tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73740751929015711522024-03-13T01:52:28.752-07:00The Sparkle ProjectCeilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-50920582974515294832012-07-05T13:02:00.002-07:002012-07-05T13:02:36.055-07:00The Orwell Project: 3 - "Eve" by Anna Carey.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Once again, thank you for the comments and your thoughts. I have
a few more things I’d like to discuss regarding some points I made in my “Matched”
review regarding the separation of author and text, but I think it may be easier to do so in a
separate post, possibly on The Book Lantern. I know I said “The Selection”
would be my next entry, but cheap Kindle deals plus my birthday plus an
uncharacteristically lovely day meant I just had to move onto another book with
a lot of hype and a dead end. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Summary (taken from Goodreads): <span style="background: white; color: #181818;">The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the
vaccine intended to protect against it—wiped out most of the earth’s
population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her
all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the
horrifying fate that awaits her.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #181818;"><br />
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<span style="background: white;">Fleeing the only
home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching
for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough,
rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has
been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He
promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose
between true love and her life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Cover impressions: The moment “Twilight”
is invoked in the promotion of your book, you’ve got some serious hype to live
up to. The same applies to the use of “The Hunger Games”. However, to bill a
book as a combination of both is just setting yourself up for disappointment. It’s
not unusual to see such comparisons made in the advertising of a book. It’s the
entire backbone of the Orwell Project, after all. Publishing, now more so than
ever, needs to make money, and the easiest way to get the tills ringing is to
create hype. It’s not always successful, as we’ve discussed, but when deployed
in the correct manner it can work wonders. “Divergent” managed it but “Matched”
and “Eve” both stumbled. With “Eve”, I can easily see why, just from that
promise of “The Hunger Games meets Twilight”. For many, the romance was a
crucial part of “The Hunger Games”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I’ve only read the first book, a
shameful admittance on my part, but I always felt that the romantic element
felt tacked on. Suzanne Collins’s agent admitted that she had suggested more
romance for the series, whilst Collins was more interested in the war element. It
shows, even in the first novel where the manipulation of narratives such as a
dream romance broadcasted live make up a fascinating part of the story. I know
many people disagree with me on this, but romance has never felt like a
crucial, necessary or even particularly interesting addition to a dystopian
narrative. It feels distracting, often serves solely to fill pages and suggests
a complete lack of priorities for the protagonist. When society has crumbled
and you’re up against a totalitarian government or something similar, you
should be more worried about that than if the guy you like will hold hands with
you. Romance works best as a secondary plot, and even then it’s tough to pull
off well, so to push it front and centre is asking for trouble. So, with that
long ramble off-topic, I bring the project back to “Eve” with the shocking
revelation that I genuinely enjoyed it for the first third of the novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Eve” opens with the introduction
of an all-girls’ school, walled off from the rest of society in the remnants of
what once was America, ruled by one King. These girls, having lived comfortable
lives and educated in trades they believe they will spend their lives working
in, are set to graduate and move into the next level of education. For school
valedictorian Eve, her dream of being an artist is in sight, but her world is
shattered when she sees the truth for herself – eighteen year old girls are
strapped to beds, forcibly impregnated and must breed continually in order to replenish
the country’s population. Understandably, Eve runs away, directed by one kind
teacher to follow the path to a safe haven known as Califia. On the way,
accompanied by fellow runaway Arden, she meets a man for the very first time,
Caleb, who helps the pair out and shelters her from the military, who are keen
to bring her to the main city where she shall take her place as the King’s new
wife. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Up until Eve meets Caleb, the novel
is rather enjoyable. It’s by no means a masterpiece and the first person
narrative became a tired staple of the genre long ago, but the first third of “Eve”
remains well paced with a genuine tension and hints of an exploration of the
change in gender roles when society crumbles. Given dystopian fiction’s history
in tackling women’s issues, most notably in Margaret Atwood’s classic novel “The
Handmaid’s Tale” and, more recently, in the much hyped YA debut of Lauren
DeStefano, “Wither” (see my review here), it’s no surprise to see another novel
tackle the topic. However, it quickly becomes apparent that the author has no
real interest in such issues, nor indeed in accurately developing a world where
such drastic changes in gender roles would occur. It’s another world with a single
non-democratic ruler that briefly mentions a decadent city where the rich live
carefree, much like the Capitol, but the decision to divide the sexes and have
the girls be explicitly taught to fear and hate men before forcing them to
breed leaves the reader with nothing but questions. Surely if such a
patriarchal system were to be instigated then it would be far easier and more
sensible to teach the girls about traditional domestic roles of housewife and
mother. To push this traditional role not only as the norm but as the girls’
sole function would require the involvement of men, even if sexual intercourse
never takes place. Spending seemingly unlimited resources on providing schools
of young girls with comfortable room, board and several years of education also
seems pointless. One character says this is done because it makes the next step
easier if they have had several years of the supposedly fulfilled purpose of
learning a trade. While Eve’s naivety and fear is perfectly in character, to
have her go through such a u-turn, from fearing men her whole life as she has
been taught, to becoming entirely consumed by the first one she meets, feels
unnatural and rather insulting. It asserts the insinuated gender norm of the
society, that women are passive and need to be protected. While I wouldn’t
quite compare it to “Twilight” as the marketing did, the author’s need to
insert a romantic angle ruins the promising potential of “Eve”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Let’s talk about reproductive
issues in dystopian fiction. Science fiction has a long standing history of
using the body and its subsequent invasion as a metaphor. The numerous “Invasion
of the Body Snatcher” movies used its eponymous theme to tackle contemporary
fears and issues such as the McCarthy witch hunts. Ridley Scott’s “Alien”, its
sequels and the recently released sort-of prequel “Prometheus” famously tackle
the fear of bodily infection and loss of control over ones extremities. Personally,
nothing terrifies me more than losing power over my own body. Today, with women’s
rights being constantly threatened and abortion providers being shut down,
severely limited in their power and even birth control coming under entirely
unfounded scrutiny, it’s not a surprise to see teen fiction tackle the topic. That’s
not even taking into account that glorious thing known as puberty, a horror
scenario to many a teenage girl. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At the heart of these books, mainly
“Eve” and “Wither”, although we can’t have this discussion without mentioning “The
Handmaid’s Tale” (a similar theme appears in the next Orwell Project entry “Glow”),
is the terrifying and not all that fantastical idea that society views a young
woman’s worth solely as a walking womb, and that she shouldn’t even have
control over that. Given the dystopian genre’s long and illustrious history in
exploring the contemporary world through seemingly fantastical scenarios, this
is a theme that deserves proper execution. My main issue with “Eve” and “Wither”
is that they shy away from the nitty-gritty of the matter and because of this
they end up falling into some tired and suspect tropes of general YA. Despite everything
that occurs in both novels, both heroines end the novel with their virginity
intact. This is especially uncomfortable in “Wither” given that heroine Rhine’s
13 year old sister wife ends up pregnant while the husband respectfully keeps
his distance from the 16 year old. The novel sets up a genuinely unnerving premise
– a world where women are forced into polygamous marriages in order to quickly
repopulate the earth before a virus kills them all at the age of 20 – and refuses
to go all the way. “Wither”, like “Eve”, has many problems in its
world-building, but by setting up the ridiculous and damaging dichotomy that the
heroine’s ‘goodness’ is inextricably connected to her ‘purity’, the novels end
up going against that they’re supposed to be condemning. I’m not saying that
the heroines had to have sex or be raped or be subjected to something equally
gruesome and degrading; that’s horrific. The issue here is in the authors
mollycoddling their heroines against the world they have created. What is the
point of setting up such a scenario if the reader is perfectly aware that the
heroine is safe from the evils they’re up against? Ultimately, “Eve” fails to
live up to its potential because it refuses to fully embrace the premise it has
created.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I’m not exactly known for my
ringing endorsements of romance in young adult novels. It’s not that I hate
romance – I love it and happen to think that it’s one of the most challenging
and rewarding genres in fiction, both to read and to write. My issue has always
been with the oversaturation of romance in the genre and the reliance of
insta-love over true characterisation. Not only does “Eve” squander its
potential as a dystopian novel in favour of focusing on the romantic angle, the
romance itself is dull, uninspiring and fails to work on its own level. It just
doesn’t work in the world Carey has created. The novel is far more concerned
with high school rom-com style misunderstandings and stolen glances, something
which this reader found mind-boggling considering the evidently more important issues
unfolding throughout the novel. The series has potential as a whole but in
order to fully live up to it, the author needs to fully embrace the concept she
has created, spend far less time worrying about the romance, and to tighten up
the world-building and mood substantially. However, the abrupt ending and clear
assertion of the heroine’s priorities (take three guesses) don’t fill me with
much hope. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-14513597803501930082012-06-13T14:14:00.001-07:002012-06-13T14:14:23.666-07:00The Orwell Project: 2 - "Matched" by Ally Condie.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Thank you to everyone who read and commented on the first Orwell
Project entry, and apologies for the next part taking so long. It’s been a busy
month for me due to ending university, my internship, job, numerous
volunteering positions and organising my graduation (2:1 MA hons in Celtic
& English literature, fuck yeah!) so reviewing had to be shelved for a
while. Now that I will probably have a lot more free time on my hands as I join
the ranks of unemployed humanities graduates, this will hopefully move along a little more
speedily.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Summary (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span style="background: white; color: #181818;">Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right
choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's
face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete
certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash
for an instant before the screen fades to black.</span><span style="color: #181818;"><br />
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<span style="background: white;">The Society tells
her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy
life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about
Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's
infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky,
between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to
follow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b>Cover impressions</b>: I distinctly remember reading a Publisher’s
Weekly piece on the much buzzed about auction for publishers to acquire the
rights to the trilogy by Condie, an author who had only previously published Mormon-centric
teen fiction from much smaller publishers, and the much talked about seven
figure sum the author received. Condie’s agent, Jodi Reamer, is nothing if not
a savvy businesswoman. What followed after that auction were many months of
hype and a not insignificant publicity campaign that, while nowhere near
matching that which “Divergent” would later receive, still warranted attention
and discussion. As expected, the first book in the planned trilogy went
straight into the New York Times bestseller list. However, there were rumblings
that the book had not sold anywhere near as well as expected, and the reviews
were decidedly mixed amongst readers. With the final book in the trilogy being
released in November, one can’t help but notice how little buzz there is
surrounding its impending release, especially when compared to that which
preceded “Insurgent”, the follow-up to “Divergent”. Having finally read “Matched”,
it’s not hard to see why. I must admit that this book took a lot longer to read
than it probably should have. Part of the blame for that can be directed
towards myself and my schedule, but the main reason it took me so long was
because I was so unbelievably bored with this book. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Small side note: The cover is pretty but it’s yet another
addition to the less than creative field of pretty skinny white girls in prom
dresses that seem to have flooded the YA cover market. I find it interesting
that the marketing for this book, along with several upcoming Orwell Project
books, focus their attentions on the shallow and fashionable elements of the
story. This dress appears in one scene and yet the marketing is all about it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The premise for “Matched” is a familiar one, especially to
those of us who have read works such as “1984” and “The Giver”. Set in an
undisclosed point in the future of what I assume is America, The Society
dictates every part of the lives of its citizens. They control who you marry,
when and how many children you’ll have, the education you’ll receive, the job
you’ll do and when you shall die. Their reasoning for doing so is based heavily
on statistics that prove their decisions equal long, content and productive
lives for all. The book opens on the night of the matching banquet of our 17
year old hero Cassia. Wearing one of a selected number of dresses (the
admittedly gorgeous green number adorns the cover of the book), she eagerly
awaits the Society’s decision as to whom she shall marry. To everyone’s
surprise, she is matched with her good friend Xander. Such instances are rare
as the vast majority of the Society’s citizens are matched with strangers. However,
Cassia’s carefully ordered life takes an unexpected twist when, upon checking
the details of her match, the file containing details of Xander shows not his
face but that of another boy she knows, called Ky. Unfortunately this match
cannot be since Ky is an aberration and is thus forbidden from being matched.
Cassia finds herself in a state of turmoil over choosing the boy chosen for her
or the forbidden mysterious stranger. If that final sentence doesn’t make you a
little queasy, you’re a stronger YA reader than I. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Before I even get onto the utterly bland stupidity of the
romance, the story’s central focus, I must touch on the one thing I did like
about “Matched”, and that is the prose. Condie writes beautiful prose, striking
a fine balance between a lyrical quality and yet remaining purposeful in her
word choice. It’s tougher than it looks and I commend her for that. It works to
extremely emotional effect in one particular scene with Cassia and her grandfather.
However, the book fails on almost every other level, starting with the
world-building.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The premise of an all controlling society is nothing new in fiction.
It’s a backbone of dystopian novels and can be written in a highly effective
manner. I recommend “The Giver” by Lois Lowry as a strong example, especially
given that “Matched” borrows heavily from the tropes used in “The Giver”. Obviously,
the Society is originally viewed as a utopia, bringing peace to its citizens,
but the main problem with Condie’s Society is that it is completely toothless. Almost
every character breaks some sort of rule throughout the story, be it minor or
major. If this is a small sample, how does this translate to the Society as a
whole? How on earth do they keep order? Given how much free will is allotted to
the citizens, I remained baffled as to how they functioned. Surely if people
are constantly breaking rules, and know they are doing so, then they are fully
aware that their government is not utopian, therefore they become ungovernable?
The Society claims to have eradicated certain illnesses, such as cancer,
through the matched pairings, but while I’m no doctor, I’m not sure that’s how
cancer works.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Society has set aside 100 of each thing for the citizens
to appreciate, such as 100 poems or 100 songs. How are these 100 poems decided
out of the immeasurable amount of literature created over the course of
thousands of years of human achievement? Let’s look at this logically (since I
doubt the Society did): it would make the most sense for the Society to pick
100 American poems, given the location of the story, but which era would they
choose, if any? For example, I love Edwin Morgan, and it would be tough enough
to pick 100 of his poems to preserve, let alone 100 poems from every poem ever
written. Would drama written in verse count? What about works translated from a
foreign language? How is a poem deemed suitable? Given the often deeply
confessional, political or cultural specific nature of some poets’ work, how
can one be sure the poem they choose doesn’t incite some sort of revolution
amongst the people? Books are burned in dystopian societies for a reason –
because words are power. Some poems require a lot of research and analysis to
truly appreciate the power behind them. I’m currently reading a biography of
the marriage between Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, and it’s uncovering so many
of the complexities behind each of their work that I’d never even considered
before, and I consider myself a huge Plath fan in particular. This particular
aspect of the story bugged me quite a bit, especially since I’ve spent hours
analysing one stanza of a poem for an essay. The 100 poems choice is made all
the more confusing given that the citizens are taught to read but not to write.
