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 | Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Publication Year: 2010

Genre: YA, Contemporary Romance
Series: NA

Awards: A Bunch of Local YA awards
Format: Audio (from Library)

Narrator: Kim Mai Guest

WHY?:  I'm not entirely sure?  I usually don't like contemporary romance or contemporary YA and this is all of those things.  I think I was in the mood for something light and charming and stumbled upon it while lost (skulking) in the YA audiobook aisle at the library. Bingo!

SYNOPSIS:  Anna Oliphant lives with her recently divorced mother in Georgia until her father decides to give her an experience and enrolls her in a fancy private school for rich Americans (mostly) in Paris for her senior year of high school.  She's pretty bummed about it but her homesickness is lessened a little when she pretty quickly gets sucked into a circle of friends that includes the dreamy Etienne St. Clair.  

THOUGHTS:

As I mentioned above, I am not usually a fan of this type of book.  My YA reading is almost exclusively SFF and my romance reading is always historical.  So Anna and the French Kiss was a departure but so many people had raved about what a charming book it was and I thought I'd at least give it a try.  I don't have a ton to say about it but I did actually really enjoy it and would recommend it to any one looking for a light romance.

If I've learned anything from romance novels it is that clear and open communication is an absolute must.  Why is it so hard?  Well it makes one vulnerable  - for example if one said "I like you and would like to date you and I think maybe you like me, but you've mentioned this guy back home and I'm not sure how you feel about him and I'm also totally confused about where this puts me with my own girlfriend.  She's important to me, and I'm afraid of being alone but things aren't great with her and if they were I wouldn't like you, right?  What are your thoughts on the matter?"  and the other person ran screaming or reacted with disgust that would be incredibly humiliating.  Not to mention that the above monologue reveals, perhaps, some not so pretty things about ourselves.  So it is no surprise that we in the real world, as well as those in romance novels continue to keep our traps shut and therefore create SO MUCH DRAMA.  This is essentially Anna and the French Kiss.  An ode to our fragile egos and inability to make words about feelings.

Besides illustrating the universal truth of De-doo-doo-doo, De-Da-Da-Da by The Police, the main thing the book had going for it was that it felt very authentic and genuine  - Perkins nails the emotional roller coaster of being a teenager in crush mode.  For the most part I totally felt kinship with Anna....well except for the part where the most popular, cutest boy in the school returns her crush.  I've sadly never had that particular experience, lol.  In some ways I did feel more sympathy with the compassionate, stalwart, nurturing, ever suffering Meredith, even though we don't really get to know her but Anna is definitely likable while still flawed enough not to be annoying.  St. Clair as well.  Perkins does a great job creating a boy who is in fact most girls dream guy (British, great sense of humor, kind, easy to talk to, confident without being cocky and handsome) while making sure he had some flaws that helped make him feel real.  Dreamy but real.  

It's also very funny which is what really made this book work for me.  If it had been too earnest...  Thankfully, I laughed out loud often.  In short, it was charming and delightful and only gets a tad too angsty during the denouement. It has SUCH a smoochy, sentimental ending, as all good romances should of course, but I think part of my problem with contemporaries is that I have a harder time buying these perfect endings.

FINAL VERDICT:  If you are looking for a light romantic book that will make you laugh and is (mostly) not annoying, Anna and the French Kiss is for you! 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Other Opinions are Available: Dear Author | Nose Graze

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 | 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 | A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Publication Year: 2016

Genre: Mystery, YA
Series: Charlotte Holmes (#1)

Awards: NA
Format: Hardback from Library

Narrator: NA

WHY?: I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan in a really odd way.  I have only read maybe two of the original stories - pretty recently  - and I found them rather dull.  I found them dull because I have consumed so much other ancillary Sherlock Holmes storytelling that by the time I got to the originals they felt derivative - Ha!  I have watched most if not all of the TV adaptations more than once, all the movies and I've read dozens of books and short stories based on the Sherlock Holmes mythos.  I am a Sherlock Holmes fan fiction junkie. I am a little ashamed of this but not so much that when I heard about this book I didn't immediately say to myself "I'm gonna read the crap out of that."  

“I was maybe the only person to ever have his imaginary friend made real.”

