Sunday, June 10, 2012

The Teen Menu

Welcome to the June edition of The Teen Menu. As usual, I'm sharing the latest in YA-related news and a review. This month, I'm covering the second book in my series on this years RITA finalists in the Young Adult category.

YA News

The CW has officially picked up the pilot episode of The Carrie Diaries, but they also announced they were canceling The Secret Circle. The network also has announced a new series for the fall called Arrow, an origin story about Green Arrow. I'll probably check it out though it will be weird to see someone else
(Stephen Amell) play Green Arrow after getting used to Justin Hartley playing the character on Smallville. Here's a first look at the series.

A new Wizarding World of Harry Potter is in the works for Osaka, Japan. The new attraction, modeled after the original at Universal Studios Theme Park in Orlando, is scheduled to open in late 2014.

With the success of the Twilight movies and The Hunger Games, Hollywood studios are snatching up the rights to successful YA novels left and right. This article showcases some of the YA books that are in the process of being made into films. Among some of the familiar titles -- Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, Heist Society by Ally Carter, Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, and Divergent by Veronica Roth.


YA Reviews

Last month, I reviewed Janet Gurtler's I'm Not Her, a contemporary YA. This month, let's switch gears to the much darker post-apocalyptic tale, Enclave by Ann Aguirre, the first in her Razorland trilogy. I loved this book, and I'm already counting down the days until its sequel, Outpost, releases on Sept. 4. This is the story of a teenage girl named Deuce, who lives in an underground enclave that protects her and her fellow citizens from the dangerous Freaks outside. I get the impression that Freaks are a bit like zombies, though not exactly. Deuce and the rest of the enclave's residents are descendants of people were driven from the world's surface by some unnamed cataclysmic event that makes the surface uninhabitable. Or is it?

According to Fade, a boy who hasn't always lived in her enclave, he once lived on the surface. And he somehow managed to survive on his own in the underground tunnels surrounding the enclaves for a long time before he was brought into her enclave. As Deuce gets to know him better, it only brings more questions.

In the enclave world, people are divided into three groups -- Builders, Breeders and Hunters. Deuce is thankful to be chosen as a Hunter, which means she will go out into the tunnels each day and look for food for the enclave's citizens. When she's paired with Fade as a hunting partner, she doesn't know if it's a good or bad thing. But it's definitely the most important turning point of her life, and it leads to her knowing more about the leadership of the enclave and the life above-ground than she ever imagined possible.

4 comments:

  1. I like Ann Aguirre's writing but I haven't had time to check out Enclave. That will be changing immediately. You have me hooked, Trish. I want to find out what's going on above-ground too!

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    1. Hey, PJ. I have more of her books, at least Grimspace, here somewhere. Must pull them out after I finish reading a few more YA books for the next few months' Teen Menu installments.

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  2. Very cool! Can't wait to see some of these new shows. I love that so many YA books are being considered for movies. :)

    I might give Enclave a try. You grabbed my attention with the addition of Fade. :)

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  3. Wow, Trish! I didn't realize that so many YA books were possibly being made into movies! Congrats to these authors.

    Enclave sounds very intriguing!

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