Title:Dust

Author: Joan Frances Turner

Genre: Horror, Zombies, Post-Apocalyptic, Speculative Fiction

Publisher: Ace
Publication date: September 7 2010
Hardcover: 384 pages

Nine years ago, Jessie had a family. Now, she has a gang.

Nine years ago, Jessie was a vegetarian. Now, she eats very fresh meat.

Nine years ago, Jessie was in a car crash and died. Nine years ago, Jessie was human.

Now, she’s not.

After she was buried, Jessie awoke and tore through the earth to arise, reborn, as a zombie. Jessie’s gang is the Fly-by-Nights. She loves the ancient, skeletal Florian and his memories of time gone by. She’s in love with Joe, a maggot-infested corpse. They fight, hunt, dance together as one—something humans can never understand. There are dark places humans have learned to avoid, lest they run into the zombie gangs.

But now, Jessie and the Fly-by-Nights have seen new creatures in the woods—things not human and not zombie. A strange new illness has flamed up out of nowhere, causing the undeads to become more alive and the living to exist on the brink of death. As bits and pieces of the truth fall around Jessie, like the flesh off her bones, she’ll have to choose between looking away or staring down the madness—and hanging onto everything she has come to know as life.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did we get this book: Review copies from the publisher

Why did we read this book: Thea loves zombies and Ana has a new found appreciation for the creatures. When we first heard about the book, we both went: WANT.

Review:

First Impressions:

Thea: According to the marketing promo behind Dust, the novel promises to be…different than the average zombie novel. It promises to tell the story of life after death, from the walking dead’s perspective. It promises to make readers question what they know about life and death, through the eyes of a not-so-young heroine, named Jessie. These are a whole lotta promises for a debut novel to deliver, but deliver Dust certainly does. It’s a haunting, elegiac portrait of life after death, of relationships and emotions from the perspective of a character that is no longer human, but not a monster either. Dust is one of those books that gets better the more that I reflect upon it. I loved it. (And, I think that you should listen to me and not Ana, because she is wrong and I am right, and that is all there is to it.)

Ana: I had very much the opposite reaction to the book – the more I reflect upon it, the less I like it. It starts well enough but half way through the book, it loses its steam. The marketing promo, the blurb, the cover of my ARC (a letter from the marketing department) all tell me how different the book is going to be and I think that ultimately it does not deliver on its promise. I think that story-wise it doesn’t work that well and the basic themes of life and death and being human x being a zombie, were extremely heavy-handed. I didn’t like it.

On the plot:

Thea: Dust is the story of Jessie, or Jessica Anne Porter that was, a girl that was fifteen when she was killed in a car accident only to rise days later as a zombie. Fighting her way out of her cement sealed grave under six feet of dirt, Jessie finds refuge of a kind with a gang of other undead, that call themselves the Fly-By-Nights. After taking their brutal initiation of beating, breaking her bones and causing her to retch up a dark mixture of fetid, congealed blood (“Coffin Liquor,” as the zombies call it), Jessie becomes an official member of the gang, and she finally feels at home. Roaming the forest together for deer, possum and other wild prey, Jessie is respected by her fellow gang members as a fighter – even one-armed, as the book opens with Jessie finally losing her right appendage, Jessie is perhaps the fiercest fighter of the group. But then, something strange disturbs Jessie’s comfortable routine. First, there’s the strange blonde “hoo” (zombie slang for human) that stumbles into their woods, so far from the protections of civilization. Disoriented, sweating a strange, non-human, chemical smell, the girl seems like something caught between living and dead – not quite hoo, but not quite zombie either. Then, gang leader Teresa starts acting strangely, smelling eerily like the not-hoo girl from the woods. Something frightening is happening to the undead and living alike, and not a soul will be left untouched.

Well, what can I say about Dust? It is a haunting story that lingers with you long after finishing the novel. It is deeply unsettling, unique, and beautifully written. It is a story that is, more than anything else (and contrary to what Ana will tell you about romance or whatever) about people that have lived, died, and been born again in a cold, cruel world. Yes, they are flesh-hungry, but they aren’t “monsters” – at least, not any more than humans are monsters. From a plotting perspective, Dust is a quiet novel, a loving macabre ode to sinew and blood, of decay and the maggots and blowflies that feed upon the flesh of the dead. But instead of being gratuitous or overly gory for the sake of being gory, Dust is in actuality a beautiful, melancholy book – Ms. Turner manages to make the sight of dusty, parchment-thin skin beautiful, the warm blood and entrails of a fresh kill vibrant and delectable. Dust isn’t a book that aims to shock and disgust; rather, it simply is an honest recording of the life of Jessie and her gang.

Dust also is a mystery of sorts, and a book of discovery and reconciliation. There is the question of the cause and nature of the strange new infection that sweeps the forest, a biological mystery that unfolds beautifully and gradually over the course of the novel. The cause of the apocalyptic bacteria is insignificant though, really, as the more important, underlying theme is not on the macro but micro level – personal guilt, family loyalty and perceived betrayal. Though the idea of the microbe unleashed by humanity ultimately leading to the species’ demise is nothing new, Ms. Turner handles this aspect of the novel beautifully, creating a tempered, well-paced tale that I devoured whole in essentially a few short hours.

On the more technical, zombie-fan sort of stuff, I must say that I loved Ms. Turner’s take on the life cycle of the zombie, as I did the newly imagined method that they communicate with each other, although I will say that certain aspects felt underdeveloped (the strange, literal “danse macabre” and the way they hear thoughts in terms of music – or perhaps only Jessie does this?). Still, I loved their new, superior neuron-firing capable brains, and most of all, their perceived “superiority” to the idiot, stinking hoos. They aren’t superior of course – this is the beauty of Dust, with its flawed characters, laying bare the faults of both humanity and zombie, the difference between the two not so dramatic as one might suspect. I loved that the book doesn’t feel the need to explain everything explicitly, that Ms. Turner makes some unorthodox choices towards the end of the novel, too. And, contrary to the notion that Dust is romantic or some sort of cautionary tale, I will say that, in my opinion, this misses the point of the book. In my opinion, I didn’t find this book romantic at all (certainly not in the conventional, human interpretation of the word) and it certainly is not a factor in anything that Jessie chooses to do – take, for example, Jessie’s last huge decision to walk to the sands. If this were all about true love, wouldn’t she have dragged her true love with her? No. She goes by herself. Very, very late in the book (i’m talking the last 30 pages) there is, I guess, what can be interpreted as a romantic development, but Jessie isn’t exactly a romantic person. I didn’t see this relationship as a romance so much as it is a reunion between people that thought they would never see each other again. But this is all moot, and I don’t even want to spend any more time on this because the book is really not a romance, it’s only a teeny tiny 1% of the overall book, and it’s distracting from the main point:

Dust is above all a deconstruction of the zombie myth.

Instead of using the undead as a catalyst for human ugliness, it instead approaches zombies as people…that have died and been born again. It is their story, through one of their own’s eyes. It is not a cautionary tale about the evils of humanity or the presumptions of science or whatnot; to reduce the complexity of Dust to such an interpretation does the book a grave disservice. I’d liken Dust to a novel such as Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, which plays on the same human/inhuman blurry areas (but more on that in the character section below).

I will say, however, that Dust is a book that clearly is NOT for everyone. Take the ending, for example (which I think, as a zombie fan, is an homage to a cornerstone of scifi horror) – it’s a risk and understandably, not for everyone. But for me? I loved it.

Ana: Dust has a promising start and I loved the first half of the book: with gore and violence and a wonderful look at how Jessie lives now. I especially liked how zombies are still decaying and will eventually, and very slowly, go through what all dead bodies go through: all the stages of decay but with the different that it happens to the zombies whilst they are conscious. It is in fact the living dead in all their horrifying glory.

But is Dust really that different from the average zombie novel? I don’t think so. Sure, it is from a different perspective ,ie from the living dead themselves but at its core it still deals with fear, love and what it is to be human. THAT’s what bothers me the most about the book – that it promises a world of difference, but that it doesn’t deliver.

I will agree with Thea when she says that Dust is above all a deconstruction of the zombie myth but beyond that, is where we fundamentally disagree. I think that this deconstruction is not well done at all, it is heavy – handed and yes, with an underlying message. I think that the idea that zombies “are just people who died” is hammered over and over again in a less than subtle way. In trying to show the other side’s story, I believe the author did in fact a 360 turn going right back at the starting point – by making them just like humans only with a different diet. The more the story progresses, the more Jessie and her companions sound like humans and when the virus hits they even start to look like humans. Which brings me back to the point I am trying to make: the story to me is not unique, or original; it simply deals with flawed characters who can be as good and bad, as violent or not, as humans are. Perhaps that is actually the point. In which case, it is just another story that doesn’t have anything special to it, at least not for me.

It is also very predictable: I saw the resolution coming a mile away, I saw the identity of one the characters as soon as she walked into the novel and I saw the romantic development between Jessie and another character basically from page 1 and yes, there is romance there although not – I agree with Thea here – central to the story. And although I don’t think that the book is about messages, they are undoubtedly THERE : in what humans are capable of, what science is capable of, what people would do for misguided love. It is so there that at one point Jessie muses:

“typical human and no, I refused to start thinking of myself as one too. “Speaking,” I said, as coldly and calmly as I could muster, “as someone with a little actual afterlife experience? This isn’t hell. There is no hell. It’s just what your kind always do to the world in one form of another, so pull yourself together and keep walking”.

I kept thinking about “identity” and how what really differentiates zombies and humans is simply how each chooses to consume their food: zombies like it raw, humans like it cooked. At first, it seemed to be more than that: it seemed that there was going to be MORE that identified the zombies as separate entities– perhaps their aggressive culture, perhaps their danse macabre – but the former can be put down as another thing that is actually remnants of their humanity and the latter is never truly explored. I think this makes the book less complex and more simplistic, as a matter of fact.

But beyond that: the novel has problems with pacing as well with the second half dragging itself to a conclusion full of navel gazing. With regards to the ending: count me in as one that did not like it, but then again, I am not a horror-sci fi fan and probably failed to see as the homage that it possibly is.

On the characters:

Thea: Dust is one of those books that gets better upon reflection, especially from a character perspective. As with any book filtered through the perspective of a single character, there is a degree of unreliability – and I think that it is important to keep in mind that our narrator, Jessie, is a flawed character that sees what she wants to see, and interprets things in the way she wants to interpret them. Again, the important thing to remember about Dust is that it is a book about the life after death – about people that have lived and died, and have been reborn. As such, Jessie and her ilk experience emotions that are very human and familiar – and yet at the same time, they are not exactly human (which makes sense – if all of our life experiences contribute to how we see things and interpret the world around us, the effect is even more dramatic on those that have been killed and reanimated). And this is the main point of contention between Ana and myself, because Ana thinks that the emotions that Jessie feels are TOO human to be zombie, to which I ask, what then makes a zombie? Must they only be mindless creatures hungering for braaaaaains? And then I would ask, why this hate against the zombie? In other books featuring vampires or fairies or werewolves or angels, they all experience “human” emotions, and those are considered successes or acceptable, but when it’s a zombie this is a failure? It seems hypocritical to me. Zombie discrimination, I tell you! Again, this is Ms. Turner’s deconstruction of the zombie, by making them something other – not human, certainly not, but not so unfamiliar either. Not living, not dead, but something in between.

As a narrator and protagonist, Jessie is a mess of sharp edges, tough attitude, and strangely, vulnerability. Jessie’s narration is by turns funny, astute, and hard. Though she was only fifteen when she died, death and revival have a way of changing a body, both physically and emotionally. Through her memories, we learn about her less-than-ideal human life, and her final ability to find a home only beyond the grave. Her relationship with her gang, especially the tangled, complicated relationship with Joe, is fodder for reflection. Yes, Jessie feels emotions – remorse, love, hate, guilt, although I would argue that her brand of emotion is twisted and if human in origin, no longer exactly human in expression – and over the course of the book she grows and changes as a character, as do the other main characters in the book. And, unlike vampires locked in eternal youth, or zombies in films locked in eternal hunger, Jessie and her crew’s desires for food do not dictate who or what they are. They are not in permanent stasis, as each zombie has a life cycle of its own. When the shit hits the fan later in the book and both zombies and humans begin to change again, mutating from undead to..sort of living again, these emotions and needs morph as well. I think it’s a pretty awesome catalyst for character development, and an original way to take a look at the connection between eating, and (non)humanity.

“How many kinds of living and dead and living dead and dead living had I been in just these few months, these few days, after the stasis of plain old human living and dying? I deserved some kind of existential medal.”

