Best Teen & Young Adult Mystery & Thriller Action & Adventure
***** Includes a preview of. THE BOOK OF DUST, the long-awaited new novel from Philip Pullman set in the world of His Dark Materials, and. hailed by the New York Times as "A stunning achievement"***** The Golden Compass. , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass are available together in a collectible His Dark Materials boxed set perfect for any fan or newcomer to this modern fantasy classic series that has graced the New York Times , Wall Street Journal , San Francisco Chronicle , Book Sense , and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. Phillip Pullman’s spellbinding His Dark Materials trilogy has captivated readers for over twenty years and won acclaim at every turn. He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy ( The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass ), which has been named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Newsweek and one of the all-time greatest novels by Entertainment Weekly . He has also won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for The Golden Compass (and the reader-voted "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the best children's book of the past seventy years); the Whitbread (now Costa) Award for The Amber Spyglass ; a Booker Prize long-list nomination ( The Amber Spyglass ); Parents' Choice Gold Awards ( The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass ); and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honor of his body of work.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Indeed as I was reading through the entire series (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) I had thoughts and feelings which I have only experienced when reading books of supreme quality and worth such as Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey series, or Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence."
"Favorite childhood series. A fantastical adventure series that challenges concepts of innocence, experience, and antiquated belief systems."
"Awesome series, I really enjoyed it!"
"A great read, somewhat disheartened to learn that some people see it as 'young adult reading' ... while I understand that the main characters are young .. the themes running through the books are valid to all and still relevant today."
"There are two kinds of great stories -- those that fit seamlessly into the body of thought and make you wonder why no one thought of it before, and those that are remarkably imaginative and compelling and make you wonder how the author thought it up at all. Pullman's trilogy fits into the latter category."
"I love hardback books, which makes this perfect."
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book was one of the first books SHE mentioned wanting to read on her own. We jumped in the car and raced off to the book store to see if we could capitalize on her "read all of the books mood" once she flipped through the book she was hooked in... inside the store!"
"While the storyline took a while to get into the actual peculiar side it still kept my interest. They're supposedly vintage photos with minimal altering which leads even more mystery to the story and a little magic to life as the photos themselves are peculiar."
"Good characters."
"It is tied in my opinion with Harry Potter and I've only read one of the Miss Peregrine books so far and I've only read the first 5 HP books. I am very critical when it comes to books and I have to say or type it is the best thing I've read in a loooong time."
"Not only did I read this book in two sittings (bringing it with me whenever I got up to grab something or do anything else), I had a VERY hard time falling asleep on the night of the 7th and focusing at work on the 8th because all I could think about was the story and how badly I wanted to be reading rather than sleeping/working! I honestly can't remember the last time I felt that way about a book... though I have read plenty that I had a hard time putting down, I didn't lose sleep over them because they just didn't hook me as much as this one did. I loved everything about this book."
"I thought the author did a very good job of capturing a disenfranchised sixteen year old who finds himself on an adventure. I loved his narrating voice and his voice of young Jake, but he made all the young girls sound like old biddies--all breathy and high pitched."
