REVIEW | The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Cathrynne M. Valente

The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Cathrynne M. Valente

Publication Year: 2013

Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade
Series: Fairy Land #3

Awards: Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book, 2014
Format: Audio (from Library)

Narrator: The Author

SYNOPSIS:  September is now 14 and she has waited a whole year for her birthday to roll around and her 3rd trip to fairyland to begin.  But her birthday comes and goes, and she is afraid she will never go back until, when she least expects it, an irascible Blue Wind shows up and grudgingly allows her to hitch a ride to the moon above fairyland.  After a happy reunion with L and Saturday, September and her friends must go on a journey to find a Yeti who is terrorizing the moon's citizens.  

THOUGHTS:

I should really give Cathrynne Valente credit for at least co-writing this post because a big chunk of it will be in her own words.

Why?  I love this series though they are not the most riveting books in the world and they take forever to read, especially for a middle grade book.  They sometimes feel like they are just a collection of creative ideas Valente had  - really, really creative with beautiful imagery - but with a barely-even-there plot.  They are dreamy and odd.  The characters took me a bit to warm up to though I must profess that I do now adore September, A-through-L and Saturday.  Here's the thing, though. The reason I love them. I'll be listening-reading along, feeling ever-so-slightly bored and then this will happen:

“A silent Library is a sad Library. ... A Library should be full of exclamations! Shouts of delight and horror as the wonders of the world are discovered or the lies of the heavens are uncovered or the wild adventures of devil-knows-who sent romping out of the pages. A Library should be full of now-just-a-minutes and that-can't-be-rights and scientifick folk running skelter to prove somebody wrong. It should positively vibrate with laughing at comedies and sobbing at tragedies, it should echo with gasps as decent ladies glimpse indecent things and indecent ladies stumble upon secret and scandalous decencies! A Library should not shush; it should roar!” 

And this...

 “Marriage is a wrestling match where you hold on tight while your mate changes into a hundred different things. The trick is that you're changing into a hundred other things, but you can't let go. You can only try to match up and never turn into a wolf while he's a rabbit, or a mouse while he's still busy being an owl, a brawny black bull while he's a little blue crab scuttling for shelter. It's harder than it sounds.” 

And this...

“Listen to me. Love is a Yeti. It is bigger than you and frightening and terrible. It makes loud and vicious noises. It is hungry all the time. It has horns and teeth and the force of its fists is more than anyone can bear. It speeds up time and slows it down. And it has its own aims and missions that those who are lucky enough to see it cannot begin to guess. You might see a Yeti once in your life or never. You might live in a village of them. But in the end, no matter how fast you think you can go, the Yeti is always faster than you, and you can only choose how you say hello to it, and whether you shake its hand.” 

And yet again, this...

 “September tried to show her sternness. It was becoming a habit. She could show her sternness and think about this another time, when it was quiet and no new red Moon turned somersaults in the sky.
But when she reached for her sternness, all September found in her heart was the bar of a trapeze, swinging wild, inviting her to catch it.
...She leaned up and kissed her Marid and hoped it was the right thing. Her heart caught the bar and swung out, swung wild, over the lights and the gasps below, reaching for a pair of sure blue hands in the air and willing them to find hers.” 

 And finally, a whole lot of this...

“Oh, aren't you just the rottenest wet blanket whoever spoiled a sport.” 

In other words, whenever I start to get a little bored or dismiss the books for having too little plot and flow, Valente hits me with a sentiment which is made of beautiful words and a unique perspective that makes my brain stretch.  And occasionally laugh out loud.  That's why I keep coming back to this beautiful middle grade series.

FINAL VERDICT: It's always good to visit with September and her friends and this installment has a lot of great imagery and thoughts about growing up. 3.5 out of 5 Stars

REVIEW | The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

Publication Year: 2011

Genre: Middle-Grade, Paranormal Mystery (Urban Fantasy?)
Series: Lockwood & Co. #1

Awards: It did not win any but was nominated for a couple
Format: Audio (from Library)

Narrator: Miranda Raison

WHY?:  It's about kids who hunt ghosts.  Who doesn't want to read that?

SYNOPSIS: In an England that has been overtaken by spirits that only children can see, Lockwood & Co. is one of the many agencies that people can hire to rid themselves of ghostly problems.  When one of their cases goes spectacularly wrong, Lockwood, Lucy and George, who make up the agency, must take on an extremely deadly assignment; to quiet the spirits in the most haunted house in England.   

THOUGHTS:

I am fascinated by ghosts but, strangely, I haven't found many books featuring them that I really love.  I'm happy to say that the first book in the middle-grade Lockwood & Co. series is a book about ghosts that really worked for me.  It is exciting, has a multi-layered plot and a distinct take on ghosts and the hunting of them.

The story is told from the perspective of Lucy Carlyle.  In the England the book is set in, something has occurred that has caused spirits to manifest all over the country and these ghosts are not just a spooky nuisance.  If one touches you, you don't just feel a chill, you die.

Children under a certain age (15 or so) are the only people who can actually see the ghosts and some kids are more adept at it than others.  Lucy is one of the more talented ones so she is recruited at a young age to become a ghost hunter.  Ghost hunters usually work in a group supervised by an adult who can't see the ghost but takes feedback from the children and develops the plan of action.  When Lucy's handler loses his nerve and makes a bad call during an assignment, sending all but she to their deaths, Lucy decides to strike out on her own and heads to London to see if she can find a better situation.

She ends up being hired by Lockwood & Co. which is unique in that it employs no adult handlers.  In fact, it is just Lockwood and his confederate George.  Adding Lucy makes them a threesome working out of Lockwood's large house left to him by his parents who are mysteriously missing.  Each of them brings something different to the table.  Lockwood is very smart and bold, a good planner, strategist and leader and is also very good at seeing ghostly phenomena.  George is a science and research dork who spends his time tinkering with ghostly artifacts and doing background research for their cases.  Lucy is very talented at hearing ghostly phenomena and at getting emotional readings and flashbacks from the dead and objects associated with them.  All together they make a good team and they are all glad not to have the supervision of adults.

Normally, that whole idea of kids doing dangerous things and not involving adults, is a barrier when I reader literature aimed at a younger audience.  What for a younger reader is empowering, I find unrealistic and frustrating.  However, there was none of that in this story.  Lucy's experience with her adult mentor at the start of the story and the maturity of Lockwood and all of the gang really convinced me that they are better off taking care of themselves.  It's a fascinating power structure to explore, with kids having a useful and necessary skill that adults don't, and the story does a good job of imagining what this would mean  - it both empowers the kids as well as making them vulnerable for exploitation.

The idea of kids having this "superpower" denied to adults is only one of the very interesting things in the universe Stroud builds.  At first I thought the book was set in a historical setting, likely Victorian, as some of the trappings of the story and setting suggest but actually the book is set contemporarily or even slightly in the future.  There are television sets and other modern things but the phenomenon of the ghosts appearing has scrambled society in many ways.  And that's one layer of the story that will likely be a constant in the series; what happened to "awaken" the ghosts and how can it be stopped once and for all.

The specific plot of the book is also pretty great.  It is a little slow to get started but it builds to a really exciting and pretty scary climax.  Lockwood & Co. are trying to keep the agency open after a disastrous case and partially as a ploy to get positive publicity they are trying to track down who murdered a young socialite who has become a very restless and murderous ghost.  Their involvement in the cold case brings to them the business of an enigmatic millionaire who wishes them to "clean" out his house which is reputed to be the most haunted in a very haunted England.  The night they spend at the house is chilling and exciting!  My only complaint is that Lockwood has information/suspicions that he does not share with his colleagues and there doesn't seem to be any reason for him to do this except to build suspense and conflict in the story, but I'll let it slide because it leads to a great reveal in the end.

Finally, all three of the main characters are great.  George is the least developed of the three but his peculiarities and bickering with Lucy and Lockwood add much of the humor in the book which lightens up what would be a completely dark tale otherwise.  Lucy, as narrator is the one we get to know best and she's a great character, being both traumatised and extremely brave and empathetic.  She's got attitude and her narrative voice is engaging and provides interesting perspective.  Lockwood is charming and immediately likable but he is also a huge mystery and I expect that also to be one of the plot threads that carries throughout the series.

Taken as a whole this was a really good start to a series and I think it would go over really well with all age groups.  It doesn't shy away from the scary parts so if your young reader is on the easily frightened side I might be a little wary.  I listened to the audio and the narrator, who I think is new to me, was great.  She is essentially the voice of Lucy and I think she did a great job bringing her to life.

FINAL VERDICT:  A nicely creepy, complex and ultimately exciting ghost hunter story aimed at middle-grade readers though it als entertained my middle-aged brain. Will definitely be continuing the series.  4 out of 5 stars. 

OTHER OPINIONS ARE AVAILABLE: Star-Crossed Book Blog | A Thousand Lives of Frankie Lively

REVIEW | The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Publication Year: 2016

Genre: Fantasy, YA
Series: The Star-Touched Queen # 1

Awards: A bunch of local YA awards
Format: Audio (from Library)

Narrator: Priya Ayyar

WHY?:  The book internets went berserk over this one and I was intrigued by it's Indian mythology inspiration. 

SYNOPSIS:  Maya is a princess with a horrible horoscope hanging over her head.  To escape her fate, or perhaps at its whim, she marries the mysterious Amar and becomes the queen of Akaran.  Unfortunately the strangely deserted court of Akaran is steeped in secrets and mystery which leads Maya to make an ill-informed decision that might have dire consequences.  

THOUGHTS:

Well, it's unpopular opinion time because this book just wasn't for me and I knew it pretty early on.  Since it's not a book that angered me, beyond the disappointment, so this shouldn't be too much of a rant and I'll make it short.

The book is inspired by a number of Hindu myths and it has a very fable-like feel to it which I think may be at the heart of why it did not work for me.  Straight up fables and fairy tales work for me if they are short, but most don't have enough character depth or detail to work as a long-form narrative. They are the sketch of a story with a simple theme and characters that are mostly important for what they symbolise.  That's why it is awesome when authors take a fairy tale and really flesh it out  - breathe life and recognizable motivations into the characters and surround the framework with a fully realized society and world.

One thing I thought The Star-touched Queen did pretty well was the setting and world development.  It's a unique setting and I liked that it was a little unsettling and on the edge of creepy.

AND...I struggled with pretty much everything else.  The protagonists, Maya and Amar, felt very flat to me.  I had little interest in either of them and their romance felt forced and insta-lovey even though it's not really?  The character's motivations were too opaque or seemed inconsistent or just didn't make sense to me.  When Maya shows up at Akaran, nothing makes sense and Amar keeps saying that he is prevented from telling her anything, because reasons.  This is frustrating for her and she is extremely wary and untrusting. Okay fine.  But then another character comes along, unknown to her, who blatantly manipulates her and she trusts this person immediately, no problem.  She is also extremely protective of her homeland and family even though, because of her horoscope, she had been treated mostly abusively and shunned.  It would make sense for her to have some loyalty but I'm not sure the solidarity and betrayal she feels when her people are in danger, really makes sense with what we know? Basically, neither character felt real or understandable nor were they compelling and with that the case the rest of the book was going to have an uphill climb.

And it just didn't get up the hill.  I thought the storytelling was choppy and erratic and much of the conflict in the story felt forced.   I also really didn't love the prose which was a little flowery for my taste.  In short, it felt like a fable that was awkwardly stretched to novel length and not enough was done to give it more depth.  The setting and circumstances were often interesting and strange but the characters lacked understandable motivation and the whole book had a rather dream-like quality which tends to not appeal to me. Also the demon flesh-eating horse that everyone loves?  I just thought she was weird.  

I listened to the book on audio and the narrator Priya Ayyar was good.  Nothing special but nice voice and good fit with the character of Maya who has the perspective.  

FINAL VERDICT: This fable-like book just did not work for me on many levels (character, storytelling, prose) but it should be noted I am in the minority, big time!   2 out of 5 stars

OTHER OPINIONS ARE AVAILABLE: The Bibliosanctum | Fantasy Cafe

REVIEW | EON and EONA by Alison Goodman

Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman

Publication Year: 2008 and 2011

Genre: YA Fantasy
Series: Eon #s 1 and 2

Awards:  Book one was nominated for a number of prestigious mostly Australian YA Fantasy awards (Aurealis, Victorian Premier's Literary Award, The Inky Awards, James Tiptree, Jr. Award Honor List)
Format: Audio (from Library)

Narrator: Nancy Wu

WHY?: I recently read the first two books in Goodman's adult fantasy series, The Dark Days Club, and really enjoyed them so I was keen to check out other things she had written. Plus - Dragons!

SYNOPSIS:  Eon is chosen to become one of the nation's 12 powerful Dragon Eyes, who through  magical links with 12 mystical dragons, help keep the nation safe from natural disasters and other disturbances.  Even more miraculously, Eon is chosen by the Mirror Dragon who had been missing for 500 years and he is placed immediately into a position of power and in the middle of a political struggle for power.  The only problem is that Eon is actually a girl, living as a boy which in the feudal Asian world he/she lives in, means sure death if she is found out.  Will she be able to keep her identity hidden and master her dragon-given powers in time to help the ailing Emperor and his brave son?  Will she be able to hold on to the goodness at her heart in the face of the immense power that is given to her?

SPOILERS AHOY!  Because I am reviewing both books there will definitely be some spoilers down below for book one Eon.  Proceed with caution.

THOUGHTS:

Hopefully my ramblings on this thought-provoking series will be coherent.  I wrote pages of notes on the books which depending on your perspective is a good thing or a bad thing.  Any book that provokes lots of feelings and thoughts is usually worth taking a look at.  However, if many of those feelings and thoughts lean towards the negative end of the spectrum, can you really recommend the book?  In my case, I think these books have a ton of good stuff to offer the reader who likes to analyze characters so I think I do recommend them with the caveat that I spent much of book two in a cyclone of frustration.  Let me try to explain.

In book one we meet Eon, a young man on the eve of undergoing an important test which will have a profound affect not only on his life but also on those of his Master and all others in his household.  So, no pressure.  We learn quickly that it gets even more complicated because Eon is actually a 16 year old female, who has been trained by her master to live as a 12 year old boy.  On top of that Eon is also lame which in the society in which he exists is thought to bring bad luck and is tantamount to being a leper.  We also learn very quickly that she comes from an impoverished background but because she has the talent of being able to see into the spirit realm and see all twelve dragons there, a rare gift, her teacher/master adopted her, taught her to be a boy and has set her on the path to compete to be one of the powerful Dragon Eyes like he once was.

In this world, there is a spirit dragon that pairs up with each of the twelve zodiac signs in the Chinese calendar.  On a twelve year cycle each dragon and its paired human Dragon Eye is ascendant, i.e. the most powerful, and on the eve of the new year the old Dragon Eye retires, the apprentice dragon eye takes over and a new apprentice is chosen.  This is what Eon is competing for, to be the new apprentice Rat Dragon Eye.  There is a mysterious 13th dragon as well that disappeared from the spirit world 500 years in the past called the Mirror Dragon.  During the ceremony, the Rat dragon passes over Eon but the Mirror Dragon appears and chooses him, much to everyone's shock.

This is when the real adventure begins.  Eon is in the guise of a 12 year old boy but because there is no Mirror Dragon Eye he does not get the luxury of apprenticing for 12 years and must immediately take a seat on the Dragon Eye council as co-ascendant with the treacherous and sadistic Rat Dragon Eye, Lord Edo.  The beleaguered Emperor who is being sorely pushed by Lord Edo and his treacherous brother sees the re-appearance of the Mirror Dragon as a good portent and quickly recruits Eon to "fight" on his side.  Most of the first volume of this duology, focuses on Eon's struggles to figure out what is going on, who to trust and why he cannot call his dragon to him like the other Dragon Eye's can.  Without his dragon he is little more than a 16 year old girl, posing as a 12 year old boy, a hairsbreadth from a horrible death.

In Eona, Eon's secret is out and she is able to call her dragon but she still struggles with control and with knowing what to do amidst numerous forces buffeting her this way and that.  She is also somewhat addicted to the power of her dragon which brings her closer to Lord Edo and creates much distrust with her companions, Ryko, Lady Deela and Prince Kaigo among others.

Goodman does so many amazing and interesting things with this framework which, boiled down, is essentially a chosen one narrative.  Some of it works, some of it really did not for me.   First, here's what I really loved about the series.  The first book has a strong theme of identity, particularly of gender, in a very rigid society.  Eona's male personae of Eon is not just a costume she wears in a fun cross-dressing YA fantasy romp.  She truly lives as a male and thinks of herself as a male most of the time.  She is so convinced that her true gender is synonymous with weakness that she is unable to even conceive of the idea that their might be an advantage to living as a woman. And she is not the only character that illustrates the fluidity of gender.  Lady Deela is a trans-woman, revered by her people as a person with twin souls, both male and female and who is sent to the court of the emperor as a gift.  There her otherness is not so accepted, though the wise and open-minded Emperor gives her status and treats her well.  Deela's main guard Ryko is a eunuch, who takes the ancient Chinese equivalent of steroids to replace the testosterone and keep him muscular and he and Deela are secretly in love with one another.  Throw in the fact that Eon is lame which also places him outside of society's norms and that he is hiding his true gender and isn't entirely sure who he is and there is lots of fertile ground for the exploration of identity and false faces.  Goodman takes full advantage and produces a narrative that is thought-provoking and inclusive.

In Eona, the theme shifts to an exploration of free will and it unfortunately throws Eona just a teensy bit under the bus to do so.  Overall though both books have a strong feminist message and explore the  strongly emphasized themes well.

The other strength of this series is the world-building which is intricately presented and immersive.  The culture of the Dragon Eyes is fascinating and well developed.  The story as a whole, is interesting and provides plenty of opportunities for adventure and tension.

The place where I ran into some issues with this series is with the characters, who I found mostly pretty unlikable but not in an interesting way.  These issues mostly cropped up in the second volume but  were not completely absent in book 1. I spent much of both books, but particularly in Eona, wavering between wanting to defend Eon/Eona from her horrible "friends" and slap her silly.  She is, perhaps understandably, a pretty passive character.  She spends much of the two books being pretty passive, buffeted this way and that by all the events around her - always behind the eight ball and mostly clueless.  Understandable or not, I found it frustrating to read.  In the first book, I the reader figured out what the issue was between Eon and his dragon, hundreds of pages before Eon.  Reading about Eon being so COMPLETELY dense, despite the fact that he is pretty perceptive and intuitive about everything else, becomes tortuously frustrating. If this was to work, Goodman needed to be WAY more circumspect about the solution so that the reader is not watching Eon for hundreds of pages flail and dig his own disaster by being clueless.  It's frustrating and it discredits the character.
At the same time I would get frustrated with her allies for getting super angry with her for not knowing what she's supposed to be doing and for things that aren't in her control.  Cut her some slack, jeez - she's 16 years old and up to this point in her life, any independence on her part was awarded with a beating.  The fact that the books had me so frustrated with everybody was not, I think, a great thing though it's certainly better than all the characters being cookie cutter.

Part of the issue I think is that this takes the The Hunger Games approach to the chosen one trope and your mileage will vary as to how much you dig that.  I for one am boring and like my chosen one narratives to be heroic and the chosen one to be someone who is imperfect and somewhat back-footed but mostly proactive ala Harry Potter.  Books 2 and 3 of The Hunger Games Trilogy did not work for me because they imagined things too close to reality - so much so that when the heroine actually does something heroic it feels disingenuous.  So, I think what I am saying is that if you are one of the millions of people who understandably love the whole Hunger Games trilogy, I suspect you will not have the same issues that I did with Eon/Eona and the other characters.

The other more minor thing I struggled with is Goodman's penchant for detailed description. Goodman painfully draws out dramatic, action packed moments into pages and pages of overblown description.  I'm not sure how much of my annoyance at all the detail was the result of the reader who had a slightly overblown way of reading these tenser scenes.  My problem with this is especially  interesting because one of the major negative remarks about Goodman's Dark Days Club series was the slow pace with too much detail and I defended it there because I thought it fit with the Regency Era English setting.  Now I am feeling those critics' pain.  Every time she slowed things to a crawl describing every little detail of every thing that happens during scenes that are meant to be fast paced and action packed, I found myself screaming both internally, and sometimes at the cd player "get on with it!!"  I guess that's one way to create tension in the reader:).     

FINAL VERDICT: Overall, a pretty mixed opinion of this series but I would recommend it, especially to people who love The Hunger Games Trilogy. Even if you weren't, it's worth checking out but be prepared for some possible frustration with the characters. I liked the first book a good bit more than book one but the two are integral to one another so not sure that matter.  3.5 out of  5 Stars.

OTHER OPINIONS ARE AVAILABLE: Eon - Fantasy Book Cafe | Eona - Fantasy Book Cafe

REVIEW | Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Publication Year: 2015

Genre: Fantasy, YA
Series: Six of Crows #1

Awards: A bunch of local YA awards
Format: Audio (from Audible)

Narrator: Jay Snyder, David LeDoux, Lauren Fortgang, Roger Clark, Elizabeth Evans, Tristan Morris and Brandon Rubin

WHY?:  Many, many reasons.  I enjoyed Bardugo's Grisha series. This book and its sequel has gotten a ton of positive buzz.  It's a heist novel.  

SYNOPSIS:  Kaz Brekker, a young ne'er do well who practically runs one of the mafia-like gangs of Ketterdam, is hired to do an impossible job.  It will make him very very rich which appeals to Kaz greatly but more importantly he has a score to settle and this one job will make that possible.  If anyone can pull this impossible job off it is Kaz and he puts together a team, each member with a part to play in the greatest heist in history.

THOUGHTS:

The first chapter of the book is basically a prologue.  It's a set-up for something that will play an important role in the coming book, and the series as a whole I'd wager, but it didn't grab me. It was full of stock characters, so uninteresting I didn't care what they did. I therefore dragged my feet like crazy and it took me like a week to get through this first chapter.  I'd listen to a couple minutes and then decide I'd rather listen to a podcast and not get back to it for a couple days.  This boredom is hard to remember because literally the very next chapter swept me away and I was completely and officially smitten with this book.  

In this second chapter, we meet Kaz Brekker, anything but a stock character.  He's devilishly clever, always two steps ahead of everyone, sardonic, enigmatic, secretive, unemotional and he walks with a limp and a cane.  He's also pretty darn scary.  I adored him pretty much immediately.  Unwrapping his story throughout the book and seeing how competent, yet broken he is, is just one of the delights this book had in store.  In this first scene with Kaz, as he verbally spars with the second-in-command of a rival gang, he is backed up by his shadow, Inej, climbing up sheer walls to keep an eye on proceedings from high ground, while trusty sharp-shooter Jesper watches his six on the ground.  These are Kaz's most loyal and trusted compatriots and when he is hired a couple of chapters later to help the merchant guild with an impossible heist, they are the first to be recruited to his gang.  

As is common with heist novels, roughly the first 1/3 of the book focuses on pulling the gang that will perform the heist together and then doing an initial smaller heist to show the players in action.  The other members of the team include: 

• Nina Zenik: a Grisha, a heart render that can manipulate the organs of the human body.  She is hanging out in Ketterdam and working freelance for Kaz hoping to find a way to free-
• Mathias Helvar: A Grisha hunter, raised to despise Grisha, so how he and Nina are connected is a mystery.  
• Wylan Van Eck: Perhaps the most puzzling addition to the team.  He has a knack with explosives but is new to "The Barrel" i.e. the rough part of town and is not someone any of them know.  Why has Kaz included him?

With the team together, they are off on a journey to the legendary Ice Court, where they must infiltrate, free and return to Ketterdam with a scientist being held hostage.  It's a suicide mission but the reward is enormous and everyone on the crew has a reason to desperately need/want that reward.    

The perspective of each chapter rotates between all the characters, which is a device I really love and despite the fact that there are so many different perspectives, it felt balanced just right and was never confusing.  Bardugo also includes flashbacks, on top of the current action, to slowly reveal more and more about her characters and their connections.  It could have been too much but she somehow managed to keep the action moving while pouring on the character development.  The result is a page-turner with SO many characters to love.  Some felt a bit more developed then others, it felt like there was more back story on Kaz, Nina and Mathias than the others, but I still felt connected to all of them.

The cast is also diverse with at least half of the team coming from outside of the Kingdom in which Ketterdam sits, and it tackles the issue of brain-washing and being afraid of the unknown, particularly in Mathias' story.  So it's got some good messages and thought provocation thrown in with the intricate plot.   

It also must be mentioned that the book is set in the same universe as the Grisha trilogy and takes place slightly after the events in that series.  The original series is referenced briefly, but beyond having a little more background on what the Grisha are, it is not necessary to have read that series (though you should! it's great!).  As with those books, Bardugo does an excellent job presenting a beautifully detailed world and society.  While the Grisha series obviously borrowed from Russian and Eastern European culture, this book broadens the world a little further and brings in some other cultures.  It's an interesting world if you're new to it and should really appeal to fans as an expansion of the Grisha series!

Have I mentioned yet, how much I really loved this book?  I did.  As soon as I got past that first chapter it became an addictive listen that I didn't want to stop.  I am counting the hours until my next Audible credit pops up and I can download Crooked Kingdom.  I can't wait to get back into this world and spend more time with Kaz and the team.  Not to mention that this book ends with things very much up in the air.  

Finally, the audio was fantastic.  It has multiple narrators, all of them good, each of which help to bring their assigned character alive.  Lauren Fortgang, who I'm pretty sure does Nina's chapters, is particularly great and will be familiar if you listened to the Grisha series.  

FINAL VERDICT:  More fun than a barrel full of lemurs.  An un-put-downable YA heist novel with a well-developed and lovable cast of characters.  The sequel, Crooked Kingdom, will be going in my ears, toot sweet!  4.5 out of 5 stars.

REVIEW | The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

Publication Year: 2016

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Alt History
Series: Lady Helen #1

Awards: Nothing 
Format: Audio (from Audible)

Narrator: Fiona Hardingham

WHY?: Many good reviews by bloggers I trust.  Plus - demon hunting in Regency England. No way I'm not reading that!  Tagline on one of the editions is, "Duchess or Demon Slayer - does Lady Helen have a choice?"

SYNOPSIS: Lady Helen Wrexhall is 18 and entering her first London season.  It's an exciting time but amongst all the hubbub of social engagements, Helen has started to notice a lot of odd and mysterious things going on around her. Then a distant relation of her Aunt's, the disgraced Lord Carlston appears and informs Helen that she is destined for bigger and scarier things than marrying a Duke. Will Helen turn her back on this exciting but terrifying future or will she play it safe?  

THOUGHTS:
Without a doubt, I adored this book.  It's a Regency era novel with deadly demons thrown into the mix and I found it to be executed very well.  It is a book that is perfect for a very particular kind of reader.  If you like paranormal reads, you are likely to like it okay, though I've seen a number of reviews by SFF fans who found it slow-going.  Regency novel fans?  Hmmm.... I think will like this better than most SFF books as it does take pains to get the societal conventions and setting right but it may not be quite right for them.  If you are someone who loves both Jane Austen and Buffy the Vampire Slayer?  I predict you will flip your lid for this book!  At least, I certainly did.  I like feisty kick ass ladies as well as painstakingly described details about muslin and dance cards so this book had me covered on all points. 

Lady Helen lives with her Aunt and Uncle because both her parents are dead and while she gets along with her Aunt, her uncle is a strict, close-minded, misogynist who brooks no appearance of impropriety.  Therefore, Helen is mostly looking forward to the season and is not opposed to finding the right gentleman to marry and therefore get out from under her Uncle's thumb. I really liked that Helen isn't really a huge rebel to begin with.  She's smart, independent, has opinions and therefore chafes under her Uncles rule but she is not really longing for a singular life.  She really just wants what most young women in the Regency era wanted, to find a good match and have the freedom of running her own household.  Sure she might prefer that household be her older brother's but marriage is not off the table.

There is a lot of time spent on the details of a life in Regency era England - the expectations, the manners, the rhythm of life, the details of the balls -  and I loved this and thought it was balanced quite well with the more action-and-demon-packed part of the story.  It bored some reviewers but that never happened to me.  I think the time spent on Helen's normal life emphasizes what she would be giving up to join the Dark Days Club. It is impossible to be both a well bred lady and a demon hunter in Regency Era England.  Especially when one's mentor is a tall drink of well-mannered-but-may-have-killed-his-wife scandal.  Lord Carlston and Helen cannot spend time together because a) he is a man and b) he is disreputable.  This throws up many of the challenges faced by the heroine and I felt really anxious for her juggling all the balls of her life.  

It couldn't be a Regency Era novel without there also being a romance of course and while I wasn't really into it, I liked the pairing and that it is the slowest of slow burns.  Again, the Regency era setting helps keep things relatively restrained and that appeals to me.  I am also partial, for some reason, to the passionate hero that keeps it all locked down tight so you have no idea what he's feeling except under certain extreme circumstances.  This type of person would probably drive me nutballs in real life but I like it in a romantic protagonist. There are a few intense moments but mostly it is restrained glances and touches.  

The demon hunter world that Goodman overlays Regency England with is also very interesting and well developed.  The idea that the demons, or deceivers as they are called, inhabit regular people, like a possession, sets up some nice moral quandaries as well as the fact that only certain people can see and then fight them when they get out of hand.  Voila!  A Dark Days Club of extra strong, extra sensing folk who operate in secret.  Secret demon hunting societies will always tickle me to pieces!  I also like that each demon hunter, or Reclaimer, must have a companion who is bonded with them and that Helen's choice is her stalwart maid and friend Darby.  I really liked their relationship and that this female duo has most of the men of the Dark Days Club unhappy.

I loved and devoured this book!  I listened to the audio version and Fiona Hardingham was a perfect narrator for this.  She is one of my favorite narrators generally and she does a great job giving voice to Lady Helen and bringing her to life.

