Because of an inordinate amount of stress and busyness in my life of late, I’ve been gravitating towards Young Adult fiction which when
done well, is great for truly escaping into a story. I’ve read three young adult books/series in
the last couple months that have filled this escapist function quite well but
with varying degrees of success and satisfaction. Just for shits and giggles I thought I’d
analyze the why of my differing reaction to the books – a contrast and compare
if you will.
The three books/series I’ll be discussing and my reviews
are:
These books fell out that I loved Seraphina, really liked
The Drake Chronicles and liked The Diviners but with some serious reservations.
In my opinion Seraphina brought everything to the table. It is set in an interesting and developed
world with a society that felt real despite the fact that many of the denizens
were dragons in human form. You could remove the fantastical elements and
it would still work as a story but the inclusion of dragons and their very “other”
natures, gave the book that something special and original. The story was complex and interesting with
the large-in-scope elements that will carry the series being balanced by the
more focused and personal mystery at the heart of this book. Despite being the first in the series the
book never felt like set-up though it did a thorough job of introducing the
world, the characters, and the major issues.
And it was a story that swept me away and engrossed my interest. Probably most important to me were the
extremely likeable, relatable, well developed protagonist and the rest of the
cast which all provided their own unique characters to the puzzle of the story. The book incorporated elements of multiple
genres including fantasy, mystery and romance and above all it had a sense of
humor. It managed to have real drama and serious conflict while also being light-hearted and laugh out loud
funny in parts. Of the three this was
the gold standard from which to compare the other two. It was pretty close to perfect for the type
of book it was.
The Drake Chronicles was the second most enjoyable reading experience but it could not have been more
different than Seraphina. If Seraphina
was a 10 course meal served in a tastefully appointed candlelit dining room,
the Drake Chronicles was a salad of spring greens with balsamic vinaigrette served on a plastic table
at an outdoor café; decidedly less formal and filling but still
pleasant. And also easy to gobble down
quickly. The Drake Chronicles primary
strengths were its delightful, if less thoroughly developed, characters and it’s
fast paced narrative splashed liberally with humor. There were teenage humans and teenage
vampires and a lot of snogging and preternatural romance and of course over-the-top
plots which you don’t want to question too hard or they might crumble and
confess all their shortcomings. The
difference between this series of books and other offerings (cough *Twilight*) was that
these books had fun with it all and were peopled with characters that I would
LOVE to hang out with. All the women/girls
were strong, independent, and could kick-ass and all the men loved them that
way. So while it’s easy to say that
these books don’t have the “literary merit” that Seraphina has; they certainly
don’t have the weight; I’m not sure the accomplishment is any less significant
or impressive.
Which brings me to The Diviners. Like Seraphina, the Diviners combines
elements from several genres and works to set up an ambitiously epic storyline
that will be spooled out over a series of books. But it doesn’t do so with quite the finesse
that Seraphina does, primarily in balancing the requisite set-up that must be
done with the story at the heart of this volume.
Like The Drake Chronicles it employs multiple character perspectives but
it does so a little wildly, and it was therefore less effective and focused than
the Drake Chronicles and not as personal and engaging as Seraphina which has a single narrator. The real problem
however is that, despite all the great things it does with story and mood, it
has some of the most god-awful annoying characters I have ever
encountered. And even though we spend
copious amounts of time in their company and in learning their back story, they
never seem entirely real. So despite the fact that it is definitely a more
sophisticated and weightier novel than any of the Drake Chronicles, I have the controversial
opinion that The Drake's was the more enjoyable read.
Now I am notoriously (in my own mind:) picky about characters and am particularly critical
of female characters, and being able to engage or relate with the characters is
the single most crucial factor, 9 times out of ten, in determining how I feel
about a book. So the fact that I would
love to hang with Lucy of the Drake Chronicles even though she’s a particularly
obnoxious 16 year old and yet spending even three pages reading about Evie O’Neill
made me wish that the big bad in The Diviners had succeeded in eating her, was
the crux of how I ranked my enjoyment of these books.
So is there one particular element in a book that is make it
or break it for you? Anybody else out
there who can be reduced to a ball of incandescent rage by a character in a
novel especially when that is not the intention of the author? Which brings up the
writing craft of character development.
I don’t doubt for a second that if I tried to write a character they
would be insipid and full of contradictions and generally horrifying, so I’m fascinated by
how authors create their characters and if they know beforehand exactly how the
character will come across? Libba Bray
obviously knows that Evie is selfish, arrogant, vain and obnoxious but she
obviously still likes her because she made her the heroine. Indeed many readers seem to have no problem
liking and/or engaging with Evie. So
what makes my reaction (and a few other readers) so different? I compare Evie to Lily Bart from House of
Mirth who is also selfish, arrogant, and vain and yet I sympathized and related
to her immensely while not entirely liking her.
What’s the difference?
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