The Tattooed Heart by Michael Grant

Series: Messenger of Fear (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal/Horror

Subjects: supernatural, good vs. evil, apprentices, games, death, fear, bullying

Setting: Various places, including Iowa and Nashville, TN

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, past tense: Mara

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 389 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegan

Summary/ product description: “Mara has already witnessed more evil as the Messenger’s apprentice than most people do in their lifetime, but the games continue.

The Messenger leads Mara to the funeral of a Muslim boy named Aimal, who died standing up for his people, and then to an abandoned store, where they discover Graciella, a girl battling addiction. The all-knowing Messenger recognizes that they are victims of heinous crimes. Mara and Messenger will find the wicked—those who act out of selfishness and greed, and others who become violent because of prejudice and hate.

But Mara and Messenger pay a price too. For every person who is offered justice, they will wear a tattoo that symbolizes the heart of the crime. And as Mara delves deeper into her harsh reality, she is suprirsed to realize that part of her is drawn to the sometimes compassionate Messenger. In spite of all the terror she and Messenger inflict, Mara will discover that caring in this world is the hardest part of all.

The second book in New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant’s Messenger of Fear series, The Tattooed Heart combines fantasy with real-world horror stories to create a satisfying conclusion.”

My Review:  The Tattooed Heart is the sequel to The Messenger of Fear. Mara is still the Messenger’s apprentice. She’s viewing people’s lives, finding the ones who are causing pain and punishing them. There’s a racist jerk that is mean to a Muslim girl and there’s people who screwed over a girl who writes country song and made her become a drug addict. The Messenger of Fear’s purpose is to punish those who spread hate and cause pain and get away with it.

This series has been quite unique. The Messenger is kind of like an angel or the Ghost of Christmas Past & Future in a way. He’s not the only Messenger. There’s a lot of them and they take on apprentices. He’s very mysterious and doesn’t talk about his past except the girl named Ariadne who he loved and hurt. Mara is attracted to him, but there isn’t much romance. They don’t fall in love because Ariadne had his heart.

I really enjoyed the country music drama part. It made me think of the show Nashville on ABC. Graciella is kind of like Scarlet O’Conner and gets screw over selling her songs to a singer named Nicolet, who’s like Juliet Barnes and her manager who’s like Jeff Fordam. Then Graciella ends up as a hooker and does drugs. That’s awful.

This series is really Grant’s way of trying to say that bullying and racism are bad. It’s got a great message and it’s also very dark and fantastical. This story was longer than the previous book and still felt like it was lacking some substance. I enjoyed it. It wasn’t hard or boring, but something felt missing and I guess that’s the romance. We did get to see some demons though. I’m excited for the final book. The description misled me to believe that this was the final book, but I’m glad it’s not. I want to see Mara become a Messenger herself.

Cover Art Review: Reminds me of the Grisha Trilogy cover, but different artist.

Inhuman by Kat Falls

Series: Fetch (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: mutants, animals, viruses, survival, adventure

Setting: Davenport, Iowa; Moline, Illinois; Chicago, Illinois

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Delaney Park McEvoy

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 375 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and soon in Paperback

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Summary/ product description: “In a world ravaged by mutation, a teenage girl must travel into the forbidden Savage Zone to recover lost artifacts or her father’s life is forfeit.

America has been ravaged by a war that has left the eastern half of the country riddled with mutation. Many of the people there exhibit varying degrees of animal traits. Even the plantlife has gone feral.

Crossing from west to east is supposed to be forbidden, but sometimes it’s necessary. Some enter the Savage Zone to provide humanitarian relief. Sixteen-year-old Lane’s father goes there to retrieve lost artifacts—he is a Fetch. It’s a dangerous life, but rewarding—until he’s caught.

Desperate to save her father, Lane agrees to complete his latest job. That means leaving behind her life of comfort and risking life and limb—and her very DNA—in the Savage Zone. But she’s not alone. In order to complete her objective, Lane strikes a deal with handsome, roguish Rafe. In exchange for his help as a guide, Lane is supposed to sneak him back west. But though Rafe doesn’t exhibit any signs of “manimal” mutation, he’s hardly civilized . . . and he may not be trustworthy.”

My Review:  Inhuman was as amazing as I expected, but I didn’t expect it to be set in the state I live, Illinois. I didn’t know Kat Falls was from Illinois. I met her at the YA lit conference I Naperville last year and got my copy of Inhuman signed and I finally just read it. Inhuman is unlike and dystopian book I’ve read. Sure, it’s got a virus, but this virus turns people into animal instead of zombies. It causes people to mutate and become “manimals” and later, ferals.

