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Young Adult

Sawkill Girls

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Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
Format: Book
Who it’s For: Teens

“Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep. He’ll follow you home and won’t let you sleep…”

23 girls have disappeared from Sawkill Rock when Marion moves to the island with her mother and beautiful sister. 23 girls, and no one has any idea what happened to Zoey’s best friend Thora. 23 girls, and Val is hiding a nasty secret that could tear her apart from the inside out.

This young adult horror story follows three girls as they discover the terrifying secrets that are hidden on their island and if there is truth to Sawkill’s whispered ghost stories.

Sawkill Girls is a great book for those who want a dark, creepy read without the threat of nightmares afterward. Legrand merges the horror and fantasy genres seamlessly to create a story that is absolutely mesmerizing from beginning to end. The story twists from average high school drama, to a complete nightmare, and then back again in a mesmerizing way. She pushes you to the brink of terror and then pulls you back before it becomes too much to handle.

Marion, Zoey and Val are three imperfect, sometimes unlikable, characters that portray strength and ferocity in the face of loss and terror. The idea that strong female friendships can conquer even the most disturbing events is present throughout and creates a fierce girl power message that elevates the book from a good horror story to an inspiring and timely novel.

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Furyborn

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Furyborn by Claire Legrand
Format: Book
Who’s it for: Adults and Teens

A queen screams in the throes of childbirth.

A little boy travels to another place and time with a power that is a mystery to even himself.

An angel comes to the door with an evil intent.

A young woman decides to barter her soul for her family’s safety.

Claire Legrand’s Furyborn is bursting with tales of magic, love lost, heroic deeds, and tantalizing mysteries.  It is fantasy at its absolute best, but what makes Furyborn so compelling, and unique among its peers, is how Legrand sets up her narrative.  It follows two young women, Rielle, an aristocrat who is discovered to have a magical power that could either doom or save the world, and Eliana, a young bounty hunter that will do anything to protect the ones she loves.  The twist is that Rielle’s story takes place roughly 1000 years before Eliana’s.  The chapters alternate between each character’s point of view, as well as their place in time, which results in an amazing case where one story would seem to foreshadow the next, only to surprise you in how events actually play out.

Furyborn features a world that is as deep as it is complex, with an implicit history that helps the world to feel as real as any created by J.R.R. Tolkien or Christopher Paolini.  Each chapter starts with a quote from a historical figure of its world, each adding a satisfying tidbit of lore for readers to ponder.  For readers that love to figure out the timeline of a story and how events all fit together, this is an absolute paradise.

The first book in the Empirium trilogy, Furyborn introduces and resolves enough plot points to feel satisfying, but still leaves enough mysteries for readers to theorize about in the wait before its sequel, Kingsbane, is released next year.

Recommended for: fans of young adult fantasy, strong female protagonists, magic, time travel, rich fictional histories, and action.

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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

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Read the Book, Watch the Movie!
Book: Valerian and Laureline by Mézières, J.-C. (Jean-Claude)
Movie: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Movie Release Date:  21 July 2017
Starring: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne,  Clive Owen, & Rihanna

An adventure film from Luc Besson, the director of The Professional, The Fifth Element and Lucy, based on the French comic book series by J.C. Mézières.  It is the 28th century, Alpha is the space-traveling city inhabited by millions of species from thousands of planets. Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are special operatives that are part of the force that maintain order in this universe.  It is nonstop action as the two complete one mission after another.  One mission is special and assigned to them by the Minster of Defense himself. Enjoy the ride as they race to solve the mysterious force that is threatening the city of Alpha.

I picked this up because of the cover. I like space operas and i really liked the other films Luc Besson had directed. The visuals were just as stunning as The Fifth Element but the story was not as engaging. I did enjoy it but if i could have stopped comparing it to The Fifth Element, i would have enjoyed it even more. It was a fun action movie with simple missions that go sideways so chaos ensues. The 2 main characters had that great chemistry of being in love but still annoyed with each other. There was a lil bit of mystery which, i figured out cuz i am a mystery queen. The secondary characters played by Rihanna and Clive Owens were cool. The alien races were original looking but not so out there I got distracted by their otherworldlyness. I would recommend this to people who like fun, nonstop action, adventures in space with bright imagery and a lil morality lesson with their entertainment.

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