Review: The Sword Dancer

The Sword Dancer

Author: Jeannie Lin
Pages: 288
Publisher: Harlequin
Publication Date: May 21, 2013
Source: Author for review

Description from Goodreads:
Sword dancer Li Feng is used to living life on the edge of the law—a woman alone in the dangerous world of the Tang Dynasty has only her whirlwind reflexes to trust. She will discover the truth about her past, even if that means outwitting the most feared thief-catcher of them all...

Relentless, handsome and determined, Han sees life—and love—as black and white. Until he finally captures the spirited, courageous Li Feng, who makes him question everything he thought he knew about right and wrong. Soon he's faced with an impossible choice: betray the elusive sword dancer he is learning to love, or trust his long-disregarded heart and follow her to dangerous, tempting rebellion...

First Sentence: "A lone reed flute sang the opening melody."

Review:

It's no secret that I'm a wee bit obsessed with Asian culture. If a book is set in Asia, whether modern or historical, I'm probably going to be intrigued. Also, I must admit a fondness for romance plots in an Asian setting, due both to my teenage love for the novel Shogun and my adoration of manga/manhwa. With my first read by Jeannie Lin, I get to travel to historical China in a read full of romance and adventure.

Jeannie Lin's The Sword Dancer surprised me in a great way. The relationship herein depicted deviates from the standard fictional romance formula in ways that make me so, so very happy. Though the arc of Han and Li Feng's relationship is rather predictable (which isn't really a bad thing, since romantic reads aren't really ones you go to for twists), the relationship dynamics are non-standard and fistbump-worthy.

Neither Li Feng nor Han is incredibly gorgeous. They're not unattractive, and they certainly find one another quite appealing, but they're not the stereotypical blemish-free, wanted-by-everyone characters found so often in fiction. At first, Han finds Li Feng a bit plain, but her beauty, as his does, comes from the person inside the body: "Her face was one that Han might never have noticed if he hadn't seen her dance. Like the rest of her, its beauty was in movement" (35). Now, obviously, that is about her physically, but beauty in movement is such a perfect descriptor for Li Feng, who never stops going. At that point he hardly knows her, but I think it encapsulates why he likes her so much and why she's so compelling to him, because of what she does and not how she looks.

Lin resists more stereotypes with the character of Li Feng. She's strong, fast, and clever. Wanted as a thief, Han, a thief-catcher, apprehends her early on, but she escapes from prison. Though Han is physically stronger than she is, she often bests him, because of her quick wits, speed, and flexibility. As he comes to care for her, Han retains this understanding of and respect for Li Feng's skills. He doesn't try to change her or make her act like a proper lady, and he trusts her to keep herself safe without him looming over her for protection.

Plus, Li Feng is no blushing virgin to be taken by the manly man, thank goodness. In fact, Li Feng is the aggressor in the physical portion of their relationship, with Han unsure if he's emotionally prepared for sex. On the other hand, Han pursues an emotional connection, and Li Feng's not so sure about that. The traditional gender roles got turned on their head, which always makes me joyous. All women don't want commitment; some men are not always emotionally prepared for sex. Seeing this reflected in fiction gives me a happy.

Li Feng and Han do also have a pretty convincing connection, what with the mutual respect and all. Their personalities and interests are similar, and they do seem like a good match. Still, I do prefer romances that take longer to grow. Most of The Sword Dancer takes place within the span of two weeks or so. I just prefer a slower burn myself.

Of course, the book also isn't all romance. In fact, I'd say that Lin's heart lies in the action scenes which pepper the book. There are sex scenes if that's what you're looking for, but they're outnumbered by scenes of daring acrobatic leaps and sword fights and so forth. There's also a murder mystery and government corruption and Li Feng's forgotten past to untangle.

If you enjoy romances in a unique, lush setting and full of exciting action scenes, Jeannie Lin's The Sword Dancer will likely tickle your fancy. I enjoyed myself and will be adding some more of Lin's books to my to-read list.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote:

"'I proved to be a very poor scholar,' he concluded, cutting his explanation short.
     'How so?'
     'Well, once for my daily lessons, I wrote a single line that read, "I do not want to be a high-ranking official."'"

Review: Quicksilver

Quicksilver
Ultraviolet, Book 2

Author: R.J. Anderson
Pages: 314
Publisher: Orchard Books
Publication Date: May 2, 2013
Source: NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
Back in her hometown, Tori Beaugrand had everything a teenaged girl could want—popularity, money, beauty. But she also had a secret. A secret that could change her life in an instant, or destroy it.

Now she’s left everything from her old life behind, including her real name and Alison, the one friend who truly understood her. She can’t escape who and what she is. But if she wants to have anything like a normal life, she has to blend in and hide her unusual... talents.

Plans change when the enigmatic Sebastian Faraday reappears and gives Tori some bad news: she hasn’t escaped her past. In fact, she’s attracted new interest in the form of an obsessed ex-cop turned investigator for a genetics lab.

She has one last shot at getting her enemies off her trail and winning the security and independence she’s always longed for. But saving herself will take every ounce of Tori’s incredible electronics and engineering skills—and even then, she may need to sacrifice more than she could possibly imagine if she wants to be free.

Prior Books in Series:
1: Ultraviolet (Review|Goodreads)

First Sentence: "On June 7, the year I turned sixteen, I vanished without a trace."

Review:

**The following review will contain spoilers for Ultraviolet, but not for Quicksilver.**

Though I did not love Ultraviolet quite so much as I had hoped, I was still curious enough to break my NetGalley embargo to run out and request Quicksilver. I mean, why wait until freaking May if I did not have to, right? Thankfully, I was approved, and I got to reading pretty promptly, because of my resolution to do better about reading series books back to back if I can.

Ultraviolet begins largely as a contemporary, then making a dramatic twist to science fiction. As I said in my review then, I really preferred the first half of Ultraviolet, with its focus on synesthesia and mental illness. Quicksilver does not have this issue, and is a much more even novel without the crazy twist that made the first book so incredibly compelling for many readers.

Anderson switches main characters in the second book of the series, a daring move that she pulls off brilliantly. I enjoy and the synesthetic beauty of Alison's narration, as well as how unreliable she is as narrator. However, Tori's no-nonsense, starkly honest personality captivates me. From Alison's point of view, Tori comes across largely as a stereotypical, popular, gorgeous mean girl. Now, having this window into Tori's mind, it is so apparent how much that isn't and never has been her.

Having made it back to Earth at the end of Ultraviolet, Alison and Tori go their separate ways, trying to settle back down despite the media frenzy at their return. When a lab begins asking questions of the Beauregards about Tori's odd genetic makeup, Tori's parents decide that the family must leave Sudbury. The family announces their move to Vancouver, but heads instead to Southern Ontario with new identities.

Tori, now Niki, gets a job at a grocery store and does her classes online. She remains aloof from others, including the obnoxious guy at the grocery store who reminds her of her slobbery ex-boyfriend. Her goals in life are not to be noticed and to work on her engineering, for which Tori has a passion. I love how this passion is exhibited in the chapter headings, all complex engineering terminology.

As is perhaps unsurprising, Tori's peace cannot last long. Sebastian arrives bringing news of trouble, and a detective is poking around looking for her. A coworker from the grocery store, Milo, gets caught up in everything and becomes her first real friend. Oh, Milo. He's Korean and athletic and such a good guy. Now that's what I'm talking about. He and Tori develop a complex bond, one that I loved to watch unfold. Also, this is the first time I've read a novel in which a main character was asexual, so that's awesome.

I raced through Quicksilver, intrigued by everything. Anderson pulls out all the stops and does not go easy on her characters; I saw that ending coming, but was still surprised when Anderson went through with it. Anderson's series is a must-read for science fiction fans.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'There's no such thing as just a friend, Milo. Friendship is one of the most important things there is.'"

Review: Girl, Stolen

Girl, Stolen

Author: April Henry
Pages: 220
Publisher: Walker Books
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
Sixteen-year-old Cheyenne Wilder is sleeping in the back of a car while her mom fills her prescription for antibiotics. Before Cheyenne realizes what's happening, their car is being stolen. Griffin hadn't meant to kidnap Cheyenne, but once his dad finds out that Cheyenne's father is the president of a powerful corporation, everything changes--now there's a reason to keep her. How will Cheyenne survive this nightmare? Because she's not only sick with pneumonia--she's also blind.

