Title: Calamity Jack

Author: Shannon Hale & Dean Hale

Illustrator:Nathan Hale

Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling, Graphic Novel, Young Adult

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA / Bloomsbury PLC
Publication Date: 5 Jan 2010/ 4 Jan 2010
Hardback/Paperback: 144 pages

Stand alone or series: Sequel to Rapunzel’s Revenge but can be read as a stand alone

Why did I read the book: I read Rapunzel’s Revenge earlier this year and loved it.. I was delighted when I heard that there was going to be a sequel.

How did I get the book: Last week, I opened a package from Bloomsbury PLC and there it was in its shinning glory! I let out a SQUEE!

Summary: Jack likes to think of himself as a criminal mastermind…with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, plotter, planner, trickster, swindler…maybe even thief? One fine day Jack picks a target a little more giant than the usual, and one little bean turns into a great big building-destroying beanstalk.

With help from Rapunzel (and her trusty braids), a pixie from Jack’s past, and a man with inventions from the future, they just might out-swindle the evil giants and put his beloved city back in the hands of good people ….while catapulting themselves and readers into another fantastical adventure.

Review: A few months ago I read Rapunzel’s Revenge and loved it: loved the retelling of the fairy tale set in the Wild West in which Rapunzel saves herself and is a very strong-willed young lady. A Native-American Jack of the Beanstalk was her side-kick and eventually, her romantic interest and when I heard he would get his own story, I was delighted.

Calamity Jack is a story in two parts, past and present. The first part is a retelling of the original Jack and the Beanstalk in which our esteemed protagonist is a con artist, working together with a pixie called Pru. He is not a highly successful schemer though: he has the plans, he has the guts topull them off but he lacks the one thing that is most important: luck.

Maybe because his heart is not entirely in his cons ? Nevertheless, life is hard for Jack and his momma and he will do anything to make her life better, including plotting the greatest scheme of them all; his target: the town’s most powerful man, the giant Blunderboar and his fortress. If he can get this one coup right, he and his mother will be well-off for life. Unfortunately things go awry and not only Jack’s momma is terribly disappointed in Jack but the whole town and the Giants are after him. He has no choice but to run which is how he ends up in the West (meeting Rapunzel and the events of the previous book take place).

In the second part, Jack and Rapunzel decide go back. He now has the means to help his mother and he needs to set things right. What he didn’t expect is that the repercussions of his own scheme are much worse than he expected; couple that with the fact that the city is now under siege from the terrible Ant People and you have a Situation. Together, Jack and Rapunzel will work to free the city and Jack’s momma and eventually answer the question: is Jack a good man or a bad man?

Calamity Jack is as much fun as Rapunzel’s Revenge: full of action, gimmicks and wonderful characters. Rapunzel remains my favourite and even though the story here is not from her point of view, she is still a very important part of the story. And a cool one at that: I love how she still uses her braid, now unattached to her head, as a lasso. Even if Jack is the narrator here, Rapunzel is still the proper Heroine, the one that gets in danger to save everybody. And I just LOVED to see how he is incredibly aware of how cool, amazing, powerful she is and how he has such admiration for her – even if he feels he is not good enough for her.

And this is it really: this is Jack’s journey to become a man. He is surrounded by strong, capable women, his momma and Rapunzel; both have a strong sense of right and wrong whereas Jack navigates in a greyer area and this contrast makes him very aware of his shortcomings. He wants nothing but to be worthy of these two women and of his traditions. The conclusion of the story is very sweet and ever so right.

As for the art, I took me some getting used to it when first introduced to Nathan Hale’s illustration in Rapunzel’s Revenge. Now, that I am, I like it. The panels are very clean and bright and I loved how the difference between the wild, wild west from the previous book and the slick, steampunkish feel that the city has.

In the end, I didn’t think Calamity Jack was as brilliant as Rapunzel’s Revenge (mostly because Jack is not as a larger-than-life a character as Rapunzel is) but I still very much enjoyed it.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: Every single scene with Rapunzel. Oh my, I might have a girl-crush!

Verdict: Although Calamity Jack lacked the sheer brilliance that was Rapunzel’s Revenge, I still thought it was fun and highly recommend it.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey

Title: The Mermaid’s Madness

Author: Jim C. Hines

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Daw Books
Publishing Date: October 6, 2009
Paperback: 352 pages

Stand Alone or series: book 2 in the Princess Novels’ series

Why did I read the book: I read the first one and loved it.
How did I get the book: Bought

Summary:

There is an old story — you might have heard it — about a young mermaid, the daughter of a king, who saved the life of a human prince and fell in love.

So innocent was her love, so pure her devotion, that she would pay any price for the chance to be with her prince. She gave up her voice, her family, and the sea, and became human. But the prince had fallen in love with another woman.

The tales say the little mermaid sacrificed her own life so that her beloved prince could find happiness with his bride.

The tales lie.

Review: After reading and enjoying The Stepsister Scheme, I immediately picked up its sequel, The Mermaid’s Madness, and ended up enjoying it even more than the first one.

The three princesses Sleeping Beauty (Talia), Snow White (Snow) and Cinderella (Danielle) return and this time, they must face another fairytale princess turned villain: The (not so) Little Mermaid.

The story opens and it’s one year after the events of The Stepsister Scheme. Princess Danielle and her mother-in-law Beatrice are at high seas, preparing to parley with the Undine in their annual meeting when they exchange tributes and reinforce their association. But this time around something goes awry when they are attacked by a group of merfolk led by their new Queen, Lirea – she is looking for her missing sister and she believes Queen Bea is keeping her. Lirea ends up stabbing the Queen who falls into a magic-induced coma. The undine declare war against the humans until the queen’s sister is returned. This is when Danielle and Talia learn that Snow knows where the mermaid is and why is Queen Bea keeping her. It turns out, she is hiding in fear of her sister’s madness, a madness that comes from her tragic story, a gritty and sad story worse than anyone ever thought.

A young girls fall in love with a prince and her sorceress grandmother helps her become human so that she can woo him. In order to become fully human he has to marry her within six days. The prince uses the young princess and ditches her without ever committing because no Prince could ever marry a half-animal; driven by grief, the mermaid stabs the prince with an enchanted knife provided her grandmother (which is the same knife used to stab Queen Bea) ; in her guilt and sadness the mermaid goes crazy, kills her father and older sister and is in search of her other sister for revenge for helping in the creation of the knife.

It is this knife that Snow, Danielle and Talia must find in order to save Queen Bea and on their perilous journey (full of adventure!) they will meet many friend and foe and they will once again, save the day but not before realising some truths about themselves.

Now, this is what I am talking about: a good, adventurous story, great fighting sequences, with truly fleshed out characters. This time around, we get the three princesses’ PoV and I loved it. These three are absolutely great characters: courageous, determined, interesting far from being timid, spineless, feeble protagonists. They are also complex: Snow for example, has a tendency to get lost in a power trip whenever she is using her magic; Talia is on the brink of losing control – not only for feeling guilty for not preventing the attack on the Queen but for her unrequited love for Snow (by the way, I am so shipping these two). Danielle is concerned about her son and what exactly did the black magic used to speed up her pregnancy DO to him. Plus her need to clean whenever she is anxious is both funny and a bit sad.

The true tragedy and sadness of the story lie in finding out that the villain is far from being one-dimensional. Instead, even though it is clear that she really must be stopped, it is impossible not to feel sympathy for her. And towards the end, there is a new revelation that was somewhat sad but not unexpected – and I think that will open a new possible thread in the next instalments. And I can’t wait to read them – these books are fun, quick reads and the author do not keep from packing some punches. I can feel such a potential for this series and I am deeply connected with these characters: I totally, truly LIKE them.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:
The final showdown between Talia and the Little Mermaid – when Talia knows what she must do, Lirea knows what must be done and it is not only sad but poignant. Especially when Talia says that she “knows”: because she too, was never lucky in love.

Additional Thoughts The next book in the series will be released in 2010 and is called Red Hood’s Revenge:

Roudette’s story was a simple one. A red cape. A wolf. A hunter.

Her mother told her she would be safe, so long as she kept to the path. But sometimes the path leads to dark places.

Roudette is the hunter now, an assassin known throughout the world as the Lady of the Red Hood. Her mission will take her to Arathea and an ancient fairy threat. At the heart of the conflict between humans and fairies stands the woman Roudette has been hired to kill, the only human ever to have fought the Lady of the Red Hood and survived:

The princess known as Sleeping Beauty.

Can’t wait!

Verdict: These books are a lot of fun and of the highest quality. The Fantasy elements are great, the twists to known fairytales are creative and the characters…. I just love them. And where else can you get a Sleeping Beauty that is gay and a ninja?

Rating: 7 – very good, leaning towards a 8

Reading next: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Title: The Stepsister Scheme

Author: Jim C. Hines

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: DAW Books
Publishing date: January 2009
Paperback: 352 pages

Stand alone or series: First in the Princess Novels series.

Why did I read the book: Kaz Mahoney pointed it to me when we were visiting our favourite book store (that would be Forbidden Planet) and I just had to buy it.

How did I get the book: Bought

Summary: Cinderella–whose real name is Danielle Whiteshore (nee Danielle de Glas)–does marry Prince Armand. And if you can ignore the pigeon incident, their wedding is a dream come true.

But not long after the “happily ever after,” Danielle is attacked by her stepsister Charlotte, who suddenly has all sorts of magic to call upon. And though Talia–otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty–comes to the rescue (she’s a martial arts master, and all those fairy blessings make her almost unbeatable), Charlotte gets away.

That’s when Danielle discovers a number of disturbing facts: Armand has been kidnapped and taken to the realm of the Fairies; Danielle is pregnant with his child; and the Queen has her own very secret service that consists of Talia and Snow (White, of course). Snow is an expert at mirror magic and heavy duty flirting.

Can the three princesses track down Armand and extract both the prince and themselves from the clutches of some of fantasyland’s most nefarious villains?

Review: What happened after the Happily Ever After – IF there was ever one?

I love Fairytale retellings and the more different from the originals, the better and when I saw this book in the store, I knew I had to have it. But what I did not know, or what I did not expect was how much I would enjoy The Stepsister Scheme and its sequel, The Mermaid’s Madness. The cartoonish covers may indicate a cutesy (thanks to Thea for the choice of word) read but what is inside is anything but. Instead we get a somewhat dark take on known fairytales, good Fantasy writing, with strong, female characters as protagonists and yes, a good dose of humour.

The Stepsister Scheme is the first in a new series which follows a trio of fairytale princesses: Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. This first book is centred on Cinderella or Danielle de Glas as she settles down on her married life to Prince Armand, heir to the throne of Lorindar. It’s only been four months but the stories are already circulating about how she was a slave to her evil stepfamily and how she fell in love with the prince after sneaking into the Ball; how with the help of a magical influence (not a fairy godmother though – but actually the spirit of her mother), she got a beautiful dress and glass slippers and then one night she left one slipper behind and the besotted prince went around the reign looking for her. The rumours are mostly correct although the version that includes a magic pumpkin is a gross fabrication.

The story starts as Danielle is attacked by Charlotte, one of her stepsisters, who doesn’t seem to have gotten over the loss of Princess Charming. Crippled by her own mother (who tried to cut her foot to fit in the Glass Slipper) a resentful Charlotte tries to kill Danielle with the help of an undisclosed Magic source only to be thwarted by one of the Danielle’s servants, Talia.

Talia proves to be a good fighter, yet Charlotte escapes but not before revealing that Prince Armand has gone missing. Danielle is then confronted with the fact that her husband has been captured and that her mother-in-law, Queen Beatrice has a special force in charge of dealing with problems that can’t be solved with diplomacy and politics. Talia is one of them and to Danielle’s surprise she is the princess everybody knows as Sleeping Beauty. Snow White is the other. The three of them are entrusted with the task to go searching for Armand, a quest that eventually leads them to Fairytown (there is a diplomatic treaty prevents Queen Bea from using official channels to rescue her son) , where Danielle learns that her unborn baby is a most wanted commodity and where all three of them must face their worst nightmares.

The Stepsister Scheme is a fast-paced read ( I was done in one afternoon) and it was so much fun! Starting with the twists to the well-known fairytales: Sleeping Beauty did sleep for 100 years cursed by the fairies only to wake up in pain, giving birth to children born of rape by the grandson of a man who killed her entire family and usurped her throne; Snow White on the other hand fell in love with the hunter sent to kill her and they lived together in the woods until her mother, dressed as an old lady fed her a poisoned apple. Both women turned killers and had to escape their respective kingdoms and hide in Lorindar. Talia uses the gifts the fairies granted her to be a most skilled martial arts fighter and Snow has inherited her mother’s skills with magic Mirrors and became a sorcerer (and just wait till you learn what exactly are the seven dwarves and how they come into play in the story).

My one and only grippe with this book is how very plot centric it is – I tend to prefer character-driven stories or at least to have some character development. As this story is exclusively from Cinderella’s point of view – the one character that truly did get her happily ever after, married to a loving, passionate prince – and there isn’t a lot in the way of character’s growth (except for going from mostly passive to quite active) , I felt that there was something missing. And that something was the point of view of the characters I loved the most – Talia and Snow. We get only but a peek at how they are still suffering the consequences of their tragic pasts (Talia can’t sleep for example and hates fairies for all the “gifts” they gave her) in TheStepsister Scheme and I wished for more.

Although there are other interesting secondary characters (the Duchess is one I wish to see again) they are even less flesh-out than the three protagonists. But even if less fleshed-out than I hoped these three are strong characters and strong women. I loved how loyal and determined they all were and I revelled in the fact that Cinderella was the one to do the rescuing of her prince this time. And I absolutely adored how we find out that Talia has feelings for Snow.

Although for the most part, the book is a light read with a definite resolution of this particular story, both the repercussions of the princess’ pasts and the prospect of darkness in their future are great overreaching threads that I hope will come back in future instalments.

Bottom line is this: I finished reading The Stepsister Scheme and immediately opened the sequel, The Mermaid’s Madness.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: I have several favourite parts: from Talia and Snow’s bickering to the kiss of love (I am purposely cryptic) ; from the revelation of the villain to their adventures in fairy town (including the pixie bar) .

Additional Thoughts: I recently read another retelling of Cinderella which I loved: Ash by Malinda Lo.

Ash is a beautiful tale of a girl who suffers of depression after the death of her father and becomes obsessed with the world of fairies; and who ultimately, actively seeks to free herself from her stepfamily and then finds happiness in the arms of another girl, the King’s Huntress.

Highly recommended.

Verdict: The Stepsister Scheme is a fun read, with great Fantasy elements and three great protagonists. If you like fairytale retellings and strong female characters, look out for this one.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim C. Hines

Title: Ice

Author: Sarah Beth Durst

Genre: Fantasy, Retelling, Young Adult

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (US) / Simon & Schuster Children’s (UK)
Publication Date: October 2009
Hardcover: 320 pages (US)

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

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

Why did I read this book: Sarah Beth Durst’s new novel has been popping up all around the blogosphere, and when I learned it was a retelling of the Norwegian fairy tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” my interest was instantly piqued. It seems to be one of the more popular of the lesser known fable for retellings, but I had yet to read one. So, when we receive a review copy, I was more than eager to dive in.

Summary: (from amazon.com)
When Cassie was a little girl, her grandmother told her a fairy tale about her mother, who made a deal with the Polar Bear King and was swept away to the ends of the earth. Now that Cassie is older, she knows the story was a nice way of saying her mother had died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station, is determined to become a scientist, and has no time for make-believe.
Then, on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie comes face-to-face with a polar bear who speaks to her. He tells her that her mother is alive, imprisoned at the ends of the earth. And he can bring her back — if Cassie will agree to be his bride.

That is the beginning of Cassie’s own real-life fairy tale, one that sends her on an unbelievable journey across the brutal Arctic, through the Canadian boreal forest, and on the back of the North Wind to the land east of the sun and west of the moon. Before it is over, the world she knows will be swept away, and everything she holds dear will be taken from her — until she discovers the true meaning of love and family in the magical realm of Ice.

Review:

Once upon a time, the North Wind said to the Polar Bear King, ‘Steal me a daughter, and when she grows, she will be your bride.’

With this grandmother’s bedside story begins Ice, a modern retelling of the Norwegian fairy tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon.” On the eve of Cassie’s eighteenth birthday, she has left the Arctic research station that is her home, on the tail of one of the largest polar bears she has ever seen. As a present to herself, she has broken her father’s strict survival and research protocol, in order to tag the bear for research purposes. But just when she has him cornered, the enormous bear seems to walk into an ice wall, disappearing from sight. Dejected and disbelieving, Cass returns home and explains her actions to her father – who, instead of berating her, becomes irrationally scared, telling Cassie that he will have a helicopter come immediately to the station so that she can be taken away to live with her grandmother in the Alaskan city of Fairbanks. Cassie is bewildered – for she learns that the same fairy tale her grandmother told her every night of her childhood is actually her family story.

Cassie’s mother was the stolen daughter of the fairy tale, brought by the Polar Bear King to the North Wind to raise as a daughter, and then who would become the Polar Bear King’s wife. Once she grew into a woman, however, she fell in love with another mortal – Cassie’s father. When the Polar Bear King came to claim his bride, he made another deal with Cassie’s mother as he would not take an unwilling wife. In exchange for protecting Cassie’s mother and her human husband from the angry North Wind, the Polar Bear King would get their daughter – Cassie – as his bride. The North Wind, however, discovered his wayward daughter’s whereabouts. To protect her husband and Cassie, she begged her father to take out his rage on her alone. The North Wind blew Cassie’s mother to the ends of the earth – east of the Sun and west of the Moon, to the court of the spiteful trolls, where she has remained ever since.

And, Cassie learns, as she has turned eighteen, the Polar Bear King has come for her as payment for the bargain made by her parents.

Instead of running away with her grandmother, however, a shellshocked and still-disbelieving Cassie sneaks out of the station and into the snow, calling out for the Polar Bear King to show himself…and he does. Cassie decides to strike a deal of her own with the bear – save her mother from her imprisonment with the trolls, and Cassie will go with the bear and become his bride. It’s a bargain that Cassie has no intention of truly keeping, but when her mother is freed and she gets to know Bear in his magical icy palace, her plans change as she, inexplicably, falls in love. Things are never so simple, however, as Bear has made another bargain of his own – and Cassie must determine to what lengths she will go to in order to save her husband from a terrible fate.

Ice is a romantic fantasy novel, a retelling in the young adult fashion of Shannon Hale and Robin McKinley. Ms. Durst’s version of the familiar fable updates it with a modern twist. In conception and in terms of plot, Ice is an irresistible, fast-paced read. Ms. Durst creates a world that is both familiar and enchantingly alien, weaving a Norwegian fairy tale with Inupiaq (that is, Inuit/Eskimo) myth. The Polar Bear King, which sounds a little cheesy, is in fact a munaqsri – a guardian of spirits. I loved the concept of the munaqsri as keepers of souls, with at least one for each living species. In terms of magical world building, Ice shines. Traversing the north pole, the arctic tundra, rich green forests and the very ends of the earth, this novel also takes on the ambitious task of writing a difficult, non-traditional love story – it’s traditional in the sense that there’s marriage and children involved, but it’s rare that the heroine of a young adult novel is a wife and teen mother. The love story that unfolds between Bear and Cassie is sweet and devoted, especially in the book’s first act.

