The Mockingbirds, Daisy Whitney

Themis Academy is a school for the exceptional students. Athletes, artists, academics, they're all brought in and placed in a setting where they can thrive. They're trusted to behave in an honourable manner, The Themis Way, and they do.

Which is why, when Alex makes the mistake of getting blackout drunk at a concert and is date raped, she feels she has nowhere to turn. Who can she tell who will believe her? She was drunk, after all.

But then her friends tell her about the Mockingbirds, a student organization formed to enforce the Themis Way the teachers pretend not to notice any infractions of, and the slow process towards healing begins.

This book made me really uncomfortable, and probably not for the reasons you're thinking of. I am an older sister of several voracious readers, and they're always pestering me for recommendations. And as this is obviously an "issue book," (Defined as the main motivating force for a book being written,) I was very concerned with how the issue was handled. On the actual issue of consent, why it is important, and how it is defined, (especially with the recent Sweden/Assange/Rape brouhahah,) I thought the book did an excellent job, especially since the court scenes allowed people to define their terms in ways which looks like tl;dr in most other cases.

But most of the book is spent in saying over and over that adults WILL NOT help you, in a case like this. Several times Alex says she won't go to the Police, because her parents will freak out. Ummmmmmm.

I hope it's clear why that makes me go all snaky. If it isn't, clearly we are approaching things from different angles, and you should disregard this review entirely.

Granted, by the end of the book Alex had come to trust the "cool" new piano teacher, and comes to talk to her when she has an issue, but so much of the book was spent setting up the idea that adults are all in their own worlds that it felt like an aberration, rather than a eureka moment. I mean, one of her teachers actually has her act out an attempted rape scene. So by the time it got to the reveal that maybe some adults are not finks, I had already written them off, along with much of my enjoyment of the book, regrettably. The way all the students rally behind her is good, but the fact that only, in this world, people within three years of her age are to be trusted not to go off the rails for no real reason, made me pull my hair.

And then: SPOILER ALERT: There's the issue of the boy she falls for over the course of the book. The romance is all very nice and healing, if it wasn't for the fact that he's on the board of the Mockingbirds, and is expressly mentioned as supposed to NOT be in any romantic setting with her. And then at the end: EVEN MORE SPOILERS: Alex is asked to be on the board of the Mockingbirds, who have helped her so much. And her first act is to give the boy an unconditional pardon and ask him to be her advisor. Because apparently the code of conduct when it expressly says, "no fraternizing with people under investigation," was a grey area. This would have made me go even MORE snaky, if I hadn't already marked the book up under "not very enjoyable to read." Maybe it's because I've grown up in a Christian, Military family, (you know those military sorts, so wrapped around the axel about codes of conduct,) but I just think that a.) that wasn't a grey area, and b.) would it be that hard to hold of the making out for a few months? and c.) if you break the rules you're very very aware of, shouldn't there be consequences? /END SPOILERS.

So I gave it three stars out of five. I actually didn't "like" it that much- if this was based on liking alone it should be two stars- but I do think it's a very useful teaching book, as long as I made sure to talk about it later. Unfortunately, I'm a very emotional reader and I'm coming from a certain culture and background, so parts of the story swelled WAY out of proportion and coloured my whole experience of reading it. 

With that said, I know the author is a date rape survivor, and that's why she wrote the book, and it was very well done. Alex's reactions and healing process was painfully honest, and it ends well. I would like someone I know to read it, and so they can tell me how I was reading it on a bad day and I totally misinterpreted it, and get my head together! Gosh, Jasmine!

Yes, erm, I'm unsure how to end this. Live long and prosper?

Matched, Ally Condie

Cassia's world is perfect. Everyone is assigned a job which suits their skills and interests, health care, entertainment, recreation and food are provided by The Society, and they live long, healthy lives. If they decide they want to be married, they are paired with their perfect match, selected from the many thousands of possible people looking for a relationship, and they live happily ever after together.

Just look at Cassia's parents! Her mother was from the country, and her father was from the city- they never would have met without The Society introducing them to each other. And now, here they are, entirely happy together.

The story starts with Cassia on her way to attend her Match Banquet. To everyone's surprise and joy, she is matched with someone in her own city, (no moving necessary!) Her best friend Xander will be who she makes her life with, which they are both delighted about. *^_^* (smily face of delight and shyness)

They already know each other so well there's hardly a need for the data slip with the information about Xander, but since it's protocol, they both take it, grinning, and then go home to their lives. Everything has worked out even better than they could have hoped for. It's perfect!

Only, when Cassia goes to look at what The Society has to tell her about Xander, (heh heh heh,) another face flashes on the screen. And again, this is a boy that she knows. Ky, also one of her friends, who also lives on her street, who she also went to school with. She's reassured that it was just a glitch in the system, which is great, but wait. There are glitches in the system?