To me, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. How is that even possible? In one
supposedly touching scene of romance building, Ky teaches Cassia to write, but
if she can read perfectly, as is mentioned on more than one occasion, surely
she could just see the words in her head and copy them down? There is no real
logic behind these decisions made by the Society. The society in “The Giver”
works because they have eradicated colour and music and anything creative. Here,
Cassia’s world seems utterly ridiculous in comparison. There’s no logic here at
all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since the romantic element takes up the vast majority of the
story, so it must take up the vast majority of my review, unfortunately. To put
it succinctly, the romance is awful. It’s the worst of what YA romance has
thrown at us over the past 5 years. Dull, insipid, poorly developed, overly
reliant on “mysterious”, “brooding”, and other such descriptive words, the love
triangle unfolds pretty much as you would expect. It’s the join-the-dots of YA
romance, headed by an extremely annoying heroine with absolutely no concept of
how basic human emotions work. It’s a very conservative romance, with a simple
brushing of hands bringing about emotions in Cassia so extreme, I shudder to
think how she’ll cope when she has her first orgasm (yes, I know Condie is a
Mormon and that she was inspired to write “Matched” after chaperoning at a high
school dance, but the book is terrible enough independent of the author, so separate
my thoughts shall remain). I get the thrill of a first crush, we all do on some
level, but here it is heightened to such ludicrous proportions that don’t even
fit in with the society in which Cassia is living. This all controlling Society
decides who you shall marry, but still allows cross-gender interaction and the
odd kiss or two amongst the unmatched. Why? I refuse to believe this Society is
stupid enough to assume that no child under the age of 16 has ever felt an
attraction, physical or emotional, to another human being before they are
matched with a spouse for life. We are supposed to believe that Cassia has
never felt any attachment, romantic or otherwise, to another person, even
subconsciously, before she is matched with her supposed close friend and then
all of a sudden, there is a switch which changes everything. This is a world
devoid of sexuality, not because the Society dictates it, but because the author
has eradicated it and refuses to address it. Which brings me to a side note I
must address.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Where the fuck are the gay people in dystopian fiction? <o:p></o:p></div>
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On top of believing that teenage hormones do not exist, the
reader is supposed to assume that homosexuality, bisexuality, and anything
remotely resembling an LGBTQ lifestyle just does not exist. The matchings exist
to create content relationships and strong families, and I get that. However,
there is not one single acknowledgement that LGBTQ people even exist in this
Society. If Condie had taken a moment to mention that queer lifestyles were
outlawed or something similar, I wouldn’t have been happy but there would have
been some sort of understanding, but there’s nothing. It’s not that gay people
aren’t allowed in the Society, it’s that they don’t even fucking exist, and
this makes me so angry. Given the pathetically small percentage of LGBTQ
representation in current young adult fiction, to have this seven figure sum
selling trilogy, one that publishers fought over to buy, one that was buzzed
about for almost a year prior to release, just ignore a significant portion of
the population disappoints me. The characters in the book have the option to
reject their match and live life as a Single (which also opens up another whole
heap of plot holes) so I assume this is what LGBTQ citizens choose? If so, why
does the author not acknowledge this? Are LGBTQ people not worth her time, or
any dystopian author’s time? Given how much YA likes to pat itself on the back
for being so diverse and supporting LGBTQ readers, seeing the most buzzed about
books once again focus on the straight pretty skinny white girl in an expensive
dress while entirely ignoring LGBTQ people makes me want to vomit. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Back to the romance. Ky is the one Cassia falls for (it’s
the biggest shock of the year!) apparently because she’s forbidden to. They barely
interact and they know next to nothing about each other, and yet we’re supposed
to believe they completely adore each other and will do anything do stay
together, as long as it doesn’t stop Cassia from being entirely passive as a
heroine. Her supposedly close friendship with Xander is shown to be equally as
poorly developed but at least they have conversations together and Xander
exhibits a modicum of a personality. Ky’s entire worth as a romantic heroine
seems to rest on him being mysterious and forbidding. Call me old fashioned but
I’d like to get to know someone before we brush hands and declare our
everlasting love. While there is a lot less of the grating angst commonly seen
in YA romance when it comes to the heroine choosing between two boys, the fact
that Cassia immediately seems to fall for someone she barely knows does nothing
to bring me in as a reader. When it is revealed that the romance between Ky and
Cassia is also a set up by the Society, for reasons too pointless and ludicrous
for me to note, this has no effect on anything. Cassia barely questions her
thoughts on the issue, which is odd given how preoccupied she was with the
decision between her and Xander. It’s not love, it’s obsession. This forbidden
romance also has absolutely no effect on the plot. About 50 pages from the end
of one extremely slow read, Cassia’s family are sent to a new location and Ky
is sent to another, not because of their romance but because of two entirely
unrelated incidents that are barely mentioned in the novel. The entire focus of
the story is completely inconsequential to the central plot. Basically, the
romance is literally pointless. If that doesn’t irritate you as a reader, I don’t
know what will. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This review suggests I am much angrier with this book than I
actually am. Aside from the complete erasing of LGBTQ representation (and that
rant could easily be applied to any number of big selling YA novels), this book
mostly just bored me. It’s lifeless in almost every possible way, bland and comparable
to birthday cake icing – pretty to look at but utterly lacking in anything
remotely resembling substance. Where Condie’s prose shows a strong level of
control over the language, the Society depicted completely lacks it. I’m struggling
with a way to properly sum up “Matched” because it was so entirely pointless
and forgettable, but it wasn’t atrociously bad. I found “Divergent” to be a far
worse book, but there was a note of ambition behind it. “Matched” feels lazy in
comparison, far more invested in an entirely inconsequential romance one can
find in any number of YA books than in giving dimensions to its characters and
the world they inhabit. “Matched” is solid proof that gimmicks can only take
you so far in YA, and the same can be said for hype.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Big Brother’s Checklist:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->World-building: <i>Terrible, frivolous, completely lacking in the logic that is frequently
mentioned in reference to it. I spent way more time thinking about the holes in
the 100 poems scheme than I should have.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Strong premise: <i>It’s a gimmick, pure and simple. A “What if…?” idea that’s good for
taglines but not much else. If you’ve read “The Giver” then you may find
yourself trying to figure out the percentage of that seven figure advance that
Condie owes to Lois Lowry.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->“Strong female character”: <i>Cassia isn’t supposed to be the kickass heroine Tris was depicted as,
but she is described as intelligent on more than one occasion, including by the
Society, and yet she remains passive, childish and really annoying throughout.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Love triangle:<i> I’m counting this as a yes because, while Cassia is very decisive in
her choice between the two potential romantic interests, the reader is still
subjected to far too much internal angst from Cassia on the issue</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Sense of threat: <i>There isn’t one.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Strong villain/antagonist: <i>The Society isn’t a strong enough threat to really register as an
antagonist, nor is there another present.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Lack of priorities: <i>Romance always works better as a sub-plot unless you can write the hell
out of a romance. Brief hand brushing, letters on napkins and mysterious
strangers just don’t cut it.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Overdone/unnecessary romance<i>: Unnecessary should have been this book’s title. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Supporting cast: <i>With the exception of Cassia’s grandfather, who exhibits wit and warmth
in the one standout scene of the novel, the supporting cast barely registers. I
was interested in learning more about the relationship between Cassia’s
parents, but little time was allotted to them.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Deeper meaning: There doesn’t seem to be one.<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->General writing quality (pace, plotting, prose):
Beautiful prose, terrible plotting, sluggish page. Half a point here.<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]-->Originality/execution: <i>Read “The Giver” instead.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
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Bingo count: 11 ½ /12. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Next time on the Orwell Project: Kiera Cass’s “The Selection”,
as possibly to be seen on the CW in the near future. I’m also looking for
suggestions on how to improve the Big Brother’s checklist. Is there anything I should
add or take away? Once again, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this book and
others coming up in the Orwell Project, and if you can recommend a dystopian
novel that actually acknowledges LGBTQ people, then you’ll get a gold star and
my thanks!<o:p></o:p></div>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-59581438621572213392012-05-07T17:17:00.003-07:002012-05-07T17:17:55.545-07:00The Orwell Project: 1 - "Divergent" by Veronica Roth.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome to the first entry in the Orwell Project! Those of you who follow me on twitter may have seen my brief tweets whilst reading the first book on the list, and you may have noticed that my opinions were less than positive. I go into every book with an open mind and aim to give each of them a fair chance, as I did with the Sparkle Project (yes, really), and what better way to start off my exploration into the new dystopian YA craze than with what is arguably the biggest success story of the post-Hunger Games market.</div>
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<b>Summary (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="color: #181818;">In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.</span></span></div>
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<b>Cover impressions:</b> Veronica Roth started writing “Divergent” in college, and was quickly signed up by agent <a href="http://publishersmarketplace.com/members/Joanna/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #669999; font-weight: bold;">Joanna Stampfel-Volpe</a>. The book rose to success at an unusually enthusiastic pace, with a <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/47654-spring-2011-flying-starts-veronica-roth.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #669999; font-weight: bold;">200,000 copy first run by HarperCollins</a>, and a huge online promotional campaign. The campaign is what interested me the most upon the book’s release. Part of the promotional campaign included a Facebook campaign where you could “discover your faction”, and to me this is a huge reason as to why the book was so successful, certainly selling more copies than similarly themed and promoted novels. A huge attraction of the novel’s concept is the idea of choice, of looking inside yourself and deciding which human traits you value the most, and having your entire life dictated by that choice. As I mentioned before, much of the appeal in teen dystopian novels these days lies in the inherent choices one must make, and the subsequent consequences of that decision. Unfortunately, “Divergent” fails on this front by falling into several major pitfalls of the genre.</div>
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The Chicago of the future depicted in “Divergent” is one divided into five factions, with the citizens of each faction devoting their lives to one specific virtue that they consider the most important: Amity (peace), Abnegation (selflessness), Candor (honesty), Erudite (intelligence) and Dauntless (bravery). Upon turning 16, each citizen must take a series of tests to discover which faction they are most suited to, but are then given the freedom to choose whichever faction they wish to join later on. This confusion is one of the first big missteps of the novel. Why introduce mandatory tests to find a suitable faction if the citizens then have free will to decide differently?</div>
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Beatrice/Tris, our heroine, belongs to Abnegation, but decides to join Dauntless, after receiving inconclusive test results which identify her as Divergent, the name given to those who are shown to possess more than one of the allotted virtues. Once again, the red flags come up, revealing my biggest issue with the novel. The world building makes absolutely no sense. The concept of dystopian societies relies on the notion of a world that seems perfect but is shown to be extremely flawed and often dangerously problematic (an idea many writers and publishers can’t seem to wrap their heads around), but while the concept of a world run by a series of such virtues sounds interesting at first glance, I cannot think of an instance where this would work without someone calling it out. How can you divide humanity into one of five virtues? How on earth can you be brave and not honest, or intelligent and not peaceful? Why would possessing more than one of these virtues be dangerous, as Tris is told? I can understand brainwashing one’s citizens into wholeheartedly believing in this system but by offering choice surely that gives them agency to question it? Those who do not pass initiation are sent out into the outskirts to be faction-less, taking on the grunt jobs and living on hand-outs, and yet the possibility of a completely justifiable uprising is never mentioned. Even if the society of this world had been watertight in its depiction of an entirely subservient society, I can’t imagine those without factions not rebelling in some way. The way in which every character just accepts this, along with every other world-building hole, felt lazy.</div>
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How on earth is this system governed? It is mentioned that Abnegation are in charge of politics of the city because of their selflessness, which sounds divine in terms of contemporary politicians, but who decided this? How can one be selfless when it is one’s job to dictate to others how to rule their lives? We’re given no indication of how the rest of America outside of Chicago works, which constantly raised questions as to the function of local government versus the role of Washington and the Congress and Senate (granted, I’m a politics geek so I doubt most teenagers are stressing over this like I am). Tris also attends high school with other factions, which logically makes no sense since surely allowing such a system would only encourage rebellion. Each faction is assigned a different job to do but the idea that each position would only require one virtue is ridiculous and illogical. This complete lack of sense is present throughout the entire book and is impossible to overlook. I cannot invest in a novel that leaves me asking so many questions. The concept and its lack of thought reminded me of Lauren Oliver’s “Delirium”, set in a world where love is a disease. It sounds like an interesting concept until it’s thought about for longer than five seconds.</div>
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Upon leaving Abnegation, Tris is sent to the Dauntless camp to begin her training for initiation. The biggest chunk of the book is spent in what I find easiest to describe as an extended training montage. Since the Dauntless value bravery above all else, naturally their training process is like a big adventure camp, complete with punch-ups, tattoos and paintballing. These frivolous activities are supposed to be what proves, for the biggest part of the story anyway, who the truly brave are. The Dauntless spend a lot of time getting tattoos, dying their hair wild colours and generally dressing like Sex Pistols fans. The definition of bravery presented is questionable at best. The stakes, which make Dauntless seem more like a summer camp than a truly life-changing initiation, are set ridiculously low, except for the frequent punch-ups the trainees must go through. While this element of the world is questioned by Tris, she buys into it ultimately but I don’t – why is violence brave? Surely the braver thing would be to say no? This element is set up for a later pay-off into the evils of another faction but once again the mishandling of the world-building raises some questions. Who is monitoring the factions? Leaving them self-governed is just asking for trouble. There’s no authority present, which also means there’s no real villain or sense of threat. The closest the novel comes to having a villain is the opposing faction Erudite, because apparently valuing intelligence makes one instantly maniacal and ready to take over the world. There’s a less than subtle anti-intellectual tone throughout the book which seriously annoyed me. The inherent premise of the book is where the issue of this lies, but given that the supposedly heroic Dauntless are happily beating up each other, I fail to see them in a better light than those who value intellect. One of the tensions of the novel lies in Erudite’s slandering of Abnegation, yet one would expect Candor to be doing their job of being honest about the inherent flaws of the city’s governmental rule. Once again, too many questions.</div>
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The stakes are raised in the second stage of initiation when Tris and company must go through extremely life-like hallucinations of their worst fears to learn to overcome them (because the true definition of bravery is overcoming one’s fear being attacked by rabid birds). Given that not much of any true consequence happens throughout this large portion of the book, I was disappointed by the lack of real character development, both for Tris and the supporting cast. I genuinely forgot the names of several of the Dauntless trainees, who remain distinguishable only by their token roles – best friend, love interest, bully – while Tris veered between cold, dull and a bit of a hypocrite. She has a distinct lack of compassion that I found to be a complete turn-off due to the inconsistencies of her depiction. While Tris admits she is too selfish to stay in Abnegation, but this doesn’t explain her often cruel nature as well as her habit of passing judgement on everyone. Characters exist to serve purposes and not much else. Peter is a bully and not much else. Al is the nice boy having trouble fitting in until he suddenly turns bad then kills himself for a cheap emotional pay-off. Not one supporting character makes a lasting impression and all feel entirely disposable.</div>
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Of course, her emotions change quickly for the romantic interest, Four, who I am sorry but not at all surprised to say is a typical YA jerk. Then again, I can’t think of many YA romantic leads who managed to draw blood from their supposed true love. I tend to get very angry when the “I was only trying to protect you” card is played in any novel, but here it angered me more than usual since “trying to protect” Tris includes physically hurting her, demeaning and humiliating her in front of others and treating her like a child (although she is often immature and dim-witted). Of course, he also has a tortured past and is brooding but gentle and loving, ticking off so many clichés in one swoop. The fact that the supposedly strong Tris falls for this hook, line and sinker entirely contradicted her depiction as a “strong female character”. It does not help that Tris seems to pick up each part of her training with ease. I’m not sure knife throwing and using a gun (something Tris finds a lot of security in, and don’t even get me started on the pro-gun stuff) are something that just come naturally.</div>
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The moral element of the novel feels shoehorned in. Tris makes references to God and praying but we are given no sense of the role of religion in this society. While the factions suggest an inherently Christian foundation to the city’s new rule, there’s no depth to this, nor any real rules put in place. It’s difficult to imagine a society without religion, or something resembling a religious element, be it the “worship” of a leader or the following of a divine theistic being, and I think the world of the novel would be much more complex and interesting if this was explored in more depth, but the author can’t just add a few references to God and hope for the best, especially when most of what the societies do to rule their city contradicts the inherent teachings of God and Jesus.</div>
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In terms of general prose, pacing, etc, the novel is serviceable at best and plodding at worst. Clocking in at almost 500 pages, the story feels sluggish, poorly developed and more concerned with an extended action montage than any semblance of developing its poorly structured society and undeveloped characters. I have no issue with the novel’s less than original concept since strong execution can more than make up for that, but there are too many holes in this novel for me to ignore. One cannot shove the major plot developments into the final 50 pages after expecting the reader to trudge through such boredom for so long. And here’s my biggest issue beyond the basic structuring of the novel – this is a world where the essential message is those who value intelligence are all greedy, selfish, power-hungry schemers who are working to take over and destroy all that is good and selfless, and if those who are truly “brave” need to shoot them in the head to stop them, so be it. Dystopian fiction is inherently political, I have no problem with authors taking a specific slant, even if it’s one that directly contradicts my own politics, but the basic premise of “Divergent” is one that is flawed to the extreme, and one that any reader can pick apart within 10 minutes of the first page. Tris may express disagreement with the violence of Dauntless but she is only happy to use it herself, frequently, and it always works. The generalisation and complete misunderstanding of basic human thinking is mind-boggling. “Divergent” is weak in almost every way. Its world-building has more holes than Princes Street’s tram building project, weak characterisation, plodding pacing, predictable and tired romance and inherently fails in its objective. Needless to say I will not be reading the sequel.</div>
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Big Brother’s Checklist:</div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>World-building: <i>Utter failure for all the reasons I mentioned above.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>Strong premise: <i>Falls apart very quickly and is entirely illogical.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>“Strong female character”: <i>The quotation marks are there for irony’s sake, as seen in the hilarious Kate Beaton cartoon. Tris is weak, frequently contradicts herself and is all too quick to fall into the romantic damsel mode, which isn’t particularly suggestive of brave. I also deeply resent her supposed displays of bravery when they rely so heavily on contradicting everything she supposedly stood for.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>Love triangle: Thankfully no, although I was fearful for one moment.</div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>Sense of threat: <i>There isn’t one.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>Strong villain/antagonist: <i>Making intelligence your villain without any real development or explanation will not win me over.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>Lack of priorities: <i>The entire Dauntless faction lives for this. Paintballing is a display of bravery?</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>Overdone/unnecessary romance<i>: Four is a jerk who will undoubtedly prove to be a popular romantic hero in all his clichéd wonder, but he was entirely useless and unnecessary as a character, and his treatment of Tris was in no way “protecting” her.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>Supporting cast: <i>Weak, poorly developed, seemingly only there to provide useful exposition and serve convenient roles when the occasion called for it.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>Deeper meaning: <i>Intelligence is BAD!</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>General writing quality (pace, plotting, prose): <i>Serviceable to weak. I hate to bring an author’s age into the equation since it’s often used as a lazy smear and proves to be inaccurate a lot of the time (Hannah Moskowitz is two years younger than me and continues to knock my socks off with her talent), but the immaturity of the storytelling is painfully evident in places, but remains readable, even when the pacing and lack of development is a turn-off.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: symbol;">· </span>Originality/execution: <i>Weak. I seem to be using that word a lot but it feels the most fitting.</i></div>
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Bingo count: 11/12.</div>
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Next time on the Orwell Project: I honestly have no idea. I’m waiting on a few books arriving from the library so I will update this entry when I have more information, or post it on Twitter (@Ceilidhann).</div>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-4998389826163633112012-04-30T09:15:00.002-07:002012-04-30T18:46:07.293-07:00After the Games: The Orwell Project.<br />
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The Summer I began the Sparkle Project, my YA review venture
into the world of Twilight inspired paranormal romance and its reoccurring
problematic elements, saw the release date for the 3<sup>rd</sup> and final
book in the wildly popular Hunger Games series, Mockingjay. I must admit that
it took me far too long – until this February, just before the movie was
released – to read The Hunger Games, and that was for a number of reasons. One,
I have become pretty averse to hype in young adult literature due to having
been immersed in it for almost two years now. Two, I was extremely annoyed by
publishers heavily promoting a YA series once again through a Team [insert man
here] strategy, dumbing down any complexities the series and its heroine may
have into one rehashed love triangle. And three, I’m a huge dystopian fiction
fan. The Handmaid’s Tale proudly sits on the list of my all-time favourite
books. When a writer of particular skill or imagination tackles the topic of a
twisted society, the results can be extraordinary, eliciting genuine fear and
understanding from the reader, and reminding us a little too much of the
possibilities that could spring from our own world. I know I’m not the only one
who viewed the recent contraception debate in America and thought about Offred.
The jargon of these novels have entered everyday language, from Newspeak to Big
Brother and beyond. It’s not hard to see why the genre is so alluring to
readers of all ages.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So why has it become so popular in YA? In my opinion, part
of that has to do with the excitement element. There’s just a whole lot more
happening in dystopian YA novels than most of the romance centred paranormal
reads that have dominated the bookshelves and continue to do so. The possibilities
are endless. Whereas the paranormal romances present a somewhat fetishized image
of love conquering all, dystopian fiction offers something else; tough
decisions, although the same heightened emotions are there. These novels also
have strong connections to contemporary socio-political commentary, acting as
mirrors to the world they inhabit. Of course, there’s also romance. While PNR
presents forbidden love surviving the boundaries of mythology, dystopian pushes
romance head first into societies that forbid it. The role of romance still
plays a heavy part in the marketing of these novels in a similar manner to the
Team Boy publicity that I oh so despise, because it’s still profitable. Whether
it appeals to me or not, there’s something appealing to the demographics about
forbidden love in all its forms, and this is a new outlet for it. Given the
rumblings that Suzanne Collins was asked to add more of the pointless love
triangle element into her series by the publishers, I can’t help but feel as if
we’re stuck in a rut, even if we have moved on from sparkles. I have found
myself disappointed with the dystopian YAs I have read so far (Delirium,
Wither, Enclave and The Pledge), but this fad still has some steam left, so I am
announcing my new blog venture:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>After the Games: The Orwell Project.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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(Thanks to Paige for the name suggestion).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I have picked 10 dystopian YA novels that have received
varying levels of publicity, acclaim and commercial success. Some of you may
notice that a few notable novels are missing, which is explained in the rules
below. I have reviewed each of these novels and will include mention of them
throughout the various discussions. I also wish to note that this project will
not take on the same form as the Sparkle Project. I’m afraid my days of snarky
recaps are over. I am extremely grateful for every view and comment these
reviews received, and if it wasn’t for them I would not still be blogging
today. However, I’ve grown as a reviewer since then and feel the more
straightforward analytical approach would work best here. Besides, I wouldn’t
want to subject you all to the pain that is my attempts to be funny! If you
wish to read along with me, that would be great!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Rules:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Each book must have been published
post-Mockingjay.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->The book must either be a stand-alone or the
first in a series.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->It must have been advertised, hyped or otherwise
described in terms of being the next Hunger Games, or a twist on the novel, or
any sort of emphasis on its dystopian elements.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->It must be something I have not read before. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The list of books I shall be reading, in no particular
order, are as follows:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Divergent (Veronica Roth)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Matched (Ally Condie)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Glow (Amy Kathleen Ryan)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->The Selection (Kiera Cass)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Shatter Me (Tahereh Mafi)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Legend (Marie Lu)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Possession (Elana Johnson)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->XVI (Julia Karr)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Eve (Anna Carey)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Blood Red Road (Moira Young)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I have not yet compiled my dystopian bingo card to accompany
each review, but I will provide one as soon as possible. Each review will be
posted simultaneously on my blog and my LiveJournal page, then will be added to
GoodReads at a later date. Stay tuned for my first review – Divergent by
Veronica Roth – next week! <o:p></o:p></div>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-91651945485341126722012-04-23T18:11:00.003-07:002012-04-23T18:14:42.006-07:00Review: "Bad Hair Day" by Carrie Harris.<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328715326l/12080400.jpg" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 315px; height: 475px;" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328715326l/12080400.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p class="Standard" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; "><b><i></i></b></span></p><blockquote><p class="Standard" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; "><b><i>“Bad Hair Day”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="font-style: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; "><b>Author:</b> Carrie Harris<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="font-style: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; "><b>Publisher:</b> Delacorte Press<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="font-style: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; "><b>Pages: </b>240<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="font-style: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; "><b>Summary (taken from GoodReads):</b> Senior year is positively hair-raising.</span><span style="font-weight: normal; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); "><br /><br /><span style="background:white">Kate Grable is geeked out to shadow the county medical examiner as part of her school’s pre-med program. Except when he’s arrested for murder, she’s left with the bodies. And when Kate’s brother Jonah stumbles upon a dead gamer girl, she realizes that the zombie epidemic she cured last fall was only the beginning of the weirdness taking over her town. Someone’s murdering kids—something really hairy. And strong. Possibly with claws.</span><br /><br /><span style="background:white">Is it werewolf awesomeness like Jonah and his dorktastic friends think? Kate’s supposed to be a butt-kicking zombie killing genius...but if she can’t figure out who’s behind the freakish attacks, the victims—or what’s left of them—are going to keep piling up.</span><br /><br /><span style="background:white">It’s scary. It’s twisted. It’s sick. It’s high school.</span></span></p></blockquote><p class="Standard" style="font-style: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-weight: normal; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); "><span style="background:white"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="font-style: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; "><b>Cover impressions</b>: I had the first book in the series, “Bad Taste in Boys” on my radar thanks to its gleefully kitsch 50s sci-fi B-movie synopsis yet never got around to reading it, mainly because I could never find it in UK and I’m too cheap to pay for shipping. I began reading the 2<sup style="font-weight: normal; ">nd</sup> in the series with the typical hesitations of a reader coming into a series without the full story, but luckily it was easy enough to pick up in this short, if tiresome read. Once again, this is a paranormal YA that promises big and doesn’t deliver.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">I really should have written this review straight after finishing the book, but university work got in the way, because it was entirely forgettable and I’m having trouble remembering simple elements such as character names. This isn’t a good sign. Unfortunately, “Bad Hair Day” is generic in every sense of the word. The heroine is the geek who doesn’t know she’s pretty, the handsome but bland love interest, the shoe-horned in romantic conflict, the quirky but mostly absent parents and sibling, the casual disparaging comments towards girls who present a threat – they’re all here. At times it feels like join-the-dots storytelling, especially since the pacing for this short book is completely erratic, veering between fumbled exposition and drawn out and entirely unnecessary romance subplot and shorts bursts of action that do nothing to liven up what should be a short, silly read. Despite the attempts at humour – and I did snigger once or twice – the book never fully decides whether it wants to be a camp take on kitschy horror and sci-fi or a conventional paranormal tale. I’m personally quite disappointed that it didn’t take the latter route since the genre desperately needs less po-faced seriousness. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">The book reads younger than YA, with the immaturity of the supposed genius teenage heroine seeming more suited to a middle-grade character. There is potential present in the spin on the zombie and werewolf mythos, grounding it in science rather than legend, but it falls flat due to painful exposition and a lack of focus. There’s nothing in this book to outright hate, it’s just too bland and inoffensive for that. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">2/5.</span></p><p class="Standard" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span style="background-color: white; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 100%; ">My ARC was received from NetGalley.com. "Bad Hair Day" will be released in USA on 13th November 2012. </span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-49966944892309082882012-01-08T12:07:00.000-08:002012-01-08T12:10:48.362-08:00Review: "Enclave" by Ann Aguirre<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51mqmdjn5sL.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 333px; height: 500px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51mqmdjn5sL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div><span ><u></u></span><blockquote><span ><u><br /></u></span><div><p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><i><b>"Enclave"</b></i></span></p><p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><b>Author:</b> Ann Aguirre<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><b>Publisher:</b> Feiwel and Friends<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><b>Pages:</b> 259<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><b>Summary (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span style="color:#181818;background:white">In Deuce’s world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups–Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><span style="color:#181818"><br /><br /><span style="background:white">As a Huntress, her purpose is clear—to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She’s worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing’s going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce’s troubles are just beginning.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br /><br /><span style="background:white">Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly and harshly, and Fade doesn’t like following orders. At first Deuce thinks he’s crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clear the elders don’t always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might be telling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she’s never known a boy like him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his knives with feral grace.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br /><br /><span style="background:white">As Deuce’s perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy… but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, the enclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matter how she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she’s ever known.</span></span></p></div></blockquote><div><p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="color:#181818"><span style="background:white"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white"><b>Cover impressions:</b> After receiving a copy of this book from GoodReads friend Lucy, I was immediately drawn to the Publisher’s Weekly quote declaring the book to be “for fans of The Hunger Games”. Such comparison quotes, while attention grabbing and common practice amongst publishers, immediately set up a certain level of expectations, even in the most cynical of readers. While I haven’t actually finished reading The Hunger Games yet (I’ll get round to it eventually, I swear!), I began this book with the same expectations I have for every dystopian novel – strong world-building and a real threat & sense of danger. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">There are books that make me consider discarding use of the flawed star rating system for reviews. Sometimes it’s close to impossible to summarise the qualities of a book into a simple rating out of 5, 10 or however one chooses to do so. A book can be a relatively enjoyable and competently written piece of work that would otherwise deserve a solid rating, but a certain element, event, etc, can bring its rating tumbling down. This happened to me with Sarah Beth Durst’s “Ice” and it happened with “Enclave”. But before I get to why I cannot give this book anything higher than one star, I shall discuss other elements of the book that succeed and fail.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">I’m sure you’re all sick of me going on and on about this but the foundations of a strong dystopian novel lie in its world-building. Unusual or disturbing events can’t just happen for shock value. They need to be rooted in the origins of the society, grounded in reason, meaning the reason of this world. This fundamental lack of reason within the world-building in “Enclave” left more than a few questions unanswered. The underground society Deuce lives in does not name its young, known as brats, until a specific age, which is never mentioned. Why? There doesn’t seem to be any specific reasoning behind this rule and seems too impractical to fit in with a world that works to prove itself as fundamentally practical. There are hints of a cult-like mentality to the ruling class of the world but it’s barely touched upon and leaves us with half-built reasoning. Children are sanctioned into one of three groups – warriors, builders or breeders – yet the reasons for specific grouping once again seem at odds with the necessary practicality & needs of this society. One breeder, Deuce’s friend, is seen as ideal for his calling because he is handsome, but I failed to see why this would be a relevant quality in a world where death & disease are rampant. Other extremely questions go unanswered – how does this enclave have clean water after generations underground? How does Deuce go from a lifetime underground to full on exposure to sunlight and only get slightly burned with no damage to her eyesight? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">The writing itself is adequate, if simple, and has well-paced action scenes, although the overall pacing is erratic. Certain scenes are evident padding and clumsy plotting, which coupled with several under-developed plot points proves to be somewhat frustrating. No character other than the heroine is given adequate time to develop beyond basic tropes, although I did warm to Deuce somewhat throughout the first half of the novel. However, it is one particular character and how others react to him that soured things for me.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">A little more than midway through the novel, Deuce is kidnapped by a gang who make their intentions towards her clear – they intend to use her for breeding purposes, forcefully if need be. Later we are introduced to Tegan, a fellow kidnapped woman who has been raped repeatedly and given birth to stillborn children. After altercations with the story’s main monsters, the Freaks, the head of the gang, Stalker (yes, really), decides he will go along with Deuce, Tegan and main love interest Fade in order to have a better chance of surviving. Fade and Deuce agree to this, despite Tegan’s protests that she does not feel safe around the leader of the gang of rapists who repeatedly violated her for years. Later on, Stalker pushes Deuce against a tree and kisses her.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">Deuce reciprocates.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">I’ve made my thoughts clear on the ‘bad boy’ trope in YA; I don’t like it. I understand the fantasy behind being the one girl who changes the rebel but ultimately I think it’s a problematic trope that is all too often used as an excuse to have the love interest treat the heroine like dirt, often being rough with her and belittling her. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">Patch from “Hush Hush” held his love interest against a bed and talked about how much he wanted to kill her after stalking her, harassing her and generally making her feel uncomfortable and unsafe. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">Stalker is the leader of a gang of rapists. It is hinted at in the book that he has raped women before. It is also implied that he may have raped Deuce during her kidnapped period. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">He is presented as a potential love interest to Deuce.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">The aim of a good dystopian novel is to create a sense of dread. I have seen rape mentioned in other dystopian novels and within the constraints of this world where humans die young and need to reproduce quickly, it makes sense that a patriarchy dominated society would view women in such a manner. However, I have never seen rape used so casually and tossed aside so simply by a character and an author in a YA novel. There is a cruel lack of empathy for Tegan in “Enclave”. Even within the constraints of the novel’s world, one ruled by social Darwinism, to force Tegan to interact daily with the man who stood by & let her be raped repeatedly, possibly ordering the rapes himself or even engaging in the horrific act himself, is baffling at best and disgusting at worst. As the novel progresses, Tegan grows (lazily from a characterisation point-of-view) from a victim into a ‘strong’ young woman who can fight back, but all I could think about was how her rape was used in such a cavalier fashion. Deuce, who started off with such potential (even if she did fall into the typical romantic plot tropes with mysterious bad boy Fade), does not question Stalker or his past actions. Instead, she lays some of the blame on Tegan. The dismissive attitude she has towards a victim of multiple rapes is abhorrent. At one point she asks herself how Tegan could have been so weak as to allow the events to happen. Deuce’s general attitude is that life is tough, and if she can suck it up and get on with her life, so can Tegan. Even within the context of the novel, this felt wrong on every level. Deuce, who had previously shown moments of true empathy, becomes someone who sympathises more with a rapist than the victim of rape. I shouldn’t even have to explain why this made me sick. And that’s why I can’t give this book anything more than one star.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">I don’t expect every book in the world to be a beacon of social justice and feminism; that would be stupid. What I do expect is for a book to follow the rules it sets for itself. “Enclave” fails on this thanks to its inconsistent and confusing choices in its world-building, which seem to exist more for shock value than any real sense of reason. It’s a mediocre novel that becomes disgusting when something as serious, life changing and horrific as rape is used so clumsily. Rape is NEVER the woman’s fault. She’s never ‘asking for it’ and she’s certainly never deserving of pity or scorn because she was unable to fight back. Bad boys are problematic enough, but making a rapist not only a sympathetic character, one who receives a degree of sympathy from the heroine not rewarded to the victim, but a potential love interest is flat-out inexcusable. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard" style="margin-top:12.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt; margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin; color:#181818;background:white">1/5. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-11827193510411056382011-12-16T22:37:00.000-08:002011-12-16T22:40:08.434-08:00Review: "Katana" by Cole Gibsen.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhm5hhB1IyffWq7Fq-NwucYUIM7gPg38NBhuQDELfP3sUwCJkmjRYOY3XZ1TvXIBXubtwBMM31i7Tj5df2j2PlELczkBEGFUaPlvd4rPbpNQg7KHX-97AT6Cz4DZxLIaZhZyc44pDVnJY/s1600/10194329.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 309px; height: 475px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhm5hhB1IyffWq7Fq-NwucYUIM7gPg38NBhuQDELfP3sUwCJkmjRYOY3XZ1TvXIBXubtwBMM31i7Tj5df2j2PlELczkBEGFUaPlvd4rPbpNQg7KHX-97AT6Cz4DZxLIaZhZyc44pDVnJY/s1600/10194329.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal"><b><i></i></b></span></p><blockquote><p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal"><b><i>“Katana”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Standard"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><b>Author:</b> Cole Gibsen</span></p> <p class="Standard" style="line-height:115%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><b>Publisher:</b> Flux.</span></p> <p class="Standard" style="line-height:115%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><b>Pages</b>: 384.</span></p> <p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal"><b>Summary (taken from GoodReads): </b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; background:white">Kill Bill meets Buffy in this supernatural samurai tale.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818;background:white"> </span></span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><br /><br /><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background:white"><span style="float: none; ">Rileigh Martin would love to believe that adrenaline gave her the uncanny courage and strength to fend off three muggers. But it doesn’t explain her dreams of fifteenth century Japan, the incredible fighting skills she suddenly possesses, or the strange voice giving her battle tips and danger warnings. While worrying that she’s going crazy (always a reputation ruiner), Rileigh gets a visit from Kim, a handsome martial arts instructor, who tells Rileigh she’s harboring the spirit of a five-hundred-year-old samurai warrior.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background:white"> </span></span></span><br /><br /><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background:white"><span style="float: none; ">Relentlessly attacked by ninjas, Rileigh has no choice but to master the katana--a deadly Japanese sword that’s also the key to her past. As the spirit grows stronger and her feelings for Kim intensify, Rileigh is torn between continuing as the girl she’s always been and embracing the warrior inside her.</span></span></span></span></p></blockquote><p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background:white"><span style="float: none; "></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal"><b>Cover impressions:</b> It’s not unusual for a book to promise more than it can deliver. One can seldom blame the book itself for that, since so much time and effort from the publishers goes into making said book as marketable as possible. The temptation of a supernatural mash-up with Asian culture was one with immeasurable potential, as well as one that could easily slip into misguided cultural appropriation. On the bright side, such awkwardness is for the most part avoided. Unfortunately, this book is also just not very good.