I had thought that Lane’s love interest would be a wild animal-boy, but that wasn’t the case. At least not yet.  Lane ends up having to go to the Feral Zone to find her father who turns out to be a “fetch” (a person who brings requested items over the wall). What he does is illegal and the only way to wipe his record is to do a fetch for an official. Lane runs into some issues. She meets a young line guard named Everson, and a hunter named Rafe. Lane wants someone to take her to Moline because her father may be there. Some romance happens, as well as funny bickering between Lane, Rafe and Everson.

The story reminds me of Madman’s Daughter by Meagan Shepherd, which is a retelling of the Island of Dr. Moreau. The story seems very Dr. Moreau like, but set in post-pandemic Iowa and Illinois. There are the manimals and feral, but there are also mongrel. The mongrels are animals (not humans turned animals) that have multiple species DNA. They are chimeras. There are mole-chimps (chimpacabras) and piranha bats (weevlings), and hyena-boars. Creepy freaky creature that I have a hard time picturing. If this was a movie, then the CQI folks would have a heck of a challenge (and the make-up people too).

The setting of this book makes some familiar to me feel unfamiliar in a good way. Living in Illinois, there is a lot of rural prairie areas, which the author mentioned. Also, part of the story in set in Chicago, in Lincoln Park zoo, which I’ve been to multiple times. The zoo becomes a place for the ferals and mongrels. I recommend this book to fans of the Madman’s Daughter series, the Feral series by Cynthia Leitich Smith, and other books about werewolves, were-people, animal people and mutants.

Cover Art Review: Very cool post-apocalyptic city-scape. The gold color fit. The wall is perfect for the story.

Undead with Benefits by Jeff Hart

Series: Eat, Brains, Love (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Dystopian/ Horror/Humor

Subjects: zombies, cannibalism, psychic ability, psychics, telepathy, government conspiracies, government officials, love, fugitives

Setting: Starts out in Illinois and then they have to figure out how to get to Iowa. Mostly set in Des Moines, Iowa

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense, rotating between Jake and Cass

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 406 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “The living dead are living it up in this hilarious and surprisingly romantic sequel to Eat, Brains, Love, which Kirkus Reviews called “one hell of a road trip...funny, gross, and scary in equal, alternating measures."

Jake and Amanda are in love, on the run—and undead. They've teamed up with Cass, who’s ditched her former job as shady government psychic zombie-tracker, and they're headed across the border into Iowa, where there’s rumored to be a zombie cure.

Armed with a trunk full of guinea pigs (aka zombie snacks), they're ready to take on the Midwest’s first undead warlord, the psycho psychic out for their blood, and their own superawkward love triangle. But the virus is spreading faster than you can say "zombie apocalypse," and Jake, Amanda, and Cass have to find the cure—if it even exists—before the whole state of Iowa goes up in flames.

With its heartwarming blend of guts, romance, and spot-on teen humor, this road trip–ready paperback original is perfect for fans of Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies and AMC’s The Walking Dead. Readers will devour Jeff Hart's fresh, funny, and irreverent take on love and life (well, unlife) in an eat-or-be-eaten world.”

My Review:  When I read the first book, Eat, Brains, Love, I was not expecting a sequel. It seemed like a standalone until near the end. I am really happy that there is a sequel and Undead With Benefits is a very good one. It continuous this hilarious zombie story and takes us to the state of Iowa. It’s such a unique take on zombies. The zombies turn normal after they eat flesh and back into zombies when they are hungry. It’s like werewolves, but were-zombies.

Jake, Amanda and Cass are on the hunt for the cure to being a zombie. They have a lead that it’s in Des Moines. Once in Iowa things get rough. It’s pretty much a post-apocalyptic environment with all the body parts lying around and ghouls looking for food. Jake joked about the Midwest along the way and all that corn. He never expected Iowa to be so gruesome.

I love the twisted humor and the characters. Jake is a gamer like my brother, except Jake was a pot head. He’s lazy and nerdy and still sometimes act like his zombie life is a video game. He still can’t believe that Amanda likes him. The books start out with him and Amanda having sex and he calls it Jake Day. This book is pretty much a goofy comedy. I really wish this was a movie because it would be so fun and hilarious to see. Except for all the gory stuff.