FINAL VERDICT:  For all you Jane Austen AND Buffy the Vampire Slayer lovers - this is your book.  A good solid Regency novel with a paranormal element mixed into the blend for a good balance of the two!  4 out of 5 Stars.

Other Opinions Are Available: Book Smugglers | Fine Print | Fantasy Book Critic

REVIEW | Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Publication Year: 2006

Genre: Fiction, Urban Fantasy
Series: Mercy Thompson #1

Awards: None
Format: EBook (from Library)

Narrator: NA

WHY?: I'm actually a bit of a noob when it comes to Urban Fantasy. For a long while I thought I hated it.  Series like Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant and Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series won me over and based on that, particularly KD, most people recommend this series.  I've been meaning to start it for a good long while.  

SYNOPSIS:  Most of the time Mercy is a relatively talented Volkswagen mechanic in Tri-Cities, Washington.  She owns her own shop and lives mostly quietly.  But her life hasn't always been quiet because she's a walker - a shape-shifter that can turn into a coyote.  Not very strong but rare, and because of this she is mostly raised in a pack of werewolves living in the Rocky Mountains. She also happens to live right next door to the Tri-Cities Werewolf Pack Alpha. So when a teenage boy wanders into her shop she knows right off he's a werewolf even though he seems clueless.  She hooks him up with her neighbor Adam, none of them realizing that the boy brings with him a whole heap of trouble.  

Right off the bat I have to say - is that cover ridiculous or what?  People can dress how they like but who in their right mind wears a mechanic's shirt, with nametag, in the style of some kind of deranged Daisy Duke?  And with a push-up bra no less?  Seriously what the what is going on there?  This cover is what gave me pause about reading this series for so long because while folks can dress as they like I wasn't sure I would enjoy hanging out with a person who would dress so impractically in order to work on cars.  If you have similar misgivings, let me put your mind at rest - I'm pretty sure Mercy Thompson wouldn't be caught dead in the above outfit.  She spends much of this book in a stained t-shirt and jeans and is very down to earth and practical.  I liked her.  Pretty much immediately.

And that's important because Mercy is the heroine of and the reader's entry point into this Urban Fantasy series that takes place in a modern day U.S. that's pretty regular except that many of the supernatural denizens of the country have "come out".  I liked the conceit that they have been forced to reveal themselves to the human society because the advancement of technology and surveillance has become such that they could no longer stay hidden.  Among the werewolves and vampires, gremlins and fae, Mercy is actually pretty unique.  She's a rare kind of shape-shifter that is known as a Walker and I loved that while she's got some magic and can take the shape of coyote she's actually much weaker than most other supernatural creatures.  This being an Urban Fantasy though, she is of course a real bad-ass but most of that is because she's smart, stubborn and brave. That paired with her salt-of-the-earth persona make her a more-than-acceptable heroine to head up the cast. First hurdle of writing a good Urban Fantasy series cleared! Phew!

The rest of the cast is okay thus far. I really liked, Adam, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack and Mercy's neighbor.  He's menacing and domineering but understated enough that it lends him, if anything, an air of more authority and also makes him more likeable.  Not as crazy about her old flame from her youth but do like the complexity and uniqueness of their former and current relationship.

The uniqueness stems from the culture Briggs creates for her werewolves and all the other supernatural creatures, though the only other group we get a real peek at are the vampires.  Briggs has obviously taken time to really think out what kinds of societies she thinks these supernatural folk would have.  She does a great job of keeping it recognizable; i.e. she doesn't stray too far from established mythology, but she does imbue a depth and complexity to how that mythology would really work for every day living.  I look forward to getting deeper into this world!

Finally, there's the story.  It's fine.  It's action packed and follows the formula of a mystery/crime procedural which is par for the course in many UFs.  In this first book a lot of heavy lifting must be done to introduce all the major players and the world they are playing in and Briggs does a great job doing that thoroughly while also keeping the plot moving along.  The pacing was pretty good and the mystery format kept me turning pages.

FINAL VERDICT:  A great introductory book to what promises to be a fun Urban Fantasy series.  It is distinguished for a lead character that is easy to get behind and a complex world that really explores the mythology of supernatural societies in the midst of a modern day U.S.A. 4 out of 5 stars.

Other Opinions Are Available: Dear Author | SF Reviews | Fantasy Cafe

REVIEW | Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani

Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani

Publication Year: 2013

Genre: YA, Fantasy
Series: Sunbolt Chronicles #1

Awards: None
Format: eBook (I own)

Narrator: NA

WHY?:  I had seen this book and author recommended several times around the blogosphere in very glowing terms.  I was curious enough about it and confident enough that I would like it that I bought it some time last year when it was on sale.

SYNOPSIS: Hitomi is an orphan making her own way on the streets of Karolene, an island nation with an increasingly despotic government.  In fact, she has connected herself with a group of dissidents that are resisting the government.  She is also hiding a dangerous secret. When a mission goes horribly awry, Hitomi finds herself sold and transported to a far away land where she must risk revealing her dangerous secret to save her own and a fellow prisoner's life.  

THOUGHTS:

This novella length book (~145 pages) completely captivated me and was a great introduction to the character of Hitomi, the world she lives in and the political machinations that make things interesting.  I loved it so much that I immediately bought and started the full length sequel, A Memory of Ashes.

The book is told entirely from Hitomi's perspective and we come into her story kind of in the middle.  We don't know how Hitomi was orphaned or why she got involved with the resistance but she obviously has established relationships with all the members of the group.  Despite not knowing how she knows them or why she helps them, Khanani establishes her loyalty well enough that it is easy to understand Hitomi's actions which are selfless and heroic.  

Hitomi's street-wise, smart, abrasive demeanor balanced by her compassionate and honorable nature make her a character that I immediately loved and got behind.  She is also incredibly stubborn and determined which leads her to not give up in what seem to be hopeless situations.  She's admirable and heroic but real as well.  She is the first thing to really make this book (and series, I wager) special. 

