Shadows

Shadows

(image from cuts-of-paper.blogspot.com)

Robin McKinley

Maggie lives in a world that has separated itself from magic. Newworld's workings are based on science, and magic was gene-chopped from every family generations ago. But Val, her new stepfather, carries with him a presence that can only be the magic of the Oldworld, where he came from. Shadows seem to center around him, and he refuses technology in his shed/office. But soon Maggie will have to face a reality that forces her to rely on Val's shadows and, possibly, her own heritage.

THERE. Summary DONE. If anyone can figure out what genre this book is, I'd be glad. Dystopian, fantasy, paranormal? I think I'll just file it under "other".

I'm going to have a Jill appreciation moment. Practically first YA BFF that wasn't cast aside for romance. Platonic relationships for the win!

On a less savory note, the plot didn't really come to a boil until nearly the end of the book. There was a lot of set-up, and that set up was cool, but even at the end the conflict seemed a bit hazy. I have a feeling this book is the first in a series and I'm missing the others. 

The characters were so great. I'm giving them individual paragraphs because I don't want a huge text block.

Maggie- Somewhat irritating tendency to use valley girl-esque slang, but that kind of added to character, so it was all okay. Cool with animals and non-animal things that may or may not be sentient, always a plus. Interesting character for a POV. B+ Character, would be A if she wasn't so obsessed with butts.

Jill- The best character by far. She's possibly the only character that, despite her foresight, was any bit NORMAL.If you can't tell from the top note, yeah, I really love how she was in a platonic relationship that wasn't thrown aside for the romance. Even if she acted as wingman occasionally.

Takahiro- Quiet, but not brooding. Interesting to learn about, but not because of some super deep-dark mysterious past. [DEAR GOD THE SPOILERS HAVE RETURNED, HIDE YOUR CHILDREN] He wasn't totally love interest material. However, no love interest is perfect- they can just sucker punch cliches like Taks here. [Hush my darling, don't fear my darling, the spoilers sleep tonight...] It's also really nice not to have another white love interest. Speaking as a white person, I'm okay without another black-hair-green-eyes-tan-skin-but-still-white guy.

Casimir- Well, I thought [THE Spoilers from Italy are coming today ] That he was going to be the love interest, and was kind of thrown off by how he wasn't. Really, he was kind of pushed away. Sad. [*creeps away from the spoilers with a sense of loss and confusion*] Anyhow, I think he would have been cool if he'd been given a little more time. Interested in science, knows his mythos... THERE WAS SO MUCH THERE. WHY.

Val- Seems like the bad guy, but I assure you he isn't. Fun to read about, decent for sympathizing. I'm glad he didn't end up as the villain, because that would be way too easy.

The writing style was a bit weird. There was a lot of future slang and a clear attempt at being open to the "younger" audience (read: valley girl talk). There was also virtually no commas. That's not a voice complaint, that's a comma-hoarder feeling bizarre that no one agrees with them. It's not a perfect voice, but you can get into it easily enough.

The fantasy elements were awesome. I loved the shadows, even though they weren't described in detail (lots of legs, snake-like, silver eyes- anything else?). I wish the cobeys were explained a bit more, but, eh, we can't have everything.

I'll admit, it didn't exactly keep you on the edge of your seat. The exciting stuff only really started in the last two thirds of the book. That was disappointing, but at least it happened eventually.

Now, to the romance. If you don't like spoilers just go to the point where I sign off. It'll be easier that way. Takahiro as the love interest gave me mixed feelings. While it's nice to have a love interest that isn't the mysterious bad boy, he didn't seem like a love interest. He doesn't seem to talk to Maggie until they fall in love. The two have one common interest- origami. That's ONE thing. ONE. I require two common goals or interests to be pleased.

~Corinne

Words you may want to read- maybe

I'm going to put up a queue on here. My own schedule is pretty erratic, so I'm thinking that if I just write the reviews and let them auto-post at set times, it'll be easier on all of us. I'm shooting for three times a month, on the 1st, 15th, and 30th. Complaints will show up when I write them.

Otherwise, no change. Carry on.

~Corinne

Silver

Silver

(image from chriswooding.com)

Okay, I'm going to put the actual summary here, but I swear it's not because I'm lazy. You'll see why later.

Paul is the new kid at Mortingham Boarding Academy, and he has a dark secret.
Caitlyn admires Paul from afar and resents that he only has eyes for Erika.
Erika thinks that she and Caitlyn are best friends, but she's wrong.
Adam is a bully with a major chip on his shoulder.
Mark is outgrowing his old friends but doesn't know how to make new ones.

In a few short hours, none of this will matter. Without warning, a horrifying infection will spread across the school grounds, and a group of students with little in common will find themselves barricaded in a classroom, fighting for their lives. Some will live. Some will die. And then it will get even worse.

