The Paper Magician
Charlie N. Holmberg
ISBN: 9781477823835
Read January 16, 2015
Vaguely Victorian, vaguely steampunk, world with vague characters & vague setting that all leech the interest value of a really nifty magical system.
I really wanted to like this so much more than I did. It promised Victorian manners and magical origami, and "forbidden" necromantic magics! Sadly, it didn't really deliver.
First off, it was a quick, easy, read. It wasn't written poorly in a grammatical or technical sense, no typos or fragments or strange jump-cuts. It all flowed quite well.
All of which wouldn't normally be considered an accomplishment, except that the actual story and plotting seem very much in need of an editor, or perhaps a more experienced author.
We start out great: Ceony Twill has just graduated from magic school, and is about to get her magical material assignment - the one man-made material she'll be able to magically influence for the rest of her life. She desperately wants to be a metalworker, but she is forced into bonding with paper due to a serious deficit in the number of active practicioners.
All of this sounds so great! Sadly, that's about all the backstory and interest and personal character motivation we get, as everything is instantly sidetracked into a somewhat sketchy mentor-student love-affair/rescue attempt that comprises a slightly maddening flashback-ridden waltz through the secondary character's heart (thus meaning we learn more about him than we do the main character herself) while she learns about him and what kind of man he is, and how much she's growing to love him - all inside of one short day.
Other minor missteps include a waste of a psuedo-Victorian/Edwardian English setting (please do research, even though we all speak English, we speak and behave in very different ways given different locations and time-periods!) and a villainess with absolutely no character to her at all.
Urgh. What a sad waste of a really great concept.
Showing posts with label meh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meh. Show all posts
Friday, February 20, 2015
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Random Romance Reads: The Switch, Lynsay Sands
I'm including this one with the RRR, even though the underlying difficulties all stem from "period" miscues rather than anything else.
The Switch
Lynsay Sands
ISBN: 9780062019820 (reprint)
Read October 24, 2014
The short, mostly spoiler-free version: A set twin girls, countrified members of the ton, have their bucolic peaceful lives disrupted by the deaths of their parents. Their uncle, the new guardian falls peril to gambling and bad investments, and his idea is to sell the winsome girls in marriage to rich elites, thus preventing his financial ruin. One sister is to a gentleman who is simply repugnant, but the other is meant for one who has been through three wives in the last few years, and rumor runs rampant about their "accidental" deaths. En route to the marriage mart, they stop at an inn, and the girls escape, with one sister dressed as a boy to evade suspicion and to assuage propriety. They are immediately noticed and taken under the wing of a kindly noble, who passes them off as cousins while they have their season in London, taking turns pretending to be the sister or the brother as they set their caps for different men. Blackmail and the dissolute uncle provide the villainy, and Gretna Green is abused beyond all reason in tying up the leads in holy matrimony.
The good:
Crossdressing!
Interesting premise with twins and gender-bending where each twin takes a turn being male.
The put-upon hero is vastly overwhelmed, and I felt sorry for him and his confusion the whole book.
The bad:
Crossdressing mechanics and historical fashion and clothing in general not matching up with the time-period intended (although God only knows what that period was, as I couldn't work it out beyond somewhere possibly very "early regency").
Paper-thin characters for nearly everyone, especially the men.
Overstepping the bounds of propriety and allowed behavior in some places, while calling attention to them and carefully attending to them at others. If the whole story had simply pretended the mores did not exist, I would have taken it as a silly story set in an imaginary or simplified "regency-land" and gone on with the story. Calling attention to the proper modes of behavior simply made me wince at all the gross violations (sartorial and social) that went unremarked.
The Verdict:
Silly but with world-building flaws that are grievous given that it claims to be set in the real world, in a time and place which was scrupulously recorded at all levels of society. If the "flaws" were, as I suspect. used to forward the plot or build moments for the characters, then I'm even more grumpy, because that's just sloppy plotting, and totally unnecessary and slapdash.
The Switch
Lynsay Sands
ISBN: 9780062019820 (reprint)
Read October 24, 2014
The short, mostly spoiler-free version: A set twin girls, countrified members of the ton, have their bucolic peaceful lives disrupted by the deaths of their parents. Their uncle, the new guardian falls peril to gambling and bad investments, and his idea is to sell the winsome girls in marriage to rich elites, thus preventing his financial ruin. One sister is to a gentleman who is simply repugnant, but the other is meant for one who has been through three wives in the last few years, and rumor runs rampant about their "accidental" deaths. En route to the marriage mart, they stop at an inn, and the girls escape, with one sister dressed as a boy to evade suspicion and to assuage propriety. They are immediately noticed and taken under the wing of a kindly noble, who passes them off as cousins while they have their season in London, taking turns pretending to be the sister or the brother as they set their caps for different men. Blackmail and the dissolute uncle provide the villainy, and Gretna Green is abused beyond all reason in tying up the leads in holy matrimony.
The good:
Crossdressing!
Interesting premise with twins and gender-bending where each twin takes a turn being male.
The put-upon hero is vastly overwhelmed, and I felt sorry for him and his confusion the whole book.
The bad:
Crossdressing mechanics and historical fashion and clothing in general not matching up with the time-period intended (although God only knows what that period was, as I couldn't work it out beyond somewhere possibly very "early regency").
Paper-thin characters for nearly everyone, especially the men.
Overstepping the bounds of propriety and allowed behavior in some places, while calling attention to them and carefully attending to them at others. If the whole story had simply pretended the mores did not exist, I would have taken it as a silly story set in an imaginary or simplified "regency-land" and gone on with the story. Calling attention to the proper modes of behavior simply made me wince at all the gross violations (sartorial and social) that went unremarked.
The Verdict:
Silly but with world-building flaws that are grievous given that it claims to be set in the real world, in a time and place which was scrupulously recorded at all levels of society. If the "flaws" were, as I suspect. used to forward the plot or build moments for the characters, then I'm even more grumpy, because that's just sloppy plotting, and totally unnecessary and slapdash.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Renegade, J. A Souders
Renegade
J. A. Souders
ISBN: 9780765332455
Read January 2014?
YA dystopia, girl power (except not really)
I was really put off by this book. It started with such a strong premise, and then it all just went pear-shaped. I'm not going to go into details, but suffice it to say that the worldbuilding and narrative structure did not stand up, even under the insubstantial weight of the cliffhanger story that was set upon them. Add in cliche relationships, a convenient set of powers, and memory loss that isn't dealt with realistically, and the whole read was just really frustrating to experience.
Listing here because someone had asked about it, and I had a hard time remembering the title. Mileage may vary, and just because I didn't enjoy it, doesn't mean that you wouldn't.
(Edit: helps to actually include a brief synopsis, doesn't it?)
Heroine is a kept girl chosen at birth and raised essentially in a utopian seraglio because of her "perfect genes" and destined to inherit the leadership of her underwater commune from the current Mother. Everyone has blonde hair and blue eyes, and Mother is really quite strict about genetic purity, and proper behavior. People are manipulated through having their memories wiped when they do things wrong, or through simply being "vanished." Our heroine, not able to be vanished, keeps getting her brains wiped as she's incapable of actually acting in accordance with Mother's wishes for longer than about half a day. That's perfect genes for you, I suppose. In addition, there is a brute squad of very young girls who have been trained and mentally conditioned into being ruthless emotionless (or alternatively rage-filled - consistency isn't really great here) assassins.
Our heroine has begun to make the foggy realization that all is not dandy in utopia, aided in her discovery by a boy - an outsider from Above who arrives via a really stupid reason. After that, everything goes downhill pretty quickly, devolving into long chase scenes through secret districts of the city (remember this is a smallish underwater commune here), hidden lower city levels (again, where?), mutants, fraught history lessons (spoiler, Mother is a liar), and more gory shambling zombie mutants before the inevitable cliff-hanger ending that sets up for the next book.
J. A. Souders
ISBN: 9780765332455
Read January 2014?
YA dystopia, girl power (except not really)
I was really put off by this book. It started with such a strong premise, and then it all just went pear-shaped. I'm not going to go into details, but suffice it to say that the worldbuilding and narrative structure did not stand up, even under the insubstantial weight of the cliffhanger story that was set upon them. Add in cliche relationships, a convenient set of powers, and memory loss that isn't dealt with realistically, and the whole read was just really frustrating to experience.
Listing here because someone had asked about it, and I had a hard time remembering the title. Mileage may vary, and just because I didn't enjoy it, doesn't mean that you wouldn't.
(Edit: helps to actually include a brief synopsis, doesn't it?)
Heroine is a kept girl chosen at birth and raised essentially in a utopian seraglio because of her "perfect genes" and destined to inherit the leadership of her underwater commune from the current Mother. Everyone has blonde hair and blue eyes, and Mother is really quite strict about genetic purity, and proper behavior. People are manipulated through having their memories wiped when they do things wrong, or through simply being "vanished." Our heroine, not able to be vanished, keeps getting her brains wiped as she's incapable of actually acting in accordance with Mother's wishes for longer than about half a day. That's perfect genes for you, I suppose. In addition, there is a brute squad of very young girls who have been trained and mentally conditioned into being ruthless emotionless (or alternatively rage-filled - consistency isn't really great here) assassins.
Our heroine has begun to make the foggy realization that all is not dandy in utopia, aided in her discovery by a boy - an outsider from Above who arrives via a really stupid reason. After that, everything goes downhill pretty quickly, devolving into long chase scenes through secret districts of the city (remember this is a smallish underwater commune here), hidden lower city levels (again, where?), mutants, fraught history lessons (spoiler, Mother is a liar), and more gory shambling zombie mutants before the inevitable cliff-hanger ending that sets up for the next book.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
The Flame in the Mist, Kit Grindstaff
The Flame in the Mist
Kit Grindstaff
ISBN: 9780385742900
middle-grade fantasy: red-haired child escapes her evil ruling family to discover her true heritage, uses light to combat mist and murder.
Immediate Bonus Point Awards: Stand-Alone Fantasy, (Mostly) Competent Female Lead, No Mary Sues, (Almost) No Stupid Love Triangle, and Not-Dead Parents.
I feel like if I had read this when I was much younger - say around the time that I was devouring The Blue Sword, or The Hero and the Crown - I would have been way more excited about this. As it is, it's very similar to both of those, to my (admittedly fuzzy) memories of Taash and the Jesters, to the spirit of the Bracken Trilogy... I could go on. I just felt a little like I was riding a sightseeing train around a theme park. Drive by this thing, drive by that thing, no sharp turns, no sudden drops or corkscrews, just a nice solid ride around the park.
The atmosphere is pretty solid, which is good, considering the conceit of an evil, enveloping, sunlight-blocking Mist, but the habit of inserting important capital letters (Mist and Marked and Quest), odd portmanteau words (Approjection) and having a quaintly misspelled old book from history filled with anagrams to decipher (despite it being noted that they are quaintly misspelled - really good anagramist, that girl) all irked me personally a bit. That's just a matter of taste.
On the other hand, I do have some niggles about the actual story and characters.
The ruling family is weak and infighting and decaying, and this is made obvious from the start. This was probably on purpose to make them seem more an appropriate "challenge rating" for a 13 year old girl, but all it did was make me wonder what would have happened if everyone just moved away or into hiding and simply let the family go on for a few more years until they rotted out from the inside?
While I'm very happy to see the real parents not dead, I'm not so happy with the cloying super happy super supportive super loving family ideal that appears out of nowhere with a person they don't know, and haven't seen for 12 years, and who they've been living in pain and suffering and weakened ability waiting on her to get her act together and rescue not only herself but their Power (again with the capital letters) from the bad guys. I just didn't buy it, and spent the entire book alternately gagging and waiting for the other shoe to drop. (It never did - they really were that nice.)
Likewise, a post-climactic scene was resolved way too easily (trying to avoid real spoilers here) with the main characters using reason and appeals to humanity and morality. Nope. Especially in that situation, it rang entirely too false and trite and easy, and it soured the entire book up until then, which had been doing fairly well in that department by specifically talking about good and bad actions, and people being more complex than simply good or evil (not that it actually impacted the characterizations of the bad guys, who had at least a couple of solid one-note-villains present, and some late-arriving development for another that again rang pretty hollow.)
Finally, (and this one may also be a matter of taste) I get a little unhappy when our hero gets obsessed or taken over/literally possessed, or driven by dreams of hazy characters from the past who drive the protagonist towards the final confrontation (sometimes against the protagonist's will or personal judgment) who grant the protagonist the power and experience needed to combat evil, and who sometimes literally step into the final fight (either by possession or ghost presence or other methods) to "assist" and end up being the big guns in the fight. Yes, it's a solid way to reasonably explain how a pre-teen manages to take down the evil empire where no one else could before. Yes, it has great precedent: Star Wars (Use the Force, Luke!) and even in my previously referenced Damar novels. I just feel like it takes away the agency and decision-making from the protagonist, and lets them off the hook too easily for the consequences (even the positive ones) of what are arguably NOT their own actions, being that they are under the influence or even outright control of other characters. It bothers me especially when that protagonist is a girl, and then it gets into even more squicky territory of free will and agency as well as traditions in fantasy of silencing women and of characters getting "used" by more powerful forces.
So those are my really nitpicky irritations.
Despite all my griping, it was a well-paced and well-written stand-alone with a happy ending and a red-headed girl protagonist who is strong and brave and decently competent for her depicted age.
Kit Grindstaff
ISBN: 9780385742900
middle-grade fantasy: red-haired child escapes her evil ruling family to discover her true heritage, uses light to combat mist and murder.
Immediate Bonus Point Awards: Stand-Alone Fantasy, (Mostly) Competent Female Lead, No Mary Sues, (Almost) No Stupid Love Triangle, and Not-Dead Parents.
I feel like if I had read this when I was much younger - say around the time that I was devouring The Blue Sword, or The Hero and the Crown - I would have been way more excited about this. As it is, it's very similar to both of those, to my (admittedly fuzzy) memories of Taash and the Jesters, to the spirit of the Bracken Trilogy... I could go on. I just felt a little like I was riding a sightseeing train around a theme park. Drive by this thing, drive by that thing, no sharp turns, no sudden drops or corkscrews, just a nice solid ride around the park.
The atmosphere is pretty solid, which is good, considering the conceit of an evil, enveloping, sunlight-blocking Mist, but the habit of inserting important capital letters (Mist and Marked and Quest), odd portmanteau words (Approjection) and having a quaintly misspelled old book from history filled with anagrams to decipher (despite it being noted that they are quaintly misspelled - really good anagramist, that girl) all irked me personally a bit. That's just a matter of taste.
On the other hand, I do have some niggles about the actual story and characters.
The ruling family is weak and infighting and decaying, and this is made obvious from the start. This was probably on purpose to make them seem more an appropriate "challenge rating" for a 13 year old girl, but all it did was make me wonder what would have happened if everyone just moved away or into hiding and simply let the family go on for a few more years until they rotted out from the inside?
While I'm very happy to see the real parents not dead, I'm not so happy with the cloying super happy super supportive super loving family ideal that appears out of nowhere with a person they don't know, and haven't seen for 12 years, and who they've been living in pain and suffering and weakened ability waiting on her to get her act together and rescue not only herself but their Power (again with the capital letters) from the bad guys. I just didn't buy it, and spent the entire book alternately gagging and waiting for the other shoe to drop. (It never did - they really were that nice.)
Likewise, a post-climactic scene was resolved way too easily (trying to avoid real spoilers here) with the main characters using reason and appeals to humanity and morality. Nope. Especially in that situation, it rang entirely too false and trite and easy, and it soured the entire book up until then, which had been doing fairly well in that department by specifically talking about good and bad actions, and people being more complex than simply good or evil (not that it actually impacted the characterizations of the bad guys, who had at least a couple of solid one-note-villains present, and some late-arriving development for another that again rang pretty hollow.)
Finally, (and this one may also be a matter of taste) I get a little unhappy when our hero gets obsessed or taken over/literally possessed, or driven by dreams of hazy characters from the past who drive the protagonist towards the final confrontation (sometimes against the protagonist's will or personal judgment) who grant the protagonist the power and experience needed to combat evil, and who sometimes literally step into the final fight (either by possession or ghost presence or other methods) to "assist" and end up being the big guns in the fight. Yes, it's a solid way to reasonably explain how a pre-teen manages to take down the evil empire where no one else could before. Yes, it has great precedent: Star Wars (Use the Force, Luke!) and even in my previously referenced Damar novels. I just feel like it takes away the agency and decision-making from the protagonist, and lets them off the hook too easily for the consequences (even the positive ones) of what are arguably NOT their own actions, being that they are under the influence or even outright control of other characters. It bothers me especially when that protagonist is a girl, and then it gets into even more squicky territory of free will and agency as well as traditions in fantasy of silencing women and of characters getting "used" by more powerful forces.
So those are my really nitpicky irritations.
Despite all my griping, it was a well-paced and well-written stand-alone with a happy ending and a red-headed girl protagonist who is strong and brave and decently competent for her depicted age.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Picture Book: The Carpenter's Gift, David Rubel & Jim LaMarche
The Carpenter's Gift
David Rubel, illustrated by Jim LaMarche
ISBN: 9780375869228
Read February 10, 2014
This is a fictionalized account of the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and I truly wanted to like it, but it just felt like it was trying too hard the whole way through. This is like the picture book equivalent of a Hallmark Holiday Special, complete with wispy, wistful pencil illustrations.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it, it wasn't horrible, just - none of the moments impacted me like they were obviously meant to do. I'm not even entirely sure why. If I had to guess, I'd say that it reads like a Christmas commercial, like the touchy-feely Saint Jude commercials, or those godawful adopt-a-pet sobfests. It just felt artificial and forced, and the point (look, the Rockefeller Tree isn't entirely a crass spectacle! Look, we give wood to Habitat for Humanity!! See? Christmas spirit, man!) was entirely too belabored.
I did love that the Sparky at the end was a girl. Nicely done.
I also, for the most part, liked the wispy, wistful illustrations. I just wish the writer(s ?) would have trusted the artwork to carry the emotion instead of beating the reader over the head with meaning.
This book was recommended by The Read-Aloud Handbook.
David Rubel, illustrated by Jim LaMarche
ISBN: 9780375869228
Read February 10, 2014
This is a fictionalized account of the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and I truly wanted to like it, but it just felt like it was trying too hard the whole way through. This is like the picture book equivalent of a Hallmark Holiday Special, complete with wispy, wistful pencil illustrations.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it, it wasn't horrible, just - none of the moments impacted me like they were obviously meant to do. I'm not even entirely sure why. If I had to guess, I'd say that it reads like a Christmas commercial, like the touchy-feely Saint Jude commercials, or those godawful adopt-a-pet sobfests. It just felt artificial and forced, and the point (look, the Rockefeller Tree isn't entirely a crass spectacle! Look, we give wood to Habitat for Humanity!! See? Christmas spirit, man!) was entirely too belabored.
I did love that the Sparky at the end was a girl. Nicely done.
I also, for the most part, liked the wispy, wistful illustrations. I just wish the writer(s ?) would have trusted the artwork to carry the emotion instead of beating the reader over the head with meaning.
This book was recommended by The Read-Aloud Handbook.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Short Reviews: January 2013. Ironskin, Tina Connolly
Ironskin, Tina Connolly. ISBN: 9780765330598
January 2013
YA: This book reminded me very strongly of Jenna Starborn,
in that it really does quite simply take Jane Eyre, mess around with the
setting, and let it fly again. I enjoyed Jenna Starborn, and I did
enjoy Ironskin also, but I do think that the world-building in the
former was a little more realized. There were some implications in this
endeavor that weren't fully dealt with, and several others which were just left
to hang unresolved.
However! While the setting in Jenna Starborn is
pretty ho-hum Victoriana in space, THIS setting is really very interesting.
I would have LOVED to see an original story set in this world, rather
than a re-hash of a classic. I got the impression that a lot of thought
had gone into creating an interesting concept for a world, and then when it
came time to write a story - they choked up. I totally understand that;
I'm a worldbuilder, and a character writer myself, not a plotter. But I
do feel somewhat cheated that this really very interesting scenery and
background was wasted on a watered down YA edition of Jane Eyre.
A world in the twilight of an Empire powered by the stolen
life-energy of the fae really deserves something a bit more original.
ETA: apparently there is now a sequel: Copperhead.
Monday, November 25, 2013
The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic, Emily Croy Barker
The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic, Emily Croy Barker
ISBN: 9780670023660
ISBN: 9780670023660
Read November 11, 2013
Fantasy.
If
this is a Guide, then it's one of those Guides that leads by negative
example. The beginning of the story is fairly bland, very wordy, very
slow, (very much after the example of Harkness's Shadow of Night set)
and frankly, kind of off-putting. Nora is a real wallflower, with no
character attributes to speak of, and she's certainly not a heavy
thinker.
Her shallow and passive acceptance of life takes a
turn for the worse when she steps through (actually, even worse,
dismisses the gate guardian of) a portal between worlds, finding herself
magically back in a 1960s-inspired fantasy world of the rich and
famous.
You guys, she LITERALLY DRINKS THE KOOL-AID.
Literally. Like clockwork, all of the tropes of being taken by the fae
occur (you can tick them off as they very obviously happen) and poor
little Nora hasn't got even the foggiest glimpse of a clue.
This is irritating, to say the very least.
Finally,
Nora's clue-bat to the head appears in the daylight appearance of her
half-dragon (maybe?) husband!! (yes, really) who attacks her because she
gets jealous of his attentions. She's rescued by a deus ex magician, a
crusty old fellow, and then it rapidly degenerates into Pride and
Prejudice, Now with Extra Magic Flavor! (tm)
Please don't get me wrong - it's at least as
readable as the Shadow of Night sets, but there's just so much a girl
can take of a clueless lead, and Nora really does her best to hit all
the low notes.
Finally, there's the interesting matter of the
magic, which falls squarely into what I consider my anime-addicted
husband's realm of things: unrestricted, unexplained, and unstoppable.
Need something? Magic will fix it! What's the cost? Eh...
*handwaves* No good. I prefer my magic to fall in with the Sanderson
Rules - limited, expensive (or difficult) and explicated.
The ending leaves the ONLY TWO other interesting female
characters dead, and Nora safely back with her family in our own world (who think she
was abducted by Norwegian hippies) while she pines for her magical love,
having realized her feelings too late.
Regardless of pique, I'll probably pick up the
second, in hopes that we find out what happens with the crazy mouse-man
from the very beginning. Sadly, no one else is nearly as interesting.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
The Big Disconnect, Catherine Steiner-Adair
The Big Disconnect, Catherine Steiner-Adair
ISBN: 9780062082428
Read November 7, 2013
Nonfiction: scary stories about kids of various ages misusing tech and social media.
Hoped this would be more of an advice-giver, rather
than a scary-story collection, but you win some and you lose some. The
subtitle is "Protecting Childhood and Family in the Digital Age" and the
takeaway seems to be that it's pretty darn hard to do unless you are a
Luddite or convert to Amish until your kid is about 30.
There are some bits of advice, but sadly, the
majority of the book really does just cover horrible events where kids
are kids, do something stupid, and the nature of tech and media means
that now they'll never live it down.
Harsh lessons, but no real advice or steps to follow to
mediate or alter the potential. Leaves this on the "interesting but not
really worthwhile" reading list.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
The World Above, Cameron Dokey
The World Above, Cameron Dokey. ISBN: 9781442403376
Read Oct 5, 2013
YA - fairy-tale retelling (part of a retelling-series called "Once Upon a Time" by Simon Pulse, most by Dokey)
Jack and the Beanstalk meets Robin Hood and the
Golden Arrow meets the evil usurper medieval Duke. A bit of a smush, and the
choice to use solid, practical, feet-on-the-ground Gen as the POV
character is odd considering the fanciful and fairy-tale nature of the
story, most of which even takes place in a country above the clouds (in
true fairy-tale fashion, NO time is wasted dealing with how that even
would work out).
Characters appear and then vanish (some do get dealt
with in the epilogue, but not all) and insta-love makes quite a few
appearances. A weak bad guy with no real visible impact on the kingdom
doesn't help matters seem more serious. There's no doubt from the start
that everything will work out, just a question of how pat the solution
will be (answer: very pat).
Not terrible, but doesn't make me want to rush out and see what she does with other fairy-tales either.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
The Samurai's Daughter, Robert D. San Souci & Stephen T. Johnson
The Samurai's Daughter, Robert D. San Souci, illus Stephen T. Johnson.
ISBN: 0803711352
ISBN: 0803711352
Re-Read Oct 1, 2013
Picture Book: Kamakura Japanese folk-tale.
The story is straightforward - Samurai has a daughter and trains her as a
Samurai, and then as a lady, but she prefers the active life and fishes
with the women deep-sea divers off the coast. Samurai is banished due
to ruler's "mental instability" to a faraway island. Daughter gets
tired of being alone, and determines to head off to banishment with him,
facing typical quest-narrative difficulties in the process. Once on
the island, she's distracted by a girl getting sacrificed to the sea,
volunteers for the assignment, fights a sea-serpent, and rescues a
drowned statue. Conveniently enough, the statue is that of the ruler,
who is now healed of his mental problems, and summons the Samurai and
his daughter back home to Japan in full glory and honor.
I'm used to seeing Pinkney's drawings with San
Souci's words, so the illustrations were not quite as lavish and
textural as I expected. Johnson did a lovely job, and some of the
panels are very beautiful, but there's a flat quality to them that
heightens the flat nature of the narrative. Sadly, older folktales
aren't always the best at varied story-craft, so the tale itself is
example after example of Daughter breezily conquering challenges with no
real difficulty or peril. That, combined with the pat fairy-tale
ending, is a bit distancing.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
The Mind Trap, G Clifton Wisler
The Mind Trap, G. Clifton Wisler. ISBN: 0525673156. Published 1990
Read July 19, 2013
Final book of Antrian Messenger Trilogy (The Antrian Messenger, The
Seer) featuring Scott, an alien child with psi abilities trying to
survive on earth. This one has him visiting Earth on his birthday
because he's lonely, and getting captured by evil scientists
experimenting on kids with psi abilities (all with alien ancestry).
Weirdly flat - nothing bad happens to the kids being studied by the scientists (although other non-character people were discussed having been "studied" to death), Scott and his "guardian"
alien have nearly unlimited powers, and the scientists are paper-thin.
Nifty concept, especially contrasted to the recent Man of Steel movie
which also focuses on an alien child with nearly unlimited powers trying
to do the right thing while growing up on earth. Sadly, not an excellent rendition of said nifty concept.
Have not, and most likely will not read the previous two installments.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Throne of Glass, Sarah J. Maas
Throne of Glass, Sarah J. Maas. ISBN: 978-159990
July 11, 2013
Meh.
Interesting concept, shatteringly unsuitable execution (no pun intended).
I really like the plot idea, and the idea for the main character. I
even don't mind the "magic is gone/no it really isn't/oh, there's
something DEEPER than magic instead!" switching around.
Instead, I mind (spoilers, lalalala) that a
child found sleeping beside two traumatically-murdered parents and then
raised by a heartless assassin master for 10 years, then caught with her
lover who dies while she's sent to a salt mine for a year and
brutalized by the guards while she's there, and then thrown into a life-or-death competition when she's still violently out of condition is presented as the vapid, clothes and
beauty-obsessed twit we see on display here.
I don't mind the snarking and taunts. I don't even mind the
penchant for candy and puppydogs. I mind that she's not acting like she
has been trained at all by anyone, and that she seems way too
comfortable with all these nobs around, and much too casual about a killer on the loose.
I mind that other than one instance before the climax, we don't get to
see any substantial evidence of her vaunted skills in action.
I mind the writing choices. If the competition is important to the
plotline (it's the macguffin, but still) then for the love of goats,
actually focus on it more than twice, and show us some consequences.
When the losers lose, they just vanish, no idea what torments they're
going back to or not. If the contests are continually so easy for our
heroine, then there should be more than one scene of her holding herself
back. Likewise, if the gruesome murders are important, then show us
them more than once. If the evil king is evil, show it! If the
mysterious princess is mysterious, then SHOW IT TO US.
Also, I'm getting really sick of literal deux-ex-machina
(or deus-ex-hallucination). It takes chutzpah to do it at all, and real
talent and writer's craft to do it well. This one fell with a thud -
you even knew it was coming, but it still didn't really seem inspiring
or powerful, just inevitable.
Monday, June 4, 2012
The Humming Room, Ellen Potter
The Humming Room
Ellen Potter
ISBN: 978-0312-644383
Feiwel and Friends, 2012
What an interesting book this was. Way too short for my tastes.
Potter has taken the bare bones of the Secret Garden, transferred them to modern times in Upstate New York, and slimmed the story down to a tight 182 pages.
I have to say that her version is quite fun (an old sanitarium is the house, the garden is a central greenhouse surrounded by the interior rounded wall of the building, Dickon has become a wild child called the Faigne, and sallow Mary has been transformed into shifty magpie Roo) but I really do wish that it were a YA or adult book instead of Juvie. I can't imagine this story having quite so much resonance for an audience not familiar with The Secret Garden itself, but that story is a beast, clocking in at over 350 pages.
So I'm left with a bit of a twinge, because while I really enjoyed this interpretation, I have to say that it really doesn't quite have an audience. I don't think it's quite captivating enough on it's own merits to incite readers to tackle The Secret Garden, which is both old and huge, and I really don't think that anyone will find this more than a tantalizing tease of a mouthfull after they've devoured all of the rich details and fine storycrafting of The Secret Garden.
So... I really don't know what to say. Perhaps a lush graphic novel (similar to the work Young Kim did with the Twilight graphic novels) to embrace the setting and character changes and make the brevity a virtue?
In all actuality, I would suggest to the author that she consider an adult adaptation - the exact reverse of what Patterson did with The Lake House and the subsequent Maximum Ride series. This tiny little book has such an interesting quality to it, and I really think that many grown-up readers who are nostalgic for The Secret Garden would quite enjoy a really intense and deeply realized re-tread. There are moments here which feel very similar to the breathlessly magical impact of the Night Circus, but they're all just tiny little snatches, and then you're whisked along again.
Ellen Potter
ISBN: 978-0312-644383
Feiwel and Friends, 2012
What an interesting book this was. Way too short for my tastes.
Potter has taken the bare bones of the Secret Garden, transferred them to modern times in Upstate New York, and slimmed the story down to a tight 182 pages.
I have to say that her version is quite fun (an old sanitarium is the house, the garden is a central greenhouse surrounded by the interior rounded wall of the building, Dickon has become a wild child called the Faigne, and sallow Mary has been transformed into shifty magpie Roo) but I really do wish that it were a YA or adult book instead of Juvie. I can't imagine this story having quite so much resonance for an audience not familiar with The Secret Garden itself, but that story is a beast, clocking in at over 350 pages.
So I'm left with a bit of a twinge, because while I really enjoyed this interpretation, I have to say that it really doesn't quite have an audience. I don't think it's quite captivating enough on it's own merits to incite readers to tackle The Secret Garden, which is both old and huge, and I really don't think that anyone will find this more than a tantalizing tease of a mouthfull after they've devoured all of the rich details and fine storycrafting of The Secret Garden.
So... I really don't know what to say. Perhaps a lush graphic novel (similar to the work Young Kim did with the Twilight graphic novels) to embrace the setting and character changes and make the brevity a virtue?
In all actuality, I would suggest to the author that she consider an adult adaptation - the exact reverse of what Patterson did with The Lake House and the subsequent Maximum Ride series. This tiny little book has such an interesting quality to it, and I really think that many grown-up readers who are nostalgic for The Secret Garden would quite enjoy a really intense and deeply realized re-tread. There are moments here which feel very similar to the breathlessly magical impact of the Night Circus, but they're all just tiny little snatches, and then you're whisked along again.
Monday, February 27, 2012
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
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.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Dark of the Moon, Tracy Barrett
This YA (and deeply gory, although totally non-sexual) novel has a subtitle: "The myth of the Minotaur as it has never been told before" and that's most likely true.
Bad stuff first:
The narration switches between two protagonists, Theseus and Ariadne, and you can't tell the difference between them. Your only clue is when a specific reference to places or people is given which allows you to place the reference. For characters which are brought up and appear so very different - there should be a different narrative "voice" for each. This is a really glaring problem, and it dragged me right out of the story each time the narrator switched. No good.
"The Goddess." Oh for fuck's sake, give the damn goddess an actual NAME already! I don't CARE that Kretans don't go in for calling people by names - this is just a bad choice all around, and worse when there's multiple narrators and characters who cycle between names. All of this "The Goddess" and "The Goddess-Who-Was" and "The Goddess-Who-Is" and "The Goddess-Who-Will-Be" dear sweet god - just name them each something allegorical or representative and get over it! Argh! I don't know why that pissed me right off, but it did, and by the end of the book, I practically wept with relief when a bit character said that she worshipped "Selene."
Religion bashing? I personally didn't care for the messages passed on about religion and worship, especially of the "Goddess:" yes, she's evil and bitchy and requires that you sacrifice all that you love, and walk in fear and trembling lest she suddenly get bitchy about something that never bothered her before but might start bothering her now, and she'll totally smite everyone if everything isn't done perfect, and even then she might just smite you anyway just because. But seriously - love her! She's our loving wonderful Mother Goddess! Just a little bit... co-dependent and abusive-relationshippy for me. Maybe that was the point, but it just didn't sit well at all.
Historical context? Anyone? I really was expecting some serious appendage going on at the end, to explain all the crazy-ass priestess things and the multiple cities of the Goddess, and the origins of Theseus, and basically breaking down the things the author made up out of whole cloth, the things the author based on legends and "histories," and things which were actually based on archeological findings and cultural studies. I really really felt the lack there, as I had no idea whether the things I was reading about were in any way based on reality. I would have liked this a lot more if there had been some background available.