While the story is fast-paced and engaging (in fact, I finished Ice in a single sitting) and the fantasy element of different munaqsri undeniably compelling, Ice unfortunately feels a little lacking in the execution department. Everything happens so quickly – in the space of a single sentence, weeks have passed and Cassie has dramatically transformed from suspicious to a deep friendship bordering on love. There’s a lack of finesse in the writing – something extra that is missing, setting Ice beneath the caliber novel of, say, Juliet Marillier’s WIldwood Dancing or Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl. There’s enough romance and engaging plot to make this a quick read, but Ms. Durst’s prose lacks the lyrical magic that would have brought Ice to the next level. The same applies to the characters, particularly Cassie and Bear. They are sympathetic and sweet, but lack a level of believability because of how abrupt and episodic the plot is. It boils down to the writerly cliché of showing versus telling. Ms. Durst tells readers that Cassie feels a certain way and that she and Bear fall in love, but she doesn’t show readers the actual process – which is a shame, because part of the magic of romantic books such as this one is feeling those emotions as two different characters connect over time. I also felt a disconnect between the first act of the book and the second. Ice starts off strong and Cassie begins as a capable, intelligent heroine – the first few chapters as Cassie decides to save her mother and her curiosity as she travels to Bear’s ice castle is compelling, spellbinding stuff. But, the focus soon changes as Cassie returns home, then must set out on a quest to save Bear from a terrible fate. The transition from curious, driven and somewhat skeptical young woman to lover, wife and expectant mother is a rocky one, and I couldn’t quite suspend disbelief. I felt as though the novel was working on a word count and was truncated throughout, especially by the dramatic finale.

And yet, despite these drawbacks, Ice is a compulsively readable novel and one that I certainly enjoyed. It felt a little rushed which worked to its detriment in terms of characters and believability, but the story is undeniably well-conceived and compelling. Recommended for those fairy tale enthusiasts looking for a new retelling.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

PART ONE: The Land of the Midnight Sun

One

Once upon a time, in a land far to the north, there lived a lovely maiden…

Latitude 72° 13′ 30″ N
Longitude 152° 06′ 52″ W
Altitude 3 ft.

Cassie killed the snowmobile engine.

Total silence, her favorite sound. Ice crystals spun in the Arctic air. Sparkling in the predawn light, they looked like diamond dust. Beneath her ice-encrusted face mask, she smiled. She loved this: just her, the ice, and the bear.

“Don’t move,” she whispered at the polar bear.

Cassie felt behind her and unhooked the rifle. Placid as a marble statue, the polar bear did not move. She loaded the tranquilizer dart by feel, her eyes never leaving the bear. White on white in an alcove of ice, he looked like a king on a throne. For an instant, Cassie imagined she could hear Gram’s voice, telling the story of the Polar Bear King… Gram hadn’t told that story since the day she’d left the research station, but Cassie still remembered every word of it. She used to believe it was true.

When she was little, Cassie used to stage practice rescue missions outside of Dad’s Arctic research station. She’d pile old snowmobile parts and broken generators to make the troll’s castle, and then she’d scale the castle walls and tie up the “trolls” (old clothes stuffed with pillows) with climbing ropes. Once, Dad had caught her on the station roof with skis strapped to her feet, ready to ski beyond the ends of the earth to save her mom. He’d taken away Cassie’s skis and had forbidden Gram from telling the story. Not that that had slowed Cassie at all. She’d simply begged Gram to tell the story when Dad was away, and she’d invented a new game involving a canvas sail and an unused sled. Even after she’d understood the truth—that Gram’s story was merely a pretty way to say her mother had died — she’d continued to play the games.

Now I don’t need games, she thought with a grin. She snapped the syringe into place and lifted the gun up to her shoulder. And this bear, she thought, didn’t need any kid’s bedtime story to make him magnificent. He was as perfect as a textbook illustration: cream-colored with healthy musculature and no battle scars. If her estimates were correct, he’d be the largest polar bear on record. And she was the one who had found him.

Cassie cocked the tranquilizer gun, and the polar bear turned his head to look directly at her. She held her breath and didn’t move. Wind whistled, and loose snow swirled between her and the bear. Her heart thudded in her ears so loudly that she was certain he could hear it. This was it—the end of the chase. When she’d begun this chase, the aurora borealis had been dancing in the sky. She’d tracked him in its light for three miles north of the station. Loose sea ice had jostled at the shore, but she’d driven over it and then onto the pack ice. She’d followed him all the way here, to a jumble of ice blocks that looked like a miniature mountain range. She had no idea how he’d stayed so far ahead of her during the chase. Top speed for an adult male bear clocked at thirty miles per hour, and she’d run her snowmobile at sixty. Maybe the tracks hadn’t been as fresh as they’d looked, or maybe she’d discovered some kind of superfast bear. She grinned at the ridiculousness of that idea. Regardless of the explanation, the tracks had led her here to this beautiful, majestic, perfect bear. She’d won.

A moment later, the bear looked away across the frozen sea.

“You’re mine,” she whispered as she sighted down the barrel.

And the polar bear stepped into the ice. In one fluid motion, he rose and moved backward. It looked as if he were stepping into a cloud. His hind legs vanished into whiteness, and then his torso.

Impossible.

She lowered the gun and stared. She couldn’t be seeing this. The ice wall appeared to be absorbing him. Now only his shoulders and head were visible.

Cassie shook herself. He was escaping! Never mind how. Lifting the gun, she squeezed the trigger. The recoil bashed the butt of the gun into her shoulder. Reflexively, she blinked.

And the bear was gone.

You can read the prologue and first two chapters online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: The “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” fairy tale is a popular one for retelling in young adult novels. Other retellings include Edith Pattou’s East and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George. I have yet to read either version of the retelling, though I do have East on my TBR – I’ve heard that it’s the definitive retelling. Now that I’m more familiar with the fable, and have given Ice a read, perhaps it’s time to dust off East!

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

As fresh and original as only the best fantasy can be, East is a novel retelling of the classic tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” told in the tradition of Robin McKinley and Gail Carson Levine.

Verdict: A solid, romantic retelling of a lesser known fairy tale that is impressive in its scope and story. Though a bit rushed and episodic, it’s still definitely worth reading for fans of romantic fantasy and fairy tale retellings. I’m eager to see what else Ms. Durst has to offer in the future!

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Tainted by Julie Kenner

Hi-yo! Another weekend, another stash. First, a few announcements…

Giveaway Winner:

The lucky winner of a copy of M.L.N. Hanover’s Darker Angels, book 2 in The Black Sun’s Daughter series, is…

Congratulations! You know the drill – send an email to contact AT the book smugglers DOT com with your snail mail address, and we’ll get your winnings out to you as soon as possible! Thanks to all that entered, and if you didn’t win this time, don’t worry. There’s plenty more where that came from.

Smugglerific Announcements:

Well, folks, it is official! You are now looking at the two newest bloggers for the fabulous Tor.com – home of Science Fiction, Fantasy, The Universe, and Related Subjects!

We are honored and thrilled to be part of the Tor blogging family, and are diligently working on our very first post there (which will be about Brandon Sanderson’s completely awesome Mistborn Trilogy). We’ll keep you up-to-date on our progress, and let you know once our inaugural post hits the site.

And in another big announcement, it’s nearly December…which means it’s almost time for Smugglivus! We have a number of fabulous guests lined up for this year’s event, and a shiny new poster in the works (thanks to the lovely KMont of Lurv a la Mode). Here’s a little teaser:

For those new to the site, Smugglivus (based on the non-denominational holiday, Festivus) is a monthlong celebration in which we invite our favorite authors and bloggers to post about their favorite books of the year, what they’re looking forward to in 2010, and what projects they have on the horizon. And of course, we end the celebration with the official rites – Airing of Grievances, Feats of Strength, and our very own Best of lists for the year, all culminating in our second year blogoversary.

Around the Internets:

Aidan Moher, prolific fantasy blogger that runs A Dribble of Ink posted last week about the irritations of repetitive fantasy covers, citing the art for Brent Weeks’ new title. This week, the debate concerning fantasy covers – innovation versus familiarity – rages on, in this thought-provoking discussion provoked by the upcoming cover of Mark Charan Newton’s Nights of Villjamur. We highly recommend checking out the comments – there are great points made on both sides of the cover argument.

In other news, we’d like to direct your attention to a new website, called The 5th Shelf. At first glance it looks a little like Shelfari and GoodReads had a lovechild – which isn’t too far off base. The 5th Shelf is a new website that is devoted to creating a “modern” version of the Harvard Classics (a 51-volume anthology of classic literature, compiled and edited by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot in 1909). You can set up a free account on The 5th Shelf, and, as with GoodReads or other book networking sites, add your very own authoritative shelf of classics. The definitive list will be composed form the consensus of all members – which is pretty damn cool. We’ve signed up – you can check out the beginnings of our shelf HERE. And we hope others will sign up too!

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, Thea reviews the highly anticipated new release from Pandemonium author Daryl Gregory, The Devil’s Alphabet. Will it live up to expectations, or fizzle flat?

Tuesday, Thea reviews Sarah Beth Durst’s newest novel Ice, a retelling of the Norwegian fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Then, Ana reviews The Stepsister Scheme, the first in Jim C. Hines’ Princess Series.

Wednesday, Thea reviews Tainted by Julie Kenner, a new urban fantasy title, with a giveaway. Ana takes on The Mermaid’s Madness the second book from Jim C. Hines’ Princess Series.

Thursday, Thea takes a break and eats far too much Turkey while Ana reviews Madam Xanadu Volume 1: Disenchanted from Matt Wagner.

Friday, we close out the week with a joint review of the much lauded new release from Lev Grossman, The Magicians.

It’s another busy week here at The Book Smugglers, and we invite you to pull up a chair, enjoy some delicious Thanksgiving food, and relax.

Until tomorrow!

~ Your friendly neighborhood Book Smugglers

Title: Heart’s Blood

Author: Juliet Marillier

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Roc (US) / Tor (UK)
Publication Date: November 2009 (US) / October 2009 (UK)
Hardcover: 416 pages (US) / 560 pages (UK)

How did I get this book: Review Copy from Publisher

Why did I read this book: It’s no secret that I love Juliet Marillier. Her Sevenwaters books are among my all time favorites – I’ve even got Ana into them. I’ve also loved her young adult novels, Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Secret, so when I heard about Heart’s Blood I was literally salivating.

Summary: (from Juliet Marillier.com)
A haunted forest. A cursed castle. A girl running from her past and a man who’s more than he seems to be. A tale of love, betrayal and redemption…

As time passes, Caitrin learns there is more to the broken young man and his unusual household than she realised. It may be only through her love and determination that the curse can be lifted and Anluan and his people set free…

Review:

On a cold misty evening, a fair young girl travels a lonely road. Caitrin, beloved daughter and sister, runs away from a home that has become cold and spiteful since her father’s death and her sister’s elopement. At the hands of her cruel kinsmen, Caitrin becomes a husk of who she used to be, constantly terrified and powerless under their abusive blows – both verbal and physical. So, she gathers her father’s old writing tools and flees, in hopes of finding a distant relative, or work to support herself as a fully trained scribe. After hard traveling, she ends up on a wagon that takes her as far as Whistling Tor, a secluded, mist-shrouded village that holds many secrets. Taking rest in the village inn for a night, Caitrin overhears that the local Lord has need of a scribe – someone who can read and translate Latin, and organize old documents.

Though Caitrin hears the rumors of ghosts that plague Whistling Tor and tales about the creatures that lurk in the castle’s mists, she gathers her resolve and presents herself for the job. It is then that she discovers the extent of the curse that lays upon the chieftans of the Tor, and the heavy burden that rests on the current lord’s, Anluan’s, shoulders. As the weeks pass, Caitrin comes to understand and love the Tor and its inhabitants and will lend all of her hope, determination and strength to break the enchantment.

Heart’s Blood is easily one of my most highly anticipated books of 2009 – and with such high anticipation comes a directly proportional increase in the possibility for disappointment. But, as always seems to be the case with the esteemed Ms. Marillier, I was not disappointed – Heart’s Blood is a truly gorgeous, winsome book from beginning to end, and another book on the shortlist for favorite reads this year.

One of the things I love the most about Ms. Marillier is her ability to weave magic, mythology and folklore into every sentence on the page, and this latest novel is no exception. Heart’s Blood takes place in twelfth century Ireland, on the precipice of the Norman Invasion. Though I don’t know much at all about Irish history, Ms. Marillier manages to bring this medieval setting to life with the customs, language, and even the laws of the time, painting a vibrant, luscious and wholly convincing portrait of the period. There is magic too in Heart’s Blood, as Whistling Tor falls on a century of hardship. This is a different type of magic than the meddlesome Fair Folk of Sevenwaters or the gods of Piscul Draculi, though; in Heart’s Blood, the enchantment is rooted in human sorcery, in unrest and suffering. The atmosphere is distinct, different from the previous books in Ms. Marillier’s repertoire, and I genuinely loved the variation. There is a palpable danger in Heart’s Blood, a threat of nearly overwhelming hopelessness and darkness – but balanced with the endearing characters and beauty of the overarching story, it’s a bearable darkness.

Similar to Daughter of the Forest and Wildwood Dancing, Heart’s Blood is also a retelling of a classic tale; in this case, it’s a re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast, with the disfigured and misunderstood chieftan Anluan, and the brave, fair Caitrin, determined to rescue her prince. As with her previous books based on fables (The Seven Swans, The Twelve Dancing Princesses), Ms. Marillier not only takes a familiar tale and retells it, but she reconstructs the fable in its entirety. In the exquisitely plotted Heart’s Blood, the curse that lies upon Whistling Tor has its roots in human treachery, with a power-hungry, cold-hearted chieftan who would stop at nothing to amass an army to seize power – defying even the boundaries of death. But something went wrong with the enchantment, and has since plagued his descendants. Ms. Marillier’s plotting is as deft as ever, intricately weaving old curses with new doubts, mingling Anluan’s insecurities and fears with Caitrin’s troubled past, but keeping the promise of unrelenting hope for the future of these characters.

For, what is a Juliet Marillier novel without a devastating romance?

Heart’s Blood is one of the best, with all its angst and sweetness. Caitrin is another strong addition to the ranks of Awesomest Heroines Ever (many of which are from Ms. Marillier’s books). Caitrin is hopeful, even in the darkest of hours, but she is never saccharine sweet or unrealistic. Caitrin, for all her belief in her friends at the Tor and for all her faith in Anluan as a leader stumbles when it comes to facing her own demons, but gradually is able to discover that she has strength enough for herself too. Her wit, her tenacity, her admirable bravery – these are all qualities that Caitrin has in abundance, making her a heroine worth fighting for. And then, of course, there’s Anluan, the “beast” himself. Suffering from a palsy at a young age, Anluan’s body is not strong and hale – though he can walk and speak, his right side suffers from a severely limited range of motion and partial paralysis – and his uneven features have caused the villagers in Whistling Tor and outsiders to rumor him as a monster or freak. And Anluan, having lost his mother and father at a very young age, believes that he is not a whole man, much less a deserving leader. But beneath Anluan’s fears and insecurities, he is a strong willed man with an ability to lead his people and love deeply – as he gradually comes to understand. The romance that unfolds between Caitrin and Anluan is delicious, building slowly over the course of the novel and dramatically coming to fruition just when it needs to. This is a bittersweet romance, and a powerful one. It tugs at the heart-strings, it sweeps you up into its splendor, it gives you the warm fuzzies inside and leaves you smiling like a goon by the end of the book.

In short, I loved it. I fell in love with both Caitrin and Anluan just as they stumbled into love with each other.

I haven’t even mentioned all the other wonderful, detailed characters that fill this book’s pages – the ghostly little girl with her pleas for “baby,” the camaraderie that Rioghan and Eichri give both Caitrin and Anluan, the clever and dependable Magnus…and of course, the mysterious, antagonistic Muirne. Even Whistling Tor with its castle and surrounding woods is a character in its own right – as much as the moors of Wuthering Heights or the gothic landscape of Jane Eyre played in their respective books – with its twisting corridors, mist shrouded hill, and magic mirrors.

Heart’s Blood is a true gem, another beautiful novel from Juliet Marillier. Absolutely recommended, for old and new readers alike.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

At a place where two tracks met, the carter brought his horse to a sudden halt.

‘This is where you get down,’ he said.

Dusk was falling, and mist was closing in over a landscape curiously devoid of features. Apart from low clumps of grass, all I could see nearby was an ancient marker stone whose inscription was obscured by a coat of creeping mosses. Every part of me ached with weariness. ‘This is not even a settlement!’ I protested. ‘It’s – it’s nowhere!’
‘This is as far west as your money takes you,’ the man said flatly. ‘Wasn’t that the agreement? It’s late. I won’t linger in these parts after nightfall.’

I sat frozen. He couldn’t really be going to leave me in this godforsaken spot, could he?

‘You could come on with me.’ The man’s tone had changed. ‘I’ve got a roof, supper, a comfortable bed. For a pretty little thing like you, there’s other ways of paying.’ He set a heavy hand on my shoulder, making me shrink away, my heart hammering. I scrambled down from the cart and seized my bag and writing box from the back before the fellow could drive off and leave me with nothing.

‘Sure you won’t change your mind?’ he asked, eyeing me up and down as if I were a prime cut of beef.

‘Quite sure,’ I said shakily, shocked that I had been too full of my woes to notice that look in his eye earlier, when there were other passengers on the cart. ‘What is this place? Is there a settlement close by?’

‘If you can call it that.’ He jerked his head in the general direction of the marker. ‘Don’t know if you’ll find shelter. They’ve a habit of huddling behind locked doors at night around here, and with good reason. I’m not talking about troops of armed Normans on the road, you understand, but … something else. You’d far better come home with me. I’d look after you.’

I slung my bundle over my shoulder. On the tip of my tongue was the retort he deserved: I’m not so desperate, but I was not quite brave enough to say it. Besides, with only four coppers left and the very real possibility that pursuit was close behind me, I might soon be reduced to accepting offers of this kind or starving. It had taken all my courage to run away. After three days I was finding life on the road more difficult than I’d anticipated.

I turned my back on the carter and stooped to examine the weathered stone. The inscription read Whistling Tor. An odd name. If there was a hill nearby, there was no telling where. The vapour was thickening so fast that I could hardly see an arm’s length in front of me. As I traced the moss-crusted letters, the man drove away without another word. The drum of hoof-beats and the creak of wheels diminished to nothing. I took a deep breath and ordered myself to be strong. If there was a sign, there must be a settlement and shelter.

You can read the full excerpt HERE.

Additional Thoughts: I love the international covers for this book – they’re gorgeous and atmospheric. Check out the Australian cover image below:

The US cover is also relevant to the story and pretty in its own way, but I think international wins this round.

Also, author Juliet Marillier has an essay on her website about Heart’s Blood, her inspirations and the Beauty and the Beast tale. WARNING: The post contains plot spoilers for the book, but it a wonderful read for those who have already read the book or do not mind being spoiled. You can read the essay HERE.

Rating: 9 – Damn Near Perfection

Reading Next: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Giveaway Details:

We are giving away ONE copy of Heart’s Blood (with the US cover pictured above)! The contest is open to residents of the US and Canada, and will run until October 24 at 11:59 pm (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment here. Good luck!

Title: Ash

Author: Malinda Lo

Genre: YA (Fantasy/ GLBT)

Publisher: Little, Brown / Hodder Children’s books
Publishing Date: September 1, 2009/ March 2010
Hardcover: 272 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Summary: In the wake of her father’s death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, re-reading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash’s capacity for love—and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.

Why did I read the book: I first saw the cover and fell in love with it (the UK version, although I love the US one as well). Then I read that the book was a lesbian retelling of Cinderella. Then the positive reviews started pouring in and I just had to buy it.

Review:

Once upon a time there was a girl named Ana and she loved Fairytales and Fairytale retellings. One day, she heard that there was a new tale out there, a retelling of Cinderella with a twist: in which the girl falls for another girl and ditches the prince altogether and Ana knew she had to read it. And what a story that was:

Ash lived in a small town with her mother and father. In Ash’s world most people no longer believed in fairies and magic except for country folk like Ash’s mother who respected the old stories and read fairytales to her daughter. When Ash’s mother dies, it is only natural that they respect her wish to be buried in the Wood and have gold dust scattered in her grave so that the Fairy Hunt would not come for her. Ash is grief-stricken but life moves on. And it certainly moves on for Ash’s father who soon remarries. Ash now has a new family, a stepmother and two stepsisters and her life is completely altered when her father dies and she is left alone with her stepfamily. Ash’s father leaves a great debt and her stepmother decides it is Ash’s duty to pay for it with her own work. She becomes a servant at the beck and call of her stepfamily working from dusk till down from the age of 12 to the age of 18. Her only source of comfort comes from her mother’s Fairytales and from her friendship with the mysterious, seductive Fairy Sidhean who is everything she dreams of: perhaps soon he will take her and she will be part of the Fairy world. One day whilst walking in the woods, Ash meets the King’s Huntress, Kaisa and they become friends, spending time together hunting and talking.

And then there comes the Ball and Ash wanted nothing more than to attend it – Sidhean grants her wish, for a price, which Ash accepts.
She dances with the Prince who is looking for a bride but ends up having a great time with Kaisa who is turning out to be much more than a friend. Our girl Ash now realises that perhaps the Fairy world is nowhere near as fascinating as real life can be but can she break her contract with Sidhean so that she can live happily ever after with Kaisa?

Wow. I love this book. I LOVE this book. It has so many wonderful things about it. Starting with the prose: the book reads like a proper fairytale and it flows beautifully with an almost lyrical quality without ever becoming too much or so poetic as to detract from reality. From the description of the Woods or Ash’s daily life, the story is deeply authentic because it deals with touchy subjects never shying away from Real Life stuff.

For example, for most of the book Ash is a character who suppresses the grief and hope and is all anger and depression and how could she not? She is a victim of abuse. From a very young age she knows nothing of being loved or cared for. It is no surprise to me that she would wish to live a Fairytale, living forever with beautiful, enchanting beings. Her belief in Fairies is also a way to connect Ash to her mother and in ways what keeps her going after her death – perhaps her mother has been taken by the fairies and is not dead at all. Her relationship with Sidhean is one fraught with possibility and danger, her attraction to him and his world something that is all hers in a world she has nothing to call her own. At first, Sidhean seems to be all that she wants , he represents all the mystery of the Unknown. But really the world of Faries is not one suited for humans, and even though Ash reads all the horrible tales, and listens to old, terrible stories, her mind is flying, desiring all that she can’t have. Unsurprisingly her favourite Fairytale is that of the girl who wastes away in the Real World while her spirit is bound to the Fairy world.

Then Ash meets Kaisa and there is an immediate shift inside of her and she starts to pay attention to the world she actually she lives in. Kaisa is rooted in reality, and I love this parallel: she is a hunter, someone connected to the cycle of life in the human world….perhaps what Ash needed to get her out of her self-destruction cycle. In some ways she is reborn and reshaped when she meets Kaisa but not because Kaisa actively does something to help her but because she realises she can help herself. Ash is a quiet character that little by little develops the inner strength to do something about her circumstances. At first and very recklessly she asks for Sidhean’s help and that cannot come without consequences – he effectively acts as the Fairy godfather in this story but one that will collect payment when the time comes. Ash’s freedom from her life does not come without a sacrifice but it is great to see her not as a passive character that needs rescuing from the prince charming but as someone who is instrumental in her own rescuing.

Which brings me to the matter of her falling in love not with the prince, not with the seductive Fairy companion but with another girl. The twist is not about being politically correct and it is never an “issue”. Homosexually in Ash’s world is normal and Ash and Kaisa’s story was natural and beautiful and ever so romantic ( I almost swooned when they first kissed) . I read an article where the author says that Ash was written:

“as a fairy tale, not a coming-out story. That means that Ash only has to fall in love. When her love interest is another woman, it’s just as wonderful as it would be if she fell in love with a man. “

And yes, that is exactly how it felt, exactly how I read it.

Kaisa was actually my favourite character: feminine and strong, a young girl who had an important position within the Reign; a hunter who paradoxically cried whenever she killed the hunt because she knows she has a duty but the duty doesn’t come without a price. She was kick-ass and hot and it was easy to see why Ash falls in love with her. She also respected Ash and one of the scenes I loved the most is one that Kaisa offers to help Ash but understands why she wouldn’t accept it, because Ash needs to take care of her business, alone.

I loved the two of them together and I wished to see more scenes with them. I didn’t care much for Sidhean and I had warning signals going around my head that he was not Good News for Ash from very early in the book. But he was the embodiment of the Fairytale Love, the Dream, the Idealised Love as opposed to Real Life love. This was actually more groundbreaking for me than the lesbian relationship because it is the subversion of fairytales within a fairytale setting and I loved it all the more for it.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Ana and she loved the story of Cinderella until she read Ash and came to the conclusion that the retelling was better than the original because it is an empowering story where the girl saves herself and who needs a Prince Charming when you can have the Kick-ass Hot Huntress anyway?

Seriously, this book is totally worthy of sighing, book –hugging and keeper shelves.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: Ok, Ash and Kaisa’s first kiss? Made of awesome. Also, their mutual declaration of love was completely aw-worthy and sigh-enducing. But nothing beats Ash taking control of her life.

Verdict: Ash is a beautiful retelling of Cinderella, lyrical and very romantic. The best part: the main character saves herself instead of waiting for a knight in shinning armour to rescue her and then wins the heart of the woman she loves. Highly recommended.And one of my favorite reads this year.

Rating: 9 – Damn near perfection

Reading Next: Pastworld by Ian Beck

Welcome to another Guest Dare – the September edition. For those new to the feature, our Guest Dare is a monthly endeavor in which we invite an unsuspecting victim to read a book totally outside of their comfort zone. You can read all previous Dare posts here.

This month’s daree (yes, we believe just totally made this word up) is Lusty Reader. Her book lusting (a trait we share) and the fact that she is totally a Very Cool blogger (who is funny, entertaining and writes very insightful reviews) has put her under our radar. (She also introduced us to “The Shiz My Boyfriend Says”. Seriously, you need to read these. But do not read whilst drinking and/or eating – you might spill and/or choke. You have been warned) . One day Ana was unsuspectingly doing her Twitter rounds when she read that LR had never read a Graphic Novel in her life and that was cause for an instant-dare and ergo, here we are.

Lusty reader, ladies and gentlemen:
___________________

Title: Fables Vol.1 – Legends in Exile

Author: Bill Willingham, Lan Medina, Steve Leialoha, Craig Hamilton

Genre: Graphic Novel (Fantasy)

Publisher: Vertigo
Publishing Date: September 2002
Paperback: 128 pages

Stand alone or series: First volume in the Fables comics; collects issues 1-5.

Summary: (from Vertigo)
Who Killed Rose Red?
In Fabletown, where fairy tale legends live alongside regular New Yorkers, the question is all anyone can talk about. But only the Big Bad Wolf can actually solve the case–and, along with Rose’s sister Snow White, keep the Fabletown community from coming apart at the seams.

Why did we recommend this book: it started when we both read this first volume and loved it. . Thea went on to read every single one of them (there are 12 so far) and continues to follow all the monthlies as well. Ana (aka The Lazy Smuggler) has only read up to volume 4 so far. But what matters is this: we luuurves it.

Lusty Reader’s Review:

Since we may not know each other too well, dear Book Smuggler readers, I thought I would start off my guest dare post by sharing a secret. Secret sharing is a great way to make new bff’s, I have a picture in my mind of us all in a giggling gaggle at a slumber party – I have dibs on the My Little Pony sleeping bag! So, gather round, it’s confession time…Even Thea and Ana don’t know this, which might have made the dare even better.

I always thought a “graphic novel” was a sex book. Like erotica. Or illustrated Kama Sutra books. Because like in movies and stuff they are rated R for graphic scenes, right? This equaled sex to me. I have had a lusty mind for a long time I guess.

I was so sure of this my whole life I always made a wide berth around the “graphic” section of any bookstore so I wouldn’t be seen near “those sex books.” I couldn’t believe that they had a sex section! Out in the open! With a big sign! Shocking. My heart already beats faster in embarrassment and anxiety when I am in the romance novel section, heaven forbid I get too close to those graphic sex books!

When I started poking around book blogland earlier this year I finally realized what graphic novels really were.

Phew, it felt good to get that off my chest!

This confession illustrates *snicker, pun intended* that I know absolutely nothing about graphic novels. I mean, can I even call them comic books? Or is that a negative connotation thing, like bodice rippers vs romance novels? The last comic book I ever read was Archie when I was a kid in the 90s. I say this all so you can take it as an official disclaimer since my hosts here are winners of Best Graphic Novel Review blog – whereas I have no clue what I’m talking about.

Hence the guest dare! Chatting on twitter Ana discovered I had never read a graphic novel and quickly made sure she would change that, so since I always listen to what the Book Smugglers tell me to do, here I am!

Reading Fables Vol. 1 Legends in Exile was a totally new experience for me. Starting off, I was a bit distracted – I read all the words, but skipped the pictures, or studied all the details in the pictures, but glossed over the dialogue. My eyes were darting in every direction, trying to take it all in at once, afraid I was missing something, like Where’s Waldo’s hat, or scroll, or glasses. But the longer I read the more adjusted I became and began to really appreciate the artistry in the illustrations as well as the skill the writers need to have to only be able to write dialogue, but still communicate enough to the reader. The pairing is such a unique way to follow a story and I found myself really enjoying it!

One reason why is because I love retellings or new twists on fairytales. The Fables series follows a number of well known fairytale characters and legends from folklore as they live in exile in New York City. They were driven from their respective kingdoms, magical woods, and all their lands by The Adversary (whose drawings were so frightening I physically shuddered when we finally got to see what they looked like) and so are now all living in a clandestine community known as Fabletown in the Big Apple.

Those who cannot blend in with the mundanes (aka humans) live at The Farm in upstate New York. This is an example of the depths of the world building, there is so much back-story to their escape from the Adversary, how their relationships have evolved over time, and we learn so much in just the first few pages. More about how Fabletown’s community and government is set up, how some were able to escape with their riches and some weren’t, and what rituals, rules about old grudges, and traditions they have developed to keep everyone together.

One upcoming tradition is the annual Remembrance Day ball in memory of their Homelands. This year it’s not just a ball, it’s a deadline to find a murderer. Hard partying Rose Red’s apartment was found trashed, covered in blood, and she was no where to be found. Suspecting the worst, her sister, Snow White (Director of Operations) and Bigby Wolf (of Fabletown’s Security Office) team up to find the killer.

These were the two characters we followed the most and I loved both of them, especially rugged Bigby. He is the perfect tortured, rough-around-the-edges hero just begging for the right woman to come along and fix him with her love. There is the slightest, teensiest, tinyest, vaguest suggestion of a romantic undercurrent between him and Snow White, which tickled my fancy, but was certainly not enough to fulfill my usual romance preferences!

The pacing, plot twists, and the big reveal are awesome, it doesn’t feel drawn out at all. And while I guessed a little bit about what happened, the way the clues are shown and later explained is super fun and keeps you on your toes.

The best part for me was all the characters we met along the way: a pissed off Pinocchio trapped in a little boy’s body, but after 300 years is horny as hell, a troubled marriage between Beauty and the Beast, several divorced Prince Charmings, a fencing Cinderella, and a Little Pig who escapes from The Farm upstate. How they evolved in Fabletown was my absolute favorite, was such a cool “what happened after they lived happily ever after” way of imagining their stories.

I did enjoy having the visual side of the story as well, but I will say that all the female characters were drawn in bit too much of a “va-va voom” way for me, like a Jessica Rabbit or something. I know so many of these fairy tale women were SUPPOSED to be gorgeous and what not, but they were uber sexy in the comic book.

Overall I am so glad I made my first foray into the graphic novel world and would recommend Fables Vol. 1 to anyone who likes a good whodunit and retellings of classic fairytales.

And it helped me make a new friend on the DC metro. The colors and pages are so splashy they drew a lot of attention on my commute to work. The nerdy, 20-something guy with glasses I was sitting next to kept sneaking peeks and he finally asked me what I was reading. When I flipped the cover, his eyes lit up as he proclaimed his love for the series. He thought we had a lot in common and recommended the book he had open on his lap – H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, definitely not my usual cup of tea either!

But I will absolutely be reading more graphic novels in the future. Even though they are not sex books I’ve already added The Surrogates to my TBR so I can read it before the movie comes out!

___________

Needless to say, we are delighted that LR liked Fables and will try other Graphic Novels. And hey Lusty, if you liked the romantic dynamics between Snow and Bigby you might want to keep reading this series. It only gets better. Like, REALLY, really good. *ninja*

Next on the Guest Dare: Kati of Katidom reads her first Steampunk Novel: Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassoti!

Until next month!

Today we bring you a new feature, called “What She Said…” in which we both review books that the other has already read and reviewed. The idea arose because of the dilemma that if one of us reads and reviews a book, the other can’t really post again about it, right? WRONG! Hence, “What She Said…” was born. For those books that we REALLY want to read after the other has reviewed – and gushed – about it. For today’s installment, we take on Jasmyn by Alex Bell, and The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.

Jasmyn by Alex Bell
Gollancz (UK), June 2009, Trade Paperback 320 pages

Original Review June 2009
Original Rating: 8 Excellent

What Thea Said:

“You know those books, the ones that when you finish them you feel like your heart is being twisted in your chest – with love for how wonderful the book was, but inexplicable sorrow too because the book has come to an end? Such is Alex Bell’s beautiful, haunting contemporary fairy tale, Jasmyn.

Jasmyn is a 27-year old widow, her beloved husband of less than a year having just passed away by sudden aneurysm. Jasmyn’s world is thrown into darkness with Liam’s death, leaving her alone and lost in the world. And that’s when the strange things begin to happen – at Liam’s funeral, six black swans fall dead out of the sky. Jasmyn starts to feel that she is being watched by a shadowy figure, and a few weeks after the funeral, a strange pushy man shows up at Jasmyn’s home, completely unaware of Liam’s death and claiming to have known him through work. With the help of her brother-in-law, the strangely spiteful and cruel Ben, Jasmyn uncovers a whole secret life Liam kept from her, leading her down a path into a fantastic world filled with cursed swans, star-crossed love, and shocking revelation. Jasmyn learns that Liam has meddled with some potent magic, and more importantly, that Liam is not at all the man who she believed him to be.”

What Ana Says: Thea’s review of Jasmyn made me almost regret sending the book to her instead of reading it first: Jasmyn, the book, travelled all the way from the UK to LA and back before I was able to read it, almost an exact imitation of the journey that Jasmyn, the character, undertakes in the book.

Starting in the UK, the 27 year old recently widowed albino woman tries to live through the grief of losing Liam, the man who was not only her husband, but her soul mate, her childhood sweetheart. Ever since that day, in primary school and he walked to her and instead of voicing the usual cruel taunt of “are you a ghost” he asked “are you a snow princess”, he has been her safe port, her best friend and Jasmyn is overtaken with loneliness when she loses him.

Then strange things begin to happen , starting with black swans falling from the sky on the day of the funeral and her wedding photos, all of a sudden showing her face twisted in agony instead of the happiness she remembers feeling – to an around the world race for answers – about Liam and who he really was.

Jasmyn is one of those books where the STORY itself outshines everything else and I simply loved reading this book – regardless of how I sometimes felt about Jasmyn and her lack of self-confidence. Regardless of the fact that I felt like punching Ben, Liam’s brother, in the face. Regardless that sometimes, the writing was tentative and the lack of detail about the background fairytale left me wishing for more. The fact remains, that from beginning to end I was completely captivated by Jasmyn’s story – it is everything a fairytale should be: difficult and sad sprinkled with bits of horror and heartache but with such beauty that was almost painful for me to read.

This is at its core a love story and it has a most rewarding happy ending but beware: two things you need to know before starting to read it

1)This is a contemporary fairy tale, which means that all that happens in the book happens in a world like our own and people believe in stuff like fairies and magic swans. There is no point in reading it if you are going to question the magic behind it or to question how people can believe in those things. It is a fairy tale: to question these here would be akin to reading Snow White and asking: “what do you MEAN there is a talking mirror?”

2) I cannot stress this enough: Don’t start this book unless you mean to finish it. As difficult as it may be especially with Jasmyn and Ben’s frustrating behaviour in parts, the pay off only comes when you read till the end – this is one of those books where the ending rewrites the whole story and it’s all the more poignant for that.

I will end with Jasmyn’s opening words:

“You have never heard a story quite like this one. I can hear you protesting already but, the fact is, it doesn’t matter how old you are, how many books you’ve read, how many things you’ve seen…this story will be new to you. Maybe it will even haunt you a little. Because what happened to me….well, I don’t think it’s even happened before.
(…)
This story (..) has the ribbons and the glitter and the magic. But it also has the blood and the sacrifice and the twisting evil – for this is a real fairy tale, not the sugar-coated imitation. It is a story of love, loss, illusion, castles, hatred, seduction, ice palaces, adventure and knights.”

And what a story this is. If it isn’t clear enough: I totally loved this book as much as Thea did and wholeheartedly second her recommendation.

Rating: 8 Excellent

The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
Margaret K. McElderry (US)/Simon & Schuster Children’s (UK), June 2009, Hardcover 336 pages

Original Review June 2009
Original Rating: 8 (leaning towards a 9) – EXCELLENT

What Ana Said:

“The pipe under the sink was leaking again. It wouldn’t have been so bad except that Nick kept his favourite sword under the sink.”

The Demon’s Lexicon starts with this opening line and it’s a great beginning because it serves the book well. This line is significant in the way it shows how the “abnormal” coexists with the “normal” in this world. Right there and then, I am taken. And this feeling only increases as I read and every single time I had to put this book down, I felt its absence. Much like an umbilical cord between myself and it, there was a calling, something that connected me with to it; I kept thinking about it when I wasn’t reading, mostly theorising about the main character and what it all meant. I am in a way, a few days after reading The Demon’s Lexicon, still hooked in its characters, still thinking about them but mostly still overflowing with admiration for the author. For what she did, for what she dared, for how she constructed the characters, the world, but mostly for how she showed a wondrous dark world and amazing, wonderful feelings such as sensitivity, devotion, fondness and sacrifice through the eyes of a character that feels none of these very same feelings and who is, at every turn and all the time, conscious of this…lacking.

What Thea Says:

Ana has been trying to get me to read The Demon’s Lexicon practically from the second she started the book. I’d received countless emails from Ana about the darkness of the main character, the compelling plot, the strong writing and the humor of the novel, and was instantly intrigued. So, when I picked up Ms. Brennan’s debut novel for myself, I had some pretty high expectations, given Ana’s enthusiastic endorsement – and I’m pretty happy to say that I really liked this book.

The Demon’s Lexicon is told from the third person perspective, but with insight to the protagonist, Nick’s thoughts. Right from the beginning of the novel it is clear that Nick isn’t all that much like his kind and sympathetic brother Alan, and it rapidly becomes clear that Nick isn’t much like anyone else, either. Nick’s defining trait is his strange coldness; he doesn’t understand the motivations that fuel other people around him (like his brother Alan protecting two strangers, to the point where he takes on two demon marks willingly), nor does he get why people are so quick to emote, touch each other in comfort, or talk so much about anything and nothing. And I think Ana describes Nick best when she says:

Nick is a character that makes it hard for the reader to connect with – it is so very hard to feel sympathy for Nick but it is impossible NOT to feel for him.

Ms. Brennan does a ballsy thing by writing a character that is angry, cold, distant and almost alien – but it’s impossible NOT to care for him. Even though he doesn’t ever think or say it specifically, we know that he feels protective of Alan because he loves him (at least, that’s my interpretation). Nick might not identify with our concepts of love, but much like Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter, I think that he subconsciously knows and feels this. Maybe not in the way that “normal” people feel love…but it’s there, and he expresses it in his own way. In short, I loved Nick. He’s a very different character from the norm, and being privy to his thoughts, reading how he interprets (or fails to interpret) the people around him is fabulously different and insightful. Most YA novels tend to take the perspective of the everygirl/everyboy and look at the scarier, different characters from the outside – but Ms. Brennan flips convention through the eyes of a very different anti-hero protagonist. I cannot stress enough how much I loved that Nick was not written as a badass with a heart of gold – NO ONE in this book is what they seem. Besides Nick, Alan is another character that surprises with hidden depth. It is Nick as a character, and then the bond of brotherhood between Nick and Alan that makes The Demon’s Lexicon such a fabulous read.

My only problems with the book had to be the uneven start and some of the writing. In the early chapters especially, the odd descriptions of movements and repetitive details read very much like a debut author trying to write her debut novel – which isn’t really bad, and doubtless will improve in subsequent books (as it is, by the end of The Demon’s Lexicon, Ms. Brennan finds her voice and smoothly tells her story). My other quibble would be with some of the humor – Jamie’s jokes, endearing to Ana felt forced and awkwardly un-funny to me – and with a level of predictability with the plot. There are many not-so-subtle hints strewn throughout The Demon’s Lexicon concerning The Twist – but to the book’s credit, even though you KNOW what’s coming from a mile away, it doesn’t really matter because the story is so dratted compelling!

Basically, with only a few reservations I really enjoyed this book – and I cannot wait for the next in the series! Also, I just have to quote one part that gave me the goosebumps because it was that flipping awesome:

Nick threw his head back and let himself laugh. It was a slow, delighted laugh, rolling cold as the sea and washing through the whole room. He’d used the laugh before to make people shiver and turn pale…

“What?” [he] snapped, and then, as the low laugh continued, his nerve broke and he shouted, “What?”

Nick leaned forward in the dark and whispered, “You don’t know my brother.”

He was still speaking when the first shot was fired.

Rating: 7 Very Good – and Ms. Brennan is clearly an author I need to keep my eye on in the future!

Reading Next on What She Said:

Ana: Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

Thea: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Title: A Countess Below Stairs (UK Title: The Secret Countess)

Author: Eva Ibbotson

Genre: Historical, Romance, Young Adult

Publisher: Speak (US) / Young Picador (UK)
Publication Date: 1981
Paperback: 400 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel.

Why did we read this book: We are ashamed to say that this is our very first Eva Ibbotson book! We have of course heard wonderful things about this author and her young adult work, but it took until our Young Adult Appreciation Month to finally pick up one of her novels – and we decided on the Cinderella retelling, A Countess Below Stairs.

Summary: (from amazon.com)
After the russian revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young russian countess, has no choice but to flee to england. penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as servant in the household of the esteemed westerholme family, armed only with an outdated housekeeping manual and sheer determination. Desperate to keep her past a secret, Anna is nearly overwhelmed by her new duties—not to mention her instant attraction to rupert, the handsome earl of westerholme. to make matters worse, rupert appears to be falling for her as well. As their attraction grows stronger, Anna finds it more and more difficult to keep her most dearly held secrets from unraveling. And then there’s the small matter of rupert’s beautiful and nasty fiancée. . . .

REVIEW:

First Impressions:

Thea: This was my introduction to Eva Ibbotson, and if the rest of her books are anywhere near as lovely as Countess, then I foresee a huge dent in my wallet in the near future. This reimagining of Cinderella with a swingin’ twenties-ish, Russian twist was absolutely delightful. I think I fell in love with Ms. Ibbotson’s writing from the first sentence – as I was telling Ana, Eva Ibbotson’s writing is a young adult romance in the style of Lisa Kleypas’s wallflower series; it has the same sparkling characters, detailed settings, and happily ever after fairy-tale feel. A Countess Below Stairs is light and bubbly like a good champagne – sparkling, heady, and irresistibly delicious, even if it isn’t exactly deep.

Ana:Thea read Countess first and emailed me to say that the book was “like Lisa Kleypas for teens”. Needless to say, I dropped everything at once and started to read it. And I loved it. If I had to use one word to describe this book I would go with: Delicious. Countess is an abso-freaking-lutely delicious book. From the fairytale-ish prologue right to the all-encompassing happy end, via absurdly hilarious situations and enough poignant moments to make one sigh with happiness, Countess is a gem of a novel.

On the Plot:

Anna Grazinsky is a darling daughter, firstborn of two doting parents. And, she also happens to be an unspoiled child, who grows into a beautiful countess. When war and then revolution strikes her home in St. Petersburg in 1917, however, Anna’s comfortable, loving world is cast asunder. First, her father passes away on the frontlines of battle in the war; and then shortly after, her family is forced to flee Russia or face a terrible fate of imprisonment or death at the hands of the rising Bolsheviks. The Grazinskys leave their family fortune of jewels in the hands of a trusted servant, but are brutally betrayed when the housemaid seemingly disappears with the Grazinsky treasure in tow. Anna and her mother are forced to rely on the hospitality of Anna’s former governess, the similarly doting and understanding Mrs. Pinny, and take refuge in her London home. Soon, however, Anna grows restless. Unwilling to simply accept Pinny’s ample generosity, Anna takes a temporary job as a maidservant in the country estate of the mysterious Earl of Rochester. Though she knows not a thing about housekeeping or the machinations of English servants, Anna is set on something with herself, and armed with the (ridiculously dated) encyclopedic tome, Selina Strickland’s Domestic Compendium, she feels that her determination and spirit can handle anything. And, as usual, Anna wins over all of those in her exuberant presence.

When the handsome Earl of Rochester returns home from his tour during the war, recovered fully from his injuries, he can’t help but take notice of the strange new Russian maid that has captured the hearts of everyone in his household. And though the Earl, Rupert, is engaged to a beautiful heiress who nursed him to health after his crash, he cannot help but start to notice the differences between the calculating, cruel Muriel and the warm, vivacious Anna…

Thea: Ah, l’amour. One cannot read A Countess Below Stairs without a huge silly smile plastered on one’s face, and I certainly was no exception. YES, everything was so quaintly predictable, the characters all unquestionably good or unflinchingly evil – but sometimes a little romantic escape is exactly what you need. And if you’re in the mood for a frothy, sweet romance, then this is the book you need to read.

The plotting is simple – a displaced heroine with a heart of gold strikes out to make it on her own, and finds her true love in the process. But it’s so much more than the simple love story – for Countess is also an ode to the glitz and glamour following the WWI London, and a love letter to the romantic ways of the displaced Russian aristocracy. Some of my favorite scenes in this book were with Anna and her family members, dancing, singing, eating and drinking, and sharing tales of their beloved homeland. Ms. Ibbotson manages to bring the era to life with her descriptions and wordsmithing, creating a lovely – if somewhat deceptively happy – look at two very different cultures. (Though, to be fair, in balance of the idealized vision of post-war London and the Russian nobility, there is the nefarious glimpse of a precursor to the intolerance of WWII with the rise of the Eugenics movement, of course advocated by the two villains of the tale, Muriel and “Doctor” Lightbody. Hint: They are anti-semites too)

Also, I would be remiss not to mention how damn well Ms. Ibbotson writes. Anna feels completely Russian, reflected even down to the cadence of her speech. It was impossible to put this book down once I started, and I truly cannot believe that I hadn’t picked up one of Ms. Ibbotson’s works before this.

Ana: Eva Ibbotson does something rather incredible with Countess: she creates a fairytale that is still deeply seated in reality. Anna’s story is whimsical and happy but there are enough glimpses of life in England and Russia after the First World War that is definitely real and painful for the changes in the lifestyle and the loss of lives in both countries. I absolutely loved how the author incorporated these elements in a story that is otherwise so light and funny.

I am a fan of historical romances and it was welcoming to read one that is NOT a Regency or set in Victorian times and the early 20th century proves to be an incredibly rich period to set a book in. Eva Ibbotson manages to bring an era to life by showing the early stages of new technologies like the telephone or cars. And the descriptions of day to day life are so vivid, it was almost like I was there.

An aside: I live in England, as I was reading Countess, I mentioned it to one of my co-workers. As it just so happens, her roommate is of Russian descent and his grandparents, escaped from Russia in the very same year that Anna’s family did in the book, in the very same manner and route! All they managed to bring with them were a couple of heirlooms: a silver bowl and a silver jug. She told me how they struggled with poverty but never even considered selling the pieces – and they now adorn his parent’s house. This piece of information made me love the book even more.

Also, it helps that the romance was so sweet and endearing. It doesn’t take a lot of the pages in the novel, it is a rather subtle romance with a few encounters here and there but oh boy, when Rupert and Anna are together it is ever so romantic in a very gentle manner.

On the Characters:

Thea: As with the plot, the characters too are basically all fall into two very distinct categories: the Good Guys and the Bad Guys. Anna, heroine and displaced Countess, is unquestionably, unerringly Good. She’s beautiful, and kind, and despite her rich upbringing she is anything but spoiled – she’s also tenacious, smart, and graceful. Even though Anna by all accounts should be a sickeningly sweet Mary Sue, even my jaded eye could not help but fall in love with this passionate young woman! And, I think the observation made by her the Butler, Mr. Proom, is the reason why:

“I can’t help wondering why they accept her, Proom? They must know she comes from a totally different world.”

“Yes, my lord. They do.” He paused, considering how much to put into words. “Perhaps it’s not generally realized that what a servant dreads is not hard work, it’s boredom. Housework can be extremely monotonous. And Anna…well, you can say a lot about Anna, but not that she is boring.”

Indeed. Anna might be sweet as pie, but she’s also a spunky, hilarious heroine. And though many a Mary Sue is an irritating yawn to read, Anna certainly is not boring.

Similarly, her prince charming, Rupert, is a sweet, dashing hero – his only failing being his unerring sense of honor – even when he discovers exactly what his fiancee Muriel is, he cannot break his engagement out of his deep sense of honor. Rupert is dramatic and funny in his own way, but he’s not really the star of this book.

The other true standout characters in my opinion, were the Honorable Ollie and the evil Muriel. Ollie, that is Olive Jane Byrne, is the youngest child of the neighboring Viscount Byrne, good friends of Rupert’s. Ollie’s mother died in giving birth to her, and ever since, Ollie has struggled with illness and physical challenges. When she was born premature and her health in dire straits, she surpassed all expectations, pulling through and growing into a determined young girl. Her stepmother, the American Minna Byrne, immediately became beloved by all four of her new husband’s children when she joined the family – especially by Ollie, after Minna stayed by her side, traveling long distances to be with her after Ollie contracted tuberculosis of the hip at the age of 5. Ollie is a true delight – at the ripe age of 10 in Countess, she is a wise young thing, but incredibly endearing in her hopes and dreams, and her budding friendship with Anna. The Honorable Ollie is a showstopper.

And then, of course, there’s Muriel. The beautiful, full-figured, rich Muriel Hardwicke is as wicked as they come, but in a very sneaky, subversive way. Her tactics in Countess to ensure she gets the wedding of her dreams are works of manipulative genius and almost all rooted in her devotion to the Eugenics doctrine of her beloved Dr. Lightbody. That’s to say, Muriel is of the unflinching belief that the weak or infirm should be rooted out, such that the beautiful, hale and healthy procreate for the good of humanity. As such, she refuses to eat certain foods, consume any alcohol, and she demands her surroundings live up to her standards of human perfection – matching footmen of at least 6′ tall, a riddance to any incompetent or handicapped servants below stairs, and, worst of all, her determination to keep the “crippled” Ollie out of her wedding. (Also, did I mention she’s anti-semitic?) Yeah, she’s ridiculously eeeeevil – but every fairy tale needs a villain, and Muriel fulfills this role perfectly.

Ana: For all the vividness of the setting and the fabulous writing, the greatest strength of Countess lies in its cast of wonderful characters. Every single one of them was a great pleasure to read about – the Downstairs characters and the Upstairs characters, from the footman to the Dowager , all of them had at least one line, one paragraph in which to shine. Yes, most of them were Good and Honourable but I did not care one iota about the lack of shades of grey because they were all full of heart and warmth.

As Thea said, Anna, the protagonist, could have been an unbearably annoying Mary Sue character but she just isn’t and for me, this is due to the way Eva Ibbotson infuses her character with a sense of humour and for the absence of the Martyr Complex ever present in stories like that. Anna never once feels like she needs to endure the suffering because there is no suffering. By accepting her fate and her new circumstances, Anna decides to make the best of it and the aforementioned humour (like, how she is adamant about following the advice of The Domestic Servant’s Compendium by Selina Strickland), balances what could have been a boring character.

Plus, another aspect that seemed unique to me, is how Anna doesn’t “save” or disrupt the lives of the other characters creating a new reality in which she is the “saviour” like many fairytales – instead she becomes a part of an already established routine. Yes, she adds some flavour to it and makes a mark, but it not as though everybody in that household were frozen in time or unhappy and Anna came to change them all.

As for the other characters, how can one not love the wise 10 year old Honourable Ollie? The title alone made me giggle every time she made an appearance and she is the protagonist of some of the most emotional scenes in the book. Likewise, Proom the Butler has a major role to play as do Rupert’s cousins – the way they are woven in the story, at first appearing randomly until the moment where they have to play their part in the hilarious, ludicrous climax of the story. There is also a very complicated relationship between Rupert’s best friend Tom and a Jewish girl Susie, and that secondary romance is as beautiful and aw-worthy and the primary one between Rupert and Anna.

Lastly, but not least, we have Muriel, the villain. Very rarely do I get this overwhelming need to jump inside a book and strangle a fictional character but Muriel is definitely one of them. What makes her the worst kind of villain is how she is evil without really being evil. All of her actions are imbued with a sense of righteousness and she is virtually blind to all the pain she causes around her. This is what makes her even more scary and abhorrent; the fact that she doesn’t believe that she is inflicting anything other than order for the good of humanity. Muriel is an ugly character especially when compared to all others and completely, totally hated her. Which of course, only goes to show how good a writer Eva Ibbotson is.

Final Thoughts, Observations and Rating:

Thea: My first Ibbotson novel went over with huge success – the light, romantic A Countess Below Stairs is the perfect escapist read, and was just what I was in the mood for. It might be a bit simplistic, a bit predictable, but it is written with such wit and sparkle that I cannot help but love it. Absolutely recommended – this is a quintessential summer read. And I cannot wait to read more from Ms. Ibbotson’s backlist!

Ana: Great writing style, sweet heart-warming romance, a cast of enchanting characters in a fabulous setting and infused with whimsical, peculiar, hilarious details: this is a Book Made For Ana. It reminded me of vintage Julia Quinn; of summer breezes, stolen kisses and bear hugs. It is comfort reading at its best and I wholeheartedly recommend it. And I too, am, prepared to go binge reading this author’s backlist.

Notable Quotes/Parts:

Thea: I loved the part where Anna takes Ollie on a trip around London to raise her young spirits.

“Do you know what is best of all? When one has been hurt or saddened, then suddenly to turn everything upside down and be very happy. So I think we should have an absolutely beautiful afternoon — an afternoon that you can lie in bed and remember for years and years.”

“Can we do that?” asked Ollie.

“Most certainly,” said Anna.

Anna was as good as her word. It was into an enchanted world that she now lead Ollie Byrne [...] Pinny’s house was only the beginning. Anna had run upstairs to change into her only “good” dress — a green velveteen which Kira had sent from Paris. The Countess Grazinsky gathered up shawls, leaking packets of tea and lorgnettes, and when Pinny was satisfied that the little girl was properly rested they set off for the Russian Club.

For the rest of her childhood, if anyone asked Ollie what she wanted to be when she grew up, she always replied: “A Russian.”

The scene continues to tell of Anna’s ancestors and relatives, of customs and food and drink and dancing. It’s a lovely, lovely part of the book.

Ana:THEA! I had this as my favourite quote as well! Fine. Since you went with poignant/sweet, I will go with funny. This is a quote from when Rupert finds out that Anna is a Countess and that she was so rich as to play with famous jewellery, like the Infamous Crown of Kazan, which she once let her brother Petya play with.

“You wished to dismiss me because Petya had cut his teeth on the Crown of Kazan?”
“All right, I know it sounds absurd but -”
“Absurd? It is crazy! Sergei has always said that the English aristocracy have brains like very small aspirins and now I believe it. In any case, the Crown of Kazan was very heavy. Niannka was always angry with Mama when she wore it because it gave her a headache.”
“Niannka? Is that the lady with the mummified finger?”
Anna dimpled, but her eyes were sad, for Niannka’s desertion had hurt more than anything in the dark days of the revolution. “Yes. It was the finger of St Nino, who lived in the monastery at Varzia, where she was born. He has many fingers, that one, perhaps three thousand, the monks are such rogues!”

Rating:

Thea: 7 – Very Good

Ana: 8- Excellent

Reading Next: The Giver and Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry