I tried something new. Not young adult, memoir, or contemporary adult. How about military science fiction, for a change? Yep, I was totally out of my league...well, not totally. Though never having been through any military training, I'm not completely ignorant about it, and I've read some science fiction, though I prefer fantasy. But what kept me reading Pandora's Box, by Nathan Marchand, was his characters.
Pandora's Box stars a woman without a name, at least not one she can remember, as the sole guardian of a military base containing all the world's weapons of mass destruction in the 22nd century. She can't remember how she got there. All she knows is her job and how important it is. But a little red journal contains the key to unlocking her past with its failures and sorrows. She's a battle-hardened soldier, but does she have the courage to face what she has done and look the truth in the eyes?
Her handwritten history begins with her dad, an elite member of the American Vanguard. All she desires is to be like him, though his breed seems hardly necessary in a world of peace. So, as soon as she is able, she joins the army, a little woman in a sea of raw manpower, but she's tougher than she looks. It will take every ounce of strength and then some to prove herself, both to the Vanguard and to the world. When hell breaks loose and war and disease ravage the land, she'll be clinging to the very shreds of her sanity.
And when the journal ends and some very important surprises are revealed, one woman will have a critical choice to make.
Pandora's Box was an interesting read for me. There's just enough suspense to pull the reader through the story. Though parts of it, mainly military-related, were very technical, it was accessible to me because of its heroine. That's not to say the book is written to a female audience. It's fairly well-rounded with plenty of battle action and just enough emotional gravity to make its heroine believable and pull in the female readers.
In the spirit of realism, there is some swearing, but it's tempered from what it could be and nothing to make you cringe. There are some horrifying war elements, but nothing overly graphic. In short, it's a very tastefully-written war story. There's also a spiritual element that's not overbearing but comes into play most toward the end of the story.
In a story that could have been over the edge morally, the morality pleased me, but I would have expected nothing less, knowing the author of this book. Yes, I've reviewed another book from my circle of acquaintances, and unlike my last reviewed manuscript, this one is now published and available for purchase! So, if you need a good Christmas gift for a hard-to-buy-for man in your family, check out Pandora's Box, and support my friend Nathan Marchand.
And lest you think I was coerced into writing a good review for a friend, let me just add that when I was reading the end of this book, and my husband tried to talk to me, I shushed him and sent him away. Fortunately, he's understanding about my book-reading habits and knows that it's nothing personal, just how I react at the end of a good read.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Sea Glass
This is the sequel to Storm Glass, which I reviewed a couple blog posts ago. I will try to be semi-vague about the plot so that I don't spoil too much for those who, like me, want to read a story from beginning to end and can't stand to even look at the cover of the next book or open to the last page. (I know some of you do that, however. To each his own, I guess!)
This book was, in some ways, far more intriguing than Storm Glass. Perhaps it was because there is a lot of set-up in the first book, and the second just jumps into things. In Sea Glass, the danger was upped, the magic was cooler, the heroine, Opal, was bolder and more fascinating. I do have to say that the amount of times she almost dies or gets captured and tortured begins to approach the ridiculous. But it also makes the book fun and exciting, and I'm not complaining.
Sea Glass is definitely more sensationalized than the first book. There's more girl-power and more sex. I like Maria V. Snyder, and her sex scenes aren't graphic and are mostly implied, but I do have a problem with her targeting young adults with her books and then being so nonchalant about intimacy between two romantically involved characters. She did the same in the Poison Study series. In her world (and, unfortunately, she's probably just imitating our world), lovers are practically expected to sleep together. Marriage isn't even talked about. Like I said, it isn't graphic, but it's what it says to young adults and the example it sets that I don't appreciate.
I can give this book five stars for entertainment value and four for plot (it was way interesting but just not entirely believable, even for a fantasy world), but I give it only two stars for morality.
Readers of the Poison Study series should enjoy this addition to the Glass series just as much. I'll be reading the next installment, Spy Glass, soon.
This book was, in some ways, far more intriguing than Storm Glass. Perhaps it was because there is a lot of set-up in the first book, and the second just jumps into things. In Sea Glass, the danger was upped, the magic was cooler, the heroine, Opal, was bolder and more fascinating. I do have to say that the amount of times she almost dies or gets captured and tortured begins to approach the ridiculous. But it also makes the book fun and exciting, and I'm not complaining.
Sea Glass is definitely more sensationalized than the first book. There's more girl-power and more sex. I like Maria V. Snyder, and her sex scenes aren't graphic and are mostly implied, but I do have a problem with her targeting young adults with her books and then being so nonchalant about intimacy between two romantically involved characters. She did the same in the Poison Study series. In her world (and, unfortunately, she's probably just imitating our world), lovers are practically expected to sleep together. Marriage isn't even talked about. Like I said, it isn't graphic, but it's what it says to young adults and the example it sets that I don't appreciate.
I can give this book five stars for entertainment value and four for plot (it was way interesting but just not entirely believable, even for a fantasy world), but I give it only two stars for morality.
Readers of the Poison Study series should enjoy this addition to the Glass series just as much. I'll be reading the next installment, Spy Glass, soon.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Book trends and why I read what I do
My husband sometimes gets annoyed by books or, more particularly, book trends. He and I are supposedly writers by profession (with completely different jobs from our college degrees), and we learned all about writing for the market. Publishers look for what's hot, but you have to be careful because if you write about what's hot now, by the time you get that baby to an editor, the heat wave could be over. You have to catch the wave at the beginning, or by the time you try to publish vampires, angels have hit the market. (What IS the big deal with angels anyway? I don't get it. But more on that later.)
So, why does my husband hate book trends? As a writer, it's terribly inconvenient to write for a market saturated with one tedious thing when you have a brand new story to tell. The problem is, once Stephanie Meyer is top of the trends list, every female between 12 and 60, is devouring only vampire novels, and publishers are bound by the trends more than writers. What sells is what makes money. Obviously. I can't fault the publishers as much as the readers although as a writer, sometimes you just wish the editors would take that chance of a lifetime on you. It's just hard to get a reader to switch tracks and read about bumbling, extremely introverted squires when she's craving fallen angels. (Still shaking my head over that one.)
Now, switching gears from writer to reader, let me go into the current young adult book trends. I'm very familiar with them. Young adult is my genre of choice, and I'll explain why in a moment. Supernatural young adult is highly popular right now. It started with Stephanie Meyer's vampires, took a short detour into werewolves, and is now obsessing over fallen angels. In the past few boxes of advanced reader's copies Summer and I have drooled over at her bookstore, I was surprised by how many of them dealt with young fallen angels falling (all over again) in love. Summer has read one or two of those, but I haven't wanted to touch them yet. Perhaps I'd be pleasantly surprised, but I haven't been willing to make the jump from the completely fictional vampire, or even werewolf, to a being who, while fictionalized and completely made-over, actually exists in my theological worldview.
Another top young adult trend is the post-apocalyptic/end-of-the-world plot. Off the top of the my head, I can think of at least four of those that I've read recently. They all have to do with kids and teenagers fending for themselves in a world without adults (adults have gone crazy or died from a disease that affects people over a certain age, or kids are living on a spaceship in search of a new world because Earth and the adult population were destroyed). Seriously, sometimes I wonder if there's a memo list you can subscribe to: "What's hot in young adult fiction today: children killing other children. Ready, set, write! First ten manuscripts get published!" It's uncanny how quickly similar novels come out. Either there are some fast writers out there with easy access to editors, or writers just think alike.
Not too far behind these trends comes teenage gladiators. I saw a spurt of those books, but it seems to be dying out, aside from the Hunger Games trilogy, which I love.
So, what books are on my to-read-soon shelf now? At least two werewolf novels and an angel one to try (have to try at least one, don't I?). One virtual reality. At least six about teenagers with powers or special magic abilities (these are pretty much part of the supernatural trend, though they come under different guises). A few miscellaneous nonfiction titles. One or two about boarding school, another trend that is lower on the list but constantly resurfacing. Oh, and I might even have some adult titles!
If it hasn't become obvious by now from the books I've reviewed and the ones I talk about here, I read mostly young adult. If you love plain old good stories, that's the way I suggest you go. Young adult isn't concerned with what sounds good, literature, and all that...trying to be the next classic. Young adult is to be enjoyed at the moment. I love stories, and that's why I read young adult, trends and all. Call it a guilty pleasure, or call it relaxation. I'm not trying to escape the world (I like my life very much), but I do visit other worlds...and that's nice.
So, why does my husband hate book trends? As a writer, it's terribly inconvenient to write for a market saturated with one tedious thing when you have a brand new story to tell. The problem is, once Stephanie Meyer is top of the trends list, every female between 12 and 60, is devouring only vampire novels, and publishers are bound by the trends more than writers. What sells is what makes money. Obviously. I can't fault the publishers as much as the readers although as a writer, sometimes you just wish the editors would take that chance of a lifetime on you. It's just hard to get a reader to switch tracks and read about bumbling, extremely introverted squires when she's craving fallen angels. (Still shaking my head over that one.)
Now, switching gears from writer to reader, let me go into the current young adult book trends. I'm very familiar with them. Young adult is my genre of choice, and I'll explain why in a moment. Supernatural young adult is highly popular right now. It started with Stephanie Meyer's vampires, took a short detour into werewolves, and is now obsessing over fallen angels. In the past few boxes of advanced reader's copies Summer and I have drooled over at her bookstore, I was surprised by how many of them dealt with young fallen angels falling (all over again) in love. Summer has read one or two of those, but I haven't wanted to touch them yet. Perhaps I'd be pleasantly surprised, but I haven't been willing to make the jump from the completely fictional vampire, or even werewolf, to a being who, while fictionalized and completely made-over, actually exists in my theological worldview.
Another top young adult trend is the post-apocalyptic/end-of-the-world plot. Off the top of the my head, I can think of at least four of those that I've read recently. They all have to do with kids and teenagers fending for themselves in a world without adults (adults have gone crazy or died from a disease that affects people over a certain age, or kids are living on a spaceship in search of a new world because Earth and the adult population were destroyed). Seriously, sometimes I wonder if there's a memo list you can subscribe to: "What's hot in young adult fiction today: children killing other children. Ready, set, write! First ten manuscripts get published!" It's uncanny how quickly similar novels come out. Either there are some fast writers out there with easy access to editors, or writers just think alike.
Not too far behind these trends comes teenage gladiators. I saw a spurt of those books, but it seems to be dying out, aside from the Hunger Games trilogy, which I love.
So, what books are on my to-read-soon shelf now? At least two werewolf novels and an angel one to try (have to try at least one, don't I?). One virtual reality. At least six about teenagers with powers or special magic abilities (these are pretty much part of the supernatural trend, though they come under different guises). A few miscellaneous nonfiction titles. One or two about boarding school, another trend that is lower on the list but constantly resurfacing. Oh, and I might even have some adult titles!
If it hasn't become obvious by now from the books I've reviewed and the ones I talk about here, I read mostly young adult. If you love plain old good stories, that's the way I suggest you go. Young adult isn't concerned with what sounds good, literature, and all that...trying to be the next classic. Young adult is to be enjoyed at the moment. I love stories, and that's why I read young adult, trends and all. Call it a guilty pleasure, or call it relaxation. I'm not trying to escape the world (I like my life very much), but I do visit other worlds...and that's nice.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Unremarkable Squire
Great book! Unfortunately, it's not published yet. The Unremarkable Squire is my husband's piece of work. Although it's not his first book, he began writing it in college for a senior project, put it aside in favor of another novel for his senior project, and finally found the time to finish it this year.
I'm reviewing it now since I just read the complete manuscript for the first time, but you all will have to wait a year or three until the book gets through the submission and publication process. I'm confident it will although it's a book probably unlike anything you've ever read.
We've all read or watched or heard the stories of knights and princesses, fantasy tales with strong heros and beautiful heroines. The Unremarkable Squire is like the behind-the-scenes version, casting all the extras and misfits as its main characters. The squire himself is Obed Kainos, a boy approaching manhood, who lives a simple life and keeps to himself and is thrust into service quite accidentally.
What follows is high adventure, taken on by the lowest and humblest (or not) cast of characters, comprised of servants, thieves, bumbling guards, and monsters. Though much like a spoof with the driest of humor liberally flavoring it, the plot is also serious, kept so by the deeply introverted Obed, who swears a squire's oath and means to follow it to the letter, no matter what. He fights mages and thieves, even death, as he learns what it means to be a squire and what it means to be human.
Obed is unique because, unlike other heros whose motivations for acting the way they do are obvious, Obed isn't really motivated in the normal way. He is a boy who does what he must because he said he would. An apparently boring character becomes a fascinating hero as nothing deters him from his mission.
Nick Hayden can't write a normal story, and that's why you should read him. You will find yourself intrigued by the simplest of people and laughing until the very last line.
ADDENDUM (June 19, 2012): I have changed this post to reflect the new title of what was before simply The Squire because this book is soon to be published under that new title. Barking Rain Press accepted Nick's manuscript and will be releasing it near the end of this year.
ADDENDUM (August 7, 2015): The Unremarkable Squire is published and can be purchased from Barking Rain Press or Amazon.
I'm reviewing it now since I just read the complete manuscript for the first time, but you all will have to wait a year or three until the book gets through the submission and publication process. I'm confident it will although it's a book probably unlike anything you've ever read.
We've all read or watched or heard the stories of knights and princesses, fantasy tales with strong heros and beautiful heroines. The Unremarkable Squire is like the behind-the-scenes version, casting all the extras and misfits as its main characters. The squire himself is Obed Kainos, a boy approaching manhood, who lives a simple life and keeps to himself and is thrust into service quite accidentally.
What follows is high adventure, taken on by the lowest and humblest (or not) cast of characters, comprised of servants, thieves, bumbling guards, and monsters. Though much like a spoof with the driest of humor liberally flavoring it, the plot is also serious, kept so by the deeply introverted Obed, who swears a squire's oath and means to follow it to the letter, no matter what. He fights mages and thieves, even death, as he learns what it means to be a squire and what it means to be human.
Obed is unique because, unlike other heros whose motivations for acting the way they do are obvious, Obed isn't really motivated in the normal way. He is a boy who does what he must because he said he would. An apparently boring character becomes a fascinating hero as nothing deters him from his mission.
Nick Hayden can't write a normal story, and that's why you should read him. You will find yourself intrigued by the simplest of people and laughing until the very last line.
ADDENDUM (June 19, 2012): I have changed this post to reflect the new title of what was before simply The Squire because this book is soon to be published under that new title. Barking Rain Press accepted Nick's manuscript and will be releasing it near the end of this year.
ADDENDUM (August 7, 2015): The Unremarkable Squire is published and can be purchased from Barking Rain Press or Amazon.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Avatar: The Last Airbender (all 3 TV seasons)
Just finished the last episode of the last season of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Wow. Incredible. Sometimes you just have to love animation for its shear ability to do what no other visual medium can do. And when you have wonderful characters and an epic plot on top of a stunning visual feast, nothing compares.
That's why the real-life movie disappointed Avatar fans (and let's just be clear: this series has nothing to do with huge blue alien men). There is too much life in the series to crop it down and fit it into a little box of a movie. You just can't capture all the emotion, the humor, the beauty, the epic grandeur combined with moments of raw heartache or fun impishness in a two-hour film. Sure, you can duplicate special effects and find look-alike actors who can lay down some wicked martial arts moves, but the TV show is about so much more. I can't completely disrespect what Hollywood tried to do with its movie adaptation: The Last Airbender. As a stand-alone movie for the uninformed, non-Avatar-watcher, it was stunning in its own way.
But let me put it this way. I just sat through two hours of the animated finale, as long as a full-length feature film, and enjoyed it more than I could enjoy any movie out there. That's because there's so much depth and history to the characters, and a movie just can't set that up and get it right. Also, wow, the music of the ending was just perfect.
So, I haven't given any actual details about the show because I wouldn't want to spoil a minute for anyone. You can stream the show on Netflix, but if you want it for your own collection, it would be money well spent.
Five stars for absolutely everything.
That's why the real-life movie disappointed Avatar fans (and let's just be clear: this series has nothing to do with huge blue alien men). There is too much life in the series to crop it down and fit it into a little box of a movie. You just can't capture all the emotion, the humor, the beauty, the epic grandeur combined with moments of raw heartache or fun impishness in a two-hour film. Sure, you can duplicate special effects and find look-alike actors who can lay down some wicked martial arts moves, but the TV show is about so much more. I can't completely disrespect what Hollywood tried to do with its movie adaptation: The Last Airbender. As a stand-alone movie for the uninformed, non-Avatar-watcher, it was stunning in its own way.
But let me put it this way. I just sat through two hours of the animated finale, as long as a full-length feature film, and enjoyed it more than I could enjoy any movie out there. That's because there's so much depth and history to the characters, and a movie just can't set that up and get it right. Also, wow, the music of the ending was just perfect.
So, I haven't given any actual details about the show because I wouldn't want to spoil a minute for anyone. You can stream the show on Netflix, but if you want it for your own collection, it would be money well spent.
Five stars for absolutely everything.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Storm Glass
Storm Glass and the Glass series follow Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study
trilogy in the same fantasy world and setting, taking place about four years later. It's not strictly necessary to read the Study series first unless you are like me and can't stand to have the ending spoiled. Then you should start with Poison Study and work your way through to this book because certain major outcomes from the Study series are revealed in Storm Glass, and characters reappear or are alluded to. Otherwise, if you do read Storm Glass first and enjoy it, you must read Poison Study. You'll love it, spoilers or no.
I read Storm Glass and am already in possession of its own sequels, Sea Glass and Spy Glass, because I loved the Study series. In Storm Glass, Opal Cowan, a minor character with an important role in the Study series, is a glass magician. But she thinks of herself as a One-Trick-Wonder. She hasn't been able to access an ounce of magic outside of the magical life she breathes into the glass animals she makes. When she is selected to accompany a Master Magician on a mission to investigate the deaths of Stormdancer magicians from shattering orbs of glass, she doesn't feel worthy. But her involvement puts her life in danger when the Stormdancers reveal their secret glass ingredients. Opal has experienced kidnapping and torture before, and the fear of it happening all over again is crippling. In Storm Glass, Opal deals with feelings of inadequacy, fear of the past, and romantic inclinations toward two very different men, one a moody Stormdancer and one a rejected glass maker, like herself.
Although the character of Opal didn't capture me quite like Yelena in Poison Study, she grew more interesting to me, partly as her powers and the dangers surrounding her increased. I love a good danger and romance-packed adventure! I love the world Snyder creates. It's very magical and full of variety. The glass making is intriguing, and Snyder's knowledge on the subject is obvious without being boring. And if the beginning of the book didn't hook me, the end made up for it. I couldn't go to bed until I'd finished reading. If you like magical fantasy and powerful female leads, you will like what Maria V. Snyder has to offer.
trilogy in the same fantasy world and setting, taking place about four years later. It's not strictly necessary to read the Study series first unless you are like me and can't stand to have the ending spoiled. Then you should start with Poison Study and work your way through to this book because certain major outcomes from the Study series are revealed in Storm Glass, and characters reappear or are alluded to. Otherwise, if you do read Storm Glass first and enjoy it, you must read Poison Study. You'll love it, spoilers or no.I read Storm Glass and am already in possession of its own sequels, Sea Glass and Spy Glass, because I loved the Study series. In Storm Glass, Opal Cowan, a minor character with an important role in the Study series, is a glass magician. But she thinks of herself as a One-Trick-Wonder. She hasn't been able to access an ounce of magic outside of the magical life she breathes into the glass animals she makes. When she is selected to accompany a Master Magician on a mission to investigate the deaths of Stormdancer magicians from shattering orbs of glass, she doesn't feel worthy. But her involvement puts her life in danger when the Stormdancers reveal their secret glass ingredients. Opal has experienced kidnapping and torture before, and the fear of it happening all over again is crippling. In Storm Glass, Opal deals with feelings of inadequacy, fear of the past, and romantic inclinations toward two very different men, one a moody Stormdancer and one a rejected glass maker, like herself.
Although the character of Opal didn't capture me quite like Yelena in Poison Study
, she grew more interesting to me, partly as her powers and the dangers surrounding her increased. I love a good danger and romance-packed adventure! I love the world Snyder creates. It's very magical and full of variety. The glass making is intriguing, and Snyder's knowledge on the subject is obvious without being boring. And if the beginning of the book didn't hook me, the end made up for it. I couldn't go to bed until I'd finished reading. If you like magical fantasy and powerful female leads, you will like what Maria V. Snyder has to offer.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Star Crossed
I love it when I find a new book (particularly advance reader's copies) from an author I've read and enjoyed. That's what happened when I found Elizabeth C. Bunces's new young adult novel Star Crossed. I'd read A Curse Dark as Gold, an adaptation of the fairytale Rumplestiltskin, which was rich in its re-imagination and full of fascinating characters and vivid description.
Star Crossed is not a fairytale but a new fantasy world of the author's own, and I was slightly disappointed at first because Bunce had done so well reinventing a fairytale the first time and I was looking forward to more of the same. They are definitely not the same, but that's not to say her newest novel is an unworthy addition to her name.
I admit, I had a hard time getting sucked into the story. It unfolded a world of religion versus magic, of seven moons and the seven gods and goddesses built upon them. The author had to introduce me to her main character, a thief for hire named Digger (but she's a girl), as well as create a sense of the world she lived in, and I was getting bogged down in history and weird fantasy names. I've found that most young adult fantasy isn't hardcore fantasy with all the detailed world-building, and even this story probably wouldn't be classified as hardcore fantasy, but it was somewhere in between and almost losing me...at first. But the characters were enjoyable, and once Digger changed her role and name and became a lady in waiting named Celyn, uncovering forbidden magical mysteries for a blackmailing aristocrat, then I was hooked.
Surprisingly, this is not a romance. The romantic interest supposedly dies at the beginning of the story. I kept expecting something else to develop (actually, I'm a sucker for that stuff, and I was hoping), but nothing did and, honestly, it didn't matter. Now, if the author ends her series without even one hint of romance, I might be kind of sad. Yes, it's a series. Star Crossed is the first book, newly released, so fans will have to wait awhile to read Liar's Moon.
Three and a half stars out of five for a story of adventure and intrigue that ended up being interesting after all. I, for one, am looking forward to the sequel.
Star Crossed is not a fairytale but a new fantasy world of the author's own, and I was slightly disappointed at first because Bunce had done so well reinventing a fairytale the first time and I was looking forward to more of the same. They are definitely not the same, but that's not to say her newest novel is an unworthy addition to her name.
I admit, I had a hard time getting sucked into the story. It unfolded a world of religion versus magic, of seven moons and the seven gods and goddesses built upon them. The author had to introduce me to her main character, a thief for hire named Digger (but she's a girl), as well as create a sense of the world she lived in, and I was getting bogged down in history and weird fantasy names. I've found that most young adult fantasy isn't hardcore fantasy with all the detailed world-building, and even this story probably wouldn't be classified as hardcore fantasy, but it was somewhere in between and almost losing me...at first. But the characters were enjoyable, and once Digger changed her role and name and became a lady in waiting named Celyn, uncovering forbidden magical mysteries for a blackmailing aristocrat, then I was hooked.
Surprisingly, this is not a romance. The romantic interest supposedly dies at the beginning of the story. I kept expecting something else to develop (actually, I'm a sucker for that stuff, and I was hoping), but nothing did and, honestly, it didn't matter. Now, if the author ends her series without even one hint of romance, I might be kind of sad. Yes, it's a series. Star Crossed is the first book, newly released, so fans will have to wait awhile to read Liar's Moon.
Three and a half stars out of five for a story of adventure and intrigue that ended up being interesting after all. I, for one, am looking forward to the sequel.
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