Dittemore – Angel Eyes

First things first: I’m not a huge Twilight fan.  I was…before I started comparing the sparkly fairy-vampires to the vampire stories I’ve always loved: stories like Dracula and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (seriously, once you’ve seen Angel and Spike, no other vampire can be nearly as alluring, no matter how much he sparkles in the sun).  Once that started bothering me, a few other things messed up my enjoyment of that series as well, but this is not a review of Twilight, so I’m not going in to that here.  The only reason to even bring up Twilight is that the first half of Angel Eyes mirrors Twilight.  I very nearly stopped reading it after the first two chapters because of that.  So we’re replacing sparkly vampires with angels? was my opinion at that point.  You have a female teenaged MC returning to a little town off the Pacific coast after a few years living in the city.  Granted, Brielle (full name: Gabrielle.  That bothered me, too.  That’s just a little too similar to “Bella” for my taste) had a much darker reason for returning to her hometown than Bella did, but more about that in a minute.  Thankfully, Dittemore abandoned the whole love-triangle thing, but on Brielle’s first day back at school, a mysterious new kid shows up, sits next to her in Calculus, and immediately starts flirting with her.  Most of the story is told from Brielle’s POV and she even references Twilight a handful of times.  This mysterious new kid, Jake, also has a unique ability that he uses to fix a major problem for Brielle (I’m trying not to give too many spoilers; you’ll have to read the book to discover the unique ability and the problem).  Finally, he’s forced to explain his family’s secrets to Brielle, who agrees not to tell anyone.

And that’s about where the similarities end.  One of the things Angel Eyes has going for it is complex characters.  Brielle has some serious emotional problems that come from a very dark place in her recent past.  The details of what she’s dealing with are slowly revealed throughout the book, so it really wouldn’t be fair for me to describe it here, but trust me…it’s dark.  She struggles with fears and feelings of guilt.  She alternates between anger at God and doubt in His very existence.  Only with Jake’s steady presence does she begin to heal.  Jake also has a dark past.  Dittemore doesn’t throw any punches in describing his early childhood.  His guardian, Canaan, literally saved his life when he was a young boy.  Canaan is far more than he seems, but he is still very real.

This book is, obviously, about angels.  Real, sent from Heaven from God, angels.  In showing the angels, however, it also includes the fallen angels, the demons.  I’m not sure it’s completely theologically sound, but it’s a great work of imagination about what the world could look like if we could see the spiritual warfare surrounding us.  The demons are terrifying.  C. S. Lewis would be proud. 

I highly recommend this book.  It’s the first in a trilogy and I cannot wait until the second one comes out.  It really reminds us that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but…against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”  However: This book is not appropriate for very young teenagers!  The darkness in it is thick enough to cut with a knife and it is terrifying.  Human trafficking happens.  I’m not saying we should sugar-coat things for kids.  They’re going to learn about this eventually.  But that doesn’t mean we should push them to find out now.  My advice on this is the same as my advice to the parents who asked me if their 13-year-olds should be allowed to see The Hunger Games.  Parents: if your child is under 15, you should read this book as well.  Either read it first or read it together, but your child needs to be able to talk to you about it.

This book releases on May 29, 2012.

(By the way, yes I know I cheated on the title.  Deal with it.)

Beckon – Tom Pawlik

I feel like a label needs to be attached to this book — WARNING: THIS BOOK MAY CAUSE INSOMNIA.  Seriously, I had a couple of sleepless nights whilst reading Beckon.  It didn’t help that I was sleeping in an unfamiliar bed in a cabin in the mountains of Virginia at the time.  Perhaps my reaction is atypical.  Whatever you do, don’t let my warning keep you from this book.  It’s well worth an extra cup or two of coffee in the morning.

The sleepy little town of Beckon draws people to it for many reasons.  Most are brought, one way or another, by the mysterious Thomas Vale.  Few ever leave.

