed or for an older child (first grade or so) to read by his or herself. While it is far more conventional than "The Red Tree," it still has a distinctive style. This one was definitely my favorite, both for the humor and the sweetness. (Note: Shaun Tan just one an Oscar for the animated version of "The Lost Thing.")



The final story, "The Rabbits," was written by John Marsden (author of the Tommorrow series). This one is definitely for elementary aged children. It's an allegory of the British colonization of Australia from the point of view of the Aborigines. It's well-told and worth discussing with older children, but toddlers are more likely to be upset by the unhappy ending. Picture book does not necessarily mean children's book. The stylized profile of the rabbits did make for some incredible paintings, and Tan makes excellent use of negative space.

I think LOST AND FOUND is a good choice for families. The adults will enjoy the story and art as much as the kids. In fact, some adults will enjoy it even without the kids.