</span></p> <p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal">Immediately, my biggest complaint with the novel was its heroine, Rileigh. Not for one moment did she register as an authentic or particularly likeable teenager. Her speech rings false on every count, as do her interactions with token gay best friend Quentin, who doesn’t rise beyond the stereotype of the make-up applying squealing, hysterical gay male. I firmly believe that this can be pulled off well and used to create an interesting, complex character but in this instance it was just lazy storytelling, and such Quentin doesn’t serve much of a purpose beyond Rileigh having someone to complain about her love life with, he barely registers. The pair read more like how bad sitcom writers imagine teenagers to speak, because apparently they’re from a different planet or something. As well as the dialogue being awkward and clunky, it’s used primarily for exposition and stretched out discussions of romance, neither of which are pulled off with any particular success.</span></p> <p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal">The storytelling is so awkward; it’s as if the author had fragments of an extremely conventional plot in her mind and hastily connected them together. The plotting is extremely predictable and conventional, with far too many overused YA tropes being crossed from the check-list – the flighty, irresponsible parent who is seldom there, thus allowing the heroine to continue her life without any consequences or parental guidance, the mysterious, rude and jerky designated love interest who hides secrets and stalks the heroine to make sure she’s safe, the heroine being incredibly skilled with practically no effort as well as the most super special heroine who ever lived, and so on. It is possible to take conventional tropes and subvert them in an interesting or gripping manner, and is common when referencing specific genres or modes of storytelling (the Kill Bill series and Kung Fu Panda both pay homage and frequently reference the martial arts tales that inspired them, and do so with humour, skill and panache), but here it feels lazy. Some of the fight scenes are well put together, but Rileigh’s narration proves to be extremely irritating and distracting. While the book’s marketing is trying to push this book as one with a strong ‘kick-ass’ heroine, Rileigh is emotionally weak, makes too many rash decisions that potentially put herself and others at risk, and quickly begins to use designated love interest Kim as a crutch. It’s easy to claim a female character is ‘strong’ because she can hold her own in a fight or has the most super special magical powers ever, but such demonstrations of power mean nothing if the heroine spends the rest of the story whining about the men in her life. She can’t just be physically able, she must be emotionally so as well.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> </span></p> <p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal">The romance itself is also a tired mish-mash of every YA romance trope I have come to despise. At one point, Kim is described by Rileigh as “a jerk… he preys on innocent girls… but then, with abs like that, why would he have to?” That moment there is pretty representative of so many issues I have with YA romance these days. Looks matter above questionable behaviour, something that Kim exhibits quite frequently, but does so because he wants to protect Rileigh (because despite being the reincarnation of one of the most powerful samurai of her time, she’s essentially a damsel-in-distress). While Rileigh, to her credit, does call him out on his behaviour, her protests do not matter since she quickly devotes herself to him, even though they barely know each other. Being in love in a previous life is all they need apparently. The get-out-of-character-development-free card was borderline insulting. </span></p> <p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal">I was absolutely dreading the possibility of cultural appropriation in this book, but while there are some clunker moments, the flashbacks to 15<sup>th</sup> century Japan are infrequent. Little detail is given and one doesn’t gain a full sense of the period, the characters within or their predicaments. The constant references to honour also felt lazy, but I can begrudgingly let this pass since it’s a staple in almost every samurai or martial arts movie ever made. But that really sums up “Katana” in a nutshell; it’s lazy.</span></p> <p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal">I’m sure there are many readers out there who will thoroughly enjoy this book. Indeed, at this moment in time the book has ten 5 star ratings, although one of them is by a self-admitted friend of the author’s, one from a beta-reader and five ratings with no review from authors who list Gibsen as a friend. However, this book did not connect with me on any level. The prose is as stilted as the plotting and characterisation and the samurai element is mishandled at best. Usually I leave the 1 star rating solely for books that offended me on some level, but the sheer laziness of this novel mean I cannot give it any other rating, although the fight scenes elevate it to a 1.5 for accuracy’s sake. “Katana” was as tired as the tropes it recycled over and over.</span></p> <p class="Standard"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal">1.5/5.</span></p> <p class="Standard" style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:Mangal">“Katana” will be available in USA on March 8<sup>th</sup> 2012. I received my ARC from NetGalley.com. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-1394260650046126612011-11-16T10:03:00.001-08:002011-11-16T10:05:48.542-08:00Review: "Incarnate" by Jodi Meadows.<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1307385651l/8573642.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 314px; height: 475px;" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1307385651l/8573642.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"></p><blockquote><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><b><i>“<span ><span >Incarnate”</span></span></i></b></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Author:</b> Jodi Meadows</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Publisher:</b> HarperCollins Children's Books.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Pages:</b> 384.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Summary (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span >Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.</span><br /><br /><span >NOSOUL</span><br /><span >Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?</span><br /><br /><span >HEART</span><br /><span >Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?</span><br /><br /><span >Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.</span></span></span></p></blockquote><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><span ></span></span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Cover impressions:</b> For all the hype and publicity that publishers and bloggers have thrown behind the dystopian YA craze that I'm convinced never really happened, few books released during this period exceeded expectations, or even met them. Many had strong initial premises that quickly fell apart or began to rely on well worn tropes to keep momentum. With Jodi Meadows's debut, the first in a planned trilogy, we are given a glimpse into a slightly different world, a utopia, with another promising premise. Does she beat the curse? Yes and no.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >For much of the book, Meadows falls foul of the exposition-dump method of storytelling, especially in the beginning where we are given a quick soap-opera style recap of proceedings before being thrown into the action. Much of the information we receive about the world and the reincarnation element comes from this method, and the lack of solid development becomes grating very quickly. The intriguing premise is given several interesting moments but never enough to feel like a fully constructed concept that stands up to scrutiny. There is plenty of room given for further explanation in the sequels but this feels more frustrating than anything else. For example, since one million souls are reborn over and over again, and it's established very early on that the vast majority, if not all of the people Ana interacts with know each other from many lifetimes, yet issues of possible incest are never explained. What happens if your mother in one lifetime is your lover in another? Each soul can born male or female in different lifetimes but there is a moment where it is insinuated that they are always born heterosexual. One couple are revealed to have been lovers in each of their lifetimes but it is also mentioned that they couldn't bare it if they were born of the same gender and would kill themselves to be reborn the appropriate way. The couple in question are revealed to both be women but one of the characters said their love overcame this, which is all well and good but I found the idea that one million souls are continually born straight a little hard to believe. This may not be the case and may just be an awkwardly worded section that needs correcting, since this is from the ARC, but several points like this emphasised the occasionally sloppy world-building (I can't quote the scene because this is an ARC and I prefer not to do such things unless there is explicit permission from the publishers). Like many hyped books of the past few months, the world of “Incarnate” rests on a singular premise rather than a fully developed set of rules. While there are strengths to this world and attention is given to a few key areas, one never fully gauges why this world is governed in the way it is, or the impact a small pool of constant reincarnations has on a society, or how a sudden drastic change to this system – the birth of a new soul, Ana – impacts their beliefs. A god of this world is mentioned occasionally but once again, to no real impact.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >The summary of the book promises something more akin to a journey of self-discovery, yet this is mostly shoved aside in favour of the romantic element. Although I appreciated the romance getting at least some level of development beyond instantaneous true love, it does follow a very stock pattern, with the romantic hero Sam serving as the typical super-sweet and understanding guy who somehow also manages to be a bit of a jerk, but in a way Ana can't resist. Ana herself would have been much more sympathetic if the book hadn't been told from her point-of-view. Since so much time is dedicated to her growing feelings for Sam, we never fully understand her beyond the brief questions over her origin that are repeated several times throughout the story. While I can understand her passivity to a point, it becomes tiring so quickly. There's also a serious lack of a strong antagonist, with Li, Ana's vindictive mother, never acting as a true threat, seeming more like a de-clawed Lady Tremaine from Cinderella. The supporting cast is equally weak, which makes the story's final few chapters a real disappointment that felt more like a rushed ending and cut-off for the sequel than a true ending.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >There are enjoyable moments throughout the book but overall it feels like “Incarnate” has no idea what sort of book it wants to be. There's a swirling stew of romance, fantasy, utopia, mystery and a little science-fiction that becomes something of an indistinguishable mush. In many ways, it feels like a first draft, one with huge potential but also in dire need of some tightening up. If you're looking for a romance, you could do a lot worse than “Incarnate”, which at least seems to have genuine affection for its romantic pairing, but the lack of substance beyond the pairing and the resulting barrage of questions I had after finishing the book force me to knock a star off the rating.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >2/5.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">“<span ><span >Incarnate” will be released on 31<sup>st</sup> January 2012. I received my ARC from NetGalley.com.</span></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-88810117835029703452011-10-21T18:52:00.000-07:002011-10-21T18:55:49.262-07:00Review: "Fracture" by Megan Miranda.<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312225659l/9548964.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 318px; height: 465px;" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312225659l/9548964.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><blockquote><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312225659l/9548964.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><b><i>“<span ><span >Fracture”</span></span></i></b></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Author:</b> Megan Miranda.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Publisher:</b> Walker & Company.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Pages:</b> 272.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Summary (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span ><span style="font-style: normal"><span>Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine. Despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><span ><span style="font-style: normal"><span>Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><span ><span style="font-style: normal"><span>For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.</span></span></span></span></span></p></blockquote><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><span ><span style="font-style: normal"><span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Cover impressions:</b> Once your publisher starts promoting your book and mentioning it in the same vein as two of the most well received books in YA in recent years, immediately you have a lot to live up to. While I didn't adore “If I Stay”, I thought it achieved its objective – to present a young woman's life and her existential struggles – with a deft hand, one that is difficult to pull off for even the most talented writer. For Megan Miranda's debut (which is also a standalone, a refreshing occurrence in a field that churns out more multi-book series than it knows what to do with), the personal elements are much more successful than other parts.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >The relatively short “Fracture” has many ideas running through it and, perhaps inevitably, not all of them work. The main issue arises from a lack of a central focus, which leaves the narrative prone to wandering off and slowing down to almost a complete halt. Sometimes the book can't decide what it wants to be – does it want to be a romance? A mystery? An exploration of human nature and death? Each segment succeeds to varying degrees, although none is given enough time to develop into something truly gripping, although the potential is clearly there, especially in the mystery elements, where Miranda creates some surprisingly tense moments and even surprised me when I thought things were becoming too predictable. Some scenes feel rushed and/or have no real resolution. A strong editor could work wonders for this book and turn it from good to great.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >I've read some reviews which levelled complaints with the heroine Delaney and her coldness, but I actually found this rather refreshing. She provided a welcome change from the usual selection of blank faces I've become all too accustomed to in YA. I can definitely see many readers having a problem with this though. Her multiple boy troubles, however, grated on me. No less than 3 young men are presented as possible love interests for Delaney and none are given any page time to develop into a viable option for her (although, to give huge credit to Miranda, she turns the tables when things seem to be following an all to familiar YA romance route.) The story needed to either develop the romantic element further, concentrating on no more than two boys (you know how much I just love my love triangles!) or getting rid of the sub-plot altogether.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >There's one element of this book that I have to discuss. Once again, here's another YA novel with a female antagonist who serves no purpose to the plot other than to be promiscuous and act as a straw-figure to compare the heroine to. She genuinely does nothing of any important besides act as the most minor of road-blocks in the possible relationship between Delaney and best friend Decker, and is almost always described in terms of her tight clothing or promiscuous nature, constantly talking about sex or getting naked. At one point she is described as </span></span><span ><span ><span ><span style="font-style: normal"><span>"pathetic in her too-tight clothes, desperate for attention."</span></span></span></span></span><span ><span > We shouldn't have to keep going over this, YA. Stop demonising girls who have sex as sluts! Stop using it as a cheap shortcut to avoid characterisation of the already clichéd and damaging teen female antagonist role! The character was of no consequence and really didn't need to be in the book, so her inclusion felt all the more bitter and forced me to knock half a star from the review.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >The potential within “Fracture” is evident and there are moments where Miranda really shines, especially within the mystery elements and Delaney's inner turmoil, but it's a work that needs to be seriously fleshed out. If certain plot lines, characters and situations could be tightened up and built upon, the book could be a very interesting and gripping piece of work. As it is, it's a perfectly readable story that fails to satisfy in the way it has the potential to do so.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >2.5/5.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">“<span ><span >Fracture” will be released in USA on January 12</span></span><sup><span ><span >th</span></span></sup><span ><span > 2012. I received my ARC from NetGalley.com.</span></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-77495665257265944902011-10-15T10:45:00.000-07:002011-10-15T10:47:49.135-07:00Review: "Between the Sea and the Sky" by Jaclyn Dolamore.<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1317793561l/9583173.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 318px; height: 475px;" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1317793561l/9583173.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><i><b></b></i></p><blockquote><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><i><b>“<span ><span >Between the Sea and the Sky”</span></span></b></i></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Author:</b> Jaclyn Dolamore.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Publis</b><span ><b>her:</b> Bloomsbury Children's Books.</span></span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Pages: </b>240.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Summary (taken from GoodReads): </b><span ><span style="font-style: normal"><span>For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosinia, as a siren--the highest calling a mermaid can have. When Dosinia runs away to the mainland, Esmerine is sent to retrieve her. Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily to the capital city. There she comes upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood--a dashing young man named Alandare, who belongs to a winged race of people. As Esmerine and Alandare band together to search for Dosinia, they rekindle a friendship . . . and ignite the emotions for a love so great, it cannot be bound by sea, land, or air.</span></span></span></span></span></p></blockquote><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><span ><span style="font-style: normal"><span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Cover impressions:</b> I found Dolamore's debut “Magic Under Glass” to be a charming and creative book that could have benefited from some tighter plotting and characterisation. It certainly sparked my interest for her next book, a standalone mermaid story, especially after Dolamore mentioned how she wrote the book to the scores of Studio Ghibli films (indeed, I noted in my earlier review how her creative worlds would be ideal for Hayao Miyizaki's next film.) While the mermaid craze never quite took off the way that many bloggers and publishers thought it would, there is still a gap in the market for a strong mermaid YA to join the myriad of vampires, werewolves, angels and other assorted creatures of mythology already so well known to readerrs. Unfortunately this book did not meet my excpectations.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >I found that many of the same problems I had with Dolamore's previous novel appeared in “Between the Sea and the Sky”. Wonderfully imaginative elements of world-building, including the mermaid-siren hierarchy, the relations between each of the species and the world of the winged creatures, the Fandarsee, were introduced to us but never fully developed. In “Magic Under Glass”, Dolamore introduced the strands of political and cultural complexities that I was desperate to know more about, yet such elements never came to fruition, and the exact same thing happens here. While there were moments of vivid descriptive scenes throughout her consistently strong prose, I never felt fully immersed in the world-building. To be honest, much of it felt very underdeveloped. I have a feeling this book may be marketed to a younger, more middle-grade audience. The prose and story-telling feels more suited to pre-teen readers, although it's very readable for all ages. I did find that the frequent dumping of exposition began to grate extremely quickly, especially since this is such a short book with very little action and a highly predictable plot.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >I did not find Esmerine to be as interesting or well developed as Nimira in “Magic Under Glass.” The idea of the young beautiful mermaid dissatisfied with her lot in life and yearning for more on the surface is nothing new. In fact, it's a staple of the great mermaid tales going back as far as Hans Christian Andersen, maybe even further. I can understand the harking back to influential tales but so little is developed from that point onwards that it can't help but feel stagnant and unsatisfying. This applies to pretty much every supporting character in the book, although nobody is ever really given any real time to shine or become more three-dimensional. Of course, this doesn't bode well for the romantic element, which felt too heavily reliant on the childhood friends trope to explain Esmerine and Alandare's relationship. One part of the book that really left me scratching my head was the depiction of humans. While mermaids and the Fandarsee are granted some variety of characterisation, pretty much every human is seen as selfish, rude or extremely ignorant of other species aside from themselves. They seem to view all others as a side-show novelty. I could understand this possibly for one or two characters from more isolated parts of the country, but these interactions and knowledge of other creatures are well known, so it didn't make much sense to have every human act like a fool when in the presence of a mermaid (whom they are especially susceptible to falling under their charms) or Fandarsee.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >While “Between the Sea and the Sky” possesses much of the charm and imagination of Dolamore's debut work, the same flaws are also still present and overwhelm the positive elements. Wonderfully creative elements and ideas are introduced but left to flounder instead of being given their deserved attention, while the characters and romantic element are pretty stock for the genre for the most part. The readability of its prose and short length make it ideally suited to younger readers, although the book itself is not without merit for readers of all ages. Once again, it's an ideal framework for a Ghibli film, but also hints are Dolamore's possible strengths as a short story writer.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >2.5/5. </span></span> </p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-72338538052798318662011-10-11T13:27:00.000-07:002011-10-11T13:30:53.642-07:00Review: "The Pledge" by Kimberly Derting.<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41CnzQBoZIL.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 330px; height: 500px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41CnzQBoZIL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><b><i></i></b></p><blockquote><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><b><i>“<span ><span >The Pledge”</span></span></i></b></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Author:</b> Kimberly Derting.