Category: Young Adult

Paper Towns by John Green

I think that if I hadn’t read and loved The Fault In Our Stars first, I’d likely be more charitable to this book, which was pretty good overall, just not as good. And I guess that’s unfair to Paper Towns, which is a pretty good mystery on its own (and I really liked how convincingly …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/07/29/paper-towns-by-john-green/

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

First off, it is really weird reading a book about anorexia while fasting. There are parallels (and great divergences, of course) that really help you sympathize with the narrator even as you shy away from the excesses of control. I’ve never suffered from an eating disorder, tho I know people who have, but I have …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/07/04/wintergirls-by-laurie-halse-anderson/

Material Girls by Elaine Dimopoulos

I would likely have considered this YA novel just a smidge above average, if not for that thoughtful, bittersweet ending. I thought it was entertaining overall, but at times it felt a little too self-consciously political. The Hunger Games trilogy trod that line (mostly) successfully when dealing with its anti-war and anti-propaganda narratives in books …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/03/10/material-girls-by-elaine-dimopoulos/

Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend by Erika T. Wurth

Margaritte is a 16-year old girl of mixed heritage – Apache, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and white. She lives in the underprivileged town of Idaho Springs, Colorado, and deals with an alcoholic father and an ineffectual mother in addition to the pressures of trying to avoid becoming a statistic. The author speaks with an authentic voice that …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/22/crazy-horses-girlfriend-by-erika-t-wurth/

Pariah Vol II by Aron Warner, Philip Gelatt and Brett Weldele

Entertaining take on dystopian (YA) fiction. I really liked how the emotions are balanced with the tech, even as I freely admit that I hated the ending of the first issue and am desperately hoping that Hal manages to break free later. Clever and promising, but still definitely in the build stage of the overarching …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/30/pariah-vol-ii-by-aron-warner-philip-gelatt-and-brett-weldele/

Bad Machinery Vol I: The Case Of The Team Spirit by John Allison

For Christmas, Jay bought me a physical copy of Bad Machinery’s first two volumes and ZOMG, I didn’t even know how much I wanted these till I had them! Oni Press has done an amazing job of translating the web comic to an oversized, glossy paperback that is luxe to the touch and weighty in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/26/bad-machinery-vol-i-the-case-of-the-team-spirit-by-john-allison/

Horseman (The Hollow #1) by Christopher Golden and Ford Lytle Gilmore

Interesting take on the Sleepy Hollow/Headless Horseman mythology that was undermined by serious plot holes and obvious plot devices. The book is written in a very cinematic manner, and clearly serves as the lead-in to a series, but I spent way too much time being annoyed with Aimee and then with the writers for so …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/20/horseman-the-hollow-1-by-christopher-golden-and-ford-lytle-gilmore/

Watership Down by Richard Adams

I’m deeply troubled by the thought that my young adolescent self was not as hard-hearted as I’ve always believed. See, I first read Watership Down while either 11 or 12, on a family vacation, and I remember bawling my eyes out at some point near the end, thereby casting a pall on the rest of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/17/watership-down-by-richard-adams/

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

One of the nice things about not being in a book’s target audience is being able to stand back a bit more and see what the author is up to, what’s happening structurally within a book or series, to generally chew on it a bit more. The House of Hades reaches its main intended audience …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/15/the-house-of-hades-by-rick-riordan/

Aphrodite The Beauty (Goddess Girls Book 3) by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

Quick, cute read that is a tween-friendly adaptation of Greek mythology. Had I encountered these books at that age, I would have much preferred them to the pettiness of the actual myths. Not for purists, obviously, but not a terrible way to introduce children to the Greek myths either.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/09/aphrodite-the-beauty-goddess-girls-book-3-by-joan-holub-and-suzanne-williams/