Title: The Body at the Tower

Author: Y.S. Lee

Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Victorian

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

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

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

Stand alone or series: Book 2 in The Agency series

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

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

Review:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

END SPOILER

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Zombies vs. Unicorns anthology

Title: 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: The Prince of Mist

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Genre: YA/Horror

Publisher:Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (US) /Orion Children’s (UK)
Publication Date: May 2010
Hardcover: 224 pages/208 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Why did I read the book: Carlos Ruiz Zafon is the author of The Shadow of the Wind one of my all time favorite novels. Like, top 5 all time.

How did I get this book: I received an ARC from Orion

Review:

The Prince of Mist is Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s first novel, originally published in Spain in1993 as “El Principe de la Niebla” which became a bestseller in Europe. It was not until 2004 though, that the author joined the ranks of worldwide publishing stardom when his book, The Shadow of the Wind was translated and published in English. The Shadow of the Wind is one of my all time favourite books and I have been following his career ever since. His sophomore adult effort, The Angel’s Game did not rock my world but when I learnt that his first four novels, all published as Young Adult, were finally going to be translated – by the same fantastic translator, Ms Lucia Graves – I was overcome with giddiness and excitement.

The Prince of Mist is the first of these four novels to hit the market and it certainly delivers as a horror novel. I was positively terrified reading it and nearly lost my mind in terror at least twice.

It is 1943 and WWII is raging across Europe. Max’ father, a watchmaker and inventor, decides to relocate his family to a small seaside town in an attempt to flee the effects of the war. The beach house that they bought was previously owned by Dr Richard Fleischmann whose family is surrounded by tragedy after the death of their son, Jacob. Strange things start happening to Max and his family: his older sister has weird dreams; his younger sister has the feeling of a presence inside their house; the finding of old family films which belonged to the Fleischmanns and the strange cat that the family has adopted both add to the mystery. All of these combine to make Max believe that something is going on, especially when he finds, in their overgrown garden at the back of the house, surrounded by mists, a garden of six statues surrounded by a fence with a six-pointed star. All statues represent members of a circus troop and at the center lies the statue of a creepy clown whose hand seem to move when Max looks at it up close.

Then, when Max’s new local friend Roland takes him diving around an old sunken ship and Max sees a flag with the same six-pointed star and he learns that the boat sank after a terrible storm and only one man survived – Roland’s grandfather – and no bodies were found – the bodies of a circus crew led by a man known as The Prince of Mist. Then things get really, really frightening.

Zafon is a writer of atmosphere and he is capable of infusing the smallest sequence with an incredible sense of mystique and ambience. Reading The Prince of Mist, I was transported to this small town and was able to follow Max and his family as they navigated the murky waters of this story. The author is a very visual writer – the best comparisons I could make would between this book and two movies, rather than other books. Both the story and above all, the atmosphere reminded me a lot of The Orphanage and Pan’s Labyrinth: with the slow building of tension, the introduction of the characters prior to the introduction of the Terror, which slowly creeps up. ( The Prince of Mist precedes both movies by a good decade). Interesting to note: the author is unquestionably capable of moving the story very slowly especially if you consider that the book is about 200 pages long but without missing out on pacing or characterisation.

I would even argue that the author went a bit too far trying to disclose several characters to the reader by shifting point of views in the middle of the story. I am not sure that it worked that well and I felt that Max’s could have been the sole PoV without detriment to the story. It was quite interesting to see this world and the other characters via the lens of a 13 year old. Part of what makes this book such a great story is not only because of the creepy horror but because of Max’ observations: as he looks at his father’s soothing smile and tries to emulate it when the time is appropriate; when he observes his sister falling in love with Roland and muses about it to the point where even the short moments without his PoV made me miss him.

A supernatural mystery and a Faustian figure are both recognisable tropes that are present in the books I read by him so far and they make an appearance here. But, although unbeatable in terms of atmosphere and sheer sense of terror, too many questions were left unanswered to my liking. My inquisitive mind asks far too many questions about the Why, the How, the Who of the Prince of Mist’s background and motives. And this is exactly why horror is not a genre I am prepared to wholeheartedly embrace because I often forget that horror sometimes has no reason to be. It just is. That sense of pure unmitigated, senseless, hopelessness and horror is clear here and the author never shies away from the fact that horrible things happen to good people too, almost for no reason at all. This book is about loss: of life and of innocence and the author does write this very well even if it makes me want to crawl under the covers to hide…..and cry.

Notable Quotes/Parts:One of the parts that made me lose my cool and I admit to sleeping with the lights on that night. A scene where horror strikes Max’s sister Irina:

Irina realised then that she was alone in the house and therefore the voice she thought she’d heard must have been imaginary. Until she heard it again, this time in her bedroom, like a whisper filtering though the walls.

The voice seemed to come from far away, the words impossible to decipher. She stood in the center of the room ,motionless. She heard the voice again. Whispering. It was coming from inside the wardrobe. For the first time since she’d arrived at the beach house, Irina was afraid. She stared at the door of the wardrobe and noticed there was key in the lock. Without thinking twice, she ran over and hurriedly turned the key to make sure it was properly locked. She stepped back and took a deep breath. But then she heard the sound again and realised it wasn’t just one voice but several, all whispering at the same time. (…) She was about to leave the room when, suddenly, she felt an icy breeze on her face. It swept thought the bedroom, slamming the door shut. Irina ran towards the door and struggled with the knob, which seemed to be stuck. As she was trying in vain to open it, she heard the key in the wardrobe door slowly turning behind her. Irina stood against the door of her room, too afraid to look. She closed her eyes tight, and her hands were shaking. The voices, which appeared to emanate from the very depths of the house, seemed much closer now. And this time they were laughing.

Additional Thoughts: To coincide with the release of the book in the UK (end of May), on June 1st, we will be posting an interview with Carlos Ruiz Zafon where we discuss amongst other things, Young Adult books, genre reading as well as running a giveaway of the book. Make sure to mark your calendars!

Verdict: A beautifully written horror novel which effectively scares and engages the reader. It may have been Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s first novel but it certainly does not read like one.

Rating:7 Very Good

Reading Next: Shade by Jeri-Smith Ready

Wherever Nina Lies is the debut novel from the young and extremely talented Lynn Weingarten. In order to celebrate the paperback release of the novel, we are offering up a giveaway for THREE lucky readers!

The Book:

Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery

Publisher: Point (Scholastic)
Publication Date: February 2010
Paperback: 320 pages

Nina was beautiful, wild, and adored by her younger sister, Ellie. But, one day, Nina disappeared. Two years later, everyone has given up home that Nina will return, but Ellie knows her sister is out there. If only Ellie had a clue where to look. Then she gets one, in the form of a mysterious drawing. Determined to find Nina, Ellie takes off on a crazy, sexy, cross-country road trip with the only person who believes she’s got a chance—her hot, adventurous new crush. Along the way, Ellie finds a few things she wasn’t planning on. Like love. Lies. And the most shocking thing of all: the truth.

The Website:

The Excerpt:

The guy walking toward me is good-looking in an obnoxious way, like he’d play the hot jerk in a TV movie about why drunk driving is bad or how it doesn’t pay to cheat on the SATs. He’s got these big wrap-around sunglasses on and a shiny black short-sleeved button-up shirt filled out with the kind of insanely sculpted arm muscles a person only gets when they spend most of their time lifting weights in the mirror and grunting at themselves.

You can read the full first chapter online HERE.

The Author:

Lynn Weingarten spends a lot of time writing in coffee shops while occasionally reading strangers’ laptops over their shoulders. In the past she has been a book editor, a barista, a counter girl at a bakery in Ireland, a waitress at a bar, and a seller of tiny homemade clay animals. She lives in New York City. Wherever Nina Lies was her first novel. Please visit her online at www.lynnweingarten.com.

THE GIVEAWAY:

We are giving away THREE copies of Wherever Nina Lies! The contest is open to participants with a United States mailing address only (international readers can enter if they have a friend in the States who can accept their prizes by mail) and will run until Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 11:59 PM (PST). In order to enter, all you have to do is leave a comment here. Only ONE comment per person, please! Multiple entries and/or duplicate comments will be automatically disqualified. Good luck!

“Inspiration and Influences” is a new series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspiration and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.

Our guest today is debut author Lori Brighton. Her first book, Wild Heart (released last week by Kensington Books) is a paranormal historical romance with a bit of mystery on the side, and the first in a series. You can read more about the book here. We are happy to open the floor to the author so that she can talk about the inspiration behind the story.

Ladies and gents, Lori Brighton:

One of the most common questions an author receives is where do you get your ideas? It’s rather like asking a bird how they fly and for a brief moment there’s usually a confused pause as we frantically search for something to say. If we’re lucky a memory will come to mind, something seemingly insignificant, yet important for the basic fact that the tiny detail, that tiny moment, started the ball rolling. For my debut book, Wild Heart, that significant moment started with a children’s cartoon.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start where most things start…at the beginning. I got my imagination and creativity from my mom, a woman who writes poetry and always has a book in hand. As a child I read, a lot, but I never really wanted to be a writer. The grammar rules that went along with English class bored me to tears. It didn’t stop me from making up stories in my mind. When I was upset or bored, it was the perfect time to retreat into my make-believe world. Also, growing up in a family with little money to travel, forced me to use my imagination; it was the only way I could go places. ?

Then one fateful day when I was around sixteen years old, I discovered Julie Garwood. Instantly I fell in love. England, Scotland, alpha heroes and that suspenseful adventure she does so well, all influenced how I would write my own books. I’d always been interested in history, but now it was romantic. Living in the Midwest in the U.S. I was surrounded by the Victorian Era, so its not surprising that my books often take place during this era. It’s also the time period in which one of my favorite books takes place, Jane Eyre.

You can find the influence of Charlotte’s gothic writing style in my own book. It’s also that dark, gothic style that has fueled my interest in the paranormal. I’ve always enjoyed the paranormal. I’m pretty sure we lived in a haunted house when I was a child. When I wrote Wild Heart, it seemed almost natural to add the paranormal element. I figured by adding in the paranormal, it would make it more unique.

So how did Wild Heart come about? This is going to sound odd, but the Disney Cartoon Tarzan.

My son was watching it a few years back. Around the same time, I saw a documentary on Discovery or some equally educational channel about feral children. I’d seen them both rather close together and thought, hmm, what would it be like if my hero had been lost in the wild during his childhood? And so with one little question, a book was born.

So what about you? Who or what has influenced where you are at this moment? Leave a comment. Two people will win a copy of my debut book, Wild Heart.

A big thank you to Lori Brighton and good luck to all who enter! Contest is open to US and Canada residents and runs till Saturday 14th November 11:59 PM (Pacific). Go!

Title: Prospero Lost

Author: L. Jagi Lamplighter

Genre: Contemporary Fantasy

Publisher: Tor
Publication Date: August 2009
Hardcover: 352 pages

Why did we read this book: We had seen glowing reviews for Ms. Lamplighter’s debut effort all over the blogosphere – but it was Graeme of Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review that really got us salivating over this title. With his help, we were able to procure two review copies of this gorgeous title, and we couldn’t wait to get started.

How did we get this book: Thea received a Review Copy (from publisher) and Ana got her copy as a gift from Graeme.

Summary: (from amazon.com)
More than four hundred years after the events of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the sorcerer Prospero, his daughter Miranda, and his other children have attained everlasting life. Miranda is the head of her family’s business, Prospero Inc., which secretly has used its magic for good around the world. One day, Miranda receives a warning from her father: “Beware of the Three Shadowed Ones.” When Miranda goes to her father for an explanation, he is nowhere to be found.

Miranda sets out to find her father and reunite with her estranged siblings, each of which holds a staff of power and secrets about Miranda’s sometimes-foggy past. Her journey through the past, present and future will take her to Venice, Chicago, the Caribbean, Washington, D.C., and the North Pole. To aid her, Miranda brings along Mab, an aerie being who acts like a hard-boiled detective, and Mephistopheles, her mentally-unbalanced brother. Together, they must ward off the Shadowed Ones and other ancient demons who want Prospero’s power for their own….

REVIEW

First Impressions:

Thea: It’s completely shallow, but as soon as I saw the gorgeous cover art for this book, I wanted it instantly. When I read the blurb for Prospero Lost, I wanted it even more. The only question that remained in my mind was, with all this wanting going on, could the actual title live up to my irrational expectations? The simple answer is: why, yes. YES it can. I loved Prospero Lost, completely, truly, madly, deeply. Ms. Lamplighter seamlessly blends beloved characters from Shakespeare’s The Tempest with other literary landmarks, such as Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, a Raymond Chandler-esque gumshoe, Homerian Greek mythological figures, and even throws in an appearance from Father Christmas himself. It’s a wondrous melting pot of genres and archetypes, and I loved every second of it.

