The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
by Kiersten White
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: September 25th, 2018
Ever since she was young, Elizabeth has been in the care of the Frankenstein family. Sold by a woman who beat and starved her, Elizabeth knows she will be returned to that horrid existence if she fails at her task: becoming the friend of the solitary and strange Victor Frankenstein. And she succeeds, soon becoming his closest friend, and is forever glued to his side. But as the years pass, Elizabeth’s survival depends on her ability to manage Victor’s temper and satisfy his every whim, no matter the price.
This book was not at all what I was expecting but was still very interesting. Diving into it, the reader expects to be taken through the life of Elizabeth as she grows up, but they are actually brought in when Elizabeth is older and in the middle of looking for Victor. But this does not mean that they never get to see their relationship as it grows. The author shows glimpses of the past several times throughout the book, allowing the reader to watch Elizabeth and Victor's growing relationship while growing uneasy as they see the disturbing actions of Victor as a young boy. Including these bits of the past also worked great in building Elizabeth’s character. Though it might be revealing too much to say exactly what happened in these flashbacks, I loved how much insight they gave into Elizabeth. The reader is able to see exactly what motivations she has and why she makes the decisions she does.
Another amazing part of this book was the setting: 19th century Europe. The author took us through many of the places characters go to in FRANKENSTEIN. From the murky slums of Ingolstadt to the vast mansion in Geneva and the harsh winters of Northern Russia, the reader is instantly immersed in the scenery flowing from the author’s pen. Reading the book, I felt shivers down my spine as the characters went through each of the locations. These places were also true to the original book, which I thought was pretty cool.
Lastly, the main part of the book that I enjoyed the most was the tone. Dark and mysterious, it rang true to the original insanity that was such a big part of the classic. Elizabeth, for example, constantly ignores Victor's evil in order to stay with him and live a peaceful life. Even when he cuts open animals to examine them, she doesn’t say a thing so he can remain happy. I enjoyed parts of the book that discuss this because it almost felt like a psychological analysis of the character of Elizabeth. As I said, this was only one example of it, but as we see Elizabeth do crazy things at great lengths just to please Victor, we are able to see more of her psyche then we were able to in FRANKENSTEIN. Originally, Shelley wrote her as more of a side character in love with Victor. But in this book, we are able to dive further into what makes her, her. There was even a mention later on about how Victor kept a diary where he wrote his own version of the events that happened between him and Elizabeth. Readers who have read the original will be happy about this because it connects the two works in a whole new way.
If you love dark, psychological thrillers, this book is for you. For those who have never read FRANKENSTEIN, no worries because you need no prior knowledge in order to read this. As the PENELOPIAD was to the ODYSSEY, so THE DARK DESCENT OF ELIZABETH FRANKENSTEIN is to FRANKENSTEIN. It brings to light the woman’s part of the story that is often given less attention in great works like this. I would recommend this book for older teens because of numerous mentions of maiming and violence throughout the book.
Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree
by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: September 4th, 2018
BURIED BENEATH THE BAOBAB TREE is an extremely relevant novel, stirring up feelings and opinions on an important story rarely given attention. The heinous group of terrorists known as Boko Haram has been forcing its radical views of the Islamic religion onto Nigerian citizens since 2002. This sets up the premise of Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s outstanding debut novel. The protagonist and narrator of BURIED BENEATH THE BAOBAB TREE is a young Nigerian girl who values nothing more than her family and her education. When her village is taken by Boko Haram, she is torn away from everyone and everything she loves, except her best friend, who is taken alongside her.
Nwaubani’s striking tale of what happened following the kidnapping left me awestruck and to be honest, horrified. I will say that I have never been more shocked by the meaning of a novel’s title. In all, BURIED BENEATH THE BAOBAB TREE is an important and extremely well-written novel. Split into very short and easy to read chapters, the flow of the novel is smooth and quick. I recommend this novel to readers 14 and over, due to mature themes and graphic content.
Thank you to all of our 2017-2018 TRC members!! You're all shining stars.
Do you want to join the Teen Readers Council? We have an open spot for the 2018-2019 school year! You too could read and review new teen novels before they're released!
All you need to do is download and fill out an application and then email or snail-mail it back to us! (By September 1st, 2018 at 11:59pm. See the application for where to email or snail-mail.) You can also get hard copies of the application at Children's Book World.
Check out the application HERE
Not sure what we mean when we ask for a YA review on the application? Take a look at these TRC reviews for some great examples!
We Regret to Inform You
by Ariel Kaplan
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 21, 2018
WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU by Ariel Kaplan is the scariest, most terrifying horror story I've ever read, and it's a contemporary rom-com. Mischa is a perfect student with all the grades, scores, and extracurriculars that should guarantee her a spot at any college she wants. Yet, she experiences every high schooler's worst nightmare when every single college she applied to rejects her, leaving Mischa without a plan. Digging deeper, she finds her applications have been sabotaged. With a growing list of suspects and still no college plan, Mischa fights the clock to discover who did this to her and uncovers a much darker secret.
As a rising senior, college is one of the most pressing things on my mind, and it was fun to read the worst possible outcome in a humorous way. The writing and characters were consistent and relatable, and although the beginning may have been a bit better than the rest of the book, it was still an enjoyable page turner. Kaplan seemed to have a better grasp on the actual high school experience than most YA authors, which was refreshing and made the story more immersive and realistic. The ending was a bit rushed and I would have loved a more elaborate conclusion. Overall, this was a fun and exciting read that other high schoolers should check out!