SYNOPSIS:  Jamie Watson is shocked and unhappy to find that he has secured a Rugby scholarship at a posh boarding school in Connecticut.  Shocked because he's not that great at Rugby, unhappy because it means he'll have to move across the ocean from his London home.  The one bright spot is that one of the other students at his new school happens to be Charlotte Holmes.  Jamie and Charlotte are descendants of that Holmes and Watson and Jamie has always cherished a fantasy of meeting Charlotte who has already made a name for herself by solving various crimes.  Jamie wonders if they might connect like their famous ancestors.  They do and it's more wonderful and terrible than Jamie ever imagined especially since their first case is to save themselves from a murder charge.

“When I saw a story about a stolen painting on the front page of the newaspaper, I told my mother that Charlotte Holmes and I were going to solve the case. My mother cut me off saying, "Jamie, if you try to do anything like that before you turn eighteen, I will sell every last one of your books in the night, starting with your autographed Neil Gaiman.” 

THOUGHTS:

This is a book that met all my expectations which is not something I get to say too often! I love when books with a great premise are matched with equally great writing and storytelling.  Cavallaro did a fantastic job writing a modern-day YA version of a Sherlock Holmes story and managed to capture that elusive quality of the original stories - light but not without substance.  

She starts with two great characters.  Jamie is a great narrator who is pretty immediately likeable.  He's down to earth, quick-witted and extremely funny.  He's perhaps a tad to emo and thoughtful about his feelings than I imagine would be the case for an average teenage boy but otherwise he's totally believable as a slightly geeky, mostly cool guy.  

Charlotte is just as neurotic and complicated as her famous ancestor.  She has a drug problem, her relationship with her family is complex, she mostly doesn't know how to interact with other people but those that get past the prickly demeanor, end up mostly liking her and are loyal. She returns that loyalty fiercely.  And she is of course brilliant and equally as close-mouthed about her plans and theories as the original Holmes.  Few can keep up with her but thankfully, Jamie enjoys trying.

Cavallaro creates some really strong and believable chemistry between the partners which mirrors John and Sherlock's but at the same time has it's own flair.  Setting the story at a boarding school was a stroke of genius because a) stories at boarding schools are always fascinating to me and b) it allowed Holmes and Watson to "live together" without living together. Basically, it was an excellent facsimile of 221B Baker Street. 

“We weren't Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. I was ok with that, I thought. We had things they didn't, too. Like electricity, and refrigerators. And Mario Kart.” 

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MYSTERY, you say?  It's fine.  I liked that this first case has their own heads on the chopping block.  It was a good way of throwing them together and solidifying their alliance.  It perhaps did not have the flair of Conan-Doyle's mysteries but I was content enough and happily occupied by the witty banter and the character development.  The book is really delightfully funny and has enough teenage angst to warm YA-loving hearts.

FINAL VERDICT:  A delightfully, entertaining entry into the Holmes and Watson mythos that did not disappoint.  I can't wait for book two!  4 out of 5 stars.

Other Opinions Are Available: Cuddlebuggery | Storybook Slayers

REVIEW | The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Publication Year: 2011

Genre: YA, Fantasy

Series: NA

Awards: Nominated for a few including the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature
Format: Audio

Narrator: Steve West and Fiona Hardingham

Why?:  I fell in love with Maggie Stiefvater's writing, reading the Raven Cycle but when  I tried the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, I immediately hated it.  I turned to The Scorpio Races in desperation, and within 5 pages let out a sigh of relief.  Plus - Carnivorous Fairy Horses from the Sea.  Need I say more?

Synopsis: The small island of Thisby somewhere in a northern sea off of a U.K. like coast, a small community makes their way through life in a harsh environment and amidst a thin veneer of mysticism, magic, and tradition. Most want to escape but for a few the island calls to them and they can't imagine being anywhere else no matter how hard life there is.  One thing the island has going for it is being famous for its horses and the annual Scorpio Races.  The horses and the race are not typical however because the contestants ride wild, carnivorous water horses known as capaill uisce.   Except Puck Conolly who is the first girl ever to ride in the deadly race and who also insists on riding her island pony rather than one of the powerful, dangerous but other worldly fast water horses.  She is doing it at first in a bid to keep her older brother on Thisby, then to keep their house but then it becomes something she must do for herself and for Sean Kendrick, the quiet returning champion of the Scorpio Races, who has taken her under his wing.  

This is going to be a short review because the best thing I can say is that The Scorpio Races exemplifies everything I love the most about Stiefvater's writing - fantastic  characters, complex relationships and a setting that feels alive.  The island of Thisby feels like it has its roots in two worlds.  One which is very real and includes harsh weather, poor soil and few jobs, the other which is magical with ritual, steeped in the tradition and which lives with and reveres fairy horses that can kill you.  It's distinctive and atmospheric and practically a character in the story.

For the people who are born on Thisby it is either in their blood and has them in thrall or they can't wait to escape.  The fact that our main characters, Puck and Sean, would never dream of leaving Thisby, even though both lost their parents to the island's unique dangers, is enough to reveal a lot about their characters.  I love that Sean begins to mentor Puck when he perceives her connection to the island and to her horse because for Sean, horses are king.  We get both Puck's and Sean's  POVs which are significantly different enough and keep the story flowing.  Stiefvater evolves Sean and Puck's relationship slowly and subtly which perfectly fits their characters and Thisby.  She has an anecdote on the audio or perhaps in another interview I read that she wrote this book after she finished the Mercy Falls series which was apparently loaded with lots of kissing.  She mentions that she kind of started to panic when there wasn't more kissing in The Scorpio Races but it just felt right to take things slow.  I love this because the relationship and in fact the whole story and book feels very organic, like it just flowed, of its own accord, out of Stiefvater's pen.   

This is not a light-hearted book with the clever funny lines like The Raven Cycle but even though the overall tone is somewhat desperate and somber, it still feels hopeful and the story pulled me along. I listened to the audio and it was fantastic.  It has two readers, male and female, both of which were perfect.  Also on the audio you get some original music, written and performed by Stiefvater and it fits the book perfectly (see trailer below for a snippet).

Finally, I have to mention that all the horse stuff is just so fab!  I was a little girl who loved horses... A LOT... and I still really like them and this book was really good for my horse loving soul.  The capaill uisce are an amazing creation with Stiefvater really capturing the heart of a horse but with predator instead of prey instincts.

FINAL VERDICT:  I feel like I got completely lost in this book and was totally happy about it.  4 out of 5 Stars.

Other Opinions are Available:  The Honest Bookclub | The Book Smugglers | Chachic's Book Nook

REVIEW | The Woman Who Rides Like A Man by Tamora Pierce

The Woman Who Rides Like A Man by Tamora Pierce

Publication Year: 1986

Genre: YA, Fantasy

Series: The Song of the Lioness

Awards: NA
Format: Audio

Narrator: Trina Alvarado

WHY: Well, it's pretty self-explanatorily the third book in a series I have been enjoying.

Out of guilt and sadness, I've been dragging my feet about writing this review.  You see, most of my thoughts on this YA classic are pretty negative which bums me out and makes me feel like an old curmudgeonly jerk.  But before I get to the complaining, here's what happens in the book.

SYNOPSIS:  Alanna of Trebond is now officially a knight and she sets off into the world to do knightly things.  Honestly, I don't remember if she has a goal when she sets out?  Anyway, she ends up being captured by the people who live in the Desert, the Bashir (sp?), who are obviously patterned after a generic middle-eastern culture.  Even though this culture only allows women into more home-based roles, Alanna quickly wins them over, beats the one bad person who doesn't love her and becomes the tribe's shaman.  She adopts 3 young people as her apprentices and brings Prince Jonathan in to broker a historic alliance between the two peoples.  

The positives?  I liked the change of setting and an exploration of a slightly different form of magic.  The story while a little meandering was interesting enough to keep me listening.  The tone of the books has become more and more overtly feminist which is mostly a good thing.  Pierce doesn't inject or explore a lot of the nuance between feminism and a respect of a different culture though she doesn't do a terrible job  - she doesn't demonize the entire desert culture/people, just certain elements and the book does suggest that some of the feminist shifts are already slowly happening naturally.  However, there is a touch of the white savior complex happening here.

And that's about it for the positives.

My major beef in this installment, if you can't tell from the synopsis, is with Alanna who has become increasingly less appealing as the series has gone on.  I loved the spunky cross-dressing girl of the first book who worked hard to become a knight.  Unfortunately, her characterization has become increasingly shallow and unbelievable as time has gone on and she crossed the line into unlikeable for me in this book.  

Reason number one is that she is good, nee the best, at absolutely everything.  Oh she messes up now and again but even her screw ups end up just making people love her more.  Because they all do.  Love her.  Most of the men she encounters want her or if they're a little older, wish she was their daughter.  In fact, her old teacher Myles officially adopts her and leaves her his estate and all his wealth.  Oh there's a few people who don't like her which immediately tags them as the villains of the piece.  Basically,  she is too good at everything and everybody loves her too much for her to be relateable and she is not given enough depth to balance her perfection.

And then there is her love life which is literally THE WORST.  I liked when Prince Jonathan and she started up a clandestine affair in book 2 but when it was revealed that her friend George also had the hots for her I almost audibly groaned.  In this book some manufactured strife is created by Pierce pretty randomly injecting some hard core male chauvinism into Jonathan.  He starts off legitimately struggling with the weight of responsibility that comes with being the heir to the throne and is feeling stifled and restless.  Alanna is completely unsympathetic about this despite the fact that many of her objections to getting married, because of course Jonathan proposes, are exactly the same reasons he is struggling. She at least has the luxury of saying no or at least not right now.  It is at this point Pierce has Jonathan suddenly and uncharacteristically act like an Alpha-hole out of a romance novel so that Alanna has an excuse to storm off in a huff while being morally superior and judgmental.  And of course she heads to George.  Whom she begins sleeping with.  After hearing rumors that Prince Jonathan is paying attention to another lady.

And please don't think that I am slut-shaming in any way.  If Alanna enjoys sex she can sleep around all she likes.  What I have a problem with is that she is sleeping with two men who are in love with her while she is not entirely sure of her feelings or intentions.  Both the men are ready to make a commitment to her  - their intentions are clear.  She comes across as using them for comfort and to boost her self-esteem while not having any intention of returning their commitment.  It's pretty crappy.  And it should make me like her more because it's a break in her perfection but the problem is there are no real consequences or payoff in the book.  Everybody still loves her.  It's sloppy and shallow and the whole kerfuffle just feels false and manufactured.

 Contemplating it, I think I wouldn't have had these problems with Alanna if I had read this at 15.  I wouldn't have minded the lack of complex and consistent characterization and would have just enjoyed having a strong, desirable female to read about.  However as an adult, her character is just not working for me anymore.

FINAL VERDICT:  This book mostly just gave me a headache but I have enough love for books one and two of this series to finish it out and will continue on to book 4.  As such it gets a generous 3 out of 5 stars.

Other Opinons Are Available: Book Whispers | Leaf's Reviews

REVIEW | The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Publication Year: 2016

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Series: The Raven Cycle

Awards: NA

Format: Hardcover (from Library)

Narrator: NA

SNARKY SUBTITLE: Oh Wait? Were we suppose to be looking for something?

WHY?: The Raven Cycle is an awesome series so I was excited to read the conclusion!

"He was a book, and he was holding his final pages, and he wanted to go to the end to find out how it went, and he didn't want it to be over."
- Richard Gansy, III

ALERT! It probably goes without saying but there will be spoilers for books 1-3 and I may have to (have to) include some spoilers for this book but I will try to keep them bunched at the end after a break.

If I'm being honest this book is a little bit of a mess. If you are looking for tight plotting and a really dramatic action sequence leading up to the conclusion of Gansy's great quest, you are likely to be disappointed. If you've stayed glued to these books because you love these characters and how they interact? You may, like me, have to stop periodically while reading and happy sigh. Because in the end, that is what these books do best - interesting characters doing and saying interesting things together - and in providing that The Raven King does not disappoint.

SYNOPSIS: At the end of Blue Lily, Lily Blue, the friends had made some progress. They found some interesting and magical things in a cave, including Blue's mother and father. Gansy had discovered that he has the power to order things about (his magical power is bossiness - Hee!), magically speaking - not in the same way Adam can but more in a "if they're not listening to anybody else they may listen to Gansy" way. They'd found A sleeping ancient person if not THE sleeping ancient person they were looking for. People who helped them had died. Despite all this, there is not a lot of particular impetus going into The Raven King except the ticking clock of Gansy's imminent demise.

And of course that is the big question going into the book. Is Gansy going to die for real? How is he going to die? Maybe a distant third question is will the gang find Glendower and what will the implications of that be? If I have a major complaint about the book it is that our main players seems to be pretty ineffectual and passive through most of the book - things just keep happening to them rather than them making things happen. The search for Glendower ends up only taking up about 20 pages of the book which is...okay I guess. The point is that while I noticed this, I wasn't really upset about it so how big of a complaint could it be?

The other complaint, or maybe puzzled observation, would be that Stiefvater injects a few new characters into this book and they mostly just seem like distractions. Henry Cheng is a fellow Aglionby student who becomes somewhat inexplicably obsessed with Gansy. He's an okay character I guess but I never really understood why Stiefvater made this last minute addition to the gang and what Henry's role was supposed to be? There is also some kerfuffle involving all these creepily nefarious dealers in magic objects that get whipped into a frenzy by Piper Greenmantle.  That whole plotline seemed out of place and extraneous.

