Fantasy: Tender Morsels

Margo Lanagan is best known for writing eerie, atmospheric short stories. Her fantasy novel, Tender Morsels, is a dark and convoluted story based on the fairy tale of Snow White, Rose Red.

Lanagan's tale is for mature readers, as it involves themes of rape, murder and heartbreaking sadness. However, readers will be well rewarded for approaching these difficult topics, as the characters wrestle with their desire to retreat into a dream life of ease and kindness, where they are insulated from the harsh realities of life.

One of the most compelling aspects of this novel is the unique use of language. Lanagan creates her own dialect, which adds to the jarringly vivid sense of place. This is a rich tale about the human soul, and it explores the depths of cruelty, and the heights of human kindness. The message, in the end, is that somehow life is worth it.

Fantasy

Grades 11-adult

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Elfpunk: Wicked Lovely

Elfpunk is a genre set in gritty urban environments, with characters who are conflicted, dark, and often goth. If you like vampire novels, like Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, you'll probably find Elfpunk appealing!

Aislinn has always been able to see fairies, but her grandmother taught her to never, ever show that she's aware of the other world that shadows ours. The Fey Folk have had no interest in Aislinn...until Summer King Keenan discovers that she is fated to be his queen. As Keenan pursues Aislinn out of love, the Snow Queen's minions race to kill her. An unusual love story follows, as Aislinn struggles to evade her fate, and maintain the fragile life (and love!) she has built for herself in the city. With romance, violence and a large dose of the fantastic, this book is suited for older teens.

Melissa Marr is definitely an author to watch. Other books in this series include Ink Exchange and the forthcoming Fragile Eternity.

Elfpunk
Grades 10-12
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Science Fiction/Horror: Bloodtide

Author Melvin Burgess typically writes disturbingly graphic young adult novels for the mature reader. I knew this when I picked up Bloodtide, but I was still shocked, revolted and utterly transfixed by the incredibly intense, powerful and gory retelling of the viking Beowulf legend.

The story is set in a post-apocolyptic London, where warring gang families have divided the city into territories that they defend visciously. The whole city of London has been abandoned by the democratic government and a wall has gone up round the perimeter, to keep the gangs in. Terrifying halfmen, created by twisted science, patrol the strip of territory between the wall and the gang lands; these monsters are fed on human sacrifices, and evoke fear and loathing in all who encounter them.

Two families have split London between themselves, the Volsons and the Conors. And so here we have the perfect setting for a modern blood feud. When a marriage is arranged to calm the tensions between the families, betrayal and an incredibly brutal war ensues. Burgess's genius is in the steady, relentless progression of vengeance and tension; midway through the book, you can see that there is no possible path to a happy ending. Nevertheless, you must read on to the brutal, inevitable ending, where the poor, battered protagonists face the truth about revenge's poisionous nature.

This is a complex book told by many different voices as the action progresses. And as well as all the fantastic characters (Gods and monsters make several appearances) there is real human drama and deep emotional development. I was absolutely gripped by this book from the first page, and Burgess's genius is in portraying the many facets of humanity in the face of terrible events and extreme emotions.

Science Fiction/Horror

Grade 11 and up (for mature readers)

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Graphic Novel: The Rabbi's Cat

This graphic novel is translated from the original French, and is actually intended for an adult audience. However, I would certainly recommend this title for older teens or young adults who are interested in ideas about religious freedom, philosphy, and love.

Set in the 1930's, this is the story of a cat who swallows a parrot, and magically gains the power of speech. Much to his owner's consternation, the cat immediately begins to tell lies! The Rabbi immediately vows to teach the cat right from wrong by educating him in the ways of the Torah, but the cat keeps asking questions that challenge the Rabbi, and require him to think about the nature of Judaism, and of goodness in general.

The Rabbi's daughter is a major player in this book, as she finds love with a non-observant family. This presents many challenges, and the book is funny, sad and thoughful by turn as the Rabbit's family expands to include a new son and parents-in-law.

The art is cartoonlike and drawn in full colour, and its familiar mood balances the writing's often pensive tone. A classic graphic novel, and highly recommended for all mature readers.

Graphic Novel

Grades 11-Adult

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Graphic Novel: The Good Neighbors: Kin

Holly Black is the author of several elfpunk novels for teens, including Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside. This graphic novel follows the same style, with dark, urban settings and gritty characters.

Heroine Rue (short for Kangaroo) is pulled into the dangerous world of faeries when her mother goes missing. It turns out that Rue's mother is a faerie herself, and that she's been called back to the fey because of a broken promise. Rue needs to rescue her mom, save her father from being charged with murder, and uncover the secrets of her mixed heritage.

The black and white art in this book is drawn in western comic style, with lots of dark shadow and play on white space. The dark tones really echo the plot's mystery and sense of foreboding. Strange pixies and faeries dance across the pages, and even the trees and buildings seem forbidding. There is just enough romance in the plot to round out this title; fans of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and graduates of the Spiderwick Chronicles will love this graphic novel.

Graphic Novel

Grades 8-12

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Science Fiction: Cherry Heaven

History is repeating itself. Kat and Tanka have moved with their foster parents to the New Frontier. They're leaving the old cities behind, along with the DNA race riots, violence and discrimination that haunted their childhoods.

But is the New Frontier so different? Kat and Tanka are priveleged Atsumisi, and their experiences are contrasted with those of Luka, a Galrezi worker.

Luka wasn't always Galrezi. Ten years ago, she was just a child, living in the family orchard at Cherry Heaven: the very place Kat and Tanka are living now. Luka has escaped from slavery in the factory, and she's out to right some wrongs. Whose side will Kat and Tanka be on when their priveleged positions and their home are at stake?

This books is the companion novel to the equally thought provoking Diary of Pelly D. Both books, by L.J. Adlington, are disturbing in their portrayal of racism in the future.

Science Fiction

Grades 8-12

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Thriller: Streams of Babel

When Cora's mother dies, she assumes that her mother finally overdosed on the painkillers she'd been taking for years. So she's shocked to learn that her mother AND a neighbour both died of a brain aneurysm on the same night. When Cora and other neighbourhood teens become ill with a mysterious flu, and government agents arrive in her small town, they all fear the unthinkable - a terrorist attack.

Meanwhile, a world away in Pakistan, a sixteen year old computer genius named Shahzad is working as a virtual spy. He's alarmend to see an influx of chatter about a substance called Red Vinegar that will, as he reads, "lead to many deaths in Colony One". Can Shahzad sift through the babble of the chat rooms, and find the location of the attack in time?

Thriller

Grades 10-12

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Rumors: A Luxe Novel

If you like the Clique, A List or Gossip Girls books, you will love diving into the mystery, romance and betrayal of the Luxe novels.

This decadent series is set in the 19th century, and follows the lives of New York's most eligible debutantes and socialites. The soap opera scenes are played out in opulent settings where the very rich (and their servants, of course) scheme and vie for power and love.

This book is the second in the Luxe series; it follows the events of the first book with more of the same gossip, scandals and secrets. Pick up either of these hefty novels, sit back, and enjoy the read!

Historical Fiction/Romance

Grades 10-12 and up

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Fiction: Chasing the Falconers

Chasing the Falconers is the first book in Gordon Korman's On the Run series. This fast paced book follows Meg and Aiden Falconer as they escape from a Juvenile Detention Centre, and go on a cross-country mission to rescue their parents.

Meg and Aiden know that their parents have been framed; there's no way they're terrorists! Someone in the CIA has set them up, and now they're in prison for life, convicted of treason. Their kids are their only hope, and Meg and Aiden are determined not to let them down.

There's just one problem. Meg and Aiden have been sent to Juvie in Nebraska, "for their own protection". When they break out of the centre, they must travel undercover as they try to track down clues from their family's past. Stolen cars, narrow escapes, and edge-of-your-seat writing will make you want to finish this short book as fast as possible! The next book in the six-volume series is waiting...

Fiction
Grades 5-9
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Science Fiction: The Adoration of Jenna Fox

This book begins as a mystery, but readers will quickly find that it becomes a science fiction account of a girl's tragic accident. Jenna wakes up from a year long coma with a complete loss of memory. She can't remember her mother (Claire) her strangely distant grandmother (Lily) or even the events that led up to the accident that nearly cost her her life. Her parents keep her closely protected, and seem to be afraid of Jenna making contacts with the world outside their new house. Slowly, Jenna begins to remember...

Soon Jenna finds that she didn't nearly die...to most people, she did die. Even with the advanced medical techniques available in Jenna's future, no doctor expected her to survive. Could her parents have a good reason for their overprotectiveness, and their secretive behaviour? Is there something terrible that Jenna doesn't know about herself? Jenna is determined to find out.

Science Fiction
Grades 9-12
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