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Teen SRC 2022 – The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

“I do not believe ambitious men who say the only route to peace and prosperity lies in giving them more power—particularly when they do it with lands and people who are not theirs.”

A behemoth compared to the first two installments in the City of Brass trilogy, The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty is divided into three POVs, in which readers trace the experiences of Nahri and Ali as they gather allies to conquer Daevabad, and Dara, who is now the infamous general of the Banu Manizheh after seizing Daevabad. With most of the emphasis placed on these three characters, particularly Nahri and Ali, I can’t help but notice the inconsistencies of Ali’s character development over the course of the trilogy. Drifting in the boat along the Nile with Nahri, he is hit hard with guilt and grief over his inability to save Mutandhir, who Ali believes is dead.

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Teen SRC 2022 – Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

As Global Warming continues, ice from thousands of years before melts. The parasites inside them are released. These parasites, later named The Tox, spreads to an island called Raxter where there’s a private school for girls.

Hetty, Hyatt, and Reese, three close friends, are among many of the students who are infected with The Tox. The infected start developing second spines or hearts, claws, and gills, but those who can’t take it are perished.

Everyone has only one choice, to stay inside in quarantine and wait for food and supplies to be delivered. But when Byatt is sick enough to be taken to the isolation room, Hetty knows some things have to change.

However, by the time Hetty sneaks in to see Byatt, she’s already disappeared.

This is a great book and I would definitely recommend it to people who like the dystopian genre.

Teen SRC 2022 – The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Psychics have always told Blue Sargent that her true love would die if she kissed him. All her teenage years, she spent swearing off on boys, especially the Aglionby boys or alias Raven boys. Standing next to her psychic half-aunt watching the soon-to-be-dead pass by, she sees a spirit for the first time, a Raven Boy. “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve her half-aunt said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him”.

In Maggie Stiefvater‘s book The Raven Boys we follow Blue Sargent’s life as it tangles with those she dreads the most the Raven Boys. Being the only non-psychic in her matriarchal house she struggles with identity issues and her new-formed friendship with the rich, members of high-class society, the Raven Boys certainly is not helping. But she can’t help but be drawn to the four Aglionby Boys, Gansey who is on a quest that has encompassed the other three, Ronan, the strong hot-headed boy; Adam, the poor scholarship student who can’t fit in with the others; and Noah, the tacit member of the group.

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Teen SRC 2022 – Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Galaxy “Alex” stern isn’t your average twenty-year-old at Yale and she worries she’ll ever be “average”. She can see ghosts. And her ability brings misery to her when she gets involved in a low-level drug deal. In Leigh Bardugo’s new dark twisty thriller, Ninth House, we follow the life of Alex stern, the only survivor of a multiple homicide that she shouldn’t have survived. When laying in the hospital bed she is allowed to turn her life around and begin fresh at the prestigious Yale University, she knows it’s bound to come with a catch. And what’s the catch? She is to be the newest member of the “ninth house” a secret society flourishing in yale looking over the arcane proceeding of the “ancient eight”. 

Her life becomes intertwined with the dark secrets that run through New Haven’s secret societies when there’s a dead girl on campus, and only Alex seems to think there’s more to the story than meets the eye. She often wonders why doesn’t she just let it go; the societies have come up with a neat answer to the girl’s death. It would be convenient for her to just let it be, focusing on the new opportunities Yale brings her. But she feels for the girl, she knows what it feels like to be not cared for, to be pushed under the bus with a “nevermind’. She knows what it feels like to fight the world for the injustice it brings to you, “I want to survive this world that keeps trying to destroy me”. Following the girl’s death, she discovers drug deals, corruption, and cover-ups. She finds the truth beneath the facade run by the secret societies, dark ambition, and sinister motives to get power. 

Leigh bardugo has created the best-written morally grey character that I just couldn’t help but sympathize with. Leigh’s world-building is amazing and mesmerizing and something I got lost in. Although the book proved to be more dark and troubling than I had expected, the brutal past of the characters just added to the full effect of the book and I loved every single second of reading it. If you liked The Atlas Six or Dance of Thieves, this fantastical world created by Bardugo is a perfect addition.

I rate this book a 9/10!

Teen SRC 2022 – The Girl With Nine Lives

This book was about a girl named Ellie, who, in her difficult childhood, had only one friend. A cat named Benedict. One day, the cat died of old age when she was still very young. Then, after a few years, the cat reappeared right when Ellie was going through a stage of depression. The rest of the story is about the adventurous life of Ellie and Benedict.

