I was not quite as enthralled with The Perilous Sea, a young adult novel by Sherry Thomas, as I was with the first book in the fantasy romance series: The Burning Sky. In fact, my rating dropped from four and a half stars to three. I still liked it; three isn't bad. Sequels are just hard, and if you come to a resolution in the romance aspect of the book, which the first book does already, you have to change things up to keep the reader interested in that. When everything's happy and mushy, that's great. The reader wants things to end there, but the interesting part is the conflict. Granted, I think more books should be written about the happily-ever-after-or-not, what happens after love's first glow fades when reality sets in. I think the Divergent series does a decent job of keeping the romance interesting by adding depth to it once the characters are finally together.
So, The Perilous Sea changes things up to keep the reader interested. In some ways, the changes aid the plot of the story, but as far as the romance goes, it's basically a reset, which is a cheap way to liven things up. Iolanthe (Fairfax), supposedly the greatest elemental mage of her time, and Prince Titus experience memory loss (it's almost cheesy!), and the reader gets to see them fall in love all over again. Yay.... The book alternates between two storylines, one which takes place in the Sahara Desert as the two lovers run for their lives, though they can't remember who they are, and one which takes place in the weeks leading up to their memory loss, in which their relationship takes a downward turn. It would be an interesting dichotomy...if we hadn't already been there, done that. We already got to see them hate and then love each other in the first book.
But in setting up an intriguing mystery for the reader to unravel, the two storylines, past and present, work great, the stronger of the two being the one before the memory loss when things start to go south. The conflict between Iolanthe and Titus is rather painful, but the circumstances that pull them apart are intriguing and leave the reader guessing until the end--who is good, who is bad, who is powerful, who's a pawn.
Since Sherry Thomas is an adult romance writer, I had concerns after reading the first book that the trilogy wouldn't remain sex-free, even though the first book was. This second book teetered dangerously close as the two made plans to have a romantic getaway, but they never ended up doing it. It's possible book three may have that sex scene, though one can always hope they'll be too busy fighting the bad guys to have time for it. In any case, the implication that it's coming and that the characters have no moral reservations about it lowers my opinion of the romance even further.
If the romance wasn't in the way, I think this could be a really good fantasy series with fun characters (Iolanthe pretends to be a boy at an all-boys school in Victorian London, which provides many entertaining moments) and high-stakes danger in a world part-normal-part-magic, similar to that of Harry Potter. Hopefully the next book will be as epic as the first book's set-up promised.
The Immortal Heights, book three of The Elemental Trilogy, comes out in October of this year.
Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
The Maze Runner in Theaters Now
I loved the movie adaptations of The Hunger Games and Divergent, and the preview for The Maze Runner (PG-13, 113 min.) had me pretty excited. But much as James Dashner's endings in all the Maze Runner books fell short of my expectations and hopes, this movie disappoints. I think, perhaps, if I'd not read the book (especially as recently as I have), I would have liked the movie better. But watching the movie first and finding out the ending would have ruined the mystery and tension of the book. So, I guess my recommendation is this: If you are a movie person, watch the movie first. If books are always way better than movies to you, read the book first. Enjoy the story first in the medium you like best, and if you must, check it out in the other, too.
The story is this (taken more from my memory of the book than from the movie, though they are relatively the same). Thomas awakes in an elevator box of sorts, moving slowly and mysteriously toward an unknown destination, but the worst of it is, Thomas remembers nothing about his life. He knows how life works and the names of objects. He just can't remember anything specific pertaining to him except his first name. But everything is about to get stranger. When the box opens, he finds himself in a community of teenage boys who are all like him, no memories, and who are stuck in a giant maze full of monsters. Thomas is supposed to do what he's told, have a good cry if he needs to, and adapt to his part of making their community work. But Thomas is too curious for his own good, and he's not just going to sit by and do nothing.
The premise was fascinating to me. I like stories such as Lord of the Flies, and the TV show Lost. And out of this whole series, The Maze Runner, most similar to those, is my favorite book. The ending is decent enough in that it provides some answers without needing to resolve everything (overall, I don't like how Dashner resolves everything in the series, but if you take this first book by itself, it's fine). I figured the adaptation to a movie would be pretty straightforward, and I was excited to see the story come to life in that way.
Now, hear me out. I know you have to change things when you adapt a book into a movie. Things have to be shortened, focused. If a story takes place in a character's head in the book, you have to figure out a way to translate that to a medium that's largely outside the character's head (unless you provide character narration, which some movies do). So, I get it. I'm not one of those who swears the book is the only way to go. This blog is about books and movies because I really like both, and I love to see adaptations. Now, the adaptations don't always work for me, but I can generally see a movie as a separate entity from the book and not be too disappointed.
But...(you were waiting for it, weren't you?), The Maze Runner movie annoyed me just a tad. It started with small details here and there, different from the book. I was prepared for the big cuts, but the small changes were surprising. They seemed unnecessary and made less sense than the way the details were written in the book. I will try to avoid major SPOILERS here, but if you are concerned, stop reading now.
Some of the changes didn't hurt the movie, but I don't think they helped either. They were just inconsistencies that bothered me, especially when I couldn't see the point of the change (for instance, in the buildings the boys built for themselves). One of those rather minor details that I do think does hurt the movie, however, is the presentation of the mysterious medicine vials. In the book, the medicine comes up in the shipments of survival goods the boys periodically receive from the Box. When they are attacked by the monsters, the boys use this medicine. In the movie, another character arrives with two medicine vials in a pocket, and the movie uses them conveniently for two major characters. Aside from that seeming very coincidental and accidental in the movie, it changes the story and doesn't make sense, to boot. It makes more sense for the boys to already have medicine they use as needed.
Okay, so I'm going to have to go into SPOILER territory (more for the book than the movie, though). If you were braving it out until now, congrats but you've been warned. One thing that really bothered me is that the sci-fi technology is dumbed down. There are some really cool things in the book like telepathy and invisible portals. That's not a spoiler for the movie because those things don't exist in the movie. So, yay, I didn't spoil it for you. The movie only spoiled the book. I can't figure out why the tech was changed. Some things in the book are just not explained. Could that be it? They wanted a more believable world than what the book presented? But that change is going to affect the rest of the story even more than it did the beginning. Stripped of some of those details that make this world so interesting, they're going to have to make up stuff that isn't in the books just to fill in the cracks in future movies. I already thought the pacing was a little slow for this movie, and now some of what makes the book more interesting is gone. And if they bring it back, it will seem inconsistent and have me wondering why they took it out in the first place.
Perhaps my biggest complaint is that the way the kids get out (and that's not spoiling because you knew they would) is totally different from in the book. Okay, "totally" might be an exaggeration, but it's enough different that it affects the story. And it's another change that just doesn't make sense with the way the maze is supposed to work and the answers we discover at the end of the story.
Well, I could go on. Even some of the last shots of the movie get details wrong, but those I actually do understand. It was done for the movie audience to have a better visual that the book doesn't provide. It was a change made for the movie to make a better movie. If you haven't read the book, it works. If you have, it's just one more way the tech is changed that disappoints.
Aside from being annoyed by detail changes, I do have one moral concern to share. The book and the movie have some pretty violent moments. Kids are killed, and the worst part is that hardly anyone stops to mourn or seems to care, except with the one character who's played up to get the audience to care. But PG-13 is an acceptable rating.
Having said all that, I'll admit I didn't dislike the movie entirely. It was enjoyable to watch one time and see the characters, like Newt!, come to life, though there weren't too many other stand-outs, even so. Here was a chance for the movie to improve upon a book that had a few faults of its own. It didn't. So, I give it a shrug and a throw-away three out of five stars.
