Please enable JavaScript
All Books | Page 73 | LitPick Book Reviews
All Books
Visibility
D Meister, Sarah Neufeld
Synopsis: A novel about an alienated teenager; the daughter of infamous woman who has the power to turn invisible. When this "disappointingly normal" daughter discovers she has inherited more than just her mother's metallic blue eyes, she finds herself pulled into
Publication Date: 08/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Dream Girl
Lauren Mechling
Synopsis: CLAIRE VOYANTE HAS been having strange visions ever since she can remember. But the similarity between her name and her talents is purely coincidental. The name is French, and unlike the psychics on TV, she can’t solve crimes or talk to the dead. Whenever Claire follows her hunches, she comes up empty—or ends up in pretty awkward situations.
But that all changes on Claire’s 15th birthday, when her grandmother, Kiki—former socialite, fashion icon, and permanent fixture at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel—gives her something a little more extraordinary than one of her old cocktail dresses: a strange black-and-white onyx cameo on a gold chain. It’s not long before Claire’s world becomes a whole lot clearer. And a whole lot more dangerous.
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Dragon in the Sock Drawer
John Shroades, Kate Klimo
Synopsis: For Magic Tree House readers who are ready for something longer, the Dragon Keepers series has the perfect length and reading level, along with the fast-paced writing, adventure, and sense of teamwork that kids love to read.

TEN-YEAR-OLD COUSINS Jesse and Daisy have always wanted something magical to happen to them. So it’s a wish come true when Jesse’s newly found thunder egg hatches, and a helpless, tiny but very loud baby dragon pops out. Soon the two kids are at the dragon’s beck-and-call, trying to figure out what to feed her.

An Internet search leads them to the library, which leads them back to the Internet, where they find a very strange Web site called “foundadragon.org.” It is here that the cousins discover that the dragon’s hatching has designated them “Dragon Keepers” and that not only do they have to feed her, but they have to keep her safe from the villainous Saint George who has kept himself alive over centuries by drinking dragons’ blood.
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Kasumi
Hirofumi Sugimoto, Surt Lim
Synopsis: THE INVISIBLE GIRL

Kasumi is a special girl–and not just because she’s a super-cute high schooler with a heart of gold. She has a major secret: She can turn invisible when she holds her breath. But when she transfers to an elite private school, it gets harder to keep her superpowers secret, especially when she catches the eye of the handsome student-body president, Ryuuki, and becomes the target of his number one fan, mean girl extraordinaire Reina. Can Kasumi keep hiding who she really is?
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Veil of Gold
Kim Wilkins
Synopsis:

When an ancient gold bear is found walled up in a dilapidated St. Petersburg bathhouse, researcher Daniel St. Clair and his frosty colleague Em Hayward set out for the university in Arkhangelsk to verify its age. Along the way they are mysteriously set adrift. Maps are suddenly useless. Lost and exhausted they turn north, sinking even deeper into the secrets and terrors of the Russian landscape.

Daniel’s lost love, the wild and beautiful Rosa Kovalenka, fears the worst when Daniel goes missing and resolves to find him. To do so will mean confronting her past and secrets that she has fought to suppress. The only way to save him is to go forward, where she encounters the haunted Chenchikov clan, a family with their own shadowy tangle of grief, desire, and treachery.

In the unknowable, impenetrable Russian forest, Rosa meets an enigmatic wanderer who is full of tales and riddles of times past. Who might hold the key to Rosa and Daniel’s future--or the destruction of their world.

Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Tantalize
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Synopsis: "Readers will be tantalized by this dark, romantic, and disturbing fantasy of vampires, werewolves, and a strong no-nonsense heroine. " — SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

CLASSIFIED ADS: RESTAURANTS
SANGUINI'S: A VERY RARE RESTAURANT IS HIRING A CHEF DE CUISINE. DINNERS ONLY.
APPLY IN PERSON BETWEEN 2:00 AND 4:00 PM.

Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead, and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then, as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd in his fake fangs, cheap cape, and red contact lenses — or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms, and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who’s playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything? TANTALIZE marks Cynthia Leitich Smith’s delicious debut as a preeminent author of dark fantasy.
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Marvel The Marvelous
Laura Chester
Synopsis: As they travel to the famed Treasure House that will show Leezie the way home from the magical kingdom of Joya, she and Marvel, a little pink pony, become best friends while sharing the adventure.
Publication Date: 07/15/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
A Darkness Forged in Fire: Book One of the Iron Elves
Synopsis: Forcibly summoned out of exile to resurrect the Iron Elves regiment he once had led, disgraced elf officer Konowa Swift Dragon is ordered to fight an elf witch of immense dark power, a mission that is compromised by doubts about the elves' loyalty to their empire. A first novel.
Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Travelers Market
John Murphy, Maureen Doyle McQuerry
Synopsis: In this exciting second installment of The Wolfproof Trilogy the perilous worlds of myth and middle school once again collide as Timothy James, his sister Sarah and their friend Jessica race against time and an ancient Evil to save their mother and restore peace and harmony to the Travelers Market.
Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Poison Ink
Christopher Golden
Synopsis: SAMMI, TQ, CARYN, Letty, and Katsuko are floaters. None of them fits in with any particular group at Covington High School—except each other. One night, to cement their bond, the girls decide to get matching, unique tattoos. But when Sammi backs out at the last minute, everything changes. Faster than you can say “airbrush,” Sammi is an outcast, and soon, her friends are behaving like total strangers. When they attack Sammi for trying to break up a brawl, Sammi spies something horrible on her friends’ backs: the original tattoo has grown tendrils, snaking and curling over the girls’ entire bodies. What has that creepy tattoo artist done to her friends? And what—if anything—can Sammi do to get them back? This deliciously creepy psychological thriller is the perfect summer read.
Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Dragon's Lair
Elizabeth Haydon
Synopsis:

Barely one day after fulfilling his second mission for King Vandemere as Royal Reporter of the land of Serendair, young Charles Magnus Ven Polypheme—known as Ven—is off on another adventure. To keep them safe from the wrath of the Thief Queen, whose rage at their escape from the Gated City knows no bounds, the king sends Ven and his friends on an important mission.

Their journey takes them across a wondrous land filled with marvels—and danger. For the mission the king entrusts to Ven is a delicate one: to discover the cause of a dispute between two warring kingdoms—and the answer leads Ven straight into the lair of a very angry dragon….

Fans of The Floating Island and The Thief Queen’s Daughter—both chosen as Book Sense Children’s Picks—will love this third enchanting adventure in The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme series by bestselling author Elizabeth Haydon.

Publication Date: 07/08/08
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fantasy
The Excalibur Murders
J.M.C. Blair
Synopsis: Merlin makes a great investigator—and it only looks like magic.

Merlin is no magician, merely a scholar and advisor to King Arthur. But after the supposedly magical Stone of Bran is stolen—along with the legendary sword Excalibur—and one of ArthurÂ's squires is brutally murdered during the theft, Merlin must use the power of reason to conjure up a miracle and catch a murderer.
Publication Date: 07/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
King's Shield
Sherwood Smith
Synopsis: Sherwood Smith is ?a writer who is making her bid to be a major fantasist.?( Orson Scott Card)

Inda, on the verge of adulthood, is at last coming home. At age eleven he?d been exiled from his kingdom, but when he learns that his homeland is about to be invaded, he ends his exile to report the imminent attack. Pressed into service as the king?s ?royal shield arm,? Inda must now defend the kingdom?for his reputation as the captain who defeated the most dangerous pirate fleet in history makes him the only man who stands a chance to defeat his country?s ancient enemy.
Publication Date: 07/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Song for a Summer Night
Synopsis: When the woodland surrounding Peter's house goes silent one night, troubled thoughts and dreams take hold. No more chirping. No croaking. No buzzing. Not even a cricket. Can there be anything more upsetting than a misplaced sound? Some say the entire growing season may be brought to an equally sudden end. Peter Phye and his only friend, Dillon Hopper, strike out on a mission for the Queen of the Night. Together they begin a quest to restore the music, across the Sea of Queen Anne's Lace to the Deepest Forest, filled with ogres and bugaboos and all the foulest imaginable things, so that when they're done they might set things right again. And when it is done, Peter finds that adventures, just like seasons of green grass and blue skies, are only fleeting. But what he never imagined was he'd find an eternity within that passing moment . . .
Publication Date: 07/01/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
City of Time
Eoin McNamee
Synopsis: CATI, THE BOLD Watcher readers met in The Navigator, returns from the shadows of time to summon Owen and Dr. Diamond, for time is literally running out. The moon is coming closer to the earth, causing havoc with weather, tides, and other natural cycles; people fear the world will end. To discover what’s gone wrong, Cati, Owen, and the Doctor must take an astonishing journey to the City of Time, where time is bought and sold. There, Owen begins to understand his great responsibility and power as the Navigator.
Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
The Magician
Michael Scott
Synopsis: Nicholas Flamel appeared in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter—but did you know he really lived? And he might still be alive today! Discover the truth in Michael Scott’s New York Times bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel in The Magician, book two.
   After fleeing Ojai, Nicholas, Sophie, Josh, and Scatty emerge in Paris, the City of Lights. Home for Nicholas Flamel. Only this homecoming is anything but sweet. Perenell is still locked up back in Alcatraz and Paris is teeming with enemies. Nicollo Machiavelli, immortal author and celebrated art collector, is working for Dee. He’ s after them, and time is running out for Nicholas and Perenell. For every day spent without the Book of Abraham the Mage, they age one year—their magic becoming weaker and their bodies more frail. For Flamel, the Prophesy is becoming more and more clear.
    It’s time for Sophie to learn the second elemental magic: Fire Magic. And there’ s only one man who can teach it to her: Flamel’s old student, the Comte de Saint-Germain—alchemist, magician, and rock star. Josh and Sophie Newman are the world’s only hope—if they don’t turn on each other first.

“Readers will be swept up by a plot that moves smartly along, leaving a wide trail of destruction and well-timed revelations.”—Kirkus Reveiws, Starred
 
Read the whole series!
The Alchemyst
The Magician
The Sorceress
The Necromancer
The Warlock
The Enchantress
Publication Date: 06/24/08
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS