Burn by Walter Jury and Sarah Fine

Burn takes up where Scan, the story of a boy's fight to protect his father's invention, the scanner that can tell human from alien, leaves off.  The scanner is now in the hands of the H2 (alien) forces, but the enemy needs Tate to decipher his murdered father's coded files on how to use the technology and save the planet. Burn is a rollercoaster of a book, with Tate, a teenage version of television's MacGyver, struggling to outsmart his foes while evading capture himself.  There are action scenes galore, betrayals at the highest levels in the Fifty (the humans), arson, torture, and discovery of a new, even more lethal threat to earth's survival.  Impossible to put down.  

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart is a a wild ride for a small group of insurgents fighting against the rule of cruel and violent Epics—humans who possess extraordinary powers such as flight, superhuman strength, and seeming invincibility.   Eighteen-year-old David watched as  Steelheart, an Epic who is immensely powerful, turns non-living things into steel and is impervious to guns, knives and fire, killed his father.  David has studied the Epics for 10 years and wants to join the Reckoners, who specialize in assassinating Epics, so together they can discover Steelheart’s weakness and destroy him.

Cover Art by Mike Bryan

The action takes place in a dystopian world, Newcago—formerly known as Chicago, shrouded in perpetual darkness thanks to the alliance between high Epics Steelheart and Nightwielder.  Some humans who are needed to run the basic functions of a government such as enforcement, providing power, and running the economy,  live above ground;  others less important or more of a threat survive in the tunnels underneath the city.  David comes from this underworld, having worked in a munitions factory throughout his childhood.  He carries with him his rifle, his knowledge of Epics and of Reckoners, and a deep desire for revenge.  When he becomes involved in an assassination attempt on the Epic Fortuity, the rebels take him prisoner.  He has to prove himself and sell the group on his plans to take on Steelheart.  Meanwhile, he also has to deal with a growing attraction to Megan, one of the members of the Reckoners.  (Note:  the dialog between these two is particularly clever.)

Gunfights, racing motorcycles, bolts of destructive forces from the hands of Epics make up the frequent action.  State of the art munitions are employed, along with an ongoing debate on the merits of rifles versus handguns.  Secondary characters are given enough personality and special talents to make them interesting.  The leader, Prof, is particularly mysterious.  How much power does he have and why is he reluctant to use it?  Personally, I liked the internal debate on whether the devil one knows (Steelheart) is actually preferable to whatever or whoever would replace him if the Reckoners succeed.  There are worse places to live than Newcago.  

Steelheart is a great combination of action, suspense, plot twists and a touch of romance. Great fun.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

This was a great book for a three-day weekend (400+ pages). Incarceron refers to prison-world, created as a perfect society to isolate and at the same time care for felons and others deemed dangerous to the Outside. But the society has devolved into a grim, violent tyranny, where technology is now used to repress and spy on the subservient population and deceit, murder and thievery are necessary to survive. Prisoner oath-brothers Finn and Keiro, along with the former slave Attia and the Sapient Gildas, join forces in a quest to escape from Incarceron, using Finn's visions, belief in a better world, and the possession of a magic key.

On the Outside, there is a matching key, which enables its owner to communicate with those inside the prison. Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, discovers it when she sneaks into her father's private study. Claudia and and her tutor Jared (another Sapient) struggle to solve its mysteries and to save the prisoners. At the same time they must also contend with her father's ambitious marriage plans for her and with the politics and plotting that govern life in the Outside.

The story lines weave together, as Finn and Claudia realize they depend on each other for their freedom. The futuristic world is creepy and cautionary, with questions about life, loyalty and human frailty.