Mina travels to New Orleans from the UK to visit her sister. Their relationship has been strained, to say the least. Mina is a walking horror film encyclopedia, so when she lands a position a horror movie mansion, scaring tourists who pay to see their favourite scenes reenacted, it's like a dream come true. Even better, she meets Jared, her sister's roommate whom she starts to develop feelings for. Then the murders start happening. Not only murders, but bizarre ones that eerily resemble vampire killings and New Orleans' most brutal murders from the past. Someone is out there, trying to frame them, trying to kill them, and it's up to Mina and her new friends to put a stop to it once and for all. Mina Vs The Undead is a sharp YA horror chalk full of great '90s references. It contains tight twists and a great cast of characters. It is clear that a lot of research on New Orleans and its colourful and often dark history has been conducted here. At the high school library I manage, students are always clamouring for great horror and I can't wait to get this into their hands! Recommended for ages 14+
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Noah is about to embark on a bleak summer holiday. His adopted mother is a best selling novelist and needs inspiration. To find it, she decides to travel to a remote Scottish island and live off the grid for a couple of weeks in a ramshackle cabin while she furiously pounds away on her typewriter. The catch is, she wants Noah to accompany her. It just so happens that Noah is deathly afraid of water as a result of a cruel PE teacher and an incident in a pool. Nevertheless, he makes the short boat journey to the rocky island whose only inhabitant is a mysterious bird watcher who lives in an even more dilapidated cabin on the far side of the island. On the short journey across the water, Noah discovers that the island used to house a leper hospital, and that not many people have the courage to stay on the island for very long. The captain taking him across won't divulge any more information, unfortunately. It doesn't take long for Noah to get entwined in a mystery of his own, and there's the mysterious figure that seems to be watching him from afar. What follows is a thrilling horror-adventure set in a stunning atmospheric island. Set in the early 1950s, Inchtinn is a perfect scary read for a dark December evening. Noah's growth throughout the novel is admirable, I was really rooting for him and enjoyed seeing his confidence grow. The eeriness of the island crawled off the page, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! America is in a post-apocalyptic nightmare where the dead have risen. Peter, his father and a small community have forged a life on tiny islands in a national park. The problem? When winter descends and the ice freezes, there's nothing from stopping the dead from the walking to their homes on stilts and running riot. I love this idea. Also, a national park is the first place I'd try to forge a new life when things go sour. It makes sense and Charlton puts you into that world brilliantly, the cold seeps through the pages and into your bones. The protagonist, Peter, has always known he wasn't as tough as his father, or Bud, the father of Cooper, the boy he likes who lives on the other side of the lake. One day, Peter allows a stranger to approach the shore in his canoe, this breaks all the rules and Peter nearly pays for his life because of it. As punishment, he's forced to go onto the mainland to learn how to wrangle the dead and help the rest of the crew survive. What follows is a series of misadventures where Peter discovers dark secrets about the place he calls home. These are secrets that will test Peter's willpower, grit and love for those around him. Wranglestone is a great read, it's full throttle action with a lot of clever twists and scenes that will make your skin crawl. Peter and Cooper's dynamic is great, as is Peter's relationship with his father, proof that love can exist in the face of terror and showing how it's even more important when things go as bad as they do in Wranglestone. This is sharp writing with great characters and a great twist on the zombie genre, I really recommend it when it arrives in the UK in Feb! Beth Teller has a problem. She's dead. Not only that, but her dad can still see and talk to her. Grieving, her dad tries to pour himself into his work as a detective, allowing for Beth to talk to him without assuming he's gone completely mad. Then it happens, a local children's home burns to the ground, and there's a body inside. It's not a victim of the accidental fire, the person inside was murdered before it started. Now there's a case to solve, and Beth's determined to help her dad solve it and keep his mind off of, well her. As the mystery deepens, they come into contact with Isobel Catching, a girl who was found wandering around near the children's home. Her story is terrifying, strange and in Beth's father's opinion, delusional. But as the bodies begin to pile up, Beth and her father aren't sure what to believe. It will take all of their combined strength to survive this case. I tore through this novel, Beth is a brilliant character, her relationship with her father is sharp, sad, funny and cutting. Isobel Catching could have a side series on her own she's that strong of a character. I loved Catching Teller Crow, it is a razor sharp mystery that serves to educate the reader on Australia's shameful treatment of its Indigenous peoples. These are characters you'll want to hang around with, especially the ghosts. Don't miss this fantastic YA novel. Eighteen months ago Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. The Tox, as they call it, started in the woods on their isolated little island. The trees and other plants started growing at a phenomenal rate, then it got into the teachers, then the students. It turned their bodies into something bizarre, extra spines, two heartbeats, everyone gets affected differently. What they all suffer is an eventual death, slow and painful. Hetty is infected, she lost her eye to the Tox. With her friend Byatt, they wait for a cure to come from the mainland. When Hetty is given the coveted boat shift, the opportunity to go out beyond the fence and pick up the supplies provided from those on the mainland, she learns a dark secret. A secret she can't contain. Soon. Raxter starts to fall apart, and when Byatt goes missing, Hetty embarks on a mission to find her friend before the Tox destroys everything she knows. I really got into the world of Wilder