Ok, enough with the bad.
Good concepts! Good secondary characters! Poor, dear Minos! I loved dear Asterion. I loved the explanations and depiction of the bull-dancing, and the concept of the Minos and Priestess combination. I even loved the complex succession cycle, and the complicated ties of relationship based on whether certain people were mortal or Goddess when they had their offspring. Really really cool stuff!
I also liked that Theseus happened to be a convenient "spare" and needed to figure out what to do about himself. I think he got gypped in his portrayal and his own character development, but it was a very clever idea. I especially liked Medea: "dear, another one of yours?"
Finally, I enjoyed the naked ambition of Prokris, although I think that might have been a little overdone for the time-period. She was a great scheming character, and I loved her black-hearted ruthlessness.
I even enjoyed the twist on the basic myth, and the "explanation" at the end as to why the mythos is the way it is.
Overall, an interesting take on the Minotaur legend, and not a bad story, just some really bad writing decisions.
Bad stuff first:
The narration switches between two protagonists, Theseus and Ariadne, and you can't tell the difference between them. Your only clue is when a specific reference to places or people is given which allows you to place the reference. For characters which are brought up and appear so very different - there should be a different narrative "voice" for each. This is a really glaring problem, and it dragged me right out of the story each time the narrator switched. No good.
"The Goddess." Oh for fuck's sake, give the damn goddess an actual NAME already! I don't CARE that Kretans don't go in for calling people by names - this is just a bad choice all around, and worse when there's multiple narrators and characters who cycle between names. All of this "The Goddess" and "The Goddess-Who-Was" and "The Goddess-Who-Is" and "The Goddess-Who-Will-Be" dear sweet god - just name them each something allegorical or representative and get over it! Argh! I don't know why that pissed me right off, but it did, and by the end of the book, I practically wept with relief when a bit character said that she worshipped "Selene."
Religion bashing? I personally didn't care for the messages passed on about religion and worship, especially of the "Goddess:" yes, she's evil and bitchy and requires that you sacrifice all that you love, and walk in fear and trembling lest she suddenly get bitchy about something that never bothered her before but might start bothering her now, and she'll totally smite everyone if everything isn't done perfect, and even then she might just smite you anyway just because. But seriously - love her! She's our loving wonderful Mother Goddess! Just a little bit... co-dependent and abusive-relationshippy for me. Maybe that was the point, but it just didn't sit well at all.
Historical context? Anyone? I really was expecting some serious appendage going on at the end, to explain all the crazy-ass priestess things and the multiple cities of the Goddess, and the origins of Theseus, and basically breaking down the things the author made up out of whole cloth, the things the author based on legends and "histories," and things which were actually based on archeological findings and cultural studies. I really really felt the lack there, as I had no idea whether the things I was reading about were in any way based on reality. I would have liked this a lot more if there had been some background available.
Ok, enough with the bad.
Good concepts! Good secondary characters! Poor, dear Minos! I loved dear Asterion. I loved the explanations and depiction of the bull-dancing, and the concept of the Minos and Priestess combination. I even loved the complex succession cycle, and the complicated ties of relationship based on whether certain people were mortal or Goddess when they had their offspring. Really really cool stuff!
I also liked that Theseus happened to be a convenient "spare" and needed to figure out what to do about himself. I think he got gypped in his portrayal and his own character development, but it was a very clever idea. I especially liked Medea: "dear, another one of yours?"
Finally, I enjoyed the naked ambition of Prokris, although I think that might have been a little overdone for the time-period. She was a great scheming character, and I loved her black-hearted ruthlessness.
I even enjoyed the twist on the basic myth, and the "explanation" at the end as to why the mythos is the way it is.
Overall, an interesting take on the Minotaur legend, and not a bad story, just some really bad writing decisions.
Monday, February 6, 2012
The False Princess, Eilis O'Neal
I tagged this as YA because the main characters are sixteen, but other than a short unpleasantness overheard early on, there isn't anything but a single set of kisses to get worked up over.
Nalia (wish that had been a different name, as I got Lion King music in my ears every time I read it) is the sixteen-year-old heir to the throne - until she learns that she's just a random commoner, bought from her father and magicked to resemble the princess. Why? Well, the prophecy that the princess would die young, of course!
Sixteen having sucessfully been reached, Nalia is now revealed as Sinda (much better name), kicked out within the day to her poor relations, and poor Orianne (also a good name) is snatched from the convent where she thought she was a noble's unwanted bastard child, renamed Nalia, and given her new crown. Surprise!
Back in the country, Sinda learns quickly that a princess education does very little to help in common life, and uses an unexpected upsurge of magic as an excuse to head back to the capital where she tries to figure out who she really is, what she's good for, and how to be satisfied with her now very common life.
A plucky (and devoted) friend helps her out, and very quickly they realize that not all is as it should be in the capital, and with the Royal Family. Is Sinda just jealous of what she's lost? Or has she really noticed something truly treasonous in the palace?
This is a good story, but not an amazing one. It suffers slightly from what I think of as "magic girl syndrome" Magic Girl is usually the heroine, but sometimes the sidekick. She suddenly has so much magic that it's a problem, and she can never trust it to work right, except that she ALWAYS trusts it to work in a pinch, and it ALWAYS does! Despite being "unpredictable" and "uncontrollable" and "dangerous," all of the main characters depend on it often, and it always (at least in the important plot-related bits) works the way it's supposed to, or if it goes wrong, it goes wrong in a good way to further their aims. I really really really dislike that. I think it's sloppy writing. If magic is uncontrollable, then let it fail at an important moment, and add some extra conflict to the mix! If the girl is not able to be relied upon in that way, then DON'T RELY ON HER THAT WAY!
Think of it this way: I have pretty good makeup skills, but I can't work makeup that looks good under direct sunlight. So my plan is to have us all sneak past the city guards at high noon, wearing makeup so they won't recognize us! Sounds great, right?
In any rational universe, my friends who know about my problems with makeup should mention at this point all of the sunlight that happens at noon, and how maybe we need a different plan, or perhaps a different time of day. This never happens in The False Princess, and it is a great irritation to me.
That one pet peeve aside, this is a pretty fun (if predictable) middle-ages-style fantasy romp with a slightly snarky heroine in the vein of Alanna or Harimad-sol. Her companions are varied and personable, and the bit characters are also drawn very nicely. I would be interested in seeing a sequel featuring Mika, especially.
Nalia (wish that had been a different name, as I got Lion King music in my ears every time I read it) is the sixteen-year-old heir to the throne - until she learns that she's just a random commoner, bought from her father and magicked to resemble the princess. Why? Well, the prophecy that the princess would die young, of course!
Sixteen having sucessfully been reached, Nalia is now revealed as Sinda (much better name), kicked out within the day to her poor relations, and poor Orianne (also a good name) is snatched from the convent where she thought she was a noble's unwanted bastard child, renamed Nalia, and given her new crown. Surprise!
Back in the country, Sinda learns quickly that a princess education does very little to help in common life, and uses an unexpected upsurge of magic as an excuse to head back to the capital where she tries to figure out who she really is, what she's good for, and how to be satisfied with her now very common life.
A plucky (and devoted) friend helps her out, and very quickly they realize that not all is as it should be in the capital, and with the Royal Family. Is Sinda just jealous of what she's lost? Or has she really noticed something truly treasonous in the palace?
This is a good story, but not an amazing one. It suffers slightly from what I think of as "magic girl syndrome" Magic Girl is usually the heroine, but sometimes the sidekick. She suddenly has so much magic that it's a problem, and she can never trust it to work right, except that she ALWAYS trusts it to work in a pinch, and it ALWAYS does! Despite being "unpredictable" and "uncontrollable" and "dangerous," all of the main characters depend on it often, and it always (at least in the important plot-related bits) works the way it's supposed to, or if it goes wrong, it goes wrong in a good way to further their aims. I really really really dislike that. I think it's sloppy writing. If magic is uncontrollable, then let it fail at an important moment, and add some extra conflict to the mix! If the girl is not able to be relied upon in that way, then DON'T RELY ON HER THAT WAY!
Think of it this way: I have pretty good makeup skills, but I can't work makeup that looks good under direct sunlight. So my plan is to have us all sneak past the city guards at high noon, wearing makeup so they won't recognize us! Sounds great, right?
In any rational universe, my friends who know about my problems with makeup should mention at this point all of the sunlight that happens at noon, and how maybe we need a different plan, or perhaps a different time of day. This never happens in The False Princess, and it is a great irritation to me.
That one pet peeve aside, this is a pretty fun (if predictable) middle-ages-style fantasy romp with a slightly snarky heroine in the vein of Alanna or Harimad-sol. Her companions are varied and personable, and the bit characters are also drawn very nicely. I would be interested in seeing a sequel featuring Mika, especially.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Lady Knight, Tamora Pierce (Protector of the Small, Book 4)
I never put up a review for the final book of the Protector of the Small series because, frankly, Pierce doesn't do so well with her endings. I felt very "meh" about the whole story, and honestly have a hard time remembering details of it. For all of my vivid memories of the other installments, I have to call that a failure, or at least a fall-back from the highs of the series up to this point.
I would not go so far as to not recommend it - it is the finishing point to the series, but by now, Kel is grown, she's overcome her fears completely, she's dutiful to a fault (even in her interior monologue) and the story is stretched much farther than it should have been to cover a hum-drum posting, a crisis of conscience, and a new stray rescued.
Because Kel has developed into such a good well-rounded person, she's not as interesting anymore. Heck, even Alanna is more interesting in her bit parts because she still has her temper! It's hard to root for someone you don't think will ever fail, or ever struggle, or ever show doubt, and has perfect faithful companions and subordinates who would die for them.
So, while the writing and the plotting aren't bad, they are much too flabby, and do very little to disguise a burgeoning Mary Sue, and an uninteresting one at that. Sadly, reading Lady Knight made me glad that this was the last book of the series - I was afraid of what would happen if it went on any further.
I would not go so far as to not recommend it - it is the finishing point to the series, but by now, Kel is grown, she's overcome her fears completely, she's dutiful to a fault (even in her interior monologue) and the story is stretched much farther than it should have been to cover a hum-drum posting, a crisis of conscience, and a new stray rescued.
Because Kel has developed into such a good well-rounded person, she's not as interesting anymore. Heck, even Alanna is more interesting in her bit parts because she still has her temper! It's hard to root for someone you don't think will ever fail, or ever struggle, or ever show doubt, and has perfect faithful companions and subordinates who would die for them.
So, while the writing and the plotting aren't bad, they are much too flabby, and do very little to disguise a burgeoning Mary Sue, and an uninteresting one at that. Sadly, reading Lady Knight made me glad that this was the last book of the series - I was afraid of what would happen if it went on any further.
Previously Published Review: On My Own: The Art of Being a Woman Alone, Florence Arlene Falk
The Art of Being a Woman Alone - now there's a subject which needed to be addressed. Women today (and for most of recorded history) have been culturally expected - even driven - to sacrifice themselves for others. More recently, ideals emerged which allowed women to seek their own interests and careers, and in todays world, most women know instinctively that they HAVE to be able to support themselves (and children if they have them) as men are no longer required to support them.
This, understandably, creates pressure.
In our modern drive to have everything, women have lost their Self. By losing one's Self, according to Falk, a person loses the ability to stand alone, to be self-sufficient, to enjoy solitude without being lonely and bereft. In addition, when one's Self is damaged or missing, there is nothing protecting you from psychic damage from friends, lovers, and the world in general.
In many ways, our culture resists the import of a woman who is able to stand alone. If you are valuing your own self, you are selfish - a horrible accusation to make of any girl or mother. If you cultivate your own interests, or enjoy your own company, you are self-absorbed - again, a negative. Falk wants us to take joy in selfishness, as we re-imagine ourselves and make peace with who we truly are. She wishes that more women would take time to be self-absorbed, to glory in the creative, WHOLE person who has been submerged for so long by our society, our relationships, and abuse.
Which brings me to the "almost inspiring." Falk finds it necessary to trace in microscopic detail the failed relationships, parental and peer abuse, and overarching societal pressure which causes modern women to lose their Self. This is an amazing downer in a book intended to inspire. In those pages (which are a majority of the book) there is a passivity - a helplessness in the face of a powerful and malevolent grinding cultural poverty. Comparing this to her stirring call for Self-awareness, I found it difficult when she failed to transfer this individual awareness into culture at large.
One example speaks of a girl, gifted and pretty, from an "academic" hippie family, and the teasing and social abuse she suffered at middle and high school. The girl, now a middle-aged woman, is only now dealing with this pain. Nowhere is it suggested that if the girl had a Self-aware mentor, she could have learned to stand ALONE and to rise above the taunts of her peers. Repeatedly, women and girls in her examples are left with gaping psychic wounds which are bemoaned as evil and spirit-breaking, but with no counter-examples to show HOW, if one is taught to grow into her Self from the start, those wounds could be minimized or avoided.
Much of this comes from the author's own experiences, as late in life she rediscovered herself and fought free of years of living for others. I do applaud women who, at any age, realize that no matter what or who is in your life, a healthy person's focus must be on themselves FIRST. However, I think that a celebration of women's rights to be whole people in themselves should try to show how to achieve that from the start, rather than passively accepting the damage until some midlife "eureka" is reached.
In spite of this, this book is stirring and powerful, and begs for women to accept that we CAN be alone and powerful, we CAN be at peace with our true Selves, and we CAN recover from childhood trauma and the pressures of life. This is an important message for everyone.
This, understandably, creates pressure.
In our modern drive to have everything, women have lost their Self. By losing one's Self, according to Falk, a person loses the ability to stand alone, to be self-sufficient, to enjoy solitude without being lonely and bereft. In addition, when one's Self is damaged or missing, there is nothing protecting you from psychic damage from friends, lovers, and the world in general.