First Sentence: "Cheyenne heard the car door open."

Review:

In reading Girl, Stolen, I was reminded of two bits of pop culture: Excess Baggage and Wait Until Dark. The first film, a pretty terrible movie starring Alicia Silverstone and Benicio Del Toro, tells the story of a poor little rich girl who, in an effort to get daddy's attention, fakes a kidnapping by locking herself in a car's trunk, only to have that car actually stolen. Then she cooks up a romance and a scheme with her accidental captor. Wait Until Dark, quite differently focuses on a blind woman, played by Audrey Hepburn who some thugs suspect of having a doll stuffed with drugs. She has to try to escape this situation with her life. Put these two together and you've sort of got Girl, Stolen.

Of course, comparing a book to other stories really limits it, so I want to stress that there's more going on here; in making these comparisons, I do not intend to imply that Henry's story is entirely derivative by any means. Henry did a marvelous job telling this story, keeping everything suspenseful and scary, but not venturing into melodramatic territory in the slightest. She does not try to make anything more difficult than it already is for the sake of extra drama.

So much YA that I've read, usually in the paranormal genre, centers on a heroine, gifted with supernatural powers that enable her to do absolutely anything, yet she still ends up relying on other people to save her. Your powers or your weaknesses are only what you allow them to be. Cheyenne has been blind since an accident three years ago damaged her brain, leaving her with functioning eyes but a mind unable to read the messages. Now almost entirely blind, she relies on her cane or her seeing eye dog, Phantom.

On the day in question, Cheyenne's step-mom convinced Cheyenne the dog should stay home, since they were not going very far. While her step-mother went into the pharmacy to get the antibiotics to treat Cheyenne's pneumonia, Cheyenne rested in the backseat. Then the car got stolen. Griffin had no idea she was in the car, but, once he got home to his piece of shit father, she becomes even more useful to them than the jacked Escalade. Cheyenne's father runs Nike corporation, and she can be ransomed for a lot of money.

In this situation, I cannot imagine I would be capable of anything other than some snarky comebacks and some seriously menacing death glares. Cheyenne, sick with pneumonia, running a fever, tiny, and blind never stops planning escapes. She is such an incredibly powerful character, able to make the best of any situation, and to use her strengths to best advantage. Where some heroines have endless amounts of power and don't use it, Cheyenne makes the most out of everything she has. I respect her so much, and Henry for writing a heroine with a disability and not making her pitiable, but a figure of strength.

Girl, Stolen weighs in at only 220 pages, but packs an emotional punch. Dark, scary, and investigating whether Griffin is a redeemable figure, I was sucked into this novel and not let go until I finished the last page. If you're tired of young adult fiction focused on romance and whiny heroines, Girl, Stolen is the perfect break.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "What she was left with was a blurred sliver of color and shapes that usually was more distracting than helpful. Now, if she wanted to see anything at all, she had to turn her head away from it. It seemed like a metaphor, but Cheyenne didn't know for what."

Review: All Men of Genius

All Men of Genius

Author: Lev A.C. Rosen
Pages: 464
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Inspired by two of the most beloved works by literary masters, "All Men of Genius "takes place in an alternate Steampunk Victorian London, where science makes the impossible possible.

Violet Adams wants to attend Illyria College, a widely renowned school for the most brilliant up-and-coming scientific minds, founded by the late Duke Illyria, the greatest scientist of the Victorian Age. The school is run by his son, Ernest, who has held to his father's policy that the small, exclusive college remain male-only. Violet sees her opportunity when her father departs for America. She disguises herself as her twin brother, Ashton, and gains entry.

But keeping the secret of her sex won't be easy, not with her friend Jack's constant habit of pulling pranks, and especially not when the duke's young ward, Cecily, starts to develop feelings for Violet's alter ego, "Ashton." Not to mention blackmail, mysterious killer automata, and the way Violet's pulse quickens whenever the young duke, Ernest (who has a secret past of his own), speaks to her. She soon realizes that it's not just keeping her secret until the end of the year faire she has to worry about: it's surviving that long.

First Sentence: "The two men sat silently in the carriage."

Review:

How did this book not end up on my radar until now? Seriously, how did I miss this? A book inspired by two of my favorite works of literature, Twelfth Night, my very favorite Shakespeare play, and The Importance of Being Earnest? On top of that, add some steampunky goodness, and you have a book that was obviously just made for me.

Now, when I say inspired by those plays, I don't mean that All Men of Genius is a retelling. It's not. For the most part, Rosen uses those two plays for character names, some assistance with characterization, and the basic shenanigans of a crossdressing plot. There's a stronger correlation to Twelfth Night, obviously, but Rosen has very much created his own story and characters. If you are as much of a fan of these two works as I happen to be, you will probably giggle with delight at the way he weaves quotes and references to them together in brilliant ways. If you haven't read them, I see no reason why All Men of Genius cannot be greatly appreciated on its own merits; there should be no confusion for not having read his inspiration materials, though I do greatly recommend that you do so for your own well-being.

Rosen has created a rather large cast of characters, and done so quite deftly. In some novels, an author attempts to trace a number of story lines and characters, with the end result that all of the characters feel rather flat. Rosen, on the other hand, has created a loveable group of genius misfits, giving depth even to those with smaller parts, like Mrs. Wilks, Violet and Ashton's housekeeper. I really appreciate authors that take the time to care even about more minor characters. There are a few instances where he would have been better off leaving some of the detail out, as with a few of the professors, since we track them for such a brief time and don't accomplish much of anything, but, for the most part, I approve wholeheartedly of how he constructed this.

A handful of the characters are directly comparable to their counterparts in either Twelfth Night or The Importance of Being Earnest, while others come largely from Rosen's own brain or have been tweaked ever so delightfully. Cecily Worthington, for example, has the same sweet, naive spirit of the character of the same name in Wilde's play, as evidenced in her poor choice in a crush and her toy rabbit Shakespeare, which she still takes everywhere with her at sixteen. In All Men of Genius, she also happens to be a genius, rather than a bit of a ditz. Others who hearken strongly to their inspirations are Toby Belch, Miriam (Maria of Twelfth Night), and Malcolm Volio, although in most every case, perhaps with the exception of Volio, they have additional complexities.

As with Cecily, Violet has much more intelligence than Viola, her counterpart in Twelfth Night. While she goes through the same ordeals, she has a much more powerful idea of what women are capable of, while also figuring out that she does want to be a woman, rather than wishing to have been born a man. Her transition throughout the novel had a lot of power to it, allowing her to truly feel that women really are just as powerful as men. Rosen did a good job navigating the dangerous waters of the gender divide. In some cases, as with Ernest Worthington and Jack Feste, Rosen has borrowed the name, but largely built the character from scratch. Whether the characters really served as references or not, I found that I greatly delighted in nearly every single one of them.

Obviously, All Men of Genius is rather lengthy. Much as I enjoyed it, plowing through it did take some time. There's quite a lot of discussion of the various sciences, but kept at a reasonable level that even I, who have always been atrocious at science, could understand. For those who delight in steampunk, Rosen has created a swath of wonderful inventions. Personally, I would love to get my hands on Toby's hangover cure.

My favorite aspects of the novel have to be some of the clever references that Rosen threw into the book. For example, in All Men of Genius, a big change from Twelfth Night is that Violet's brother is gay, whereas in Shakespeare's play he gets to hook up with the woman who falls for his sister disguised as a man. In Rosen's novel, Ashton falls instead for Antony, which every reader of Twelfth Night can probably admit would have been the ending were Shakespeare honest. Rosen also does something quite clever and hilarious with Bunburry. Seriously, if you love those plays, you MUST read this.

As I conclude my review, I've just checked Goodreads to see if Rosen had any more books for me, and found that he doesn't have any other books out yet. He should get on that, because I want more. Witty literary references, well-drawn characters, and good writing to boot? This is my kind of author.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'Ah, but those genius women, they are the most difficult of all womankind.'"

Review: A Temptation of Angels

A Temptation of Angels

Author: Michelle Zink
Pages: 435
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Source: Author for review

Description from Goodreads:
Even angels make mistakes in this page-turning epic romance.

