turned into a book paparazzo

That's me now, apparently. A book paparazzo. Because when I went to the bookstore today to invite two hardbacks to come live on my bookshelf, I saw so many of the highly anticipated and much-blogged about new releases. And I just couldn't help but get excited to see so many new releases in their pretty hardback forms (and if you happen to be reading this and thinking 'That's what you do when you go to a bookstore - you look at books!' I gotta implore you...WORK WITH ME HERE! :D )

So anyway, if there was a TMZ for big bookstores, I think I'd be working for it.

Some of the books I spotted -

Halo
The Replacement (see the pretty hardback in the picture?!)
Paranormalcy (see the pretty hardback in the picture?!)
13 to Life
Extraordinary
Low Red Moon (looking particularly shiny in its HB cover)
Empty
Dark Song
Nevermore
Firelight
Ascendant
Zombies vs. Unicorns
And...funnily enough -
The Witches Kitchen (scheduled for release 10.5)
Jane (scheduled for release 10.1)
Empty (scheduled for release 10.1)

and...
The Lost Hero

Yep. Way to go, bookstore! You set out Rick Riordan's Lost Hero almost 2 weeks before it's scheduled to be released. There were only 2 copies when I saw it, but needless to say, the bookstore (which I will not name) made countless teens VERY happy :)

Do you ever get giddy when you browse the YA section? Do you ever stand and stare at all the pretty covers? Hopefully you do, because...I certainly don't want to be the only one!

Review - FAERIE WARS

Okay, I'm going to give my critique! I still am glassy-eyed from staying up *literally* all night to finish this book! When you cannot pry a book from your fingers, that means it's good, right? I certainly think so.
- To be fair: This is a down-the-line sci-fi/fantasy, IMO. As someone who has extremely little patience for and limited understanding of fiction technology, I could have done with less "science" but that's a person-to-person thing. My little brothers read this series ...more Faerie Wars (Faerie Wars, #1) - Herbie Brennan
Genre: YA Sci Fi/Fantasy
# of pages: 368 (UK paperback)
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Recommended for: 14+
This is book 1 in the Faerie Wars series that I read approximately a year ago. They are not as well known in the US as in their original release country of the UK, so let's try to give them some exposure, eh?
Though this is a "faerie story," the faeries portrayed in this series are unlike any that I've ever read before. Brennan blends fantasy with science fiction to create practically a new style of fiction. Henry's journey from the Analogue World to the Faerie World is, by a long shot, truly unique and exciting. The action definitely starts when Henry and his crusty neighbor find a little faerie in the yard - the previous chapters dealing with Henry's dysfunctional family life are skip-worthy. Once the action gets started, though, there's no stopping it in this story.
This is most certainly a "third person omniscient" story in that you as the reader follow literally EVERY character. Sometimes I felt a bit overwhelmed by the back-and-forth coverage, but as the story progressed, it became very necessary to see the plot unfold from different directions.

Characters: I found the main protagonist - Henry Atherton - very enjoyable and heartwarming and lovably cute! But he's certainly no dummy, and when he finds himself dropped entirely in a new world, he shows readers how resourceful and intelligent he really is. I found myself wondering what I would do if I found myself in the situations he faced. And the faerie brother-sister duo, Pyrgus and Blue, are to this day some of my favorite characters in YA fiction. Blue is the perfect girl character: she's sassy, a wee bit bossy, incredibly intelligent, but never mean or snarky. She and Henry complimented each other perfectly.
Now here's a little disclaimer: I found the series in the Teen Fiction section, and to me that's a very appropriate place. This is a very action-packed series, and yeah there's conflict: and not wishy-washy glossed over conflict, either. These are bad guys who do bad things. I wouldn't use the word "pervasive," but there certainly are violent aspects of the story. To me, I didn't find the violence out of place or even unnaturally heightened...it had a purpose: to be contrasted with good. Also, some "magick" magic references really steer this series more toward the upper end of YA... Older middle schoolers and high schoolers will just eat this series up.

Overall: A very satisfying beginning to a fun, entertaining 4-part series. I'm certainly glad I gave the Faerie Wars series a try.
Add them to your TBR today!
Final Rating: