By Ella

​In the Martial Empire, there is no true justice, only the bleak ruthlessness served on its enemies and even its own people by its highly trained soldiers--or, even more feared, by the brutal, elite warriors known only as Masks. Laia knows the Empire's destructiveness well--its soldiers killed her parents and sister years before. Now she lives with her grandparents and older brother, Darin. But Darin has been acting strangely lately, and when he's imprisoned for treason, shattering her life, the charges do not surprise her: joining the Scholar's Resistance, which seeks to topple the Empire. With her little family gone and determined to help Darin, Laia goes to the one group of people she is certain will help her: the Scholar's Resistance. If he was working with them, she reasons, they will surely be willing to break her out of prison.

And they agree--for a price. Laia must go to spy on Blackcliff, the training academy for Masks, for the Resistance. Not only that, but she must do so as a slave for the Commandant, Blackcliff's notorious, perceptive leader--a mission which is, by all accounts, impossible to survive.

Meanwhile, Elias is Blackcliff's best student, hailed by many as on a path to greatness. But all he wants is to escape the brutal world he has grown up in, deserting the Empire for one of the better, kinder surrounding countries. When Elias is chosen as one of four contestants to compete to be the Martial Empire's next ruler, however, all those options slip away. And as the competition unfolds and Elias realizes truly how much more death his life is primed to entail, he must ask himself: which future, of all the possibilities, is he willing to live?

As Laia and Elias cross paths and their actions unfold, they realize their choices will determine far more than just their own lives. They will determine the fate of the Scholar's Resistance, the Emperor, and even the Martial Empire itself.

An Ember in the Ashes is an riveting novel full of intricately drawn settings and startling twists, blended together into a series opener so deftly imagined and skillfully written that I will literally follow its characters wherever they go next. Sabaa Tahir's detailed worldbuilding was one of the highlights of this novel for me; her Martial Empire, often echoing ancient Rome, feels fully imagined and well-drawn. Elias and Laia are both deeply strong and sympathetic protagonists, fully fleshed out and interesting, who, when faced with even the hardest choices, always felt as though they were making good decisions, something I always appreciate. I also feel the need to mention Helene, one of the supporting characters, who constantly surprised me and was one of the best characters in this book. Tahir's writing pulled me in from the first pages and kept me reading throughout, always with the right mix of suspense, plot twists, and difficult choices. I highly recommend An Ember in the Ashes to readers ages fourteen and up who love intense, layered high fantasy.

​By SK

Natasha Kingsley has one day to be saved by destiny. To be clear, she doesn't believe in destiny; life is a series of random events and coincidences to which people desperately try to ascribe meaning. She believes in chemistry and physics and data and facts. But with her family about to be deported from New York City to Jamaica tomorrow, she's desperate enough to give destiny a chance. 

Daniel Bae's parents have his life all planned out for him: go to a fancy college, become a doctor, have a family, be happy. And with his obnoxious (and usual parental favorite) older brother Charlie having just flunked out of Harvard, the pressure is on. Today, Daniel will interview for Yale, aka Second-Best School, and commit himself to the life his parents have planned for their Second-Best Son. But he has a few hours before getting locked into that future--and with it, he decides to wander the city, work on his poetry, and indulge in his wild dreams while he still can. After all, who knows what destiny might have in store for him?

When Natasha and Daniel stumble into each other on this life-defining day, they quickly realize that there's something special here. Destiny? Fate? Random chance? True love? Over the course of a single day, they traverse the city, struggle for the futures they want, and discover each other. Maybe it's true love and destiny, or maybe love really is just chemistry and coincidence. But there's something between them worth exploring, and whether it's random chance or the will of the universe, this one, life-changing day gives them the opportunity to do just that. 

The Sun Is Also A Star is one of those books I've heard a lot about and been meaning to read for a while, and it completely lived up to my high expectations. The chapters are short and mostly alternate between Natasha and Daniel, but they also give glimpses into the minds and lives of a variety of other characters, both major and minor, who they interact with, and touch on subjects from the history of the Black women's hair care industry to that of the multiverse theory, all of which weave back into the story seamlessly. 

I especially liked the story's exploration of the ways tiny moments and interactions can create enormous ripples or profoundly change a person's life--this style could easily be confusing or unfocused, but Yoon's thoughtful, beautiful writing, plotting, and characters deftly weave The Sun Is Also A Star into a kaleidoscope of stories, questions, ideas, and lives, all centered about this one day and the two central protagonists. I don't generally like romances, but these many intersecting pieces of the story--and the fact that the characters are all excellent--made me enjoy this one, and gave it a broader, more intriguing scope and depth than a traditional romance novel. 

The story's explorations of destiny, coincidence and true love are grounded both by real, fascinating concepts in the sciences, especially astrophysics, and by the believable, perhaps equally fascinating impact that minor interactions and occurrences have on the various characters and their lives. Insightful, absorbing, and irresistible, I would recommend The Sun Is Also A Star to readers ages fourteen and up looking for a story about the wonder of everything from tiny personal moments to the universe itself. 

By SK
​
Camino Rios, raised by her tía in the Dominican Republic, dreams of training as a doctor in the United States. She loves assisting Tía, who is a healer, and while her dreams might seem like a long shot, they're not completely out of reach. Camino is a strong student and talented healer--and if she went to Columbia, she would be near her beloved papi, who spends most of his time working in the US to support her and Tía. By the summer before her senior year of high school, Camino's plans seem to finally be falling into place--at least, until she arrives at the airport to pick up Papi for his annual summer visit, and his plane never arrives. 

Yahaira Rios is a fashion-loving former chess champion who quit the sport last year as a rising star. She and her mother live in the Bronx--with her papi, when he's not on one of his frequent business trips. But after stumbling across a carefully hidden family secret, she hasn't talked to him in almost a year.

And now she never will again. 

When news of the plane crash arrives, Camino and Yahaira are pulled into a web of grief, secrets, and betrayal which threatens to pull their families apart. But just when it feels that they've lost everything, one more secret is revealed--one which helps both girls face the future and understand the complexity of the stories the crash has revealed. 

Written in gorgeous, rhythmic free verse, Clap When You Land is a stunning exploration of grief, forgiveness, and the many types of love that hold a family together. Acevedo deftly weaves Camino and Yahaira's lives and worlds, making each distinct and deeply relatable, and ultimately creating an immensely believable combination of friction and connection between them. Her writing is impeccable and absorbing, and it's a joy to watch the story unfold. I've wanted to read her books for a while now, and this was the first I've checked out--I'm now definitely planning on reading her others! I would highly recommend Clap When You Land to readers ages 14 and up.