Tag Archives: Young Adult

Sanctuary by Jenny Carroll (2002) – BR00033 (2004) – 🐸⚪⚪⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
October 28 2004

Plot or Premise

Jess Mastriani got hit by lightning, and now she’s psychic. So she’s been calling in tips to the missing person line and telling the feds where to find the kids. The FBI wants her to do more, but she told them she lost the gift (which of course they don’t believe). And when a local kid shows up dead with strange militia markings on him, Jesse gets drawn into local militia groups and right-wing nuts in general, with the feds following along behind.

What I Liked

Not much — although it is good they still have Jess acting like a teenager.

What I Didn’t Like

While I prefer this characterization of Jess to the TV-series that has changed her into a kick-in-the-door, guns-blazing federal agent, this individual story is waaaay over the top. Like Hardy Boys meets the A-Team.

The Bottom Line

Way over the top.

Darkest Hour by Jenny Carroll (2001) – BR00031 (2004) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
March 28 2004

Plot or Premise

Suzannah is a mediator — she helps ghosts move on from this plane to the next. But when she’s not embracing her sixth sense, she’s earning money as a staff babysitter at a hotel/resort and dreaming about Jesse who haunts her current home. Then she meets trouble in the form of spoiled brat Jack who can also see ghosts, but doesn’t know that ghosts are actually real and is instead three steps away from a nervous breakdown. Suze has to help him figure out his own role with ghosts, at the same time that she tries to figure out more of the mystery with Jesse’s past life.

What I Liked

I really liked the idea of finding newbies who don’t know what they are supposed to do when it comes to ghosts — hey, didn’t they see the movie? I also still like the fact that Suze can actually interact with the ghosts (i.e., fight with them). The backstory for Jesse was cool, and knowing that Suze can move to another plane at least temporarily is really a good omen for future books. The interesting addition of negative mediators to counter-balance the good mediators is very Tru Calling-ish, and we’ll have to see how that plays out in future books.

What I Didn’t Like

Some of the repeated teenage angst might sit well with teenage readers, but it gets really repetitive fast for older readers.

The Bottom Line

Oh, no, it’s ghosts again!

Note: Also published under the title Young Blood.

Shadowland by Jenny Carroll (2000) – BR00030 (2004) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The PolyBlog
March 7 2004

Plot or Premise

Susannah is a mediator, a la the Sixth Sense, helping ghosts resolve their earthly problems so they can depart. She lived a life of school problems and adventure in New York, hung out with her visiting dead father’s ghost, and got in trouble with the law. Then Mom married a guy from California and they moved in with the new family — a new stepdad and three new stepbrothers. And her first day of school? She finds out that her school’s principal, a priest, is also a mediator. She’s not alone! Ever!

What I Liked

The introduction of a character who can physically interact with ghosts is great, and the introduction of Susannah to the ghost Jesse who has been haunting her new bedroom for the last 150 years is actually funny. There are lots of humourous bits as she moves into the new school and meets the resident bully — a rejected popular girl who committed suicide over a boy and who now wants to exact revenge on him.

What I Didn’t Like

Some of the clichés used around the vengeful ghost are a bit much and the constant injuries to various people while the mediator skates through uninjured are rather exaggerated.

The Bottom Line

She sees dead people.

Note: Also published under the title I Love You To Death.

Rough Stuff by G.H. Stone (1989) – BR00092 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
October 10 1999

Plot or Premise

This book marks the third in the Crimebusters series, with the Three Investigators in a plane crash with Bob’s father.

What I Liked

After the plane crash, they are forced to “rough it”, with standard adventure fare. The mystery is classic Three Investigators, and the series is beginning to somewhat settle into the new characters.

What I Didn’t Like

The adventure side degrades into dealing with polluters with M-16 rifles and there is a “fight” scene that again is very far removed from the Three Investigators’ world.

The Bottom Line

Not bad, not great.

Hot Wheels by William Arden (1989) – BR00085 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
October 10 1999

Plot or Premise

The Three Investigators series that I loved as a kid was transformed some years ago into this new Crimebusters series that I could never find in stores. The stories are aimed at young adults, but I was expecting the stories to have relatively the same type of stories that I fell in love with as a kid. Wrong. Instead, they have updated their ages from 14 to 17, updated their lifestyles from chores and bicycles to part-time jobs and cars. And thrown in lots of women to entice their hormonally-charged bodies. In short, the characters have grown up but not necessarily in keeping with the personalities they had originally. In this story, the 3Is are helping their cousin who has been charged with grand theft auto.

What I Liked

Jupe, Bob and Pete juggle the case, their jobs, and their social life to stay on top of things. In the old series, most of the time the characters were all together, or were working on different parts at the same time. In the new update, lots of other things interfere in their lives (a little more realistic, but less enjoyable). Yet Jupiter Jones is still the leader who relies on his brains more than his brawn.

What I Didn’t Like

The biggest fault is that the authors have added an action element to the series. Kind of like some of the false notes that appear in other series, the characters in this series have increased their physical fitness with karate and judo. So, eventually, there is a fight scene complete with big thugs and guns.

The Bottom Line

Same series, similar concept, same names, but different characters.