Sir Maurice Newbury and Miss Veronica Hobbes, agents of Queen Victoria, battle both physical and supernatural enemies of the crown. They are called in to investigate the wreckage of a crashed airship and its missing automaton pilot while dealing with a zombie plague in the slums of the capital and attempting to solve a string of strangulations credited to a mysterious glowing policeman.

An anthology of nineteen tales by well-known authors of young adult and adult literature which explore the lives of teens raised after a catastrophe, either in the first few years after the change or in the distant future.

Matt, a young cabin boy aboard an airship, and Kate, a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth's surface. This swashbuckling story of adventure and survival is reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, as it creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies. Also read the sequel, Skybreaker.

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In the year 2060, when people hardly ever leave the security of their houses and instead do everything online, Madeline Freeman, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the man who created the national digital school attended by all citizens, is wooed by a group of radicals who are trying to get people to "unplug."

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A teenage girl. A survivalist childhood. And now a bomb strapped to her chest. See the world through her eyes in this harrowing and deeply affecting literary thriller. I'm Valkyrie White. I'm fifteen. Your government killed my family. Ever since Mabby died while picking beans in their garden -- with the pock-a-pock of a helicopter overhead - four-year-old Valley knows what her job is: hide in the underground den with her brother, Bo, while Da is working, because Those People will kill them like coyotes. But now, with Da unexpectedly gone and no home to return to, a teenage Valley (now Valkyrie) and her big brother must bring their message to the outside world - a not-so-smart place where little boys wear their names on their backpacks and young men don't pat down strangers before offering a lift. Blythe Woolston infuses her white-knuckle narrative, set in a day-after-tomorrow Montana, with a dark, trenchant humor and a keen psychological eye. Alternating past-present vignettes in prose as tightly wound as the springs of a clock and as masterfully plotted as a game of chess, she ratchets up the pacing right to the final, explosive end.

In a distant future, eighteen-year-old Lugh is kidnapped, and while his twin sister Saba and nine-year-old sister Emmi are trailing him across bleak Sandsea they are captured too, then taken to brutal Hopetown, where Saba is forced to be a cage fighter until new friends help plan an escape.

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Inventor Leviticus Blue creates a machine that accidentally decimates Seattle's banking district and uncovers a vein of Blight Gas that turns everyone who breathes it into the living dead. Sixteen years later Briar, Blue's widow, lives in the poor neighborhood outside the wall that's been built around the uninhabitable city. Life is tough with a ruined reputation, but she and her teenage son Ezekiel are surviving - until Zeke impetuously decides that he must reclaim his father's name from the clutches of history.

Giuseppe finds a green violin in the flotsam of the docks; Hannah searches for a hidden treasure that might save her family; Frederick builds a clockwork man to make journeyman status. Through a series of coincidences and shared experiences, these three young people will come together for an adventure that will change all of their lives forever, fulfilling dreams for some and changing them for others.

The cover was lovely- the wonderful intricacy of the clockwork man's body, the shadowy gears in his chest around the title, the golden colors and orange lettering. My only objection is that the head looks too well-suited to the body, not as incongruous as the Magnus head doubtless was on Frederick's clockwork man; but for such a cover, a small fault like that is overlookable.

This book is pretty tightly plotted, with a relatively small cast of characters running into each other and affecting each other in plausible, independent ways. The rotating viewpoint helped a good deal in understanding why each character made the decisions they did, even when such decisions seemed rash or even stupid. They behaved as young people would in their situations, and were quite realistic. The magical elements in this book are fairly limited, but tastefully used. There is often more magic in Kirby's description of the city and the park wherein the action takes place than in the seemingly 'arcane' objects that fall into the hands of the three protagonists. This, to my mind, is fantastic. My only frustration was that the city never seemed to have a name or a geographic location, other than 'on the east coast', and so I was never able to really place it in my mind. (Lisa M., IRS Member)

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Airships, steam-powered machines, clockwork automatons, Martians, and goggles reign supreme in this genuinely entertaining collection. From the delightfully gruesome tale of a cannibalistic mermaid on a murderous rampage to the story of a bold heiress who secretly makes and sells elaborate bombs, these selections by 13 different authors contain a unique sampling of steampunk stories. Most are traditional romances with hopeful, if not happy, endings, such as Adrienne Kress's "The Clockwork Corset," a tale of childhood sweethearts who face the greatest test to their relationship on a battlefield. However, a few take a wider view of the concept of romance, marriage, and love, such as Caitlin Kittredge's strangely ethereal "The Vast Machinery of Dreams," in which a writer is consumed by the source of his inspiration. While not every story is exceptional, all are engaging. Some of them contain challenging vocabulary and concepts; however, the action and romance in the other selections would make them good choices for reluctant readers. The common flaw is that the stories end too soon, just when readers have begun to fall in love with the steampunk worlds the writers have created. (Heather M. Campbell, School Library Journal)

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Seventeen-year-old Cassia sacrifices everything and heads to the Outer Provinces in search of Ky, where she is confronted with shocking revelations about Society and the promise of rebellion.  Sequel to: Matched.

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 Block's punk fairy-tale novels about quirky, unconventional Weetzie Bat and her extended family have a proven adult following, perhaps because the books (several of which are contained in this cumulation) are filled with breathless puns and metaphors lit up in neon among the icons and trash of pop culture.

In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

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Anyone who has ever played a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) will enjoy Conor Kostick’s novel  Epic. The world it describes is one in which an advanced game is both legal and economic system for the entire planet. The game of Epic is considerably more advanced and complex than most MMORPGs online today—and it has to be, because it is the lifeblood of the world of New Earth. Transactions are conducted in coin and items in Epic; disagreements are dealt with in the Arenas. Violence is strictly prohibited outside the game.

Wonderful as this seems, a teenager named Erick thinks the system is flawed. When his father is unjustly exiled, Eric persuades his friends to join him in an effort to kill one of Epic’s legendary dragons. He plans to use the treasure to buy his father’s freedom, and instead attracts negative attention from the all-powerful Central Allocations Board. It isn’t long before he’s in way, way over his head.

In many ways, the world of Epic is more vivid than the external world of New Earth. However, because the game is so important, this is excusable. The action takes place almost entirely in Epic, which does take a bit of getting used to. Gamers will recognize many aspects of any virtual world, though at the moment interfaces such as those used in Epic are only science fiction. Apart from the need to “clip in” and “unclip,” however, Epic is a standard fantasy world.

Now, that doesn’t mean the book is boring or predictable; far from it. Every time things start to make sense, Kostick throws in another surprise. These unusual elements keep the plot moving at a good pace. All in all, it is an entertaining read, though those with little experience with MMORPGs may enjoy it somewhat less. (Lisa M, IRS Member)

This sweeping, futuristic fantasy envisions a ravaged earth, submerged almost entirely in water after a century of global warming-induced ice melt and storms. After her tiny island is consumed by the sea, 15-year-old Mara, aided by an antique Web-surfing device, guides her community to a towering city across the ocean. Her family is killed during the dangerous passage, and on arrival in glittering New Mungo, Mara and the islanders join a floating camp of desperate refugees who are barred from the heavily walled civilization. Realizing that survival for herself and the others depends on finding help behind the wall, Mara begins a monumental, nightmarish quest through layers of increasingly affluent, developed societies. Bertagna creates wholly imagined, extraordinarily vivid worlds, whether she's depicting the rich, earthy subsistence of the Treenesters or the eerily glossy, empty glamour of high-tech Noospace, where Mara delves into an exciting 3-D Internet and, despite the artificial environment, finds true friendship, help, and love.

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Finley, who has a beastly alter ego inside of her, joins Duke Griffin's army of misfits to help stop the Machinist, the criminal behind a series of automaton crimes, from carrying out a plan to kill Queen Victoria during the Jubilee.

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In this stunning conclusion to the His Dark Materials series, everyone is up to something impossible. Will and Lyra want to free the dead. Mary Malone must save the Dust. Lord Asriel wants to topple the Authority. All of the character's missions are inextricably woven together in this master piece of a book. Tears will be shed as all Will and Lyra journey into adulthood and the unknown, and how the enter it will affect every universe for the rest of time.

The cover was great—love the shininess of it, and the collage of images behind the peephole. One thing I wish for though is a picture of the daemons, to be honest I wish for a daemon of my own.

I love this book. I love this series. Phillip Pullman weaved such a fantastic tale and it was written so heartrendingly well, that I had tears in my eyes from the sheer beauty of it. Will and Lyra are one of my favorite duos of all time- easily on par with Todd and Viola from Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy. Another thing I like about the book is that it has the ability to mean something different for everyone. For some it's just a story, for others an escape, and for others still it is an inspiration on how to live one's life: to the fullest, regardless of the circumstances. (Rachel M., IRS member)

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This is a grand-opening salvo in a new series by the author of the Underland Chronicles. Sixteen-year-old Katniss poaches food for her widowed mother and little sister from the forest outside the legal perimeter of District 12, the poorest of the dozen districts constituting Panem, the North American dystopic state that has replaced the U.S. in the not-too-distant future. Her hunting and tracking skills serve her well when she is then cast into the nation's annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death where contestants must battle harsh terrain, artificially concocted weather conditions, and two teenaged contestants from each of Panem's districts. District 12's second tribute is Peeta, the baker's son, who has been in love with Katniss since he was five. Each new plot twist ratchets up the tension, moving the story forward and keeping the reader on edge. Although Katniss may be skilled with a bow and arrow and adept at analyzing her opponents' next moves, she has much to learn about personal sentiments, especially her own. Populated by three-dimensional characters, this is a superb tale of physical adventure, political suspense, and romance.

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By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion.

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Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol wants revenge... and President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe!

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This fourth and final volume in Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series shows the young witch as, now a teenager, she has to combat prejudice against her profession in order to find her place on the Chalk. (With some help from the Nac Mac Feegle, naturally.)

The covers of this whole quartet have been wonderful. They are both dramatic and understated, and this one, showing fire in Tiffany's hands, the title seeming to rise out of it, is no different. It catches the eye and hints at the climax of the book wonderfully.

I've grown up with Tiffany Aching, since the first Terry Pratchett book I read. She definitely makes my personal list of the best heroines I've ever read about - strong, independent, responsible, and willing to work for what she wants. Sometimes, too, what she wants is to do the right thing - and that means more work. Her character is simply wonderful. While I'm sad to see her go, the hints in this book of what's waiting for her in the future are promising, and I'm hopeful that she'll make an appearance in further Discworld books. Even if she doesn't, though, this is the perfect send-off. (Lisa M., IRS Member)

As war surges in the dystopian society around her, a sixteen-year-old Divergent, Tris Prior, must continue trying to save those she loves - and herself - while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love. Sequel to the book, Divergent.

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Jules Verne's third science fiction novel describes the discovery and exploration of a secret tunnel which leads through a volcano to the centre of the Earth. The leader of the expedition, together with his ward and joined by his nephew and an Icelandic guide commence the journey.

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In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.

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This is World War I as never seen before. The story begins the same: on June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated, triggering a sequence of alliances that plunges the world into war. But that is where the similarity ends. This global conflict is between the Clankers, who put their faith in machines, and the Darwinists, whose technology is based on the development of new species. After the assassination of his parents, Prince Aleksandar's people turn on him. Accompanied by a small group of loyal servants, the young Clanker flees Austria in a Cyklop Stormwalker, a war machine that walks on two legs. Meanwhile, as Deryn Sharp trains to be an airman with the British Air Service, she prays that no one will discover that she is a girl. She serves on the Leviathan, a massive biological airship that resembles an enormous flying whale and functions as a self-contained ecosystem. When it crashes in Switzerland, the two teens cross paths, and suddenly the line between enemy and ally is no longer clearly defined. The ending leaves plenty of room for a sequel, and that's a good thing because readers will be begging for more.

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Continues the story of Austrian Prince Alek who, in an alternate 1914 Europe, eludes the Germans by traveling in the Leviathan to Constantinople, where he faces a whole new kind of genetically-engineered warships.  

