Traveling to Teens Blog Tour: Trickster's Girl by Hilari Bell

Rating: I can't decide-somewhere between a 2.75 and a 3/5 Stars

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy

Release Date: 1/3/2011

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About the Book: One hundred years in the future, trees are dying. People are getting sick and Kelsa's father has recently passed away from a mysterious cancer that doctors and scientists can't explain. Then Kelsa meets a strange boy, Raven, who claims he knows what's going on and he needs her help. Raven says he's a mythological creature and magic is needed to stop the ecological disaster that is the world is facing. In Kelsa's high security world, magic isn't something anyone talks about. Raven might be crazy-or he might be telling the truth-and it's up to Kelsa to decide if she can really save the world.

GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: Honestly, I'm not really sure what to think of this book. It's got a mix of a lot of things-there's some science fiction and dystopia, magic and fantasy, and adventure. It's a hard book to fit into one genre. I think it would be a good read, especially for middle school readers, who aren't sure if they really like any of those genres and want a lighter taste of each.

I liked that while the book deals with an impending ecological disaster, it never gets preachy about saving the Earth (which I think can get really annoying). Instead, it's just part of the story and while Raven might mention that humans could have taken better care of the Earth, Kelsa mostly finds his commentary annoying and wants him to stop talking about what they should have done and focus on what they can do now.

The story jumps into Kelsa meeting Raven and starting off on her journey fairly quickly. I think I just felt there wasn't enough character development. I never got to know Kelsa or Raven. I also never got if they were starting to be friends or if it was turning into a bit of romance-the relationship between them needed a bit more development. There were also points of the story that felt a bit disjointed and I wish had been worked out a bit more-they seemed to solve things a bit too easily.I wanted more explanation of Raven's world, his magic, and the fellow shape shifters-that was the part I found the most interesting. And the end was a bit abrupt and left some things hanging-I guess there's a sequel on the way.

I do think this would be a good book for readers who like science fiction and fantasy a bit on the lighter side or readers who enjoy books with ecological themes.

Book Pairings: For some reason this book reminded me in many ways of Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken (not really sure why) but I think they would pair together well.

Full disclosure: Reviewed from ARC sent by author for blog tour