As an almost-eighteen-year-old young lady in Regency England, Lady Helen is barely allowed to venture below stairs into the servants' world, let aloneAs an almost-eighteen-year-old young lady in Regency England, Lady Helen is barely allowed to venture below stairs into the servants' world, let alone explore the dangerous corners of London to search for a missing servant girl. Worse yet, the one person who might have answers is the dangerous Lord Carlston her family has forbidden her to see. When Helen risks questioning him, the answers she finds are about herself, not her missing servant. There is another layer to the London Helen knows--a dangerous world full of demons and the few even more dangerous people who hunt them--Helen is destined to be part of that world, if she chooses. I don't generally review books I don't like (primarily because I usually don't finish them, and I won't review a book I haven't read in its entirety--I feel that's not fair to the author). But even though I liked all the books I read and review, in one way or another, there are very few that lodge themselves in my mind and stay there long after I finish reading. The Dark Days Club is a stayer. Lady Helen is a wonderful female lead for a great variety of reasons, but what stood out to me was her analytical but not shy personality. Too often in fiction an intellectual female character is the wallflower. Helen is not. She's witty and bold and, occasionally and against her will, beginning to be a warrior. she is horrified to discover her destiny and struggles with her intellectual curiosity about the hidden world she is just beginning to see and the ordinary life she knows, from a rational perspective, she should try protect for herself. Helen doesn't simply hold back out of selfishness, though; she doubts the character of the men who want to use her for their own demon-hunting ends (with good reason) and is slow to believe in anything she hasn't seen or proven herself. All of this vibrant personality is displayed against the Regency England setting Goodman so splendidly evokes (this is a must-read for fans of Georgette Heyer!). Helen's Austen-like upperclass world is a realistic contrast of court presentations, gorgeous gowns, and layer upon layer of constraints. She plays masterfully to the expectations of her world while hiding devastating secrets that would ruin her reputation. Goodman does a marvelous job emphasizing the disadvantage Helen is at, when it comes to saving the world, because she can't even be seen outside alone if she wants to protect her "real life" as the daughter of an earl. Then, of course, there is the supernatural part of the world, full of demons who look like humans and ventures into the most dangerous part of London and the mysterious Lord Carlston. There were some very, very slow reveals that resulted in a first book that doesn't give away all that much about certain key elements. Most of book one revolves around Helen in the real world, barely beginning to glimpse what it means to be part of the Dark Days Club (if, in fact, she chooses to become a part of the supernatural world); no doubt the sequel will delve more deeply into the magical side of Helen's world. I would honestly give this to any highschool reader who likes fantasy. Or historical fiction. ...more
Eoin Colfer and Oliver Jeffers pair up to create a picture book? It doesn't get more adorable than this. Fred is an imaginary friend who fades away whEoin Colfer and Oliver Jeffers pair up to create a picture book? It doesn't get more adorable than this. Fred is an imaginary friend who fades away whenever his real-person friend begins to grow up and make friends with other real people. Whenever this happens Fred floats away into the sky, lonely and alone. Until at long last he meets exactly the perfect friend, and finds his own happily-ever-after. Perfect for reading aloud to a group of preK-K students, or for reading together with the kid who needs a story about togetherness and conquering loneliness....more
Fitz is still recovering from the disastrous end to the assassination debacle in the Mount Kingdom as book two in the Farseer Trilogy opens. The illegFitz is still recovering from the disastrous end to the assassination debacle in the Mount Kingdom as book two in the Farseer Trilogy opens. The illegitimate prince/assassin/animal whisperer/wizard struggles to find his own identity as he is pulled in many directions by a family and a country in peril, and his own (often conflicting) desires to fight back against the cruel half brother who tried to kill him, or leave royalty behind entirely and seek a normal life with the town girl he loves. Middle books are always a challenge, because so often they're just the bridge between Point A and Point B. Taking a middle book and making it half again as long as book one seems a bit risky to me...and I have to admit that in places, book two dragged for me. When all the adult figures around Fitz continued to make the same mistakes and/or ignore the same threats they had in book one, and Fitz continues to whine about how unfair his life is without doing anything about it, I got exasperated with the whole series. Briefly. Because all of these flaws and more were entirely made up for by the presence of Nighteyes, Fitz's reluctantly rescued wolf companion, and Kettricken, the queen in waiting who married Prince Verity to protect the people of the Mountain Kingdom. This series, so far, has been short on action but rich with emotional character bonds and intrigue; the "pack" relationship between Fitz and Nighteyes is a perfect example of one, while Kettricken learning to maneuver through the vicious and far-less-honorable court she has married into is another. Kettricken was really the only bright note in an otherwise depressing cast of characters this time round. She stumbles and makes mistakes and then picks herself up to launch herself at another heroic venture, all driven by honorable intentions. She's funny because she says what she thinks in a court of careful liars, and charming because sometimes her innocence gets her in trouble. So, yes. I liked the wolf and I liked the queen...I'm holding out for book three on Fitz, and hoping that as he grows up he'll get more interesting. ...more
Hallie and her pregnant sister Marthe are struggling to survive in the aftermath of the war with the Wicked God. Old pain and their current hardships Hallie and her pregnant sister Marthe are struggling to survive in the aftermath of the war with the Wicked God. Old pain and their current hardships drive a wedge between the sisters, and the separation only grows wider as Hallie discovers a series of secrets: about the veteran she adopted into her and Marthe's home, and the neighbor boy who returned wounded from the war, and--most of all--the hole in the air that is opening up in her own backyard. A five star book! I realize, of course, that this star rating system is ridiculous and entirely subjective, but still--it's so exciting to find a book that just shoots off the charts like this! Thing #1 that I liked: It's a rare dystopian novel that takes place after the big war, not during. In fact, the war is just the distant evil that sucked up men Hallie cared about and never returned them; Hallie (realistically) is drowning in the day-to-day mechanisms of surviving on a farm far too big for one girl and one pregnant woman to manage. Though descriptions evoke a clear sense of a dystopian world (the "old cities" were destroyed long ago, leaving remnants like concrete bridges lurking in the midst of Hallie's agrarian society) there is no focus on what destroyed the world, or on fixing the world at all, really: Hallie wants to fix her family. That's it. Along the way she meets key figures and chooses to shape their lives in ways that reshape her own world, but everything that happens grows out of relationship choices. Thing #2 that I liked: Leah Bobet's writing style. She describes a stark landscape, tangled relationships, and a terrible war, yet her style is vividly, beautifully descriptive. I probably would have read this book even if the plot was boring and I hated the characters, just for her writing style! Thing #3 that I liked: Hallie herself. The book opens with a lot of pain and darkness, partly because of the veterans returning from the war, but mostly because Hallie is furiously grieving her relationship with her sister, which she thinks is inevitably failing. As the story progresses Hallie learns to hope and fight for the people she loves, even when things look dark, and she becomes a truly strong character--by learning to look into the people around her, to care for people even in difficult situations, and to love even when it means risking loss. Speaking of love, for once I also liked the romance storyline. Hallie's attraction to her (maybe) romantic partner is organic and slow, not because she is annoyingly "innocent" or "missish" but because she is understandably hesitant to trust someone when so many of the people she has loved have died and/or left her. The boy she likes is neither the obnoxiously good hero figure nor the typical bad boy; he is just as young and uncertain as Hallie, dealing with demons of his own after a war that scarred him for life. On a note of caution for anyone looking for a high speed action thriller of a fantasy novel--this isn't that kind of book. While it builds carefully and complexly toward a fairly intense resolution, it's a slow build. It has a great plot, full of interlocking character decisions and conflicting emotions and personalities, but it is very much a character-driven story. Some readers might find it slow (I didn't, but I was entirely absorbed in it while reading, because I loved the characters). In case all of my gushing has not sold you on this book, may I just say that there is no love triangle? Just as one last selling point. Though it is grim in places, angry in others, and heavily angsty in several patches, this is a wonderful book. Descriptive, emotive, and rich in character development. I would give it to fans of Lila Bowen's Wake of Vultures or Rae Carsons's Walk on Earth a Stranger. ...more
Suze Simon spent her teen years wrangling ghosts (otherwise known as NCDPs, or Non Compliant Dead Persons)--including her boyfriend-turned-fiancé, whoSuze Simon spent her teen years wrangling ghosts (otherwise known as NCDPs, or Non Compliant Dead Persons)--including her boyfriend-turned-fiancé, who is now a doctor, and no longer a ghost. But the happy engagement spirals towards chaos when an angry little-girl ghost gets involved, and Suze's old nemesis and fellow mediator Paul Slater threatens her fiancé's (second) life. I read the original Mediator series while I was in high school. I loved it. It's basically Buffy the Vampire Slayer, except this heroine handles ghosts, not vampires, and falls in love with a ghost, not a vampire. It's funny and fast-paced, like all of Cabot's teen dramas. I have mixed feelings about this trend for teenage-heroines-grown-up novels. it's kind of...weird, to read the adult version of a character who was in high school when you were in high school, and who is now an adult, on the page, dealing with adult problems. But Meg Cabot is still Meg Cabot, so if you're looking for light, romantic humor and a girl (excuse me--a young woman) who is fiercely independent, even if it means beating up her own ghosts, you'll like Remembrance. ...more
I have a huge amount of respect for the educational reform and innovation Maria Montessori inspired. In this work she lays out her basic philosophy asI have a huge amount of respect for the educational reform and innovation Maria Montessori inspired. In this work she lays out her basic philosophy as well as detailed plans for day-to-day learning, and comparison/criticism with/of her contemporaries. Her emphasis on children becoming independent learners and thoughtful human beings shone beautifully even through this rather dense text. However: if you are interested in how to implement some Montessori philosophies and practices in your own environment (say, a children's library) this is not the best book to start with. In typical librarian-fashion I wanted the original, the authentic source; I should have started with a modern teacher or educator's take on what Montessori looks like today. I'm sure there are some good ones out there, and I plan to hunt them down in the near future. Meaning no criticism against Maria, naturally, but she lived in the early 1900s, so some of her ideas are obviously outdated, and her prose style (translated from Italian, I believe, which understandably doesn't help) is stiff and heavily italicized. ...more
Jo Montfort is the daughter of one of New York's high society families. She expects to marry the son of an equally wealthy family before long, and conJo Montfort is the daughter of one of New York's high society families. She expects to marry the son of an equally wealthy family before long, and continue all her family's high-society traditions. Except that Jo dreams of becoming a reporter like Nellie Bly--and her father's shocking death provides her with a mystery that no good reporter could leave unsolved. I can see this becoming a good school-assigned title, especially as a tie in for an American History course. Donnelly really focuses on gender inequalities, which could lead to great book discussions. That said, as an adult reader I found the plot rather predictable and the characters stereotypical. I hate to say that because I really expected to love this book--I was absolutely enthralled by Donnelly's Revolution, which I found highly original and emotionally resonate. Jo should be a remarkable character: she's a young woman defying the standards of her patriarchal society, dreaming of (gasp!) becoming a reporter in a time when women of the upper class weren't allowed to work at all, let alone work for anything as grubby as a newspaper. She has a lot going for her, and I expect plenty of young readers will love her and cheer her on. I, however, found her 10-year-old-level of knowledge (social, anatomical, you name it) highly frustrating. She's just plain stupid in a long string of situations, a stupidity often blamed on her "innocence." I also found her "first love" too predictable to be fun reading. Naturally she is attracted to a dangerous young Irish report who is infinitely beneath her on the social scale. Naturally she is torn between choosing him or her wealthy, deceitful family. My last quibble: while I personally am not a huge fan of creepy stories, I was expecting a certain level of scariness in a book called These Shallow Graves. I would rank this at middle-school level scariness; while the main character is once threatened with a knife, there are no ghosts, the only monsters are human (and though the terrible things they have done are reported, none of them, with the exception of the knife-wielder, ever do anything terribly alarming), and despite Jo's willfully ignorant blundering into dangerous situations, someone is always around to rescue her. A couple of the sub-plots almost made up for the rest of the book, though. About halfway through the book Jo meets a female pickpocket facing an inescapable future in a brothel. The brief friendship they form struck a real, bittersweet note in the midst of the over-long story and Jo's annoying ignorance; Jo was forced, finally, to see what real injustice and gender oppression looks like. The other secondary character I loved was the hilarious forensic-science-enthusiast Oscar, who helps Jo and Eddie along with mystery by examining all the people who keep getting murdered throughout the story. In short: this book talks about a lot of real, historical injustices. It's a decent story, but it has definitely been told before....more
The Church, in the sixteenth Century, was obsessed with the business of relics. Dismas serves as a sort of Indiana Jones of dead saints, traveling theThe Church, in the sixteenth Century, was obsessed with the business of relics. Dismas serves as a sort of Indiana Jones of dead saints, traveling the world to procure rare and costly relics for his two patrons, the Elector of Saxony and the Cardinal of Mainz. When financial difficulties and disillusionment with the corruption around him get the better of him, Dismas and his friend Albrecht Dürer set out to create and sell the ultimate relic forgery: the shroud that Jesus was buried in. Christopher Buckley has satirized pretty much everything, from American politics (not a difficult task) to women's rights in the Middle East. His newest book takes on the Catholic church in his first historical fiction satire. I love historical fiction, particularly fiction set in/around the Renaissance era. I also like Buckley's writing, in general. But while I enjoyed The Relic Master, alternately either laughing or wincing while reading (the response any good satire should evoke), it somehow seemed more shallow than most of his works I've read before. This could be because a) I grew up learning, far more in depth, the church history Buckley is at pains to explain throughout the novel; b) at points I was horrified by the cavalier way he handled brutal violence; and/or c) Dismas just never felt entirely real to me as a character. His actual historical counterparts were a lot more characterized, with distinct personalities. Now that I started with all that negativity, I feel like I should emphasize that this IS a funny book. It mocks a period in Western religion that was so outrageous that it pretty much mocks itself. Most of the characters are actual historic personages, and they are hilariously, vividly brought to life--especially Albrecht Dürer, Dismas's moody best friend. The plot, while highly unlikely historically speaking, is engaging in a ridiculous, Da-Vinci-Code-turned-comedy way. I'm not really sure who I would recommend this book to, which maybe ultimately is my problem with it. Historical fiction readers? They might resent the occasional anachronisms. Regular Buckley fans may find this one a bit far out compared to his normal fare. Then again, plenty of readers will probably enjoy the witty dialogue and irreverent humor that undoubtedly characterizes this book from beginning to end. ...more
I found this entirely by accident while I was getting ready for storytime today. Whether or not you like picture books (or more to the point, I supposI found this entirely by accident while I was getting ready for storytime today. Whether or not you like picture books (or more to the point, I suppose, whether or not you have a little person in your life who is the right age for picture books), I think we can all agree that a story about an operatic rooster disguising himself to pursue his true calling is worth the read. This would make a great read aloud for the preschool crowd, because there's a plot twist at the end that younger readers might not catch. The cinematic, darker-toned illustrations also lend themselves to an older read-aloud crowd....more
I haven't reviewed any of my storytime books in a while, but today I discovered a new favorite--Scott Magoon's Breathe, a simple, very Zen life philosI haven't reviewed any of my storytime books in a while, but today I discovered a new favorite--Scott Magoon's Breathe, a simple, very Zen life philosophy passed from a parent to a baby whale. The illustrations are digital, but the color scheme is all arctic blues and whites, very restful and lovely. The simple text is wonderfully interactive (I read this to a group of twenty-five babies, plus all their caregivers), and the illustrations lend themselves to discussion with older children....more
Magnus Chase, a homeless sixteen-year-old living on the street in Boston, is shocked to find out that he has a divine heritage and a deadly destiny. RMagnus Chase, a homeless sixteen-year-old living on the street in Boston, is shocked to find out that he has a divine heritage and a deadly destiny. Riordan does it again. While the plot follows a familiar pattern--quest to save the world from the bad gods at the behest of the good gods--Magnus is a hilariously sarcastic teen narrator, and as always Riordan does an excellent job weaving in mythological elements. Younger teen readers, especially boys looking for a funny adventure story, will be hooked on this new series. I can freely admit that I will also definitely be reading the next installment. I laughed out loud at least once a chapter. And not just because I had been stuck inside my house for five days straight because of the snow....more
This is a compilation of Thomas Merton's writings on writing. Merton (Trappist monk, philosopher, poet, and author) delves into both the spiritual natThis is a compilation of Thomas Merton's writings on writing. Merton (Trappist monk, philosopher, poet, and author) delves into both the spiritual nature of his calling to write and the many outside sources of his inspiration, especially his contemporaries, authors who used their writing as a platform to protest injustice. While Merton was unquestionably a brilliant man who cared deeply about engaging the world outside his own religious sphere, I'm not sure how much a reader coming from a non-religious background would get out of this particular title (many of his other books are perhaps more accessible). I think anyone could relate to his struggle to balance the vocation of an artist with the many other demands of life, though, and the editor also includes a series of fascinating correspondence between Merton and other international authors of his time....more
The world's largest refugee camp is a city built of mud and thorns in northern Kenya. City of Thorns narrates the lives of nine men and women--of diffThe world's largest refugee camp is a city built of mud and thorns in northern Kenya. City of Thorns narrates the lives of nine men and women--of different nationalities, cultures, and religions--out of the half million residents of the camp. Despite its engaging narrative style, this wasn't a book I could read through in one sitting. It's heavy reading, for obvious reasons, though the strength and personality of each of the nine people brought to life here also shine through some of the dark moments. One of the (many) things that really struck me while I was reading was the author's matter-of-fact explanation of the world's lack of awareness; only in extreme crisis situations, after numerous famine warnings had been ignored, would a media blitz suddenly bring aid pouring into the camp again. Basically unless it's all over the internet or on every news station, this huge refugee camp--bigger than the city of New Orleans, by now--seems to cease to exist to most first world nations. Clearly we need more books like this, more authors and journalists who are brave enough to give voice to people who would otherwise never be heard....more
On the run from her terrible, powerful family, forced to disguise herself as a man to perform the music she loves, Lin is the last person who would evOn the run from her terrible, powerful family, forced to disguise herself as a man to perform the music she loves, Lin is the last person who would ever expect to meet a legendary Seer who sets her on the path to saving the world from the rise of the Red Death--by returning the enchantments poets and musicians of ages past were able to craft through poems and songs. My snowed-in reading continues! I saved this one at the bottom of my pile because I thought I'd like it, and I did. Mostly. Then again, if I liked everything in a book, I suppose it would feel too perfect. Anyway. I love that this is a book about music and poets and how powerfully stories and songs shape the world, and that one of the people crafting these songs is a woman, in a world that refuses women the right to be poets or musicians. The premise of the story drew me in (poetry as magic? how lovely is that?), but it was really the characters I loved. There are no typical fantasy tropes here. (Well, maybe with the exception of the arch-villain, who is pretty much Pure Evil. But even he is balanced out by Lin's brother, who is cleverly, repulsively evil). Much as I like a good action heroine, neither Lin nor Rianna (the other prominent female lead) fit that mold. Lin is fleeing an abusive family and a life that fitted her for the role of victim to remake herself into something totally new--if she can outrun her own fear. Rianna's is a coming-of-age story, but in the reverse of the usual Cinderella pattern. She starts out as the princess in the tower, loses everything, and then finds love as she grows into the strength to take care of herself. The catalyst for the entire quest, the legendary Valanir, barely shows up in the story at all, and when he does he comes across as a tired middle-aged scholar, not a Gandalf-like Wise Man. Beyond the basic shape of each character's storyline, though, I liked their internal struggles. All of them, from Darien (a prominent young poet who throws away a successful life as a court poet--which would require catering to the censoring fakery of court) to Rianna discovering the ugly evil lurking behind what she thought was love, each and every character struggles to find truth in their world and in themselves--even the ultimate truth, the return of the power behind their poetry. I will say that though I greatly appreciate a book about musicians and poets, there wasn't as much actual music as I expected. I didn't get the sense of passionate musicality in the characters as you would find in say, Name of the Wind or Anne McCaffrey's Harpers of Pern series. I also got a tiny bit lost in some of the world building; for instance, though there are frequent referrals to competing religious systems (a character is arrested for heresy at one point) neither the gods nor people's belief in them really shaped the story. I couldn't quite put my finger on this while I was reading (I was entirely absorbed in the story, which in and of itself is a wonderful thing), but one of the other key qualities I loved in this book was that though the characters deal with ugliness and evil in a very real way, they are also aware of the beauty in their world--whether that beauty is in music, in a person they love, or in the nobility of sacrifice. It's not a happily-ever-after kind of book, but it does celebrate life and truth and justice. So there you have it. Fascinating new fantasy world, unique and interesting characters, themes of truth and the power of words. ...more
Sitting out a blizzard seemed like the perfect time to re-read a book from my favorite Alaskan series. Without giving away any major plot points, let Sitting out a blizzard seemed like the perfect time to re-read a book from my favorite Alaskan series. Without giving away any major plot points, let me just say that I should have picked a different book in the series for a little light reading....but this happened to be the one I had on hand. Kate Shugak is currently one of my favorite literary crime solvers, right up there with Amelia Peabody and Harriet Vane. If you like survival stories, or stories where the landscape plays a crucial role, or stories with really cool dogs as major characters (who wouldn't love Mutt?), you should give this series a try. ...more
Thrown out of the Duelist Guild after being accused of murder, brother-sister team Vocho and Kacha turn to highway robbery to survive. When they stealThrown out of the Duelist Guild after being accused of murder, brother-sister team Vocho and Kacha turn to highway robbery to survive. When they steal a treasure that is far more valuable than they knew, they are forced to flee back to their home city and secrets they tried to leave behind. The beautiful thing about being buried under three feet of snow is that no one expects you to go to work or go grocery shopping or do anything, really, that involves interacting with humanity in person. This leaves oodles of beautiful time to read. The downside is that you can't get out of your house to find new books, so you're pretty much stuck with what you stocked up on at the library before the massive storm hit two days ago. (Unless you want to spend a fortune on kindle books, of course.) I don't mean, by that disclaimer, to say that I hated this book. It just isn't necessarily something I would have read all the way through if I wasn't snowed in. Things I liked: the brother-sister set up. I always like stories based on family relationships, especially sibling relationships. While the conflict between Vocho and Kacha is a bit cliche (talk about sibling rivalry), their day-to-day interaction and witty banter did pull me into the story. Reyes, the clockwork city Knight sets up as the central setting, is also pretty cool. As a reader I rather resented the fact that the importance of/reason for this clever worldbuilding trick is never explained, which left it feeling a little gimmicky, but an entire city where street and buildings move around like the staircases in Hogwarts on a giant foundation of clockwork is pretty cool. Things I didn't like: the writing style is not the most fluid. Plot "surprises" were often predictable. And, most of all, I strongly disliked the structure of the story, which periodically dives into whole chapters of each character's past. I wanted a linear storyline. If characters had secrets, I wanted them discovered in the present, not handed to me on a platter in a chapter set seven years before the current action. The backstory slowed the story down. This could be a fun, easy read if you like swords-and-swashbuckle stories. It made me laugh in places...but overall, not my cup of tea....more
Wow. Seriously, wow. My only major annoyance with this book is that it isn't a book, really, just a novella. I wanted more. The setting is nothing unusWow. Seriously, wow. My only major annoyance with this book is that it isn't a book, really, just a novella. I wanted more. The setting is nothing unusual, though it is laid out in charming detail. Patience Gideon is a witch, but in her medieval village being a witch is dangerous, so she practices the tried-and-true ruse of setting up as the town healer instead. This works until Patience's habit of sheltering runaway magic users leads to her own capture by clerics who like to burn witches. Again, this is a familiar story that has certainly be written before. So why, precisely, did I find this exquisite little book so special? The answer lies in the characters. Slatter has what I consider a rare skill as an author--she makes her characters real, human, fallible, without making them unlikable. Patience is not patient. When the world isn't matching up with her view of the way things should be, she changes it. She meddles with her adopted daughter's love life, she rescues people who would otherwise pay for their actions, she determines when (to her mind) it is time for someone to be punished and deals out that punishment. She is vindictive and utterly ruthless to the bigoted men who threaten her kind. She has a dark side that doesn't stop at murder. And yet this isn't a bleak (what I think of as Game of Thrones) the-world-is-full-of-evil-so-join-in-or-die story. It ends with the possibility of hope, or at least a future for some of the characters. This is possible because Patience cares. She cares about her family, of course, and about her own survival, but she also carries the weight of past decisions with her. She isn't just looking for a way out; she's looking for redemption. She's trying to be a better person than her mother and her own past self. But before you get the wrong idea, this is not a happy book. It's dark, it's angry; you get two thirds through and realize that the whole story is showing the reader, bit by bit, the cage imprisoning Patience and her family. You root for her to find a way to break free even as you wonder if you should be cheering for someone who is prepared to slaughter whole towns. And then you realize that it's OK to root for her, because Patience herself is struggling with the same questions. It's a beautiful little book. I highly recommend it. ...more
Will cons his way into one of the most prestigious schools in the nation, only to discover that there's a lot more to Connaughton Academy and his clasWill cons his way into one of the most prestigious schools in the nation, only to discover that there's a lot more to Connaughton Academy and his classmates than the perfect surface suggests. This is a typical heist-style story; Will and another con artist student make a bet to see who can pull off the most lucrative and clever con in a short period of time, without blowing thier cover at the school. It's short, it's tightly paced, and it's moderately clever. I wasn't a big fan of Will as a character, because--despite the general theme of seeing behind the mask that ran throughout the book--I never felt like I got more than a surface Han Solo character in Will. This could be a great title for a reluctant reader, though, especially if your reluctant reader is a middle school guy....more
Safiya and Iseult are different in every possible way: different races, different magical powers, different personalities. But Iseult saved Safi's lifSafiya and Iseult are different in every possible way: different races, different magical powers, different personalities. But Iseult saved Safi's life when they were both children, and now nothing--not emperors or princes or sea monsters or pending world war--will tear them apart. Honestly I would give this book four stars just for the first chapter, which was excellent and involved both highway robbery and things blowing up. But what really hooked me, as a slightly jaded reader of fantasy, was the strong sister-like relationship between Safi and Iseult. I truly appreciated that this wasn't a love triangle book, or even just a girl-discovering-hitherto-unknown-powers-and-saving-the-world book. It's a book about two girls being loyal to each other, risking everything for each other, and ultimately choosing to shape the world around them because of the strength of their relationship. There are guys involved. They annoyed me. For the first half of the book they stalked around being angry about everything, which I found incredibly boring. I wouldn't look for deep or fulfilling romantic relationships in this series, though I will admit, in fairness, that Dennard maintains a fair balance of power between the guys and girls in this aspect as well as the rest of the story, which I liked. Truthwitch isn't going to make my read-again pile, though I'll probably read the sequel when it comes out next year. It's exciting and fun, but it lacks depth, both of plot and characterization. I don't say that as a criticism; what it does it does really well. I have no doubt this title will be wildly popular among teen fantasy fans. Readers of Sarah Maas, Mary Pearson, or Morgan Rhodes will love this new offering. ...more
Mouse lives on the periphery of a secluded abbey in 13th Century Bohemia. Mistrusted by the monks and nuns who raised her because of her eerie abilitiMouse lives on the periphery of a secluded abbey in 13th Century Bohemia. Mistrusted by the monks and nuns who raised her because of her eerie abilities, Mouse learns to hide her gifts at a young age. But when the king arrives at the abbey bleeding out his life, Mouse is the only one who can save him. The young king returns her gift by taking her away from the abbey--and plunging her into the dangers of Medieval court life. This is what you get when you pick a book to read based solely on Goodreads "Best of Whatever" lists. Not that Bohemian Gospel is a terrible book, because it isn't--it's actually really interesting, in a weird, dark kind of way. But it wasn't at all what I was expecting when I started reading. Let me start by saying that I would definitely categorize this as fantasy, not historical fiction. It's a supernatural fantasy that happens to be set in 13th century Bohemia. So it has a dark, war torn backdrop for dark, dangerous fantasy elements, but it's not really about the time period or the historic events of the time period, which is what I thought I would be reading about, based on the book description. Mouse is a bundle of interesting contrasts as a character. She's innocent but bold, desperately seeking to mimic her guardian's saintly life while longing to give in to powers she thinks are evil. Beneath the surface fripperies of all the men around her trying to make her into whatever they want her to be (seriously--they GIVE HER NEW NAMES. That's how far they go toward trying to remake her into what they want), the whole book is about Mouse choosing her own identity in the midst of that internal war between good and evil. She isn't a self-empowered heroine by any means, though. I have mixed feelings about some of the story lines woven into this theme; on the one hand, in many ways women's lives were very proscribed in this era. On the other hand, I found it highly unfair that the one time in her so-far-saintly existence that poor Mouse takes what she wants, it nearly destroys her and plunges her into an environment of abuse that almost kills her. What kind of message is that, I ask you? I hated the ending. Absolutely hated it. But maybe you'll love it, so don't let my hatred deter you. (And in fairness, from a writing standpoint I understand why the author chose this style of ending...it just took me by surprise as a reader, and then I got mad at the book. Again, you might like it fine). ...more
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