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Alek and Deryn are on the last leg of their round-the-world quest to end World War I, reclaim Alek's throne as prince of Austria, and finally fall in love. The first two objectives are complicated by the fact that their ship, the Leviathan, continues to detour farther away from the heart of the war (and crown). And the love thing would be a lot easier if Alek knew Deryn was a girl. (She has to pose as a boy in order to serve in the British Air Service.) And if they weren't technically enemies. The tension thickens as the Leviathan steams toward New York City with a homicidal lunatic on board: secrets suddenly unravel, characters reappear, and nothing is at it seems in this thunderous conclusion to Scott Westerfeld's brilliant trilogy. 

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An unlikely teenager risks all to expose the truth about a heralded moon landing. What if the football hadn't gone over the wall. On the other side of the wall there is a dark secret. And the devil. And the Moon Man. And the Motherland doesn't want anyone to know. But Standish Treadwell - who has different-colored eyes, who can't read, can't write, Standish Treadwell isn't bright - sees things differently than the rest of the "train-track thinkers." So when Standish and his only friend and neighbor, Hector, make their way to the other side of the wall, they see what the Motherland has been hiding. And it's big.

In this sequel to Awaken, it's 2060, and seventeen-year-old Maddie is sent to a Los Angeles detention center and subjected to brainwashing to get her to accept a world in which nearly all personal interaction is done online.

Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizzare world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster.

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Sixteen-year-old Clary continues trying to make sense of the swiftly changing events and relationships in her life as she becomes further involved with the Shadowhunters and their pursuit of demons and discovers some terrifying truths about her parents, her brother Jace, and her boyfriend Simon.

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It has been a long time since I've read a series that builds in momentum as spectacularly as the Mortal Instruments has. City of Glass delivers a stunning climax to the story, while at the same time weaving complex plot points that one could never have foreseen. I literally could not put the book down until I finished it, it was so well paced and written.

It's hard to pick just one outstanding aspect of this book, since they were all the same degree of amazing! However, if limited to one, I would say that the most compelling part of the book was how the plot intertwined so well with character development. In this book, I actually felt like I knew the characters to the point that if I saw them walking down the street, I wouldn't be surprised that they were real. Honestly, I can't think of a better way to end a series than what this book delivered. (Rachel B, IRS Member)

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I had a slightly mixed reaction about City of Fallen Angels, but overall it was a fantastic book.

So without further ado, let the gushing commence.

If you are a Simon fangirl, you will be very pleased with this book, as it is extremely Simon-centric. As a secret Simon fangirl myself (no, not because he's a vampire, I liked him when he was still the geeky best friend), I really enjoyed seeing his character grow throughout this book. But seriously, poor guy! It's like kicking a dog vampire while he's down!

The characters, both new and old, are absolutely fantastic in this book. In this story, a new character by the name of Kyle is introduced, and he's absolutely brilliant. Just wait until you discover his ties to several other characters, it is better then a television drama show! Camille, who was a rather important character in Clockwork Angel makes her reappearance, and let's just say that things get interesting very fast when she shows up. But who's side is she really on?

My absolute favorite thing in this book is how there are counterbalances for previous events. One of the most important aspects of creating a believable magic/power system is that nothing comes from nothing, and every action has a consequence. And boy, are the consequences addressed in this installment! The Mark of Cain that is both a blessing and a curse for Simon truly shows its power and is a pivotal part of the plot. When I think about The Mark, and the reason that he is wanted...goosebumps. Similarly, both Jace and Clary have to face the consequences for Clary's actions in the previous book when she asked to have Jace brought back after he was killed. This is a particularly potent aspect, because Clary now has to see Jace suffer for her selfish, beautiful, but still selfish, choice.

Overall, there was a lot more to this book that I liked then didn't like. It was absolutely fantastic upon first reading, and although the cliffhanger ending irks me, I'm still caught up in the fun of the story. The ending - wow, just wait! I guess that the fantastic story is enough for me to put my quibbles about the cover aside for now. (Rachel B., IRS Member)
 

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The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues - and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon. What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith's magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace's soul. She's willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost? Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.
 