With these numerous complaints, why did I still love the book? Two words. Ronan. Adam. Interestingly the series has shifted as it has gone along. Gansy and Blue initially seemed to be the central characters but slowly the story has become more about Ronan, with Adam coming in second. It is an ensemble piece but it is Ronan and Adam who take on much of the action here, trying to figure out why Cabeswater is sick and revealing even deeper hidden depths within themselves. At the end of the book, they are the two most troubled souls who have, at least partially, been redeemed or made whole. A little more about them later below the spoiler break.

Gansy and Blue also work through some things. For one, they come clean about their feelings for one another and explore acting like a true couple. They even go out on a date all normal like and just have a good time.  More importantly perhaps, they face the future and decide what they are going to do about it.

That is really the moral of this story - growing up. These kids are not typical but like all of us they have to grow up and face life and Maggie Stiefvater has made it just so damn enjoyable to read about. There is an epilogue that kind of hints at the future and it at first made me a little sad but as I sat with it a bit I realized that it's kind of perfect. Bittersweet perhaps but mostly happy. And ain't that how it always is?

FINAL VERDICT: I love this series and this was a fitting and great conclusion despite it's narrative problems.  It's really all about the characters and the characters rock! 4 out of 5 stars

****************SPOILER TIME*********************

So I just really needed to mention a couple things.   First a few more thoughts on the epilogue.   I was put off at first by the fact that the friends were mostly separate - that we didn't get to see them one last time together perhaps at 300 Fox Way so we could say good bye to Maura and Calla as well.  As I thought about it though, it does work especially since this is the launching of these characters into the next part of their life.  Adam and Ronan still connected but also moving forward in their own individual and necessary ways and no longer needing Gansy so much.  Blue and Gansy exploring together....with Henry... Okay so I don't get Henry's inclusion but it's fine and I am just so glad that Blue is getting to scratch her itch of exploration and I realized that this is something that was likely at the heart of drawing her to Gansy who also has an adventurous spirit.  Anyway, it's a nice representation of where they are at and where they are going after the conclusion of things.

And then of course. Ronan and Adam. Adam and Ronan.  I don't think I've shipped anything so hard in my life.  Okay I probably have but DAMN, Maggie Stiefvater that was perfect. They are definitely the two best characters in the series.  Stiefvater had me lightly 'shipping them in Blue Lily, Lily Blue ...

“As they moved through the old barn, Adam felt Ronan’s eyes glance off him and away, his disinterest practiced but incomplete. Adam wondered if anyone else noticed. Part of him wished they did and immediately felt bad, because it was vanity, really:
See, Adam Parrish is wantable, worthy of a crush, not just by anyone, someone like Ronan, who could want Gansey or anyone else and chose Adam for his hungry eyes.”

so I was so ready when she ramped things up here. So. Ready. I wanted to read and re-read every scene they have together a hundred times. And though it isn't immediately obvious, I realized how well-suited they are for each other - the two magicians who know more about violence and heartbreak and being alone than anybody else. Ronan's worship is what Adam deserves. Sigh.....  Stiefvater's language has always been amazing particularly when talking about or from Ronan and she honestly reached new heights here in my opinion:

"Adam lived in an apartment located above the office of St. Agnes Catholic Church, a fortuitous combination that focused most of the objects of Ronan's worship into one downtown block."

"Ronan crossed his arms to wait, just looking. At Adam's fine cheekbones, his furrowed fair eyebrows, his beautiful hands, everything washed out by the furious light. He had memorized the shape of Adam's hands in particular: the way his thumb jutted awkwardly, boyishly; the roads of the prominent veins; the large knuckles that punctuated his long fingers. In dreams, Ronan put them in his mouth."

"His feelings for Adam were an oil spill; he'd let them overflow and now there wasn't a damn place in the ocean that wouldn't catch fire if he dropped a match."

"Asshole," Ronan said. Adam smiled cheerily. Ronan would start wars and burn cities for that true smile, elastic and amiable."

"They kissed again. Adam felt it in more than his lips."

"When Adam kissed him, it was every mile per hour Ronan had ever gone over the speed limit."

Okay, I'll stop now but seriously, maybe one of my favorite couples ever.  And to think I was sad when Blue broke up with Adam.  Silly me.