Ok, so Shadow Unit isn’t a book which means I don’t have a cover to offer. It is however a guilty pleasure of mine that helps me get through the slow periods at the reference desk. So there you have it, my deep, dark secret, I occasionally read at work. ;P (But I’m a librarian! We’re supposed to read!)

Shadow Unit is a fake TV show that reminds me of Criminal Minds with a supernatural twist. I call it a fake TV show because there is no film, and it will (probably) never go on the air. Each episode is a short story that has the pacing and feel of a TV episode. It is also written by some of my favorite fantasy and sci-fi authors including, though not limited to, Elizabeth Bear and Holly Black. And it is completely free. You can read it online at shadowunit.org.

The story follows a unit of the FBI referred to affectionately as WTF. These are profilers, much as in the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit), but they profile a very specific type of serial killer. The head of their unit, Dr. Reyes, discovered something he calls the anomaly. Little is known about it except that it grants its host (or gamma) a supernatural power (which they call manifestation) and often drives them to kill. Their job is to stop these gammas and find out as much about them as possible.

I’m not a huge fan of crime shows, generally. Not because I don’t like the stories but because I truly have to become invested in the characters in order to stay interested. That’s how they got me. Shadow Unit has a diverse and interesting cast (women! people of colour! gay characters!). I read these stories as much to find out about the agents as the crimes they try to solve.

I’m half-way through season 2 and it’s still going strong. Season 3 has just begun with the novel length episode entitled “The Unicorn Evils”. I’m looking forward to it.

Plot: Sadima is born in a world where magicians are just legends or frauds. Her father and brother hate magicians after one robbed them and left Sadima’s mother to die in childbirth. But Sadima may have true  power; she can understand and speak with animals. When she encounters Franklin and Somiss who are trying to revive magic, she thinks that she has finally found people who can accept her for who she is. Centuries later, magic has been restored and Hahp has been sent to a mysterious school with 9 other boys where he is to be trained as a wizard. But this is nothing like the boarding schools he is used to. The wizards make it clear that only one of them will survive and any kind of cooperation will be punished.

The dual structure of the novel is a bit strange at first. The chapters alternate between the two narrators (even the style is different, Hahp’s chapters being in the first person and Sadima’s in the third, limited) and it almost feels like reading two different novels simultaneously. But slowly as the plot progresses, there start to be links between the two stories and this builds the tension quite effectively. I picked this book up on a whim (it was the title, I admit) but once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. My one complaint is that the first volume ends quite abruptly. It cannot stand on its own.

Plot: Junior was born with, as he puts it, too much water in the brain. This made him different physically and prone to seizures. The other kids picked on him but he was content as long as he had his best friend and he could express himself through his comics. He dreams of becoming a comic artist. But he’s afraid that if he stays on the reservation, he’ll grow up poor and without hope like his parents, like most of his neighbours. So he decides to go to school with the white kids. He faces scorn from both inside and outside the reservation and all the difficulties of being poor. But he refuses to give up hope.

The format, combining novel and comics with a very dark wit, works very well. It reminds me of the insanely popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid though this one doesn’t seem to get as much popular recognition. The humour in the book is sometimes crude and a little infantile, but Junior is a 14 year old boy and it fits (and it made me laugh anyways). The artist, Ellen Forney, had a rare gift for getting into Junior’s head. Despite the light tone, overall, this is a surprisingly deep story about reservation life. This is not simply about the good Indians and the bad white people (or vis versa), the problems have grown far more complex. Junior sees the poverty, the alcoholism, the racism and most of all the loss of hope and dares to hope for something better in the face of great adversity and loss. The ending, for me, felt a little anti-climatic but the journey there was both funny and heart-breaking.

Plot: When Kaye was little, she befriended faeries. She’s sixteen now, out of school and following her mother as she chases her dream of becoming a rock star; she shouldn’t believe in faeries anymore. But after she and her mother are forced to move back into her grandmother’s house, strange things start happening. She saves a beautiful elf knight and earns three questions from him. Her childhood friends also reappear. But stranger still is what’s happening to her. She may not be who or what she always thought she was.

The first time I started this novel, I got bored and put it down. But when I gave it a second chance, I truly enjoyed it. The world and the characters remind me a lot of Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely books, another series I liked a lot. The characters defy expectations. Kaye is not simply the rebellious dropout with a chip on her shoulder. She is kind and clever and independent with a surprisingly fanciful personality.  The romance was a bit more predictable but not unpleasant. That Black knows a lot about faerie myth and uses it effectively in a modern setting is hardly surprising after the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Plot: Parker used to be popular. She was a straight A student, captain of the cheer leading team, dating the most popular guy in school. Perfect. But then something went wrong. So wrong that she couldn’t fix it and it changed her for ever. Now she’s barely graduating and is doing a good job of alienating anyone who ever liked her. The more people try to help, the more she pushes them away. But the new kid, Jake, isn’t so easily discouraged. He likes her and he’s willing to take a lot of abuse in his quest to get close to her and to understand her.

