Tuesdays at the Castle
Bloomsbury, 2011, ISBN: 9780599906447
Celie is the youngest daughter of the King and Queen. They live in a wonderfully accepting Castle, that helps (or hinders) people according to how well it likes them or not. Thankfully, Celie's parents (and ancestors) have been good people, and the castle has currently taken quite a shine to not only Celie's parents, but to her and to her siblings (good thing too, as her brother Rolf is in line to be king).
The book begins with tragedy - parents missing, presumed dead. The Council takes over, menacing envoys from neighboring greedy kingdoms appear almost magically soon after, and before one can blink, the three siblings are in a fight for their lives, and for the continued existance of the kingdom and the Castle.
This is a super-quick read, on the juvenile level (characters have crushes, but are gently teased for it, and exhibit those crushes by being overly nice or by blushing a lot). The siblings have a delightful relationship, and they are believably stubborn and amusingly defiant in the face of overwhelming opposition.
Very good addition to the collection of modern stories told with a fairy-tale feel. I'll put this one up there with Liar's Moon, Princess Academy, and Bella at Midnight. Keep an eye out for this author - this was a delightful read.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Cinder, Marissa Meyer
Cinder
2012, Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan), ISBN: 9780312641894
First in a proposed set of four, with Scarlet (Little Red Riding Hood) supposedly out in 2013, Cress (perhaps the Princess and the Frog?) in 2014, and Winter (most likely Snow White, or perhaps The Snow Queen) in 2015. Of course, this far out, it's hard to say whether they'll actually happen, but it seems likely that we'll get to see at least Scarlet.
Ok - everyone knows Cinderella. She lives with her stepmom and two stepsisters (common variation has that one sister is kind and the other is mean), dad is deceased, and she gets treated like dirt. Somehow she finds herself at a royal ball, conveyed by the power of a fairy godmother, and usually an unusual coach. Prince sees her, she runs, leaves the shoe, and he uses it to find her. They re-unite, and live happily ever after.
Up until the "he uses it to find her" part, take the above summation and put it into a vaguely caste-based Indian/Chinese society, with strange biologial and biomechanical advances and social implications, and a rapidly diverging set of humans who colonized the moon about a century ago. Got it? Ok, that was the book. And, that's also the main problem with the book.
This wasn't a bad story. It was simply entirely predictable. In one way, that's an impressive feat. Character traits and actions ALL led immediately to one inescapable (and ultimately all confirmed) conclusion. That takes effort. On the other hand, because it was a fairy tale, there are very few surprises, and by keeping so close to the original fairy tale structure, that meant that the story had a certain sense of spoon-feeding that made it ultimately less compelling than it could be. I mean - it had an evil mind-controlling Queen of the Moon for crying out loud! There should be some oomph there!
I liked Cinder, I felt sorry for Kai, and I thought that Dr. Erland was sadly creepy. Iko was an amusing addition, but never really accomplished much - I felt like she could have been utilized better.
Ultimately, I'm really invested in the world, but less so with the characters. I am very glad that the series will be switching protagonists regularly - I feel like the world itself makes for a more compelling through-line character.
2012, Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan), ISBN: 9780312641894
First in a proposed set of four, with Scarlet (Little Red Riding Hood) supposedly out in 2013, Cress (perhaps the Princess and the Frog?) in 2014, and Winter (most likely Snow White, or perhaps The Snow Queen) in 2015. Of course, this far out, it's hard to say whether they'll actually happen, but it seems likely that we'll get to see at least Scarlet.
Ok - everyone knows Cinderella. She lives with her stepmom and two stepsisters (common variation has that one sister is kind and the other is mean), dad is deceased, and she gets treated like dirt. Somehow she finds herself at a royal ball, conveyed by the power of a fairy godmother, and usually an unusual coach. Prince sees her, she runs, leaves the shoe, and he uses it to find her. They re-unite, and live happily ever after.
Up until the "he uses it to find her" part, take the above summation and put it into a vaguely caste-based Indian/Chinese society, with strange biologial and biomechanical advances and social implications, and a rapidly diverging set of humans who colonized the moon about a century ago. Got it? Ok, that was the book. And, that's also the main problem with the book.
This wasn't a bad story. It was simply entirely predictable. In one way, that's an impressive feat. Character traits and actions ALL led immediately to one inescapable (and ultimately all confirmed) conclusion. That takes effort. On the other hand, because it was a fairy tale, there are very few surprises, and by keeping so close to the original fairy tale structure, that meant that the story had a certain sense of spoon-feeding that made it ultimately less compelling than it could be. I mean - it had an evil mind-controlling Queen of the Moon for crying out loud! There should be some oomph there!
I liked Cinder, I felt sorry for Kai, and I thought that Dr. Erland was sadly creepy. Iko was an amusing addition, but never really accomplished much - I felt like she could have been utilized better.
Ultimately, I'm really invested in the world, but less so with the characters. I am very glad that the series will be switching protagonists regularly - I feel like the world itself makes for a more compelling through-line character.
Austenland, Midnight In Austenland, Shannon Hale
Austenland
2007, Bloomsbury, ISBN: 9781596912854
Midnight in Austenland
2012, Bloomsbury, ISBN: 9781608196258
These were a bit of a tangent for me, but I have to say that I enjoyed them more than I thought I would.
Shannon Hale is the author of several Juvenile fairy-tale-esque stories that I have enjoyed - most particularly Princess Academy, The Books of Bayern, and the graphic novels Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack. (I recommend them all - they are amazing.)
With this duo, Hale sets off into a (presumably imaginary) world where rich young (or not so young) things bored or tormented by modern life and modern loves sequester themselves in the Regency version of an SCA convention, proceed to be romanced (carefully and properly) by handsome young actors in tight Regency pants, and enjoy a few weeks respite from the raging modernity by relaxing in a world where class and gender roles are rigidly imposed.
Ooookay. Sure. On the surface, that sounds a little kooky, but lets be honest here - this seems perfectly logical to me. There have been umpteen different revivals and restagings of Austen's works, women like being romanced, and just about everyone can have fun with a costume party if they let themselves.
In Austenland, our first protagonist is Jane Hayes. She works in marketing, and she's never had a "real" boyfriend. When her elderly aunt notices a certain DVD hiding in her potted plants, Jane is sent off on an adventure to clear the romantic preconceptions from her mind and heart once and for all, so she can settle into a rational life with realistic expectations of love that don't involve beautifully-worded protestations of infatuation or incidents of feet-sweeping-off-of. No one who reads this sort of book will be in the least surprised that this doesn't exactly go according to plan.
In Midnight in Austenland, after having settled our first protagonist (no spoilers) we're treated to a brokenhearted recent divorcee who, while extremely intelligent in many ways, is totally blinded to the reality of the trainwreck that was her marriage. This vacation to fantasy Austenland is an attempt to see herself as something more than an abandoned woman and a mother. Her hopes of finding herself are thwarted from the start as a series of unfortunate and perplexing events culminate in a possible murder! Are the actors simply outdoing themselves, or is something truly afoot?
These are not high literature. They are not classics, they are not treasures of the nation (I would argue strenuously that Rapunzel's Revenge IS) and they are not intellectual reads. They are pure, unadulterated Austen-flavored fluff. I enjoyed the hell out of both of them!
2007, Bloomsbury, ISBN: 9781596912854
Midnight in Austenland
2012, Bloomsbury, ISBN: 9781608196258
These were a bit of a tangent for me, but I have to say that I enjoyed them more than I thought I would.
Shannon Hale is the author of several Juvenile fairy-tale-esque stories that I have enjoyed - most particularly Princess Academy, The Books of Bayern, and the graphic novels Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack. (I recommend them all - they are amazing.)
