Dead Until Dark

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, 2001 Ace Books

     Sookie Stackhouse has always been interested in Vampires, especially after they've just come out into the open with other supernatural creatures. She's a pretty little thing, living in the backwoods of Louisiana, working as a waitress in the local bar. And she's never seen a vampire until one walks into the bar and nearly gets himself killed.
     After Bill appears in her life, Sookie is fascinated by the man who is like nothing she's ever seen before. She has a problem of her own: Sookie can hear the thoughts of people around her. Bill is a blank slate, silent. The vampire fascinates her, especially with his silence and his aversion to taking human blood.
     When murder strikes their small Louisiana town Bill and his crowd are accused of murder, and all sorts of paranormal creatures begin to come out of the woodwork. As it all comes to light Sookie discovers even she isn't was she seems.
      Harris's stories bring vampires into the modern world--rather than fairytales for children her stories are an adult take on the paranormal.

Birthday Boys

The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge, 1995 Carroll & Graff Publishers

     In 1912 Captain Robert Falcon Scott sails for the South Pole. Along the way he and his crew plan to examine the environment. The story follows Scott and four of his crewmen from their home berth in England, south to the dangers of the last frontier in a race for the Pole.
     Based on a true story The Birthday Boys is told from the point of each of the five men, who tell the tale with their own opinions and prejudices. Their story unfolds as one of arrogance--believing their mechanical monstrosities will endure the harshest elements known to man; continuing into the depths despite their predecessors' advice; and believing courage will triumph when sense advises caution.
     Each portion of the tale conflicts and readers are encouraged to make their own truth as the men leave home, sail around Africa, resupply in Australia, and finally brave the Antarctic winter in a vessel ill-suited to the task. It is a race, but one against the elements and the hourglass of time itself.
     Bainbridge's story can be complex and its themes are better understood by older readers, though the events themselves follow along the historical accounts. The Expedition's narrators will never return home, and their story, while short, leaves behind a melancholy taste.

A Confusion of Princes

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix, 2012 Allen & Unwin

     Khemri is a Prince in a futuristic universe where the human race has spread across galaxies and become well-versed in different teks. The Empire is ruled by Princes who, in turn, are ruled by the Emperor. Princes are endowed with special abilities, but Khemri is different and he is telling his story.
     Upon becoming a Prince, rather than Prince Candidate, Khemri faces almost immediate assassination attempts. His Master of Assassins leads him from the danger and escorts the Prince to a naval base where he may connect to the Imperial Mind and be recorded--and reborn if necessary. Khemri has been elevated at a unique and delicate time, only two years before the change of Emperor, and must learn that all he has been taught is nearly completely wrong.
     Learning to survive becomes Khemri's goal and, after much conflict, he does well as a Cadet at the naval academy. Upon graduation he is offered a position in a distant solar system where he discovers a secret society governing Princes. While following his dream, hoping to become the next Emperor, Khemri discovers how truly trapped Princes are--their very hopes and dreams are programmed into them to facilitate the continuation of the Empire and its systems of power. But Khemri also learns what it is to be human, and in his final moments he must make a choice--will he become what he has always wished to be, or will he become what he knows he is meant to be?
     A Confusion of Princes takes a hard look at what it means to be human and what creates humanity. Teens and young adults will enjoy its quick writing and open style while following the imagination that created such an expansive culture.

Every Which Way but Dead

Every Which Way but Dead by Kim Harrison, 2005 HarperTorch

     In exchange for testifying against the undead vampire Piscary, Algaliarept convinces Rachel to become his demonic familiar and is on his way to collect on the deal at the beginning of the third Hollows novel. Rachel has yet to tell her friends Jenks and Ivy the night of her first journey into the Ever After, and hopes a loophole in her contract with the demon will keep her safe.
     Al and Rachel meet in a small circle of blasphemed ground in Rachel's back-graveyard where they will perform the ceremony to transfer the familiar bond from the elf-woman Ceri to Rachel. Al whines about Ceri's transformation from the spunky and spicy Elf Princess into the shell of a person she has become after a thousand years of servitude, and his dismissive attitude drives Rachel into a fine temper. Rachel convinces Al to return Ceri's soul, and through a twist of his own dealings, keeps her own soul from his grasp.
     Thus begins the tumultuous relationship between Alaliarept and Rachel. The trio stashes Ceri with Keasley, the mysterious witch from across the road, and continue to squeak by with security jobs and private runs. Rachel continues to keep her familiar-ship with Al a secret from Jenks and Ivy, and her personal life is a shambles. When her relationship with Nick cools and the connection with Kisten heats up, Rachel is in for some friction from a jealous Ivy.
     New allies and friends prove their worth in Ceri and David Hue, a werewolf reprising his role from the second Hollows novel. Kim Harrison brings forward the same characters in a new pattern to push Rachel through yet another personal battle, while gradually turning her into one of Cincinnati's movers and shakers. Every Which Way but Dead is an adult novel that older teen readers will enjoy.

Dragon's Oath

Dragon's Oath by Kristin and P.C. Cast, 2011 St. Martin's Press

      When Anastasia, his wife, is killed Dragon Lankford is devastated. In Dragon's Oath readers understand his reaction.
     Dragon stands sentry over Jack's funeral pyre and opens a locket with a lock of Anastasia's hair. The wind picks up the hair and blows it over the pyre, initiating a spell that reveals her last wish: that Dragon temper his blade with mercy.
    The story continues when Dragon is still human, in England he is banished to America after a scandal with the neighbor's daughter. A vampyre labels Dragon Lankford a fledgling and takes him aboard a ship decorated with a dragon, inspiring his new name.
     In America, Anastasia is a spells and rituals professor at the Chicago House of Night speaking to the headmistress; she has been asked by several fledglings for love spells concerning Dragon. When she does a spell to show them his true self, she draws him to her and discovers she loves him.
     The headmistress worries about one of the local officials and his harassment of vampyre students. Anastasia offers to perform a peace spell, and takes Dragon as a Warrior, the opposite of her goal and a piece of the spell. But when they've done the spell the official chokes Dragon, fights and prepares to rape Anastasia before killing her, but Dragon manages to come to the rescue. Anastasia Changes him into a full vampyre and he swears his Warrior's Oath to her.
     The tale returns to present-day Dragon when Nyx and Anastasia appear to him. They try to convince him to move on, but when Nyx will not return Anastasia to him, Dragon renounces her, slowly turning to the dark side of Neferet.
     Dragon's story adds to the full novels through explaining how Dragon came to be who he is. His relationship with Anastasia is one of the strongest motivating factors of his being and her loss rocks him deeply. Dragon's history enriches the world of the House of Night.

Grave Mercy

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers, 2012 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

     When her arranged marriage nearly ends with her life, Ismae flees to the Convent of St Mortain. There, she discovers the sisters worship and serve the ancient god Death and Mortain himself has gifted his daughter with mortal gifts and a dangerous destiny.
     Ismae chooses to train at the convent and become one of Mortain's Handmaidens, his assassins out in the greater world keeping balance. Ismae discovers a skill with poisons and becomes apprenticed to the potion-making nuns. She discovers a friendship with Annith, the gifted seer and a resident at the convent her entire life, and Sybella, a daughter from one of Brittany's great houses.
     Bolstered by her friends, Ismae is sent on her first mission to the high court. She finds her training, while thorough in matters of death, neglected to teach her the dangers of life at court. The young nobleman she is sent for is more than the abbess taught her to expect. Ismae must choose between what she's been taught and what she knows about her God.
     LaFevers' story is brutal in its violence, suited toward older teens and young adults, with character growth as a powerful reminder that anyone can rise above their situation.