Ana: It is funny how I had a completely different reaction to the cover of the book when I first saw it: I thought it was ugly as hell and did not give the book a second thought. It was only after reading Graeme’s review that my curiosity was spiked; then Thea start campaigning for a joint. And I am so glad she did because even though we departed from opposite directions with regards to the expectations, we ended up in the same final line: I too, loved Prospero Lost, truly, madly, deeply. For its scope, for its creative genius and for the imaginative retelling of The Tempest, I loved Prospero Lost as a tour de force and as a story. It has been a while since I caught myself simply enjoying the act of reading so much.

On the Plot:
It has been four-hundred years since William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and the Prospero family has grown considerably in number and power. Immortal, thanks to daughter Miranda’s status as a Handmaiden of Eurynome and her ability to procure the Waters of Life, Prospero and his children have become rich and powerful beyond any other mortal on Earth. As the eldest, Miranda takes over the day to day running of international conglomerate Prospero, Inc. – the family company that not only dabbles in the mundane and mortal, but keeps humanity safe by virtue of its immortal and magical dealings. One day, during one of Prospero’s prolonged absences, however, Miranda discovers a note from her father – a warning that she and her siblings are no longer safe, because the three shaded ones have escaped from Hell. When Miranda cannot locate her father, she takes it upon herself to warn her eight siblings – especially when one of the shaded ones attacks Prospero Mansion itself. With head detective, the inscrutable Mab (actually the North Wind, one of the Aerie Ones in human form) in tow, Miranda embarks on a journey to warn her strange, immortal family, and to save Prospero from the clutches of Hell.

Thea: In terms of world-building, Prospero Lost is an incredibly tall order – set in modern times, Ms. Lamplighter takes an old and familiar story with the characters of Prospero and Miranda, but makes them strange mortals that have lived far longer than any human should. The story also encompasses different mythologies, spirits, magics, and interpretation of the pantheons of heaven and hell. It seems like all these disparate parts should make for a confused, befuddled reading experience; but somehow, it all blends together in some mysterious alchemy, creating an entirely winsome and never overwhelming novel.

Ms. Lamplighter writes with a skill that spans centuries of the human experience though the eyes of first-person narrator Miranda, but focuses on Miranda’s quest to warn her siblings of the impending danger. In this sense, Prospero Lost is something of a quest-mystery novel, with Miranda and Mab traveling from location to location, attempting to persuade her reluctant and bizarre family members to take heed of her warnings. And, as is the case in most mystery novels, different clues are revealed each step of the way, leading Mab and Miranda ever onward to discover just who the shaded ones are, how they escaped, and what exactly they want with Prospero and his children. Though there isn’t much resolution in this book as more questions are posed than answers given, and the book ends on an infuriating cliffhanger, I liked that Ms. Lamplighter keeps things ambiguous and that she’s not afraid to keep storylines dangling – in the tradition of many great mysteries, each unveiled clue sheds light on an even larger mystery, and such is the case with Prospero Lost. The plotting might be straightforward and undesirable to some readers who crave solid answers and resolutions, but I liked Ms. Lamplighter’s choice to keep things open. As this is part of an ongoing trilogy, we can all rest assured that answers are coming!

Ana: Colour me totally delighted with the premise of Prospero Lost. Ms. Lamplighter takes The Tempest and departs from it, making the characters her own: the story goes basically as told by Shakespeare (who learnt the story directly from Prospero, by the way) but with a few differences. Miranda never married Ferdinand (who jilted her at the altar), Prospero never quit his Magic and never delivered in his promise to free Ariel and the other Aery Ones; in fact he has proceeded to become one of the most powerful magicians in the world, taking up on the mission to protect humans from destructive supernatural forces and ended up having another 8 children. Together, the Prospero family was a force to behold but somewhere along the centuries something went very wrong and each kid went on their separate ways, each carrying a Staff of Power, granted by Prospero when they all worked together at Prospero, Inc.

Or this is what Miranda, the eldest child, tells us. As she is fond of repeating, she read Shakespeare several times and only lived her life once so it is difficult to remember exactly events that took place such a long time ago. And this is what makes Prospero Lost such an unique book: the book is narrated by an immortal whose memory is not that good. It makes for riveting read because not only the narrator may be unreliable but also for the very idea that immortal beings are not necessarily more wise or omniscient. I read quite a few books with immortals characters in them but I can’t remember a single one where the problem of memory is addressed and that alone makes Prospero Lost a book well worth reading.

The plot itself is a Quest story with Miranda and the detective Mab going after each of her siblings to tell of their father’s disappearance and to make sure that their Staffs are secure. On the way Miranda thinks about each member of the family and remembers the adventures they had together -my favourite being the one all of them invaded the Vatican to steal objects of potential harmful magic kept by the Church, including The Ark of Covenant and Merlin’s Globe. Each of these stories, each step of the way represents a piece of the puzzle regarding not only Prospero’s disappearance but the entire history of his family and power and I can’t wait to see when all the pieces fall into place.

I did have a couple of misgivings with regards to the writing though. Sometimes Miranda reminiscences came across as rather info-dumpy and repetitious BUT in all fairness I think this is intentional – I felt the author was hammering those pieces of the puzzle that are most important. I sometimes, felt the need to have a notebook like Mab’s where I could write down each of the clues.

Prospero Lost kept me guessing (I have so far, theories A, B, C and D about what the heck is going on) and it kept me entertained with the rich, imaginative storytelling. I thought this book was, in other words, made of cool and I had a jolly good time reading it.

