Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony (Book 5) by Eoin Colfer

Fourteen-year-old Artemis discovers an unraveling time tunnel connecting demons with the earth. These imps have sworn revenge on humans generations ago, and their unpredictable appearances threaten to expose the entire fairy world (not to mention put the human world at risk as well). Artemis is called into service to help the fairies figure out when and where the demons will be and outsmart his latest nemesis. Worse, there is an evil demon overlord looking to take over the human and fairy worlds.

Book five in this series is such an excellent book, which is a major accomplishment for any author. By book five many authors are running out of new and exciting ideas but Colfer finds a way to keep things fresh and exciting. Best of all, he adds two new, promising characters–one of them a love interest for young Artemis. (We have seen Artemis mature, but for the first time we are seeing him grow up as well.)

The book ends with the best feel-good moment of the series yet, developing Artemis and Holly’s relationship further than ever before. Their story has come so far and continues to be as exciting as when we first started it.

Uglies: Specials (Book 3) by Scott Westerfeld

Tally has gone from Ugly to Pretty to dreaded Special. Now she is specially enhanced to help keep the people of her city in line–the pretties stupid and the uglies ready for their operations.

Once again we have the all too long passage of isolation where Tally is forced to reconsider her life while out in nature alone. I get that it is a theme, that being out in nature changes you. At the same time, it gets slow and tedious and a bit repetitive. (I say that despite enjoying the book.)

It is hard to get in touch with Tally and the other main characters because their personality change from one moment to the next. Tally is the sort of character who tends to get forced into situations and only takes action as a last resort. As a result, she is not my favorite character (of the many books I have read), but the fight itself–the bigger struggle against the city and the operations–is still interesting.

[SPOILER:] I am not sure how I felt about the resolution of the love triangle, it felt like an easy out. Tally never truly had to choose and technically she got them both in the end yet there was never the sense that her feelings for David ever resurfaced exactly. It is powerful to see her reaction to Zane once she finally sees him. It really highlights the ideas of being obsessed with beauty, being controlled by the government and brainwashing in a way that nothing else could.

Though not my favorite dystopian series, Westerfeld has a way with words that makes even the slower sequences enough to keep you turn pages.

Uglies (Book 2): Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

In the follow up to Uglies, Tally has become a pretty. We all know why, but Tally doesn’t remember much about her last few days as an ugly or why she ended up pretty. There are a lot of things she isn’t sure of, thanks to a procedure that affects the brain. But events conspire to help Tally remember why she became pretty and how she can regain the clarity and understanding that was taken away from her in the operation.

The story remains imaginative and interesting. Westerfeld has delved into his world and let us see the inner workings of pretty town (which were as mysterious to us as to the uglies in book one). Seeing this helps fill in the details that were missing before.

Like in the first book, there are long stretches of time where Tally is alone or stuck in her head. Sometimes it gets a little slow because of this, but it does help portray just how different the operation makes a person.

Shay’s storyline is a bit shocking and I am not sure I truly believe her character would take the turn she does. I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to ruin it. (Perhaps if the change was a bit more gradual it would be a bit more believable, but it seems fairly sudden and very extreme considering who she was before.) In a way, it almost feels like it was done for shock value over anything else. It was a good twist, but not the most realistic one.

One of the more interesting elements of the book was the love triangle involved. Since Tally does not remember David much, it makes sense that she would fall for someone else in New Pretty Town. This is one storyline that I would have liked to see more of and it felt like when the issue could finally be confronted, so many other things were happening and we didn’t get a chance to really go into it. If I could change one thing about book two, it would have been that. Even one more day would have been nice.

The series remains exciting and I can’t wait to see where book three takes it. (As interesting as it would be on screen, it would probably be a nightmare to shoot with all the surgeries and physical changes each character must undergo. I suppose a really good makeup team might suffice.)

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Tally Youngblood is about to turn sixteen, which means she can finally become pretty, like all of her friends before her. At sixteen, everyone has an operation to turn them into beautiful people and tally is the last. But until then, she has to kill time in Ugly Town, without her friends for company. Desperate to see her best friend Peris again, Tally sneaks over to New Pretty Town to see him and in the process meets Shay, another Ugly who is waiting for her sixteenth birthday. The two become quick friends, but when Shay disappears before her surgery, everything changes for Tally. The authorities insist that Tally help them find Shay, or she will have to stay Ugly forever.

Westerfeld does a masterful job of taking society’s obsessions with beauty to the extreme. He is particularly good at showing how flawed the obsession with beauty is and how brainwashed people are about it.

Tally was a realistic character who, unlike most book characters in these types of dystopian societies, is not a rebel. She likes to play some pranks, like any Ugly does, but at heart she truly does want to become a Pretty. It is only circumstances out of her control and the friends she meets that makes her begin to question this chosen path. (This makes her somewhat passive in the beginning, but she grows into an active character.)

