Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge by David Lubar YP FIC LUBAR

A group of girls give their gym teacher a dose of her own medicine, a boy plots the perfect murder of his 'perfect' parent, a boy falls for a girl so beautiful she's to die for, and ten more tales of doom from David Lubar.

David Lubar opens by saying "This is not a book for children," but honestly I think this would be a pretty good read for horror fans of many ages.  Sure it has a good amount of death, dismemberment, and murderous teens, but the carnage and gore is kept to a nice minimum.  It makes for a nice alternative to the likes of Charlie Higson and Darren Shan's hyper-gory scare fests.  I love all the guts and grime of their books, but its nice to have creepy alternatives that don't get so vivid about viscera.  It reminds me of a modern update to the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series (J 398.25 SCHWARTZ), which is my gold standard for creepy!  The stories are almost all very quick.  Just long enough to set a mood and pull off a fun or sick or shocking (or a combination of the three) twist and end strong.  But he's really good at pacing the longer stories, so they are just as compelling as the quick ones.  His writing is super simple and very easy to read, which works very well for the type of page turning, look over your shoulder, goosebump raising stories he's writing.  A really fun and classically creepy read for the horror fans from casual to serious.
You can find Extremities in our catalog here.

Marathon by Boaz Yakin Illustrated by Joe Infurnari YP FIC YAKIN

Eucles is running for his life.  For his family. For his people. For the entire future of democracy.  If he slows, if he tires, if he’s caught then the Persian war machine will destroy Athens and with it all hope for democratic ideals.  Eucles just wants to be fast enough to stop the former king of Athens, a bloody tyrant that murdered his family, from ever stepping foot in Athens again.  

This is an AMAZING graphic novel.  It is fittingly fast paced (har-har) and chock full of action.  Infunari has some of the best artwork I have seen in years.  You could take individual comic frames and hang them on your wall as art.  Bloody, violent art, but really great art nonetheless.  The story is told in such a visually dynamic way, and the plot is structured so tensely, that I found myself constantly wondering about the outcome of a historical tale I knew all about!  I also really found the human relationships between the characters to be really well told.  I cared if Eucles would see his wide again or if former friends turned enemies would have to face on the battle field.  That’s rare to find in an action packed historical war comic.  It may not be the ageless classic that the Illiad is, but it is a high watermark in graphic novels and in historical fiction about Athens.  If you are at all a fan of 300 the book or the movie, then Marathon should blow you away! 

You can check our catalog for Marathon here.

American Barbarian by Tom Scioli YP FIC SCIOLI

In the future wasteland of America, the sword rules.  Two Tank Omen, a future pharaoh with tanks for feet and his army of cyborgs, dinosaurs, mutants, and madmen plan to rule all.  Meric Lionheart, last of a slaughtered family of knights, carves R-E-V-E-N-G-E on his hands and takes the legendary Star Sword to revenge his family and save America.

This is a beautiful and strange love letter to Jack “The King” Kirby.  Jack Kirby co-created Captain America, Avengers, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, x-men, The Hulk, and many more.  The art in American Barbarian is a spot on tribute to Kirby’s art style, so it will seem sort of outdated to some more modern readers.  HOWEVER! The supremely over the top action and character design should more than make up for it.  The book reads like what a over-imaginative teen from the 60s would imagine as the COOLEST COMIC EVER!!!  And in a hilariously over-the-top way, it absolutely is. The plot moves forward from one action set piece to the next and never stops rocking!  This is an absolute must read for fans of Jack Kirby and I highly recommend it any comic fans in general.

You can check our catalog for American Barbarian here.

Subject Seven by James A. Moore YP FIC MOORE

Subject Seven is a genetically modified killing machine hidden in the body of a teenager. After a bloody escape at the age of ten he has finally found the rest of the test subjects that are like him and awakened their Others. Now five teens from very different walks of life have to confront the monsters inside themselves and try and uncover the monsters that made them.

This is the first in a series and it definitely suffers from First Bookitis. We get to meet the characters, get invested in them, they FINALLY start meeting the bad guys, and then POOF story ends. I would have liked a more climactic ending that still left the book open for sequels. That being said, I am already hooked and will definitely devour the next volume (so write it fast Mr. Moore!). What works best about the book is that we get inside the head of the teens and their sadistic, murderous Others. The Others are awesomely overpowered killing machines and when they finally get out the book has some very gruesome action. This is a very fun twist on the classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The book’s characters are mainly types that you will have seen in countless TV shows, movies, and books AND so far the main villain is sort of boring, BUT Moore does a good job of making the characters interesting if not very deep and the tension of having a secret monster inside you come to life very well. A great read for fans of action that need a new series.

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare illustrated by Faye Young YP FIC SHAKESPE

Bassanio loves the fair Portia, but needs money to woo her. He calls upon his best friend and mentor Antonio who makes the mistake of borrowing from the banker Shylock.. Shylock hates Bassiano for a previous cruelty at the hands of his best friend, Antonio and for Antonio undermining Shylock’s business, so his terms of failure to pay on time are quite severe: a pound of flesh from nearest Antonio’s heart. When a turn of fortune forces Antonio to be late in payment, Shylock takes Antonio to court seeking his pound of flesh and Antonio’s life.

