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

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

Wintergirls

WINTERGIRLS

LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON

(Picture from http://lovelyreader.blogspot.com/2011/05/wintergirls-review.html)

Trigger warning: Eating disorders

Whoa. An actual review. Crazy.

Anyhow, so Wintergirls is about a girl (Lia), who suffers from anorexia. Her friend, Cassie, recently died, alone in a hotel room, after she called Lia 33 times. Cassie was bulimic and told Lia she was brave, strong, when Lia rapidly lost weight.

So, strange thing about this book. There was no 'getting from point A to point B'. Honestly, the plot was basically just an important snippet of life for Lia. I thought that was interesting.

Onto the actual book.

I want to say I loved this book. I mean, I really wanted to love it. I bet I could have loved it. But reading it was like swimming through corn syrup instead of water.

It was like reading a poem, minus the breaks that make it sound like a real poem. It was thick with metaphors and similes, and while they sometimes improved the mental picture, a lot of the time it made the writing muddled and confusing. It was kind of like purple prose.

The character, however, was relatable (well, as long as you're a teenaged girl, so sorry guys) and well written. I'll begrudgingly accept that some of the things she said (the book is written in the first person), which made it sound more poetic and purple, actually kind of made sense. Made a lot of sense. Whatever.

A couple of things are mentioned at one point and then forgotten for the rest of the book. Lia's little sister, Emma, has two cats, which disappear after one mention. The Cupcake Scene (as it shall be addressed) happens, and then is promptly forgotten, even though you'd think Lia would remember it and that it would be important in her records at New Seasons (a mental recovery place) later. Maybe, 'hey, look, she actually wants to/can eat, she just doesn't'. Something like that is a tad important.

The dialogue was well thought out and believable. People, unlike some stories I've read, actually spoke like people, not Shakespearean characters. So, despite the way that it was written, it's not like normal people spoke like poets.

On the other hand, a lot of parts of this book were confusing. I'm not sure if that's the metaphors and similes talking, but some parts of the book make me wonder if Lia was a psycho, because they just don't make sense. It's like the author would occasionally forget that this was supposedly a contemporary book. Trust me, if you read it, you'll know what I mean.

About halfway through the book, it actually starts sounding like a true narrative, and then it slowly falls back into the poetic, purple style. Just thought that was interesting.

Despite my complaining, this was a good book. The dialogue and emotions were both very believable, and the plot (or whatever it is) was good. So... Yeah. Also, if you like symbolism, you'll probably love this. I don't love symbolism. It's my personal opinion that probably made this book seem worse to me.

Far, Far Away

Far, Far Away

(image from its Goodreads page)

Tom McNeal.

This'll be a short review, because if I say too much, it'll ruin the story. The entire story was so unpredictable that almost any detail can easily become a spoiler.
So. Instead I chose to use an aspects format, which I'll use for stories like this.
Jeremy Johnson Johnson has been considered strange for almost all of his life. In the town of Never Better, he lives with his father and is usually too engrossed with studying to really make friends. Well, except one- the ancient ghost of Jacob Grimm.
Then Ginger Boultinghouse comes along and becomes a fast friend of Jeremy's. She falls in love with him with a bite of an enchanted Prince Cake, a town specialty made by the baker Sten Blix.
But the house Jeremy lives in will soon be foreclosed, and Ginger takes it as her duty to save him.
Plot: This is definitely going with Going Bovine in the list of stories that, when you read the description, you laugh and call it crack fiction. I don't care if crack fic is a fan fiction term. I do what I want.
Anyhow, despite how utterly bizarre the idea was, the product of it was amazing. Everything made sense and had a kind of whimsical (and, later in the book, very, very dark) feel to it. It was fun to read and not as hard to understand as my description makes it sound.
Characters: This is the point where I usually have something to gripe about. I like complaining. And right now the only thing I can complain about is the fact that I have nothing to complain about.
Jacob Grimm- In an interesting twist on perspective, this guy is our narrator. Logically, since he's the MC, Jeremy should be, or maybe it would just be third person. It definitely wasn't bad this way though. Okay. Onto the actual character.
I usually despise famous past figures being parts of fiction books. I don't know why, I just do. But I'll have to excuse this one, because the personality of Jacob (it's pronounced Yah-cub, by the way) Grimm is, from what I know (near nothing), the same as the guy that never found love but liked writing about girls getting pregnant and others dying horrible deaths. Yeah, nice guy.
I've got to say, his character really developed over the story. I loved how he changed from a nagging ghost to the reader's best friend. And makes you cry. And laugh. And cry. And want to punch him in the face. And want to hug him.  He felt very real, to me at least.
Jeremy Johnson Johnson- He is our MC. He's pretty much a textbook nerd/loner, which was kind of disappointing, but made up for it by being a realistic and interesting nerd/loner. Though he didn't develop as much as Jacob, he continued to interest me. By the end of the story, any emotion he's experiencing, you are too.
Ginger Boultinghouse- Though this character was by no means bad, she was my least favorite character. She was energetic and friendly, but didn't develop as much as I hoped through the story. Nyeh.
Style: I liked this style a lot. It wasn't beige or purple, which, trust me, is a pretty big plus in YA paranormal (what this was classified as). It kept me interested throughout the story.
Sorry for the short review. I might update this later. Guh'bye.
~Corinne

Diamond Willow

Diamond Willow

 