The seed has been sown, and Cassia has started to question. She begins to question harder, with more anger, when her grandfather comes to the end of his long and productive life, and dies on his 80th birthday. (Everyone dies on their 80th Birthday.)

Okay, I want to tell you more about this story, but I'm going to stop now, because you deserve to see it unfold with all the well measured care that the author wrote it. I was very impressed with this story, the more so because the only full length review I had read of it said it was internally incoherent and spent too much time explaining the world building. Which I disagree with. ^_^

I thought the voice of the book, as narrated by Cassia, captured her emotional arc wonderfully. At first she's parroting what she's been told, ("Everything is perfect!") and then she's repeating it desperately, ("This is all good, right?") and then she's mocking it, ("Oh, yes, you have our best interests at heart, of COURSE!") and then she's just at sea as to what she does next. What do you do to escape in a world where they track your dreams every fourth night? I was particularly impressed because usually I do not notice things like voices of narrators. I'm all GET ME TO THE EXPLOSIONS. GRRR, WHY ARE THINGS NOT ON FIRE?

*cough*

Instead, this time I was able to very happily follow along with the more delicately agonizing realizations Cassia is coming to, and what that means to her. And while I'm talking about the voice, I have to mention that there were three times in the book where I just stopped, amazed at how poetically Ms. Condie managed to phrase the moments of wrenching revelation. And using simple words, too! I mean, the reading level for the book can't be that high, in terms of vocabulary. It's "narrated" by someone who lives in a world where art has been simplified down to 100 of everything. And working with simple words, I was still stopped in my reading tracks several times.

Any time a book effects me that much, I am impressed.

And also there were trains and a secret war and sorting things and a strong family which you give up things for. All stories that delight me. You should read this book.

I gave it four stars out of five. I'll be looking for the sequel. Can I have it now, please?

Victory Of Eagles, Naomi Novik

It might be a reflection on my character that it took an alternate history to make me care about the Napoleonic war. But let me tell you, in this story I CARED. I had to bold that to give you the full effect. I got a bit emotional about it.
*coughs*
*Looks at Team Duke of Wellington t-shirt.*
Just a bit emotional.

And yes, the story. Because of reasons in the last book which I'm not going to tell you about, Lawrence and Temeraire are separated. Lawrence is in a jail until further notice, waiting trial for treason. Temeraire is in Wales, chatting up the ladies. IF you know what I mean, and I think you do. Heh.

And then the Eagles land. Eagles, in this case, referring to the standards of Napoleon's army, which just came ashore in force. WHERE IS YOUR HONOUR NOW? England is being routed, because let's face it, the generals are just not quite working on the same level as the French Army. For example, I might not think the most appropriate response to an invading force is to stand around talking how awesome you are and how he's going to turn back at the first battle, but possibly that's just me. And we didn't really want London, did we? Nah, that just took up too much space anyhow. Scotland is much nicer! Breezy!

And I gave this book five stars out of five. I know that seems excessive, give what I rated the ones just before- but hey, I told you I was fickle. I just DELIGHTED in all of this one. ^_^ I loved how finally we got to talk to Dragons other than Temeraire, and all the politics he had to confront and overcome. I especially liked the overcoming, because I'm- just that way. I like to read about people being awesome, is that so wrong? No, no it is not. And while Lawrence's arc made me shrivel up and die inside, it was good for him, I think. Yes, I think of Lawrence chiefly in a motherly way, is that so wrong? And again we say no, it is not wrong.

Let's see, I loved how basically everyone grew a pair and was AMAZING in this book. Including in some cases, growing a pair of consciences, for the empathizing, or a pair of frontal lobes, for the thinking. And the final battle. Oh, the final battle was DELICIOUS.

P.S. I'm sorry this is so incoherent. I don't want to really spoil anything? It just made me happy, that's all! You should read it.

Empire of Ivory, Naomi Novik

So I go back to my May drafts, and LO AND BEHOLD. This one isn't written, much less published. Face, meet palm.

Now in the last book, a lot of spoilery stuff happened. Which I'm not going to tell you about. I'm saving my spoilery reviews for the next book. :D Heh. Heh. Heh.

Anyways, just about right after Temeraire and the crew left for China in book two, dragons in England started coughing and sneezing. Which fast acquires the tone of a national emergency when the dragons just don't get better. Instead they start drowning in their own lungs, and did I mention they have no medicine for dragons? Yeah. Bad times when your air force is all in-operational. That is, at least, how the powers that be see it. The dragon crews we've all come to know and love see it, naturally, in a bit more of a personal light. "Our friends are dying and we can't do anything about it."

 In pure desperation, Temeraire and some other dragons we know and love are sent to Africa. So that maybe they'll find medicine? Or maybe the climate will cure the cough? Or maybe- something. Quarantine?

