Kalahari

by Jessica Khoury

Summary:

When an educational safari leaves 5 teens stranded in the middle of the Kalahari Desert, it is up to Sarah to try and lead them to safety. Having grown up in the field with her zoologist parents, she's well equipped to lead the teens to safety. But when a silver lion starts stalking them, they realize there might be more going on than they think. Now on the run not only from the lion, but also from the silver disease and the company that created it, Sarah will have to use everything she knows to keep them alive.

Review:

Kalahari was not what I expected when I picked it up. An adventure novel with a scifi twist, it does require quite a bit of suspension of belief, all while trying to be as realistic as possible. It succeeds for the most part, and will find many readers who truly enjoy the book. Good for more advanced middle grade readers, the characters both play into typical teenage stereotypes while making them believable. 

Genre: Scifi Adventure

Age Level: 7th Grade

Silver

by Chris Wooding

Summary:
It was just supposed to be another weekend at Mortingham Academy. Most of the students at the boarding school had gone home for the weekend, the rest were ready to just relax. When a small silver beetle bites one of the students, an infectious disease is released that will leave nothing but destruction in it's path. Now it's up to the few that are left to try and escape, but survival is not as easy as they hope.

Review:
Silver seems pretty thrown together as a novel. Told in third person from various characters perspectives, it's had to keep track of who is who. The disease transforms rapidly, taking over the bodies of it's hosts and absorbing others to become larger. The story progresses pretty rapidly, but it doesn't seem to really have any sense of where it's going. The story kind of just ends as well, with no resolution or cliffhanger that makes you really want to read a sequel if one comes out. Good for teens who like a quick action packed read, but definitely not one that is worthy of any real study.

Genre: Science Fiction
Age Level: 7th Grade

These Broken Stars

by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Summary:
Tarver and Lilac couldn't be more different. He's a war hero who is on board the Icarus as a publicity, she is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. But when the massive spaceship crashes on a uninhabited planet, and chance leaves them the only two people to survive, they must work together to try and seek help. The planet holds many secrets, and as Lilac and Tarver search to find a way off it they will discover they aren't the same people that landed there.

Review:
I was completely drawn in by These Broken Stars. Told in alternating perspectives, it's a love story that is both predictable but not. It's a science fiction book that will appeal to non-science fiction lovers, and has some surprising twists at the end that will leave you hoping for a sequel.

Genre: Science Fiction
Age Level: 9th Grade

Parallel

by Lauren Miller

Summary:
Have you ever wondered if one decision can change our entire lives. If one small change could send you on a completely different path? For Abby, it's one small earthquake that sets her on two courses. In one she becomes a movie star, in another she meets a boy who she falls in love with. In both lives every decision sets off a chain of events that changes everything, but which life is actually real?

Review:
I'm not a huge fan of parallel universes, typically I find books based around them to be fluffy and too silly. Parallel, however, was not. The book's characters were all very relate-able, and even the course of events that ends up with Abby becoming a movie star was believable. The books main premise was that one small event can change your course completely. It's ending demonstrating that if somethings meant to be it will happen regardless of what decisions you make was a nice touch. A great read for girls looking for a love story with something more substantial built in.

Genre: Fiction
Age Level: 10th Grade

The Program

by Suzanne Young

Summary:
Teen suicide has become a national epidemic. There's been no way to stop it, until the Program started. It was a way to help teens forget why they wanted to commit suicide, to give them a clean slate to start from. But in reality it stripped them of everything that made them them. It took crucial memories and left holes in their lives. Sloane's brother committed suicide. She's lost friends. She's been pegged as at risk by the Program, and it's only a matter of time before they come.

Review:
While the book's premise is about teen suicide, the book doesn't really address it in any real way. Suicide is viewed as a disease (like the flu, etc), which makes the book slightly less dark than it might be otherwise, though it is by no means a light read.  It is a bit of a departure from your typical adults making decisions that will negatively affect youth novel, it does hold to that premise fairly firmly. There is your rebel group working to subvert the system that adults are perpetuating in the belief that it will save the kids, your teen heroine who is able to beat the Program even though it's never happened before. It's well written and sets up well for a sequel. A good one to recommend to those who like Dystopian or novels with a heroine who stands up to the system.

Genre: Science Fiction
Age Level: 8th Grade

Bot Wars

By J V Kade

Summary:

Trout St. Croix didn’t want any trouble. When he recorded the video and posted it online he was just trying to find out what happened to his dad. His dad who went missing two years ago when he went off to fight the Bot Wars. Now there’s an uneasy peace, and robots have been relegated to their own territory. But this video has sparked more than just a search for his father. It’s become the thing that will start a movement, a movement to show that the government has been lying about robots and the people that support them.

Review: 

I picked up this book with low expectations, thinking it would be kind of a low budget transformers type novel.  However, Kade has created an Asimov like universe where robots are more like humans and the interactions between the two are as natural as can be, though currently that peace only exists in part of the world. The big brothery nature of the rest of the world, where robots are banned and seen as terrorists, is also believable. Trout is a great character that will appeal to both boys and girls alike.  Overall a good read not just for those who like sci-fi, but those who like adventure novels with a relatable hero.

Genre: Science Fiction

Age Level: 7th Grade

When We Wake

by Karen Healey

Summary:
You never know the last day of your life will be the last day of your life. For Tegan, it was just a normal day. She said bye to her mom, met up with friends, and went to a rally. And then she was shot. Which for most people would be the end of the story. But when Tegan wakes up in a government facility 100 years in the future she finds she was the first person to be cryogenically frozen and re-awoken. Now she has to figure out how to live in a society both similar and different to her own, realizing the future that she lives in is nothing like the future she had hoped for.

Review:
Healey has created a compelling tale that is both interesting for it's characters but also for the questions it raises. The book is a bit of a warning about our hopes for the future. The world Tegan wakes up in has severe climate issues, immigration policies, and economic problems have been exacerbated.  It's a sobering glance at what might happen, told from the eyes of a girl who had big hopes for the future. Tegan has to struggle not only with realizing that everyone she knows is dead, but has to move forward with a life in this new century. It's a good book for those that like semi-dystopian tales or books about climate change.

Genre: Science Fiction
Age Level: 8th Grade

The 5th Wave

by Rick Yancy

Summary:

No one knows what the 5^th wave is yet. The first 4 waves killed almost everyone. For Cassie the only hope for survival has been to stay alone. To keep away from other people, while searching for her younger brother. But when Evan Walker saves her life, she begins to hope that staying with him will be the right choice. As they work together to try and find her brother, she’ll learn things that will cause her to question everything she knew, everything she’s learned since the invasion, and everything that might come after.

Review:
Not your typical alien invasion book, Yancy has weaved an interesting tale of a being that comes to our planet with the aim of living here. Cassie is a strong character who has survived through a combination of luck and resourcefulness. The book weaves her story with that of her brother's and her high school crush's. The book is original and keeps you guessing til the end. It's well worth the read, an edge of your seat book you'll have a tough time putting down. It is part one of a series.

Genre: Sci Fi

Age Level: 8th Grade

Under the Never Sky

by Veronica Rossi

Summary:
When the aether storms destroyed most of the Earth, humankind was divided into two peoples. One who lived in man-made pods, shielded from the elements but never able to leave. The other survived in the wild, existing with little that was left untouched.  Aria, a Dweller who's lived in the pods, and Perry, who's senses have been refined from a life outside, could not be more different. But when a chance encounter suddenly changes both of their lives, leaving them each stranded from the lives they knew, they are left to pick up the pieces together.

Review:
It took me a few chapters to really get into Under the Never Sky. Rossi paints a world both very different and very similar to our own. There is not a lot of explanation in the book for the new names she calls things (like aether which are like electrical storms), which at first made it difficult to really get into. However Aria and Perry are both complex and engaging characters. The romance that develops between them takes second place for most of the novel, though by the end becomes the important theme they both struggle with. It's a good book for those who like dystopians or survivalistic books.

Genre: Dystopian
Age Level: 9th Grade

Series Information: Under the Never Sky (Book 1), Through the Ever Night (Book 2), Book 3 as yet untitled (to be released spring 2014)

Origin

by Jessica Khoury

Summary:
Pia has always known her destiny. A product of five generations of work, she was born immortal, the first of her kind. Hidden deep in the jungle, she has been groomed her entire life for a life of science. She will be the beginning of a new race, working to create more immortal beings who will live forever in physical perfection. And that's all she's ever wanted. Until the night of her 17th birthday, when she discovers a hole in the fence that protects her compound from the jungle outside. A hole that allows her to briefly escape where she meets Eio.  A hole that shows her that immortality is one thing, but an eternity alone is a life not worth living.

Review:
This book surprised me. I was not expecting it to be all that fantastic, but Pia is a likable character who has to break away from everything she has ever known. She has always been told she was perfect, not able to be hurt, but it comes down to it she chooses a normal life. Her curiosity about the world is catching, and the love story with Eio is a great add.  Overall a great read for any teen who likes more realistic science fiction.

Genre: Science Fiction
Age Level: 9th Grade