On the Characters:

Thea: As I’ve said before, Miranda is the first person narrator of this novel, and as such, the narrative is colored by her impressions and memories – and it becomes abundantly clear that Miranda is not the most reliable of narrators. Forever young so long as she keeps drinking the Waters of Life, Miranda is not immortal (she, and the rest of her family, can all be killed, but they will not die of old age or sickness), but she has an unlimited lifespan. And, as a mere mortal creature that has lived for centuries, she’s a little peculiar. What I loved the most of Ms. Lamplighter’s novel was her detailed, realistic portrayal of ageless beings – as Miranda and her family are simply humans with no time limitations, they have grown strange in their time on earth. Their memories are foggy of early dates (for human minds were not meant to hold centuries’ worth of memories), they develop eccentricities, and use their magic for personal, even selfish purposes. A common failing in many contemporary fantasy novels is the creation of so-called “immortals,” but who have the mindset and outlook of regular humans with an eighty-year lifespan. Ms. Lamplighter manages to avoid this pitfall, and creates characters that feel both believably old, and yet still relatably human at the same time.

But back to Miranda. She is the apple of her father’s eye; the loyal daughter who has stayed by his side, running his business over the centuries. She never questions his authority or judgement, and she pursues the family business without reflection – this has some interesting implications over the course of the book, especially considering the absent Prospero has tricked and forced the Aery Ones into his service for a sworn period of one thousand years. At times, Miranda is obviously conflicted about this, but shrugs off any residual guilt by the reasoning that her father is a good man, and his motives are good enough for her. At the same time, Miranda’s consumed constantly by her desire to finally achieve the last stage in her service to her Lady Eurynome, and progress from Handmaiden to Sibyl.

Perhaps Miranda isn’t the most obviously likable character – the fact that she adheres to her father’s every wish, even when he’s not present in the story, even when she questions his reasoning only to dismiss her own doubts immediately, does not speak highly of her character. Nor does her repetitive desire to become a Sibyl at long last. And yet, I genuinely liked and cared for Miranda. Her shortcomings make her a relatable character, and her loyalty (though possibly misplaced) is an interesting and admirable quality. Her perceived frigidity (which really is simply a distance from her emotions) may be a turnoff to some, but I couldn’t help but want to root for Miranda, and hope she’d be able to conquer her own self doubts.

In terms of secondary characters, I loved them all. Mab, in particular, with his Philip Marlowe persona, his trusty fedora and perpetual four o’clock shadow, and his gruff attitude is an automatic win in my heart. The gruff detective types always manage to win me over, immediately. And, he only gets better over the course of the book – though he resents being forced into servitude for the Prospero family, he genuinely seems to care for Miranda. At least, that’s my perception. And the dynamic between the two characters is pretty damn awesome. Then, there’s Miranda’s younger brother, Mephistopheles – who may or may not have demonic properties, and who certainly has a tenuous grip on sanity. Mephisto is, in a word, hilarious. His pet “Chimey,” his childlike attitude towards responsibility, his playful – and very dangerous – magical abilities, everything about him is wonderful. Of course, he’s dangerous too, but one can’t read Mephisto and not be charmed by the guy.

As for the other characters, Ms. Lamplighter covers a lot of ground – from two of Miranda’s strange other siblings, the resigned Theo and bitter (and cruel) Logistilla, to Father Christmas, to dangerous Elf Lords, and other dangerous corporeal entities. Each are wonderful and diverse, and enchanting in their own ways.

Ana: I agree with Thea: the author’s portrayal of ageless beings was very realistic – as much as one can be realistic when it comes to immortality. The point is: being ageless and very powerful affect each and every one of them, sometimes in a not very positive way, raising questions about whether it is natural or not for human beings to procure or want something that is not in their nature.

Once again, I had a different reaction from Thea, with regards to Miranda. Whereas Thea liked and cared for Miranda, I didn’t. Miranda is not a likeable character because she is not a likeable person. She is cold and detached who at times were on the brink of being downright odious to me. Regardless of that though, she is never dull or uninteresting. Part of what makes Miranda so fascinating was how she is so unrelentingly true to Prospero and Her Lady.

Every time she is on the brink of questioning her father or Her Lady, she stops herself and starts thinking of how much good Prospero, Inc., does. How without it surely, the world would end and disaster would follow! She was basically a walking talking commercial for Prospero, Inc. To the point where I was constantly wondering if there wasn’t something there given as how Miranda, as a Handmaiden, is the very key to her family’s immortality.

So, kudos to the writer who made me want to read about a character whom I disliked. Having said that since this seems to be at heart, a Quest, I am sure Miranda will surface as a different person on the other side. I would actually would go as far as to say that this is also partly, a coming of age story. It may sound ludicrous since Miranda is nearly 500 years old but in some aspects she seems to be stuck in her 16 year old self. And how much of that is intentional (being cryptic here on purpose, dear reader) is yet to be seen.

As for the other characters, I echo Thea’s thoughts on Mab and Mephisto. I loved them both and Mephisto made for some of the laugh out loud funny moments. I also loved all of the wonderful cameos from Mustardseed to Ariel, from Father Christmas to the other siblings. I have to praise the author again, as the appearance of so many cameos and beings from diverse mythologies is a potentially dangerous route to take in the road to Excess but she totally pulled it off. It never grated, it never came out as contrived. It simply worked.

Last, but not least we have Prospero himself who may be absent for the entire duration of the book but is an inherent part of the story. As a character Prospero comes across as a very shady one: how did Prospero get to be so powerful? and who the hell does he think he is to be meddling with not only human life but with the supernatural world? I kept questioning this over and over again almost as a reflection of Mab’s own questions.

Final Thoughts, Observations, and Rating:

Thea: If it isn’t clear, I loved Prospero Lost completely, for its colorful characters and its impressive worldbuilding and mythology blending. L. Jagi Lamplighter is a novelist to look out for, and I cannot wait for Prospero in Hell!

Ana: I enjoyed myself reading this like you wouldn’t know. Every time Miranda recalled one of her stories, I found myself glued to the pages. And hey, in the next book? They go to Hell. Literally. I am so there.

Notable Quotes/Parts: You can read a full excerpt online HERE by selecting the “Look Inside” feature.

Additional Thoughts:

Mab puts us in the mind of some favorite detectives…

Any other favorites?

Rating:

Thea: 8 – Excellent

Ana: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Worldweavers: Gift of the Unmage by Alma Alexander

Today we look at ghost stories in the Young Adult cannon – secrets, hauntings, and love from beyond the grave…

Ruined: A Ghost Story by Paula Morris

Publisher: Point (Scholastic)
Publication Date: August 2009
Hardcover: 304 pages

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
Rebecca couldn’t feel more out of place in New Orleans, where she comes to spend the year while her dad is traveling. She’s staying in a creepy old house with her aunt. And at the snooty prep school, the filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she’s invisible. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey seems to give Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he’s got a hidden agenda. Then one night, in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to talk to Rebecca, and to show her the nooks and crannies of the city. There’s just one catch: Lisette is a ghost.