As for the other characters, I thought they were all wonderfully handled and written, in particular ‘maldie Renee (lost and friendless and discriminated against for the fact that she was embalmed), the dustie Florian with his pacifism and insightful senility, the quiet and less aggressive (yet courageous) Linc, and of course, the manipulative, screeching electric guitar that is Joe. If there’s anything that will differentiate the zombie from the human, I think it is apparent in Jessie and Joe’s relationship, in which they crush each other’s bones and fight to the point of threatening each other’s deaths as a normality, but find solace in that rage. It is what by hoo terms we would call an abusive relationship, but our interpretations don’t really apply to the walking dead. Theirs is a tangled mess of hate and trust and love, and while there are glimpses of humanity and these characters (or at least Jessie) has some semblance of right and wrong, the zombie rulebook is completely different from the human one. It is this otherness that makes the deconstruction a success, in my opinion.

I will briefly address what I know Ana will bring up (based on our emails back and forth). I just want to say that I do NOT think the author assigns any moral judgements to her characters, to Jessie’s relationships, or to any aspect of the story. Jessie does have a sense of morality, although it clearly has changed since her time as a human (from a vegan animal rights activist to an animal huntress and zombie killer as one of the most fierce of the gang’s fighters, and in the end, eating anyone and anything – human, plant, inanimate object, friend, enemy – in order to survive). The presence of Jessie’s ability to make decisions based on her own concepts of morality does not equate to a moral message or judgement for the book, however. In my opinion, this just confirms how these biological changes effect the experience and perception of each character in this book. I think that it is important to remember that Dust is a book about what are by definition non-human characters, with vestiges of humanity – they remember who they were, certain things from their lives, and they feel emotions. But it is vital to keep in mind that they are creatures that have died and been reborn, their very brains rewired and reconfigured. They do not think in the same way that we do, as much as a twenty-year old thinks and behaves in the way that an eighty-year old would, and so for that reason their motivations may sit strangely with us hoo readers – but that, I think, is the point. There is no underlying message, no judgement or subtext that says that zombies are GOOD and humans are EVIL or any such nonsense. I urge everyone to please, please, for the love of all that is good in the world of literature, to try to step outside of your comfort zone and view Jessie’s world through the eyes of someone that is neither living nor dead, but someone caught in between.

Ana: What are zombies? I don’t know. They might not be all about braaaaaaaaaiins but I think it is clear that they are not simply “humans who died” either. They are “other”. And this is indeed the greatest point of contention between Thea and me when it comes to the book: I think that the book completely fails in capturing this “otherness” of these characters and fully exploring and developing it. I think that the zombies here are utterly familiar, completely humanised and to me that include human moral judgments as well or else Jessie would not mind eating humans; or else Jessie would not know that there is “right” and “wrong” and that her abusive relationship with Joe for example falls under the latter. That is definitely this awareness here and I honestly don’t see a complete re-wire of their brains. Dust might be a book about non-human characters but still so very human that they still have very human concepts of morality and emotions.

Jessie is very much still human, (even though she will tell you that she is not and I am agreeing on the unreliability of her narrative here), wanting to be loved and accepted which is in direct contrast to what happened to her when she was alive – she was neither loved or accepted when alive. Which is why she fell into the relationship with Joe – not because as a zombie she doesn’t care anymore, or her brain has been re-wired but because of her very human characteristics of wanting to fit in, be accepted. At one point she thinks:

“Even knowing then and later that I should have collected my strength and wits, turned around and left for good, no looking back. I stayed because of him. Like I said, I was fifteen”

and then:

“I hated that look. I hated that I could never even see the sorry part of it anymore, the part that really mattered, all I could see was how it was still always me that was wrong and him that was right. Always. No matter what.”

This reads as though it could apply to anybody. I would have loved to see the “otherness” or a true Zombie 2.0 story. To me, I just read another book of a character that had family issues and carried them to grave and beyond – with a bit of mystery on the side.

Final Thoughts, Observations and Rating:

Thea: Clearly, Dust is not for everyone. At times funny, at times painful, this reimagining of the zombie resonated for me, like the strings of the electric guitar or quiet plink of piano Jessie hears in her undead brain. It’s a strange book, but a memorable one for all that. A notable, if not favorite, read of 2010 for me.

Ana: Definitely not for everyone and above all, definitely not for me. Dust left me completely cold and underwhelmed.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

My right arm fell off today. Lucky for me, I’m left-handed.

In the accident that killed me I rocketed from the back seat straight through the windshield–no seatbelt, yeah, I know–and the pavement sheared my arm to nothing below the shoulder. Not torn off, but dangling by thin, precious little bits of skin and bone and ligament. I had a closed casket, I’m sure of it, because they never wired the arm or glued it or any other pretty undertaker trick. I managed to crawl back out of the ground without its help anyway, and of course after nine perfectly uneventful years of fighting and dancing and hunting and getting by fine with the left arm, the right finally shuffles its coil right on the banks of the Great River County Park’s not-so-Great River, smack in the middle of a meat run. Joe, my boy, my backup, was not sympathetic in the least….

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Dust has a pretty cool website, complete with extras such as the following book trailers (this one is hilarious, if not really having anything at all to do with the book):

You can see the other trailers HERE.

Rating:

Thea: 8 – Excellent

Ana: 5 – Meh

Reading Next: Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

Giveaway Details:

Courtesy of publisher Ace, we have FIVE copies of Dust up for grabs. The contest is open to addresses in the United States only, and will run until September 4th at 11:59 pm (PST). To enter, leave a comment here telling us what your favorite zombie novel is. Only ONE entry per person, please! Multiple comments from the same I.P. address will be automatically disqualified. Good luck!

Title: Mockingjay

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: Dystopian, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: August 2010
Hardcover: 390 Pages

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

Stand alone or series: Book 3 in the Hunger Games series

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the Publisher

Why did I read this book: This final novel in the Hunger Games series is THE most buzzed about YA book of 2010 – of COURSE I was going to read it. I enjoyed The Hunger Games (though felt it was an American, toned-down version of Battle Royale) and was more impressed with the original direction of Catching Fire, so I was hoping for big things from Mockingjay…

Review:

**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE HUNGER GAMES AND CATCHING FIRE. If you have not read the first two books in this trilogy and want to remain unspoiled, I highly suggest you look away. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

After the dramatic breakout from the Arena during the Quarter Quell, Katniss and a few other victor tributes were able to escape from the Capitol’s grasp, and have taken refuge in District 13. At the end of Catching Fire, Katniss, injured during the daring escape from the Arena, awakens to discover that District 12 is a smoldering ruin, that her friends, mentors and allies have been in on a larger rebellion scheme all along – and worst of all, she awakens to learn that Peeta has been captured by the Capitol, suffering a horrific fate Katniss cannot even begin to fathom. Taken to the subversive and very-much-alive District 13, Katniss gradually regains her strength and health and decides to make one of the most important decisions of her life. She agrees to become the Mockingjay; the face of the rebellion against the Capitol. But she soon discovers that being the Mockingjay is more treacherous than she could have imagined, as she’s used as a pawn in an incredibly dangerous, high-stakes power game between President Coin (of District 13) and President Snow. Though she believes in the rebellion and fighting back the capitol, Katniss begins to question Coin’s tactics – freedom, but at what cost?

Mockingjay is beyond doubt one of the most talked about, most highly anticipated YA releases of 2010 – and with that buzz comes incredibly high reader expectations. With high expectations comes, inevitably, some disappointment. For me, though? Mockingjay was everything I thought was missing from The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. It wasn’t a perfect book (especially given its tendency towards heavy-handed message-hammering), however, it was a meaningful and resonant one. I don’t think the Hunger Games trilogy could have ended any other way, heartbreaking and cruel though this book may be. I loved it.

First, I do want to take an aside to address something I’ve been seeing in reviews across the blogosphere – that is, the issue of reader expectation versus reality. I cannot grade this book according to what I expected or wished it could have been; I can only analyze what actually has been written. And, as it stands Mockingjay IS a hugely different book than its two predecessors – it is a paradigm shift of the Hunger Games trilogy. For some readers, this shift will be disappointing, but for me, it answered my single biggest problem with the series to date: that is, how The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, while enthralling and action-packed, felt sanitized of true violence, terror or tough decisions. There is “danger” in the arena in these earlier books, but there’s never any question that Katniss or Peeta will make it out of the Arena. Similarly, there was no moral quandary, no meaty ethical questioning that takes place in these two prior books – Katniss and Peeta are time and time again bailed out of actually killing friends or anyone in cold blood (imagine, for example how The Hunger Games would have turned out had Katniss been forced to make a decision to kill Rue or Peeta?). In Mockingjay, Ms. Collins discards this simplistic, lite version of violent dystopian horror and inflicts the most dramatic, traumatizing, heartbreaking stuff she could have possibly done to her characters.

People die (I’m talking MAJOR characters).

People are forced to make hard decisions (A preemptive strike? Inhumane weapons? To punish the Capitol’s children just as those of the Districts have been punished for seventy-five years?).

And I personally have to give kudos to Ms. Collins for this shattering of the picture pretty dystopia-lite facade. In books 1 & 2, Katniss has time to worry about which boy she likes. In Mockingjay? All that has to be pushed aside in order to survive a war in which both sides are equally bloodthirsty and driven to insane, destructive lengths to win. If you were looking for drawn out romantic resolution, Mockingjay will certainly not live up to that expectation. I will say that while I loved this shock of ruthless, cold reality – in which main characters are not protected by some magical author bubble that promises that they will be safe, beautiful and sane forever – I do think that the book will undoubtedly lose some fans that have come to expect the lighter incarnations of THG series (again, this is where reader expectation kicks in).

As for the characters, they go through the grinder in Mockingjay, and understandably, not a one of them comes out unscathed. Katniss, our heroine, is injured so often both physically and emotionally tested, that it’s no surprise that she breaks down in this final book. That doesn’t mean Katniss is weak or a shell of her former self – she is defiant and calculating as ever, but she also is forced to grow into a different person in Mockingjay. Finally, she sees the whole picture and understands her role as a pawn in a larger game – Katniss is a tool, a figurehead to be brandished and thrown away when she gets too dangerous, just as Peeta has been. As this shroud of cluelessness falls from Katniss’s eyes, she finally is able to take control of her life and make her own decisions, right or wrong. This transformation in Mockingjay is a dramatic and painful thing, but one I think Ms. Collins handles perfectly, solidifying Katniss’s place as one of my favorite heroines of current YA. Gale, too, blossoms into a different person, hungry for payback and destruction. But, besides Katniss’s arc, it is Peeta’s that is the most shocking and poignant of the bunch (at least, it is in my opinion). I won’t spoil what exactly happens to these characters, except to say that Peeta finally sees Katniss in a different way, forever altering their relationship. It’s an enormous shift, and one that is unexpected but welcome.

While I did love the gloves coming off, so to speak, and the sharp characterizations, I do think that Mockingjay stumbles in the writing department. Mockingjay is undeniably heavy-handed with it’s very clear Messages – the political metaphor (it’s not even a metaphor; the heinous evilness of war is hammered home into readers’ heads with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer), the reality television critique, how absolute power corrupts absolutely, etc. The writing, too, felt repetitive and needlessly explicit. For example, I loved Katniss’s haunting “Hanging Tree” song, but I hated that Ms. Collins felt the need to explain the song – in Katniss’s voice of course – stanza by stanza. Subtlety. Mockingjay could have used some.

That criticism aside, I think Mockingjay was a fitting, beautifully tragic end to a poignant series. Mockingjay isn’t a book about some girl prancing about amidst a thin veneer of danger – this is a book about brutal, murderous war, and how a girl tries to survive, living with the decisions she has made and the blood on her hands. It is powerful, dark, soul-searching stuff, that though incongruous with the first two books, ultimately is all the more admirable because of its grit and pain. I absolutely recommend Mockingjay – but be aware that this is not a book for the weak of heart. Mockingjay is resonant, powerful, and emotionally exhausting – and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter One:

I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather. This is where the bed I shared with my sister, Prim, stood. Over there was the kitchen table. The bricks of the chimney, which collapsed in a charred heap, provide a point of reference for the rest of the house. How else could I orient myself in this sea of gray?

Almost nothing remains of District 12. A month ago, the Capitol’s firebombs obliterated the poor coal miners’ houses in the Seam, the shops in the town, even the Justice Building. The only area that escaped incineration was the Victor’s Village. I don’t know why exactly. Perhaps so anyone forced to come here on Capitol business would have somewhere decent to stay. The odd reporter. A committee assessing the condition of the coal mines. A squad of Peacekeepers checking for returning refugees.

But no one is returning except me. And that’s only for a brief visit. The authorities in District 13 were against my coming back. They viewed it as a costly and pointless venture, given that at least a dozen invisible hovercraft are circling overhead for my protection and there’s no intelligence to be gained. I had to see it, though. So much so that I made it a condition of my cooperating with any of their plans.

Finally, Plutarch Heavensbee, the Head Gamemaker who had organized the rebels in the Capitol, threw up his hands. “Let her go. Better to waste a day than another month. Maybe a little tour of Twelve is just what she needs to convince her we’re on the same side.”

The same side. A pain stabs my left temple and I press my hand against it. Right on the spot where Johanna Mason hit me with the coil of wire. The memories swirl as I try to sort out what is true and what is false. What series of events led me to be standing in the ruins of my city? This is hard because the effects of the concussion she gave me haven’t completely subsided and my thoughts still have a tendency to jumble together. Also, the drugs they use to control my pain and mood sometimes make me see things. I guess. I’m still not entirely convinced that I was hallucinating the night the floor of my hospital room transformed into a carpet of writhing snakes.

I use a technique one of the doctors suggested. I start with the simplest things I know to be true and work toward the more complicated. The list begins to roll in my head. . . .

My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am seventeen years old. My home is District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. The Capitol hates me. Peeta was taken prisoner. He is thought to be dead. Most likely he is dead. It is probably best if he is dead. . . .

You can read the full chapter online HERE. Also, you can check out author Suzanne Collins reading chapter one aloud below:

(Is anyone a little weirded out that Katniss has a southern accent in Ms. Collins’ reading? Just me? Nevermind.)

Additional Thoughts: Our current Mockingjay 13 District Blog Tour and Giveaway is still up and running – and is ending tonight at 11:59pm (PST).

If you haven’t yet entered for your chance to win a sweet Mockingjay-embossed iSkin, hurry up before it’s too late!

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Dust by Joan Frances Turner

Title: Nevermore

Author: Kelly Creagh

Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, Horror, Young Adult

Publisher: Atheneum Books (Simon & Schuster)
Publication Date: August 2010
Hardcover: 528 pages

Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due—so unfair—on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, she can’t help but give this enigmatic boy with the piercing eyes another look.

Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life.

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined, and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own nightmares.

His life depends on it.

Stand alone or series: Book 1 in a planned series

How did I get this book: Advance Review Copy from the author

Why did I read this book: I, like most people in their right mind, love the stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Take that love, added to a young adult novel with a horrific twist inspired by Poe’s work (and his mysterious death), blended together with a sort of ’star-crossed lovers’ type of deal and I am instantly sold. I was ecstatic to get my hands on a copy of Nevermore.

Review:

Isobel Lanley appears to be your typical popular cheeleader – blonde, pretty, perky as hell, with a hot football playing beefcake of a boyfriend, a shot at Cheerleading Nationals, and a circle of tight-knit friends. Varen Nethers is, on the opposite side of the spectrum, your typical goth kid, complete with dyed black hair, pale skin, a morose wardrobe, a particular taste in the obscure and macabre, and an imposing “stay away” attitude. Both Isobel and Varen have their own circles and comfortable niches, content never to have to challenge the status quo. So, when Isobel and Varen are paired for an english project, neither one of them is exactly thrilled at the prospect of having to work together – Varen finds Isobel vapid and ridiculous, Isobel thinks Varen is a rude, judgmental jerk, and more than a little bit unnerving with his cold demeanor. The uncomfortable situation only becomes even worse when Isobel’s overprotective boyfriend Brad gives a truly disinterested Varen the macho territorial treatment, and Isobel’s friends give her grief for having to spend time with Varen to work on their project. Social foibles aside, Isobel and Varen gradually come to understand each other, accept each other, and even become something more than just acquaintances and casual friends – against every instinct and social rule, Isobel finds herself falling for the aloof, guarded Varen. But there’s more than social expectations and rules that will keep the two apart, as Isobel comes to discover only too late that their project on Edgar Allen Poe has a deeper, more significant implication for Varen. And soon, Varen’s waking nightmares follow Isobel too – and she’s the only one that can help him break free of the darkness that threatens to consume them both.

Against all expectations, I fell in love with Nevermore. After reading the synopsis for the book, I was excited for it, true, but i was also wary – Nevermore had the potential to be incredible, but also the equally opposite potential to be incredibly bad. Happily, Kelly Creagh’s debut proved to be the former. At first glance, Nevermore looks like a stereotypical starcrossed lovers tale – but what makes Nevermore so effective and memorable is the play on tropes and stereotypes. I loved that the heroine of this novel is Isobel – a happy, perky, popular cheerleader. The girl cheerleader is anathema in YA lit, so often portrayed as the villainous airhead/bitch/slut (see Karen Healey’s excellent recent guest article about the phenomenon). I loved that narrator Isobel is a different type of heroine – she isn’t the common shy/awkward/geek gal – in fact, Isobel isn’t much of a reader or brain, and she’s more caught up with the pressures of school and her fiercely athletic love for cheer (again, COOL). As she tells Varen at one point, she likes the sun and cheerleading and she’s not ashamed of it. By that token, Varen also isn’t some noble hero or sparkly outsider that is instantly drawn to Isobel. In this novel, Isobel is our intrepid heroine, and instead of waiting for Varen to stick up for her or break down barriers, instead of crumbling under the expectations of her friends and her meathead boyfriend, Isobel is the one that takes a stand (there is one scene in the cafeteria with her confrontation and it is amazing – it will break your heart and make you furious and fall in love with Isobel even more). That, readers, is pretty freakin’ awesome.

That’s not to say that Isobel or Varen are perfect creatures, because both are incredibly textured, layered and wonderfully flawed. I love that Ms. Creagh takes her time building these characters, starting with initial mutual dislike, and slowly peeling back the layers of their personalities. If there’s one criticism I have of YA romance (or even romance in general), it’s that there’s a lack of tension and build-up – two characters almost always find themselves inexplicably drawn to the other’s ravishing good looks, or air of mystery, or whatever. With Nevermore? Not the case. The chemistry is perfect and it simmers slowly throughout the novel at a beautiful, restrained pace. There are no happy endings here, there is a ton of pain and grief that goes their way – both natural and supernatural.

And…this is where the novel’s strengths falter a bit. I *love* the idea of this dream world that Ms. Creagh has created in Nevermore, replete with ghouls and living nightmares and shades; I love the idea of a cold Morella/Ligeia type of character and all the horrific allusions to Poe’s works. It’s clear that Ms. Creagh has done her homework and has beautifully integrated many favorite Poe stories and poems (“Dream Within A Dream,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Raven,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” etc) into the overall novel, through the surreal dream world that threatens to trap both Varen and Isobel. However. For all that the ideas of the dreamworld are fascinating and unique, there is some stumbling with the executionof this realm. If anything, the hazy dreamscape is a little too amorphous, and unevenly paced as these supernatural-heavy turns all take place for the book’s last act. The result is a bit disjointed – for the first two thirds of the book, Nevermore focuses on character development and the harsh realities of high school drama, tinged with a bit of a spooky supernatural vibe. But the last third of the novel is chock full of supernatural dealings – Nocs and Shadows and the legacy of Poe and the mysterious Reynolds. That said, I think both the realistic and the surreal elements are done very well – they just aren’t integrated and married as a whole very well. I loved the ending of the novel and that Ms. Creagh isn’t afraid to draw things out – as I mentioned before, there are no simple happy ever afters here – and of course, now I’m impatient as hell for the next book. Nevermore is a book that I really and truly enjoyed, with only a few executionary flaws to hold me back from loving it with complete abandon. Absolutely recommended (and this is coming from someone totally burned out with the teen YA paranormal romance novel at large).

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

1
Assigned

By the end of fourth period, Isobel’s espresso buzz from that morning’s venti latte had long since worn off. She yawned, fast approaching crash-and-burn territory and shifted in her seat as Mr. Swanson droned on and on about the green-eyed monster, Desdemona, thus, thou, and yea verily. She traced and retraced the looping spiral design she’d all but ground into the front of her blue notebook.

“And with that,” Mr. Swanson said, finally snapping closed his ultrathick teacher’s copy of their text, cueing the rest of the class to follow suit with a unanimous thunk, “we’ll leap into further discussion about Iago and his supposed honesty on Monday.”

Isobel straightened in her seat, brushed her sheet of blond hair behind one shoulder, and shut her own book with relish.

“But hold on, hold on,” he said above the rustling and scraping of chairs. He raised both hands and lowered them through the air, as if such a motion somehow held the power to still the room and reinstate the Elizabethan-literature-inspired stupor he’d managed to cast over all.

Kids jonesing for lunch and already halfway out of their seats sank back down again, their butts reconnecting with their chairs like magnets snapping together. All around, backpacks slipped from shoulders and chins returned to hands.

They should have known better, Isobel thought wryly. Swanson never let them out early. Never. Especially not as early as a quarter till.

“Don’t go and get antsy on me yet, folks,” he warned, now brandishing a stack of what looked suspiciously to Isobel like fresh-from-the-copier pages.

“Heads-up to the syllabus being passed around,” he called, licking a finger and leafing through the first few. Then, rewetting his fingertips, he sent out the next stack, and the next.

Isobel blanched as she watched the papers make their way toward her, and she hoped she’d be lucky enough to snag one relatively free of Swanson saliva.

“We’ve avoided it long enough.” He sighed in mock remorse. “Now, I’m sure the seniors all warned you about this one. Well, here it is. The big one. Better to get it over with early in the year, I say. You guessed it—the Swanson project.” He announced this last bit cheerfully (if not maniacally), and a grin spread its way beneath his wiry gray-white mustache.

Groans arose from key points around the room, Isobel’s own buried in the back of her throat.

Projects took time. A lot of time.

“This is to be a partner project,” Swanson continued, “due the last Friday of the month. That’s Halloween, for those of you who haven’t got your iPhones or BlackBerries or Kicksides or whodiwhat calendars handy—which I hope for their sake no one does.”

The boredom that had only a moment ago made Isobel’s limbs heavy and her mind sluggish slipped away from her in a quick whoosh, like a magician’s cloth.

Hold up. Did he say Halloween? Uh, yeah, where was his calendar? Did he not know that was the night of the rival football game against Millings? Lift up the rock, Swanson. Breathe. It’s called air.

Isobel’s grip tightened around her pen. She kept her gaze steady on her English teacher, all dials now tuned to the Swanson channel.

“This project,” he said, “will consist of both a presentation and a detailed ten-page paper. I want you and your partner to select a famous American author—any American author. Though, in the spirit of Halloween, let’s make sure they’re dead, okay? In other words, no Stephen Kings, Heather Grahams, or James Pattersons. Also, this is an assignment to be completed outside of class, since we’re currently in the middle of Othello.”

Ten pages? Ten pages. That was epic. That was like . . . the freaking Gettysburg Address. Was Swanson really going to sit down and read all those papers?

Probably, she thought. And love every minute of it too.

She just didn’t get it. Why did Swanson have to assign a huge project due on the day of the rival game? No one ever got any work done that week. He could have at least given them that weekend.

It always amazed her how teachers seemed to think that students didn’t have lives outside of school. They couldn’t seem to grasp that by the time she got home from cheer practice, ate dinner, and scribbled down something on the mound of homework she already had, it was practically time to go to bed.

Isobel started an immediate scan of the room. This was serious, and she needed to locate a brainer—stat.

She eyed Julie Tamers, marching band geek extraordinaire, and began to plan a strategic route to the open chair next to hers when Mr. Swanson spoke again.

“FYI,” he began, class roster poised in one hand, chin tilted down, wire-rim glasses perched at the tip of his nose, “I’m trying something different this year in hopes it will both broaden your perspective and improve overall project results. That said, I’ll take a moment to include my little disclaimer that all pairings have been made at random. So after I read your names off the list you can partner up, brainstorm among yourselves, and then head to lunch. Starting with Josh Anderson and Amber Ricks.”

Isobel felt her jaw unhinge.

Wait, she thought. Just wait. Random pairings were so third grade. He could not be serious.

“Katlyn Binkly and Alanna Sato,” he continued. “Next we have Todd Marks and Romelle Jenkins.”

Around her, those whose names had already been called rose from their seats to find their corresponding partners. Isobel sat stunned at their willingness. For real? Was she the only one who felt the burn of injustice? Wasn’t anyone else going to say anything?

“Isobel Lanley and Varen Nethers.”

She felt her chest contract.

Oh.

Oh, no. No way.

She turned her head slowly and took a long, reluctant look to the opposite end of the room. He sat in the back row against the far corner, slumped in his seat and staring straight ahead through shreds of inky locks, his thin wrists lined in black leather bands specked with hostile silver studs.

This could not be happening.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Author Kelly Creagh pays a wonderful, gothic homage to Edgar Allan Poe with Nevermore – and as a fellow Poe fan, this is a truly delightful treat. My favorite Poe poem is “El Dorado” (it’s the first poem I learned by heart when I was a kid), story is a toss-up between “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” and – of course – Vincent Price adaptation has to be The Black Cat, The Raven, or Morella (these are each wildly different than the source material, but are awesome in true Vincent Price fashion). (And yes, one of my favorite collections was Vincent Price’s Tales of Terror – costarring the wonderful Peter Lorre. AWESOME.)

Make sure you stick around, as author Kelly Creagh stops by to answer some of our burning questions for another segment of “SMUGGLED!”

Rating: 7 – Very Good, and with bucket-loads of upside potential.

Reading Next: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Welcome to another segment in our “A Dude Reads PNR” series, in which our delightful buddy Harry, from Temple Library Reviews joins us once a month to review paranormal romance from a dude’s perspective. Please give a warm welcome to Harry!

Title: The Bloodgate Guardian

Author: Joely Sue Burkhart

Genre: PNR

Publisher: Carina Press
Publication Date: June 14, 2010
Paperback: 271 pages

Standalone or series: I have perused the author’s website and not seen any indication that this is in a series. The book itself reads a standalone, so I will assume it’s such. If I am very wrong, please correct me.

Dr. Jaid Merritt doesn’t do digs. The last time she ventured into the jungle, someone died. Now she’s content to decipher Maya glyphs from pictures sent to her by her famous archaeologist father. But when he goes missing while trying to perform a ritual based on her translations of an ancient codex, Jaid must put aside her fears and travel to Guatemala to find him.

After misusing the Bloodgates to bring his twin brother back from the afterlife, the Maya priest known as Ruin was cursed by the gods to stand as the guardian for all time. He was unable to stop Dr. Charles Merritt from opening the gates, and now demons roam this world. The last thing he wants to do is hurt the beautiful woman who is somehow infused with his magic, but if she uses the codex to retrieve her father, Ruin must do his duty. And this time, he won’t fail. Even if it kills him. Again.

How did I get the book: The PDF review copy was sent to me by Ana, who received it by the publisher. All I can say is naughty, promiscuous PDF file; jumping from e-mail to e-mail.

Review:

Oh, kiddos. How I missed you. Did you miss me, too, while the YA month rampaged on and on and on for a… well, whole month? I am positive, when I assume that you waited for me, all starved and bothered for a long hack-‘n-slash review of yet another paranormal romance. Oh, evil you! Anyway [looks uncomfortable], I’m back and I’m happy to report that there will be no slashing, hacking or bemoaning an unentertaining read. No, The Bloodgate Guardian is above average.

The official summary, by the way, gives an accurate depiction of what goes on in the book. Reader, meet Jaid Merritt [the weird heroine naming tradition is alive and well], a professor, who doesn’t do digs. Sadly, it’s exactly what she has to do, when her father’s last message is a video, in which a ritual goes horribly wrong. Jaid travels to Guatemala to solve the mystery, but reality and fantasy do the Helen Keller together, leaving Jaid no longer sure what she can believe. It really doesn’t help, when you have a shape shifting immortal with a bright spot in the Mayan mythology and oh, the end of the world, now does it?

Contrary to my expectations I didn’t get porn, porn, porn. The Bloodgate Guardian has a plot, which the author follows and never sacrifices for the sake of the leads to hump each other. It’s surprisingly refreshing, that. Even so, I am torn on this. There are parts I extremely liked and others, while I saw were handled well enough would have liked to see extinct.

I love that Jaid is vulnerable. I love the fact that she is smart-ass, not kick-ass. She doesn’t do the whole super ninja vixen. No leather pants and favorite blades for this chick. She’s nerdy and the Un-Indiana Jones of the faculty. Brilliant characterization, right there. Pure gold. It makes Jaid stand out from all the other leading females in the genre. I also can honestly say that Jaid’s the strong woman urban fantasy and paranormal romance has been boasting with. She’s not sure she will win and she is mortified to venture, but she does. She falls down and picks herself up, because the situation demands it. That’s what I call bravery and perseverance.

What I’m not thrilled with is the weird name. I’m sure that it isn’t typical and within PNR and UF the tendency is to go with something unprecedented. This is done to ensure just how much of a snowflake the character is. In this case, there is a game with the mineral jade, which if I am correct was used by the Mayans. Not exactly sure.

The love interest is not the cookie-cutter Alpha Male. Ruin [yes, Ruin] has a story of his own, which is explored through his own POV. He’s a priest, not a warrior. Again not exactly how the genre rolls. He errs as we see at the beginning, allowing Dr. Merritt to perform the ritual and appearing too late to prevent it. His past, his sins and his redemption paired with Jaid’s own complicated and saddening past make for an emotionally laden novel.

BUT the dude is a shapeshifter. I’m not knowledgeable, so who knows, Mayans might as well have whatever passes for werewolves. Am I a fan? No, not really. After the world filled with girls, belonging to team Jacob, lycanthropy can go curl up in a corner, because it deserves a big time-out. Vampires should do the same. Just saying.

Kudos goes to Burkhart for the solid worldbuilding. It seems like Maya are the new couture of the paranormal world [with 2012 closing in], which I welcome. I get to explore a different set of beliefs and stories and after reading The Final Prophecy by Jessica Andersen the bar is set rather high. Burkhart does not disappoint and through Jaid’s passion for the Maya, it’s hard not to get rubbed the right way. Xixalba is one creepy kind of hell, the demons within even creepier, but it’s all very interesting. It’s also intriguing to see how the definition of hell shifts from culture to culture. The Mayan hell is nothing like Christianity’s hell.

I will end with personal pet peeves. What’s with the end of the world? Seriously, why must all couples save the world? Is this some kind of right of passage? You save the world together, so it means you are destined for each other? Mhm, beats couple counseling, I guess. ‘Honey, lets not fight. Remember how we saved the world that time way back.’ ‘Oh yeah, good times.’ I do not oppose the end of the world, but here [but not exclusively] this is used to speed the feelings between the characters. Nothing beats the adrenaline rush of ‘OMG, we will die’ and people want to feel the most, given the time they have left is really limited.

The end was too happy… There, I said it. Jaid’s father should have died, because he messed with powers he didn’t understand. His motifs were selfish. Therefore, his life the appropriate price. However, Jaid manages to save her father in order to solve her daddy issues and learn that she is loved and that her father is proud of her… Ruin, on the other hand, through Jaid’s help saves his brother’s soul and ends his curse. Release as a theme is very heavily accented upon and while love does release a person from his problems, but a happy conclusion to every plot line is not exactly my cup of tea. I follow the philosophy that while you may win the war, you will ultimately suffer wounds that may or may not heal. Here, I am left with the taste of wish fulfillment.

Verdict: Though not mind blowing, The Bloodgate Guardian is well written, evenly paced and told with passion. What I consider pet peeves might be someone else’s literary crack. This is the sentence, the jury is now dismissed.

Reading Next: Shade Fright by Sean Cummings

Thank you, Harry! You can read all of Harry’s reviews as our official PNR Dude HERE.

Title: The Way of Kings

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Tor
Publication Date: August 2010
Hardcover: 1008 Pages

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

Stand alone or series: The first book in The Stormlight Archive, of a planned ten volume series

How did we get this book: Review Copies from the publisher

Why did we read this book: We both discovered Brandon Sanderson last year and fell in love with his Mistborn books, as well as Warbreaker (not to mention, we’ve heard nothing but praise for The Gathering Storm). So, when we learned that the esteemed Mr. Sanderson would be embarking on a brand new epic – a ten volume series! – we of course were ecstatic.

REVIEW

First Impressions:

Thea: Since Brandon Sanderson’s succession of the late Robert Jordan (to say nothing of his successes with Elantris, the Mistborn trilogy and Warbreaker), it’s to be expected that The Way of Kings would receive is a book with an ungodly amount of buzz surrounding its release. The hype for this book is massive enough to make wary even the most optimistic reader – and, as someone that has been let down more than a few times this year by highly anticipated reads, it was with some trepidation that I started this book.

And…The Way of Kings is just about as good as expected.* Impressively detailed, ambitious as hell, and freaking THICK (clocking in at over 1000 pages, The Way of Kings is a bonafide doorstopper), The Way of Kings is a solid first entry in a promising new series.

——————–
* I say “just about as good as expected” because it isn’t nearly as good as the first Mistborn book. While an impressive undertaking, TWoK’s biggest downfall is that it is but the first novel in a very long series – and as such, there isn’t much in the way of resolution. And, well, it’s shockingly similar to the aforementioned Mistborn series. But, more on that in a bit.

Ana: I am a huge Brandon Sanderson fan and was waiting for this with anxiety. All I can say is: the hype is justified. The Way of Kings met my expectations and even surpassed them. It has everything that I came to expect from the author: kooky magic system, amazing world building and strong characters (of both genres) and more, because I think this is his best book (yes, even better than Mistborn) to date where I can see how his writing has matured. I started with trepidatious excitement, HOLY CRAP- ep my way through it and ended it with that feeling of sheer, unmitigated joy which only happens when discovering a new series to love. It might be only the start of a long, long series yet to come and as such it does read like a first of many, but oh, what a beginning it is.

On the Plot: Very basically because there is way too much happening in this book: Once upon a time, the Almighty tasked the Knights Radiant to protect humanity against the threat of the Voidbringers and gave them Shardblades and Shardplate – near invulnerable armor – to fight them off. Then the Radiants, tired of their task of eternal task to protect humanity against the attacking Voidbringers, put down their shardblades and armor, and walked away from mankind (or did they?). Ever since, man has been fighting amongst each other to acquire the remaining Shardblades. The book follows four main characters from different strata of society with different sets of skills (the political/war leader, the slave/warrior, the scholar and the outsider), in alternating point of view chapters, until an inevitable convergence of threads.

Ana: The Way of Kings is an epic introduction to a brand new Epic Fantasy series. It doesn’t try to do something new, it doesn’t try to break away from traditional. Quite the contrary, it embraces the very definition of epic right from the start: it is extensive, it has impressive proportions, and it involves and encompasses very traditional heroism with some very recognisable tropes and archetypical (but not necessarily stereotypical) characters and to me none of this is a bad thing. In fact, Brandon Sanderson reminds me of how much I love Epic Fantasy for these very same reasons. But where this particular book diverges from the puerile and from the danger of being just “another one” is where he makes it all his own: by further exploring themes that he has introduced in his previous books (slavery, mythopolitics, mundane theology and the creation of Gods) , by creating another entirely original magic system and by writing sympathetic, flawed characters of the heroic variety.

As an introduction, as the first of what promises to be a long series, it is very much about setting and presentation. It starts with a bang and it finishes with another bang and it has serious moments of kick-ass action but for the most part, it takes its sweet time with introducing the main characters (their past and their present) of this play, placing them in the required position for next move as well as slowly disclosing the world and its politics, economics, theology and even biology , magic (or lack of) to the reader and Sanderson does so with a small amount of exposition. For a book that it’s 1000 page long, I fully expected to be bored at the some point or to come to the conclusion that it could have been shorter but no. Even though it reads as an introduction, I was left with the impression that it is a necessary introduction and never once felt that it should have been shorter and that in itself is surprising to me. One of the things I questioned when reading Sanderson’s previous books was the amount of repetitive information and thought processes (i.e. the needless, endless mental masturbation that characters such as Elend went through) but The Way Of Kings is very… clean and it reads so, very well and easily making it at the very least, the best of his books in terms of writing.

I am in fact, in awe at the sheer insanity that this book presents: the amount of peoples, locations, times, creatures, characters, etc is mind blowing and I can only but to bow down to Sanderson’s genius.

Ultimately, for me, the book does what is supposed to do: I am completely hooked and prepared to carry on reading the series.

Thea: I do have to agree with Ana that The Way of Kings embraces the Epic side of fantasy, and that it is an ambitious and well-conceived undertaking. There are plot threads branching off of plot threads, each as tantalizing and promising as the last. The magical system, the setting, the writing itself are all expertly crafted and executed, and in that I can find no fault with the book.

Since Ana’s already covered all the good, I’ll be the bad cop and point out what didn’t quite work for me. My problems with The Way of Kings are two-fold. The first problem I have (and I should note that this will not be a problem for everyone) is that The Way of Kings is boilerplate Mistborn.

A reluctant but dedicated hero. A post-apocalyptic, dead landscape ravaged by an ever-pressing weather phenomenon (instead of ashfall and eerie mists, you have shattered deserts and these great storms). A mysterious race of creatures that no one really knows anything about (the Kandra in Mistborn, the Parshmen here). A dead God. A prophecy (un)fulfilled. A misinterpretation of visions and texts.

It’s almost as if the template for Mistborn was taken and embellished for The Way of Kings. This isn’t to say that The Way of Kings isn’t good, because it is. It’s ridiculously good, and even though it’s a thousand pages long (with really tiny text and really large pages), I never felt tired of the story or that I was slogging through just to get to the ending. This is testament to Mr. Sanderson’s skill as a storyteller that he manages to tell almost the same story and kept me reading it the whole way through with a minimum of skepticism.

But enough with the comparisons – how does The Way of Kings stand on its own? Pretty solidly. There are possibilities of deeper issues to be explored – the divide between rich and poor, the powerful and the disenfranchised; the intriguing split between sexes (scholarship is a “womanly” art, whereas warfare is a male art; sweet food is womanly and unfit for men, etc). In Sanderson’s prior books, there really isn’t much in the way of social critique or symbolism, but there is this possibility in The Way of Kings (whether or not the books will ever go there is a different story). There is also some talk of religion and ethics, but again conducted on a superficial level. I don’t doubt that Brandon Sanderson has the capacity to go deeper with these ideas – the question is, will he?

Finally, in terms of writing, the alternating character viewpoint chapters are effective and build the story on multiple fronts (with the added benefit of readers not getting too tired with a single perspective – for example, if I had to read ONLY Kaladin’s story for the whole book, I probably would have gone insane – but more on that below!). My only qualm in terms of writing and plotting technique is that I wished that there was more time spent on Shallan and Jasnah’s storyline, as opposed to the constant Kaladin overload. But now I’m getting ahead of myself again.

On the Characters:

Ana: With regards to the characters, The Way of Kings has not only recognisable Fantasy archetypes but it has also recognisable Brandon Sanderson-style characters. The vast majority of characters in the books are that of a good, heroic, variety. That is not to say that they are cookie cutter, Mary/Marty Sues types: they are flawed, they have inner struggles for a variety of reasons (betrayal, loss, struggle with political and religious beliefs) and some of them traverse a more grey area of morality (like for example, Shallan, one of the female characters, aka the Scholar) and they sound more realistic than his previous characters for all that.

Even though I love to read about dark, morally dubious anti-hero characters, I will shamelessly admit to have a preference for the truly heroic ones, hence Kaladin (aka The Slave) is by far my favourite: he is someone I rooted for from beginning to ending, on his failed attempts not to care about his comrades and his eventual surrender to his role of protector. I totally fist pumped the air when his time came to be The Bravest of Them All.

I will also confess to being terrified right now: this series is going to be long, what are the changes that all of these characters introduced now will make it to the end? (and the fact that I am even worried about this is another sign of how much I am on board of this train).

Another important point worth mentioning. I have always appreciated Brandon Sanderson’s treatment of his female characters as characters with agency of their own. Mistborn’s Vin is one of my favourite Fantasy female characters of all time. And it is no different here. A couple of protagonists are female characters and they are great but not only that, there is a special thread which concerns the very roles that women play on this society (for now, they are respected as the scholarly ones and they are the only ones that can read – but never fight) but there is an underlying discussion as to how this norm is an imposition and not a “natural” role and the seed for breaking the norm has been sowed in this first instalment and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

Thea: Here’s where I’m a little more…divergent. I mentioned above that while I thoroughly enjoyed this book, my problems were two-fold. The second, larger problem, lies with the characters: they are all so ridiculously GOOD.

The biggest goody-two-shoes of them all being Kelsier-I mean, Kaladin (their NAMES even look the same). A Ben Hur-type badass warrior that has become a slave, that has become a leader again, Kaladin is undoubtedly the Hero of this book. And, he is in the tradition of old heroes, unerringly Heroic. He cannot help but save people. He takes the young and the weak under his wing. He’s faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound — I mean, he floats like a butterfly and stings like a — I mean…

You get the picture.

That’s not to say that Kaladin is infallible – indeed, for the good majority of the novel (and this is an overwhelming majority, as of all the characters, Kal is the only one to have a running narrative in all five parts of the book), Kal is a self-tortured hero, wallowing in the pain of his failures. (Again, to compare to the Mistborn books, Kal has shades of Elend and Sazed – the grating, constant self-doubts; the ceaseless self-torture over his past endeavors and deaths at his hands) After a couple hundred pages of this, my sympathies towards Kaladin and his terminal Jack Shephard syndrome (Oh Em Gee, Kaladin is even a SURGEON! WITH DADDY ISSUES! Didn’t even make that connection until now!) were zilch.*

This is, of course, a matter of personal preference. In modern fantasy, there is a dearth of truly Heroic characters (more morally ambiguous anti-heroes currently en vogue), so for that alone I do have to give Mr. Sanderson props.

My frustration with Kaladin aside, however, the bigger problem is that almost every protagonist and supporting character in this book shares this over-the-top goodness and nobility. The bridge crews, Alethi King’s uncle Dalinar, his son Adolin, even the purported “villains” – highprince Sadeas or assassin Szeth, for example – have best interests at heart. I find it hard to believe that in the bridge crews, there isn’t a single rotten, heinous character. Not all the “nobler” characters are so unpalatable, however. Like Kaladin, Dalinar is a similarly noble but tortured character, conflicted over the assassination of his brother Galivar, the former king, and tormented by visions. His storyline as he grapples with decisions and the accusations that he is going mad is undeniably gripping.

And, these criticisms aside, I do think there were a few fascinating characters that were at the periphery of this book – and I dearly hope to see more of them in the next volume. In particular, the female characters of Shallan and Jasnah, and the king’s Wit. Shallan, purportedly one of the three protagonists of this book (though her storyline gets far less time than either Kaladin’s or Dalinar’s) travels far and long to become high princess Jasnah (Dalinar’s niece and sister to the king)’s Ward – but her motivations are not so pure. Though she discovers a love for scholarship, Shallan’s primary objective is not to become more educated and to be married off. Jasnah is undoubtedly my favorite character of the book, as she is the most morally ambiguous of the book – there’s one particular scene in which she attempts to teach Shallan something of ethics and philosophy by way of example, and it is badass. I can only hope that there is much more of this duo – especially given their revelation at the end – in the next book.

And finally, there is the King’s Wit. I’m not quite sure what his story is, but he’s a fascinating figure, and one that I think will figure into the overall story in a much larger way.

Of course, there are a multitude of secondary and tertiary characters that we haven’t mentioned – but, despite their sickening tendency towards doing the noble/right/good thing, they are all very well written and impressively varied; i.e. they are more than just bland filler in the background. And that is impressive in and of itself.

——————–
*Ana: OH NO YOU DIDN’T JUST EQUATE KALADIN WITH JACK SHEPHARD! *engages in fighting stance*

Final Thoughts, Observations and Rating:

Thea: Despite its strong similarities to the Mistborn books and it’s over-the-top Goodhearted characters, I still truly enjoyed The Way of Kings. I am beginning to grow familiar with Sanderson’s favorite devices – alternating storylines that ultimately converge; noble-minded characters; detailed magical systems & worldbuilding; lengthy religious/ethical debate – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Though these favorite tropes are easily spotted, Mr. Sanderson is clearly refining his technique, growing more skilled as an author and storyteller. I think the Stormlight Archive has the potential to be a better series than Mistborn trilogy – though it isn’t there yet (I still think that Mistborn is a much better first novel in comparison to The Way of Kings – though TWoK is more complex). One of the best new fantasy novels I’ve read this year…but I’m still waiting to be wowed.

Ana: I more than enjoyed The Way of Kings, I loved it truly and deeply. I think it is already better than the Mistborn trilogy not only for its epic scale but because it is a better book when it comes to the prose. Regardless of how much I loved it, I do agree with Thea that it is still not quite up there in terms of being a Totally Awesome Book but the series has a lot of potential to be just that at some point. The Way of Kings reminded me of how much I love epic fantasy and now much I love heroic, honourable characters and it’s definitely one of the best Fantasy novels I read this year, I rank it on my top 3, in fact, alongside The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin and City of Ruin by Mark Charan Newton.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the Prologue:

Prelude to
The Stormlight Archive

Kalak rounded a rocky stone ridge and stumbled to a stop before the body of a dying thunderclast. The enormous stone beast lay on its side, riblike protrusions from its chest broken and cracked. The monstrosity was vaguely skeletal in shape, with unnaturally long limbs that sprouted from granite shoulders. The eyes were deep red spots on the arrowhead face, as if created by a fire burning deep within the stone. They faded.

Even after all these centuries, seeing a thunderclast up close made Kalak shiver. The beast’s hand was as long as a man was tall. He’d been killed by hands like those before, and it hadn’t been pleasant.

Of course, dying rarely was.

He rounded the creature, picking his way more carefully across the battlefield. The plain was a place of misshapen rock and stone, natural pillars rising around him, bodies littering the ground. Few plants lived here. The stone ridges and mounds bore numerous scars. Some were shattered, blasted-out sections where Surgebinders had fought. Less frequently, he passed cracked, oddly shaped hollows where thunderclasts had ripped themselves free of the stone to join the fray.

Many of the bodies around him were human; many were not. Blood mixed. Red. Orange. Violet. Though none of the bodies around him stirred, an indistinct haze of sounds hung in the air. Moans of pain, cries of grief. They did not seem like the sounds of victory. Smoke curled from the occasional patches of growth or heaps of burning corpses. Even some sections of rock smoldered. The Dustbringers had done their work well.

But I survived, Kalak thought, hand to breast as he hastened to the meeting place. I actually survived this time.

That was dangerous. When he died, he was sent back, no choice. When he survived the Desolation, he was supposed to go back as well. Back to that place that he dreaded. Back to that place of pain and fire. What if he just decided . . . not to go?

Perilous thoughts, perhaps traitorous thoughts. He hastened on his way.

Tor has been doing a fabulous job teasing and promoting this title – in addition to the Prologue and Chapters 1-3, you can read Chapters 4-6, Chapters 9 & 11, and Chapters 12 & 13 online. (Why the jump in chapters, you ask? Because the preview focuses on a single character’s storyline – Kaladin’s. Don’t worry, you won’t be lost or confused should you try to read the chapters in this order!) You’ll need a Tor.com account to read the excerpts – but don’t worry, it’s free and easy to sign up.

And, once you’ve finished devouring those chapters, make sure to check out The Way of Kings Master Index and the official Stormlight Archive Facebook Page.

Additional Thoughts: We happen to be pretty big Brandon Sanderson fans – and if you’re daunted by The Way of Kings‘ substantial girth, and are looking for somewhere else to start, look no further! We *highly* recommend his Mistborn Trilogy (Mistborn, The Well of Ascension and Hero of Ages) for those looking for a completed series…

…or if you’re looking for more of a self-contained novel, Warbreaker is superb.

Rating:

Thea: 7 – Very Good

Ana: I am wavering between a 8 and a 9. For sheer Enjoyment-Whilst-Reading, I would give it a 9 but objectively speaking I think it would be more of a 8 – Excellent, only because there is so much more coming.

Reading Next: Dust by Joan Frances Turner

Title: Dangerous Neighbors

Author: Beth Kephart

Genre: Historical/YA

Publisher: Egmont USA
Publication Date: August 2010
Hardcover 192 pages

Could any two sisters be more tightly bound together than the twins, Katherine and Anna? Yet love and fate intervene to tear them apart. Katherine’s guilt and sense of betrayal leaves her longing for death, until a surprise encounter and another near catastrophe rescue her from a tragic end. Set against the magical kaleidoscope of the Philadelphia Centennial fair of 1876, National Book Award nominee Beth Kephart’s book conjures the sweep and scope of a moment in history in which the glowing future of a nation is on display to the disillusioned gaze of a girl who has determined that she no longer has a future. The tale is a pulse by pulse portrait of a young heroine’s crisis of faith and salvation in the face of unbearable loss.

Stand alone or series Stand alone

Why did I read this book: I heard nothing but praise for Beth Kephart’s books and I saw this post by Amy on The Beth Effect and thought it was about time to read one of her books and when I got a copy of this book in the post, I was more than happy to give it a go.

How did I get this book: ARC from the publisher

Review:

Dangerous Neighbors is my first Beth Kephart book and it I thought it was a lovely, albeit short, introduction to the author’s exquisite writing. It’s a historical novel, set in Philadelphia, during the 1876 Centennial Exhibition where Katherine goes to say goodbye to the world, or perhaps even more, goodbye to her late sister.

The story is an exploration of grief from the perfective of Katherine after her twin sister Anna has died and it deals with the aftermath of her death and the feelings of loneliness, loss and guilt as well as flashbacks to Anna and Katherine’s relationship in the months before the tragedy occurs. The two always had a tight bond but once Anna falls in love with a baker boy, the sisters start to grow apart and it is in this elusive world of the “growing apart” that the majority of the story takes place both when Anna was alive and ultimately after she is dead as Katherine examines the past and the bleak future.

I loved, since I love this type of narrative, how Katherine’s is a bit of an unreliable narrator because the story is of course, tempered by her view of the world, by her deep love for her sister, and how she perceives their relationship to be. Where does their difference lie? Anna although gone when the story starts and present only in flashbacks from Katherine’s point of view is as much as an in-depth character as it can be: but is Anna really how Katherine paints her to be or is she someone that is just deeply different from her sister, perhaps more adaptable and more modern?

Dangerous Neighbors is a novel of grief – so sad and so fraught with unimaginable fear as well, because even though Katherine can’t see her life without her sister, she actually does love living, perhaps in a different way than Anna did. It is a novel about the dichotomy between the old and the new which is deftly explored in the relationship between their mother (a suffragist) and their father (who is afraid of “dangerous neighbours”) , in the setting of the world of wonders that was the Centennial fair and in the new reality of Katherine’s life now without the security of her bond with her sister, which was a bond of love but also of self-imposed duty.

It is a beautiful, so beautiful, story of one’s unravelling, of sour realisation and self-awareness: it begins with a fragmented Katherine and ends with a Katherine in the way to putting the pieces back together (although not all pieces).

This is a precious little gem, and I loved it.

Notable Quotes/Parts:

That night Katherine gave up trying to talk sense into Anna. That night she did not try to argue her twin sister out of her gargantuan joy; she did not try to save her. It was on New Year’s Eve that Katherine decided to begin to look the other way on purpose, but this time without anger, without the intent to prove a point. She decided to stop protecting Anna, so that she might love her more truly.

Verdict: I feel that Dangerous Neighbors was a great introduction to Beth Kephart’s writing: it is a lovely gem, full of in-depth characters, an exploration of grief which is of course, as some of the best books about grief, a book about life. Very Good.

Rating: 7 – Very Good – leaning towards a 8

Reading Next: The Disreputable History of Frankie Laundau-Banks by E. Lochart

To: The Society of Totally Awesome Books

Subject: For your consideration – Jaclyn Moriarty’s books

******

Dear Society of Totally Awesome Books,

It is with the utmost delight that I write to you today. I have found a new-to-me author and I would like to bring Jaclyn Moriarty’s Ashbury/Brookfield books before this esteemed society to ask that these books are officially granted “Totally Awesome Books” status. Below I give a SPOILER FREE overview of the series and try to explain why I think these books should be granted the aforementioned status.

But first, a bit of background: Jaclyn Moriarty is an Australian writer of (mostly) YA novels. The books I am submitting for your consideration are known as the “Ashbury/Brookfield” series that consists of four standalone novels but which are linked by setting, narrative and a few recurring characters. The series revolve around students who attend two schools: the private, exclusive Ashbury High and the comprehensive, public Brookfield High. All fours novels are epistolary novels , i.e. written in the form of or carried on by letters, emails, journal entries and other types of writing (including essays for school).

The Ashbury/Brookfield series of novels are, in order of publication (please note the different titles and covers depending on where the novels have been published):

1- Feeling Sorry For Celia
2- Finding Cassie Crazy (AUS/UK title) or The Year of Secret Assignments (US title)
3- The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie (AUS title) or Becoming Bindy Mackenzie (UK title), or The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie (US title)
4- Dreaming of Amelia (AUS/UK title) or The Ghosts of Ashbury High (US title)

I have come to this series very late (the first book was published a good ten years ago!) and started with the latest book, Dreaming of Amelia / The Ghosts of Ashbury High :

I will have to admit that the book took me completely by surprise, and I loved it so completely, it is now one of my top 3 reads of 2010. I have written a review which I submit along with this correspondence as Attachment #1.

I LOVE epistolary novels, dear Society of Totally Awesome Books and it is a fact that one of the reasons why I loved that book so much is Jaclyn Moriarty’s complete mastery of the narrative form. When I learnt that all of her novels were in that format I went on a binge, bought all three previous novels and read them straight away and loved them all.

Take for example, Feeling Sorry for Celia:

which is a book from this girl’s, Elizabeth Clarry, perspective. Elizabeth attends Ashbury High and her new English teacher (a recurrent character throughout the series) decides that students of Ashbury and students of Brookfield must start a pen pal project, a twofold mission to rekindle the “joy of the envelope” as well as an attempt to cease hostility between the two neighbouring schools. Elizabeth’s pen pal is a girl named Christina and it is via their exchanges that we learn about both girls: how Christina’s best friends are her dog Lochie and her friend since childhood Celia, someone who keeps pulling disappearing act (the latest: she has joined a circus) and whose well-being is always at the back of Elizabeth’s mind. We also learn that Elizabeth is responsible, sporty (she loves to run), as well as being self-conscious and troubled by the fact that she might not be a typical teenager. Her narrative is interspersed by (obviously her own unconscious) communications from for example the Association of Teenagers or the Cold Hard Truth Association. We also learn that Christina is having problems with her boyfriend after they decide to have sex and that Elizabeth and her mother communicate solely by notes stuck on the refrigerator.

Feeling Sorry for Celia can be seen as a coming of age story as Elizabeth considers her relationships, the old ones with her family and her friend Celia and the new ones with Christina and a potential suitor and little by little gains self-confidence until the last letter she exchanges with the Association of Teenagers which made me jump up and down.

Hereby I present Evidence #1 for granting this series a “TAB” status:

Dear Society of Totally Awesome Books, it is a fact of life that a book that makes you literally jump and down is a totally awesome book.

But that is not all. The second book in the series is Finding Cassie Crazy or The Year of Secret Assingments (don’t you prefer the original title? I know I do….) :

Which is a book that depicts the second year of the pen pal “experiment” and it is from the perspective of three girls, best friends since forever: Emily, Lydia and Cassie (all three from Ashbury) and their correspondence with three guys from Brookfield, Charlie, Seb and Mathew.

This is a book where Moriarty explores not only the difference between the two schools but also the stereotypes that surround both. I loved how all the first letters to each other, the kids are exploring, teasing, trying to establish limits at the same time that they try to go beyond them. The girls especially are awesome at calling the guys out on their sexism and on the stereotyping but above all the girls are awesome, period. They are extremely loyal to one another and that loyalty comes into play when Cassie’s correspondence with Charlie goes awry (they don’t even know if he exists, at first) and their dedication to one another is incredible to behold and how Emily and Lydia (by the way, Emily and Lydia are two of the main protagonists of Ghosts of Ashbury High) want to protect Cassie and how Cassie is broken for several reasons. The book is also very romantic, probably the most romantic of the bunch (but without being extra-sugary).

And then there are the secret assignments, the fight for privacy rights, the fact that the girls are strong yet vulnerable and how it all warmed my heart so much, I hugged the book.

Thus, I present Evidence #2 for granting this series a “TAB” status:

Dear Society of Totally Awesome Books, when a book warms your heart so much you have to HUG it, then you know that you are reading something special and totally awesome.

And just when I thought Jaclyn Moriarty could not possibly be any more good, she gave me Bindy Mackenzie……

The third book in the series and the last one I read is: The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie, AKA Becoming Bindy Mackenzie in the UK, AKA The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie in the US (are you confused yet? Can we please agree that there is NO REASON whatsoever for three different titles for the same book?) :

Society of Totally Awesome Books, you have no IDEA how much I love Bindy Mackenzie, the character. And do you know what is the best thing about it? That Bindy Mackenzie is very possibly, the least likeable of Moriarty’s characters. The book opens as Bindy learns what some of her fellow students – from a new class called: Friendship And Development – really think about her and the opinions are not really that positive.

Cue to Bindy’s dismay. Because she truly thinks she is the best person around, the most positive, the most helpful student that ever walked Ashbury High’s corridors but through her own narrative we see that she is as a matter of fact: arrogant, judgemental, stuck up. She does honestly believe she is being kind when she is being condescending. Her next step is to stop being nice to her colleagues and to tell the truth of what she thinks about them. THEN, to realise that maybe they do have a point and THEN to start a process of deconstruction and eventual reconstruction of her own personality.

Bindy is an extremely intelligent girl, with best grades at everything, very precocious too and perhaps even a bit of a child prodigy: she wrote at the age of ten: “I’ve been struggling a bit with Ulysses by James Joyce”. She thinks that she is NOT a teenager because she can’t be bothered with regular teenage stuff. She also had a role to play in the Cassie-Charlie mystery in the previous novel and in here we see it from her point of view.

The fact that I came to care to deeply for Bindy is a testament to this writer’s insane writing skills. That this is transmitted via stuff like BOXES to keep words like REVERIE from expanding or stationary headings like: “The Philosophical Musings of Bindy Mackenzie”, “Night Time Musings of Bindy Mackenzie” that once you learn why exactly these even exist half way through the book, I guarantee heartbreak ensue. And then dears sirs, Moriarty writes the most heartbreaking scene of them all when Bindy has a talk with her mother and I think I need a new copy of my book because this one has been irreparably lost to tears.

In this manner, I present Evidence #3 for granting this series a “TAB” status:

Dear Society of Totally Awesome Books, when a book breaks your heart into tiny million pieces and you find yourself sobbing so much for a character that you didn’t even think you would like, that you nearly drowns in your own tears, only to then have the heart put back together by the incredible author then you know that you are reading a totally awesome book.

I hope I have made my case with the examples above but just to reiterate why I love these books so much:

We are taking about a series that have the most excellent female characters as its protagonists: female characters that are strong (without being kick-ass), diverse (although perhaps, one criticism I have is that they might not be as diverse as they could have been in terms of race or sexuality) and extremely complex. They are all flawed yet sympathetic in different ways, when they make serious mistakes they work to fix them; they are not afraid to say they are sorry nor are they afraid to fight when they know they are right. These girls are intelligent (although not necessarily book-smart) , they have friends whom they are loyal to and hobbies they love. When there is a romantic interest they do not become shadows of themselves. The romance works become it is part of their lives, adding to it, not by making them separate.

There is no character major or minor that is not described with great empathy by the author.

In terms of narrative, I already said how much I adore epistolary novels and how much the author is great at it. This is also because she is a master of the random that is not really random; each book has different types of correspondence and it never becomes old or repetitive because there is variety.

Epistolary novels are about perspective as well as the possibility of unreliable narrators and it needs to be taken into consideration that these characters are building letters, and depending on who is writing and whom they are addressed to, and who is going to read it, there might be not a lot of truth there. For example: an essay is going to be read by a teacher. How much truth can a student actually write when a figure of authority is going to read what they are writing? It requires a rapport from the reader and the need to read between the lines.

The books are also about revealing stereotypes and prejudice and getting past them.

These are all a bit of mystery novels too: in book 1 there is a secret about a father and a secret admirer; in book 2, is Cassie really crazy? book 3: is someone trying to kill Bindy? In book 4, are there ghosts in Ashbury High?

The books are often funny:

“I’m only writing it because of Mr Botherit. He’s our new English teacher and he seems really upset that the Art of Letter Writing is lost to the Internet generation, so he’s going to rekindle the joy of the ENVELOPE. Next he’s going to bring in a club and a sabre tooth tiger and rekindle the joy of the STONE AGE.

But also sad, with subtle ways of conveying hurt:

“The last few days I’ve been feeling like I can hear people crying everywhere. Behind the shower water I could hear a sound like someone just sobbing and sobbing.”

A series where small, random things have huge significance: like the reason for painting one’s bedroom wall, for breaking a mirror, for putting your hand in the air, for stationary paper, for words inside boxes to prevent their expansion; when one has an asthma attack; how name calling and choosing one’s name can change things, double meanings and the excessive use of exclamation points!

You will remember that the last time I contacted you was back in 2009 to forward Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen Thief’s series for “TAB” consideration and I am very grateful for your reply letting me know that they had already been granted “Totally Awesome” status ages ago. Therefore, I do appreciate the fact that I might be, once again, way late on the uptake and that you might have already granted these books “TAB” status. Quite honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised. In which case please do disregard this missive. I shall proceed now to forward a copy to your sister organisations: the Society of Author Crushes, The Society of Lovers of Epistolary Novels as well as the Association for the Appreciation of Awesome Female Characters.

You will hopefully hear from me again in the future, and I remain as always, your loyal member.

With my best regards,

Ana

Title: Plain Kate

Author: Erin Bow

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Publication Date: September 2010
Hardcover: 336 pages

Plain Kate lives in a world of superstitions and curses, where a song can heal a wound and a shadow can work deep magic. As the wood-carver’s daughter, Kate held a carving knife before a spoon, and her wooden talismans are so fine that some even call her “witch-blade”: a dangerous nickname in a country where witches are hunted and burned in the square.

For Kate and her village have fallen on hard times. Kate’s father has died, leaving her alone in the world. And a mysterious fog now covers the countryside, ruining crops and spreading fear of hunger and sickness. The townspeople are looking for someone to blame, and their eyes have fallen on Kate.

Enter Linay, a stranger with a proposition: In exchange for her shadow, he’ll give Kate the means to escape the angry town, and what’s more, he’ll grant her heart’s wish. It’s a chance for her to start over, to find a home, a family, a place to belong. But Kate soon realizes she can’t live shadowless forever — and that Linay’s designs are darker than she ever dreamed.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did we get this book: We both got signed ARCs at BEA.

Why did we get this book: We went to the YA Buzz Editor’s panel at BEA and Erin Bow was one of the panelists, when she started talking about her book, we both started foaming at the mouth to get it. About half an hour later, we are walking around the signings session and lo and behold: Plain Kate! Erin Bow! THERE! So we just got in line and got us lovely copies.

Review:

First Impressions:

Ana: I came away from BEA in May with about 100 books in my suitcase and I can honestly say that Plain Kate was my most anticipated read out of the bunch after I saw the author speaking at one of the panels. We often say here at The Book Smugglers’ HQ that sometimes having that much expectation works against a book, as unfair as it is. I think this is at work here, at least in my case: I loved many, many things about Plain Kate: the writing, the setting, the main characters, and it is really, a very good book but ultimately I felt strangely underwhelmed and somewhat disappointed that it wasn’t as good as I hoped.

Thea: As Ana says, Plain Kate was a total surprise at BEA. I hadn’t heard of the author nor a peep about the book, but when we heard Erin Bow read a passage aloud, I instantly knew I had to get a copy. And you know what? I walked away from Plain Kate feeling emotionally worn, but immensely satisfied. For me, the book lived up to my expectations, and then some. I loved this book.

On the plot:

Ana: What I liked the most about Plain Kate was the atmospheric medieval Russian setting and the evocative, beautiful prose which combined to give the book a distinct flavouring, a feeling that the reader is taking part in one of those old tales. To start with, the story is extremely inviting, welcoming even, as the tale of Plain Kate unfolds. From her relationship with her father, then with the village and its support (or lack) system, from her pride on the fact that she was one of the best wood-carvers that there was even though she was not officially part of a guild; to the increasing fear of witchery and what happens to people who let fear dictate their actions. Had the story followed this pattern and had Kate’s story gradually develop on its own, it would have been awesome, I think.

But soon enough, after Kate meets the witch Linay and makes a Faustian deal with him, it becomes clear that Plain Kate is at its core a Revenge story, the Revenge is what moves the plot along but because the Revenge is to be exacted by someone OTHER than Kate it is as though the story suddenly moves its focus and the main character becomes a supporting character of her own story (but more on that further down).

I did find the story itself interesting (and I love the idea of how important one’s shadow is) even though not necessarily original but I liked its uncompromising darkness. Although the execution of the plot was not flawless and I counted at least two instances of Extreme Coincidence to move it along. I would say that the first part of the novel was my favourite, then it lags a bit in the middle and it picks a bit again towards the ending which makes for a very uneven read.

It also needs to be said that I LOVED the fact that there is no romance in sight, none, zero. It is all about Kate and her friends and enemies and that the ending was a happy as it could be given the circumstances. But writing this I realise that perhaps the one reason I have to LOVE the book is perhaps the wrong reason: I love it for what it is NOT, rather because of what it IS.

Thea: I have to disagree, Ana. Though the book is titled Plain Kate, and though Kate is clearly the protagonist, I loved that she is an indirect heroine, by someone else’s design rather than of her own choosing. I love that ultimately, Linay chose Kate as his subject, not because of any innate magical ability or because she was born under a certain star when the planets aligned or whatever Chosen One sort of hoopla – rather, Kate is our heroine because of her perceived weakness, and over the course of the book this flourishes into strength. Instead of following Kate on a journey of her own design, Plain Kate takes an ordinary – plain – girl, and gives us her adventure in a game of a much bigger design.

I think that’s awesome.

From a writing standpoint, Ms. Bow’s prose is smooth and lush – as I remarked to Ana in an email, this book reminded me so of Garth Nix’s Sabriel (and not only because there’s a talking cat). Written in the style of the fantasy novels of my childhood – relying on emotions and almost poetic descriptions as opposed to a focus on action or romance (as seems to be the modern trend), Plain Kate is almost nostalgic. And, as a fan of Tamora Pierce and Garth Nix, Ms. Bow is a bonafide throwback, and I mean this in the best possible way.

With regard to setting, I completely agree with Ana – the medieval Eastern European feel to the novel is perhaps not entirely unique, though it is well written and conceived. The brutality of people looking to blame “witches” for their misfortunes, their propensity for hate, the mob mentality, it’s all unflinchingly seen in Plain Kate. At the same time, there is this underlying thread for wanting to belong – for acceptance and love for oneself, which is handled beautifully, I think. As Ana mentions above, Plain Kate does have a revenge story (in fact, it is the impetus for the plot), but I don’t think it’s fair to say that this novel is a revenge book. More than anything, Plain Kate is about acceptance and sacrifice.

On the characters:

Ana: On one hand the majority of the characters are complex and never fall into one-dimensional territory. That is especially true with regards to Linay who has compelling characteristic that makes him sympathetic even when he is being heinous. I appreciated the difficult, intricate love-hate relationship he forms with Kate.

On the other have I have mixed feeling directed to the protagonist of the novel. She has all the markings of a great character: strength of character, a sense of self-worth, empathy and quiet determination. It is a shame that she is written into a story that increasingly becomes not her own and which makes her more of a “reactive” character than an “active” one as most of the things that happen in the book and which serve to move the story further are events that happen TO Kate rather than out her own volition, even those some of these reactions are actually pretty cool because of who she is.

And then there is Taggle, her cat, whom I loved so totally, although I can’t really say why for risk of spoiling it but he is full of heroism and dedication and has an arc of his own which is a very interesting pointing at another consequence of Kate’s Faustian pact with Linay.

Thea: I share Ana’s love for Taggle, and her mixed emotions towards Linay (and I would extend that to Behjet, as well); it is the mark of a gifted writer that a reader can loathe a character and yet still feel sympathy and understanding at the same time. Plain Kate’s world is a rough one, and her journeys take her to people that fear her skill at carving, taking her natural talent for witchcraft, and her mismatched colored eyes only exacerbating her position. Each character in this book has surprising depth, with no simple “good” or “bad” cookie-cutter types of heroes or villains.

And this, of course, extends to Kate as well. While I completely agree that Kate’s story is more of a “reactive” one, I do think this is part of the appeal of Plain Kate. Plain Kate begins her journey because she is singled out for her weakness – when she isn’t weak at all. Using the lessons of her father, Kate gradually takes hold of her own story, and by the end of the book, she has made her choices (heartbreaking though they may be) and won me over completely. It’s very clever characterization when you think about it, this slide from utterly passive and reactive to aggressively proactive.

And a quick note as to the adjective “Plain” prefacing Kate’s name. While it is true that Kate is neither beautiful nor ugly, I personally think that the “Plain” refers to Kate’s simple honesty, or as the Miriam-Webster Dictionary says, “free from artifice.” That is Kate to the letter.

Final Thoughts, Observations and Rating:

Ana: It is the strangest thing: Plain Kate has many elements that should have me truly love this book but I was left cold. I wish I could be more positive but two weeks after reading it, all I can remember is the cat. I did love the prose though and I will be first in line to get Erin Bow’s next book (which sounds awesome).

Thea: I loved Plain Kate from beginning to end, and I most certainly will be back for more from author Erin Bow. Absolutely recommended.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the first chapter:

A long time ago, in a market town by a looping river, there lived an orphan girl called Plain Kate.

She was called this because her father had introduced her to the new butcher, saying: “This is my beloved Katerina Svetlana, after her mother who died birthing her and God rest her soul, but I call her just plain Kate.” And the butcher, swinging a cleaver, answered: “That’s right enough, Plain Kate she is, plain as a stick.” A man who treasured humor, especially his own, the butcher repeated this to everyone. After that, she was called Plain Kate. But her father called her Kate My Star.

Plain Kate’s father Poitr was a woodcarver. He gave Kate a carving knife before most children might be given a spoon. She could whittle before she could walk. When she was still a child, she could carve a rose that strangers would stop to smell, a dragonfly that trout would rise to strike.

In Kate’s little town of Samilae, people thought that there was magic in a knife. A person who could wield a knife well was, in their eyes, half-way to a witch. So Plain Kate was very small the first time someone spat at her and crooked their fingers.

Her father sat her down and spoke to her with great seriousness. “You are not a witch, Katerina. There is magic in the world, and some of it is wholesome, and some of it is not, but it is a thing that is in the blood, and it is not in yours.

“The foolish will always treat you badly, because they think you are not beautiful,” he said, and she knew this was true. Plain Kate: She was plain as as stick, and thin as a stick, and flat as stick. She had one eye the color of river mud and one eye the color of the river. Her nose was too long and her brows were too strong. Her father kissed her twice, once above each eyebrow. “We cannot help what fools think. But understand, it is your skill with a blade that draws this talk. If you want to give up your carving, you have my blessing.”

“I will never give it up,” she answered.

And he laughed and called her his Brave Star, and taught her to carve even better.

They were busy. Everyone in that country, no matter how poor, wore a talisman called an objarka, and those who could hung larger objarkas on horse stalls and door posts and above their marriage beds. No lintel was uncarved in that place, and walls bore saints in niches, and roads were marked with little shrines on posts, which housed sometimes saints, and sometimes older, stranger things. Plain Kate’s father was even given the honor of replacing Samilae’s wiezi, the great column at the center of the market that showed the town’s angels and coats of arms, and, at the top, supported the carved wooden roof that sheltered the carved wooden gods. The new wiezi was such a good work that the Guild Masters sent a man from Lov to see it. The man made Kate’s father a full master on the spot.

“My daughter did some of the angels,” he told the man, gathering Kate up and pulling her forward.

The man looked up at the faces that were so beautiful they seemed sad, the wings that looked both soft and strong, like the wings of swans that could kill a man with one blow. “Apprentice her,” he said.

“If she likes,” Poitr answered. “And when she is of age.”

When the guild man went away, Plain Kate chided her father. “You know I will be your apprentice!”

“You are the star of my heart,” he said. “But it is two years yet before you are of prenticing age. Anything might happen.”

She laughed at him: “What will happen is that I will be a full master by the time I am twenty.”

But what happened was that her father died.

Rating:

Ana: 6 – Good

Thea: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: The Way of Kings by Brandon “we lurves him” Sanderson

Title: WE

Author: John Dickinson

Genre: Science Fiction, “Young Adult”

Publisher: David Fickling Books (UK)
Publication Date: January 2010
Paperback: 288 pages

Paul Munro must leave Earth. He is sent to a station at the edge of the solar system, that is manned by just four people. There he must find out why certain signals are not reaching Earth.

Before he begins his journey, they remove his World Ear – a tiny communications device that integrates the internet with the brain. And when he reaches his destination, body wasted by low gravity, exiled for life and cut off from all the other humans with whom he shared his thoughts, his companions ask: “Did you consent?”

He cannot answer.

How did I get this book: Bought (via Waterstones UK and downloaded to my B&N Nook. Gotta love the international appeal of the ebook!)

Why did I read this book: I’ll be honest – the first thing to catch my eye with this book was the cover. And then, when I read the synopsis, I was hooked. SO hooked, in fact, that I had to buy the book immediately from the UK (as it isn’t available in the US).

Review:

In a not-so-distant future, mankind has changed. The majority of the human population is interlinked by the World Ear, an implant that allows its user to instantaneously connect with anyone else who is implanted, communicating in a mixture of images, sounds, and even transmitted sensations like touch, scent, or taste. The World Ear has allowed humanity to supersede the individual; it has allowed humanity to be connected in one massive consciousness, with information received and dispersed at the speed of thought.

There is no need for speech.

There is no need for strong emotion.

The World Ear has taken humanity to its next evolutionary stage.

WE is the story of Paul Munro, one man selected by the collective consciousness of the World Ear as a telemetry specialist on an important outpost at the furthest reach of the solar system, dedicated to analyze the gas planet, its moon, and search for any sign of intelligent life. But because of the unique problems posed by the planet and moon, none of the station’s inhabitants can be connected to the World Ear. Our first introduction to Paul is immediately after he awakens from the procedure that has disconnected him from the network – and his abject terror at being utterly alone, mute and almost completely incapable of communication. After his eight year journey (in stasis) to the outpost at the edge of the solar system, Paul gradually adjusts to new life with the three other humans that will likely be his only companions for the rest of his life – May (exuberant doctor), Lewis (imposing commander), and Vandamme (partner to the lost telemetrist and a self-contained astro-geologist) – learning to speak, emote, and interact. As Paul becomes more articulate and self-conscious, he suspects that there is something amiss in his mission to uncover the source of the interference with transmissions to Earth. With his suspicions mounting, Paul is determined to discover the truth at any cost.

This is the first book I have read by John Dickinson, and what a fabulous introduction it turned out to be. WE is one hell of a novel. This is cerebral science fiction at its best, posing ambitious questions and demanding its characters and readers to confront what it truly means to be human. It is one of those books that gets better the longer one thinks about it; processing, digesting, and interpreting the data in every possible way (much like Paul’s “hunter” program). Ever since discovering Stephen Baxter last year, I have been on the lookout for hard science fiction titles that manage to blend human character appeal with the cold, cruelty of space – and WE manages to do just that.

Reminiscent of Baxter’s Titan and of M.T. Anderson’s dystopian SF masterpiece, Feed, WE examines the meaning of humanity, the definition of intelligent life, and the value of the individual in relation to the whole. It is in these quiet questions, asked both explicitly by the characters, and implicitly of the readers, that WE shines. Is emancipation from “the We” (as the characters aboard the station call Earth and the World Ear) a good thing? At what level of connection does the individual begin to become irrelevant? The We is utilitarianism in the extreme, with a new overall consciousness comprised of ALL its interlinked consciousnesses – akin to a giant brain, with each human acting as a neuron, firing signals and interacting with others to produce the desired result. Instead of painting a dystopian future where consumerism runs amok (as in Anderson’s Feed), WE’s future is more quietly menacing – our cult of personality and fixation on the individual falls to the greater good, which sounds fine, doesn’t it? Except in such a society, there is no individual autonomy – just as protagonist Paul is asked by Lewis, “Did you consent?” he is unable to answer.

On a less-nebulous/more-concrete level, the reason why WE is able to provoke such intriguing questions is because the science, the setting, and the characters are impeccably written. From the technical aspects to the science (the space elevator, the limitations of the World Ear, the physiological changes to those in deep space, the temperature and atmosphere readings) Mr. Dickinson appears to have done his homework, working within the parameters of our current understanding of physics and our own solar system (see additional thoughts below for more on that). The images of a distant gas giant and its icy moon are richly – if coldly – detailed, providing a harsh, unforgiving, and evocative backdrop for the novel. On the character level, WE is told through Paul’s observations – effective, since Paul’s communication skills are underdeveloped to say the least, especially in his exchanges with his fellow crew members. In such an unrelenting, isolated environment, these character are a microcosm of humanity – Van, who turns to religion; May and Lewis, who cling to a different hope for the future; Paul, obstinate and determined to uncover the truth. As these characters say in the book, they are the last four humans in existence, differentiated from their siblings on Earth because of their disconnection from the We, their ability to feel acute emotion, and even physically with their low-gravity distorted bodies. It’s a scary and effective picture, with these fragile creatures struggling for life in the most inhospitable of locations. These characters are flawed, genuine creatures that make questionable decisions – and that is part of the beauty of WE. Ultimately, regardless of whether or not Paul and the crew made the right choices, they are able to make a choice, and that is the important thing.

From a plotting perspective, I am loathe to say too much for fear of spoilers – suffice to say that WE is a psychological thriller, with a mystery and a powerful revelation. Though this is more of a quieter, slowly simmering plot, heavy on dialogue and internal reflection and lighter on action, WE may not appeal to everyone (this is no military science fiction novel, so if you are looking for nonstop battle scenes, look elsewhere). That isn’t to say the plotting is poor or the book cumbersome – because it’s not. I devoured WE in a single sitting.

What else can I say? I loved this book. On a final note concerning the genre – WE is a young adult novel as much as, say, The Handmaiden’s Tale or 1984 or The Martian Chronicles (all books that are frequently shelved in the YA section, as well as the mainstream SF or Literature sections). Which is to say, WE doesn’t really fit into the typical, current mold of romance-featuring, adventure filled coming-of-age sort of novel that one might normally associate with YA F/SF (in fact, author John Dickinson has blogged about the mis-categorization of this book). That isn’t to say that WE shouldn’t be read by young adults – rather, it is a book that can transcend age barriers. Yes, neither the protagonist nor any other character in this book is a young adult, but need that be a defining quality for the genre?

How about I put it like this: WE is a mainstream Science Fiction novel that I encourage anyone – of any age – to read. Rife with imposing, challenging questions, WE resonates as one of the best new science fiction titles I have had the pleasure of reading this year.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

He had asked to be alone when he woke. After all, he had reasoned, from now on he would always be alone.

They had told him there would be no pain from the operation. He had looked up the techniques they would use, checked the possible complications and had understood why they had said that. Nevertheless, something in him was surprised to discover that they had been right. There was none. There was only emptiness.

He blinked, automatically holding his eyelids closed for just that fraction of a second that would summon his displays. But no voice spoke in his head. No images appeared, no lists, nothing.

There were no weather reports, news pictures, financial statements, alerts concerning the state of his house or vehicle or the transmission systems that he was supposed to maintain. There were no demands from his supervisors. And there were no personal messages. Like everyone else he always went to those first. But there were none – no loving images, no jokes or pictures, no one wishing him luck or promising to remember him. There was nothing more from Her. There never would be.

You can read a full extract online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Though he never specifically mentions the name of the planet and moon, this all takes place on Neptune (a gaseous planet, furthest in our solar system) and its moon, Triton (I’m pointing this out because I’ve seen a few reviews call the planet Jupiter, probably because of the reference to a Great Dark Spot – which also happens to appear on Neptune) Since I am kind of an amateur astronomy dork (emphasis on amateur), here are a few cool things about Neptune, and its largest moon.

Like Uranus (though smaller) Neptune is a gaseous planet, composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, but as the most distant planet in our solar system and the coldest, it also has an abundance of ice – water, ammonia, and methane. Neptune has thirteen moons, the largest of which is Triton (the moon on which WE’s space station is built). Now the COOL thing about Triton is that it is one of the few moons in our solar system (and the only large moon) that has a retrograde orbit – that is, it orbits Neptune in the opposite direction of the planet’s rotation. And, like our moon, Triton has a synchronous rotation with Neptune – one side faces Neptune at all times. The other cool thing about Triton is that because it has a weirdo tilt, both of its poles take turns facing the Sun – which in turn means, Triton is geologically active (i.e. the moon has volcanic activity and active nitrogen geysers, caused by heating from the Sun). Triton also is one of the coldest objects in our solar system, with surface temperature readings of -235°C (-391°F). (Intriguingly, Neptune itself is frigidly cold, but at its liquid mantle core reaches 5000 Kelvin) The observations we have of Neptune and Triton are from Voyager 2, the only spacecraft to fly by the planet and its moon in 1989.

You can read more about Neptune and its moons on NASA’s Solar System Exploration page HERE.

Rating: 9 – Damn Near Perfection, and one of my favorite novels of 2010 so far.

Reading Next: Plain Kate by Erin Bow

Title: John Belushi is Dead (US)/ Hollywood Ending (AUS)

Author: Kathy Charles

Genre: YA/ Contemporary

Publisher: Text (AUS) / MTV (US)
Publication Date: 2009 (AUS) / August 24 2010 (US)
Paperback: 320 pages

IN THE END WE ALL FADE TO BLACK.

Pink-haired Hilda and oddball loner Benji are not your typical teenagers. Instead of going to parties or hanging out
…more IN THE END WE ALL FADE TO BLACK.

Pink-haired Hilda and oddball loner Benji are not your typical teenagers. Instead of going to parties or hanging out at the mall, they comb the city streets and suburban culs-de-sac of Los Angeles for sites of celebrity murder and suicide. Bound by their interest in the macabre, Hilda and Benji neglect their schoolwork and their social lives in favor of prowling the most notorious crime scenes in Hollywood history and collecting odd mementos of celebrity death.

Hilda and Benji’s morbid pastime takes an unexpected turn when they meet Hank, the elderly, reclusive tenant of a dilapidated Echo Park apartment where a silent movie star once stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors. Hilda feels a strange connection with Hank and comes to care deeply for her paranoid new friend as they watch old movies together and chat the sweltering afternoons away. But when Hank’s downstairs neighbor Jake, a handsome screenwriter, inserts himself into the equation and begins to hint at Hank’s terrible secrets, Hilda must decide what it is she’s come to Echo Park searching for . . . and whether her fascination with death is worth missing out on life.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did I get this book: ARC from MTV

Why did I read this book: The publisher contacted me and offered a review copy and after reading the blurb I thought I would like to try and read it.

Review:

Hilda and her friend Benji are a couple of teenagers who live in LA and go around visiting sites of celebrity murder and suicide. In one of these incursions, in search of the apartment in which an old Hollywood actor stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors, they end up in a rundown Echo Park apartment where an elderly, bitter man called Hank lives. Recognising his loneliness, Hilda starts visiting Hank often and sharing stories over watching old Hollywood movies and then striking yet another friendship with Hank’s neighbour, Jake. As Hilda’s friendship with both Hank and Jake develop, hers and Benji’s start to fall apart.

John Belushi is Dead is quite an interesting book, one that provided me with a fascinating journey.

Starting with Hilda and Benji’s interest in the macabre side of LA/Hollywood and its celebrities. The narrative is constructed in a very clever fashion by introducing its main characters in the middle of one of these raids and then interspersing the text with glimpses into their past. Hilda and Benji have been brought together by a fascination with death, albeit for different reasons. Hilda’s motivations are clear to herself and to the reader: the sole survivor of a horrible car crash that killed her parents, she feels like she has cheated death and is only buying her time until it catches up to her. Hilda is of course, the narrator, the main character, the one that makes it possible for the reader to connect with or possibly even relate to. Benji, on the other hand has no similar back story and his motivations are a bit shadier. Why is this important?

Because most of the book is spent on sites where death occurred or with the characters talking about death. And the author doesn’t shy away from graphic details either. I admit to feeling extremely uncomfortable reading about crimes, suicides, accidental deaths of celebrities and I felt very much like a voyeur. It felt a bit too morbid for me and very difficult to understand where these characters were coming from. We are talking about visiting sites such as where Sharon Tate died, or where James Dean’s car crashed or buying “memorabilia” such as tiles from a famous actress swimming pool.

This book brought to mind something that author John Green talked about in an event I attended recently, an analogy between mirrors and windows and how sometimes when we look at someone we are looking at a mirror and seeing ourselves or what WE expect that person to be or behave when in reality we should be looking through a window. I think that this analogy can also be applied to books and reading and how sometimes, we read excepting to find a certain story and expecting the characters to behave similarly to how we would behave when in fact, a book is a window into a different world. Although I do think that it is possible to combine both when reading: depending on how you focus your eyes, you can look into a room via a window and still be able to see your reflection. Meaning: it is, I think rather impossible to distance oneself completely when reading.

But nevertheless I was extremely aware of this analogy when reading this particular book and how it felt utterly incapable to understand what could possibly move these characters into talking about or visiting these places. What is a statement to the writer’s ability is the fact that beyond the uncomfortable feeling, there was also an element of interest. And that comes from the fact that the writer expertly handles her subject by introducing a plethora of characters with different motivations (going back to the last paragraph) and exploring the different ways that people deal with death and with Dark Tourism (which is what Benji and Hilda are effectively doing here) : from curious morbidity to exploitation, from sympathy to genuine care and remembrance.

I spoke about my journey as a reader when reading this book and this is part of it. That at the same time that the morbidity and the interest on these deaths felt wrong to me, I also had to confront the fact that I too, have done something similar before. I have visited a concentration camp in Austria; a town that has been decimated by the Plague in England; a battlefield in Scotland; and just last Sunday I was walking through a small town cemetery looking at old graves. As much as I would like to think that I did all these in remembrance and in a respectful manner, who is to say that there isn’t an element of voyeurism and morbidity? For that realisation alone, the book was well worth the read.

Having said that, as it happens with all good books that deal with death, this is a book about life and the living, and having to carry on living despite past mistakes, difficulty, loss and grief. And as the plot it builds up with darkness, Hilda starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel and a way out if it. I loved her different relationships and way of connecting with all characters: her memories from her hippy parents; her problematic dealings with her aunt who is now raising her; her budding romance with Jake; her strange, difficult relationship with Bejji and her even more difficult friendship with Hank.

The original title John Belushi is Dead when it was first published in Australia was Hollywood Ending and both the title and cover of the book are , I think, more fitting than the US ones. Not only because they point to the fact that book is dark and possibly disturbing but also the title is twofold. It refers to both that idealised, happy Hollywood Ending and to the real, it happens-too-often Hollywood Ending.

And that brings me to the ending of the book itself and how it feels disconnected to the remainder of the book. The build up is such that I believed an all-around happy Hollywood Ending would be not only impossible but also unwelcomed and unrealistic. When it does happen, it feels like a cop out. Although of course I was rooting for a good ending for Hilda, I found the Hank-ending and the Benji-ending extremely problematic.

The first because it feels like erasing a problem, and forgetting something that should not be forgotten which is ironic, given the context of the novel. The fact that Hank is allowed an ending of his own choosing is somewhat beautiful but at the same time unsettling because his past slips away and there are no repercussions (to him or to Hilda) whatsoever. The Benji-ending is an even bigger issue because throughout the entire novel , it is made very, very clear that Benji has extremely serious issues and is potentially a dangerous person. His ending is simplistic and unrealistic within the context of the novel.

Ultimately, I enjoyed John Belushi is Dead very much. It is very different from what I usually read and I appreciate it for taking me to places I didn’t even know existed – both in fiction and reality.

Notable quotes/ parts:

We watched Double Indemnity, one of my favorites, and whatever discomfort may have existed between us melted away. I was a firm believer in the unifying force of art in all its forms: a shared love for a movie, book, or song could transcend all other obstacles in a relationship. Hank reminded me of a song by Tom Waits, or a novel by John Fante. For all his cragginess, there was an underlying soulfulness, and his words floated in the air like the music of a raspy trombone or a wailing saxophone.

Rating:7 – Very Good

Reading Next: I have no idea!