Parker is not a likable character. She doesn’t want to be. But Summers does a good job of portraying her conflicted emotions, emotions that Parker herself doesn’t always understand. My main problem with the novel is that I don’t like stories that create suspense by withholding information that the first person narrator knows. Still, it was interesting and realistic and one scene in particular had me bawling my eyes out. It wasn’t my type of book but if it is, you’ll probably love it.

Plot: Gemma is 16 and has spent all her life in India. She feels that it is high time that she be allowed to return to England and be presented to society. Her mother does not agree. It looks as though she might never see London. Then everything changes. Gemma has a vision for the first time and her mother is murdered under mysterious circumstances. Before she can come to grips with what had happened, she is shipped of to a boarding school in England. She doesn’t fit in and she has no idea how to deal with her visions or her mother’s death. To make matters worse, an attractive young Indian man is following her, insisting that she not use her new powers. She doesn’t trust him and Spence School is far too involved in the mystery for her to ignore it. She and three of her classmates begin exploring the occult but they must be careful not to repeat the past.

I’m a huge Jane Austen fan so I picked this up mainly because it reminded me of Austen. But in truth it is a bit more like the sensational Gothic novels that Austen picks fun at than her own books. Not that that’s a bad thing, necessarily. I didn’t get into the story right away but once I did I enjoyed it a great deal. The magic and the history surrounding it is interesting and she does seem to have a good feel for Victorian England. I liked the girls, even though they all have unlikable aspects to them, although I was a bit frustrated by their need to always make the wrong choice in spite of advice to the contrary. And what is the fascination with love interests who are bossy stalkers? I’d love to see more who are gentle, funy, intelligent… I can’t be the only one?

I’m rather fond of this new marketing idea of creating movie trailers for books. I’ve seen brilliant ones and bad ones but on the whole I think it’s a nice new way of promoting books in the Youtube era. So when I come across interesting ones, I’ll post them here.

This is my favorite book trailer so far, for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. In part it’s because I’m a huge Jane Austen fan but mostly, the video is just so well done. If all book trailers were like this…

This is the book I’m reading right now, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I’ll post about it once I’m done.

This trailer is a bit less exciting, though it shows off the gorgeous artwork in Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan. I’m posting it here because I fell in love with the book the moment I started reading it. The characters, the art, the steampunk atmosphere and Westerfeld’s mastery of WWI era history come together to create a beautiful and exciting book.

You can read the first 9 chapters for free on the Simon & Schuster website. That’s how they got me.

I’ve mentioned my love of Kelley Armstrong’s Darkest Powers series before. The third installment is due out in April. But for those of you, like me, who can’t wait more than 3 months, Harper Collins offers a preview. New chapters will be available every month until the release.

You can read the first four chapters here: http://files.harpercollins.com/OMM/Childrens/PDF/TheReckoning.pdf

Plot: Alex has loved horses and dressage since he was a little boy. When his father wins Turnip in a poker game, it’s his dream come true. But Turnip is trained for western riding and Alex’s father expects him to become a manly cowboy. Now 16 years old, Alex doesn’t know how to tell his father that not only does he want to switch to English riding but that he’s gay. When the trainers Ivan and Fergus move to town, it’s like a dream come true. But nothing is that simple, he must learn to deal with Cleo, the spoiled rich girl who takes lessons with him, and he still can’t be himself in front of his family and friends.

I loved horse novels growing up so this book was a joy. It’s well written and Alex is endearing. I found myself laughing out loud at parts and was as heart broken as Alex when things went wrong. It made me want to ride again.

Plot: T.J. has been miserable since she and her family moved from the countryside to the suburbs. She had to leave behind her friends and her horse Red. She thinks that she’ll never make any friends, until she meets Elisabeth. Elisabeth is a Little, a girl six inches tall, but with more attitude than most Bigs. After she runs away from home, she becomes T.J.’s roommate. One day, while searching for information about Elisabeth’s people, they are separated. Each must survive an incredible series of event in order to find each other again. It will change their lives forever.

I love Charles de Lint so I was biased going in but this is a truly wonderful story. His characters have depth and layers and they will often surprise you; de Lint’s world is not black and white, there are no good and bad guys. He has developed his world and his mythology over several books and LGL benefits from the rich detail. But above all, I love T.J. and Elisabeth. They are very different, the one rebellious and stylish, the other in Elisabeth’s words a “goody-two-shoes”. But they aren’t stereotypes and they can’t be summed up so easily. Though their adventures are ultimately banal (though hardly to them!), their reactions and their unique perspectives on the world brings the story to life. And another romance that I can relate to.

Beside who can resist a punk fairy? Not me. ^_^