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Publisher: </b>Margaret K. McElderry.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Pages: </b>320.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Summary (taken from GoodReads): </b><span ><span style="font-style: normal"><span>In the violent country of Ludania, the language you speak determines what class you are, and there are harsh punishments if you forget your place—looking a member of a higher class in the eye can result in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina (Charlie for short) can understand all languages, a dangerous ability she’s been hiding her whole life. Her only place of release is the drug-filled underground club scene, where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. There, she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy who speaks a language she’s never heard, and her secret is almost exposed. Through a series of violent upheavals, it becomes clear that Charlie herself is the key to forcing out the oppressive power structure of her kingdom….</span></span></span></span></span></p></blockquote><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><span ><span style="font-style: normal"><span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span ><b>Cover impressions:</b> The more YA books I see being released amidst the continuing dystopia trend (a fad that seems to have a lot more mileage than I originally anticipated, although the sales figures are a more mixed bag), the more I find myself questioning what makes a book dystopian. With “The Body Finder” author Kimberly Derting's latest, the first in a planned trilogy, I hesitate to call it, for lack of a better term, pure dystopian since it mixes more fantastical elements into the story. This discussion aside, what elements that the book uses that are clearly in a dystopian vein are unsuccessful.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >The setting, the country of Ludania, is frequently described in terms of its oppressiveness and constant threat of danger but neither of these things were shown on the page. For a supposedly highly guarded society, there was a lot of freedom allotted to its residents. There seemed to be no real adult supervision of the secret club visiting teenagers, except for a few guards now and then, but when one of the characters is described as using heavily guarded security check-points as an opportunity to practice her flirting techniques, it sort of detracts from the sense of fear and urgency. This is an issue I've had with a few dystopian YA novels in recent times. We're frequently told of the dangers and need for constant vigilance but what we are presented with is a series of plot convenient instances and loopholes that detract from the atmosphere needed to create a truly tense story. A strong sense of urgency and fear is a must for dystopian set stories, in my opinion. On top of all this, Derting includes a more fantasy oriented element that is the driving force behind the central premise of the story. Charlie can understand every language, a dangerous skill in a world where social groups are broken up by which language they speak. As a student of semi-dead languages, this premise was a potential gold-mine for me, and I think there is a genuinely interesting world to be built from the idea of using language as a device of socio-political matters. Unfortunately, this book isn't it. The strong idea is never fully built upon, a matter made all the more frustrating thanks to the complete lack of detail given when it is used. The book was a step away from saying “It's magic, we don't have to explain it”, which is never a good answer.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >The characters are as shallow as the plot, in particular the heroine Charlie and the first designated love interest Max (there are at least 3 men in the story who I thought could be potential love interests because they are constantly described by way of their handsome looks and enticing aura by Charlie. She may have claimed that her friend Brooklynn was the boy crazy one but she seemed just as single-minded). Neither rises beyond the stock YA romance traits, with Charlie's passiveness being extremely grating but not as much as Max's frequently rude, condescending and smug behaviour being written off as okay because he's so enamoured with a girl he's known for barely a few weeks – the book has a very short time-line – and makes her so weak at the knees I'm surprised she could perform basic human functions. It's yet another YA where the breeding pair fall into the typical gender roles. Maybe it's because I'm jaded and I've been reviewing these sorts of books for what feels like an era, but when the romantic hero, who has only personally known the heroine for a couple of weeks (there are references that he's had his 'protective' eye on her for longer), and he says “All I want is to keep you safe... it's all I've ever wanted”, alarm bells go off in my head. His case isn't helped by his frequent grabbing of Charlie as if he's allowed to do this because we all know they're going to end up together.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm">“<span ><span >The Pledge” is a slow, mediocre book that shows a glimmer of promise for the rest of the series in the final few pages, but it's not enough for me to feign further interest. To see such potential wasted is a disappointment, made all the worse by the continuing trend for the sort of romances that make me want to pull my hair out. While the prose itself is serviceable, the constant switching of narratives from Charlie's 1<sup>st</sup> person to several characters's 3<sup>rd</sup> person points-of-view felt unnecessary given the lack of distinguishing features given to them. My biggest issue with the book is that it's so shallow. Nothing is given the depth required to make the story fully engaging – the world building is slack, the characters are stock, the romance is tired and predictable and the much needed tension is nowhere to be seen.</span></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span ><span >2/5.</span></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: medium; ">"The Pledge" will be released in USA on November 15th 2011. I received my ARC from Simon & Schuster's Galley Grab programme. </span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-73592321338387081002011-07-02T09:12:00.001-07:002011-07-02T09:13:28.020-07:00Review: "Delirium" by Lauren Oliver.<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1292946205l/8703380.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 257px; height: 400px;" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1292946205l/8703380.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"></span></em></p><blockquote><p><em><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(24, 24, 24); "><b>“Delirium”</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><b>Author: </b>Lauren Oliver.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><b>Publisher:</b> Hodder & Stoughton.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><b>Pages: </b>393.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><b>Summary (taken from GoodReads): </b></span></em><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><br /><br /><span class="apple-style-span">But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><span class="apple-style-span"></span></span><em><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><b>Cover impressions: </b>While the dystopian YA craze has been heavily promoted and much talked about this year, it has arguably not met the extremely high expectations placed upon it by publishers and readers. Sales have been mixed with only a couple making it into the New York Times bestsellers list – “Matched” by Ally Condie, the recently released “Divergent” by Veronica Roth and Lauren Oliver’s “Delirium”, the first in a planned trilogy (as are the previously mentioned books.) It’s also worth noting that all three books were arguably the most heavily publicised dystopian YAs of the year. “Delirium” also comes with the added bonuses of being a new book from an author with much critical acclaim for her first book, “Before I Fall” (which I haven’t read) as well as a heavily promoted romantic angle, which has proven popular. For me, a dystopian novel rises and falls on its world building and the atmosphere the society within the novel evokes. I always associate a great dystopia with fear, paranoia, confusion, a constant sense of foreboding. Unfortunately, “Delirium” gave me none of this, but with the basic premise being such a bewildering one, it’s not hard to see why.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">The front cover of the book asks “What if love were a disease?” And immediately, I ask questions. I can understand a dystopian society where emotions have been suppressed and declared dangerous. Lois Lowry executed that premise with particular skill in “The Giver.” However, the idea that of all the emotions in the world that could be considered the most dangerous to our world, the ones that cause the most damage and war, love is the worst is just confusing to me. What about greed? Anger? Fear? The book does little to expand upon the dangers of love, and the pseudo-science we are given does little to convince. Add to that the sheer number of plot holes and it was difficult to completely immerse oneself in this world. I started asking questions on the 2<sup>nd</sup> page. Why is the procedure to cure one of the symptoms of love ineffective to the under 18s? Why are uncured boys and girls kept separate but it’s okay for Lena, our incredibly passive and dull heroine, to associate with a cured man? Did nobody stop to think that raising children who are capable of love with parents who are not was a bad idea? If segregating the sexes is supposed to prevent early onset love then what about gay boys and girls? Why is it so easy for uncured citizens to pass themselves off as cured? Surely there would be more rigorous testing or such. These aren’t even all the questions I found myself asking throughout the course of the book. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">The world itself is also very sloppily built and does not evoke the emotions of fear that Oliver intends it to. For a society that’s supposed to be rigorously guarded and watching its citizens at all times, it’s pathetically easy for characters to go to secret parties, to sneak into the forbidden areas, to let animals into government buildings. While Oliver does use an interesting narrative device in having each chapter start with an excerpt from the fictional literature of the book’s world, they do little to evoke what this society is really like. On top of all this, we’re never given any real history behind the USA’s decision to implement this ban on love. There’s no moment given to us where, for example, a civil war of sorts was declared between love and non love (anyone else hearing songs from “Hair” in their head?) to justify this change in power. With “1984”, Big Brother was always watching you. In “Delirium” things are decidedly more meh-ish. The best dystopians, although not all of them, take something from our world and take it to its worst conclusion, a cautionary tale of sorts. I could imagine the USA implementing an authoritarian, anti-woman society like “The Handmaid’s Tale”. I could imagine a mass government takeover founded in an extremely fringe religious movement. I can’t imagine love being declared a disease. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">As expected with a book based on the idea of discovering one’s own awareness of love and the emotion itself in action, our heroine Lena has moments of extreme melodrama. While these moments would be understandable had her society and plight been more believable, here I was just left cold. None of the other characters really stood out in any way for me. The love interest Alex was particularly bland, once again another amalgam of every YA romance male love interest I’ve ever read; a bit of a jerk, constantly saving Lena, reciting love poetry, never going beyond surface detail with the romance. For a book that relies so heavily on the idea that true love is something so wonderful that it’s worth risking your life for, I never thought of Lena and Alex’s romance as anything more than teenage necking. Of course, it was also tough for me to sympathise with the pair when they wax lyrical about how romantic and beautiful a love story “Romeo & Juliet” is. Yes, this is another YA novel that completely misreads and oversimplifies the famous play, but it’s made even worse by the evil, love hating society decreeing it to be a cautionary tale, which it is, but of course Lena and Alex know the truth. While I give Oliver credit for not completely following the well worn path of YA romance, for the most part their relationship is everything one would expect from such a book.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">Oliver’s real strength lies in her prose. It’s well structured and very purposeful. I got the feeling that, had Oliver had a stronger story and characters, this book would have been much more effective. As it is, “Delirium” is a long, confusing and often very dull read. I don’t think the premise is a completely terrible one but it’s one that requires very deep analysis and a meticulously thought out society to build upon it. Strong prose will only go so far when it’s trying to keep sloppy world building, a tough premise and weak characters afloat. In the end, “Delirium” left me with far too many questions and not enough satisfaction.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">2/5. </span></em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818;mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-44320228874378243582011-06-23T15:57:00.000-07:002011-06-23T16:00:06.025-07:00Jump on the (band)Wagon.<p><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">Another day, another published article discussing YA that makes eyes roll and twitter typing fingers fly furiously. The difference this time is that the article is not some so-called YA expert or a journalist whose only experience of YA comes from shelf browsing or assumptions; <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2296056/pagenum/all/#p2">this article, published on Slate</a>, is written by a YA author, or rather two authors who wrote a YA novel together. It revealed some interesting things, not to mention incredibly stupid.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">Katie Crouch and Grady Hendrix, writer of “The Magnolia League”, (which my fellow Torch bearer <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/164127907">Vinaya reviewed here</a> with particular zeal) managed to pull a double whammy by slamming both YA fiction and literary fiction in one swift generalisation:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin"></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">“<i>But <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">readers in Y.A. don’t care about rumination</b>. They <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">don’t want you to pore over your sentences trying to find the perfect turn of phrase </b>that evokes the exact color of the shag carpeting in your living room when your dad walked out on your mom one autumn afternoon in 1973. They want you to tell a story<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">. In Y.A. you write two or three drafts of a chapter, not eight. When kids like one book, they want the next one.</b> Now. You need to deliver... </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">In many ways, Y.A. is the lookingglass world to literary fiction, where everyone's jockeying over who got the biggest advance,</i></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></i></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">the ultimate dream is to be anointed by the </span></i></span><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">New Yorker</span></em><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">, and you're expected to take two years or more to turn in your next novel that very few people are waiting to buy. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">The direct relationship with teen readers actually comes as a relief since the literary fiction crowd can get a little full of itself</b>.</span>”</i></span></blockquote><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p> <p><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">To be honest, after this article, where Crouch and Hendrix manage to insult their reader base by patronising them and acting as if they’re stupid, displaying sheer arrogance in relation to any type of criticism and displaying a questionable lack of skill and respect for the work itself, I’ll be surprised if “The Magnolia League” finds any new readers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">But this article is a puzzling piece to me, because it appears to be an author standing up and admitting that she’s on the bandwagon, and that profit trumps quality every time. I’ve commented frequently about my cynicism regarding YA publishing trends and their potentially problematic content, and I’ve displayed disappointment over the lack of author/industry discussion of it within the community (although that has been changing somewhat lately), but I’ve never seen an author be so bold and arrogant as to admit this sort of attitude so publicly. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">YA’s had to fight for its place a lot lately, between this, the Wall Street Journal’s hack-job and every other YA controversy that seems to come as regularly as the setting of the sun. Despite its massive popularity, increasing sales and undeniable power in getting young people to read, it’s still seen as lesser, somehow unworthy of true merit, merely a tool for profit. James Frey has exploited this space in the market well. He comes up with a basic, simple but easy to market premise, sells the movie rights then churns out a simple novel with the help of a very low paid graduate who receives none of the credit (at least James Patterson gives a co-author credit to his minions) to flood the market and set the pace for the movie publicity. While “I Am Number Four” didn’t set the box office alight (thank god for that), the book has been on the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-06-26/chapter-books/list.html">New York Times children’s bestseller list for 22 weeks</a>. We may jump up in arms over Frey’s blatant lack of respect for his readers, his exploitation of others for monetary gain and his less than skilful output, but it sells. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">The market wants this stuff, and there’s only so much of it we can blame on publishing hype and marketing. YA is no longer just a book thing, it’s an entire money making industry that spins out into movies, TV, merchandising, etc. It inspires movies to release YA novelisations, as was the case with “Red Riding Hood”. It commands how millions of dollars are spent. Countless YA books have been optioned for a movie, many of which had the movies rights purchased before the book’s release, banking on these trends (e.g. Divergent, Matched, the upcoming Black is the Colour.) I’m half convinced one of the reasons YA, and romance, get so much flack is because they’re one of the few bits in the industry turning a profit these days. One can’t blame an agent for pointing out a profitable gap in the market to their clients (although maybe they should also tell them to keep mum about their true intentions.) <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">Awful books have always existed. There will always be awful books in every genre and YA is no expection. There have always been terrible books for kids and teens, many of which were churned out to meet popular demand, such as the Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley High books. The difference between the derivative nature of the market then and its current state is that the derivative, trend following books of the 70s and 80s weren’t reportedly selling to publishers for 7 figure sums. I don’t know how well “The Magnolia League” has been selling but there is an intrinsic appeal to what is popular. Why? That would take a much deeper analysis than I am capable of giving. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">Crouch and Hendrix displayed a complete lack of tact in their article, as well as ignorance and disrespect towards their readers and the industry they openly want to exploit for financial gain. But let’s not pretend that they’re the only ones doing it. There are many wonderful YA writers dedicated to their craft, and I’d argue that the market’s more diverse than ever, even with the blasé trends and next-big-thing campaigns. We should continue to demand the changes we want, both readers and writers. We may not like Crouch and Hendrix’s piece, but the industry stays the same as long as this stuff keeps selling. They know exactly what they’re doing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">Hopefully, we do too.<span style="color:#181818"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-13657414434763099832011-06-16T15:12:00.000-07:002011-06-16T15:14:44.932-07:00Review: "Ice" by Sarah Beth Durst.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-U-GX_RBFwT4hVyL2RntTrszkBHsvNEWO0lDynIaPTNIIBKUIjvmJxSugPizmfu2YVCXchsR9IkcQLzsQ4XYs5-qPcZO3L33ZpOdJ3IRcvF1eOGsXyuJ6q6tfowm-TGY3lAgTItvltY6/s1600/IceCover_LoRes300.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 467px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-U-GX_RBFwT4hVyL2RntTrszkBHsvNEWO0lDynIaPTNIIBKUIjvmJxSugPizmfu2YVCXchsR9IkcQLzsQ4XYs5-qPcZO3L33ZpOdJ3IRcvF1eOGsXyuJ6q6tfowm-TGY3lAgTItvltY6/s1600/IceCover_LoRes300.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i></i></b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i>“Ice”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Author:</b> Sarah Beth Durst. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Publisher:</b> Margaret K. McElderry.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><b>Pages:</b></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"> 308.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span class="apple-style-span">When Cassie was a little girl, her grandmother told her a fairy tale about her mother, who made a deal with the Polar Bear King and was swept away to the ends of the earth. Now that Cassie is older, she knows the story was a nice way of saying her mother had died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station, is determined to become a scientist, and has no time for make-believe.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Then, on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie comes face-to-face with a polar bear who speaks to her. He tells her that her mother is alive, imprisoned at the ends of the earth. And he can bring her back — if Cassie will agree to be his bride.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br /><span class="apple-style-span">That is the beginning of Cassie's own real-life fairy tale, one that sends her on an unbelievable journey across the brutal Arctic, through the Canadian boreal forest, and on the back of the North Wind to the land east of the sun and west of the moon. Before it is over, the world she knows will be swept away, and everything she holds dear will be taken from her — until she discovers the true meaning of love and family in the magical realm of</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">Ice</span>.</em></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><em><o:p></o:p></em></span></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><b>Cover impressions:</b> I’ve changed a lot as a reviewer since I started blogging about YA almost a year ago. I’ve matured my writing style, I’ve learned more about the publishing business, I’ve started to ask more questions and I’ve even made a few friends. I don’t regret my snarky sparkly beginnings because I had a lot of fun and sometimes you have to make a few mistakes to learn from. Nowadays I think I’m a much stronger reviewer and pick my reading choices based upon a more varied selection of reasons beyond snark material. This is why I am glad I didn’t know about “Ice” until I saw it recently. Had I read this last year, I would have blown a gasket and written a review to rival the abusive angels. Now, all I can hope to do is articulately explain why this book made my skin crawl. For this reason, there will be major spoilers. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">My interest in “Ice” was peaked when I saw that it was a retelling of “East of the Sun and West of the Moon”, a lesser known fairytale, and was intrigued to see how a YA retelling of a potentially highly problematic tale would work in a contemporary context. Unfortunately, “Ice” seems to be stuck in the Stone Age on so many issues, something that’s made all the more bitter by the fact that the book gets off to such a strong start. Cassie, at first, is a strong minded, hard working and intelligent young woman with high ambitions and an inquisitive nature. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for her to slide into a state of uncharacteristic stupidity, occasionally relieved with moments of clarity. However, it wouldn’t be fair to blame Cassie’s decisions for all the book’s wrongdoings, especially since she’s so often left without any real options. She’s practically forced into marrying the Polar Bear King in exchange for her mother’s safe return. Later on, she’s treated even worse, even by the man/bear who supposedly loves her.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">There are elements of “Beauty and the Beast” in this tale and it does feel as is “Ice” is trying to replicate the Disney film’s romantic feel (many of the things Cassie says about Bear feel inspired by Belle), but Durst completely skips over any romantic development. There’s a jump in time and all of a sudden, a few weeks later, they’re apparently in love. It further weakens a story that desperately needs a strong author’s hand to make it convincing. Bear may be many generations old with equally archaic ideals but this didn’t adequately justify his actions towards Cassie.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">There are certain things a romantic hero should never do. Tampering with a woman’s birth control is one of them. Cassie, who has been on the pill, finds herself pregnant because Bear used his magical powers to fix the chemical imbalance in her that was preventing a pregnancy. He didn’t discuss this with her, there is no instance of a conversation taking place between the two that discusses such matters, and he doesn’t even tell her she’s pregnant until she’s 3 months gone. I do not care how gracious or kind Bear was to Cassie earlier on (her words, not mine), you DO NOT DO THAT! True relationships are built on trust and mutual understanding. He never even talks to her about this. What makes it even more blood curdling is that Cassie forgives him. She kicks up a completely justifiable fuss beforehand, but in the end, she’s completely willing to give up all her future ambitions of university, a career and a life with her family, including her mother who she hasn’t seen for most of her life, to be a teenage wife and mother with a talking polar bear. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">Sadly, this isn’t the worst part. After Cassie has to go on a quest to retrieve Bear, who has to swear himself to the Troll Princess due to a rather convoluted loophole that I won’t explain here because it’s inconsequential, everyone she meets is obsessed with the safety of her unborn child. Not her, just her unborn child. Every other spirit, creature and guardian that she meets, of varying species and ages, cares not for her but for the fetus she just happens to be in charge of for the next few months. One character, who is thankfully painted as something of a villain, keeps her captive and indirectly harms her in an effort to stop her saving Bear because the life inside her is more important than her own. Cassie is also given the nickname “Little mother” by these creatures. Her entire worth is based on the fact that she has a functioning uterus and that’s a hell of a lot more important than her own mind and decisions. Cassie doesn’t like this attitude, it angers her, and rightly so. But why doesn’t she display this anger towards Bear, who admitted that he wanted a wife to bear his children, a task he decrees to be the most important purpose of the marriage? Cassie isn’t stupid, yet she is completely willing to let the designated love interest make these decisions for her, even if they involve lying, and in the end it’s okay? Bear says he loves Cassie but for me, all I could see was a liar who was willing to sabotage a young woman’s life in order to get what he wanted. Cassie was left to be nothing but a breeding specimen with one use. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">To be truthful, this is a well written book that is generally well paced and has an interesting mythology throughout the story. The action scenes are well done and when Cassie was an active heroine, I really appreciated. But I would be lying if I gave this book anything more than 1 star. I can’t get behind a romance built upon a much older man using an 18 year old girl in that way. Tampering with birth control and essentially trapping the wife you forced into marriage doesn’t not make you the romantic ideal, it makes you sick. Just because the original source material is old, that doesn’t mean one is obligated to keep the retelling stuck in the 1950s. Cassie was much more than a “little mother”, so to see her happily accept the fate she was forced into as the ideal life made me so sad. She was worth more than that. We all are.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818; font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">1/5. </span></em><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818;mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-44462025882658242202011-06-10T05:00:00.000-07:002011-06-10T05:02:57.645-07:00Review: "The Day Before" by Lisa Schroeder.<a href="http://chickloveslit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/The-Day-Before.jpeg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 317px; height: 475px;" src="http://chickloveslit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/The-Day-Before.jpeg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin"><i><b>“The Day Before”</b></i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin"><b>Author: </b>Lisa Schroeder<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin"><b>Publisher:</b> Simon Pulse.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin"><b>Pages: </b>320.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.25pt"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";color:#181818;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Amber’s life is spinning out of control. All she wants is to turn up the volume on her iPod until all of the demands of family and friends fade away. So she sneaks off to the beach to spend a day by herself.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#181818;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Then Amber meets Cade. Their attraction is instant, and Amber can tell he’s also looking for an escape. Together they decide to share a perfect day: no pasts, no fears, no regrets.</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#181818;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">The more time that Amber spends with Cade, the more she’s drawn to him. And the more she’s troubled by his darkness. Because Cade’s not just living in the now—he’s living each moment like it’s his last.</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#181818;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Cover impressions:</b> I have never read a YA book written in verse before so this was a first for me. I tend to be biased towards prose and drama in my English lit studies as well but I thought it would be interesting to give this one a go to see if the choice of medium would be suitable to tell a story and how affecting it would be. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">To be completely honest, I didn’t really connect to this book. The choice of verse to tell Amber’s story wasn’t completely successful in my opinion, although there are a few moments where the poetry is very effective and well done. Many times it felt like fancily rearranged sentences rather than carefully composed poetry. I can understand the choice of medium for capturing emotions rather than events but there were times where it just felt awkward, such as Amber discussing her favourite musician, Pink, and the movie guessing game she forms with Cade. The frequent shifts from verse to letter form to reveal more of Amber’s situation felt clumsy and shoved in at the last moment. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">Amber’s situation is one that’s easy to sympathise with and her emotions are understandable, but no literary medium can make me interested in an instant love story with next to no development or even interaction. At one point Amber compares her and Cade’s situation to that of the wonderful movie “Before Sunrise” and it did feel as if “The Day Before” was aiming to be a poetic teenage version of that wonderful film. However, that film’s strength lay in the witty and very moving interactions between Ethan Hawke and Julie Deply to the point where even this romantic cynic was caught up in their fleeting love, something which just isn’t present in “The Day Before.” Amber is immediately taken with him and they barely speak to each other; when they do talk it’s over mundane things that have no real bearings on them as people. As such, their instant perfect connection never felt authentic and I was never emotionally invested in them as a couple. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">I think one’s development of this novel will lie in how much one enjoys verse novels, but for me, this novel just didn’t click. “The Day Before” occasionally succeeds in capturing the complex emotions of its conflicted protagonist, but on the whole it felt underdeveloped and rushed, trying to live up to “Before Sunrise” (which I highly recommend). But while “Before Sunrise” made me believe two strangers could make a genuine connection over the course of one day, “The Day Before” did not. I’m definitely interested in reading more verse YA though; I want to see the medium truly rise to its potential.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">2/5. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">“The Day Before” will be released in USA on June 28<sup>th</sup>. I received my ARC from Simon & Schuster’s Galley Grab program. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-91510878430590349682011-06-09T13:54:00.001-07:002011-06-09T13:57:10.957-07:00Review: "Past Perfect" by Leila Sales.<a href="http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n76/n381657.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 479px;" src="http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n76/n381657.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><i><b></b></i></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><i><b>“Past Perfect”</b></i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Author:</b> Leila Sales.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Publisher:</b> Simon Pulse.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Pages:</b> 322<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads):</b> All Chelsea wants to do this summer is hang out with her best friend, hone her talents as an ice cream connoisseur, and finally get over Ezra, the boy who broke her heart. But when Chelsea shows up for her summer job at Essex Historical Colonial Village (yes, really), it turns out Ezra’s working there too. Which makes moving on and forgetting Ezra a lot more complicated… even when Chelsea starts falling for someone new.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">Maybe Chelsea should have known better than to think that a historical reenactment village could help her escape her past. But with Ezra all too present, and her new crush seeming all too off limits, all Chelsea knows is that she’s got a lot to figure out about love. Because those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it…</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Cover impressions:</b> Sometimes there is nothing that will satisfy a reader such as myself like a good piece of sweet fluff. That is not in any way meant as an insult towards “Past Perfect” and other such books, there’s no such room for genre snobbery in my eyes. While genre fiction such as horror, romance and the romantic comedy, which is how I would classify this book, are the first to be mocked or derided, it’s worth remembering that it’s pretty damn hard to write a convincing and entertaining piece of genre fiction. Writing a romantic comedy that can use familiar tropes of the genre and remain charming and entertaining is a tough task, and I’m pleased to say that, for the most part, Leila Sales pulls it off.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">The unconventional setting – a colonial village re-enactment centre - and set-up for the novel creates countless opportunities for entertainment and mayhem. Some of the funniest moments of the book come from the over-the-top and gleefully ridiculous war plans between the colonial re-enactment workers and the civil war re-enactors right across the road. It’s incredibly petty and immature but there’s something undeniably funny about Churchill war speech parodies and battle strategies that revolve around historical anachronisms. This element of the book was definitely my favourite part and I only wish more time had been dedicated to it rather than Chelsea’s love life.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">While I appreciated that Sales spent some time deconstructing the rose-tinted image of her ex boyfriend that Chelsea had built up for herself, so much time is spent with Chelsea in moping mode that it became very tiresome. I think one’s mileage may vary for such scenes and will depend on the reader’s emotions towards Chelsea. I did not find her to be a particularly brilliant protagonist. She had her moments – I enjoyed her ice-cream taste testing – and I greatly appreciated her close relationship with her quirky parents and group of friends, but said moping grated on me. She also makes a couple of plot driving decisions that made me lose all sympathy for her. If I was to pick a character in the novel to follow, it would be Tawny, the general of the colonial workers in the war. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">There was one element of the romance plotline that really got to me. This small rant is partly inspired by this book but is also something I’ve had on my mind for a while so please take this with a pinch of salt when considering reading this book for yourself. Dan, the primary love interest of the novel, is set up in a forbidden love style element (a “Romeo & Juliet” parallel is actually mentioned by Chelsea, but since the war between both sides spends most of its time in war parody mode, don’t take that comparison too seriously) so of course there needs to be a degree of animosity between the pair, coupled with that trademark jerk charm so common with male love interests. I’ve become rather fed up with books, mainly YA, where the male love interest is characterised by being charming when he’s really a smug know-it-all that borders on insulting. Chelsea’s often not very likeable but generally I find it difficult to believe that every teenage girl is charmed and seduced by this sort of behaviour. The fact that such behaviour is often the only defining characteristic of many male love interests is even more infuriating for me. Luckily, Dan is given more depth than this but it does make the romance between him and Chelsea harder to believe considering her own decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">The key to this book lies in its charm. Sales writes a well paced and often very funny book with witty observations, an interesting supporting cast to prop up a less than perfect protagonist, and a whole assortment of pranks, jokes and completely ridiculous war parodies with just a pinch of history. “Past Perfect” won’t be considered groundbreaking by any standards, and the romance angle will be read differently by different readers depending on one’s opinion of such elements, but it’s a quick read with bagfuls of charm you could have a lot of fun reading. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">3/5.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">“Past Perfect” will be released in USA on October 4<sup>th. </sup></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">I received my arc from Simon & Schuster’s Galley Grab program. <span style="color:#181818"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-59440622130134397542011-05-26T10:32:00.000-07:002011-05-26T10:35:18.034-07:00Review: "The Bride's Farewell" by Meg Rosoff.<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51oHoDu7hOL.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 312px; height: 500px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51oHoDu7hOL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i></i></b></span></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i>“The Bride’s Farewell”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Author</b>: Meg Rosoff.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Publisher:</b> Puffin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Pages:</b> 192.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads):</b> On the morning of her wedding, Pell Ridley creeps out of bed in the dark, kisses her sisters goodbye and flees — determined to escape a future that offers nothing but hard work and sorrow. She takes the only thing that truly belongs to her: Jack, a white horse, and small mute Bean who refuses to be left behind.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><br /><br /><span class="apple-style-span">The road ahead is rich with longing, silence and secrets, and each encounter leads her closer to the untold story of her past. Then Pell meets a hunter, infuriating, mysterious and cold. Will he help her to find what she seeks?</span><br /><br /><span class="apple-style-span">With all the hallmarks of Meg Rosoff’s extraordinary writing,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> “</span><strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">The Bride’s Farewell”</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span">also breaks new ground for this author, in a nineteenth-century, Hardyesque setting. This is a moving story of love and lost things, with a core of deep, beautiful romance.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><span class="apple-style-span"></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#181818"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Cover impressions: </b>I love Meg Rosoff’s work. “How I Live Now” and “Just In Case” were refreshing and vibrant, with a fascinating layer of unease throughout the simple but highly effective prose. Both books received mass acclaim, both from teens and adults, and many literary awards, such as the Carnegie Medal and Printz Award. I highly recommend her first two books to anyone in search of a book that proves YA can be just as moving, surprising and intriguing as anything intended for adults. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing for “The Bride’s Farewell.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">As always, Rosoff’s prose is wonderful, managing to be deceptively simple but striking and void of overt sentimentality. It’s certainly the strongest thing about this short book but great prose isn’t enough to make a story worthwhile. After a strong start and the initial establishment of a strong, independent heroine, the story quickly loses momentum and dissolves into many paragraphs of exposition and summaries more suited to a “Previously on...” introduction to a TV series than a novella. There is no real strong narrative to the novella; instead, we are left with chapter after chapter describing each unconnected thing Pell does, occasionally meandering off for a little exposition on a barely developed character of no real importance. I can’t blame the short length of the story for this since many wonderful novellas and short stories have been written before this that manage to get in ten times more characterisation and plot. Pell’s introduction started off so strong but quickly fell apart as it felt like Rosoff became bored with her own story and characters. So little time is spent allowing Pell to grow – and the few decisions she does make later on seem at direct odds with her early characterisation - and by the end of the book I felt apathetic towards her fate. I had similar feelings, or lack thereof, towards the supporting cast, who are so thinly drawn they’re transparent. Many of these characters also veered wildly into caricature territory. Almost every man in the story is a philandering drunk who does not care for his numerous children, while anyone who openly talks of faith and God is usually a ranting fool with no regard for kindness or basic human decency. Not only were such descriptions borderline offensive, they were also plain lazy. When the reader is asked to sympathise with one particular case – a man who abandoned his wife and child and only comes back to see his son to teach him to ‘be a man’ and hunt – because he becomes the designated love interest, it’s hard to stomach. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">My biggest problem with the book came with the story. As I said before, there really is no strong narrative structure to “The Bride’s Farewell” as Pell meanders from one place to another, but almost everything that happens in this story is misery porn. If something’s going to go wrong then chances are it will. Pell is mistreated, mocked, left to starve, robbed, cheated, the whole shebang. Almost every woman that Pell encounters, no matter how long they appear for, immediately mistrusts her or believes her to be out to steal their men with her beauty, another lazy character element that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I am fine with unflinching unsentimentality, many writers have made masterpieces from such plot choices, but here it feels lifeless and completely pointless. Pell doesn’t grow as a character because of these events, she doesn’t become a stronger person (actually, I think she becomes even more downtrodden and submissive than before), so to pack this short book with such defeated angst for no reason feels like bad storytelling. It’s such a disappointment because I know Rosoff is capable of brilliance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">Someone asked me if it was worth reading a bad book if it had one truly wonderful redeeming feature, in this case the prose. Even though I think Rosoff is a wonderful writer and her prose is always strong, in the case of “The Bride’s Farewell”, it’s just not worth it. Great prose cannot singlehandedly support lazy characterisation, clumsy plotting and a story that seems more concerned with making its characters miserable than allowing them to truly grow. I cannot recommend Rosoff’s other books highly enough so I recommend you pick those wonderful pieces of YA up to read instead of this one, which I hope is merely a minor speed bump in her career.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">2/5.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-55973636680082528492011-05-21T05:43:00.000-07:002011-05-21T05:46:17.023-07:00Review: "Wildefire" by Karsten Knight.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h6EwsMo1I-Y/TcqNyfFinrI/AAAAAAAAAVk/hXBBS9trZZQ/s1600/Wildefire.jpeg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 315px; height: 475px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h6EwsMo1I-Y/TcqNyfFinrI/AAAAAAAAAVk/hXBBS9trZZQ/s1600/Wildefire.jpeg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i></i></b></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i>“Wildefire”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Author:</b> Karsten Knight.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Publisher:</b> Simon and Schuster.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Pages:</b> 401.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span class="apple-style-span">Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time… And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Cover impressions:</b> Over the past few years, in the wake of the sparkle madness, we’ve seen a wide variety of paranormal mythologies saturate the YA market to the point where much of it has become derivative, overdone and frankly, a little dull. To find something original in the market is always pleasant, so a novel centred around a reincarnated Polynesian goddess was automatically a must read for me. So far, my GoodReads friends have been mixed in their opinions on the novel, so I will have to be the dull one here and fall right in the middle.