As Rebecca learns more from her ghost friend — and as she slowly learns to trust Anton Grey — she also uncovers startling truths about her own history. Will Rebecca be able to right the wrongs of the past, or has everything been ruined beyond repair?

Review:

When Rebecca Brown lands in New Orleans, she realizes that she is a long, long way from her Central Park West apartment in New York City. Rebecca and her father are inseparable – after the death of her mother when she was a child, she and her father are the only family each other has in the wide world. When her dad gets a job contract in China for six months, he has no choice but to send Rebecca off to Louisiana to stay with his good friend Claudia and her daughter Aurelia, as they are the closest thing to family the Browns have. Sixteen-year old Rebecca is not thrilled with being uprooted from her comfortable New York life, having to leave her home, friends and school in the middle of the school year, but when she meets her Aunt Claudia and cousin Aurelia for the first time in years, she’s even less enthusiastic about her new home. Claudia works as a tarot card reader/fortune teller in the French Quarter, Aurelia is only twelve (though she is a sweet, excited girl)…and then she sees their house – an overgrown, leaning ancient looking “shotgun” house, complete with voodoo decorations.

When Rebecca starts school at the prestigious, elitist, all-girls Temple Mead Academy, she knows her life has completely gone down the tubes. Full of rich, snotty debutantes, Rebecca wants nothing to do with the school’s ridiculous social hierarchy. The one interesting thing about her new home, however, is that it is across from the historic Lafayette Cemetery that Aunt Claudia has forbidden Rebecca from even entering. When Rebecca sees some of the Temple Mead teen royalty enter the graveyard one night, she decides to follow. And then she meets a girl in a torn dress named Lisette – who happens to be a ghost. As Lisette’s sad story unfolds, Rebecca learns that the old aristocratic families of New Orleans are all implicated in an old curse – and now Rebecca is involved.

Ruined is the first book I’ve read by Ms. Morris, and it is a beautifully executed ghost story with Creole flair. This is a novel whose strongest point is its setting and Ms. Morris’s eye for detail and atmosphere. Set in post-Katrina New Orleans, the city seen through Rebecca’s eyes is a gumbo of thick humidity and crumbling historic buildings, the splendor of bright parades and debutante balls set against an era of rebuilding. New Orleans, especially the Garden District where Claudia, Aurelia and Rebecca live comes to life in Ruined, evoking images of manicured mansions juxtaposed next to overgrown cemeteries and more run-down buildings. Ms. Morris’s skill for descriptions is strong in Ruined, and reading this book I felt immersed in New Orleans – from the dusty, oddball clutter of Claudia’s ramshackle house to the vibrant sounds and smells of the French Quarter.

The world Rebecca enters is a far cry from her sophisticated city girl life – Temple Mead Academy is as rooted in blue-blood as elitist schools come, where the world revolves around whose father is in which exclusive krewe and whose debutante debut luncheon is set for the next weekend. One of my favorite conversations comes between Rebecca and her younger cousin Aurelia, as the younger girl explains the hierarchy of the school:

“She’s just a Pleb.”

“A what?”

“A Pleb. Short for pleb-ee-an. We learned about them in Latin [...] We say Pleb because it rhymes with Deb, and everyone is pretty much either a Pleb or a Deb.”

“What are you talking about?” Rebecca was confused.

Temple Mead is split into a hierarchy of Plebs (commoners, wannabes), Debs (wannabe Patricians, higher than Plebs), and Patricians (Temple Mead elite). It’s like the classic social hierarchy of high school, taken to the extreme based on a family’s historical standing and considerable wealth.

But beyond the excellent setting of the novel, Ruined is an old fashioned ghost story at its heart. Lisette, a beautiful sixteen-year old girl in life becomes a friend to Rebecca, and gradually shares her own tragic story with the human girl. Rebecca, in turn, becomes a good friend to Lisette, choosing to spend time with the ghost that no one else can see. I think it is in the relationship between these two characters, separated by the thin veil of reality and from two different worlds that is the most appealing part of Ruined. The other characters are sufficiently well-drawn, but my heart was with Lisette and Rebecca instead of the somewhat lackluster requisite love story with the attraction between Rebecca and blue-blood Anton. Another thing this novel does well is create an atmosphere of menace with the “villain” characters – maybe it’s not the most original story with old families protecting each others’ dirty secrets, but it’s an effective one.

The plotting of the book drags a bit in the early chapters, but works up to a frenzied finale – complete with Mardi Gras beads, costumes, and murder. I highly enjoyed Ruined and certainly recommend it. I’ll definitely be checking back for more from this talented author.

Rating: 7 Very Good

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

Publisher: Graphia
Publication Date: September 2005
Paperback: 288 pages

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: for the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen—terrified, but intrigued—is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge. But as the lovers struggle to find a way to be together, they begin to discover the secrets of their former lives and of the young people they come to possess.

Review:

A Certain Slant of Light is a book I’ve had on my TBR for a very long time. It’s a book that I’ve seen sitting there and dusted off to read only to put it back on the shelf. Later, I’d tell myself. The time’s not right. What can I say? I’m superstitious about these sorts of things. But, when I realized that both Ana and I had a few ghost-themed titles to read, it was finally time to really give this book a read.

This is a different type of ghost story, as the protagonist is herself a ghost and the one doing the haunting. Helen, as she was known in life, is Light. She can only remain free of her cold, watery personal hell by cleaving herself to a host, and over the near 200 years since her death, she’s clung to her different saviors, passing from one literature lover to the next (the title of the novel, you may recognize, comes from one of her hosts). Her current host, Mr. Brown, is a young high school english teacher with a passion for books and for writing, and Helen is content with being next to him and sharing in his life. That is, until one day when she’s in class with him and one of his students looks at her. He sees her. Helen cannot believe it, for as long as she has been in her ghostly state she has never been seen by a human, nor has she ever seen one of her own kind. The seventeen-year old boy, Benny, has been in the class for the whole year and has never been able to see her until that fateful day – and he seeks out Helen, to talk to her to tell his story. Helen learns that the boy she sees, is not Benny at all, but a kindred spirit named James. James tells Helen that Benny recently had overdosed on drugs in the nearby park that James used to haunt. When Benny’s soul left, James watched in horror as something dark and evil threatened to take over the empty body, and he acted quickly by throwing himself into Benny’s unconscious flesh. And since then, James has seen other ghosts but no one that has known they were dead – that is, no one like Helen.

The two are drawn together, as the only two of their kind. They fall in love, they connect as two souls, and when Helen has the chance to occupy an empty body of her own, she seizes it. But gradually they realize that their stolen flesh cannot last forever, and they question their purpose and their future as they learn more about the bodies they have possessed.

A Certain Slant of Light had me from the opening sentence. Written in flawless prose telling Mary’s story in the third person, Ms. Whitcomb creates a haunting, heart-wrenching tale about life after death, about love, fear, and redemption. Unlike other Young Adult novels that are so much into obsessive teen love, the instant attraction and the desperate way that James and Helen cling to each other in A Certain Slant of Light actually resonates true and works. Both characters are lost souls who have been achingly alone after their own tragic deaths for many, many years – so when they find each other it truly is like the proverbial life preserver in a churning ocean, or the oasis in the shimmering heat of a desert. James and Helen find each other in the realm beyond their mortal lives and are given a second chance, fleeting as it may be, in borrowed bodies that only appear young. The way that they struggle with their own deeply buried personal devils and find salvation through each other is what makes their love story so poignant. Both characters are distinct, and Ms. Whitcomb does a flawless job in making Helen and James believably old (Helen from a time before the car was invented, and James from just before the end of WWI), as they were in their twenties when they died and do naturally not think or speak like current teens, but she also gives them an innocence when they are returned to the bodies of teenagers, struggling to fit into their stolen lives.

And therein lies the rub – because though the souls have fled the two teenage bodies both Helen and James possess, there is no denying that these two creatures of Light have stolen their lives. This is a topic that both Helen and James must confront – the first of many thought-provoking questions that Ms. Whitcomb raises in this book.

A Certain Slant of Light is a spiritual book. And by that I don’t mean it’s “religious” – because it’s not really. I admit that I tune out when books start talking about God (capital G), His will, etc in the Christian biblical sense – usually this is because I get the feeling of being preached to, and that does not sit well with me. But A Certain Slant of Light manages to walk the line between being spiritual and being religious, never preachy or moralizing. The message of the novel isn’t one of biblical salvation – in fact, the body that Helen possesses is the child of two overly-strict, zealous religious parents who have driven their daughter’s soul from her body by their inability to accept any differences. Rather, this novel manages to convey a bittersweet story of redemption and love, and being able to forgive oneself. And that, dear readers, is a hell of an accomplishment.

Another notable read for 2009, and Ms. Whitcomb has now become an auto-buy for me. Absolutely recommended.

Rating: 8 Excellent

Reading Next: Wake by Lisa McMann

Title: The Poison Garden

Author: Sarah Singleton

Genre: YA – Mystery/Fantasy/Historical

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s
Publishing Date: 5 May 2009
Paperback: 288 Pages

Stand Alone or series: Stand Alone

Summary: It is the 1850’s, and a young boy, Thomas, leaves his family to be apprenticed to a pharmacist, at the behest of his dead grandmother. He also inherits a magical box from her, which provides him entry into a mysterious garden. But while visiting it, he sees a ghostly vision of his grandmother, who tells him she was poisoned, and warns him that he must find the person responsible, and save her precious garden. For she was one of five members of an arcane guild, each of whom cultivated an individual garden, mastering the art of poison, perfume and medicine. The guild members jostle for power as, one by one, they are murdered…can Thomas solve the mystery, before he in turn is threatened?

Why Did I Read The Book: I was intrigued by the blurb and by the review I read the My Favourite Books

Review:

The Poison Garden gloomily opens at a funeral: that of 10 year old Thomas Williams’ grandmother, a well-off lady whose family depended upon and whose major delight in life was her garden. A garden that Thomas visited constantly and this interest led him to observe his grandmother’s secretive behaviour and her creation of weird concoctions. This connection with this garden separates Thomas from the rest of the family on that day, as he leaves them all in the post-funeral party and goes for a stroll on it.

As he walks around he sees a strange, opened box and beyond what he knows is the limit of the garden, a much larger, strange one, full of wonders. And a man: a man named Blake who says he knew his granny. Thomas is also visited by a revenant girl – a ghostly appearance that presents herself as a young version of his grandmother and who tells him that she has been poisoned. Thomas and Blake embark in a disorienting adventure through The Garden of Dreams, which ends with Blake’s murder.

The next day, the night’s adventure seems like a dream. The family attends the reading of the Will and learn that other than some money and a few trinkets, most of Mrs Williams fortune is left to an unnamed person. There is a special clause for Thomas though: at the age of 14 he is to go to London to become a chemist’s apprentice and he is also awarded with the strange box – now effectively closed and which proves to be impossible to open.

Cut to 4 years later, Thomas now lives with Mr Albert Constantine in London, apprenticing as he was supposed to. One day, he is told to make a delivery to one Mrs Lawrence and there he meets a girl named Maud. Then he learns that both Mr Constantine and Mrs Lawrence are members of a guild, The Guild of Medical Herbalists of which his grandmother and Blake were also members. Each of them is responsible for a Garden and for a Box, seven of them altogether. And Thomas is to replace his grandmother as the keeper of the Garden of Dreams.

Soon after that, another person dies in mysterious circumstances and it is clear to Thomas that someone is out to get the members of the Guild – but the thing is, no one knows they exist which leads Thomas to suspect one of the members is the culprit. And that he may be in danger as well.

The Poison Garden is a wonderful mix of genres: Historical (the story is set in London, circa 19th century), Fantasy and Mystery and even a bit of Horror. I found myself completely engrossed by the mysterious Gardens and the boxes and by their keepers and their history of how they came across the existence of those.

However, despite my obvious interest in the overall story, I was oddly disappointed with the book. Because even though the story borders on several genres and moves effortlessly through them, at its centre, The Poison Garden is a whodunit. As whodunits go, this one is pretty solid BUT with so many possibilities in front of me, so many open roads to take, some of them pretty awesome, by the way, I felt the author limited herself to the mystery leaving everything else behind.

