Been a little over a month, and once again I'm procrastinating:
Recently Read SF/F:
Down Among the Sticks and Bones (The Wayward Children series, Book 2, Seanan McGuire, YA fantasy, on Kindle): Once upon a time, the twin girls Jaquelline and Jillian were born to parents who saw them not as independent children, but as props for their own images and tools for advancement in their own circles. Thus the girls were, from birth, forced into boxes that didn't quite fit. When they were twelve, they discovered a strange staircase in an attic trunk... a passage to the Moors, a dark world of monsters and magical science. Here, for the first time in their lives, they're free to discover themselves. One will become a mad scientist's apprentice, the other a pampered protege to the vampire Master of the local town - but even as they grow apart, their common blood binds them, if not as friends then as enemies...
A prequel to events in the first Wayward Children book (the award-winning Every Heart a Doorway, centered on a boarding school for children and teens who had been to magical worlds and returned to Earth), it can work as a standalone, but events have more meaning and weight if you know what comes after. Like EHaD, DAtSaB has a fairy-tale like feel to the narrative, an almost lyrical omniscient viewpoint that adds to the surreal atmosphere of the Moors. Sometimes gruesome, sometimes bleak, often dark, but beautiful in its own way, it's ultimately the tale of the damage wrought by parents who neglect to recognize their offspring as people - who, perhaps, never should've had children to begin with. Very much recommended, especially if you enjoyed the first book in the series. (A third installment is reportedly on the way; I can hardly wait...)
The Ables (Jeremy Scott, MG sci-fi, in paperback): Blind since birth, Phillip never suspected that his parents were superheroes (or "custodians," as the race of superpowered humans prefer to be known) until he was twelve, when his dad had a little talk with him. Phillip, too, has powers - telekinesis - but his lack of sight, he's told, will seriously limit his abilities. At best, he might eventually become support staff for the real heroes. And so, though he's enrolled at a special school for custodians, he's shunted off to the Special Education classes with other disabled kids. But Phillip chafes at the restraints... even as a new danger arises, one that the able-bodied community may be powerless against, and one that soon challenges Phillip on a very personal level.
Jeremy Scott is probably best known for his Hollywood-skewering CinemaSins YouTube videos, where he nitpicks blockbusters (and other films.) Given how readily he'll call out symptoms of flabby writing in his videos, I'd expected a decent little superhero story, perhaps some clever subversion of the genre tropes. I was disappointed. It drags at several spots, with more than one pointless tangent or infodumpy dialog bit. Instead of subverting tropes, it mostly just played by them. Also, despite the disabled heroes, it relies on stereotypes and cliches, not to mention the glaring sexism; though there are girls in Phillip's class, they almost immediately fall off the page. The Ables are an all-boys club. (I guess girls are perfectly happy to be shunted off to lesser status and deprived the opportunities for heroism that the Ables fight for... 'cause girl germs, I guess.) Indeed, the only females of consequence are the Supportive Teacher and Phillip's superhero Mom (who, risking a spoiler, is basically there to be fridged as character motivation.) The identity of the villain was too easy to guess, and the ending feels way too long. I frankly expected better of a man who nitpicks Hollywood for a living.
Currently Reading SF/F:
It (Stephen King, fantasy/horror, in paperback): In 1950's Derry, Maine, a boy is gruesomely murdered in the middle of the street, but no culprit is found. Years later, in the 1980's, a gay boy is mutilated in the same way after being beaten and thrown off a bridge by teen thugs. Whoever, or whatever, is responsible is stirring again, calling a group of former childhood friends back to their hometown to once again do battle.
Yes, I'm finally reading the classic horror novel. It's a bit slow going, what with it being a brick of a book, but so far I'm interested. Some nice atmosphere and characterizations at play, with undercurrents of hatred and raw evil made manifest.
I also have an imaginary bestiary-type book on indefinite hiatus for tooth-grinding writing, and an older vampire short on Kindle that's only barely holding my attention for the archaic, distant style.
I'm guessing Terror is a horror story which is... yeah, I'll pass. I don't do horror. I think the only book I've read that might qualify as horror is Dracula by Bram Stoker.