Sci-Fi Pick: The Rains

The Rains
by Gregg Hurwitz
Scholastic Inc.
2017
352 pages
ISBN: 9781338216486

The Rains is an exciting and entertaining science fiction YA  book that (almost) delivers on premise. A meter shower occurs and soon after even stranger things begin to happen. Plants grow in seconds and their spores infect people turning them into monster/machines. . At least all adult people. Anyone who is eighteen or over is infected with whatever "disease" or air-borne pathogen was released by the "invasion." Brothers Chance and Patrick have always been close and hard working. They have no idea how their brotherly bond will be tested over the next days and weeks.

The adults aren't just infected they are controlled  by something or someone. The men walk  in patterns: right angle, march, march, march, right angle with their eyes downcast as if they are mapping the terrain. Their eyes are no longer eyes but look like lenses or cameras. The teens don't know who is filming the terrain and what they are doing with the information.

The teens and children are able to set up camp in the local high school. Chance and Patrick see other children and teens being rounded up and put in cages by the infected adults. Whatever is in store for them can't be good. The brothers have become the leaders of the group and must decide to stay or to go for help.

The deus ex machina insertion of a "good" alien in the end was not only far-fetched but unbelievable and a tragic flaw from both the author and editor.

Recommended grade 8 and up. This book is on the middle school book fair for Scholastic Books.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

YA Review: Guest Review: Carve the Mark

Guest Review by Oscar Porras, Library Media Specialist at Ysleta Middle School in El Paso, Texas. Follow Oscar on Twitter @oporras_LMS

Carve the Mark
by Veronica Roth
Katherine Tegan Books
2017
480 pages
ISBN: 9780062348630

For fans of space operas comes an intergalactic journey that flips the stereotypical gender rules on its head.

In Carve the Mark, everyone has a gift or  currentgift, bestowed by a magical current that surrounds the galaxy. While the currentgifts are considered a blessing, for Cyra and Akos, they are a curse. Cyra's power is to deliver intense pain, while Akos's power controls others' powers. He alone can stop Cyra from feeling pain. 

Akos's father is murdered by the neighboring group, the Shotet because Akos and his brother are favored--meaning that their fate will never change. Akos is sent to train with Shotet warriors and gifted to Cyra to help control her currentgift. Akos and Cyra go from subordinate to equals as the book progresses. Cyra trains him to fight with grace and Akos teaches her to make a potion that will control her pain. In return, Cyra is compelled to help him and his brother escape the Shotet and asks the rebels for help. Nothing is ever as it seems and the book lends itself to the next in the series

Recommended with Reviewer's Note* for grade 8 and up due to violence. Fans of Roth's Divergent are sure to read this one.

Reviewer's Note: "This book proved to be an infuriating read. The overall supporting character cast has caused some consternation with other reviewers. Roth writes that the Shotet people (Cyra is Shotet) are an inferior dark skinned race who act like barbarians, their language coarse and rough, while the Thuvhe (Akos) are light skinned and seen as superior and far more intelligent that the Shotet, their language graceful." -Oscar Porras, LMS

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review nor did guest reviewer Oscar Porras.