Teen Tech Week Book List: Part 2 - Science Fiction

In honor of Teen Tech Week, I've put together a series of book lists that fit the technology theme. These lists include Technology, Sci-Fi, Steampunk, and Time Travel.

This is the second list in the series: SCIENCE FICTION

(Note: this list doesn't cover the vast number of titles that fit the Science Fiction description; these are titles selected from MPL's collection. Also, some titles may be repeated on multiple lists!)

Feed	Anderson, M. T.
The Future of Us	Asher, Jay
Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1)	Card, Orson Scott
Breathe (Breathe #1)	Crossan, Sarah
Halo: The Flood	Dietz, William C
Pirate Cinema	Doctorow, Cory
For the Win	Doctorow, Cory
Little Brother	Doctorow, Cory
Black Hole Sun (Black Hole Sun #1)	Gill, David Macinnis
Erasing Time (Erasing Time #1)	Hill, C.J.
Magisterium	Hirsch, Jeff
The Pearl Wars (Skyship Academy #1)	James, Nick
Awaken (Awaken #1)	Kacvinsky, Katie
Mothership	Leicht, Martin
A Wrinkle in Time (Time #1)	L'Engle, Madeleine
Momentum	Lloyd, Saci
I Am Number Four (Lorien Legacies, #1)	Lore, Pittacus
Planesrunner	McDonald, Ian
Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)	Meyer, Marissa
The Host	Meyer, Stephenie
The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1)	Ness, Patrick
A Confusion of Princes	Nix, Garth
Academy 7	Osterlund, Anne
Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1)	Revis, Beth
Glow (Sky Chasers #1)	Ryan, Amy Kathleen
Time Riders	Scarrow, Alex
A Long Long Sleep	Sheehan, Anna
Inside Out (Insider #1)	Snyder, Maria V.
Dreamwalker's Child	Voake, Steve

Book Review: Libriomancer

Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris #1)
By Jim Hines
***

“Every libromancer had a first book. Etched more sharply into my memory than my first kiss, this book had been my magical awakening.”

I went into this book ready to geek out. I mean, seriously, seriously, geek out. The story opens on Isaac Vainio, a cataloger at a library in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. But he's not just a librarian, he's a libriomancer. Isaac could perform a very specific kind of magic: he could reach into books and pull out anything that appeared within the pages (restricted only by the size of the page). He got into a bit of trouble in his job as a libriomancer, so he's been benched; his only connection to magic now is cataloging books for his library, but also for the magical organization he used to work for.

Then he gets attached by Meyerii vampires (also known as sparklers) and finds himself in a magical war between Libriomancers and vampires, a mysterious enemy, and the disapperance of Johann Gutenberg (inventor of the printing press and founder of the Libriomancer organization), with only a sexy dryad and a fire spider there to help him.

In theory, this book should have been an uber-awesome, bibliophile geekfest. I wanted to love it. It referenced some of my favorite things, like Narnia, Doctor Who, and the very idea of reaching inside of books. And while the book wasn't "bad," it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. I just couldn't get engaged in the story. It did pick up toward the climax, and some really cool things happened during that part of the book, but it was a bit of an effort to get there.

This is an adult title, and there are some adult themes (though it stays PG / PG-13), but it's worth a look if you're a geeky bibliophile like myself. However, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is similar in theme, but superior in...well, everything.

Guest Review: Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist (Volumes 1-27)
By Hiromu Arakawa
Guest Reviewer: Crystal Bandel
Five Stars

Edward Elric has an arm and leg made of metal prosthetics, called “automail,” while his younger brother Alphonse lives as a soul bonded to a suit of armor. The Elric brothers are alchemists, scientists in the world of Amestris who can transmute objects from one form to another using the power of the tectonic plates. As boys, they attempted to bring their mother back to life using alchemy; as a result, Ed lost his arm and leg, and Al lost his entire body. Since this incident, Ed has become a State Alchemist, and they’ve been looking for the Philosopher’s Stone, a substance that increases alchemical abilities, which they hope can help them regain their original bodies.

As they look for clues to getting their bodies back, Ed and Al encounter many, many people and lots of obstacles. As a State Alchemist, Ed has to report to the military, so we get to meet a large number of people in the military, including other State Alchemists. Amestris’s recent past involves the slaughter of the Ishvalan people on their eastern border, and this comes back to haunt Ed and Al, along with other members of the military. Finally, there are the mysterious homunculi who follow “Father” and get in the way of Ed and Al finding the Philosopher’s Stone, though they also call the brothers “human sacrifices.” What does it all mean?!

Fullmetal Alchemist may seem complicated and heavily plot-driven (which it is), but the series excels at being reader friendly and explaining every development so that it makes sense. Given my inability to follow politics, this is a big deal for me. The various political maneuverings and plot developments kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire series, and it was torture reading it while it was being serialized. I’m so glad that it’s finished now, since it can be re-read without having to wait agonizing months for more! Another feat of the author’s excellence is how much I love the characters in this series—I can’t think of anyone I genuinely dislike in this series, and it has a HUGE cast, including many villains. Nearly every main and secondary character sees a good deal of development in this series, and there are even enough strong relationships to keep the fangirl in me squealing. Really, Fullmetal Alchemist is a shining example of manga at its best, as it has excellent plot, character development, and art all in the same series. I can only hope that the author’s next series is as great and gets a release in the U.S. soon.

