Fourth Wing: Empyrean, Book 1

Fourth Wing: Empyrean, Book 1 by Rebecca Yarros

Sex. Violence. Dragons. Blah.

Bell Bandit

The Bell Bandit by Jacqueline Davies 

Grandma's house has burned down. They try to make the trip out there similar to what it has been, but it is not the same. The boy ends up helping the handyman to fix it. The girl becomes friends with an autistic boy next door. They try to find what happened to the missing bell that is always rung at new years. They also work have some encounters with the "bad boys" who they see torturing frogs. Grandma occasionally loses her mental capacities. One time they find her outside in a teepee in the snow, thinking it was a bus stop taking her to class. The boy pretends to be from the bus company to get her back. By new years, they have discovered the bell - the autistic boy had hid it at his house to keep the mean boys from taking it.

The characterizations of the autistic boy and the senile grandma feel too stereotyped.

Cinder: Book One of the Lunar Chronicles

Cinder: Book One of the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

I had earlier read the second and third books in the Lunar Chronicles series and did not care for them much. This one did seem much better. It is a "Cinderella" story, set in a futuristic earth. Lunar people have special powers, but also carry a disease to which they have immunity that is deadly for earthlings. Cinder is the Cinderella character who lives with her cruel guardian and her daughters. She is a cyborg human who had suffered a bad accident when she was long and had many parts replaced. She can't remember any pre-Cyborg life. She works in android repair. The prince comes in to have one of his androids repaired. She does a great job and the prince falls for her, but she rejects his overtures. Her guardian mother has no desire to support her and is glad to enroll her in a trial to help cure the disease. There she discovers that she has immunity and later learns more - she is actually Lunarian. The prince's dad has died and the prince is set to be ruler. The Lunar queen has come to take his hand in marriage. However, he really likes Cinder. Meanwhile Cinder escapes from her family, but discovers the Queen's evil plot and saves the kingdom, but has to spill her state has a Lunar Cyborg to the prince. She also later finds that she is royalty. The story is told in a quick moving, light tone.

Scarlet: The Lunar Chronicles, Book 2

Scarlet: The Lunar Chronicles, Book 2 by Marissa Meyer

There is a world that is somewhat like ours, only a bit different. There are cyborgs and various mind-machine combinations. Scarlet is a "little red riding hood" character who discovers that people want to capture or kill or grandmother. She befriends "wolf" and also runs into another character. Wolf wants to kill her, but loves her to much to do it. It plays out in happy-go-lucky manner even with life or death overtones.

Gilded

Gilded is inspired by the story of Rumpelstiltskin, though it has many more details, twists and turns. The girl has the "gift" of lying and is a great storyteller. She is saved by a castle "ghost" that helps spin straw into gold. She befriends him and gives him more payments, up to the first born son (which he conceives in her.) The castle is inhabited by many ghosts and demons that she gets to know. She also learns from the people that a friendly ghost leaves gold for them.

The lord of the castle is evil to the extreme. He has no qualms killing or imprisoning others for his purposes. When the girl claims she can't spin straw to gold because she has a child in her, he wants to claim the baby as his own. He curses her to be bound to the castle. Through some investigation, she has also learned that the gold spinner was a prince who had his memory wiped and has also been cursed to remain in the castle. They hint at some plot to break the curses. And thus is the second book set up. The book itself is very dark with plenty of ghosts, but not very graphic. 

Supernova: Renegades Series, Book 3

In the third Renegades book, everything goes crazy. Nightmare's secret identity is found out. Then through subterfuge it is not. Then it is found out again. Allies keep shifting. The consequences keep getting bigger. Characters that seemed fairly balanced suddenly get really bad - and then they are killed. At all reaches a grand climax where all superpower disappear only to reappear dispersed through society. We also find out about a number of different relationships. People are their own worst enemies. People that were thought dead are actually not and are living right under each other's eyes. There is a tight interrelated connection between various characters.

It all feels like a mash up. The superhero concept is a lot like Brendan Sanderson's Reckoners series. The "one person can save the world" ending seems straight from any summer blockbuster. The underlying love story also seems familiar. Boy and girl have secrets. They secretly hate each other, yet are in love with each other. Sounds like a "You've Got Mail" double identity plot. The most originality is in the super powers. There are a lot of heroes and villains that  appear with a plethora of super powers. Alas, it feels like we have a couple of complex three-dimensional leads with a number of flat supporting characters. (The character of Honey was especially bizarre. Suddenly she turned really mean - only to be killed off.) The book is very neatly wrapped up at the end, yet keeps plenty of threads open for future extensions.

Archenemies: Renegades, Book 2

The second book in the Renegades series sees the main characters get closer together while their alter-egos get further apart. When they are on "official" superhero control, they have a budding romance that ramps up. However, they also both have "secret identities" that are intent on revenge. The romance dials up in the second book as does the conflict. There are new superpowers that show up, including one that lets people "see the good" in things. It seems a little far fetched that nobody would get a clue. (But, hey, what do you expect from a superhero book?) The end of this books dials up the drama and makes the third book a necessity.

Renegades

Renegades is set in a post-apocalyptic world where many "prodigies" have super powers. Some are born with the powers, while others get them later. The world had previously fallen apart during the time of anarchy. The "renegades" used their super powers to bring order to society. Now they are the celebrated law enforces. Anarchists are the "bad guys" in society. There are regular "renegade" tries for new people to join the ranks of the renegades.

Alas, things are not quite that simple. The book centers around "Nova". She lost her family and hates the renegades. She tried to bring them down as "Nightmare". However, she later pivoted and adopted the identity of "Insomnia" to become one of the renegades. She tries to bring them down from the inside, yet ends up falling for them instead. (Of course, there is a boy involved.) She is torn between her loyalties. She also discovers that things are not black and white. There is good and bad on both sides. There are also some bigger forces at play.

The story is in a similar vein of Brendan Sanderson's Calamity series. These are heroes that need to be discovered, yet still have many of the foibles of man. The book is somewhat on the longer side, but is fairly fast paced. It is a little confusing at first as the characters adopt multiple identities and switch loyalties. However, it gradually becomes clearer as the book progresses. At the end, it is still not certain which side you should be rooting for.