Daniel Waters Generation Dead - A Review By Becca L.

Let us take a look at the premise of Daniel Water’s first book, Generation Dead. American teenagers are refusing to stay dead. Let me finish. Zombies, or the differently biotic, roaches are the new minority group. They are attending public high schools and facing discrimination, as do all new people. But are they people? That is the question this book seeks to answer. I think. Never mind that it is completely irrelevant. This may be the biggest problem I have with this book. It focuses on social issues that will never, ever appear. The book takes itself way, way too seriously, especially when you consider the oh-so-cliché plot and characters. Our heroine, Phoebe, is a misunderstood goth girl with only two true friends. Margi, the barely described best friend, is more concerned with the status quo than her friend’s problems. Adam is the boy next door, star of the football team, and secretly in love with Phoebe.

I have just described nearly every teen book in print. Now let’s add a handful of dead kids. Phoebe will, of course, fall inexplicably in love with the most functional one, Tommy. Naturally, everyone at school hates him, targeting both of them for mockery and violence. I won’t give away the ending, but let’s just say Tommy’s “big revelation” will remind you of a Lifetime Movie. I will Daniel Waters credit for creating an almost plausible explanation for the zombies and a believable range of motion. Sadly, the most well-developed and believable characters are dead. I don’t mean to say this is a complete failure. Some parts are extremely entertaining, and though the story is predictable, it was still an enjoyable enough read. I think adequate would be the best word to describe this book. It wasn’t amazing, or even what I would call good, but it will do in a pinch. This would make a great book for SRC with 400 pages of teen fluff. An easy way to rack up minutes without having to think too hard.

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Fuyumi Ono's The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow A Review by Jesse B.

Yoko Nakajima struggles with her social life in high school. Born with abnormally red hair in a Japanese society where all hair is a shade of black, her peers and tutors believe that she has dyed her hair against school policy and is associating with people she shouldn't be. To Yoko's great surprise, a young man named Keiki walks into her school one day looking for her, telling her that she is his master and that she must come with him for her own safety. Soon Yoko finds herself swept into a fantastical parallel universe. So begins the novel Sea of Shadow by Fuyumi Ono

Separated from Keiki, Yoko finds herself hunted by the government as one of the dreaded kaikyaku, beings from another world who are thought to bring bad luck. Hiding by day and traveling by night, Yoko is forced to fight her way through hordes of demons with only the sword given her by Keiki and a gem which possesses magical healing properties. Eventually though, Yoko's luck runs out and she is only saved from death by a half-beast in the form of a giant rat named Rakushun. Something of an outcast himself, Rakushun joins Yoko and the two set out for the Kingdom of En, where people such as themselves are accepted in society.

A fast-paced novel full of magic, swordplay and demons, Sea of Shadow is the soon-to-be released first volume in the seven volume cycle The Twelve Kingdoms. Originally published in Japan, this wildly popular fantasy series is being translated into English for the first time. Fuyumi Ono spins an enchanting tale that is difficult to put down once picked up. Any fantasy-lover would be truly missing out if he refused to read this book.
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