The author dips her fingers in mythology, religion, the discussion between Science x Magic, the wonders of special Gardens (that I wished I could know more about, like the Garden of Journeys and the Garden of Time for example) without really completely immersing herself in any of them. At one point in the story all of the characters stand at the intersection of all the gardens, the centre of it all, from where they can see all of them. I felt I stood in the same place whilst reading the book – I could see the doors to wonderful places but they were locked to me, expect for one. I wanted to know more about the Guild, about its members and even about the elusive and dying Guild of Funerary Violinists.

The book that Sarah Singleton wrote is by all means, a good, effective Mystery book. It just wasn’t the book I wished I was reading. Even though I completely understand that this feeling comes from my own unjust expectations, I still need to factor this in as I write my thoughts on the book, as it proved to be the reason why I felt myself detached from the story and its main character.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: the first part of the book, with Thomas and Black in the Garden of Dreams, the wonders of the place and the gothic feel of it were truly wonderful. Plus, the creepiness of the revenant, laughing and bleeding and the first peek at one of the Funerary Violinist were so atmospheric.

Verdict: a good YA whodunit with horror and fantasy elements that although not all that it could have been, it is still solid enough for mystery fans.

Rating: 6 –Good

Reading Next: My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent

Title: Echoes from the Dead

Author: Johan Theorin

Genre: Crime

Publisher: Transworld (Black Swan)
Publishing Date: 3 July 2009 (UK)
Paperback: 480 pages

Stand Alone or series: Stand Alone

Why did I read the book: I was offered a review copy. Although I don’t read crime novels as much as I used to, I decided to give this one a try once I heard that 1) it is set in Sweden in and I am trying to expand the settings of the novels I read. 2) it won an award for best debut novel in its home country

Summary:
Can you ever come to terms with a missing child?Julia Davidsson has not. Her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the Swedish island of Oland. No trace of him has ever been found.

Until his shoe arrives in the post. It has been sent to Julia’s father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. Soon he and Julia are piecing together fragments of the past: fragments that point inexorably to a local man called Nils Kant, known to delight in the pain of others. But Nils Kant died during the 1960s. So who is the stranger seen wandering across the fields as darkness falls?

It soon becomes clear that someone wants to stop Julia’s search for the truth. And that he’s much, much closer than she thinks . . .

Review:

1972. In the island of Öland, Sweden, a young boy is spending the summer with his grandparents. His mother is out for the day, his grandmother is taking a nap and the grandfather is working on his nets at the boathouse when six year old Jens decides to go on an adventure. He climbs the small wall at the end of the garden and goes for a walk in the Alvar. Soon though, he gets lost in the spreading fog and loses his bearing. He then meets a man who introduces himself as Nils Kant and reassures him that everything will be alright. Jens is never seen again dead or alive.

20 years later, his mother Julia is still unable to let go. Living in a dingy apartment with her only companions being wine bottles and the American Shopping channel , she merely gets by and she has been on a sick leave from her job as a nurse for ages. The working explanation for her son’s disappearance is that he went towards the sea and drowned but Julia does not believe that and deep down still hopes he is alive somewhere.

Until one day she gets a phone call from her father with some disturbing news : he has received in the mail, one of Jen’s sandals – the one he was wearing on the day of his disappearance and he urges her to go back to her childhood home to investigate further. Gerlof , now a 80 year old, retired widown, lives in a nursing home and struggles to live with a crippling chronic disease and the certainty that he is old and unimportant. Together with is best friend Ernst, he has been working in a new theory about his grandson and one that involves…..Nils Kant.

Julia goes back, even if only for a couple of days and is overcome with the memories. Then, Ernst is killed and all of a sudden there is the conviction that Gerlof is on to something. But then, Julia finds out that Nils Kant has been dead for over 30 years – even before her son disappeared! What is Gerlof hitting at – is Nils Kant not really dead?
Julia’s journey through the small villages of the island and Gerlof’s attempt at playing private eye are intercalated with flashbacks of Nils Kant’s story – going back to his own dark, disturbing childhood and the death of his younger brother to the crimes he committed as a young man. We then learn that this man’s past is intertwined with that of the island and that Öland, with its past and future, is a character in itself.

Until the two narratives coincide in the most surprising way.
The alternating points of view of these three characters add an incredible insight to the story and makes Echoes from the Dead more character-driven than plot-driven. Nils ‘ obsession with the island and with his self-importance, Julia’s depression and want for closure and Gerlof’s need to prove that he is still important and that his life still matters were poignant and interesting and added a human flavour to a whodunit. The author’s description of the island was amazingly haunting and spoke of a close relationship to the place. The bleakness and the emptiness of the surroundings were immensely evocative and emphasised the sombre aspects of the three characters’ personalities.

A couple of small things did bother me and detracted from the overall enjoyment of the novel – the fact that Gerlof was a bit too aloof and too close-mouthed about his findings, choosing to reveal things little by little made me impatient. They were dealing with a possible murder investigation not with one of the stories he heard in his childhood. It was a matter of great importance and I felt that his actions and Julia’s reaction to them were not realistic. And the presence of a paranormal element, that came out of nowhere and added absolutely nothing to the story. Still, this is a pretty solid debut novel and I admired the way the plot unfolded.

A few years ago, I used to be a voracious reader of crime novels until I sort of grew tired of the genre. Echoes from the Dead was a great reminder of why I used to love whodunits and I recommend it to lovers of the genre and to those who would like a different setting.

Notable Quotes/ Part: definitely the climax of the story when everything becomes clear to the reader.

Verdict: With its interesting characters and the haunting setting and narrative, Echoes from the Dead is a solid debut novel.

Rating: 6. Good.

Reading Next: Written on your Skin by Meredith Duran

Title: The Angel’s Game

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Genre: Literary Fiction (Mystery)

UK cover
US cover

Publisher:Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK) / Doubleday (US)
Publishing Date: 28 May 2009/ June 16 2009
Hardcover: 448 pages/ 544 pages

Stand Alone/ Series: Can be read as a stand alone but has connections with another book by the author: The Shadow of the Wind

Summary:In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martín, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books, and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.

Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has existed – a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realises that there is a connection between this haunting book and the shadows that surround his home.

Why did I read the book: The Shadow of the Wind by this same author is simply one of my top 5 favorite books of all time. So yeah. I HAD to read this one which is described as a prequel (of sorts).

Review:

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is one of my top 5 favourite books of all time. The book was an immense success worldwide and it was no surprise when I heard that the author was going to go back to the same world and write a prequel. I was overwhelmed with jubilation and…..fear. Could another book set in the same world live up to the Great Expectations that would inevitably be attached to it?

The Angel’s Game was released with grand fanfare in Spain and in a matter of days, became the most successful book to ever be published over there. The English translation has just been released here in the UK and in the US and the reviews so far have been extremely positive.

I finally picked up to read it last weekend and was done in a matter of hours. The start of the novel, the first few chapters were everything I could have hoped for: the beautiful, evocative writing (a tremendous translation work by Julia Graves) was there as was that atmospheric feel and gothic quality with a mystery in the works.

The protagonist David Martin, narrates his own story. From his childhood spent in poverty, with a father who was an alcoholic and an absent mother who left them both. The description of the earlier years is brief and yet, effective: the impression of a complicated relationship with the father, the lasting feeling of rejection caused by the mother and the passion for books and reading are all stepping stones to David’s psyche . The hero’s childhood has a Dickensian quality to it, a fact that is not lost to him: Great Expectations is his favorite book and to be a writer like Mr Dickens becomes David’s aspiration.

After the tragic death of his father, David is left all alone in the world until he is sort of adopted by the local newspaper. His mentor and friend, the rich Pedro Vidal is a writer himself and helps David to become a writer of penny dreadful stories. His immediate commercial success does not endear him to his colleagues and David is basically a loner. Then, he gets fired and is hired by another publisher to write gothic novels. His writing becomes his life and he is consumed by it: living to write, not writing to live. He rents an old abandoned tower house and the times go by.

All through this, his success is followed by a mysterious Paris’ publisher, Andreas Corelli who eventually, when David reaches a crossroad from which there is no return, tempts him with an offer he can’t refuse. A Faustian pact in which David has one year to write a book for Andreas. A book that will create a new religion. (yeah. seriously).

But soon enough, his entanglement with the mysterious publisher, the mystery that surrounds his own house and its previous mad owner plus his doomed love affair with a woman named Christina may prove too much for David.

It certainly proved to be too much for the book and the second part of The Angel’s Game ends up being a total and complete mess that never lives up to the excellent build-up of the first few chapters. I mentioned that initially, the writing and the plotting were really good, but even then the characterisations were a letdown. I kept hoping that there would be a moment when a balance between all elements (writing, plot, characterisation) would be achieved but it never happens.

David is not a sympathetic character. He is, for most of the book, oddly detached and there is the recurring thought that David is a spectator of his own life. From the benefactors that help him to survive and who guide and help him to offers he can’t refuse, it seems that David is never an active character of his own story. Weird, strange things happen to him all the time, and he hardly even blinks, never investigates nor does he actively seeks an answer until very late in the book.

He is also a very inconsistent character as at times he is consumed with obsessions and has a dark, brooding, stance and then the next minute he is engaging in witty banter with his assistant, Isabela.

There is a lack of feeling when it comes to David. I believe the readers are supposed to think that David LOVES reading and writing and yet…..he never is shown doing any reading and the writing he does is oddly devoid of passion. It is more like a compulsion. We are told over and over that he loves Christina (a wallpaper character if ever there was one) but the feeling never leaps from the page and quite frankly, I never understood why he loved her or as for that matter, why she loved him back.

Until that is, I found out that there was indeed a game being played – by Zafon and that the joke was on ME. That there may be a reason behind the lack of reaction from David. But when these suspicions appeared that David is not all that of a reliable narrator, it was too late and I didn’t care enough to be bothered. It was too little too late. Add that to the mess of the second half, with the growing mystery and madness and the open-for-interpretation clumsy ending with many of the mysteries of the book never addressed again, I ended up with the feeling that I was reading a beautiful yet empty package.

But it makes me wonder. It makes me think that maybe, just maybe these Great Expectations are a hard and ugly thing to live up to. I can’t help but to think that The Angel’s Game is not the book that Zafon wanted to write. I wonder if these opening words that David utters are coming directly from Zafon’s soul:

“A writer never forgets the first time he accepted a few coins or a word of praise in exchange for a story. He will never forget the sweet poison of vanity in his blood, and the belief that, if he succeeds in not letting anyone discover his lack of talent, the dream of literature will provide him with a roof over his head, a hot meal at the end of the day, and what he covets the most: his name printed on a miserable piece of paper that surely will outlive him. A writer is condemned to remember that moment, because from then on he is doomed and his soul has a price”

Maybe I am going too far when I compare the author with his own character. But given that both Zafon’s own passion for Barcelona and his passion for books are acknowledged aspects of his stories why not this as well? The fact that publishers in the book are described as almost devil-like creatures, ever present and looming over David like harpies, how much of the author is in these pages and how much of this story is his way of exorcising the pressure for a second hit?

This is even clearer to me, by the fact the story seems to be set at a time that would provide connections to Shadow of the Wind and yet it could have been set at any other time. The (loose) connection with the previous book comes from having David visiting the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and being friends with old Sempere of Sempere and Son, the bookshop that is central to that one story.

Did the book crumble under the weight of my own Great Expectations? Maybe. But The Angel’s Game to me, pales in comparison to The Shadow of the Wind simply because it lacks Larger than Life characters to deeply care for and villains to completely abhor. The beautiful writing does not save the emptiness left by the poor characterisations and the confusing plot.

Simple as that. 4 days after reading it and it is already forgotten.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:

An example of the beautiful writing. Vidal on love and other things:

(…) you may not fall in love, you may not be able to or you may not wish to give your whole life to anyone and, like me, you may turn forty-five one day and realise that you’re no longer young and you have never found a choir of cupids with lyres, or a bed of white roses leading towards the altar. The only revenge left for you then will be to steal from life the pleasure of firm and passionate flesh – a pleasure that evaporates faster than good intentions and is the nearest thing to heaven you will find in this stinking world, where everything decays, beginning with beauty and ending with memory.

Verdict: The first half is almost everything I hoped for: amazing writing and atmosphere and a gripping mystery even if the characters are wallpapery. Unfortunately, the second half is a wreck. In one word: disappointing.

Rating: 5 . Meh

Reading Next: Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson