Silver

Silver 

by Chris Wooding

Synopsis:

The final exam is survival.Without warning, a horrifying infection spreads across school grounds, and a group of students with little in common will find themselves barricaded in a classroom, fighting for their lives.
Some will live.
Some will die.
And then it will get even worse.
Fast-paced and frightening, Silver is a tale set on the fringes of science and horror — a story about the struggle to survive in the face of impossible odds.

My thoughts:

Paul arrives half way through the school year at Mortingham Academy after his parents are killed in a plane crash.  Paul, not wanting to deal with anything or anyone, keeps to himself for the most part until two students are bitten by a strange silver beetle with computer chip like markings. The school nurse sends Paul out into a thunderstorm to get help as the two students get worse but Paul quickly discovers that there is no power so no help and the beetles aren’t the only silver monsters on campus. The infection quickly spreads turning both people and animals into aggressive silver machines and as more are infected they start to show more intelligence and begin working as a team.  Paul along with a single teacher and a handful of students barricaded themselves in a science block and try desperate to survive the infected attacks as well as come up some kind of escape plan in what appears to be a completely hopeless situation. Silver is told by several different characters, each with their very own distinct voice and personality.  The English boarding school all alone on the countryside is the perfect creepy setting for this novel add in a night with a storm raging, a horde of crazed monsters, and no hope of outside help it seems like it’s the end of the world and the suspense is all consuming.  Wooding has created a fast-paced zombie-like survival story that both science fiction and horror fans will love.  Once the fight begins readers will not be able to put down this engaging read.

The Girl From The Well

The Girl From The Well

by Rin Chupeco

Synopsis:

I am where dead children go. Okiku is a lonely soul. She has wandered the world for centuries, freeing the spirits of the murdered-dead. Once a victim herself, she now takes the lives of killers with the vengeance they''re due. But releasing innocent ghosts from their ethereal tethers does not bring Okiku peace. Still she drifts on. Such is her existence, until she meets Tark. Evil writhes beneath the moody teen''sskin, trapped by a series of intricate tattoos. While his neighbors fear him, Okiku knows the boy is not a monster. Tark needs to be freed from the malevolence that clings to him. There''s just one problem: if the demon dies, so does its host.

My thoughts:

The Girl From The Well is Chupeco's debut novel which is based on the Japanese legend of "Okiku and the Nine Plates", the same tale that inspired The Ring.  For over 300 years Okiku has been wandering the world taking vengeance on child murderers; half because she wants to free the children that get chained to their murderers and half because death and revenge are almost the only thing that she understands anymore.  When Tark crosses Okiku's path while she is hunting a serial killer, he sparks something in her that she thought was almost impossible: curiosity.  As Okiku observes and slowly befriends him and his cousin Callie, she discovers that something truly dark and malicious is trying to break free of Tark and his strange tattoos are the only thing keeping the spirit bound.  After Tark's mom is violently murdered, Tark, his father, and Callie head to Japan to scatter her ashes on a particular shrine and ended up meeting some women, who were friends of Tark's mother, that might have the answers that Tark and Okiku have been looking for.  The Girl From The Well told from Okiku's point of view is a creepy thriller that people will want to read during the day with the lights on . . . preferably not near any closets or wells.  While this novel would definitely fall under the horror genre Chupeco uses a cutscene technique rather than violent disembodiment to build up the suspense so that by the time the final battle begins the reader is a bundle of nerves that jumps at the smallest sound and is terrified of what will happen when the other shoe drops.  Chupeco has written a haunting tale that is well worth reading and the poetic style that is used when Okiku is hunting is genius.

Unbreakable

Unbreakable

by Kami Garcia

Synopsis:

I never believed in ghosts.
Until one tried to kill me.

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, she doesn''t realize that paranormal forces are responsible--not until mysterious identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into her room and destroy a deadly spirit sent to kill her.

Kennedy learns that her mother''s death was no accident, and now she has to take her place in the Legion of the Black Dove--a secret society whose five members were all murdered on the same night, leaving the Legion in the hands of the next generation: a misfit group with unique skills.

As the new members race to find the only weapon capable of destroying the demon, they use their individual talents to battle paranormal entities and earn their rightful place in the Legion--except for Kennedy.

If she is truly the missing piece of the puzzle, can she stay alive long enough to find out--without losing her heart in the process?

Protect Yourself.
What you can''t see CAN hurt you.

My thoughts:

Unbreakable is a fast-paced thrill of a ride that will grab and hold onto you from the very first page.  Within only a couple of pages 17 year-old Kennedy Waters meets a scary ghost girl in a graveyard, her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, her cat (possessed by a vengeance spirit) tries to kill her, and she meets gorgeous twins Jared and Lukas when they break into her house to save her from the previously mentioned vengeance spirit. Kennedy didn't even believe in the supernatural and now she must work with Lukas, Jared and two other teens - the only surviving members of the Legion of the Black Dove - to try and destroy the demon Andras before he rises and destroys the world.  But before they can destroy Andras, the teens must assemble the Shift, the only known weapon that can destroy the demon.  In their search for the missing pieces, Kennedy and the Legion members visit numerous haunted locations, such as a haunted mansion, an abandoned magic shop, and even an old prison and must find and defeat the violent ghosts that guard the pieces that they are looking for. In Garcia’s solo debut novel there is suspense lurking on every page and a love triangle between Kennedy, Lukas, and Jared that only adds to the suspense. Just when the novel’s plotline seems to be turning predictable Garcia has written an surprise ending with a twist no one will see coming and that leaves the reader waiting anxiously for the next installment to this ghostly series.