There is a real sense of desperation behind this trip. And to my mind, it never really lifts off. There's barely a purpose, people are just eating things madly, running away, sailing endlessly, despairing and dying. You know. The general cheerful stuff. There is some nice things about Africa, but I didn't enjoy that as much as my friends. Possibly because I found it kinda super creepy. Ahem. Though on the other hand, telling the giant meat-eating-but-intelligent beast that he's related to you, and you don't eat your family,  DOES seem like a pretty good idea. However, Lawrence just tired me, and the girls were awkward, and Temeraire was painfully innocent, and the only ones who were awesome were the crews. And I read books like this for the awesome people! So I gave it three stars out of five.

Black Powder War, Naomi Novik

Note: I thought I had this reviewed in May. FAIL. TERRIBLE FAIL.

So in the last book, our jolly crew started heading home from Asia. Everyone is VERY happy to be free of the political machinations of the Chinese Court- BUT LOOK, over there in the hills! Yep, that is Ms. Political Machinations herself, Lien, the white dragon. How will they get home NOW?

Most of the book, at least the way I remember it, deals with decent people getting caught up in dishonourable politics, and what happens when technology changes. With Lien *Spoiler* teaming up with Napoleon *End!Spoiler* the game has shifted mightily. Now everyone is dealing with brilliant tacticians who just aren't thinking in ways they're used to. And if they're not prepared to change the way THEY deal? Well- there's the ocean. Armies are traditionally run into it right about now. Do you have your escape armada lined up?

While this book was interesting, and I enjoyed it... I gave it three stars out of five. It just didn't have the crackly magic of the first Temeraire book. It was better than the second, that's for sure! But not by a whole lot. Plus, it was just DEPRESSING. Hello, here's a war- I mean a rout. Sigh.

How To Train Your Dragon, Cressidia Cowell

I'm gonna steal the description from Goodreads, because it's said better than all the ones I was working on.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was a truly extraordinary Viking Hero. Warrior chieftain, awesome sword-fighter and amateur naturalist, he was known throughout Vikingdom as 'The Dragon Whisperer', on account of his amazing power over these terrifying beasts.

But it wasn't always like that. In fact, in the beginning, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was the most put upon Viking you'd ever seen. Not loud enough to make himself heard at dinner with his father, Stoick the Vast, not hard enough to beat his chief rival, Snotlout, at Bashyball, the number one school sport, and Certainly not stupid enough to go into a cave full of dragons to find a pet...

You see the sticker over there that says to read the book before you watch the movie? Yeah. It's a good idea. Because if you expect the same story on either hand, you will NOT get it. For one thing, this book has no girls. (Contra to the movie, where the main characters are Toothless, Astrid, Hiccup and Stoick.) For another, Hiccup's relationship with his schoolmates is severely different. Also, the dragon-Viking dynamic is almost entirely opposite to the movie. That's not to say either one is bad, they're just really not at all the same story.

Okay, now that that's out of the way. :D In the book, dragons are working animals, and training one is an integral part of a young Viking Hero's education. Only Hiccup is USELESS at training dragons. He tries to TALK to his dragon instead of shouting at it, (mainly because he can't yell loud enough to do any good,) his dragon is the size of a teacup anyways, and said dragon has a bad attitude problem. If he can't turn things around, he's gonna end up banished. Hmmm, I said I was going to steal the GoodReads description, and then I wrote my own. Well done, me. ANYHOW.

I did like this book quite a lot. And I especially liked the things in that I was not expecting. You see, I saw that this was an adventure book and that the MC was a bit of a nerd, and I said to myself "oh right, he's going to be hated by everyone." But no! He has a friend. Or a partner in being hated, but they have each other's backs. And I thought that his dad was going to be a lolstupid oaf who NEVER UNDERSTANDS HIS KIDS. And while he didn't understand, that wasn't because he was stupid or uncaring, which is a a pre-conception I had about this sort of "prove yourself" book. Instead, it was because he was so well-meaning that things went pear-shaped.

Oh, also I CHORTLED over "This isn't a democracy! What do you think this is, the Republic of ROME? We're Vikings!"

And I gave it four stars out of five. A lot of fun. :D

Unnatural Death, Dorothy L. Sayers

"Ohmigod. Damn. Double rainbow. So intense."

I presume you've seen the video. You know, the guy who's crying over the rainbow? That is just about the emotional reaction I had to this book. It's so beautiful... What does it mean?

Ahem.

I used to read mysteries with obsessive, almost irrational hunger. Then I moved into reading Fantasy and writing SF, but that's another story. What I am talking about is Mysteries.

I've read a lot of them.

Until the read-a-thon, I had never read a Lord Peter Whimsey mystery.

This is a criminaloversight. Which I will fix as soon as possible. (Hint: Christmas is coming. The goose getting fat. Please to put a book in the ageless woman's hat.)

So yes, the book.