When her parents are murdered before her eyes, sixteen-year-old Helen Cartwright finds herself launched into an underground London where a mysterious organization called the Dictata controls the balance of good and evil. Helen learns that she is one of three remaining angelic descendants charged with protecting the world's past, present, and future. Unbeknownst to her, she has been trained her whole life to accept this responsibility. Now, as she finds herself torn between the angelic brothers protecting her and the devastatingly handsome childhood friend who wants to destroy her, she must prepare to be brave, to be hunted, and above all to be strong, because temptation will be hard to resist, even for an angel. Michelle Zink masterfully weaves historical fantasy with paranormal romance to create a gripping tale of love and betrayal.

First Sentence: "Though it was late, it was not the sound of arguing that woke Helen in the dead of night."

Review:
Obviously, this is an instance of review copy failure. To be fair, I did receive this ARC after publication, but I still meant to have the review done way before now. Better late than never, though, right? The good news is that, despite some predictions to the contrary, I did actually like A Temptation of Angels, and, in some ways, I was very surprised and impressed by Zink's novel.

On the surface, this book was poised to frustrate me endlessly: a special snowflake heroine with violet eyes, the murder of parents, angels, and a love triangle. Actually, though, Zink dealt with most of these in a manner that I deemed perfectly acceptable, so, if you've been considering this book but unsure, you may want to give it a go.

Angels have not been my favorite subset of paranormal fiction by any means. Too often they serve as a platform by which the author can serve up their religious viewpoints to unsuspecting young readers. Thankfully, A Temptation of Angels ranks with the grouping of angel fiction that makes no attempt to say anything whatever about religion, along with Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which I read earlier this week.

Though I obviously liked her omission of any real look into where the angels precisely came from or who they were working for, I would have appreciated a bit more elucidation into how the Keepers function on earth. Having finished the book, I'm not entirely certain what normal operations as a Keeper entail. What really boggles my mind, though, is how they come into being. I really couldn't get a handle on any of this from the few mentions they got. For once, I would have liked more infodumping.

What I really appreciated about A Temptation of Angels was Helen, and the way the boys treated her. Though I didn't initially think too much of her, she grew on me. She refused to let herself be left behind or ignored. The boys bossed her around much of the time, but only because she really didn't know what she was doing. If she picked up a needed skill, she would be accorded respect for that. When she had a better idea, they listened to her. Unlike so many YA boys, they did not view her as lesser solely for being a woman. Though she does spend a lot of time being lifted and caught, I suspect that, down the road, she would build up her strength and no longer require or accept that help. As a heroine, Helen was constantly growing, unwilling to be anyone's dependent, which is a wonderful message for teenage girls.

Yes, there is a love triangle, but I do need to give Michelle Zink props for not adding Darius into the mix. Things would have been so much worse had she been torn between Darius and Griffin as I initially feared. The triangle between Griffin and Raum made more sense, given that she had feelings of slightly different natures for the two, which could be complicated and nigh indecipherable to an innocent sixteen year old, new to the world of romance. In fact, were it not for the instalove, which grows naturally enough but in too short a time span (just a couple of days), I would probably be pretty okay with how all of this went down, especially since Helen was in control of herself throughout and making her own thoughtful decisions.

Zink's writes well, so far as sentence structure goes, which was another plus. I didn't however get a sense of the time period, and was surprised to note that it was a historical several chapters in. Perhaps that's my own failing, but, even once I knew, something about the book read as modern for me, though I really could not say why. The story does have the slower pace of most historicals, so beware of that.

For those who dearly love paranormal romances and can bear another instalove love triangle, Michelle Zink's novel will likely not disappoint. Even I, tired as I am of instalove, thought Zink's novel was quite enjoyable.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'I've felt your belief in me, and though it seems small, I've begun to wonder if that's all we really need. Just one person who knows us truly. One person who knows the darkness that lies within and believes in us anyway.'"

Review: Scent of Magic

Scent of Magic
Healer, Book 2

Author: Maria V. Snyder
Pages: 400
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Publication Date: December 18, 2012
Source: Publisher via NetGalley & YA Books Central

Description from Goodreads:
Hunted, Killed—Survived?

As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avery of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of her friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomanical King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avery is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confident, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avery will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations yet; an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.

War is coming and Avery is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible ... again.

1: Touch of Power (Review|Goodreads)

First Sentence: "'I'm dead,' I said to Kerrick."

Review:
Touch of Power ranked among my very favorite books I read last year. Needless to say, I wanted Scent of Magic like my cat wants deli meat. With such high expectations, it's perhaps not surprising that the book fell a bit short. This is definitely not her best book, but still ensnared me. Scent of Magic may not be as beloved to me as the first book in the series, but there's plenty of action and powerful women.

One of the best thing about reading Snyder books is that they will always be chock full of incredibly strong, sassy women. Avry, the heroine, of course, has healing powers, which can also be used to fight, in addition to being well-trained with weapons. On top of that, she's incredibly bright and willing to do just about anything to help friends, and almost as much to help people she does not even know. What I love about her is how little vanity she has; at one point, she offers to heal a friend's facial injury to save her from the scars, even though then Avry would have to bear them instead. She also prefers practical clothing to beautiful dresses.

However, Avry's not the only strong woman in the book. Jael and Celline are varying degrees of bad guys, but are incredibly powerful. Even better, women fight in the armies of this world and can even rise to positions of authority. Women like Leah and Wynn do not have any powers to aid them, but they still kick so much butt. A lot of novels have strong heroines, but, in order to emphasize her uniqueness, otherwise contain only meek female characters.

Snyder also gets the villain just right. Tohon ranks pretty high up on the list of villains that horrify me. He has insanely powerful magic, which he can use to make zombies and to make Avry weak in the knees (I did not like what happened with that at all btw). Aside from that, he's crazy. He goes from friendly to murderous in no time; his moods are unpredictable. Not only that but Tohon's the brilliant kind of crazy: he pretty much equals Ryne for military strategy. Basically, he's terrifying because it's very easy to imagine him winning.

Sadly, I didn't feel the same love for this installment as the previous. I think a lot of that had to do with the separation of Kerrick and Avry. At the end of the first chapter, Kerrick and Avry part ways to accomplish different things in the war against Tohon.  One of my favorite things about Touch of Power was the dynamic between the two of them, which obviously can't happen if they're not together. Plus, now that they're a couple, they don't have the same sexy banter that they did before even when they're together.

The other issue with the two of them being apart for most of the novel is that Snyder changed the narrative style. All of Touch of Power was from Aery's first person perspective, even when the group separated from what I recall. In this one, Snyder added relatively brief chapters from Kerrick's perspective. Avry's perspective remains in first person, but Kerrick's bits are in third person limited. This device might have worked better for me had his sections been counted as chapters (only Avry's are numbered, while his are headed merely Kerrick) and been written in first person as well.

These next couple of points will reference spoilers, though without specifics. While I love these characters and want them all to survive, you guys know how much I appreciate an author that will make their characters really suffer. Snyder can do this, I know she can, but she doesn't exhibit that ruthlessness here. Everyone freaking kept coming back to life! It's to the point of absurdity. Sure, a few people Avry cares about dies, but the main characters can apparently not be killed. That really lessens the impact of the plot.

Despite those issues, I was still debating between 3.5 and 4 for the rating, since I did really enjoy the book and get caught up in it. The deciding factor ended up being the ending. The fact that she ended this installment on the exact same cliffhanger as book one makes me want to throw all the things. Avry and Kerrick are once again united and temporarily safe, but one of them might die of a disease! Oh noes! Goddammit! Obviously neither of them is going to die permanently, so why even bother? Plus, this is so incredibly redundant. I hate everything about the ending.

In spite of everything, I did still quite enjoy reading Scent of Magic and will be eagerly awaiting book three, and really anything Maria V. Snyder chooses to write. I need to find time to read her first series, because I've heard it is worlds better than this one, which I like a lot.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Weapon of choice?'
   I glanced at her belt. She wore a sword on her right hip and a dagger on her left.
   'I don't need anything.'
   She gestured to me. 'That stiletto won't be enough to defend yourself.
   I brandished a couple of my throwing knived. 'How about these?'
   Thea shrugged. 'They're only good if you know how to use them.'
   Aiming for the center post, I buried four in a neat row.
   'That's handy.'
   'Keeps the gentleman callers away.'"

