Welcome to Bordertown-- Holly Black and Ellen Kushner, eds

Bordertown is a place that exists between this human world and the Elvin realm. No one knows exactly how to get there, but it seems like if you want to find Bordertown hard enough, you somehow always find it.

Bordertown is the place for freaks, strays, artists, runaways, musicians, vampires, humans, fairies, elves, werewolves, and more. It’s home for the homeless and a place to fit in for those that have never fit in anywhere else. Magic and the rules of normal society are slightly off kilter there and just about anything is possible.

This book is a collection of stories and poems that take place in Bordertown. Each story is independent but they all have a common setting. Teens who enjoy short stories, urban fantasy, or who are looking for nontwilight supernatural creature stories might like this book. Also, this book contains stories of some of the most popular and awarded YA authors, so even if they’re not super into Urban Fantasy, it could still be fun to read new stories by some of their favorite authors.

White Cat-- Holly Black

This book surprised me. I didn't expect to like it, but it kept getting high marks from review sources I value... so I gave it a chance.

And what do you know? I really enjoyed it!

In this tale of an alternate reality that highly resembles real life, there are curse workers. Curse workers are basically people who can use magic but only to do one thing. For example, Cassel's mother can control people's emotions, his brothers can control memories and even bring about death. Somehow, though his whole family was blessed with the skills to use this magic, Cassel is the one dud. He can't do anything magical, so his mobster family shipped him off to a boarding school where he won't get in their way-- so he thinks.

But there's this white cat who stalks his dreams. And one night this cat causes him to sleepwalk onto the roof of his dorm and come within seconds of plummeting to his death. And somehow he feels a little more awake now, like fuzz has been removed from his head, and he is learning things about himself, and his family, that he never thought possible.

This book is realistic fantasy with action and a little bit of romance. I think a variety of teens will like it, and it's the first in a promising series. I would give this book to fans of the author, Holly Black, or teens who enjoy authors like Melissa Marr, Charles de Lint or any other urban fantasy author.

Fragile Eternity-- Melissa Marr

So Fragile Eternity is the sequel to Wicked Lovely... and touches on some of the themes in Ink Exchange, which was more like a sidestep in this series.

And, just like Wicked Lovely, I liked it, but didn't love it. (You can read all about what I thought of Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange here.)

While Wicked Lovely was told from Aislinn's perspective, Fragile Eternity is told mostly from her partner Seth's. I feel like Melissa Marr did a good job of making the story interesting; readers can get reinvested in a series if a new perspective brings it back to life. In Fragile Eternity we learn about Aislynn's physical longing to be with the Summer King, Keenan, the way the Summer Queen should. We also learn how hard it is for Seth to watch his girlfriend literally glow whenever she is around Keenan. This is partially why Seth takes on the dangerous quest to find Sorcha, the high queen, and beg her to make him Fairy. But when Seth takes that journey, he shifts the fabric of the universe, and nothing will ever be the same. Although it doesn't clearly state this at the end of the book, the reader is left feeling that another book is in the works, because there isn't a clear resolution at the end.

So there you have it. Not a very inspired blog post, I'm afraid, but then again, I wasn't super inspired by this book either...

Recommended for fans of urban fantasy, especially girls.

Mortal Instruments Trilogy-- Cassandra Clare

So you might have noticed I haven't blogged since early last week... and for that I do apologize... but I swear it was for a good reason! I kinda fell down a rabbit hole and couldn't come back out until I ate the Mortal Instruments books for dinner. And boy were they yummy!

Book 1: City of Bones



Meet Clary Fray, a teenage girl who lives with her mother in Brooklyn. For most of her life, things have seemed rather ordinary, until one day she witnesses three tattooed teens murder another teen... but when the murdered teen's body literally disappears before her eyes, Clary knows something supernatural is going on. Mysteries pile up, her mother is abducted, and out of the blue Clary is attacked by something preternaturally evil... a demon. Almost dizzyingly fast, she discovers there is a band of Shadowhunters, a race of beings akin to angels, whose whole purpose in life is to slay demons. Think Buffy but without the vampires... well not entirely without vampires, but I don't want to give too much away. Clary and her best friend Simon befriend a small group of Shadowhunters and try to find Clary's mother... learning that Clary was born into this life in a way she never knew before.

Book 2: City of Ashes



In this book we dive more deeply into the world of the Shadowhunters. Clary and her friends unravel a larger plot of evil than they earlier expected. Her mother's disappearance is not random; a Voldemort-like villain named Valentine is trying to gather the mortal instruments so he can call upon the Arch Angel and purify the race of Shadowhunters once and for all. Clary is slowly falling in love with Jace, her Shadowhunting partner, and while he returns her feelings, there is a major moral and social issue that keeps their love contained. While many second books in a trilogy serve as only a bridge between the first and third, City of Ashes definitely holds its own and drives the reader frantically to the third book.