It is the third in the series, but I read it with minimal confusion as to who was who. You just dive right into post-war London and environs. Where Lord Peter, who quotes EVERYTHING, is wandering around looking useless and being a genius, his butler is being AWESOME, (seriously, I think the man only had one scene, but I had to do my delighted dance and read it aloud,) the police are being SRYS BYSNS, and the spinster writer who he employs to spy for him, whose name I have forgotten because I thought of her as Maureen Johnson, is off being Catholic and hardcore. (Seriously, it was like a Maureen Johnson cameo. Only written 80 years before mj became the darling of Twitter. TIME TRAVEL?) And there were Lawyers, being delighted and fascinated by words in laws. I like words, so this pleased me. Also, there are a lot of LADIES doing THINGS in this book. Being one myself, I approve of them becoming more than Damsels in Distress or Moral Compasses in stories. And here they were, being Evil, and Stupid, and Clever, and Moral, and Rebellious, and Good, and all sorts of lovely things. (Hint: Christmas is coming.)

The actual murder was delightfully clever, to start. You see, they weren't actually sure that it WAS a murder until the end of the book. It was only a terribly convenient death, with some suspicious circumstances. But when they started investigating, other people started dying mysteriously too. By the end of the book, the murderer was getting quite sloppy. But we still weren't sure HOW people were dying until the end.

So yes. I want marry Lord Peter. I gave it four stars out of five. No big deal.

Star Wars: 501st, Karen Traviss

I said I would review everything I read for the read-a-thon. But next year I'm not going to do that, because when that is just not fair to the book. I mean, I barely remember this one. I started reading it at about three in the morning? And most of the book I spent my time propping my eyes open and muttering "where are the EXPLOSIONS?" at the page. (Hint: there were not as many explosions as I'd like.)

The idea behind the book, as best as I can figure out, is that Order 66 ended, and millions of nerds cried out and said, BUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? They were given this book to silence them. The issue with that, is that I do believe that Order 66 finished off all the plot threads quite nicely. I mean yes, there were things hanging, but they were aesthetically pleasing things. In a terrible way.

I mean yes, there were people killed and others were left in terrible no-win situations. But the story WORKED. That was a good ending point. Now in this book, most of the text is spent on people thinking about the meaning of things, from a religious, moral or ethical perspective. Which might be fine, I was just OUT OF IT when I read the book, (and now when I'm writing this. Symmetry! Hah!)

When I pick up a book with Storm Troopers on the front, I want a heavy dose of action and plot. Regrettably for that idea, Ms. Traviss has spent much of the previous series writing the Imperial Commandos to be darn near indestructible genius demi-gods. So just breaking a few people out of triple zero isn't such a much. So just to fill up the PAGE COUNT, you need the endless soul-searching. So maybe more flaws would have been good? Or less of a stupid enemy? I dunno. I gave it two stars out of five. I shan't worry about the characters any more.

The Deadlies: Felix Takes The Stage, Kathryn Lasky

This is another book I read during the readathon. At the time that I read it I had already been reading for 21 hours and it was six in the morning. And now since then said sister has brought it back to the library. So i'm working from my (very fuzzy) memory.

Felix is one of a family of well mannered, loving Deadly Recluse spiders who happen to be super toxic, and they live in the symphony hall. He has an artistic soul! All he wants is to be accepted and to create! All he wants is to take a ride on the conductor's baton!

One quick attempt at a ride later, the conductor is being treated for a heart attack, Felix is regrowing a leg, and the Deadlies are looking for a new home, due to their previous home being the domain of exterminators now. Will they ever find a place where they can live without persecution? Will Felix ever find a place where he fits?

I was very confused by the book. I'll be honest. There was a mom spider, and two sisters I couldn't keep straight, and Felix. I think what Felix wanted was to not be an introvert, but that is so far outside of my comprehension that I was still going HUHHHH????? The whole time. Also, Mom was all worked up about kindergartens and her children being teased despite being super toxic? Like I said, I was confused. There was a lot of stuff about acceptance, but I just focused on the search for a house, since I could understand that. And that was rather fun, the dramatic cross-coutnry trip, including movies. ^_^

However, the book was fun, and it had fun pictures. :D It was exactly what I wanted at that hour. So I gave it three stars out of five.

CLICK, CLACK, MOO: Cows That Type. Story by Doreen Cronin, pictures by Betsey Lewis

Farmer Brown never thought much of of the old typewriter in the barn, until the day the cows found it.

Now there's a strike going on, demands are being made on both sides, and the ducks are serving as neutral arbitration.

The farmer hasn't had milk or eggs in days.

WHERE WILL IT END?

Okay, so this cautionary tale about the perils of education* was quietly hilarious. I mean, I expected it to be funny, it's that type, (you can tell by the illustrations,) I just didn't expect it to be quite THAT funny. I laughed out loud when I got to the end, and I'll CERTAINLY be buying it.

