Book Review: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

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One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Publisher: Amistad
Publication date: February 2010
ISBN: 9780060760885
Source: Library

One Crazy Summer

Delphine, 11-years-old, and her two younger sisters are going to spend their summer in Oakland, California, with the mother that left them.  Delphine does not expect much, but gets even less when their mother simply sends them off to spend their days at a summer camp run by the Black Panthers.  All three of them unexpectedly learn a lot both about themselves and their mother during that crazy summer.

Things I Liked:
This book was fabulous!  Williams-Garcia manages to combine an interesting and important bit of history with excellent writing and delightful characters.  I positively adored Delphine and her sisters, particularly the way they interact with one another.  Each sister is unique and has personality enough to fill multiple books.  It's nice that we learn about history and the issues that were happening at that time.  But, really, this book is all about Delphine and how she grows, changes, and begins to understand her mother.  Her voice is just perfect, making me feel like I had a little sister I never knew about.  Pretty much, I agree with those who mention this as a Newbery contender.  Beautiful writing, memorable characters, and an interesting topic.  Here are some favorite parts:
Mother is a statement of fact.  Cecile Johnson gave birth to us....Mommy gets up to give you a class of water in the middle of the night.  Mom invites your friends inside when it's raining.  Mama burns your ears with the hot comb to make your hair look pretty for class picture day.  Ma is sore and worn out from wringing your wet clothes and hanging them to dry; Ma needs peace and quiet at the end of the day. p 14
I never thought about what Delphine meant or if it had a meaning at all.  It was just my name.  Delphine had a grown sound like it was waiting for me to slide into it, like a grown woman slides into a mink coat and clips on ruby earrings.  I figured since Cecile didn't have a mink coat or ruby earrings to give me when I grew up, she had dreamed up a name that I would grow into. p 82
Good old Merriam Webster.  I trusted Merriam because I thought, instead of having children she didn't want, she wrote the dictionary.  She didn't have anything else better to do, probably didn't have sisters and brothers to see after, which was why she knew every word in the world. p 83
Wouldn't Little Bobby rather be alive than be remembered?  Wouldn't he rather be sitting out in the park than have the park named after him?  I wanted to watch the news.  Not be in it.  The more I thought about it, the more I had my answer.  We were staying home tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. p 133
Things I Didn't Like:
I just felt a bit sorry for the kids because their mother so obviously didn't care about them.  I wanted to cry for them, especially when Delphine would have to prepare herself so she didn't feel bad about being ignored or dismissed.  And I'm not sure how much kid-appeal the story will hold, though I think they might enjoy the characters.

Read-alikes:
Reminded me a bit of Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor
The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: none

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: none

Overall rating: *****

What do you think are some possible award winners from this year?

Posted as part of Tween Tuesday, hosted by GreenBeanTeenQueen.

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


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The Way of Kings

7:00 AM Nikki

From the very beginning you know THE WAY OF KINGS is a novel by Brandon Sanderson—you would know it even if his name wasn’t imposed over a Michael Whelan cover. Sanderson has made a name for himself through his imaginative magic systems, and TWoK is no different.

He starts with the pacing set at a sprint. Following a series prelude (yeah, there is a prelude, then a prologue), we are put right into the action of things with a mysterious assassin, Szeth. Right from the onset of the novel we get hints of political intrigue, and of shadowy organizations pulling strings like puppeteers. What it seems to us is that Brandon is trying to start faster than his previous novels. His habit has been the slow burn in pacing followed by an explosion of craziness. Not so much here. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Really it will depend on your personal taste.

Ah but we get ahead of ourselves.

TWoK is a hard book to summarize. The worlds that Brandon creates are always well envisioned. Effort is made to make them stand-out. That said, there is usually a bit of familiar in them. The best way to describe the world in TWoK is to say it feels like a rich sea floor…but without the sea. Huge storms ravage the surface of the world of Roshar regularly, and that surface has adapted to them. Plants and animals retreat into hardened shells for protection. Cities themselves are built only where there is a measure of safety. There is a very alien feel to it all, and for the most part, Brandon makes it vivid and easy to visualize. It also helps that there are some seriously incredible sketches of the various creatures of the world come to life. We love interior art work.

As for the plot itself, we’ll give you the basics without spoiling the details. War. Lots of wars and battles that are treated almost as competitions, and an excuse for personal gain. For greed. It becomes quickly apparent the level of stagnation that pervades the armies through these motivations. Brandon does seem torn throughout the course of the novel. At times the story is purely setting based, and yet at others it focuses exclusively on the characters. A smoother blend may have been nice, but really this is just a quibble.

Characters. We know Brandon, and we know how much effort he puts into making characters unique and likable. While not quite as good as his MISTBORN trilogy (yet), the characters in TWoK are pretty solid. Kaladin is a promising general on the rise who ends up a slave. Dalinar is a commander of one of the various armies fighting for honor and riches, but he has begin questioning the motivation behind it all while suffering vivid dream-visions of the past. Shallan is an artist whose goal is the theft of a priceless magical conduit. All-in-all, they are great characters. Except…

Look, we like shades of gray. There is none of that with the main characters. They are all good guys, regardless of some of their misleading attitudes and actions. We just wish there were less black-and-white characters in his novels. This isn’t really a major criticism, just more of an observation. Brandon’s characters in TWoK tend to go pretty emo as well (if we are honest, it caused some facepalm moments). Either that, or they are tough as nails. There isn’t a lot of in-between. Most people won’t have issue with this, but we felt we should bring it up. We ARE honest after all. It’s our third best quality.

