Books Read in January

THE HOLLOW CITY by Dan Wells. This is the same dude who wrote the John Cleaver trilogy, about a teenage sociopath. He also wrote PARTIALS, a post-apocalyptic dystopia, but this book is more in the vein of the John Cleaver novels. It's a standalone about a schizophrenic who can't tell when he's seeing reality or hallucinations. When he finally does distinguish between them, he realizes some monsters are real...
Overall this book was great. The first half went slow, out of necessity, and I think Wells did a good job of keeping it interesting. It's clear that a lot of studying went into the premise as well--there's plenty of medical lingo but it makes sense to the reader and it's relevant to the plot. The reveal at the end was fantastic too, borderline Lovecraftian even.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE by J.K. Rowling. You don't really need an introduction to this series, what you need is to go back and re-read them. I read the whole series for the first time in December of 2005, and going over it with fresh eyes has been a very rewarding experience. One sees just how brilliant Rowling was in putting the pieces together for this epic tale, that is now the pinnacle benchmark of YA storytelling.

CINDER by Marissa Meyer. As fairy tales are the current trend, you see tons of them popping up all over the place. CINDER is the first in a series, the second of which is either out now or will be soon. Set in a high-tech future, this story is a retelling of the old tale with a mechanical twist: Cinder is a cyborg trying to escape the tyranny of her stepmother. Rather than do a "find-and-replace" with the original text, Meyer weaves a clever and intriguing tale wherein the reader recognizes the familiar pieces once they've come into play. Although you know the ending to Cinderella's story, you're not going to predict the ending to this one. I enjoyed it more than I thought I might.

THE DRAGONS OF WINTER by James A. Owen. Given that this is the sixth book in what might be the most detailed and complex series I've ever read (seriously, I need to re-read them all and chart all the nuanced little things that happen, because each book is so rich in detail and subtlety) I can't really tell you anything about it, other than this: the characters finally fight someone other than the villain they've faced (in all his various manifestations) in the last five books. It also connects to Owen's other series, MythWorld, which I think I shall continue to read.
Suffice to say, at this point James Owen could spray paint "Graham Bradley loves the taste of Soylent Green" on the side of a Lamborghini and it would still be better than most things I'll read this year. And that's not a sleight to my reading choices; Owen's just that good.

So yeah, so far so good! I'd recommend all four of these books.