Demon's Covenant, by Sarah Rees Brennan

The follow-up to Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon's Lexicon is just as dark and broody a read.  In this sequel, the rough and abrupt Nick takes a back seat to Mae who struggles to protect her brother Jamie while following her own heart.  Nick is still compellingly dark and sarcastic while aloof and a little inhuman.

This book has just the right balance of intrigue, romance, and the unknown to entrance its readers.  Unusually, I find myself a little irritated by the cover, which is unrepresentative of the characters within.  Mae is a pink-haired high school goth girl who is neither so tall nor slender as the image on the cover of the book.  Her personal strength is a major part of her charm, and I wish that the book's publisher's represented her more consistently.

White Cat, by Holly Black

White Cat is the first of Holly Black's new Curseworkers series, following a family of supernatural mafiosa.  I love the worlds that Holly Black creates.  Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside are some of my favourite teen novels, and some of the best examples of the Urban Fantasy genre.  They feature strong protagonists, surreal worldviews, and strange mysteries.

White Cat's male protagonist may garner this book a broader readership than Black's faerie novels, especially with the focus on grifting and underworld life.  This is good for the library where there seem to be so many more stereotypically "girl" than "boy" books in the teen section.  I'm always glad to have books like this that are likely to have wide appeal.

I enjoyed White Cat a great deal.  I could not put it down once I began reading.  Initially, I thought the story was predictable, and that I knew exactly where the narrative was going. Then Black threw me an unexpected loop and I was so happy to be surprised.  I can't wait until the next novel.

Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

One of the big books of the moment.  Shiver has been on every (teen) award list I've seen lately.  It's a poetic and evocative take on the urban fantasy/supernatural romance genre.  

I find myself without a strong opinion on this one, perhaps because it is presented very well despite being too romantic for my personal tastes.  I appreciate the understated sorrow simmering beneath the surface of the love story.  Sam is defined by language and loss (and the loss of language).  He's a beautiful character, displaying integrity and compassion without seeming too perfect.  Grace is shallow in comparison but has lived a much more sheltered life.  She is independent and self-assured, with convincingly realistic teenaged gripes.  There are a few minor characters who I expected more of in this book.  Their stories felt unfinished so  I'm wondering if they have a role in the sequel.

I like Stiefvater's re-imagining of werewolf mythology.  Her wolves are rendered powerless over their lives; quite apt in a novel for teens.  They are just as passionate and wild, but more tragically sympathetic than the traditional werewolf is.  The book will appeal to Twilight fans as well as those with more cultivated tastes.

Rampant, by Diana Peterfreund

The two word booktalk: "Killer Unicorns"*

Another new teen novel about a seemingly-normal young woman who turns out to be more than she seems.  In the post-Buffy era there is a whole bevy of powerful girls battling, dating, and/or becoming supernatural creatures.  We've seen it with vampires (House of Night, etc), fairies (Tithe, Wicked Lovely), demons (Demon's Lexicon), werewolves (Shiver), angels (Blue Bloods), and all-of-the-above (City of Bones).  I love strong women, but I'm growing a little tired of the same old thing.  I probably wouldn't have picked this up if a free copy hadn't fallen into my lap. 

These unicorns are as far from innocent and gentle as you can get.  They're bloodthirsty man-eaters with fangs and venomous horns.  Only virgins from particular bloodlines are capable of defeating them in battle, which is where our heroine comes in.

The book set off a few of my pet peeves as a reader.  Details of the premise are not always consistent with history or character behaviour, and it's unclear what can be explained by science and what is simply "magic".  Certain conflicts are wrapped up too easily, and loose ends are ignored at the conclusion.  I hope that some of these will be addressed in the upcoming sequel, Ascendant.  Less demanding readers will simply enjoy the adventure and the love story.

* Not coined by me.

Lips Touch: Three Times, by Laini Taylor

A trio of short stories/novellas involving the supernatural and some life-changing kisses.  Each section begins with a series of lush illustrations that sets the scene for the tale to come.  The stories are sensual and teasingly dark, drawing the reader in to each of three very different worlds.