Review: One of Our Thursdays Is Missing

One of Our Thursdays Is Missing
Thursday Next, Book 6

Author: Jasper Fforde
Pages: 362
Publisher: Viking
Source: Library

Description from Goodreads:
The newest tour de force from The New York Times bestselling author of Thursday Next and Shades of Grey.

Jasper Fforde's exuberant return to the fantastical BookWorld opens during a time of great unrest. All-out Genre war is rumbling, and the BookWorld desperately needs a heroine like Thursday Next. But with the real Thursday apparently retired to the Realworld, the Council of Genres turns to the written Thursday.

The Council wants her to pretend to be the real Thursday and travel as a peacekeeping emissary to the warring factions. A trip up the mighty Metaphoric River beckons-a trip that will reveal a fiendish plot that threatens the very fabric of the BookWorld itself.

Once again New York Times bestselling author Jasper Fforde has a field day gleefully blending satire, romance, and thriller with literary allusions galore in a fantastic adventure through the landscape of a frisky and fertile imagination. Fans will rejoice that their favorite character in the Fforde universe is back.

Series Up to This Book:
1: The Eyre Affair (Goodreads)
2: Lost in a Good Book (Goodreads)
3: The Well of Lost Plots (Goodreads)
4: Something Rotten (Goodreads)
5: First Among Sequels (Goodreads|Review)

First Sentence: "Everyone can remember where they were when the BookWorld was remade."

Review:
Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series has been for me a very uneven read. Certain installments rank among my favorite books, while others I had to force myself to get through. In fact, I almost gave up on the series after book three, until my parents, who I started on the series, insisted that book four, Something Rotten, was amazing and that I just had to read it. Thus was I sucked back in. Last week, I read book five, which I found quite slow, but with One of Our Thursdays Is Missing, Fforde has once again made me glad I did not give up on the series.

What I will always love this series for, even the books that I would never try to reread, is its utter originality. Of course, that's a term that gets thrown around a lot in the book-reviewing world, but, if asked to name a book or series I thought truly original, I would probably have to go with this one. I simply have never encountered anything else like Fforde's work. It's utterly irreverent, absurd, self-referential, off-the-wall, confusing, pop culture-tastic, humorous, silly, and, occasionally, quite deep.

In One of Our Thursdays Is Missing, we have a new heroine. In place of Thursday Next, we have Thursday Next. Confused yet? Welcome to Jasper Fforde. THIS Thursday Next is the written Thursday, rather than the Outlander Thursday. Told in the first person, the reader follows Thursday Next (from this point the Outlander Thursday shall be called just that for clarity), the tree-hugging one from the Thursday Next novels.

As established in the last book, Thursday Next has been trying to change the series a bit to fit better with Outlander Thursday's actual image and personality, the original written Thursday Next in books 1-4 having been more like a paranormal romance heroine. Her changes to the series have not gone over particularly well, the whole series now dangerously close to being unread, which displeases her costars greatly.

When she gets an offer to go investigate a mysterious book-crash in Conspiracy, she jumps on the chance, a bit bored with the irascibility of her fellow characters. On the way, a Man in Plaid (think men in black, only...you know...plaid) tells her that a Thursday is missing and disappears. These two elements combine into one big mystery that Thursday Next feels a compulsion to solve. What happened to Outlander Thursday? Will she be back in time to negotiate peace between Racy Novel and the rest of the BookWorld? Why did that book crash?

I thought the first person perspective and change to the basic formula of the previous books brought new life into the book that was missing from the last. I really like Thursday Next, even if she's not quite as bright or capable as Outlander Thursday. She is perhaps a bit more approachable. Also, her narration allowed for a clever 'will the real Thursday Next please stand up' kind of confusion.

Also, there was some really hilarious commentary on published vs. self-published books in here, done in the standard ridiculous Jasper Fforde way. A fact I'd forgotten until I read this is that self-published books used to be known as vanity titles. This still amuses me. In light of all of the recent changes in publishing, I found these themes and his attitudes very interesting, particularly that on fan fiction, though I do wonder if that would be different now that so much fan fiction is getting published.

I apologize to those of you who are probably rubbing your heads in mystified confusion. Jasper Fforde's books are rather complex, particularly since there are so many of the same (though very different in personality) character running around. However, if you have the patience to disentangle his books, they are a book nerd's delight, full of puns and jokes poking fun at literary tropes.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'Don't anyone move. . . I think we've driven into a mimefield.'"

Review + Giveaway: Full Blooded

Full Blooded
Jessica McClain, Book 1

Author: Amanda Carlson
Pages: 322
Publisher: Orbit
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Born the only female in an all male race, Jessica McClain isn’t just different—she’s feared.

After living under the radar for the last twenty-six years, Jessica is thrust unexpectedly into her first change, a full ten years late. She wakes up and finds she’s in the middle of a storm. Now that she’s become the only female full-blooded werewolf in town, the supernatural world is already clamoring to take a bite out of her and her new Pack must rise up and protect her.

But not everyone is on board. The werewolf Rights of Laws is missing text and the superstitious werewolves think that Jessica means an end to their race. It doesn’t help when Jessica begins to realize she’s more. She can change partway and hold her form, and speak directly to her wolf. But the biggest complication by far is that her alpha father can't control her like he can the rest of his wolves.

When a mercenary who’s been hired by the vampires shows up to extract information about the newly turned werewolf only days after her change, they find themselves smack in the middle of a war and there's no choice but to run together. When it’s up to Jessica to negotiate her release against her father’s direct orders, she chooses to take an offer for help instead. In exchange, Jessica must now swear an oath she may end up repaying with her life.

First Sentence: "I drew in a ragged breath and tried to surface from one hell of a nightmare."

Review:
It has been ages since I read a straight up paranormal romance, and, though they may not be literary brilliance, I have missed them. Amanda Carlson's Jessica McClain series focuses on shifters, but has just about every paranormal you could hope to find. Full Blooded reminded me heavily of Bitten, the first book of Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, so, if you enjoyed that, you will likely enjoy the drama of Full Blooded.

Jessica has fought long and hard for her independence from the Pack, but all of that effort goes up in smoke the moment she shifts into her wolf form. Women aren't supposed to shift; in fact, she's the only female werewolf in the world (baby wolfies are bred on human women). No surprise there, right? What's a paranormal romance without a heroine who is a super special snowflake? Since being the only female werewolf in the whole world isn't enough, she also has some other powers too.

All of that, of course, is very unoriginal ground, well-tread in the genre. What I enjoyed, though, was that Jessica was not running from her family because they were abusive or controlling or didn't respect her, but because she wanted to live a different life. Her father Callum, the pack's Alpha, and her brother Tyler support her in everything she does, unless they're positive she'll be seriously hurt by what she's planning. When in doubt, though, they always help her, let her have what she wants. Like, her father could use his Alpha powers to order her to behave a particular way, but he doesn't, except in extreme situations when her life is legit on the line. In fiction, there are a lot of neglectful or abusive families, so I am always so glad to see that, especially in paranormal romance, where it usually takes a back seat to romance.

Anyway, being the only female werewolf is complicated, and, thankfully, not because all of the men think they should be able to get into her pants. Actually, there's a prophecy that says a lady werewolf will destroy all of their kind, so some factions are seriously concerned at her emergence. Her father's first instinct is to lock her up and keep her safe, but he wants her to be happy, so they try to let her just go on with life. Of course, that doesn't work, because there would be no book.

Jessica was mostly a likable heroine. She's strong, brave, loyal, and practical. Even when she meets her mate (hello obvious instalove), she doesn't get gross about it, thank goodness. The only thing I didn't like about her was the way she would refer to things as 'slutty' that didn't seem to be at all. Like, she would worry that as a wolf she would be a slut, and sleep with everyone. *headdesk* Embrace it, girl. Slutty is something society imposes on you; don't let it and you can have way more guilt-free fun.

Oh, also, Jessica loves to eat. Her change makes her ravenously hungry at all times. She eats constantly in the book. Hurray for a heroine that EATS. She has a hunger beast and I thought that was fantastic. Even better, there's a scene where she's talking to this super sexy guy with a big old mouthful of food. Her words come out all unclear, because of how much food she has stuffed in there. This scene was probably my favorite, since Jessica really doesn't care most of the time if she looks hot and that was refreshing.

