Catching Up 1: A YA/MG Collection

It's time to catch up with what I've been reading lately in a quick-look fashion --

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor is a book that has been on my shelves for far too long. I bought it on Celia's recommendation a couple of years ago when she was out for a visit in Seattle. I'm glad she got me to pick it up because it was a fun read, especially for a Wonderland fan. It was quite loosely based on Lewis Carroll's classic stories (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass) and on his (Charles Dodgson's) life and I thought it was an interesting and fresh take on the Wonderland story. I'm not sure if I will continue on with the series (too many books, too little time) but I wouldn't be against picking up the second book -- Seeing Redd. There are also the Hatter M graphic novels that I might try out.

I was excited to see a new Belladonna Johnson book on Amazon (I loved Spellbinder and The Midnight Gate). Well, it turned out to be a self-pubbed novella from Helen Stringer, so much shorter than I expected, but it was a good story with lots of depth and emotion. I almost went and reread the first two books right after because I really enjoy the characters and the world. Sadly, Helen Stringer's next book is not in this series. It's a YA novel called Paradigm and here's what it's about --

... it is set in a future in which everything has happened. Everything that earlier generations were warned about, yet chose to ignore. Continents are isolated, global communication non-existent, poverty and disease rampant. America has become a country of powerful city states, separated by the barren Wilds, where people struggle to survive.
Sam Cooper’s parents took him to the Wilds when he was five, now he’s seventeen and alone, driving the empty roads, scraping by. But something has been watching and waiting. Waiting for the moment when Sam would leave the Wilds and visit a city state. Sam will need everything he learned in the Wilds if he hopes to survive, and he’ll need something else too: the beautiful, scary Maori warrior, Alma.

On the plane ride over to Maui (6 hours from Seattle), I read a pretty large chunk of Eva Ibbotson's The Star of Kazan. It was only the second of her books that I've read that wasn't a children's ghost story (the first was Journey to the River Sea) and I pretty much loved it. I am incredibly happy that I have so many of her books still ahead of me. It almost makes up for the fact that I'm nearly out of new Diana Wynne Jones books (almost but ... well ... not really ... ::small sob::). This story had a lot of great elements and I didn't have any problems with it until right at the end. The main character, Annika, makes a choice that I guess is a good example for children of being forgiving and kind but I really wanted her to go the revenge and prosecution route! Anyway, if you have a favorite Ibbotson book that you think I should read next, please let me know in the comments. I own a few more spooky titles but that's it.

And, happily, my library hold finally came through on Clockwork Princess, the final book in Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices trilogy. I made it through some tragic situations in the book without even a sniffle until I hit one certain part and, well, I hope they don't mind that I'm sending back this library book with a few tears in it! This was a great end to the story and I thought all of the characters were treated fairly. My only complaint is probably that the action/battle parts of the story all seemed a bit rushed but, by the end, I didn't really care about that.

I chose to read this series first instead of The Mortal Instruments because of the alt-Victorian setting which was more to my liking and seemed like a better entry point for me. Because the setting obviously isn't the only thing that makes this series enjoyable though, I will start the other one next, especially with the City of Bones film coming out in August. I wonder how long the library wait is ...

Full of romance, magic and adventure,
K

DWJ March: Review of Spellbound

It turns out that the first book I finished for Diana Wynne Jones Month wasn't even written by her except for one short story at the end. It was Spellbound, a selection of fantasy tales "chosen by Diana" that I picked up at Half Price Books a couple of years ago simply because her name was on it. With eighteen short stories or excerpts of books from Rudyard Kipling, Eva Ibbotson, L. Frank Baum, E. Nesbit, Tove Janssen, Patricia C. Wrede, Joan Aiken and more, these stories were apparently chosen by Diana as the best of fantasy (in her opinion, of course). Unfortunately, there is no foreword or afterword talking about why she chose these particular stories, although one gets the gist of it after a while. As you read, you start seeing echoes of Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Sky and The Ogre Downstairs and Witch's Business and so many more of her stories and you realize that Diana's broad selection of fantasy tales were all written because they were subjects and ideas that she loved. Diana's story in this collection, "What the Cat Told Me" seems to bear the seeds of Earwig and the Witch and I loved it.

I didn't think there was a dud in the bunch (well, maybe that one based on Spenser's The Faerie Queene) except for the poor production quality of the book. It has a gorgeous cover and nice paper and, well, extra sentences and also some missing ones. For some reason, in more than one place in the book, one or two sentences are repeated. It's confusing the first time it happens and annoying the next few times. As for the missing paragraph or possibly page, that was really unfortunate. If this book had better editing and an informative foreword, I would recommend it unreservedly. My TBR has once again grown by leaps and bounds. I finally found out who the Moomins are, I immediately wanted to re-read The Silver Chair, I decided on Which Witch? for Z and my RIP read-aloud this year and I've lamented never reading Five Children and It.

There is one personal statement from Diana at the start of the excerpt from The Seven Towers by Patricia C. Wrede --

I know it is annoying to be given only the start of a story, but it is a long book and I did want to introduce you to my favorite sorceress. Here she is at her most typical.

If that isn't reason enough to pick up Wrede's book immediately, I don't know what is.

So, if you want an insight into Diana's taste in fantasy (though you likely already know it from her own work) and don't mind some wonky editing, see if you can find a copy of this book.

Learning more from my favorite witch,
K

Last RIP Post: The Great Ghost Rescue

Z and I were reading The Great Ghost Rescue together at bedtime and we ended up finishing a day or two after Halloween. It was our first time reading Eva Ibbotson (and coincidentally, her first book, written in 1975). She was recommended to me because of my love of Diana Wynne Jones and I have to say that I found the same sort of intelligent fantasy that I hoped I would, though for a slightly younger reader.

One thing that I really like about Z is that he's not afraid to explore books from another country. This is a very British book and he had to frequently ask about things like kippers and kilts, Prime Ministers and MPs, and even Henry the Eighth. But, then again, it's quite a universal book about helping those less fortunate than you -- even if "those" happen to be ghosts!

Rick is a young boy at a boarding school who wakes up early one morning to find he is sharing his bed with a ghost. It's Humphrey, the youngest in a family of ghosts that have been driven from their home by developers who have turned it into a vacation resort. There are no longer damp cellars or broken windows or boggy marshes to haunt -- only modern plumbing and a game room. Rick decides that what the ghosts need is a sanctuary and his friend Barbara thinks that the only man who can help is the Prime Minister. So Rick sets off to London, picking up a few others along the way who are also seeking sanctuary. Rick can only hope that he's successful before the British Isles lose all of their fantastic ghosts (and other creepy creatures).

Z and I both loved this story. It was a bit scary and sad at times but that is to be expected in a ghost story. The plot was more complex than I expected with a seemingly pleasant resolution about two-thirds of the the way through the book that, alas, wasn't permanent. The characters were quite amazing too. Z's favorite was Humphrey's older brother, George the Screaming Skull. I rather liked Aunt Hortensia who had been beheaded by Henry VIII and whose head regularly travelled separately from her body.

We can't wait to read our next Ibbotson book together! We actually have a few here to choose from -- Which Witch?, The Secret of Platform 13, Dial-a-Ghost, Island of the Aunts and The Beasts of Clawstone Castle. We will have to savor each one as Ibbotson passed away just a year ago at the age of 85.

Setting out with a new friend,
K and Z