Teens across the nation have voted for this year’s Teens’ Top Ten list, and the winners have been announced- but did you know how the books are nominated for this list in the first place?
Books are nominated by members of Teens’ Top Ten book groups in school and public libraries around the country. To give you a glimpse of what it’s like to be part of the process, we’re featuring posts from these teens here on The Hub.
Splintered by A.G. Howard is an amazing Teen’s Top Ten nominee. The series begins with an interesting twist to the Alice in Wonderland story; it puts it to a new light. A.G. Howard manages to avoid two typical problems in trilogies. The trilogy is absolutely amazing through the entire thing and it has an incredible ending that ties up all loose threads and still leaves you happy and satisfied. Most books have parts where they slow down– the plotline drags a little, and you get bored. This series is a different story. The books are consistently great, and are extremely enjoyable to read.
Most trilogies start really well, and the second book slows down a bit, and then the third either falls flat, makes you angry due to the loss of an important character (or multiple), or just doesn’t end well. This is shown in almost anyone who read the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. The second book was a little of a let-down compared to the first, and the third’s ending was torture for the reader. However, the third book in the Splintered trilogy, Ensnared, defies the system and manages to have an ending that completes the series in an incredible way. Anyone looking for a book to read who is into the fantasy genre will have a BLAST with this trilogy, beginning with the novel Splintered. Personally, this book has inspired me with its hidden messages, and entertained me for hours. I simply could NOT put it down once I picked it up. It now has a permanent home on my re-readable shelf, and has wormed its way into my favorite book list- which is a massive accomplishment, due to my insatiable hunger for the written words. I have read a LOT, and this made its way up to be my all-time favorite. I HIGHLY suggest it!
Another great example for a trilogy that delivers is The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta. Yet another problem with many trilogies is the loss of characters. The loss of characters can appear in two forms: the death of a character whose death comes as a shock, and a great character who falls apart. The Hunger Games is a notable example of a trilogy that loses characters. Due to the nature of the book, characters die—and Katniss, who started the series as independent and strong, seems weaker by comparison.
In Finnikin of the Rock, the first book of The Lumatere Chronicles, which admittedly isn’t my favorite, some of the characters are unlikable and others lack complex emotions. However, I stuck it out because of the intricate plot and because I had the second book, Froi of the Exiles, sitting next to me. The first half of Froi of the Exiles is not my type of book. I found several of the characters bland and the plot was not picking up. I feared that this trilogy would not be what I had hoped for and would fall apart like so many others. However, before I knew it, the second book ended strong because of the surprisingly intricate plot the emerged from the dirt of the first half and the elaborate characters came on the petals of the flourishing plot.
The third and final book in the trilogy, Quintana of Charyn, is hard to explain because it is breathtakingly perfect. Unlike so many trilogies and series, the characters in The Lumatere Chronicles continued to develop. The plot is set up perfectly for each character to grow in themselves until the balance between internal struggle and external struggle came to a final conclusion that leaves the reader breathless with tears streaking down each cheek. This trilogy has a mixture of adventure, fantasy, tragedy, and romance so that any reader would fall into the arms of the eloquent characters and intriguing plot. It’s needless to say that Quintana of Charyn is not just on my favorite books lists– instead, it created a new standard for what it means to be my personal favorite book.