Michael Vey is missing and it’s up to the Electroclan to find him in this electrifying seventh installment of the New York Times bestselling series! However, Hatch survived and while his plans have certainly suffered a setback, he’s more determined than ever to bring the world’s governments under his control. Former EGG David Welch stood alone on the Joule’s deck as he panned his binoculars over the smoldering prison island of Hades. What few trees and foliage the Elgen had left on the island were still burning or glowing in heaps of red and orange embers. Around them scorched human skeletons and bones lay strewn across the landscape like straw after a windstorm. The island’s sand, now mostly melted to glass, glistened where streams of morning sunlight broke through the retreating storm clouds, reflecting the vibrant prisms of the color spectrum. On one side of the crystalline beach were the only signs of life—the scurrying Tuvaluan natives who, along with the Electroclan, had survived the Elgen attack and taken shelter in the underground bunker before the explosion. Welch had left the natives water, food, and the Joule’s remaining life rafts to make their journey back to their home islands. Their leader, Enele Saluni, grandson of the former Tuvaluan prime minister (who, at Hatch’s orders, had been sentenced to life on display, naked in a monkey cage in the Tuvaluan capital), saluted Welch from the distance. Welch raised his binoculars one more time and scanned the horizon along the northern end of the island, looking for signs of Elgen. Welch followed Jack down the inside of the Joule’s conning tower, pausing on the ladder near the top as hydraulic pistons pulled the hatch closed. Pneumatic clamps hissed and clicked around him as the steel hatch was locked airtight. Then Welch climbed down to join the others in the Conn, the Joule’s control center. “Take us down,” Welch said to the boat’s COB—the chief of the boat—as he stepped from the ladder onto the metal floor. Even though the Joule could travel as much as fifteen knots faster above surface, Welch didn’t want to take the chance of being seen. Outside of the Joule’s crew members who Welch had set adrift, he didn’t know who had survived. Twelve hours earlier, when Welch and his Glows—Quentin, Tara, Torstyn, and Cassy—had hijacked the Joule, they’d disarmed the seventeen-man crew and then sent everyone off the boat, except for the Joule’s COB and the four crew members needed to operate the ship. Welch had also sent J.D., the boat captain who had betrayed the Electroclan by sailing them into a trap, and his crew with the Elgen. When Hatch finds out that you helped us hijack the Joule, he’ll feed you to his rats.”. No one takes my life but me.” Then, letting go of the raft, he sunk down in the black water beneath the heaving waves. Quentin had disabled the raft’s outboard motor and radio with an EMP so the Elgen would not be able to alert anyone for hours, giving Welch and the Glows the time they needed to get back to Hades to rescue their friends. Welch’s first thought was that Hatch had detonated some kind of nuclear device to destroy the island. They weren’t going to leave the islands until they knew for certain if any of their friends had survived. Hours later, when Welch and company surfaced the Joule off the coast of Hades, they couldn’t believe what they saw. Welch and Quentin sailed to shore to pick up their friends, leaving Cassy, Torstyn, and Tara on board to secure the ship. Ten minutes after Welch and Quentin left, one of the Elgen crewmen approached Cassy. “I knew it the moment he came to my door to ask me to take him to California.”. Just then Cassy walked into the Conn. She glanced around the room, then asked, “Where’s Michael?”. Jack swallowed in pain, fighting back tears. The rest of the teens followed Tara, single file, out of the Conn. None of them had ever seen anything like the Joule before, which wasn’t surprising, since the Joule was the only ship of its kind ever built—a hybrid vault, ship, and submarine. Tara led them down a narrow corridor past the commander’s quarters to the first of two bunk rooms. It was only twelve feet wide, with pipe-framed cots on both sides of the room with trampoline-like mattresses. The beds were stacked four high, with only a few feet of headroom; the bottom bunks were suspended only three inches above the floor. Welch wants us all to stay in the same room so we can lock the Elgen crew members in the other.”. Everyone else claimed bunks, except Taylor, who just stood in the middle of the room looking lost. Just lie down right here, sweetie,” Abigail said, pulling down the covers on a bottom bunk. Taylor took off her shoes and crawled out across the cot, lying on her back. For a moment everyone was quiet and the only sounds were the constant hissing of the Joule’s air system, Jack’s snoring, and the strained, eerie groaning of the vessel. Ostin sniffed, then said softly, “At six hundred feet the water pressure is 282.6 pounds per square inch. “There are stacks of gold bullion running two feet high across the length of the boat.”. Abigail glanced back at McKenna with a sad smile, then climbed onto the bunk above Taylor.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great ending but sad series has come to an end."
"Great writer...great series... read them all and have recommended them to others including my "GRANDS".."
"Wasn't really thrilled with the wrap up of the story, but I still like the series as a whole."
"Anyone who enjoys entertainment reading should read the complete Michael Vey series."
"I am so sorry that this is the last in the Michael Vey series...I enjoyed them so much."
"Read the series so would be familiar with them for my students."
