The Tempest: 2012

Source: Author Website

Tempestuous (Twisted Lit #1) by Kim Askew & Amy Helmes (Merit Press, 2012, 224pp.) 

“Anyone who says leprosy is a disease that’s been eradicated hasn’t set foot in a high school lately.” (64)

For Miranda Prospero, a former member of Eastern Prep’s elite “in-crowd,” life has become boring, but not exactly unbearable. Just recently, the school administration discovered that she and her friends were running a secret matchmaking service that paired up geeks with the academically challenged cool kids (for a price). To save their own skins, her boyfriend and friends produced Miranda as the ringleader of the operation. The school demanded that Miranda pay back all profits she earned from her little business, so at present, she finds herself sentenced to minimum-wage labor at a greasy hotdog stand at the local mall.

But things aren’t so bad. She’s managed to make some friends her own age there, including Ariel, her sweet, cheerful manager/co-worker; Colin, a waiter who works in the hell that is Cheeze Monkey Pizzeria; and Caleb, a brooding, frustrating, yet incredibly attractive game-store employee. Shortly after the story’s beginning, Miranda, her new friends, and a handful of other teens (including her now ex-boyfriend and a few other treacherous classmates) get snowed in by a massive blizzard. Since Miranda had planned to throw a surprise birthday party for Ariel, she and her friends unleash the festivities in the mall—and at the same time, take vengeance on her former in-crowd compatriots by increasingly juvenile means (tormenting a girl terrified by rabbits in an elevator with a pet-store bunny; asking Ariel to lure a few “mean girls” into the mall beauty salon and give them bad makeovers.). The fun turns sour, though, once they realize that a dangerous assailant is trapped in the mall with them—someone who steals mall merchandise and then acts violently when someone tries to catch him in the act.

Tempestuous, the first book in a series that plans to focus on putting a “modern-day spin” on Shakespearean literature, centers on the comedic play The Tempest. For those who haven’t read it, Tempest takes place on an enchanted island where Prospero, the bookish, exiled Duke of Milan, now spends his time dabbling in magic. His only companions are his daughter, Miranda; Ariel, his faithful spirit-servant; and Caliban, the crafty, deformed monster-servant intent on betraying him and claiming the island for himself. When a ship carrying the makers of his social undoing—Alonso, king of Naples; Duke Antonio, Prospero’s usurper brother, and others—comes within distance of his island home, Prospero decides that he wants revenge and creates a storm to shipwreck everyone on the island. He then spends the rest of the story leading the castaways through a series of tests to call them out on their past transgressions, leading them to see the error of their ways. He then gets his old job back, and he even manages to arrange a marriage between his daughter and the king’s son, Ferdinand.

Tempestuous proves to be a very faithful, if at times, somewhat problematic interpretation of the Bard’s work. In this updated version the authors have combined Prospero, the original magician, and his daughter Miranda to make the story’s hero young and female. Like her literary component, the YA novel’s heroine “works magic” by matchmaking, manipulating situations to her liking, and punishing her enemies— though in her case, it seems like each prank is carried out in a fit of mean-spirited vengeance against clichéd villains rather than with the well-meaning spirit of the Bard’s comedy.

This isn’t to say that Miranda herself doesn’t gain some sense of humility in the end, however. As she sheepishly admits at the conclusion of her adventures: “Justice [is] always preferable to petty revenge” (169).

Knowledge of the origin material gives the story’s somewhat silly and extravagant antics a degree of credibility, though taken as an original standalone piece, readers more interested in “reality-based” fiction may call their suspension of disbelief into question. But, now that I think about it, I can’t really image many teens interested in anything remotely “reality-based.”

Who will enjoy it? I think I can safely say that this book will appeal to shy, young loner-types who feel they don’t fit in, who enjoy a light read on occasion, and who love seeing snooty popular kids reduced to caricatures. Reading The Tempest isn’t required to get the overall gist of the story, but as a former English major, I can’t resist urging those unacquainted with the Bard to rent a copy of it. Recommended for Ages 15-17 for Language.

Kadamba of Gentle Humilaith

Kadamba of Gentle Humilaith (Cosmic Library #2) by Mirti Venyon Reiyas (CreateSpace, 2012, 132pp.)

This second stand-alone installment in Reiyas’s Cosmic Library series deals with the effects of the malicious Thorn Virus spawned by the mischievous kinkas, a malignity which is gradually suffusing the universe—both people and things—with ill-will and unscrupulous behavior. On planet Ethera, Kon Fu-Zed, the ambitious director of an aerospace travel company, has plans to develop the previously untouched continent of The (pronounced “thay”) into an animalline-hunting theme park. He also can’t wait to try out his brand new invention, the “Whe-pin,” a devastating weapon which would be the nightmare of any endangered species. He appoints Tahdi Bellevue, an employee, to lead a surveying expedition. But when Tahdi lands on The, he meets Neelaiyahay, a half-tiger, half-human being who opens his eyes to the ecological consequences of Kon Fu-Zed’s plans. In the end, Tahdi and Neelaiyahay must defeat not only the physical manifestation of the thorns (which are clogging up inter-dimensional gateways), but convince Kon Fu-Zed that razing everything green to the ground is not beneficial to anyone in the long run.

As I finished Kadamba, my initial reaction was: “Well, that was okay. Things certainly happened, but at the same time, the events weren’t very...dramatic.” Then I  remembered seeing something on the author’s website about the name she has assigned for this particular genre: “Positive Young Adult Romantic Adventurous Fantasy.” Ah, I thought. That explains it. The Cosmic Library series is one that keeps the conflict on a juvenile reader’s level while exploring interesting ideas. There are no cars and trucks exploding, nor people massacring their families and then setting themselves on fire. The series shuns violence, and instead choses to focus on the importance of choosing the path of positive thinking over that of negative (if you’ve ever taken a yoga class, you’ll know what I’m talking about).

Now, some of the best psychological fiction has no “action,” but instead mediates on the characters’ internal struggles. In this regard, however, Kadamba loses some points. Although I liked the relationship between Tahdi and Neelaiyahay, I didn’t feel like I got to know them, or the other characters, as well as I could have. Recommended for Ages 12-14, and for adults who are tired of the graphic violence in the media.

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Will Appeal to Fans of "The Hunger Games"

The Forsaken (The Forsaken Trilogy #1) by Lisa M. Stasse (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2012, 384pp.)

This latest offering in the YA dystopia genre covers the adventures of Alenna Shawcross, a shy, quiet teen citizen of the oppressive United Northern Alliance. Her story begins after she fails the national Government Personality Profile Test and is banished to Island Alpha, a dumping ground for social undesirables and political dissidents. Every child in the UNA grows up hearing horror stories about Island Alpha, that it’s a prison colony populated by violent sociopaths—and that the average life expectancy is 18. Imagine her surprise, then, when she discovers that the other island inhabitants are, for the most part, just normal kids like her. But Island Alpha has a reputation for a reason. There are bad kids, too. The Drones, a chaotic horde of teens who really are violent and anti-social, are constantly on the prowl. What’s more frightening than the Drones themselves is their almost rabid devotion to a mysterious figure known as the Monk. Containing elements of intrigue, suspense, and romance, The Forsaken reads like a kind of futuristic version of Lord of the Flies—except it’s much more accessible, entertaining, and appealing than LOTF will ever be. Recommended for Ages 16-18, and fans of The Hunger Games.

Unique Ideas, Narrow Target Audience

Ephemerine Tree (Cosmic Library #1) by Mirti Venyon Reiyas (Self-Published, 2012, 166pp.)

Eda, a young woman from planet Artea, is enlisted by Rainyun, a light-being from the Ephemerine Realm, to help steer her world away from environmental disaster. Reiyas produces a very creative piece of work to provide a unique, cautionary tale. Artea—and the rest of the galaxy, for that matter—is suffering from the use of the destructive tachyonic particle inverse dematerializer, a device built to extract electricity-producing potrillion juice from ocean caves at the expense of the environment. While the dematerializer seems to be a stand-in for fracking, the author is able to make it part of a very believable universe. While this short novel is great to read for its ideas, its focus on spiritualism and New Age principles may not appeal to mainstream readers looking for a face-paced action tale. Recommended for Ages 16-18.

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Solid

Solid (Solid #1) by Shelley Workinger (CreateSpace, 2010, 236pp.)

Seventeen-year-old Clio Kaid and about ninety-nine other teens have just received the shock of their lives: they are not ordinary kids at all, but the products of an top-secret government experiment that altered their genes before birth. After this rather embarrassing admission, the Army has invited the test subjects to a secret government training facility where they can explore their new-found super powers. Everything’s pretty hunky dory at first, but soon, things begin happening that lead Clio and her friends to suspect that the Powers That Be may have ulterior motives.

It’s an interesting premise, if not exactly a highly original one. The plot didn’t grip me as much as I had hoped, and the characters don’t undergo much development, partly because they don’t have enough to do. However, now that the setting and main characters have been established, I would still be interested in seeing what else this series has to offer. Recommended for Ages 13-Up.

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How the Other Half Lives

Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite by Lianne Simon (Faie Miss, 2012, 246pp.)

Confessions chronicles two years in the life of Jamie, a teen born with Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis. She has one testis and one ovary and could easily pass as either male or female. But which is she, really? She was raised as a boy, despite the fact that she would rather play dress-up than football. Now that her older brother, Scott, has been killed in Vietnam, Jamie’s parents—and her father, especially—need for her to be a boy. Convinced that her cross-dressing is a phase she’ll outgrow (a phase which has lasted sixteen years, mind you), her father feels that Jamie will come to her senses once she experiences the joys of being a man. He agrees to consider letting her live as a woman only if she completes a list of “Things Boys Do,” a series of tasks that ranges from getting her hair cut short, to hunting and killing an animal, to learning to drink and smoke. Fortunately, Jamie can do most of those things--how hard can it be to get your hair cut?—but can she do these things as a man?

I found Jamie to be a refreshing protagonist. Far from being a rebellious youth, she’s actually very respectful of her parents, even though she comes to realize that if she doesn’t embrace her true self, she’ll be torn apart by misery. I also appreciate the fact that even though we never really get to know Jamie’s parents beyond their roles as the story’s antagonists, they are never reduced to mere stereotypes. My only complaint is that the supporting cast is not more fully developed. But it is Jamie’s story, after all.

For readers born with conditions similar to Jamie’s, Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite will certainly be a welcome addition to this neglected area of young adult fiction. For those born without such difficulties, it’s still an enlightening, eye-opening experience. Recommended for Ages 16-Up.

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The Day that Music Died

Source: Publisher Website

Death of a Dreamer: The Assassination of John Lennon by Alison Marie Behnke (21st Century, 2012, 112pp.)
 
In six chapters and a little over 100 pages, Death of a Dreamer deals with a whirlwind of interrelated topics: tumultuous political climate of the 1960s, the life and death of the late great John Lennon, and Mark David Chapman, the man who would stalk and murder one of the era’s most influential musicians in cold blood.

Placing an age range for this book is problematic. Based on the picture-book layout, one could say that it’s targeted at children and young adults, especially since it goes out of its way to define terms like ASSASSINATE, GIG, and CAPITALISM. However, the process of plowing the chapter on capitalism’s battle against communism will definitely lose the attention of anyone in the 9 to 12 age range. It also covers more “adult” topics, such as Chapman’s depression and questionable mental state, and Lennon’s drug use and posing nude for Annie Leibowitz. The slow pace of these beginning chapters will require the reader to have the patience of a young reader who doesn’t mind wading through the slow parts. The ending, however, is quite dramatic. Like any Beatles fan, I actually found myself gripped and somewhat saddened by the book’s narration of Lennon’s final hours. An ambitious work for a semi-picture book of only 112 pages, it will be of particular interest for anyone who’s interested in, as I like to call it, the day that music died. Recommended for ages 12-18 who have an attention span that lasts longer than 10 seconds.