Fables: Legends in Exile (comic)

I believe Fables: Legends in Exile is the first comic book collection I've ever reviewed. I'm counting it toward my 50 books this year even though Volume 1 is only one hundred and some pages, most of which are full of pictures. However, it does seem to have a lot more to read than the average comic book these days, at least that I've seen. And it has a great prose story, explaining some of the background, at the end of the volume. I would go so far as to say Fables is more of a graphic novel than a comic book. Volume 1 tells a complete story and isn't episodic.

The whole series, however, is sort of episodic. I believe each volume focuses on different characters, though they all live in the same place. The idea is all about fairy tale characters who fled a great evil in their worlds and ended up in the only world the Adversary wasn't interested in: ours.

Now, I was hesitant to even review this story because I really don't think it's for the audience I have here. It's kind of dark, though that doesn't bother me as much as the prolific swearing (constantly the F-word) and a bit of sex and sexual innuendo. In this first volume, at least, no nudity is shown. But this is not the typical thing I would read and like.

Having said that, I think there are great things about this story, too. I like the idea that these fairy tale characters are stuck in our world, eternally young, in hiding, waiting for the day they might be able to return home. After one thousand years of life, things change. The characters become a little like the people of the world they now inhabit. They become hardened. "True Love" fades. It's sad but sort of interesting, too. I think the series has potential.

It has minor similarities to TV's current Once Upon a Time, but overall, they are not at all the same. Once Upon a Time is far more innocent. In Fables, King Cole is mayor of Fabletown, a secret community in New York, and Snow White is his right hand. She does all the dirty work. In Volume 1, Snow's sister, Rose Red, appears to have been brutally murdered, and the Big Bad Wolf, as sheriff, must solve the crime. Among others, we meet the detestable Prince Charming, Snow's ex; Beauty and the Beast, whose thousand-year love waxes and wanes; Jack of beanstalk lore; the villainous Bluebeard; and Cinderella. The characters are supposed to live in harmony after the Amnesty, old sins forgiven no matter how heinous. The Big Bad Wolf as sheriff is proof that anyone can reform. But when there's a murder to solve, one-time villains are under the spotlight again.

My husband liked aspects of the comic but didn't particularly like the style of the short prose story at the end. I, however, really enjoyed the short story. It's an in-depth look at the Wolf's history, and it hints at romance to come in future volumes of Fables.

One other thing in the comic that was a bit of a slap in the face, as my husband put it, is that it has the Adversary killing the "Great Lion" of one world, which can only mean Aslan.

Fables is dark, gritty, a little trashy, and not remotely for children (or even some adults!), but it's an interesting idea. And as a writer, myself, I see some redeeming value in it. But not enough to recommend it. So, unless you are a huge comic book reader and are used to the trashy stuff, which pops up now and then in many comics, just know this is out there and spend your time on more worthwhile reading.

Three stars for what it is. One star for morality.

Winterling

Well, I didn't have high hopes for this book after noting on the cover of the last book I read a quote from this author, Sarah Prineas, saying that The Cabinet of Earths was the best thing she'd read in a long time. If you read my last book review, you know my thoughts on that book were far different. But, happily, Winterling exceeded my expectations. It is also a middle school novel, aimed at grades five and up, available this month. It's much more of a fantasy than The Cabinet of Earths, which is based more in the modern world and has only small fantastical elements in it, and maybe that's part of why I like Winterling better.

Fer (short for Jennifer) has never fit into her world, though she didn't know her world was even optional until the night she accidentally opened the Way into another. Now, armed with the herbal healing magic of her grandmother, she's on a quest to discover the truth about her parents' deaths. The beautiful Lady of the land wants her loyalty, and Fer is on the edge of giving it when she realizes that something doesn't feel right in this new world. There's a stain on it, and Fer is determined to find out why and what it has to do with her family. But her closest ally is a shape-shifting Puck with a powerful thrice-sworn oath to the Lady...the Lady whose secrets might be at the heart of the winter that's only overturned with a blood sacrifice. True spring may already be lost forever. And Fer is just a young girl, seemingly without power.

Although I really like romance, the nice thing about middle school fiction is that it often doesn't have any and, therefore, can focus on the story (not that it always does very well; see my last book review). Winterling is great storytelling. Interesting. Creative. Narrowly focused. An adventure with a heroine who grows up in some ways but is still a kid. It's age appropriate but not boring for older readers. I suppose the thought processes that guide this heroine are still a bit more simplistic than in young adult fiction; I don't particularly see a need to do that, but since the rest of the story is strong, I can call it "being focused" and let it go.

There are, perhaps, minor plot holes here and there. For instance, the biggest one I can think of is that Fer's grandmother, who seems to be fully of this world (unlike Fer herself, as we find out), teaches Fer healing magic, and you don't ever know where the grandmother herself got it from. It's just something you're supposed to accept.

I've already said the book is clean by virtue of completely eliminating any romantic storyline. For younger readers, just be aware that the evil Lady (or Mor, as she is called) is sort of witch-like, though she isn't ever called that, and she kills creatures that aren't fully beasts. The book is also obviously magical, and Fer does healing "spells." These magical elements seem harmless to me, but I know some people are conscientious about the use of magic in books. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then I'm not talking to you here.

Anyway, Winterling is a hitch in my theories about middle school fiction, and I'm glad for it. If you are looking for a simple, good adventure without all the romance to potentially muck it up, this is a decent one.

Abduction on DVD

Someone really needs to riff (Check out what I mean at www.rifftrax.com!) Abduction. Taylor Lautner, the werewolf love interest of the Twilight movies, stars as a teen who discovers his picture on a missing persons' website and, as a result, becomes the target of three different groups in a life-or-death chase.

I can already hear the beginning riff lines as the movie opens with a shot over trees (big Twilight vibe!), and then Lautner plays a part that reminds you a lot of his character (post-werewolf transformation) from Twilight. So much to make fun of!

I wanted to see this movie after seeing the trailer, but when I finally got to watch it on DVD, I didn't like Lautner at first. He's initially portrayed as a wild kid, on his way to a party, and he's a bit disrespectful to his parents when caught. But then his parents start to be cool, and their relationship shows some depth. I just wish the movie would have shown that you can be crazy and cool without going to parties and getting drunk or doing anything illegal. I'm glad his parents do punish him.

The movie goes back and forth between cheesy and intense. When the plot is being driven forward, the movie stands strong, but when the plot lags and the love interest shows up, it gets a tad painful. This is an action flick with a romantic side that kind of stumbles along and slows your heartbeat to a dull hiccup amidst the shooting and martial arts. Lautner shines best when he gets to show off his moves, but on the love side of things, he kind of plays a one-note tune. He's sweet, but his syrupy half-smile was already used in another movie. I'd like to see something different.

And then there's the title: it's completely misleading. No one is actually abducted in the movie! I guess the implication when Lautner's character finds his picture online is that he was kidnapped as a child, but you quickly figure out that's not quite the case. I won't spoil any more, but the title is all wrong.

Abduction is rated PG-13, and I find that rating acceptable. Though a sex scene is started, it isn't finished, and most of the clothes stay on. There's shooting and fight scenes. People die. Normal PG-13 violence: not too bad. I guess there's brief language, too, but I don't remember hearing it.

Overall, it's a decent movie, if you don't mind mushy, awkward romantic scenes. Three stars.

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.

I don't typically read middle school fiction, and this book is a good example of why. They read fast, so that's a plus. But maybe they read so fast because not enough happens in them. I know that they are for younger readers, but I have a hard time believing that at the middle school level, kids can't read more complex books. I read The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas, when I was in middle school. The Cabinet of Earths is just too simplistic. It might be fine for an even younger audience, though its length might not then be appropriate, but it's not a spell-binding, edge-of-your-seat read. And for this type of book, a magical mystery of sorts, that's what I wanted. Daniel Handler, in his Lemony Snicket books, knows how to write good middle school fiction. This was dull in comparison. 

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.

Touch of Power

I first found a Maria V. Snyder book in a box of advance reader's copies, and I have been hooked ever since. My favorite series of hers is the Poison Study series. She also has a Glass series that takes place in the same fantasy world. I was less fond of Inside Out, the first book of a science fiction series that seems to take place in an enclosed community in outer space. There is a second book in that series that I have on my shelf but have not read yet. Snyder shines brightest in her fantasy worlds, I think. I found Inside Out boring in comparison to her other books.

Touch of Power is her ninth book, unrelated to her previous fantasy novels but a new fantasy novel that appears to be the beginning of a new series. It looked good, but when I started reading it, I was initially bored. Perhaps that had something to do with being in labor at the time...ha, ha...because when I picked up the book to read this time, I realized I hadn't gotten more than a chapter in and I'd quit right before it all got interesting.

In Touch of Power (I'm less impressed with the title than the book), Avry is the last healer, a magician who can take a person's sickness or wounds onto herself and heal herself ten times faster than the average human. Sounds like she would be in high demand, doesn't it? But the healers are blamed for the plague that ruined the Fifteen Realms, so Avry is on the run for her life. If only she didn't have a soft spot for healing kids. When she's finally caught, her only options are execution or imprisonment at the hands of her mysterious "rescuers," who want her to heal a prince she hates. As she journeys with them, she causes a lot of trouble, learns how to defend herself properly, makes new enemies and friends, and even sort of falls in love. It's great adventure, intriguing magic, and memorable characters that make me love Snyder's fantasies.

There are a few weaknesses in this one. I caught a turn of phrase that was reminiscent of the main character in the Glass series, and it was so exactly like what she would have said that it caught me off guard in this book. Otherwise, Avry is typical of Snyder's strong heroines but also a character all her own. Her traveling companions are all interesting except that Vinn and Quain, two less important characters, could be interchangeable. The villains are great. Snyder likes to vilify her heroines' love interests at first and then have the heroine get attached to them...a little Stockholm Syndrome going on there, but it works. Mainly it creates romantic tension. I thought the end was a little mushy. Not trying to give much away here, but you wouldn't be up for having sex if you were dying, would you? I mean, come on.

And now I come to Snyder's greatest flaw: character morality. I guess it's called Fantasy for a reason. So many fantasies kind of just throw certain aspects of morality out the door. After all, if you create a world where STD's don't exist, why not have characters sleeping together left and right? Snyder does it in all her fantasy books. She's isn't particularly graphic about it, which I appreciate, but she treats the subject like it's no big deal, which I guess it isn't to many people nowadays. We're talking sex outside of marriage here. When I read her first series, it was targeted toward teens. I assumed her Glass series was young adult as well but then noticed it wasn't advertising itself as such. Touch of Power also does not advertise itself as young adult. Though it's probably mostly okay for teens, I'd agree that it's not specifically for them. The Glass series, on the other hand, had some very mature themes in it, and after I'd read it, assuming it was young adult, I was kind of shocked until I realized I'd been assuming something that wasn't necessarily true. However, even the Poison Study series gets darker in the third book. Touch of Power is tamer than both.

So, maybe Maria V. Snyder is my guilty pleasure, but fast-paced fantasy that doesn't bog you down in details and stars independent, strong-willed, stubborn female characters seems like it's hard to come by. If I'm wrong about that, let me know! (And here my husband is telling me for the thousandth time to read Wheel of Time, but honey, I'd have to read all the boring male parts, too.)

Three and a half stars for a good (but not the best) Maria V. Snyder fantasy romance.

Everneath

I apologize that I still present reviews on Paranormal Romances for your consideration in a market inundated with it, but the concept was intriguing enough to arrest my attention. If you are looking for top-quality fiction and your reading time is limited, skip this one, but if you are a fast reader craving quantity as well as quality, Everneath is not a bad choice. A young adult debut novel by Brodi Ashton, Everneath seems to be a stand-alone novel for once.

Nikki is a Forfeit. Because of unbearable pain in her life, she willingly chose to go with an Everliving to the Underworld for him to Feed off her soul for one hundred years. Now she has six months to say good-bye on the Surface, where time passes differently than in the Underworld, before she has to return for good. How do you say good-bye to the boy whose face kept you sane for one hundred years? And how do you resist a charming Everliving who wants you to be his queen at the price of your soul, especially when your only other alternative is to go to the Tunnels where the Shades will Feed off the remainder of your emotions until you are nothing?

There's a bit of teenage angst in this novel, but Nikki surprised me in some ways. Her dad thinks she's been in rehab for the past half year (all the time that's passed on the Surface), so he puts special demands on her when she returns. Nikki bears them all patiently in her desire to leave her family with good memories. Of course, she can't tell them the truth because who would believe her? If you don't like martyrs or people who keep themselves closed off from others, you won't like Nikki. But I think she might grow on you, especially when she attempts to fight her circumstances to the best of her ability. Her actions are realistic in light of the story.

I was also surprised to find this book to be fairly clean. For one hundred years, Nikki is entwined with the Everliving Cole, but there doesn't seem to be anything sexual about it. I did not like that Nikki's boyfriend on the Surface seems to have slept with quite a few girls and even seems to put a little pressure on Nikki at one point. He's supposed to be this nice boy she was friends with for years before he asked to be her boyfriend, and even though he and Nikki don't have sex, his image was tainted for me. Aside from that, he's the boy you want her to end up with.

I'm glad that the book doesn't play with the love triangle much. Nikki always recognizes that Cole is bad, or at least that he's manipulating her emotions, no matter how nice he is to her. For once, the human girl doesn't long for, or end up, with the paranormal being! So, I don't know if this would technically be considered Paranormal Romance, but that's about the closest thing it resembles, I think.

I do have to comment on the end of the book, though I will try not to spoil much. I didn't particularly like it. It's rather sad and a little mumbo-jumbo-ish. It implies the future could be better with this vague hopefulness. So, be prepared for that. Perhaps it's like that to leave room for a sequel, but I don't think so. Except for that, the book felt complete to me. I don't know where the author could go from there. It's nice to read a stand-alone young adult novel for once, not one meant to be a series, but it's annoying that the book had to substitute another modern story problem: the less-than-happy ending. I like a little tragedy in a story now and then, preferably in short stories. If I spend the time to read through a whole book, I'd rather have it be rewarded with something more satisfying.

Still, this story is interesting enough that if you are looking for quantity, as I said before, this isn't a bad one to put on your list of books to read. It makes no attempt to conceal the fact that's it's somewhat influenced by the story of Hades and Persephone, but it distinguishes itself, too.


Everneath is available this month. Three stars.

ADDENDUM: I read somewhere that this might be a series. Though that would make the ending better, I'm a little disappointed. Honestly, I don't know where the series would go from here. There's not enough at the end to interest me in reading more.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre

As I mentioned in my last review, I was reading a Gail Carson Levine novel, and I finished already because she writes good, quick young adult books (that aren't always part of a series!). This one was an older one of hers from 2001: The Two Princesses of Bamarre. Though Levine often writes fairytale retellings, I couldn't see that this was based on a fairytale, or at least not on one I'm familiar with. I kind of think it's a fairytale she made up herself, the idea of which I love as much as retellings.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre is somewhere between a middle school and a young adult novel. The heroine is sixteen but has much more of an innocence to her than most teenagers do these days. Her sister is one year older, and though the book is about both princesses, it is primarily Princess Addie's tale.

The princesses live in a country of cowards, but they celebrate the epic tale of Drualt, their most famous warrior, who battled dragons, gryphons, specters, and other monsters and who knew the fairies. Nowadays, nobody has seen the fairies, and all the monsters run rampant over the land. The Gray Death takes the poor and rich alike, and even the elves and sorcerers don't know the cure.

Meryl is determined to be a warrior and find the cure and fight monsters in grand adventures. Addie is afraid of spiders and makes Meryl promise not to leave her until she is married one day. But when Meryl succumbs to the Gray Death, Addie must find her courage for her sister and her country.

When the book started, I wasn't sure what I was getting into. Some of the turns of phrases seemed too kiddie for young adult, especially since the book is narrated by Addie and starts with the princesses at a younger age. The innocence of Addie makes her seem young when she's older, too, but Levine's storytelling is worthy of all ages. And by the end, when Addie's grown some depth of character and fallen in love, the story feels more like a young adult novel.

Fairytales often come with witches, and I'm not a big fan of witches at all. This one substitutes sorcerers for witches, and they are not at all the same. Though the sorcerers have a little power and magic and can fly, they aren't scary and are portrayed as good helpers with an interesting mythology behind their existence. The other monsters, including a very entertaining and intriguing dragon, are far scarier. The book is age-appropriate for middle school and up.

The adventures and the realistically flawed but loveable characters are why I love Gail Carson Levine. If fairytales are your thing (and who doesn't love a good fairytale now and then?), I don't think you can go wrong with Levine, and The Two Princesses of Bamarre is as good a place to start as any.