"Great series finale!"
"I loved this whole series."
Best Teen & Young Adult Historical Mysteries & Thrillers
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book was one of the first books SHE mentioned wanting to read on her own. We jumped in the car and raced off to the book store to see if we could capitalize on her "read all of the books mood" once she flipped through the book she was hooked in... inside the store!"
"While the storyline took a while to get into the actual peculiar side it still kept my interest. They're supposedly vintage photos with minimal altering which leads even more mystery to the story and a little magic to life as the photos themselves are peculiar."
"Good characters."
"It is tied in my opinion with Harry Potter and I've only read one of the Miss Peregrine books so far and I've only read the first 5 HP books. I am very critical when it comes to books and I have to say or type it is the best thing I've read in a loooong time."
"Not only did I read this book in two sittings (bringing it with me whenever I got up to grab something or do anything else), I had a VERY hard time falling asleep on the night of the 7th and focusing at work on the 8th because all I could think about was the story and how badly I wanted to be reading rather than sleeping/working! I honestly can't remember the last time I felt that way about a book... though I have read plenty that I had a hard time putting down, I didn't lose sleep over them because they just didn't hook me as much as this one did. I loved everything about this book."
"I thought the author did a very good job of capturing a disenfranchised sixteen year old who finds himself on an adventure. I loved his narrating voice and his voice of young Jake, but he made all the young girls sound like old biddies--all breathy and high pitched."
Best Teen & Young Adult Fantasy & Supernatural Mysteries & Thrillers
***** Includes a preview of. THE BOOK OF DUST, the long-awaited new novel from Philip Pullman set in the world of His Dark Materials, and. hailed by the New York Times as "A stunning achievement"***** The Golden Compass. , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass are available together in a collectible His Dark Materials boxed set perfect for any fan or newcomer to this modern fantasy classic series that has graced the New York Times , Wall Street Journal , San Francisco Chronicle , Book Sense , and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. Phillip Pullman’s spellbinding His Dark Materials trilogy has captivated readers for over twenty years and won acclaim at every turn. He is best known for the His Dark Materials trilogy ( The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass ), which has been named one of the top 100 novels of all time by Newsweek and one of the all-time greatest novels by Entertainment Weekly . He has also won many distinguished prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for The Golden Compass (and the reader-voted "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the best children's book of the past seventy years); the Whitbread (now Costa) Award for The Amber Spyglass ; a Booker Prize long-list nomination ( The Amber Spyglass ); Parents' Choice Gold Awards ( The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass ); and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in honor of his body of work.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Indeed as I was reading through the entire series (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) I had thoughts and feelings which I have only experienced when reading books of supreme quality and worth such as Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey series, or Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence."
"Favorite childhood series. A fantastical adventure series that challenges concepts of innocence, experience, and antiquated belief systems."
"Awesome series, I really enjoyed it!"
"A great read, somewhat disheartened to learn that some people see it as 'young adult reading' ... while I understand that the main characters are young .. the themes running through the books are valid to all and still relevant today."
"There are two kinds of great stories -- those that fit seamlessly into the body of thought and make you wonder why no one thought of it before, and those that are remarkably imaginative and compelling and make you wonder how the author thought it up at all. Pullman's trilogy fits into the latter category."
"I love hardback books, which makes this perfect."
Best Teen & Young Adult Law & Crime Stories
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price--and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Gr 7 Up—Bardugo has created a wildly imaginative story of six young people who have been commissioned to pull off the greatest heist of all time.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Bought this book the day it came out, and only this past week have I finally read it....well actually I downloaded the audiobook. The way Kaz interacted with others, and how Inej is able to slip silently into the shadows...how much I wanted to hug Matthias tightly and never let go. As for the audiobook version - the people who voiced Leigh's wonderfully crafted characters really brought them to life. Six of Crows was my first venture into the world of Audiobooks, and I feared that I would miss a lot of the story, not being able to comprehend it fully without seeing the words on the page. The way the people read the characters and the overall production of the audiobook made it so easy to follow along and listen to the book come to life."
