Teen Book Reviews

In this twisted fairytale, a 16-year-old cyborg finds herself in the middle of a dangerous game. Cinder doesn’t know why she is being targeted, but she is determined to find out. Along the way, friendships are made and slowly Cinder finds clues about her past. Her life soon becomes intertwined with Prince Kai’s, who eventually trusts her. To prevent war, Cinder must find out about her past and do it before she is caught.

Cinder is a sci-fi twist of the original Cinderella fairytale. Meyer took certain parts of the fairytale and made it her own. Cinder is a compelling take on the original Cinderella story. It tells its own tale, while incorporating pieces from Cinderella. Personally, I believe that it is an amazing take on the fairytale. There is sci-fi, action, romance, and mystery. Even if you’re not a science-fiction reader, the book will still be entertaining. Before you realize it, you’re slowly joining the characters on their intriguing journey. I recommend this book to all types of readers. There are many different components to this book that makes it a good read for all readers. As someone who doesn’t enjoy reading sci-fi, I thought this book was amazing. Cinder is definitely a must read for all readers.

Murtagh is a continuation of the Eragon series by Christopher Paolina that centers around the character Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn. Murtagh and his dragon have been exiled by society for what they have done in the past and now work in the shadows to protect the land of Alagaesia. When they see firsthand a new evil power rise up, the protagonist sets himself to put a stop to it because no one else will.

It's tough to give this book a recommendation to everyone because it is heavily flawed. Murtagh and Thorn are well developed characters but aside from them and just one or two others no one else is really that interesting, providing boring interactions for the entire first half of the book. On top of that the pacing of the book is terrible because while a big mystery is introduced pretty quickly into the book the main characters don't really do anything about it until the second half of the book and in a seven hundred page book it feels like a long slog. Where this book truly shines is that it is a continuation of a great series, Eragon. It explores the already existing world providing fans good insight into the land of Alagaesia. So if you enjoyed Eragon, I would recommend this book otherwise I would leave it alone.

In Turtles All The Way Down, John Green follows the story of Aza Holmes, a teenage girl who suffers from anxiety and OCD, when she begins her search for a missing fugitive billionaire, her neighbor’s father. As Aza furthers her search, the book explores her friendship with her best friend Daisy, and her confliction when she starts to have feelings for her neighbor, despite the fact that she’s still searching for his father.

I recommend this book to anyone over the age of 10, because it deals with complex topics such as mental health issues that should be taken seriously and understood. John Green does an excellent job of conveying Aza’s emotions throughout the book, and I personally enjoyed reading the book. Whether you can relate to her struggles or not, it provides great insight into Aza’s mind, which is a hard feat, considering how much her anxiety continues to plague her throughout the book. The plot is well-written but can be hard to follow at times due to the amount of subplots.

The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a boy named Jonas. He lives with his parents and his sister, Lily, in a dwelling. He is nervous about his ceremony of twelves. This is where an eleven gets promoted to a twelve and gets his assignment. They have to do this job forever. Since Jonas doesn’t know what he is going to get, and doesn't know what he wants to get, he is very nervous. On the day, Jonas gets one of the most important jobs and learns a daunting and agonizing truth.

I recommend The Giver, winner of the John Newbery Medal, to every person above the age of twelve who likes dystopian stories. The theme is you, and your life matters. It's about a world where everything is colorless, but looks perfect. Some would even call it a utopia, but it's not... It's the opposite, a dystopia. When you start reading you won't want to stop because you'll want to find out what's going to happen next. It's filled with many plot twists and when I got to the end of the book I was surprised by what Jonas had done. This book will also leave you with questions that you have to answer yourself.

Shadow and Bone, written by Leigh Bardugo, is a high fantasy or dark fantasy novel. It takes place in Ravka, a Russian inspired country in the Grishaverse. It is written from the first person point of view from the perspective of Alina Starkov, who is a soldier in the first army. She soon finds out that she is the Sun Summoner, and perhaps one of the most sought after Grisha in the world.

This book has an extremely developed fantasy world. The countries feel very realistic and detailed. The well rounded characters that seem like real people augment the book’s plot, making them just one of the many amazing things about the series. Speaking of the plot, it has several plot twists that keep you guessing. I love the way that Bardugo develops the Darkling, the trilogy’s antagonist. So many books have flat and static antagonists that just seem purely evil, which (usually) isn’t realistic. However, the Darkling has many traits and he has good reasons for doing the things he does. I think he may be the most developed and hard to hate antagonist in any book I’ve read. Shadow and Bone is overall one of my favorite book series, and I would definitely recommend it.