Review: Slated by Teri Terry (Slated #1)

A British dystopia?  An intiguing set up, good worldbuilding and a kickass heroine?  All present and helping to make Slated pretty damn awesome and a good first book for the year.

Title & Author: Slated by Teri Terry
Published: 2012
Series: Slated #1
Pages: 429 (Orchard ,2012)
Status: Borrowed from the library
NB: I'm not counting this towards my 2013 Debut Author Challenge as, technically, it was a 2012 debut in Britain.  Also I started reading it in 2012 so it would all feel like a cheat.

Synopsis: Kyla’s memory has been erased, her personality wiped blank, her memories lost for ever.

She’s been Slated.

The government claims she was a terrorist, and that they are giving her a second chance - as long as she plays by their rules. But echoes of the past whisper in Kyla’s mind. Someone is lying to her, and nothing is as it seems. Who can she trust in her search for the truth? (from Goodreads)

Review: I have to get something out of the way right at the top of this review - my biggest problem with the book was the ending.  Without spoiling, I'm just going to say that it felt rushed and was so clearly setting up book two (Fractured) that I felt a little cheated.  It's actually what knocked this book down a little in my estimation, as there's no real resolution and Kyla has a couple of sudden epiphanies that seem to come out of nowhere and are just there to make you want to read Fractured.  I wanted to read it without that ending!  It isn't a cliffhanger in the traditional sense, but it feels rushed and as if the book just stops with Kyla making a decision about what to do next and then bam, the end.

Having said that: I really liked this book otherwise.   It's a British dystopia!  There were elements that made me go "oh, cool, that references stuff that's happening now - argh, wait, this is stuff that's happening now!" and I particularly liked that the Evil Government Up To No Good were called the Central Coalition (though I then had another argh moment over this).  There's also reference to the EGUTNG being a result of severe riots and, yeah, hello 2011.  In a weird way, I liked that it was my country that had turned to the Dark Side (in fiction, anyway).

The science fiction elements are well handled: people under 16 who are deemed an enemy of the government are given a chance to start over again by being Slated - their memories are removed and they're given new families.  They're also closely monitored and non-consenting minors* and there are a lot of hints about what happens if you're over 16 and annoy the EGUTNG, but not so much that I have all the answers.  I get the feeling that this will be explored more in the rest of the trilogy, and that we'll get more on just why people get chosen and how the technology was developed - more so than we have already, anyway.

All in all, this was a good first book let down by a rushed ending.  I will definitely be reading the rest of the trilogy, but this would have been the case even without the open ending - I was intrigued from page one and really enjoyed the world and characters, I just wish there had been a proper resolution to the story of Slated before we rushed into Fractured, but I still think this a very good, accomplished and taut thriller throughout the rest of the book.

* In most cases.  I did like that there was reference to the way in which Slating is used to help people get over severe trauma, as it did suggest that the technology could be used to help rather than oppress, and also stopped it being completely one-sided.  Still, complete memory wipe? 

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff

Published: 1957
Pages: 246
Series: The Dolphin Ring Cycle #2
Read: 22nd - 23rd September 2011
Challenge: N/A
Status: Borrowed but buying
Reason I Read It: I really liked The Eagle of the Ninth and am now determined to read all of Rosemary Sutcliff's books.

Synopsis: Violence and unrest are sweeping through Roman Britain. Justin and Flavius find themselves caught up in the middle of it all when they discover a plot to overthrow the Emperor. In fear for their lives they gather together a tattered band of men and lead them into the thick of battle, to defend the honour of Rome. But will they be in time to save the Emperor... (from Goodreads)

First line: "On a blustery autumn day a galley was nosing up the wide loop of a British river that widened into the harbour of Rutupiae."

Review: Rosemary Sutcliff is one of my favourite 'new' authors of the year.  The Eagle of the Ninth was fantastic, Outcast was good if depressing until about 1/5 from the end, and I definitely want to read all of her books even though this will no doubt involve tracking a few down second hand.  The Silver Branch sits somewhere between those two in terms of how much I like it (I think it's going to take a lot to knock The Eagle of the Ninth off its top spot in my estimation) and is the book I knew least about as I started reading, both plot- and history-wise.

Because I thought I knew something about Roman Britain.  And I did, it's just that my education always focused on Julius Caesar, Claudius and Boudicca and then fastforwarded 350 years to the Romans leaving us to panic over a lack of luxuries and the fear of invasion.  So, because I never bothered to do any research of my own, I never knew someone called Carausius set himself up as Emperor of Britain and northern Gaul in 286 AD (thank you, Wikipedia) or that he would be the Emperor featured in The Silver Branch.  I genuinely thought Justin and Flavius would be dashing off to Rome and that there'd be a pellmell dash over Europe in a similar style to Marcus and Esca's journey to Scotland in The Eagle of the Ninth.  That the book is set entirely in Britain and that through this I learned a bit of history (and now want to read more on the time period) is an unexpected bonus of reading the book.

I also hadn't realised that both Justin and Flavius are descendants of Marcus, and that the Eagle from the first book would play a part in this one.  Or that the book would turn into an espionage drama halfway through, with lots of sneaking around and secret paths above the town - I love stuff like that.  Add in a couple of courageous last stands and a fantastic closing battle and the book was full of things I enjoy that I hadn't expected to find.  Sutcliff's prose is always beautiful, her plot raced along even during 'quiet' moments and I felt like I learned something.  I am going to have to read the rest of this series.

Rating: 9/10

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: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant

Published: 2009
Pages: 337
Series: N/A
Read: 12th-13th September 2011
Challenge: N/A
Status: Borrowed but buying
Reason I Read It: I have The Glass Demon by Helen Grant on my TBR shelf, and because of the first line of this book.

Synopsis: On the day Katharina Linden disappears, Pia is the last person to see her alive.  Terror is spreading through the town.  How could a ten-year-old girl vanish in a place where everybody knows everybody else?

Pia is determined to find out what happened to Katharina.  But then the next girl disappears...(back copy)

First Line: "My life might have been so different had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded."

Review: How could I resist an opening line like that?  Although there aren't any exploding grandmothers in the book - it's more a freak accident involving hairspray and an open flame - the novel more than lives up to that first sentence.  The fact that Pia is in her late teens narrating events from her childhood allows the language and the commentary to be grown up without being ridiculous precocious.  The prose alone is a reason to read, and the plot and characterization make this an exceptionally good book.

While I enjoyed the book as a whole, possibly my favourite thing is the German folklore that pervades the story.  The tales Pia is told eventually colour not only her notions of what is happening to the vanishing girls but also her perceptions of the book's climax.  There's nothing supernatural about the girl's disappearances - there's all too human an explanation - but the ending contrives to makes events take on a folkloric quality.  Often the book feels like an extended folk tale, with the perils lurking not with the Fiery Man of the Hirnberg or in a haunted mill but in the house of someone seen every day.

Overall, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is the perfect mix of prose, plot and folklore all seen through a child's perspective of the adult world.  There are some moments of genuine horror and an ending that isn't perfectly happy, which makes the book as a whole like a true folk tale: even if the hero wins, there isn't a guaranteed happily ever after. 

Rating: 10/10

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)

Focus On: Antonia Forest

In March I read The Marlows and the Traitor, the second in the Marlows series by Antonia Forest and the last book of hers I had left to read.  This did not fill me with joy.  She's one of those writers who never wrote nearly enough to satisfy her fans, even though she wrote ten books over the course of 34 years, and even though they are all quite long for children's books.  All but one of her books focus on the Marlow family; four are school stories; two are historical; and they all feature wonderful prose, believable characters and an ironic view of the world. 

Unlike a lot of school stories, Kingscote is a real school: no wonderfully understanding headmistress, no jolly nice prefects, and no guarantee that the 'villains' will be punished at the end.  The girls are teenage girls, with cliques, rivalries, and friendships that often include cruel words and painful ostracism.  Within the Marlow family there are favourites, arguments and misunderstandings.  Even Nicola, the heroine, is not saved from being wrong or spared ironic representation. 

To summarise: I am a massive fan of these books.

So, I'm going to have a reread.  First the present day Marlow series, then the two historical novels, and finally The Thursday Kidnapping, the standalone book.

The Marlows series
Published between 1948 and 1982, the books only cover two and a half years in the lives of the characters but are all set during the time in which they were written.  The series starts with references to the Blitz and ends with characters watching Morecambe and Wise.  There are seven books in the series: four school stories and three 'holiday' books, although the events of these last range from spies to gymkhanas.

Autumn Term (1948)
The Marlows and the Traitor (1953)
Falconer's Lure (1957)
End of Term (1959)
Peter's Room (1961)
The Thuggery Affair (1965)
The Ready-Made Family (1967)
The Cricket Term (1974)
The Attic Term (1976)
Run Away Home (1982)

Historical novels
The Player's Boy (1970) and The Players and the Rebels (1971) are really one book split in half for length.  They're set in the later years of Elizabeth I, are mentioned in the main series, and feature Shakespeare, Marlow and the Essex Rebellion.

The Thursday Kidnapping
Published in 1963 this is the only book by Antonia Forest not to feature the Marlow family.  It is set in Hampstead Heath, where she grew up, and features one of the most painfully accurate portrayals of a lonely girl I've ever read.

Of all these books, my favourite is The Cricket Term - though whether that will change when I've reread them all, I don't know.  I suspect it won't, but you never know.

Later: Autumn Term, which I haven't read all the way through for ages.

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: 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.

Review: Night World vol 1 by LJ Smith

New/Old Read: New
Date Read: 17th December 2010
Times Read: 1

Synopsis: Vampires, werewolves, witches, shape shifters - they live among us without our knowledge.  Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules.  And falling in love breaks all the rules of Night World. (from Goodreads)

Review: This volume comprises the first three Night World books - Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness and Enchantress - so I'm reviewing each separately here.

Secret Vampire - I read this when I was a teenager (16?) and although I did start to reread it when I got the compilation volume - my single copy of this title is in a box somewhere - I found that I could remember the story well enough that I didn't want to reread.  This may be telling in itself, as I am not one to hesitate to reread a book I enjoyed first (or fifteenth) time around, but I do remember enjoying the book when I read it.  So, even though I didn't reread it this time, that shouldn't be taken as a bad sign - and I'm now tempted to read it because I vaguely recall people from the later books rocking up in it.

Daughters of Darkness - I got a little stalled on this one, again distracted by something shiny, but also because I found it a little weak.  Though I think possibly if I'd read it in one go like I did Enchantress I would have enjoyed it more.  There is the problem that I find in a lot of paranormals that the main characters fall in love so fast I'm surprised they don't have whiplash, but here it's at least explained away as them being soul mates, rather than someone just having an amazing fragrant freesia scent.  And the characters here fight against it, they don't want to be that much in love and it scares them, which is completely believable.  There always wasn't a completely neat happily ever after, which filled me with glee.  Definitely good for people who want a bit more realism in their paranormal romance.

My main issue was the plot, which was a little weak.  It wasn't, fortunately, just there to make the protagonists have to fight for/rescue each other, but it was a bit too simple.  A whodunnit that was a little obvious, as the culprit was found, questioned, cast as innocent and then oh noes it was him all along!  Saying that, the final confrontation was awesome.  Writing this review I'm realising that I preferred the latter half of the book much more than the beginning.

Enchantress - witches!  Yay!  I have a soft spot for witches, possibly because of Jill Murphy*, and this book was also heavy on the feminism and the strength of women which is a definite plus.  Blaize was a bit too much of an omgsogorgeous, but a lot of that was explained away by magic.  Again, the main romance was a bit rushed, but again it was because of the soul mate thing and again the protagonists tried to fight it.  And the consequences of it were massive and dealt with in a serious way.

The plot in Enchantress was also a bit simple, as we knew which sprit had been released and was wreaking havoc, but the tension then came in how they could stop it.  The ending was, again, fantastic, with everything crashing together at once.  It was also realistic, though a bit neater than the end of Daughters of Darkness.  It also makes me want to buy the next volume, as I suspect a deeper plot arc emerging and I want to read it.  If the characters from these books show up again in later volumes and there's a wider issue at stake, I will be very happy.

Rating: 6/10

* There's a fifth Worst Witch book?  How did I not know that?  I am going to have to get that.

Review: Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Published: 2005
Pages: 336
Series: Little Blue Envelope #1
Read: December 16th 2010
Challenge: N/A
Reason I Read It: I've read several of MJ's other books.

Synopsis: When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen.  What Ginny doesn't know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one.  Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel. (from Goodreads)

First Line: "Dear Ginger, I have never been a great follower of rules."

Review: Have to confess that this was on the rapidly growing pile of books I'd started, got about fifty pages into, and then put down when I was distracted by something shiny and new.  And then I got to the fifty page mark again on this readthrough and the same thing nearly happened, but this time I managed to pinpoint the issue and it's entirely mine: it's set in London.  Daft, eh?  But I know London, I now live there, and so I was kind of going "oh, it was all new to me when it was set in New York and there's European travel on the horizon, but London?  Nothing exciting there" (even though I know that last statement is completely untrue).

Once I got past this the book picked up for me, even before Ginny set off for Europe.  And once she got to Europe I turned into a page turning loon, rushing through the remainder of the book like it was reading crack.  The book made me want to rush off to Europe (because it's right there, there's this tunnel they dug to connect us and everything), and I felt as if I was in every city that was described.  There were a few episodes of the book that I wasn't sure where they fit, even in the thematic sense, but every bit kept me reading.  Then the ending made me cry - and that's the second time an MJ book has done that to me; the other was The Key to the Golden Firebird - but wasn't so perfectly tied up in a neat little bow that it made me want to throw it across the room.  Though I am curious as to what the sequel will be about - which is what makes me want to get my grubby mitts on a copy now.

However, much as I liked it, I didn't love it the same way I love Devilish and Girl at Sea (read both of those now if you haven't).  It was an enjoyable read, but compared to those two it didn't grab me.  The romance didn't have the same effect on me as in the other two.  Basically, this book fell down for me because I read my two favourite MJs before this, which is, again, totally on me.  Definitely recommend it, but I would recommend the other two more.

Rating: 8/10

Review: The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

Published: 2010
Pages: 332
Series: The Mockingbirds #1
Read: 7th December 2010
Challenge: N/A
Status: Owned Book
Reason I Read It: I saw it recommended/reviewed a lot online

Synopsis: Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers. (from Goodreads)

First Line: "Three things I know this second: I have morning breath, I'm naked, and I'm waking up next to a boy I don't know."

Review: Started this yesterday evening on a whim and then sat up till 1am to finish it.  As I said on Twitter, it's an 'issue' book without being heavy-handed.  When I think of 'issue' books I think of the God-awful things we were forced to read at school, which taught us such wonderful things as "murder is wrong"*.  This book deals with a real issue and does it in a way that is thoughtful, sensitive and lightly done enough that someone doesn't react against the lesson.


That isn't to say that there weren't moments that were clearly - I don't want to say 'preaching' because that is wrong, but laying down a manifesto for how things should be.  For what consent is.  As Whitney puts it

If a person does not say "no" that does not mean he or she said "yes".  Silence does not equal consent.

A very important message for people to learn, along with the fact that when someone is drunk you don't take advantage.  As Whitney says in her Author's Note, she was date raped at university and this pervades the novel.  You know the way Alex is reacting is true to life, is the way you would react, including the last minute doubts about what really happened and the initial denial that anything did.  The rape scenes themselves are, naturally, horrible, and the way in which the memories slowly return during the book is powerful.  It all made me want to throw copies at teenagers and make them read it.


This possibly makes it sound like all the book is good for is a message, which is what 'issue' books are usually about.  But the characters are great, the prose fluent and engaging, and the relationship that grows up throughout the book is wonderful.  Best of all is the idea of the Mockingbirds themselves, using the message in Harper Lee to fight for good, including a trial that plays along similar lines to Tom Robinson's.  And all of this set in a boarding school with its own weird rules and regulations.  School story + To Kill A Mockingbird = I am in my own little readerly heaven.  


Rating: 8/10


* Really, teacher, and here I'd reached the age of twelve thinking it was OK to run down an old woman with a stolen scooter and then lie about it until eventually the guilt drives me mad like someone in an Edgar Allen Poe story.  For more info, see the book to which I refer - what irks me is that this guy also wrote the Beaver Towers books, which were amongst my favourites when I was younger.

Finished 50: Some Category Award Things

With the awesome Anna and the French Kiss I have now read 50 new books this year, so the next couple of posts will be about those.  Starting with a little category award type thing, though I don't think the categories have any relation to anything real.

Book That Made Me Swear The Most While Reading

I have a fairly dirty, I-could-be-an-extra-on-The-Wire mouth at the best (worst?) of times, but The Hunger Games made me exercise it to the full.  I was swearing, calling the whole thing fucked up, texting my friends to warn them that it was fucked up, and generally doing Clay Davis impressions every so often.  That possibly sounds like a condemnation, but the ranting came from the world being so real and the peril being so present and the Capitol and Game Planners being so evil I was wanting to call down curses upon their heads, not to mention the escalating wtfery that was going down.  A definite example of It Got Worse, the book kicks into high gear once The Games start, but even before that there are moments of "what?  Wait, what?  That really happened?  Are you kidding me?".  Highly recommended (and I still managed to read it on a train).  See also Mark Reads for someone equally new to the series discovering it.

Book That Made Me Laugh The Most While Reading

Movies in Fifteen Minutes - if you know the website it's pretty much that but with films not featured online.  As ever, the parodies are great, but best of all it made me remember about some films I love (and others from which I am staying far away) and sent me into a mammoth Lord of the Rings rewatch that get me going during the first days of NaNo.  Nothing like sitting around drunkenly with your friends remembering jokes you'd made *cough*seven*cough* years ago at university.  The book is quite hard to find - had to Amazon Marketplace it - but it is out there and definitely worth hunting down.  And if that's too tricky, there's the site and the Twilight film reviews: Twilight, New Moon ("Bella, you should be wearing a life jacket") and, possibly my favourite, Eclipse (extra added sparkle-saga).

Book That Saved Me During A God-Awful Train Journey

That might not sound like particularly high praise, but if I hadn't had The Changeover at the time I probably would have ended up on the news for going mad on an over crowded train (Salisbury to Exeter, let's have fewer carriages than we need, no one goes to the West Country).  Sitting on your bag in the corridor with no natural light being stepped on is not fun, so I was glad to have this book to distract me.  I ordered it in the first place because of this (slightly spoiler-y) post but didn't really get round to reading it till that journey.  By the point I started I was at the changeover itself and was rushed along by the language, which is about 4 pages of amazing prose and imagery.  After that I rushed through to the end, and then spent the last twenty minutes or so of the journey digesting what I'd read (by then I had a seat near the door so this was accompanied by great Devon countryside).  I was very glad to have put this in my bag on a whim.

Book That Made Me Glad Not To Be Fifteen Anymore

Don't get me wrong, I loved this book - read it in one sitting and carried it round the house while fetching coffee - but it did make me glad I'm not a teenager.  Part of that is that it is so true to life (the cliques, the way your friends suddenly morph into evil bitch trolls from hell, the panic over how to fit in) but another part was seeing things that the narrator didn't.  The original love interest is a twat, it's completely clear he's not worth anything...unless you're a fifteen-year-old girl, in which case he is hot.  Reading that back that sounds horribly disparaging, but I know that if I've read this when I was fifteen I would have been wondering the same things about him as Jessie; it completely captures the way crushes can blind you to the truth about a person.  Ditto long term friendship.  To sound like a pompous reviewer in a Christmas culture mag: one of my favourite books of the year (and it made me want to play Dungeons and Dragons).

Some quick final 'categories':

Why Had I Never Read This Before? - Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

Who Needs to Sleep When You Can Read? - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (also gets the Most Obvious Product Placement Award)

I Finally Read a Booker Winner and It Was Good - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

I'm Sorry, What?  Part 1: Now That's a Twist - Wake by Lisa McMann (also gets the I Need the Next Book NOW Or, Y'Know, When I Can Afford It Award)

I'm Sorry, What?  Part 2: Where Did That Come From? - A Passage to India by E.M. Forster: highlight to read a potential spoiler the bit where Mrs Moore died on the boat out of India!  What the hell, Forster? It surprised me so much I physically jumped on a train journey.

More to follow soon, maybe including a top ten and things I've learnt from my readings.