Aug
18
This is a book I picked up at the library on a whim. Good choice!
The World Above is a retelling of the story of Jack & the Beanstalk. Only this time, Jack has a twin sister, they are returning to the home their mother left before they were born, and there’s even a bit of the Robin Hood legend tossed in for good measure.
The narrator, Gen (Jack’s sister), is appealing. She considers herself to be very practical and Jack to be… well… impractical. Yet she willingly embarks upon the adventure Jack brings home with him when he exchanges the cow for some beans.
The characters are interesting, the story compelling, and I quite enjoyed this take on the story. I will be requesting more of Dokey’s works over the next while; expect to see reviews of them soon!
Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult four stars
Aug
09
I used to read historical romance novels all the time. Victoria Holt (and her other pseudonyms) was a favourite author when I was in high school. It’s a pretty good way for a girl with no head for history to learn all about it.
Of course, Maid Marian is historical fiction that takes a folk heroine and gives her back story, character, and motivation beyond that which we typically see in the Robin Hood tales.
The story is a first person narrative, and follows Marian from the time her first husband was killed (she was married at the age of five; the marriage was never consummated). Marian is a headstrong sort, a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to do what she has to do in order to get it. She’s also a bit impulsive, and sometimes acts without thinking.
Marian meets Robin Hood on purpose, seeking his help with a scheme that she hopes will keep her from having to remarry a man she does not love. This scheme succeeds, but she is uncertain as to her next move. Robin rescues her, and she and her nurse go to live in Sherwood.
Over time, of course, Marian and Robin fall in love. They are well-matched in wit and knowledge of the world, and keep one another sharp. Together, they come up with a plan to obtain possession of Marian’s rightful lands (she is a Lady, after all), and put it into practice once they are wed.
The conclusion is predictable only in that we know they must, after all, succeed; for this is Robin Hood. I enjoyed the story’s twists and turns, even the ones I saw coming. The narrative voice is engaging, but I do think Marian spends rather too much time inside her own head. The woman needs more people to talk to!
Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Historical, Young Adult four stars
Jul
12
Anyone who has watched the middle seasons of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer should know who Amber Benson is – she played Tara, Willow’s girlfriend, the death of whom launched Evil Willow. (Sorry if that’s a spoiler for anyone, but really the series has been over for rather a long time, so if you haven’t seen it yet it’s not my fault.)
I am always pleased to learn that an actor I have watched has become a novelist; Benson’s work is delightful. I read Death’s Daughter last year and snatched up Cat’s Claw as soon as I learned of its existence. Perhaps one of the best things about reading authors who are very much alive is that they do tend to keep coming out with new books to read – so you don’t get to the end!
Calliope Reaper-Jones is Death’s daughter. As in, her father runs Death, Inc. I would say that you don’t have to read Death’s Daughter before reading Cat’s Claw, but it would probably help – and why not start with the book that introduced her?
Both books are rife with humour. Benson’s prose is light and engaging, and the stories are entertaining and suspenseful. There is a mystery to be solved of some kind (though this is not really a mystery novel), and Callie has to figure it all out – with the help of various gods, goddesses, and other supernatural creatures.
Posted in Fantasy, Fiction five stars
May
26
I had never heard of Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising Sequence until it was mentioned on a blog that I read. I forget which blog, but I know it was an author blog, and I know that I’ve never read any of the blogger’s books but I love her blog. (Helpful, aren’t I?)
Over Sea, Under Stone was written in the 1960s (well, it was published then, at least), and is in a familiar style. Fans of Enid Blyton’s works (particularly Five Children and It) will probably like this book – I know I sure did! It was refreshing to read something that reminds me so much of my childhood – not because I grew up in England, but because the writing style reminds me of many of the books I read as a child.
I borrowed all of the books in the series at the same time, and the librarian was very excited to hear that I hadn’t read them before. She put them all in order for me and everything!
Okay, enough with the reminiscing. Let’s get on with the story!
Over Sea, Under Stone is the first in a series of five books. We meet the three Drew children (none of them named Nancy), who are spending the summer in Trewissick, on holiday with their parents. They quickly become embroiled in a wonderful quest that has some rather dangerous folk involved. Their Great-Uncle Merry (affectionately known as “Gumerry”) helps them as much as he can, but it is up to the children to make the final fantastic discovery and save the day.
It’s another take on the Arthur story, and I can’t wait to read the rest of it!
Posted in Children's, Fantasy, Fiction five stars
May
20
This is probably a very good “first” book, if you are unfamiliar with Charles de Lint’s work and want to see if he’s an author you’d enjoy. He’s one of my faves, but I’ve also been reading his stuff since… oh, the early 1990s, so I may be biased. *wink*
This is a Young Adult fantasy novel. As with all of de Lint’s work (that I’ve read), it’s urban fantasy of the type I adore: regular people living the regular, everyday world encounter the fantastic and discover that faerie is real.
Imogene is the girl from the wrong side of the tracks (Tyson), new to her school in Newford when she meets Maxine, an outcast from early on due to her smarts and… shall we say “conservative” wardrobe. Imogene, anything but conservative (she spent the first ten years of her life on a hippie commune in Ontario), befriends Maxine, and the two girls have a good influence on each other.
Then they meet a ghost, who is friends with some fairies. And then things get a bit scary, and a bit weird, and Imogene and Maxine will never be the same.
One of my favourite parts of this book is when Imogene’s mother finds out about faerie and is able to see Imogene’s childhood “imaginary friend” (because they are actually real, you know) and deals with it okay… and then when Imogene’s brother, Jared, comes in and is also able to see Pelly (short for Pell-Mell), he totally takes it all in stride – as though seeing Pelly makes perfect sense, is perfectly logical, and is an everyday occurrence.
So yeah, definitely read this one. Read it if you love Charles de Lint. Read it if you’ve never read Charles de Lint. Read it if you didn’t like something else he’s written – maybe this will change your mind. (Oh, also, not all of his stuff is YA, but most of it does occur in the same world – that is, characters who are featured in some books will be mentioned or be minor characters in others.)
Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult five stars
Apr
23
This was a tremendous score for me. It was another purchase from the clearance section at McNally Robinson, and it’s by an author whose work I love nearly as much as Charles de Lint’s and Robin McKinley’s!
This book is a collection of short stories. I don’t often read collections of short stories, but I’m always pleased to lay hands on a good one.
There are amusing stories (though Pierce claims to have little ability in this area), dramatic stories, simple stories, complex stories, stories that read like legends, stories that read like you’re right there with the characters… this book has near everything you could wish for in a collection of short stories. I highly recommend it.
(Other books by Meredith Ann Pierce include The Birth of the Firebringer trilogy and The Darkangel trilogy, all of which I own. Because I’m like that. And because The Darkangel is breathtakingly brilliant.)
Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult five stars
Apr
01
So we were at a book store (McNally Robinson), as we often are, and I was getting stressed about finding a book to buy because we go there to get a book and then sit in the restaurant and read and have food.
So I was starting to get anxious, because my fiance always seems to find books really quickly. And then, in the young adult clearance books, I came across a three-book boxed set of Levine’s books. Ella Enchanted I knew of, since I had seen the movie several years ago while babysitting (I get to see a lot of movies that way; I should start a movie review blog next year), so I grabbed the set and made for the cashier.
This was a great choice. And yet again, I must note that movies generally pale in comparison to the original written works upon which they are based. The book is so much richer than the movie! (I do think casting was excellent, it’s the script I take issue with.)
For anyone who doesn’t know what the book is about, well, it’s sort of Cinderella, but with a few twists. Ella had a “gift” given at her birth that makes her obedient unto death – if someone (anyone; there is no discrimination between parents, friends, acquaintances, or servants) tells her to do something, she must comply or face unbearable pain and discomfort. As a result, Ella is a rebel at heart… and compliant in action.
She finally gets tired of the whole thing and sets out in search of the fairy who gave her this “gift.” There are plenty of adventures, and of course it’s a fairy tale, so you know she gets the prince in the end, but how she gets there is the point of the book.
An enjoyable romp through a world I rather enjoyed and can’t wait to revisit.
Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult four stars
Mar
19
I read a bunch of author blogs (are you surprised? You shouldn’t be) and someone (I forget who) recommended this book to her general readership.
What a trip!
This is a Young Adult novel (really more for kids in middle school or junior high), but I think it’s one that adults will enjoy as well – especially if you have fond memories of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time.
This isn’t comparable to L’Engle’s works; overall, it is a more simple story, told in a much simpler manner. But there are things about it that put it in the same class as A Wrinkle in Time.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a relatively quick read, and one I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone of any age.
(There is some minor violence and talk of death in this book, so be aware if your reader is sensitive to those things.)
Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult four stars
Jan
13
I make no secret of the fact that Robin McKinley is my favourite author. One of my goals is to own one copy of each of her books. There are a few early works that I’m missing, but I’m getting caught up.
Chalice is a pleasant read. I started out reading it on the bus to the gym, and finished it on the couch at home – I simply got to the point where I needed to know what happened next!
One of the things I have always appreciated about Robin McKinley is her ability to draw a world so fully that I believe I am there while I read the book. Chalice was no disappointment. In fact, I found it difficult to read this book while on the bus, because looking up at the book gave me the incredibly surreal feeling that the book was the real world, while the people around me – and the bus itself – were merely figments of my imagination!
Mirasol is the new Chalice, a mystical office given to a woman with a deep connection to the land of her demesne. There are several of these offices, but the Chalice is second of the Circle. Usually a new Chalice has been apprenticed, but Mirasol was not that lucky.
The demesne is also without a Master. The Master also has a deep connection with his land. We are told that the previous Chalice and Master died at the same time, though just what happened remains something of a mystery. It seems that nobody is quite sure what went on.
The new Master arrives; he is the brother of the previous Master, who died without Heir. This new Master, however, had been sent away to become a priest of Fire, and had very nearly achieved the point of no return. There is question as to whether or not he will be able to reclaim his humanity and his heritage, and take over and unite his demesne.
There has never before been a Chalice whose affinity is with honey – usually they are aligned with water or with wine – and there has never before been an Elemental Priest who returned to humanity. The question is: can a honey Chalice hold her demesne together, and can this priest of Fire claim and hold his position as Master of the demesne?
Posted in Fantasy, Fiction five stars
Jan
07
I love to read fantasy, especially retellings of favourite fairy stories. Trust me, I’m well aware of the true history of faerie tales and the gussied up versions we read our children when they are small. I enjoy all manner of takes on classic tales, whether they be inspired by the toned-down versions or the original, bloody ones.
So when I saw The Swan Kingdom on the shelf in the Young Adult section the other day at Indigo, I was all over it. The title made me wonder if it was, perhaps, a retelling of the wonderful story of The Wild Swans – that story of the silent princess who must knit sweaters for her twelve brothers, who have been turned to swans, and manages to save them all even though one sweater is missing a sleeve in the end. I was not disappointed.
There are certainly differences in this story, as I expect with all my fairy stories. This princess has only three brothers, and the process she calls “knitting” doesn’t seem to resemble the knitting I do in front of the television in the evening! But I am not complaining – I love to see different authors’ takes on stories I love just as much as I love writing my own versions.
Ms Marriott draws us into a world well-imagined and well-formed. I believed the story from beginning to end – by which I don’t mean that I believed it could truly happen in our world, but that I believed that the events of the story followed a logical chain of events. The people in the story behaved in character, and their actions were believable. The descriptions of the magic and the earth-religion it draws from were also believable and likely drawn from historical descriptions of village healers. This story takes place in a world that is still of a time when women knew the earth and herbs, and every village had at least one “cunning woman,” who could whip up a potion or a poultice to help with wounds and sickness.
I thought that the heroine’s modesty and growing awareness of her own sexuality was handled quite well, and with the only sexual contact being a couple of chaste kisses, I would not hesitate to recommend this book for any age.
My complaints are few. I would have liked more development of the primary romantic relationship, but I recognize the limitations of the young adult genre. In addition, I would have liked a bit more exploration of the story behind the heroine’s favourite song.
Small quibbles, to be sure, and I will be on the lookout for more books by this author in the coming months.
Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult five stars
This is a book I picked up at the library on a whim. Good choice!
