Brief Reviews Spring 2015 part 2

This book is a masterful piece of literature and I enjoyed reading it.  There were passages of great beauty and I found it completely absorbing to be wrapped up so completely in the mind of the nameless whiskey priest at the center of the novel. It painted a complicated psychological portrait of the man. I wish that complex characterization was extended more to the various Mexican characters in the novel as well. Still, as an artifact of its era it provides plenty of insight and it has a message that even modern readers can get behind: "Hate was just a failure of imagination." The Power and the Glory by Graham Green: buy it or check it out today!



The premise of this novel is that a private boy's boarding school hosts famous authors throughout the year and the students must compete for the honor of meeting them by submitting their own writing samples. The writing about the school children felt very layered and rang true to me, but when it came to describing the visiting authors (Frost, Rand, and Hemingway) Wolff tended toward caricature. I found the way the main character felt about Ayn Rand and how it changed hilarious. My favorite parts were reading about how literature had impacted these boys' lives. I was not a big fan of the ending, in particular the big time leap. I wish it had ended with the school year and not shown us the boys' futures. Still, it's an enjoyable read for fans of American literature and English teachers' pets. Old School by Tobias Wolff: buy it or check it out today!

 Meghan has always felt different, especially since her father disappeared in front of her eyes when she was a child. But she's a pretty average girl going to school with her best friend who loves playing pranks. Then one day she discovers that surprise, surprise her missing father is a fairy king and her best friend is actually the infamous trickster Puck in disguise. Suddenly, the weight of an entire kingdom rests of her shoulders as she has to navigate a world she never knew existed right underneath her ordinary one. If this plot sounds familiar and predictable it's probably because it mostly is (I haven't even mentioned the inevitable love triangle!) While I was reading I kept getting deja-lu feeling like I've read this before. It was fairly enjoyable while it lasted, even if it didn't leave a big impression on me when it was over. If you're looking for a quick read set in a fairy kingdom this book should satisfy you. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa: buy it or check it out today!

This book is a Regency romance with magic and an extra dose of feminism added in. If that summary sounds amazing, then pick it up! You will enjoy it. If that doesn't sound appealing to you, then you probably won't enjoy it. This is a book that does what it says it will, and it does that very well. Personally, I absolutely loved it. How could I not when it combines two of my favorite genres? I will definitely pick up the other books in this series! Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal: buy it or check it out today!





 This comic is a breath of fresh air and I inhaled it in a single gasp. Kamala Khan is an excellent addition to the super hero cannon. She's fresh and hilarious and I like the way she transitions from fan girl to dealing with powers of her own. She's completely charming and relateable and she'll do a wonderful job introducing many readers to a culture that they might be unfamiliar with and finally providing a positive mirror in comic books for readers who are also Muslim.  I particularly liked how she dealt with aspects like her costume in a way that honors super hero traditions while being true to who she is. I'm looking forward to reading more about her adventures and I'm excited to share it with students as well! Ms. Marvel: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona: buy it or check it out today!

 These deliciously creepy stories remind me of some of the bloodier fairy tales I've read. They'd be creepy enough on their own, but when combined with Carroll's black, white, and red illustrations they're positively chilling. I'm more than a bit behind in reviewing so it's been over 6 months since I've read this comic, but some of the images from it still readily spring to mind (for better or for worse, they're gorgeous but terrifying.) I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone with a taste (and the stomach) for the macabre. Through the Woods by Emily Carroll: buy it or check it out today!


 This ancient Greek historical fiction is based in part on the story of The Tempest. I always enjoy new takes on classic stories and Diane Stanley does a wonderful job painting complicated characters who are faced with heart-breaking situations. I cried at several points during the novel. However, for a book that's billed as a retelling of The Tempest they take a while to get to the island. The plot is rather sprawling and felt a bit meandering at times. I was also not a bit fan of the present tense narration style. Still, if you stick with it, it does a wonderful job exploring the themes of forgiveness and fate and provides a lot to think about and discuss. The Chosen Prince by Diane Stanley: buy it or check it out today!


 This comic is everything I've come to expect from Gene Luen Yang: funny and engaging with great characterization and a subtle handling of complicated issues.  This comic is a great superhero origin story on its own with the Green Turtle's overbearing mother thrusting him into the superhero limelight.  But if you know the history of the original Green Turtle comics, it's even more fascinating.  The artwork does a great job paying homage to the retro superhero comics while still seeming fresh. Highly recommended!  The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang & Sonny Liew: buy it or check it out today!

Dust Girl Review

Book talk:  Callie never knew her father.  He was a travelling musician and according to her mother he will be back any day now.  Despite all the years that have passed her mother keeps waiting and refuses to leave. Even though the town is almost deserted.  Even though they have no customers and no money left.  Even though Callie has the dust in her lungs and the doctor is worried.  While the whole dust bowl heads out West to California, Callie is stuck in Kansas waiting for a man she's never even met.  She thinks she'll die there waiting for him.  Until one day when everything changes.  The worst duster she's ever seen buries the town and she loses her mother in the storm.  Everything she thought she knew turns out to be wrong.  Fairies are real, and her father is one of them.  But they're not tiny, winged creatures and they're not all friendly.  Her mother's refusal to leave suddenly make sense: all this time she was trying to hide and protect Callie.  Now that they've found her, Callie has to run for her life in search of the mother she lost and the father she never met.

Rocks my socks:  This book takes so many usually disparate threads and weaves them together wonderfully.  It's historical fiction about life for those who stayed in the Dust Bowl.   There are fascinating details of life in that era from riding the rails to dance marathons.  It's an intriguing twist on fairy stories.  The politics of this fairy court and how it interacts with the human world will provide plenty of fodder for the later books in this series.  It's a novel about pouring your wishes into song.  Callie learns how to do that literally and work magic through singing, but actual songs from the era are omnipresent in the story.  Every chapter title is from song lyrics.  After I finished the novel I spent the rest of the day listening to a Woody Guthrie Pandora station.  It's about race relations and the practice of passing for white.  Even as they're fleeing supernatural forces, the characters have to face problems from the mortal world that stem from race.  It's about people who are navigating the rocky waters of identity.  Callie's mother is a mortal white woman and her father a black fairy.  The fact that she's biracial and half fairy comes into play as she encounters prejudice from humans and fairies and struggles to find a place where she feels like she belongs.  It's a story about the American Dream.  Callie's companion, Jack is a charming fast-talker who remains optimistic that he can reach wealth and fame despite his humble circumstances and troubled past: the kind of rags-to-riches dreamer American fiction is built on.  Finally the book is just a great adventure tale as Callie and Jack flee forces natural and supernatural including one enemy that is practically a zombie.

Rocks in my socks:  zip

Every book its reader:  Whether you're looking for historical fiction, fantasy, or adventure this book has something for you!  Fans of the Depression Era, music, fairies, and themes of race and identity will all have particular reasons to pick up this book, but anyone looking for a good story will enjoy it.  6th grade and up.

Extras:

Sarah Zettel has her own website with a page for the book

Here's a video of Callie's favorite song, The Midnight Special:





And here's Do Re Mi by Woody Guthrie (there's other Dust Bowl themed Guthrie songs at this playlist):




Source: school library

Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel: buy it or check it out today!

Ash Review

Book talk:  Ash should have known better.  And perhaps she would have, if her mother had lived long enough to teach her the old ways.  But her mother did not live and she did not learn, so she spent nights by her graveside, attracting the attention of fairies.  Fairies may be beautiful and alluring, but they have little regard for human life and can be very dangerous.  For most people, attracting their attention would be disastrous, but for Ash fairies are the least of her problems.  When her father died soon after her mother, she was taken from her home to live as a servant to her step mother and sisters.  When life is barely worth living, you don't mind a little danger.  Then, Ash meets someone that makes her glad to be alive and she risks it all for one night of happiness, for a ball.  Will she be able to break free of all who make claims on her and be home before the magic wears off?

Rocks my socks:  Reading Ash was like discovering the Cinderella story all over again.  The world was similar to the classic fairy tale setting, but far richer.  Everything in the story is on edge.  The world is shifting from an age of magic to an age of reason.  Fairies still exist, but they are not what they used to be. Ash's family life keeps reaching the edge and toppling over only to regain its balance and topple once more. The huntress class straddled two worlds as well.  I enjoyed seeing how this strong female leader was necessary in the typically masculine hunting rite while other women in society remained relatively powerless. My favorite thing about the novel was the way Lo took a traditional fairy tale and subverted the assumptions that went along with it.  In most stories the supernatural figure that stalks the female lead creepily for years would be the love interest.  Or the handsome prince that falls for the lowly servant girl.  But by having Ash fall in love with someone else, someone who makes her feel strong and encourages her to pursue her strengths instead of someone looking to protect her so she can remain weak, Lo shows us just how messed up many of these traditional stories are.

Rocks in my socks: As much as I love all the added world-building and new plot developments, when I sit down to read a Cinderella story I expect to spend a fair amount of time at a ball.  The beginning of the book had a very languid pace while not much was happening, which I didn't mind except that as more things began happening the narration went too fast and glossed over events.  It seems like the reader is privy to everything that happens to Ash at the ball, but if that's true she hardly spends any time there.  Considering how much she's risking to go there it doesn't seem worth it.  Can't I have a modern feminist slant and long descriptions of pretty dresses and dancing?  Is that too much to ask?

Every book its reader:  I'd give this to fans of fairy tales retold and strong female leads.  It's also a great book for anyone looking for GLBTQ fantasy.  The violence and romance are mostly implied, so I'd say it's safe for 6th grade and up.

Extras:

Malinda Lo has a great website with a blog, a bio (with a picture of her adorable dog), and more

Lo's site also has a page specifically for Ash with an FAQ, map, playlist for the book, etc.

Malinda Lo has a trailer for the book:


There's a great fan trailer as well:



Source: Purchased

Ash by Malinda Lo: Buy it or check it out today!

Wicked Lovely Review

Book talk:  What do you think of when you hear the word 'fairy'?  Well, Faeries are real and they're nothing like the beautiful, bubbly creatures depicted in children's books.  Some faeries hardly even look human.  They all seem to delight in torturing the humans who are blissfully unaware of their existence.  Aislinn wishes they were invisible to her too, but like her mother and grandmother before her she is cursed with the ability to see them.  That means that not only can she see the horrible things that they do, but she has to pretend that she can't.  The other humans would think she was crazy if she admitted to seeing them.  Even worse--if the faeries knew she had the sight it would attract their attention, and a faery's attention is never a good thing.

Rocks my socks:  I always liked faeries but I had grown tired of faery stories because they always seemed to be portrayed in terms of black and white: either the faeries are boringly sweet or remorselessly evil.  It was nice to read about faeries with a complicated society made up of individuals who run the gamut from good to evil and everything in between.  Marr is also a gender studies teacher which brings a refreshing change to the story as she uses creatures that have lived and wooed women for hundreds of years to examine how women's role in society has changed.  Neither of those are what kept me reading until one in the morning on a school night though.  The faeries and gender concerns are really just tools for examining love in all its splendid (and not-so-splendid) variety.  Marr explores the anguish of watching someone you love fall for someone else, the confusion of feeling drawn to someone you know you shouldn't, the phantom pain of feelings that you thought had died long ago rising to the surface, the strength required to move on even when you don't want to, the brief burst of a fling, and the patience required to wait for someone who is worth it.  Of course there's also the standard passion of a long-awaited first kiss and the love-that-conquers-all.  Despite their being faeries the characters seemed very human and nuanced to me and I quickly grew to care for them and became lost in their world.  And a world where the guys woo girls by helping them researching their problems using interlibrary loan is not one that I am eager to leave.

Rocks in my socks:  none

Every book its reader:  I'd give this to anyone looking for a dark fantasy novel that's focused on characters and their relationships.  The novel does explore various aspects of relationships including the faery king's harem and has violence of several varieties although these aspects are more alluded to than described in graphic detail.  I'd probably save it for teenagers.

Extras:  

Melissa Marr has a general website as well as one specifically for the series complete with official songs, character and discussion guides, and a map of the town

There's an excellent trailer for the novel

There's an entire wiki devoted to the serires

Wicked Lovely has a Facebook fan page

Source: #ALA12

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr: Buy it or check it out today!