This is a part of a series of manga Shakespeare tales some of which I reviewed here. I quite like the elfin, fantasy style they use here. They do a good job of making Shylock look sinister and evil without looking like a stereotype. The layouts are quite good and there is a lot of fun and playful visuals with the romantic plot of the book. I do recommend reading this to anyone that would like to get into Shakespeare but is put off by the language, because visuals help make the action clearer. I will say that this book has some of the same problems of the play. The play can certainly be read as anti-Semitic. A great deal of learned scholars have argued that issue for many years, but it FAR too complicated to be settled by one blog post. The Merchant of Venice is a brilliant play and has a lot to say about mercy, justice, love, marriage, and bigotry, so it should absolutely be read and this is a great way to read it.

Blood Ninja 2: The Revenge of Lord Oda by Nick Lake YP FIC LAKE

After Taro killed the evil Lord Oda Nobunaga he thought he was safe, but unfortunately Lord Oda is alive, er undead, because he has risen as a vampire! This is bad timing as Taro and his friends are off to find Taro’s missing mother. When they fall into a trap a tragedy occurs that drives Taro to find the Bhudda Ball, a weapon of ultimate power and meet Lord Oda on the battlefield to get Bloody Revenge!!!

Blood Ninja 2 is even bloodier and ninja-ier then the first! It has a great flow of action, awesome swordplay and magic, really evil villains, and exciting plot twists. It is one of the coolest horror-action series in a long while. Fans of the first book or of Darren Shan’s novels should LOVE this book. I love that Lake includes lots of accurate historical detail so it takes you to another place and time. I also think that manga fans will really love the Blood Ninja series, because it totally reads like a really awesome manga. Basically if you like action packed books you should (BAD PUN ALERT) sink your teeth into Blood Ninja 2!

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness YP FIC NESS

War makes monsters of men. Todd and Viola having finally captured Mayor Prentiss only to discover that an army of Spackle (a race indigenous to the planet humans have colonized) are bearing down on them. Todd must make allies with his most hated foe while Viola is forced to fight alongside Mistress Coyle, who tried to make Viola an unwitting suicide bomber just hours before. With all sides determined to destroy each other utterly and the Spackle being led by one that personally wants to see Todd dead, there seems to be no road for peace possible in this thrilling and complex end to the Chaos Walking Trilogy.

This is the best book I have read all year. The Chaos Walking Trilogy is filled with complicated and fascinating characters that have to make difficult decisions that never have neat answers. The trilogy pushes the main heroes Todd and Viola through amazing suffering and never gives them an easy out for a choice. Their choices always have serious consequences that echo throughout the entire series. And Mayor Prentiss is maybe the best villain in YA literature ever. He is more complex than most heroes and it is great fun to try and guess what he is really up to as he manipulates everything around him. Besides great characters the plot is filled with amazing suspense and loads of huge twists that will completely blow you away. The series as a whole is good at doing this but Ness really brought the best to the last. And if plot and characters being some of the best in YA lit weren’t enough the writing is really great too. We get the perspectives of Todd, Viola, and the Spackle that wants Todd dead called The Return. Ness created a whole culture for the Spackle that makes the war much more tragic because the reader is torn on which side to really want to lose. All in all if you enjoy reading good YA series then you should absolutely read the entire Chaos Walking Trilogy. Start with the Knife of Never Letting Go.

Kick-Ass by Mark Millar Art by John Romita Jr. YP FIC MILLAR

Dave Lizewski is an average high school nerd with a not so healthy obsession with comic books. He often wonders why no one has ever actually tried to be a super hero in real life and decides that he will be the first. Calling himself Kick-Ass, his first attempt at ‘fighting crime’ (graffiti!) lands him in the hospital, physical therapy for six months, and with metal plates in his head, but he still decides to keep the suit. When he actually stops one crime and the cell phone footage hits Youtube it inspires a spate of imitators and gets him the fame he always wanted. He soon meets a 10 year old girl with katanas and her psychotic gun toting dad and is recruited into their war against the mob. But Kick-Ass is about to find out why no one ever tried to be a superhero in real life before: it’s completely insane.

This book does all its title promises. It is loud, fast, hilarious, rude, and violent. This is what I call smart-dumb fun. The action packed story is on one level like a super macho action movie, but if you look at it deeper you see that the writer is well aware how horrible his characters are. It’s actually a satire of the adolescent male’s obsession with sex and violence as represented by super hero comics. While it isn’t the genre changing epic that Watchmen (YP FIC MOORE) was, it isn’t trying to be. It keeps the scope of action small and this makes it a much faster, more brutal read. If you’ve already seen the movie this was based on then you know the basic plot, but there are enough minor changes to keep thing interesting too. The absolute best thing about this comic is the stunning art by John Romita jr. Comic fans will already recognize him as the best artist working today and anyone reading Kick-Ass will be an instant fan. He really outdoes himself on this project and comes up with some of the most insane comic panels in history. All in all Kick-Ass is a fun comic that can be enjoyed for its mindless action movie violence AND for its satire of the same violence it celebrates.