Title: Wizards at War
Author: Diane Duane
Summary (with spoilers):
Since this is the eighth book in the series, I'm going to assume you've read the other ones, and jump right into the plot summary!
A new threat is causing problems, not just on Earth, but throughout the universe. Tom and Carl gather Nita, Kit, Dairine, and all of the visiting alien wizards (Filif, Sker'ret, and Roshaun) to tell them that space is expanding. This problem will eventually cause wizards to lose their powers and result in violence all over Earth, in addition to problems elsewhere. The older wizards, like Tom and Carl, are already starting to lose their powers, so it's up to Nita, Kit and the other young wizards of the universe to figure out a solution.
Ronan (who carries the One's Champion inside of him) shows up to accompany the gang, telling them that there could be a secret tool (the Instrumentality) to use against the new threat, if only they can find it. He gives Ponch the scent, and they travel to a strange place, with dark masses overhead, called the Pullulus. Ponch stops by the world he created to grab a spell manifested as a squirrel, which everyone follows to the world of Rashah. Rashah is home to the Yaldiv, strange beings that look like giant bugs who can break through Nita's defense spell and otherwise affect wizardry. The Yaldiv are hive mind creatures who are all avatars of the Lone Power. The wizards set up camp in a cave on the planet to do more exploring, while Nita and Sker'ret begin the journey back to Earth, so that Nita can check on her dad. In addition, Nita has been conversing with the peridexic effect, which is the source behind spells and the Speech.
Meanwhile, Dairine and Roshaun travel back to Roshaun's home planet, where he confronts his father, and then to the world that created the mobiles (which you may remember from Dairine's Ordeal). The mobiles decode a message from data that Dairine and Spot were carrying. Dairine and Roshaun meet back up with the rest of the group, revealing that the Instrumentality is a Hesper, which is a "bright" version of the Lone Power.
When Nita and Sker'ret arrive at the Crossings, they realize something is not right. It turns out a group of Tawalf have been paid to take over the Crossings. Nita and Sker hunker down in a control dome while the Tawalf shoot high energy weapons at them. Nita casts a spell which destroys one of the weapons, but it's not enough. Just when it seems that Nita and Sker'ret are doomed, Carmela shows up with her own modified weapon (which looks like a curling iron) to save the day. Then she convinces the Tawalf to surrender by giving them a bar of chocolate. Nita travels back to Earth, where she learns that Tom and Carl have lost their powers. What's worse, they've forgotten that they were ever wizards. At least Nita gets to visit with the prophetic koi.
On Rashah, the wizards take the form of the Yaldiv to do some scouting, and end up in a huge city, which houses the king of the Yaldiv. Despite their disguises, the king recognizes the wizards, but he is so confident of his control of the city that he lets the wizards do as they will. The Yaldiv who is the Hesper (who is later named Memeki) visits the wizards in their base camp. She is willing to help, but the wizards aren't sure exactly what to do next. Some warrior Yaldiv tunnel up through the ground, attacking the group. Nita and Carmela gate in during the battle and help the wizards win.
The wizards and Memeki travel to the Yaldiv city, where they have a confrontation with the king. Unfortunately, wizardry isn't working, and they can't cast spells. Carmela, pretending to be under the control of the king, blasts it with her curling iron. The Lone Power manifests itself, and everything looks grim for the wizards. Then Ronan stabs himself with the Spear to release the Champion, who is able to beat back the Lone Power, which allows Memeki to become the Hesper.
Nita and Kit cast a spell to put Ronan into stasis, and all of the wizards head to the moon to deal with the Pullulus. The group wizardry fails to stop it. Next, Roshaun channels the power of the Sun through his stone, but he is unable to fully stop the Pullulus. Roshaun disappears and his stone becomes clear, without fire. Kit believes the end is near, so he tells Ponch to go back to Earth and bring his family to safety. Ponch instead embodies great power and battles the Pullulus, finally defeating it. In the process, Ponch becomes the dog version of the One, making a new choice for dogs.
Ronan is healed by one of the many wizards on the moon. Dairine delivers the news about Roshaun to his parents and accepts the stone and the responsibilities entailed. She visits Roshaun's Timeheart in a dream. (It's implied that Roshaun is merely missing, not lost forever.) Kit has a last word with Ponch, who is now present in all dogs on Earth.
My Thoughts:
The beauty of this series has always been the description of wizardry. The complex spells (which require a lot of knowledge on the part of the caster), also take an energy toll. Often, the spells are described in a scientific manner, with comments on how the spells move matter around, etc. The magic system feels real. It's so well integrated with the real world.
It's been a while since I read the other books in the series, so it was difficult for me to jump right into this one. I'd forgotten the back stories of most of the side characters, especially the visiting wizards. There were tons of characters in this one, but not enough time for their full development. For example, we're told that Roshaun and Dairine are close, but we don't get to see enough of this closeness. There just isn't enough time to focus on them (even though they do get a whole chapter at the beginning).
I enjoyed the discussion between Ponch and Memeki, where they compared origin stories for their species. Other fun moments include Carmela showing up to save the day and Ponch becoming The One Dog.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Saturday, December 20, 2014
A Word on Ratings
I do like to rate the books that I review here, but these ratings only reflect by own personal enjoyment of the book. They are not meant to categorically define a book's true worth. Honestly, I don't think anyone can give a book an absolute rating. We all judge books based on how we interpret them, from our own life experiences and preferences. For example, if I give a book a one star rating, I'm not saying that it's a terrible book; it simply means I didn't enjoy that book. If someone else wants to give the same book a five star rating, I won't argue with them.
Anyway, here is my scale:
5 Stars: Loved this book. One of the best books I've read this year.
4 Stars: Great book. Very enjoyable.
3 Stars: Good book. Glad I read it.
2 Stars: Okay book. Although I didn't like it as much as other books, it had some redeeming qualities.
1 Star: Did not like this book. Wish I hadn't read it.
The majority of my ratings are 3 stars, with a fair amount of 4 stars and 2 stars thrown in. I'll rate a few books a year 5 stars, and I'll rarely rate a book 1 star.
I've noticed that I'm a bit harsher in my ratings than most people. Even if I enjoyed a book somewhat, I still might give it 2 stars, if it just doesn't meet that 3 star standard for me. Again, it's probably a perfectly fine book. I just don't see the point of have a 5 star rating system if I don't use all of the ratings.
Anyway, here is my scale:
5 Stars: Loved this book. One of the best books I've read this year.
4 Stars: Great book. Very enjoyable.
3 Stars: Good book. Glad I read it.
2 Stars: Okay book. Although I didn't like it as much as other books, it had some redeeming qualities.
1 Star: Did not like this book. Wish I hadn't read it.
The majority of my ratings are 3 stars, with a fair amount of 4 stars and 2 stars thrown in. I'll rate a few books a year 5 stars, and I'll rarely rate a book 1 star.
I've noticed that I'm a bit harsher in my ratings than most people. Even if I enjoyed a book somewhat, I still might give it 2 stars, if it just doesn't meet that 3 star standard for me. Again, it's probably a perfectly fine book. I just don't see the point of have a 5 star rating system if I don't use all of the ratings.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Isla and the Happily Ever After
Book title: Isla and the Happily Ever After
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers):
Isla Martin attends the School of America in Paris with Josh, a talented artist and Isla's long-time crush. After getting her wisdom teeth removed, Isla runs into Josh in a cafe, and has the courage to talk to him because she is a bit loopy from the medicine she is taking.
Once they get back to school, Isla has trouble talking to Josh, but he knocks on her door and asks her out to the local comic book shop. Once Josh realizes that Isla's best friend Kurt really is just her friend, Josh and Isla start dating. They share several sweet moments, like their first kiss on an escalator (even though it ends in a bloody nose for Isla), Josh painting the "treehouse," and both recounting favorite childhood memories.
Isla and Josh decide to spend the weekend in Spain, breaking the school's rules about traveling. When Isla's sister Hattie starts asking about Isla, the school realizes that something is amiss, and confront Kurt about Isla's whereabouts. This results in Josh's expulsion from school. His parents are furious and confiscate his phone.
While Isla and Josh are separated by an ocean, Josh's dad is running for senator. Isla watches the news around the election, which includes a clip of Josh saying he doesn't have a girlfriend (which he later claims he did to protect Isla from nosy people in the political world). When Isla is back in the US for a holiday, she receives a package with a copy of Josh's autobiographical graphic novel. Isla is upset at the presence of Rashmi in the novel, especially since there are nude drawings of her. While being driven home from a posh political party, Isla picks a fight with Josh, and breaks up with him, fearing that it is only a matter of time before he would have broken up with her.
However, Isla is still very much in love with Josh. She buys him a signed copy of a graphic novel, which Isla's sister Hattie sends to Josh. Josh visits France during the Olympics and meets up with Isla. After they watch St. Clair propose to Anna (who gleefully accepts, of course), Josh walks Isla to her dorm and hands her his revised graphic novel, telling her to read it right away and call him after she is done. His novel ends with Josh declaring his love for Isla and waiting outside for her to call. When she peeks out of the window, Josh is actually there. She runs outside and tells him that she loves him.
My Thoughts:
Unlike most romance novels, the focus is on the relationship after Isla and Josh get together. Perhaps this is a play on the "happily ever after" title, since most novels would end right after the protagonists get together. Although it's interesting to take a look at this side of relationships, the plot still needs conflict to move along. That conflict comes in the form of relationship issues between Josh and Isla. Many of their issues are shallow but accurate for teens. (Six months does seem like forever when you're a teen. Not so much as an adult.) I'm not sure that I buy that Isla would really break up with Josh, just to avoid being hurt later. He's her dream guy, and he clearly is happy to be with her. The break up is really about her issues with self confidence.
I thought Josh's character was well drawn. (Pun intended.) While reading Anna and the French Kiss, I was intrigued by Josh, so I'm glad he got his own book. I also really liked Isla (shy, smart, and short), even though she had some annoying moments.
The best part of the book was Josh's graphic novel. It was easy to envision the artwork, and I loved reading the story of his life described in comic book panels. The ending of the book with Isla reading Josh's novel was just perfect.
I enjoyed reading about Isla's relationship with Kurt, and I liked that Isla was respectful of his autism. It was refreshing that Kurt and Isla actually did have a platonic relationship and weren't secretly in love with each other or anything like that.
Overall, I liked this book more than Lola, but Anna is still my favorite.
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers):
Isla Martin attends the School of America in Paris with Josh, a talented artist and Isla's long-time crush. After getting her wisdom teeth removed, Isla runs into Josh in a cafe, and has the courage to talk to him because she is a bit loopy from the medicine she is taking.
Once they get back to school, Isla has trouble talking to Josh, but he knocks on her door and asks her out to the local comic book shop. Once Josh realizes that Isla's best friend Kurt really is just her friend, Josh and Isla start dating. They share several sweet moments, like their first kiss on an escalator (even though it ends in a bloody nose for Isla), Josh painting the "treehouse," and both recounting favorite childhood memories.
Isla and Josh decide to spend the weekend in Spain, breaking the school's rules about traveling. When Isla's sister Hattie starts asking about Isla, the school realizes that something is amiss, and confront Kurt about Isla's whereabouts. This results in Josh's expulsion from school. His parents are furious and confiscate his phone.
While Isla and Josh are separated by an ocean, Josh's dad is running for senator. Isla watches the news around the election, which includes a clip of Josh saying he doesn't have a girlfriend (which he later claims he did to protect Isla from nosy people in the political world). When Isla is back in the US for a holiday, she receives a package with a copy of Josh's autobiographical graphic novel. Isla is upset at the presence of Rashmi in the novel, especially since there are nude drawings of her. While being driven home from a posh political party, Isla picks a fight with Josh, and breaks up with him, fearing that it is only a matter of time before he would have broken up with her.
However, Isla is still very much in love with Josh. She buys him a signed copy of a graphic novel, which Isla's sister Hattie sends to Josh. Josh visits France during the Olympics and meets up with Isla. After they watch St. Clair propose to Anna (who gleefully accepts, of course), Josh walks Isla to her dorm and hands her his revised graphic novel, telling her to read it right away and call him after she is done. His novel ends with Josh declaring his love for Isla and waiting outside for her to call. When she peeks out of the window, Josh is actually there. She runs outside and tells him that she loves him.
My Thoughts:
Unlike most romance novels, the focus is on the relationship after Isla and Josh get together. Perhaps this is a play on the "happily ever after" title, since most novels would end right after the protagonists get together. Although it's interesting to take a look at this side of relationships, the plot still needs conflict to move along. That conflict comes in the form of relationship issues between Josh and Isla. Many of their issues are shallow but accurate for teens. (Six months does seem like forever when you're a teen. Not so much as an adult.) I'm not sure that I buy that Isla would really break up with Josh, just to avoid being hurt later. He's her dream guy, and he clearly is happy to be with her. The break up is really about her issues with self confidence.
I thought Josh's character was well drawn. (Pun intended.) While reading Anna and the French Kiss, I was intrigued by Josh, so I'm glad he got his own book. I also really liked Isla (shy, smart, and short), even though she had some annoying moments.
The best part of the book was Josh's graphic novel. It was easy to envision the artwork, and I loved reading the story of his life described in comic book panels. The ending of the book with Isla reading Josh's novel was just perfect.
I enjoyed reading about Isla's relationship with Kurt, and I liked that Isla was respectful of his autism. It was refreshing that Kurt and Isla actually did have a platonic relationship and weren't secretly in love with each other or anything like that.
Overall, I liked this book more than Lola, but Anna is still my favorite.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Lola and the Boy Next Door
Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers)
Lola is in love with Cricket Bell, the boy next door, or at least she used to be, until he broke her heart and moved away. When Cricket and family move back, Lola starts to fall for him again, especially when it's clear that Cricket likes her and it's revealed that Calliope (Cricket's twin) was the one who didn't invite her to Cricket's birthday party two years ago.
There's only one problem. Lola is dating her lame, much-too-old-for-her boyfriend, Max. Lola is convinced she's in love with Max, but as the story progresses, Lola and Cricket share a lot of intense moments. They work on her Mary Antoinette dress for Lola's winter formal, and Cricket climbs into her bedroom through the window.
Meanwhile, Anna and St. Clair make an appearance, since they work with Lola at the movie theater. Also, Cricket and St. Clair live in the same housing complex in Berkeley.
Lola's mom moves back in with Lola (and Lola's two dads, Andy and Nathan). Lola's mom has a drug problem and is not a reliable parent. However, while she's living there, Lola is able to get to know her mother a little better. There's also a plot line with Lola's best friend Lindsey, who wants to be a detective and has a crush on a guy at school, but doesn't want to date until she graduates.
Eventually, Lola breaks up with Max and realizes that she was never in love with him. However, she feels like she needs time to get over Max and to become a better person before she starts dating Cricket. Lola makes an emergency costume for Calliope, who is competing to be in the Olympics for figure skating. Cricket flies back from the skating competition to surprise Lola and take her to the dance. Finally, Cricket and Lola get together.
My Thoughts
Although I really liked Anna and the French Kiss, I felt that this book didn't have the same magic. I'm not sure why Lola doesn't break up with her lame boyfriend in the beginning of the book, once it's clear that she and Cricket are into each other. It seems like the book just drags on. We all know they are going to get together in the end.
The charm of the book is in the details the author adds to each character. Lola dresses in a unique way every day; Cricket is a whiz with mechanical devices and a snappy dresser; one of Lola's dads has his own pie baking company; and Calliope is a world-class figure skater. Every character has a passion, even the minor ones.
I also enjoyed Cricket's story at the end, where he describes the girl who talked to the moon, and how, since he couldn't take her with him, he took the stars. Very poetic.
Although the book is set in San Francisco, it doesn't have the same depth of description as Anna and the French Kiss did for Paris. There are a few iconic San Francisco places thrown in, but the location isn't nearly as important in this book. I'll probably go on to read the third book, Isla and the Happily Ever After, since it returns to the School of America in Paris.
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers)
Lola is in love with Cricket Bell, the boy next door, or at least she used to be, until he broke her heart and moved away. When Cricket and family move back, Lola starts to fall for him again, especially when it's clear that Cricket likes her and it's revealed that Calliope (Cricket's twin) was the one who didn't invite her to Cricket's birthday party two years ago.
There's only one problem. Lola is dating her lame, much-too-old-for-her boyfriend, Max. Lola is convinced she's in love with Max, but as the story progresses, Lola and Cricket share a lot of intense moments. They work on her Mary Antoinette dress for Lola's winter formal, and Cricket climbs into her bedroom through the window.
Meanwhile, Anna and St. Clair make an appearance, since they work with Lola at the movie theater. Also, Cricket and St. Clair live in the same housing complex in Berkeley.
Lola's mom moves back in with Lola (and Lola's two dads, Andy and Nathan). Lola's mom has a drug problem and is not a reliable parent. However, while she's living there, Lola is able to get to know her mother a little better. There's also a plot line with Lola's best friend Lindsey, who wants to be a detective and has a crush on a guy at school, but doesn't want to date until she graduates.
Eventually, Lola breaks up with Max and realizes that she was never in love with him. However, she feels like she needs time to get over Max and to become a better person before she starts dating Cricket. Lola makes an emergency costume for Calliope, who is competing to be in the Olympics for figure skating. Cricket flies back from the skating competition to surprise Lola and take her to the dance. Finally, Cricket and Lola get together.
My Thoughts
Although I really liked Anna and the French Kiss, I felt that this book didn't have the same magic. I'm not sure why Lola doesn't break up with her lame boyfriend in the beginning of the book, once it's clear that she and Cricket are into each other. It seems like the book just drags on. We all know they are going to get together in the end.
The charm of the book is in the details the author adds to each character. Lola dresses in a unique way every day; Cricket is a whiz with mechanical devices and a snappy dresser; one of Lola's dads has his own pie baking company; and Calliope is a world-class figure skater. Every character has a passion, even the minor ones.
I also enjoyed Cricket's story at the end, where he describes the girl who talked to the moon, and how, since he couldn't take her with him, he took the stars. Very poetic.
Although the book is set in San Francisco, it doesn't have the same depth of description as Anna and the French Kiss did for Paris. There are a few iconic San Francisco places thrown in, but the location isn't nearly as important in this book. I'll probably go on to read the third book, Isla and the Happily Ever After, since it returns to the School of America in Paris.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Anna and the French Kiss
Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
Anna is sent to boarding school in Paris against her will, leaving her almost-boyfriend, Toph, and her best friend, Bridgette, in Atlanta. Once there, she quickly befriends Meredith, Rashmi, Josh, and her love interest, Etienne St. Clair. Anna and St. Clair become friends, and Anna develops a crush on him as they run around Paris. Too bad he already has a girlfriend, Ellie, who graduated the previous year. Also, Meredith has a thing for St. Clair too, which makes the situation tricky. St. Clair drops a lot of hints that he's into Anna (drunkenly admitting he has feelings for her, buying her a book of Neruda poetry, and sleeping next to her over Thanksgiving break, to name a few), but Anna doesn't think he likes her because he won't break up with his girlfriend.
When St. Clair's mom gets cancer, his dad won't let St. Clair visit her. Anna and St. Clair both go home for Christmas, where Anna finds out that Bridgette is dating Toph, which Anna sees as a betrayal. When Anna gets back to France, she realizes that she is in love with St. Clair, who she starts calling Etienne. However, he's still with Ellie, so Anna starts dating Dave.
Tensions rise between Anna and St. Clair. They finally end up kissing in a beautiful garden, only to be caught by Meredith, who storms off. St. Clair chases after her, and then goes to see Ellie. Anna gets into a fist fight with Amanda, because Amanda called Meredith an unkind word. When St. Clair comes to Anna's door, she gets angry that he went to see Ellie. She stops hanging out with her friends, and is bullied by Amanda and her minions. Dave spreads the untrue rumor that he slept with Anna.
After Anna goes to the cinema, she sees St. Clair talking to his father. St. Clair wants to go to Berkeley for college, but his dad won't let him. Storming away from his dad, who is flirting with some woman, St. Clair spots Anna. She advises him to tell the woman (and all of his dad's friends) how happy he is that his dad is sending him to Berkeley, since his dad will be too embarrassed to contradict him in front of friends.
Anna climbs the tallest staircase in Notre Dame. She hears someone coming up the staircase, and is surprised to find it is St. Clair, since he's afraid of heights. St. Clair lets Anna know that her plan concerning his dad worked. They both declare their love for each other and start dating.
My Thoughts:
This book is a whirlwind of a love story set in beautiful Paris. I love how the author uses the setting, showing us how Anna and St. Clair fall in love amid the backdrop of the most romantic city in the world. The delicious descriptions of food made me want to hop on a plane and fly to Paris immediately.
Every character has something unique about them, from Meredith, who loves football and wearing rings, to Josh, with his skull tattoo and art skill. However, the side characters are never very fleshed out, mainly because Anna doesn't interact with them much. We're told that she's friends with Meredith, which is one of the main reasons she doesn't want to date St. Clair, but I never felt that they actually were friends. I would have liked to see more dialog between characters besides Anna and St. Clair.
I'm not sure if this book passes the Bechtel test (I think Anna and Meredith had a conversation about football, once, and she does talk to Bridgette about school) but it is a romance so perhaps that can be forgiven. Overall, I would have liked to see stronger relationships between the female characters.
I really did think the misunderstandings with St. Clair went on too long. After a while, Anna had to understand that he was in love with her, right? If they were such good friends, wouldn't they have discussed their feelings with each other long before they did? Perhaps this plot is something that could only happen with young main characters. However, their relationship was quite sweet. I like how they became such good friends before they started dating.
The ending is cute, but predictable. Did we ever doubt that Anna would end up with her Etienne?
Definitely a fun book that kept me reading. I've already checked out the sequels from the library.
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
Anna is sent to boarding school in Paris against her will, leaving her almost-boyfriend, Toph, and her best friend, Bridgette, in Atlanta. Once there, she quickly befriends Meredith, Rashmi, Josh, and her love interest, Etienne St. Clair. Anna and St. Clair become friends, and Anna develops a crush on him as they run around Paris. Too bad he already has a girlfriend, Ellie, who graduated the previous year. Also, Meredith has a thing for St. Clair too, which makes the situation tricky. St. Clair drops a lot of hints that he's into Anna (drunkenly admitting he has feelings for her, buying her a book of Neruda poetry, and sleeping next to her over Thanksgiving break, to name a few), but Anna doesn't think he likes her because he won't break up with his girlfriend.
When St. Clair's mom gets cancer, his dad won't let St. Clair visit her. Anna and St. Clair both go home for Christmas, where Anna finds out that Bridgette is dating Toph, which Anna sees as a betrayal. When Anna gets back to France, she realizes that she is in love with St. Clair, who she starts calling Etienne. However, he's still with Ellie, so Anna starts dating Dave.
Tensions rise between Anna and St. Clair. They finally end up kissing in a beautiful garden, only to be caught by Meredith, who storms off. St. Clair chases after her, and then goes to see Ellie. Anna gets into a fist fight with Amanda, because Amanda called Meredith an unkind word. When St. Clair comes to Anna's door, she gets angry that he went to see Ellie. She stops hanging out with her friends, and is bullied by Amanda and her minions. Dave spreads the untrue rumor that he slept with Anna.
After Anna goes to the cinema, she sees St. Clair talking to his father. St. Clair wants to go to Berkeley for college, but his dad won't let him. Storming away from his dad, who is flirting with some woman, St. Clair spots Anna. She advises him to tell the woman (and all of his dad's friends) how happy he is that his dad is sending him to Berkeley, since his dad will be too embarrassed to contradict him in front of friends.
Anna climbs the tallest staircase in Notre Dame. She hears someone coming up the staircase, and is surprised to find it is St. Clair, since he's afraid of heights. St. Clair lets Anna know that her plan concerning his dad worked. They both declare their love for each other and start dating.
My Thoughts:
This book is a whirlwind of a love story set in beautiful Paris. I love how the author uses the setting, showing us how Anna and St. Clair fall in love amid the backdrop of the most romantic city in the world. The delicious descriptions of food made me want to hop on a plane and fly to Paris immediately.
Every character has something unique about them, from Meredith, who loves football and wearing rings, to Josh, with his skull tattoo and art skill. However, the side characters are never very fleshed out, mainly because Anna doesn't interact with them much. We're told that she's friends with Meredith, which is one of the main reasons she doesn't want to date St. Clair, but I never felt that they actually were friends. I would have liked to see more dialog between characters besides Anna and St. Clair.
I'm not sure if this book passes the Bechtel test (I think Anna and Meredith had a conversation about football, once, and she does talk to Bridgette about school) but it is a romance so perhaps that can be forgiven. Overall, I would have liked to see stronger relationships between the female characters.
I really did think the misunderstandings with St. Clair went on too long. After a while, Anna had to understand that he was in love with her, right? If they were such good friends, wouldn't they have discussed their feelings with each other long before they did? Perhaps this plot is something that could only happen with young main characters. However, their relationship was quite sweet. I like how they became such good friends before they started dating.
The ending is cute, but predictable. Did we ever doubt that Anna would end up with her Etienne?
Definitely a fun book that kept me reading. I've already checked out the sequels from the library.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
The Last Dragonslayer
Title: The Last Dragonslayer
Author: Jasper Fforde
Rating: 2 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
Jennifer Strange lives in the Ununited Kingdom, where magic is not as powerful as it once was. Jennifer is a foundling of the Blessed Ladies of the Lobster, sent to serve the wizarding agency Kazam. Tiger Prawns, another Lobster foundling, soon joins her. He gets along quite well with the quarkbeast, a fearsome-looking yet friendly pet.
Some of the pre-cogs have a premonition about the death of the last living dragon, which means that the dragon's lands, which are set behind magical marker stones, will soon be available for anyone to claim. When Jennifer tries to discover more, she meets up with the current dragonslayer, who quickly transfers the office to her. Jennifer crosses the marker stones (which only she can do) and speaks to the dragon. She also hires an assistant, Gordon van Gordon. Some of the wizards at Kazam say that Big Magic is afoot.
As the last dragonslayer, Jennifer gets a lot of attention from the press and King Snodd IV, who wants Jennifer to claim the dragon lands for the kingdom before the barrier goes down. When she refuses, the king sends the handsome Sir Matt Grifflon to kill her. The quarkbeast protects Jennifer, and she uses the sword of the dragonslayer to cut through the wall and get away.
On the day when the dragon is destined to die, Jennifer travels to the dragon lands. She runs into Gordon, who has betrayed her and is staking out lands for the Constuff company. He pulls out a gun, and when the quarkbeast runs to protect Jennifer, Gordon kills the quarkbeast. Then Gordon dies when Jennifer threatens to fire him, and he instead resigns (since only the dragonslayer or her apprentice can enter the dragonlands.) The dragon tells Jennifer that she must kill him, and even though she doesn't understand the reason why, she follows his wishes, slaying him with the sword. She gets angry and splits a stone with the sword. It turns out that when a dragon is killed, two dragons are born (but this doesn't work if the dragon dies of old age.) Jennifer is actually a berserker, which is why she was able to channel her rage and renew magic within the Ununited Kingdom.
My Thoughts:
I'm going to preface this by saying that I love much of Jasper Fforde's other work, like the Thursday Next books and Shades of Grey However, this book did not have a lot going for it. Although Wikipedia claims this is a novel for adults, it clearly seems to be a young adult novel to me. (And I often enjoy young adult novels, but not this one.) The book suffers from 3 major problems: too many characters, infodumping, lack of plot foreshadowing.
A new character is introduced almost every chapter, and most of them serve no specific purpose. Often, they are mentioned once and then never show up again. Why did that random guy have to ask Jennifer on a date in the first chapter? He's never mentioned again. What about the wizard that comes to visit Moobin and explains Big Magic. Couldn't another character have done that just as well? I'm not adverse to having lots of characters, but they need to serve some purpose, apart from just taking up space.
Ah, the infodump, where lots of background information is dumped on the reader in a less than subtle way. When the author wants to tell us the background of magic and the dragonslayers, a random side character is there to take up an entire chapter with the story. If we need to learn about Big Magic, there are some handy wizards to get Jennifer up to speed. (She's in charge of Kazam. You would think she'd know this information by now.)
Despite all of the infodumping, much information is revealed only when it suits the plot. Jennifer's on her way to the epic dragon death. Oh, by the way, did you know that no one can interfere with a dragonslayer when she's on official duty. When Constuff makes it look like the dragon committed some crimes, it turns out that there need to be three instances of dragon crime before the dragonslayer has to kill the dragon. The list just goes on and on. With all of that infodumping, couldn't the author have thrown in some of this information to foreshadow events later in the book? One major rule of writing fantasy is that the magic system has to be consistent. It's bad form to throw a bunch of new rules at the reader for the convenience of the plot.
Fforde is a great writer, but this isn't his best book. Try the Thursday Next series instead.
Author: Jasper Fforde
Rating: 2 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
Jennifer Strange lives in the Ununited Kingdom, where magic is not as powerful as it once was. Jennifer is a foundling of the Blessed Ladies of the Lobster, sent to serve the wizarding agency Kazam. Tiger Prawns, another Lobster foundling, soon joins her. He gets along quite well with the quarkbeast, a fearsome-looking yet friendly pet.
Some of the pre-cogs have a premonition about the death of the last living dragon, which means that the dragon's lands, which are set behind magical marker stones, will soon be available for anyone to claim. When Jennifer tries to discover more, she meets up with the current dragonslayer, who quickly transfers the office to her. Jennifer crosses the marker stones (which only she can do) and speaks to the dragon. She also hires an assistant, Gordon van Gordon. Some of the wizards at Kazam say that Big Magic is afoot.
As the last dragonslayer, Jennifer gets a lot of attention from the press and King Snodd IV, who wants Jennifer to claim the dragon lands for the kingdom before the barrier goes down. When she refuses, the king sends the handsome Sir Matt Grifflon to kill her. The quarkbeast protects Jennifer, and she uses the sword of the dragonslayer to cut through the wall and get away.
On the day when the dragon is destined to die, Jennifer travels to the dragon lands. She runs into Gordon, who has betrayed her and is staking out lands for the Constuff company. He pulls out a gun, and when the quarkbeast runs to protect Jennifer, Gordon kills the quarkbeast. Then Gordon dies when Jennifer threatens to fire him, and he instead resigns (since only the dragonslayer or her apprentice can enter the dragonlands.) The dragon tells Jennifer that she must kill him, and even though she doesn't understand the reason why, she follows his wishes, slaying him with the sword. She gets angry and splits a stone with the sword. It turns out that when a dragon is killed, two dragons are born (but this doesn't work if the dragon dies of old age.) Jennifer is actually a berserker, which is why she was able to channel her rage and renew magic within the Ununited Kingdom.
My Thoughts:
I'm going to preface this by saying that I love much of Jasper Fforde's other work, like the Thursday Next books and Shades of Grey However, this book did not have a lot going for it. Although Wikipedia claims this is a novel for adults, it clearly seems to be a young adult novel to me. (And I often enjoy young adult novels, but not this one.) The book suffers from 3 major problems: too many characters, infodumping, lack of plot foreshadowing.
A new character is introduced almost every chapter, and most of them serve no specific purpose. Often, they are mentioned once and then never show up again. Why did that random guy have to ask Jennifer on a date in the first chapter? He's never mentioned again. What about the wizard that comes to visit Moobin and explains Big Magic. Couldn't another character have done that just as well? I'm not adverse to having lots of characters, but they need to serve some purpose, apart from just taking up space.
Ah, the infodump, where lots of background information is dumped on the reader in a less than subtle way. When the author wants to tell us the background of magic and the dragonslayers, a random side character is there to take up an entire chapter with the story. If we need to learn about Big Magic, there are some handy wizards to get Jennifer up to speed. (She's in charge of Kazam. You would think she'd know this information by now.)
Despite all of the infodumping, much information is revealed only when it suits the plot. Jennifer's on her way to the epic dragon death. Oh, by the way, did you know that no one can interfere with a dragonslayer when she's on official duty. When Constuff makes it look like the dragon committed some crimes, it turns out that there need to be three instances of dragon crime before the dragonslayer has to kill the dragon. The list just goes on and on. With all of that infodumping, couldn't the author have thrown in some of this information to foreshadow events later in the book? One major rule of writing fantasy is that the magic system has to be consistent. It's bad form to throw a bunch of new rules at the reader for the convenience of the plot.
Fforde is a great writer, but this isn't his best book. Try the Thursday Next series instead.
East of Eden
Title: East of Eden
Author: John Steinbeck
Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
East of Eden chronicles the stories of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, while repeating the motif of Cain and Abel throughout the book. The story begins with Adam Trask, who is born to a solider who trains Adam for the army. Adam's brother, Charles, is jealous that their father loves Adam best, so Charles attempts to kill Adam. (Here is the first instance of the Cain and Abel story.) Adam joins the army, and after many years makes it back to the farm to live with Charles. When their father dies, the men inherit a large sum.
Cathy is a sociopath who murders her parents, flees her home, and gets involved with a criminal. When the criminal beats her up and leaves her for dead, she crawls over to the doorstep of Adam and Charles. Adam nurses Cathy back to health and marries her, but she sustains a scar on her forehead. They move to the Salinas Valley in California.
Samuel Hamilton is an Irish farmer with big ideas and a large family. When Adam moves to the Salinas Valley, Samuel befriends Adam, although he realizes something is not quite right with Cathy. Cathy becomes pregnant and gives birth to twins. She decides to leave Adam, and when he tries to stop her in his confusion, she shoots him in the shoulder. (Hence the second instance of the Cain and Abel story.)
Cathy moves to Salinas (the city) and begins to work for a house of ill repute, eventually killing the owner and taking charge of the house. Meanwhile, Adam is depressed, and his servant Lee raises the twins. (There is a great scene where Samuel forces Adam to pick names for the children, and we see the beginnings of the third instance of the Cain and Abel story.) Lee is a thoroughly interesting and complex character, who is often judged for being Chinese and, in the beginning of the book, speaks a pidgin dialect with everyone but Samuel.
When Samuel Hamilton dies, Adam goes to Salinas for the funeral. He gets really drunk and visits Cathy. Adam realizes that Cathy no longer has a hold over him.
The twins, at this point, are about 11 years old. Aron is a friendly and well-liked boy, while Caleb is less favored and has flashes of cruelty. Some visitors come to the farm, bringing Abra, a cool-headed girl who Aron soon decides to marry. On the advice of the Abra's parents, Adam decides to move to Salinas. Aron and Abra meet up in Salinas, and while their engagement begins as childhood play, it becomes more serious as they get older. However, Aron is self-involved in many ways. Perhaps Lee describes Aron best when he says that Aron's purity and goodness are often selfish. For example, Aron considers joining the ministry and not marrying Abra.
Cal learns the truth about his mother and goes to see her. Adam and Cal continue to keep the truth from Aron, to protect him. Aron finishes high school a year early and goes to Stanford, although he doesn't like it there. He writes love letters to Abra, but she feels that Aron is really writing about himself. When Adam loses the majority of his fortune on an attempt to ship lettuce across the country, Cal earns the money back with help from Will Hamilton. During Thanksgiving, Cal gives the money to Adam, who won't accept the gift. Hurt and bewildered, Cal takes Aron to see their mother. Aron freaks out and run offs, then joins the army.
Cathy commits suicide, and Adam has a stroke when he hears of her death. Abra declares her love for Cal, in part because he isn't perfect, and they start dating. A letter arrives with the news that Aron is dead, which gives Adam another stroke. Cal reveals why Aron left for the army. Lee begs Adam to give some sign that he has forgiven Cal, even though it is difficult for Adam to speak. Adam manages one word, "timshel," which means "thou mayest." This resonates with an early episode in the book, implying that Cal has the ability to overcome whatever evil is in him.
My Thoughts:
This book is a masterpiece. The characters are complex and believable. The plot is exciting and layered. In summary, this book has everything that a good book should. Steinbeck describes the inner motivations of the characters with the skill of a master writer.
Throughout the book, we see the Cain and Abel theme reemerge for different characters in a satisfying way. I found the theological discussions of Lee, Samuel, and Adam particularly interesting. Steinbeck is always questioning the nature of evil. Where does it come from? Do we have the choice to overcome it (like with Cal and the idea of "timshel")?
The characterization of Aron and Cal invites analysis. Although Aron is the more well-liked brother, he is less complex than Cal. While Cal suffers over his idea of self and struggles to be a good person, Aron has a righteous goodness about him, which doesn't leave room for ambiguity or difficulties in others. (In some ways, Aron's attitude mirrors Adam's first view of Cathy. Although she tried to tell him that she didn't want to move to Salinas or stay with him, Adam refused to hear it, imagining Cathy to be the picture of a perfect wife.) Aron's biggest struggle comes when he moves to Stanford, but even then, it is a superficial struggle. When college does not live up to Aron's fanciful expectations, Aron moves off campus and instead idolizes Abra. Aron also does not have the patience for ambiguity in others. He expects Abra to be perfect, an expectation that she can in no way live up to. When Aron discovers the truth about his mother, it shatters his view of the world, and he can't handle it.
Cal, on the other hand, sees the cruelty in himself and battles to be a better person. He simultaneously loves his brother for his goodness and hates his brother too, because life seems so easy for him. Cal often tries to do the right thing, but he is confused about how to do it. For example, when Cal tries to give the money to his father, he wants to show his father that he loves him. (Although even this action is complex, for Cal admits that a part of him hopes he can buy Adam's love.) Later, Cal burns the money. Cal doesn't realize that being good doesn't have to be such a grand gesture or that it doesn't have to involve his suffering. Although on the surface Aron is easier to like, Abra realizes that Cal is actually less selfish and more in touch with the world.
In my summary of the book, I didn't talk much about the Hamilton family. Although those characters are well drawn, most of them remain in the sideline of the plot. Their stories are more vignettes that add flavor to the work as a whole.
I have nothing but praise for this book. It was a wonderful read.
Author: John Steinbeck
Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
East of Eden chronicles the stories of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, while repeating the motif of Cain and Abel throughout the book. The story begins with Adam Trask, who is born to a solider who trains Adam for the army. Adam's brother, Charles, is jealous that their father loves Adam best, so Charles attempts to kill Adam. (Here is the first instance of the Cain and Abel story.) Adam joins the army, and after many years makes it back to the farm to live with Charles. When their father dies, the men inherit a large sum.
Cathy is a sociopath who murders her parents, flees her home, and gets involved with a criminal. When the criminal beats her up and leaves her for dead, she crawls over to the doorstep of Adam and Charles. Adam nurses Cathy back to health and marries her, but she sustains a scar on her forehead. They move to the Salinas Valley in California.
Samuel Hamilton is an Irish farmer with big ideas and a large family. When Adam moves to the Salinas Valley, Samuel befriends Adam, although he realizes something is not quite right with Cathy. Cathy becomes pregnant and gives birth to twins. She decides to leave Adam, and when he tries to stop her in his confusion, she shoots him in the shoulder. (Hence the second instance of the Cain and Abel story.)
Cathy moves to Salinas (the city) and begins to work for a house of ill repute, eventually killing the owner and taking charge of the house. Meanwhile, Adam is depressed, and his servant Lee raises the twins. (There is a great scene where Samuel forces Adam to pick names for the children, and we see the beginnings of the third instance of the Cain and Abel story.) Lee is a thoroughly interesting and complex character, who is often judged for being Chinese and, in the beginning of the book, speaks a pidgin dialect with everyone but Samuel.
When Samuel Hamilton dies, Adam goes to Salinas for the funeral. He gets really drunk and visits Cathy. Adam realizes that Cathy no longer has a hold over him.
The twins, at this point, are about 11 years old. Aron is a friendly and well-liked boy, while Caleb is less favored and has flashes of cruelty. Some visitors come to the farm, bringing Abra, a cool-headed girl who Aron soon decides to marry. On the advice of the Abra's parents, Adam decides to move to Salinas. Aron and Abra meet up in Salinas, and while their engagement begins as childhood play, it becomes more serious as they get older. However, Aron is self-involved in many ways. Perhaps Lee describes Aron best when he says that Aron's purity and goodness are often selfish. For example, Aron considers joining the ministry and not marrying Abra.
Cal learns the truth about his mother and goes to see her. Adam and Cal continue to keep the truth from Aron, to protect him. Aron finishes high school a year early and goes to Stanford, although he doesn't like it there. He writes love letters to Abra, but she feels that Aron is really writing about himself. When Adam loses the majority of his fortune on an attempt to ship lettuce across the country, Cal earns the money back with help from Will Hamilton. During Thanksgiving, Cal gives the money to Adam, who won't accept the gift. Hurt and bewildered, Cal takes Aron to see their mother. Aron freaks out and run offs, then joins the army.
Cathy commits suicide, and Adam has a stroke when he hears of her death. Abra declares her love for Cal, in part because he isn't perfect, and they start dating. A letter arrives with the news that Aron is dead, which gives Adam another stroke. Cal reveals why Aron left for the army. Lee begs Adam to give some sign that he has forgiven Cal, even though it is difficult for Adam to speak. Adam manages one word, "timshel," which means "thou mayest." This resonates with an early episode in the book, implying that Cal has the ability to overcome whatever evil is in him.
My Thoughts:
This book is a masterpiece. The characters are complex and believable. The plot is exciting and layered. In summary, this book has everything that a good book should. Steinbeck describes the inner motivations of the characters with the skill of a master writer.
Throughout the book, we see the Cain and Abel theme reemerge for different characters in a satisfying way. I found the theological discussions of Lee, Samuel, and Adam particularly interesting. Steinbeck is always questioning the nature of evil. Where does it come from? Do we have the choice to overcome it (like with Cal and the idea of "timshel")?
The characterization of Aron and Cal invites analysis. Although Aron is the more well-liked brother, he is less complex than Cal. While Cal suffers over his idea of self and struggles to be a good person, Aron has a righteous goodness about him, which doesn't leave room for ambiguity or difficulties in others. (In some ways, Aron's attitude mirrors Adam's first view of Cathy. Although she tried to tell him that she didn't want to move to Salinas or stay with him, Adam refused to hear it, imagining Cathy to be the picture of a perfect wife.) Aron's biggest struggle comes when he moves to Stanford, but even then, it is a superficial struggle. When college does not live up to Aron's fanciful expectations, Aron moves off campus and instead idolizes Abra. Aron also does not have the patience for ambiguity in others. He expects Abra to be perfect, an expectation that she can in no way live up to. When Aron discovers the truth about his mother, it shatters his view of the world, and he can't handle it.
Cal, on the other hand, sees the cruelty in himself and battles to be a better person. He simultaneously loves his brother for his goodness and hates his brother too, because life seems so easy for him. Cal often tries to do the right thing, but he is confused about how to do it. For example, when Cal tries to give the money to his father, he wants to show his father that he loves him. (Although even this action is complex, for Cal admits that a part of him hopes he can buy Adam's love.) Later, Cal burns the money. Cal doesn't realize that being good doesn't have to be such a grand gesture or that it doesn't have to involve his suffering. Although on the surface Aron is easier to like, Abra realizes that Cal is actually less selfish and more in touch with the world.
In my summary of the book, I didn't talk much about the Hamilton family. Although those characters are well drawn, most of them remain in the sideline of the plot. Their stories are more vignettes that add flavor to the work as a whole.
I have nothing but praise for this book. It was a wonderful read.
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