In many ways, our culture resists the import of a woman who is able to stand alone. If you are valuing your own self, you are selfish - a horrible accusation to make of any girl or mother. If you cultivate your own interests, or enjoy your own company, you are self-absorbed - again, a negative. Falk wants us to take joy in selfishness, as we re-imagine ourselves and make peace with who we truly are. She wishes that more women would take time to be self-absorbed, to glory in the creative, WHOLE person who has been submerged for so long by our society, our relationships, and abuse.
Which brings me to the "almost inspiring." Falk finds it necessary to trace in microscopic detail the failed relationships, parental and peer abuse, and overarching societal pressure which causes modern women to lose their Self. This is an amazing downer in a book intended to inspire. In those pages (which are a majority of the book) there is a passivity - a helplessness in the face of a powerful and malevolent grinding cultural poverty. Comparing this to her stirring call for Self-awareness, I found it difficult when she failed to transfer this individual awareness into culture at large.
One example speaks of a girl, gifted and pretty, from an "academic" hippie family, and the teasing and social abuse she suffered at middle and high school. The girl, now a middle-aged woman, is only now dealing with this pain. Nowhere is it suggested that if the girl had a Self-aware mentor, she could have learned to stand ALONE and to rise above the taunts of her peers. Repeatedly, women and girls in her examples are left with gaping psychic wounds which are bemoaned as evil and spirit-breaking, but with no counter-examples to show HOW, if one is taught to grow into her Self from the start, those wounds could be minimized or avoided.
Much of this comes from the author's own experiences, as late in life she rediscovered herself and fought free of years of living for others. I do applaud women who, at any age, realize that no matter what or who is in your life, a healthy person's focus must be on themselves FIRST. However, I think that a celebration of women's rights to be whole people in themselves should try to show how to achieve that from the start, rather than passively accepting the damage until some midlife "eureka" is reached.
In spite of this, this book is stirring and powerful, and begs for women to accept that we CAN be alone and powerful, we CAN be at peace with our true Selves, and we CAN recover from childhood trauma and the pressures of life. This is an important message for everyone.
Previously Published Review: The Lost Children, Carolyn Cohagen
I want to begin by saying that I'm fairly sure this book suffered from 'first book syndrome,' characterized by what I like to call the "everything and the kitchen sink" school of plotting.
I almost could see the checklist getting ticked off.
Cold and humorless (and therefore mysterious) father figure? Check.
Timid but secretly spunky heroine? Check.
Space-time convolutions? Check.
Mean caretaker women/witch characters? Check.
Creepy children? Doublecheck.
Useless adults? Triplecheck.
That established, it was a decent first attempt, and a fun read. I'm currently trying to not think too closely about the ending, which, like all space-time-convolution stories, doesn't really hold up well when thought about closely. There are also some characterization choices right at the end that don't quite match the characters as we have come to know them through the book. (Slightly more irritating, those character choices, while useful to the angst of the heroine throughout the tale, could have been exised and replaced with very little difficulty, making it all the more jarring to encounter.)
Basic idea: Josephine is a half-orphan, and her father is so distant that she may as well be a real one. She gets new gloves once a week, but can't remember what his voice sounds like. One day, a small boy appears, and whisks her off to a place where children are endangered by magical beasts, and all the adults are powerless to help them. Josephine, Fargus (the little boy she meets), and their friend Ida all quest through this new world to salvage what they can of their own families, and those of the other lost children.
There are some gruesome stories of families murdered or dragged off while the child is hiding and watching, and the villain is quite suprisingly evil. Maybe not a good choice for bedtime stories.
The monsters are fairly terrifying of themselves, but even worse, they are associated with burying children alive in deep holes, and then 'electrocuting' their energy out of them. The burying parts and the electrocution parts are fairly detailed, and pretty creepy.
Only three of the adults in the whole story redeem themselves in any way from passively letting their children be taken into slavery to secure their own continued safety. This is blatantly discussed. Kids with issues about abandonment or separation anxiety may not deal well with this.
Everything ends up extremely neat and pat, with amazing rescues and nice twists of fate for the baddies, but oddly enough, the nice neat "and they all lived happily ever after" for the supporting cast is so cheery and quickly brushed over that it's easily overlooked, while the main characters (we learn at the end) actually have horrible lives, and we don't even find out all the details thereof.
The overall feel is very old-school Grimms fairy tales (the unexpurgated ones) where simply being good and trying to do right doesn't actually mean that everything comes out ok in the end. If you or your kid want a fairy-story with a traditional happily-ever-after ending, you may want to hold off on this one.
I almost could see the checklist getting ticked off.
Cold and humorless (and therefore mysterious) father figure? Check.
Timid but secretly spunky heroine? Check.
Space-time convolutions? Check.
Mean caretaker women/witch characters? Check.
Creepy children? Doublecheck.
Useless adults? Triplecheck.
That established, it was a decent first attempt, and a fun read. I'm currently trying to not think too closely about the ending, which, like all space-time-convolution stories, doesn't really hold up well when thought about closely. There are also some characterization choices right at the end that don't quite match the characters as we have come to know them through the book. (Slightly more irritating, those character choices, while useful to the angst of the heroine throughout the tale, could have been exised and replaced with very little difficulty, making it all the more jarring to encounter.)
Basic idea: Josephine is a half-orphan, and her father is so distant that she may as well be a real one. She gets new gloves once a week, but can't remember what his voice sounds like. One day, a small boy appears, and whisks her off to a place where children are endangered by magical beasts, and all the adults are powerless to help them. Josephine, Fargus (the little boy she meets), and their friend Ida all quest through this new world to salvage what they can of their own families, and those of the other lost children.
There are some gruesome stories of families murdered or dragged off while the child is hiding and watching, and the villain is quite suprisingly evil. Maybe not a good choice for bedtime stories.
The monsters are fairly terrifying of themselves, but even worse, they are associated with burying children alive in deep holes, and then 'electrocuting' their energy out of them. The burying parts and the electrocution parts are fairly detailed, and pretty creepy.
Only three of the adults in the whole story redeem themselves in any way from passively letting their children be taken into slavery to secure their own continued safety. This is blatantly discussed. Kids with issues about abandonment or separation anxiety may not deal well with this.
Everything ends up extremely neat and pat, with amazing rescues and nice twists of fate for the baddies, but oddly enough, the nice neat "and they all lived happily ever after" for the supporting cast is so cheery and quickly brushed over that it's easily overlooked, while the main characters (we learn at the end) actually have horrible lives, and we don't even find out all the details thereof.
The overall feel is very old-school Grimms fairy tales (the unexpurgated ones) where simply being good and trying to do right doesn't actually mean that everything comes out ok in the end. If you or your kid want a fairy-story with a traditional happily-ever-after ending, you may want to hold off on this one.
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