Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

This book came highly recommended by Orson Scott Card, a wonderful author whose opinion I respect greatly. Taylor gets away completely from the typical urban fantasy, filled with vampires, werewolves, elves and magicians, and creates something rooted in Judeo-Christian and Islamic mythos, instead.

Karou is an orphan, raised by a small group of creatures called Chimaera, led by a mysterious father figure (to her) named Brimstone. Brimstone sends Karou on errands to collect teeth, human or animal, which he uses for some mysterious purpose which we don't get to understand until late in the story. The Chimaera have for centuries been at war with the Seraphim, angelic beings who, as we learn gradually, are not nearly so angelic as biblical tradition holds.

Karou makes her way to locations all over the world to meet with Brimstone's agents via a series of portals, which instantly transport her wherever she desires. When a group of Seraphim suddenly appear on the scene and destroy all the portals Karou is cut off from her adopted family, and tries to find another way to be reunited with them, and to understand the mystery of her past.

In an encounter with one of the Seraphim, Akiva, he is smitten by her beauty, and makes the slow decision to betray his own people for his infatuation with her. Karou is also attracted by his obvious beauty, and appears to be falling in love with the angel, as well.

The first third of this novel is delightful, as Taylor explores all of Karou's odd quirks that make her an endearing and unique character, and we come to know, as much as we can, the small group of Chimaera she calls her family. The last third of the book is also very inventive, and uses flashbacks from Akiva's past to explore the world of the Seraphim and their centuries long war with the Chimaera. Taylor unveils an entirely new mythology, complete with some amusing new tales of the origin of the races, and some interesting perspective on the true cost of wishes and magic. Unfortunately, and probably predictably for a young adult novel, the middle third of the book is devoted to the juvenile and angelic soul torments of possibly unrequited love, while very little seems to move the plot forward.

There appears to be a sequel in the works for this one, and it may be interesting to find out whether our young lovers are able to bridge the gap and end the war once and for all.

Warp Speed by Travis Taylor

There used to be a sub-genre of science fiction called "hard" science fiction. It dealt mostly with advanced technology and its effects on human culture at large, or the people who developed it - maybe both. Warp Speed by Taylor takes us back to the realm of hard SF. In fact, this is the kind of hard SF that engineers and physics nerds dream about.

As you might imagine from that intro, the hero of this tale, Anson, is a physics professor, with perhaps a bit of an engineering bent. He and his two doctoral students, Becca and Jim, have discovered a quantum effect that they believe could have application as a faster-than-light drive for spaceships. Everything else that happens follows quite logically from there.

In order to power the drive one must have a source of power vastly greater than what is available through conventional sources, but fortunately, Becca comes up with a concept which uses nanomachinery and an odd physical principal to generate all the power needed. Also fortunately, Anson has befriended an Air Force officer, Tabitha, who is high in the councils of the black budget community within the U.S. and she is able to get them the funding they need to produce the power generators and the warp drive engines.

When they're attempting to test the engines in space for the first time, on a space shuttle flight, the bad guys (we think they're probably Chinese) sabotage the mission and steal the technology for themselves. The warp drive technology, it turns out, can also be used as a weapon far superior to the atomic bomb, and the book descends into a race against time, to see who will get control of the new technology, and the world.

If you enjoy a novel that's not all that long on plot, but filled with a ton of scientific speculations, you'll really like this one. It reminded me of early SF, like Rocket Ship Galileo by Heinlein.