I gave it four stars out of five.

---

*Not really. I just wanted to say that. :D

Is Your Momma a Llama? Written by Deborah Guarino, Illustrated by Steven Kellogg

In this charming rhyming book, a baby Llama goes around asking all his friends who their mamas are. I'm not a great out-loud reader, (minimal acting skills or emotions,) but the meter was fun, and even I could fall into the rhythm of the question and answer.

Now as this is a picture book, the text is only one part of the story. Steven Kellogg illustrated this one, and I admit to being a fan of his super detailed drawings. :D After I read this one out loud, we went through the book again and picked out all the sets of Mamas and their babies.

(I liked the turtles and the owls best. Turtles are pro, and Owls are SO FLUFFY.)

I gave it three stars out of five. If I see it for sale, I will probably pick it up.

Guardian of the Dead, Karen Healey

Ellie Spencer is attending boarding school in New Zealand. Note to readers: this is not a "jolly school story." Minimal shades of Enid Blyton. (heheheheh)

Ahem. Ellie isn't what you'd call a social butterfly. Or outstanding in any discernible way, really. I mean yes, she has her black belt in Tae Kwon Do, but she hasn't practiced in a year or more. She's slumping along through school work in approved teenager fashion, and she's worrying about the future and her body in a distracted fashion.

And that's fine with her! Maybe not, y'know, great, (when is exile ever great?) but it's perfectly fine. She has her best friend Kevin, and there's a cute boy in school to obsess over from a safe distance.

Perfectly normal.

Until Kevin vanishes, the cute boy starts stalking her, and a freaky red-haired woman is showing up everywhere. Put this together with a serial killer who's taking people's eyes, and mysterious people making cryptic comments about her own power, and you have a recipe for a book that escalates fast.  Every time I thought things were going to find an equilibrium, the stakes went up again.

Now, I can't exactly say I believed in the romance. (This is YA Paranormal! Of course there's a romance!) I still have that lost-in-translation problem. But I did absolutely love how it panned out. It was just aesthetically delicious, to me at least. *hums happily* Oh man was that delicious. I just beam every time I think of that scene with Ellie and [Redacted] at [Redacted] after the [Redacted Redacted.] So [Redacted] lovely.

I have to give this five stars because there is no other way to describe it. The book was amazing. I cared, I was furious, I was grossed out, and I learned a lot about Maori culture. I didn't agree with everything the characters said, or even the author said between the lines. But it was so relentlessly creative, I can't help but call it amazing. Because it was. Amazing.

P.S. THE MASK ROCKS MY WORLD.

P.P.S. Geckoes are freaky. Poke them with sticks.

---

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Daisy Miller, Henry James

I read this for book club- and it was rather an interesting experience. For one, I had a bit of difficulty finding a plot. It seems to revolve entirely around the stalking of a girl named Daisy Miller, by an American fop in Europe, Mr. Winterbourne.

He's indentured himself for social reasons to an Aunt of his, who he follows around Europe being useful to. All very respectable. And then in Switzerland he meets a very pretty, bland little girl named Daisy Miller. I admit to not being particularly impressed by Ms. Miller, especially since what Winterbourne is particularly enraptured by is her toneless prattle.

*pause for headdesking*

I LIKE PEOPLE WITH PERSONALITY, OKAY?

But despite being prone to prattling and vagueness, Daisy is also very used to getting her own way. She makes Winterbourne promise to take her on a trip to the castle across the lake, and it's all very charming and romantic. However, warning signs are seen on the horizon in the fact that W-'s Aunt refuses to be introduced to her, as she's not proper society. *gasp*

Yes, despite the reputation of Americans abroad, or probably because of it, all the USians in this book and hypersensitive of propriety. This becomes very obvious when the setting moves to Rome. There's a whole enclave of ex-pat Americans there, and they are shunning Daisy because of her insistence on going around with an Italian man unchaperoned. *double gasp*

The shunning continues, with Winterbourne weakly trying to tell Daisy that noooo, you're only hurting yourself! Pay attention to society!

And then she gets the fever and dies.

*puts ribbon on obvious happy ending*

Oh wait. No, that isn't a happy ending, is it? No, not really. Hmmm. What is it, then? It's not particularly tragic, cause everything was leading up to that from the very beginning and we meet doctors and mentions of night fevers. And there's the fact that Daisy is so bland a character as to resemble a bit of pretty fog in a dress. Her definite characteristics are prattling tonelessly, and doing whatever she isn't supposed to. But not in an interesting way, just in a stupid one. So what is this, if it's not a tragedy, or a happy story? Oh, I've got it! It's a morality play! Pay attention to your elders and don't hang around boys, or you will die of fever. Right-o.

From my description there, you might think I didn't like the book. That wouldn't be exactly accurate. See, I have a bit of a bloodthirsty streak, and as previously mentioned, I did NOT love Daisy. Maybe I thought she was too stupid to live? I'm sure I wouldn't tell you here...

