The Season of Passage by Christopher Pike Tor Books (March 2011, first pub. 1992) Paperback, 400 pages Science Fiction | Horror The Season of Passage by Christopher Pike takes sci-fi, horror, a pinch of dystopian and thriller and throws them all together in this rollercoaster ride of a novel. On the surface the book has a somewhat simple plotline: a trip to Mars gone wrong. However, there is more than meets the eye as the problems begin before the rocket even leaves Earth. Dr. Lauren Wagner is due to depart for Mars,…
Partials by Dan Wells (Partials Sequence #1) HarperCollins (Mar 2012) Paperback, 468 pages Dystopian YA I have seen many great reviews regarding Partials which piqued my interest, so when I received a book voucher for Christmas I ran out and bought it. It has been sitting on my shelf for several weeks and I have finally managed to squeeze it in, hoping that I would not be left disappointed. Partials are half-human cyborgs and were built to fight in wars and do the dirty work humans no longer wanted to…
The Rebels of New Sun (Blending Time #3) by Michael Kinch Flux Books (Jan 2013) | Ebook, 277 pages | Dystopian YA The Rebels of New Sun is book 3 in The Blending Time Series and it’s the first book of this series that I have read. There are loads of characters and as such there is a helpful guide at the beginning explaining who they are and how they are integral to the story. For me there were too many characters to follow and it took me a while to get to…
Creative Fire (Ruby’s Song #1) by Brenda Cooper Pyr, November 2012 Paperback, 400 pages Science Fiction, Young Adult Nothing can match the power of a single voice… Ruby Martin expects to spend her days repairing robots and avoiding the dangerous peacekeeping forces that roam the corridors of the generation ship The Creative Fire. Her best friend has been raped and killed, the ship is falling apart around her, and no one she knows has any real information about what’s happening to them. The social structure on board Creative Fire is rigidly divided,…
Planesrunner (Everness #1) by Ian McDonald Jo Fletcher Books (Jan 2013) Hardback, 371 pages Young Adult, Science Fiction There is not one you. There are many yous. There is not one world. There are many worlds. Ours is one among billions of parallel earths. When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped from the streets of London, he leaves young Everett a mysterious app on his computer. Suddenly, this teenager has become the owner of the most valuable object in the multiverse—the Infundibulum—the map of all the parallel earths, and there are…
The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke Angry Robot (Jan 2013) Paperback, 400 pages Science Fiction There’s never been anyone – or anything – quite like Finn. He looks, and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task is to tutor Cat. When the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot population, however, Finn struggles to find his place in the world. (Goodreads) REVIEWER: Melanie The Mad Scientist’s Daughter…
SISTER ASSASSIN (Mind Games #1) by Kiersten White PUBLISHER: HarperTeen RELEASE DATE: 19th February 2013 FORMAT: Ebook, 302 pages GENRE: Science Fiction, Young Adult In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heart-stoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other – no matter the cost. Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her – except when her mind…
WOOL (Wool Trilogy #1) by Hugh Howey PUBLISHER: Century RELEASE DATE: 17 January 2013 FORMAT: Hardback, 390 pages GENRE: Dystopian, Science Fiction In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo. Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies. To live, you must follow the rules. But some don’t. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism. Their…
ALTERNITY by Mari Mancusi PUBLISHER: NLA Digital RELEASE DATE: 19th October 2012 FORMAT: Ebook, 236 pages GENRE: Science Fiction, Young Adult Imagine waking up in a post-apocalyptic, nightmare world–and being told your whole life is but a dream. Skye Brown thought she was your typical teen–good grades, hot boyfriend, and an afterschool job that pays her to play videogames. But then she started having the dreams. In her dreams, there is no Earth. Only Terra, a bleak, underground wasteland where people live in squalor and oppression. In her dreams, there is…
CROSSING THE RUBICON by R.C. Richter PUBLISHER: CreateSpace RELEASE DATE: 13th September 2012 FORMAT: Ebook, 322 pages GENRE: Paranormal, Young Adult Every story has a beginning and an end. What lies between these two points is the journey. Crossing the Rubicon is the story of seven remarkable teens as they survive the unbelievable. What started out as a simple weekend trip exploring the Chungo caves, became a journey which took them back 275 years in time, had them cross multiple continents, and stretched them to their limits. Discover how they survived…
BITTER SEEDS (Milkweed Triptych #1) by Ian Tregillis PUBLISHER: TOR Fantasy RELEASE DATE: 24 April 2012 FORMAT: Paperback, 457 pages GENRE: Fantasy, Science Fiction It’s 1939. The Nazis have supermen, the British have demons, and one perfectly normal man gets caught in between. Raybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him. When…
ECKO RISING by Danie Ware PUBLISHER: Titan Books RELEASE DATE: 28 September 2012 FORMAT: Paperback, 528 pages GENRE: Fantasy, Science Fiction Ecko Rising is a unique genre-bending fantasy–sci-fi epic following a savage, gleefully cynical anti-hero. After awakening in a dimension-jumping inn to find himself immersed in his own sardonic fantasy world, Ecko joins a misfit cast of characters and strives to conquer his deepest fears and save the world from extinction. (Goodreads) REVIEWER: Melanie I am going to start this review with a comparison…and it’s a bit of a stretch so…
172 HOURS ON THE MOON by Johan Harstad PUBLISHER: Atom Books RELEASE DATE: 5th April 2012 FORMAT: Paperback, 368 pages GENRE: Science-Fiction, Young Adult It’s been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA’s unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space–and change their lives forever. Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band’s ticket to fame and fortune. Midori believes it’s her way out of her restrained life in Japan. Antoine, from France, just…
EARTH GIRL by Janet Edwards PUBLISHER: Harper Voyager RELEASE DATE: 16th August 2012 FORMAT: Paperback, 358 pages GENRE: Science Fiction, Young Adult 2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes…
PANDEMONIUM (Delirium #2) by Lauren Oliver PUBLISHER: Hodder & Stoughton RELEASE DATE: March 2012 FORMAT: Paperback, 375 pages GENRE: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Young Adult Love, the deadliest of all deadly things. It kills you when you have it. And when you don’t. I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare, pushing aside thoughts of Alex, pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school, push, push, push, like Raven taught me to do. The old life is dead. But the old Lena is dead too. I buried her. I left…
