Decelerate Blue

Graphic Novel

VG/A  Rapp, Adam.  Decelerate Blue.  First Second, 2017. 188p.  978-1-59643-109-6. 17.99

In Rapp’s vision of the future, everything is fast paced and the Guarantee Committee makes sure that your every action doesn’t waste any time. Meals are precooked, whenever you are done speaking, you say “go” indicating the next person can respond and contractions must be used as much as possible. Teenager, Angela, doesn’t like this lifestyle and when she finds a banned book called “Kick the Boot” by Kent Van Gough that the resistance movement uses as their bible, she goes underground with the movement. The resistance members take a pill called decelerate blue that makes them go slower, even reducing their heart rates. While Angela is slowing down and falling in love, the outside world is plotting to destroy the resistance. Loren Spector, LAPL, Memorial

Ink and Bone: The Great Library by Rachel Caine

General YA Fiction

VG/A Caine, Rachel. Ink and Bone: The Great Library. New American Library, 2015. 978-0-451-47239-7. 17.99.

Jess Brightwell lives in a world in which the Great Library of Alexander rules everything with an iron fist. Owning a personal book is illegal.  However, that doesn’t keep people from stashing books illegally in their private collection. Jess’s family makes their fortune in black market of trading original works. One day, Jess’s father decides that Jess will be of better use to his family as a spy and sends him to take part in the difficult examinations to work for the Library.  Jess passes the exam and begins his training in Alexandria.  He soon realizes that the training is not only highly competitive, but dangerous as well, and sometimes even deadly.  Ink and Bone is imaginative, exciting, and thrilling new title from Rachel Caine, author of the Morganville Vampire series. Camille Campos, YA Librarian, Angeles Mesa Branch Library, LAPL

Awakening

VG/A Duffy, Shannon, Awakening. Entangled, 2015, 342p. $16.99 ISBN: 978-1622665228

Desiree Six – The six being the sixth day of the week and the number that determines the age when someone will die. She has always believed in the Protectorate and the laws that had been made but she begins to question them when her loyal, childhood friend Darian One is charged with murder – a crime punishable by life in the Terrorscape, he escapes jail and tries to convince her of the faults within their society and what they are being forced to believe. She soon learns that the dreamscape they use to sleep is brainwashing them and even changing their memories. The concept was interesting – the dystopian world we are introduced to has the Protectorate governing where their sole purpose is to eradicate the manic world’s problems by devising a system where marriage, dreams and jobs are determined for each citizen; those who don’t comply are known as non-compliant and are put in a nightmare Terrorscape at Olympus Jail which is witnessed by the population. Shannon Duffy’s writing is vividly detailed and engaging; I enjoyed the characters overall and I found the plot to be fast-paced and the world-building creative.

Dawn Fechter, Children/Youth Librarian, Inglewood Public Library 

Crewel by Gennifer Albin

High School Fiction

G/A. Albin, Gennifer. Crewel. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2012. 357p. 978-0-374-31641-9. $17.99.

Although intentionally trying to fail the Guild’s tests, Adelice’s gift to weave the very fabric of life cannot be denied.  She is taken in the night by the Manipulation Services and is forced to become a Spinster for the Guild.  Many girls dream about having the luxurious life of a Spinster, the glamour, the parties, the beautiful clothes and beautiful apartments, but for Adelice this "privileged" life comes at too high a cost. 

When We Wake

F/A  Healey, Karen.  When We Wake.  Little, Brown, 2013.  298p.  978-0-316-20076-9.  17.99.

In 2027 Australia, Tegan and her two politically active friends are headed to a rally to protest for change. But Tegan doesn’t remember what happened at the rally. She wakes up 100 years later, after being accidentally shot and cryogenically frozen. The world she wakes up to is not better than she remembers, in fact, it’s worse; global warming, new immigration policies and lacking resources have made Australia a very different place. While trying to adapt to her new life and make friends, Tegan attempts to figure out why she is the first successful cryogenic patient, why the Army wants to keep her under wraps and why the religious fanatics think she is soulless. While the premise is interesting for this new dystopian series, there are too many holes in the story. Very few questions are answered and those that are, are not compelling. Maybe the additional books in the series will help, but this reviewer isn’t interested in waiting around to find out. Loren Spector, LAPL, Felipe de Neve

Divergent

General YA Fiction

VG/A. Roth, Veronica. Divergent. HarperCollins, 2011. 496p. 978-0-06-202402-2. $17.99.

In a futuristic world, in an effort to maintain peace, society has split into five factions based on human personality: Amity, Erudite, Candor, Abnegation, and Dauntless. Working together with each faction contributing to a different sector of society; Amity members are counselors and caretakers; those in Abnegation are selfless leaders of the government; Candor members are leaders of the law, while Erudites are teachers and researchers and all are protected by the Dauntless. At sixteen each member takes part in a Choosing ceremony to decide to stay with your faction or select a different one for the rest of your life. “Faction before blood”. Your faction is more than your just family—it is where you belong. Beatrice, a member of Abnegation, chooses the freedom that Dauntless offers and renames herself Tris. However, Tris has a secret that if revealed could very well mean her death. She’s a Divergent; Tris does not fit neatly into any of the five categories. Furthermore, she has to undergo trials to prove herself worthy of Dauntless and only 10 out of all initiatives will be chosen to become members. Will she be able to survive the highly competitive trials that will not only test her physical strength but also her emotional and mental strengths as well? A dystopia novel that will entice readers and keep them engaged throughout the story. The first in a trilogy by debut author Veronica Roth. -C. Campos, LAPL, Angeles Mesa