Takeshita Demons, by Cristy Burne (fiction) - Japanese demons attack London

Substitute teachers can be bad, but is this one a demon?
How can one teenager fight a legion of evil Japanese spirits?

Well, Miku and her best friend Cait just do it - battle against nukekubi and ittan momen to save baby brother Kazu. Who would have imagined that such yokai would follow the Takeshita family all the way from Osaka to London to fulfill an ancient curse?

A fun Friday indeed, as we race with Miku and Cait through the blizzard to confront the nukekubi before nightfall, when its screaming head can leave its body and fly through the air to devour them - and Kazu's soul.

Australian author Cristy Burne taught for several years in Japan and brings old tales of Japanese mythology into today, as Miku and her school friends encounter both good and evil yokai in this exciting adventure series.

Followed by The Filth Licker (#2) and Monster Matsuri (#3) - if your local independent bookstore doesn't have the whole set, ask them to order all the Takeshita (say Tah-KESH-ta) Demons books.
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Book info: Takeshita Demons / Cristy Burne; illustrated by Siku. Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2010. [author's website] [author's blog] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: When an ancient evil follows Miku’s family from Japan to London, the teen tries to remember what her grandmother said about yokai - good and bad demons - before she died, but it may be too late.

Back home near Osaka, her Baba knew how to keep evil spirits away from their family’s old house with its sakabashira pillar. Since the ancient pole was accidentally installed top down, it drew in bad demons like a magnet. Thankfully, Baba’s Baba had attracted a good ghost to the house many years before; Zashiko kept the family safe for generations, and Baba kept adding layers of luck and protection.

But when the Takeshitas left their home to come to England, they left their safety behind. Without Zashiko as a shield, the bad demons are ready to take revenge on the family for blocking their way to the sakabashira pillar. Despite all Miku’s efforts to protect them as Baba did, a malicious yokai has entered their apartment and stolen her baby brother’s health and perhaps his spirit as well.

Miku needs to talk to her best friend Cait, but a substitute teacher is intent on keeping them apart. Why does Mrs. Okuda’s neck have all those tiny red Japanese characters tattooed across it? That reminds Miku of Baba’s stories about nukekubi demons who look like normal people until their screaming heads fly off their bodies at night.

A sudden blinding snowstorm sends Miku and Cait home early from school, only to find that Mum had gone to the emergency room, leaving a neighbor watching sick baby Kazu until Miku was home. Cait’s dad comes to pick her up at the same moment that Cait’s dad calls on the phone to make sure she’s staying overnight with Miku – what?? Is this another demon? Oh, no, where is Kazu? He was sleeping on the couch when the doorbell rang! And what’s that sinister face up in the snow clouds?

Miku and Cait decide that the nukekubi must have taken Kazu and struggle through the snowstorm back to school, back to the fake Mrs. Okuda, back to find Kazu and rescue him from the evil yokai.

This adventure story takes unexpected turns as we meet unfamiliar enemies and cheer for Miku and Cait to prevail over evil. First in a series from this Australian author. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

The Hittite (fiction) - an outsider inside The Trojan War

The face that launched a thousand ships,
Two kingdoms battling for years at the foot of Troy's walls,
One mercenary who doesn't care who wins as long as he can rescue his family.

So mighty that it could hire out entire legions to other kings, the Hittite Empire could not survive the assassination of its Emperor and the chaos that followed.

Lukka is determined to find his wife and sons, so he takes his small band of soldiers all the way to Troy, where they find themselves enmeshed in one of the most famous wars in history.

The people and events of The Iliad truly come to life in this exciting adventure.
For comparison, you can download the classic ode in its entirety here.

Look for The Hittite at your local library or independent bookstore to find out whether Lukka will ever see his wife and sons again. Oh, and to meet up with the Trojan Horse, too.
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Book info: The Hittite / Ben Bova. Forge, 2010 (hardback), 2011 (paperback). [author's website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: As a soldier, Lukka has seen how much civilians suffer when their rulers lust for power and land. But he thought his family was safe in the mighty Hittite capital city. Returning from a long war, he finds the city in flames, his house in ruins, his father dying. Worse yet, his wife and young sons have been taken by slave traders!

With no general remaining to command them, Lukka and his squad march west across the shattered empire in search of his family, following the trade routes across Greece, all the way to Troy.

War is there, too, as the Achaians are battling the Trojans, seeking the return of beautiful Helen. Perhaps Lukka’s wife and children are in the famous slave market of Troy behind those mighty walls; the squad has not found their bodies along the road.

