Three Short Book Reviews

Here are three short book reviews I've been meaning to get to.
All three books are teen reads. Two are sci-fi/fantasy, one is action-adventure. All three books have strong male and female characters. Though I hate to "gender" books, I will say that the third book, The Devil's Breath, is great for teenage guys, in particular. Though, as you've probably guessed, I'm not a teenage guy, and I LOVE this book. All of these books are out already, none of this teaser stuff I've been throwing at you. Enjoy!

Incarceron
by Catherine Fisher
Hardcover: 9780803733961, Dial - Penguin, $17.99

Immediately gripping, Incarceron offers a great new cast of characters, with Claudia and Finn as leads. Finn is inside Incarceron – a former utopian community, turned hellish prison. Finn has brains, guts, and flashbacks from the time he KNOWS he spent "outside". Unfortunately for him, coming from "outside" is virtually impossible, which makes him, and his strange flashbacks, a bit of a nut case. Claudia lives "outside"; in fact, she's been trying to find her way inside for years. When Claudia realizes the extent to which she's been a pawn in her father, the Warden of Incarceron's, political schemes, she breaks free from the constraints of her pseudo-perfect society. Despite her pampered upbringing, Claudia has brains and guts to equal Finn's, and the two of them find themselves relying on each other for the information each desperately seeks.
An exciting first book in a new series, I can hardly wait for the next one! I've been told the sequel is scheduled for sometime in Spring 2011.

The Maze Runner
by James Dashner
Hardcover: 9780385737944, Delacorte - Random House, $16.99

(I'm going to refrain from making bad jokes about "Dash-ner" and "Runner".)

Thomas wakes up in an industrial elevator shaft. A crowd of boys pull him out and he finds himself in the Glade. He doesn’t know where he came from, he doesn’t know why he’s here, and worse, neither do any of the other boys. The walls around them close each night, keeping them trapped in, but safe from the creatures roaming the maze outside the Glade. During the day, the maze runners run as fast and as far as they can, returning each night just before the doors close. They add their paths through the maze to the stacks of maps they’ve been making for years. Thomas knows he must become a maze runner. He knows he can help find answers. And when, for the first time ever, a GIRL is discovered in the elevator shaft, he knows he knows her from somewhere before. Soon the Gladers will have to make a choice—take their chances in the maze or die in the Glade.
Book one in the Maze Runner Trilogy. Watch out for The Scorch Trials, book two in the trilogy, out October 2010.

The Devil's Breath
by David Gilman
Hardcover: 9780385735605, Delacorte - Random House, $16.99

Max Gordon’s father has gone missing, and now someone just tried to kill Max. He has one clue, and must use all the resources and training his secret agent father taught him to save himself and find his father before it’s too late. His journey will take him from England to Africa, where he gets help from Kallie, a bushpilot with experience beyond her years, and !Koga, a Kalahari Bushman who must help Max in order to become a man in the eyes of his tribe. Can these three teens stop an evil man named Shaka Chang who is trying to control all the water on the African plains, save Max’s father, and fulfill a Bushmen prophecy? This is real James Bond-type stuff, (minus the sex), with plenty of action/adventure.
First in the "Danger Zone" series, and one of my all-time favorites. Don't miss Ice Claw, the second "Danger Zone" book, coming out April 2010.