Literary Scene

Three New YA Stories

By Ryan G. Van Cleave

The Never Tilting World
By Rin Chupeco

When someone told me that this beefy (490+ pages!) first book of a fantasy duology could accurately be considered a cross between Mad Max and Frozen, I knew I had to read and review it.

The Frozen connection is obvious. For generations, twin goddesses have ruled Aeon in relative peace, but one finally chooses betrayal, and the kingdom splits in two. One land is swallowed by the endless cold of night, and the other knows the deadly heat of an always-blazing sun. 

The Mad Max part is hard to miss, too—this is a post-apocalyptic world, after all. Add in Chupeco’s sandworms and desert marauders, and it’s easy to imagine Mel Gibson (or for those who prefer Mad Max: Fury Road, Tom Hardy) in these pages.

The story primarily focuses on the daughters of these goddesses who now seek to heal this broken world at last. In sum, it’s a decent set-up of an imaginative world, but the delivery of the various stories here ask a lot of readers thanks to four different points of view that can get muddled at times. There’s also a fairly on-the-nose climate change message in the narrative that some readers might find obtrusive. 

Yet I was often quite taken by Chupeco’s worldbuilding. This harsh, brutal land feels, looks, and smells as dangerous as it is. I was also interested in the elemental magic system that feels a bit like what we find in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Ultimately, I wanted to like this book more than I did, though the hope, bravery, and magic found in these pages are definitely rewarding in their own way.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 
RinChupeco.com

Gravemaidens
By Kelly Coon

Kammani’s life went wrong when her family was booted from the world of nobility when her father couldn’t heal the royal son. The story in Gravemaidens takes place a few years after that disaster. Kammani parents are now dead, her family lives in shame, and things get even worse when her sister, Nanaea, is chosen for the land’s “greatest honor,” being one of the three sacred maidens chosen to join the dying ruler of Alu in the afterlife. To be clear, we’re talking about murder here a la the ancient Egyptians.

Like her father before her, Kammani wants to be a great healer, and perhaps she can heal the dying king and in so doing, save her sister, because if he doesn’t die, there’s no need to kill three maidens to join him in death. 

Kammani’s an admirable character who deeply feels the need to take care of everyone but herself. Unlike the opening of The Hunger Games, there’s no option for her to take her sister’s place here. Kammani has to enter the world of high court intrigue and sleuth her way through all the sneaky and dangerous happenings to figure out how to keep the body count from unnecessarily rising.

Telling a story like this via a first person point of view limits the worldbuilding a bit, but Coon does a good job regardless. This is an intriguing, character-driven story that touches on a number of interesting themes that readers will find timely and worthy of consideration.

Rating: 4 out of 5
KellyCoon.com

Angel Mage
By Garth Nix

This stand-alone fantasy novel from Garth Nix—the Australian master of fantasy worldbuilding—is a big book (560 pages!), but it starts fast. You’ve got action in chapter one, and before long, we’ve got people-munching monsters, magic, and mystery to keep us turning pages.

It’s been more than 100 years since Liliah fled from the Fall of Ystara and fell into a magical sleep inside the empty sarcophagus of Saint Marguerite. Now she awakens, ready to relaunch her quest to be joined with her lover, Palleniel, the archangel of Ystara. While that sounds like quite the task, Liliah is one of the most powerful users of angel magic the world has ever seen—among other things, she’s capable of summoning angels and making them do her bidding.

One of the things Nix does so well is create believable worlds, and this one is no exception. The well-detailed society is equal in terms of gender (many of the soldiers, mages, and other people in positions of power are women) while also being racially diverse. The magic system, in particular, is unique and let’s call it what it is—pretty cool, albeit complex, in how it uses icons (depictions of angels) as the primary vehicle for magic. Throughout his career, Nix has always been good at putting a fresh spin on fantasy tropes.

To succeed in her plan, Liliath needs to deal with a team of teens consisting of the reckless musketeer Agnez, the healer giant Simeon, Dorotea the gentle mage, and Henri, a clerk of the Cardinal. The relationship of these four is compelling, though I’m most intrigued by Agnez, who’s ready to duel at the drop of a hat, and he has biting wit, as well. He’s a terrific character which is saying something since the whole group is interesting and well-crafted.

The stakes are high. One kingdom has been destroyed already thanks to Liliath’s pursuit of her goals, and she’s willing to sacrifice another in order to get what she wants. Yes, she’s a villain, but though Liliath’s single-mindedness, unapologetic drive makes her a monster at times, thanks to Nix’s deft writing and careful characterization, she’s sympathetic, too. That’s quite the trick.

This is an engaging book by a master of the genre.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5
GarthNix.com