The Hittites are famed warriors, so the squad could hire out as mercenaries to either side. Lukka visits with Agamemnon, high king of the Achaians, who sends him into Troy with a peace offer whose terms the Trojans will never accept – give up Helen.

On grinds this war, with daily skirmishes on the dust-choked battlefields below Troy’s towering walls, with Odysseos and Hector and Achilles fighting from their chariots. Lukka’s squad builds a siege tower so Achaian soldiers can get inside the walls. Startled Trojan guards mistake its horsehide covers for a real giant horse, sent by the gods against them.

The epic tale recounted in Homer's The Iliad gains new dimension as we experience the hurly-burly of chariots and foot-soldiers, the smoke and roughness of army camp, the stress of a besieged city running low on supplies, Lukka’s worry that he won’t reach his wife and sons before it’s too late. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

The Thief Queen's Daughter, by Elizabeth Haydon (fiction) - secrets, memories for sale

Fired on his first day as King Vandemere's Royal Reporter?
Ven must make his friends believe that as he embarks on a dangerous undercover assignment at the King's behest.

Willingly visiting the Gated City rather disreputable weekly Market? Alone?
Of course, they insist on going with him to the Outer Market, where one can buy pleasant dreams or have one's childhood memories stolen.

If they aren't out of the Raven Guild's market by last bell, they'll be trapped for a week in hostile territory where their coin won't buy food and their heads might not stay attached for long...

Haydon has 'excavated' Ven's fascinating journals from the long-ago time when humans were not the only intelligent race on the earth, when magic and dragons were commonplace, when Nainfolk like Ven lived to be 200 years old. It's great to see this series available in paperback now.

Having a brave Nain as a sworn friend-for-life might lead you into all sorts of adventures.
What are your experiences with friends who stuck with you through thick and thin?
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Book info: The Thief Queen's Daughter (The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme, book 2) / Elizabeth Haydon; illustrated by Jason Chen. Starscape, 2007 (hardback), 2008 (paperback). [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: When the King sends Ven searching for the origins of a mysterious artifact, he warns the young Nain that entering the Gated City on this secret mission might be the last thing he ever does. Of course, that’s the one place where unique items are bought and sold (and stolen) - from merchandise and promises to dreams, memories, or even childhood!

Curiosity and courage are equally strong in Ven, who is just beginning to grow his beard at age 50 (a young teenager in human terms), thirteenth child of the famous shipbuilding Polypheme family. He has to make his friends in the Boys’ Lodge believe that the King has fired him (his first day on the job as Royal Reporter, no less) so that they won’t be in danger as the hunt for information takes them to strange places.

A guard dog with an attitude in the armorer’s shop, warnings to leave the Gated City’s Outer Market before last bell or be locked in for a week, spying birds who report to enemies and allies – Ven and his friends have perils to avoid and wonders to explore as he seeks the artifact’s history. The Raven’s Guild doesn’t take kindly to strangers being inside the Gated City walls after Market Day, and the Thief Queen rules the Raven’s Guild with an iron hand.

When Saeli disappears near last bell time, they fear she’s been kidnapped and go looking for her. Daring to use the back alleys and rooftop ropewalks, Ven and friends find their way to the Inner Market gate, just as the last bell sounds.

Are the archers on the Gated City walls keeping the King’s citizens out after Market Day is over or making the Raven’s Guild and company stay inside? Why does Ida say she knows the Thief Queen? (Ida tells such tall tales) Will Ven live long enough to write this adventure in his journal or grow another hair in his beard?

Ven’s “rediscovered” journals have been carefully compiled by author Elizabeth Haydon, who enlisted Jason Chan’s help in restoring the maps and illustrations that our clever and oh-so curious young Nain included. Enjoy book 1, The Floating Island, first to learn how Ven wound up so far away from his family’s shipbuilding yard, then watch for book 3, The Dragon’s Lair. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Moon Maze Game (fiction)

Living on the Moon,
working on the Moon,
playing on the Moon?

The most complex and challenging live-action role-playing game of all time will take place on Luna in 2085. Physical agility, weapon skills, and innovative puzzle-solving experience will help players win big money and admiration throughout the Solar System.

New team alliances, old grudges, baffling riddles - what else has game master Xavier planned for the Moon Maze Game? Not the Luna-separatist terrorists who hijack the Game domes, that's for sure!

Niven and Barnes return to their fascinating Dream Park worlds in this intriguing novel - plenty of subplots to go along with the action, from old romances to new technology hiccups.
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Book info: The Moon Maze Game / Larry Niven and Steven Barnes. Tor, 2011. [Larry Niven's website] [Steven Barnes' website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: A live-action role-playing game on the Moon! Broadcast in real-time to Earth, this 2085 contest pits clever players against one another. But they’ll have to work together to outwit and outlast the terrorists who try to kidnap them.

The Moon Maze Game includes not only physical challenges, but also mental riddles, countless puzzles, and psychological twists tailored to trip up each player. With the largest viewing audience in entertainment history, every slip or success will be seen by billions of people throughout the Solar System.

Xavier is a supreme Game Master. His decision to construct the first off-world fantasy game complex draws many IFGS league competitors to the trials, but only the very best will get to Luna. Wayne and Angelique know that their former gaming partner has spent years planning this event and would be happy to see them fail.

The high-ranking IFGS pro players are expected; the Crown Prince of the Republic of Kikaya is a surprise qualifier. His father, President for Life of the small African nation, is not pleased that his son will enter the Game, but must allow Ali to go to keep Kikaya’s advisors happy.

The lunar colony where the enormous Game domes have been built is a bit tense as some Moon residents want independence from Earth now, while others remain convinced that support from their homeworld will always be needed.

When the Game takes a turn that Xavier did not script, the command center grows hectic. When Xavier’s main controls to the Game are cut, his team gets worried. When real bullets start flying in the Game’s pressurized domes, the players realize that they’re on their own and must solve Xavier’s complex puzzles before the terrorists crack open Game’s walls to the vacuum of space.

Lots of action and excitement – readers will wish for a chance at The Moon Maze Game for themselves. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

The Fox Inheritance (fiction)

Human memory bound into computer memory,
Forgotten for decades and centuries,
Merged into a new human body - for what?

In the hospital, after the accident, Locke's and Kara's families did not agree to have their dying teens' memories copied into computer data cubes... but someone did anyway. Now, 260 years after three best friends were crushed together in a car crash, two of them have been revived from their digital mausoleums, put into new, self-healing bodies. Why?

Imagine waking up to a world you cannot understand, venturing into a landscape of bioengineered insects and robot-driven cars, realizing that no one you knew then is alive now, except perhaps the third person in that car crash...

The story begun in The Adoration of Jenna Fox follows best friends Locke and Kara after their long sleep, those endless decades of only being able to speak with their minds to one another.

Look for Mary E. Pearson's short story from another character's perspective on the Tor website after you've read The Fox Inheritance at your local library or independent bookstore - and wonder what will happen next in The Jenna Fox Chronicles.
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Book info: The Fox Inheritance (The Jenna Fox Chronicles, vol. 2) / Mary E. Pearson. Henry Holt, 2011. [author's website] [series Facebook page] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Locke isn’t sure he likes having a body again. His mind often goes back to the darkness, when he and Jenna and Kara were the only things in the whole universe, wholly memory and thought and emotion. Then Jenna disappeared. Being able to communicate with Kara kept him sane, gave him the strength to keep on existing.

Capturing the mind in a computer memory cube when the flesh could no longer survive – that was indeed possible when the three friends were in that auto crash. But the ability to return the whole mind and memory to a living body had to wait for scientific breakthroughs, had to wait 260 years.

When Kara and Locke realize that Dr. Gatsbro has only rescued their minds to show off their replacement 80% human bodies as a demonstration for wealthy buyers who want to live forever, they decide to escape. But this new technological world of robotic firefighters and autofit shoes holds even more surprises than they could have imagined during their year of learning centuries’ worth of information by vgrams.

With the help of a robot cabdriver who dreams beyond her city streets, they find their old neighborhood – all changed, of course – and Jenna’s house, now a museum honoring their friend. Since she had 10% of her brain intact after the crash, her scientist father was able to reinsert her mind and memories into a new body quite soon. Why had he left their minds in the memory blocks all that time?

Discovering that Jenna is still alive turns their escape into a cross-country quest to find her, to close old hurts, to find a way to live now in this future where none of their own blood relatives have survived.

Past and present collide over and over in Locke’s mind as they race across this strange new America, trying to stay away from the authorities and ahead of Dr. Gatsbro’s hired thugs.

Could Jenna truly be alive so many, many decades after their accident? Will she want to see Locke and Kara in the here and now? What do Locke’s increasingly frequent lapses into his cold-storage memories mean?

The long-awaited sequel to The Adoration of Jenna Fox answers vital questions about the three friends while it raises others about self, society, destiny, and love. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy (fiction) - magic potions, Cold War spies

Moving is often difficult,
but having to leave your home because your own government is spying on you?

After World War II, the US government did not take the threat of Communism lightly, as the Cold War kept American and Soviet nuclear missiles always at the ready. So people with influence who might be liberals or Communist sympathizers were watched, regardless of their fame. People in the entertainment industry with humanitarian ideals could find themselves on the Hollywood Blacklist and never allowed to work in movies again.

It's no wonder that Janie's parents decided they'd rather be in England than be forced to testify against their friends before the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities.

Against the threat of open nuclear warfare, what good is an old book of spells and potions?
It's the only hope that Benjamin and Janie have as they race to save the world.
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Book info: The Apothecary / Maile Meloy; illustrated by Ian Schoenherr. G.P.Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2011. [author's website] [illustrator's blog] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Janie wasn’t happy about moving from Hollywood to England in the middle of 9th grade, but her family was being spied on – by US agents! Her parents were just movie script writers, believing that more people should have a chance at a better life, now that they all survived World War II.

As the Cold War deepened in 1952, anyone thought to have Communist ideas was suspect and could be “blacklisted” and kept from working, especially in the entertainment industry. So it’s off to London to work on a BBC television series under assumed names, away from orange trees and sunny beaches to gloomy skies and war-scarred city buildings.

Her new school is awful – uniforms and Latin and medieval history. Everyone huddles up with their friends except Benjamin, who lives with his father at the apothecary shop near her apartment and Sergei, whose father works at the Soviet Embassy.

When Benjamin’s father receives a note that a Chinese chemist has been captured, he scarcely has time to hide Benjamin and Janie and an old book in a secret room before the shop is invaded and he is kidnapped! Notes in the Pharmacopoeia lead them to a special herbal garden, to an old man who can read its Latin and Greek instructions for strange elixirs and warnings about risky transformations, like the tincture that allows a human to change into a bird and back again.

But the teens can’t stay in the garden - whoever took Benjamin’s father wants the Pharmacopoeia and won’t rest until they have it. On the run, arrested and questioned, Janie and Benjamin must escape again and again. Who can they trust? Their rich schoolmate Sarah? Mr. Danby, their Latin teacher and former prisoner-of-war? Sergei and his father?

Is it a foreign government that wants the Pharmacopoeia’s secrets? Someone wanting wealth or immortality or power? It will take all of Janie and Benjamin’s bravery and cleverness to keep this special knowledge out of the wrong hands. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Personal Demons (fiction)

Expelled from Catholic school,
missing her late brother Matt so much,
wondering why she just doesn't feel comfortable as the middle sister...

Frannie could never dream that her soul was special enough to bring Luc and Gabe to Haden High, that Heaven and Hell would be locked in battle over it. Senior year is going to be a lot harder than she thought, if she has to choose between a demon's kisses and an angel's caresses, instead of just concentrating on her writing.

First volume in Desrochers' Personal Demons Trilogy, followed by Original Sin (July 2011) and Last Rite (May 2012). And happy Mysterious Monday to you...
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Book info: Personal Demons / Lisa Desrochers. Tor Teen, 2010. [author's website] [author's blog] [publisher site] [book trailers: Frannie - Luc - Gabe]

My Recommendation: Frannie’s new partner in English class is definitely easy on the eyes. So why does Luc make her so uneasy, like he’s looking into her soul? So sure of himself, but not cocky and arrogant like the other guys in her small New England town.

Still, it’s good to have someone new at Haden High, to make her senior year at bit less like being at Hades High. Frannie even lets Kate choose her outfit and do her makeup for the party – Luc could be there, right? When an ex-boyfriend gets too pushy, suddenly another new guy steps up to keep him in line. And somehow this Gabe and Luc seem to know each other…

Good versus evil isn’t just a philosophical discussion here – Hell and Heaven have both sent their best agents to tag Frannie’s unique and untainted soul. Lucifer and Gabriel renew their ages-old competition, battling for her affections so they can get close enough for her to promise her immortal soul to one side or the other.

If Luc can just get Frannie to sin… If Gabe can help her stay true to her own faith… Even when Frannie finds out that Luc is a demon, she can’t help swooning over him. But what about her feelings for Gabe?

As time ticks on with Frannie’s soul unclaimed, both dominions pick up the pace, sending other agents to Haden. Is this too big for Gabe and Luc to settle between themselves? Will the small town become a battlefield if their bosses have decided to end it now? And what’s so unique about Frannie’s soul that Heaven and Hell are willing to risk their best agents in the mortal world to get it?

First book in the Personal Demons trilogy. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.