As we mentioned earlier, the pacing starts out at full-speed. It serves its purpose in hooking the reader—and it does that extremely well. Things are crazy early on. We get assassinations, epic battles, solitary heroic feats, dramatic failures, terrifying situations and awesome magic. We get all of this FAST. There is a full book’s worth of awesomeness in the first third of the novel (which we guess is the actual size of a normal novel…TWoK is a 1000+ page behemoth). The issue with this? The middle third of the novel. When you start the novel with a peak, and end it with one as well, there is bound to be a valley in the middle. That middle 400 pages, while extremely interesting, can drag for less-than-patient readers…especially when that first part is so fast and breathtaking.

As we mentioned, this is the first book in a series. A BIG series. Ten books big. As a result, there is a lot of set-up here. It is done as well as can be, but it is very noticeable that we are embarking on a long, long trip. Our personal hope? That it is broken up a bit like Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shadows of the Apt series. What we mean is that the first few books become effectively a trilogy or quadrilogy. Then two more sets of three. Reading a straight ten book series feels daunting. Not knowing the end until at least 2020? Yikes! Again, just being honest.

We don’t want to make it seem like we are bashing TWoK. We aren’t. These issues are pretty small-time, and won’t matter a bit to the very large majority. So we’ll end with what we DO like. We love the learning curve. This has a much steeper one than any of Sanderson's prior novels. We like authors in the fantasy genre to challenge us, and to make us think for ourselves. Now this isn’t quite at the Erikson Learning Curve level, but it is still fairly high. We can’t stress how happy we are that Brandon is doing this. We’ve been begging him since ELANTRIS was released to go this route.

TWoK is also better than his previous novel, WARBREAKER. The writing is better, the story is better, and the characters are better. In our opinions, of course. Which are fact. Really, we liked this better than ELANTRIS too. TWoK is right there with his Mistborn Trilogy. We haven’t read a Brandon Sanderson novel we didn’t like (a trend unlikely to change over the next decade or two), and the Mistborn trilogy is high on our list of GREAT books. So when we say TWoK is almost (juuuuuuuust below really) as good as MISTBORN, it is a compliment. High praise indeed. And this was just the first book. This series has a HUGE amount of potential. This could very well turn into one of our favorite fantasy series ever by the time it finishes.

Brandon's chapter leads, though always great, are freaking awesome in TWoK. Once you get to the end of the novel, suddenly they take on a whole different meaning. This is how chapter leads should be done. We're not sure where they have been done better. Ever.

We love the clarity of the action sequences. The Bridge Crew scenes (especially the first few) are gripping, chaotic, and terrifying. The Shardblade duels and battles are artistic and flashy. Everything truly has its own unique flavor. While the very end seems like it is a little less than it could have been, the final section of the book (originally conceived as a series of epilogues, but now its own section in the novel) is fantastic. It really is a moment where, as the reader, you say, “Oh crap. Everyone is soooooooo screwed!” Love it (in truth, it may have been Steve’s favorite part…other than the Szeth scenes).

THE WAY OF KINGS, Book One of the Stormlight Archive, is a fantastic opening entry in a truly epic (in every sense of the word) fantasy series. Every reader of the fantasy genre should buy this book immediately. Fans old and new will enjoy all 1000+ pages, and will be anxiously awaiting the sequel. We sure are. Of course, we’ve already been waiting for the sequel for a year now…‘cause you know, we did read this last year. As Nick is fond of saying, “Neener neener.”

Recommended Age: 15 and up.
Language: Not really. Made-up oaths and such.
Violence: YES!! Have we mentioned how much we love Brandon’s action sequences?
Sex: Noppers.


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Listless Monday, Back to School Edition

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Listless Monday was inspired by both Amanda at A Bookshelf Monstrosity's feature Books by Theme and Court at Once Upon a Bookshelf's Listed feature.  Be sure to check out their lists!

(Yes, that apple is as big as my face.  No, it doesn't have much to do with back to school.  But, it is an apple...)

Ah, it's that time of the year again.  Back to school time.  It always makes me think pencils and notebooks and clothes shopping and the dreaded homework.  Fortunately, I'm coming back to school now as a librarian and not a student.  However, I threw together a list of books where a large part of it or an important part of it takes in school.  Whether that be a boarding, a regular old public, or a wizarding, these kids are all dealing with the social, emotional, and academic challenges of school.

Back to School Edition:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
Avalon High by Meg Cabot
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks by E. Lockhart
Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman
Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande
Fallen by Lauren Kate
Flipped by Wendalin Van Draanen
Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff
Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter
The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester
Great and Terrible Beauty series by Libba Bray
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling 
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins (suggested by Susan)
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Schooled by Gordon Korman
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Shug by Jenny Han
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
We the Children by Andrew Clements
The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
The Wizard Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
You by Charles Benoit (I happen to be giving a copy of this away right now!)

Always looking for suggestions, since I am certain there are many more!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


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A (Few) Girl(s) After My Own Heart

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A Bit of Me(Me) is hosted by Danielle of There's a Book.

I was going to skip the theme for this week in order to simply post photos of my vacations, but I decided I couldn't pass up a little love for (a few of) my favorite heroine(s).  (You should know by now I have a hard time picking one favorite anything.)   

Anne of Green Gables: The CollectionLittle Women (Collector's Series)The Witch of Blackbird Pond

When I think of a favorite heroine in literature, the first few that come to mind are always: Anne Shirley and Jo March.  Really, those two shaped my childhood and on into my later years (I still love to watch the  Anne of Green Gables mini-series).  I even wrote a letter to Anne, expressing why I loved her and how I wanted to be her.  And Jo.  Oh, how I loved having a girl who didn't quite fit in, a girl who wanted to write and wear pants, to be my best friend.

But then I had to think of Kit Tyler from The Witch of Blackbird Pond, one of the first books that really sparked my love of reading.  I wanted to be her.  I wanted to wear her dresses (yes, how ironic that I loved Jo March, who didn't want to wear them).  I adored Nat. 


Jane EyrePride And PrejudiceThe Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary, One Vol. Edition


Then in the middle school and high school years, I discovered Jane Eyre, a much more sophisticated role model, but one who I adored for her romantic heart and yet her resolve of steel.  From her I learned not to give in to temptation despite what your heart wants.  She was one tough woman.  And, of course, Elizabeth Bennet who wielded a tongue that made me so envious I memorized whole sections of the book (and movie).  A women who obviously made mistakes, but who could still overcome and accept them.  And there was always Eowyn, the heartbroken, but never-giving-up destroyer of evil, who found a way to mend her broken heart (which, as I'm sure everyone did at that stage in life, I related to completely).  How could I possibly choose among them all?  

I couldn't.  Of course not.  So, I revel in those women who can be tough and tender.  Who can spurn a man with the best of them, and then come to love them.  Who are never perfect, but still manage to overcome their weaknesses.  Ah, the power of a writer to bring to life those women we can relate to and aspire to be like.  (It didn't escape my notice that all but one of these women was created by women who likely held some of these traits in their own personalities.)  

Can you pick just one?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


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Book Review: You by Charles Benoit and a Giveaway!

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You by Charles Benoit
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: August 2010
ISBN: 9780061947049
Source: ARC provided by publisher

You

Kyle Chase is an ordinary teen.  He's just like you and me.  Though his story ends with a horrible incident, it unfolds just like every day of our lives.  Small choices, little things, lead him to where he ends up.  Somewhere he doesn't want to be.

Things I Liked:
I had really high expectations of this one.  In some ways, I was not disappointed.  I really enjoyed the unique second person narrative.  I've never read anything that pulled that off before.  I was impressed.  Admittedly, sometimes it was distracting or confusing, but still unique and interesting enough to keep my attention.  The story itself was a bit slow to start.  After that attention-grabbing beginning, it slows down and we get a lot of the day-to-day life of Kyle.  I think that was intentional, since it is his daily experiences that lead him to the inevitable ending.  I liked Kyle, I thought he was a good kid, even when he did stupid things over and over again.  I will admit the ending had me surprised - it was not as I expected, which was quite obviously the point.
The teachers complain that the students today are all lazy, ignorant, and stupid.  But the truth is that you're smarter than they are.  You're not even old enough to drive and you already know that none of this matters.  Not the English or the social studies or the math or the science.  If it did, if it really mattered, they'd teach it in a way that made you want to learn it.  But no, they've got to teach it in the most mind-numbing way possible, moving on without any real discussion to get to the next thing that's going to be on the test - the standardized test. p 35-36 of ARC
You want to tell her that what's wrong is the whole stupid assignment, that all it teaches kids is that there's one way to think, one way to act, so that by the time they reach high school all they have to do is look at somebody and they can tell if he's cool or a nerd or a jock or a hoodie.  That way if somebody starts thinking for himself, starts acting all weird, like wearing a sport coat to school, they'll be easy to spot. p 110-111 of ARC
Your whole life is a chain of choices - your choices. p 215 of ARC
Things I Didn't Like:
As mentioned above, I liked Kyle, but I really wanted to slap him upside the head.  He could have used that.  Sometimes things coming from his perspective sounded very didactic (just look at those quotes I have above - they sound rather preachy, don't they).  Zack was intriguing, but kept making me angry as well, though he was supposed to.  I am quite sure if I had any kind of similar experiences when I was a teen, this book would have been life changing.  However, I was really not like Kyle, so it didn't resonate with me as much as it will with others.  While I was surprised by the ending, I was terribly confused the first two or three times I read it.  I guess I'm a little slow, but it wasn't immediately apparent to me exactly what happened.  Definitely a unique book with an audience that will adore it.  I'm just not in that audience.

Read-alikes:
A bit like Chris Crutcher and Gail Giles and other 'edgy' YA authors
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
not as many as expected

mrg-factor: XX
definitely implied, though not described

v-factor: ->->
a few incidents, but not a lot of detail

Overall rating: ****

It just so happens I have an extra ARC of this book for one lucky reader (US only, sorry).  Leave me a comment telling me of a book that you read as a teen that really impacted you in some way (and a way for me to contact you).  I'll pick a winner next Friday.  Good luck!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


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The Devil in Green

7:00 AM Nikki

I like avocados. A good one will leave you longing for more without much effort. Soft, green flesh, that great nutty flavor, and all it needs is a bit of salt to provide, quite possibly, one of the finest snacks on the planet. Yum. I’m always on the lookout for some good Green.

So I’d heard all sorts of coolness associated with Mark Chadbourn before finally getting to read any of his books, and as it ended up, this one was my first. Chadbourn’s a novelist living in the UK that got picked up by Pyr recently, and if you’ve been anywhere near their booklist in the last year, you would have had a hard time missing his name. Seven books of his have come through the Pyr imprint in the last fifteen months and all of the covers have been absolutely full of win (Imitation being the best form of flattery, I thought I’d throw a bone in the direction of the overlords here). Thus, I gathered my salivating palette and dove into the book with great amounts of gusto.

The Devil in Green starts out with a bang and flash. Mallory, the existential hero of the story, is ripping down an old road in a Porsche with the hopes of finding someone alive in the next town, when he catches up to a man galloping down the road on a horse. The man’s being pursued by a pack of man-sized orangutan-looking beasts, with the faces of children and wicked sharp teeth, that speak lies to depress and demoralize you before ripping your head off for lunch. The man on the horse is Miller, and the two fight through these nasty freaks-of-nature, ending their flight within the ruins of a castle/church, high on a lone hilltop, where they are safe for some reason unbeknownst to them. The next day, they travel to a town Miller suggests, where a branch of the Catholic Church has supposedly taken over a cathedral and is recruiting people to become a modern set of Knights Templar. Or possibly just giving people free lunches.

As I mentioned above, I haven’t read Chadbourn’s previous trilogy, The Age of Misrule, but what I gleaned from the net was that it included beasts and mythology from Celtic legend that have come into the world we know and left chaos and destruction in their wake. With this kind of setup and the opening chapters of Devil in Green, I was ready for a seriously good ride. Like say, something akin to The Matterhorn or even Indiana Jones. Unfortunately, I didn’t get anything near either of them.

Chadbourn actually writes quite well. His prose pulled me in and had me swallowing things very easily. He has some relatively interesting side characters, a realistic feel to the setting, and enough sarcasm to outstrip Simon Cowell on a bad hair day. I love sarcasm, don’t get me wrong, but if there’s no other reason for me to like a character they get old really fast. Also, Chadbourn writes the mundane stuff very well. I never got tripped up by anything when the story was plodding along from one excitement to the next; it was only when things got a little crazy that I had questions. Like, for instance, throughout most of the climax.

In the end, my difficulties with the story boiled down to two big issues. The first was the fact that it felt like nothing happened for the entire book. Nothing. This was because the main characters didn’t do anything significant of their own volition. They were forced out on a few forays by their religious superiors, and some people got killed in messy ways, but it never felt like there was a real plot or point to the book--no forward progression that I could see. The fairy people get introduced, though they’d supposedly already come into play in the first trilogy so this was nothing new. There’s a dragon that attacks the cathedral a few times (Though it’s only ever referred to as a “fabulous beast”. Why? No idea. Call an elf an elf, I say), but the thing makes minimal impact to the structure before [***Censored***] (Seriously, guys? Oh yeah. No spoilers. Umm...) There’s some kind of love interest for Mallory, a girl from outside the complex that communicates somewhat with the fairy people, but there’s no real progression there either--just some sort of vague sense of romantically jumping from one step to the next until [***Censored***] (Aww, come on. That wasn’t such a big one to give away...). About 250 pages in, Miller asks the main character, “What’s your motivation, Mallory?” I thought this a very appropriate question, and one I would have liked an answer to. Unfortunately, there was no answer to be had.

The second issue I took with the story is the excessive harping on the stupidity of those that ascribe to any particular religion. I could understand if there had been some bashing. I could even have put up with lots of it if said bashing would have been specific, or added something of value to the story or the characters. That’s not what this was though. This was simply a blatant generalization of all religions as being bad and those involved with them as being incompetent morons for believing. So, I did a little research, and it looks like something on the order of 85% of people in the world believe in giving worship to some kind of greater being through the religion of their choice. That's an awfully large majority to be preaching against, and that's exactly what it comes over as. There did seem to be some small part of the story that tried to show how following church leaders (or anyone for that matter) without thinking for yourself, would lead to destruction, chaos, and death. This I can see. This I could have sympathized with. But I couldn’t swallow everything I got fed here. Not by a long shot.

In the end, I can’t say that I liked the book very much. It was empty; Green, yes, but empty. I waffled over my thoughts about it for a long time because there was so much potential to be had. There’s still potential for the next two books, I think, based on the material he has, if he'll just use it. If there's another book like this though, I might just have to bail on the series altogether. So for you, instead of reading this one, I’d suggest trying a different book of his (A reliable source has suggested that some of his other books are much better), or that you buy an avocado. Nice, dark skin; gives slightly when pressed upon; not too soft; lots of nutty goodness. Plenty of Green to satisfy your craving there, I’d say.

So let it be written.

So let it be done.

Recommended age: 16 and up
Language: Some, across the range, scattered.
Violence: A little. People fighting with swords. Someone loses a hand. A few brief descriptions of two people that die messily.
Sex: One scene, fairly quick. Not much else.

http://www.markchadbourn.net/


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Book Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

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Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication date: August 2010
ISBN: 9780439023511
Source: Purchased :)

Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games)

Katniss has survived her second Hunger Games.  She's now living in the mysterious District 13, part of a rebellion that she's been a pawn in without knowing it.  Peeta was taken by the Capitol and she doesn't know what's happening to him.  Will she be able to keep him, herself, her family, Gale, and everyone else safe or will she have to risk it all to be the leader of the rebellion?

Things I Liked: 
After all the hype and the waiting, it was so great to finally pick up the final book.  Just reading a highly anticipated book like this is an experience apart from the book.  But, enough about that.  I was happy for nearly all of the book (though the beginning was pretty slow for me). I loved how there were several plot twists that threw me, specifically Peeta. [Purposely vague to avoid spoilers.]  It was, once again, really hard to put down and kept me on the edge of my seat for most of it.  I love what Collins manages to do, creating this world full of horrible things and yet not making us despair because of the hopefulness and the happy parts.  This book delves into Katniss' inner thoughts and emotions.  We get to see just how raw and difficult it is to survive after all this psychological, emotional, and physical stress.  It feels quite real to me.  Exciting, non-stop, grueling, heart-breaking (oh the heartbreak in this book)!  Favorite parts:
It isn't enough, what I've done in the past, defying the Capitol in the Games, providing a rallying point.  I must now become the actual leader, the face, the voice, the embodiment of the revolution.  The person who the districts - most of which are now openly at war with the Capitol - can count on to blaze the path to victory.  I won't have to do it alone.  They have a whole team of people to make me over, dress me, write my speeches, orchestrate my appearances  as if that doesn't sound horribly familiar - and all I have to do is play my part. p 10-11
"Oh, no.  It costs more than your life.  To murder innocent people?" says Peeta.  "It costs everything you are." p23
Things I Didn't Like: 
Right about when we hit chapter 25, I started to not like the book.  Up to that point it was everything I hoped for and more.  The rest disappointed and confused me.  I just didn’t feel very satisfied with the ending.  It felt half-hearted and vague and totally confusing to me.  If you'd like to read more of my thoughts on this, do check out the discussion in Natasha's spoiler post.  I didn’t much like the romance either, but that was just my personal preference. :) 

Read-alikes:
Read the first two books in the series The Hunger Games and Catching Fire
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
The Maze Runner by James Dashner

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
a few (though I admit I wasn't paying much attention)

mrg-factor: X
romantic, but not much else

v-factor: ->->->->
again, quite gory and violent - there's a lot of blood

Overall rating: ****

Well, what did you think? (Note: spoilers in the comments!)

For more dystopian reviews, check out Presenting Lenore's Dystopian August celebration!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


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Elitist Classics: A Princess of Mars

7:00 AM Nikki

First written as a serial in 1911, A PRINCESS OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs was soon after published in novel form in 1917. While the story is more adventure than science fiction, it was this Mars-based pulp that influenced the men and women who would later fuel the SF renaissance of the mid-Twentieth Century--writers like Ray Bradbury, Carl Sagan, and Arthur C. Clarke.

PRINCESS follows the adventures of John Carter, Confederate War veteran, from his mysterious transportation to the planet Mars, to being captured by the green men, to meeting the lovely Princess Dejah Thoris of Helium. The storytelling itself compared to today's standards is nothing spectacular, and in fact the 'science' is pretty silly, but you have to admire Burroughs' imagination. At the time he wrote it, there was scientific speculation about the potential for life on Mars, and it must have captured his attention because he came up with some wild ideas about the people and cultures who could be inhabiting the red planet.

PRINCESS was Burroughs' first published work, even before the original TARZAN OF THE APES (which is also worth reading). He went on to write ten more Mars books, but PRINCESS is the one that started it all, and fortunately it's a quick, fun read. It doesn't hurt, either, that John Carter is a likable swashbuckler.

The Kindle edition is free, but it's easy to find a print version at your library or at most booksellers.

Michael Whelan did cover art for the '80s mass market reprinting of the Mars series, including one of A PRINCESS OF MARS that I love, not only because it's beautiful, but because it evokes the feel of the book and its setting. You can see it on his website at MichaelWhelan.com, and I did find the version you can buy with his cover. (Warning: Whelan's ERB art does have semi-nudity.)

Recommended age: 12 and up--the content is tame and readable by younger audiences.
Language: None.
Violence: Scattered here and there, but nothing intense or very graphic.
Sex: People on Mars wander around unclothed, however Burroughs doesn't reference naked body parts or sex.


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Back to the Library (and the Loot)

4:38 PM mixagrip

 (hosted by Marg of Adventures of an Intrepid Reader and Claire of The Captive Reader)

I'm finally home from vacation (it's been quite a while since I wasn't living out of a suitcase, or at least it feels like it)!  Today is my first day back in my own library and I feel both happy and sad about it.  Going back to work is so hard, no matter where you work, I think.  Anywho, I'm also back in my local public libraries and checking things out again!  I really didn't get nearly enough of my review copies read to justify this, but I had a few books on hold that I simply don't want to wait for.  So, here they are:

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong
Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (yes, I'm probably the last to read this)
Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter

And the books really piled up while I was gone (ok, not really, but I was pretty excited about them all the same...)
Matched by Ally Condie (I've really been dying to get my hands on this, so I was super excited that it came for me)
It's a Book by Lane Smith
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe

And, though I didn't get to visit any amazing bookstores while I was vacationing, I did stop by a for charity book sale and pick up a few books:
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss
The Field Guide by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

And this list would not be complete without this delight, which I purchased (of course):
Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
and which I just finished and am currently trying to figure out my reaction to.  I loved getting to hash out some thoughts and read others' over at Natasha's spoiler-ridden discussion of it. 

What did you get this week?


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Elitist Classics: The Martian Chronicles

7:00 AM Nikki

Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury! He turned 90 on August 22nd (just this past weekend), and what better way than to celebrate one of his classics? A prolific writer of novels, short stories, essays, and other works, Bradbury originally published THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES in 1950. It's a short story collection about the human colonization of Mars--but it's not your traditional collection.

Originally published in magazines as shorts, Bradbury gathered the stories in one book by stringing them along chronologically using brief vignettes to tie them together. At first it will seem disjointed and odd, but Bradbury's crisp prose and sense of humor is engaging, and good enough reason to continue reading until the story finally grabs you. If you've read A PRINCESS OF MARS, then you'll have a few laughs when you recognize Bradbury's nods in Burroughs' direction.

Bradbury claims that THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES isn't science fiction, instead calling it fantasy because it depicts events that would never happen. If I were to label it, I'd be tempted to call it horror because of its psychological elements, fantasy for the ludicrous situations, and science fiction for the warnings about the future that this genre often portends. Even then, if you read beyond the surface you'll see Bradbury's post-war social commentary, and fortunately his satire still feels relevant today.

There are a few different versions, including reprints that change the first Mars landing from 1999 to thirty years after (the dates really are irrelevant, except in relation to each other) and some additional stories written after the first printing. No edition is better than the other, so it's up to you whether you prefer to read the original or a 'complete' version. THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES should be easy to find at even small libraries.

Recommended Age: 12 and up for content, although most kids won't get the social commentary and humor until their late teens.
Language: Some, but it's minor.
Violence: Very little, and when there is violence it's not graphic.
Sex: None.


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Book Review: Don't Know Where, Don't Know When by Annette Laing

10:44 AM mixagrip

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When by Annette Laing
Publisher: Confusion Press
Publication date: August 2007
ISBN: 9780979476945
Source: Review copy provided by author

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When (The Snipesville Chronicles, Book 1) 
Hannah and Alex just moved to pokey old Snipesville, Georgia from San Fransisco.  Unhappy with the move, Hannah is compelled by her father to attend a summer camp for writing, while her brother attends baseball camp.  The two of them do not expect to meet up with Brandon, a black kid also attending baseball camp, or the Professor, a strange woman who seems to follow them around.  But, what they least expect is their time travel to WWII England.  There seems to be no way home except by finding a boy named George Braithwaite, who seems to have disappeared.  Will they ever make it back?

Things I Liked:
This was a fun way to learn more about the history of Britain during both WWI and WWII.  The kids experienced what it was like to be evacuees during those wars as well as the privations and other difficulties children faced back then.  I enjoyed learning more about personal experiences of people during the wars, than what most other books try to teach - the general what happened and when type of information.
 
Things I Didn't Like:
I found that for more than half of the book, the story moved very slowly.  I got bored and had a hard time plowing through the details, some of which seemed rather extraneous.  Also, some of the transitions between time and place or just sections was abrupt and made it disorienting to read.  Not the best example of time travel to learn about the past, but still pretty good.

Read-alikes:
Reminded me a bit of the Missing series by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
a few here and there

mrg-factor: X
some children born out of wedlock, but nothing described

v-factor: ->
soldiers who have been injured are described briefly

Overall rating: ***

Do you prefer time travel to teach history, regular historical fiction, or nonfiction?

Posted as part of Tween Tuesday, hosted by GreenBeanTeenQueen.

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Elitist Classics--Part 3

7:00 AM Nikki

Science Fiction & Steampunk

It seems like we neglect SF a tad on this site. We treat it, generally, like that little kid on the playground that follows you around like a lost puppy. The thing is, SF has some pretty solid roots, and many of the great, early writers of SF also have huge influences in Steampunk.

H.G. Wells - THE TIME MACHINE
Time travel machines. If this doesn't scream SF to you, you probably need to get your head examined. Published in 1895, THE TIME MACHINE is a prime example of early SF that doesn't seem to ever grow old. Oh sure, writers now days have come up with slicker looking versions of time travel; it's a theme that won't go away. From Connie Willis' BLACKOUT, to the TV show Lost, time travel is always being tinkered with. So why is THE TIME MACHINE still good? Because it deals with a character's reactions to traveling through time and witnessing the future rather than focusing on technology for technology's sake. Wells is known as one of the "Fathers of Science Fiction," but he also is a heavy influence in the realm of Steampunk. Much Steampunk relies on machines that have drawn inspiration from those that Wells describes in his work. Heck, even WoW borrows the aesthetic values of Wells' imagination.

Jules Verne - TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
What is SF if not the imagining of the future? Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before practical applications of those technologies were even realistic. Considered another of the "Fathers of Science Fiction" along with H.G. Wells, released TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES in french in 1869. Again, what makes this story a Classic is it's focus on character, and motivations. Why does a person do what he/she does? Verne has inspired countless works. From THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, to Steampunk novels that use his ideas of submersibles, Verne should be read by everyone.

Ray Bradbury
Where do we start? The Martian Chronicles? FAHRENHEIT 451? We could go on to describe why his works are great and awesome, but we'll leave that to an Elitist Classics review of the the Martian Chronicles coming shortly. All anyone needs to know is that the guy is nothing short of a Science Fiction giant, and legend. Of course, Bradbury doesn't consider himself an SF author. At one time he said that the Martian Chronicles was Fantasy, not SF. Hmm...maybe that's why we like his stuff so much more...

Edgar Rice Burroughs - The Barsoom/Mars Series
Come on, you knew this was coming. Pulp SF? Burroughs? They are practically synonyms. The first Mars novel was was published in 1917, and starred the now famous John Carter. Burroughs is credited as inspiration for a few people you may have heard of; Bradbury, Arthur C Clarke, Robert E. Howard, Lovecraft, and Moorcock. To us, what Burroughs represents is the SF that is full of adventure, and far-flung ideas of exploration. It seems that some SF is all about making the reader feel like they need a Physics Degree to understand the first page. Burroughs was about giving readers an adventure they could sink their teeth into.


We could go on, and on, and on. Philip K Dick anyone? We could talk about Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, and Simmons. We could even talk about Mark Twain. Or how about Hugo Gernsback, for whom the Hugo awards are named? Edgar Allen Poe? Yup, he could be included here too. When you look at modern Science Fiction, and also Steampunk, realize that it all was inspired by someone. It might just change your views on the genre, knowing its roots.

It certainly has for us.


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The Last Stormlord

7:00 AM Nikki

Call me spoiled if you want. After the likes of epic fantasy writers Erikson, Sanderson, and Butcher (and others), I've gotten used to the current trend of jumping right into the middle of the story. You could say I'm a girl who likes her some action. Ahem.

Alas, not all epic fantasy writers have gotten the hint. THE LAST STORMLORD, by Glenda Larke, reminds me of the epic fantasies of 20-odd years ago because the pacing is similar in its devotion to world-building without a visible purpose. There's the standard young boy being trained whose abilities will change the world. A girl on the verge of womanhood, trapped in a life not of her choosing. I probably wouldn't have minded STORMLORD if I haven't already read it, like, one thousand times before in its various incarnations.

The Quartern is a land where water is life. Inhabited by four different cultures, they rely on stormlords--men and women who can manipulate water--to bring the needed water to the cisterns they use for drinking, bathing, and irrigation. Only instead of the usual dozen stormlords to bring water, there's one, and he's dying.

Terelle is a young girl, sold into slavery in a brothel, and when she's old enough she'll begin earning her water tokens like the other girls. But she doesn't want that life, and makes plans to escape. Shale is a water sensitive in the middle of the desert, where magic is considered dangerous, and does his best just to survive. The rainlords of the main cities of the Quatern have spent years trying to find more water sensitives among the populace, but none of them are strong enough to be stormlords. Time is running out, for when the last stormlord dies, there be will be a return to the time of random rain and millions will die as a result.

There's enough action that STORMLORD shouldn't have been boring, but the pacing, flow, and expositional dialogue negates the spurts of excitement--the 670 pages could have been pared down by another 100 to make the novel a smoother read. But despite this wordiness, periods of time are glossed over during the six years the book covers as Slate and Terelle grow up. Larke also glosses over important interactions between our characters, and lacks realistic insight when describing her characters and their interactions. For example, when Slate and Terelle finally cross paths three-quarters into the novel, they develop a relationship, but we never actually see this happen, we just have to take the narrator's word for it. And when the PoV characters do think about their relationship with the other, it's cheesy, which makes me sad because I'm a girl who likes some mushy romance, but this was just lame.

The most fascinating character is Highlord Taquar, one of the city rainlords, whose motivations are twisted and yet just. You aren't really sure if he's doing what he must for power, or a real desire to save the people of the Quatern from a horrible fate. Too bad the protagonists aren't as interesting, and instead the other rainlords are cliche in their dialogue, actions, and personality.

Larke tries so very hard to create a gritty and dark setting, but her writing lacks the subtly necessary to pull it off without sounding corny. In the last hundred pages we're treated with revelations using melodramatic dialogue so cliche I laughed out loud.

STORMLORD has a clever setting and a culture that revolves around a lack of water: it affects what is planted, how people live, what kind of animals exist among them. The magic is a large part of the culture, affecting who rules the Quatern, which could be anyone as long as their water sensitivity is strong enough. There's a lot of potential for the magic with the way it's set up, and I sincerely hope there are big plans for future installments. Unfortunately, spending an entire book devoted to world-building is boring, and could have been better executed.

World-building is important, but so is plot--and it's even better when story and setting intertwine to enrich each other. Unfortunately Larke doesn't really have a story to tell here...not one with an end, anyway. Nothing resolves, and instead we're left with cliffhangers and are forced to continue the next book, STORMLORD RISING, if we want to see any satisfaction. It remains to be seen whether an entire book dedicated to world building and plot set-up is worth the time it has taken to read it.

Recommended Age: 14+
Language: Mild.
Violence: Yes, when there is some action it can be bloody, but there aren't many violent events.
Sex: Implied and some innuendo.


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Book Review: Sleepless by Cyn Balog

3:10 PM mixagrip

Sleepless by Cyn Balog
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication date: July 2010
ISBN: 9780385738484
Source: ARC provided by Traveling ARC Tours

Sleepless


Eron has been a sandman for nearly a hundred years and his term is coming to an end.  He seduces his charges to sleep each night, but he isn't supposed to become too attached to them.  But Eron is feeling inexplicable attracted to Julia, one of those he puts to sleep.  As the time for his return to human life draws near, he tries to teach his replacement who shows little interest in life as a sandman.  Even as he starts his transition to human life, he knows he should stay away from Julia.  But will he be able to stay away from her when she is in danger?

Things I Liked:
This story was quite unique and interesting.  It had an odd mix of sweet and scary elements that worked rather well together.  I was intrigued by the idea of sandmen and the rules they must follow.  Eron was a fabulous hero and you can't help but root for him.  I found myself wanting to know more about his past life and his time as a sandman. Definitely not your typical paranormal romance.
Since I've worked at this stand in the food court since freshman year, pre-Griffin, I have a knack at predicting what certain customers will order.  Judging by their waistlines, I can tell that these girls are fat-free vanilla yogurt in a kiddie-size cake cone all the way. p 46 of ARC
Things I Didn't Like:
I think the interesting premise was really the best part of the book.  I found that the details of the story and many of the characters were lacking.  I was unimpressed with the development, especially the ending.  It felt rushed, short, and way too simplistic.  Things just kind of fell into place very neatly and without a lot of trouble.  Fun story idea, but it just fell flat to me.

Read-alikes:
Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@
scattered throughout

mrg-factor: XX
some implied stuff, nothing explicit

v-factor: ->
a few situations

Overall rating: ***

What do you think of the idea of sandmen lulling you to sleep at night?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


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A Taint in the Blood

7:00 AM Nikki

Shadowspawn used to rule the Earth as gods. But you can get kind of lazy when you're immortal and nearly indestructible. After thousands of years of cross-breeding with humans, today's Shadowspawn posterity isn't as pureblooded, making for all kinds of problems. Even worse, humans have over-populated the Earth and kind of taken over things. By the time you get around to dealing with the issue, you have to do something drastic, say, another plague to wipe out all the extra humans so you can reestablish yourself as the one in charge.

Adrian Brézé may not be pureblood Shadowspawn, but he's got enough that his ability in the Power is stronger than most, and he's decided that the blood is no excuse to treat the human race as sheep. The only problem is that the other almost-purebloods not only outnumber him thousands to one, they would never agree with him to leave humans alone. After years of trying to help the Brotherhood, a group dedicated to the eradication of Shadowspawn, he retires from the civil war. Unfortunately, his sister Adrianne decides to yank him back into Shadowspawn politics by kidnapping his ex-girlfriend. As he works to save Ellen, Adrian discovers the dismaying plans the Council has for the human race.