The story is this (taken more from my memory of the book than from the movie, though they are relatively the same). Thomas awakes in an elevator box of sorts, moving slowly and mysteriously toward an unknown destination, but the worst of it is, Thomas remembers nothing about his life. He knows how life works and the names of objects. He just can't remember anything specific pertaining to him except his first name. But everything is about to get stranger. When the box opens, he finds himself in a community of teenage boys who are all like him, no memories, and who are stuck in a giant maze full of monsters. Thomas is supposed to do what he's told, have a good cry if he needs to, and adapt to his part of making their community work. But Thomas is too curious for his own good, and he's not just going to sit by and do nothing.
The premise was fascinating to me. I like stories such as Lord of the Flies, and the TV show Lost. And out of this whole series, The Maze Runner, most similar to those, is my favorite book. The ending is decent enough in that it provides some answers without needing to resolve everything (overall, I don't like how Dashner resolves everything in the series, but if you take this first book by itself, it's fine). I figured the adaptation to a movie would be pretty straightforward, and I was excited to see the story come to life in that way.
Now, hear me out. I know you have to change things when you adapt a book into a movie. Things have to be shortened, focused. If a story takes place in a character's head in the book, you have to figure out a way to translate that to a medium that's largely outside the character's head (unless you provide character narration, which some movies do). So, I get it. I'm not one of those who swears the book is the only way to go. This blog is about books and movies because I really like both, and I love to see adaptations. Now, the adaptations don't always work for me, but I can generally see a movie as a separate entity from the book and not be too disappointed.
But...(you were waiting for it, weren't you?), The Maze Runner movie annoyed me just a tad. It started with small details here and there, different from the book. I was prepared for the big cuts, but the small changes were surprising. They seemed unnecessary and made less sense than the way the details were written in the book. I will try to avoid major SPOILERS here, but if you are concerned, stop reading now.
Some of the changes didn't hurt the movie, but I don't think they helped either. They were just inconsistencies that bothered me, especially when I couldn't see the point of the change (for instance, in the buildings the boys built for themselves). One of those rather minor details that I do think does hurt the movie, however, is the presentation of the mysterious medicine vials. In the book, the medicine comes up in the shipments of survival goods the boys periodically receive from the Box. When they are attacked by the monsters, the boys use this medicine. In the movie, another character arrives with two medicine vials in a pocket, and the movie uses them conveniently for two major characters. Aside from that seeming very coincidental and accidental in the movie, it changes the story and doesn't make sense, to boot. It makes more sense for the boys to already have medicine they use as needed.
Okay, so I'm going to have to go into SPOILER territory (more for the book than the movie, though). If you were braving it out until now, congrats but you've been warned. One thing that really bothered me is that the sci-fi technology is dumbed down. There are some really cool things in the book like telepathy and invisible portals. That's not a spoiler for the movie because those things don't exist in the movie. So, yay, I didn't spoil it for you. The movie only spoiled the book. I can't figure out why the tech was changed. Some things in the book are just not explained. Could that be it? They wanted a more believable world than what the book presented? But that change is going to affect the rest of the story even more than it did the beginning. Stripped of some of those details that make this world so interesting, they're going to have to make up stuff that isn't in the books just to fill in the cracks in future movies. I already thought the pacing was a little slow for this movie, and now some of what makes the book more interesting is gone. And if they bring it back, it will seem inconsistent and have me wondering why they took it out in the first place.
Perhaps my biggest complaint is that the way the kids get out (and that's not spoiling because you knew they would) is totally different from in the book. Okay, "totally" might be an exaggeration, but it's enough different that it affects the story. And it's another change that just doesn't make sense with the way the maze is supposed to work and the answers we discover at the end of the story.
Well, I could go on. Even some of the last shots of the movie get details wrong, but those I actually do understand. It was done for the movie audience to have a better visual that the book doesn't provide. It was a change made for the movie to make a better movie. If you haven't read the book, it works. If you have, it's just one more way the tech is changed that disappoints.
Aside from being annoyed by detail changes, I do have one moral concern to share. The book and the movie have some pretty violent moments. Kids are killed, and the worst part is that hardly anyone stops to mourn or seems to care, except with the one character who's played up to get the audience to care. But PG-13 is an acceptable rating.
Having said all that, I'll admit I didn't dislike the movie entirely. It was enjoyable to watch one time and see the characters, like Newt!, come to life, though there weren't too many other stand-outs, even so. Here was a chance for the movie to improve upon a book that had a few faults of its own. It didn't. So, I give it a shrug and a throw-away three out of five stars.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
The Maze Runner
If you haven't yet been surprised by the preview for The Maze Runner movie, out this September, look it up! That might make you want to read this series, as it did for me. I'd heard of The Maze Runner book, by James Dashner, but for some reason, I'd never read it and didn't even really know what it was about. Actually, when I first started hearing hype about it, I thought I'd already read it. I mistook it for another book. Anyway, I missed it, but now I'm jumping on the bandwagon with everyone else, it seems.
So, is it worth the hype? I've been asked this question by others intrigued by the trailer, as I was. The short of it is, I sped through the book and am still interested in seeing the movie. It wasn't everything I was expecting, maybe, and I'm not yet sure how I feel about the revelations at the end of the book. But the journey is mysterious and suspenseful, the danger is life-or-death, and the characters are, for the most part, likeable and complex. I've already got my hands on the sequel in the four-book series (actually, a trilogy and a prequel, and I'm uncertain if that's it or if there are more books coming).
The Maze Runner is about a boy who remembers nothing from his life but his first name, Thomas, as he is slowly lifted in an elevator toward an unknown destination. He arrives, the ceiling of the elevator opens, and he is met by a bunch of boys who've been expecting him, the monthly newbie to their small, organized, self-led civilization. None of the boys know where they've come from, but they quickly find out what they are supposed to do. When Thomas steps into the light, he discovers that he is in a large field, of sorts, surrounded by high walls. The community of boys is mostly self-sustaining with supplies delivered weekly from the "Creators." But all is not harmonious. Even though the boys have strict rules and seem to live a relatively stable, productive life, they are prisoners in a maze, where maze runners daily search for a way out, dodging evil machine-like creatures who rule the night. Little do they all know, Thomas included, that his arrival will change everything.
Intrigued yet? I was. The set-up of the all-boys community and the hierarchy of leadership is well thought through. The creatures are revolting and terrifying. The mystery of what the maze is and what the boys are there for, especially since they don't remember anything, just begs you to read on. With such drama and mystery, there's bound to be some disappointment upon getting the answers. Remember the TV show Lost? I loved it, beginning to end, but a lot of fans hated where it ended up. Part of what made that, and makes this, so entertaining is not knowing what to expect. But don't get me wrong, I'm pretty excited about reading the next book, The Scorch Trials. This series hasn't let go of me yet, not by a long shot.
Go check out that movie trailer now. If you aren't interested yet, you aren't going to be, but if this review already piques your curiosity, I'm betting that will clinch the deal.
So, is it worth the hype? I've been asked this question by others intrigued by the trailer, as I was. The short of it is, I sped through the book and am still interested in seeing the movie. It wasn't everything I was expecting, maybe, and I'm not yet sure how I feel about the revelations at the end of the book. But the journey is mysterious and suspenseful, the danger is life-or-death, and the characters are, for the most part, likeable and complex. I've already got my hands on the sequel in the four-book series (actually, a trilogy and a prequel, and I'm uncertain if that's it or if there are more books coming).
The Maze Runner is about a boy who remembers nothing from his life but his first name, Thomas, as he is slowly lifted in an elevator toward an unknown destination. He arrives, the ceiling of the elevator opens, and he is met by a bunch of boys who've been expecting him, the monthly newbie to their small, organized, self-led civilization. None of the boys know where they've come from, but they quickly find out what they are supposed to do. When Thomas steps into the light, he discovers that he is in a large field, of sorts, surrounded by high walls. The community of boys is mostly self-sustaining with supplies delivered weekly from the "Creators." But all is not harmonious. Even though the boys have strict rules and seem to live a relatively stable, productive life, they are prisoners in a maze, where maze runners daily search for a way out, dodging evil machine-like creatures who rule the night. Little do they all know, Thomas included, that his arrival will change everything.
Intrigued yet? I was. The set-up of the all-boys community and the hierarchy of leadership is well thought through. The creatures are revolting and terrifying. The mystery of what the maze is and what the boys are there for, especially since they don't remember anything, just begs you to read on. With such drama and mystery, there's bound to be some disappointment upon getting the answers. Remember the TV show Lost? I loved it, beginning to end, but a lot of fans hated where it ended up. Part of what made that, and makes this, so entertaining is not knowing what to expect. But don't get me wrong, I'm pretty excited about reading the next book, The Scorch Trials. This series hasn't let go of me yet, not by a long shot.
Go check out that movie trailer now. If you aren't interested yet, you aren't going to be, but if this review already piques your curiosity, I'm betting that will clinch the deal.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Veronica Mars in theaters and available online now
If you don't already know what or who Veronica Mars is, this movie isn't for you. But maybe you've heard a bit of the buzz. After all, within hours, Kickstarter raised the minimum funds (two million dollars) from fans of the three-season TV show, which aired 2004-2007. I was a latecomer to the show, binge-watching the first season and a half a couple years ago and then binge-watching the rest of season 2 and all of season 3 in the past couple months before the movie was released. I only stopped the first time because...well, I'd overdosed on it. All that binge-watching and overdosing is because Veronica Mars is simply addictive.
Veronica Mars is the name of a girl who in the TV show was just a teenager, the daughter of a private investigator, trying to solve the mystery of her best friend's murder. In the movie, released ten years after the show first aired, she is ten years older, returning to the seedy, rich town she escaped from in order to help a former boyfriend accused of murder.
For old fans of Veronica Mars, the movie is all you could hope for: same cast, same setting, same detective work, same romantic interests. It's all there, complete with inside jokes. It's basically a glorified episode of the show, and that's where both its strength and weakness lie. If you loved the show, this is more of the same, just set a few years later. But the crime the show would have taken a whole season to solve, the movie solves in fewer than two hours. A bit of the mystery and lead-up and careful unraveling is lost. It's almost too fast and too shallow. The show had time to pull back layer after layer of the town of Neptune's depravity. Veronica had to chase all sorts of bunny trails before she got to the bottom of a crime. In the movie, she's a lawyer who hasn't done any private investigating since she left Neptune years ago, but she dives back in and solves this crime in a matter of days. It's not that it's unbelievable. Veronica Mars is just that good at what she does. But the movie doesn't provide enough time to get the viewer invested in theories and characters.
As far as morality is concerned, Veronica Mars has always been a show about the worst of humanity being rightly or wrongly accused and Veronica getting to the heart of the truth, no matter who is involved. There are some great messages to be gleaned from the show, but there are also moments when the characters are not good role models. The show contains drinking, drugs, sex (both the socially acceptable and the not, though I'm of the opinion none of it is really acceptable), murder, violence, and a slew of other vices. If you've watched any cop shows, there's nothing you haven't seen before...just better packaged with a smart, sassy teen girl (the show, not the movie). The movie is rated PG-13 for sexuality, drug references, violence, and language.
All said and done, this movie is a giant thank-you card to its fans with room left open for more of Veronica Mars in the future. Maybe not a movie, but the story has plenty of potential to keep going in other forms. Three stars.
Veronica Mars is the name of a girl who in the TV show was just a teenager, the daughter of a private investigator, trying to solve the mystery of her best friend's murder. In the movie, released ten years after the show first aired, she is ten years older, returning to the seedy, rich town she escaped from in order to help a former boyfriend accused of murder.
For old fans of Veronica Mars, the movie is all you could hope for: same cast, same setting, same detective work, same romantic interests. It's all there, complete with inside jokes. It's basically a glorified episode of the show, and that's where both its strength and weakness lie. If you loved the show, this is more of the same, just set a few years later. But the crime the show would have taken a whole season to solve, the movie solves in fewer than two hours. A bit of the mystery and lead-up and careful unraveling is lost. It's almost too fast and too shallow. The show had time to pull back layer after layer of the town of Neptune's depravity. Veronica had to chase all sorts of bunny trails before she got to the bottom of a crime. In the movie, she's a lawyer who hasn't done any private investigating since she left Neptune years ago, but she dives back in and solves this crime in a matter of days. It's not that it's unbelievable. Veronica Mars is just that good at what she does. But the movie doesn't provide enough time to get the viewer invested in theories and characters.
As far as morality is concerned, Veronica Mars has always been a show about the worst of humanity being rightly or wrongly accused and Veronica getting to the heart of the truth, no matter who is involved. There are some great messages to be gleaned from the show, but there are also moments when the characters are not good role models. The show contains drinking, drugs, sex (both the socially acceptable and the not, though I'm of the opinion none of it is really acceptable), murder, violence, and a slew of other vices. If you've watched any cop shows, there's nothing you haven't seen before...just better packaged with a smart, sassy teen girl (the show, not the movie). The movie is rated PG-13 for sexuality, drug references, violence, and language.
All said and done, this movie is a giant thank-you card to its fans with room left open for more of Veronica Mars in the future. Maybe not a movie, but the story has plenty of potential to keep going in other forms. Three stars.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
The Queen of the Tearling
I was not the first to get my hands on The Queen of the Tearling, a fantasy novel by Erika Johansen. My sister-in-law beat me to it, but both of us were pretty excited to read this advanced reader's copy. And now that we have, both of us love it. It's adult fiction, but this is the kind of story that attracted me to young adult fiction in the first place: a young, gutsy heroine (she's 19) and high-stakes danger. There are obviously elements that separate this story from young adult fiction. It's more detailed and longer than typical YA fare, and there are swear words (though sparse) and a few gruesome scenes (one character's vivid recounting of debauchery and rape, for instance) most YA fiction generally avoids. I hope that those adult elements, however, do not scare you off. They are very tactfully handled and not overused.
Kelsea is supposed to be the next queen of the Tearling when she reaches her nineteenth birthday. That day has come, and she must leave the little cottage that has been her entire world. But in the world she is to rule, there are many who would rather things remain as they are and are willing to pay big money for her head. There's the regent, her uncle, a despicable man with many vices. There's the evil Red Queen, who has the power to destroy the Tearling. And there are others hiding in the dark, waiting for an opportunity to profit in whatever way they may. Kelsea has a big job ahead of her, and it could kill her, if she doesn't die before she gets there. All alone, accompanied by a handful of old guards who are sworn to secrecy but know nothing about her, Kelsea must earn her place every step of the way.
