Beacon: Lantern, Book 2 - Chess Desalls,...

*I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Serah Kettel interviews with Master Machin to be an apprentice, to tend to the lanterns and let him know when one burns out. Machin asks her which new lantern bulb she likes. When she touches the one she picks, it smokes inside and she feels a shock that lands her on the ground. She's to return for her position as apprentice. When she returns, she expects to learn Machin's secrets to the lanterns. She didn't expect to live it.

Janine is a new voice for me. I thought she did well with the accents of Havenbrim and where Serah ends up. Giving each land a different feel from each other. The audio book sounded seamless as Janine narrated.

Serah is from a time when Halloween is very different than it is now, or where she ends up. Halloween scares Serah with all the creatures, blood, and body parts we have at parties. Seeing this new world and the way things are done opens Serah's eyes to what's important in life, and what she really wants with her family.

Of course we get a pleasant ending for Serah, after all. But the journey to the end is different through the globes. It's different for each person. I didn't expect the story to take the turn it did here, and I like it. The globe, the locket that's a door, and the delight to see who's where in the end. I know it sounds like I'm rambling, but it'll all make sense when you read or listen to the story.

Machin is always an interesting catalyst for stories. He creates the lanterns which lead these characters down their paths to where they need to be in their lives. I'm not sure if he finds them or if they find him, but he knows they will eventually find their happy ending.

It's a pleasant story that Young Adults can read/listen to and enjoy what the characters learn along the way about themselves.

And oh, the female characters are pretty ace too.

All the books I read and couldn't review this year. Check out the full list on The Book Lantern.

Various Positions is the story of a deeply misguided girl and her attempts to find a little meaning in life through sex.

If you just imagined that Georgia turns into a nymphomaniac, congratulations, you totally missed the point. Then again, so does she. So does the entire book. 

Fair warning: This review contains spoilers. Lots and lots of spoilers. I cannot discuss it without spoiling it. If that bothers anyone, then sorry - I want to explain properly why I rated it the way I did. 

Georgia is 14 years old when she passes the audition to enter a prestigious ballet academy. She's thrilled, of course, because ballet is the alpha and omega of her life. There are hints about some troubles with her family early on in the novel, and that she only feels complete when she dances. Things get even better when she gets singled out by her very strict instructor as promising, and he encourages her to be the best in what she does.

Roderick is a strange subversion of the hot mentor trope, in that he has absolutely no interest in sex and actually considers it as a ruining factor for the dancers. Throughout the novel, he is especially cruel towards those girls who "don't have their priorities straight", which is fine with Georgia... until she becomes curious about sex. From there on, things snowball into disaster.

Read the rest on The Book Lantern.

Out of all the dystopias that got attention in the wake of "The Hunger Games", "Uglies" is the odd one out, and not just because it was published before the trend-setter. A book that was written in the third person rather than the first, one with heavily environmental subtext, and one that, at least at first, was about friendship rather than romance... it's rather different from your "Matched" and your "Eve", and yet for some reason it doesn't quite set itself apart enough.

Find out why in my new Lantern post.