Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

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Rating: ****
Genre: Historical fiction
Pages: 343
Series: Stand alone
Before the war, Lina Vilkas dreamed of art school and cute boys. Now she just wants to survive. When the Soviets come for them in the middle of the night, Lina's ripped from her home with little more than her mother, brother, and beloved sketchbook. They're packed into cattle cars and shipped to Siberia.
 In the concentration camp she learns to live off smuggled beets, rotten potatoes, and hope.
So what is this, you ask? Another grim, tragic tale of the Jewish holocaust? Nope. Lina's a Lithuanian Christian deported to Siberia because her dad helped a family cross the border into Germany. For that, the entire Vilkas family gets twenty five years of hard labor in the middle of nowhere.
I think we've all read a concentration book or two. We know about the six million Jews who died in gas chambers. But the Lithuanian side of the story is rarely told. Before this book, I had no idea it happened. That's where most of the suspense lies. When Lina's family is uprooted from their Siberian labor camp you have no idea where they're going. Hint: it's the one place on Earth more bleak and miserable than Siberia.
This isn't a cheery book and at times it's hard to get into Lina's head. She's not one of those characters with such a powerful voice that you feel like you've crawled inside her body and stepped into her world. At times I had to look up from the book and think, "Now how would I feel in this situation?" rather than just letting her emotions seep in. But the writing is so beautiful in places like this-
I clung to my rusted dreams during the times of silence. It was at gunpoint that I fell into every hope and allowed myself to wish from the deepest part of my heart. Komorov thought he was torturing us. But we were escaping into a stillness within ourselves. We found strength there. 
-so I'll overlook that.
Like I said, Between Shades of Gray isn't a cheery book. It's a thinking book. It's the story of people making the most out of their misfortune and sacrificing themselves to help each other. Scenes and characters will stay in my mind for a long time, I'm sure.

Also, please note that this is not the same book as that sexed up lemon fic that somehow managed to sleep its way to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Between Shades of Grey just has the misfortune of sharing a similar title. This video should help clear up any confusion. 

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals

 
Genre: Nonfiction, memoir
Rating: *****
Pages: 290
The year is 1957. The place: Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas, the Jim Crow South. Melba Patillo is one of the first nine black students to enter the school. While the white kids are trying to pass math, she's just trying to walk from one class to another without getting killed.
Though I never knew much about Central's integration, I somehow assumed that the first day was the worst. Things got better as the year went on. The white students would get used to having black people in their classes. That's not at all how it went. The attacks only got worse as time went on.
At the beginning of the year, the governor's tactics to keep them out are so ridiculous, I almost felt like I was reading a dystopian novel. Thousands of civilians turn up to form a mob in front of the school. Then the Arkansas National Guard gets called in. President Eisenhower has to bring in reinforcements. No one should need a jeep convoy, a helicopter, and a thousand trained soldiers to escort them to school.
But it's not an adventure. This was more trial than triumph for the Little Rock Nine. Melba has nails, rocks, rotten eggs, flaming paper, acid, and dynamite thrown at her in the halls. The teachers are worse than useless. When a boy pulls a knife on her during an assembly, the teacher tells Melba to sit down and stop disturbing the other students.
By the end of the book, I was tired. I just wanted Melba's year to be over. And all I did was read about it. This was her life. You have to admire her courage. I know people who switch schools because first graders taunted them on the playground. Melba had death threats. Halfway through the year she considers suicide-until her grandma points out all the white kids would throw a party. That's the point when Melba decides to stop being a victim and become a warrior.
The most interesting thing: Melba never paints herself as a hero. She may be a 'warrior on God's battlefield', but she's the wounded, muddy, battle-weary kind. The people she does heroize are the ones who helped her out. Danny, her bodyguard, who helped her wash acid out of her eyes. Link, a white student who loaned her his car to escape attackers. Marissa, a mentally handicapped girl who saved her from rape. By clubbing her would-be rapist with a metal lunchbox.
Warriors Don't Cry is a searing memoir that will strike anyone who's suffered racism, bullying, or loneliness. It's a book for our generation to learn about the past. It's a book for older people to see what they never could before. It's not a pretty story. But it's one that needs to be read.

Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends by Shannon Hale

Genre: Fantasy
Rating: ****
Pages: 304
Series: First of a trilogy
Raven Queen's Legacy Year is not going well. Classmates flee from her presence, her counselor signed her up for Kingdom Mismanagement, and all the teachers want her to murder her roommate. At Ever After High, the children of fairy tale characters are groomed to follow their parent's destinies. For Apple White that means dwarves and a daring prince. And Raven? She's supposed to poison Apple.
Raven doesn't want to be evil. But if she doesn't sign the Storybook of Legends on Legacy Day the Snow White tale will be wiped from existence. Poof. Apple can't let that happen.
Then Raven discovers a secret. Long ago, two sisters rebelled against their destiny. They vanished along with their story. What if they didn't go 'poof?' What if there's another option? With Apple's reluctant help, Raven sets off to uncover the sisters' fate and rewrite her own story.
This novel is meant to support Mattel's new Ever After High doll franchise. Expect a description of Apple's outfit every time she walks into a scene. Gotta sell those accessories. The book's loaded with groan-inducing puns. Students eat in the Castleria, read hextbooks, and take Chemythstry class. But never fear, this writer is witty. There are bonuses for those of you who know your stories (Raven has a pet dragon named Nevermore) and pop culture references (students rock out to Tailor Quick and One Reflection). Plus, you'll find lots of sarcastic commentary on the fairy tale genre.

     Princess Darling Charming fainted and was caught by no fewer than twelve boys, who began to kick one another's shins to try to get the others to let go.
     "I've got her!"
     "No, I've got her!"

My favorite character is Raven's friend Maddie Hatter. At first I was reluctant to find Alice in Wonderland included as a fairy tale. It's a novel, people. We know the author. It's not some old story jotted down by a nameless, wandering bard. In Ever After High we meet Maddie, Lizzie Hearts, and Kitty Cheshire, but no Alice, oddly enough. The most intriguing thing about Maddie is her ability to hear the narrator.

     Maddie trolled through her hat, pulling out a pink vial of Embiggen Potion. She cocked her ear. "Yep, the Narrator said this pink vial is Embiggen Potion, so it must be. Thank you, Narrator!"
     Aargh! I did it again!

The Narrator follows both Apple and Raven though this is obviously Raven's tale. Apple strikes me as a very intentional Mary Sue. The girl keeps candy on her balcony in case an adoring crowd happens to wander by. It's easier to root for the Rebels-Raven and Maddie's crew-than the Royals, Apple's band of not-that-heroic princes.
Despite its lighthearted tone, The Storybook of Legends is a spellbinding tale of friendship with a powerful message at its core. What would you risk to take control of your own destiny?

Raven Queen

Apple White

Left to right: Briar Beauty, Ashlynn Ella, Lizzie Hearts, Blondie Locks, Cedar Wood, C.A. Cupid, Maddie Hatter, and Cerise Hood.

The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

Genre: Fantasy, mythology
Rating: ****
Pages: 279
Isadora is mortal. As the daughter of Egyptian gods, that means most of her relatives can't be bothered to remember her name. After all, she'll only be around for a few more decades. Gods are eternal. She escapes by moving to her brother's in San Diego, where she meets Ry, a boy with the most annoyingly blue eyes she's ever seen. But how can she fall in love when she knows it can't last?
Then Isadora begins having dreams of darkness. Her eternal family is in danger, and she's the only one who can save them.
The great struggle in the book is Isadora coming to accept her mortality. If you weren't raised by Egyptian gods, this can be hard to relate to. I wish The Chaos of Stars went deeper into the mythology. Aside from Isis, most of the gods are background characters. They pop up in Isadora's thoughts and the first and last couple chapters. Mostly, this is the story of Isadora and her friends. Isadora's descriptions of Ry's blue-blue eyes and Greek god bod would be over the top in any other book. The type of mushy books you love to mock. But you don't need to mock them now, because Kiersten White went ahead and did it for you.