(Summary EBILLY taken from its amazon page)

Okay, this review has a lot of spoilers. You might as well ignore it if you don't want spoilers.

Silver is a book I'll have trouble describing. I desperately want to say it was good or bad, but it just... wasn't. It felt like it wasn't even there. However, I'll try my best to break it into parts.

The plot screamed "zombies!", but it wasn't a regular zombie book. It had a different take on zombies, making them something new and interesting. It also wasn't a robot-uprising book. Frankly, I hadn't ever thought the two could even come together, much less so well. Anyone know any other genre combining books like this? I'm really getting to like them.

The characters were distinct in their own ways, but I'm going to have to admit their voices didn't seem too different. That might have been just because the narrative was third person (making it, like, a yasreadyas first, I think). At the same time, it was just a little too hard to differentiate them. The boys were much better off than the girls in that respect. They had plenty of development and were active characters. Generally, they were just so much better than the girls. Caitlyn and Erika were nearly indistinguishable if you didn't pay attention to the opinions they were stating. 

Continuing on the last paragraph, I don't even think this book passed the Bechdel test. With two female main characters, I'm not certain if it passed the narrative Bechdel test, if that exists. Caitlyn's thoughts entirely revolve around Paul or being mad at Erika because Paul likes her. Just read the mini descriptions in the summary. The boys all get blurbs of their own. Caitlyn's is about Paul. Erika's is about Caitlyn, and it tracks back to Paul. I don't know, it just made me really uncomfortable how little Caitlyn and Erika acted on their own.

The boys, I'll restate, were really interesting. Paul was an extremely proactive character who's actions were great to follow. Mark was my personal hero, as the socially inept geek trying to look normal. And failing. Miserably. There are probably a few readers on here who can relate to that. Adam's backstory was blurry and a bit generic (bully who's only mean because of a bad home life, thus making them unaccountable for all actions), but his character, present tense, was strong and true.

The descriptions in this book were fantastic. How the Infected were shown was so interesting. It felt like you could really see them. Also, they were painfully creepy. So maybe you don't want to see them. However, if you enjoy being plagued by nightmares for what may be the rest of your natural life, this is your book!

Subtle mentions at the beginning of the book may become very important later on, just warning you. I liked how everything tied together that way.

Since the romance didn't quite exist outside of one-sidedly, I'll give you this mini-rant. Why is science always the bad guy in these books? Why? You are not helping anyone by making science evil. I mean...

(Before I forget, trigger warnings for the book- Suicide, death)

~Corinne

Storm

Storm

(Image from its goodreads page)

Donna Jo Napoli

Trigger warnings for the book- mentions of rape and death

Sixteen-year-old Sebah's home is washed away in a flash flood, killing her family. She is left with only a swamp kit, Screamer, and her mantle. She finds a nook in the rocks to live in, but she grows weaker by the day.

Eventually, a man washes up next to her. Now she has to take care of him, too, but he's slipping away. When they come upon an ark, will she be willing to leave him behind?

So, this book is kind of a retelling of Noah's Ark. I'm going have to admit, the last time I read the Bible I had a high fever and no clue what was going on. I'm not shooting for biblical accuracy here.

Sebah was a great character. She was smart and protective and... eee, I just wanted to hug her! Later in the book she no longer seemed to do anything, becoming a sort of plot device instead of a character, but if she stayed like she was in the beginning, I think I would have loved her.

I dearly hope Aban wasn't meant to be a sympathetic character. He's arrogant and possessive of Sebah. When the first thing a character does is grab the MC by the hair and say 'you are mine, you will be my wife', I start to hate them. And continue to hate them. Frankly, I was kind of glad when [spoiler] he died.[end spoiler]

There's a thousand Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, and so on retelllings, and I LOVE seeing something new. I think a take on Noah's Ark was a great idea, and (to my limited knowledge of the story) it had great execution.

The story didn't have a lot of dialogue. Sebah, after all, is mostly with animals. However, that didn't make the book feel empty. Ms. Napoli wrote the lack of speech well, still building characters and pushing intrigue without spoken words. 

The one thing I really need to get off my chest, though, is the rating for this book. I think I might have really liked it had it not been labelled as YA. The voice of the story seemed very grown-up, and the goings-ons follow suit. There's a lot of talk of 'mating' or implied mating. Or descriptions of mating. If it was just the animals I would push it aside and ignore it, but it applies to Sebah, too. She mentions 'mating' with Aban multiple times. I understand it becomes important later on, but the wording messed it up.

(Still on the same thing as last paragraph) There's a lot of things I had to file under 'either I read something wrong or you said something wrong'. Sebah [HOLY SPOILER BATMAN] gets pregnant and then there's a lot of boob talk. Later, when she has the baby there's things like 'I heard the baby's cry and milk rushed from my breasts'. Like, okay. Really, didn't need to hear that. [It's okay, the spoiler is over]. What I'm trying to say is it didn't read like a YA. I think I would have been okay with it had it been called an adult book instead of a YA.

