Peeps

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

In Peeps vampirism is a parasitic sexually transmitted disease. Once infected with Echinococcus cannibillus, you turn into a vampiric monster who eschews sunnlight in favor of hordes of rats or you become a carrier like the novel's protagonist. Cal has night-vision, superhuman strength, and a ravenous craving for sex - after all, the parasite needs its carriers to spread.

My friend Jessica originally advised me against reading Peeps. She didn't think I'd care for the parasite descriptions that begin open each chapter. She was right, but fortunately those sections are consistent enough to make them easy to skip over them without missing out on any of the text of the main story (I'll admit that I stopped forcing myself to read them at around the halfway point).

Parasites aside, I thought Peeps was OK. While I really like Westerfeld, this one was not one of my favorites. It took me a week and a half to read it (normally I'd be able to read it in a day or two) because it was never my first choice when I sat down to read. I didn't find the storyline particularly compelling (though it did get better for me in the last quarter). I did like Westerfeld's historical and biological explanation of vampirism, though.

Leviathan

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

I've been looking forward to reading Leviathan since I happened across a copy while browsing at Barnes and Noble. The publisher's synopsis is in this post and if you go to this page and scroll down you can see a really excellent trailer.

Leviathan is set at the dawn of the Great War, but in an Europe much different from our own historic Europe. In the world of Leviathan, Europe is divided between Clankers (powers that employ high-tech steam-driven machinery, ie. Central Powers) and Darwinists (who rely on fabricated animals created through advanced biotechnology pioneered by Charles Darwin himself, ie. Allies). The novel's main characters are Aleksandar, the only son of the murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and Deryn, a teenage girl trying to pass as a boy and join the British air force.

I enjoyed Leviathan so much that I read it with conflicting desires: I wanted to get through it quickly to find out what happens, but I also wanted to savor it. I'm very much looking forward to the sequels (apparently Leviathan is the first in a four-book series).

I liked the characters. I thought the story was compelling (and that there was enough meat to it to nourish a series). I was fascinated by the world Westerfeld was able to create. And, I thought Keith Thompson's illustrations were wonderful.

Highly recommended. Russell is reading our copy now and then I'm loaning it to a friend.

Extras

Extras by Scott Westerfeld (Uglies Trilogy)

It's a few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the uglies/pretties/specials regime. Without those strict roles and rules, the world is in a complete cultural renaissance. "Tech-heads" flaunt their latest gadgets, "kickers" spread gossip and trends, and "surge monkeys" are hooked on extreme plastic surgery. And it's all monitored on a bazillion different cameras. The world is like a gigantic game of American Idol. Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes. Popularity rules.

As if being fifteen doesn't suck enough, Aya Fuse's rank of 451,369 is so low, she's a total nobody. An extra. But Aya doesn't care; she just wants to lie low with her drone, Moggle. And maybe kick a good story for herself. Then Aya meets a clique of girls who pull crazy tricks, yet are deeply secretive of it. Aya wants desperately to kick their story, to show everyone how intensely cool the Sly Girls are. But doing so would propel her out of extra-land and into the world of fame, celebrity...and extreme danger. A world she's not prepared for.

Extras is the fourth book in the Uglies Trilogy (yes, that's right, the 4th book in the trilogy).

It's been a while since I read the first three Uglies books (which I thought were fantastic) and in this case I think that that's a good thing. Because Tally wasn't so fresh in my mind it was easier to cope with the fact that she's not the protagonist of this installment (that and having been given a heads-up before I started the book).

It seems like Westerfeld was planning to end with book three, but was pressured to continue the series because of its success. Extras is much different than the first three. It does continue in the same vein and Tally and the cutters do figure into the story, but it is set on a different continent, years later. Extras also brings the storyline to a satisfactory conclusion so it'll be interesting to see whether he comes out with another book.

Anyway, I did like Aya - at times she was a bit too insistent on the importance of her "kicking", but I'm sure that's because she's a product of her city. I also really liked the character of Frizz. So I guess what I'm saying is that I would not be adverse to another book that continues their story.

more YA fiction

The one benefit of being home sick with a cold is having the chance to do some extra reading. Of course, the problem with being sick is that anything heavy is out of the picture. Here are a couple of books I've read amid the coughing and sneezing:

Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman

Synopsis:
Vince Luca is just like any other high school guy. His best friend, Alex, is trying to score vicariously through him; his brother is a giant pain; and his father keeps bugging him to get motivated. There is just one thing that really sets him apart for other kids: his father happens to be the head of a powerful crime organization. Needless to say, while Vince's family's connections can be handy for certain things — like when teachers are afraid to give him a bad grade as they can put a serious crimp in his dating life. How is he supposed to explain to a girl what his father does for a living? But when Vince finally meets one who seems to be worth the trouble, her family turns out to be the biggest problem of all. Because her father is an FBI agent — the one who wants to put his father away for good.

Pretty basic plot line, a modern-day Romeo and Juliet where Romeo/Vince is from a mob family and Juliet/Kendra's father is an FBI agent. This book just doesn't seem particularly fresh.

I liked the book (definitely liked it better than Mafia Chic), but I'm not exactly sure why it was named a 'best book for young adults' by the American Library Association.

It also looks like there is a second 'Son of the Mob' book out. It's called Hollywood Hustle.

The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld

The first book in the Midnighters series:
For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. Only a small group of teenagers know about the secret hour — only they are free to move about the midnight time. They call themselves Midnighters.

Interesting concept, kinda scary.

This book is definitely the first in a series. It leaves you feeling unresolved and wanting to jump into the next book (Touching Darkness).

So far, though, I don't like this series as much as the Uglies trilogy. The Uglies books were my first introduction to Westerfeld and I thought they were phenomenal.