Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

After the events of Gemini, our protagonists (Kady, Ezra, Hanna, Nik, and Ella) are trapped on the ship Mao and are running out of resources. With the jumpgate destroyed, there is no way back to the Core System- their only option is to return to Kerenza and its hostile Bei-Tech occupation. As they suppress mutinies and reluctantly accept the help of a dysfunctional battle AI, the team must find a way to defeat the overwhelming amount of enemy troops and ships at Kerenza.

Meanwhile, on Kerenza itself, the colonists are hard at work under the harsh Bei-Tech occupation- mining the hermium necessary for Bei-Tech to fire up their jumpgate and escape. Faced with the horrors of the situation at hand, Rhys Lindstrom, a Bei-Tech trooper, is disgusted. When he is contacted by Asha Grant, one of the colonists and his girlfriend from before he enlisted in military service, he decides to help the insurgency against the occupation. They must delay hermium production until the Mao can come and rescue them all.

I really liked this novel, just like I enjoyed the previous books in this series. All of the ragtag bunch of characters were written extremely well. The unorthodox combination of files, video transcripts, and message logs the authors used to convey the story was very interesting to read and portrayed a feeling of authenticity to the book. There was a perfect combination of suspense and action, keeping the reader at the edge of their seat. In fact, I think the suspense in the book is done extremely well- it starts to build and build and finally it crescendos into action. Readers of the previous books and books with a story told in unorthodox ways (Like World War Z) would probably enjoy this. Additionally, people who like sci-fi, space-traveling action novels would also love this book.

Reviewed by NK, Grade 10

Montrose Library

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Hazel and Ben live in an unusual town, Fairfold, where magic is common and the Folk roam around. Inside that forest, a boy with horns lies in a glass coffin, in a deep, deep sleep. One day, this boy awakens, and the people of the town are eager to find him. Due to his awakened presence, a monster named Sorrow, who obeys the Alderking, terrorizes the citizens in order to find this boy. Both Hazel and Ben were both once in love with this horned boy, later known as Severin, but Hazel has another secret, one that may tear the siblings apart. Hazel risks everything and travels to land of the Folk with a Faerie, Jack, whom she falls in love with, too, to uncover answers. She also learns dark things about herself that she didn't know before. However, Hazel knows that it is up to her to save the town.

I really enjoyed this book because it was the first fantasy fiction book that I've read and enjoyed in a while. Well, I've read plenty, but they all usually have the same plots or conflicts about fighting a corrupt government, or falling in love with princes or princesses, but this one was different. There were many "oh my gosh" or "I wasn't predicting that" moments. The Darkest Part of The Forest is also a book that I can connect to, of course we don't live in a Faerie world, but the way the book talks about "being normal" is not always great and it's okay to be different, inspires the readers. I believe that anyone who enjoys reading something new would love reading this book. I hoped this book would be a part of a series, so that I can continue reading on with it, but it's not. If I were to rate this book out of 10, 10 being super amazing and 1 being absolutely horrible, I would definitely rate this book a 10.

Reviewed by Raeesah, Grade 8

Casa Verdugo Library