"I quickly became submersed in the world that is Six of Crows, living vicariously through Kaz Brekker's crew (NIna, Inej, Mathias,Jesper, and Wylan)."
"As you can read on the cover, the book is about “six dangerous outcasts, and one impossible heist.” Those of you who love stories about gangs of less than upstanding citizens, sting operations, and movies like Ocean’s Eleven, should be pulled in by those words alone. My only complaint about the book is that I raced through it in two days, and then was left dying to get my hands on the next in the series, the equally beautifully clad Crooked Kingdom, due out September 27."
"With a diverse cast and a diverting, fast-paced narrative, this reads like a heist movie set in a fantasy land."
Best Teen & Young Adult Comics & Graphic Novels
Collecting Incredible Hulk Vol. Monsters and heroes... and the Incredible Hulk!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you loved the cartoon this is worth a read!"
"After I finished I got World War Hulk because I wanted more."
"One of the best HULK stories ever, like it's crazy (Hulk having sex LOL) but great read and really does a great job making the HUlk come alive as a character."
"This e-comic anthology is complete including minor related stories."
"Fun read - collection of the Planet Hulk comics...no wonder he was "ticked" when he made it back to Earth."
"Great story line."
"This is a must read for those who like dark stories."
"I may have built the hype up in my mind before reading Planet Hulk and I was extremely disappointed in the story as a whole."
Best Teen & Young Adult Royalty Fairy Tales & Folklore eBooks
Red Queen , by #1 New York Times bestselling author Victoria Aveyard, is a sweeping tale of power, intrigue, and betrayal, perfect for fans of George R.R. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard—a growing Red rebellion—even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. Mare's resigned herself to the fact that she'll always serve the Silver, a genetically gifted group of people with supernatural abilities. A chance encounter with the prince causes Mare to suddenly find herself at the royal palace as a servant, where she discovers in front of everyone that she also has a unique gift. The king and queen quickly cover up Mare's anomaly by presenting her to the rest of the Silvers as a long-lost princess and betroth her to their second-born son. There's a bit of teen romance, but luckily the characters are self-aware enough to realize its frivolity among the story's more important plot points. A solid debut from Aveyard and a welcome addition to the plethora of speculative teen lit.—Kimberly Castle-Alberts, Hudson Library & Historical Society, OH "A sizzling, imaginative thriller, where romance and revolution collide, where power and justice duel. " [Aveyard] sets her audience up for a gaspworthy twist that reconfigures nearly every character's role and leaves Mare with no one to trust but herself... Readers will be intrigued by a world that reflects today's troubling issues concerning ethnic inequality, unfair distribution of wealth, pollution, warfare, political corruption, and the frightening power of the media."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Mare and her family and friends despise Silvers, who treat Reds like dirt and have Reds fight an unending war with a neighboring country for them. Things That Frustrated Me: The heroine: my biggest frustration with this book was the lack of character development in Mare. The romance: There were (count 'em) THREE love interests for Mare in this book. The tropes: The problem with obvious writing is that if you have a story hat relies on a lot of tropes (poor girl who's special and different; prince who is not thrilled about being prince and just wants to be normal, world that is separated into classes that needs to be overthrown), you can guess what's going to happen, and your mind tends to wander. It's frustrating because I couldn't help but notice and compare this book to a ton of other YA books (I thought of The Selection, Divergent, Hunger Games, even Harry Potter while I was reading), and the book never went beyond or did anything better or different with those tropes. I enjoyed getting into this world through Mare's eyes - as a Red, she really doesn't know much about it, and it's both interesting to see it develop and to see her thoughts on it in her unique position. I felt like I knew more about them than I did about Mare by the end of the book. Brimming with action and classic speculative fiction tropes, this is a good book for younger teens new to fantasy or looking for a book with magic to devour like popcorn."
"I liked the twist on evolution and the class struggle between the Reds and the Silvers, differences compounded by different colors of blood (literally) and the presence, or lack, of supernatural powers."