I liked this book far more than I expected to.  I feared that it would be heavy on the romance, but it's very gentle, like reading fables.  It deserves all the accolades it's received.  Well done.

Pretty Dead, by Francesca Lia Block

Francesca Lia Block has made her contribution to the body of current teen vampire novels, and it's a fair effort; surpassing most in the genre.  I still think Scott Westerfeld's Peeps is the best of the bunch, but it's low in romance which a lot of vampire-fiction readers demand.

Pretty Dead's Charlotte Emerson is one of the loneliest creatures you've ever met.  Turned at age seventeen, she's spent the last hundred years in regret, longing for a real human life. Then one day things begin to change.  She's writing again, feeling emotions and sensations more intensely, able to cry again, and even falling in love.  What could have happened, and does it have anything to do with her manipulative creator re-entering her life?

As most of the modern vampire stories do, Pretty Dead selectively interprets vampire mythology, and introduces a new element to shake up an old idea.  The tone of the novel is one of wistfulness, alienation, and desire.  Block is good at writing stories that feel dreamlike.  Her Weetzie Bat books are some of my favourite bright surreal re-imagine-my-world stories, but this one is much more haunting.   I doubt it will get as much notice as the superficial high school vampire series I've been seeing in my library, but it will attract some devoted readers.

The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan

Nick and Alan try to live normal lives, but it's difficult when they must repeatedly fight or flee from the magicians who hunt their family.  This little-known subculture of magic users increase their power by calling demons into the world whose prime desire is to possess a human body.  What starts out as a straight-forward good guys versus supernatural bad guys tale becomes much more uncertain when Nick begins to question his brother's motives and honesty.

Readers of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series will love this book, and dark, brooding Nick in particular.

The Van Alen Legacy (by Melissa De La Cruz)

I've tried reading a few of the current teen series that fall into the genre of urban fantasy / supernatural romance as they seem to be so popular lately.  Melissa De La Cruz' Blue Bloods series was fun enough for me to keep reading beyond the first book, but it may be continuing beyond my attention span when there's so much good stuff out there to read.

The premise, and yes it's a little silly: vampires are fallen angels seeking redemption.  They currently live as a coven of New York socialites and high society elites.  Mystery and thwarted romance keep the series going.

The Sorceress, by Michael Scott

The Sorceress is the third book in the series,The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.  The first book, The Alchemist, is one of the nominees in this year's Young Reader's Choice Awards (Pacific Northwest Library Association), and as usual, once I begin a story I am easily hooked.  I'd been hoping that this would be a trilogy so I could reach some closure soon, but it appears I'll have a few more years to wait.  There are at least three more books to come.

This is a fairly good teen fantasy series.  The premise is that a technologically advanced race of beings ruled the earth long before humanity evolved and rose to prominence.  Most of these godlike people were banished from the earth, but are attempting to regain power.  The protagonists, of course, seek to prevent this.  The story follows a set of American twins named Sophie and Josh, the eponymous Flamel, and his wife Perenelle.  I've been enjoying the absence of a love story.  I can't remember the last teen story without one, and it's refreshing.  The plot zings along just fine without one.  Once again, I'm also thrilled at the strong female characters amongst the protagonists, antagonists, and supporting cast.  It's a very gender-equal cast, to the point where the twins are equally prominent leads.

A few elements of the story rile my inner literary critic.  I'm impatient with series.  I like reaching the end of a story.  Some series, Harry Potter being an example, treat each book as a semi-independent story, so there's a sense of satisfaction upon reaching the end.  This series, however, leaves most of the plot open at the end of each book.  I feel like I've finished a chapter and now I have to wait a year for the next one.  The second element that irritates me is the suggestion that the current concept of the earth's history is incorrect, and that these powerful creatures have and continue to live on earth without our awareness.  I dislike plotlines that suggest that people are stupid or ignore evidence.  I find it difficult to suspend disbelief for what feels like authorial laziness.  When cameras are everywhere, dramatically magical events and mythological creatures will not go unremarked by mainstream society.