Top 100 YA Novels (#45-41)

Just a quick reminder that I am currently in New York so the posts have been simplified so that they could all be prepared before my departure. Results will proceed as normal. Enjoy!

#45 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling (2003)
[150 points - 2 #1s, 4 #2s, 3 #3s, 2 #4s, 4 #5s, 3 #6s, 1 #7, 3 #8s, 2 #9s]

"Long, just the way I like them. Rowling's approach to this one, along with Harry's Post-traumatic Stress symptoms, was excellent. It had me cringing in all the right spots and showed Harry's frustration incredibly well. Ann Elise Monte, reader.

There is a door at the end of a silent corridor. And it's haunting Harry Potter's dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?

Here are just a few things on Harry's mind:
*A Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey
*A venomous, disgruntled house-elf
*Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team
*The looming terror of the end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams

...and of course, the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. In the richest instalment yet of J.K. Rowling's seven-part story, Harry Potter is faced with the unreliability of the very government of the magical world and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.

Despite this (or perhaps because of it), he finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty; and unbearable sacrifice.

Though thick runs the plot (as well as the spine), readers will race through these pages and leave Hogwarts, like Harry, wishing only for the next train back. Goodreads

• To visit the author’s website click here.

#44 Sabriel by Garth Nix (2003)
[150 points - 1 #1, 4 #2s, 1 #3, 2 #4s, 4 #5s, 5 #6s, 5 #7s, 2 #8s, 2 #9s, 3 #10s]

Sabriel attends Wyverley Girls College in Ancelstierre (Nix's version of normal) and has recently graduated with runaway firsts in every subject. But her particular school has certain extra-curricular activities, like the learning of Magic, because of its proximity to the Wall which marks Ancelstierre's border with the Old Kingdom. Over the wall, life is very different and the use of magic is commonplace. Then, on the edge of death, Sabriel's father, Abhorson, sends her a cryptic message that means she must venture into the Old Kingdom and calm the storm that is brewing there, and which will surely multiply at her father's passing. Refusing to accept his fate, Sabriel inherits the tools of her father's trade and his name. Her new duty is to lay the disturbed dead back to rest with the help of seven powerful bells worn across the chest. Sabriel seeks her father's slayer in a mammoth journey that is hindered by dark magic, monsters-a-plenty and shadowy unsubstantial evils. Amazon.co.uk

• To visit the author’s website click here.

#43 Evernight by Claudia Gray (2008)
[151 points - 6 #2s, 2 #3s, 3 #4s, 5 #5s, 4 #6s, 1 #8, 3 #9s, 1 #10]

" I love vampires and this book had an awesome twist that you never see coming. I love the entire series but the first book is by far my favorite...so far." Sarah Mytnik, reader.

When the story begins in Evernight, Bianca has just left the small town where she's spent her whole life. She's a new student at Evernight Academy, a creepily Gothic boarding school where her classmates are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in.

Then she meets Lucas, another loner, who seems fiercely determined not to be the "Evernight type." There's a connection between Bianca and Lucas that can't be denied. She would risk anything to be with him—but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart... and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed to be true. ClaudiaGray.com

• To visit the author’s website click here.
• Claudia Gray's Twitter

#42 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (2000)
[164 points - 9 #1s, 1 #2, 4 #3s, 1 #4, 1 #5, 2 #6s, 1 #7, 1 #8, 1 #9, 1 #10]

"The His Dark Materials trilogy has gained a lot of attention for many different reasons. This, the conclusion to the trilogy, continues to be one of my favorite books, though I read it eight years ago. It's been said that this is one of the books that keeps getting better the older one gets, and I'd have to agree with that." Odette, reader.

Along with the return of Lyra, Will, Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel, Dr. Mary Malone, and Iorek Byrnison the armored bear, come a host of new characters: the Mulefa, mysterious wheeled creatures with the power to see Dust; Gallivespian Lord Roke, a hand-high spymaster to Lord Asriel; and Metatron, a fierce and mighty angel. So, too, come startling revelations: the painful price Lyra must pay to walk through the land of the dead, the haunting power of Dr. Malone's amber spyglass, and the names of who will live—and who will die—for love. And all the while, war rages with the Kingdom of Heaven, a brutal battle that—in its shocking outcome—will uncover the secret of Dust. Philip Pullman deftly brings the cliff-hangers and mysteries of His Dark Materials to an earthshattering conclusion—and confirms his fantasy trilogy as an undoubted and enduring classic. Goodreads

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#41 Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (2008)
[166 points - 1 #1, 2 #2s, 2 #3s, 6 #4s, 6 #5s, 2 #6s, 4 #7s, 4 #8s, 2 #9s, 2 #10s]

What happens when your past is not just past, but wiped clean entirely? How do you figure out where you're going when you can't even claim where you've been? These were the questions that inspired Lock and Key. It's the story of a girl named Ruby who is abandoned by her mother and determined to make it on her own, even---and especially---when she is sent to live with her long-lost sister in a whole new world of privilege, family, and relationships. As Ruby learns, there's a big difference between being given help and being able to accept it. And sometimes, it takes reaching out to someone else to save yourself. SarahDessen.com

• To visit the author’s website click here.
• Sarah Dessen's Twitter