All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Anders

All the Birds in the Sky 

Fiction An226a

Charlie Anders    

Childhood friends Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead didn't expect to see each other again, after parting ways under mysterious circumstances during middle school. After all, the development of magical powers and the invention of a two-second time machine could hardly fail to alarm one's peers and families.

But now they're both adults, living in the hipster mecca San Francisco, and the planet is falling apart around them. Laurence is an engineering genius who's working with a group that aims to avert catastrophic breakdown through technological intervention. Patricia is a graduate of Eltisley Maze, the hidden academy for the world's magically gifted, and works with a small band of other magicians to secretly repair the world's every-growing ailments. Little do they realize that something bigger than either of them, something begun years ago in their youth, is determined to bring them together--to either save the world, or plunge it into a new dark ages.


A deeply magical, darkly funny examination of life, love, and the apocalypse.

Vivian Apple Needs a Miracle (#2) by Katie Coyle

Vivian Apple Needs a Miracle (#2)
Katie Coyle

With the rapture predicted by the Church of America having passed, Vivian and Harpreet are two of the few who know the truth: that the rapture was staged and the believers who were chosen are either missing or dead. Can they stop Pastor Frick and the church's mad grab for power and control over society? 

Or will this rapture really be the beginning of the end. Vivian and Harpreet are idealistic teens who will stop at nothing to reveal the truth in this sequel to Vivian Apple at the End of the World (HMH, 2015). The characters are well rounded and believable and represent multiple personalities and ideologies. 

The plot is fast paced but difficult to follow for newcomers to the series. Religion—the lack of faith or unwavering belief in it—is a central component to the story line. Readers will be questioning their own belief systems and asking themselves just how far they would go to uncover the truth. Fans of the first volume will want to read this thought-provoking continuation. VERDICT A great addition to YA collections.

(from Publisher)

BZRK Apocalypse

BZRK Apocalypse
Michael Grant
Fiction G7675b3

Noah and Sadie have seen death,a nd it holds no terror for them.  Madness does, though.  And losing each other.  But they will not sit back, helpless witnesses to an invisible apocalypse.  The world is being destroyed from the insdie out.  It's time to take up the fight once more, in the streets and in the nano.  And they'll give everything they have to stop the Armstrong Twins.

But are the Twins the ultimate enemy?  Nobody has ever known the identity of Lear, the shadowy leader of BZRK.  Just who have they been fighting for?

As madness spreads like a plague, one thing becomes terrifyingly clear: this was Lear's game all along.

And Lear hasn't been playing fair.

(From publisher.)

Grasshopper Jungle

Grasshopper Jungle
Andrew Smith
Fiction Sm516g

In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend, Robby, have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things.

This is the truth. This is history.
It’s the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it.
You know what I mean. 

Funny, intense, complex, and brave, Grasshopper Jungle brilliantly weaves together everything from testicle-dissolving genetically modified corn to the struggles of recession-era, small-town America in this groundbreaking coming-of-age stunner.

(From publisher.)