Dragonfly

Dragonfly by Julia Golding

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Dragonfly is the YA Beehive Book Award winner for 2012, and deservedly so.  This is a book that I can totally recommend to the middle school and older audience.  It has appeal for both boys and girls since we have Princess Taoshira and Prince Ramul as lead characters.  There is plenty of action for the boys (and some girls like me) and a delicate love interest. It begins as Princess Taoshira has a marriage arranged to Prince Ramul of Gerfal, so that the countries can gain allies in the fight against the evil Fergox.  Ramul and Taoshira hate each other when they first meet, but when they are off on a get acquainted horse ride, they are kidnapped.  As they struggle to overcome their situation, a deep bond develops between them. This is good versus evil fantasy at its best.  Highly recommended.



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Cinder

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There was a lot of controversy on my library listserve about this book.  Some loved it, some hated it, and some just quit reading it because they were bored. I think I fall into the camp of those who loved the book.  It was a little bit hard to relate to the characters at first.  The reader is introduced to Cinder, the cyborg, a human with some mechanical wiring and parts.  At first I wondered if I could ever really care about the character, but as I got further into the story, I really did.  As you might guess, Cinder is a modern telling of Cinderella, only Cinder lives as a cyborg with her step-mother and two sisters.  She meets Prince Kai, when he comes to her booth, (she is a mechanic) at the marketplace.  He needs her to repair his broken android.  They are immediately attracted to each other, but she realizes she is a lowly cyborg with a mechanical hand and foot, so she hides that from him as well as her feelings for him.  The story is obviously more complicated than the fairy tale and gets more so as we find out a deadly plague is spreading across New Beijing, and cyborgs are being called as test subjects to find a cure for the plague.  We also find out that the moon's Lunar Queen wants to form an alliance with earth by marrying Prince Kai.  Cinder, as you might guess, is in the middle of all of this.  And, although the resolution to the story was less than I had hoped, I found I really did care about this character, and hope for the sequel.



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