Thankfully, she doesn't let her somewhat prudish mind stop her from having fun entirely, because the wolf-y side of her convinces her getting some is an awesome idea. Good sexy scenes happen rarely in YA, so this was very enjoyable. The wolfish side of her brain needs to win arguments more often.

Except...I didn't really like the wolfish side of her brain. Basically, this was the thing I liked least, I think. The wolf reminded me a lot of the 'inner goddess' thing. It's all 'my wolf growls' or 'my wolf barks' or 'my wolf is in a frenzy,' encouraging her to fight or to stare someone down have some sex. I don't know. I guess I just didn't like how silly that seemed or how compartmentalized the wolf was, like an entirely different being inhabiting her body. She and the wolf are one, right?

Full Blooded met my expectations just about, a fun paranormal romp. Not much is accomplished plot-wise, and the ending has some insane cliffhangers, so I'll be sticking around for Hot Blooded, the next book in the series.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'I don't want to go, I want to stay and fight. My place is here fighting alongside my Pack, not being protected like some breakable object.'"

Giveaway: I'm giving away my finished review copy to a reader, since my book shelves are overflowing. Since I'm mailing it out, US only. All you have to do is fill out THIS FORM by October 26 at 11:59 PM.

Review + Giveaway: Valkyrie Rising Blog Tour

Valkyrie Rising

Author: Ingrid Paulson
Pages: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date:  October 9, 2012
Source: e-ARC for Blog Tour

Description from Goodreads:
Nothing ever happens in Norway. But at least Ellie knows what to expect when she visits her grandmother: a tranquil fishing village and long, slow summer days. And maybe she’ll finally get out from under the shadow of her way-too-perfect big brother, Graham, while she’s there.

What Ellie doesn’t anticipate is Graham’s infuriating best friend, Tuck, tagging along for the trip. Nor did she imagine boys going missing amid rumors of impossible kidnappings. Least of all does she expect something powerful and ancient to awaken in her and that strange whispers would urge Ellie to claim her place among mythological warriors. Instead of peace and quiet, there’s suddenly a lot for a girl from L.A. to handle on a summer sojourn in Norway! And when Graham vanishes, it’s up to Ellie—and the ever-sarcastic, if undeniably alluring Tuck—to uncover the truth about all the disappearances and thwart the nefarious plan behind them.

Deadly legends, hidden identities, and tentative romance swirl together in one girl’s unexpectedly-epic coming of age.

First Sentence: "Half the school came to Graham's eighteenth birthday party."

Review:
Sometimes, it kind of seems like authors have purchased dictionaries of mythological and paranormal creatures, flipping through and arbitrarily choosing one to write about, because they know it will make them money. Actually, that's what my friend suggested when I tried to explain the plot of Valkyrie Rising to her. I'll admit that she does have a point, but, hey, I prefer some well-done variation to consistent repetition of vampires, werewolves, witches, etc.

NGL, I hardly know anything about Norse mythology. My childhood mythology obsession only stretched as far as Greek and Roman, so do not expect this review to critique the accuracy of Paulson's take on Odin and Valkyries. I can't tell you that. What I can tell you is that this book was just so fun, and that I loved the Valkyries. I mean, who doesn't love a group of hot girls who can destroy anyone with their physical prowess and mind powers? Sure, some of them are a little bit evil, but they're still really interesting, which is clearly the most important thing.

I completely loved the first half of this novel, before the paranormal elements really entered the scene, not that I didn't like those but they weren't my favorite part. What I loved was the dynamic between Ellie and Tuck. They have this snarky back-and-forth banter, a mutual loathing/attraction, that I find incredibly compelling. Basically, they remind me a whole lot of Benedick and Beatrice (couple name: Beatrick) from Much Ado About Nothing. Given that they are perhaps my OTP, that's seriously high praise from me. The best moments are when Ellie and Tuck really get the insults flying thick and fast.

Ellie comes across as a real teenage girl to me, awkward and rebellious and lonely and without an accurate sense of herself. Graham, Ellie's perfect older brother, basically runs her life, keeping guys from dating her, because of an uncomfortable instance one time, and making sure she sticks to curfew. Ellie resents this, but cannot find the will to act out, because she basically hero-worships Graham. Their relationship reminded me a lot of Lugh and Saba in Blood Red Road, especially in the later discovery that the younger sister turns out to be much stronger.

I bonded with Ellie almost immediately, alone at a party, unsure whether to join or to hide. She feels uncomfortable in her own skin and no longer knows if she's a social pariah because of herself or her brother. When she goes to stay with her grandmother in Norway, she arrives before her brother and Tuck. She meets a really hot guy, cuter even than Tuck and older too, Kjell, and he asks her out. She agrees to go in a fit of rebellion. Though he's gorgeous, she does not trust him one bit, and has little to no interest in him. This made me want to fistbump Ingrid Paulson for letting a heroine care more about personality than looks.

I will say, though, that aside from Tuck and Ellie who I loved, the rest of the characters did not seem particularly well-developed. I really don't have a sense of any of them as people, even Graham, which might be part of why I dislike him so much. This dovetails with my other complaint: this should be a series. The story does wrap up, but it's open-ended. So far as I know, a sequel isn't in the works, but it should be, and then we could see the other characters grow more.

Valkyrie Rising is just a heck of a lot of fun, with the added bonus of a unique setting in small town Norway. I loved reading it and will be keeping an eye on Paulson's career from here on out.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'I didn't pick this fight, gentlemen. The first move is yours,' Grandmother growled. 'And the final one, I assure you, will be mine.'"

Giveaway: This giveaway is tour-wide. Check out the Rafflecopter form for details.
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Review: First Among Sequels

First Among Sequels
Thursday Next, Book 5

Author: Jasper Fforde
Pages: 362
Publisher: Viking
Source: Library

Description from Goodreads:
Literary sleuth Thursday Next is out to save literature in the fifth installment of Jasper Fforde's wildly popular series.

Beloved for his prodigious imagination, his satirical gifts, his literate humor, and sheer silliness, Jasper Fforde has delighted book lovers since Thursday Next first appeared in The Eyre Affair, a genre send-up hailed as an instant classic. Since the no-nonsense literary detective from Swindon made her debut, literature has never been quite the same. Neither have nursery rhymes, for that matter. With two successful books of the Nursery Crime series under his belt, Fforde takes up once again the brilliant adventures of his signature creation in the highly anticipated fifth installment of the Thursday Next series. And it's better than ever.

It's been fourteen years since Thursday pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult sixteen year old. However, Thursday's got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Reichenbach Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well. When Thursday receives a death threat clearly intended for her written self, she realizes what's going on: there is a serial killer on the loose in the Bookworld. And that's not all--The Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel. Naturally, Thursday must travel to the outer limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to triumph against increasing odds.

Packed with word play, bizarre and entertaining subplots, and old-fashioned suspense, Thursday's return is sure to be celebrated by Jasper's fanatical fans and the critics who have loved him since the beginning.

First Sentence: "The dangerously high level of the stupidity surplus was once again the lead story in The Owl that morning."

Review:
I freaking love the idea of the Thursday Next books. Conceptually, they are perhaps my favorite books out there. They are highly unique, humorous and endlessly tongue-in-cheek. The individual books vary a lot in quality, though, some of which I loved and some of which I've really not liked. First Among Sequels falls somewhere in the middle for me, amusing but still kind of meh in the end.

I love Thursday Next as a character. How often do you have a bookish heroine in her 50s who's still totally a sexy badass? Not that often. I love that. You don't want to mess with Thursday. Despite that, though, she's also loving and silly, a devoted mother and wife. She refuses to call her son, Friday, much to his chagrin, anything but Sweetpea. Thursday is just a complex and illogical as most humans, and I think she shows that you can make an older heroine work. Though Thursday's slowing down a bit, she's still not going to be stopping with her adventures any time soon.

My favorite of the Thursday Next books are The Eyre Affair and Something Rotten. What these two have that the others do not is a tie to a specific piece of literature. Of course, throughout the series, literary references abound. However, both of those focus on one work in particular: Jane Eyre and Hamlet respectively. None of the other books have done so, and I've found them much weaker as a result.

First Among Sequels, like all of Fforde's books, has a lot of humor. I snickered at many things, though I did find the jokes a bit more repetitive in this installment than in others. The stupidity deficit was hilarious at first but was wearing thin by the end. Fforde's humor tends to the absurd, so will not be for everyone, though, to me, it's a big reason to read the books.

I just felt like this book lacked a narrative push. There are a couple of overarching plot lines, but they just didn't seem to propel the story forward or, at least, to compel me to move along at a brisk pace. I spent a fair amount of time a bit bored. Rather than having one large, serious issue, there were a number of little things, which just didn't add up for as satisfactory of an experience, in much the way that the third season of Veronica Mars pales in comparison to the first two.

I will admit, however, that I did get very concerned about the falling ReadRates and the lack of books in bookstores in one of the major plot lines. At one point, Thursday goes to a book store to discover that it now vends movies and coffees (from four different shops), not books. Even though I knew it wasn't real, I was still nervous. Even more upsetting was the possibility of Pride & Prejudice forever being rewritten as a reality show. *cringes*

Also entertaining and typically Fforde-ian was the abundance of Thursdays. In First Among Sequels, there are three different Thursdays, the real Outlander one, the one from books 1-4 in the series and the one from book 5, but not this book 5 - a book 5 that doesn't exist in our world. Basically, if you think about this too hard, it will give you a headache. However, Thursday getting stuck training Thursday1-4 and Thursday5 is rife with comedic possibility. However, there is one chapter where the perspective switches, entirely without warning to Thursday1-4. This was seriously confusing and added nothing to the story. Poorly done, that.

While I am not the sort to skip around within a series, I would recommend for those of you who have that ability that this is a good one to do so in. Or, perhaps, this might be more fun read in small doses, with each chapter as its own island of sorts. Basically, this has charming moments, but I don't think it will stick with me and I was bored sometimes. I do love Pickwick and her plocking, though.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Humans like stories. Humans need stories. Stories are good. Stories work. Story clarifies and captures the essence of the human spirit. Story, in all its forms—of life, of love, of knowledge—has traced the upward surge of mankind. And story, you mark my words, will be with the last human to draw breath.'"

Audiobook Review: Don't Turn Around

Don't Turn Around
PERSEFoNE, Book 1

Author: Michelle Gagnon
Narrator: Merritt Hicks
Duration: 8 hrs, 31 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Source: Harper Audio

Description from Goodreads:
Sixteen-year-old Noa has been a victim of the system ever since her parents died. Now living off the grid and trusting no one, she uses her computer-hacking skills to stay safely anonymous and alone. But when she wakes up on a table in an empty warehouse with an IV in her arm and no memory of how she got there, Noa starts to wish she had someone on her side.

Enter Peter Gregory. A rich kid and the leader of a hacker alliance, Peter needs people with Noa’s talents on his team. Especially after a shady corporation threatens his life. But what Noa and Peter don’t realize is that Noa holds the key to a terrible secret, and there are those who’d stop at nothing to silence her for good.

Filled with action, suspense, and romance, this first book in a new trilogy offers readers nonstop thrills.

Review:
Listening to a book on audio, I've learned, can often make or break your reading experience. A good narrator can bring life to otherwise flat characters and create interest where you might otherwise have little. A bad narrator can make you hate a book you would have loved. While I've really been enjoying them, sometimes they're a bad choice. This one, though, thankfully, falls into that former category where the audiobook enhanced my reading experience.

The blogosphere buzzed about this book after the cover reveal, and I just couldn't decide whether I had any interest. The description didn't grab me and I'm really not much of a thriller reader, unless the genre is dystopian or post-apocalyptic. The series title intrigued me, because mythology, but I wasn't really seeing any sign of actual mythology anywhere (that's because there's not).

Trying to evaluate the novel itself, I think it is for the most part fairly standard action fare, although with more of a focus on cerebral warfare than physical. Most of the bodily action involves running and escaping, rather than fighting. The real battles take place with computers and coding: nerd battles. I really liked that, even though the whole computer hacking angle wasn't of any interest to me when I read the blurb. Also, I am always pleased when the strength the characters show for survival isn't necessarily physical but mental.

The opening scene with Noa in the hospital is confusing and dramatic and an awesome hook. You want to know what's going on with her for sure. Also, PEMA, a new, horrific disease that kills teenagers is creepy and seriously interesting. You know I'm a sucker for dark futures and evil organizations!

The characterization struck me as a bit weak. Noa has definite badass tendencies, and I really like the way she calmly faces danger. Unfortunately, after they spend a bit of time together, she starts acting like a doofus around Peter, which seems sort of out of character for her. More on that later. Peter rocks the whole 'poor little rich boy' angle without being too obnoxious, mostly because his acting out is hacking rather than drugs and alcohol. They're okay, and I root for them more than the other people, but I'm not overly attached to them.

I would have liked them more if it weren't so obviously setting up a future romance for them. There's really not much romance in this book, but, despite an uninspiring first encounter, they begin making googoo eyes at one another pretty quickly. Considering that he just broke up with his serious girlfriend, I thought that was in pretty poor taste. Even worse, there's another guy on the horizon for Noa, which means inevitable love triangle, and one I'm not getting good vibes from.

The character I do love: Cole. He is so sweet and I loved his relationship with Peter's brother, and his subsequent support of Peter. There was one character that I could not stand: Amanda. She's Peter's girlfriend, a year older and now in her first year of college. They bonded over their dead brothers (hers from a life of excess, his from PEMA), but have been drifting apart since she went to college. She bores me, and I was frustrated every time the narration followed her, which, thankfully, was not frequently.

I loved listening to Merritt Hicks' voice and made excuses to myself for why I needed to do particular activities that I could perform while listening to an audiobook. She's got sort of a deep voice, calm, with a bit of a cynical tilt to it. Obviously, though, with narrators, you either like them or you don't. She reads pretty steadily, and doesn't show as much emotion as some or go as theatrical with the voices. It worked for me though, and I will be keeping an eye out for more of her narrations.

My only complaint about the audio version is that the POV changes aren't handled well. When the third person narration switches from Peter to Amanda to Noa, it happens abruptly, as in without a longer than usual pause. Every time, I had to reorient myself, startled.

Despite that one weakness, I highly recommend the audio of Don't Turn Around, and plan to listen to the rest of the series. Hopefully, Merritt Hicks will narrate those as well.

Rating: 3.5/5

Review: The Iron Wyrm Affair

The Iron Wyrm Affair
Bannon & Clare, Book 1

Author: Lilith Saintcrow
Pages: 303
Publisher: Orbit
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Emma Bannon, forensic sorceress in the service of the Empire, has a mission: to protect Archibald Clare, a failed, unregistered mentath. His skills of deduction are legendary, and her own sorcery is not inconsiderable. It doesn't help much that they barely tolerate each other, or that Bannon's Shield, Mikal, might just be a traitor himself. Or that the conspiracy killing registered mentaths and sorcerers alike will just as likely kill them as seduce them into treachery toward their Queen.

In an alternate London where illogical magic has turned the Industrial Revolution on its head, Bannon and Clare now face hostility, treason, cannon fire, black sorcery, and the problem of reliably finding hansom cabs.

The game is afoot...

First Sentence: "When the young dark-haired woman stepped into his parlour, Archibald Clare was only mildly intrigued."

Review:
Dudes, I was SO excited about this. I mean, look at that cover! Steampunk awesomeness surely awaits within, right? Well, sort of, depending on what you're looking for, but not so much for me. I, sadly, spent most of the book bored, though occasionally hopeful after a promising bit. All of that promise didn't ever turn into anything more concrete.

Let's start with the pleasant aspects, shall we? Saintcrow's steampunk world building is intense. She has created an alternate universe that just brims with detail and is one large step over from the Victorian world we knew. Names have been tweaked slightly: London is Londinium, The Thames is The Themis, etc. Mechanical creatures abound to satisfy steampunk fans. With the increased popularity of steampunk, a couple clockwork creatures are enough to earn the label now, but this one really merits it.