"If you are a red then you are the weaker and less fortunate in a world run by powerful silvers, reds are basically slaves to the silvers and even fights their wars on the boarder where thousands go to die. The story centers around Mare Barrow a red who grows up assuming she will be sent to the boarder to fight like her three brothers before her, her sister Gisa is talented at sewing and will be the main bread winner for her and her family when Mare leaves."
"But the writing is not particularly artistic, and the emotional portraits of the characters are flat and immature."
Best Foreign Language eBooks
Harry vive con sus horribles tíos y el insoportable primo Dudley, hasta que su ingreso en el Colegio Hogwarts de Magia y Hechicería cambia su vida para siempre.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"SPECIAL NOTE: For U.S. customers purchasing the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, you will notice the text has NOT been converted to the "Americanized" version of the original U.S. releases (with the exception of changing all "Philosopher's Stone" mentions to "Sorcerer's Stone"). Good or bad is naturally for each reader to decide--just know, if you plan to read the books while listening to Jim Dale's audiobooks, you'll notice a few superficial differences. The quality of this new illustrated edition is phenomenal. All chapter intros are illustrated."
"IMPORTANT: For U.S. customers purchasing the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, you will notice the text has NOT been converted to the "Americanized" version of the original U.S. releases. This difference isn't as prominent or noticeable as it was with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, but still something to keep in mind. Also, to answer a question that has come up quite a bit, this is the FULL BOOK and not an abridged or shortened version. Underneath the book jacket, the novel is bound in a sturdy orange hardback with green lettering on the spine."
"I was ravenous to get my hands on my copy as soon as it was delivered this morning, but was quickly disappointed. But when I took a close look at my dust jacket, I was extremely upset to find that the gold foil lettering for "Harry Potter" had been rubbed away and destroyed completely in some places leaving ugly, black matte in its place-- pock marking the otherwise handsome gold lettering. Needless to say I'm in awe how Bloomsbury has managed to put together such an incredible project, with JK Rowling's remarkable literature and Jim Kay's otherworldly illustrations-- and allowed it to be put together in a low quality binding! Not all alone in a box... Update (October 9th): I have finally received my new book and it was in much, much better condition. The cover and spine were tight, intact and falling apart from the binding like my original copy."
Best Spanish eBooks
Harry vive con sus horribles tíos y el insoportable primo Dudley, hasta que su ingreso en el Colegio Hogwarts de Magia y Hechicería cambia su vida para siempre.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"SPECIAL NOTE: For U.S. customers purchasing the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, you will notice the text has NOT been converted to the "Americanized" version of the original U.S. releases (with the exception of changing all "Philosopher's Stone" mentions to "Sorcerer's Stone"). Good or bad is naturally for each reader to decide--just know, if you plan to read the books while listening to Jim Dale's audiobooks, you'll notice a few superficial differences. The quality of this new illustrated edition is phenomenal. All chapter intros are illustrated."
"IMPORTANT: For U.S. customers purchasing the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, you will notice the text has NOT been converted to the "Americanized" version of the original U.S. releases. This difference isn't as prominent or noticeable as it was with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, but still something to keep in mind. Also, to answer a question that has come up quite a bit, this is the FULL BOOK and not an abridged or shortened version. Underneath the book jacket, the novel is bound in a sturdy orange hardback with green lettering on the spine."
"I was ravenous to get my hands on my copy as soon as it was delivered this morning, but was quickly disappointed. But when I took a close look at my dust jacket, I was extremely upset to find that the gold foil lettering for "Harry Potter" had been rubbed away and destroyed completely in some places leaving ugly, black matte in its place-- pock marking the otherwise handsome gold lettering. Needless to say I'm in awe how Bloomsbury has managed to put together such an incredible project, with JK Rowling's remarkable literature and Jim Kay's otherworldly illustrations-- and allowed it to be put together in a low quality binding! Not all alone in a box... Update (October 9th): I have finally received my new book and it was in much, much better condition. The cover and spine were tight, intact and falling apart from the binding like my original copy."