Guest Reviewer: Gone

Gone (Gone #1)
By: Michael Grant
Guest Reviewer: Alicia Scully, MPL Youth Services Intern
(5 out of 5 stars)

“One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. And the next minute he was gone. There. Gone. No 'poof.' No flash of light. No explosion.” 

With no warning, suddenly everyone over the age of fifteen disappears and the kids left over find that they are encased in some kind of dome stretching 20 miles across. Sam and his new found friends must try to understand their situation as well as how to survive. To make matters worse, a group of kids from the prep school have taken over and Sam isn't so sure that they're as kindhearted as they appear. There are other issues as well--the animals are starting to mutate in strange ways. The premise is extremely fascinating and the pace is quick enough but the narrative shifts points of view abruptly and there isn't a strong connection at first to make this a good move initially. Eventually this makes sense and it does help to pick up the pace toward then end, so it isn't too much of a problem. The book is extremely violent and shows immense instances of human cruelty, even more so than the Hunger Games books. If you're squeamish and can't handle graphic details, this may not be the book for you, but the plot is well worth it in the end and not all of the mysteries are revealed in this installment.        

Guest Reviewer: iBoy

iBoy
By: Kevin Brooks
Guest Reviewer: Alicia Scully, MPL Youth Services Intern
(4 out of 5 stars)

“She moved closer to me, put her hands to my face, and kissed me softly on the lips.
God, it felt so good.
So perfect, so right...
It felt so good, I nearly fell off the roof.” 

Description from Goodreads:
What can he do with his new powers — and what are they doing to him?

Before the attack, Tom Harvey was just an average teen. But a head-on collision with high technology has turned him into an actualized App. Fragments of a shattered iPhone are embedded in his brain. And they're having an extraordinary effect on his every thought.

Because now Tom knows, sees, and can do more than any normal boy ever could. But with his new powers comes a choice: To avenge Lucy, the girl he loves, will he hunt down the vicious gangsters who hurt her? Will he take the law into his own electric hands and exterminate them from the South London housing projects where, by fear and violence, they rule?

Not even his mental search engine can predict the shocking outcome of iBoy's actions.


Alicia's Review:
Tom is a good kid living in a bad neighborhood, and one day that catches up to him. Someone throws an iPhone off the top of a 30 story building and Tom is hit in the head, an event that causes bits of the iPhone to meld with parts of Tom's mind. Tom can suddenly do everything that an iPhone can do and so much more. With his newfound powers and his need for revenge concerning the gang rape of his lady love, Tom becomes iBoy and begins his path as a vigilante.

The pacing is steady enough, the premise is a cliche with a new spin, and the mixture of technical and colloquial writing fits the plot perfectly. All of those points considered, it was extremely difficult for me to get through, maybe because I wasn't expecting it to be so realistic in terms of the violence. With a plot like it has, I was expecting more camp but it was really well handled. I would say in terms of content and Brooks's ways of addressing difficult content, the book gets 4 stars. It's not something that I would reread often though, so it may actually be lower or closer to 3 in my mind.

Book Review: Cinder

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)  *****
by Marissa Meyer

What if...Cinderella was a Cyborg. I can honestly say I've never asked myself that question. But Marissa Meyer did, and I'm so glad! Meyer takes the classic fairy tale and puts it in a futuristic, sort-of post-apocalyptic world, and manages to keep it fresh and new, yet familiar. I read more fantasy than sci-fi, and this was my first venture into a Cyborg story, but I really enjoyed the journey.

The new and fresh: Cinder lives in New Beijing, over one hundred years after the 4th World War, and the world is unrecognizable. Here, a person will become a cyborg when they've been badly injured and surgeons will add robotic parts and advanced computer technology to take the place of body parts too damaged to work. Cinder has a robotic leg and arm, can access the Net with a thought, and see news and data literally out of the corner of her eye. While these operations save lives, the newly created cyborgs are considered less-than-human and are reviled in society.

Another new aspect to the story is that some time in the book's past, people from Earth colonized the moon, but the moon changed them. They (the Lunars) are able to influence the bioelectrical something-or-others and basically control the thoughts and actions of others, including making themselves appear beautiful and making someone else kill themself. And now they're trying to take over Earth.

The other major plot point is a plague that has been decimating Earth, one that is highly contagious and kills quickly. Through a series of events, Cinder becomes a test subject in the search to find a cure (becoming a test subject is certain death in this world) and discovers that she is somehow immune.

The familiar: despite the fact that we're dealing with cyborgs and Lunars and plagues, there's still a ball, an evil step-mother, and two step-sisters (though only one is evil).

Will Cinder make it to the ball? Will she escape her step-mother? Will the prince return her foot???