Girls, it's dark and at times terrifying and Rory Power's writing is at times razor sharp. I have no idea if a sequel is being written but there definitely could be one, or a prequel for that matter. I know i'd definitely read it. I loved Hetty and thought she was a very strong character right to the last page. I've already got a few students in mind that I know will want to pick this up, great dystopia thriller! Ruby West's world is about to change forever. The Traditional Party, or Trads as they are called, have been voted in. Their political stance is hardcore, they want to "clean" up society using fascist methods. Ruby and her family belong to the Core Party, who are eventually rounded up in the middle of the night and brought to an unused army barracks in what has become a makeshift concentration camp. Confused, stunned and hungry, Ruby, her sister, her mother and her step father are thrust into a living nightmare. At first, they tell themselves that they'll be let out soon, that the Trads can't possibly keep them there against their will. But then more buses arrive with more Core supporters, then the food rations start to dwindle, then the guards get more violent and the prisoners more desperate. Ruby's fate is intertwined with the rest of the camp as she and her family tries to endure the unthinkable. I Am Not A Number gets dark, and then it gets darker. I was completely engrossed in this tale of terror featuring fascist politics, propaganda and the desire to control populations at all costs. In today's fragmented political climate, it's a potent reminder of the horrors of the past and of what could be our future if we allow alt-right parties to continue to spew their garbage online and in the streets. I Am Not A Number will undoubtedly be a huge hit at Glenthorne High School and I really look forward to getting it into the hands of our teens! In the eerie town of Suds, children are disappearing. Some of them come back, unable to speak, their eyes turned grey, their hair turned white, their spirit sucked from them completely. Poppy is visiting her Gran for the summer, her Gran has funny rules like all washing has to be in before 6pm, no sugar is to be left lying around the house and never, ever clean any windowsills. When Poppy meets Erasmus, an odd boy who doesn't seem to have a filter, they start to unravel an ancient, terrifying secret that hides just under the town's sleepy veneer. As they get closer to discovering the truth, Poppy realises that her Gran, her friends and her own life are in horrible danger. I loved this novel, the writing is crisp and clear and Poppy is an amazing protagonist. She's clever, stubborn and doesn't back down from a fight. The great thing about this story are the secondary characters who really jump off the page with grit and spirit. Erasmus is hilarious, loyal and headstrong as is Poppy's Gran. Poppy's dynamic with her absentee father is very realistic and touching. The villains in this novel are truly terrifying, stuff that creeps into your dreams and spins them into nightmares. It's a fantastic tale that will become a modern classic in my opinion. Don't miss it! After Jake is given a box by a mysterious stranger, he discovers it contains nothing but a severed finger. It's not just any severed finger, however, it's an enchanted one that summons a grim reaper after him. After this event, Jake realises he can communicate and see ghosts, this puts him on a wild adventure with Stiffkey the undertaker, Cora, a ghost who likes to attack people with hockey sticks and a ghost fox known as Zorro. Together, they must right the wrong accidentally set in motion by Jake when he opened the haunted box. Their lives depend upon it! This is a fun new series with ghosts, spectres and lots of laughs. This is a welcome addition to the Library that I manage because we have a huge population of students who crave books with both silly and smart humour and this has both. It also has a lot of danger and a few frights, it's a great read worth your time, I recommend it for ages 10 and up! Jane Mckeene is born into a world of terror. Zombies, known as shamblers, have risen from the Civil War battlefields and torn the nation apart even further. Jane is sent to special combat schools based on a government law known as the Native and Negro Reeducation Act, In the school she learns to dispose of the undead in an efficient manner. Her and the other students are told that the area around Baltimore is shamble free, but when this turns out to be a lie, Jane and her friend Katherine are plunged into a conspiracy that will take them out west where shamblers aren't the only thing that's rotten. I only gave this book two stars on Goodreads simply because I felt it was around 100 pages too long. I had such high hopes for it but nothing happens, it seems to be a string of mildly entertaining zombie attacks that are wedged into a huge amount of info dumps that go on for pages. It had a lot of promise in the beginning, but I have to say that the book is really boring which should have been near impossible when writing a book about zombies during the American Civil War. Simon is a dog without a family. He survives with his friends Cliff the raccoon and Reynard the deer. Something has happened to the world, humans are gone, cities and towns burned to husks. The animals have taken over and their mission is to scrounge for food in order to survive. One day they meet Barnaby, another dog who has lost his family. Barnaby tells them there's another town nearby with humans in it. Simon becomes interested, hopeful that he'll find his family. Together the four animals set off to find the new town. Barnaby turns out to be a controlling jerk, however and isolates Simon from the other animals. When they come across an angry bear and a team of vicious coyotes, the trio's friendship is stressed to its limits. Garbage Night is reminiscent of Sweet Tooth, another post-apocalyptic scenario involving animals. Garbage Night appears on the surface much less dark and disturbing than Sweet Tooth but it's a series that has the potential to go down that route. The three animals' rapport is fun and interesting and I was genuinely concerned for their well-being as the story moved along. I wasn't aware of this series before but I'm glad I've come across it because I know a lot of students who enjoy things like Fallout, Fortnite and other similar games and this kind of scenario would be perfect for them, especially reluctant readers. Highly recommended for ages 11 and up! |
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