Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss

Jennifer Barnhart | Survival

September 11, 2014

The Walking Dead Season 5 premiers October 12, 2014, but that far off date hasn’t kept the world from buzzing and speculating on what’s in store for the survivors this season? Who’s going to die this season because we are far beyond hope that every single one of our favorite characters will make it out alive?

I’ll admit it. The Walking Dead gives me nightmares. Zombies terrify me. People in this show terrify me. I sobbed watching the Season 4 episode “The Grove”. I’m completely addicted. It’s not the zombies that keep me coming back. It’s the cast of characters who defy the odds, who struggle to not only survive but to live with hope and take pleasure in the people they’re with.

That’s why this week my YA picks all deal with survivors (although, no zombies because I need to sleep before The Walking Dead airs again!).

STITCHING SNOW by R.C. Lewis

STITCHING SNOW
STITCHING SNOW

We’ve all seen adaptations of Snow White. I promised myself I’d never read or watch another after a movie I shall not name ruined Snow’s story for me, and then comes STITCHING SNOW by R.C. Lewis. This tale takes on space travel and galaxies and frozen planets run by seven loyal mining drones! A sci-fi Snow White? Absolutely, I need to read this.

Princess Snow is missing and her father will stop at nothing to get his daughter back. But will she even want to return?

Essie knows cold. The planet sub-zero planet of Thanda never thaws. The keep herself busy, she does coding and repairs for the seven drones that run the local mines. Those skills come in handy when a young man named Dane crash-lands near her home. But Dane’s arrival might not be the accident she thought it was.

DARKNESS by Erin Eveland

DARKNESS
DARKNESS

16-year-old Catherine has been born with a supernatural power called Darkness. Living an impoverished life, a hidden world unfolds with the encounters of two Masters of Darkness. Ancient enemies with the power to control the Darkness and its Shadow Creatures, the Masters will fight to the death for what one girl may hold – the ultimate power of Light.

I was instantly hooked when I learned that DARKNESS by Erin Eveland is an interactive novel, featuring music or art at the beginning of each chapter. This is an amazing concept. I can’t wait to get to each new chapter to see what is in store, and I’ve had to stop myself from just scanning all the codes immediately. I’m savoring DARKNESS, and Catherine’s place in this world that threatens to take everything from her.

THE AFTERMATH by Jen Alexander

THE AFTERMATH
THE AFTERMATH

In the spring of 2036, the world changed forever. Claudia and a small group of survivors live in a very different Nashville, one polluted and desolate, except for the cannibals. Every day is a struggle of survival.

With food and water running low, no one can be trusted. But more terrifying is when Claudia realizes that what she thinks is her world can’t be trusted. She’s a pawn in a game, with all her actions controlled by a mysterious gamer. When she meets Declan, who claims to be a game moderator, she must choose to trust him or continue to play the only game she’s ever known: a live-action game known as THE AFTERMATH.

THE AFTERMATH by Jen Alexander promises to be terrifying read. (Cannibals!) I can’t help but wonder how it will defy the very successful mold of THE HUNGER GAMES to provide a new look at a society obsessed with reality television.

Tell me, dear reader, how would you survive in a world where books were excess weight and not a necessity?

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