Take Back the Skies

April 21, 2014
The narrative voice in Saxon’s YA debut hovers in an in-between stage. On one hand, 14-year-old Catherine Hunter is blushingly caught up in “silly things like hormones and attraction.” On the other, she’s the kind of middle-grade heroine who can pass as a boy by putting on a baggy shirt, as well as turn her hand to engineering or pickpocketing with equal ease. The slide in register between wide-eyed ignorance and knowing innuendo can be awkward, but for younger teens, the breathlessly paced adventure aspect of the novel will carry the story of a privileged heroine who stows away on a smugglers’ skyship and persuades the not-so-motley crew to help her save her country. Sprinkled with popular elements of dystopia, steampunk, and noble love, the plot sparkles. The characters—spunky Cat, brooding Fox, the bromance pair of Ben and Matt—are types straight out of teen-friendly TV series like Firefly and Gilmore Girls. More books in this universe are promised, and Saxon has set up the world of Tellus well to support many rollicking tales. Ages 12–up.

May 15, 2014
A steampunk heroine saves the world in a debut adventure.Fourteen-year-old Catherine Hunter is a child of one of the most powerful men in the Anglyan government, but that doesn't mean she's had a happy childhood. Her cartoonishly evil father presides over a reign of terror in war-torn Anglya, and he has been violently abusive against Catherine all her life. Rather than be forced into a loveless marriage, Catherine disguises herself as a boy and stows away on a skyship. Its jovial, do-gooder crew turns out to be smugglers for justice. They all, from dishy ginger orphan Fox to motherly, stew-ladling cook Alice, happily integrate Catherine-going now by "Cat"-into their ranks. As Catherine learns that everything she's ever known about her country is a lie, she's thrust into the usual high-stakes fight to save the world. This struggle is paced just right for her to have lovers' quarrels while sneaking around the most dangerous building in the country. The pieces are all here for a plucky-girl adventure, but the details-secondary characters right out of central casting, cheesy dialogue, a rushed and badly dissonant conclusion-hang ill-fitting on the age-of-steam framework.Affectionate "mecha," gruesome battles, deathbed confessions and stolen children make all the right ingredients for a result not quite baked; send it back to Alice in the galley. (Steampunk. 11-13)

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May 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-Saxon's debut novel tells the story of Cat Hunter, a rich girl from the government nobility in the war ravaged country of Anglya. Though the commoners have lost most of their children to the government's war Collection, she is safe in her life of luxury. Yet all is not as happy as it seems for Cat; she lives a life controlled by her cruel father and is about to be betrothed to someone she despises. Cat plans her escape, and disguised as a boy, she manages to stow aboard an airship. Once in the air, she is discovered and quickly accepted by the crew of smugglers as one of their own. When she learns the truth about her world, that the war the government has been Collecting children to fight has been over for years, she convinces the crew to join her in taking them down. Readers will discover a fast-paced adventure, a little mystery, and a little romance. As the first in a planned six-part series, the book shows potential but leaves perhaps too many unanswered questions. Light character development and unrefined writing will lose more sophisticated readers. Fans of steampunk and "girl in disguise" genres may do better to try Scott Westerfeld's "Leviathan" trilogy (S. & S.) or L. A. Meyer's "Bloody Jack Adventure" series (Houghton Harcourt).-Genevieve Feldman, San Francisco Public Library

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May 15, 2014
Grades 5-8 In order to escape a marriage arranged by her high-ranking government-official father, 14-year-old Catherine disguises herself as a boy and stows away aboard the airship Stormdancer. There, Cat learns that much of what she has always been told about her Tellus world is false. Her country, Anglya, is no longer at war, so it's unclear why government officials keep collecting poor children when they turn 13. Using Cat's inner knowledge of Anglyian bureaucracy, the crew breaks into the government headquarters and discovers the long-missing royal family and the few remaining conscripted children who have survived medical experimentation. Eighteen-year-old Saxon's debut novel depicts a carefully crafted dystopian world in which government operates to benefit the elite at the expense of everyone else. Full of adventure, political intrigue, alternative technology, a chaste romance between Cat and crewmate Fox, and a hint of steampunk, this should be popular with the Hunger Games crowd. Future volumes (each focusing on a different Tellus nation) are planned.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)