Title: City of Ruin

Author: Mark Charan Newton

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Tor UK
Publication Date: 4 Jun 2010
Hardcover: 400 pages

Villiren: a city of sin that is being torn apart from the inside. Hybrid creatures shamble through shadows and barely human gangs fight turf wars for control of the streets.

Amidst this chaos, Commander Brynd Lathraea, commander of the Night Guard, must plan the defence of Viliren against a race that has broken through from some other realm and already slaughtered hundreds of thousands of the Empire’s people.

When a Night Guard soldier goes missing, Brynd requests help from the recently arrived Inqusitor Jeryd. He discovers this is not the only disapearance the streets of Villiren. It seems that a serial killer of the most horrific kind is on the loose, taking hundreds of people from their own homes. A killer that cannot possibly be human.

The entire population of Villiren must unite to face an impossible surge of violent and unnatural enemies or the city will fall. But how can anyone save a city that is already a ruin?

Stand alone or series: Book 2 in the Legend of the Red Sun series but can be read as a stand alone (I did)

How did I get this book: The author offered a copy for review

Why did I read this book: I’ve had my eyes on this series for a while now. I follow the author on Twitter and recently read an excellent post on his blog about writing sex scenes and about writing his homosexual character. I was immediately sold.

Review:

Villiren. Part of the Empire of Jamur, in a crumbling world, doomed by an approaching Ice Age. A city where the wealthy and the poor cohabit, where crime exists in all spheres of society. This is where Night Guard Commander Brynd Lathraea has been dispatched to from the city of Villjamur to investigate a recent genocide in the nearby town of Tineag’l. Meanwhile in Villiren itself, a series of disappearances catches Brynd’s attention and he tasks Investigator Jeryd, recently stationed in Villiren, to get to the bottom of it. Brynd and Jeryd are only but two out of a cast of characters whose plot threads web and flow to form a cohesive picture.

And what a picture this is: a blend of Fantasy, Horror and Mystery (with even a dash of Romance), the story catapults the reader in this strange, strange world filled with weird creatures ranging from Vampyrs and Banshees to Hybrids and Giant Spiders. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. City of Ruin is the sequel to Nights of Villjamur and even though I did not read the first book I was never lost and that is due to Newton’s clever writing with no info dump to speak of, instead visiting the world via the eyes of its characters. As both Brynd and Jeryd navigate the streets of the city we get glimpses not only of Villiren and its denizens but also of the world in which the city is located.

It is certainly a world that seems to be dying, collapsing under the threat of ice and of invading forces which present a twofold problem that the characters must face. This is perfectly addressed by Brynd’s and Jeryd’s storylines as the first deals with the military aspect of defending the city even when its inhabitants couldn’t care less, whereas the latter finds himself involved in a more immediate issue: how does this City, a city in ruins, which for all intents and purposes should be dying, get its food supply? The need to survive at any imaginable cost is what I feel, propels many of the characters in this book.

Villiren doesn’t stand on its own though: it is part of an Empire ripe with political intrigue as a new Emperor has usurped the throne. Three characters which I assume were major players in the previous book are slowly making their way to Villiren and one of them, a woman, seems to be the rightful Heir. On their way, they come across a new being who might have the answer for why they are being invaded; political intrigue aside, organised Religion is also part of the Empire’s life and its tentacles spread all over as are Cultists, who search for and use remnants of ancient technology as sources of power. There are also several mentions of parallel world, other dimensions whose doors are open from which some of these creatures came from.

What is this world then? Is this OUR world, perhaps thousands (or more) of years in the future, when the sun is dying? Do Cultists look back at artefacts from our past? Or is this world something else altogether, perhaps another dimension who looks INTO our world? My working theory is that yes, it is our dying world. The use of known language points to it but also some of the artefacts. In one very small sequence, you blink you miss it, there is the allusion to this painting, hanging from the walls of a BanHe’s house (seriously. A BanHe, one of my favourite characters in the book, the only known male Banshee who feels the deaths but who is unfortunately, incapable of releasing the grief like his female counterparts). How ironic yet fitting then that he has this painting:

Although I feel I could have done with more details of the world building (of the “Why” and “How” variety) I understand that these might be slowly revealed over the course of the series. And ultimately, atmosphere, writing and characterisation trump everything else. And I can’t stress this enough. City of Ruin is violent, dark, bloody, with a noir feel to it but the writer infuses this story with enough hope and love to make it just shy from being hopelessly Grim and Gritty. And it is in the depth of his characters that I found the connection I am always and forever expecting to have with the books I read. All of them, to one extent or another have a measure of complexity and even what I perceive as the villains have something to make them more. This is especially true of those who Jeryd are looking for, or for example, Malum, a semi-vampyr, the leader of an underground gang. He is a violent, bigot, wife-beater who ideally will die a horrible death one day but who is also a man grasping to keep his humanity.

My favourite character though is Brynd, the Albino (he is the guy in the cover) leader of the Night Guard, the elite guard who are chemically enhanced and nearly invincible, the testosterone fuelled armed hand of the Empire. He is effective, intelligent, powerful. He is also gay in a world that sees gay men as sissies, homosexuality as a perversity, an aberration. Brynd lives with this secret (although he seems to have somewhat accepted who he is) always on the brink of losing it, because should anyone ever finds out, he is likely to be killed and all of his work with the Night Guard lost. The bigotry he finds amongst some of his friends or coming from members of the church is enough to make me want to burst into a ball of fury and step into the pages of this book and dispatch these people to hell. I loved Brynd’s portrayal because it never veers into exploitative and he is far from being the token effeminate gay character I tend to find in Fantasy (Lev Grossman, I am looking at you). Brynd just is – in fact I would go as far as to say that the author managed what very few can: who he is, is NATURAL. The bigotry is what is hateful and unnatural. There is this one scene where he goes in search of a male-prostitute in the underground that just about broke my heart when he thinks:

this was now a body at least, another man, more than he’d known in a while

Here is to Brynd: may he, one day, find freedom to touch whomever he likes.

I do have a few minor issues with the book. As much as I liked the characters it was with some of their arcs that I found problems with. Two characters undergo huge changes too quickly, one of them overcoming a life-long phobia in a matter of minutes. Two other get over the death of close friends far too easily – after a first wave of grief. I think that it takes away depth from these characters that are otherwise, perfectly drawn.

One last word. I cannot finish this review without mentioning the female characters. After the recent fiasco with Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding where females characters were basically walking talking vaginas at the beck and call of the protagonist, it is great to see an author who gets it. The female characters here are women on their own right, never in relation to other characters. They are distinctive, diverse and interesting. From Beami, to Eir, Rika and Artemisia all of them play a huge rule in the book (although they have less scenes than I wished them to have) and in fact, I would go as far as to say that when the time comes (OMG huge awesome battle in the end), the women totally saved the day and look: without having to use their vaginas. Kudos to Mark Charan Newton.

Now bring me the next one please. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE IS NO SET DATE YET?

Notable Quotes/Parts: A Couple of quotes that I loved:

Few people were blessed or cursed enough to have their own moment in life, a window of time in which they were the centre of the world and everything revolded around them. Tonight Brynd had a whole city waiting on his every word and, no matter what he said, there would be bodies littering the streets on a scale no one would comprehend.

She sighed and focused on him with those big black eyes – so much was happening in that gaze, so many conversations from the past returning. He kissed her fondly, smelled her hair. It was funny that these would be the things he missed the most, the details he barely remembered in everyday life. He was more afraid of being without Marysa than he was of dying.
A painful goodbye.
(…)
Marysa went off first, leaving an overwhelming sense of emptiness, and the hotel room seemed to pause in time

Additional Thoughts:

The first book in the series Nights of Villjamur just came out in the US (and as paperback in the UK) and the author has a series of interesting articles at Omnivoracious to celebrate it.

Verdict: If you can’t tell, I loved City of Ruin, it is definitely one of the best Fantasy novels I read this year: it is creative but also weird, violent yet hopeful. It has sex and love, tears and bloodshed plus strong characters to root for. Recommended.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading next: Irredeemable Vol.3 by Mark Waid

Title: Hero

Author: Perry Moore

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Superhero, Young Adult, LGBT literature

Publisher: Disney (Hyperion)
Publication Date: August 2007
Paperback: 432 pages

Thom Creed is used to being on his own. Even as a highschool basketball star, he has to keep his distance because of his father. Hal Creed had once been one of the greatest and most beloved superheroes of The League–until the Wilson Towers incident. After that Thom’s mother disappeared and his proud father became an outcast.

The last thing in the world Thom would ever want is to disappoint his father. So Thom keeps two secrets from him: First is that he’s gay. The second is that he has the power to heal people. Initially, Thom had trouble controlling his powers. But with trail and error he improves, until he gets so good that he catches the attention of the League and is asked to join. Even though he knows it would kill his dad, Thom can’t resist. When he joins the League, he meets a motely crew of other heroes, including tough-talking Scarlett, who has the power of fire from growing up near a nuclear power plant; Typhoid Larry, who makes everyone sick by touching them, but is actually a really sweet guy; and wise Ruth, who has the power to see the future. Together these unlikely heroes become friends and begin to uncover a plot to kill the superheroes.

Along the way, Thom falls in love, and discovers the difficult truth about his parents’ past. This is a moving, funny, and wonderfully original novel that shows that things are not always what they seem, and love can be found in the unlikeliest of places.

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: I have had Hero on my TBR for aaaaaaaaages. Originally, I planned on reading and reviewing it last year for YAAM (Young Adult Appreciation Month) as part of a YA superhero novel day – but just couldn’t squeeze it in the schedule. So, this week, when I found that I had a break in my reading schedule and could read ANYTHING I WANTED (OMG! This hardly ever happens!), Hero was the book I immediately picked up.

Review:

I am in love.

I am in love with Hero – with the brave, forthright narrator that is Thom Creed. With his physically and emotionally strong father, the downtrodden but ever-unbroken Hal Creed. With the mysterious Goran. With the moments of triumph, heartbreak, embarrassment, pain and pure joy. I am in love with this remarkable, rousing book.

Hero is truly heroic.

Thom Creed is a driven young man: avolunteer, a hard worker, a star basketball center, and a loyal son. During one heated basketball game, however, Thom develops a unique ability – he can heal things with his hands, as he does to Goran, the star player on the opposing team after he is flagrantly fouled by one of Thom’s teammates. Thom’s powers come at a cost, both physically and emotionally – physically, he goes into convulsions after straining his powers. Emotionally, his abilities weigh on Thom because he must hide his powers from his father – the formerly beloved (but fallen so far from grace) superhero Hall “Major Might” Creed. Years earlier, Hal’s failure at the WIlson Towers killed thousands and ended in Hal’s public disgrace and disbandment from the League (an official syndicate of superheroes), culminating in the law that non-superpowered heroes, like Thom’s father, could never again don a cowl and call themselves heroes. Ever since, Thom’s father has borne his public shunning with calm restraint and has tried to raise his son, even after his wife left Hal and Thom behind. Thom knows there’s one line that he cannot cross – no talk of superheroes, or of the League. Ever.

So when the League invites Thom to try out for the team and he actually makes it as a probationary member, he must guard that secret from his father. But that’s not the only secret Thom keeps from Hal – there’s one truth that he cannot bear to have revealed: Thom is gay. To Thom’s traditional, old-fashioned and opinionated father, an admission of Thom’s sexual orientation can only end in disappointment, revulsion, and pain.

But when Thom is the only one that can exonerate a wrongly accused person by declaring the truth to the world, he must decide what it truly means to be a superhero.

I don’t think I can sufficiently explain how much I loved this book. From the first page to its bittersweet ending, I found myself enthralled by Perry Moore’s breathtaking coming-of-age novel. The brunt of the story rests on Thom’s tried shoulders – self-aware, emotional, honest, flawed Thom. As our protagonist, Thom is a beautiful character that rouses and inspires as he struggles with self-perception, with his relationship with his family, with his standing as a hero, and his attempts to find a place in a world that seems to despise and revile him for being “different.” Hero broke my heart when I read along with Thom as he was ostracized and ridiculed for being gay – it’s a running joke here at TBS that Ana is the “emotional Smuggler” – but let me tell you, dear readers, I was emotional as hell reading this book. Hero runs the entire gamut of emotion through the father/son dynamic, struggling with truth and identity, finding and losing love, and living with regrets and making peace with the past. That’s not to say Hero is preachy or emotionally exploitative – because nothing could be farther from the truth. Hero hits all the right notes, painting Thom as a sympethic protagonist without patronizing or condescending, and the hardships Thom faces as a gay teen never feel contrived or melodramatic; Thom’s struggles range from humorous (one scene involving internet porn, for example) to touching (Thom’s first hookup), painful (Thom’s public declaration and his father’s reactions) to triumphant (well, I’ll leave that unspoiled for now). Mr. Moore writes a truly heroic character in Thom, and I found myself moved to the point of tears following this inspiring young protagonist.

While Mr. Moore captures Thom’s struggles within and with the outside world perfectly, he also creates a compelling, complicated relationship between a father and his son. Just as Thom is an inspired protagonist, Hal “Major Might” Creed is also one hell of a character. He’s not a perfect dad by any stretch of the imagination as he’s deeply hurt by his public failure and his wife leaving him. His relationship with his only son, the only family he has left in the world with Thom is a complicated one, filled with its soaring highs and crushing lows. And yet, despite Hal’s old fashioned beliefs, he’s first and foremost Thom’s dad. I loved that Mr. Moore does not write simplistic two-dimensional characters – he includes the good, the bad, and the ugly in this father-son relationship especially, creating an almost unfathomably awesome reading experience.

And these are just two characters that I’ve touched on! Suffice to say that every character in Hero is brilliant in his or her own way, just as every scene written into this book is necessary and integral to the story. There is no wasted space, no repetitive filler in Hero, and I could probably go on forever about each of these characters, so I’ll just mention my favorites: the mysterious Goran and his role in Thom’s life. Justice’s calm understanding of Thom’s outsider-status and his own tangled past with the Creed family. The League’s members – Uberman (object of Thom’s fantasies) and Warrior Woman, in particular. Thom’s teammates – the lovably crass, clairvoyant Ruth, the curmudgeonly Scarlett and her own dark secret, the snidely condescending Golden Boy, the sadly isolated Typhoid Larry.

In terms of writing, the plotting for Hero is similarly superb. Hero is very much a coming-of-age story, but it’s also filled with dark secrets, revelations about his past and his family, and – of course – a central conflict culminating in a battle sequence on an epic scale. Deftly plotted, cinematic in its execution, Hero’s story rocks, plain and simple. And the action! While the draw to the book is the emotional and character driven story, the action sequences don’t hurt any. Mr. Moore’s writing is never lengthy nor awkward, zipping this story along and tying everything together in a cohesive, tight package.

Finally, how can I review a superhero book without addressing the world-building element? Mr. Moore creates an entirely new universe with Hero, taking a world similar to our own but injecting superheroes into every day life. It’s worth pointing out that Thom’s world is not one that is versed with our own DC/Marvel heroes (i.e. there are no awkward “Captain Victory was just like Clark Kent with his disguises!” sort of drops), and I dig that. That said, the superheroes in Hero are familiar (in an homage/poking fun kind of wa) – for example, Warrior Woman bears the obvious resemblance to a certain Amazon Princess from Themyscira, Justice is an intriguing blend between Superman and Martian Manhunter, the League of superheroes itself is very much a new version of the JLA. It’s clear that Mr. Moore is an avid comic book fan, and Hero encompasses themes from some of the great work out there – a bit X-Men, a bit Watchmen (especially in the case of Thom’s father), and even a bit of Mark Waid’s Kingdom Come (and Irredeemable). But that’s not to say that Hero is a poor copy-cat or rip-off (as was my impression with The Iron King recently). Rather, Hero uses these foundations and builds something completely new, beautiful, strange and unforgettable. It has earned its place in the comic book canon.

I cannot think of a thing wrong with this book. It is brilliant, beautiful, from beginning to end. I laughed, I cringed, I cried. Hero made me fall in love with reading all over again – but more than that, it inspired me, as I’m sure it will inspire countless teens and readers. Recommended for everyone.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

I NEVER THOUGHT I’d have a story worth telling, at least not one about me. I always knew I was different, but until I discovered I had my own story, I never thought I was anything special. My destiny began to unfurl during my very last game at school. What started with an accident on the court ended with the single most devastating look I ever got from my father. And it made me want to die.

At the game, I’d scored twenty-two points, which already topped my personal best by a basket, and I showed no signs of slowing down. Every time I sank the ball, I could hear a lone deep voice begin to cheer a full second before the rest of the bleachers chimed in. Dad’s voice was hoarse from screaming, but I could still tell it was him, because no one else there would bother to remind me to follow my shot or get my hands up for defense.

I ran down to the other end of the court and posted up under the basket, and I caught him out of the corner of my eye. He was sitting in the remote upper lip of the bleachers, in his usual spot, away from everyone else. The crowd was sparse up there, which he said gave more room for a man of his considerable size to spread out, stand every few minutes, and stretch his back. The truth was that the extra room also made it harder to tell that people were uncomfortable sitting close to him.

I was surprised to see a young couple sitting near him that night. The husband would occasionally turn around to agree with my dad on a call or congratulate him when I made a shot. They were probably parents of one of the freshmen on the team. Didn’t recognize my father yet.

But I got the feeling they found something about him familiar. Like someone they’d seen on TV, in a movie, a local politician, or someone vaguely famous. They would have recognized him right away if he’d been wearing his mask. My guess is he’d probably saved their lives at some point. Dad always ran into people whose lives he’d saved. I could tell because his left jaw would clench, just a smidge, a bicuspid ground
into a molar—a telltale sign that he was either going to be ignored, maligned, or dismissed by someone who was only still breathing by the good graces of my father’s actions. He never wanted me to see it, but kids aren’t stupid. Even if Dad had ever possessed superpowers, invulnerability wouldn’t have protected him from the shame of having people look down on him in front of his own son.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: A few things. Firstly, in addition to being an amazing novelist, Perry Moore also is a hotshot Hollywood type – best known for his involvement in the Chronicles of Narnia films. As an openly gay man producing one a staunchly Christian series of books to film, I cannot express how freaking awesome I think this is. You can read more about Perry Moore, including a great interview with the author, on his website.

Also of interest on Mr. Moore’s website is a list – a primer, if you will – of gay characters in comics, and how they have been treated over the years. From “WHO CARES ABOUT THE DEATH OF A GAY SUPERHERO ANYWAY?:
A HISTORY OF GAYS IN COMIC BOOKS”:

In 1999, comic book writer Gail Simone compiled a notable list of female comic book characters who had been injured, killed, or de-powered in various superhero comics. The article, “Head In A Refrigerator,” made waves, and fans encouraged the comic book industry to change their treatment of women in the medium. The result has been positive, as the ever-increasingly popular world of comic books and graphic novels have yielded some of the most powerful and respected female heroes in literature since the list’s publication.