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Desperate to unlock the curse that condemns her love for Daniel, Luce revisits her past incarnations trying to understand her fate, but Daniel is chasing her throughout the centuries in order to keep her from rewriting their history. Prequel to the Fallen series.  
 

When Rigg's father dies, he is alone in the world except for a sister that he has never known or met, but a chance encounter with Umbo, a teen with a special ability similar to Rigg's, gives Rigg a new chance at a connection. Rigg and Umbo join forces and embark on a quest to find Rigg’s sister and discover the true depth and significance of their powers. However, despite all they can do with altering the past, they can't predict what is yet to come.

I've found that when it comes to Orson Scott Card's writing and I, it's a bit of a love/hate relationship. I find myself, over and over, coming back to his books because of the crazy ideas that they embody, but then at some point or another just want him to skip the pages of pondering a character does before acting on something. In the case of Pathfinder, the story was very enjoyable, and I loved how the two stories that were running parallel for the majority of the book were woven together at the end, even if I was able to predict how it was going to happen several chapters ahead.

Something I don't understand is why there are so many narrators, since they just take turns reading sections of the book. This is something that I've noticed in other audiobooks of Card's stories, such as Speaker for the Dead, but unfortunately had forgotten before I got this off audible.com. For the most part, I didn't notice when one voice gave way to another...but there was one change around chapter 17-18 that absolutely took me out of the story, it was so drastic. Suddenly, characters like Loaf and Umbo were being portrayed with totally different inflections and voices that it took me a long time to settle into the new narrator and fall back into the story.

This is a good read for any sci-fi fan, or anyone that's into time travel or fantasy in general. (Rachel B., IRS Member)
 

Playaway

Doctorow (Little Brother; For the Win) returns with another down-and-dirty tale of technological guerrilla warfare. Set in a near-future England where Big Entertain-ment is pressuring Parliament into criminalizing illicit downloading and handing out jail sentences to those who do it, the novel concerns 16-year-old Trent McCauley who obsessively samples old films to create new works of art. This gets his entire family barred from the Web for a year, rendering his parents virtually unemployable and derailing his sister's education. Running away to London, Trent falls in with a group of young, high-tech squatters and anarchists who begin a David vs. Goliath war against the establishment, hoping to free the Net for creative use by the common people. Doctorow, a noted free Internet advocate (and PW columnist), handles his topic with great passion, creating engaging and believably geeky characters who share his fervor for both the Web and the new forms of art and communication it has made possible. (Publisher's Weekly)

In this sequel to Legend, June and Day make their way to Las Vegas where they join the rebel Patriot group and become involved in an assassination plot against the Elector in hopes of saving the Republic.

 In the year 2098 America isn't so different from the USA of today. But, in a post-9/11 security-obssessed world, "secured" doesn't just refer to borders between countries, it also refer to borders between states. Teenagers still think they know everything, but there is no cure for cancer, as Kelsa knows first-hand from watching her father die. The night Kelsa buries her father, a boy appears. He claims magic is responsible for the health of Earth, but human damage disrupts its flow. The planet is dying. Kelsa has the power to reverse the damage, but first she must accept that magic exists and see beyond her own pain in order to heal the planet. Sequel: Traitor's Son

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Ten years after the Great Collapse of 2031, sixteen-year-old Molly McClure, with only her fiddle for company, leaves the safety of her family's island home to travel through a dangerous and desolate wasteland on her way to Oregon to find her grandparents and persuade them to return with her to Canada. She doesn't bargain for facing organized crime, taking care of two orphans, battling for survival, and maybe even falling in love in the process...

In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl.

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Steampunk a grafting of Victorian aesthetic and punk rock attitude onto various forms of science-fiction culture is a phenomenon that has come to influence film, literature, art, music, fashion, and more.The Steampunk Bible is the first compendium about the movement, tracing its roots in the works of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells through its most recent expression in movies such asSherlock Holmes. Its adherents celebrate the inventor as an artist and hero, re-envisioning and crafting retro technologies including antiquated airships and robots. A burgeoning DIY community has brought a distinctive Victorian-fantasy style to their crafts and art. Steampunk evokes a sense of adventure and discovery, and embraces extinct technologies as a way of talking about the future. This ultimate manual will appeal to aficionados and novices alike as author Jeff VanderMeer takes the reader on a wild ride through the clockwork corridors of Steampunk history.