Also, I like that the story includes a psychic as a main character. Cass can read mind and control people and dream walk. She worked for a government agency that tracked down zombie outbreaks and contained them. She joins up with Amanda and Jake; helps then steal some useful stuff before going into Iowa. Jake makes a gamer friend. Reggie is African American and has a place where he plays video games and hangs out. Reggie’s got a bit of an alter ego too. He and Jake become friends, and they get stoned with Jake’s pot. It’s weird guy bonding.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy anything zombie, especially funny zombie movies, like Zombieland, Warm Bodies, and Shawn of the Dead.

Cover Art Review: The title is made with food and on what looks like the hood of a silver car. Really creative and gross. The perfect cover for this funny zombie story.

The Defiant by Lisa M. Stasse

Series: The Forsaken (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-Fi/Romance

Subjects: rebellions, resistance to government, war, fascism, survival, action, adventure

Setting: Various places in what was once the USA, now the UNA: Texas, Chicago, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Alenna

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 343 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover  

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary/ product description: “In this gripping conclusion to The Forsaken Trilogy, Alenna’s loyalties are put the ultimate test—and it’s one of life and death.

Alenna Shawcross and the others who escaped the wheel are working toward an all-out assault on the United Northern Alliance. The plan is to dismantle it from the inside—and Alenna is one of the few people who can access the organization’s inner sanctum. But when she returns to the home she has nearly forgotten, she encounters old friends and is swept into a secret plan that puts everything she loves in danger.

Knowing what is at stake for her and her friends, Alenna ventures into the heart of the treacherous UNA. She’s determined to bring them down, because freedom is the only choice. Or is it?”

My Review:  A wonderful exciting finale to an epic dystopia series, The Defiant takes us to places the series hasn’t been before, both literally and figuratively. Alenna, Liema and Gadya and other rebels travel to the UNA to lead the rebellion into overthrowing the government. It doesn’t go how they expect it. Alenna is taken to see David and he give her a task to infiltrate a work camp that Liam is at, but she is captured and put in a home at the Hellgrounds. Alenna must save Liam, and cause rebels to rise up and fight.

There’s a lot of adventure in this book. Even state and major city has New in front of it. She lands in New Dallas, New Texas and is sent to the Hellgrounds in New Iowa. She and her friends must travel to New Ohio and then New Chicago. Lot of stuff happens that moves this story along at a fast pace. Just so much, but I don’t want to spoil it. I was exciting and I hated having to put this book down when I had to do something else. I have to now how it would end.

This was more exciting than the previous books. I loved The Forsaken, and The Uprising was good, but took me about a week to finish. In less than four days I was able to complete this and I hate that it’s over. It’s a great conclusion, but in some parts I felt like there’s no way this could be the final book. So many changes and big things happened, I felt like this could have been 2 books. This is the definition of finale. Like a firework show, the finale is when they blast a lot of fireworks off at the same time. There’s were twists every few chapter. Miy mind was blown with that ending.

Alenna is a great narrator. I still don’t know what she looked like, but is doesn’t matter. She should be up there with Tris Prior and Katniss Everdeen, in the land of badass heroines. She killed a lot of people in this book. She really cared strongly about her friends. She regretted her decisions, even when it was the right thing to do. She did her best and she succeeded most of the time. With her friends, she was able to overcome so many changes in this book. Liam wasn’t just a love interest, he was her rock, and Gadya was her best friend. I miss reading about these character.

If you have not read The Forsaken, it’s like Catching Fire because it’s about surviving on a prison island. This final book felt like the Divergent series, partly because part of it was in Chicago. This dystopian series is about a corrupt government. It’s also about survival. It’s not post-apocalyptic, but it feels like it sometimes. There’s a lot of advanced technology, genetically modified mutants, and brain washing drugs. It’s pure dystopian, which may not seem unique. The author wrote the Forsaken before the Hunger Games was a thing, though it came out later. I’m surprised this series isn’t more popular. Spread the word. This is one dystopian series every Hunger Games and Divergent fan should read.

Cover Art Review:  I love this cover. It’s neon green in person. Really bright and attractive. The wire frame faces are cool and there’re 2 on this cover. The double exposure photos are almost ghostly. The dome, watchtower and the insect like machine add to the sci-fi feel. The title really stands out in bright yellow. Everything fits together in this cyber-punk style that almost feels like a Cold-War era art piece.