The following list is a similar catalogue of the treatment of gays in the medium. The goal is to facilitate discussion and awareness, that fans expect and deserve better treatment of lesbian, gay, and transgendered characters. The very fabric of our society is defined by whom we choose to venerate as our heroes. Things are beginning to change, but for every step forward – and there are some very good ones — the comic book world has taken some giant leaps back. Most gay characters, even in their small numbers, still remain primarily as villains, minor characters, and victims who are tortured, maimed and killed. Is this a fair representation of LGBT characters in the medium? That is left for you to decide. Yes, bad things do happen to all people, gay people included. But are there positive representations of gay characters to counterbalance these negative ones? Who cares about the death of a gay superhero anyway?

It’s an eye-opening piece, and I wholeheartedly recommend everyone go forth and check it out.

(After you read that, if you can stomach it, go forth and read about the kerfluffle in which Mark Millar responds rather disingeniously to Perry Moore’s outrage at the death of Northstar at Wolverine’s hands in 2005)

Verdict: Hero is, in this reader’s opinion, a perfect book in every way. Rousing, heartening and inspiring, Thom’s journey is one that is applicable to everyone. I cannot recommend this book enough – and it’s easily at the top of my list of favorite books read in 2010.

Rating: 10 – Perfection

Reading Next: Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Author: John Green and David Levithan

Genre: YA/ Contemporary/ GLBT

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication Date: April 6 2010
Hardcover:304 Pages

Stand alone or series: Stand Alone

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.

Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both them legions of faithful fans.

Why did I read this book: Because I loved the book I read by John Green – An Abundance of Katherines and I wanted to see about David Levithan

How did I get the book: I requested a review copy

Review:

This is the tale of two Will Graysons.

One Will Grayson is the teen who lives with his mother, he is depressed, poor, and friendless, except for a girl named Maura. He is also a closeted gay currently in love with a guy named Isaac whom he met online and chats with, everyday.

The Other Will Grayson is the son of absent (due to their work as doctors) yet loving parents; his best friend is Tiny Cooper, the most flamboyant gay ever. This Will lives by his two rules: 1) don’t care too much, and 2) shut up.

The One Will Grayson sounds like this – never in capital letters:

i am constantly torn between killing myself and killing everyone around me.

those seem to be the two choices. everything else is just killing time.
right now i’m walking through the kitchen to get to the back door.

mom: have some breakfast.

i do not eat breakfast. i never eat breakfast. i haven’t eaten breakfast since i was able to walk out of the back door without eating breakfast first.

The Other Will Grayson, like this:

When I was little, my dad used to tell me, “Will, you can pick your friend, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose.” This seemed like a reasonably astute observation to me when I was eight, but it turns out to be incorrect on a few levels. To begin with, you cannot possibly pick your friends, or else I never would have ended up with Tiny Cooper.

Tiny Cooper is not the world’s gayest person and he is not the world’s largest person, but I believe he may be the world’s largest person who is really, really gay, and also the world’s gayest person who is really, really large.

The One Will Grayson is David Levithan’s, the Other Will Grayson is John Green’s and the book alternates chapters from each Will Grayson’s point of view. It starts with them not knowing each other until their paths inevitably converge the night the One Will Grayson is to meet Isaac for the first time – and ends up meeting the Other Will Grayson and Tiny Cooper.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson has a lot going for it. The concept of the two guys with the same name with stories running in parallel, until they converge briefly only to diverge again, is great. The two writers have different writing styles which are evident by the obviously different voices making the characters sound nothing alike. Then there are the characters:

On one side: you have John Green’s Will Grayson, the geeky, dorky type with his absurd rules of engagement (or lack of) . I have only ever read one John Green book before (the awesome An Abundance of Katherines) but I can already sense a pattern with JG’s boys: in behaviour, in wanting the girl, in having the overwhelming best- friend- who-steals-the- scene. This Will Grayson is typical – typical John Green which means: he is a typical teenager who might have good or bad reasons to behave as he does but whose coming of age and change of heart is there in the end. And when I say typical, I am not attaching any negative connotations because, if there is one thing that John Green can write is the typical teen.

On the other side, David Levithan’s Will Grayson is less typical. There is his struggle with his depression and the self-awareness that he might be broken inside and with only his pills to make him stable. He is also, the more interesting of the two Will Graysons. He was the one I connected with, the one who made me cry – in one particular scene I wanted to scream with him and add my voice to his stress.

Ultimately though, and you will have to excuse the cheesiness, this is a book about love in all its forms: about falling in love and falling out of love; about loving your family – and the families are mostly normal families with supportive parents – and your friends; about realising that love does not equal sex and it is ok to love platonically; it is about acceptance: love for oneself, even if you are depressed, gay, fat. As a coming of age story for both Will Graysons, it is definitely a strong, perfectly enjoyable read. It carries a beautiful message delivered with a lot of quirky humour and it works for the better part.

However. There is the not so tiny, Tiny Cooper. I have no doubt that most of the reactions to Will Grayson, Will Grayson will be directly connected to the reader’s connection or not, with Tiny Cooper. He is the character who steals loads of scenes because he just is: larger than life, interesting, and arguably, the best character in the entire book. But he is also the epitome of how you can have too much of a good thing.

He is undoubtedly the catalyst for both Will Graysons’ epiphanies. When the two stories converge, it is Tiny Cooper who connects the two narratives, rather than having the two Will Graysons interacting with each other. He is the voice of reason who gets through to Gay Will Grasyon for example. Tiny is also totally self-centred and egotistical and yet still completely, absolutely lovable. He is master at dealing with hearbreak because he has had so many. He can see through people especially the two Will Graysons but he has a problem letting people see through him. And most of the plot revolves around a musical extravaganza he is about to stage at school about….Tiny Cooper. And his love life. And how he is so awesome.

And this is where things get rough: the ending of the book, which is largely about the high school musical to end all high school musicals, is completely, impossibly over the top, cheesy and unrealistic. It is a love- it or hate- it kind of ending. Part of me loves it because of its OTT cheesy grandeur. But for a book that deals – and deals well – with important issues like depression, coming out, acceptance and love in a thought-provoking and heartfelt way, the not-so-believable ending for me, sort of robs the book a shot to be one of the Great Ones.

Notable Quotes/Parts: One of the Will Graysons’ first kiss with a boy:

tiny: I never kiss on the first date.

i look at him with total incomprehension, and the he adds.

tiny:….but sometimes i make exceptions.

so now my shock from before is turning into a different kind of shock, and it’s a charged shock, because at that moment, even though he’s enourmous, and even though he doesn’t know me at all, and even though he’s taking up roughly three times more of the bench than I am, tiny cooper is suprisingly, undeniable attractive. yeah, his skin is smooth, his smile is gentle, and most of all his eyes – his eyes have this crazy hope and crazy longing and ridiculous giddiness in them, and even though i think it’s completely stupid and even though i am never going to feel the things that he feels, at the very least i don’t mind the idea of kissing him and seeing what happens. he is starting to blush from what he’s said and he’s actually too shy to lean down to me, so i find myself lifting to kiss, keeping my eyes open because i want to see his suprirse and see his happiness because there’s no way for me to see or even feel my own.

it’s not like kissing a sofa. it’s like kissing a boy. finally, a boy.

Additional Thoughts: John Green talking about the book:

Verdict: A lovely, well-written story of two kids named Will Grayson with very real, believable issues including how to deal with one’s homossexuality and depression. Despite its over the top cheesetastic ending, I really loved Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Rating: 7 – Very Good (just short of being a 8 because of the ending but I think that is definitely a matter of taste)

Reading Next: The Summer of You by Kate Noble

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: 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