  (image from http://us.macmillan.com/diamondwillow/HelenFrost)

Helen Frost

 Diamond Willow is a story about a twelve-year-old girl in the Alaskan wilderness. Willow, the main character, is a junior dog musher. One day, she takes a trip to her grandparent's house, but one wrong move changes everything...
I want to clear this first: this book is for much younger people than our average. Oh well, boo hoo.
So, we start this book learning a bit about Willow, our main character. As the description says, she's a junior dog musher ( NOT an easy job, by the way). Not an Iditarod junkie or anything, she just likes to work with the dogs her father owns. The description is pretty vanilla, it's basically what I'd expect for the age. Brown hair, brown eyes, plain in all ways. I think there could have been at least something to make her stand out. Not necessarily, though.
We go on to learn that Willow wants to go on a trip to her grandparents, who are native Alaskan and rather awesome. Just putting that out there. After a bit of convincing, her parents let her go.
Willow picks her dogs, a few of her favorites. Some part of me wondered why she needed four (at least, I think it was four) dogs. It's a long journey, but how heavy can this girl possibly be? A hundred pounds? How much supplies are in that sled? Twenty pounds at most. Never mind, I just think three might be a bit better.
Anyhow, the grandparents just act cool, do stuff, and eventually sen Willow and her team on their way with some smoked salmon. Sounds about right.
From this point on are spoilers. Be warned.
It's snowing pretty hard, but Willow just says "Eff you, weather." ... Well, not in those words, but whatever. When coming around a blind curve, they hit a fallen tree, and Willow's best dog, Roxy, gets hurt. Badly. Her eyes are stabbed by some kind of stick or something (I don't believe the book ever says, which I wish it did). Her eyes are bleeding horribly, and we get a nice, somewhat disgusting description. I liked how well it was described, though. It wasn't too graphic or too simple. Good on ya', Ms. Frost.
Turns out, out of those twenty pounds of supplies I assumed she had, there was no first aid kit. Instead of saying "Psssh, I'm the main character, I'll stay calm.", she shows emotion! Fabulous! She scared, worried, hoping her temporary solution of using her shirt (instead of ripping off a piece of it, which is much harder than writers apparently think) will work for the remaining few miles. With three dogs, a much more logical number.
Her parents react two ways. Her mother is more worried about the giant bruise on Willow's leg. Her father seems more worried about Roxy. Willow is scared he'll hate her for it. I'm sure we all know that feeling, when we made a horrible mistake and become sick with anxiety and guilt. There could have been a bit more showing instead of telling in how she felt, but this is a younger audience it's being targeted at (8+).
Well, Willow heals pretty fast (though she is still a bit sore) and goes back to school, where we meet her best and only friend or the first time. Kaylie (I'm taking a wild stab at the spelling) is the perfect girl, complete with perfect grades and having never missed a day of school. I'm glad she was the friend, not the MC. As we know from my recent complaint average-in-every-way-but-school characters bother me (Willow has average grades to go with her averageness).
Anyhow, life goes on. Then, after a POV switch I'll explain with he formatting, Willow finds a note saying that Roxy is to be euthanized now that he is in pain and is blind. Forever. Prepare for the mini-rant.
So, why did Willow go so insane about the euthanizing? I understand some tears and such, but she wasn't using any kind of reasoning I'd ever heard from a twelve-year-old. I expected "My dog! I love her so much, why oh why?!", which is pretty realistic for us young folks. Instead, we get "How do THEY know it's merciful? They can't ask her! What if she'll die in pain?!" Not what I hoped for. First off, it's mouth piecing, and second, it's a bit too much from a tween.
Okay. Sorry.
Willow devises a scheme to save Roxy. She will bring her to her grandparents house, where hopefully they can take her in with their other dogs (who we never see and are given no description). Kaylie is dragged into this because someone needs to hold Roxy to the sled so she doesn't jump or fall off. Kaylie has an (understandable) panic attack, but agrees reluctantly.
In near white-out conditions, they set off with three dogs, two humans, and one dog who cannot do anything. Now this number is ILlogical, because that's an extra two-fifty odd pounds added on. I will calculate until this works.
They get lost, but find a clearing to sleep in. With the smoked salmon and other foods Willow grabbed at home, they eat and sleep. In the morning, they set off again.
Eventually they are found by Kaylie's not-secret admirer, but only Kaylie goes home. Now that the weight amount is somewhat more logical, Willow continues on to her grandparent's house. Somewhere around that time Willow's frantic parents and less frantic little sister find her. They end up discussing all of this at the grandparents'  house. Willow is neither speaker sternly to or given a punishment, though this scenario justifies both.
Even bigger spoiler alert.
Willow is told about how she had a twin. Named Diamond (which explains the double name). And the place that Willow and Kaylie slept for the night? It was where they scattered Diamond's ashes. Does this freak out Willow? Nope. I'm just saying, but I would have a heart attack if I heard that.
Roxy is saved, end of story that I will tell you (I won't spoil everything).
Okay, the formatting. I feel the need the explain it. Most of it is in diamond poems, but POV will switch occasionally, and it will be in plain text. The narrator is announced. I'd like to mention that an Athabaskan  belief I that when someone dies, their spirit is put into an animal. It might not make sense now, but you'll be glad for it.
I liked the book, it managed to make me cry (in a good way), I'd recommend it.

Had a couple issues with this, had to repost. Sorry.