Stuck in the Middle

I often read a couple of books at once, mainly because I like different books at different times. I can't read tense, scary books right before I go to sleep, for example, so I have a bedtime book backup. This week, however, I find myself stuck in the middle of three different teen books. Not usually a good sign for any of the books, but I haven't given up on them yet.

The oldest one in the pile is Ashes by Ilsa Bick. I got to hear this author speak in Naperville a couple of months ago and that made me want to read her book. Alex is the 17-year-old main character and she's got an inoperable brain tumor. The book starts with her heading off for some back-to-nature time after struggling through treatment for her tumor. Alex is a real tough cookie--almost unbelievably so-- with brains and know-how and a commitment to living out the rest of her life the way she wants to. But right as she begins her trek, a huge electromagnetic pulse occurs, killing billions and turning lots of others into zombies. (I'm not making this up. That's really what happens.) So Alex finds herself teamed up with a crabby 8-year-old as they try to stay alive. I think I slowed up on this one because the action slowed up and I wasn't very invested in the characters. I'm tempted to jump ahead, but that seems wrong.

The second book I'm reading is Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. This one's set in present day with another 17-year-old main character, this time a young man named Cas Lowood. Cas travels across the country with his white-witch mother, doing the job his father used to do: killing murderous ghosts. If you think murderous ghosts don't need killing because they're already dead, you'd be wrong. Anyway, Cas has been doing this for the past three years, taking over after his father was killed while working, and Cas has always been able to get the job done--until now. He and his mother arrive in a new town and Cas meets Anna, a ghost he can't kill--and doesn't really want to. I think this one has a neat, kind of doomed love affair flavor, but Anna, the ghost, has already murdered a character, so I'm a little afraid there may be no happy ending in store. I do want to see what happens next.

Finally, I'd been hearing all sorts of buzz about the book The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, so I had to jump into that as soon as my turn in the hold list came up. Stiefvater is the author of the werewolf romance trilogy Shiver, Linger, and Forever (and I realize now that I only read Shiver). Anyway, this one has a super-cool premise. It's set on a small island near England where every fall vicious, carnivorous, super-scary water horses ascend out of the water to feed on anything they can catch. The crazy islanders literally risk life and limb, attempting to capture one of the beasts and then ride it long enough to win one grand race, The Scorpio Race. Neat, right? One of the book's main characters is Sean Kendrick, the defending champion of the race for the past 4 years. Sean is the island's "water-horse whisperer." He's 19 and feels a special bond with the horses, although that doesn't mean he takes their murderous nature for granted. Sean works for a rich jerk who owns a large stable of horses, water and normal, and Sean longs to have enough money so that he can live free with Corr, the water horse he's ridden to win the races. But his boss owns Corr and won't sell. The other main character is Kate Connolly, or Puck as she's known to her friends. Puck lives with her two brothers, all orphans after a water horse killed their parents. Puck only enters the race as a desperate attempt to keep her older brother Gabe from deserting her and their younger brother Finn when he announces he's leaving the island. Puck is skilled at riding her farm horse Dove, and she thinks if she can win the race riding Dove, she'll avenge her parents' deaths as well as win the money she needs to keep her family together. But Puck is in way, way over her head with no idea at all what she's up against. Exciting stuff so far! And, hopefully, I'll have at least one of these books finished before another week goes by.