Bannon & Clare show a lot of promise as a lead duo. Emma Bannon is the kind of powerful woman that thrives in steampunk, one of the reasons I love the genre; women always seem to be more powerful and better in a crisis in steampunk novels. Emma has insane amounts of power, one of the highest order of sorcerers, a Prime. She gets to use her magic a lot, but, honestly, her magic was a bit odd to me.

Clare, on the other hand, has mind-based power. He is a mentath, which I need to discuss in more detail, as it was my favorite bit of worldbuilding. Mentaths are, essentially, Vulcans: "Mentaths did not feel as others did; logic was the pleasure they moved towards, and irrationality or illogic the pain they retreated from. Emotions were to be subdued, harnessed, accounted for and set on the shelf of deduction." Without problems to solve, deductions to make, mentaths literally go insane. A life of mental stagnation kills them. As such, Clare quite enjoys even the worst bits of this adventure, because it gives him so much to ponder.

In the few scenes where Bannon and Clare are actually together, they have a nice back and forth. They respect one another's abilities, while also making their own little judgments. Their relationship thus far has also been free of any romance, and I hope it stays that way. There have been some hints on Clare's part that they might end up together, but I think that would weaken things. Plus, Mikal and Bannon have some great chemistry, when they're allowed time together.

The problem lies in the fact that, despite having these great characters, she doesn't make full use of them. Interaction is kept to a minimum. More dialogue and character development would have worked wonders. Unfortunately, Saintcrow cared much more about building up her steampunk world and so the reader is instead bombarded with description after description.

While I love me some complex writing and am used to world building set up from epic fantasy, I just could not deal with Saintcrow's style in this book. Her descriptive paragraphs constantly threw me out of the text. I couldn't ever get into the novel. I'm not sure if her descriptions were clunky or what. I kept finding myself skimming them inadvertently and fighting battles with my eyelids. So many descriptions and yet I still have so little mental picture of what happened. Also, I know German and some of the German in here is wrong.


This was my first experience with Lilith Saintcrow, so it's hard for me to say whether this is her typical style. I suspect this writing may work better for others, but did not resonate with me at all. The most important aspect of a book for me is characterization, so I could not enjoy this one, despite Saintcrow's world building efforts.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'You are likely to have some entertainment planned for the evening.'
   'If by entertainment you mean conspiracy-hunting and unpleasantness, as a matter of fact, yes.'"

Lullaby from Pan's Labyrinth

Skylark
Skylark, Book 1

Author: Meagan Spooner
Pages: 344
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Source: Meagan Spooner signing at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Sixteen year-old Lark Ainsley has never seen the sky.

Her world ends at the edge of the vast domed barrier of energy enclosing all that’s left of humanity. For two hundred years the city has sustained this barrier by harvesting its children's innate magical energy when they reach adolescence. When it’s Lark’s turn to be harvested, she finds herself trapped in a nightmarish web of experiments and learns she is something out of legend itself: a Renewable, able to regenerate her own power after it’s been stripped.

Forced to flee the only home she knows to avoid life as a human battery, Lark must fight her way through the terrible wilderness beyond the edge of the world. With the city’s clockwork creations close on her heels and a strange wild boy stalking her in the countryside, she must move quickly if she is to have any hope of survival. She’s heard the stories that somewhere to the west are others like her, hidden in secret – but can she stay alive long enough to find them?

First Sentence: "The din of the clockwork dawn was loudest in the old sewers, a great whirring and clanking of gears as the artificial sun warmed up."

Review:
Meagan Spooner's debut novel Skylark creates a fantastical steampunk world where magic has a physical presence, and people are varying degrees of monster. While many dystopias focus on action and drama, Skylark moves along at a slower pace, a bit more contemplative. Thankfully, the personality-filled writing and gorgeous world building kept my interest level high.

Lark feels constant shame. She is the oldest person to not yet have been harvested. People years her juniors have been chosen before her. The other kids call her 'the dud,' 'the freak,' and she can't help but wonder if it's true. Nor can she find comfort at home. Her closest family member, Basil, a brother, left on a mission outside the wall and never returned, presumed dead. We never even see her parents. The only family member who seems to be around is her oldest brother Caesar, whose name is particularly apt, considering that he would do just about anything to advance his career.

Finally, though, Lark's name has been called and she is to be harvested. Excited does not even begin to describe how she feels, anticipating finally being normal and valuable. Despite having very little idea what her harvesting entails, she quickly comes to suspect that something weird may be going on. Why do they keep taking her to be harvested? Isn't that just supposed to happen once? Her answer, of course, lies in the secret room she discovered: she's a Renewable and they're going to plug her into the city until she becomes nothing but a husk.

The City, you see, runs on magic. Cool, right? In this world, magic exists in just about everything, including people. At the Harvest, they're using a machine to drain the magic (or, as they
call it, The Resource, from the children of the population. There used to be Renewables, people who could create more Resource, but there haven't been any born in a long time and the City's magic is depleting. They need Lark's Resource, but she refuses to be a pawn and escapes into the eerie woods.

What's especially neat about Skylark is how many different societies you can explore in this world. At the beginning, we're in the City with Lark, which is full of clockwork and magic. It's got a sort of industrial feel to it. Then, outside the wall, we get to see a bunch of different environments. Basically, the magic out there is all unbalanced, so some areas have to much and others none, which means that pretty much anything can happen. I just loved this world building, especially the changes that the magic bubbles wrought.

If you love reading about creepy monsters, Spooner cooked up some of those for you in her writer's cauldron too. The Dark Ones. I'm not entirely certain what happened to them, whether there was some sort of event or chemical, or if it was just a change out of necessity. Either way, they're cannibals, humans turned dark and twisted and hungry for other humans. This adds some fun spice to an otherwise fairly pleasant journey. I definitely would like to know how they came about, though!

Lark makes a great heroine. Her voice is clear and direct. Her narration kept me totally involved in the story. Despite being a complete newbie to pretty much everying, Lark tries really hard. She's not a complainer, and learns and grows from every experience. Otherwise, though, I would say characterization was probably the weakest point in the book. None of the other humans really manifested strongly to me. There are two possible love interests so far, but, thankfully, Spooner has so far resisted the urge to make this into a melodramatic love triangle.

My very favorite character, though, the one that totally stole the show in my opinion is not human. I freaking loved Nix. He's so adorable and cool and I don't even know. Basically, I want him to come hang out with me. Also, the way the scene where he learned things was just fantastic. He also raises some thought-provoking questions about sentience.

For stellar world building and some serious clockwork awesomeness, go get yourself a copy of Skylark. I really enjoyed it and will be keeping my eye out for the next book!

Favorite Quote: "'I don't want to be kept safe! I don't want to have someone constantly trying to keep me from tripping on my own incompetence. I want to live in a world where I know the rules, where people are just people. Not one where they keep trying to eat me. That's the reason I left the city in the first place. I don't want to be kept, not by anyone.'"

Remember: Every comment on a post during Dystopian August is an entry to win one of fourteen dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels IF you've filled out the form from this post.

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

The Glimpse

Author: Claire Merle
Pages: 300
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Source: Faber & Faber via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
In a near future, society is segregated according to whether people are genetically disposed to mental illness. 17-year-old Ana has been living the privileged life of a Pure due to an error in her DNA test. When the authorities find out, she faces banishment from her safe Community, a fate only thwarted by the fact that she has already been promised to Pure-boy Jasper Taurell.

Jasper is from a rich and influential family and despite Ana’s condition, wants to be with her. The authorities grant Ana a tentative reprieve. If she is joined to Jasper before her 18th birthday, she may stay in the Community until her illness manifests. But if Jasper changes his mind, she will be cast out among the Crazies. As Ana’s joining ceremony and her birthday loom closer, she dares to hope she will be saved from the horror of the City and live a ‘normal’ life. But then Jasper disappears.

Led to believe Jasper has been taken by a strange sect the authorities will not intefere with, Ana sneaks out of her well-guarded Community to find him herself. Her search takes her through the underbelly of society, and as she delves deeper into the mystery of Jasper’s abduction she uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she has grown up to believe.

First Sentence: "Sometimes, when Ana hovered on the edge of sleep, she heard the patter of feet along the school corridor; she felt her best friend Tamsin close by—a near, warm presence like the imprint on a bed recently slept in; she saw the Board's saloon car pulling up outside the front of school, a white envelope glowing through one of their leather cases, whispering her name, her disease."

