Elizabeth Moon is my favorite sci. fic. author.  I have read most of her books from cover to cover twice and parts of them 9 or 10 times.

Cold Welcome is a bit different from her other series, yet she keeps the same well developed characters.  Her female protagonist, Ky, is returning to her home world after years away fighting a war.  She is returning  as a hero. But her shuttle is sabotaged by a group that is determined to kill her and all her family. Survival is the name of the game. Ky is strong, both physically and mentally, but her enemy is old, well financed, established, and has a secret they are desperate to keep.  Ky and the passengers she is marooned with must die if the enemy's secret is to be kept.

The passengers are not military and sometime reluctant to follow Ky's leadership. They don't really believe they are in danger from people meaning to actually KILL them dead and cause Ky trouble. The discovery of the enemies' hidden cave proves to be both Ky's possible salvation or her and the group's death warrant.

This is a novel that will be difficult for the reader to put down before the last page is read.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

    

       In her novel, Wonder, Ms. Palacio created a character in August that most kids and adults can identify with, maybe not physically, but emotionally. Most of us have felt unattractive, left out, ignored, the butt of jokes, etc. at sometime in our lives. This was a constant feeling for August.

       August tells his story in first person. In the first chapter August describes himself as ordinary in the fact that he likes to ride his bike, eat ice cream, and feel ordinary.  He then goes on to say, “But … ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds.”  He says later, “I won’t describe what I look like.  Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.”

       Because of his physical condition from the time of birth, August was unable to attend school. He was home schooled instead.  When he was in fifth grade, his mother decided it is time for him to break into the real world of children, the school classroom filled with, “ordinary” kids.  It was a terrifying challenge for August, but off to school he went.

        The academics was a piece of cake for the most part.  The social encounters were many and truly mountainous. We sometimes judge a book by its cover.  Regrettably, we often judge a person by their appearance. And so it was with August.

The Kill Switch

The Kill Switch is a well written novel as are all of James Rollins works. Tucker, the man hired to spirit one of two scientists out of Russia, is a tough, kick a _ _ , no nonsense man full of  amazing resources. Kane, his faithful four-legged partner, is an outstanding character all by himself. The enemy seems to anticipate each move Tucker and his group make as they move toward the border.  There is a leak of information somewhere, and it is a direct threat to his mission as well as his life. He is understandably suspicious of everyone he comes in contact with but has to trust someone. The cost in life as well as money is high if he makes the wrong choice.

WARNING: The prologue is gruesome, and I was sorely tempted to skip most if not all of it. No matter how stomach turning, however, it is crucial to understanding the end of the novel. This novel is not for the faint of heart but a page turner for those who enjoy detailed blood and guts adventure.

Note: I was interested to learn in the author's notes at the end of the story that Kane is modeled after real war dogs, especially one named Chaser, "a border collie who understood over a thousand words including grammatical structure."

UGLIES and PRETTIES by Westerfeld

A young teenage friend recommended the following two books as excellent reads. Both are by Scott Westerfeld.


UGLIES

The first, Uglies, starts off slow, but the plot thickens, drawing the reader into a complicated social situation. Somehow, the earth's population has been convinced that all of societies problems are a result of people's desire to be beautiful. At age of sixteen, everyone automatically undergoes an operation that converts their natural shaped face and body into a prescribed "beautiful" image. Unbeknownst to the patient, the operation also changes their brain and way of thinking.

What happens if someone does not want the operation? Who controls all these bubbly, beautiful people? Can Tally escape the "Specials", those beautiful but cold hearted enforcers who control the artificial world in which both the Uglies and Pretties live? You must read UGLIES to find out.

PRETTIES

After reading UGLIES, I rushed to the library for a copy of PRETTIES. I had to find out if Tally could break the hold the "Specials" had on everybody. I was not disappointed in Westerfeld's masterful discription of a small but determined group of individuals bucking the system. But the cost of being different is high. It takes courage, cunning, and a strong will to survive in this world where beauty is the main goal of all but a few individual thinkers.

UGLIES
Teen to adult interests
ISBN-13:978-0-689-86538-1

PRETTIES
Teen to adult interests
ISBN-13:978-0-689-86539-8


Both books can be purhasd at your favorite book store or from Amazon.