Discover original steampunk tales in this anthology of stories written before there were actual rocketships, atomic power, digital computers, or readily available electricity. The modern day steampunk genre is a reinventing of the past through the eyes of its inventors and adventures, but this collection is from real Victorians and Edwardians who saw the future potential of science and its daring possibilities. Steam-powered automobiles, submarines, and robots are featured alongside great airships and spaceships in these bold and creative stories of hope, triumph, and disaster.

Contents: Mr. Broadbent's information / Henry A. Hering -- The automaton / Reginald Bacchus & Ranger Gull -- The abduction of Alexandra Seine / Fred C. Smale -- The Gibraltar tunnel / Jean Jaubert -- From Pole to Pole / George Griffith -- In the deep of time / George Parsons Lathrop -- The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings / L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace -- The plague of lights / Owen Oliver -- What the rats brought / Ernest Favenc -- The great catastrophe / George Davey -- Within an ace of the end of the world / Robert Barr -- An interplanetary rupture / Frank L. Packard -- The last days of Earth / George C. Wallis -- The plunge / George Allan England. 

This how-to jewelry-making book features the work of an array of invited jewelry designers influenced by the growing Steampunk trend. In Steampunk circles, jewelry-makers are often master metalsmiths who combine found objects with fine metals to create elaborate pieces. In Steampunk-Style Jewelry , the projects focus on "no fire" techniques - like simple stringing, wirework, hammering, stamping, gluing, stitching, and off-loom beadwork - so that even a beginner can create pieces in the style. Each project provides a complete materials and tools list, step-by-step instructions, and clear illustrations. This book offers a broad overview of a growing design trend that is part of the literary, industrial design, fashion, and popular culture scene. Readers will learn about the art movement through the many photographic sidebars that explore the many aspects of the trend.

When a turn-of-the-century scientist travels into the distant future in his time machine, he expects to find progress & superior people. But instead he discovers a world in decay.

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Whit and Wisty Allgood thought that they were just ordinary kids...until they woke up one day to find that their whole world had changed overnight. Suddenly, they're wanted criminals for possessing magical powers, and they have to fight to save all that they used to hold dear.

The way that the faces of the two characters were formed from the fire that surrounded the "W" on the cover was very eye-catching and question-invoking, making me want to find out what the book was about. The best part of the book was, in one word: conflict. There were layers upon layers of it threaded everywhere throughout, making a potentially simple story come to life. I didn’t like the way that the chapters kept alternating between characters which was somewhat confusing initially; however, it did become much more understandable as the book progressed. (Rachel B, IRS Member)

eBook

When Whit & Wisty were imprisoned by the wicked forces of the totalitarian regime known as the New Order, they were barely able to escape with their lives. Now part of a hidden community of teens like themselves, Whit and Wisty have established themselves as leaders of the Resistance, willing to sacrifice anything to save kids kidnapped and brutally imprisoned by the New Order. But the One has other plans in store for them: He needs Wisty, for she is "The One Who Has the Gift." While trying to figure out what that means, Whit and Wisty's suspenseful adventures through Overworld and Shadowland lead to a jaw-dropping climax and conclusion: the highly-anticipated fulfillment of the heart-pounding opening prologue of book one... The Execution of the Allgoods.

Whit and Wisty Allgood have sacrificed everything to lead the resistance against the merciless totalitarian regime that governs their world. Its supreme leader, The One Who Is The One, has banned everything they hold dear: books, music, art, and imagination. But the growing strength of the siblings' magic hasn't been enough to stop the One's evil rampage, and now he's executed the only family they had left. Wisty knows that the time has finally come for her to face The One. But her fight and her fire only channel more power to this already invincible being. How can she and Whit possibly prepare for their imminent showdown with the ruthless villain that devastated their world-before he can truly become all-powerful? In this stunning climax of the epic Witch & Wizard series, the stakes have never been higher-and the consequences will change everything.