Review:
Unsurprisingly, I was really looking forward to The Glimpse, because of that magic word dystopia, and because I seriously love the cover. It's both simple and fantastic, even if it does seem much more suited to the plot line of Delirium. My hopes definitely went down as I saw some reviews rolling into the blogosphere. None of the reviews I saw were overly positive, and I was pretty bummed. Still, I determined to read it myself, because I do try to read all of the dystopias.

Anyway, I actually liked The Glimpse, although I can see why it might have given other readers some trouble. What pulled me through the book was definitely the concept, which was something pretty new to me on the dystopian front, always a plus. In this future, the world has been divided up into the haves and the have-nots, only the dividing line is not race or wealth or attractiveness: it's sanity.

Society is divided up into Pures, those without any genetic markers indicating a disorder (ex. depression, bipolar, ADHD, etc.) and Crazies. The Pures live within beautiful communities and have pretty much everything they need. Their society isn't much different from ours, although they now get married through an antiquated process called Joining.

I found the whole division based on mental stability entirely fascinating. Imaginging society spazzing out about the ever-increasing number of people suffering from some sort of mental disorder is not really a stretch at all. That could definitely be something that a despotic government might want to control. Basically, this could be a way of helping Darwinism along by trying to get the healthiest people to stick together and procreate.

Though I really liked that, the characters never really felt real to me at all. I wasn't especially invested in them. I wanted to know what happened, but I didn't particularly care whether the main couple made it work or if they won out against the bad guys. They weren't terrible characters. Really, on paper, I should have liked Ana, but...meh. Whereas in a lot of books, the dialog is what makes the book move along for me, in this one it was definitely the longer paragraphs of description here.

Perhaps what distanced me from the characters was due to some weakness in the plotting. I often felt like the characters, mostly Ana, made completely illogical decisions. Not in a real life, people do stupid things kind of way, but in a wtf just happened kind of way. Ana would think things over and decide that the obvious choice in some situation was X, and I would be sitting there going, "Why would you ever do that in response to this situation? FACEPALM."

To sum up, the world building was really cool, but I thought everything else could use some more work. Despite thebook's limitations, I do think I will probably be reading the sequel. This one definitely isn't for everyone, but, if you like the premise, you may want to give it a go.

Favorite Quote: "'How can anyone prove they're not insane to people that are?'"

"And when you're out there 
Without care, 
Yeah, I was out of touch 
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough 
I just knew too much 

Does that make me crazy?"

Remember: Every comment on a post during Dystopian August is an entry to win one of fourteen dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels IF you've filled out the form from this post.

Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers

Velveteen

Author: Daniel Marks
Pages: 447
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication Date: October 9, 2012
Source: Won from A Good Addiction

Description from Goodreads:
Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days.

It’ll be brutal... and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

First Sentence: "When Velveteen Monroe pictured Bonesaw's house—and she did, more often that could be considered healthy—blood striped the paint a muddy reddish-brown, internal organs floated in jars of formaldehyde, and great big taxidermy crows leered from branches that twisted from the wall like palsied arms."

Review:
Velveteen is another novel with a whole lot of hype surrounding its release. The premise sounds so insane and creepy that this should come as no surprise. A dystopia about the dead? Serial killers? Purgatory? Strong heroine? That's all kinds of awesome, right? Well, I definitely think so.

My first recommendation is not to come into Velveteen looking for a dystopia. There really isn't anything particularly dystopian here, although I do see some definite possibility for there to be a big reveal of evil government at work later in the series. This could have been a huge disappointment, because obviously I love dystopias, but the whole of the story was so delightfully fresh and funny that I wasn't particularly bothered.

On Twitter, I've seen people tweeting Daniel Marks as they read through this book. They commented how grossed out they were and how horrified. Well, I really didn't have any moments where I was overwhelmed by the ick or horror factors. Maybe I just have a strong stomach, but I doubt it, since I can't watch a horror movie without hiding through pretty much all of it. There are gross things that happen, but they're no worse than what I've encountered in all the zombie novels I've read. So, basically, if you don't often read macabre things, Velveteen might freak you out, but, otherwise, I wouldn't worry unduly.

Actually, more than anything else, I thought Velveteen was hilarious. Humor of course is very subjective. I suspect most readers will either love or hate Velveteen, depending on whether you think Daniel Marks' humor is funny or obnoxious. For me, it totally worked. If you're concerned, you might want to watch some of Marks' vlogs and see if you like his style.

The description of the novel makes a big deal about Velvet's desire for revenge against her murderer, Bonesaw. While this certainly is a plot point, it's actually a fairly minor plot arc, important to the story, but definitely not the focus of Marks' grisly tale. Still, he definitely wove this arc perfectly into the larger tale.

The focus of the novel is, instead, on the tensions within Purgatory. There is a revolution happening in Purgatory. The Departurists believe that the powers that be within Purgatory are preventing them from moving on and unfairly keeping them from the daylight (aka the world of the living). The revolutionaries are somehow causing bigger and bigger cracks to form in Purgatory, by trapping souls in daylight and causing shadowquakes. The world building on this Purgatory was crazy cool for sure.

Within Purgatory, there are jobs, ranging just as widely, although differently, from those in our world. Our heroine, Velvet, has one of the best jobs, as a salvager team leader. Scavengers enter daylight to save trapped souls, putting an end to shadowquakes and protecting Purgatory. This gives them a rare chance to travel to daylight and is also just really cool, since you need special abilities to do it. Teams consist of four: one body thief, who takes over the body of a living human temporarily, one undertaker, who takes over a dead body and becomes a zombie, and two poltergeists, who stay ghosty but have a natural power to move things in that form. Velvet and her team are the best and they love what they do. On one of their missions, they rescue Nick, aka love interest.

Now, we must talk about Velveteen. She is an amazing heroine, assuming you like them sarcastic, closed-off, and a bit violent. Thankfully, I do. If you're sick of all of the wimpy, clutsy, obedient heroines that can't do anything but moan about boys, you will love Velvet, as she is the antithesis of all things Bella. Similar heroines are Lex from Croak or Ashline from Wildefire. Velvet has a smart mouth and is quick to resort to physical violence. Just to give you an idea of the kind of girl we'll dealing with: she dressed up as Alex from A Clockwork Orange at one point. She felt real to me, and she read like a female.

Her romance with Nick also totally worked. There was definitely instalust, but Velvet is not the kind of girl to mistake that for love. She initially thinks he looks like and probably is an asshole. There's lots of kissing, because she's not the kind of girl who is against having a little fun. Though Nick and Velvet's relationship does progress fairly quickly emotionally, there's a natural flow to it. The two really do have a rapport. They have real conversations, develop little inside jokes, and have awesome witty banter. Their chemistry is fantastic.

So yeah, I thought this was a fantastic ride, entertaining and funny from beginning to end. I definitely anticipate Marks' next macabre tale!

Favorite Quote:

"'So, you're ready then, Quentin?' Velvet asked, gearing up. 'Sigmund Freud here has cured your panic attacks in one session.'
   'Aw. Come on.,' Nick wrapped his arm around Quentin's shoulder as they walked. 'Fear of rejection is the killer of many romantic teen scenarios. It's the scourge of adolescence. All I told him is to embrace the possibility that Shandie won't like him and go for it anyway. She is, after all, pretty hot.'
   'Yeah.' Quentin beamed. 'What's the worst that could happen?'
   She could tell you to eat shit and die, Velvet thought, but kept her mouth shut.
   But it was Nick who said, right after, 'She could tell him to eat shit and die, right? Words. Just words. That kind of stuff never lasts. People are fickle; they may laugh at you and stuff, but they always move on to the next tragedy as soon as it happens. In the end, it's more about Quentin than it is the girl. It's about courage. The act of talking to her. Exposing himself.'
   Logan busted up laughing.
   Nick rolled his eyes and crammed his hands into his back pockets. 'Not that way I mean, being vulnerable with her. That's what's gonna make you a man. It's going to kill that fear and bury it as deep as the bodies he thieves are kept.'"

"In the afterlife
You could be headed for the serious strife
Now you make the scene all day
But tomorrow there'll be hell to pay"