24-Hour Read-a-thon: In The Hands of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce

I started the Song of the Lioness series a week or so ago as part of the YALSA Hub Challenge to read as many of the award nominated young adult books from this year as possible. Tamora Pierce was awarded the Edwards Award for the Song of the Lioness series, as well as the Protector of the Small series. I have seen these books a million times, but they never struck me as something I might want to read.

And while I enjoyed the first book, simply called Alanna, I really loved this one. Alanna, masquerading as Alan so she can train to become a knight, spent much of the first book just struggling to be accepted as a boy. She often got picked on or teased for being the smallest or weakest of the bunch of pages. In this book, however, she has clearly earned her place amongst the squires (the step up from pages), and she finally began to understand what it means to be a woman AND a man.

I kind of want to jump right into the next book in the series, but I might vary it up so I don't get bored.

Days of Blood and Starlight - Not a Review

I spent the entire morning curled up in bed, reading Days of Blood and Starlight, the follow-up to one of my favorite books of last year, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Did I love this new one as much as the first? Not quite, but I very much doubt that I could have. The first book is so beautiful and unexpected, not to mention heartbreaking. I'm sure I would have loved this new one even more if I had reread the first - it's been over a year between the two for me, and I felt Days started a bit too quickly for me. But the fact that I didn't get ANYTHING else accomplished before work today should tell you how good it is.

And really, you don't need a review of this book. If you've read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, you know there's no way you can stop there. If you haven't read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, what are you waiting for? I envy you for not having to wait for the sequel (although you'll have to wait with me for book 3).

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

I picked up Daughter of Smoke & Bone for the November Forever Young Adult book club meeting, not having heard much about it. It had only been out for about a month at that time. With its typically-cheesy YA cover and a description that speaks of "winged strangers" and devils, I wasn't too excited to start reading.

It only took about a paragraph for me to get hooked. Between Laini Taylor's beautifully elegant prose and a kick-ass, smart lead character in Karou, I couldn't put the book down. In fact, I read the first 100 or so pages during lunch breaks and such before settling down and reading the rest of the 400-something page book in one go (and even then, I didn't want it to end). I still don't want it to be over, and I can hardly wait until the sequel comes out, because it ends on such a cliffhanger that it upset me.

The story is, much like the cover described, about angels and demons, but not in a cliched way. In fact, the terms angels and demons are used almost more like a placeholder, a way for us to understand the basic ideas behind these creatures without starting from scratch. But even the angels can be seen as bad, and the demons can be perceived as good, so everything is not as black and white as "angels and demons."

I can't say too much without giving plot away, and every time I've tried, I've made the book sound horrible, so I'll just say that it was one of my top picks of the year thus far. If cliffhangers upset you as much as they do me, you may want to hold off. Otherwise, give Daughter of Smoke & Bone a read. I've already picked up a few copies to give to friends this Christmas.

5/5 stars

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Review: Steampunk!

I'm a big fan of steampunk. I'm not sure when I came across it, or how, but I love the visual aesthetic of it. However I found it, I'm sure I found images well before I found stories. And from the visuals, it's a bit hard to understand the full breadth of the genre.

Steampunk stories cover a wide array of topics and themes. Some are more historical, and some take place in a future that seems strange. Some are born out of Victorian London, and others call the wild west home (while still others take place on space ships or foreign worlds). There is so much that can be considered steampunk that an anthology of steampunk stories can sometimes feel disjointed. *Cough* Steampunk *Cough*

Steampunk!, edited by Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, unfortunately suffers from this, but at least it gets off to one hell of a start. The first half or so of the book is filled with very strong stories that each take a stab at their own version of steampunk. Cory Doctorow's "Clockwork Fagin," about a bunch of kids in an orphanage, was by far my favorite of the group. I also really loved Cassandra Clare's "Some Fortunate Future Day," Delia Sherman's "The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor," and Libba Bray's "The Last Ride of the Glory Girls" (which I'm pretty sure was influenced by my beloved Firefly).

Some of the stories seemed not-so-steampunk, but I still enjoyed them. Kelly Link's "The Summer People" was my favorite of this bunch, owing very little to the steampunk genre apart from some mechanical toys that "the summer people" create.

This anthology has been published as a YA book (because it's from children's publisher Candlewick), but it's pretty perfect for anyone who likes steampunk. The only thing that would mark it YA is that many of the main characters are teens, but that shouldn't hamper an adult from reading along.

3/5 stars

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Review: The Night Circus

It's rare that a book's atmosphere overshadows its plot, but in Erin Morgenstern's debut novel, The Night Circus, I found myself caring less about what was happening and more about where it was happening. Specifically, the night circus of the title, Le Cirque des Rêves.

