Across the Library

Title: Year One Author: Nora Roberts Cover: A decent cover that represents the start of the plague and the crows that come with the darkness. *Mild Spoilers Ahead* Review: I will say first that I am not a typical Nora Roberts fan. In fact, I've only read three other books by her, that being the Seven Signs Trilogy that starts with Blood Brothers. If I remember correctly, those also had a fantasy/paranormal feel to them, while her typical books do not. It was the fantasy elements of this book that appealed to me. A plague strikes, first taking a family, but since it is highly contagious and they are traveling after the holidays, it quickly spreads, wiping out large numbers of the population. There are already some people with gifts before the plague hits, but after, these gifts grow stronger, and others gain powers as well. These people, from witches, elves, fairies, and more, are called the Uncanny, and some people blame them for the plague, or are just generally hateful...

Title: Renegades Author: Marissa Meyer Some spoilers contained below.  Read at your own risk. Cover: At first I didn't particularly care for the cover, but after reading the book, I feel that it fits the book pretty well.  Still not sure that someone would pick it up based off the cover though. Review:  I really wanted to like this book.  I loved Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series, and I enjoyed her book Heartless.  But I felt going in that I might not like this one as much, and I was right.  Actually I was pretty disappointed with it, and maybe that was because I was expecting to be disappointed.  Right from the start, before the book even started, there is a character list that includes the powers of the characters, and some of those powers made me cringe.  More on that in a moment. The premise is that some people, many people, have super powers and these people are called prodigies.  Years ago a prodigy named Ace Anarchy ...