A good time to be young

Gone are the days of Briget Jone's Diary or Sex and the City. The impossible world of Young-Adult (YA) literature has taken over the chick-lit sphere. The YA books target all in the age group of 14-25 while chick-lit was meant mainly for young women. Though YA fiction too treads the chick-lit line (teen romance, popular culture) but places it in a complex world of vampires, fairies, or wizards. Given its simple narration, complex and multiple climaxes, considerable love factor and magic, the genre has developed a considerable adult cult following too. Here is a list of YA paperbacks ready to burst on the Indian scene and those not of the "happening generation" remember one is never too old to become younger.

NEARLY DEPARTED by ROOK HASTINGS
If you like your dose of creeps unmorphed by vampires or witches, then here is a ghost tale complete with flickering lights and eerie woods. The story that mainly targets young-adults is set in a British town Woodsville, also locally known as Wierdsville for its quirk-factor.

A set of unmatched youngsters are thrown together for a school assignment. The much-bullied and "invisible" Emily has a problem. She thinks her house is haunted, so the others: Betham, Jay, Hashim and Kelly, decide to give it a ghost-check and dispel her fears. But that’s not the simple story. The gang finds that Emily’s mother is missing and strangely, no one knows of it.As the story unfolds the five keep running into things that go bump in the night. The woods seem to be the centre of all the unexplained in the town. To top it all Jay’s grandfather Albert is the only grown-up who is ready to believe the young gang and help them.Each of the gang-member has a distinct, identifiable trait which makes the characterization engrossing, though straight. The story is swift and language is just what would roll-off the tongue of a British teenager. The ghost seekers won’t be disappointed with this book as the group practically fights off a horde of light-emanating ghosts. As the Scooby-style group solves the Emily-puzzle what emerges is a thrilling plot, if not necessarily a hair-raising one.

RADIANT SHADOWS by MELISSA MARR

Radiant Shadows is the fourth book in the Wicked Lovely series and for those who have been following the chain, there is nothing about Aislinn and Seth (on whom the first book was based) in this story. Those who haven’t been following will find this book tedious as the story deals with the complex workings and squabbles of various faery courts. A quick view of Marr’s faery world for the benefit of all: Faeries live alongside the human world, though invisible. The faery world is divided into courts that have their own typical traits and are ruled by immortal faery kings and queens. Faeries like to stay invisible to humans and can be evil.The present book focuses on Devlin, assassin-cum-adviser to Scorcha, Queen of Faerie, and Ani who is   a half-mortal half-faery. Something about Ani’s blood is different as she strangely feeds on both humans and faeries and has an appetite for both emotions and touch. As she grows, young Ani finds it harder to control and satisfy her appetites. Emotion-denying Devlin, (styled like Dr Spock of Star Treck) who has been ever loyal to his queen, had years ago spared Ani when the Queen had ordered him to kill her.Now, decades later he realizes his fate is somehow intricately tied to hers and he must protect her from Bananach (war) who also wants Ani for her unusual powers.

Marr gives us a complex but engaging world of magic where steeds change into cars, dreams can be woven together and reality keeps changing. A rewarding read only if you have an imagination to cope with the brisk narrative and patience for the unexplained.

SPELLS by APRILYNNE PIKE

Another weave from the faery-land, Spells is a sequel to Aprilynne Pike’s debut Wings. It has nothing of the complex world of Radiant Shadows, and the atmosphere is brighter as faeries flower like plants and carry blossoms on their backs. Those uninitiated to the first volume can easily begin with the second, but other than the faery-life tid-bits there is little original here.The story is more or less a Harry Potter redo as a young Laurel is in a Hogwarts-style academy to learn the faery arts she missed on while growing up with a human family. In the first volume Laurel had saved the gateway to faeryland Avalon. The threat from "trolls" lead by Jeremiah Barnes still exists and she must be ready for it. Everything is not fine on the personal front too.Laurel finds her mother getting increasingly distant with the revelation that she is faery. Also, while  Laurel has her human boyfriend David, she is unable to deny the connection she feels to faery guard Tamani.

Laurel herself is a fall fairy and the more she learns about the winter, summer and spring faeries the more she finds herself at odds with their system. Hormones run high in the novel as kissing and snogging appear frequently even at the expense of the plot. 

Freshness comes only in kicks and starts as Tamani shows Laurel around Avalon and explains to her the faery discipline of classes. Towards the end Laurel has successfully vanquished the threat to her two worlds and resolved the complexity of her love life for the time. The end leaves room for another sequel but with little promise.

THE POISON DIARIES by MARYROSEWOOD

Young and mysterious Weed is dropped at the doorstep of an apothecary Luxton who takes him in for his curious talent with plants. Luxton has a 16-year-old daughter Jessamine, who finds a rare, young friend in Weed as opposed to her distant and cold father. But Weed, much like her father, is riveted to the gardens where Luxton stocks rare plants. As Jessamine tenders to Weed, the couple begins to fall in love. However, there is something strangely inhuman about Weed’s compassion for plants. While he seems to be able to feel plant pain he is numb to humans. Jessamine is appalled with Weed’s behaviour and he is forced to confesses his secret: He can hear plants. He tells Jessamine that her father’s poison garden is a dangerous place as malevolent plants have stuck allegiances and wanted to control all. He promises her he will never go back in again. On the night Luxton announces their betrothal, Jessamine falls sick. 

Weed must go back to the poison garden and release her from the delusion of dream where she is with Oleander, the prince of poisons. As Weed undertakes the heartless tasks assigned to him by the plants of poison garden in exchange of cure, he must also unveil the real villain and sacrifice his love.

The ending is heartbreaking, perhaps in its bid to leave room for a sequel, but the adventure holds its fort well. The story transforms from a brooding Jessamine (first 30 pages), to a coy love and finally breaks into a dark mystery.   A refreshing read, The Poison Diaries is just the sort of book one wants on a rainy Sunday afternoon with a warm cup of coffee.