Graceling by Kristin Cashore

So, I loved this book to start out with. Strong female character. A little violent, but not graphically so. There was a passage in the first half of the book that I absolutely loved.

The main character, Katsa, has been used by her uncle as a thug to keep his kingdom in line. She is tired of it and, in unprecendented defiance of him, confronts him to say she will no longer do his bidding. She knows that he may try to kill her, but she also has the skill to defeat anyone and everyone that is sent her way and to kill the king on top of that. With all her heart, she doesn’t want that to happen, but her instinct is to kill anyone who tries to harm her. The quote that really stood out to me was this: ” Mercy was more frightening than murder, because it was harder, and Randa [the uncle] didn’t deserve it.”

Isn’t that awesomely true. Mercy is so much more difficult than lashing out and punishing the people who hurt us.

Unfortunately, only a few chapters later, Cashore killed the wonderful attachment I was beginning to feel to her main character. Katsa starts spouting modern feminist rhetoric. Now, I’m all for women being treated with respect and equality, both in the work place, in the home, and in places of worship, but some people take it a little too far for my comfort.

In the story, Katsa declares that she can never marry because she would no longer be her own and be herself. Even when she meets a man who loves her AND respects her individuality, she still claims that marriage would result in a loss of her fredom and of her very personality.

It hurts me to hear a character (and supposedly, the author) saying such things against marriage. There’s nothing wrong with being single, but to remain single because you fear being “owned” is kind of ridiculous. My own marriage has not resulted in a loss of my “self” but has developed a richness my personality that stems from being responsible for another’s wellbeing and happiness. I wouldn’t be nearly as understanding nor as generous with my self and my time if I did not have my husband in my life.

So, in the end, although the story was entertaining and engaging, I wasn’t at all happy with Graceling. (Also, the Epilogue left much to be desired as far as closure. I understand wanting to leave things open for a sequal, but if you don’t give me something to feel good and finished about, I might not come back for the next one.)

January 13, 2012 Tags: California Young Reader Medal Posted in: fantasy, Young Adult No Comments

Whimpering Again

So, here I am bemoaning yet again how rarely I post updates to this blog. There’s really very little point to a book review blog if I never get around to actually posting anything more than a list of the books I’ve read.

I’m still not willing to completely give up the idea, though.

So, I guess the next strategy is to let this become a bit more organic. I’ve tried to keep all of my entries very formal and focused on reviewing a particular book, but maybe I just need to set myself a goal of so many posts so often where I can just ramble about whatever book I’m reading, or try to unpack the meaning of particular passages that I’m struggling with.

Who knows, maybe there’s even some sort of value in simply charting my progress through the ideas a book presents to me. Maybe it will all be worthless drivel. At least I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something.

I guess this can’t count as the first post in the new style, though, if I don’t actually talk about a book, so here goes.

I’m currently reading Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. I’m actually really enjoying it, even though it’s kind of a mystery, which I don’t typically go for. I guess I don’t typically go for the formula mysteries…the ones where an author maintains a steady source of income by creating a detective-type character who gets into the same sort of scrapes, just with slightly different details. (Sure, I believe there is a place for that sort of stuff in literature…just not on my shelves.)

The novel, however, caught my interest with (yet again) a rather interesting narrative device. The novel is part historical fiction, part modern mystical mystery. (Try saying that five times fast.) I have found myself completely caught up in both plots. Mosse expertly switches between the two with just enough to tie them together and quickly enough that you haven’t lost the thread of the one you just took a break from.

I love how she has woven church history into the earlier plot. Very fascinating stuff. Not sure yet how I’ll feel about the sort of alternative theology she is building up, but I’ll give her props for keeping me reading despite the sort of “all monotheistic religions trace back to some deeper, mystical religion that only an elite few have maintained.” But I guess you can’t have a grail quest without something like the Knights Templar, can you?

Surprisingly, with only a hundred pages to go, I’ve sort of stalled out on my progress. I don’t think it has anything to do with the book, since every time I do pick it up, I want to keep reading. I think it is more of an indication that my life is simply too busy right now. Hopefully, I’ll be able to slow down a bit soon and knock out these last few chapters.

That will also mean that I have officially reached my reading goal for the year. Now, do I relax for the rest of the year and focus on other things, or do I try to read ALL of the California Young Reader Medal nominees over the holiday?

December 7, 2011 Tags: Kate Mosse, Labyrinth Posted in: historical fiction One Comment

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

These books have sort of been my guilty pleasure…not at all the type I usually go for. They are marketed as mysteries, though very few of them have struck me as truly dealing with solving an actual mystery. The early books seemed to fit more properly in the Romance genre. The latter books have leaned more towards fantasy. The last two books have just been running out of steam.

I’m sorry to say that, while this book is significantly better than Dead in the Family, the storyline hasn’t improved by much. The only mystery involves Sookie trying to figure out which of her enemies is behind the most recent attack on her life. The character development is stilted. I kind of get the feeling that Harris doesn’t really love these characters anymore and is simply churning out yet another book in order to appease the fans of the series.

As a general comment on the content of all of the books, they are not for those who object to mainstream romance novels. Each novel contains at least one graphic scene.

I find Sookie’s internal moral soliloquys interesting; she seems to want to have a moral compass, but feels her Christian upbringing lacks the flexibility her current situations necessitate. At the same time, the vampires’ complete lack of a moral code when it comes to how they treat humans (and often each other) continually shocks and dismays her. In a (very hidden and underdeveloped) way, the novels really are about what it means to be human and how we are different from animals (or vampires, or werewolves, or fairies, etc.), or at least, how we should be different. Unfortunately, this is not a significant enough part of the storyline for me to feel that these books are anything more than just a bit of light reading.

July 26, 2011 Posted in: fantasy, mystery No Comments

Changes, Perhaps For the Better

So, Amazon has cut off all of their California based associates due to a new state law. Not that I ever really made any money being an associate. Oh, well. However, it does mean an end to the nifty graphics. I’d still like to include cover art in the posts, but that might actually be easier than getting the Amazon link; I’m hoping that the ultimate result will be that I post more reviews, as it will be a simpler process to do so.

July 24, 2011 Posted in: Uncategorized No Comments

Quote of the Day

It’s been quite a while since I read Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero, but I just rediscovered this quote I’d written down.

Leo says, ”When a demigod like me comes around, bad things happen. Really bad.”

“Maybe it’s the other way around,” Jason suggested. “Maybe people with special gifts show up when bad things are happening because that’s when they’re needed most.”

Sometimes I feel like Leo. Bad things just follow me around because I’m a Christian…because the entire world, both seen and unseen, is out to get me.

But maybe God strategically places me in the midst of certain situations because that’s where I need to be. Maybe, just maybe, my heartbreak, my frustration, my fear, isn’t all about ME, but about what I do with it and how I use it to touch the lives around me.

July 19, 2011 Posted in: Uncategorized No Comments

Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier

I think what I love about Chevalier’s writing is that she certainly knows how to use metaphors and symbolism. I read so much fiction aimed at young adults, that I tend to miss the finer points of literature. But Chevalier’s writing is literary and sophisticated without being pretentious and difficult to follow. She is not full of herself, but loves the craft, and while I didn’t enjoy this book as much as Girl with a Pear Earring, it didn’t fall far short.

The book is set in late 18th Century London and follows a family newly arrived from the country, particularly focusing on the boy and a girl he meets in London who tries to help him adjust to life in a big city. One of their neighbors is the poet/printer/artist William Blake. (I like that Chevalier focuses on the lives of those around artists, not on the artists themselves.) While Blake does not figure heavily into the story, he provides the extended metaphor that illuminates the entire novel: the tension between innocence and experience. Although I love how this concept is developed throughout the story, the rest of it just didn’t engage me quite as much as Girl With a Pearl Earring…still enjoyable, just not quite as powerful.