Teen SRC 2022 – The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is about a group of explorers who ventured to the deep Amazon jungle in search of a lost species of the extinct dinosaurs. The young journalist, Mr. Malone, in order to impress a young lady named Gladys decided to meet with the famous professor, Mr. Challenger, a grumpy and obnoxious person. The scientist visited inside the land of dinosaurs before, but many people are still skeptical of his discoveries. Professor Challenger refused to go there first and instead sent the expedition with professor Summerlee, Mr. Malone and Lord John Roxton. Upon arrival to the Amazon, the explorers found out that the letter with the instructions was just a blank piece of paper. To everybody’s surprise, Professor Challenger appeared himself. He led the expedition to the remote plateau. To get there, the explorers had to find a very long tree and make a bridge. Once the voyagers crossed the bridge, the two native helpers destroyed the tree and escaped. The adventurers were now stuck on the plateau. They came across many species of plants and animals but the most terrifying discovery was the existence of the ape man tribe, extremely aggressive and hostile. After many tribulations, the adventurers managed to escape the plateau and return to England with a trophy.

I liked this book because it is about natural science and biology. I rate this book four out of five.

Teen SRC 2021 – Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter

While I can’t say I loved absolutely everything about Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter, there are a few things that left me completely astonished. First, the characters. Namely, Maddie and Logan. How – and I repeat – how did the author manage to make me grow so attached to the characters in just a mere 304 pages? It’s like I really know both of them in real life; let me just say the characters are so incredibly lovable and the plot development between them is not only enticing but heartwarming.

One thing I wasn’t super interested in for this novel was the plot. Well, okay, not the actual plot, but rather the fact that the book was marketed as a mystery novel, and yet I didn’t really pick up on any suspense-building, plot twists, or anything like that. It was certainly a very adventurous read, but I’m not sure I would leap as far as “mysterious.”

Overall, I thought it was a sweet book despite the misleading genre; honestly I think there’s more romance than anything, but it’s very well-written and no cliche personality traits in any of the characters. 7/10!

Teen SRC 2021 – Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine

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Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine is one of the best series I ever read. This series is about a futuristic world, where humans have invented intergalactic travel and met a type of aliens called Leviathan. These Leviathan are gigantic aliens that take are living spaceships and they made a program called Honors. In this program, humans are chosen to go on these Leviathan to supposedly explore the outer reaches of space.

Zara Cole, or main protagonist, is a thief and she got recruited into the Honors program for some reason. There, things take a dark turn, and Zara, her copilot, Beatrice, and her ship, Nadim, must try and survive.

I enjoyed this book a lot because it was fast paced and had many interesting plot twists. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy action packed, sci-fi books.

Teen SRC 2021 – The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer | Little, Brown Books  for Young Readers

The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer in the Land of Stories series is addictive and astonishing. Furthermore, the novel is fast-pacing and keeps the audience at the edge of their seats. The author would use detail and sensories to drive the reader to experience the events and empathize with the characters’ emotions. Each chapter is dynamic and becomes more and more intense at the end. The genres are fantasy, adventure and suitable for teens. I would highly recommend the novel to teenagers because you can recollect the fairy tales and the memories while also getting engaged at a comfortable reading level. The main characters Alex and Conner, get swallowed into a magical book, then end up in the fairy tale world. The main characters have a chance to interact face-to-face with the characters that filled their lively childhood but met antagonists such as wolves, witches and trolls. However, escaping is difficult which so the twins went through an unpredictable and magical journey. In summary, I would rate The Wishing Spell nine out of ten because it’s addicting and astonishing!

Teen SRC 2021 – Honor Bound by Rachel Caine

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Honor Bound by Rachel Caine is the second book of the series Honors. It follows Zara Cole, a thief who was on Earth, but got put into the Honors program to fight an intergalactic war against a species of aliens called phages who prey upon the living starships. Zara’s starship is called Nadim and her co pilot is Beatriz have to exterminate those creatures.

Due to this book being a sequel, I would recommend reading Honor Among Thieves first so you roughly know what is going on. I enjoyed this book a lot because it was pretty fast paced and it didn’t seem as if one character was just carrying the plot. I would recommend this book to people who like reading action books with a bit of romance.