And despite my dis-love of the actual content, I really liked Mr. James' style. I loved his dialogue, which actually sounded like people (delicious,) and I very much liked the his voice. I gave it three stars out of five.

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The Princess Bride, William Goldman

"What's it about? Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."

I am tempted to leave my description of the plot there, as whoever wrote the jacket copy of this edition was really good at his/her job.  :D Plus, most people have seen the movie already, so they know what happens! Yeah, I'll leave the plot description there.

I'd seen the movie before I read the book, and I was rather surprised on reading the book to get the narrator's long ruminations on how love was basically impossible. One of the big points in the book is that Buttercup and Westley are in love, true love, which is something almost as rare as Buttercup's beauty.

This annoyed me.

I have witnessed many long marriages that are happy, loving, and even cringe-ingly passionate. (Okay, if it was your parents, you wouldn't want to know either. That's all I'm saying.) The whole clever OH AREN"T WE SO CYNICAL thing vexed me mightily.

BUT, the overall story still amuses me. :D I like the old-school adventure, and I really really like the fact that we go more into depth with Miracle Max, Fezzik and Inigo Montoya, as they were my favourite characters in the movie.

It was certainly very engrossing, I was just vexed and stressed out by certain aspects of the story. And I gave it four stars out of five.

P.S. The torture scenes creeped me the ross out. GAH.

Radiant Shadows, Melissa Marr

This is the fourth book in the Faerie courts trilogy, and it mainly deals with the shrapnel that's still falling from the actions of Keenan, Irial, Seth and Ash. The Summer Court is weak because Keenan and Ash both have mixed focus due to Ash not being seduceable for Keenan, since she's still in love with Seth, who's left her. Seth is hanging out as a solitary Fae, and dealing mostly with the Dark Court. The Dark Court, on the other hand, is reeling because of the whole almost-starvation thing they just lived through, and change in leadership. The Winter court is probably building armies, they're not talking to anyone that much, which leaves the High Court. Where Sorcha, the Unchangeable, is obsessed with her new son to the point that her realm is turning to fog. Oh, and Bannach, Chaos Personified, is loving it. She's prowling around starting wars. Which, y'know, is always a GREAT sign. So that's the setting.

And the characters? Ani is the half-human daughter of Gabriel, leader of the wild hunt. Too faerie to survive in the mortal world, and too human to be allowed to run with the hunt, it's not a great position. Her father Gabe, brother Rabbit, friend Irial and sister Tish are trying to take care of her, but that's difficult when the person you're caring for is a.) fed by touch, but b.) not allowed to ravish the members of the wild hunt, because she's c.) Ani. Because being the kind of girl she is, it's more to protect the hunt than her that she's not allowed to get freaky in the stables. (Did I just write that? Oh my word. Imma go laugh with shame now.)

Devlin is the brother of both Bannach and Sorcha, and the liason between both. He's chosen to be as logical and Sorcha-like as possible, and she reacts by using him as her assassin.

Neither one is really loving life right now.

And then they meet, and the plot unreels in an entirely inevitable way.

I'm in the weird position now of really loving the characters, but not caring what happens to them. I especially love Rabbit. And Tish, and Irial, and Ani, and Devlin, and oh man do I love Gabriel. But the plot, I'm really not sure about. I liked the plot in Wicked Lovely, and LOVED it in Ink Exchange. Both times it seemed inexorable, but in a good way. I liked what happened for aesthetic reasons, if not liking the actual things that happened. But for two books now, I've just seen things happen to people I like, and I don't like what's happening on any level. It's because of the characters that I give it three stars, and because of the plot that it's not four or higher.

Cry Wolf, Patricia Briggs

Anna had no idea werewolves existed until three years ago, when she was attacked by one. She survived, more from innate stubbornness than from anything to look forward too. Since she healed from the attack, she's spent the intervening time learning that werewolves are monsters, and the more dominant a wolf is, the more she'll want to forget any encounter with him afterwards. Her pack spent the three years violently teaching her her place, and feminism has NOT hit them yet.

But last weekend there was a power change in her pack. A lot of people she isn't going to mourn died. The enforcer who did the killing, (who specifically was able to kill the alpha because he's even more dominant,) tells her their wolves have decided they're mated, and he asked her to come home with him. And she went, maybe not even for the usual keeping-her-head-down ways. Now Anna and Charles have to get to know each other, and also oh, btw, ancient evil is prowling around in the woods, maybe you should look into that before it eats your soul.

Okay, this is a romance, no denying. And I liked it. :D I could actually track emotional developments, and  I could identify with the characters' romantic interest. As I believe I've mentioned, this hardly ever happens. But I liked following along with Charles learning not to glare at his girl, and Anna learning she's allowed to be bossy when her man is gonna HURT himself cause he won't let himself HEAL. *exasperated sigh and pushes him around*

Within Patricia Briggs' world-building, werewolves deal with being basically two people in one changeable body. The human and the wolf. The wolf is generally not the peaceful one with the relationship. Which is why, given that they barely know each other, both the angry, defiant and damaged little girl and the super powerful hitman everyone's scared of are rather disconcerted by their wolves' interest in curling up and snuggling around the other person.

And in this book, the snuggling was what interested me. (Sigh, I really am a girl, aren't I? Drat.)  It was just sweet! :D And yes, this is a "sweet" romance, not "steamy." Which is possibly why I also liked it. I could enjoy following the emotional arc without having to go "AUGH, I"M TOO YOUNG," and there was more focus on building friendship, instead of half the book being depictions of body parts and how there's heightened blood flow. Which really, you know, I'm just not that interested.

There was an actual plot, beyond making friends with each other, and I did approve of how it ended. For me, it was more of a vehicle for the making-of-friends than a key player, so I'm not gonna deal with it. Because of my somewhat "meh" reaction to the plot, I gave it three stars out of five.

Devilish, Maureen Johnson

Jane is brilliant, sarcastic, loyal, and failing school because she can't really be bothered to care about her standing. Why engage in class when it's all politics and drama, and you can do the advanced school work in your 15 minutes before the bus arrives? She does care for the sake of her friend Ally, though, and if Ally wants to participate in traditions like Big Little day, where Freshmen (Littles) choose Senior mentors (Bigs), she'll be damned if she's gonna see Ally go without a Little.

She's been best friends with Ally since forever. Which means she's in a prime position to notice when her BFF, (after a really tragic public vomiting incident,) starts acting- differently. To the point of sudden knowledge of Latin, entire wardrobe and style change, and new personality to go with the hair.

Jane's never really been one to take No for an answer, or acknowledge subtle hinting to back off, so it doesn't take many self-igniting text books and freak hail storms before she's figured out that Ally's actually sold her soul to the devil, via a new girl at school. And now this middleman for Hell is willing to strike a deal with Jane for Ally's freedom, just sign here please...

Maureen Johnson is a hilarious writer, and I really think this is the most fun I've had with any of her books I loled irl at least once a chapter, and was grinning like a maniac at the page for the rest of the time. Maybe I find demon possession hilarious. DON'T JUDGE ME OKAY?

But I both found it hilarious, and my religious sensibilities weren't (really) freaked out by the treatment of demons. There was no falling in love with fallen angels, for example. I always find that one a little bit hard to buy into, given the whole trust component in falling in love. Instead this time, the love interest was SO CUTE I just want to RUFFLE HIS HAIR and grin at him. *cough*

So yes, I loved the characters, including her whole family and the teachers, I loved the dialogue, the plot was satisfying, and I generally enjoyed it. I gave it four stars out of five.

Lord Sunday, Garth Nix

Arthur Penhaligon has battled, snuck, fled, been chased, been carried, and fought his way through six levels of the House on his quest as the Heir to find and carry out the Will of the Architect. As a necessary byproduct of his quest, he's forfeited his humanity along the way. This isn't the normal "I'm not the same person I started as," thing. He is literally no longer human. He's given that up, along with seeing friends and family fall, because he believes that that's the only way to stop the tide of Nothing that's steadily destroying the House, and from there what we know as the world.

But everything that's been sacrificed might not be enough, now that he's fallen from the Incomparable Gardens.

I started this series because Kemendraugh (points accusingly to Kemendraugh) handed me the book and said read. And I am nothing if not obedient (okay I was obedient that day,) and so I read! I was so far into being obedient and not really looking at the book, that I thought it was a.) written 50 years ago, and b.) I had no idea who wrote the series. I only put "Garth Nix" together with "The Guy Who Wrote Those Sabriel Books" after reading Superior Saturday.

Yes, I am so observant.

ANYHOW, once I put those together, I was all going OOOOOOO, of COURSE! *headdesks repeatedly*  Nixian trademarks are all over. Like, say;

• The military not necessarily being the bad guys. 
• (How often does that happen in YA?)
• The power of words, and more specifically of writing.
• The physical and mental transformation of characters in the pursuit of something necessary.
• (And not necessarily in ways they would have liked.)
• The awesomeness of minor characters, who then die.
• Flawed and possibly dangerous characters who you're forced to trust.
• Fighting against impossible odds
• (Maybe winning, maybe not.)
• The necessity and cost of the fight.
• (Which is one of the reasons these books feel so old to me. It's not really a modern sentiment.)

I think everyone's very conscious of another series of war books that have been written recently. (You know, the ones with fire and birds and hunger in the titles?I will write more about them later.) I'd like to put forward the idea that these also are war books, and they quite possibly do a better job of communicating the aching decisions that must be made, and supported later. Like sometimes you have to take responsibility for being a pawn, say. And the enemy is made up of people, with hopes and dreams and families, and they will still kill you if given the chance.

I thought it was very well done, and a very inexorable, satisfying ending to the series. I didn't really emotionally connect with the characters, (other than Leaf,) but I would still like to look into possessing this series for myself, and I'd recommend it, for SURE. I gave it three stars out of five.

White Cat, Holly Black

I'll give you the run-down I gave my younger siblings, because it was apperantly so effective that now my 11 year old sister declared her interest in reading it. *edges away from angry parents* (I said no, t'wasn't age appropriate, if you MUST know.)

Cassel is running a betting operation out of his dorm room in boarding school. Everyone in the school is laying odds on everything from if the mouse in the common room is going to die, (and if so how,) to what the next pop quiz is going to be on, to LONG odds on shrewish teachers hooking up.

Oddly enough, this is Cassel's version of going clean. Because, you see, his family is in the mob. His Dad's dead, his mom is currently in jail for entrapping rich men with the intention of separating them from their savings, and both his older brothers are working as enforcers for a major crime lord. Though you can't really blame them for following the dark side. His whole family is and has been Workers, which mean they can work magic. The only issue with that is that magic has been illegal since the 1920's, so workers tend to end up in Organized Crime, whether they intend to or not.

Cassel's not a Worker, which one of the reasons he knows his family lets him make nice plans for a peaceful civilian life. He's a bit of the family disappointment, and now he's just trying to move on and get over his past. His personal past. Because his family might be in the mob, and he might be the only one who isn't a Worker, but he also killed his best friend when he was 14. He doesn't even know why, he just remembers standing over her bloody body with a maniac grin on his face.

So yes, running a tiny little betting operation that involves the whole school is Cassel's version of toeing the straight and narrow. And he's TRYING. Only he keeps sleepwalking, and having freaky dreams which seem to imply he's going insane. And believe me, the issues I've just mentioned to you are only the tip of the iceberg that are his troubles.

I have difficulties expressing the awesomeness that is this book without spoilering it. Curses. (heh.) I would just like to take this moment to say a few words. One, the characters are delightful, and are all three-dimentional to the point that I am sure even the dead ones have nefarious plots they're enforcing from beyond the grave. I love his entire family with a stark, unholy and deeply unsafe love. Unsafe because, well, this is CASSEL'S family we're talking of. (Barron, I can always count on you to make my heart soar. Right before you set it on fire and roast marshmallows on it.) The plot is twisted in the manner of a bent corkscrew, so just when you think you can tell where things are going, they curve off in another truly awesome/disconcerting manner.

You know how you try to dissect songs sometimes, and you're left going- wow, there are NO wasted words? Every single syllable is doing double duty towards the general awesome! This book is like that. (And what, you say only strange Jasmines and their fathers do that, therefore I am strange? I say Psh, you know not of what you talk. Get with the program. Dissecting songs is awesome.)

I gave it five stars out of Five, because to my way of thinking of how a story should be told, this one is up at the top of the curriculum. (Wow, let's see how unclear I can make a sentence, eh? LET'S ADD MORE 'OFs" AND SEE IF THAT MAKES IT BETTER.)

P.S. *cough* Sorry, this is not the most clear of all book rants I've ever ranted for you. But I know only inane people read this blog anyways, so I figure you can deal. ^_&

Mistwood, Leah Cypess

 

She has no memory of who she is, or what she is. They say she is the Shifter. They say her name is Isabel. This seems reasonable. They say she is immortal, and has protected the kings of the realm for centuries. Which she knows to be true.

They say she is to protect the King, who is named Rokan. His sister is Clarisse. They say she served the King until twenty years ago, when she left suddenly- no one knows why. This seems reasonable. They say the new king is in danger from an unknown foe, and she is the only one who can protect him. That's why they sought her out. Which she knows to not all be true.

They're lying. Everyone has their lies they are busily weaving- it is a royal court after all. But only some of the lies concern her, and no one trusts her. And when you can't remember the truth, how can you tell the minor lies from the ones that will split your loyalties along with your heart?

The plot on this book is TWISTED. It's one of those where you have to keep track of all the double POVs so you can remember who is lying to who about what, and who knows what about how much the other ones know. A lot like George R R Martin, or one of those POLITICAL INTRIGUE books. Because of that, some people will say that it's about choosing kings, or the rights of monarchy, or even feminism. I really DON'T think so. I thought it was more about family, and vengeance, and divided loyalties, and who you should trust. And how love will really twist you over. :P

Oh, and the twist at the end actually make me say- OUT LOUD- "Oh, that's brutal." I very rarely say that. But when you get to the twist, that's how very effectively twisted it is. I can't say that I loved it, because I like happy lots-of-hot-chocolate-and-a- big-turkey-dinner endings. But it was very well done. I gave it three stars out of five.