At any rate, it is still definitely worth a read (I’m sure I’ll be passing on my copy to someone soon), though there are some bits that are not appropriate for children, despite the young main characters.

May 2, 2011 Posted in: historical fiction No Comments

In Too Deep by Jude Watson

In general, I haven’t been posting about each of The 39 Clues books that I’ve read. There are just too many of them, and as far as each story story goes, they are a bit ho-hum and only narrowly miss being formulaic.

I decided to mention book 6, however, because it is the first one that actually seems to grow up a bit. Until now, the books have been very firmly geared towards upper elementary and middle school age kids. Even dangerous situations are an adventure to the two main characters, who rush headlong into each new task. This is the first book that attempts to deal with the content a little more seriously and finally sees at least one of the children having to face some rather tougher emotional issues connected with the loss of their parents.

While I still think the book is aimed at the same audience, I’m glad one of the authors finally attempted to explore the realistic emotional depth that the other books have only glossed over.

April 23, 2011 Posted in: mystery No Comments

We Hear the Dead by Dianne K. Salerni

Salerni teases you along with an intriguing tale until about two thirds of the way through the book when she finally rivets you. The story is centered around the sisters who are credited with starting the spiritualism movement in the mid-nineteenth century. (For those who might object to a book about spiritual mediums communicating with the dead, there’s nothing to fear from this book; the main narrator makes it very clear that the “communication” started as a prank and then became a business once her older sister discovered there could be a profit made from it.)

At the beginning, the book simply seems to be a story about how these girls came into the public eye and the various obstacles and dangers they faced even as their fame grew. About half way through the book, it abruptly turns into a love story. The first person narrator really seems to come into her own at this point, which I suppose is by design, but it makes the earlier narrative seem a bit mechanical. While the earlier part of the book is mildly interesting, it almost ends up feeling disconnected from the later narrative.

What I truly love about the last part of the book is that it was entirely unpredictable for me. By this time, I had realized that this was based on historical events, but refused to look up the real characters themselves, as I wanted to be surprised. This meant that all my preconceptions of how a love story should be crafted could not be relied upon. I found myself trying to gain reassurance from the idea that these types of stories always have some sort of happy ending, or at least morally fulfilling if not entirely happy. Then I’d remember that if the Salerni was following real life events, she was not bound by the unspoken rules of the genre, making this a real nail-biter for me.

I also appreciated the afterward in which Salerni saved me the trouble of digging up what later became of my intrepid narrator.

Unfortunately, while I couldn’t put the book down once I got to the end, it left me with that sad longing feeling in my heart that I feel when either I want the story to continue or wish I could rewrite history for my new literary friends.

April 5, 2011 Posted in: historical fiction No Comments

The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn

I’m pretty disappointed with this one. I think it is trying to be an updated 1984 for today’s young adults but doesn’t even approach that iconic work of speculative fiction.

The first issue I had with the book is that the author’s political commentary is actually a little above the heads of her target audience. Shoot, it was even a little over my head and it’s not like I live in the same political vacuum that most teens do. While the story itself is straight forward, it is highly dependent upon the political aspects of the setting. Eventually, it gets to feeling like Weyn is bludgeoning you with her agenda, which gets old quickly whether you agree with her positions or not.

I’m fairly certain that younger readers won’t pick up on any of that aspect of this novel and will probably enjoy it much more than I did. For older readers, it would be a fantastic novel to teach the concept of propaganda.

However, the next issue I had with the novel might cause even more problems for its long-term success: it is very dated. The cultural and political references in the novel will be lost on young adults within the next ten years.

February 18, 2011 Posted in: science fiction, Young Adult No Comments

the Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn

I’m pretty disappointed with this one. I think it is trying to be an updated 1984 for today’s young adults but doesn’t even approach that iconic work of speculative fiction.

February 18, 2011 Posted in: science fiction, Young Adult No Comments