With this duo, Hale sets off into a (presumably imaginary) world where rich young (or not so young) things bored or tormented by modern life and modern loves sequester themselves in the Regency version of an SCA convention, proceed to be romanced (carefully and properly) by handsome young actors in tight Regency pants, and enjoy a few weeks respite from the raging modernity by relaxing in a world where class and gender roles are rigidly imposed.
Ooookay. Sure. On the surface, that sounds a little kooky, but lets be honest here - this seems perfectly logical to me. There have been umpteen different revivals and restagings of Austen's works, women like being romanced, and just about everyone can have fun with a costume party if they let themselves.
In Austenland, our first protagonist is Jane Hayes. She works in marketing, and she's never had a "real" boyfriend. When her elderly aunt notices a certain DVD hiding in her potted plants, Jane is sent off on an adventure to clear the romantic preconceptions from her mind and heart once and for all, so she can settle into a rational life with realistic expectations of love that don't involve beautifully-worded protestations of infatuation or incidents of feet-sweeping-off-of. No one who reads this sort of book will be in the least surprised that this doesn't exactly go according to plan.
In Midnight in Austenland, after having settled our first protagonist (no spoilers) we're treated to a brokenhearted recent divorcee who, while extremely intelligent in many ways, is totally blinded to the reality of the trainwreck that was her marriage. This vacation to fantasy Austenland is an attempt to see herself as something more than an abandoned woman and a mother. Her hopes of finding herself are thwarted from the start as a series of unfortunate and perplexing events culminate in a possible murder! Are the actors simply outdoing themselves, or is something truly afoot?
These are not high literature. They are not classics, they are not treasures of the nation (I would argue strenuously that Rapunzel's Revenge IS) and they are not intellectual reads. They are pure, unadulterated Austen-flavored fluff. I enjoyed the hell out of both of them!
Monday, February 27, 2012
The Con, James Munton and Jelita McLeod
The Con: how scams work, why you're vulnerable, and how to protect yourself
James Munton and Jelita McLeod
ISBN: 9781442207318, 2011 Rowman and Littlefield Publishers
Oh how fun! Lots of stories (details changed to protect the innocent... ) of people falling for various types of scams and cons, lots of advice (usually pretty good: don't check your online banking on unsecured "open" wireless networks, but sometimes a little paranoid-sounding: lock your mailbox or get a PO box) on how to protect yourself, and really interesting question and answer sessions with imprisoned or reformed conners on what they were thinking about and how they chose their marks.
I think it could have been a lot more powerful if it had taken more time delving into the psychology of victims, and especially dealt with the "reloading" from the victim's perspective rather than the conners (reloading being contacting the victim of a previous scam by pretending to be law enforcement or other agencies trying to help the victim get their money back... and then scamming the poor sheep yet again).
Overall, really interesting, and information that should be part of every modern person's education. We live in a modern world, and cons and scams are one of the most prevalent types of modern crime there is - people should be wary!
James Munton and Jelita McLeod
ISBN: 9781442207318, 2011 Rowman and Littlefield Publishers
Oh how fun! Lots of stories (details changed to protect the innocent... ) of people falling for various types of scams and cons, lots of advice (usually pretty good: don't check your online banking on unsecured "open" wireless networks, but sometimes a little paranoid-sounding: lock your mailbox or get a PO box) on how to protect yourself, and really interesting question and answer sessions with imprisoned or reformed conners on what they were thinking about and how they chose their marks.
I think it could have been a lot more powerful if it had taken more time delving into the psychology of victims, and especially dealt with the "reloading" from the victim's perspective rather than the conners (reloading being contacting the victim of a previous scam by pretending to be law enforcement or other agencies trying to help the victim get their money back... and then scamming the poor sheep yet again).
Overall, really interesting, and information that should be part of every modern person's education. We live in a modern world, and cons and scams are one of the most prevalent types of modern crime there is - people should be wary!
Glow, Amy Kathleen Ryan
Not really sure about how I feel on this one.
First off: (I'm going to try and start keeping these for help in tracking down books later)
Glow, Amy Kathleen Ryan
Notes: first of a series "The Sky Chasers"
ISBN: 9780312590567, 2011, St Martins Press
Generation ships Empyrean and New Horizon (roughly agnostic and religiously oriented) are swimming through a messy nebula en route to their new planet. Empyrean has met and overcome their fertility crisis, but (unbeknownst to the colonists at large on the Empyrean (our narrator-focus-ship) the New Horizon hasn't. Now they're aiming for desperate measures.
First off, I'm going to explain the TMG tag: It's a new one specifically thought up for this book (and I imagine other ones will be getting it also) Too Much God. While I'm up for deep philosophical meditations on the use and abuse of religion and religious impulses and the charismatic draw of people who see themselves as prophets, divine leaders, or mouthpieces of the gods, I really really really want a bit of warning before we go there! It's a touchy subject for me, and I have to be in a specific frame of mind to appreciate it - and I'll note, it's not a frame of mind that I really think extends to "space opera about generation ship colonists."
Maybe that makes me a bad person that I want my sci-fi to be agnostic or atheistic (or religious, just not in my face about it) and focusing on battles or culture shocks due to aspects beyond religious belief and practice. I don't know, and I don't really care. All I know is that that topic and the way it was handled in this particular book made me quite uncomfortable, took me completely out of the story, baffled me as to where the author was wanting my sympthy to lie (and don't give me crap about not wanting to lead the reader - I want good guys and bad guys, and I want to know who they are. If they redeem themselves or move to the dark side, that's peachy, but they have to have an alignment beforehand. The author's job is to provide that reference to the reader) AND - most importantly - I don't know if I'll read the sequels because of that discomfort. And that's a shame, because I really could see myself getting behind the whole political struggles between these two ships, and the conflicts between characters with different strengths and abilities and opinions on how to lead people. Darnit all.
Anyway. Interesting, thought-provoking, just plain provoking, and strange addition to the generation-ship fold.
First off: (I'm going to try and start keeping these for help in tracking down books later)
Glow, Amy Kathleen Ryan
Notes: first of a series "The Sky Chasers"
ISBN: 9780312590567, 2011, St Martins Press
Generation ships Empyrean and New Horizon (roughly agnostic and religiously oriented) are swimming through a messy nebula en route to their new planet. Empyrean has met and overcome their fertility crisis, but (unbeknownst to the colonists at large on the Empyrean (our narrator-focus-ship) the New Horizon hasn't. Now they're aiming for desperate measures.
First off, I'm going to explain the TMG tag: It's a new one specifically thought up for this book (and I imagine other ones will be getting it also) Too Much God. While I'm up for deep philosophical meditations on the use and abuse of religion and religious impulses and the charismatic draw of people who see themselves as prophets, divine leaders, or mouthpieces of the gods, I really really really want a bit of warning before we go there! It's a touchy subject for me, and I have to be in a specific frame of mind to appreciate it - and I'll note, it's not a frame of mind that I really think extends to "space opera about generation ship colonists."
Maybe that makes me a bad person that I want my sci-fi to be agnostic or atheistic (or religious, just not in my face about it) and focusing on battles or culture shocks due to aspects beyond religious belief and practice. I don't know, and I don't really care. All I know is that that topic and the way it was handled in this particular book made me quite uncomfortable, took me completely out of the story, baffled me as to where the author was wanting my sympthy to lie (and don't give me crap about not wanting to lead the reader - I want good guys and bad guys, and I want to know who they are. If they redeem themselves or move to the dark side, that's peachy, but they have to have an alignment beforehand. The author's job is to provide that reference to the reader) AND - most importantly - I don't know if I'll read the sequels because of that discomfort. And that's a shame, because I really could see myself getting behind the whole political struggles between these two ships, and the conflicts between characters with different strengths and abilities and opinions on how to lead people. Darnit all.
