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

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!

Title: Dark Life

Author: Kat Falls

Genre: Post-apocalypse, Dystopia, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Scholastic (US) / Simon & Schuster (UK)
Publication Date: May 2010 (US) / August 2010 (UK)
Hardcover: 304 Pages

The oceans rose up, swallowing up the lowlands. Earthquakes shattered the continents, toppling entire regions into the rising water. Now, humans live packed into stack cities. The only ones with any space of their own are those who live on the ocean floor: the Dark Life.

Ty has spent his whole life living deep undersea, helping his family farm the ocean floor. But when outlaws attack his homestead, Ty finds himself in a fight to save the only home he has ever known. Joined by Gemma, a girl from the Topside who has come subsea to look for her brother, Ty ventures into the frontier’s rough underworld and discovers some dark secrets to Dark Life . . . secrets that threaten to destroy everything.

In her debut novel, Kat Falls has created a breathtaking world where the deep can be dangerous, the darkness can be deadly, and sometimes it takes extraordinary power to survive.

Stand alone or series: First book in a planned series

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher (UK)

Why did I read this book: What can I say? I love a good post-apocalypse novel – and apocalypse by way of global warming seems to be the soup du jour. Ever since I first read the blurb for Dark Life last year, I’ve been eager to read and review it – and with YAAM ending, I finally put my foot down to get it done.

Review:

Dark Life is the story of Ty Townsend, a teenager born and raised on the sea floor, four hundred-plus feet beneath the surface. After the world’s temperature rose, the ice caps melted, permanently changing the climate and topography of the planet with twenty percent of the (former) United States’ eastern seaboard submerged under new sea-level. With so much land gone, humans faced two choices – to cram together in strictly limited land residences, or to move to the sea floor. Those pioneers of underwater habitation – Dark Lifers – enjoy all the space they want, but face incredible hardships. The Commonwealth (which has instigated marshal law for decades) controls the flow of supplies to underwater districts such as Ty’s home, Benthic Territory, and can revoke it at will. A band of raiders, led by the fearsome criminal Shade has been terrorizing Benthic Territory, intercepting ‘wealth shipments of supplies and wreaking havoc. The Commonwealth issues an ultimatum to those in Benthic Territory – either they catch the raiders on their own, or else all supplies will permanently dry up, their already high taxes will go through the roof, and land ownership rights revoked.

An enraged Ty – just two years from getting his own land – resolves to do whatever he can to help catch the raiders. But, he has his own hands busy with Topsider Gemma, whom he stumbles upon in deep water. A runaway orphan determined to find her missing older brother, Gemma and Ty’s paths intersect in strange and unforeseen ways – both work together, with the fate of the underwater colony, and more, at stake.

Dark Life is Kat Falls’ first novel, and it is undeniable, action-packed FUN. Fast-paced, wonky and imaginative, I thoroughly enjoyed this science fiction-type underwater romp (even if it really strains the limits of belief). The first thing to say about Dark Life is how adeptly Ms. Falls urges the plot along – I’m talking Rachel Caine-style non-stop action and wonder. And, as I’m a sucker for a briskly plotted sci-fi thriller, this translates to Thea-crack. From a plotting and writing perspective, Dark Live is unabashedly Over-The-Top, and I mean this in the best possible way. Like, the way that Avatar is ridiculously over the top. Or Aliens versus Predator is ridiculous and over the top. Or Lost could be ridiculous and over the top. Dark Life has a ridiculous amount of twists and reveals, which leaves me one very happy camper (or is it diver?). The setting is wonderfully detailed and aesthetically awesome, evoking a sort of Avatar-under-the-sea meets The Abyss with bio-luminescent life (I can definitely see how this book will translate to the big screen). and I loved the divide between those in Ty’s underwater world, and those in Gemma’s topside realm. Of course, as the descriptions are filtered through Ty’s narrative and the majority of the story takes place in the ocean’s depths, it’s strange to see how humanity chooses to cling to its crumbling, crowded and polluted relics when such beauty, space, and life is available underwater. Through Ty’s lovingly detailed descriptions, Benthic Territory comes to lush, vibrant life.

And, with narrative in mind, the characters of Dark Life are solidly written as well. As a protanonist, Ty’s voice is honest and self-assured, painting a heroic character – even if he does lean towards the too good to be true category. As his foil, Gemma makes up for Ty’s goodie-goodie tendencies with her brashness, her tendency to stick her foot in her mouth, and her pushiness. Needless to say, the two make a good pair. (My only quibble lay later in the book as Gemma’s tendency to get abducted at the worst possible instant – there are at least three pivotal instances of this in rapid succession) Then there are the supporting characters of Ty’s family (how I LOVE Zoe), a scarred Doctor, and a ruthless gang leader. I won’t say much for fear of spoilers, but they are all wonderfully written.

Of course, there is the minor problem of believability. The idea of deep sea living is as foreign and irresistible as outer space, facing many of the same challenges. Granted, this is not a hard science fiction title and Ms. Falls is not a marine biologist or engineer – but Dark Life does push the boundaries of credulity. Tropical fish, humans and livestock walking around at 400 feet underwater, traipsing to the surface and back at will without nitrogen buildup in the blood (not to say anything about getting up to the surface from 400 feet below on a single breath at the end without massive embolisms)? These technical issues said, Ms. Falls does subscribes to the George Lucas/Gene Roddenberry school of physics – and as with Star Wars or Star Trek (or, since the esteemed Mr. Zemeckis is involved, Back to the Future), the rules of physics sometimes don’t need to apply if the rest of the world is as compelling as Ty’s happens to be. Plus, that’s not to say that there aren’t any technological gadgets in place to aid the suspension of disbelief – I love the idea of “Liquigen” (filling the lungs of divers, allowing them to breathe and not suffer any ill effects of pressurization) and the jellyfish-like homes, just as love the idea of terrafarming the bottom of the ocean using superheated water from black chimneys and bacteria. Oh yeah, there’s also the idea of “Dark Gifts” and how water pressure stimulates other parts of the brain, leading to talents like dolphin sonar and other superhuman abilities. Yeah, these things are impossible. But, so what? For the sake of the story, even though I’m at the outer limits of credulity, I’m willing to push skepticism aside because Dark Life is that much fun.

Wildly enjoyable with a plot that won’t quit and a highly imaginative scope, Dark Life is a winsome first novel from Kat Falls. And I, for one, hope to return to Ty’s world very soon.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

I peered into the deep-sea canyon, hoping to spot a toppled skyscraper. Maybe even the Statue of Liberty. But there was no sign of the old East Coast, just a sheer drop into darkness.

A ball of light shot past me — a vampire squid, trailing neon blue. The glowing cloud swirled around my helmet. Careful not to break it up, I drifted onto my knees, mesmerized. But my trance was cut short by a series of green sparks bursting out of the gorge. I fell back, every muscle in my body tense. Only one fish glittered like an emerald and traveled in a pack: the green lantern shark. Twelve inches long and deadly as piranhas, they could rip apart something twenty times their size. Forget what they could do to a human.

I should have seen them coming, even this deep. I should have known the squid had squirted its radiant goo to divert a predator. And now my helmet’s crown lights served as an even brighter beacon. With a jab to my wrist screen, I snapped them off, but it was too late — I couldn’t unring that dinner bell.

I pried a flare gun from my belt and fired into the midst of the electric green frenzy. Two heartbeats later, light exploded over the canyon, shocking the sharks into stillness, eyes and teeth glittering. Quickly, I scooped the anchor of my mantaboard out of the muck and hauled myself onto it. Lying on my stomach with my legs dangling, I twisted the handgrips and took off, making serious wake. If my lungs hadn’t been filled with Liquigen, I would’ve whooped aloud.

Not that I was in the clear. As soon as the flare died, the sharks would be on me like suckerfish on a whale. I thought about burying myself in the thick ooze of the seafloor. Bedding down with the boulder-sized clams had worked before. I chanced a look over my shoulder. Sure enough, the darkness twinkled with stars — vicious little stars, shooting my way.

Tilting the manta into a nosedive, I flicked on the head beams, only to have the light reflect off metal. A sub! I crashed into it and toppled, boots over helmet. The manta’s handgrips tore from my fingers as I slammed onto my back. Sliding down the sloped hull, I grappled for a hold without luck until my feet hit the bumper and I stopped short. My guts took longer to settle.

Without a rider, the manta would shut off automatically; I’d have to find it later. Right now, I needed to take cover. But why was this little rig sitting on the seafloor without a light on to announce its presence? Was it a wreck? If so, it hadn’t sunk that long ago. The polished metal hull was barnacle free.

I scuttled along the bumper until I found the circular door to the air lock. The panel cover dangled from one hinge with pry marks scoring its edge. I hesitated, wondering about those marks, when suddenly the hull gleamed with emerald light.

I slammed the entry button. Like a dilating eye, the hatch opened and seawater filled the small chamber. Plunging into the air lock, I whirled to see sharks streaking toward me from all sides. I hit the interior button whole-handed. As the hatch clinched shut, the sharks plowed into it like mini torpedoes. From inside, they sounded like Death pounding at the door. I slumped against the chamber wall and grinned. Nothing put a buzz in my blood like escaping predators.

How many rules had I just broken? Visiting Coldsleep Canyon alone: forbidden. On nothing but a mantaboard: absolutely forbidden. Exploring a derelict sub: off the sonar screen. But now I had to take cover until the sharks left. It was the smart thing to do. The safe thing. Not that my parents would ever hear about the sub or the sharks. With a gang of outlaws roaming the territory, they had enough to worry about.

When the last drop of seawater disappeared through the grated floor, I tipped back my helmet and inhaled. The air was rank but did its job: The oxygen-infused liquid in my lungs evaporated. Switching on my flashlight, I opened the next hatch and stepped right into someone else’s nightmare.

Blood dripped from every surface in the gear room — walls, benches, lockers. . . . Wet and glistening, it puddled around the prospecting tools that littered the floor. I slowed my breath as if that would lessen the metallic tang that now filled my nose — a stink that conjured up the blood-slicked deck of a whaling ship. Some fisherman butchered something big in here, that’s all, I told myself. A sunfish or a marlin. Nothing to panic about. Except . . .I edged farther into the room. No matter how hard it thrashed, a dying fish couldn’t have emptied the weapons rack, let alone ripped it off the wall.

Circling the overturned rack, I panned my light across the open lockers — all ransacked — and tugged at my suit’s neck ring. Usually my helmet didn’t bother me when it hung off the back of my diveskin, but now its weight choked me. The sharks outside weren’t doing my nerves any favors, either, knocking along the sub’s hull, looking for a way in.

As soon as the sharks stopped tapping, I’d head up to the sunlight zone and hunt for dinner like I should have been doing all along. But the tapping didn’t stop. If anything, it grew louder. Worse, I realized it wasn’t the sharks tapping at all, but . . .

Footsteps.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: We by John Dickinson

Giveaway Details:

We have FIVE copies of Dark Life up for grabs, courtesy of the UK publisher. The contest is open to ALL, and will run until Saturday, August 21st at 11:59 PM (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment here letting us know what your “dark gift” would be (i.e. dolphin-like sonar, electric eel-like shock capabilities, superhuman swimming speed, whatever!). ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON, PLEASE! Multiple comments will be disqualified.

Good luck!

Title: Zombies vs. Unicorns

Authors: Team Unicorn edited by Holly Black – Kathleen Duey, Meg Cabot, Garth Nix, Margo Lanagan, Naomi Novik & Diana Peterfreund; Team Zombie edited by Justine Larbalestier – Libba Bray, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, Carrie Ryan & Scott Westerfeld

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (Simon & Schuster)
Publication Date: September 2010
Hardcover: 432 pages

It’s a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths–for good and evil–of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

Stand alone or series: Stand alone collection of short stories (although some stories fit in established universes for other series’ – i.e. Carrie Ryan, Diana Peterfreund)

How did I get this book: ARC at BookExpo America 2010

Why did I read this book: Did you SEE that author list? Although I’m not really a huge anthology fan or unicorn lover (Diana Peterfreund’s killer unicorns the exception), I am always down for a zombie collection. Not to mention, we got to meet the lovely Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black (as well as Scott Westerfeld and Diana Peterfreund) at BEA this year as they were signing galleys for Zombies vs. Unicorns. Put all that together, and there was no way I was going to miss out on reading this promising anthology.

Review:

An anthology is a tricky thing to put together – there are almost always a few gems, sparkling ever-so-brightly (not unlike a unicorn’s pretty, pretty sheen) and there are some stinkers (not unlike a zombie’s dessicated stench). The general trend of Zombies vs. Unicorns, I am happy to report, is toward the positive. While there were a couple of stories I could have done without, overall, I was entertained by and pleased with the quality of the stories in this collection. Mostly.

Here’s my take on each of the stories.

“The Highest Justice” by Garth Nix (Unicorn)

A strong start to the anthology, Garth Nix writes probably the best self-contained short story in the whole book. Featuring both a zombie AND a unicorn in the same story – on the same “side” too (I think this counts as breaking the rules) – “The Highest Justice” is a fantasy tale about a grieving young princess, her unfortunate (zombified) mother, poisoned at the hands of her treacherous father and his twisted lover. And there’s justice too. This one is a bit old school (Garth Nix is one of my favorite authors from childhood, and reading this new story reminded me of how much I love his style of fantasy and writing), and I mean that in the best way. A phenomenal start to the book – well done, editors, for beginning with this one.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

“Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Ayala Dawn Johnson (Zombie)

This short story, one of a surprising – refreshing! – many that feature a same-sex romance, is a frustrating mix of AWESOME and not-so-awesome for me. I loved the sardonic, mac-and-cheese loving voice of teen infected protagonist Grayson. The food comparisons alone are wonderful, and I loved the very real, astonishingly deep relationship portrayed between him and the delectable Jack. Lust, hate, revulsion, love all rolled into one complicated package of emotion, fueled by violence (and set to a killer soundtrack), the overall characterizations and direction of the story is brilliant. The ending line is EPIC. But, there were some stylistic choices that irritated the crap (brains?) out of me. The story is divided into different mini-chapters, alternating the realtime storyline with Grayson’s little asides about his past – and, for the most part, the little asides (in my opinion) were largely unnecessary, dragging down the irresistible momentum of the actual story. Plus, the cheese factor in the asides was high – the “Dirty Harry” chapter in particular, with cringe-worthy rules such as, “Use your brains! Or someone else will eat them for you” didn’t do anything for me, not really flowing well with the heavier, more dramatic tone of the story. But again, just my opinion. Overall, another winner.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

“Purity Test” by Naomi Novik (Unicorn)

I have had Naomi Novik on my shelf for a while now, but have yet to read her Temeraire books. As such, “Purity Test” was my first introduction to the author, and I was thrilled to finally try some of her work… but, unfortunately, this was one of the few duds (for me). Working the humor angle with a trapper-keeper unicorn on the hunt for a certain young woman, “Purity Test” as its title suggests plays on the bond between virginity and unicorns. Unfortunately, the dialogue felt kitschy, the jokes pretty bad, and the story (though well-executed), ultimately forgettable.

Rating: 5 – Meh

“Bougainvillea” by Carrie Ryan

My favorite story of the anthology. I adored The Forest of Hands and Teeth and thoroughly enjoyed The Dead-Tossed Waves, so I was thrilled to discover that “Bougainvillea” fits in the same universe, albeit at a much earlier time. Alternating between past and present (or “Then” and “Now”), “Bougainvillea” follows Iza, a young woman on the island of Curacao shortly after The Return. Daughter of a ruthless – but effective – leader, Iza struggles with her own sense of worth, her relationship with her father, the growing threat of pirates offshore, and the ever present Mudo surrounding them all. Iza’s is a beautifully crafted, bittersweet character arc (this is right in Ms. Ryan’s wheelhouse) and I loved it from beginning to end. Especially the end. “Bougainvillea” provides valuable insight to The Return and Mary and Gabry’s world in TFOHAT and TDTW, also provoking some interesting questions, too.

I would LOVE to see Iza’s journey continue in another story or book…whaddya say, Ms. Ryan? Pretty please?

Rating: 10 – Perfection

“A Thousand Flowers” by Margo Lanagan (Unicorn)

If “Purity Test” was kitschy and plays with the technicalities of virginity and its connection to unicorns, “A Thousand Flowers” takes that virginity connection and perverts and twists it beyond recognition. Ms. Lanagan is not one to shy away from gritty, less-palatable elements and she explores the darker, more complicated side of sexuality (this is the author of Tender Morsels we’re talking about, after all). Ms. Lanagan’s work might not be for everyone, certainly not for the faint of heart, but this is an author with a gift for storytelling as she interweaves magic and wonder together with the uglier side of human nature. Is “A Thousand Flowers” a little sensationalist and exploitative? Yes. But it also is an effective, brutal explication of female sexuality and “virtue.” I’m not really sure if I particularly liked this story, but it’s certainly thought-provoking and memorable, to say the least.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

“The Children of the Revolution” by Maureen Johnson (Zombie)

This story was my first exposure to Maureen Johnson’s writing – I’ve been dying to read something by her ever since her awesome keynote speech at Book Blogger Con earlier this year. Funny, charming, incredibly witty – these are the words I would use to describe the lovely Ms. Johnson. And, just as I hoped, “The Children of the Revolution” was similarly enchanting (well, you know, in a more slimy, guts and brains and raw sinew kind of zombie way). Following a college freshman duped into following her stoner boyfriend out to the UK for a study abroad program only to learn that said program is essentially slave labor and said boyfriend is a grade-A jackass, “The Children of the Revolution” also pokes fun at Hollywood celebrities and their penchant for truly insane religions. Little adorable toddler zombies. Sponge Bob. How could I not love this story? Ms. Johnson’s voice is wry, flippant, and totally winsome. I’ll be back to sample her other work, very soon.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

“The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” by Diana Peterfreund (Unicorn)

This story, along with Ms. Ryan’s and Mr. Westerfeld’s, were my most highly anticipated stories of this collection, and I am happy to report that Diana Peterfreund once again delivers. “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” might sound like a playful, lighthearted title, this is a surprisingly moving story about a girl struggling with her terrifying new-found abilities, her family expectations, her relationships, and, of course, a baby killer unicorn. One of the longer stories in the bunch, “Baby Killer Unicorn” actually feels like more of a novella than a short story. I love that protagonist Wen is markedly different from the other female leads in this collection, and in fact from Ms. Peterfreund to date – she’s not as rough as Astrid (of Rampant) or as assured as Amy (of the Secret Society Girl books). Wen is quieter, religious (which stands out in a sea of usually agnostic/atheistic or religion-free genre stories), and confused – but when she does stand up for herself, it’s an awesome, empowering feeling.

While I loved the story overall, what didn’t quite work for me, however, was the question of time frame. First, the integration of unicorns into modern society sits strangely. In Rampant, the existence of unicorns isn’t really something people take as fact – but in this short story, a jump has been made where unicorns are commonly known of (they are on the news, for example) and universally feared. Also in terms of time frame, Flower/Flayer (titled killer baby unicorn)’s growth and Wen’s caring for him felt rushed and abrupt.

That said, this is one of the strongest unicorn pieces in the book, and one of the keeper memorable stories in the collection.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

“Innoculata” by Scott Westerfeld” (Zombie)

My second favorite story of the book, “Innoculata” proves to me, yet again, that Scott Westerfeld is the bees knees. Once zombies have taken over the planet and only a handful of humans remain in a basically safe enclosure, equipped with food, water and shelter, what else is there to do? “Innoculata” is a story about a rarely examined side effect of the zombie apocalypse: boredom. I love the idea of completely random inoculation (and the idea of the cowpox/smallpox explanation); I love the characters (a F/F pairing this time!); I love the idea of apocalypse survivors on a weed farm led by a former DEA raider; I love the action-packed awesomeness of it all.

Another gem of a self-contained story.

Rating: 9 – Damn Near Perfection

“Princess Prettypants” by Meg Cabot (Unicorn)

Ahh, Meg Cabot. How I loved this story – my favorite Team Unicorn entry of the whole bunch. “Princess Prettypants” (truly awesome name) pokes fun at the Lisa Frank type of unicorn:

On Liz’s seventeenth birthday, she gets an honest-to-goodness unicorn from her crazy Aunt – one that literally farts rainbows and is named “Princess Prettypants.” Seriously. What begins as the worst birthday ever turns into a sweet revenge tale, with the help of one really, really pretty unicorn. Hilarious, smart and just…cool, written with Meg Cabot’s trademark wit and verve, “Princess Prettypants” is absolutely delightful.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

“Cold Hands” by Cassandra Clare (Zombie)

Cassandra Clare’s take on zombies is slightly different than the usual “no room in Hell”/pathogen/demonic possession sort of deal – in this story, one town is plagued by a curse that brings deceased loved ones back to life as zombies. These aren’t the eat-your-brains types of zombies; rather, they are the forlorn undead that only want to be with their families and lovers. Because the undead will follow those loved ones wherever they go, no one from “Zombietown” (as Lychgate it is known to the rest of the world) is allowed to leave. That doesn’t bother Adele so much, however, because she has her true love, James, who also happens to be the next Duke of Lychgate, by her side. But when James is killed by his Uncle, their love is tested to its limits, as James returns to claim his place, and to be with Adele.

A solid entry, I liked how earnest and romantic this story was as both Adele and James are tragic characters. Although the time period felt a little oddly anachronistic (Dukes? Really?) and the overall story leaned towards the melodramatic, I finished the story feeling basically satisfied and entertained.

Rating: 6 – Good

“The Third Virgin” by Kathleen Duey (Unicorn)

I’m not going to lie, this story was a near DNFer (“Did Not Finish”). Maybe it’s because the story is so exposition-heavy, and almost entirely internalized for the majority of the tale, from the perspective of a unicorn. Most likely it’s because “The Third Virgin” is yet another unicorn story dealing with the unicorn-virginity connection – which is unfair to Ms. Duey and her story, because had this been placed earlier in the anthology, I probably would not have had such a hard time getting through it. I’ll schedule it for a reread later, but I simply could not get hooked with the slow moving plot, and the lackluster voice of the narrating character. At this point, I think I was a little unicorn’d out.

Rating: 5 – Meh

“Prom Night” by Libba Bray (Zombie)

Well, talk about going out with a bang. “Prom Night” is one of the more haunting stories in the collection, by virtue of that ending. I loved the moral quandary this particular story posed – which is something that none of the other entries attempted. Even though the world has turned into kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, what is the moral thing to do? Did the teens of “Prom Night” do a terrible thing by sending their infected parents beyond their walls? At what point does the veneer of civilization begin to wear thin?

Libba Bray’s closing is a fitting end for a pretty one-sided showdown. Sorry Team Unicorn – from where I’m sitting, Team Zombie is the clear victor.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

On the Introductions…

The book and each story are prefaced by quick exchanges between editors Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier – and while I enjoyed this quippy rapport, and the general idea of a zombie-unicorn throwdown, my only quibble is that after a while, these introductions felt a bit repetitive and the teeniest bit self-serving and silly. I’m absolutely certain that it was a blast to write and work on this collection together – but as a reader, the introductions seemed to be more fun for the authors than perhaps they will be to their audience.

That said, overall, Zombies vs. Unicorns is a solid anthology, and well worth checking out. I definitely recommend it – especially for the zombie or unicorn lover.

Overall Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Dark Life by Kat Falls

Giveaway Details:

And would you look at that? We’ve got TWO copies of Zombies vs. Unicorns up for grabs. The contest is open to addresses in the US and Canada and will run until Saturday August 21 at 11:59pm (PST). ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON – multiple entries from the same IP address will be disqualified. Entry is simple – just let us know which team floats your boat – zombies? Or Unicorns?

Good luck! We will announce the winner on Sunday in our weekly Smuggler Stash.

Title: The Body at the Tower

Author: Y.S. Lee

Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Victorian

Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: August 2010
Hardcover: 352 Pages

Orphan Mary Quinn works for the Agency, a secret spy organization run by and employing entirely woman. Her latest assignment has her disguised as a 12-year-old boy at the construction site of a clock tower near Parliament, investigating a mysterious death and the site’s overall generally bad reputation. Mary is skilled at her “trade,” but she finds being a boy harder than she expects when it brings back long-suppressed memories of her rough childhood.

To make matters worse—or better, in some instances—James, her old flame, has returned from India, changed in some ways, yet exactly the same in others. Will Mary be able to balance all the different parts of her life while she does her job, or will something have to fall—literally?

Stand alone or series: Book 2 in The Agency series

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

Why did I read this book: We were invited to join the Traveling To Teens Blog Tour for the release of this novel, and having heard nothing but praise for Y.S. Lee’s first book, I eagerly acquiesced. (Yes, I just used acquiesced in a sentence – it must be Ms. Lee’s Victorian vocabulary rubbing off on me.)

Review:

Since her stint in the gaol and her narrow escape from the gallows as a young orphan, Mary Quinn has flourished under The Agency’s tutelage. A burgeoning young spy, Mary takes on a dangerous new assignment to investigate the untimely death of a brick-layer that has plunged to his demise from a clock tower at a construction site near Parliament. In order to accomplish her mission, however, Mary must pass as a young boy – which stirs up some hard memories from her past, when she used to dress as a boy to avoid abuse and rape. Despite these issues and desperate to prove herself to her mentors at The Academy, Mary dives into her new role as “Quinn” with alacrity, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of the dead bricklayer and the stink of corruption that surrounds the site – though prying answers from men who think her to be an overly-educated, spying favorite of the founder of the site, one sir Harkness, proves much harder to accomplish in practice. And when a familiar face from Mary’s past, James Easton, pops into the picture as a sanctioned investigator things get even more complicated.

As with its predecessor A Spy in the House, The Body at the Tower is another winning, impeccably well-written historical mystery from Y.S. Lee. The first thing one notices when reading The Agency books is how evocative and detailed the historical element is – it should come as no surprise that Ms. Lee holds a Ph.D in Victorian literature and culture. The strongest parts of The Body at the Tower were, for me, how seamlessly elements like sensationalist scandal sheets (with its tabloid inaccuracies, and its cheap ink rubbing off on Mary’s hands) or bricklaying techniques (they apparently would work in pairs, using a tool called a hod to carry bricks) were integrated into the story. Not only are details like this believable and time-period accurate (or so I am assuming, as I’m by NO means an expert at this sort of thing!), but they are interesting – never once did I feel like I was being info-dumped or in a dingy lecture hall. Rather, Ms. Lee manages to bring the grime and sweat of working class Victorian London to life by means of this nuanced narrative.

But enough with the details! What of the characters and the plot, you say? As with the first novel, Mary is a strong heroine, yet she is much changed in this second book. Less brash, Mary is a bit more subdued in this book as she grapples with concealment and identity.**

Another familiar face returns in this second book, with James Easton back on the scene as his and Mary’s paths cross once more. The banter and chemistry between these two books isn’t quite as lightheartedly winsome as it was in the first book, but that’s kind of cool. Though the two are reunited, they both have changed significantly, both physically and emotionally (James, frail from his illness in India, Mary in her boy-garb). There are new characters met in this book too that are memorable additions, in particular, I enjoyed Jenkins, a young boy Mary befriends on the job (as Quinn, of course).

Though the mystery isn’t really that much of a mystery, and the plotting a bit slow, the writing overall with its attention to detail and period is genuinely winsome. My only other criticism is how I wish there was more of the actual Agency in the book. I love the idea of this fictional spy agency for women as a revisionist sort of history, that in the words of author Y.S. Lee serves as an “antidote to the fate that would otherwise swallow a girl like Mary Quinn.” How cool is that? Though I wish there was more of an Agency presence in this second book, I’m pretty sure that they (along with Mary and James) will be back in full force by the time the third book in the trilogy comes out.

**SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE THAT HAVE NOT READ A SPY IN THE HOUSE (highlight the white area below to read)

Mary’s ethnicity in particular is a huge point of contention with her. I really, really wish there was MORE exploration of her Chinese heritage in this book (though the thread is picked up by the end).

END SPOILER

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Y.S. Lee’s website, an introduction to the passage:

This is the fourth chapter of The Body at the Tower. Here, Mary arrives at the half-built St Stephen’s Tower (the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster). She’s disguised as 12-year-old “Mark Quinn”, it’s her first day of work, and she has zero experience of building sites.

It was only a short walk across the Thames from her new lodgings in Lambeth to the building site in Westminster. Nervous as she was about the first day of the assignment, Mary forced her attention outwards, to streets she would come to know well. All about her, men and women and children shuffled slowly workward, or perhaps home again after a night shift. The pubs did steady business as laborers drank their breakfast pints. Occasionally, a fresh scent – new bread from a bakeshop; a barrowful of lilies going to a florist’s – cut through the thick, earthy, acidic smells of the city. She dodged a wagon heaped high with sides of beef, and grinned at the pack of dogs trailing it hopefully.

Her destination, St Stephen’s Tower, loomed over all this. It was designed to look glorious and imperial, but the effect was spoiled from her angle by the missing hands on two of the clock faces. To Mary the tower merely looked blind, a spindly, helpless outcast marooned by the river’s edge. As she stepped onto Westminster Bridge, she realized was breathing shallowly. How foolish to think she could mitigate the odour of the river! She inhaled a careful breath and forced herself to take measure of its stench. Yes, it was still intensely familiar, if slightly less disgusting due to the cooler weather. After last year’s Great Stink, appalled Londoners had spent months arguing about the need to clean up the Thames. Campaigners crusaded, newspapers excoriated, politicians pontificated. But like most Londoners, Mary would only believe it once she saw the results. For now, she was grateful that the stink was no worse than last year.

She slowed her pace along the bridge, taking a long, deliberate look at the Palace of Westminster. Every child knew that this was the seat of government, where the Houses of Lords and Commons met. Yet she’d never paid close attention to the actual buildings, sprawling and imposing as they were. They’d been under construction since well before she was born. For most Londoners now, the Palace’s twenty-five year re-construction was merely an obvious, unfunny joke about government and the ruling classes.

Nothing moved inside Palace Yard. It was too early for the law-makers, and too late for the night watchmen. The entrance to the building site was separate and there would be no need to enter the Palace itself; no dangerous mingling of peers and working men. Even so, she made a circuit around the Palace proper, entranced now by its colossal mass, its relentless detail. It was a revelation: not beautiful in a restrained, classical way, but fierce and extravagantly Gothic. The intricacy of the design was hypnotic, overwhelmingly so, and the arrogance and tradition it represented made itself felt in the pit of her stomach.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: As mentioned above, The Body at the Tower is the second book in The Agency series. If you haven’t check out the series yet, I recommend you start with book 1, A Spy in the House:

Introducing an exciting new series! Steeped in Victorian atmosphere and intrigue, this diverting mystery trails a feisty heroine as she takes on a precarious secret assignment.

Rescued from the gallows in 1850s London, young orphan (and thief) Mary Quinn is surprised to be offered a singular education, instruction in fine manners — and an unusual vocation. Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls is a cover for an all-female investigative unit called The Agency, and at seventeen, Mary is about to put her training to the test. Assuming the guise of a lady’s companion, she must infiltrate a rich merchant’s home in hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships. But the household is full of dangerous deceptions, and there is no one to trust — or is there? Packed with action and suspense, banter and romance, and evoking the gritty backstreets of Victorian London, this breezy mystery debuts a daring young detective who lives by her wits while uncovering secrets — including those of her own past.

Also make sure to check out Y.S. Lee’s Guest Post on Notorious Victorians, posted earlier today!

Verdict: I truly enjoyed The Body at the Tower. A worthy sequel to A Spy in the House, this is a series I wholeheartedly recommend for readers looking for a richly nuanced Victorian mystery (with a wonderful heroine to boot).

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Zombies vs. Unicorns anthology

Title: Salt

Author: Maurice Gee

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Young Adult

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Publication Date: October 2009
Hardcover: 272 Pages

In a dangerous world, Deep Salt strikes terror into the heart of everyone. Hari lives in Blood Burrow, deep in the ruined city of Belong, where he survives by courage and savagery. He is scarred from fighting, he is dangerous and cruel, but he has a secret gift: he can speak with animals. When his father, Tarl, is taken as a slave and sent to the mine known as Deep Salt, from where no worker ever returns, Hari vows to save him. Pearl is from the ruling families, known as Company, which has conquered and enslaved Hari’s people. Her destiny involves marriage that will unite her family with that of the powerful and ambitious Ottmar. It soon becomes clear that the survival of their people depends entirely upon the success of Pearl and Hari’s mission.

Stand alone or series: Book 1 in the Salt Trilogy

How did I get this book: Review Copy from BookExpo American 2010

Why did I read this book: When I was at BEA this year, the quiet, unassuming Orca booth caught my eye – and when I saw Salt (and its sequel, Gool) sitting so prettily on the display table, I knew I had to have it. A post-apocalyptic/dystopian YA novel with a speculative fiction bend? Of COURSE I wanted it!

Review:

In a future world, rules are simple and finite. The Company reigns supreme. Commoners live squalid, wretched lives in the Burrows, fighting amongst each other and feral packs of rats and dogs for food. And, when the Whips come for choosing, those that go to the Deep Salt do not ever return. When Hari’s father Tarl is caught in a Whip raid and rebels against his enslavement, he is sentenced to serve in Deep Salt much to Hari’s horror. Sworn to save Tarl, Hari tracks him through the harsh wilderness that isolates the Burrows and will travel to Deep Salt, tempting death itself to save his father. Along the way his path collides with Company heiress Pearl and her maid Tealeaf – Pearl fleeing her engagement to the much older, cruel Ottmar (incidentally, the owner of the Deep Salt mine). Though the simpering, spoiled Pearl and the spiteful, violent Hari hate each other on sight and seem to have nothing in common, they are more similar than they could ever believe – because both share the almost unheard of human ability to communicate and control others with their minds. United in their quest to understand their shared ability, Pearl’s former “maid” and mentor Tealeaf takes the two young adults to her people, the Dwellers. The fate of their world and every living creature is at stake, and Pearl and Hari are the key to survival.

New Zealand author Maurice Gee takes on a grim dystopian future with Salt; a socio-political and environmentally-conscious post-apocalyptic (and radiation-ravaged) landscape. And, in a subgenre churning out post-apocalyptic/dystopian novels at an ever increasing rate, you might be asking yourself, what if anything distinguishes Salt from the pack? (As a huge fan of the dystopian and apocalyptic, I find myself asking this question more and more, too) Well, gentle reader, I’m here to tell you: Salt is indeed a memorable, old-school SF dystopian adventure-type novel, by virtue of Mr. Gee’s sharp characterizations, gritty storytelling, and – this is completely subjective – the sense of reader nostalgia Salt provides.

If you’re familiar with our reading preferences, you’ll probably know that I am a sucker for dystopias and end-of-the-world stories. And, if you too are a fan of these types of books, Salt will undoubtedly strike a familiar chord with you. Salt is definitely what I’d consider “old school” in the subgenre – there’s the danger of nuclear proliferation, the deadliness of radioactive decay, and the mutations that these isotopes can wreak on all living things. The immediate influence (with Hari and Pearl’s ability to communicate across species’ with their minds) is with another author from Oceana – that is, Isabel Carmody’s Obernewtyn series. (Of course, I love the Obernewtyn series, so this is a good thing.) Also, Salt is reminscent of Patrick Ness’s more recent Chaos Walking books – the knife of the father, the violent, hateful young boy, the rich and pampered (but competent and totally awesome) young girl. Heck, there’s even a sort of Lord of the Rings sensibility with the irresistible power of Deep Salt as a weapon – those who possess the power are almost possessed themselves, refusing to give it up. These similarities, however, are not pointed out to imply that Salt is derivative in any way – rather, it’s a familiar (dare I say, classic?) premise and it’s testament to Mr. Gee’s writing skill that he manages to own this familiarity and create something entirely new and memorable from it. Also, on the note of familiarity, from a world-building perspective there is a twist to the landscape – it’s unclear if this book is set in a future New Zealand or perhaps on some alien planet altogether. I’m pulling for alien world (given the existence of the indigenous strange slitted-eyed and triple thumb jointed Dwellers, like Tealeaf – but that’s just speculation). From a plotting perspective, Salt is a fast paced adventure-quest sort of book, following two protagonists as they journey across unforgiving terrain and hone their powers, as they also discover the truth of Deep Salt. The idea of Deep Salt, the all-too familiar weaponization of this deadly element, well, it is terrifying stuff. There’s also a slight supernatural element too – the “voices” that the Dwellers and certain characters hear, the telepathic powers. These are all tantalizing plot seeds with a whole lotta promise in future books.

But the most remarkable thing about Salt lies with its dual protagonists. I *LOVED* these characters – albeit for slightly twisted reasons. Neither Hari nor Pearl are exactly likable characters. They are not “destined” to save the world, and they certainly are not big-hearted or innately courageous, selfless characters beneath a thin veneer of purported “badness” (like so many other protagonists, especially in this subgenre seem to be). Hari is seriously messed up and tries to kill Pearl many, many times . Similarly, Pearl is spoiled, vain and condescending – but what’s cool about this is that both characters truly are products of their upbringings. On the grimy streets of the Blood Burrow, Hari has had to fight for everything he has; in the gilded Company palaces, Pearl has had a life of luxury, and although she’s had Tealeaf’s guidance and training, she still is a self-entitled princess. Both of these characters grow used to each other as a matter of necessity, not choice, and it is all very believable. This forced growth works because they aren’t two characters that automatically understand each other and want the same selfless goals – rather, they are selfish, flawed people that discover they need to work together because so much is at stake. And, in comparison to older characters much more set in their ways, the younger protagonists’ growth is ever more impressive and poignant.

There’s so much in this book – the aforementioned character growth, the horrific journey into Deep Salt itself (seriously monstrous Rats of Unusual Size!), the wars for power. Salt is gritty and it’s grim, and it doesn’t pull any of its punches. It doesn’t attempt to make pretty or condense its characters or its message – while the Company is the oppressor of the moment, it is clear that anyone in power, lowborn or Company born alike are equally ruthless and spiteful – and I admire that. The way this book ends, the tantalizing seeds planted in this novel (especially concerning the slightly supernatural aspect) have me eager for more. You better believe I’ll be back for Gool very, very soon.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

The Whips, as silent as hunting cats, surrounded Blood Burrow in the hour before sun-up and began their sweep as the morning dogs began to howl. Rain fell heavily that day, washing the streets and overfl owing the gutters. The gray tunics of the Whips turned black in the downpour, their helmets shone like beetle wings, and the sparks that jumped from their fingers as they herded their recruits fizzed and spat like sewer gas.

They took ninety men, some from their hovels, some from the ruins, and prodded them, howling, to the raised southern edge of People’s Square, where the paving stones had not yet slipped into the bog. Brown water lapped the buildings on the northern side. Cowl the Liberator, crying Liberty or Death, raised his marble head above the rushes. Mosquitoes bred underneath his tongue.

The Whips, as custom required, paused in their herding and mouthed “Cowl the Murderer” before going on.

A cart with a covered platform and canvas aprons at the sides and back waited on the stones. A clerk sat at a desk under the awning, with a sheaf of forms under his palm and a quill pen, curved like a blade, in his other hand. His uniform was paler than the Whips’ (and dry) and had the Company symbol, an open hand, blazoned on the tunic. He frowned at the rabble herded in front of him and drew his head back in a vain attempt to avoid the stench of rotting shirts and festering bodies.

“Sergeant.”

“Sir?”

“Is this your best effort? My orders are two hundred fit for work.”

The Whip sergeant swallowed and seemed to shrink, knowing he and his men would earn no bonus, even though they had chased hard, sparing none. “They fled like rats. They have holes and runways everywhere.”

“And your job is to know them and bring me no starvelings, no half-dead.”

“They pretend, sir. This one”—he prodded a nearnaked man, making him whimper—“he ran like a marsh deer. Now he stoops. And this—he has swallowed dirt. It makes him vomit.”

“Enough. I know their tricks. Count.”

“Ninety, sir.”

“Silence them. And the women too.”

The Whips raised their electric hands and shot fizzing bolts into the air, and the howling stopped. Outside the ring of guards, the wives and children of the ninety fell silent. Some kept their mouths wide in cries they dared not utter, while others wept soundlessly, their tears mingling with the rain, which fell more heavily, making puddles around their unclad feet.

The clerk stood up under the awning. “Men,” he cried, widening his mouth in a smile, “this is your great day. You are chosen to serve Company in its glorious enterprise. Daily we grow in comfort and prosperity. In this you share. Who serves Company serves mankind. Raise your voices now and give thanks.”

The men closest to the Whips made a few ragged shouts, “Long live Company. Praise to Company,” but somewhere a woman shrieked, “Murderers!” And from the ruined buildings round the square cries like echoes came from doorways and windows: “Murderers, thieves!”

The clerk was untroubled. His speech was part of procedure, and the shouts and cries, and the howling and tears, were something he expected on recruiting days.

He sat down and yawned behind his hand.

“Examination,” he said.

A Whip prodded a man into the space before the cart, and then, with his gloves turned off, stripped off his clothing with raking sweeps of his iron hands. The man, young but stooped and thin, stood shivering in the rain.

“No need for the hose today,” said the clerk, but he yawned again while his underlings sprayed the man’s body with disinfected water from a tank behind his wagon.

“Name?”

“Heck,” the man whispered.

The clerk took his quill and wrote on a form.

“Deformities?” he said to a third underling who had stepped down from the cart.

“None.”

“Sores?”

“Multiple. Feet and legs.”

“Condition?”

“E.”

The clerk ran his eyes over the man’s body. “You bring me trash,” he said to the sergeant.

“Sir, he is fast. He goes like a mud-crab. He will fit in narrow places.”

“Perhaps.” The clerk frowned at Heck. “Saltworker,” he said.

“No,” cried the man, falling to his knees. “Not Salt. I’ll go to the farms. I’ll go on the ships. In the name of Company, I pray you, not Salt.”

“Brand him,” said the clerk, tossing a marker to the underling.

The man beckoned his helpers for the acid bucket and the brush. He fitted the metal marker on Heck’s forehead while a Whip held him still, and swiped the brush across the stencil. “Who joins Company joins history. Your time begins,” he intoned, ignoring Heck’s screaming as the acid burned.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Book 2 in the trilogy, Gool is scheduled for release in the US this October. Here’s a peek:

The gool cannot be seen, not properly, but Xantee, Lo and their friends sense its evil presence. It lurks in the jungle in rock clefts, an enemy from …more The gool cannot be seen, not properly, but Xantee, Lo and their friends sense its evil presence. It lurks in the jungle in rock clefts, an enemy from outside nature. And now, a fragment of Gool holds Hari by the throat, draining the life from him. They can hold it back with the force of their minds, but for how long?

Xantee, Lo and Duro set out on a perilous mission to find the Dog King Tarl, Hari’s father, and the ruined city of belong. Can he help them find the source of the gool? Will they find it in time? And do they have the strength to destroy the mother Gool and rid the world of this life-sucking force?

Gool, the thrilling sequel to Salt, is another extraordinary fantasy adventure from the master writer Maurice Gee.

You can read an excerpt from Gool online HERE.

Verdict: Thrilling, thoroughly engrossing and delightfully gritty, Salt is the start of a promising new trilogy from Maurice Gee. Absolutely recommended, especially for fans of the dystopian/post-apocalyptic persuasion.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman

Title: East

Author: Edith Pattou

Genre: Fantasy, Retelling, Young Adult

Publisher: Harcort
Publication Date: September 2003
Paperback: 400 pages

Rose has always felt out of place in her family, a wanderer in a bunch of homebodies. So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him–in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family–she readily agrees. The bear takes Rose to a distant castle, where each night she is confronted with a mystery. In solving that mystery, she loses her heart, discovers her purpose, and realizes her travels have only just begun.

As familiar and moving as “Beauty and the Beast” and yet as fresh and original as only the best fantasy can be, East is a novel retelling of the classic tale “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” a sweeping romantic epic in the tradition of Robin McKinley and Gail Carson Levine.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: The “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” retelling is becoming a popular one, and it’s a tale that I’m rather fond of. After reading Ice by Sarah Beth Durst earlier this year, I was on the lookout for other retellings, and Edith Pattou’s East was the title that kept popping up.

Review:

Ebba Rose was the name of our last-born child. Except it was a lie. Her name should have been Nyamh Rose. But everyone called her Rose rather than Ebba, so the lie didn’t matter. At least, that is what I told myself.

East is the story of a mapmaker turned farmer, his superstitious wife, and their seven children. After the death of their steadfast, East-born daughter, Eugenia is determined to have another East-facing child. But when their eighth child, Rose comes into the world, she is delivered facing the dreaded North – a mistake that Rose’s mother makes sure to cover up and never speak of again, much to Rose’s father’s guilt. Throughout her childhood, Ebba Rose (though, to her father she is always Nyamh Rose for her true Northern nature) is adventurous, brash, and ever-wandering, much to the fear of her protective mother and older brother Neddy. Over the years, Rose’s family situation grows ever more destitute and precarious…and one desperate night as her elder sister Sara lies deathly ill, a great white bear (Rose’s supposedly imaginary friend from childhood) appears and offers an irresistible exchange: Sara’s health and the family’s success…for Rose. While Rose’s family (with the exception of her mother) are adamant against her going, Rose is fascinated and excited. She’s never fit in with the domestic, provincial life her family has, and she’s thrilled at the prospect of adventure and the unknown. And, when Rose learns that her birth nature was a lie and that she is truly a wild and wanderlust-filled Northern daughter, she makes up her mind to leave her home behind. Over land and sea, Rose and her great white bear travel until they reach an enchanted castle carved into a mountainside of ice and rock. Rose’s new home is luxurious – food appears as if by magic, beautiful fabrics and looms appear and occupy Rose’s thoughts, and two quiet servants make sure all of her needs are tended to. Every night, Rose sleeps in an impossibly dark room, and an unseen stranger climbs into her bed. Try as she might to see the stranger’s face, or to speak, she suspects there must be some kind of magical curse at work.

When Rose does figure out how to see in the darkness – with the indirect conniving aid of the creator of the spell, and Rose’s malleable, superstitious mother – Rose must journey far and hard to right the painful wrong her curiosity has wrought.

So, as you can see, East is pretty true to the Norwegian fable – girl meets bear, goes to castle, curiosity killed the cat and so she’s gotta save her Prince in Peril (I always preferred the Prince in Peril to the Damsel in Distress). By that measure, yes, East is familiar and predictable – it is a fairy tale, after all! BUT, that said, Ms. Pattou’s more traditionalist retelling of the classic works because of the sparse beauty of her writing, the alternating point-of-view narrative, and spunky heroine. (And really, who doesn’t love a traditionalist fairy tale every once in a while – especially in a literary landscape increasingly filled with wilder, crazily deviating retellings?)

While I didn’t care for some of the dire foreshadowing (e.g. “We couldn’t have been more wrong,” or “I wish that I hadn’t,” etc ad nauseam), especially considering these doom-gloom drops hardly amounted to much, I did love the style in which East is written – with sort of flash-chapters told from the voices of Rose’s Father, Neddy, Rose, The White Bear, and The Troll Queen. Each character has a distinct voice, and each is beautifully textured, from the careful Neddy and doting father, to the impassioned Rose, the poetic bear, and the selfish, enamored queen. The downside to this narrative technique, however, was that the alternating short chapters could feel somewhat episodic and stilted. Still, for the most part, I loved being able to see through different characters’ eyes, although I wish the chapters could have stuck with each narrator for a slightly longer stretch of time.

Of course, so far as characters go, this is most assuredly Rose’s book. And Rose is really cool. One of the things that has always appealed to me about this particular fable (or Beauty and the Beast, for that matter) is how it is the heroine that gets off her ass and saves her hero. (Of course, there are aspects of the myth that bother me too – such as the woman’s punishment for tasting the forbidden fruit – aka looking upon her sleeping visitor – or how only the right bride can wash the tallow out from her bridegroom’s shirt, but that’s not really the point) In East, Rose’s adventures only begin with the Great White Bear – they flourish when she’s out on a Norse ship stranded at sea, or traveling across a frozen tundra, or traversing an impossibly slick ice bridge, or fooling her captors and spinning troll-costumes in order to save a man (and all humans) imprisoned in a kingdom that lies east of the sun and west of the moon. That’s gutsy stuff, and Rose handles her impossible task with grim determination. The only character that I wish was a little more fleshed out was The White Bear himself. While I did like the way the story tied together by the ending (the awkwardness between Rose and the man that was the bear), I felt like we never really got to know this character. As a bear, his thoughts are poetic, short and lyrical – very effective – but I wish there could have been more to his human nature too. On the other end of the spectrum, I also appreciated that while the Troll Queen is clearly spoiled and manipulating, she’s not really vilified or portrayed as EEEEEVIL. She’s obviously not a nice lady…but she’s not human either, and as such, she doesn’t act like a human.

Also, on one final note on characters, I will simply say – I heart Tuki. Tuki rocks.

There are a number of beautiful images that East conjures up, by virtue of Ms. Pattou’s romantic writing style and descriptions. The killing fields of the Trolls, for example, or the image of a beautiful, white queen with her voice of rocks and skin of granite. This, along with the magical elements, the mother’s superstition, the wonderful integration of “birth direction” determining personality traits/destiny are marvelous, memorable additions that make East stand out.

And yet…for all this praise, I did feel like something was missing from the book. I’ll put it this way – East put me in the mind of Robin McKinley’s Beauty. Both are solid, lovely retellings, but both are missing that extra OOMF. That WOW factor that makes a truly wondrous retelling work (see Juliet Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing or Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl for examples of what I’m talking about). Though it wasn’t quite at that level, East is beyond any doubt the best retelling I’ve read of East of the Sun, West of the Moon, and most CERTAINLY worth reading. Definitely recommended, especially for those looking for an adventurous, romantic fantasy.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

Once on a time there was a poor farmer
with many children.

Father

EBBA ROSE WAS THE NAME of our last-born child. Except it was a lie. Her name should have been Nyamh Rose. But everyone called her Rose rather than Ebba, so the lie didn’t matter. At least, that is what I told myself.

The Rose part of her name came from the symbol that lies at the center of the wind rose-which is fitting because she was lodged at the very center of my heart.

I loved each of her seven brothers and sisters, but I will admit there was always something that set Rose apart from the others. And it wasn’t just the way she looked.

She was the hardest to know of my children, and that was because she would not stay still. Every time I held her as a babe, she would look up at me, intent, smiling with her bright purple eyes. But soon, and always, those eyes would stray past my shoulder, seeking the window and what lay beyond.

Rose’s first gift was a small pair of soft boots made of reindeer hide. They were brought by Torsk, a neighbor, and as he fastened them on Rose’s tiny feet with his large calloused hands, I saw my wife, Eugenia, frown. She tried to hide it, turning her face away.

Torsk did not see the frown but looked up at us, beaming. He was a widower with grown sons and a gift for leatherwork. Eager to show off his handiwork and unmindful of the difficult circumstances of Eugenia’s recent birthing, he had been the first to show up on our doorstep.

Most of our neighbors were well aware of how superstitious Eugenia was. They also knew that a baby’s first gift was laden with meaning. But cheerful, large-handed Torsk paid no heed to this. He just gazed down at the small soft boots on Rose’s feet and looked ready to burst with pride.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: As I mentioned before, East is one of many retellings of this particular fairy tale. This year there was also Ice by Sarah Beth Durst, or Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George.

Of course, the original was collected by Andrew Lang in The Blue Fairy Book – and variations of the tale have appeared throughout time, from Ancient Greece to J.R.R. Tolkien.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Sisters Red by Jackson Pierce