Le Cirque des Rêves rolls into town unannounced, sets up without fanfare, and opens its gates at dusk. It is exquisitely detailed, every inch of it black or white, and is filled with tents that boggle the mind or tear at our sense of possibility. Explore all you want - there's always more to see.

The plot itself is interesting, too, although it is overshadowed by what feels like the main character, the circus. The story begins with two master magicians and a bet. Each magician chooses a student - Celia and Marco, in this instance, although the bet has been played out by these two magicians before - and teaches them all they need to know in order to win the game they're playing. The game, though, is never explained to the students, and they are left filling in the details for themselves as they go.

Add to that a plot about a boy, Bailey, who first encounters the circus as a child, then comes across it again as a man deciding whether to take on the family business or strike out on his own. At first, the story jumps back and forth between these two plot lines, but of course, they begin to converge.

Like I said, though, the atmosphere of the book mattered so much more to me than the actual plot. Sure, I was interested in the story behind the circus and how the game between Celia and Marco was to be played out, but when I finally got to the ending, I didn't care much anymore. I was just upset to see my journey with the circus end.

Truth be told, I was not entirely happy with the climax of the book as I was reading it. It felt a bit rushed and out of place. When I read it, I thought it might have ruined an otherwise beautiful book. It's been a little while since I finished the book, though, and I'm coming to terms with the ending. In hindsight, it seems right and just - and the only way to keep the circus alive, which is just how I want it.

Besides my out-right love for the atmosphere of the book, I also have to commend Morgenstern on her use of tenses and perspectives. The main narrative is told in the present tense - something that many writers try and fail terribly at. Instead, its use makes the story feel urgent, a big feat for a story that spans over 30 years. Interspersed throughout the narrative are short chapters written in the second person (still present tense), offering glimpses of the circus as a visitor would see it (Example: "You cannot bear to watch. You cannot look away."). I loved how each of these, usually only a page long, pulled me deeper into the world of the circus. Perhaps this is why I felt the atmosphere was the strongest character.

There's been a lot of hype around this book, most of it just, but the comparisons as "the next Harry Potter" or to Twilight are all wrong. In fact, I got in an argument with a coworker over whether to shelve this in our bookstore's Young Adult section or not (the correct answer is no, but I let the coworker keep a couple in her display anyway). Also, apparently the Wall Street Journal thinks three stories written over 20-something years makes a trend? Just forget anything you've read about The Night Circus (other than that it is GOOD) and form your own opinions on it.

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5/5 stars

Review: The Magician King

I could not have been more excited to hear that Lev Grossman was following up his amazing book The Magicians only two years later with The Magician King. I remember devouring The Magicians, which at the time I likened to an adult version of Harry Potter, at breakneck speeds. So getting my hands on a copy (well, virtually, and that's a whole 'nother story) of The Magician King was a priority.

First, I should say that I regret not re-reading The Magicians. Grossman jumps right into the story with no real refresher to speak of. I felt myself struggling to remember exactly what had happened to characters in the first book when the events were alluded to here.

Overall, I loved the Magician King and the way it continued this imaginative story arc. Is much of this book (hell, the series) cribbed from classic children's literature? Absolutely. This book reeks of the Chronicles of Narnia, mostly The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, just like the first book was obviously influenced by Harry Potter. And while I found this a bit grating at times (I get it! Two kings and two queens, just like Narnia! Wise talking animals! A ship sailing into uncharted waters!), for the most part, this book works precisely because we all know the stories they're alluding to. However, I ended up enjoying the parts that felt familiar but weren't the most. (Here I mean the fable of the quest for the seven keys of Fillory, which the main plot revolves around.)

The story follows two paths: Quentin, king of Fillory, ventures out on a quest (ostensibly to collect taxes from a far-off province) and learns what it means to be a hero, and a flashback to Julia, a magic school reject, becoming a hedge witch and then so, so much more. At first, I found the two narratives jarring - why should I care about Julia's past when Quentin is obviously the one we care about? But as Quentin's quest progresses, the parallels with Julia's quest to become skilled in magic become obvious. The idea of humility versus hubris in a hero comes up repeatedly, but not in a way that is obtrusive or annoying.

Obviously, it's a bit silly to review a sequel here without having reviewed the original book. Like I said, it's been a while since I read it, but I can't recommend it enough (even having forgotten most of everything). Trust me, read The Magicians - you won't want to wait to dive right into The Magician King.

4/5 stars