Anyway. Interesting, thought-provoking, just plain provoking, and strange addition to the generation-ship fold.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Going Solo, Eric Klinenberg
Really short version:
People have been forced throughout history to live together because of lack of resources and cultural freedom to break out on their own.
That's changing with middle and upper-class people now, and it's a mostly good thing for individuals and for social interaction in large cities, but it can sometimes be a source of loneliness and depression for the poor, or for people stuck in suburbs or apartments with no socialization outlets.
It especially sucks for older people, because living alone is the cat's meow until you break your hip and realize that none of your mahjongg buddies are good enough friends to cart your groceries in twice weekly, let alone cook all your meals for you, or help you go to the bathroom three times a day.
If countries would just subsidize people's desire to live alone, and also bankroll our dwindling ability to take care of ourselves when alone and old, we'd all totally be happy and live in our own personalized individualized bubbles and only interact with people in ways that we wanted and we'd all live happily ever after.
The End.
/sarcastic blogging
People have been forced throughout history to live together because of lack of resources and cultural freedom to break out on their own.
That's changing with middle and upper-class people now, and it's a mostly good thing for individuals and for social interaction in large cities, but it can sometimes be a source of loneliness and depression for the poor, or for people stuck in suburbs or apartments with no socialization outlets.
It especially sucks for older people, because living alone is the cat's meow until you break your hip and realize that none of your mahjongg buddies are good enough friends to cart your groceries in twice weekly, let alone cook all your meals for you, or help you go to the bathroom three times a day.
If countries would just subsidize people's desire to live alone, and also bankroll our dwindling ability to take care of ourselves when alone and old, we'd all totally be happy and live in our own personalized individualized bubbles and only interact with people in ways that we wanted and we'd all live happily ever after.
The End.
/sarcastic blogging
Raiders' Ransom, Emily Diamand
This is the beginning of a series.
Set in post-apocalyptic flooded England (similar idea to Ship Breaker, but very different feel) there are 10 remaining counties of England, ruled by an idiotic Prime Minister - everything else has been lost to the sea or to Greater Scotland. (Imagine this set in America, with everything north of the Mason-Dixon Line suddenly part of Expanded Canada. What shock! What horror!)
Anyway - the poor suckers stuck in those last Ten Counties suffer mostly in silence, working fishing boats and trying to keep up with their taxes. Technology is forbidden. Up north, the sinful Scots use all sorts of tech, but they're in league with the devil, so that's why.
Lilly and her seacat only want a nice peaceful fisher life - her, her seacat, and her sweetheart Andy (who will hopefully marry her and still let her go fishing!) living together until the far future. Yeah right.
Raiders attack, stealing the PM's daughter (who was stowed at the fishing village with her exiled aunt), and Lilly sets off on a quest to retrieve the girl and save her village from impression or hanging from the asanine PM himself. (Getting the impression throughout this book that the author isn't too fond of politicians.)
In the alternate viewpoint, Zeph is the younger son of the boss of the Angel Isling gang of raiders. They fled London in the great flooding, and now they prowl around, stealing from the Scots and the fishing villages alike ("no one helped us escape, so we don't owe them any loyalty" is the idea here). Family is everything, and life is brutal, with slaves and captives galore, and turf-wars over status and position. His dad just stole the PM's daughter! The Boss is actually looking forward to starting a war with the PM - he can't wait to fight it out and prove once and for all that the Raiders are the true Englishmen!
By some miracle, Lilly and Zeph, along with the seacat and an intriguing "jewel," meet up with each other and have to figure out how to survive the chaos wrought by one small theft of one small girl.