I assumed this story would have more romance (it was advertised on the back cover), but it really doesn't, at least not in this first installment of the series, and the main character is described as plain and mannish. The point is that this girl is different than her mother, the beautiful and shallow queen before her. Kelsea is a girl who's studied her entire life to be a good judge and moral ruler, and when faced with the chaos of her country, she tackles it head-on, despite feeling nothing like a queen. I liked that there wasn't the distraction of romance (though there are very tiny hints of what might come), and actually, Kelsea's plainness lends a certain gravity and strength to the story. We see right off the bat that she's a woman of depth, something the country desperately needs. We know she is the right person for the job, if she can manage to get it. Sometimes romance is all the entertainment value of the story, but this one doesn't need it to be interesting and keep things moving along. The mystery of Kelsea's ancestry and the secrets hidden from her, even though she's supposed to be queen, pull the reader into the story, and throughout, Kelsea and the reader must piece together the larger picture of what happened to this country's people and what she must do about it.
Now, I must talk a bit about the setting. It's highly unusual. At first glance, it appears somewhat medieval, like most fantasy worlds. Horses, no modern conveniences, castles, peasants, and magic--pretty straightforward fantasy, nothing unusual there. But actually, there are hints throughout the story about a world that existed before, a world that sounds a lot like our modern world. America is mentioned. Books exist from our time, like The Hobbit and The Bible. The details are extremely murky and pieced together, but from what I can tell, people left our world in an event called The Crossing. Whatever they brought with them was all they had to start over, completely new. There were some doctors, so some medical knowledge was saved. A few books came over, but not a way to print more. What I can't figure out is where this new world is. Is it a new part of Earth, or is it a parallel dimension? Did they cross the stars (though it seems they speak of crossing an ocean)? And what happened to the rest of Earth? And how did magic enter the equation? These questions don't need answered for the story to work, but they were always part of the backstory, just enough information given to make me curious about the rest. Essentially, the setting is medieval fantasy, taking place in a world that comes after our modern one.
One more thing bears remarking on. I'm not sure how I feel about how the book presents religion. Kelsea studies The Bible as part of her training to rule, just as one might study one book of many but also because the Arvath (a religious group with roots in Catholicism) is a corrupt power to be reckoned with. It's not presented as a true book, and though Kelsea reads it cover to cover, she doesn't believe in it. So, I thought the author had a negative inclination toward religion, but then she has a character who's devout, a priest who's not corrupt but truly believes in his faith. He's a sympathetic character, despite his beliefs. Granted, he's a great lover of books, like Kelsea is, so I think the emphasis is on the value of knowledge rather than faith. But I was pleased to see that religion wasn't thrown out as entirely evil. I don't have any hopes that it will progress beyond what it is, though.
Overall, I just loved this book for being a story about a girl going up against high odds with nothing in her favor but her strong mind and kind heart. I loved the mystery, and I grew to love numerous other multi-faceted characters along the way. That the main character is a queen and the setting is medieval doesn't hurt one bit either.
The Queen of the Tearling will be released in July of this year. Four stars.
Kelsea is supposed to be the next queen of the Tearling when she reaches her nineteenth birthday. That day has come, and she must leave the little cottage that has been her entire world. But in the world she is to rule, there are many who would rather things remain as they are and are willing to pay big money for her head. There's the regent, her uncle, a despicable man with many vices. There's the evil Red Queen, who has the power to destroy the Tearling. And there are others hiding in the dark, waiting for an opportunity to profit in whatever way they may. Kelsea has a big job ahead of her, and it could kill her, if she doesn't die before she gets there. All alone, accompanied by a handful of old guards who are sworn to secrecy but know nothing about her, Kelsea must earn her place every step of the way.
I assumed this story would have more romance (it was advertised on the back cover), but it really doesn't, at least not in this first installment of the series, and the main character is described as plain and mannish. The point is that this girl is different than her mother, the beautiful and shallow queen before her. Kelsea is a girl who's studied her entire life to be a good judge and moral ruler, and when faced with the chaos of her country, she tackles it head-on, despite feeling nothing like a queen. I liked that there wasn't the distraction of romance (though there are very tiny hints of what might come), and actually, Kelsea's plainness lends a certain gravity and strength to the story. We see right off the bat that she's a woman of depth, something the country desperately needs. We know she is the right person for the job, if she can manage to get it. Sometimes romance is all the entertainment value of the story, but this one doesn't need it to be interesting and keep things moving along. The mystery of Kelsea's ancestry and the secrets hidden from her, even though she's supposed to be queen, pull the reader into the story, and throughout, Kelsea and the reader must piece together the larger picture of what happened to this country's people and what she must do about it.
Now, I must talk a bit about the setting. It's highly unusual. At first glance, it appears somewhat medieval, like most fantasy worlds. Horses, no modern conveniences, castles, peasants, and magic--pretty straightforward fantasy, nothing unusual there. But actually, there are hints throughout the story about a world that existed before, a world that sounds a lot like our modern world. America is mentioned. Books exist from our time, like The Hobbit and The Bible. The details are extremely murky and pieced together, but from what I can tell, people left our world in an event called The Crossing. Whatever they brought with them was all they had to start over, completely new. There were some doctors, so some medical knowledge was saved. A few books came over, but not a way to print more. What I can't figure out is where this new world is. Is it a new part of Earth, or is it a parallel dimension? Did they cross the stars (though it seems they speak of crossing an ocean)? And what happened to the rest of Earth? And how did magic enter the equation? These questions don't need answered for the story to work, but they were always part of the backstory, just enough information given to make me curious about the rest. Essentially, the setting is medieval fantasy, taking place in a world that comes after our modern one.
One more thing bears remarking on. I'm not sure how I feel about how the book presents religion. Kelsea studies The Bible as part of her training to rule, just as one might study one book of many but also because the Arvath (a religious group with roots in Catholicism) is a corrupt power to be reckoned with. It's not presented as a true book, and though Kelsea reads it cover to cover, she doesn't believe in it. So, I thought the author had a negative inclination toward religion, but then she has a character who's devout, a priest who's not corrupt but truly believes in his faith. He's a sympathetic character, despite his beliefs. Granted, he's a great lover of books, like Kelsea is, so I think the emphasis is on the value of knowledge rather than faith. But I was pleased to see that religion wasn't thrown out as entirely evil. I don't have any hopes that it will progress beyond what it is, though.
Overall, I just loved this book for being a story about a girl going up against high odds with nothing in her favor but her strong mind and kind heart. I loved the mystery, and I grew to love numerous other multi-faceted characters along the way. That the main character is a queen and the setting is medieval doesn't hurt one bit either.
The Queen of the Tearling will be released in July of this year. Four stars.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
These Broken Stars
These Broken Stars is a lovely book I'm so glad I picked up. Written by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, this young adult science fiction novel weaves a tale of love with a gripping story of loss and survival. Lilac is the richest girl in the universe, and Tarver is just a poor young soldier, albeit an honored war hero. For a moment, when everything is normal, they are drawn to each other, but Lilac ends it forcefully and cruelly, knowing anyone she loves will only face the fury of her father. Tarver, humiliated, backs off. But then fate brings them back together when disaster strikes the massive spaceship they are both on, yanking them out of hyperspace and hurtling them to the planet below. Then, all Tarver and Lilac have are each other, and as much as they hate it, they will have to find a way to cooperate and cross this strange planet to a place where they can be rescued. But something on the planet seems to have other ideas for them.
This was a delightful read, with all sorts of conflict and two interesting, multi-faceted characters. First, you throw two characters who hate each other into a disaster from which they come out alone with each other on the opposite side. Then there's the matter of pure survival without many supplies in a hostile and new environment. Once they are as miserable as possible, add a few mysteries that will build on each other like a good ghost story. And then, once your characters are comfortable, throw everything on its head once or twice more. Make sure there's always more trouble they can run into. And throughout, have flash-forwards to when one of the characters is being interrogated about the events. You know he escapes, but at what cost, and why is he lying? And there you have it: brilliant storytelling.
At first, I admit, I was intimidated by the size of the book. It's none too thin, and there are lots of words per page. I noticed it particularly because most young adult books are super fast reads with half as many words per page. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I was very quickly hooked. And then I was glad there were so many words because I knew the book wouldn't be over too soon and I could read to my heart's content and know there was always more to come back to. As much as I love those fast reads, I'm always having to start a new one too soon. And starting is the hardest part when you don't know if it will be good or not. Having a good book to return to is always the best.
This was also different from my usual fare in that it was science fiction. I've enjoyed books about characters in space before, so I wasn't thrown off by it. But they are usually few and far between. It was nice for a change of pace.
I have conflicting views on the morals of the book, though I do understand the reasoning behind them. SPOILER ALERT: The characters do end up falling in love and having sex. I'm not a proponent of sex outside of marriage, so I didn't like it for that reason. But on the other hand, these characters are stranded together with no certainty of rescue, and I think that if you don't have a way to be legally married, you can still be married in your heart before God (providing you believe in God). Of course, nothing like that is discussed in the book. As with all young adult books, they are in love, so they have sex. Nothing sacred about it. That's what I don't like about it. I do appreciate that the details are kept simple and vague. If you have to talk about it in young adult books, no need to be graphic.
Morals aside, the story itself bothered me as it led toward the end. To be more than vague about this would definitely be a spoiler, and I don't want to give anything away here. Let me just say that as the characters became okay with how things stood, I became more okay with it. But I was still left a bit unsettled. Though I don't think that it will matter or change the things I'm referring to, this is only the first book of the series, so added books may help the unsettled feeling to go away. In any case, I'm curious about the future of this series. I don't think future books will have quite the same dynamics that made me love this book, but I am still interested in finding out what becomes of the characters. However, this book is a good stand-alone, too, and once you finish it, you'll be fairly satisfied.
This book was released in November of last year. Four stars.
This was a delightful read, with all sorts of conflict and two interesting, multi-faceted characters. First, you throw two characters who hate each other into a disaster from which they come out alone with each other on the opposite side. Then there's the matter of pure survival without many supplies in a hostile and new environment. Once they are as miserable as possible, add a few mysteries that will build on each other like a good ghost story. And then, once your characters are comfortable, throw everything on its head once or twice more. Make sure there's always more trouble they can run into. And throughout, have flash-forwards to when one of the characters is being interrogated about the events. You know he escapes, but at what cost, and why is he lying? And there you have it: brilliant storytelling.
At first, I admit, I was intimidated by the size of the book. It's none too thin, and there are lots of words per page. I noticed it particularly because most young adult books are super fast reads with half as many words per page. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I was very quickly hooked. And then I was glad there were so many words because I knew the book wouldn't be over too soon and I could read to my heart's content and know there was always more to come back to. As much as I love those fast reads, I'm always having to start a new one too soon. And starting is the hardest part when you don't know if it will be good or not. Having a good book to return to is always the best.
This was also different from my usual fare in that it was science fiction. I've enjoyed books about characters in space before, so I wasn't thrown off by it. But they are usually few and far between. It was nice for a change of pace.
I have conflicting views on the morals of the book, though I do understand the reasoning behind them. SPOILER ALERT: The characters do end up falling in love and having sex. I'm not a proponent of sex outside of marriage, so I didn't like it for that reason. But on the other hand, these characters are stranded together with no certainty of rescue, and I think that if you don't have a way to be legally married, you can still be married in your heart before God (providing you believe in God). Of course, nothing like that is discussed in the book. As with all young adult books, they are in love, so they have sex. Nothing sacred about it. That's what I don't like about it. I do appreciate that the details are kept simple and vague. If you have to talk about it in young adult books, no need to be graphic.
Morals aside, the story itself bothered me as it led toward the end. To be more than vague about this would definitely be a spoiler, and I don't want to give anything away here. Let me just say that as the characters became okay with how things stood, I became more okay with it. But I was still left a bit unsettled. Though I don't think that it will matter or change the things I'm referring to, this is only the first book of the series, so added books may help the unsettled feeling to go away. In any case, I'm curious about the future of this series. I don't think future books will have quite the same dynamics that made me love this book, but I am still interested in finding out what becomes of the characters. However, this book is a good stand-alone, too, and once you finish it, you'll be fairly satisfied.
This book was released in November of last year. Four stars.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
The Forgotten Garden
It's rare that I step away from my fast-paced, short-but-sweet young adult novels to read a lengthy piece of regular fiction, particularly one that spans several generations and jumps between character stories. But occasionally, I find myself wanting a delightfully long read that's not over in two days, and since my sister-in-law had recommended The Forgotten Garden to me several times (shocked each time she asked me if I'd read it that I had not), I picked this one, knowing absolutely nothing about it.
But the young woman who discovers on her 21st birthday that she is not the person she always thought she was, whose life is turned upside down in an instant, and whose granddaughter inherits her unsolved mystery captured my full attention. The story spans a century, from the early 1900s to 2005, and two continents, taking place in Australia and England. The characters include Nell, the woman left on a ship by herself when she was only three or four years old; Cassandra, Nell's granddaughter with her own life trauma and baggage; Eliza, the mysterious and captivating Authoress; and a wealthy, selfish, merciless English family.
Normally, descriptive passages slow me down, but author Kate Morton knows just how to hook her readers along, leaving bread crumbs here and there, enticing them to read just a little further to solve just a little more of the mystery. There's a bit of a haunting, magical feel to the story, heightened no doubt by Eliza's fairytales, a few of which are included in their entirety. If anything slowed my reading of this book more than normal, it was probably the character jumping. One chapter might be about Cassandra in 2005. Then we're back to Eliza in 2000. Then we're with Nell in 1975. Some of those points provided too easy of a break at which to put the book down for awhile. However, I was never tempted to leave the story too long. Quite the opposite. I found myself stealing moments during the day to open those 500-plus pages, even when my son was competing for my attention! The last 200, or so, pages were especially difficult to put down. By then, I was starting to piece things together and making guesses about the ending (some of which were right and some of which weren't quite). I put a key piece of the puzzle together approximately 150 pages before the end, but even then, there were discoveries to make and moments to question what I thought I knew.
The Forgotten Garden is a book to delve into at the expense of all else. Kate Morton is a storyteller with a spellbinding gift. This is certainly some of the best adult fiction out there. Five stars.
But the young woman who discovers on her 21st birthday that she is not the person she always thought she was, whose life is turned upside down in an instant, and whose granddaughter inherits her unsolved mystery captured my full attention. The story spans a century, from the early 1900s to 2005, and two continents, taking place in Australia and England. The characters include Nell, the woman left on a ship by herself when she was only three or four years old; Cassandra, Nell's granddaughter with her own life trauma and baggage; Eliza, the mysterious and captivating Authoress; and a wealthy, selfish, merciless English family.
Normally, descriptive passages slow me down, but author Kate Morton knows just how to hook her readers along, leaving bread crumbs here and there, enticing them to read just a little further to solve just a little more of the mystery. There's a bit of a haunting, magical feel to the story, heightened no doubt by Eliza's fairytales, a few of which are included in their entirety. If anything slowed my reading of this book more than normal, it was probably the character jumping. One chapter might be about Cassandra in 2005. Then we're back to Eliza in 2000. Then we're with Nell in 1975. Some of those points provided too easy of a break at which to put the book down for awhile. However, I was never tempted to leave the story too long. Quite the opposite. I found myself stealing moments during the day to open those 500-plus pages, even when my son was competing for my attention! The last 200, or so, pages were especially difficult to put down. By then, I was starting to piece things together and making guesses about the ending (some of which were right and some of which weren't quite). I put a key piece of the puzzle together approximately 150 pages before the end, but even then, there were discoveries to make and moments to question what I thought I knew.
The Forgotten Garden is a book to delve into at the expense of all else. Kate Morton is a storyteller with a spellbinding gift. This is certainly some of the best adult fiction out there. Five stars.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Don't Turn Around
Don't Turn Around is a title that implies you won't be able to put this book down. I'm not sure it completely lives up to its hopes, but it's a solid, three-star young adult read with a steady plot that doesn't rely on romance to move forward.
Peter is a rich kid who hacks into secret files and subsequently gets a houseful of thugs making threats. Noa is on the opposite end of life. She's a foster kid, living carefully on her own, a member of Peter's internet hackers' group, when she wakes one day to find herself strapped to a lab table. Though they don't know each other by face or real name, they will have to trust each other to figure out what dark secrets they have unwittingly unearthed before their pursuers catch up with them.
This book is good enough for the first in a series, but author Michelle Gagnon will have to pick up the pace in following books. The danger is real enough. People die, after all. But the secrets behind everything need to be bigger. Stakes have to be higher. I confess, I wanted something a little bit more science-fictioney than what I got. Maybe I read too much paranormal now, but the answers just aren't quite crazy enough, weird enough, awe-inspiring enough. The end of the book opens a new set of problems, but is it enough to hook the readers? Only the sequel knows. This book is available this month.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
The Lost Code (Book 1 of The Atlanteans)
The Lost Code (Book 1 of The Atlanteans), by Kevin Emerson, is a fun post-apocalyptic, dystopian adventure that advertises itself too cheaply. Since when did The Hunger Games become the new standard for violence in young adult fiction, making anything "tamer" be geared toward a younger audience? That makes it sound like anything other than hardcore is boring, and in my opinion, if it's too boring for young adult, it's probably too boring, period.
Here's the deal. There is some discussion going around on whether or not The Lost Code is for younger teen readers than many other popular young adult novels. For instance, it's being compared to Gone, which is about kids who are of a similar age, but which has, perhaps, heavier thematic content and scarier danger. Supposedly, it's for a younger audience than Gone is. I disagree. They may be for different audiences, but it's misleading to say a book is for a younger audience. That implies that older teens won't enjoy it, which simply isn't true. I can understand if a teen isn't mature enough for some books. In that case, perhaps The Lost Code is better for younger readers than Gone is. However, readers shouldn't automatically infer that it works in the opposite direction: that some readers are too old for a book. If a book is written well, nobody should be too old for it. I'm fast approaching the end of three decades (Sheesh! That makes me sound old!), and I love young adult novels. It's because they are often good stories, and good stories are universal.
I think one reason people are saying this book is for younger readers is because Owen, the main character, does sometimes seem like a younger teen. He's not immature, but the other kids his age around him are pretty immature, making you wonder just how old he might be. I don't believe the book ever gives an exact age. There is a notable difference between the mind of Katniss (Hunger Games) and that of Owen (though Owen and Gone's Sam aren't that far off from each other), so I can see why someone might say The Lost Code is for a younger audience than The Hunger Games.
The issue, though, seems to be more about the book's content than the age of the kids in the book. The Lost Code is not as violent or scary as The Hunger Games or Gone, granted. But advertising it as tamed-down adventure might lose it some readers who might have actually enjoyed it (almost lost me). There is actually a scene as gruesome as some in more hardcore books, although The Lost Code isn't kids pitted against other kids, which adds a certain horror and ups the stakes, perhaps. I don't think a book should be considered only for a younger audience just because it's on the lighter side, and on the other hand, I don't think young readers should always be protected from reading heavier stuff (though that should be determined by parents on a child-by-child basis). It's my belief that the important thing is story, and this story holds its own.
In The Lost Code, Owen gets to go from his underground community to summer camp in one of only a few specially designed domes, protecting people from the end-of-the-world conditions and radiation outside. He immediately fails the swim test and drowns; only, he doesn't. His body adapts to his surroundings, and suddenly, he finds himself part of something much bigger than he ever dreamed could come out of summer camp: an ancient secret related to the location of the domes and the very genetic make-up of his DNA. To say the least, things aren't what they seem at Camp Eden.
Evoking summer camp nostalgia, Emerson creates a world desperately trying to pretend everything isn't falling apart. This juxtaposition, along with bits of romance, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery, makes this an intriguing, entertaining read. As the plot develops, it gets more complex, and the end promises more high-stakes danger and adventure to follow in future books. Summer camp seems so mundane for a book about the end of the world, but I think that's why the story is so interesting and strong. It's the familiar juxtaposed against the future, and who doesn't love to speculate about that?
The Lost Code is available this month. Three stars.
Here's the deal. There is some discussion going around on whether or not The Lost Code is for younger teen readers than many other popular young adult novels. For instance, it's being compared to Gone, which is about kids who are of a similar age, but which has, perhaps, heavier thematic content and scarier danger. Supposedly, it's for a younger audience than Gone is. I disagree. They may be for different audiences, but it's misleading to say a book is for a younger audience. That implies that older teens won't enjoy it, which simply isn't true. I can understand if a teen isn't mature enough for some books. In that case, perhaps The Lost Code is better for younger readers than Gone is. However, readers shouldn't automatically infer that it works in the opposite direction: that some readers are too old for a book. If a book is written well, nobody should be too old for it. I'm fast approaching the end of three decades (Sheesh! That makes me sound old!), and I love young adult novels. It's because they are often good stories, and good stories are universal.
I think one reason people are saying this book is for younger readers is because Owen, the main character, does sometimes seem like a younger teen. He's not immature, but the other kids his age around him are pretty immature, making you wonder just how old he might be. I don't believe the book ever gives an exact age. There is a notable difference between the mind of Katniss (Hunger Games) and that of Owen (though Owen and Gone's Sam aren't that far off from each other), so I can see why someone might say The Lost Code is for a younger audience than The Hunger Games.
The issue, though, seems to be more about the book's content than the age of the kids in the book. The Lost Code is not as violent or scary as The Hunger Games or Gone, granted. But advertising it as tamed-down adventure might lose it some readers who might have actually enjoyed it (almost lost me). There is actually a scene as gruesome as some in more hardcore books, although The Lost Code isn't kids pitted against other kids, which adds a certain horror and ups the stakes, perhaps. I don't think a book should be considered only for a younger audience just because it's on the lighter side, and on the other hand, I don't think young readers should always be protected from reading heavier stuff (though that should be determined by parents on a child-by-child basis). It's my belief that the important thing is story, and this story holds its own.
In The Lost Code, Owen gets to go from his underground community to summer camp in one of only a few specially designed domes, protecting people from the end-of-the-world conditions and radiation outside. He immediately fails the swim test and drowns; only, he doesn't. His body adapts to his surroundings, and suddenly, he finds himself part of something much bigger than he ever dreamed could come out of summer camp: an ancient secret related to the location of the domes and the very genetic make-up of his DNA. To say the least, things aren't what they seem at Camp Eden.
Evoking summer camp nostalgia, Emerson creates a world desperately trying to pretend everything isn't falling apart. This juxtaposition, along with bits of romance, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery, makes this an intriguing, entertaining read. As the plot develops, it gets more complex, and the end promises more high-stakes danger and adventure to follow in future books. Summer camp seems so mundane for a book about the end of the world, but I think that's why the story is so interesting and strong. It's the familiar juxtaposed against the future, and who doesn't love to speculate about that?
The Lost Code is available this month. Three stars.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Before I Go To Sleep
This book has been out for a little while already. It's regular fiction, not a young adult novel, but the premise intrigued me as usually only young adult fiction does. In Before I Go To Sleep, by S. J. Watson, Christine forgets the last 20 years or more of her life every time she falls asleep. She remembers being young and wakes up to find herself in a differently proportioned body lying next to a stranger. As her day progresses, she discovers pieces of her world: the husband she married, the doctor she's seeing secretly (who has to call her and convince her he's who he says he is), the accident that caused her amnesia.
Her husband, Ben, says he loves her, but Christine doesn't know how to love him in return. She has no memories of him. When Dr. Nash asks her to keep a journal (and calls her daily to tell her of its existence and where to find it), she slowly begins to rebuild her world. And as she writes more and more, she begins to remember a little here and there. But details are off. Informed that she used to be paranoid in the early stages of her condition, she isn't sure what's real and what's fabricated. When her memories don't match up with what she's being told, she discovers that, indeed, her husband has been keeping the whole truth from her. It makes sense that he wouldn't daily reveal details that are greatly upsetting, but Christine wishes he would just be honest with her. As she grows to understand and love her husband more through her own written words, Christine knows that she will eventually have to trust him with her journal. But sometimes things don't feel right, and Christine can't figure out how much of that is cause for concern and how much is just the imaginings of a damaged mind. Everyone seems to be lying to her. And can she trust her own journal?
One day, she wakes up in bed with a stranger as always, gets a call from a Dr. Nash she's supposed to know but doesn't, and receives a journal already full of her words, including an addition at the front, which says, "Don't trust Ben." And she begins to read about the person she's become.
For the reader (and for Christine, really), the story starts there. As you can imagine, it gets a little repetitive. Every morning, Christine discovers that she's married, that she sees a doctor secretly, and that she has a secret journal. But considering the difficulty of presenting her story realistically without boring the reader, I think the author does a pretty decent job. The idea reminded me of the movie 50 First Dates, except that this story is not comedy or romance. It's more of a psychological thriller. As we read Christine's journal and crawl into her mind, we find ourselves at as much of a loss as she is. We wonder, along with her, if she's crazy. We wonder why things don't feel right but have no proof that anything's wrong. As more details come together, things start to make sense from a certain point of view. You want her to tell Ben about the journal. And when she doesn't, you wonder if Christine will sabotage herself with her doubts or if there is real reason for her to be careful. You'll be guessing until the end.
Because this is adult fiction, there is adult content, nothing terribly graphic, more factual than anything. The author could have left it more to the imagination, but I can see why she wanted to explore it. It is an interesting moral dilemma: if you're married, sex is totally okay, more than okay, but what if only one of two partners remembers the past 20 years? What if the other knows only today? For one, sex is almost mundane, part of being married to a person so long. For the other, sex is the furthest thing from the mind, coming right after catching up on 20 years of life. The idea wasn't a bad one to address, I suppose, and it makes sense in the context of the story. But it's a little crude at times. Just a warning. Enough said.
I don't want to influence what you think happens in this book in case you want to read it yourself, but I think I was influenced just by reading the book cover. It influences you even just to hear that it's a thriller. Honestly, most of the book doesn't feel like a thriller. There's some mystery, but just that of a woman trying to piece together her life, nothing remarkable: does she have kids, friends, accomplishments? The fact that it was said to be a thriller clued me in that there was more beneath the surface of this story. But whether it's paranoia or something else, I'll leave for you to discover.
I was mostly satisfied but not as surprised as I wanted to be by the end. I think the book was too built up by its own cover. It spoiled itself. Weird to say, but true, for me.
Three stars. Hard to put down sometimes, but might leave you asking, "Was it worth the time?"
Her husband, Ben, says he loves her, but Christine doesn't know how to love him in return. She has no memories of him. When Dr. Nash asks her to keep a journal (and calls her daily to tell her of its existence and where to find it), she slowly begins to rebuild her world. And as she writes more and more, she begins to remember a little here and there. But details are off. Informed that she used to be paranoid in the early stages of her condition, she isn't sure what's real and what's fabricated. When her memories don't match up with what she's being told, she discovers that, indeed, her husband has been keeping the whole truth from her. It makes sense that he wouldn't daily reveal details that are greatly upsetting, but Christine wishes he would just be honest with her. As she grows to understand and love her husband more through her own written words, Christine knows that she will eventually have to trust him with her journal. But sometimes things don't feel right, and Christine can't figure out how much of that is cause for concern and how much is just the imaginings of a damaged mind. Everyone seems to be lying to her. And can she trust her own journal?
One day, she wakes up in bed with a stranger as always, gets a call from a Dr. Nash she's supposed to know but doesn't, and receives a journal already full of her words, including an addition at the front, which says, "Don't trust Ben." And she begins to read about the person she's become.
For the reader (and for Christine, really), the story starts there. As you can imagine, it gets a little repetitive. Every morning, Christine discovers that she's married, that she sees a doctor secretly, and that she has a secret journal. But considering the difficulty of presenting her story realistically without boring the reader, I think the author does a pretty decent job. The idea reminded me of the movie 50 First Dates, except that this story is not comedy or romance. It's more of a psychological thriller. As we read Christine's journal and crawl into her mind, we find ourselves at as much of a loss as she is. We wonder, along with her, if she's crazy. We wonder why things don't feel right but have no proof that anything's wrong. As more details come together, things start to make sense from a certain point of view. You want her to tell Ben about the journal. And when she doesn't, you wonder if Christine will sabotage herself with her doubts or if there is real reason for her to be careful. You'll be guessing until the end.
Because this is adult fiction, there is adult content, nothing terribly graphic, more factual than anything. The author could have left it more to the imagination, but I can see why she wanted to explore it. It is an interesting moral dilemma: if you're married, sex is totally okay, more than okay, but what if only one of two partners remembers the past 20 years? What if the other knows only today? For one, sex is almost mundane, part of being married to a person so long. For the other, sex is the furthest thing from the mind, coming right after catching up on 20 years of life. The idea wasn't a bad one to address, I suppose, and it makes sense in the context of the story. But it's a little crude at times. Just a warning. Enough said.
I don't want to influence what you think happens in this book in case you want to read it yourself, but I think I was influenced just by reading the book cover. It influences you even just to hear that it's a thriller. Honestly, most of the book doesn't feel like a thriller. There's some mystery, but just that of a woman trying to piece together her life, nothing remarkable: does she have kids, friends, accomplishments? The fact that it was said to be a thriller clued me in that there was more beneath the surface of this story. But whether it's paranoia or something else, I'll leave for you to discover.
I was mostly satisfied but not as surprised as I wanted to be by the end. I think the book was too built up by its own cover. It spoiled itself. Weird to say, but true, for me.
Three stars. Hard to put down sometimes, but might leave you asking, "Was it worth the time?"
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Cabinet of Earths
In my quest to clean up my bookshelves, I found a couple middle school novels coming out this month. One is The Cabinet of Earths, by Anne Nesbet, for grades five and up.
Maya and her five-year-old brother, James, have been uprooted from their American friends and home to spend a year in Paris because of their dad's job and because it's their mom's dream...their mom who has cancer. James makes friends wherever he goes, but thirteen-year-old Maya misses home, worries about her mom, and is used to being a background fixture. She's unprepared for the mysteries that find her in Paris: an intricately carved door with a salamander handle that moves, though no one else can see it; a beautiful-looking man who lives behind that door and shows far too much interest in Maya and her brother; a distant cousin who's literally hard to see; and an old man, also a relation, who keeps a cabinet of earths with a magnetic pull on Maya. Maya doesn't want to acknowledge that she might be needed to play a critical part in her magical ancestors' secrets, but when it's her family members' lives on the line, she'll do whatever it takes to protect them.
The idea was actually intriguing: a cabinet that stores people's mortality in the form of earth so that they can live like immortals. The book is a clean read, which it should be at the middle school level. (Maya is referred to as a witch, but it's in the sense that she has magical powers, not that she's evil.) And it's not even a terrible read, really. One thing I liked about it was that it dealt with some heavy emotional material, primarily Maya's feelings about her mother's cancer. In that, at least, the book had depth. The book was well-written, as well. It was just the story that disappointed me. It could have been so much more. I'll generously give it three stars.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Night Circus
A circus is supposed to be magical and is often a little bit scary (clowns, hello!). The Night Circus is unlike any other circus in the world, but magical it is, and if its performers knew the true nature of their stage, they would be scared, and with good reason. But as you read The Night Circus, a novel by Erin Morgenstern (adult fiction, for once!), it is nothing but pure magic, in both the literal and figurative senses. Sometimes you enter the circus as an outsider, enjoying the scents and miracles within, but most often, you get front row seats to the inner happenings, a backstage pass.
In The Night Circus, two old magicians with real magic each select a student to compete against the other in a challenge. It's not immediately clear what the rules are or how the winner will be determined. Hector chooses his daughter Celia, and Alexander chooses a random orphan named Marco. They train them in very different ways from childhood through their teens and then place them on their "stage," a unique circus especially designed for the challenge and with higher stakes than any challenge before as this one is public and involves a great number of outsiders.
The circus is a huge success from the beginning. Everything about it is designed to be intimate and spectacular. Only performers with unique shows and talents can participate, and the circus is open to audiences only from sundown to dawn, appearing out of nowhere, leaving without a trace. But the circus is truly magical because of the influences of Celia and Marco, each leaving their mark, creating more and more illusions as the years progress, neither quite understanding how to compete against the other, each beginning to love the other's work...and eventually each other. Gentle souls that they are, they keep the circus in balance, protecting it and the other performers.
But they are bound by magic, and in the end, there can be only one winner.
Magical, magical, magical to the very last page! How could you not love this book? It fascinates you with the best parts of the circus and draws you in with its mystery. In certain ways, it is very like a mystery as you discover more and more of the secrets of the circus and learn, together with the competing magicians, just what their challenge involves. The circus is also a complete mystery to its audience, which the reader is sometimes made to feel a part of even though we often have the inside scoop, and we can identify with audience characters, especially those who become attached to the circus in a deeper way than the average paying customer. It's a cleverly written book, making the reader feel as though opening its pages is entering through the gates of the circus itself. A normal circus is intriguing enough but often somewhat in-your-face and scary. Thankfully, there are no clowns in this book, and even the circus tents are set up intimately so that no performer is haggling anyone or persuading anyone to visit his tent. Visitors get to visit the tents they want at their own pace. The circus is inviting, enticing, and as a reader, you completely feel its pull and warmth.
The only other book I can think of to compare The Night Circus to is The Prestige
(also a movie
), though I couldn't say for sure, only ever having seen the movie and not having read the book. In The Prestige, however, the explanations are all scientific (though in the realm of science fiction). In The Night Circus, everything is real magic. For all of you who are more into movies than books, there is another similarity between the two. Summit Entertainment has purchased the film rights to this book, and I wouldn't be surprised to find the movie out within a couple years.
My short word of caution on this book involves, unsurprisingly, magic itself. In a book like this, no form of magic bothers me. Tarot card reading is mixed in with the ability to disappear or heal oneself. Obviously, in the real world, people can't disappear, but they do read tarot cards, and I would normally discourage a person from being involved with something like that. In this book, it's all on the same level, impossible magic next to real-world "magic," lending the real-world magic an air of fantasy, putting it all in the realm of fiction. In such a case, I don't have a problem with tarot cards, because they aren't meant to be believed any more than any other magic in the story. But if a conscience-abiding reader cannot, or does not want to, separate real-world magic from fiction like that, I would advise against reading this story. That's my only disclaimer.
I can't imagine the movie capturing even half the book, but I do look forward to visiting the circus again in that way one day. Probably by then, I will have forgotten enough of the book to be captured all over again by the magic. I can only hope!
Look for The Night Circus in hardcover in September of this year.
In The Night Circus, two old magicians with real magic each select a student to compete against the other in a challenge. It's not immediately clear what the rules are or how the winner will be determined. Hector chooses his daughter Celia, and Alexander chooses a random orphan named Marco. They train them in very different ways from childhood through their teens and then place them on their "stage," a unique circus especially designed for the challenge and with higher stakes than any challenge before as this one is public and involves a great number of outsiders.
The circus is a huge success from the beginning. Everything about it is designed to be intimate and spectacular. Only performers with unique shows and talents can participate, and the circus is open to audiences only from sundown to dawn, appearing out of nowhere, leaving without a trace. But the circus is truly magical because of the influences of Celia and Marco, each leaving their mark, creating more and more illusions as the years progress, neither quite understanding how to compete against the other, each beginning to love the other's work...and eventually each other. Gentle souls that they are, they keep the circus in balance, protecting it and the other performers.
But they are bound by magic, and in the end, there can be only one winner.
Magical, magical, magical to the very last page! How could you not love this book? It fascinates you with the best parts of the circus and draws you in with its mystery. In certain ways, it is very like a mystery as you discover more and more of the secrets of the circus and learn, together with the competing magicians, just what their challenge involves. The circus is also a complete mystery to its audience, which the reader is sometimes made to feel a part of even though we often have the inside scoop, and we can identify with audience characters, especially those who become attached to the circus in a deeper way than the average paying customer. It's a cleverly written book, making the reader feel as though opening its pages is entering through the gates of the circus itself. A normal circus is intriguing enough but often somewhat in-your-face and scary. Thankfully, there are no clowns in this book, and even the circus tents are set up intimately so that no performer is haggling anyone or persuading anyone to visit his tent. Visitors get to visit the tents they want at their own pace. The circus is inviting, enticing, and as a reader, you completely feel its pull and warmth.
The only other book I can think of to compare The Night Circus to is The Prestige
(also a movie), though I couldn't say for sure, only ever having seen the movie and not having read the book. In The Prestige, however, the explanations are all scientific (though in the realm of science fiction). In The Night Circus, everything is real magic. For all of you who are more into movies than books, there is another similarity between the two. Summit Entertainment has purchased the film rights to this book, and I wouldn't be surprised to find the movie out within a couple years.My short word of caution on this book involves, unsurprisingly, magic itself. In a book like this, no form of magic bothers me. Tarot card reading is mixed in with the ability to disappear or heal oneself. Obviously, in the real world, people can't disappear, but they do read tarot cards, and I would normally discourage a person from being involved with something like that. In this book, it's all on the same level, impossible magic next to real-world "magic," lending the real-world magic an air of fantasy, putting it all in the realm of fiction. In such a case, I don't have a problem with tarot cards, because they aren't meant to be believed any more than any other magic in the story. But if a conscience-abiding reader cannot, or does not want to, separate real-world magic from fiction like that, I would advise against reading this story. That's my only disclaimer.
I can't imagine the movie capturing even half the book, but I do look forward to visiting the circus again in that way one day. Probably by then, I will have forgotten enough of the book to be captured all over again by the magic. I can only hope!
Look for The Night Circus in hardcover in September of this year.
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