Title: The Dead-Tossed Waves

Author: Carrie Ryan

Genre: Horror, Post-Apocalypse/Dystopia, Young Adult

Publisher: Delacorte
Publication Date: March 2010
Hardcover: 416 Pages

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She’s content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she’s ever known, and all she needs for happiness.

But life after the Return is never safe, and there are threats even the Barrier can’t hold back.

Gabry’s mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but like the dead in their world, secrets don’t stay buried. And now, Gabry’s world is crumbling.

One night beyond the Barrier…

One boy Gabry’s known forever and one veiled in mystery…

One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned.

Gabry knows only one thing: if she is to have any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother’s past.

Stand alone or series: Book 2 in a planned trilogy, however can be read as a stand alone novel.

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

Why did I read this book: I am a huge Carrie Ryan fangirl. Her first novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth was one of my Top 10 Reads of 2009 – needless to say, I was chomping at the bit (ho-ho!) for the chance to read The Dead-Tossed Waves.

Review:

On the shore of a horizon-spanning placid ocean is a lighthouse, its beacon a lone, strong light in the night, cutting through the darkness that enshrouds the seaside town of Vista. With her mother, Mary, Gabrielle tends to the shore, living a life of relative calm and security. When the Mudo wash up on the shore following high tides, Gabry helps her mother decapitate and dispatch of them, as is their duty as keepers in the small town. Gabry has always known a life of safety behind the village barriers; a beloved daughter, a dear best friend, and maybe even one day, someone’s girlfriend. When her friends decide to sneak over the barrier for a night in the rundown amusement park just outside the walls, Gabry is terrified. She has never broken the rules and does not wish to step beyond the safety of her world; especially not into a place where the insatiable Mudo could be lurking. But, urged on by her best friend Cira and the boy that makes her heart race, Catcher, Gabry sneaks out with the others into the ruins. It is here that she shares her first kiss with Catcher, and revels in the promise that her life holds. All of those dreams and hopes, however, come crashing down – a “breaker” senses the humans nearby, and sprints towards the group of teens, infecting and killing three of the group, Catcher among them. In an instant, Gabrielle’s life, and her friends’ lives, have been turned upside down. While Gabry is able to escape, her surviving friends aren’t so lucky, and are sentenced to service with the Recruiters – the force that patrols and protects the villages of the loose confederation from the Mudo threat – but without reward of citizenship at the end of their two year term. To Gabry’s mind, this is a death sentence – and still shocked by the loss of Catcher to infection, she’s also losing everyone she’s ever known. When Cira begs her to find out, to follow her brother Catcher until his demise, Gabry cannot refuse – and so she makes her way across the sea of the dead, and beyond the barriers of her safe, now shattered, world.

Well, wow. The Dead-Tossed Waves was my numero uno; my absolute MOST highly anticipated novel of 2010. In other words, The Dead-Tossed Waves had quite a bill to live up to – and, for the most part, I am happy to report that it does.

There’s a strength of plot and of continuity with The Dead-Tossed Waves. We readers get ANSWERS in this book. We learn why some of the Mudo/Unconsecrated are fast, and some are slow; we finally see the origins of Mary’s village in the forest of hands and teeth; we learn about the outside world, how it is governed, and what future is available to the living, surviving amongst the undead.

Beyond the strengths in terms of plotting, The Dead-Tossed Waves works so well because of how tragically flawed and heartrendingly human all of its characters are. This novel is a continuation of The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but instead of following protagonist Mary, the novel follows Mary’s daughter in an interesting twist. Inevitably, this invites a whole bunch of comparisons between Mary and Gabry, as heroines and narrators. Gabry is not as winsome as her mother – but that’s a tough legacy to live up to. Heck, even Gabrielle knows this, as she constantly compares herself to her mother! Countless times, she extrapolates about her lack of strength, her lack of curiosity and lack of a sense of adventure – especially since her mother was willing to risk so much on a mere dream. Though, Gabry is much more like her mother than she gives herself credit for – she too makes a number of impulsive, not-so-hot decisions yet is strong in her own, different way. It should be said, however, that Gabry is ever-so-slightly irritating with her emotional equivocating between two devoted boys (seriously, where do YA heroines find these guys?), and in her tendency to put blame on herself for EVERYTHING (which reads as slightly ego-centric).

But… isn’t that what people are really like?

Not always brave and strong, not always right, not always knowing what they want, not in tune with where their hearts lie? I loved that Gabry was terrified, paralyzed by fear, and unlike Mary. In stark contrast to her mother, who grew up with dreams bigger than her village’s fences could contain and who lost her family to the Unconsecrated, Gabry has grown up in love, and in a home sheltered in safety. Does that make her “weak”? I don’t think so. In fact, it makes it harder for her, because she has so much more to lose. And the most endearing thing about Gabry is the fact that she is so afraid of the outside world, and in spite of that fear, she does take the risk and lives, challenging the barriers that have held the Unconsecrated/Mudo out, but also trapping her in, too. And that, dear readers, is really, really freaking cool.

Beyond the first-person protagonist, the other characters of The Dead-Tossed Waves are similarly endearing. Elias, the boy shrouded in mystery, is awesome. He is a shadowed, uncertain figure; an outsider that uses Gabry’s mother’s terminology to describe the Mudo – Unconsecrated. Then there’s Catcher, Gabry’s first love interest – who also is a very interesting character, connected to Gabry in a way that Elias never really can be.

All this said, The Dead-Tossed Waves is by no means a perfect novel. It falls short of its predecessor, straying towards the melodramatic in its last few chapters, with plot twists thrown in to tear apart characters for the sole reason of emotional exploitation. There’s also the familiar YA syndrome of two dreamy dudes head-over-heels in love with the same girl, and you know how that song goes. Yet, despite these minor drawbacks, The Dead-Tossed Waves is a beautiful, heartwrenching novel. These are very genuine characters, in an impossible, terrifying reality, confronted with the choice to survive, or to live.

And that, my friends, makes all the difference in the world.

You’ve got to love (or at least respect) an author that does not shy away from heartache. When you live in a forest of jagged teeth and sickly moans, on the shores of a sea teeming with bloated, ever-hungry corpses, you are unquestionably surrounded by death. Death is inevitable. And for all this sorrow and bitterness, The Dead-Tossed Waves is tempered with hope, and with love. That’s a wonderful, rare thing. Written throughout with Carrie Ryan’s dazzling, almost poetic, poignant prose, The Dead-Tossed Waves is a novel to be read over and over again.

I loved it. And I cannot wait for more from this incredibly talented author.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the first chapter:

The story goes that even after the Return they tried to keep the roller coasters going. They said it reminded them of the before time. When they didn’t have to worry about people rising from the dead, when they didn’t have to build fences and walls and barriers to protect themselves from the masses of Mudo constantly seeking human flesh. When the living weren’t forever hunted.

They said it made them feel normal.

And so even while the Mudo—neighbors and friends who’d been infected, died and Returned—pulled at the fences surrounding the amusement park, they kept the rides moving.

Even after the Forest was shut off, one last gasp at sequestering the infection and containing the Mudo, the carousel kept turning, the coasters kept rumbling, the teacups kept spinning. Though my town of Vista was far away from the core of the Protectorate, they hoped people would come fly along the coasters. Would still want to forget.

But then travel became too difficult. People were concerned with trying to survive and little could make them forget the reality of the world they lived in. The coasters slowly crumbled outside the old city perched at the tip of a long treacherous road along the coast. Everyone simply forgot about them, one other aspect of pre-Return life that gradually dimmed in the memories and stories passed down from year to year.

I never really thought about them until tonight—when my best friend’s older brother invites us to sneak past the Barriers and into the ruins of the amusement park with him and his friends.

“Come on, Gabry,” Cira whines, dancing around me. I can almost feel the energy and excitement buzzing off her skin. We stand next to the Barrier that separates Vista from the ruins of the old city, the thick wooden wall keeping the dangers of the world out and us safely in. Already a few of the older kids have skimmed over the top, their feet a flash against the night sky. I rub my palms against my legs, my heart a thrum in my chest.

There are a thousand reasons why I don’t want to go with them into the ruins, not the least of which is that it’s forbidden. But there’s one reason I do want to take the risk. I glance past Cira to her brother and his eyes catch mine. I can’t stop the seep of heat crawling up my neck as I dart my gaze away, hoping he didn’t notice me looking and at the same time desperately wishing he did.

“Gabry?” he asks, his head tilted to the side. From his lips my name curls around my ears. An invitation.

Afraid of the tangle of words twisting around my own tongue, I swallow and place my hand against the thick wood of the Barrier. I’ve never been past it before. It’s against the rules to leave the town without permission and it’s also risky. While mostof the ruins are bordered by old fences from after the Return, Mudo can still get through them. They can still attack us.

“We shouldn’t,” I say, more to myself than to Cira or Catcher. Cira just rolls her eyes; she’s already jumping with desire to join the others. She grabs my arm with a barely repressed squeal.

“This is our chance,” she whispers to me. I don’t tell her what I’ve been thinking—that it’s our chance to get in trouble at best and I don’t want to think about what could happen at worst.

But she knows me well enough to read my thoughts. “No one’s been infected in years,” she says, trying to convince me. “Catcher and them go out there all the time. It’s totally safe.”

Safe—a relative term. A word my mother always uses with a hard edge to her voice.

Additional Thoughts: Delacorte has released new covers for both The Forest of Hands and Teeth (for the paperback version), and the current cover of The Dead-Tossed Waves is another replacement for an earlier model. I, for one, prefer the older covers. The new ones are still rather pretty, but more…commercial. I suppose that’s a good thing for a book, but those first covers are so hauntingly gorgeous! Any thoughts?

Also, make sure to stop by later today as we host a stop on the official blog tour for Carrie Ryan’s release!

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire

Title: Black Magic Sanction

Author: Kim Harrison

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Eos
Publication Date: February 2010
Hardcover: 496 pages

In New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison’s most complex and nuanced adventure yet, bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan fights a deadly battle—mind, body, and soul

Black Magic Sanction

Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter—and lived to tell the tale. But she’s never faced off against her own kind . . . until now. Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment—at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief.

It takes a witch to catch a witch, but survival bears a heavy price.

Stand alone or series: Book 8 in the ongoing Hollows (Rachel Morgan) series

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

Why did I read this book: Do you even have to ask? The Hollows series is among my all time favorite UF series’ – in the top 3, to be precise. There’s just something about Kim Harrison’s writing that *does it* for me. And even though I was a tad bit disappointed with the previous novel in the series, I was still foaming at the mouth to get my grubby paws on Black Magic Sanction.

Review:

Every time I open a new Hollows adventure, I know that I’m in for a good adrenaline rush, the likes of which only Rachel Morgan can deliver.

Black Magic Sanction is no exception, delivering the white-knuckle action in spades, while simultaneously advancing the overall series storyline in a dark direction. Me likey. Me likey a lot.

A warning – this review contains necessary spoilers for the first seven books in the series. If you have not read the first seven books and do not wish to be spoiled, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Picking up almost immediately after White Witch, Black Curse, Black Magic Sanction follows Rachel as she has fully embraced her status as the student (not the familiar) of demon Algalirept (better known simply as “Al”). Unfortunately for Rache, a whole bunch of folks are pissy that she’s running around able to twist demon curses – not to mention the fact that any time some sort of very public disaster, Vampiric Charms always seems to be at the center of it. Though she’s been shunned by the Coven (a huge deal and last resort, reserved for only the wickedest of witches), Rachel soon realizes she has a lot more to worry about than finding new places to buy her magical goods and shifty looks – because now someone has a death warrant out on her. Again. Facing the tempting choices of becoming a lobotomized broodmare for the Coven (popping out demon-magic babies), or six feet under and pushing up daisies, Rachel’s got to find a way out of her uncomfortable predicament, even if it means taking Trent Kalamack head-on again, and reuniting with an unwelcome face from her past.

Tink’s titties, Black Magic Sanction is a riproaring-good read! Personally, I found Black Magic Sanction a step back in the right direction for Rachel and company after the disappointment that was White Witch, Black Curse. This book was exciting, it was emotional, and it meant a lot of changes for Rachel. In many ways, it’s a throwback to Dead Witch Walking as Rachel has another death warrant on her head, but this time, she’s facing some serious danger from her own kind. And let me tell you – white witches are just as scary as the black magic kind (and much scarier than anything the I.S. can throw at Rache). As with almost all of the books in this series, Ms. Harrison excels when it comes to tight plotting and non-stop danger, and as such Black Magic Sanction is an incredibly fast-paced read. But don’t think that fast-paced means a lack of depth; this novel is another turning point of sorts for Rachel, in coming to grips with her past and everything she’s ever been taught about “good” and “bad” magic. Given her own lineage (and the lineage of all witches), are demons truly evil? Is the ability to twist black magic truly a bad thing – especially if Rachel is the one to take the smut on her own aura, willingly? Or is she becoming more and more a demon each day? There’s a whole bunch of moral ambiguity in this book as Rachel has to resort to getting her hands dirty in order to stay alive – but in true Rachel Morgan fashion, she manages to keep her heart, if not her head, in the right place.

In that vein, Black Magic Sanction embodies the characteristics that I both love and abhor about Rachel Morgan as a character. She’s one of those heroines that never fails to piss me off with her numerous TSTL (too stupid to live) moments and her sometimes complete obtuseness as to what she actually wants, emotionally. But at the same time, the struggles that Rachel goes through each book, and especially in this one, make her one of the most endearing heroines in the female-protagonist centered UF genre. In spite of her flaws – or perhaps, because of them – I love Rachel as a character, and I do want her to be happy. Despite her lapses of idiocy, her heart is always in the right place as one scene in this book in particular, involving assassin fairies, proves.

Of course, what’s a Rachel Morgan book without the myriad relationship complications? Rachel is notorious for her attraction to danger, and for jumping into relationships without truly thinking things through beforehand. But in Black Magic Sanction, with the attraction to Pierce (a witch from the 1800s, now inhabiting the body of the recently deceased black witch that gave Rache so much trouble in the last book), Rachel shows some growth in the relationship arena. There’s also some closure with a blast from the past – but I’ll let you discover that for yourself. Also, I’ve gotta say that I LOVE the ever-evolving relationship between Kalamack and Morgan. It’s a love-hate thing, and it has been such ever since their steeped history as children, which, incidentally, we get to see a little bit more of in the form of a flashback in this book. And while Rachel is growing stronger and more assured in what she wants and needs in a relationship, she also has reached an understanding with Ivy (whom I’ve always wanted Rachel to end up with). I love that the emo-drama between the two has been toned down, although Ivy’s backseat in this book is a bit of a regret. The most fun character, however, has got to be demon teacher Al. He’s terrifying, inhuman, and yet hilarious all at the same time – and that’s quite an accomplishment.

Most of all, I love that as the title suggests, Black Magic Sanction shows Rachel embracing the fact she can twist black magic and is using it as she needs. It’s the only way she can stay alive, and she’s forced to ask herself some tough questions. The biggest question the book leaves with readers is – what exactly is Rachel? And what is she becoming? Is she a demon? You know how the saying goes – if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck…

Needless to say, there’s a lot of speculation one can make concerning Rachel and where the story goes next. Black Magic Sanction provides a lot of VERY interesting fodder in the next few books in the series, and I, for one, am very excited to see what happens next!

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the first chapter:

Tucking my hair back, I squinted at the parchment, trying to form the strange angular letters as smoothly as I could. The ink glistened wetly, but it wasn’t red ink, it was blood—my blood—which might account for the slight tremble in my hand as I copied the awkward-looking name scripted in characters that weren’t English. Beside me was a pile of rejects. If I didn’t get it perfect this time, I’d be bleeding yet again. God help me. I was doing a black curse. In a demon’s kitchen. On the weekend. How in hell had I gotten here?

Algaliarept stood poised between the slate table and the smaller hearth, his white-gloved hands behind his back. He looked like a stuffy Brit in a murder mystery, and when he shifted impatiently, my tension spiked. “That isn’t helping,” I said dryly, and his red, goat-slitted eyes widened in a mocking surprise, peering at me over his smoked spectacles. He didn’t need them to read with. From his crushed green velvet frock, to his lace cuffs and proper English accent, the demon was all about show.

“It has to be exact, Rachel, or it won’t capture the aura,” he said, his attention sliding to the small green bottle on the table. “Trust me, you don’t want that floating around unbound.”

I sat up to feel my back crack. Touching the quill tip to my throbbing finger, my unease grew. I was a white witch, damn it, not black. But I wasn’t going to write off demon magic just because of a label. I’d read the recipe; I’d interpreted the invocation. Nothing died to provide the ingredients, and the only person who’d suffer would be me. I’d come away from this with a new layer of demon smut on my soul, but I’d also have protection against banshees. After one had nearly killed me last New Years, I’d willingly entertain a little smut to be safe. Besides, this might lead to a way to save Ivy’s soul when she died her first death. For that, I’d risk a lot.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

And if you’re hungry for more, you can read the first SEVEN CHAPTERS of Black Magic Sanction online for free, thanks to Harper Collins’ awesome Browse Inside feature:

Additional Thoughts: Want more Kim Harrison? Well, check out her interview, in which she talks all about Black Magic Sanction and The Hollows:

Verdict: Much better than its predecessor and a kickback to the early days in the series, Black Magic Sanction shows Rachel Morgan (and Kim Harrison) in top form. A must-read for fans – especially for those who (like myself) may have felt the last book was a step backwards.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Title: The Difference Engine

Author: William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

Genre: Science Fiction / Steampunk

Publisher: Spectra (US) / Gollancz (UK)
Publication Date: 1992 / 1996 (First published: 1990)
Paperback: 448 pages / 384 pages

The computer age has arrived a century ahead of time with Charles Babbage’s perfection of his Analytical Engine. The Industrial Revolution, supercharged by the development of steam-driven cybernetic Engines, is in full and drastic swing. Great Britain, with her calculating-cannons, steam dreamnoughts, machine-guns and information technology, prepares to better the world’s lot . . .

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Why did I read the book: It appears in every single Steampunk Essentials lists and one of the best examples of Steampunk. I just had to read it.

How did I get the book: Bought

Review:

The Difference Engine seems to be universally praised as one of the core Steampunk titles and it makes pretty much every single list I came across whilst reading about the genre in preparation for this week. Since this is hailed as required reading for anyone interested in Steampunk, I obediently added it to my reading list.

Thus, here I stand after reading a seminal work of Steampunk, completely conflicted about the novel.

The novel is set in 1855 but an alternate 1855 where British inventor Charles Babbage actually succeeded with his idea of a Difference Engine – an early computer. This alternate world is mostly a consequence of this invention with all of its political, economical and sociological implications and the authors use real life figures as well as literary characters to inhabit their world and to live their story. Thus, Britain is a much more powerful potency who is at peace with France (and Manhattan is a communist island led by Karl Marx) ; Lord Byron (perhaps the alternate bit that was harder for me to believe in) is the Prime Minister of an England led by the Radical Party (or Rads) , with computers being mass-produced and there are even hackers or “clankers” in this world.

But this is only the setting and it is obliquely referred to in the course of the novel. There is hardly any info dump about what happened before 1855 and how things came to be – the reader must catch up as the story proceeds. And no, the book is not about the Difference Engine per se – at all.

Centre stage is a story divided in three parts with three main characters: Sybil Gerard, a prostitute and daughter of an infamous Lud leader ; Edward Mallory, a “savant” , a palaeontologist; and Laurence Oliphant, travel writer to cover his work as spy – the three of them are linked by a set of computer Punch Cards which change hands throughout the book and almost makes it a mystery novel – what are they? What are they for? Who do they really belong to?

Almost because, it is clear that the punch cards are not the point of the novel – just like the Difference Engine.

Rather, the novel it is a tour de force about the possible consequences of engine’s creation and as such it is an interesting, even fascinating read. However, this is mostly done subtly in the background, submerged in threads, in the recounting of the day-to-day life as the characters walk around sometimes talking to themselves as the narrator describes their surroundings. Mallory, for example who often muses about how the dinosaurs were extinct , but also about his role in dealing with political problems in America and his economical situation. He is caught in the middle of the overarching plot that brings together everything in the book, including the Great Stink and the last of Luddites rebels resurfacing in London but perhaps not as tightly as many would certainly prefer.

My conflict about the novel stems from two points. One, the fact that if one goes into the book blind, ie without any knowledge about its setting or any historical knowledge about England and France circa 19th century chances are, one will be inevitably lost or reaching for Wikipedia every two pages or so (as was my case).

The second point is that even though, intellectually I can certainly appreciate the genius of the idea and the premise, as well as the mind-blowing effort of bringing together that many characters and events together in an interesting and certainly fascinating manner, I will just be honest and admit that I was bored out of my mind for most part of novel and I had zero emotional connection with any of the characters. The most interesting ones were Sybil and Oliphant and their chapters were the best ones, however they were also, the shortest part of the novel and the Mallory chapters dragged and dragged and dragged. I never read anything else by either author but I am almost sure that one wrote the Sybil/Oliphant parts and the other wrote the Mallory one – I just can’t pinpoint which.

To conclude, I am happy to have read the novel, I think it was a worthwhile experience which I hope never to experience again. Even if the ending was superb : a one letter word. One word and I was like, OMFG, genius. But then I remembered the Mallory parts.

BUT IS IT STEAMPUNK? Oh yes. It is the most quintessential Steampunk I read this week. It is the perfect balance of all its classic elements, but is not an easy ride.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: The moment it really hit home to me, that this was indeed an alternate history more than anything else in the book:

Up Knightsbridge and past Hyde Park Corner to the Napoleon Arch, a gift from Louis Napoleon to commemorate the Anglo-French Entente.

The fact that there the famous Wellington Arch is NOT there because Wellington was considered a tyrant in this England made me jump out of my pants.

Additional Thoughts: It is impossible to read this book without checking some facts online – at least it was for me. The most fascinating of those to me: the computer punch cards that were mentioned several times.

According to Wikipedia, punched cards

is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Now almost an obsolete recording medium, punched cards were widely used throughout the 19th century for controlling textile looms and in the late 19th and early 20th century for operating fairground organs and related instruments. They were used through the 20th century in unit record machines for input, processing, and data storage. Early digital computers used punched cards as the primary medium for input of both computer programs and data, with offline data entry on key punch machines

But that is not what makes it fascinating to me. It is the process of discovery.

For example: Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the Jacquard Loom. This loom is controlled by those punched cards with punched holes , each row corresponding to a row in the design – this simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles.

Now, here is the deal:

The Jacquard loom was the first machine to use punch cards to control a sequence of operations. Although it did no computation based on them, it is considered an important step in the history of computing hardware. The ability to change the pattern of the loom’s weave by simply changing cards was an important conceptual precursor to the development of computer programming. Specifically, Charles Babbage planned to use cards to store programs in his Analytical engine.

How amazing. Don’t you just love science?

Verdict: This epitome of Steampunk is a difficult read with some very rewarding parts if you stick to it – I recommend it – with reservations – for fans of the genre.

Rating: /strong> This is a most difficult question. I will have to be conflicted about this as well.

8 – Excellent : For its undeniable contribution to the genre and the sheer genius of the Big Idea behind it. The plotting and the amount of history that goes into this is mind-blowing.

6 – Good : Because in spite of all the above, the book can drag and only a couple of the characters are really minimally interesting and moving (although one can argue that this is not a book about characters – to which I will reply, ergo why I didn’t really care for it) .

Reading next: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Title: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Graphic Novel (Vol. 1) by Alan Moore (writer) and Kevin O’Neill (illustrator) . Published in 1999.

TV Movie directed by Stephen Norrington; Starring Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng and Richard Roxburgh. Released in 2003.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is set in an alternate version of Victorian Britain where technology is very advanced, the supernatural coexists with the natural and characters from famous literary works are real people.

Miss Mina Murray has been recruited by the British Secret Service to bring together a group of individuals to work for a mysterious Mr M. With the help of an already recruited Captain Nemo (who had faked his death years ago and now is in search of new adventures ), her first stop is Egypt, where in an opium den, they find former intrepid hero Allan Quartermain now a hopeless, sick addict. Without much of a choice (especially when Mina is nearly raped and they have to fight to fight their way out) Allan is dragged to the Nautilus ship where so rehab is in order before they go to Paris to meet the next in their list. There, they must capture a man-beast who have been terrorizing prostitutes and who turn out to be Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde – once captured and turned over to their boss, the League moves in to the next target and visit a girl’s school whose pupils have been rumoured to have being impregnated by the “Holy Spirit” – in reality, The Invisible Man, who had been raping the girls.

They arrest the felon and return to London where they are informed of the purpose of bringing such a group together: Britain has been secretly planning a trip to the Moon using a key component called Cavorite which has been stolen – possibly by Britain’s enemies – and their mission is to recover the Cavorite, but for that they must learn to work together first under the leadership of gasp, a woman. In their path, they have to learn to trust each other, to let go of their pasts (is that even possible?) while dealing with plots twists and double crossings.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a ingenious work of fiction – Alan Moore doesn’t merely appropriate himself of known characters of fiction, he gives them new lives, playing the sensibilities of the time period whilst at the same time adding new flavourings – it is Steampunk after all, so the alternate universe serve the story by allowing for example a woman to be leader of the group, or the technological advances to be used by the characters in their pursuit of the villains.

I have to admit though at being completely surprised with some of the reviews I read which compare this League with say, the League of Justice and call this bunch of folks super-heroes.I think this is an utterly inapt description. There is nothing super about any of these folks (except perhaps Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, but that is hardly a superpower to talk about) and hardly anything heroic about most of them, considering that we have at least a rapist and a murderer in their midst. A much more apt comparison in fact, would be with Alan Moore’s own Watchmen , that group of flawed vigilantes who in the end, can do something good. But still having some bad apples in the group (an easy comparison is between The Invisible Man and The Comedian or between Night Owl and Quatermain) .

They get together for pure lack of choice not heroics. Mina is now a ruined woman, after the scandalous incidents with that Dracula chap, incidents that are only alluded to in the course of the story, but which have resulted in her divorce from Jonathan Harker and to always wearing a scarf around the neck and that ruination is thoroughly exploited by M. As is Quartermain’s opium addiction and former glory for example. Similarly The Invisible Man and Dr Jekyll are in it because they are criminals and they need to be pardoned.

In the end, something might have changed for some of them and to follow each character arc is what it is all about – and THEN, they might become Extraordinary. Plus, you know, the fun of it all – the trying to see if you can get all the literary references (OMG the Invisible Man is raping POLLYANA when they get to the school) and to get to the bottom of the mystery. Who is this M? Who is the real villain of the piece?

As for the art, I don’t find it especially spectacular but it is certainly effective in conveying the gloominess and darkness of both characters and setting. It is also very graphic – torture, attempted rape, murders are all explicitly detailed.

Now, for the movie.

It is safe to say that whereas The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen the graphic novel, is a great work of fiction that I really enjoyed and can highly recommend, The League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen, the movie, is a veritable Masterpiece.

Of suckage.

Oh, the wrongness of it all. Let me count the ways.

For starters: Allan Quatermain is the one chosen to their leader. Of course, GOD FORBID , the ladyfolk be allowed to lead anything especially not this league of extraordinary gentlemen. The ladyfolk is there to be hot, speak with a raw, sultry voice and kiss the hot dude.

Speaking of Mina – there is nothing more unrefined than to have this scene right in the beginning? Yes, let’s make the character a blood-sucking fiend and forget all about the trauma and horror and the fact that it is never even revealed to the reader what happened to her in the book.

Since we are on the subject of subtlety , could this movie be any more obvious and crass? Starting with the addition of two new characters which do not exist in the comics: Dorian Gray and Tom Sawyer. Let me just say something before I go any further.

I can’t stand Stuart Townsend’s acting and any character he plays I will hate on principle

Thank you. Back to the matter at the hand – it is so obvious that these two characters have been added in an attempt to add “young” blood to the cast is not even funny – since most of the of original literary figures are former heroes in their later years, I guess Hollywood needed more commercial faces and I understand that, I do. But I also missed the great bickering and chemistry between Quatermain and Mina.

Moving on, moving on. Where was I? The godawful lines and dialogue: a mixture of overt clichés and dumb lines. Like for example, when they see Nautilus for the first time. In a scene that could have been good – because the visual effects here were rather cool, I like Nautilus, but the dialogue ruined it for me.

Tom Sawyer: Oh.

Nemo: Behold Nautilus, the sword of the ocean

Yeah, mind numbing.

Beyond that, the fact that the writers sucked all the fun and good things out of the original and made a complete mess of it all. None of the complicate issues exist any longer, Quatermain has no Opium issues, Mina is a bad-ass vampire, Invisible Man is just comic relief and so and so forth. I understand that adaptations do not have to follow the originals word by word but if you are not going to get the GOOD things out of it, then WHAT IS THE POINT???

In the end, an extraordinary disappointment. It is a horrible adaptation which does not stand on its own two feet. Not even the awesomeness of Sean Connery can save this one.

BUT IS IT STEAMPUNK? YES! Alternate history with advanced techonology which shapes and influences the world causing tension between nations, for example. Plus, cool gadgets!

Verdict :

Book: 8 Excellent. Recommended to fans of Steampunk, and of comics in general especially of the more darkish variety. If you liked Moore’s Watchmen you will probably like this one although it is nowhere near as good.

Movie: 1 One of the worst movie adaptations I have ever seen. and that’s about all I have to say on the subject.

Title: Airborn

Author: Kenneth Oppel

Genre: Young Adult, Steampunk, Fantasy

Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: May 2005
Paperback: 544 pages

Sailing toward dawn, and I was perched atop the crow’s nest, being the ship’s eyes. We were two nights out of Sydney, and there’d been no weather to speak of so far. I was keeping watch on a dark stack of nimbus clouds off to the northwest, but we were leaving it far behind, and it looked to be smooth going all the way back to Lionsgate City. Like riding a cloud. . . .

Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt’s always wanted; convinced he’s lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist’s granddaughter that he realizes that the man’s ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.

In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwing trilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.

Stand alone or series: Book 1 in the Matt Cruse trilogy

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: I’ve heard nothing but praise for the works of Kenneth Oppel, and when looking for a new YA novel to read for Steampunk Week, Airborn was the clear choice.

Review:

Matt Cruse was born in the sky.

The son of a dedicated airman, Matt has always longed to fly like his father. And, after his father’s death, Matt finally gets to live out his wish, serving on his father’s old ship, the Aurora, as a cabin boy. Two years in service, the luxury airship comes across a marooned balloon in their path – and young Matt helps to bring the balloon’s sole inhabitant on board to safety. This old adventurer asks Matt if he had seen “them” – beautiful, flying creatures in the sky – just before he dies. One year later, Matt is still hard at work on the Aurora as a cabin boy, having lost out on his opportunity to advance to a junior sailmaker position (to a well-connected, rich young man). Though his hopes are temporarily dashed, Matt is always happiest in the air, and relishes his time aboard the magnificent ship. Then, he meets a girl named Kate de Vries – sassy, intelligent, and adventurous…as well as rich, pretty, and spoiled. As it turns out, Kate is the granddaughter of the man Matt rescued a year prior, and she is travelling on the Aurora with a very specific mission to discover exactly what her grandfather saw. Matt and Kate, despite their difference in class, become fast friends and work together to find answers, and elusive proof of Kate’s grandfather’s magnificent, winged creatures. Of course, things are never so easily accomplished and a number obstacles present themselves – namely pirates, a shipwreck, more pirates, and wild, unfettered danger.

Airborn is a rollicking adventure novel, blending aeronautics with compelling characters, stunning images, and a swashbuckling plot. It’s kind of like Titanic the The Swiss Family Robinson meets Up meets Treasure Island meets Die Hard in the sky. Sounds like an unlikely, unappetizing mix? Let me assure you, gentle readers, I mean this multi-genre/film/book mishmash comparison in the best possible way. I LOVE ALL OF THESE THINGS.

Ergo, I love Airborn.

At 500 pages, Airborn is a swift, unputdownable read. Narrated by Matt Cruse in a clear, level-headed, youthfully honest voice, this book managers to tread familiar waters – or rather, fly familiar skies, a more apropos metaphor – with pirates, young love across class differences, shipwrecks, and mythical bird creatures, and yet still feel fresh and exhilarating. This is the kind of adventure story I want to pass on to younger, reluctant readers, to get them excited about books, about the escapist, fun experience reading can be.

And fun Airborn truly is. Matt Cruse’s world is familiar in its Victorian-type era and aesthetic (impressive, dominant airships, strong class-dividing lines, era-specific wardrobes, etiquette and mannerisms), but Mr. Oppel manages to put a new, steampunk worthy spin on his technology, inventing an entirely new element called “hydrium,” lighter than hydrogen (enabling massive airships to fly to great altitudes without the need for gas or steam power) that smells, strangely, of mangoes. Throughout the book, it is little touches like this that make the setting seem completely natural, and the world plausible (for example, as Matt guides Kate on a tour of the Aurora he points out the many “Depressionist” paintings on display in the cigar room).

In addition to the swashbucking, altogether wondrous plot and worldbuilding, the characters are what make Airborn soar. Kate, as the headstrong and adventurous (dare I say young Amelia Peabody-esque – minus the parasol and ample…well, you know) young heroine is feisty and winsome, more so because she is not without her flaws. In addition to having the usual YA fantasy heroine traits (smart, driven, restless with the constraints of her class and family expectations), she also is uppity, spoiled, and careless – and it’s cool to see that. She’s not perfect, but that’s ok – she’s all the more real and endearing for it. But the true showstealer in Airborn is young Matt Cruse – Cabin Boy, narrator, and heart-wrenchingly honest young man. Matt’s voice is pure and resonant; he shares his fears and emotions without reserve, allowing readers to truly get a feel for this remarkable young protagonist. He’s (obviously) smitten with Kate, but infuriated by her manner at times too, and the interactions between these two characters is alternately tender and hilarious. They make quite the duo on their adventures together, and I cannot wait for more.

If you couldn’t tell, I truly loved Airborn. It’s a feast for the Young Adult, but also for the older, more world-weary reader, looking for pirate-story adventures to sweep them away on a current of mango scented Hydrium.

Plus, Airborn ends with the best closing line ever.

BUT IS IT STEAMPUNK? Hell freakin’ yeah it is. Ok, it’s light on the “punk” component. It doesn’t really challenge or critique society in any way – but the imaginative (yet still relatively simple) technology is central to the story, and it is set in a very Steampunk appropriate world. The book basically takes place on an airship, which isn’t just for show – we readers learn how it works, how the world looks, and what dangers accompany this strange technology. There’s also an almost a “Darwin goes to Galapagos” feel to the book so far as Kate and Matt’s excursions to discover the mysterious Cloud Cats and – very era and sub-genre appropriate.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the official excerpt:

“Sir, there’s a ship headed towards us!”

The airship was small, and I could now see why I’d not picked her out earlier. Her skin was painted black, and she carried no running beacons anywhere. No light emanated from the Control Car either. Her side bore no markings, no name or number. It was only her dark sheen from the moon’s light that made her visible at all.

“She’s at ten o’clock and sailing straight for us, half a mile.”

“Bear away,” I heard the first office tell his rudder-man. “Elevator up six degrees. Summon the captain.”

That meant we were going into a climb. The Aurora was as responsive as a falcon. Stars streamed to my left as the ship began her turn, angling heavenward. High in the crowsnest, I swivelled in my chair so I could watch the smaller vessel. As we turned and climbed, she turned and climbed with us, keeping herself on a collision course. This was no mistake. She was chasing us. She was smaller and faster than the Aurora, and I could feel the vibration of our engines at full capacity. We would not be able to outrun her.

“Where is she, Mr. Cruse?”
“She’s changed course, but still coming right at us. Closing, at eight o’clock.”
“Raise her on the radio!” I heard the first officer shouting out to the wireless officer.
“She’s not responding.”

A collision seemed sure now, but for what purpose?

“Distance, Cruse!”
“Some two hundred yards, sir.”
“Send out a distress call,” I heard Mr. Rideau instruct the wireless operator.
“We’re too far out, sir,” Mr. Bayard’s voice replied.

It was clear there was no shaking her, this sleek black raptor shadowing us through the night sky.

“She’s angling up, sir,” I said into the speaking tube, “as though she means to overshoot us.”

“Take us down, Mr. Riddihoff, take us down five degrees, with haste!”

I felt the Aurora pivot and her bow dip. My ears popped and heaviness rose through me. I swirled in my seat, peering up and almost over the ship’s stern as the airship pulled closer, altering course as seamlessly as if she’d anticipated our moves.
“Fifty yards off our stern!” I shouted into the speaking tube. “Forty, thirty . . . she’s pulling up over our tail.”

And so she was, this predatory airship, skimming over our tail fins and gradually overtaking us, only a few dozen feet overhead.

“She’s directly overhead, sir, matching us.”

We were levelling out now and so was the other airship. Less than half our size, she was like some agile black shark hounding a whale.

“Hard about, please.”

Through the speaking tube it was the captain’s voice I heard now, and I felt a surge of confidence to know he was on the bridge. He would see us through this. Again the Aurora swivelled, trying to throw off her predator, but once more the smaller ship matched our movements, slinking over us like a shadow. A spotlight flared from its underside, and I saw ropes springing from open bay doors and unfurling towards the Aurora.

“She’s dropping lines on us!” I shouted into the speaking tube.

Pirates! That was all they could be.

“They’re trying to board,” the captain said. “Dive and roll to starboard, please.”

The lines were weighted, for they hit the ship and didn’t slide off. I saw six men already dropping down towards me. But then the Aurora banked sharply, dipped, and the lines slewed off the Aurora’s back, leaving the men dangling in mid-air.

“Ha! You’ll not have us!” I shouted, shaking my fist.

But the pirate airship was already adjusting its course, keeping pace, and as it forced us closer to the waves, we would have less space to manoeuvre. There was a great flash from the pirate ship’s underbelly and a thunderous volley of cannon fire scorched the night sky across our bow.

A voice carried by bullhorn shuddered the air.
“Put your nose to the wind and cut speed.”

There was no need for me to repeat this into the speaking tube for I knew they had heard it in the Control Car. There was a moment of silence, and I could imagine them all down there, standing very straight and still, the elevator men and rudder-men watching the captain, awaiting his command. He had no choice. That cannon could sink us in an instant.

“Level off and put her into the wind, please,” said Captain Walken. “Throttle back the engines to one-quarter. Thank you.”

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Airborn is actually the first book in a trilogy following the adventures of Matt and Kate – the next two books are Skybreaker and Starclimber:

Former cabin boy Matt Cruse, now a student at the prestigious Airship Academy, is first to identify the Hyperion, the private airship of a reclusive and fabulously wealthy inventor that disappeared forty years ago with its owner. Armed with the Hyperion’s coordinates, which only he possesses, Matt, heiress Kate de Vries, and a mysterious young gypsy board the Sagarmatha, an airship fitted with the new skybreaker engines that will allow them to reach the Hyperion, 20,000 feet above the earth’s surface. Pursued by others who want the Hyperion and will stop at nothing to get it, and surrounded by dangerous high-altitude life forms, Matt and his companions are soon fighting not only for the Hyperion but for their very lives.

In this thrilling sequel to Airborn, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, Kenneth Oppel evokes the classic storytelling of Robert Louis Stevenson and Jules Verne, creating a world in which a new discovery can have unimagined consequences — on earth and miles above it.

“Mr. Cruse, how high would you like to fly?”

A smile soared across my face.

“As high as I possibly can.”

Pilot-in-training Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries, expert on high-altitude life-forms, are invited aboard the Starclimber, a vessel that literally climbs its way into the cosmos. Before they even set foot aboard the ship, catastrophe strikes:

Kate announces she is engaged – and not to Matt.

Despite this bombshell, Matt and Kate embark on their journey into space, but soon the ship is surrounded by strange and unsettling life-forms, and the crew is forced to combat devastating mechanical failure. For Matt, Kate, and the entire crew of the Starclimber, what began as an exciting race to the stars has now turned into a battle to save their lives.

Award-winning and bestselling author Kenneth Oppel brings us back to a rich world of flight and fantasy in this breathtaking new sequel to Airborn and Skybreaker.

The series has an awesome interactive website, chock full of great extras. I highly recommend you go forth and check it out.

Rating: 8 – Excellent, and I cannot wait to pick up the next two books in the series!

Reading Next: Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium by Robert C. Rodgers

Title: The Sky Is Everywhere

Author: Jandy Nelson

Genre YA / Contemporary

Publisher: Dial
Publication Date: March 9 2010
Hardcover: 288 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.

How did I get this book: ARC from publisher

Why did I read this book: When we were contacted by the publisher offering a copy of the book and I read the blurb and saw the AMAZING cover, I immediately said yes: it does have Ana-Crack spelt all over it.

Review:

Lennie’s sister is dead. Without as much as a presage, Bailey simply collapses one day at school and just like that, puff, she is gone. Left behind are those who love her the most and who must deal with her sudden absence: her sister Lennie, her boyfriend Toby, her grandmother, the one who raised her.

The Sky is Everywhere is narrated by Lennie whose first person narrative takes the reader into a journey – an exploration of grief and of sadness (at least to begin with). As the story starts Lennie has recently lost her sister and is preparing to get back to school. She has effectively shut herself to the world and won’t talk to anybody about her sister. Bailey was her closest family member (their hippy mother abandoned them when they were children and they never knew their father) and she won’t talk to her grandmother or to her best friend ; the only way she communicates with the world around her about the immense sense of hurt, confusion and loss she feels is by writing pieces of poetry that are scattered around town and which open almost every chapter:

The morning of the day Bailey died,
she woke me up
by putting her finger in my ear.
I hated when she did this.
She then started trying on shirts, asking me:
Which do you like better, the green or the blue?
The blue.
You didn’t even look up, Lennie.
Okay, the green. Really, I don’t care what shirt you wear…
Then I rolled over in bed and fell back asleep.
I found out later
she wore the blue
and those were the last words I ever spoke to her.

(Found written on a lollipop wrapper on the trail to the Rain River)

And then there is Toby, Bailey’s beloved boyfriend. Before her death, Lennie never got along with him but after her sister is gone something happens and Toby and Lennie grow closer together. What brings them together is a mixture of grief and being able to understand one another in their shared memory of Bailey. Their relationship evolves though, to something else and in this something else, there is also guilt and shame.

At the same time at school, Joe Fontaine, a new student, recently arrived from France, is a breath of fresh air, a welcome relief from the sadness, someone who is interested in her, and who shares her passion for music (he plays guitar, she plays clarinet).

It is in this between world of being at one times relentlessly sombre and at others recklessly happy that most of The Sky is Everywhere takes place. And it is such an extraordinary book!

It takes an honest look at the process of grieving and it says: here, not two people in the world grieve in the same manner. This is Lennie’s story and this is how it goes. And it is raw and painful at times, especially at those moments when Lennie is with Toby because of the guilty involved and because everybody knows that it is a mistake: Lennie, Toby, the reader. But the pull is there, even if it is senseless and illogical and difficult to understand and accept . But being with Toby reminds her and him of Bailey. It makes them not forget. And this is what matters to them – that they have such an intense love for Bailey that they would do anything to not let go.

At the same time, being with Joe is the direct opposite. He is able to pull her off her musical shelf, he wants to know about her and her alone. There is nothing about Bailey when she is with Joe and that and the joy she feels when with him, makes her forget, and that forgetfulness when hits homes, is also cause for guilt and grief.

And the absolutely wonderful thing about the book is that the writing conveys a sense of intimacy in which all of those feelings are mirrored in the reader. Many times, I found myself laughing and falling in love with Joe Fontaine, only to catch myself in middle of the act along with Lennie, to remember: Bailey died. And it was hard.

Hardest of all to Lennie because more than a book about death and grief, this a book about love and life and really, a coming of age story. She gets to be her own woman, to get under the shadow of her older sister, to do her own things, to make several (many, and horrible) and fix them. Because the one thing that happens as soon as Bailey dies, is how alive, awakened Lennie feels (and yes, horny ) and it makes it all the more powerful and raw because she is aware that she is awakening when her sister is sleeping forever. The book might sound like a downer or dark but it is not really. In fact, the story is replete with humorous passages and adorable sequences especially between (the awesome) Joe Fontaine (who kept being a fool around Lennie just so she could say to him “quel dork” ) and beautiful turn of phrases.

Jandy Nelson’s Debut is incredible, I loved it and I can’t recommend it enough.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:

“Thank you,” I say, for the hundredth time that day. Sarah and Joe are both looking at me too, Sarah with concern and Joe with a grin the size of the continental United States. Does he look at everyone like this, I wonder. Is he a wingnut? Well, whatever he is, or has, it’s catching. Before I know it, I’ve matched his continental U.S. and raised him Puerto Rico and Hawaii. I must look like The Merry Mourner. Sheesh. And that’s not all, because now I’m thinking what it might be like to kiss him, to really kiss him—uh-oh. This is a problem, an entirely new un-Lennie-like problem that began (WTF-edly?!) at the funeral: I was drowning in darkness and suddenly all these boys in the room were glowing. Guy friends of Bailey’s from work or college, most of whom I didn’t know, kept coming up to me saying how sorry they were, and I don’t know if it’s because they thought I looked like Bailey, or because they felt bad for me, but later on, I’d catch some of them staring at me in this charged, urgent way, and I’d find myself staring back at them, like I was someone else, thinking things I hardly ever had before, things I’m mortified to have been thinking in a church, let alone at my sister’s funeral.

This boy beaming before me, however, seems to glow in a class all his own. He must be from a very friendly part of the Milky Way, I’m thinking as I try to tone down this nutso smile on my face, but instead almost blurt out to Sarah, “He looks like Heathcliff,” because I just realized he does, well, except for the happy smiling part—but then all of a sudden the breath is kicked out of me and I’m shoved onto the cold hard concrete floor of my life now, because I remember I can’t run home after school and tell Bails about a new boy in band.

My sister dies over and over again, all day long.

Additional Thoughts: I think book trailers are getting better and better. The one for this book is simple and yet, effective. And I love the music because the music is such a big part of the book.

Verdict: A highly emotional, deeply beautiful look at what it feels like to lose someone you love whilst at the same time learning to love someone new. Sad and funny, always charming and with great sympathetic characters, The Sky is Everywhere is a wonderful debut.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: It’s Steampunk week ahead!

Title: Incarceron

Author: Catherine Fisher

Genre: Dystopia, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher: Dial (US) / Hodder Children’s Books (UK)
Publication Date: January 2010 / May 2007
Hardcover: 448 Pages (US)

Incarceron is a prison so vast that it contains not only cells, but also metal forests, dilapidated cities, and vast wilderness. Finn, a seventeen-year-old prisoner, has no memory of his childhood and is sure that he came from Outside Incarceron. Very few prisoners believe that there is an Outside, however, which makes escape seems impossible.

And then Finn finds a crystal key that allows him to communicate with a girl named Claudia. She claims to live Outside—she is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, and doomed to an arranged marriage. Finn is determined to escape the prison and Claudia believes she can help him. But they don’t realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye, and escape will take their greatest courage and cost more than they know. Because Incarceron is alive.

Stand alone or series: Book 1 of the Incarceron Series

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

Why did I read this book: Incarceron has garnered a lot of buzz online – I’ve been seeing widgets for it all over the place. Not to mention, it’s a dystopian YA novel, about a living prison. How could I resist? I immediately began hounding folks for a review copy.

Review:

Incarceron is a vast, encompassing prison. Instead of steel bars and cell blocks, however, Incarceron is a world in itself; it is a metal world where nothing is created nor wasted, where stars and sky are near forgotten fairy tales, where all live in a cutthroat world, fighting for food and survival. Even more than that, Incarceron is alive – it observes everything that goes on within its walls, it’s red seeing eye omnipresent to the mortals within. Incarceron is all they have ever known – although there is a myth about one man, a prophet named Sapphique, that was the only one able to escape to the mysterious outside.

Finn is a child of Incarceron, remembering only when he woke up in a dark, squalid cell two years ago, mad with fear and lost memories. Now seventeen, Finn has been forced by circumstance to join a crew of “Scum” – that is, ruthless thieves and bandits, that call themselves the Comitatus. One day, Finn makes a shocking discovery – a crystal key, whose design matches the tattoo on Finn’s wrist. The key, which Finn and those around him believe could be the way out of Incarceron, also turns out to be a communication device, and Finn finds himself able to speak to a mysterious girl, named Claudia.

On the outside of Incarceron, Claudia is the daughter of the Incarceron’s Warden, and set to marry the prince of the realm. Frustrated with her bleak future and the cutthroat political games in which she finds herself ensnared, Claudia is determined to prove that the monarchy is corrupt, and to find a way to instigate change in the static, innovation-fearing kingdom – and the way she plans to do this, is to discover Incarceron’s secrets. When she finds a crystal key in her father’s study, she finds a link to a world that is nothing like the ideal utopia that Incarceron was supposed to be – and she and Finn must work together to bring him out of Incarceron, and into the “real” world.

And with Incarceron itself watching, waiting, and toying with its inhabitants, Claudia and Finn’s task is no small feat.

Incarceron is an amazing feat of a novel from author Catherine Fisher. The book, actually initially published in the UK back in 2007, is part dystopian critique, part science fiction parable, part fantasy. This is not an easy blend to pull together, but Ms. Fisher does it with aplomb. Her world building in particular is PHENOMENAL. I loved the oddity of advanced technology in a royalty-imposed archaic time period – the monarchs and nobles emulate the late medieval western model of courts, down to the dress, castles and mannerisms. But this is not a medieval society! Claudia’s world has incredibly advanced technology, from “skin wands” to give humans the permanent appearance of youth to programable holograms, to artificial intelligence and reality-shifting tools. Despite this technology, however, those in power have resisted any change, abandoning their advanced tools in order to embrace the ways of old, in an attempt to control the population – which rings as very familiar. There’s also Incarceron itself, which is a whole new world on its own. Initially an experiment to create a perfect world for the unruly masses, of course went wrong. The concept of a utopia that is actually a dystopia isn’t really a new one, but this Ms. Fisher writes it so well, and with such awesome variation within Incarceron itself, of A.I. gone horribly awry, it hardly matters.

In terms of plotting, Incarceron is also surefooted, as it packs in revelation upon revelation, surprises, and twists at an expert pace. I could not put Incarceron down – Ms. Fisher is one hell of a storyteller.

Finally, what is a book without its characters? The cast of this novel is similarly well-rounded, though at first glance, they are very standard, fantasy archetypes. There’s the rebellious, intelligent (and beautiful) future queen; the orphaned boy thief with a heart of gold and a destiny to save the land; the calm, wise teacher; the jealous, handsome, morally-ambiguous best friend; the ragamuffin tag along girl; the zealous, prophecy-driven priest; the power-usurping, beautifully cruel queen; etc. These are very familiar character molds, no doubt about it – but as Incarceron progresses, the characters are shown in different ways. Not one thing is exactly how it seems, and that goes for characters as well. In particular, I loved the character of Claudia’s father – the cold, immutable, powerful Warden of Incarceron, Lord John Arlex. I loved the insights to his character throughout the book, especially in his strained relationship with Claudia’s tutor, Jared, and the Warden’s terrified – yet defiant – daughter, Claudia. (There’s one particular scene near the end of the book between these three characters that is made of mind-blowing awesomeness.)

So far as protagonists go, Claudia is as plucky as they come, but it is Finn that captures hearts with his vision, his trusting friendships, and his courage. The other character I truly enjoyed is the morally ambiguous Keiro – handsome and power-hungry, different characters have different interpretations of Keiro. Finn, as his oath-brother, is tied to Keiro by an unbreakable bond – should one of them die, it is the other’s responsibility to avenge them at any cost. And, as a loyal friend, Finn knows Keiro’s flaws, his hunger for power, his recklessness, but he also believes that underneath it all, Keiro would do anything for Finn. Other characters, however, are not so generous, as Keiro is seen as a rogue, out only to use Finn to get him out of Incarceron, no matter the cost. In any case, Keiro is a character that isn’t easy to peg, and I’m excited to see what happens with him in the next book.

With its breathtaking world-building, admirable characters, and exceptional plotting, Incarceron is a dystopian, sci-fi gem. I loved it, and I cannot wait for the next book in the series, Sapphique!

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

Finn had been flung on his face and chained to the stone slabs of the transitway.

His arms, spread wide, were weighted with links so heavy, he could barely drag his wrists off the ground. His ankles were tangled in a slithering mass of metal, bolted through a ring in the pavement. He couldn’t raise his chest to get enough air. He lay exhausted, the stone icy against his cheek.

But the Civicry were coming at last.

He felt them before he heard them; vibrations in the ground, starting tiny and growing until they shivered in his teeth and nerves. Then noises in the darkness, the rumble of migration trucks, the slow hollow clang of wheel rims. Dragging his head around, he shook dirty hair out of his eyes and saw how the parallel grooves in the floor arrowed straight under his body. He was chained directly across the tracks.

Sweat slicked his forehead. Gripping the frosted links with one glove he hauled his chest up and gasped in a breath. The air was acrid and smelled of oil.

It was no use yelling yet. They were too far off and wouldn’t hear him over the clamor of the wheels until they were well into the vast hall. He would have to time it exactly. Too late, and the trucks couldn’t be stopped, and he would be crushed. Desperately, he tried to avoid the other thought. That they might see him and hear him and not even care.

Lights.

Small, bobbing, handheld lights. Concentrating, he counted nine, eleven, twelve; then counted them again to have a number that was firm, that would stand against the nausea choking his throat.

Nuzzling his face against the torn sleeve for some comfort he thought of Keiro, his grin, the last mocking little slap as he’d checked the lock and stepped back into the dark. He whispered the name, a bitter whisper: “Keiro.”

Vast halls and invisible galleries swallowed it. Fog hung in the metallic air. The trucks clanged and groaned.

He could see people now, trudging. They emerged from the darkness so muffled against the cold, it was hard to tell if they were children or old, bent women. Probably children—the aged, if they kept any, would ride on the trams, with the goods. A black-and-white ragged flag draped the leading truck; he could see its design, a heraldic bird with a silver bolt in its beak.

“Stop!” he called. “Look! Down here!”

The grinding of machinery shuddered the floor. It whined in his bones. He clenched his hands as the sheer weight and impetus of the trucks came home to him, the smell of sweat from the massed ranks of men pushing them, the rattle and slither of piled goods. He waited, forcing his terror down, second by second testing his nerve against death, not breathing, not letting himself break, because he was Finn the Starseer, he could do this. Until from nowhere a sweating panic erupted and he heaved himself up and screamed, “Did you hear me! Stop! Stop!”

They came on.

The noise was unbearable. Now he howled and kicked and struggled, because the terrible momentum of the loaded trucks would slide relentlessly, loom over him, darken him, crush his bones and body in slow inevitable agony.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: As I mentioned above, Incarceron was originally published in the UK in 2007. Similarly, the sequel to Incarceron has already been published in the UK, though it makes its way to the US early next year. Here’s the skinny:

Finn has escaped from the terrible living Prison of Incarceron, but its memory torments him, because his brother Keiro is still inside. Outside, Claudia insists he must be king, but Finn doubts even his own identity. Is he the lost prince Giles? Or are his memories no more than another construct of his imprisonment? And can you be free if your friends are still captive? Can you be free if your world is frozen in time? Can you be free if you don’t even know who you are? Inside Incarceron, has the crazy sorcerer Rix really found the Glove of Sapphique, the only man the Prison ever loved. Sapphique, whose image fires Incarceron with the desire to escape its own nature. If Keiro steals the glove, will he bring destruction to the world? Inside. Outside. All seeking freedom. Like Sapphique.

Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, check out the cool book trailer for Incarceron:

Verdict: A truly awesome blend of science fiction and fantasy in a future dystopian setting, Incarceron is a book not to be missed. Easily one of my favorite reads of 2010 thus far, and recommended to all.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison

This is our brand new segment in which our delightful buddy Harry, from Temple Library Reviews will be joining us once a month to review paranormal romance from a guy’s perspective. But we will let him introduce himself, please let’s give a warm welcome to Harry!

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Harry: I’m the newest honorary addition to the Book Smugglers team [honest to God, I smuggle books home and then lie straight to my family's face about it]. I get the chance to play here at their blog once a month and my small spot will be called ‘A Dude Reads PNR’. The idea came to be in December, when I posted my Sherilyn Kenyon review and people were interested to see the male POV about Paranormal Romance. The public demands, the attention whore (that’s me) begs, and the smugglers comply.

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Title: The Battle Sylph
Author: L.J. McDonald
Genre: Romantic Fantasy / PNR

Publisher: Dorchester Publishing
Publishing Date: 23.02.2010
MMP: 323 pages [in the ARC]

Stand Alone or series: First book in a new series

He is one of many: a creature of magic, unrelentingly male. He is lured through the portal by pure female beauty, a virgin sacrifice. When she is killed, he is silenced and enslaved.

Such a dark ritual is necessary, you see. Unlike their elemental cousins-those gentler sylphs of wind and fire-Battlers find no joy in everyday labor. Their magic can destroy an army or demolish a castle, and each has but one goal: find a Queen, then protect and pleasure her at all costs. What would a woman do if she were given such a servant, and what would befall any kingdom foolish enough to allow a Battler to escape?

Young Solie and the people of Eferem are about to find out.

Why did I read the book: The premise sounded intriguing. Ana sounded ecstatic and when her reader-sense is tingling, it means something good will happen. The cover is also mucho impressive with those glowing eyes and the woman sprawled below the title. Certainly a looker that one.

How did I get the book: Ana [book-pimp extraordinaire] tied it to a balloon and asked a flock of geese to deliver it to me. That is a lie, but it would have taken less than with snail mail post.

Review:

My christening review for this mighty feature has not been the funny and good-feel bang I hoped for. To be quite honest ‘Circle of Fire’ shoved me outside in a blizzard. I needed a book to turn the heat up, burn down the house and fire me up. Thankfully ‘The Battle Sylph’ is just the right novel to help you lower your heating bills and is way better than the hot-water bottle you bring to bed. Every page is soaked with either adrenaline or naughty kerosene for the nether regions… of your imagination [naturally, what did you guys think I was going to say?]

Did I hook you? I hope so. Because, there’s much to enjoy in ‘The Battle Sylph’. As the genre suggests this is romantic fantasy, so no leather boots, guns, mean SUVs and vampires or any other standard magical race. Instead, we have swords, sturdy warriors, a queen and a race of spirits, who can become corporal and incorporeal, whenever they please. While it is true that fantasy hosts a romantic subplot almost always, the way the sex scene is mandatory for every single major Hollywood, the relationship usually remains in the background and is not central for the conflict. And it is not steamy, either.

‘The Battle Sylph’ offers the best from the medieval traditional fantasy with its quests, parties of brave heroes with a noble cause and a dastardly nemesis figure, while merging it with quite the liberated sexual attitude and a central relationship, which triggered the events in the book. The balance is solid and achieved by integrating sex into the worldbuilding, which evades the hazard of this becoming a book, where sex randomly flies around and is neither relevant, nor of any use to the plot. As the reader [you, because you have to have this book] discovers, the sylphs are spirits from a different plain, which live together in hives and divide into several subspecies, according to their status and function in the hive. There are elemental sylphs. Fire, water, earth, air. There are healing sylphs and there are also battle sylphs otherwise called the battlers. Every subspecies, excluding the battle sylphs, are female. The battlers are the soldiers in the hive and exist for war and sex, since they are the only males. The sole female to receive their affections is the queen of the hive, which makes them highly competitive and aggressive towards each other. The mythos in ‘The Battle Sylph’ helps the reader identify the mutual traits and the justification behind the behavior of all the battlers in the novel such as Heyou, the youngest battler and main protagonist, Ril and Mace. The dynamics and the hierarchy are fascinating to rediscover, because sylphs in general have no known mythological and popular role attached to them and this rendition steals the show, so to say.

Because sylphs in general require a connection with a human master in order to exist in the human world, the novel is rich in diverse relationship dynamics and scenarios. Beyond the usual human-human interaction with all the classic elements and tropes, such as friendship, betrayal, loyalty, subordination and defilement, readers are also treated to mandatory master-sylph episodes, which are as diverse as the individual characters. McDonald features cold hearted masters with a sadistic streak towards their sylphs, benign masters with a liberal mind, who break some rules and grant some freedoms to their sylphs and masters, who stray away from established models and allow their sylphs to act as they wish, relying on cooperation rather than servitude.

Although Solie and Heyou are the central couple, a queen with her battle sylph, their roles and the story attached to them would ring a bell. Solie is the first woman to break a monopolized by men tradition, by being bound to a battle sylph. Heyou is the young inexperienced battler, who must stand against many a challenge. That aside, the chemistry between these two feels very much real and volatile. However, the real emotional intensity lies in the human-sylph interactions between Leon, the king’s head of security and a dirty trick man, and his battler Ril and Jasar, member of the spoiled elite with many connections and an insufferable ego, and his battler Mace. Leon and Ril walk on the path of guilt, redemption and forgiveness, after it becomes clear that the female sacrifice used in the summoning ritual was actually the reason the battlers crossed plains and her death results in madness for the sylph and hatred towards the master, who remains clueless. Leon’s devastation upon learning the truth is raw and heartfelt, while Ril’s hatred and painful denial is also powerful to read. Mace is less fortunate with his master Jasar, whom you would love to hate and kill, if you were a character in the story. Mace has to endure his master’s depravations, toxic and demanding personality and amoral orders in silence; a bond from which he cannot escape and threatens to add a horrific twist in the resolution.

As you see, ‘The Battle Sylph’ is the Horn of Plenty. From page one you are assaulted with so many flavors, excitement and adventures that you may need some time to adjust. This is my issue with the book. It is taking a non-stop staccato story and playing it double time. There are almost no natural pauses for the reader to rest and by the end of the journey, I was as exhausted as the characters and mind you, I never even had to raise a sword or survive almost certain annihilation. This unnatural speed to dash to the finish line coupled with the lightning quick POV changes might result in some confusion, but overall these two issues do not steal from the quality of the storytelling, prose or creative prowess.

Verdict: I wanted to be sassy, humorous and witty, but quite frankly writing this review sapped completely. There are at least a few thousand words more I wanted to say, but this is a review and not a thesis. In a few words though, ‘The Battle Sylph’ is a winner for sure. A power exercise for your brain’s endurance, but the benefits outweigh the minor inconveniences along the way.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading next: Demonkeepers by Jessica Andersen

Title In For A Penny

Author: Rose Lerner

Genre: Romance / Historical

Publisher: Leisure Books
Publication Date: February 23, 2010
Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

IN FOR A PENNY

No more drinking. No more gambling. And definitely no more mistress. Now that he’s inherited a mountain of debts and responsibility, Lord Nevinstoke has no choice but to start acting respectable. Especially if he wants to find a wife-better yet, a rich wife. Penelope Brown, a manufacturing heiress, seems the perfect choice. She’s pretty, rational, ladylike, and looking for a marriage based on companionship and mutual esteem.

IN FOR A POUND

But when they actually get to Nev’s family estate, all the respectability and reason in the world won’t be enough to deal with tenants on the edge of revolt, a menacing neighbor, and Nev’s family’s propensity for scandal. Overwhelmed but determined to set things right, Nev and Penelope have no one to turn to but each other. And to their surprise, that just might be enough.

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

Why did I read this book: I was offered a copy of the book and I thought it sounded good. I never, in a million years, would have thought it would be SO good, it basically restored my faith in Historical Romance.

Review:

If you follow this blog closely you know that I love me some romance. You will also know then that I haven’t read one that I absolutely LOVED in months. Until I read In For a Penny. As soon as I sat down to write this review I realised I was going to do something different. This is going to be long, so brace yourselves.

Come closer. I will tell you why I loved this book so much I have been gushing about it to everybody I know.

The beginning is delightful. Many a romance novel starts with a rakish hero either being bored with his rakish life or with us being told how much of a scoundrel the hero is. We hardly ever see it. However, in this book, the first few pages show me that the hero, Nev is well and truly a scoundrel – but not a cad. He is young and restless and how could he not be? He is 23, living in London, enjoying life with his friends. He will inherit one day but has no responsibilities yet so he can just go to parties, gamble and keep a mistress, Amy whom he genuinely likes. He enjoys music and reading – what strikes me the most when I read these first pages is how happy and how joyous he is and how young he sounds. He attends a formal party with his two rascal best friends where he meets the heroine Penelope (who is a Cit – ie.not an aristocrat but someone who makes money). He thinks she is pretty and invites her to dance and because she is rather straight forward, he thinks he can get away with other things:

“Would you like to step out on the terrace?” he asked hopefully.

She laughed outright. “I hope I’m not such a green girl as that. But I will allow you to select some hors d’oeuvres for me.”

“A task! My lady has set me a task! But first I beg a token of your favor.”

“I’m afraid my red sleeve embroidered with great pearls is pinned to my other evening gown, my lord,” she said with ironic courtesy.
His eyes lit up. “You like Malory!”

She flushed, as if it were something to be ashamed of. “I’ve always been fond of the Morte d’Arthur. I hope my taste in modern literature is rather more elevated.”

Nev grinned. “Says you! I’ll wager a pony you’re hiding The Mysteries of Udolpho in your reticule even as we speak!”

He teases Penelope but he is the one who loves Gothic novels, she is the one who looks down on them. By then I am already half way in love and it’s still the first chapter. Before much else happens, he learns his mother is at the party and he is terrified of her because he should have dined with her and guess what – he runs away in terror of his mother through the streets of London. How novel.

A couple of weeks later and his father is dead. Nev inherits the title, responsibilities that he is not at all prepared to handle, he needs to take care of his mother and sister and worst of all, debts he has no way of settling. He does he best to – he sells property, jewels, his horses. He talks to his solicitor. Never once it crosses his mind to sell his sister in marriage – instead he sells himself. He remembers the girl he met at the party, Penelope. She is rich. He thinks they would do well together. He goes to her, he explains the situation and asks for her help and hand in marriage.

Penelope, whose family comes from nothing and became rich with her father’s acumen for business, decides to say yes. Even though she has harbored the hope of marrying her friend Edward, she and her family always hoped she would be a lady and then there is something about Nev. But mind you, Nev is not one of those impossibly handsome, hot, rich dudes from romance. Oh no. He is poor and common.

There was to be sure, nothing out of the common way about him. A perfectly ordinary-looking young man, Penelope insisted to herself. He was of middling height, his shoulders neither slim nor broad. His hands were not aristocratically slender – there was nothing to set them apart from the hands of any other gentleman of her acquaintance.

His hair was a little too long, and she thought its tousled appearance more the result of inattention than any attempt at fashion; it was neither dark nor fair, but merely brown – utterly nondescript save for a hint of cinnamon. His face too would have been unmemorable if it were not for a slight crookedness in his nose, suggesting it had been broken. His eyes were an ordinary blue, of an ordinary shape and size.
So why could she picture him so clearly, and why did the memory of his smile still make her feel – hot, and strange inside?

What makes it for Penelope is his cinnamon hair, his smile and then there was his voice. His voice. And the fact that he is so earnest. And that is what leaps from the page of this book:

This couple’s earnestness to make this marriage work. When Penelope says yes, she makes a list of things she expects from him, amongst them: respect, that he doesn’t keep a mistress and that he doesn’t resent her for the money she brings to the marriage. Nev is prepared to say yes to all of these things and yet they are not easy: and of course they are not. He even breaks apart from his two best friends – he is so determined to shift his life around he thinks he can’t do it with his friends around.

And then there is Amy – at one point in the novel he thinks about her and he misses her and their camaraderie. Although this is usually a big no-no to me (I mean, come on, a hero thinking about a former mistress? How dares he?) it actually made Nev a much better man to my eyes. It means he wasn’t an user – and better yet. When he thought of Amy and their camaraderie he realized that he didn’t know her and he didn’t care to know – and that realization made him see how much he wanted to get to know Penelope . This is not the only novelty, Amy comes back into the scene and she is not the bitch ex-mistress that comes as the Big Misunderstanding – she is actually a rather nice young lady whose presence move the two of them to talk to each other.

Another novelty? Nev decides to get to know Penelope better before they have sex. And the first time they fool around for real and he pleasures her and brings her to climax, the next day she is all smiles and all dressed up for him. And this is what he thinks:

She was radiant and happy because she never experienced the peak of pleasure before. When Nev had discovered he could do it to himself the summer he turned twelve, he had spent nearly three days in his room with the door locked. But poor, innocent Penelope didn’t realize that’s all it was. She thought there was something special about him.

Nev knew perfectly well that there wasn’t. If she had married Edward, she would be looking at him right now as if he had hung the moon. The thought made him queasy. He had taken everything from her and given her only this one thing she could get from any man who took her fancy, and she was smiling gratefully at him and doing her hair up pretty.

I don’t think I ever saw a hero thinking around these lines. There is usually pride and jealousy or lust.

But enough about Nev. Because Penelope is a great heroine – strong and capable. A little bit cold to begin with, thinking that’s what it took to be a lady: to be in control. She never jumps to conclusions about Nev and she is prepared to help him becoming a man. They are so young the two of them – I hardly ever get this sense of a couple growing together, working together. This is what they have to do – to get their marriage on the tracks, their lives too.

And Nev’s estate – let’s not forget that. Dealing with poachers, tenants and riots- they have real problems to deal with. And it is interesting – all the more when I learnt about the author’s research about hardships of the English working class in the era and agrarian riots in East Anglia in 1816. To the Historian in me, it is like Christmas in July.

This book is so good, I can almost forgive the unnecessary villain and his subsequent villainous, melodramatic act towards the end. The bane of my existence when it comes to Romance Novels – why this when so much awesome secondary and primary internal and external conflicts already exist?

I already said too much, and didn’t even mention Nev’s family, the cute secondary romance, the few and very good sex scenes. But I shall leave you with one last quote, my favorite in the whole book:

“Nev?” she asked, and he would have given her anything.” Will you read to me?”

He blinked. “You want me to read to you?”

She nodded.”You – you’re good at it.”

She had only heard him read aloud once – Byron, at her parent’s house. She didn’t even like Byron. He had supposed she was thinking him the most frivolous fellow alive, and instead she had liked it. For the first time in days, Nev felt that life was full of pleasant surprises. He grinned at her. “Let me dig up our copy of Malory.”

When he had found it, he returned to the window seat. He glanced at her to see where she wanted to sit; to his surprise she crawled between his legs again and settled there. So he rested the book on her lap and his chin on her shoulder and began to read. She was soft and warm and laughed in all the right places, and when he bent and kissed her hair she made a contented humming sound in the back of her throat.

This is the sort of quiet affection that makes me sigh in contentment and finally, finally I found myself hugging a book after months of drought. That, fellow romance readers is why I love Romance.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: You need another? I will give you another one:

She sighed and tilted up her face. He felt a flash of something – Penelope seemed haloed for an instant in perfect beauty, and he felt a sharp, unsettling pang as if someone had plucked one of his heartstrings, hard, and found it out of tune. It wasn’t like affection or lust – those he knew; it was something entirely unfamiliar.

“Is something wrong?”

He realized he had stopped moving, his thumb at the corner of her mouth.”Not at all”. He tried to smile. The feeling was gone now, but it had left something in its wake – a sort of lifting up, a yearning toward something undefined. He had sometimes felt like this when he had heard the opening chords of a favorite piece of music. He had read a poem, once, that almost described it: a shaping and a sense of thing beyond us .

That was how he felt when he looked at Penelope just now. As if something were happening to the two of them, just beyond the reach of his understanding.

Additional Thoughts : Stick around as the author will be here later talking about her inspirations and influences for writing the book. Plus, we will be giving away a signed copy of the book.

Verdict: I loved this novel so much and can’t wait to read more from Rose Lerner -I welcome the author to the genre with open arms. More please!

Rating: 8 – Excellent leaning towards a 9

Reading Next: Something About You by Julie James

Today, we have the proud honor of being the official Book Blog Partner on Harper Teen’s 28 Days of Winter Escapes Tour! First, we give you our joint review of our participating title, The Girl with the Mermaid Hair by Delia Ephron. Then, we bring you an exclusive Q&A with the author and a chance to win a copy of the book (and an iTouch).

Title: The Girl With The Mermaid Hair

Author: Delia Ephron

Genre: YA / Contemporary

Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: January 2010
Hardcover: 320 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand Alone (although one of the secondary characters was the protagonist of the author’s previous book, Frannie in Pieces).

Click. Sukie Jamieson takes a selfie after her tennis lesson. Click. She takes one before she has to give a presentation in class. Click. She takes one to be sure there’s nothing in her teeth after eating pizza at Clementi’s. And if she can’t take a selfie, she checks her reflection in windows, spoons, car chrome—anything available, really. So when her mother gives her an exquisite full-length mirror that once belonged to her grandmother, Sukie is thrilled. So thrilled that she doesn’t listen to her mother’s warning: “This mirror will be your best friend and worst enemy.” Because mirrors, as Sukie discovers, show not only the faraway truth but the truth close up. And finding out that close-up truth changes people. Often forever.

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

Why did we read this book: When we were contacted to be part of the Winter Escapes event hosted by Harper Teen, we were allocated this book and we couldn’t have been happier – it was a perfect fit.

REVIEW:

First Impressions:

Ana: I started to read The Girl with the Mermaid Hair and my first reaction after reading the first few pages was: this is quite possibly one the weirdest books I have ever read, this girl is barking bonkers and completely unlikable and what in the world is going on. A few pages more and all of that changed – the book was still weird, but a wonderful weird, the character still crazy but with reason and I couldn’t put the book down until I was done and I ended up loving it. It is, hands down one of the best contemporaries YA I have read and a fantastic story about a girl, for girls, about what is like to be a girl.

Thea: The Girl with the Mermaid Hair is a bizarre book, and completely out of the range of YA titles that I usually read.

And I absolutely, out-of-my-mind LOVED it.

My experience with the book was very similar to Ana’s – I started it and couldn’t make heads or tails of what the frak was going on. Sukie is, for lack of a better word, deranged. At first glance, she’s narcissistic and irritatingly bland – but she’s not, really. This is a beautiful, unexpected, heartbreaking work of staggering genius (yes, I just ripped off Dave Eggers, but THAT is how good this book is – heck, better than Eggers’ narcissistic memoir, in this reader’s opinion). Against all my cynicism and predisposition against this book, The Girl with the Mermaid Hair blew me away.

On the Plot:

Ana: Sukie Jamieson is perfect: with her perfect blonde hair (like a mermaid’s), her perfect skin and her beautiful body with strong muscles built over her perfectly honed Tennis skills. Living in a perfect, beautiful house, with a perfect family composed of a loving father and a slightly crazy mother, a cute younger brother and the family dog Señor who even has a place at the dining table (first warning signal: his place it is at the head of the table). Sukie is a top student, brags about a quarterback boyfriend, she is beautiful and everybody is jealous of her and she spends hours in self-adoration and constantly takes selfies – pictures of herself with her cell phone.

One day her mother gives her an antique mirror as a present with the warning: “This mirror will be your best friend and worst enemy.”

As Sukie becomes more and more enamored with herself little cracks appear in the mirror – and ironically in her life – it becomes clear to the reader that Sukie only believes herself and her life to perfect. The truth is something else altogether.

There is very little in the way of a plot in The Girl with the Mermaid Hair , as this is really a character-driven novel at its core. Nothing really momentous happen in the novel and the story is propelled by Sukie and Sukie alone, as little by little is like the curtain is suspended and she can SEE her life for what it is and so can the reader. The result is sometimes hilarious but often sad too. Sometimes I write: this is so and so’s book but it is not every time that I am completely overcome with the strange sensation that I had when I was reading this book. This is Sukie’s book: I couldn’t tell where the writer or the narrator was, it was like neither existed and all I could see was Sukie. I was inside her head at all times and it felt like it was just me and her. That is also dude to the writing technique – extreme “showing,” no “telling” whatsoever, with the author, having the utmost faith in the reader to “get” what she saying. And I really dig that.

Thea: I have to wholeheartedly agree with Ana in saying that this indeed is Sukie’s book, and it is all the more awesome because of how committed it is. There really isn’t much plot or action, but that doesn’t mean The Girl with the Mermaid Hair is slow or dull – quite the opposite, actually. Rather, this is a wholly immersive reading experience. I have to emphasize again what Ana has said before me; reading The Girl with the Mermaid Hair is an experience unlike any other. It’s not so much a “reading a book” experience as it is a, “Holy Crap, I’m actually seeing Sukie’s mind at work” experience. (But more on that in the next section)

Also, I must say that Ms. Ephron’s writing is just…awesome. Not only is it incredibly clever (for example, one particular passage has Sukie debating what text to send – “WHEN WE KNOW EACH OTHER BETTER” – and deletes her text, letter by letter before inadvertently sending simply, “WHEN”), but it’s also memorably strange. The Girl with the Mermaid Hair is a trip – we readers are only given Sukie’s word as truth, and it becomes painfully, excruciatingly clear that Sukie’s judgement is not completely sound. She talks about her new “boyfriend” that she met at the mall (popular quarterback of the local highschool, named Bobo), but it soon becomes very apparent that Sukie’s relationship – along with so many other things in her life – is a fantasy. A delusion.

And that’s what I loved the most about this book: how it completely messes with reader perceptions. I found myself thinking, Sukie is a gag-inducing Mary Sue! No wait, she’s a narcissistic snot! I hate Sukie! No wait, she’s completely insane! No wait, I LOVE Sukie! and so on and so forth. How often does a book come along that does this to you? Not often. And, as Ana says, I can totally dig that.

On the Characters:

Ana: As a reader who loves character-driven novels, this book was a perfect fit for me. And I was not expecting it. Yes, I started the book disliking her superficiality and her weirdness but ended up loving and rooting for her once I got to know her better. When the story begins, she is too good to be true – too perfect. The image she has of herself and of her parents for example is a complete illusion and it is as though she doesn’t see those illusions because she does – it her interpretation that is all warped. Because for example this sequence about her father:

Sukie loved to watch her dad operate. That’s what he called it. Once at Cones, when he’d offered to pay for a woman’s sprinkles (a woman they’d never met before), the woman said to Sukie, “Your father makes everything more fun, doesn’t he?” As soon as they’d left the store, she reported the compliment to her dad, and he whispered (so her mom and Mikey couldn’t hear), “I’m a real operator”. Clearly this was information he could entrust only to Sukie

To her, he is a winner. To me, it is clear what he is. Eventually, yes, this is one of the things she comes to realise, one of the realities she has to face. But there is so much more to it. All the pressure she suffers from her mother to be beautiful and perfect; her mother who has a facelift and gets rid of her nose – the nose that was a trait she shared with Sukie – what does that to a girl’s psyche?

The book deals a lot with image and in several levels as well:, in mirrors, in photography; public image, self-image, the image one has in the family life or at school. Sukie is carrying her cell phone at all times and yet it never rings, her quarterback fling is not really interested in her, she is truly and really lonely and alone. She hits rock bottom and has to resurface (which is a cool image because of the mermaid hair) and re-imagine herself and I loved that it was all done alone. There was no hot boyfriend to help. No parents to help. Nothing, nada. It was all Sukie (with a little help from her friends).

When the book closes, she is much more real character than she was in the beginning.

As for the other characters, the mother was a sad example of a mother, someone I pitied more than anything. As for the father, I absolutely loathed the individual – not because he was a sleaze ball but because he used Sukie in the war against his wife. You do not do that with your child. But then again, as my parents often said: parenthood does not come with a manual.

But hands down, best secondary character was Señor, the Dog. The fact that he was the one the family turned to, to ask for advice should give you an idea of how dysfunctional they were.

One final thought: one of Sukie’s main concerns is about being original (or not). Is about striving to being unique without having a clue how to. My heart nearly broke into a million pieces several times during this book – and it may sound as though it is all very angsty and sad but it is not, really.

Thea: Well, The Girl with the Mermaid Hair *is* angsty and sad. But ultimately it’s an uplifting, triumphant book, and that’s ALL because of its protagonist Sukie.

I’m something of a plot junkie, as you may or may not have realized over the past couple of years here. But when a character-study type of book is done well, I will never complain about a shortage of action or parallel storylines or whatever, and such is the beauty of this novel from Delia Ephron. As I said before, I had no idea how to interpret and categorize Sukie as a heroine. At first glance, she’s irritating and vain, admiring herself in her grandmother’s antique mirror, mind-numbingly preoccupied with her appearance (especially with her titled hair, and with what she perceives of as an imperfect nose), constantly snapping “selfies” (that is pictures of herself on her cell phone). I shudder at the thought of this sort of vapid heroine, and found myself agreeing with Sukie’s tennis coach when he remarked that she had a marshmallow for a brain.

But…

Then Ms. Ephron works her magic. Sukie in fact isn’t a vain imbecile – she’s a very lonely, hollow young woman that perceives the world around her so differently than anyone else. She lives in her own fantasies. She takes “selfies” and is so preoccupied with her looks not because she is vain, but because she has nothing else. She throws herself into her school work and extracurricular activities, not because she enjoys any of it, but because she is trying to impress her father, to placate her mother, to be perfect for everyone else. Her perfection is not perfection at all; it is obsessive, and heartbreakingly tragic.

And HERE is what makes The Girl with the Mermaid Hair a damn near perfect book for me – in my opinion, it is a jarring look at gender roles and expectations. It is, as I told Ana in an email, the 21st century, teen female version of Catcher in the Rye. Before you tune out, let me explain – I abhor Holden Caufield with every fiber of my being. I have no patience for the embodiment of overprivileged, adolescent male malaise that Holden represented – but this is something that resonates with a lot of readers, in particular male readers. What I mean by comparing Catcher In the Rye to The Girl with the Mermaid Hair is simply this: Sukie is the female answer to Holden Caufield in the new century. Sukie is the embodiment of pressures put on young adults, especially females, in our own age. She’s the daughter of a very rich and handsome father, a beautiful mother, older sister to a loving younger brother. She’s a perfect student, amazingly smart, and breathtakingly beautiful. But she’s far from perfect. She’s friendless, she thinks she has no personality, and she’s ultimately…hollow. Sukie lives to please everyone else, to play by the rules, and to maintain her appearance. Ms. Ephron takes that beautiful, perfect reflection, and just as with the antique mirror in the novel, she distorts the image bit by bit, ultimately shattering the readers’ perception of Sukie with stark reality.

And, yeah, she shattered this reader’s heart too.

Final Thoughts, Observations & Rating:

Ana: A surprisingly moving, funny and sharp character-driven story which I absolutely adored. It is as of now, one of my favorite reads of the year.

Thea: The Girl with the Mermaid Hair is a rare gem of a book, and it completely took me by surprise. Almost against my will, I loved it. I agree once more with Ana – this is the first truly memorable new release I’ve read in 2010. In fact, it’s my favorite book published in 2010 so far. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:

I am so unoriginal. Sukie recorded the dreaded feeling in her journal that night while senor snored next to her, taking up most of the bed.”Do you agree, Senor?”

Senor twitched, indicating that he was dreaming.

Unoriginal. She hoped it wasn’t true but despaired that it was.

She collected stuffed penguins. Was that unoriginal too? Was lining them up in a row on the windowsill a conventional way to display them? They all had names. She’d started with A, Anton, and worked her way down the alphabet to M, Marshmallow, a very small bird with a yellow bow. Sometimes she thought of them as friends, sometimes as audience. Tonight they sat in judgement. Over their furry black heads the moon was bright white, so low in the sky that it might roll off a rooftop, and perfectly round. A storybook moon, she thought. A wishing moon. She wondered if that thought was especially original; probably not. Could she fake being original, or was that something you couldn’t fool anyone about? I wish I knew what everyone thought of me, really, she wrote. No, I take that back.

You can also read the first 64 pages of The Girl with the Mermaid Hair using Harper Teen’s awesome Browse Inside feature, below:

Additional Thoughts: The Girl with the Mermaid Hair is today’s stop on Harper Teen’s 28 Days of Winter Escapes! For a chance to win The Girl with the Mermaid Hair and an iTouch, make sure to go to the official page for today and answer the daily poll!

And make sure to stick around, as later today we have an exclusive Q&A with Delia Ephron!

Rating:

Ana: 8 – Excellent

Thea: 9 – Damn Near Perfection

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