Not a world-stopping read - there were some technical difficulties. There were some really interesting characters picked up and then dropped nearly instantly (Lilly's "uncle" comes to mind) but with a series, I'm willing to give that a chance to repair itself over time (still, for a single installment, it was a bit abrupt). The plot was strangely herky-jerky, and more than a tad unrealistic in all of the chance meetings and lucky breaks - but so is most juvenile fiction. Even the world was strangely ad hoc - the PM and bureaucrats were described as well off, but if all they have is a tiny collection of fishing villages, where does that come from? Likewise, despite religious protestations and enforced borders, technology from Scotland wouldn't be entirely unknown to desperate natives just a few miles down the pike. Similarly, London itself is totally flooded - or maybe just a muddy mess, or maybe only flooded at high tide. Lots of questions unanswered about how things work in this world.
I did appreciate that the dual narratives were very clear and demonstrably different. I really like knowing who is "speaking" from the very first, and clear character concepts are absolutely necessary for that sort of writing convention. Also - seacats. Great idea. I love cats, and the idea of strange little grey kittens latching on to someone and helping them navigate over undersea obstacles and by forcasting weather changes - really neat concept!
Overall, pretty good - Not an amazing read, but I am looking forward to the sequel.
Set in post-apocalyptic flooded England (similar idea to Ship Breaker, but very different feel) there are 10 remaining counties of England, ruled by an idiotic Prime Minister - everything else has been lost to the sea or to Greater Scotland. (Imagine this set in America, with everything north of the Mason-Dixon Line suddenly part of Expanded Canada. What shock! What horror!)
Anyway - the poor suckers stuck in those last Ten Counties suffer mostly in silence, working fishing boats and trying to keep up with their taxes. Technology is forbidden. Up north, the sinful Scots use all sorts of tech, but they're in league with the devil, so that's why.
Lilly and her seacat only want a nice peaceful fisher life - her, her seacat, and her sweetheart Andy (who will hopefully marry her and still let her go fishing!) living together until the far future. Yeah right.
Raiders attack, stealing the PM's daughter (who was stowed at the fishing village with her exiled aunt), and Lilly sets off on a quest to retrieve the girl and save her village from impression or hanging from the asanine PM himself. (Getting the impression throughout this book that the author isn't too fond of politicians.)
In the alternate viewpoint, Zeph is the younger son of the boss of the Angel Isling gang of raiders. They fled London in the great flooding, and now they prowl around, stealing from the Scots and the fishing villages alike ("no one helped us escape, so we don't owe them any loyalty" is the idea here). Family is everything, and life is brutal, with slaves and captives galore, and turf-wars over status and position. His dad just stole the PM's daughter! The Boss is actually looking forward to starting a war with the PM - he can't wait to fight it out and prove once and for all that the Raiders are the true Englishmen!
By some miracle, Lilly and Zeph, along with the seacat and an intriguing "jewel," meet up with each other and have to figure out how to survive the chaos wrought by one small theft of one small girl.
Not a world-stopping read - there were some technical difficulties. There were some really interesting characters picked up and then dropped nearly instantly (Lilly's "uncle" comes to mind) but with a series, I'm willing to give that a chance to repair itself over time (still, for a single installment, it was a bit abrupt). The plot was strangely herky-jerky, and more than a tad unrealistic in all of the chance meetings and lucky breaks - but so is most juvenile fiction. Even the world was strangely ad hoc - the PM and bureaucrats were described as well off, but if all they have is a tiny collection of fishing villages, where does that come from? Likewise, despite religious protestations and enforced borders, technology from Scotland wouldn't be entirely unknown to desperate natives just a few miles down the pike. Similarly, London itself is totally flooded - or maybe just a muddy mess, or maybe only flooded at high tide. Lots of questions unanswered about how things work in this world.
I did appreciate that the dual narratives were very clear and demonstrably different. I really like knowing who is "speaking" from the very first, and clear character concepts are absolutely necessary for that sort of writing convention. Also - seacats. Great idea. I love cats, and the idea of strange little grey kittens latching on to someone and helping them navigate over undersea obstacles and by forcasting weather changes - really neat concept!
Overall, pretty good - Not an amazing read, but I am looking forward to the sequel.
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