Tag Archives: What’s Left of Me

18th September 2012 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Amy Garvey
Glass Heart (Cold Kiss, Book 2)
HarperCollins Teen (US: 18th September 2012)
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Wren can do things that other people can only dream of. Make it snow on a clear, crisp day. Fly through an abandoned tunnel. Bring a paper bird to life. Wren knows her abilities are tinged with danger – knows how easy it is to lose control – but she can’t resist the intoxicating rush. And now that she has Gabriel by her side, someone who knows what she can do – what she has done – she finally feels free to be herself. But as Wren explores the possibilities of her simmering powers, Gabriel starts pushing her away. Telling her to be careful. Telling her to stop. The more he cautions her, the more determined Wren becomes to prove that she can handle things on her own. And by the time she realises that Gabriel may be right, it could be too late to bring him back to her side.

Jay Kristoff
Stormdancer
Macmillan (US: 18th September 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Griffins are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her warrior father are sent to capture one for the Shogun, they fear that their lives are over. Everyone knows what happens to those who fail him. But the mission proves less impossible and more deadly than anyone expects. Soon Yukiko finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in her country’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled griffin for company. Although she can hear his thoughts, and saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her. Yet trapped together in the forest, Yukiko and Buruu form a surprising and powerful bond. Meanwhile, the country verges on collapse. A toxic fuel is choking the land, the machine-powered Lotus Guild is publicly burning those they deem Impure, and the Shogun cares for nothing but his own dominion. Authority has always made Yukiko uneasy, but her world changes when she meets Kin, a young man with secrets, and the rebel Kagé cabal. She learns the horrifying extent of the Shogun’s crimes, both against her country and her family. Returning to the city, Yukiko and Buruu are determined to make the Shogun pay – but what can one girl and a flightless griffin do against the might of an empire?

Maggie Stiefvater
The Raven Boys
Scholastic (US: 18th September 2012)
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It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive. Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them – not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all – family money, good looks, devoted friends – but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Kat Zhang
What’s Left of Me
HarperCollins (CA: US: 18th September 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else – two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbours shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t…For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable – hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet…for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

[REVIEW] What’s Left of Me – Kat Zhang

Kat Zhang
What’s Left of Me (Hybrid Chronicles, Book 1)
HarperCollins (CA: 4th September 2012; US: 18th September 2012; UK: 27th September 2012; AU: 1st October 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

I was reluctant to start this novel, afraid it wouldn’t live up to its awesome premise. But the start of What’s Left of Me is the best: it grips readers straight away with its unusual narrative, eerie circumstances, and threat of medical intervention. A few years ago, I had a story idea involving “soul surgery”, and here Kat Zhang’s beaten me to it. I’m terribly jealous, of course, but great minds… 😉

Anyhoo, the threat of medical intervention is very much real. Addie and Eva Tamsyn are two souls in one body, though Addie is dominant and Eva the recessive. Taken to a facility, they’re subjected to injections, brain scans…and meeting the only body to have survived the removal surgery. I love this medical shiz, but I wanted more detail: what exact part of the brain contains the extra soul? The amygdale? The frontal lobe in general? How does the medication work to sedate one soul while the other takes over? Neuroscience is fascinating, and fiction needs more of it.

Albeit the whole “shipped off to a facility with other kids, plan to escape” plotline is far too common in fiction, and thus doesn’t work for me here.

Another problem is that in Eva and Addie’s world, “foreignness” is deemed bad. Hally “looks foreign”, so she doesn’t really have any friends, and the Americas have shut their doors to foreigners, because of supposed psychotic outbreaks of hybrids overseas. This pisses me off for so many reasons, as it’s easy to blame other countries than accept that one’s own may be at fault. The anti-foreign aspect of this futuristic/dystopian world is so racist and prejudiced, and I despise the Americas’ government who spreads that attitude to its citizens…

In short: I don’t like the setting in which these characters live, but I figure that’s the intended effect. Well played, dear author.

September 2012 Releases

Done with August 2012 Releases? Here are September 2012 Releases. For future titles, check Reading Wishlist.

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11 New Covers (Armstrong, Bridges, Crane, Garvey, Holzner, Knight, Lim, O’Brien, Stolarz, Vincent, Zhang)

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