Night Angel

The Way of the Shadows is the first of Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy.  This fantasy fiction series introduces the reader to two very strong, but diverse characters  Durzo and Azoth (later known as Kylar). One is a "wetboy", a well-known assassin; the other is an orphan who must steal money to pay dues to the guild rat and food to survive.  His only way out is to become Durzo's apprentice.  Together, they face heart-wrenching decisions and the cruelties of reality.  You are immediately invested in these two characters - their strengths, weaknesses and internal conflicts.  It is thought-provoking, a fast-read and very captivating.

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

Dodger is, of course, the Artful Dodger.  In this Victorian mystery, he is master of the sewers, and this propensity to pop up anywhere on London's streets puts him in the middle of a murderous attack on a young woman one dark and rainy night.  After driving off her assailants, Dodger then prepares to fight off two passers-by,  one of whom turns out to be Charles Dickens.  This is a great story of a young man struggling against all odds to save the girl from future harm while dodging powerful forces that seek to control the fate of nations.  Pratchett uses real characters, among them Benjamin Disraeli, a growing political player in London; Sir Robert Peel, head of London's police; wealthy, influential Angela Burdett-Coutts; and, of course, Dickens as newspaperman  His characters reveal much about life and language of the underclass, with accurate details on the diseases, filth, crime,  despair, and unexpected kindnesses that defined London's darker world.  At the same time, this is a tale of derring-do as Dodger proves himself to be nimble in both body and mind, and fully able to craft clever plots to foil his many enemies.  Lots of fun.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

This haunting tale centers around the childhood memories of a middle-aged man returning to his home in Sussex, England, to attend a funeral.  Driving aimlessly after the service, he ends up at an old farm where he used to visit the Hempstocks--a young girl, her mother and her grandmother, witches all, who were welcoming and supportive during a time of family struggles and strange happenings. Sitting by the small farmyard pond, he sinks into a reverie where he recalls a tenant's suicide, the appearance of a scheming and suspicious housekeeper, and an evil and destructive spirit that threatens to use him as a portal into his increasingly fragile world.  Only the Hempstocks, particularly young Lettie, can help him.  The author blends fantasy and myth with a story grounded in familiar tragedy--a family in financial difficulty, a father with a wandering eye, and a lonely, vulnerable boy who finds comfort in books. In these few (180) pages, one can find the power of friendship, sacrifice, and childhood resilience.

Butter By Erin Jade Lange

Butter has enormous musical talent; he plays the saxophone and loves jazz.  Sadly, he only plays alone, to forget he is an emotionally isolated and physically challenged teen.  For Butter weighs over 400 pounds and is convinced that no one can see beyond his dimensions to get to really know him.  Butter (you learn about his nickname in the book) escapes through his music and through the web, where he has a deepening relationship with Anna, one of the coolest girls in school. Fearful that revealing his true identity will scare away the girl of his dreams, Butter creates a new persona--that of a star athlete at a nearby private school.

While most of his classmates ignore him completely or look at him only with pity and a certain fascination, there are some who see opportunities to be cruel. After Butter discovers someone's online post that shows him eating, he impulsively decides to start his own website where he can control the comments while getting attention. Butterslastmeal.com is an immediate success, unfortunately, and all of a sudden he's in a corner.  If he doesn't eat himself to death, he is a failure.  If he does, well, he's dead.  Not much of a choice.

As the narrator, Butter reveals  both the depth of his torment and clues to the nice and funny person he can be.  The author uses Butter's experiences to raise issues of stereotyping, online relationships, and online bullying without being preachy.  Telling the story using a lot of dialog keeps things moving. Recommended.