The stuff about Noah's family was really interesting. I wish there was a bit more on Ada and Leba, but what was there was great. The way Noah developed was amazing.

So, here's something weird that I want to say but isn't important. There's a lot of retellings that are set in modern times. Honestly, I haven't seen many 'add a character but keep the rest' stories. I liked that. It was fun that way.

The romance. The romance. You already heard my piece on Aban. [Just ignore the rest of this if you don't like spoilers] Bash would have been an okay character if he hadn't turned into another love interest. He felt like an excuse to keep Sebah from being independent. I loved the parts where she was independent.

(I liked this book a bit more than I let on, sorry)

~Corinne

She is not invisible

She is not invisible

(image from its goodreads page)

Marcus Sedgwick

Laureth's father is the famous author Jack Peak. When on a routine trip, he goes missing. He won't answer his phone. Laureth's mother refuses to question it. Laureth might be the only one who will do anything about it. Her father's notebook appears in New York, the only evidence of him after the disappearance. Laureth books a flight to NYC, but there's another a problem. Laureth is blind. With her seven year old brother and her other senses, she'll have to brave the concrete jungle and find her father.

Okay, first thing, I am so glad the author didn't resort to third person because of "wow. much blind. such hard. no colors. :(". A lot of books are extremely visual and it's kind of nice to read one that isn't. There's plenty more senses than sight.

Laureth, as a character, was fab. Beyond fab. She fit strong female character criteria without equating strength with masculinity or a lack of emotion. She's a bit impulsive (lives in London, books a flight to NYC when it's implied her father's there). She's also clever and a little frustrated, but not cynical. Really refreshing as a heroine.

Benjamin was a little harder to judge as a character. I haven't been seven in a long time. Frankly, I have no idea how seven year olds usually act. He seemed a bit older than most seven year olds, but at least that's addressed. He didn't seem to develop much, or at least I didn't notice it.

There were a few things I wish were explained. For instance, the Benjamin Effect. Is it a coincidence or...? It's plot convenient sometimes and inconvenient at others. I feel like it's mentioned enough to get some vague maybe-it's-this.

In concept, the plot is rather dull. Person disappears. MC must go on a quest over a large distance to find them. Self discovery. Secondary characters appear. Person is found in an odd place/way. Yaaaaaaay. However, the execution is what makes a story sparkle. This was executed fantastically. The details made it feel like it was new and shiny. Very nice. *golf clap*

The occasional interception of normal text with passages from their father's notebook was interesting. I kind of expected just some italicized text for excerpts from other things. I liked how it was set-up, like the pages were scanned in. The notes and smiley/frowny faces made the whole thing feel alive.

The story was kind of a slow build. It wasn't blockbuster movie action-packed or anything. It was okay that way, but it didn't push me to finish it as much as I wanted to be pushed. There were a lot of scenes reflecting on things that happened before he disappeared, which gave it a more philosophical than thriller-y feel. Not sure how I felt about that.

On the romance- HA HA PSYCHE THERE IS NO ROMANCE THANK GOD. THANK THOTH THANK FREYJA THANK ANU. I'M FREE. I DIDN'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH UNNECESSARY ROMANCE OR GAG ON SAPPY DIALOGUE AND KISSES EVERY TWO PARAGRAPHS. YEEEEEEEEEESSSS. HEY, LET'S THANK MAMLAMBO, TOO, JUST 'CUZ.

(Sorry for the outburst- but I think this is the only book I've reviewed without any hint of romance)

~Corinne

How to be a YA Heroine

How to be a YA Heroine

(A semi-sarcastic guide)

(Obviously not all heroines are like this. Most are amazing and wonderful, but this is the stereotypical, overused heroine. We've all probably met her before.)

1. Be Completely Average

By average, we mean white, straight, cis, 100% physically and neurologically abled. Brown hair, green or brown eyes. You are the water, the white wall of society. Nothing special, nothing to notice. You may have up to one missing parent. If you choose to have both, don't mention them much. They're not important. They don't exist. Shhhhhh...

2. BUT- Don't be like the Other Girls 

The Other Girls, if you don't know them (you do, you're the only girl who isn't one of them), are a disgusting race of vapid, superficial cakefaced "girls". The wear skirts so short they could pass as- OMG- BELTS. Those revolting Other Girls. All they care about is boys. You are the only girl in the entire world that actually thinks about your grades or books. I mean, gosh, you drink TEA. Other Girls run entirely on Starbucks.

This is why you have so few friends. And those friends, well, they're just some of the better Other Girls. They don't matter much. You'd never waste page space with something as pointless as platonic relationships when you have HIM- but we'll get to that.

3. Have One to Two Diverse Friends

Obviously those evil PoC and/or LGBTQIAP+ people would KILL you if you didn't throw away some of the words you could describe HIM with to say 'Devon was gay'. So have one or two (no more) diverse friends. 

If your friend is a person of color: Describe them with phrases like 'coffee with lots of cream' or 'bronze'. This helps the reader to establish that they are objects or consumables, not actually important or human. Mention it once, ignore it later.

Saying your friend gets the ambiguous 'mocha' or 'coffee with lots of cream', do not actually elaborate as to their ethnicity. South Asian? Latina/o? West Pacific Islander? Who cares? You could have been describing HIM for all the words you took to vaguely state something about skin.

If your friend is LGBTQIAP+ (Just kidding, silly, it's only ever the G): They are white. First thing. You cannot be in two marginalized groups at once, that's common knowledge. They're guys, too. Only befriend sassy gay guys who wear scarves and talk with traditionally feminine characteristics of speech. This lets us know that they are gay. No straight man can wear a scarf, unless they use the magic chant to ward of its evils- "No homo no homo no homo no homo."

4. Meet HIM

The most pivotal part of any girl's life is meeting HIM (except those Other Girls- they're ugly, you hate them, and because of that they will never find love). He's perfect. He has abs. Did you see his eyes?! They're the color of a crisp autumn twilight sky with minimal cloud cover over a small town which has few artificial lights to cause light pollution. As soon as you see him, you know he's the one.

This isn't simple infatuation- oh, no- this is the rest of your life and plotline calling here. Waste no time to coo over how his face looks like it was carved by a Greek god, or how chiseled his jawline is. Before he speaks, have at least three paragraphs describing his eyes, two for his eyes, and one for the rest of his body.

His personality can be completely cardboard, all we need is your codependency with him. If he leaves to go to the bathroom, cry. Throw a fit. He LEFT you. It's not his fault, though. Nothing is his fault. He is perfect. He has perfect hair and teeth like a military cemetery. And when he smiled, you fell instantly in love.

5. Find Your Rival

She, however, is going to get in the way. By 'she', I mean the queen of the Other Girls. She has the laugh of a hyena and the proportions of a Barbie Doll. Also, she hates you. A lot. You may have been friends, but then over the summer she got hot and you stayed not.

She plans to steal your beloved Love Interest. Due to your and her love for him, you guys butt heads a lot. It's sad, though, because she only loves him for his body and you love him for his body and your freaky symbiotic relationship.

She is the scum of the Earth. Do not forget.

6. Assert Your Dominance

You are the most important person other than HIM in the book. You have to stay on top. You could, of course, achieve this by being a proactive character and having an interesting personality. But isn't just so much easier to make sure you're better than everyone else?

If you see a girl and call her pretty, point out a flaw that you don't have. Yeah, she looks nice, but her hair's a mess. You always brush your hair. Or maybe you don't. You're flawless, you don't have to. And them? They're funny, but their grades are terrible. Your grades are perfect. You are perfect. Only HE can be more perfect than you.

Even friends should be subjected to this. Wouldn't want to think that your confectionery-skinned buddy was prettier or nicer or smarter than you! Now that you've found HIM all your friends talk about how hot he is. You find this acceptable, but you still quietly chuckle about how boy crazy they are. You're not. Your boyfriend and you have just happened to join skins or whatever.

7. Throw Yourself in Harm's Way

While your readership no doubt cares about HIM and how you can kiss five times a paragraph, your story needs a bit of spicing up. Injuries are a perfect way to do that. Get hit by a car. Go into a coma for three days. Faint, wake up a week later, and sustain no serious brain damage or long-term health affects (like dying). Get MRSA! Spell it Mersa because, by golly, you can! Recover from Mersa. It only took two weeks or so, and neither of those weeks were covered in text or will ever be mentioned again. However, you bulked up the story by a chapter or two, so it was pretty good.

8. Learn How to Lie

No matter the genre, you're going to lie. A lot. And while it's nice that your family has absolutely zero sense of deception and will let you get away with anything, you've got to lie convincingly. Or non-convincingly. Maybe your voice squeaks and you shake and you sigh in relief as soon as they agree with whatever you said. They'll never notice.

Also, if you need to go someplace, just say you're going to the library. Doesn't matter that you're not going to come back with a book. You might "go" there every day and not once return with a book. Parents don't see this kind of thing.

9. Suddenly Remember the Plot

In the last forty pages, remember that you actually came here for a reason. Finish what you were doing. End with a kiss.

XOXOXO.

(Might do YA heroes next. Anyone catch the WTNV reference? I felt kind of bad about it, because WTNV has, like, romantic development and an interesting story to tell. And I compared it to Miss Heroine here. Oh well.)

~Corinne
 (Added because I can.)