Skip to main content

Featured

The Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean

Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace's enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete--all except yokai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yokai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari's fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yokai outcast. Torn between duty and love, loyalty and betrayal, vengeance and forgiveness, the choices of Mari, Taro, and Akira will decide the fate of Honoku in this beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat YA...
Post a Comment
Read more
Labels

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (Uglies, #2)

Pretties presents a Tally who is different the one we met in Uglies, her vocabulary transformed to make her feel like a new narrator while keeping her underlying personality. It’s a really good portrayal of memory loss and identity.‬

Her relationship with Shay is complex and dynamic, and I like the Crims as a group. This book explores more the world established in Uglies, especially in ways that show the underlying systems of control which are in place.

I appreciate the handling of the dynamics with Zane and David, especially the message that you can have had a good relationship with someone but not want to return to it later on because you’re different people. It’s dystopian, so the time horizon for this change is pretty extreme, but it’s still a good message. As a book for teens, taking the time to say this is really important, given that the series establishes multiple romantic interests in the first place.

Book CWs for discussion of eating disorders, self-harm.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment