Abandon, by Meg Cabot
20 Aug 2012
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![Abandon. Meg Cabot. Book Review: Two years ago, Pierce Oliviera died. [Image:sailing ship] Since then things haven't been the same—she was expelled from school, and her parents have separated. Pierce's mom thinks they can start over on Isla Huesos, but there are some changes Pierce can't escape: her terrible nightmares, her memory of the underworld, and the angry, handsome death deity who can't let her go. [Image: necklace] The main character has an interesting backstory, and the mythology is well-crafted, but the central romance was nothing but repulsive to me.](/assets/img/abandon.png)
Good for: Paranormal romance fans who are into this kind of thing.
I understand that the romantic relationship of this book is just another element of the fantasy, and that for many the romance with someone so obsessively in love is a fun literary escape. And yeah, that aspect is certainly true to the Persephone myth this is based on. But for me, watching Pierce fall for an obsessed, all-powerful controlling jerk was just nauseating.
Grave Mercy, by Robin LaFevers
16 Aug 2012
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![Grave Mercy. Robin LaFevers. Book Review: Ismae bears the mark of death—it marks her as unlucky, an outcast. But it also marks her for induction into the convent of St. Mortain and for training as an elite assassin. When she is sent on her first true assignment, Ismae finds that knowing when to take a life is not as simple as listening to her sisters—it may be more important to listen to her heart. The author's attempts to create an ambitious and interesting mythology are laudable, but the dialog comes across as stilted and unnatural rather than historically accurate, and the major plot points are obvious to anyone who's read a novel before. [Image: an exploded diagram shows the locations of various weapons hidden under the dress of a fancy lady]](/assets/img/gravemercy.png)
Good for: While the book is awfully predictable, some people really enjoy getting exactly what they expect out of a story. And I can't say it wasn't entertaining. Aimed at young adults.
I felt that the book started out very poorly, but by the end I did get some satisfaction from the story. But I'm pretty sure it was just the satisfaction of everything turning out exactly as one would expect, after having every event of a 500 page book telegraphed in the first 50 pages.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente
14 Aug 2012
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![Book Review: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. Catherynne M. Valente. [Image shows a girl with one shoe, and a continent, surrounded by clouds]](/assets/img/girlwhocircumnavigated.png)
12-year-old September is lonely and bored, so she jumps at the chance to be abducted from her home in Omaha by the Green Wind and left on the shores of Fairyland, where it seems quite likely that she is the only one who can stop the evil (but very well-hatted) Marquess.
This enchanting, playful book is a familiar, old-fashioned Fairyland tale with dark, modern edges. Extremely enjoyable, although the ambitious writing style and clever wordplay can sometimes overshadow the story.
Good for: touted as all ages, but it is not at all childish. In fact, while reading it I thought many younger kids would struggle with the difficult language and dark edges of the story, but I'm probably overthinking things. I'm sure the same has been said many times about novels popular with children.
Read my review of The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Unseen Guest, by Maryrose Wood
08 Aug 2012
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![The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Unseen Guest. Maryrose Wood. Book Review: Miss Lumley has been instructing the Incorrigibles in birdwatching (rather than bird-catching-and-eating), when the long-absent widow Ashton arrives at Ashton Place with her new beau, Admiral Faucet, and a rather impressive bird specimen. When the Admiral's racing ostrich escapes into the woods, the Incorrigibles' very specialized skills are needed... but if let into the forest to track it, will the Incorrigibles fall back into their wild ways? This book does a great job of keeping the mysteries going, while still providing enough clues to satisfy the reader. As usual, it left me in stitches. [Image shows Miss Lumley astride an ostrich, and each of the Incorrigibles (two boys and a girl) astride wolves, running through the woods.]](/assets/img/incorrigiblechildren3.png)
Good for: kids and up! Heck, get all the Incorrigible Children books for the art alone.
Every time I finish an Incorrigible Children book (The Mysterious Howling, The Hidden Gallery), I try to find out when the next one is coming, and the next one isn't scheduled until March again and I have no idea what to do with myself in the meantime! Ahwooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The 10th Anniversary of Coraline!
10 May 2012
This year is the 10th anniversary of one of my favorite books: Coraline, by Neil Gaiman. I reviewed it as part of All Hallows Read last October:
There's a special 10th anniversary edition out—the ebook edition has audio and video enhancements! Even after all this time, Coraline is still pretty high up there on my list of awesome things. I've read it at least ten times in the past 10 years, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
Liesl & Po, by Lauren Oliver
01 May 2012
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![Liesl & Po. Lauren Oliver. Book Review: Liesl has been locked in the attic. Her father has died, and she never got to say goodbye. She is all alone. But then she is visited by Po... [Image shows a girl and two indistinct, glowing figures, one human-shaped and one like a dog or cat.] A story that successfully weaves together many different characters and their storylines is a rare treat. [Image shows a poorly dressed boy in the snow at night. An old man watches him from a doorway] Some of the plot is rather obvious, even for children, but the story, which is mainly about dealing with loss, is lovely. [Image shows two boxes]](/assets/img/lieslandpo.png)
Good for: Fans of stories that juggle many separate, but ultimately unified plots and characters—it reminded me a lot of The Magician's Elephant. A sweet story suitable for children (who can handle concepts like "death" and maybe "murder" and won't get freaked out by "ghosts").
The Infernals, by John Connolly
26 Apr 2012
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![The Infernals. John Connolly. Book Review: When the infernal hordes came to invade and destroy our world, Samuel Johnson stopped them. But now, he's been dragged into theirs.. . But now, he's been dragged into theirs... Not as heavy on the footnotes as The Gates, very funny, and an entertaining read. Can be just a tad overly saccharine. [Image shows a silhouette of a boy holding a dog on a field of rusty red, surrounded by bright red pitchforks]](/assets/img/infernals.png)
Good for: People who enjoyed the first one (The Gates), people who enjoy Terry Pratchett, people who like jokes, especially jokes about science!
Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, with illustrations by Carson Ellis
24 Apr 2012
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![Wildwood. Colin Meloy, with illustrations by Carson Ellis. Book Review: Prue McKeel can barely believe it when a murder of crows absconds with her baby brother—so who would believe it if she told them? There's nothing to do but follow the crows into the Impassable Wilderness just outside Portland, Oregon, to steal back her brother and rescue him from whatever fate awaits him in the woods [Black and white image shows a child held aloft by the talons of crows, being carried away far above a woodland scene where a girl stands, waving her arms next to a fallen bicycle]. This story is the start of a series, and a pretty fascinating one so far. Prue, and her classmate Curtis, who follows her into the woods, face horrific dangers and discover magical wonders in the secret country hidden in the Impassable Wilderness. The tone is dreamlike and eerie—it makes for great bedtime reading. The denizens of the Wood and their politics and military alliances were well thought out and well described, though I found Colin Meloy's focus on military uniforms and their associated vocabulary, of which he has an apparently vast knowledge, a little distracting [Image shows a civil war style military uniform: a hat, tunic with shiny buttons and belt buckle, and pants].](/assets/img/wildwood.png)
Good for: Kids (and up) who enjoy eerie fantasy in which magical realms appear out of familiar landscapes, and especially those tales in which all the grownups are evil or ineffectual. Also, Civil War re-enactors.
The Last Dragonslayer, by Jasper Fforde
19 Apr 2012
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![The Last Dragonslayer. Jasper Fforde. Book Review: In a world with electricians, plumbers, and taxis, with magic levels so low as to make magicians about as useful as electricians, plumbers, and taxis, the talent of the Kazam agency isn't in high demand. But then there's a prophecy so big, it's felt by the entire magical community—about the death of the last dragon, and the return of magic... Everything is perfectly placed for the law-breaking dragon to die at the prophecized time, but it all seems a little too perfect to Kazam's indentured orphan and operating manager, Jennifer Strange. And her opinion on the matter is about to become a lot more important... Feels familiarly Ffordish, with its heroine's stoic attitude and constantly busy, zany storythreads, but has its own unique universe where girls drive cars to visit dragons and magic exists alongside the tv news. [Image shows a bluish dragon sitting opposite a girl leaning against a spiky car. Also there's a lance.]](/assets/img/lastdragonslayer.png)
Good for: Though billed as a young adult book, the only thing this book does differently from other Jasper Fforde books is lack a ton of literary allusions, so really it should have an even wider audience! The slightly off-kilter treatment of standard fantasy tropes is really fun.
