Title: City of Fire Author: Lawrence Yep Series: City Trilogy #1 Cover Art: N/A Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy Excerpt: No Source: Purchased Reviewed by: Julia Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Starscape; September 1, 2009 ISBN-10: 0765319241 ASIN: B0058M77H4 Sexual Content: None. Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & put this author on your watch list.

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Description

Two-time Newbery Honor Award-winning author Laurence Yep kicks off an action-packed new fantasy trilogy

Sure to appeal to fans of Rick Riordan and Eoin Colfer, this action-packed tale takes readers on an unforgettable journey through an alternate version of our world in 1941—a world filled with magical beings such as dragons in human form, tiny “lap griffins,” reincarnations of legendary Chinese warriors, Japanese folk creatures, and goddesses in disguise.

When her older sister dies trying to prevent the theft of one of her people’s great treasures, twelve-year-old Scirye sets out to avenge her and recover the precious item. Helping her are Bayang, a dragon disguised as a Pinkerton agent; Leech, a boy with powers he has not yet discovered; and Leech’s loyal companion Koko, who has a secret of his own. All have a grudge against the thieves who stole the treasure: the evil dragon Badik and the mysterious Mr. Roland.

Scirye and her companions pursue the thieves to Houlani, a new Hawaiian island being created by magic. There, they befriend Pele, the volatile and mercurial goddess of volcanoes. But even with Pele on their side, they may not be able to stop Mr. Roland from gaining what he seeks: the Five Lost Treasures of Emperor Yu. Together, the treasures will give him the power to alter the very fabric of the universe.

Review

It has been a very long time since I've read a young adult novel with this breadth of creativity and world-building. CITY OF FIRE gathers an unlikely band of confederates together and sends them whizzing out into an incredibly imagined world of adventure and wonder. From the broad political landscape to the delightful little details about daily life, I was enchanted through it all.

Reading CITY OF FIRE reminded me of the all the discovery of reading the first Harry Potter combined with the written equivalent of DINOTOPIA’s intricacy and delight. Yep lays out a fascinating magical and political structure for his world, all the while sprinkling the story with visual tidbits like a six-foot tall lizard pushing a broom in the background. The plot swept forward with an amazing amount of information without ever bogging down, due in part to the way Yep balances the lush depth of his scenery with fast paced action and dialog.  While CITY OF FIRE was a fantastic entry into this world, I wouldn’t recommend skipping straight to later books in the series, if only because you would miss the way each member of Scirye’s motley group changes and comes together over the course of book one.

The characters in CITY OF FIRE are around twelve-years-old and are definitely pre-pubescent. Given that CITY OF FIRE takes place in the span of a day, I would imagine that we're not going to watch Scirye and Leech grow up in any physical sense over the course of the trilogy, despite the emotional maturity they gain. Packed with adventure, admirable character growth and an inventive world, CITY OF FIRE will be a hit for readers at any age looking for adventure and wonder, but not a hint of romance.

Previous Books in Series	Also Reviewed By:
N/A	The Diary of a Bookworm – N/A Confessions of a Bibliovore – N/A Interesting Readers Society – N/A

Title: City of Ice Author: Lawrence Yep Series: City Trilogy #2 Cover Art: N/A Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy Excerpt: Yes Source: Publisher Reviewed by: Julia Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Starscape; June 7, 2011 ISBN-10: 076531925X ISBN-13: 978-0765319258 Sexual Content: None. Rating: Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.

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Description

Two-time Newbery Honor Award-winning author Laurence Yep returns with the action-packed sequel to the critically-acclaimed City of Fire

From the islands of Hawaii, Scirye and her loyal companions pursue the villainous Mr. Roland and evil dragon Badik all the way to the city of Nova Hafnia in the Arctic Circle. With the help of a trader, Prince Tarkhun, and his daughter Roxanna, the companions chase their enemies into the vast and desolate Wastes. Scirye and her friends are determined to stop Mr. Roland from getting his hands on the second of the Five Lost Treasures of Emperor Yü, which will give him the power to alter the very fabric of the universe. But few who enter the Wastes ever return, and Scirye has no choice but to call on the spirit of the North for help. As wild and unpredictable as the Arctic itself, will the spirit turn out to be friend or foe?

Review

CITY OF ICE has the creativity and fantastic world-building that I came to love in CITY OF FIRE, but suffers a little bit from "mid-trilogy" malaise. Scirye and her companions struggle through the morality play of working together, deal with magical forces beyond their comprehension, and chase villains that threaten the world as they know it, and this middle book doesn’t offer much by way of resolution on any of these fronts.

Don’t think that my disappointment with a lack of forward momentum is the sum of my reaction to CITY OF ICE,  however.  This book contains my favorite setting for the series thus far.  As fascinating as Auntie Pele and her Hawaiian volcanoes were in CITY OF FIRE, I found the snowy reaches of the Arctic Circle even more interesting. The interaction of myth and magic on the tundra was more than enough to hold my attention, and helped carry the story when I became impatient with the insecurities of Scirye and her friends. Snoring otters, ice palaces, and Inuit mythology combine to create some of my favorite scenes yet.

From a world-building perspective, CITY OF ICE is as lush and interesting as any in this series, but the character development languishes as Yep sets up conflicts for book three. Even with that criticism, however, I know that the beautifully written concepts and landscapes in this book will stay with me long after I finish it. Certainly long enough for me to remember to pick up the last book of the City Trilogy as soon as it's available.

Previous Books in Series	Also Reviewed By:
City of Fire – 4/5	Kirkus Reviews – N/A Charlotte’s Library – N/A Eva’s Book Addiction – N/A