     He's in a deep-blue dress shirt, top button undone, and black pin-striped slacks. No one should be able to look equally good in jeans and a tee as they do dressed up.
     "You look," he says, his eyes drinking me in the way I want to drink him in, "absolutely amazing."
     I smirk. "You look rather pretty yourself."
     "And Tyler looks devastatingly gorgeous," Tyler says. "Why, thank you, Tyler!"

Then there's the banter between her and Ry.

     Ry: "What is wrong with being attracted to someone? It's a natural thing."
     Isadora: "Yes, well, cancer is a natural thing, and we try out best to kill it."

While not rich in magic or mystery, The Chaos of Stars is a hilarious, fun-filled tale of one girl's journey to live the normal life she's never dared to dream of.

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

 
Genre: Fantasy...ish. We get fictional kingdoms and princes, but aside from an offhand mention of elves, there's no magic here.
Rating: *****
Series: First of a trilogy
Pages: 342
Life as an orphan isn't easy for Sage, but he's learned to deal with it. Then he meets a scheming nobleman named Conner. Three orphan boys have been selected for his plot: Impersonate the long lost Prince Jaron and save the kingdom of Cartyha from civil war. After two weeks, one boy will be chosen. The rest will be killed.
But Sage doesn't want to be a prince. He has his own agenda, one that remains a mystery even to the reader. First, he needs to escape Conner's manor alive. That's no easy feat when Sage's sharp tongue keeps landing him in trouble. Can he trust his opponents? Will they murder him in the night? What is Imogen, the quiet kitchen maid, hiding from them all?
And what really happened to Prince Jaron?
The first thing that drew me to this book was the title. The False Prince. Usually when you read about fantasy royalty, it's all queens and princesses. The guys are lowly warriors or adventurers. I wanted to see what boys would do if they got a chance at the crown.
From the very first page, I cared about Sage and wanted to see what happened next. Who's going to win? Who's going to die? Who's going to cheat? Who else is hiding a secret? The writing isn't brilliant, but it is filled with Sage's snarky comebacks. The characters surprise you just as you think you've figured them out. Especially Sage, who happens to be an unreliable narrator. Usually I don't like those. They lead you in the wrong direction for hundreds of pages, then, BAM, twist ending. Sage isn't like that. He drops hints and skips over blocks of time, leaving you to speculate on what he's really up to. I did predict the twist, but I also predicted several other twists. Sage, you've made me paranoid!
The False Prince is Nielsen's YA debut.

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

  
  

My, so many covers.

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: *****

Pages: 375

Series: Part of the mammoth series that is Discworld. I've heard three other books feature Tiffany as a protagonist, but I haven't read them yet.

The Chalk is a patch of rural farm country where girls are expected to become shepherds or farmers' wives. Tiffany Aching wants to be a witch. Sure, the last "witch" was killed by the ignorant townsfolk. But that just means they need someone to stop it from happening again.

Besides, the Chalk has other problems. There's some kind of creature lurking in the river. Something's been carrying off sheep. Another reality is pushing at the border of theirs, letting in more monsters. And Wentworth, Tiffany's whiny, sticky baby brother, has just been kidnapped by elves.

Tiffany teams up with the Nac Mac Feegle-a band of stealing, drinking, fighting, six-inch high blue elves with attitude-to rescue him. She may not be a witch yet, but she's armed with a frying pan and her Granny Aching's wisdom. 

Elves and beasties, beware. You don't stand a chance. 

This is one of the first Terry Pratchett books I've read. That means I need to go find more now. So, why is it so great? Because the Nac Mac Feegle have swords that grow blue in the presence of lawyers. Because one of them's named Not-As-Big-As-Medium-Sized-Jock-But-Bigger-Thank-Wee-Jock Jock. But mostly because Tiffany's in it.

