Beastly - Alex Flinn

A modern twist on the timeless story of Beauty and the Beast, featuring a young New York City boy named Kyle, or Beast, as he goes by later in the book. It has an unusual element, adding in six MSN conversations between different fairytale characters including Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid', the Frog from 'The Princess and the Pea', and a Bear from 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves'.
The blurb reads -

I am a beast.
A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright - a creature with fangs ang claws and hair springing up from everyo pore. I am a monster. You thinking I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever - ruined - unless I can break the spell. Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly... beastly.

The blurb might not be so appetising to some people, but the book is brilliatly written. It even briefly touches on the delicate subject of drugs, for maybe a page, but still. The main character undergoes a brilliantly-chorographed journey of emotional maturity, which we follow closely. The characters undergo some strong characterisation throughout the book, which is so flawlessly written into the plot that you don't notice it's happening as you read it, until you look back on the characters. At the end of the book they are completly different people from when we first met them.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is a brilliant book, with a stunning plot and incredibly vivid characters. Collins is a very talented writer who specialises in characterization and visual images.
The blurb of Hunger Games reads -

Winning will make you famous. Losing means certain death.
In a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.

When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

Katniss (named after a plant in Collins' world) comes from 'District 12', which produces coal. Katniss and her best friend Gale depend on eachother to feed their families, have done since they were young and Katniss' father was killed in a mining accident.

Everything in the Hunger Games is carefully plotted and planned by Katniss' agent Haymitch. Her natural survival instinct keeps her alive for the beggining, but when her friend is killed, revenge takes over and she is not so popular with the crowd watching.

The sequel 'Catching Fire' is about her return to her district, with the government ready to kill her for treason and rebellion. It's due out in September of 2009.

Visit www.hungergames.co.uk for more details.

Devil's Kiss - Sarwat Chadda

'Devil's Kiss' is a romance/horror book, brilliantly written that captures emotions, though the setting and situation is completly alien to most of us. It's set in present-day America, though the group the book is set around is the anchient Knights of Templar. The blurb reads -

The rusty chains groaned as he swayed back and forth, watching her.
'Maybe it's not him,' thought Billi,
'Maybe he's just some normal kid. Maybe I don't have to murder him.'

Billi SanGreal is facing her Ordeal. The last test before her initiation. But she hadn't expected this. Not killing a little kid.

Billi is destined to follow her father into The Order and protect the masses from the Unholy. From the thousands of evil, tortured souls that prey on humanit.

Billi is fifteen. Is a life of brutal fighting and deadly combat really what she wants? Or is temptation threatening to lead her astray...

Chadda has done a fantastic job of capturing the essense of the emotions that belong to the main characters. Billi's mother is dead, and her father is unresponsive to her affections, and in fact does much to discourage them. Nothing she does is ever good enough, and when her childhood friend re-enters her life, her emotions begin to confuse her.

This book is brilliant, but not for the faint-hearted readers out there.

Generation Dead - Daniel Waters

The other day, I read this fantastic book called Generation Dead, by Daniel Waters. The genre is romance with a hint of horror. The blurb reads -

The dead boy reached for her,
his pale eyes glowing in the darkness.

All over the country, teenagers who die aren't staying dead.

Against her better judgement, Phoebe finds herself drawn to Tommy Williams. He's gorgeous, funny, on the football team. And dead.

But not everybody is as accepting as Phoebe. There are those whow ould like to rid the community of this sinister phenomenon, and they'll stop at nothing to achieve it...

Generation Dead is one of the only zombie books that doesn't focus on the zombies, but rather their relationships with regular people. This book takes a completly different angle on the 'zombie' image, with the zombies maintaining their compassionate side.

The main characters are Phoebe Kendall; a regular gothic girl in America, Tommy Williams; a 'differently biotic' boy trying to find acceptance for his fellow zombies and Adam Layman; a regular guy on the football team, in love with Phoebe, struggling with his old friends and their psychotic mannerisms.

It's a really touching book, with a sharp twist at the end that had me reaching for the tissue box. Daniel Waters has done a superb job covering this topic, and the sequel 'Kiss of Life' is set to be brilliant too.