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">Ashline is a great protagonist. She’s often stubborn and incredibly sarcastic – the banter she shares with her friends is a particular highlight of the book – and makes stupid mistakes, but she also suffers with consequences and has to learn how to mature and figure out what to do with her life and newfound destiny. Her relationship with her friends, family and the culture clash she has known through her whole life made her an often complex but always interesting heroine. This was also an instance where the obligatory romantic element didn’t bother me so much; she and Colt had great chemistry, actually took time to get to know one another and didn’t spend all their time obsessing over one another. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">Aside from Ashline, the supporting cast ranges from good to bad in terms of development. Her group of close friends and fellow gods were especially humorous and their interactions made for some of the best parts of the novel. They actually felt like teenagers, not adults in smaller bodies, and their own personal journeys, while handled a little clumsily (the prose is serviceable but nothing particularly groundbreaking), brought further layers to the mythological elements, another high point in the book. However, I had a strong dislike (and not in the way the author intended) to Eve, Ash’s sister. She was a straight up sociopath with nothing beyond her two dimensional destruction and selfishness. I can understand what Knight’s intentions were with the character, and there are hints of bigger repercussions in her relationship with Ash, but they were overwhelmed by her psychotic behaviour. The moments where she is supposed to develop beyond this felt hollow, making her ultimately an underwhelming antagonist to the story. Another possible antagonist is introduced late into the novel who is even more two dimensional than Eve, complete with Bond villain style exposition of her past, but she’s dropped almost immediately.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">From the first chapter, the book grabs you and is paced to keep you invested in the mystery, rushed ending aside. However, this opening may also put off many readers because of its violence. There is a lot of violence in the novel (as well as casual use of the term 'bitch', which everyone called almost every girl at some point) and it verged dangerously close to being gratuitous for me. I can understand the inherently violent nature of the gods and goddesses, and their struggles to keep control over their strange, burgeoning powers, but the characters often take a disappointingly flippant view of this violence which I found to be grating as the novel progressed. The opening chapter’s fight was a particularly bad example of this – I don’t care how violent or peaceful your neighbourhood is, there is absolutely no way you’d only get one week’s suspension from school for that sort of fight. The fact that this fight takes place over a boy didn’t please me much either. As well as the violent elements, I felt that the group accepted their fates a little too quickly, and seemed to take control of their powers with the same unrealistic speed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">While I didn’t love “Wildefire” in quite the same way many of my reviewer friends did, it was refreshing to read a paranormal YA with unique mythos, a strong, complex female protagonist and a circle of friends with witty interactions who actually cared about one another and did more than act as plot devices. Now that the first part of the story is told, I hope Karsten Knight can further develop a great story free deserving of that killer cliff-hanger, which will leave you both infuriated and waiting for more. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">3.5/5.</span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">"Wildefire" will be available in USA on July 26th. I received my e-ARC from Simon and Schuster's Galley Grab.</span></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-43848313065985300272011-05-20T06:43:00.000-07:002011-05-20T06:46:45.039-07:00Review: "Magic Under Glass" by Jaclyn Dolamore.<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1258898541l/6461779.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 307px; height: 475px;" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1258898541l/6461779.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i>“Magic Under Glass”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Author:</b> Jaclyn Dolamore<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Publisher:</b> Bloomsbury<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Pages:</b> 225.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span class="apple-style-span">Nimira is a music-hall performer forced to dance for pennies to an audience of leering drunks. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to do a special act - singing accompaniment to an exquisite piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets stir.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Unsettling below-stairs rumours abound about ghosts, a mad woman roaming the halls, and of Parry's involvement in a gang of ruthless sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. When Nimira discovers the spirit of a dashing young fairy gentleman is trapped inside the automaton's stiff limbs, waiting for someone to break the curse and set him free, the two fall in love. But it is a love set against a dreadful race against time to save the entire fairy realm, which is in mortal peril.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><span class="apple-style-span"></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Cover impressions: </b>I, like many people I imagine, first heard about “Magic Under Glass” after the less than publicity friendly but justifiable outrage over the <a href="http://jezebel.com/5451058/magic-under-glass-the-white+washing-of-young-adult-fiction-continues">whitewashing of the heroine on the first cover of the book</a>. Luckily, the publishers listened to the complaints and gave the book a <a href="http://www.jaclyndolamore.com/Photos/MUG/MUGcover.jpg">lovely new cover</a> with the appropriate cover model so remember good readers, public pressure does sometimes work! But that unfortunate incident aside, this has been a book on my radar for a while after several excellent reviews and the promise of a book with Steampunk elements that wouldn’t make me want to fall asleep.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">Indeed, “Magic Under Glass” is a very sweet read, chock full of charm and imagination. It’s a book that can easily be read in one sitting, which I found to be both a good and bad thing; good because it was well paced and highly readable, and bad because the slightness of the novel left me feeling a little unsatisfied. The story and world Dolamore has created is so jam packed with potential and while the story occasionally lives up to it, I felt like there was definitely room for more. The alternative Victorian-esque universe of forbidden sorcery, fairy-human political strife and clockwork creatures was fascinating but much of it is only hinted at. I understand a sequel is in the works but as a stand-alone novel, which “Magic Under Glass” works well as, there was much opportunity for these elements to be expanded upon. Unfortunately, the ending as a result also feels a little rushed. Larger events are hinted at, ones of political complexity and cultural hostilities, which I was eager to learn more about, but were never given much time to truly develop. Dolamore writes wonderful, very readable prose, and clearly knows how to pace a story, so I firmly believe she could have easily added another 50 or so pages to this novel for such elements, as well as some extra character development, without any change to the structure of the novel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">The novel’s strengths lie mainly in the heroine Nimira, a strong, independent if occasionally stubborn and entitled young woman who has come from a life of privilege and adoration to one of decidedly less importance, where she is looked down upon both for her occupation and ethnicity. I enjoyed Nimira’s voice immensely, especially in the way she fights to be recognised as more than a trouser girl. Her interactions with most of the other characters seem a little one-sided, which is mostly down to the supporting cast being much less developed than she is. The villain is far too one-dimensional and predictable to ever be truly convincing and the potential her early discussions with Erris, the fairy prince trapped inside the automaton, have potential and a tentative charm, it quickly turns to romance with no real depth, which was a great disappointment, especially since Nimira’s interactions with Hollin, a much more complex and developed character, are much more believable as the beginnings of a possible relationship. I never truly believed the evolution of Nimira and Erris’ relationship.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">While I thoroughly enjoyed “Magic Under Glass”, I do feel that it could have benefited from further character and plot development, as the potential offered in this book is truly great. The beginnings of wonderfully imaginative and varied world-building, as well as the hints of complex political intrigue, give Dolmore a great head start in creative what I hope to be a rich and enjoyable series. This world would make a wonderful Studio Ghibli movie. It’s a quick, if very slight read but it leaves the reader wanting more.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">3.5/5.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-55170314373006950112011-05-19T06:06:00.000-07:002011-05-19T06:08:56.811-07:00Review: "Wrapped" by Jennifer Bradbury.<a href="http://hobbitsies.net/bookcovers/wrapped.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 314px; height: 475px;" src="http://hobbitsies.net/bookcovers/wrapped.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i>“Wrapped”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Author: </b>Jennifer Bradbury.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Publisher:</b> Atheneum.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Pages: </b>324.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#181818"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads):</b> </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";color:#181818;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Agnes Wilkins is standing in front of an Egyptian mummy, about to make the first cut into the wrappings, about to unlock ancient (and not-so-ancient) history.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#181818;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Maybe you think this girl is wearing a pith helmet with antique dust swirling around her.</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"> <span style="color:#181818">Maybe you think she is a young Egyptologist who has arrived in Cairo on camelback.</span> <span style="color:#181818">Maybe she would like to think that too. Agnes Wilkins dreams of adventures that reach beyond the garden walls, but reality for a seventeen-year-old debutante in 1815 London does not allow for camels—or dust, even. No, Agnes can only see a mummy when she is wearing a new silk gown and standing on the verdant lawns of Lord Showalter’s estate, with chaperones fussing about and strolling sitar players straining to create an exotic “atmosphere” for the first party of the season. An unwrapping.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#181818;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">This is the start of it all, Agnes’s debut season, the pretty girl parade that offers only ever-shrinking options: home, husband, and high society. It’s also the start of something else, because the mummy Agnes unwraps isn’t just a mummy. It’s a host for a secret that could unravel a new destiny—unleashing mystery, an international intrigue, and possibly a curse in the bargain. Get wrapped up in the adventure . . . but keep your wits about you, dear Agnes.</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:#181818;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">When I was little, I went through a serious phase of loving all things ancient Egypt, which grew into a Victorian detective novel love when I hit my teens. This book combines two of my greatest nostalgic loves so of course I had to pick it up! Overall, I was pleased with “Wrapped” and enjoyed it, but I didn’t love it. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">The greatest strength of “Wrapped” lies in Agnes, its witty, independent and imaginative heroine. She falls into the typical heroine trope traps but is executed with a certain flair I found rather charming, and also manages to have several moments of surprising complexity I didn’t expect in what is essentially a light-hearted romp. For a novel with this sort of story, I think you need a heroine like Agnes, and she was what kept me reading throughout the occasional drops in pace. There was one thing about her that frustrated me and that was her frequent references to A Lady, the pen-name for Jane Austen. Agnes is a smart girl with a love of books, which I appreciated and related to, but her constant references to Austen began to grate on me very quickly. The other characters didn’t quite have the same impact on me and felt very stock, but they got the job done. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">There really isn’t much for me to say about “Wrapped” because it’s a simple, light-hearted romp that one shouldn’t take too seriously. There dialogue is often anachronistic, some of the history doesn’t quite add up and the mystery at the centre of the story is pretty predictable, but it’s all very readable, often highly enjoyable and a good way to waste a few hours, which is in no way a criticism. I had fun reading about the Egyptian myths and rituals, It’s not going to break any boundaries or set a standard in historical YA, but it is a good fluffy read. I think younger YA readers may enjoy it more than I did. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">3/5. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">I received my e-ARC from Simon and Schuster's Galley Grab programme. </span></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-35489230844690828612011-05-17T10:00:00.000-07:002011-05-17T10:03:05.408-07:00Review: "The Girl in the Steel Corset" by Kady Cross.<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1297987541l/9166877.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 309px; height: 475px;" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1297987541l/9166877.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p style="line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"></span></span></p><blockquote><p style="line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i>“The Girl in the Steel Corset.”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Author:</b> Kady Cross.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Publisher:</b> Harlequin Teen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Pages:</b> 477.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads):</b> In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one…except the "thing" inside her. When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">normal</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch….<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">them.</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits: Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">Griffin's investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help—and finally be a part of something, finally fit in. But The Machinist wants to tear Griff's little company of strays apart, and it isn't long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she's on—even if it seems no one believes her.</span></p></blockquote><p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Cover impressions:</b> There’s been much talk amongst the blogosphere of a possible upcoming Steampunk craze in YA, in the wake of Cassandra Clare’s best-selling but incredibly mediocre foray into the genre. Kady Cross, the pseudonym for author Kathryn Smith, mentions in the acknowledgements for her book that she wanted to write a cross between “X Men” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” As a fan of both (I have a serious guilty pleasure love of the latter movie adaptation, even though I’m perfectly aware of how bad it is) I approached this with cautious optimism but, after a great opening chapter, found myself quickly bored. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">The potential for greatness is definitely there but these promising elements are put together so clumsily and in such a derivative fashion. The love is always in the details, and such things are genre expectations for Steampunk – it’s not just about shoving in some cogs and corsets and calling it a Steampunk novel, you have to create the entire world in all its depth and intricacies. Unfortunately, this novel tries to throw in so much detail that basic elements of storytelling such as plotting and pacing suffer. There’s just so much stuff to be described and Cross does so frequently and it weighs down the pacing until its dead in the water. There’s so much technology on show, so many paragraphs on the intricacies of a piece of equipment that it quickly becomes exhausting, especially when the story seems to have disappeared. It’s such a shame because the story starts with an intriguing bang that promises much but doesn’t quite deliver. The world never really feels like a well constructed alternative Steampunk universe. Instead, it’s more like a Victorian set romantic mystery with some stuff thrown in. I did find a lot of the technology interesting but its place in the story felt forced and shoe-horned in, never organic to the proceedings. Like the story itself, much of this technology is told to us and not shown. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">It’s also a disappointment to see how many of the YA paranormal tropes this book falls into. The love triangle, for unfortunately there is another one in a YA novel, is the typical series of events we’ve come to expect in this genre, with little development of the actual characters Finley is supposed to be so taken by. Finley herself was another example of squandered potential. Her genuinely interesting issues were plodded out in such a pedestrian manner that, like everything else in the story, I quickly became bored by her. The mystery that has much more interesting potential than the love triangle is sacrificed for the romance, although what little mystery we were given was a little too predictable. I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that this story wasn’t complete. I know it’s the first in a planned trilogy but on its own, “The Girl in the Steel Corset” felt half-done. I later found out that Cross had released an online prequel to the book which leaves me with mixed feelings I may have to address in a later blog post.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">“The Girl in the Steel Corset” is another example of great potential sadly squandered, and not the Steampunk YA saviour one was hoping for. There are moments of excitement and interest amidst the plodding story and tedious pacing but it never really amounts to something worthwhile. The basic idea of the story is definitely one with possibilities, so I hope Cross can expand upon them and iron out the story’s weaknesses in the rest of the trilogy. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">2/5.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left: 0cm;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">"The Girl in the Steel Corset" will be available in USA on May 24th. I received my e-ARC from NetGalley.com.</span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-58906506830231311642011-05-01T15:59:00.000-07:002011-05-01T16:01:56.215-07:00Review: "Sister Mischief" by Laura Goode.<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51meAatPhGL.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 331px; height: 500px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51meAatPhGL.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"></span></p><blockquote><p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i>“Sister Mischief”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Author: </b>Laura Goode<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Publisher: </b>Candlewick Press<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Pages: </b>350.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads): </b><strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;font-weight: normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">A gay suburban hip-hopper freaks out her Christian high school - and falls in love - in this</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">righteously funny and totally tender YA debut, for real</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">Listen up: You’re about to get rocked by the fiercest, baddest all-girl hip-hop crew in the Twin Cities - or at least in the wealthy, white, Bible-thumping suburb of Holyhill, Minnesota. Our heroine, Esme Rockett (aka MC Ferocious) is a Jewish lesbian lyricist. In her crew, Esme’s got her BFFs Marcy (aka DJ SheStorm, the butchest straight girl in town) and Tess (aka The ConTessa, the pretty, popular powerhouse of a vocalist). But Esme’s feelings for her co-MC, Rowie (MC Rohini), a beautiful, brilliant, beguiling desi chick, are bound to get complicated. And before they know it, the queer hip-hop revolution Esme and her girls have exploded in Holyhill is on the line. Exciting new talent Laura Goode lays down a snappy, provocative, and heartfelt novel about discovering the rhythm of your own truth.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Cover impressions: </b>I’m really not a hip-hop fan and, despite the prospect of a quirky, funny and diverse LGBT love story, I was hesitant to read “Sister Mischief” because of worries over cultural appropriation and such. However, by the end of this book, I was ready to apologise to it for ever doubting how good it would be. This review may not be the most objective thing I’ve ever written. Sometimes a book comes along that you completely fall in love with, even though you know it’s not perfect and you know not everyone will have the same wild feelings towards it as you do but you’re ready to cheerlead for it until everyone stands up and takes notice. I liked this book so much that it’s turned me into a cheesy mess!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">First and foremost, it’s a book about identity and individuality. Esme’s a white, Jewish by birth but non-practicing teenager who loves to rap and is coming to terms with her sexuality while living in a Christian conservative town. She and her friends could so easily have slipped into caricature mode, especially with their frequent use of hip-hop speak and slang (which may annoy the hell out of many readers), but Goode fills them with such humour and depth that they’re never anything less than complete characters. It’s so refreshing to read a YA where the group of friends are so close and loving, not just in theory but in practice. There’s been a long period of YAs ruled by loners and outsiders who have a small group of friends they rarely interact with, much less act like real friends with. Throughout their tough times, fights, conversations and laughs, you never for one moment doubt Esme’s love for her friends and vice versa. At first glance they mat fit broad moulds – the butch one, the confident one, the meek Christian girl, the geeky and insecure Indian girl – but they evolve into so much more, busting stereotypes and questioning the identities they’ve been slapped with. They’re young, they do stupid things, they drink and take drugs and have sex, but they’re also smart enough to take responsibility for their actions and grasp the bigger picture, often in a very funny and touching way. They also kick arse!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">The hip-hop element was handled with real skill and humour. The girls question their right as Caucasians and Asians (this book also gets huge props for his multi-cultural society which and highlighting the issues of being different in a predominantly SWASP environment – the extra S is for straight, as added by Esme) to appropriate hip-hop and also ask a lot of interesting questions about culture, identity and stereotypes. If I must be a little objective, at points this does feel a little forced, as if Goode is using the girls as mouthpieces, but for the large part, it’s handled well and explored multiple issues without turning it into a preach-fest. Esme frequently notes down lyrics throughout the book, often left as footnotes, along with texts and tweets, using her music as a way to express herself and sort out who she really is. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">The relationship between Esme and Rowie was sweet, often beautiful and never simple. It felt real, as did the different ways both girls reacted to their burgeoning sexualities. Esme, the daughter of an extremely liberal single dad to whom she is very close (her dad was one of my favourite supporting characters, but I also loved that all four girls had parental interactions) takes it in her stride for the most part while Rowie is much more reserved, wanting to hide her secret from the world for fear of disappointing her more traditional father, who she believes is already disappointed in her because of her Americanised attitude. Their relationship effects not only them but their friends and family, which we see unfold over the few months the book takes place. It’s a time of change – the book is set around the time Barack Obama was elected President – and this profound moment in time reflects the girls’ struggles. It’s realistic, it’s relatable and, like most teen loves, it’s awkwardly beautiful. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">I was, however, disappointed by the portrayal of the main female antagonist. I understand that Goode wanted to set up a contrast to Tess to show the differing attitudes of Christians in teen America – Tess is more relaxed and willing to ask more questions while remaining dedicated to her faith while the antagonist is stricter – but she just came across as a nasty cardboard cut-out. I really wanted to see the community’s wider reaction to the growing LGBT movement in the school, not just from this one token bitchy girl. While we do get an insight into the school’s political workings, it feels insubstantial and disappointing, especially since the rest of the book is so inquisitive and full of colours and ideas, not just black and white. That’s what stops this book from being close to perfect in my eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">I loved “Sister Mischief.” I know a lot of people will hate the hip-hop element and there are times where it came close to grating on me, but there was so much love in this book and it was brimming with ideas and questions, I couldn’t help but love it. It’s a book about so many things – love, growing up, discovery, identity, feminism, religion, culture, friendship, school, lies, heartbreak, music, change – and I found it to be nothing less than a delight. It’s not for everyone, it’s not perfect, but I’d still highly recommend it to all. There aren’t many books out there so jam packed with as much creativity, diversity and heart as “Sister Mischief.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">5/5.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">"Sister Mischief" will be released in USA on July 12th. I received my e-ARC from NetGalley.com. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-41403011478412166572011-04-30T06:48:00.001-07:002011-04-30T06:50:33.410-07:00Review: "Lost Voices" by Sarah Porter<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcN8WjMjYUsjhbIf9JxiErVTZZim2dnc1FCMAJCp7CXVEHH_X8zpGFeMrhNsoiHgXs2OvQUfv_QypySY5oU5W_5UC2NdfuBWVcgG9FI4L1r-UA3LbGhxNhZdZQy47N1XArH9Rlq3s-CVeZ/s1600/Lost+Voices.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 312px; height: 475px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcN8WjMjYUsjhbIf9JxiErVTZZim2dnc1FCMAJCp7CXVEHH_X8zpGFeMrhNsoiHgXs2OvQUfv_QypySY5oU5W_5UC2NdfuBWVcgG9FI4L1r-UA3LbGhxNhZdZQy47N1XArH9Rlq3s-CVeZ/s1600/Lost+Voices.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"></span></p><blockquote><p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b><i>“Lost Voices”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Author:</b> Sarah Porter<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Publisher:</b> Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Pages</b>: 304.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span class="apple-style-span">What happens to the girls nobody sees—the ones who are ignored, mistreated, hidden away? The girls nobody hears when they cry for help?</span></span></p><p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><span class="apple-style-span"></span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Fourteen-year-old Luce is one of those lost girls. After her father vanishes in a storm at sea, she is stuck in a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village with her alcoholic uncle. When her uncle crosses an unspeakable line, Luce reaches the depths of despair. Abandoned on the cliffs near her home, she expects to die when she tumbles to the icy, churning waves below. Instead, she undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. The mermaids are beautiful, free, and ageless, and Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: they feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Luce’s own talent at singing captures the attention of the tribe’s queen, the fierce and elegant Catarina, and Luce soon finds herself pressured to join in committing mass murder. Luce’s struggle to retain her inner humanity puts her at odds with her friends; even worse, Catarina seems to regard Luce as a potential rival. But the appearance of a devious new mermaid brings a real threat to Catarina’s leadership and endangers the very existence of the tribe. Can Luce find the courage to challenge the newcomer, even at the risk of becoming rejected and alone once again?</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><span class="apple-style-span"></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Cover impressions</b>: Sometime after Stephenie Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn” was unleashed upon the world and the media was scrambling for the next big creature in YA, mermaids was tossed around as a possible substitute for vampires and werewolves, partly influenced by Meyer herself admitting to having a mermaid story in mind for a future novel. While this hypothesised craze never really came to fruition, there is a number of mermaid-related YA stories awaiting release or already in bookshops from the past year or so. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;color:#181818">Sarah Porter’s debut, yet another first in a series, takes the mermaid mythos that has more in common with Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” than the incredibly sanitised Disney adaptation. While the mermaid and siren tradition has a rich and fascinating mythos, it’s not one that’s been explored very often in YA and Porter’s reinterpretation of themes from The Odyssey along with fairy tales of both Andersen and the Grimm Brothers is one of the strongest elements of the book. The story is unrelentingly bleak for the most part – girls are turned into mermaids after having suffered unimaginable abuse and pain at the hands of humans to the point where they give up on humanity. The mermaids live in a matriarchal society and use their siren-like voices to crash ships and kill those on board as a form of revenge for what humanity did to them. It definitely made a refreshing change from the stock paranormal format that has oversaturated the market. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">Most of my problems with the book fall at the feet – or tail – of the protagonist Luce. She has a standard neglected orphan set-up which just manages to avoid falling into maudlin soap-opera territory (only just), and she does have some interesting moments, especially in her complex relationship with head mermaid Catarina. However, she veers from naive little girl to tortured hero with a passive martyr complex. I think most of these problems are the result of Porter’s prose, which is often clunky and repetitious but reasonably serviceable for the most part, except with Luce’s internal monologue. Her characterisation has a lot of potential – her coming to terms with what happened to her, discovering her new powers, wanting to fit in and stick to the mermaid code but still having her humanity – but it felt a little black and white at times, especially since practically none of the other mermaids had these issues. By the end of it all, Luce is the super special mermaid to end all super special mermaids and it’s so overdone. I was much more intrigued by Catarina’s story but Porter tries to introduce far too many characters so nobody is really given any time to truly develop beyond being abused girls turned vengeful mermaids. Most of the time it’s hard to remember which one is which since their personalities are so similar that they end up merging together. Things aren’t helped when even more characters are introduced with even less development. If you’re going to use something like abuse as a developmental point in a character’s life, you’d better make sure you do it well for fear of coming across as lazy and exploitative. In this case it’s more the former. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The plot is so deathly slow I didn’t think there was one for the most part. I understand Porter wanting to develop the mermaid way of life, and there is a lot of often repeated detail in this book, but it plods along at such a snail’s pace that I found myself getting bored on more than one occasion. Things pick up towards the end but you can’t just rush a plot 2/3s of the way through to make up for the rest of the book. Many interesting questions are raised, especially pertaining to the mermaids’ powers and their own twisted version of judgement, but few are answered. It’s a world that never truly reaches its potential.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">If mermaids are to be the new creatures that fill our paranormal YAs in the future then I hope their worlds are at least as interesting as the one in “Lost Voices”. The mythos is clearly begging for some interesting interpretations and Porter gives us one that is bleak, complex and brimming with possibilities, which I hope it fulfils with the rest of the series. However, the plotting needs some serious work as does the characterisation of the supporting cast. There is definitely potential for Porter to develop and grow as a writer which will drastically improve the series but as this book stands, it’s not without merit but I was left with too many questions and too many problems.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">2.5/5. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;">"Lost Voices" will be released in USA on July 4th. I received my e-ARC from NetGalley.com.</span></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-88704589445016482132011-04-29T08:58:00.000-07:002011-04-29T09:00:54.806-07:00Review: "White Cat" by Holly Black.<a href="http://www.hittheroadjacq.com/admin/covers/Holly%20Black%20-%20White%20Cat.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 327px; height: 500px;" src="http://www.hittheroadjacq.com/admin/covers/Holly%20Black%20-%20White%20Cat.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin"></span></p><blockquote><p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin"><i><b>“White Cat”</b></i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin"><b>Author:</b> Holly Black.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin"><b>Publisher: </b>Gollancz Fiction & Orion Publishing Group.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin"><b>Pages:</b> 310.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin"><b>Synopsis (taken from GoodReads):</b> <span style="color:#181818">Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.</span></p></blockquote><p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818"><b>Cover impressions</b>: Holly Black is the anti-Cassandra Clare. While Black’s series has been using cover quotes from Ms Clare (a good friend of Ms Black) to promote the series, Black’s writing stands leaps and bounds beyond anything Clare has ever written and “White Cat” is a brilliant read on pretty much every level. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">It’s not often these days that I’m surprised by a YA book. Maybe it’s the market itself, maybe it’s my own YA oversaturation, but whatever the case may be, when a YA comes along that I find entertaining, creative, exciting, witty and mysterious and makes it all seem so effortless, I can’t help but get excited. (The book is classified as YA by some and adult sci-fi/fantasy by others, but since it was in the YA section of my library, I’ll classify is as such.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">Even if crime based novels aren’t your thing, I highly recommend this book. Taking the concept of underground crime families and adding magic to the equation, Black has created an exciting, detailed world full of depth and intrigue, populated by a wide variety of interesting characters and genuine surprises. There’s a definite Sopranos-style vibe throughout the novel, as double crossing and black market jargon are casually discussed, but it fits in wonderfully with a well crafted and extremely readable mystery. How refreshing to see this sort of story in YA where the stakes are genuinely high and things are at true risk. The pacing is quick and smooth, even during quieter moments where Black skilfully manages to avoid turning discussions into info-dump sessions. The way the crime world is intertwined with the magic element is almost seamless and I was particularly fascinated by the different types of magic workers and how their gifts are also curses. Black’s writing style is very much suited to this type of story; it’s crisp, often sparse, very witty and avoids any sort of unnecessary visits into the town of purple prose. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">The narrator of this tale, Cassel Sharp, is a joy. That sounds like an exaggeration but hear me out. One, he actually sounds like a man. Two, he manages to be tortured and scared without ever becoming whiny or overwrought, which is no easy feat. His familial interactions are interesting and never quite what they seem (The Sharps themselves are a colourful bunch, all with their own secrets and problems with so much at stake.) Three, he actually grows and develops as a character! He’s a witty, sneaky and extremely intelligent man but he’s also confused, scared and haunted by his past. His family are hiding things from him, he’s hung up on his ex-girlfriend, he’s desperately trying to con his way back into school and then there’s those dreams that plague him. Everything is handled with skill and wit. He’s definitely one of the best protagonists in YA right now. It’s also incredibly refreshing to see the small romantic element of the story not completely overwhelm the plot. It’s something that’s definitely on Cassel’s mind but he’s got other things to worry about and he knows how to prioritise! Outside of Cassel, I had a huge soft spot for his grandfather as well as his mother. She’s only featured a few times and only ever in phone call conversations but you can feel her presence throughout the book. She’s definitely the head of the clan and it shows. I can’t wait for more of her in the sequel.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">If I was to criticise anything about this book, it would be this small thing. The cons are described in great detail, which is fascinating, and Cassel frequently tells us, as do many other characters, how great they are at the job, but then they immediately screw up. It got a bit repetitive but luckily didn’t spoil this wonderful book for me. I heartily recommend “White Cat” to everyone, especially those of you who, like me, were getting a sick of paranormal YA. It’s not quite an accurate label for this series but Black excels in her field with this series, creating an intricate world with intrigue, complexities and fascinating characters, and I am thoroughly excited by the prospect of getting my hands on the sequel. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;color:#181818">4.5/5.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374075192901571152.post-60999763517938472792011-04-28T09:47:00.000-07:002011-04-28T10:33:53.250-07:00Happy Ever After (registered trademark.)(I know this isn't related to anything to do with YA but it's been bugging me for ages and I need to get it off my chest.)<div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">I don’t care about the Royal Wedding. I’m not anti-Royalist, although I do have my objections with the system, and I wish Prince William and Kate Middleton all the luck in the world for their marriage. I just don’t want to have to put up with every news outlet on this side of the Atlantic (and a few on the other side) obsessing over this event as if our lives depended on it, nitpicking over every minute detail and throwing judgement down on the bride-to-be on every aspect of her life, from her clothes to her virginity (sadly, that’s not a joke). This was always going to be a day of celebration but the oversaturation of the press covering this as if it was a world crisis is just stupid, especially since there are actual crises of importance unfolding as we speak that desperately need more attention than a few waving flags and a big white dress. Mostly, I’ve been ignoring all the fuss, which is easier to do if you’re like me and don’t own a TV, and for the large part that’s been fine. But a recent visit to the bookshop led to me seeing something I just can’t ignore.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sitting on a display shelf in the picture-book section were several copies of “William and Kate: The Royal Wedding” along with some other various titles featuring repetitions of the words “wedding” and “princess”. It’s no secret that pretty pink princesses and all the implied connotations are openly and frequently advertised to little girls with massive profits, but seeing a book for young girls barely up and walking telling them all about this magical fairytale wedding just freaked me out. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/26/disney-princesses-and-the-battle-for-your-daughter-s-soul.html">The princess phenomenon,</a> and profiting from it, is nothing new. Disney have made it into an art-form, making anticipated sales of $4billion from their Disney Princess franchise. Go onto Google Shopping and google <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Princess#History">“Disney Princess”</a> to see how many thousands of copyrighted merchandise with the Disney princess’s faces appears. Absolutely everything can be marketed as princess related, even freaking toothbrushes! These products saturate the market and are pushed specifically onto young girls. I’m sure I’ll get protests from people saying it’s just girls being girls, it’s a phase of life and they’ll grow out of it. That’s all well and good but why is it girls being girls? Gender is not black and white, or should I say pink and blue. It’s not something that’s decided from birth and is the set mould you must follow for the rest of your live</p><p class="MsoNormal">Check out this <a href="http://www.achilleseffect.com/2011/03/word-cloud-how-toy-ad-vocabulary-reinforces-gender-stereotypes/">word cloud</a> put together by “The Achilles Effect” blog on toy adverts and the terms most frequently associated with toys aimed and boys and those aimed at girls. For boys, it’s all about “battle”, “power”, “heroes”, “action” and so on. There’s nothing like that for girls, where the emphasis lies on nurturing, fashion and “babies”. Boys get to make things and be creative while girls get to look pretty and train to be mini-housewives. This is the same sort of stuff we see when we look at the princess phenomenon, especially Disney. The earlier princesses were as docile and passive as can be, doing cleaning and housework or just generally lounging around the forest with their woodland friends. For the majority of them, their focus is on getting a man, sometimes by any means possible (Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” sells her voice to get the man, pretty much forcing her to rely on her body to get the job done. Reminder: Ariel’s 16 years old. Snow White’s only supposed to be 13 or 14.) It’s only recently that the princesses have had any backbone or real development as characters, but the prince charming at the end remains the ultimate reward, except for Mulan.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Isn’t it a little worrying to see a corporation of extraordinary power and influence, one that controls a vast percentage of US and world media, pushing this gender expectation onto girls at their most impressionable age? Advertisers spend <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZn_lJoN6PI">around $17billion a year</a> advertising to kids, who will see tens of thousands of adverts a year. How are parents supposed to compete with that when it comes to letting their kids grow up without the influences of archaic gender expectations and unrealistic body images? There’s already so much pressure on girls of all ages to look perfect without the gender default mode being pushed onto kids on everything, from movies to t-shirts to toothbrushes. What about the girls who decide they don’t want to play with dolls and pink dresses, what options are there for them? Or the boys who do want to dress up and be the nurturer instead of the warrior? It’s not just girls who are being screwed over by this all – remember the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110413/ts_yblog_thelookout/hot-pink-toenailed-boy-in-j-crew-ad-sparks-controversy">JCrew advert</a> of the mother painting her son’s toenails pink, and the completely ridiculous outrage it caused? (By the way ,that kid rocked hot pink.)</p><p class="MsoNormal">I’m not saying this is all the Royal Wedding’s fault or something. I’m sure Kate Middleton’s got enough on her plate without that. But when our media doesn’t grow out of its obsession for princesses and the perfect pure beauty, what are we left with? Our culture worships beauty, often placing it above intelligence and wit. Then there’s the obsession with purity. I almost gagged when I saw the headline “Is Kate Middleton a virgin?” It’s 2011 and we’re still shaming women into fitting the perfect princess mode of purity. Middleton, a woman with a St Andrews University degree, is <a href="http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/ask_the_answer_bitch/b235464_will_kate_middleton_have_prove_shes.html">valued by her press for her beauty</a> and her supposed purity because that’s what will make her a good princess. That’s pathetic. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The princess madness makes us judge little girls based on their looks, not their creativity or growing minds. I think the term ‘brainwashed’ is a little strong but it’s hard to think of another term to describe constant mass advertising telling little boys and girls what they should like, then having so-called journalists and experts say how abnormal it is for them to deviate from the norm. Obsessions with weddings are weird at any age for me, but there’s something almost dastardly about pushing this obsession onto kids, as if it’s the ultimate goal for them before they even really know what a wedding is. A lot of girls will grow out of this phase, and maybe it’ll just end with a lot of princess toys in the charity shop, but then they’ve got the big bad world of beauty obsessions, 12 page diet specials, plastic surgery TV shows, slut-shaming, virginity speculation and casual misogyny to deal with. The gender role continues. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that we tell the girls they can save the prince instead, that they're capable of being so much more than just a wife, or show them the over options beyond what Disney designates to be profitable. It’d be nice to have the choice. </p></div>Ceilidhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12907094027256328115noreply@blogger.com8