This is definitely one of those "in a world where" books, and I liked the initial concept. Katsa lives in a world where a few people, known as Gracelings, are born with varied special powers or abilities. These Gracelings are recognized by their specially-colored eyes, and in most countries become the personal property of the king in order for him to take advantage of their special skills. Katsa is Graced with an unusual and unwanted power -- the ability to kill.

Being a vampire isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just ask Nina, who's been a vampire (and therefore a teenager) for thirty-plus years. Vampires don't really have superhuman strength; they can't shape-shift; and they most certainly are not sexy. What with the inability to function during daylight hours, the constant health problems, and the crowds of ComicCon fanboys out to stake you in the heart, pretty much the only way to make it as a vampire these days is to forswear human blood, live off guinea pigs, and join a support group.

I have to say that I'm appalled that some editor out there read this book and decided that it would be a good addition to the Young Adult shelves. You'd think that a book which contains incest, forced abortions, rape (including incestuous and homosexual), and borderline bestiality would not be an obvious candidate for teen reading, even if most of this content is visited upon teen characters. Granted, these things weren't described quite as graphically as they could have been, but stuff like this doesn't have to be explicit to be disturbing.

I will admit that as I read the first couple chapters of this book, I was less than enthusiastic about it. I thought it was going to be a bit dull, or at least extremely confusing. However, it's been months since I finished reading it, and it's still on my mind (hence this review). Instead of boring me with info-dumps and thereby removing all initial confusion from my mind, Emma Bull kept me reading in order to find out more about her fascinating setting and, even more, her likeable characters.

This book makes me like the term "speculative fiction" even more than I did before. How does one classify as either science fiction or fantasy a novel which involves robots, zombies, airships, and clairvoyance?

I admit it: I'm not much of a science nerd. So sometimes hard sci-fi is pretty difficult for me to follow, much less enjoy. On the other hand, Night Train to Rigel was just up my alley: fluffy, goofy "science" fiction that features an intergalactic railway as the primary setting for an action-packed -- okay, downright ridiculous -- plot. Yes, there are aliens, and yes, there are starships. There are even some cool gadgets, though, of course, we have no idea how they work (neither do the characters). But there's no real science in sight. And, yes, I liked it.

Reading this book is like having a nightmarish dream -- one of those ones where you're really creeped out and disturbed, but you kind of don't want to wake up because you know it's a dream and you want to find out how it's going to turn out. This story of young Jane, a foundling human child being raised in a very unconventional faerie realm, is compelling -- page-turning, honestly -- yet at the same time deeply dark and disturbing, set in a universe so twisted as to feel truly dreamlike.

As an amateur scholar who is passionate about classical literature, I approached this book with a combination of interest and trepidation. Since Lavinia is basically a non-entity in Vergil's Aeneid, a retelling of the story from her perspective could go any number of directions, many of them not particularly appealing. But far from being disappointed, I discovered an astonishing book, a novel that is both a fitting tribute to the Aeneid itself and a beautiful work of craft and scholarship.

Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that the women of her family have been suffering for generations under a curse laid by a mysterious faerie being. Each of Lucy's maternal ancestors has had a daughter at age 18, then gone insane. The curse can only be broken by completing a trio of impossible tasks, as laid down in the folk ballad "Scarborough Fair". Lucy is determined to save her unborn daughter by completing the tasks...but how do you make a shirt without seams or needlework?