What begins as a trek to validate his father’s work takes a turn for the terrifying when Jack and his companions get trapped in the fascinating, but deadly world beneath the mountains in Wyoming.  As they try to navigate the seemingly untouched ecosystem, they soon realize that becoming lost is the least of their worries.  A desperate struggle to survive shoves them into the not-so-welcoming arms of a previously-unknown people group.

Elina uses her police officer training to track a white van to Beckon.  The same van was seen the day her cousin disappeared.  Someone promised jobs to the occupants of the van, but it never made its way to Las Vegas as they said it would.  Instead, it always came to Beckon.  And the people in the van never made it home.  It doesn’t take long for Elina’s interest to catch the attention of Thomas Vale.

Miriam Wilcox is losing her mind.  Her husband, George, cannot bear to sit idly by and watch his beloved wife succumb to an incurable disease.  He jumps at the opportunity to take her to Beckon when Vale contacts him with a business proposition and a cure.

What would you be willing to do to live disease-free, forever?  Could you make a deal with the devil to save your loved ones?  After all, as Thomas Vale argues, the history of mankind is violent, filled with people killing other people in an effort to keep their families and lands safe.  But what makes one life more valuable than another?

The Masters of the Veil – Daniel Cohen

I love Goodreads.  It is officially my favorite website.  Without the Goodreads First Reads program, I never would have been introduced to Cohen’s books.  I’m surrounded by book-lovers at both my jobs and then listen to podcasts and read blogs about the latest sci-fi/fantasy books, so I always have plenty of trusted recommendations for what to read next.  Ordinarily, I wouldn’t pick up a book without having heard something very positive from someone I trust.  The exception to that is books that I get for free (ARCs or other giveaways).  Now I can’t wait for the next book in this exceptional series!  (Really?  2013?  I have to wait? Darn.)

When I received my copy of Masters of the Veil, I figured it would be similar to most other YA Fantasy.  I expected a fast-read with cardboard characters, a hot romance, and a clichéd magic system.  What I got instead was a quick-paced read (not quite the same as fast-read; this is better) with very three-dimensional characters, the beginning of a potential romance (did I mention that I can’t wait for book 2?), and a fabulously unique magic system.  The details of the settings, especially of Atlas Crown, are well-thought out and descriptive.  Cohen shows people exactly what the city looks like without inundating the reader with pages upon pages of description.

The story begins with a high-school football star, Sam Lock, in what is supposed to be his defining moment in the field.  When everyone around him suddenly freezes, he finds him world quickly turning upside down.  Soon he discovers that, not only is he capable of using the Veil (Cohen’s source of magic), there are two groups of sorcerers that each want him on their side.  Sam meets a group of people in Atlas Crown that, for the most part, is eager to include him in their lives, whether he wants to join them or not.  Most of them try to help him understand his new-found powers, always pushing him to learn about and explore and, most of all, control his connection to the Veil.  Another group, one that is no longer welcome in Atlas Crown, also wants Sam on their side.  They will stop at nothing to take control of the Veil for their own purposes and believe that Sam is the key to achieving their dark ends.

The Masters of the Veil is published by Spencer Hill Press.  Spencer Hill started in January of 2010.  As of now, they are still a relatively small publishing group.  They specialize in “sci-fi, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance for young adult readers.”  They make the claim that their books all have an “’I couldn’t put it down!’ quality.”  From what I’ve seen of this book, I’m inclined to believe them.  I generally get a little frightened when I start books from small or independent presses.  There are too many out there who care more about quantity and speed then quality.  If I feel as though I need an editor’s red pen to read a book, it’s not worth it.  This company doesn’t seem like that.  I’ll have to read more of their books to have a more total opinion, but I like what I’ve seen so far.  I don’t recall any glaring typos in this entire book.

I adored this book.  If you like any magic-based fantasy, you’ll love it, too.  Go pick it up.  Support the smaller publishers.  Trust me, you won’t be sorry.