There is a town called Wormwood.  At least, that's what it's called this time.  It has gone by other names, it has existed in other places.  But this time, it's due to appear in the American West. Every time it appears, explorers and adventure seekers go out of their way to find it and unlock the secrets of the town. The biggest secret?  In the center of town there is a doorway into heaven.

The Good, the Bad and the Infernal is the story of a few of these explorers, none of whom realize what kind of journey they are about to embark upon.  Wormwood has a way of testing people, throwing weird mystical and supernatural obstacles in the way to challenge anyone who approaches, from people-eating towns to steam powered people.

The story is told in several separate, apparently unrelated, sections, one from the perspective of a banker on his way West, another featuring a band of villainous circus performers, and a third of a British inventor, his daughter and a group of monks.  It's pretty short, but it leaves a lot open for the next in the series, least of all the arrival at Wormwood.

There is a wildly inappropriate scene near the beginning of this book, FYI, so I'll aim this firmly at the older teens, but otherwise, neat premise.

I am always on the hunt for books that might appeal to those Percy Jackson fans... and this one caught my eye because it was about Indian mythology (and had a cover that suggested there might be some good action).

Ash Mistry is visiting his aunt and uncle in India, when his uncle takes on the job of translating some pictograms for the mysterious Lord Alexander Savage. Ash is immediately suspicious of the large payment offered for the job and the creepy appearance of Lord Savage and his employees. Somehow they seem to resemble reptiles and dangerous predators a little too much...

Ash is at an archeological site near Lord Savage's home when the ground suddenly gives way and he falls into an undiscovered area under the site. He accidentally pricks himself on a golden arrowhead, which leaves a sliver in his finger, and begins to see visions of the battle against the evil demon king Ravana. It turns out that Lord Savage is indeed an evil bad guy who wants to release the demon Ravana so that he can become immortal.... and the golden arrowhead is exactly the thing he is looking for. Unfortunately Ash and his sister become the primary target for Lord Savage and his employees -- who are really demons in disguise. 

With the world at risk of being overrun by murderous demons, Ash needs to find a way to stop Lord Savage. This means battling giant birds, monstrous reptiles and shape shifting wolves. 

I liked the action and pace of the plot and definitely found bits about Indian mythology intriguing. I do think the gods/demons will interest many Percy Jackson fans. I don't find the conversation and characters to be as humorous as the ones in Rick Riordan's books but there are some witty comments that give the characters distinct voices and keep the tone of the book light. The whole thing about incarnation added an interesting layer to the plot, but I felt it could have the potential to become a bit of a cop out where it doesn't matter if characters die because they'll come back to life later anyway.

This is more suited for preteens (pretty much the same audience for the Percy Jackson series). Visit the Ash Mistry blog for character profiles, info on Indian Mythology, book excerpts and activity sheets. And yes, there is a sequel: Ash Mistry and the City of Death.

If you are tired of waiting for the Song of Fire and Ice series to finish up, have watched all the episodes of the TV show and are looking for another epic fantasy series, why not try Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera series?  It’s not quite as intense as George R.R. Martin’s series, but it is fun.  There are two great things about it: first, the series is finished, so you don’t have to wait for the next book to come out, and second, it was written as a bet.  Jim Butcher was challenged on an online writers’ forum that he could write a book based on a bad idea.  Butcher took up the challenge, upping the ante to two bad ideas.  Those ideas?  The Lost Roman Legion and, of all things,  Pokémon.

Set in an Imperial Roman style world.  All humans have one or more "furies" magical creatures who are associated with the major classical elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water with metal and wood tossed in for good measure.  These furies allow their "crafters" to manipulate their respective elements for various purposes.  Watercrafters can help heal, serving as doctors.  Firecrafters can manipulate emotions, etc.  The more furies one has control of grants people Citizenship in the Empire, with all duties and privileges that entails.  And then there's Tavi.  He has no furies, and is the only one in the world not to.  Guess who the hero is?


 

I realize that this series isn't new.  In fact, it finished in 2009.  However, the most interesting part is how it came to be.  That alone is a great selling point.  It doesn't hurt that the books are pretty entertaining on top of it.  

Mark of Athena is due out in just a couple of weeks.  I'm not going to talk about that, though.  It's just a handy lead-in for me to mention this week's book, one good for guys that might have aged a bit beyond the Rick Riordan series.

For those who love Greek gods in the modern world, the Rick Riordan series are great.  The idea of the Pantheon rampaging across familiar places makes the myths that much cooler.  I mean, how many of us really have any experience in Greece, particular the ancient kind?

The Age of Zeus has the Pantheon returning to the world after being away for a couple thousand years.  Through their might, the world has fallen into peace policed by the familiar ancient beasts and gods.  Of course, they still have their ancient urges: the monster rampage and the gods demand tribute, erupting into their famous rage when they aren't satisfied.

Enter a rich arms dealer who seeks to return the Earth to human rule and a small group of people who have lost everything to the gods.  Together, they form a new team of Titans, based on the original god-killers.  And they, unlike all the resistance movements that came before them, find a way to hurt the Olympians.

As familiar as the Greek myths are, and even though The Age of Zeus is very familiar with these myths, this is an action book first and foremost.  If anything, this feels like a pulp novel or a cheesy sci-fi miniseries.  The Titans are on a mission to destroy the Olympians, and that's all this book is about.

This is fine for teens, but for younger kids, it's a no go: there's some language and mild sexual content, though it's relatively mild.

James Lovegrove has written a couple of other books along the same lines, The Age of Ra (Egypt) and The Age of Odin (Norse).

I read it, but I don't know if I liked it.  Heck, I'm not sure that over the course of the book if I ever really figured out what was going on.  Nevertheless, I would still recommend it for those guys who can handle rough language and weird situations.

John Dies In the End is the story of David Wong, a young man who happens to gotten involved with mysterious dark forces seeking to take over our world.  First, it seems like a simple case of a few hauntings and vision he sees after ingesting some weird soy sauce-type stuff.  But then it gets weird.  Lovecraftian weird.  His dog explodes, but comes trotting up merrily afterwards.  A trip to a self-improvement guru in Vegas ends up with him and his buddies dressed as the band "Elton John" and a vortex sucking in a bunch of people who turn out to never have existed.

Possible dimensional travel, demons and a monster called "Korrok" all mix together and leave a confusing trail of oddities.  I can't say it all makes sense, but it's an entertaining enough read, with the author bring a fair amount of irreverence, much like his work on Cracked.com, which I've referenced a couple of times before, and of which David Wong is the senior editor.

A sequel is due out in October called This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously Dude, Don't Touch It.

It will eventually be released as a film that will likely become a cult hit.

On the topic of sequels, I have been eagerly anticipating the third book to the series Escape from Furnace. The series has turned out to be one of my favourite thrillers, where the bad guys are super evil and there's enough suspense to keep me biting my nails the whole way (see my post for a review of the first book in the series). For some reason, I thought the this was a trilogy -- only to discover that the fourth and fifth books are still on their way. I was a bit nervous starting this third book -- since a series that is dragged on too long can really kill the plot. I mean, for how long can a bunch of convicts run away from monsters and prison guards before all the chase scenes become the same? You keep thinking Alex and his friends are going to escape... only to find out at the end of the book they're trapped AGAIN. Having a bit of an attachment to this series, I seriously hope Smith comes up with some interesting plot twists to keep the story alive.

(Warning: this next section contains spoilers!) Death Sentence immediately jumps into the action and picks up the story right where book two, Solitary, left off. And yes, Alex is still stuck in Furnace Penitentiary, this time captured by the evil Warden and at risk of being transformed into one of the monster black suit guards.With Alex now in close contact with the Warden, we begin to learn the real purpose behind the prison. Furnace is really just a supply of subjects for experiments that strive to create a race of  humans that have no weaknesses -- creatures that have superhuman strength, do not fear or feel remorse and are only motivated by anger and hatred. Everyone who undergoes the experiments (and survives) pretty much have their memories wiped out and believe that they were created by the Warden. The ideas here aren't entirely unique -- but this doesn't mean the series won't turn out to be good.

I haven't quite finished the book yet -- but so far so good. The action has made it pretty difficult to put the book down and while this third book has revealed the most answers so far, there are still enough loose ends in the plot to keep me wondering what is going to happen next.

Judging from the response to booktalks I've done, most older elementary and young teen guys are usually intrigued by unsolved mysteries involving deadly monsters, hauntings and extraterrestrials. This interest shouldn't be surprising, seeing as many teen guys are interested in science fiction and horror. Unexplained Phenomena, published by Capstone Press, is a new non-fiction series covering the topics of ghosts, cryptids, aliens and demons.

I took a look at two of the books from the series: Searching for Aliens, UFOs and Men in Black and Tracking Sea Monsters, Bigfoot and Other Legendary Beasts. Each book presents the the information like a mystery case to solve, laying out the evidence (alleged sightings, folklore, scientific facts, etc.), then offering a verdict and/or possible explanations. The layout is appealing, with lots of photos and illustrations and short snippets of text. Information is presented in a variety of ways: diagrams, maps, timelines, photos and coloured boxes with interesting facts. You can easily scan and pick out different parts of each page to read, and you don't have to read all the information chronologically to understand what is being presented. A glossary and lists of recommended books and websites are included at the end of each book.

The text is easy to understand -- but also pretty brief so this probably won't satisfy someone looking for an in-depth or more scientifically detailed read on these topics. The exploration of various scientific and historical explanations just skims the surface and is definitely not comprehensive. I would say this series is more suitable for upper elementary or young teens, as the material is on the simplistic side. Saying that, this series makes for a fun, quick, non-intimidating read. Reading about real-life "Men in Black" and dinosaur species that might still be alive sure kept my attention...

Thank you to Capstone Press for making copies of these books available to the Boys Do Read Blog writers. 

Stone Arch Books, imprint of Capstone Press, recently released a new series of comics/graphic novels called Good vs Evil. Each book has two storylines, one pictured above each other. The top panels show the story from the antagonist's point of view (in reddish hues), while the bottom panels reveal the perspective of the protagonist. You can read each line one at a time or look at both top and bottom panels at the same time. What results is an interesting glimpse into the different perspectives held by different characters.

I've read two books from the series so far: Alien Snow and The Awakening. 


In Alien Snow, a young boy, Noah, enters a shop to buy a spaceship model. But instead of selling him the model, the shop owner makes Noah look into a snow globe and traps him inside it. It turns out that the shop owner is an evil alien collecting human specimens.


The Awakening is set in Tokyo, where a girl finds a tape player at the subway. When she turns the music on, a monster under the subway wakes up and hunts her down.

At the end of each book is a 'visual glossary' that points out details in the illustrations that give you clues about the story's setting and foreshadowing as well as particular drawing techniques and their purpose.  'Visual questions' are also listed at the end of the books -- questions about the illustrations, plot, title, and author's intent in using certain images. For example, one question suggests that the reader run the words 'alien snow' together when saying it to see if they can figure out another meaning to the title (sounds like 'aliens know'). Include is also information on how the book (or comics in general) are created, from manuscript to pencil drawings to adding colour.

I really liked how the stories were told mainly through illustrations (there's very little narration or dialogue) and the endings were open ended (and a bit bizarre and disturbing!). I found that these aspects, combined with the different perspectives pictured by the two storylines, really made me engage with the plot more, requiring me to slow down to decipher what was really going on. At first glance I thought the double storyline would be a bit gimmicky, but after actually reading the books, I found I liked comparing the different viewpoints. I think this series opens the way for some good discussion and would be great for upper elementary/teen bookclubs or school novel studies. And I think think kids and teens will totally eat them up...

Thank you to Stone Arch Books, imprint of Capstone Press, for making copies of these books available to the Boys Do Read Blog writers. 

It's not often these days that I come across a fantasy novel that I would stay up past my bedtime to read. I was happy to discover that Beyonders is one of these books.

Jason is just a regular high middle school kid who loves baseball and animals. While volunteering at the zoo one day, he hears strange music coming from the hippo and falls into its mouth... and into the world of Lyrian. In his attempt to find his way back to his world, he stumbles on a creepy book bound in skin (complete with a blinking human eye) and learns about a magical word that will defeat the evil magician currently ruling Lyrian. He is suddenly being hunted down by soldiers, giant boarhounds, and other scary creatures and embarks on a quest to find all the syllables of the magical word before he is disposed of. Along the way he is joined by Rachel, another girl from his world who has also been mysteriously transported to Lyrian, and Farin, a creature who can detach his limbs at will. To find the syllables, they must battle man eating crabs, get across a quicksand lake, survive a treacherous swamp full of poisonous snakes and bugs, all the while trying to evade the evil magician's minions.

I was a bit wary at first since the idea of falling into a hippo's mouth seemed a bit far-fetched, but as a read on, I found that the plot moved well and that the magical world was definitely intriguing enough to keep me interested. The characters are complex enough that you're not always sure whether they are good or bad, and there's a great twist at the end. ( I don't want to reveal too much or I'll spoil it for those of you who might read this book!) While this is often classified under children's fantasy, I would recommend it to teens looking for a fast paced, easy to read fantasy.

Brandon Mull is also the author of the Fablehaven series (which I am now planning to read as well). This is the first in the Beyonders series, and I can't wait to read the sequel...

I was totally mislead by the old-timey photo cover. I didn't know what to expect of the book, and as the story got weirder and weirder, I was like, "wait a second, this book sounds like the X-Men! (or maybe it's because I just watched X-Men: First Class)"  And if I have looked more closely at the cover, I would have noticed that the girl in the photo was levitating. That would have given me a clue.  Anyway... it's a super interesting book, with great photos like the one on the cover that make the story all the more eerie.
Since Jacob was small, his grandfather had told him about the island, the safe haven where he grew up, alongside with many other children who could do extraordinary things. His grandfather would take out the strange photos and show Jacob one by one, recalling the fond memories of the girl whom they had to hold down to prevent her from floating away, the twins who could lift very heavy things, the girl who could make fire with her hands, the boy with bees in his stomach, and so on and so forth. It was all fascinating to Jacob, but as Jacob got older though, he could see the implausibility of his grandfather's stories. He could see the amateur manipulation of the photos. And he was mad. He was mad because he loved his grandfather so much and he so wanted to believe his stories.  Just before he died from a strange attack by some sort of wild animal in the woods behind his house, his grandfather called Jacob and urged him to go to the island and find the "bird" and this mysterious letter.  Jacob was torn. He wanted to respect his grandfather's last wish, but on the other hand, he feared he'd get confirmation that everything his grandfather told him was a lie. 
Stories about kids with strange powers are pretty common, but it's the setting and the way the author set it up against a historical period that makes this really intriguing.  I was definitely not expecting where the author took the book. Love it!
The book is being sold as a teen book, but it feels a bit like an adult book with kids in it. It's thoroughly enjoyable, and I think Fox has already bought the movie rights to this. Go see the creepy photos, and check out the book trailer here.

A book I was really looking forward to after reading lots of good things about it on the web, with endorsements like "full of old-school vampires who would rather tear your throat out than kiss your face off" (from the Book Zone) or as the publisher puts it, "make a Darren Shan novel look like a romantic comedy", you've got to wonder what kind of book this is.
Jamie Carpenter was constantly reminded that his dad was a traitor to the country. He remembered the night they came for him and the menacing shadows in the tree. He resented his dad. It's because of him that he and his mom had to keep moving to get away from the gossip. Somehow each town they stop had a way of finding out.
Then one night on his way home, he's attacked by a girl of inhuman speed. It's obvious that this girl could kill him pretty effortlessly, but she hesitated, and that's when Jamie got rescued by a large man who introduced himself as Frankenstein. When they got back home, his mother was gone. Kidnapped. Jamie wanted nothing more than to go find his mom, but Frankenstein forced him into the car and drove him to Department Nineteen, a top secret government agency that specialized in the supernatural, and Jamie found out that his father used to work here, and someone wants revenge and payback and is going to hunt Jamie down till he gets it.
A non-stop action book, with an abundance of gore and some pretty disturbing scenes. A lot of interesting details, especially when it flashes back to the story of Van Helsing and Stoker and the first Dracula, and how Department 19 was created in the first place. Those gothic scenes were great.  Love the old-school vampires. What a relief from you-know-what!  Love the stakes and the weapons the guys carry. It makes me feel like watching From Dusk Till Dawn again. I also like the slow transition of Jamie from being completely helpless and clueless to taking matters into his own hands.  Somewhat predictable plot-wise, but it didn't really take away from the enjoyment of the book. And what a cover! Love it!