Review: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Published: 2010
Pages: 323
Series: Hex Hall #1
Read: 18th September 2011
Challenge: A to Z Title (cheating a little to get X)
Status: Owned book
Reason I Read It: A review by the Story Siren.

Synopsis: When a spell she performs backfires, Sophie Mercer is sent to Hecate Hall, a school for magic users who have risked exposing themselves (and by extension their world) to humans.  While there she discovers things which her non-magical mother has kept hidden from her, and falls foul of a group of three powerful teen witches.

First Line: "Felicia Miller was crying in the bathroom.  Again."

Review: On the surface, this book may seem a bit like 'more of the same': school of magic, bitchy girls, cute boys, weird goings on and a teacher making the protagonist's life hell.  I think if I saw a brief summary of Hex Hall - like the one I just gave - I might overlook it, but I'd really be missing out.  At no point when reading did I find the book unoriginal, which may be because the magic system and the world feels different to anything I've read before.  There's depth and history and a means of combining magic users, fey and shapeshifters within a world that also features werewolves, demons and vampires and doesn't feel overloaded.

A large part of my enjoyment came from Sophie herself, who isn't perfect or beloved by all (blerg to first person protags like that) but is full of snark and faults.  She makes mistakes and has to pay for them, and a lot of why she is how she is comes from the actions of other people, rather than gifts handed down from on high that show up when she needs them.  How things are going to play out in the sequel are beyond me, which is a feeling I like in a book when it's done as it is here: I want to know because I think Rachel Hawkins will surprise me, rather than because I fail to see any logic to what's going on.

My only real problem with this book is that it is a first in a series, so there are threads left hanging at the end which I imagine will be resolved in Raising Demons (see my predictions below) and Spellbound.  Having said that, I enjoyed everything else about the book: the characters, the world, the magic system - although, again, there is a sense that as it's the first in a series there is more to be discovered.  I think this is a book which raises more questions than it answers, but I trust Rachel Hawkins enough to know that there will eventually be answers - and that they won't annoy me the way some 'revelations' in books do.

Rating: 8/10

Do I Want More? Hell, yes.  Good thing I have Raising Demons, though shame I have to wait till next year for Spellbound.

Predictions: For the next book (Raising Demons) and spoilerful for this one, so highlight to read: Archer isn't evil, he just isn't, there'll be a perfectly rational explanation for the whole Eye thing.  I think a lot of the groups who are purported to be Evil will turn out not to be, or will at least not be as one dimensionally bad as the Council would have people believe. 

Review: Autumn Term by Antonia Forest

Published: 1948
Series: The Marlows #1
First Read: Sometime before 2004
Times Read: 3
Status: Owned book (my edition: Faber, 2000)
Reason I Read It: I'd been told Antonia Forest is the Jane Austen of school stories - I was not disappointed.

Synopsis: Twins Nicola and Lawrie are the youngest of six sisters to start at Kingscote School.  They are determined to do as well as their elder sisters, but things do not go to plan.

First Line: "Train journeys, Nicola decided, were awfully dull."

Review: Rereading this book I was surprised by how many elements of the later books are present here, not just the brilliance of the writing and dialogue, but also in the characters and plotlines that are emerging.  There's Lois Sanger and her feud with Rowan and later Nicola; there's Marie Dobson and her general air of desperation; and there's even Miss Cromwell and her hatred of prefects.  All sorts of events are here which are going to affect later plots, but the book itself is self-contained.

The plot itself is fairly simple, as shown in the above synopsis.  Everything Nicola and Lawrie try to succeed in - entrance exams, sports, Guides - fails, either because of their own lack of education (they're behind because they've been ill a lot as children) or because of other people's actions.  Nothing happens that is beyond the bounds of reality, except that it's a fairly eventful term, and there are no sudden miraculous changes of fortune at the end.  The success that is achieved at the end is the result of the twins' own hard work and abilities, when they decide to do something they want to do instead of trying to emulate their sisters. 

If there is a fault with the novel, it's that Ginty and Karen Marlow aren't as fleshed out as they later will be.  They're still believable and differentiated from the rest of the family, but they aren't given the same attention as Rowan and Ann.  I think this may be because Forest planned to do a series in which each member of the family was focused on in turn, so she purposefully left them 'blanker' in order to utilise the others more.  It isn't a weakness of the novel for a first time reader, but as I've read the whole series I'm looking for things - especially from Ginty (bah, The Attic Term, bah!) - which aren't yet apparent.

For a first novel, this is a fantastic book.  I'd recommend it to someone even if they don't read school stories, albeit with the knowledge that the series is only going to get better as it progresses.

Five Reasons I Love It:
1) It takes school story cliches and plays with them.  Everything the twins try to do that is inkeeping with a recognised school story trope fails miserably.  There's even a point at which Lawrie imagines saving Lois from drowning, and then "a feverish and conscience-stricken Lois would...confess everything" (143), only Lawrie isn't really going to follow the traditional storyline, she's going to "jolly well let her drown.  And I'd let her see I was letting her drown, what's more" (143).  There aren't many school stories in which a heroine would have such thoughts, or in which she would be allowed to go unpunished for even thinking such a terrible thing.

2) Rowan Marlow and her snarky glory.  It continues to grow - my favourite future line is "my grief would be consolable" - but is already on display here, such as when she concedes a point to Ginty: "[a]ll right...[y]ou didn't cry.  It was an extraordinary coincidence that just that week you had such a very bad cold" (20).

3) The 'villains' are believable.  They're not hideous pantomime types, doing things because they're evil and devious and have no morals whatsoever.  A lot of the time, they're causing problems and dropping other people in it because they're trying to save their own skins - Marie Dobson is a particular example of this.  They're villains because they're weak, and it's this weakness (as well as Forest's strength as a writer) that prevents them from having redemptive moments in which they're 'fixed'.

4) All of the prose, especially the dialogue.  It's so finely crafted yet doesn't feel forced.  As I said above, Antonia Forest is often compared to Jane Austen and I think this, along with her ironic view of everything, is part of the reason.

5) The occasional flashes of insight: "[she]...was affected by the...uncertain feeling of guilt which arises from seeing one's secret ill-wishing regarding other people come true" (159) or "one couldn't...suddenly like people just because everyone else did, or forget that they had been fairly swinish, even if they were doing their best now" (241).  It ties in with how great the characters are, but everyone gets some deeper moments of characterisation, even if its only for a moment.  All of it adds depth.

Next: The Marlows and the Traitor (scheduled for Saturday 24th September)

Review: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Published: 2010
Pages: 344
Series: Fairytale Retellings #1
Read: 7th February 2011
Challenge: 1st in a Series (1/20)
Status: Owned book
Reason I Read It: I bought it because I stumbled upon Jackson's blog, I read it because of the reason stated below.

Synopsis: The March sisters, Scarlett and Rosie, have been fighting the Fenris (werewolves) ever since one of them killed their grandmother.  But now the wolves are looking for one boy in all the world to be turned, and the sisters decide to take the fight to them, hoping to wipe out the whole lot before the new one can be bitten.  There is violence, Platonic philosophy, tattoos, bowling, and girls kicking arse.  And it is awesome.

First Line: "Strangers never walk down this road, the sisters thought in unison as the man trudged towards them."

Review: Just to quickly get this out of the way - I bought this book last summer (I think when it came out) but I only started reading it because of the Bitch magazine huha.  I didn't pick it up until I read this article, especially point 6 in which Sisters Red is compared to a Buffy episode I love, and then I knew I had to read it.  So, I am aware of the debate going on around this and the other two books, but I'm not sure that I'm qualified to get involved in the discussion because I haven't been following it from the beginning - all of my information about what happened is based on articles other people have written.  Basically, I'm aware but don't want to get involved; I am employing the survival technique of ostriches everywhere.

Anyway...

I think the Buffy comparison is a good one, because for most of this book I was thinking that the easiest way to describe it was as Buffy-meets-Twilight-with-werewolves-instead-of-vampires*, and my love of Buffy far outweighs my dislike of Twilight so I was happy.  The Twilight element was only really in the main love story, but even that is rational and explained as people's feelings changing after they've known each other for years.  I didn't completely feel it, but I never tend to completely feel romances which are a bit of a sudden boom, we're in love - that's just me, and I'm aware that Buffy/Angel (Bangel?) is pretty much that.  And at least no one was secretly watching anyone else sleep.

However, the romance wasn't the sole focus of the novel; that was reserved for fighting the Fenris.  There was a point at which I wondered if every man in Atlanta was a Fenris, but that was addressed as logical because they're all in the city hunting for the Potential**.  In fact, every time I thought "oh, come on, it's blatantly obvious that it's So-and-So", the book provided clues that it wasn't - until the end in which it turned out that what I'd seen coming was indeed going to happen, but in a twisty way that made sense.  This is me trying very hard not to spoil, but I didn't see the logic behind the solution until it was presented to me (cryptic reviewer is cryptic) and then I was cursing because it was bloody obvious.

For the twistiness of the end, and girls beating up wolves in amazing action scenes - seriously, very good fights - I loved this book.  The beginning creeped me the hell out, as I tweeted, and there was action in pretty much every chapter.  The easiest way to sum it up is: it's one of the few paranormal romances I like.  I can't wait for the second in the series, Sweetly***, even though it doesn't feature the March sisters.  I'm once again glad there was a fuss over a book as it's made me read it (last time was Slaughterhouse-5).

Rating: 7/10

* I know there are werewolves in both of those series, but I'd say the primary focus is on the vampires.
** Who thankfully did not turn out to have a bad fake 'British' accent; yes, Molly, I mean you.
*** Side note: how awesome are the covers for these books?

Review: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Published: 1881
Pages: 266
Series: N/A
Read: 3rd February 2011
Challenge(s): Victorian Literature Challenge & Project Fill in the Gaps
Reason I Read It: It's on my Fill in the Gaps list.

Synopsis: Young Jim Hawkins has to deal with drunkards, mutineers, idiots who are fortunately on the other side, idiots who are unfortunately on his side, treachery, rum, skeletons and rum as he looks for treasure on Treasure Island - and all because his mother refused to be done out of money, even when pirates were trying to break into their home.

First Line: "Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace 17—, and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with the sabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof."

Review: I have to admit, most of my pre-reading knowledge of this story comes from the Muppets, which meant that as I read I was a) expecting things from the plot which, obviously, weren't going to happen; and b) imagining Tim Curry as Long John Silver which, having recently watched the end of Criminal Minds series 5, was not necessarily a Good Thing.  Though trying to remember which Muppets were which characters did lend a certain something to the proceedings, especially as Ben Gunn = Miss Piggy adds a whole new level to the novel.

Of Stevenson's other books, I've read Kidnapped and Jekyll and Hyde, and this is closer to the former.  I think I prefer Kidnapped, though it has been a while since I read it all the way through and half the fun of that book is how utterly crazy Alan Breck Stewart is.  Long John comes close to being as entertaining, but didn't quite get there; the other pirates all fall under the heading of "could you people be any dafter, this is ridiculous, please stop running around like drunken sheep".  None of the characters really drew me in, and Jim was a bit annoying as he was retelling the story from an adult's point of view and justifying some pretty silly moves.  I know that they ultimately helped the good guys and that he's a boy (query: how old is he meant to be?) but there were times when I was shaking my head.  I think that may be my main issue with the novel: people doing silly things even when they've been told not to - like the squire broadcasting that they're off on a treasure hunting cruise to everyone in Bristol, or during a mad dash escape when the heroes decide to stop and check if they've killed an enemy, then stand around congratulating themselves rather than, I don't know, heading for safety.

There were also times when the story dragged a little.  There are some seriously awesome set pieces - especially the fight on the ship during "My Sea Adventure"* - but other times when things are slowed right down when what you really want is more swashbuckling fun.  Some of this might be due to all the nautical speak, although I don't get bored by that in Master and Commander or Antonia Forest.  Of course, this might just be me.  I was in this for a madcap dash round the island, complete with pirates and rum (oh so much rum in this book), and this wasn't entirely what I got.  I kept reading, though, because the fantastically creepy bits - Blind Pew, the pirates coming back to The Admiral Benbow, the skeleton compass - far outweigh the slightly dull bits where I skimmed to get to the next brilliant bit.  And, as I recall, there are bits in Kidnapped when I skimmed (the bit on the island - ah, it's an island thing).

All in all, Treasure Island is fun, and for a Victorian novel it's very readable.  The heroes don't always make easy choices, not everything goes their way despite a lot of luck of overhearing things on Jim's part, and there are pirates.  Also, Dr Livesey has parmesan in his snuff box.

Rating: 6/10


* This would be me not spoiling that bit, because it is amazing.

Review: Ash by Malinda Lo

Published: 2009
Pages: 291
Series: N/A
Read: 4th January 2011
Challenge: A to Z Title Challenge
Status: Owned Book
Reason I Read It: It's a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, and it mixes the fairytale with fey.
Synopsis: With her parents both gone, Ash finds herself a servant in the house of her ruthless stepmother and there seems no hope of finding happiness again.  But Ash is unaware of her mother's legacy, and that it will lead her to a magical place.  A place where love, identity, and belonging are all waiting... (back copy)

First Line: "Aisling's mother died at midsummer."

Review: I first heard about this book here, and I have to admit my initial reaction was "a lesbian retelling of Cinderella?  Awesome, I must read it!".  The Cinderella expectations may have influenced me as I read it, because it doesn't play out as Cinderella - it isn't Princess Charming, for example (God awful as such a phrase sounds in my head) - but borrows elements and plays with them.  I've seen some reviews that dislike that it doesn't follow the pattern of the fairy tale exactly, and I admit that this was something I wasn't especially enamoured by, but this is a retelling: meddling with the format is part of it.  Once I got over that, I enjoyed it.

For prose alone, this book is phenomenal.  The language is so beautiful I was frequently wanting to shake my book in jealous writer fury.  The lyrical dreaminess exactly fits the story, as do all the interludes in which people tell tales (historical and fairy) to flesh out the world and to demonstrate the danger that Ash could fall into. The world feels fully realised, and I'm curious to know how many of the tales are entirely created by Lo, and how many variants of folk tales that we have*.  It all fits together to create an idea that there is a much richer history here, which only makes me very eager to get my hands on Huntress.

Saying all that, there were elements that didn't seem to mesh as well for me.  Again, it might be because of the Cinderella expectations, but there were times when the plot felt a little jarred.  Possibly my biggest issue (potential spoiler) is that there was no real comeuppance for the evil stepmother.  I wasn't expecting her to be made to dance in red hot boots, as in the original tale (thanks for that info, QI), but I would have liked a little vengeance.  I kept expecting it to turn out that she was lying about the debt Ash's father had left her in, and I wanted some sweeping legal retribution or something.  It fits that this doesn't happen - the book is about Ash finding her own identity and power - but I'm vindictive about things like this in fiction.  This is possibly just me, though.

The main love story plays out gently and subtly, though I would say that, even if I hadn't known it going in, I would have realised this was a lesbian story almost as soon as Kaisa appears.  It is perfect for a young, inexperienced 'first' love - I say 'first' like that because it's more about Ash's first experience with it rather than the first of many - with the uncertainty and the lack of realisation on Ash's part as to what she feels.  The ending didn't feel rushed, even if I flagged how it was going to play out before it did.

All in all, I enjoyed Ash but didn't love it.  Beautiful as it was, it didn't grab me in the same way as some books I adore.  Saying all that - which possibly sounds more critical than I intend it, damn lack of tone in the written word - I highly recommend it, and am definitely going to read Huntress.


Rating: 7/10

*Flashback to spending an hour translating a friend's medieval poem/saga/thing of a man going to Fairyland or some such.  There were a lot of descriptions of what the fashion hound fairies were wearing.