The second thing to make it special is the world-building.  Khanani manages to open up the door to a complex world, with some very interesting creatures and political intrigue but she doesn't get too bogged down either.  She does this while also propelling the plot at rocket speed, covering a lot of ground.  The remarkable thing is that it didn't feel rushed to me.  It flowed and was paced just right.

I don't read many novellas, but I feel like there's a danger of the story feeling incomplete.  I think Sunbolt was done really well - I was definitely glad that we were going to get more of Hitomi's story but I didn't feel totally unsatisfied with the story as a whole.   There are so many pieces on the game board for Khanani to develop and play with and I am interested in all those pieces and would like them all explored.  It left me full but wanting more because it was so delicious!

FINAL VERDICT:  The very enjoyable start of a YA fantasy series that is well written and has characters that are complex, realistic and easy to care about.  4 out of 5 stars.

REVIEW | Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews

Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews

Publication Year: 2013

Genre: Fantasy, Urban
Series: Kate Daniels #6

Awards: None
Format: Paperback

Narrator: NA

WHY?: This series just keeps getting better and better.

SYNOPSIS:  When shape-shifter children reach puberty and begin to be influenced by their animal side there is a chance that they will go Loup - the animal will take over and the child will become a violent murderous monster. It happens at a fairly high rate and in a relatively happy family-oriented pack like the one in Atlanta, Loupism is a constant heartbreak.  There is a cure but it is very rare and only produced by one European pack which hoards the stuff stingily.  When Curran is approached about receiving a barrel of this cure if he will arbitrate a dispute among three European packs, he can hardly say no though the assignment is not a safe one.  He, Kate and 10 others from the Atlanta pack set off to get the job done and secure the medicine but they are in for a surprise and the price is even steeper than they bargained for.  

Pack Road Trip!  And across the ocean to the Black Sea no less.  And loaded with all kinds of shape-shifter politics and dynamics PLUS throwing in Hugh D'Ambray. Just when I think, "This is the best book in the Kate Daniels series", another comes along to be better than the last.  This installment is particularly fun because it gets all the players outside of their regular setting and explores how other were-packs in the world work.  It makes you appreciate how civilized the Atlanta Pack is and how strong a leader they have in Curran.

Not only fun (there's a battle with were-dolphins for goodness' sake), this book was particularly funny and good with the one-liners.  All the books in the series have a good sense of humor but this one seemed particularly witty - perhaps it's just been too long since I read a Kate Daniels book?  Regardless, there was a lot of chortling.

It's not all fun and laughter however.  The stakes in this installment are particularly high and Andrews' throws seemingly everything and the kitchen sink at our heroine.  The way the author(s) (it's a husband wife team) are orchestrating the series  - building up to Kate's ultimate show-down with her dad  - is brilliantly paced and plotted.  This is a significant step along that road while also exploring the nuances of inter-pack politics and having a gripping plot of its own.  And as I mentioned in the synopsis - there is a big price to pay and it is heartbreaking.

Part of the drama of this installment is between Kate and Curran who are still the best couple ever.  Andrews should write a manual on how to develop a long-term romance and keep it interesting.  The situations they get put into would make the world's most well-adjusted couple question themselves and Kate and Curran actually handle it better than most.  I love how much they respect each other.  How both of them are so incredibly tough, confident and emotionally controlled except when it comes to each other.  And Curran includes himself as one of Kate's collection of misfits - SO sweet for the Beast Lord to think of himself like that. Sigh.... 

I also have to fan girl about Kate herself who is by far my favorite UF heroine.  She's such a complex and awesome character. In many ways the Pack is the perfect "family" for her, even though she's not a shapeshifter, and this book really hits that theme hard.  Kate is unsure about whether and/or where she belongs but the Pack works because of her affinity for violence and skill with killing.  Kate's thoughts after a fight with some were-dolphins while on board the ship, looking over the carnage:

What a waste of life.
And I'd loved it.  I loved every second of it: the blood, the rush, the heady satisfaction of striking ad seeing the cut or thrust find its target...Voron had succeeded.  I was raised and trained to be a killer, and nothing, not even happy, peaceful weeks in the Keep with the man I loved, could change that.  I'd come to terms with what I was a long time ago, but sometimes, like right now, looking over the deck strewn with corpses, I felt a quiet regret for the person I could've been.

At the same time she craves violence, she brims over with compassion which is so at odds with her bad assery that you wonder just how amazing she could have been if she hadn't been molded into a fighter and killer.  Also she is very clearly an introvert - from inclination and from practice  - and we see her loving the pack members but just wishing to be away by herself or holed up with Curran.  She points out several times early on that it is only for love of Curran that she has taken on the position of pack leader which causes her to almost constantly have to interact with others.  It's exhausting for her - much more so than a 2 hour workout.  I love her.  

Finally, these books are just cracking reads.  By chapter three I was sucked in and completely obsessed with reading this and only this until it was done.  I've actually been pacing myself in reading through the series because I like knowing I have one of these waiting for me when I need it.  They can cure many reading ills with their blend of action, mystery and romance and a plot that flies.  

FINAL VERDICT:  READ THEM ALL NOW! Ahem... I loved this installment in the brilliant Kate Daniels series which delves into pack politics and moves Kate's broader story further down the road. 4 out of 5 Stars!

REVIEW | The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

The Palace Job By Patrick Weekes

Publication Year: 2012

Genre: Fantasy
Series: Rogues of the Republic #1 

Awards: None
Format: eBook (Amazon Kindle Owner's Lending Library)

Narrator: NA

WHY?:  This series came highly recommended by a number of other book bloggers whose opinion I trust.  And, you know, it's a FLIPPIN' HEIST NOVEL IN A FANTASY SETTING.  No way am I missing that!

SYNOPSIS: The book starts with Loch and her army buddy Kail breaking out of jail.  In fact it is a jail which should be impossible to escape from but Loch is clever and this initial jail break sets her up as a natural heist planner.  They break out of jail because Loch has a score to settle and she knows where to find an old artifact that formerly belonged to her family and which will fetch a LOT of money.  With the lure of this money she assembles a rag-tag and highly talented team to break into the very heart of the government of The Republic (aka the Palace), causing mayhem wherever they strike.

Is there anyone that doesn't enjoy a story about a good heist?  The motley crew of specialists who are all so different but who end up becoming, at least for a brief period, the best of friends.  The perfect and clever plan that unfolds like a complex pattern of Dominoes falling but which always goes wrong at some crucial moment and is saved by the brilliance of the crew.  The double-crosses and triple crosses.  It's a little weird to be so fascinated with crime but weird or not, I see the word heist in a book or movie blurb and I'm interested.

Part of it is the plan and watching it unfold - seeing the clever twists and how the gang achieves the impossible.  For me, it is equally about the gang itself - the quirky personalities and unconventional relationships that are formed.  The Palace Job takes that concept and ratchets it up several notches by including some unprecedented diversity: two army buddies, one the leader who has a personal score to settle (Loch) and the other who specializes in insulting people's mothers (Kail and I laughed at ALL his jokes), a death priestess and her sentient war hammer, an acrobat, a unicorn, a wizard, a safe-breaker and an exceedingly innocent young farm hand.  It's an interesting crew to say the least and most of the fun for me was getting to know all of these characters and watching who connects with whom.

As the gang is being brought together and the scene for the heist set, I have to admit I found the book a little slow (maybe the first quarter to third) but once the gang is all together and the heist begins in earnest, I defy anyone who loves a good heist not to love this book!  It provides everything one wants and expects; a plot with high stakes, impossible odds, an elaborate plan and more twists than you can shake a stick at.

The world the book is set in is also really fascinating and it feels like only the surface has been scratched in this first book of the series.  The Republic exists in a very tenuous but fractious state of peace with The Empire and this peace is threatened by complicated and corrupt political machinations in the government.  Loch and Kail have been the victims of this but unfortunately for the powers that be, Loch comes from a family with connections to old and ancient magic.  To complicate matters, a third enemy has wormed its way in to take advantage of unstable political situation.  There are well established societal structures in the book as well and the gang represents much of the diversity of the world.  Loch and Kail are of a race that is looked down upon, Ulelenia, the unicorn, and her old magic are looked on with suspicion, Icy, the contortionist, is from the Empire, and nobody likes to see a death priestess coming.  It's a fun world to explore, I so appreciate the diversity and I look forward to learning more about it all in future books!

This book kept me entertained and even with the large cast, I was eventually able to connect with all of them. There is a LOT going on and Weekes should be commended for pulling off a heist of his own and keeping it all organized and mapped out. I was frequently taken by surprise even while basking in the comforting glow of reliable tropes.  Weekes even threw in some humor to boot!

FINAL VERDICT: A fun, diverse and all around entertaining fantasy heist novel that lives up to all expectations.  4 out of 5 stars.

Other Opinions are Available: The Bibliosanctum - 1 | The Bibliosanctum - 2 | Fine Print

REVIEW | Zeus, Athena, and Hera - The Olympians Comic Series by George O'Connor

The Olympians Series: Zeus, Athena and Hera (Vols 1,2 and 3) by George O'Connor

Publication Year: 2010, 2011

Genre: Middle-Grade, Graphic Novel, Mythology
Series: The Olympians

Awards: None
Format: Hardcover (from Library)

Narrator: NA

WHY?:  I'm a Greek mythology nerd, hard core yo.  

SYNOPSIS: Each volume is a pretty straight-up presentation of the main myths surrounding each of the featured deities.  For example with Zeus, it's mostly about how he became King of the Gods (overthrew his dad and the rest of the Titans), with Hera it's mostly about Heracles (Hercules if you're Roman). 

These are the first three volumes in this series of graphic novels featuring Greek Mythology.  The intended audience, by the writing and the content emphasized, is middle grade but that didn't stop me from enjoying them.  

One of my very favorite books when I was a kid was D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Mythology and these comics reminded me of that beloved volume very much.  The format is of course different though D'Aulaires also included a lot of art and was very visual.  A lot of the mythology presented is very similar and it is kept mostly PG - considering the way the Greek Gods carried on that is quite a feat.

To be honest, I mildly enjoyed the first volume Zeus but wasn't wowed or too impressed.  The visuals are great and O'Connors imagining of how the Gods and Goddesses look is a lot of fun to discover.  The myth telling is relatively bland and not terribly unique, at least that's how it appeared at first in Zeus.  

It wasn't until the volume on Hera when I really developed some special appreciation for O'Connor's vision and where this series sets itself apart from classics like D'Aulaires.  First of all, O'Connor forthrightly takes on the inherent sexism in the myths.  As he points out in his really awesome notes sections that he includes at the end of each volume, most of what was written and passed down is the men's story told by the men.  Case in point is the depiction of Hera which is problematic at best.  Hera has always been portrayed as a petty, insanely jealous and generally unpleasant harpy of wife. A harridan. She does do some really cruel and petty things BUT the fact of the matter is that Zeus is a TERRIBLE husband.  He is constantly cheating on her and in fact ate his first queen (Metis - mother of Athena).  O'Connor deliberately interprets many of the myths surrounding Hera in a different and fairer way, using some scraps of evidence and stories that suggest that the Queen of the Gods was not historically seen in such a purely negative light.  His take on things is very cool and depicts Hera, the Goddess of Marriage and Childbirth, as she is meant to be, I think.  He also fixes some other more modern biases like drawing Andromeda, an Ethiopian princess, as African.  

Along with his explanatory notes and informal footnotes at the end of the volumes, which are a very cool addition, he also does some fun things to connect the volumes. For example in Athena he has a panel or two that shows a conversation between Zeus and Metis in the foreground and Demeter and Hera walking by in the background seeming to whisper to each other.  In Hera, we see this same scene but with the focus reversed - we hear what Hera and Demeter were whispering about.  Cool!

FINAL VERDICT:  I think this would make a nice introduction to Greek Mythology for a kid, especially a kid who loved the Percy Jackson series and is curious about the base myths that those books play with.  It was also fun for me as an adult Greek Mythology nerd and I especially appreciated the more feminist slant of the tales while maintaining the myth's integrity. Overall for these first three volumes: 3.5 out of 5 stars.