I'm not sure why, but S.M. Stirling decided it was his turn at a vampire urban fantasy series starting with A TAINT IN THE BLOOD. His successful Change Series has garnered him a well-deserved following, the post-apocalyptic stories grim yet hopeful. Now, instead of a retro Dark Ages setting, he tries his hand at magic and demons. Most of us are getting tired of all the blood-sucking out there (Gaiman thinks so too), but if it's going to stick around, the writing might as well be decent--and fortunately Stirling will force those vampire wannabe writers to step it up a notch, especially in showing how much vampires really are monsters. It's about time.

Stirling's big strength in all his books is world building. Here he takes the traditional vampire lore and twists it into a shape that's more interesting than most urban fantasy. There's the history and origins of modern-day 'demon cannibals' who are born not made, mix in Shadowspawn proclivities and lifestyle, add a pinch of killing methods and details about warfare, and fold in the rules of the Power and how to work around it. Then you bake it into something that looks like a regular cake, but is actually a lava cake filled with chocolaty goodness (couldn't help myself, the novel is filled with all sorts of foodie details).

This book has all the clichés. There's the main character Adrian, the wealthy and brooding immortal who's trying to break away from his evil family and their 'humans are only good for food' attitudes. There's the grizzled mentor Harvey, thrice divorced, who carries around his sawed-off shotgun with silver bullets and used to work with Adrian for the Brotherhood. There's the plucky heroine Ellen with the body of a goddess (she's a dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe...), who endures torture at the hands of Adrian's sadistic sister while she awaits rescue. Have we read all this before? Sure, but not written with this much tongue-in-cheek and depth at the same time.

Yet, while TAINT is better than your average urban fantasy, it has its flaws. The most petty being that Stirling is italics happy--between all the telepathy and PoV character thoughts it got to be a little ridiculous. If you want me to get more serious, then I could complain about how poor Ellen must suffer Adrienne's sadist tendencies, and unfortunately we end up having to watch, including one incredibly unpleasant S&M scene. While Adrienne is a deliciously evil villain, the constant sexual abuse witnessed first hand and talked about among her blood herd of 'lucies' got redundant and overbearing.

One thing that starts out as a strength but ends up becoming a problem later is the pacing. Like his other novels, Stirling starts TAINT at a sprint, and blabs about back history along the way, hoping you can keep up. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't, but the action is enough to keep you reading even if you don't 100% know what's going on. The action does get breakneck enough that readers will stumble and have to re-read when transitions are light on explanation; on the other end of the spectrum is a big gap of time that's glossed over, and even includes a hokey 'Rocky trains for the big fight montage' reference. It kind of felt like Stirling rattled off this book one weekend and had a lot of fun writing it, throwing together interesting concepts along the way, but didn't bother to go back and smooth it all out. What starts out as interesting world building by the end leaves some holes about how the magic works, which is pretty crucial to the plot. Add to that some contrivances, and you read the climax thinking, "What the..." or "That should not have worked."

I really wanted to like TAINT because I enjoyed Stirling's Change Series novels, but while it's well written and interesting, its over-the-top cruelty was difficult for me to read. The novel could give romantic vampire urban fantasy the jump start it needs, forcing realism and excellent writing into a usually fluffy and melodramatic sub-genre, and could attract readers who usually wouldn't pick up this kind of book.

Recommended Age: 18 and up, this book is for adults only.
Language: Yes, and it's relatively frequent.
Violence: Between the fighting, sexual abuse, and torture there's a lot and it's graphic.
Sex: There's quite a bit and the talk can get crass.


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Book Review: The Mark by Jen Nadol

10:00 PM mixagrip

The Mark by Jen Nadol
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Publication date: January 2010
ISBN: 9781599904313
Source: Library

The Mark 

Cassie is not like other teenagers.  She grew up with her grandmother Nan, after her parents died in a car crash when she was only two.  Even more unique, she see's a strange glowing, a mark, on certain people.  At first, she isn't quite sure what it means, but after watching a man die, she is certain the mark appears on those who are going to die that day.  She struggles to deal with the burden of this sight and the memories of those she's seen with the mark.  She must figure out why she sees the mark and most of all, what she should do with that knowledge.
 
Things I Liked:
The ethical implications and philosophical discussions about whether she should tell someone it is their last day or not were very interesting.  In fact, I thought this was the most potent part of the book.  It was pretty refreshing to have a paranormal (sort of) book that discussed these kinds of topics.  Definitely made me think about what I would do if I found out I had one day to live.  Also, the end was very well done with some twists and surprises I wasn't expecting.  A pretty good read (considering I wasn't expecting something fabulous).

Things I Didn't Like:
While I enjoyed the fact that the paranormal aspect of the book was not the most important part, it was a little odd to expect the book to be about this mark, but then have 2/3 of it focus almost exclusively on her relationships with different people.  I wanted to know more about the mark and how her family relates to that ability, but there was very little focus on it.  I also really hated Lucas, her love interest.  He was just blah for me.  Their whole relationship was creepy and bothered me.  I would rather have had no love interest than the one she had.  Overall, interesting, but not quite satisfying.

Read-alikes:
A bit like Evermore by Alyson Noel

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#
quite a bit

mrg-factor: XX
Lucas.  Yuck.

v-factor: ->->
some disturbing images, she does see people die

Overall rating: ***
 
What's do you look for in a paranormal book?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


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