A Riddle In Ruby (ARC Review)

Key To The Catalyst: A Riddle In Ruby | Kent Davis

Published by: Greenwillow Books, September 22nd 2015

Genre: MG, Fantasy, Steampunk, Alternate History, Ships

Pages: 352

Format: Ebook

Source: Greenwillow Books, via Edelweiss

Ruby is a thief-in-training and a keeper of secrets—ones she doesn't even know herself. A Riddle in Ruby is the first book in a witty and fast-paced fantasy-adventure trilogy for fans for Jonathan Stroud, Septimus Heap, and The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates.

Ruby Teach, daughter of a smuggler and pirate, has been learning how to swindle and steal and pick the most complex locks for as long as she can remember. But a collision with aristocratic young lord Athen sends her spinning into chaos. Little did she know that her whole life has been spent in hiding from nefarious secret societies and the Royal Navy . . . who are both now on her trail. In this debut middle grade adventure, Kent Davis weaves a rip-roaring tale through an alternate colonial Philadelphia. A world where alchemy—that peculiar mix of magic and science—has fueled the industrial revolution. With this highly original setting, a cast of fully rounded characters and rapid-fire, funny dialogue, A Riddle in Ruby will call to mind fantasy greats like Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett.

Thank you, A Riddle In Ruby, for bringing the magic back to middle grade fantasy. I've read a slew of MG fantasy this year, most with ships and pirates as is my thing, and they've all been pretty good. But not amazing. None of them had the spark for me, that magic I've been looking for. 

This book did.

A Riddle In Ruby is a fun, high stakes adventure. It starts off on a ship (you know that's my jam) and moves onto an alternate history version of Philadelphi. Now I don't know much about American history or actual Philadelphia but I thought the setting was awesome, and wholly unique. There was a city on top of the city! Everything about this book felt indulgent, like Kent Davis had looked into my head and seen everything I wanted in a book and stuck it all in A Riddle In Ruby. Ruby, especially, stuck out to me. I loved her so much, and Athen too. Maybe the characters were the real magic I've been looking for.

My only niggle was that this book stuck to the thing where the MC is a young girl and follows a slightly older boy, who is more intelligent and worldly and knows all, where the MC is a silly little girl who needs help. I've read many MG that have this for some reason and I thought this book had given me the same thing that makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable. But nope. Everything I thought I knew was really a secret very cleverly concealed. So I actually love everything about this. It just feels fresh and it's compelling - the villain is interesting and doesn't fall into the same old villainous tropes, there are metal animals (!!!), dastardly sailors, and a very serious riddle in Ruby that I'd like to solve.

Do yourself a favour and read it.

(But what does the series name mean, and what's with the key on the cover? What am I missing? I'm so excited to get answers!!!)

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world-building ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆

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The Vanishing Island (ARC Review)

The Chronicles of The Black Tulip: The Vanishing Island | Barry Wolverton

Published by: Walden Pond Press, September 1st 2015

Genre: MG, Fantasy, Ships

Pages: 352

Format: Ebook

Source: Walden Pond Press, via Edelweiss

Does the Vanishing Island really exist? And if so, what treasure—or terrible secret—was hidden by its disappearance?

It’s 1599, the Age of Discovery in Europe. But for Bren Owen, growing up in the small town of Map on the coast of Britannia has meant anything but adventure. Enticed by the tales sailors have brought through Map’s port, and inspired by the arcane maps his father creates as a cartographer for the cruel and charismatic map mogul named Rand McNally, Bren is convinced that fame and fortune await him elsewhere. That is, until his repeated attempts to run away land him a punishment worse than death—cleaning up the town vomitorium.

It is there that Bren meets a dying sailor, who gives him a strange gift that hides a hidden message. Cracking the code could lead Bren to a fabled lost treasure that could change his life forever, and that of his widowed father. But to get there he will have to tie his fate to a mysterious Dutch admiral obsessed with a Chinese legend about an island that long ago disappeared from any map.

Before long, Bren is in greater danger than he ever imagined, and will need the help of an unusual friend named Mouse to survive. Barry Wolverton’s thrilling adventure spans oceans and cultures, brings together the folklore of East and West, and proves that fortune is always a double-edged sword.

This book should be perfect for me - it's got ships and sailors and maps and a hidden island. But something about it never clicked, meaning I liked it a lot but never loved it.

Bren was a pretty okay character - fairly standard for MG fantasy although I was impressed with him not being an orphan (that trend is way old and this was a nice change.) Still, I would have loved to have read this entire book from Mouse's POV. Mouse was much more interesting and complex than Bren and I want to know more about her.

The story was great, though. It had everything I love as mentioned above, it wasn't stringent on the ship paraphernalia despite being a kid's book, and whenever the plot seemed to dip it would pick up the pace without warning. There were several WHAT THE HECK moments for me, which were a nice surprise - it's always fun to be shocked.

All in all, a fun, fast-paced fantasy that holds many secrets. You can't go wrong with this one.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world-building ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

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The Fog Diver (ARC Review)

The Fog Diver | Joel Ross

Published by: HarperCollins, May 26th 2015

Genre: MG, Fantasy, Ships

Pages: 336

Format: Ebook

Source: HarperCollins, via Edelweiss

A deadly white mist has cloaked the earth for hundreds of years. Humanity clings to the highest mountain peaks, where the wealthy Five Families rule over the teeming lower slopes and rambling junkyards. As the ruthless Lord Kodoc patrols the skies to enforce order, thirteen-year-old Chess and his crew scavenge in the Fog-shrouded ruins for anything they can sell to survive.

Hazel is the captain of their salvage raft: bold and daring. Swedish is the pilot: suspicious and strong. Bea is the mechanic: cheerful and brilliant. And Chess is the tetherboy: quiet and quick…and tougher than he looks. But Chess has a secret, one he’s kept hidden his whole life. One that Lord Kodoc is desperate to exploit for his own evil plans. And even as Chess unearths the crew’s biggest treasure ever, they are running out of time...

The Fog Diver is the fantasy MG I've been looking for all year. It's fun, and it has heart and danger and complete originality. I loved it!

I'd never known a world like this before, where a fog has taken over the earth and people now live on the top of mountains. So first off, the world sucked me in, because it was just so new and interesting. And then I got attached to the characters, Hazel and Bea especially. The characters in The Fog Diver are an air-raft crew who take advantage of Chess's ability to survive the fog (because he was an experiment of Lord Kodoc's) to salvage things of worth from the ground. I loved their dynamic and their easy friendship, how they'd clearly been together years and knew each other inside out. The world of this book drew me in but the friendships kept my eyes glued to every page.

This book has everything I was looking for. There's enough fun to space out the stakes and the angst of Chess's back-story, the characters are individuals and likeable, their relationships are real, and everything about the plot is compelling. I'm so happy this book exists and I got to read it. The Fog Diver is the best middle grade I've read all year. I loved it, your kid brother or sister will love it, and I'd bet even your grandma would love it too.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world building ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