We continue our series of posts featuring some of the best books in the CA Library collection — today’s featured titles are all Action & Adventure stories. Follow the links for each book to learn more from the CA Library catalog!

If an eBook and/or audiobook is available, links are also provided (Sora login is required).

Beasts of War (Beasts of Prey, Book 3) by Ayana Gray — In this epic conclusion to her bestselling series, Ayana Gray delivers a heart-pounding fantasy adventure filled with mythos, monsters, and mortal heroes who are astoundingly human. Once a prisoner to Fedu, the vengeful god of death, Koffi has regained her freedom, but she is far from safe. Fedu will stop at nothing to hunt her down and use her power to decimate the mortal world. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“An action-packed, African-inspired fantasy, and a thrilling end to a lively saga” (Kirkus Reviews). 

---

Danger and Other Unknown Risks by Ryan North and Erica Henderson — A twisty, spellbinding graphic novel adventure about a girl and her dog who want to save the world. Years after the world ended, Earth is now unstable due to magic and Marguerite de Pruitt and her dog, Daisy, must stop it from titling into deadly chaos — a mission they’ve trained their whole lives for, or so they think.

“Past and present collide in a magical showdown for the fate of the world” (School Library Journal). 

---

Good As Gold by Candace Buford — Suddenly an outcast from her popular squad after her father loses his job, Casey and a new group of friends search for her town’s rumored sunken treasure to save her family and her future, unwittingly bringing a dangerous truth to the surface. Get the Audiobook

“This thrilling coming-of-age story unfolds briskly, keeping readers engaged in the details of the 100-year-old mystery” (Kirkus Reviews). 

---

Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender — A spellbinding fantasy about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward dangerous truth, legendary love, and extraordinary power. Discovered practicing alchemy by apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash must help her find a sacred text of extraordinary power — a journey that forces him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he will go to seize it. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“This elaborate adventure leads to some surprising places . . . readers will thrill to the high-stakes predicaments and appreciate the characters’ attempts to remain true to themselves, no matter the cost” (Horn Book).

---

The Isles of the Gods by Amie Kaufman — Magic, romance, and slumbering gods clash in this riveting romantasy about a seafaring girl and a playboy prince who band together in a precarious journey. Selly’s plans to follow her father to the north seas are dashed when a handsome stranger with tell-tale magician’s marks on his arm boards her ship and presents her with a dangerous mission — to sail to the Isles of the Gods so he can complete a mysterious ritual. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“Readers who love a good fantasy with lots of action, especially the the ‘Grishaverse’ books by Leigh Bardugo, will be happy to devour this new series and will anxiously await the next volume” (School Library Journal). 

---

The Q by Amy Tintera — In this action-packed adventure, two teenagers from opposite worlds must fight their way through a dystopian landscape toward their only chance for survival. When the president’s son, Lennon, is kidnapped and pushed out of an airplane over the Q, a vast quarantine zone, Maisie gives him a seventy-two hour vaccine and together the two teenagers attempt to fight their way through the Q in order to survive. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“A wildly inventive, cinematic read rooted in a near-future, post-pandemic world that sharply echoes contemporary society” (Publishers Weekly). 

---

Find even more great titles in these previous posts!

• Action & Adventure (May 2023)
• Action & Adventure (May 2022)
• Action & Adventure (May 2021)

We’re very much looking forward to next week’s release of bestselling author Erik Larson’s latest book, The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, on-sale and available at CA Library on Tuesday, April 30th!

Erik Larson brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War — a simmering crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.

Master storyteller Eric Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter — a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”

“In his latest appealing historical excavation . . . Larson includes interesting portraits of obscure peripheral figures that enrich the narrative. . . . A welcome addition to any Civil War buff’s library.”—Kirkus Reviews

While we wait, here is a look at some of Larson’s earlier works available in the CA Library collections:

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America — The true tale of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“Another successful exploration of American history. . . . Larson skillfully balances the grisly details with the far-reaching implications of the World’s Fair.” —USA Today

---

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin — The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Nazi Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, Larson provides a stunning, eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“Larson has meticulously researched the Dodds’ intimate witness to Hitler’s ascendancy and created an edifying narrative of this historical byway that has all the pleasures of a political thriller….a fresh picture of these terrible events.” —New York Times Book Review

---

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania — Larson tells the dramatic story of the 1915 sinking of the British passenger ship Lusitania by a German submarine in thrilling detail, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“Utterly engrossing…Expertly ratcheting up the tension…Larson puts us on board with these people; it’s page-turning history, breathing with life.” —The Seattle Times

In the latest episode of the Hey YA Podcast from Book Riot, Vanessa and Erica get into a wide range of YA poetry, novels-in-verse, and other poetry-adjacent works in celebration of Poetry Month!

NOTE: The most recent episodes of the podcast are at the top of the playlist, so look for “YA Poetry and Novels-in-Verse”:

Books discussed in this episode:

Blood Water Paint and Enter the Body by Joy McCullough — Two great novels-in-verse by Joy McCullough! In Blood Water Paint, set in Renaissance Italy, Artemisia Gentileschi endures the subjugation of women that allows her father to take credit for her extraordinary paintings. In Enter The Body, the ghosts of Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia, and other teenage girls who died tragically in Shakespeare’s plays, share their experiences and trauma and get the chance to retell the stories of their lives in their own terms. Get the eBook and/or Audiobook

“A captivating and impressive book about a timeless heroine” (School Library Journal on Blood Water Paint). 

---

Poemhood: Our Black Revival, edited by Amber McBride, Erica Martin & Taylor Byas — Featuring contributions from an award-winning, bestselling group of Black voices, past and present, this powerful poetry anthology elicits vital conversations about race, belonging, history and faith to highlight Black joy and pain. Get the eBook

“A rich, thoughtful anthology exploring centuries of Black poetry” (Kirkus Reviews).

---

When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez — Sarai uses verse to navigate the strain of family traumas and the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn, questioning the society around her, her Boricua identity, and the life she lives. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“Gripping and soulful, this dynamic debut novel-in-verse is a must for every collection” (School Library Journal). 

---

COMING SOON! Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo — An unflinching, honest novel in verse about a teenager’s journey into the slam poetry scene and the dangerous new relationship that could threaten all her dreams. From the award-winning poet and author of Home Is Not A Country. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“A stunning work that deeply explores poetry, the complexities of identity, and the longing for love” (Kirkus Reviews). 

---

Home is Not a Country by Safia Elhilio — A novel in verse following the experiences of a misfit teen in a discriminatory suburban community who questions her mixed heritage before unexpected family revelations force her to fight for her own identity. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“Artfully profound and achingly beautiful, Elhillo’s verse aptly explores diasporic yearning for one’s home and a universal fascination with possibilities” (Publishers Weekly).

---

William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Mean Girls by Ian Doescher, illustrated by Kent Barton — Return to North Shore High in this totally fetching retelling of Tina Fey’s 2004 film Mean Girls, written in the style of the Bard of Avon. This comedy of manners follows Cady Heron’s journey from lowly homeschooled jungle freak to most popular girl at North Shore to social pariah.

“Neatly blending modern teen pop culture with several Shakespeare plays, this is seriously effective for the high-school classroom” (Booklist). 

---

How the Boogeyman Became a Poet by Tony Keith Jr. — Poet, writer, and hip-hop educator Tony Keith Jr. makes his debut with a powerful YA memoir in verse, tracing his journey from being a closeted gay Black teen battling poverty, racism, and homophobia to becoming an openly gay first-generation college student who finds freedom in poetry.

“Keith offers a vulnerability [that] will especially speak to young people who are dealing with similar educational, familial, and interpersonal pressures” (Kirkus Reviews). 

---

COMING SOON! Just Another Epic Love Poem by Parisa Akhbari — Over the past five years, Mitra Esfahani has known two constants: her best friend Bea Ortega and The Book—a dogeared moleskin she and Bea have been filling with the stanzas of an epic, never-ending poem since they were 13. Get the eBook | Get the Audiobook

“This is laugh-out-loud funny, poignant, realistic, and heartbreaking in the best way, and perfect for teens with literary aspirations who want to read about big feelings” (Booklist).