Andrew Smith is an inspiration as a storyteller to me. 
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 Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith was a standout novel in 2014, regardless of its young adult categorisation. With a film in development and Edgar Wright attached as director, it will surely become a cult classic in years to come. Now, in 2015, Andrew Smith brings us The Alex Crow the story of fifteen-year-old Ariel, a Syrian refugee living with the Burgess family in West Virginia. Ariel, along with Max, his adoptive brother, is sent off to Camp Merrie-Seymour for Boys, a summer camp where technology is void and interactions are key. Not that Ariel and Max are addicted to technology... but their inventor father is just making the most of the perks involved in being a researcher for the company involved in the Alex Project. 
 Simultaneous with flashbacks of Ariel's village under attack to arriving in America, two other narratives come alive: Arctic explorers venture into the unknown aboard a ship called the Alex Crow in the 1800s in one, uncertain of failure or success, while the other details the chronicles of the "melting man", a schizophrenic character with voices in his head compelling him to commit various violent acts. There's also mention of Alex, a talking robotic crow, owned by the Burgess'. 
 Despite the present near-future setting mixed with the historical period of the 1800s, The Alex Crow is a multi-faceted human story. Ultimately, it is about the failure of male-dominated societies and their misguided attempts at success, where compassion is mistaken for control, in navigational and scientific adventures and discoveries. On a thematic level, just like Grasshopper Jungle, The Alex Crow makes you think. The US publisher has promoted Smith's latest novels under the 'Keep YA Weird' banner, and they surely are weird and witty and smart. 
 If you're new to Andrew Smith, I'd say begin with 100 Sideways Miles and then move onto Grasshopper Jungle and The Alex Crow. After that then read The Marbury Lens, Winger, and Stick. And then In the Path of Falling Objects, Ghost Medicine and Passenger. Oh, fuck it! Just read them all.