Wednesday, June 17, 2015

School's Out!




School is out! You drive or run home as fast as you possibly can, breathing in the fresh smell of sunscreen and chlorine that haunts your summer dreams. Birds are singing, the sun is shining, and there’s no more homework! You have absolute freedom! The world, metaphorically speaking, is your oyster!

You slam the front door and flop onto your bed, exhilarated but exhausted from sprinting the whole way home. Time to celebrate with some leisure activities! Why not indulge yourself with starting a new book? The only question is, which book? You reach for your phone, pull up the Notes app, and scroll down to your To-Read list, where you realize…

Your To-Read list is miles long.

Every bookworm has lived that nightmare, me included. In fact, every summer, I seem to get stuck in the same rut, trying to decide which of my favorite series is most important to catch up on. But never fear! I’ve already done the busywork of sorting my To-Read list for vacation, and even doing a little catching up on it myself. Here are the top YA releases you’ve been missing out on since last summer, the ones you should drive down to Hicklebee’s and buy right now.

All hail the creator of the Legend trilogy! Marie Lu is back with her latest release, this time with a darker, more supernatural twist. The Young Elites comes with the full package: three-dimensional, evolving characters, a complex and vivid world, and just the right amounts of dark humor and suspense.

Finally, the sequel to Seraphina is out! The old, lovable heroes we all adore are back, with new characters to boot. This book may finally have the answers that will satiate you after years of wondering, who is Jannoula? Where is Orma now? Will Abdo randomly execute another physics-defying gymnastics stunt on the next page? (I can’t answer the first two for you, but yesis always a safe bet on the third one.)

(while reading the back cover) Um. Excuse me. Did you say, a girl who can kill people just by touching them? Seriously? That’s epic! Why isn’t she running the world? Oh, okay, there’s an evil queen with a super hot son that this girl’s betrothed to. That makes sense. Wait, hold up…there’s another handsome guy? And he’s adorable and funny and sweet and absolutely amazing? (goes to buy book)

Well, you get the idea. But the back cover doesn’t account for all the plot twists, which create massive suspense, excitement, and heartache. (Oh, the feels). DO NOT overlook this book; it’s a definite must-have of the 2014-2015 year.

I went into this book cautiously, since we were in new territory here. After all, we were left off on something of a cliffhanger after Crown of Midnight, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Besides, every character has their “awesomeness” limit, and I figured Celaena had pretty much maxed out by now.

SO. NOT. TRUE.

Not only are the old favorites back, but we’re returning with a whole new host of amazing characters, all of which have incredible depth, complexity, and personality, something that only Sarah J. could accomplish while simultaneously weaving one of the most elaborate plots yet to be seen in literature. (I’m telling you, she is the master of multitasking.) If you have not yet read this amazing follow-up in Celaena’s path to becoming the best character of all time, or if you have not yet started this epic series (heathen!), I suggest you stop reading this post RIGHT NOW and driving to the nearest bookstore. Besides, we’re basically done as it is.

-Kyra Z.,  TAB Member

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