Book 3: City of Glass



As Clary is learning to control her Shadowhunting power, the rest of her friends travel through a portal to find the last clue which will lead them to Valentine. Although they were trying to protect Clary who has little experience fighting demons, Clary is determined to find a way to defeat Valentine so she can find her mother and basically save the entire human race. Teaming up with the Children of the Night (Vampires), and the Children of the Moon (Werewolves), Clary battles to the death to save the world as she knows it. Twists and turns in the plot will keep readers motivated, and let's be honest, the battle scenes are pretty awesome too.

Overall, I really enjoyed this series. Although some of the elements of this urban fantasy tome were not original, they still felt fresh because the characters were so multidimensional. No one has good intentions 100% of the time, and even the uber-villain, Valentine, can almost seduce you into believing he has the universe's best intentions at heart. Clare touches on some taboo topics in these books, and I admire her dedication to her story, even if there are elements some people might not like. I would recommend these books to fans of supernatural and urban fantasy.

Eternal-- Cynthia Leitich Smith

Are you sick of vampires yet? If so, that's too bad because more and more vampire fiction keeps rollin' on into the YA section of your library! Luckily teens still seem into the genre, and we now have more to offer them than Twilight and Anne Rice.

Eternal is the story of Miranda, who is an Eternal. Don't call her a vampire (that's liable to get you killed), and if you double-cross her you might end up beheaded by the Dracula. Abducted and in some ways liberated from her mundane human existence, the Dracula "adopts" her, raises her in his image, and hopes that one day she will take over his kingdom. Dracula isn't a person, rather a title, and it's the most respected one among the Eternal population. Miranda is mostly happy with her brutal existence... it sure beats being a wallflower. Still, something is missing...

And then, she meets Zachary. The first thing to know about Zachary is that he is heartwrenchingly gorgeous (Duh. I mean this is a teen novel right? The male heartthrob isn't going to be anything less..) Zachary is totally 100% completely in love with Miranda... in that Edward and Bella way, actually. You see, Zachary was Miranda's guardian angel, but thanks to a few complications, he is now on earth and has to win back her soul before he can return to heaven. Zachary has know Miranda since she was born, and even though she was never aware of his existence before, they have an undeniably magnetic connection.

So, while it's not a totally new tale, I did enjoy this work of vampire fiction. It kinda felt like a hybrid of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones and Meyer's Twilight. Kinda. I would recommend this book to teens who enjoyed the aforementioned tomes, or who are looking for vampire/supernatural creature fiction in general. While this book is definitely a stand-alone title, it takes place in the same world as Leitich Smiths first novel, Tantalize.

Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange-- Melissa Marr

Ahhh, urban fantasy. There is more and more to choose from these days!

Wicked Lovely is a modern version of an old tale. You know, that old tale about a fairy king finding a mortal to be his queen etc etc. Holly Black wrote a version of this story in her novel Tithe a few years ago. Anyway, just like most retold folk and fairy tales, the story isn't new and usually there are many other retellings. The author just needs to make sure their version isn't too similar to everything else... or to the original story. In Wicked Lovely, Aislinn is one of the rare humans gifted with The Sight, aka she can see fairies. When the summer king claims her for his own, she has to make choices and sacrifices to preserve the existence of both the fairy and human races. Although the story was paced well and held my interest throughout, I kept feeling like I was reading a slightly tamed-down version of Tithe. I know there are many, many differences between these two books, but as a reader, I felt that I shouldn't be quite so reminded of Black's novel.

Ink Exchange, in my opinion, was better. I didn't *love* it, but I did hold my interest, and teens who are into urban fantasy and fairy stories will like it. The story felt fresher. Leslie, who was a minor character in Wicked Lovely, comes from a terribly broken home. Her father is an alcoholic, her brother is a drug dealer and abuses her, and she has to work as a waitress to bring in enough money to pay the household bills. Wanting something for herself, Leslie decides to get a tattoo. Little did she know that the tattoo artist is a halfling, and he tattooed her with an ink made of fairy blood, fairy tears, and shadows. Leslie is now intimately connected with the leader of the Dark Court, who is the enemy of her friend Aislinn (main character of Wicked Lovely), and has to fight for her autonomy once again.

Both books have strong female protagonists, and don't treat right and wrong like dichotomies. I like that Marr writes the "evil" characters in a multi-dimensional way. Also, there is a gritty edge to the books that adds to the overall ambiance.

I would recommend these books to teen girls (boys may like them too if they can get past the female protagonist thing) who like urban fantasy and/or books like: Charles de Lint's The Blue Girl, any Holly Black, Herbie Brennan's fairy books, O.R. Melling's The Summer King, any Francesca Lia Block, and Will Shetterly's Elsewhere and Nevernever.

P.S. Don't you just *love* the book covers?