Candor by Pam Bachorz

Boy, do I love a good distopian story. In the city of Candor, music is always playing. There are speakers in the bushes, in your classrooms, and in your home. Families that come to Candor all have two things in common, they have troubled kids, and they have a lot of money. Yet the kids who already live in Candor are the most well behaved kids you will ever meet.

One of the reasons I love this books is because of how realistic the character of Oscar is portrayed. He has figured out what is going on here. Subliminal messages in the ever present music and he uses his knowledge of the system to free the minds of all the kids of Candor . . . well, all the ones who can afford his services. You see, Oscar is an opportunist, and no one is above his money grubbing hands. He's one of those rotten characters that you love because you know they probably have a potential for good in there somewhere too.

The story is entertaining, funny and engrossing. But the idea is thought provoking too. The control that a simple thing like music could have over our minds is defintely something to think about.

-Jenny

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

Vampires might seem pretty over done right now, but this is a totally different take on these reemerging creatures. Westerfeld takes the I Am Legend (by Richard Matheson) point of view, explaining vampirism as a disease, or rather, as a parasite. This is a very scientific novel, explaining the biology and evolution of vampires, with every few chapters relating the vampire parasite to a real life parasite.

Cal is a parasite positive, or a peep. But he is only a carrier, a rare individual that isn't effected as severely and therefore not a blood thirsty vampire. So instead he hunts them. Unfortunately, it's his ex-girlfriends that he is hunting, poor girls who got infected back before he knew that he was parasite positive.

A really entertaining book with humor, romance, action and violence.

-Jenny

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

I'm a sucker for Westerfeld. He can create the most realistic worlds with his scientific explanations and thorough research as well as his developed characters and the unique slang created for each novel. Leviathan was no exception.

Leviathan is an alternate history novel, based in World War I, but with the a little added pizzazz. Instead of the Axis vs. the Allies, it's the Clankers vs. the Darwinists. Clankers being a culture that has created intricate robotic machines to do all their bidding and the Darwinists who have created monstrous creatures for all of their work. This is an interesting concept that Westerfeld explored well.

Readers follow two characters from opposing sides, a Clanker prince, and a Darwinist soldier. Both explain their points of view thoroughly and you get to see the pros and cons of having an all animal society and an all robotic one.

A fantastic read! I read both this and the sequal Behemoth in a week :)

-Jenny