OPL Teen Scene

New Reviews in this Week

By Uly. B

The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim by Shane Peacock

Good Reads Summary

Edgar Brim is a sensitive orphan who, exposed to horror stories from his father as a young child, is afraid of almost everything and suffers from nightly terrors. His stern new guardian, Mr. Thorne, sends the boy to a gloomy school in Scotland where his dark demons only seem to worsen and he is bullied and ridiculed for his fears. But years later, when sixteen-year-old Edgar finds a journal belonging to his novelist father, he becomes determined to confront his nightmares and the bullies who taunt him. After the horrific death of a schoolmate, Edgar becomes involved with an eccentric society at the urging of a mysterious professor who believes that monsters from famous works of literature are real and whose mandate is to find and destroy these creatures. With the aid of a rag-tag crew of friends, the fear-addled teen sets about on his dark mission, one that begins in the cemetery on the bleak Scottish moors and ends in a spine-chilling climax on the stage of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in London with Henry Irving, the infamous and magnetic actor, and his manager, Bram Stoker, the author of the most frightening and sensational novel of the day, Dracula. Can Edgar Brim truly face his terror and conquer his fears?

Teen Review

The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim is an exciting tale of a young boy and some very real monsters. This book is a masterpiece I couldn't put down. There were enough twists and turns to make my head spin! A very unexpected twist on some very known fairy tales, this book made me wish there was a sequel.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I would give it a 9/10.

 23 Minutes by Vivian Velde

 Good Reads Summary

Fifteen-year-old Zoe has a secret ability: she can travel back in time twenty-three minutes to relive events she wants to change. But Zoe has learned from experience that this is more curse than gift. Things almost never end well and people just tend to think she’s crazy.

But when she steps into a bank to get out of the rain and finds herself in the middle of a robbery gone horrifyingly wrong, Zoe knows she’s the only one who can help. The problem is, she has only a limited number of tries to make things right. Plus, a single mistake could get her killed—and not even time travel could bring her back from that.

Zoe has always considered herself a loser, about as far from a heroine as a girl can get. Now she has to dig deep to find a strength she never thought she possessed.  

 Teen Review

23 Minutes is an emotional thriller about a sort of normal girl with a exceptional ability. That ability being, she could turn back time 23 minutes. And when she gets caught up in a bank robbery her ability becomes vital.
With loads of action and a very charming young man, this book is an edge of your seat read. I really liked this book and I'll give it a 8/10.

Wither By Lauren DeStefano

 Good Reads Summary

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband's strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

Teen Review

This book is an emotional roller coaster all the way through. But it's not just romance blooming in this book..it's also dark and dangerous secrets. When Rhine Ellery gets chosen to become a bride of one of the richest men in her County, she is forced to leave her family and her life behind. Because the new generation lives only 20 years female and 25 years male, the old generation is frantic to find the antidote in the children of the new generation.
Rhine seeks the secrets of the dark mansion she is forced to live in with 2 other brides while her new father in law plans something sinister ..
Wither is a slightly disturbing read but overall quite exciting.
Overall I give this book a 6/10.

Red Queen

Good Reads Summary

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.  

Teen Review

In a world where everyone is divided by the colour of their blood ,silver and red ,lives Mer. Being a red blood she is forced to work for and worship the silvers. A sudden change of events makes her see the world with a new colour. And what she sees makes her more scared of the silvers then ever.
With romance ,action and a lot of unexpected events, this book has a cliffhanger on every chapter.
I loved this book and I'll give it a 9.5/ 10.