Going Viral

Tory Brennen is good at science (which isn't surprising since her aunt is Temperence Brennen, renowned forensic anthropologist), but also good at getting into trouble. When she and her friends Hi, Shelton, and Ben find an old dog tag while searching for a wolf-dog family on Loggerhead Island, an island off Charleston, SC that houses a facility for sea turtle research, Tory sets off a chain of events that not only endanger her life and the lives of her friends, but also change their genetic makeup. When Tory and her friends sneak into LIRI, the research facility where her dad works, to borrow the lab's equipment to clean the dog tag she found, they end up rescuing a wolf-dog puppy that has been infected with a mutated strain of Parvovirus that can be passed to humans. Now, in addition to trying to save the puppy, they are also fighting an illness that is mutating their DNA and giving them "powers" similar to those of a wolf, and she and her friends have stumbled across a decades-old murder mystery that could bring down one of Charleston's most powerful families, that is, if it doesn't get them all killed first.

Virals is the first book in a series of young adult books by Kathy Reichs, author of the Temperance Brennan novels and inspiration for the television series Bones. Fans of the no-nonsense Brennan portrayed on Bones may be put off a bit by the element of supernatural of this series. Tory and her friends develop "superpowers" after being exposed to the experimental parvovirus; powers like super strength, smell, vision, and hearing. I enjoy watching Bones and I enjoyed Virals, but I couldn't help but hear the TV Brennan whispering, "This doesn't make sense. It's not logical." If you can get past the voice of TV Brennan, Virals is quite an exciting ride.

The story is written for teens, so you get lots of teen situations. There is quite a bit of profanity, so I would not recommend it for anyone younger than middle school. You can learn more about all the books in the Virals series at http://kathyreichs.com/virals/.

Breaking Down the Doors of Death

If you like a good cliff-hanger, then Rick Riordan is the author for you. In fact, the dedication of The House of Hades reads, "To my wonderful readers: Sorry about that last cliff-hanger. Well, no, not really. HAHAHAHA. But seriously, I love you guys." The House of Hades, the fourth book in The Heroes of Olympus series, picks up right where the third book, The Mark of Athena, leaves us hanging, with Percy and Annabeth stuck in Tartarus trying to get to the Doors of Death while Jason, Leo, Nico, Hazel, and Frank sail the Argo II to Epirus to find the other side of the Doors of Death. If you have no idea what I am talking about, stop reading this blog right now and go read all the books leading up to this one because this is definitely a series that has to be read in order beginning with with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and continuing with the Heroes of Olympus series.

If you're still reading I assume you have read all the preceding books and know the gist of what is going on: Gaea is waking and seven demigods from Camp Halfblood and Camp Jupiter are on a quest to find and seal the doors of death and stop Gaea from waking. In the last book, shortly after finding and rescuing the Athena Parthenos, Annabeth and Percy fall into Tartarus, the place where Titans, giants, and monsters go after being killed to regenerate. House of Hades finds the two trying to make their way through Tartarus to find the Doors of Death while avoiding being killed by empousi, giants, telkines, Titans, and various other Gaea supporters who would relish the opportunity to kill the great Percy Jackson (who, by the way, is the very one who sent many of them to Tartarus in the first place). As Percy and Annabeth fight their way through Tartarus, their friends above in the mortal world are facing their own battles including poisonous cow monsters, mischievous dwarves, and a few Titans, gods, and goddesses who have their own agendas in mind. All of them are in a race against time to find and permanently destroy the Doors of Death that have been allowing the slain monsters to regenerate and return to the mortal world to wreak havoc. Will the group be able to find the doors before Gaea wakes?

Riordan is a master at tongue-in-cheek humor. His outlandish descriptions of the characters spark vivid images in the reader's imagination and puts a new, modern twist of Greek mythology (my favorite of this book are of the two wildly dressed thieving dwarves, Passalos and Akmon). As in all the previous books, chapters are told from different characters' points of view so you get to see the story from all angles and all perspectives. Many of the demigods have individual experiences during this voyage that cause them to grow into themselves and their abilities. Just as Mark of Athena left readers desperately counting down the days until the release of the next installment in the series, House of Hades does the same thing.Part of the quest has been completed, but there are still two wars to stop; one between the two demigod camps and one between the gods of Olympus and Gaea and her forces. Readers will have to wait until October of 2014 to read Blood of Olympus to see if Riordan brings us to a satisfying conclusion or keeps us hanging again. My hope is that he keeps us hanging for many more installments.

If you want to learn more about Rick Riordan and his books, check out his web site http://www.rickriordan.com/home.aspx.

The Select Are Surprised

I finished January with my fifth book of the year, Lost in Babylon, the second book in the Seven Wonders series by Peter Lerangis. The series follows the Select, four 13-year-olds who have the G7W gene that means they are descendants of the royalty of the lost city of Atlantis, but that also means that they will die when they turn 14, unless they find the seven Loculi, orbs that hold the power of Atlantis, that were hidden in the Seven Wonders of the World right before the city of Atlantis sank into the sea. What makes their search even more difficult is that six of the seven Wonders have long since been destroyed.

Lost in Babylon begins with Selects Jack, Aly, and Cass searching for Marco who disappeared with the first Loculus shortly after they recovered it from the Colossus at Rhodes. Each of the Select have an implanted tracking device, but the signal from Marco's device has disappeared, which could mean that he is dead, but when his signal returns and shows that he is somewhere in Iraq, the kids, as well as Professor Beghed, Torquin, and some others from the KI Institute, head to Iraq to find Marco and the Loculus. When they find Marco, they discover that he has found the location of another Loculus, the one that was hidden in the Hanging Gardens in ancient Babylon. The kids travel through a portal at the bottom of the Euphrates river and end up in Ancient Babylon, but they discover that this Babylon is caught in a time rift where time travels 90 times slower than time in the modern world. As the kids work to find and retrieve the Loculus, they meet Daria, a Babylonian slave who has a unique ability to learn languages. They also save the King's son, hunt an ancient sacred beast, the mushushu, join a rebel group, and set off an earthquake that could destroy them all. On top of all this, loyalties are called into question and sacrifices are made.

I started this series because it was billed as part Percy Jackson, part 39 clues. The characters are typical teens (despite their extraordinary abilities): the tech wiz, the nerd, the sports star, and the kid who really doesn't know who he is or what is special about him. Lerangis is very good at keeping the reader pulled into the action and wanting to find out what is going to happen next. This book definitely had some unexpected twists and turns, especially in the final pages, that have me anxiously awaiting the release of book three (Tomb of Shadows set to be released in May of 2014). You can find out more about the books and access lots of extras on the series website http://www.sevenwondersbooks.com/.