Aussie Awesomeness

I’ve just got a couple of quick-as-quick reviews here today–I’m so behind on my reviews that I’m zipping through two in one post, both books by Aussie authors.
I was so sucked in by John Marsden’s Tomorrow Series that I just about jumped up and down in the YA section of my library when I saw volume 1 of the Ellie Chronicles, While I Live. And, though I didn’t find this first volume of the new series quite as action-packed as the first set of books–lots of it was devoted to establishing Ellie as an adult-ish figure forced to deal with home life and mortgages and money and a small boy mostly on her own, while still attending high school–it was still pretty gripping and I was excited to be put back into the world of the Tomorrow books. You’ll definitely get some freedom-fighting action and high emotional tension. I already can’t wait for the next book.
The other Oz selection I picked up last month was by one of my favorite funny YA authors, Jaclyn Moriarty: The Spell Book of Listen Taylor. I’d heard mixed reviews of this one, so I was very curious to see for myself what that was all about. As it turns out, I can understand why readers who were really taken with her other work might be a bit…put out by this one. It’s not particularly funny–at least, not overtly so; it’s more…zany. It’s not in the epistolary format that Moriarty does so well. And…in my honest opinion, I’m not actually sure it’s a YA novel. I think it might be an adult book or even a crossover title. Having said that, I really liked it, and I think I probably would have liked it as a teenager, too. The characters–adult and young adult alike–were sympathetic, fascinating, and quirky, and the complex, interweaving plot had the sort of zany meandering quality that her last book (The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie) had. I do recommend it, but DO NOT EXPECT THIS TO BE THE YEAR OF SECRET ASSIGNMENTS.