Tiffany Aching is such a wonderful character. She's brave, strong, clever-wait, those all sound like stock hero traits, don't they? Well, Tiffany makes it work. Maybe she is a little bit of a stock hero. But she's so much more. She's practical and curious and very, very angry if you mess with her stuff. She's the kind of girl who reminds you of yourself while you wish you were more like her. 
Best of all, she's a nine year old farmgirl. And she doesn't care. About the nine year old bit, I mean. Cheese making and sheep shearing are very important to her. Tiffany doesn't waste time thinking, "Nobody will believe me when I tell them there's a monster in the river. I'm only nine." Or, "I'm just nine. How am I supposed to fight it?" She just grabs a frying pan and gives it a good walloping. Now that's the way to get things done. 
Alright, enough Tiffany, now for the book itself. The writing's hilarious constantly and beautiful when it feels like it.  The only real flaw I can think of is the Nac Mac Feegle's speech. It's quirky and full of dialect, so sometimes I had to read it aloud to make sense out of it. But that just adds to the charm of the book.

Then there's the dreamworld Tiffany visits. I've read about a few other worlds like that and most of them read like acid trips. Throw out the rules of reality and dazzle you with random imagery. Not Tiffany's. Even though the world follows the fluid rules of dream logic and nothing is as it seems, it still makes sense. And it makes you think. It opens up your mind to a new world of thoughts, hopes, dreams, and ugh, I can't describe this book well enough, can I?
You know what? Just read it yourself. Meanwhile, I'll be looking for the next Tiffany Aching book.

The Lost Crown by Sarah Miller

Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: ***
Pages: 448, 412 of that being the actual story
Olga, the bookish one. Tatiana, the beauty. Maria, the sweetheart. Anastasia, the clown. The daughters of Tsar Nicholas II have always lived in a gilded bubble of luxury. But that bursts when a gunshot sparks World War I. Now Papa has to leave the family behind to command the military. Their palace is converted to a hospital and the two oldest sisters work as nurses. Meanwhile, Mama turns to a holy man called Grigori Rasputin to cope with their brother Aleksei's illness.
Then Russia is shaken by something more deadly than the war abroad. The people are suspicious of Rasputin and tired of the tsar's rule. Revolution erupts. Now the Romanov family are prisoners in their own home. As war wages all around them, the sisters must rely on their own strength and each other to get them through.
I've always been interested in the OTMA sisters. Anastasia usually gets the most attention, probably thanks to that 1997 Warner Bros. cartoon. I liked seeing the other girls get a chance to tell their story. It does get confusing since it's all written in first person. I kept flipping back to the beginning of the chapter to remember who was talking. Then there's the language. The book is peppered with Russian words and phrases, so I used the glossary a lot until I began to pick up on some of the common ones.

     "I think so." I hear the swish of her short hair against the pillow as she nods, then nothing. "Please try not to worry, dushka. God will watch over us."
     "Konechno, Tatya. But now Lenin is watching too."
   
Tatya is Tatiana. They all have nicknames. Maria is Mashka. Anastasia might be Nastya or Shvybzik. Their brother Aleksei could be called Alyosha, Sunbeam, or Baby. This can be confusing if you don't pay attention.
The story begins in 1914 and ends in July of 1918. Around 200 of the 400ish pages take place in those last seven months. A single chapter might last a day or two months. Sometimes it feels blurry, like we're gliding over a year and checking in on the girls once a month. Other times it drags on forever. Let's face it, there's not a lot of action when you're under house arrest in Siberia.
But if you can get past that, there's a lot of powerful emotion packed into this book. The sisters don't fight the way you'd expect from a family kept in close quarters. Tatiana in particular misses her nursing duties and finds purpose helping her mother and brother with their poor health. After their lives of luxury are ripped from them they find joy in the little things-an open window, their dogs, fresh baked bread, and the fact that they're still together.
I learned things I never knew about the Romanovs, like how Olga had a small gun she kept hidden throughout their captivity. Or how Anastasia had the honorary title 'Chieftain of All Fireman." Now I want to learn more.
The Lost Crown is a rich, though complex, tale of family, faith, and loyalty.