The weakest point of the novel is a stretch of time where Tally is on her own. Having no conversation and companionship, though important to the story, makes things go a bit slowly for that section. However, any loss of pace there is quickly made up in the excitement that follows.

I would like to find out more about the country as a whole (we get a little bit of it, but for the most part we only really see Tally’s community) and what adulthood is like in this dystopian world. Since it is a four book series, I am sure there is more to come and already I have begun reading book two. This is definitely one of the better dystopian novels out (and came out slightly before this new obsession with this genre) and I highly recommend it.

Doctor Who: Nuclear Time by Oli Smith

The Doctor, Rory, and Amy find themselves in the idyllic Appletown. The trio notice fairly that things are not quite right in this place–for one thing it is a town in the middle of nowhere, the plumbing and electricity are not hooked up, and there is something strange about the people. The Doctor gets separate from his companions and finds himself stuck living backwards through time while Amy and Rory are running for their lives. Can they reunite in time to avoid the coming disaster?

More than any of the other Doctor Who books, this one deals with the “wibbly wobbly timey whimey” that is the way time works. And as the doctor says, “Time travel, you can’t keep it straight in your head.” In some ways, the Doctor explains more concepts of the way time works than ever before but odds are you will find yourself half-interested and half-confused.

Unlike most Doctor Who stories, there are no mysterious aliens secretly manipulating things behind the scenes. Instead, we get more of an up-close look at humankind from the Doctor’s perspective.

I found Rory a bit braver than usual and Amy slightly more inept–more often than not he was pulling her to safety instead of the other way around and it is more his quick-thinking than hers that kept them alive. It was sweet to see him take charge for once and really protect his wife, but it also rang a little false for her to need as much taking care of as she did. That being said, their actual dynamic was believable and true to form. It was easy to see how much they care for each other and even nice to see a Rory and Amy versus the Doctor moment for once (I don’t mean they were literally at odds but there were small moments, as you will see).

A fun read though not my favorite of the Doctor Who books out there.

Doctor Who: Apollo 23 by Justin Richards

When the Doctor and Amy stop at a mall for some food, they are surprised to find a very real astronaut covered in very real moon dust. There is more of course, as a woman’s body appears on the moon, dressed as though she was out for an afternoon stroll in the park. Plus there are the mysterious prisoners on the moon base that shouldn’t exist yet.

When Amy and the Tardis get trapped on the moon base and the Doctor gets stuck on Earth, Amy is surrounded by very real danger. Can the Doctor get to the moon in time to save her or is it too late for his latest companion?

The book is action-packed and exciting, the science interesting and futuristic as always, but it is how well Richards captures the voice of the Doctor that really struck me in this novelization of the show. Having read a number of the books now, none have managed to get the Eleventh Doctor on paper as well. He felt real and developed here like he has not in any other.

If you love the show, this is a great book to read to fill the time until the show returns (because let’s be honest, no matter how good the books are, there is nothing like watching Matt Smith and Karen Gillan running around on screen).

Dr. Who: Night of the Humans by David Llewellyn

The humans on the Gyre, a “planet” made up of space garbage, have regressed to a primitive, illiterate, fanatical people whose religion is based on the remains of the ship that crashed centuries ago. Also living on the “planet” are the Sittuun, a group of aliens who have been sent to destroy the planet in a safe way, so that it will not hit the nearby planets upon its destruction.

When the Doctor and Amy arrive on the Gyre, they find themselves on a world made of space trash where a battle for survival has begun between the Humans and the Sittuun. To make matters worse, a comet is headed straight towards them and its collision will kill everyone on the trash planet.

The best thing the book captures about the show is its mystery and excitement. From the moment Amy and the Doctor land, it is nonstop action and adventure. The running and hurried thinking is all there in book form, something to read while waiting for the show to return.

And it isn’t only the Doctor who gets to have all the fun. We get to see Amy’s braveness and quick-thinking. The book shows why Amy makes a good companion for the Doctor–no matter how much trouble she might get herself in, she is not only capable of helping herself, but of helping the doctor as well.

The book stayed in line with the series and is greatly enjoyable. I definitely recommend it for anyone missing the show right now.

Doctor Who: Dead of Winter by James Goss

Based on the popular TV show comes a book following the adventures of the Doctor, Amy, and Rory in a remote seaside clinic filled with aristocrats, nobles, and other sick patients. When the Doctor and crew crash and are taken into the clinic for care, what they discover is something much more mysterious and sinister going on.

If you like the show and can’t wait for it to return in the fall, the books are a good way to pass the time. It isn’t as good as watching the show of course (because the actors–Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill–are so fantastic), but it does fill that need at least temporarily.

Of the various Doctor Who books, this is my least favorite, primarily because it follows the perspectives of so many characters (the doctor running the clinic, a little girl staying at the clinic, a cranky old patient, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory) when I would have much preferred to stay with Amy, Rory, and the Doctor. We spent so much time with the others that we didn’t really get a chance to delve into the minds of our favorite characters despite the first person narratives. The letters written by the little girl were particularly slow and took us out of the excitement of the moment. It didn’t capture our favorite characters and spent too much time on the non-central ones.

Even with these issues, we did get one particularly fun thing from this book: an insight into the relationship between Amy, Rory, and the Doctor. We get some particular understanding about who Rory is, what he thinks of the Doctor, how he feels for Amy, what he does and doesn’t like about their many adventures…He rarely gets this much time on the show, so it is nice to learn more about him.

There are also a number of great lines that really capture the feeling of the show. This may not be my favorite in the series, but it is still great fun.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

As Earth’s resources are running out, the human race must think of a way to sustain itself. They have come up with a solution: they will send a group of people to another planet.

Amy’s parents are important members of this expedition (her mother is a scientist and her father is part of the military) and so she joins them. The trip will take three hundred years and they will be kept in stasis until they reach the planet. But when she is woken up suddenly and painfully fifty years early, she finds a world that she doesn’t understand.

Elder is the next in line to lead the people of the ship. He is somewhat rebellious for the stagnant world that is life aboard the ship. Amy fascinates him and he is instantly attracted to her differentness. The two must work together to discover who woke her early and why something doesn’t quite add up on the ship.

I was surprised to find myself really invested in this story. The characters are likeable and interesting, the situation–though not entirely unfamiliar–felt fresh and exciting, and though not every plot twist is shocking, there still enough guessing to keep you thinking.

One of the strongest elements of the book, beyond how strongly defined the characters are, is how thought out everything is. Revis has thought out every detail of how life on the ship works, what everyone does, the rules behind the system. Even the villain of the story is complex and, in some ways, sympathetic.

While the book did address many complex issues (is it right to sacrifice the few for the many? what is more important, survival or happiness? how far would you go to assure mankind’s survival?), it still has a way to go before it fully resolves these issues. They are addressed but in a more theoretical way, without the reality of the situation being tested. I am not certain if the book is meant to be a standalone, but I would be happy to see Elder and Amy’s struggle continue so that we can further examine these issues.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

When I picked up this book, I was surprised to find that Scott Westerfeld was the author, because I have been meaning to read his series Uglies for a while now. But when I saw Leviathan, this book jumped the “Must Read” list. I am anything but sorry about this decision.

Leviathan is slightly difficult to categorize because it fits into a number of different genres: young adult, science fiction, historical fiction (is alternate universe history a genre?), to name a few. It tells the story of World War I, which begins with the murder of an Archduke and his wife. But in this version of the story, the war is between the Clankers (who are all about advanced technology) and the Darwinists (who are all about using evolution and DNA splicing to create animals to do what technology does). Prince Aleksander is the heir to the throne but must flee for his life after his parents’ murder because the current ruler of Austria does not want him to inherit. With the help of a few loyal men, he flees his home and goes on the run with only a Stormwalker (a machine that is basically an enormous robot with space for people inside) for protection. Meanwhile, Deryn Sharp (a Darwinist) has always loved flying, thanks to her father who used to take her up in hot air balloons when she was younger. Now she wants to become a pilot (certainly not the lady her mother would like her to be) so she pretends to be a boy and secretly enlists in the air force. Deryn and Aleksander’s paths cross and find that despite being from opposing countries they may have to work together to survive.

This book is one of the most imaginative and creative books I have read in a while. Westerfeld has created two very unique and very specific sides of the war–how the Clankers are piloted for example is a complicated fete of skill and instinct and the Darwinist airships are even more complicated in how they have been created to be self sustaining through interdependence of species–but added even more complex motivations and moral questions. Who do you trust in times of war? Do you keep your promise at the risk of other people? Is the genetic manipulation that the Darwinists do ethical (or just plain gross)?

Sometimes I wanted more description and explanation of how things worked or what they looked like. At times I had a hard time picturing the things being talked about (and the illustrations included were a bit too hazy to really help clarify things). Despite this lack, I really liked the book. Deryn is strong and funny, making her an easy character to root for. Aleksander takes a little bit more time to get used to because he starts out as something of a spoiled prince, but he slowly develops into a trustworthy, noble person who could grow up to be an excellent prince.

The sequel is well set up, with a few mysteries still left unanswered (like who exactly the mysterious and clever female doctor, Dr. Barlow is and why she has been picked up by Deryn’s ship) and there’s a blooming love story to come (how and when will Aleksander find out that Deryn is a girl and how will he react?