Across the Library

Title: Reign of the Fallen Author: Sarah Glenn Marsh This is a fantasy story of a world where mages exist, their powers determined by the color of their eyes.  This particular book focuses mainly on the necromancers, those who bring the dead back to the living world.  The Dead must remain completely shrouded ; if even the tiniest bit of their flesh is seen by a living person, they turn into a Shade, a monstrous creature that feeds on both the Dead and the living. The royal family has been using this method of returning to life for centuries ; in fact, the king himself has been ruling for 200 years.  Though he resists change, he is a well-liked king, as is the rest of the royal family. Our main character is Odessa, nicknamed Sparrow, and she is one of the necromancers.  She is very good at what she does, maybe to the point of being a Mary Sue character, although she does have flaws. All is going well, until one of the necromancers is killed by a Shade....

Title: Before I Let Go Author:  Marieke Nijkamp I was intrigued by the summary of this book. Two girls, best friends, living in a small town in Alaska. One moves away, and the other says she will wait for her. Just before the girl is supposed to come back and visit, her friend dies. She goes back to the town to try and find out what happened, but she is treated like an outsider. I was disappointed in the book. It felt like it was missing something. It didn't really feel like it went anywhere. Corey, the girl who moved away, did come back, and she does find out what happened to her friend, but it is rather anticlimactic. I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to believe the townspeople, especially Kyra's parents, would be that awful. I know there are bad people in the world, but whole towns of them, like this? I don't know. I did like the fast pace of the short chapters and the writing style for the most part, though the addition of the scripts in the middle w...

Title: Children of Blood and Bone Author: Tomi Adeyemi Release Date: March 6, 2018 I received an ARC of this book through the library I work at.  I was really excited to read this one.  The cover is beautiful, and the story is just as lovely.  What can I say without spoiling it? This book is about a girl who lives in a world that used to have magic, but the magic has died.  The king saw to that eleven years ago, killing the magic and the adults who once had it.  The girl, Zelie watched them take her mother, beat her father, and she has worked to never lose another family member.  Now there is a spark, a hope that magic may return.  A rogue princess that escapes the castle and brings that hope.  But there is also a prince who threatens that hope, and their father, the king, will see to the final death of magic if he has anything to say about it. There is so much more to this book than just magic. There is the world it takes place in....

Title: Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Good, Book 1: The Road to Epoli Authors: Ben Costa and James Parks At first glance, the cover art of this graphic novel could lead you to believe that it is meant for children.  It is actually intended for teens, and once you dive into the book you can see this through the art that might be too scary for young children, and the plot that may be too deep for young children to understand.  There are also a couple of things brought up that are inappropriate for children. Rickety Stitch is a singing, and lute playing, skeleton with a soul, an unexpected creation no doubt.  An unusual song that he cannot fully remember haunts his dreams, giving him little clues as to who he may have been in life.  This is a soul-searching story of some depth about this skeleton trying to find out who he is and who he once was.  Along for the ride is his friend that only he can understand, the Gelatinous Goo.  This fun quest story ...

Title: Noumenon Author: Marina J. Lostetter Review: I thought the premise of this book was interesting. Humans are finally ready to go into deep space, but they know that they as individuals will not live to make it there. So they send clones of the best scientists, engineers, historians, etc. Their plan is to continuously grow clones of these people throughout the years. The book is set up in sections, with each section from the point of view of a different character, or clone, usually decades or more apart. There are also a few sections from the point of view of the AI of the ship, which is probably my favorite character. The mission is to take a convy of ships to the star LQ Pyxidis and find out what is around it, blocking some of its light. It will take the convoy 200+ convoy years to get there and back, which will be 2000+ years back on Earth. To be honest, the book had a rough start for me. I did not like the first character, Reggie, who found the star and proposed the mi...

Title: Truly Devious Author:  Maureen Johnson Cover: I like the cover. The title font is fitting for a mystery. The cover is a little busy, but not overly. Review:  Stevie, who is a crime buff, is off to a specialized high school, where students get to focus on their own specialities. Stevie's plan is to solve the cold case of the murder and missing person case of the wife and daughter of the founder of the school, from back in 1936. But then a current day student ends up dead, and she gets wrapped up in that mystery. Are there connections? Will Stevie solve the cases? I have to start by saying that even though I've only read a few of her books (the Shades of London series), I adore the author Maureen Johnson, or at least what I know about her from her online personality, and what I saw in person once at ALA. She is fabulously quirky and fun. I saw a little bit of that personality in Stevie in the beginning of the book and then again about three quarters of the way t...