Let Me List the Ways
by Sarah White
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: August 7, 2018
LET ME LIST THE WAYS by Sarah White is about Mackenzie Clark, a senior in high school who is in love with her best friend Nolan Walker. Of course he isn't aware of this fact. For their last summer together they decide to make a list of things they want to do together before it's over. Mackenzie has to decide whether she wants to jeopardize their friendship by telling Nolan her true feelings. I enjoyed reading this book. It was a fun light read. I liked the author's writing style and the friendship development. I would recommend this book to romance novel lovers!
These Rebel Waves
by Sara Raasch
Publisher: Balzer & Bray/Harperteen
Publication Date: August 7, 2018
THESE REBEL WAVES tells the interwoven tale of three people whose lives are dependent on the rulings of two countries, Grace Loray and Agrid. Adeluna fought as a soldier for the magic-filled island of Grace Loray during the war that ended five years ago. She thought she was able to save the people from Agrid’s oppression, but when a Agridian delegate vanishes during peace talks, everything she worked for may soon be erased. Devereux is one of Grace Loray’s stream raiders, a pirate who deals in the island’s magical plants. But when Agrid accuses him and the rest of the stream raiders of kidnapping the delegate, he agrees to help Adeluna find him. Benat is the crown prince of Agrid. But unlike his magic-fearing people, he believes it could be used to heal. So when his father gives him the job of reversing Agrid’s fear, he must decide if changing his people’s lives is worth potentially losing his. But as new information is revealed and more players join the game, the three of them must decide how much they are willing to pay for peace.
This book has all the elements of a blockbuster novel, and it delivers excellently. Starting with the setting itself, the author clearly put a lot of research into it. From the lush plants that could be found around the island to the extremist church group that controls Agrid, readers are quickly immersed in how well developed everything is. While reading, I always found myself being sucked in to the author’s descriptive prose that makes you feel like what she was describing was actual history. Things like extreme and cultish religion can be hard to portray in books, but the author still found a way to do it excellently. This includes a multitude of magical experimentation which Raasch describes in a way that makes it sound like she was conducting them herself. The author also did an amazing job making sure that Grace Loray’s side of things wasn’t too biased, so their government didn’t seem like they were the absolutely good guys and that they could do no harm. I found that balancing and providing two sides to the coin like that enhanced the book beautifully and made it feel so much more real.
Another part of this book that I absolutely adored were the characters. None of them felt fake and overdone. None of them felt incomplete and undeveloped. A problem that frequently arises with books like this, is that the author often makes the characters tragic and overload them with dark and depressing backstory. And though these characters did have that, none of them used it to overload their personalities. It never felt like the only things that made up the characters were where they came from. Rather, these backstories helped guide the characters to where they might be, giving us insight to what they might do later on.
Adeluna, for example, was a character who was everything a typical badass female lead could be: smart, strong, and beautiful. She also plays the role of the sheltered-princess type despite fighting in a disastrous war. But what made her so different than other characters is that she not only showed that she is beyond and better than that, but she also showed that even ‘perfect’ girls can be wrong, and have faults. An example of something I found that made her different than other characters was something that occurred early on in the book. Adeluna is in an intense fighting scene (that I won’t describe even though it happens very early on) during which she does some complex moves. Typically when an ex-soldier-warrior-princess-like character does this, they do it perfectly. But though Adeluna did execute the move with finesse, she did think at one point "Oh, I wonder if I still remember how to do this. It’s been a while after all." I’m paraphrasing of course, but I found this thought to be interesting because it is so rare to see doubt in fighting ability from a character type like hers. This was just one example of many of how the author truly went beyond the standards of characters in typical fantasy novels to make hers unique.
Of course, no good cast of characters would be complete without an equally excellent plot. And the author delivered this perfectly, taking readers on a thrill ride which combined adventure, political intrigue, a slow building romance, and just a dash of magic to make the perfect novel for fantasy lovers. Readers will fall in love with the subplots of this book and the terrifying flashbacks that will integrate an element of surprise into the book that readers won’t see coming.
I would recommend this book to fantasy lovers, but also to people who enjoy reading books that feel like they were inspired by history. Also, if you love seeing LGBT characters and romance featured in fantasy, you will be happy to know that THESE REBEL WAVES features this (which isn’t typical in pirate fantasy like this). THESE REBEL WAVES is a book that won’t let you down if you are looking for a breathtaking adventure that will leave you begging for more.
Finding Yvonne
by Brandy Colbert
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 7, 2018
Eighteen-year-old Yvonne is at a crossroads. A violin prodigy, she’s always known she wanted to be a musician. But lately she worries she’s falling out of love with the instrument. She has another decision to make: Her almost-boyfriend Warren is a safe and familiar option; Omar, his polar opposite, is exciting and dangerous and a musician, but Yvonne fears he isn’t telling her everything. To make matters worse, lately her dad’s been more interested in getting high than he’s been in spending time with her. Just when it seems like her life is spinning out of control, she falls pregnant.
FINDING YVONNE is a moving read. It’s a compassionate coming-of-age-story about teenage friendship, romance, and big decisions. Brandy Colbert deftly handles some of the weightier subject matter. She’s able to keep the book a relatively light-hearted read.