Au Revior Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

This book is the print version of an action-packed adventure video game or PG movie--short on character development and complex plot but strong in entertainment value and suitability for short attention spans.  As long as the reader can tolerate a large dose of gratuitous violence, that is. Personally, I enjoyed it.  The book opens with a scene in which Perry's date to the prom has just shot him. We then get the back story. Perry Stormaire is a high school senior on the verge of graduating. Following his father's wishes, he dropped competitive swimming and focused on debate club and working part-time at his father's law firm while studying hard to earn decent SAT scores and a 3.3+ GPA.  His efforts have earned him a place on Columbia University's wait list.  Not good enough, but if he can persuade his father's boss to write a letter of recommendation, he just might make it.  His father has one more demand --take the Lithuanian foreign exchange student staying at their house to the prom.  Gobi has been a difficult guest--a socially awkward and unattractive girl who accentuates her shortcomings with her wardrobe choices and her secretiveness.  Nonetheless, she has asked to go to the prom and wants Perry to be her date.  Of course, Gobi is not what she seems.  In reality, she is a gorgeous, highly trained assassin who plans to use prom night to track down and execute five people. As an unwilling accomplice, Perry must deal with a threatening pair of Russian mobsters, witness brutal murders, steal cars and survive high speed chases, all while becoming increasingly attracted to his killer date.  Fast paced, with occasional humor and hints of romance, Au Revoir is a good bet for a short break from media entertainment.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

Easily the most enjoyable read of the summer, this tale of treachery in Britain's Secret Service for supernatural threats centers on an agent who has quite literally lost her mind and must "catch up" to what's going on via a series of letters written by her brain's previous occupant before one of the organization's other agents kills her. Myfawny Thomas comes to learn that she is an upper-level bureaucrat within the governmental Chequy organization with a particular talent for neutralizing the nervous systems of anyone who threatens her. Her fellow agents include one who releases nerve gas through his skin, a contortionist, one who can liquify and reform metal with his bare hands, a vampire, and Gestalt--one mind that can move himself/herself among four bodies.  As she struggles to identify the traitor from the clues her former self has left her, Myfawny must also take on immediate threats from the Chequy's arch enemy, the Grifters, including a rapidly growing fungus with telepathic communication powers. Action scenes are written with panache as the heroine must figure out how to use her powers on the fly while conquering her gag reflex at the same time.

Myfawny is actually two distinct characters: the pre-amnesiac one is shy and submissive, but a tenacious investigator of the organization's financial history and current practices.  The  present amnesiac is  tough and assertive, with quite a temper and a dry sense of humor.  Myfawny's potential antagonists are less well-developed, but are given just enough background to make them interesting beyond their peculiar skill sets.  The Rook is an entertaining blend of roller coaster action, mystery, and the supernatural. O'Malley adds a totally new spin on the problems of memory loss.  Fun, fun, fun!!

Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

Can an android evolve to become human?  That is the possibility that drives Mila and her mom to flee from the CIA/military lab that wants to exploit her capabilities or neutralize her.   The story begins with teenage Mila adjusting to life on a ranch in a small, midwestern town as she mourns the sudden death of her beloved dad and struggles with the increasing emotional distance from her veterinarian mother.  An accident that should have killed or at least paralyzed Mila leaves her merely shaken, and with an obviously broken prosthetic arm.   Forced to explain the injury, Mila's mother tells her daughter that MILA is shorthand for Mobile Intel Lifelike Android and that they--scientist and creation, are actually in hiding from the head of the lab that oversaw the project.  The reader learns all of this in Part One, a section plagued by fairly pedestrian writing, including predictable descriptions and cardboard secondary characters: Mila's friend Kaylee, heartthrob Hunter, and picture-perfect Mom.  The pace picks up, however, once Mila's strangeness is out in the open and her pursuers converge on the ranch.  Parts Two, Three and Four cover Mila's and her mom's flight from and confrontation with General Holland, who plans to test her effectiveness as a weapon and destroy her if she fails. There is plenty of action and suspense as Mila faces one crisis after another and tries to hold on to her hopes to become more human, while the skills she needs to survive are those of a machine. "With every punch, I became less of the girl Mom had risked everything to save and more of the monster Holland desperately hoped for." Mila's questioning what it means to be human adds depth to the story and the final action sequences in Part Four makes this a satisfying read.