I have to apologize to you guys about this review! I may have set you up for a disappointment. I heard about this book and got a copy through my library system back in December. At the time, you could buy a copy of the book online. But now, it's no longer for sale in the US, and the book isn't set to be released in the US until October! I have no idea what kind of publishing issues Jasper Fforde is having. US readers can preorder the book, or order a copy from someone in the UK.
One of our Thursdays is Missing, by Jasper Fforde
17 Apr 2012
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It's been a while, I know! I had to buy a new scanner.
Today's review is (once again) part of a pretty long ongoing series, and comes bundled with an illustrated primer.
Thursday Next Primer
Thursday Next lives in Britain in a world very like our own, except Wales is a separated communist republic, a shady multinational corporation called Goliath has its hand in everything, there's time travel, werewolves, vampires, other assorted supernatural creatures, lots of successful cloning of just about everything (including dodos, like Thursday's pet, Pickwick), people travel mainly by zeppelin and something called a "gravitube," and it's possible to jump into books. So, not really like our own world much after all.
Each of these books has six or seven plots that may or may not all come together in the end. I will just cover a couple of major ones for each book in this primer.
The Eyre Affair
Thursday Next is a Literary Detective, part of SpecOps-27, investigating forgeries of works by famous authors and other literary crime. Her father is a rogue Chronoguard who has technically been eradicated, but still pops up from time to time. When an attempt to capture a truly evil man becomes a bloody fiasco, Thursday's Aunt and Uncle are kidnapped, and characters start disappearing from literature, Thursday is the only one who can stop it...
Lost in a Good Book
When Thursday refuses to cooperate with the evil multinational Goliath corporation, they have her husband eradicated. Now Thursday has to try to get him back while also taking on an apprenticeship at Jurisfiction, the organization policing literature from within, and dealing with a sudden onslaught of deadly coincidences. As if that weren't enough to manage, Thursday is pregnant—but if her husband has been eradicated, whose baby is she carrying?
The Well of Lost Plots
With Goliath after her and Landen still eradicated, a quite pregnant Thursday decided to take a much-needed break from reality. But being a full-time Jurisfiction agent, living in a soon-to-be-scrapped book in the Well of Lost Plots, is nowhere near as relaxing as she'd have hoped—especially as it seems someone is out to get her and her colleagues at Jurisfiction.
Something Rotten
Thursday Next has been a living in fiction for two years and could really use a dose of reality—and her toddler, Friday, who's been partially raised by a fictional gorilla and currently speaks nothing but Lorem Ipsum, could really use a father. But going home (with Hamlet in tow) and getting her husband returned means wrestling once more with the Goliath Corporation...
The Great Samuel Pepys Fiasco
This book does not actually exist.
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels
12 years after the last Thursday Next book, Thursday, Landen, and their three children are living in Swindon, and after the dissolution of SpecOps Thursday has become a carpet salesperson—as a cover for her continued SpecOps work, for being an illicit cheese smuggler, and for her continued work at Jurisfiction.
which brings us to....
One of Our Thursdays is Missing
![One of our Thursdays is Missing. Jasper Fforde. Book Review: As the fictional Thursday Next goes through the motions of her less-than-satisfying book series, she makes a startling discovery. The real Thursday seems to be missing—and Bookworld officials can't decide if they want fictional Thursday to find her, or BE her. The mystery of Thursday's disappearance will bring fictional Thursday and her recently acquired robot butler on an adventure through the reformatted Bookworld, including a foray into the real world and a trip to the shores of Racy Novel. There's a lot of retconning in this book, but if you've been reading Jasper Fforde for a while, you're already used to that. While the story is a lot slower-paced than is usual for the series, reading from the perspective of a Bookworld character is fascinating. [Image shows a gray globe, split in half to show a world on the INSIDE. Books float through the air above the continents.]](/assets/img/oneofourthursdays.png)
Good for: Fans of literature, general zaniness, and British humour will enjoy the Thursday Next series, and fans of the Thursday Next series will enjoy this book.
Read my review of the next book in the series, The Woman Who Died A Lot