Book Beyond Imagination

Hola Readers!  Who's ready for another rambling?  I am YAY!  Today let's ramble about...The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers.  It is part of his Zamonia series but can be read as a stand alone like I did.  I think this one was recommended to me by my baby sis...which is always a good thing.  Let me tell you people this book hit all my literary emotions.  It was not at all what I expected in a very very very good way. What the heck do I mean?  I'll tell you, but first, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

First of all, let me just warn you that I am not going to be able to get a billionth of this book into the synopsis 'cause every page, every word is dripping with meaning and story and well...yeah.  So instead I'm gonna try and just give you enough of an outline to not be too lost, but seriously you just should go read it. Our story is narrated by Optimus Yarnspinner, a Lindworm (a being that resembles a dinosaur) from the fabled Lindworm Castle, home to many a worthy author.  Optimus has just lost his authorial godfather Dancealot and has set out on a quest to find the author of a fantastic manuscript left to him.  This manuscript has the ability to run the reader through every emotion known to living beings and yet it has not been published.  To find this mysterious author, Optimus heads to Bookholm which is essentially a city devoted to all things books.  It is filled with book sellers, book binders, book publishers, cafe's with book themes, literary music, ink, pens whatever you can possibly relate to books you will find in Bookholm (kind of like my blog lol).  Upon arrival Optimus is thrust into an adventure that any book hero would envy.  He starts by showing his book to a couple of very interesting book vendors in the hope that they will recognize it.  This leads him to various other places and to aquiring the book The Catacombs of Bookholm by the famous Book Hunter Colophonius Regenschein and we as the readers learn along with Optimus all about the catacombs of Bookholm.  Optimus is finally directed to Pfistomel Smyke a collector of the rare book brought up from the catacombs and also a kind of literary scientist.  He turns out to be one nasty dude and after reading the manuscript reveals his nefarious plan to Optimus.  Smyke's whole goal in life is to essentially turn all art mediocre, to eliminate any greatness and essentially control everything.  To this end he drugs Optimus and traps him in the catacombs beneath Bookholm...and this is where his adventure really starts.  Optimus uses the knowledge he aquired to try and traverse the catacombs, but disaster keeps befalling him.  After several misadventures he is rescued by the not so malicious

Booklings, who despite their fearsome reputation, choose to care for Optimus.  They show Optimus many of the safer wonders of the catacombs and inspire him with their dedication to memorizing all the works of all the authors.  Tragedy strikes when an unusual alliance of Book Hunters finds the Booklings Grotto and destroy it along with killing many of the Booklings.  Optimus is shoved into a bookshelf contraption and sent spinning through the catacombs to more adventures.  He eventually ends up in the Hall of the Shadow King, a mysterious character that plays a part in almost all the scary tales of the Underworld of Bookholm.  After even more adventures (are you sensing a theme here?) we finally get the Shadow Kings story.  Turns out that he is the author of the fantastic manuscript, but that it was also his downfall.  The Shadow King started out life as a human who had the misfortune of running into Smyke, who of course could not stand the idea of such great art outside of his control.  Smyke then used many arcane techniques and wondrous supplies to turn the human into what is now the Shadow King.  He was made to be pretty much immortal, strong, smart, literary and unable to ever enter sun or moon light on the dire consequence of bursting into flame.  More conversation and writing and adventuring and book stuff and Optimus and the Shadow King decide to go back up to the surface regardless of the consequences.  They face down a hoard of Book Hunters, discover a confession and will and finally confront Smyke.  The Shadow King allows himself to catch on fire, burning down a good portion of Bookhom and Optimus escapes, inspired finally to write his first masterpiece.  This does not even BEGIN to remotely tell the rich and full story of this insanely wonderful world...but then short of reading the book, I don' think anybody could do it justice.

World Building - This book is set in the fictional world of Zamonia...which I cannot wait to read more of!  We got to visit Bookholm and the insane amount of detail was just fantastic!  I felt like I could find myself in any section of this city and know exactly where I am.  It felt whole and complete and layered.  There were customs, cultures, rules, consequences, legends, language, all in abundant variety.  There were notes that added to the depth of this world and for having so much shoved into one book, the world was not confusing in the least. I loved the little touches, like the cafe's with the literary inspired treats, or the various parts of the city dedicated to different area's of the book process.  It was just so full in a good way, it felt almost endless, like there was always another nook or crany or passageway to explore, new treasures to find, so cool.   Again this is just one part of whole world and this one book has made me very eager to explore the rest of it...such amazing world building.

Story - The story was whole and complete.  It had a beginning, middle and end.  It was in some ways your typical adventure story, but more along the lines of an epic saga like Beowulf with many small adventures, meetings and incidents adding to the whole adventure.  The story had a fairly classic structure with a lot of original ideas, giving the reader the comfort of structure and the thrill of discovery, very cool story.

Character - Variety is the word I think best describes the characters in this book.  In this book we see so many species (Lindworms, Booklings, Uggly's, Spinxxx and so many many many more), characters from different backgrounds, classes, shapes, sizes, needs, modes.  Again you would think that this would detract from actual character development, but I found that the characters that mattered where very fully formed and all the other characters added some delicious flavor.  Yay characters.

Editing - I'm shocked at how well this book is edited.  Again (are we getting sick of me saying this yet?)  it is just stuffed full of so many things that it should feel cluttered or choppy or overly long...but...it doesn't.  I found myself reading every single word, trying to absorb as much of the literary goodness that I could.  It was a page turner and I had very few complaints about the pacing.  Not sure how this happened, if the author is just that amazing, or his relationship with his editor is that good or some combination, but epic editing.

Book Lovers Dream - This book was written for lovers of the written word.  The language, the setting, the story, everything about it seems tailored to bibliophiles.  I seriously want to go wander into one of the bookshops and get me a stack of books, curl up in a cafe with a cup of Midnight Oil Espresso and a Book pastry and read my brains out.  The amount of literariness that has been poured into the book makes me feel like the author loves books and all things literary as much as I do.  It is finally a book about books that doesn't drive me nuts.  It is not just about reading books either, it is about how they are written, how they are published, the materials, the variety and the idea that there are types of books we can only imagine out there somewhere if we can just look hard enough.

Wordplay - If forced to choose a favorite component about this book, I would say it is the language.  The author uses a MASSIVE variety of words....and if there was no human word that was sufficient, he made one up and attributed it to one of his zillions of non human races.  On top of that the author would constantly list numerous books and their authors...I kept waiting for this to get annoying...but somehow it worked perfectly with the story.  To make it even better, he cleverly disguised some famous authors by anagraming their names.  For example:  Selwi Rollcar = Lewis Carroll, Aliesha Wimperslake = William Shakespeare, so very cool.  I love words, and when an author uses them correctly it just makes my little literary heart go pitter patter.

Not What I Thought - So to be honest I wasn't 100% sure what I was getting into when I started this book.  From the description and the titles of the authors other books in the series I thought it might be a kids book.  Then the illustrations and mostly almost silly animalistic characteristics of most of the characters led to me thinking it might be a light hearted tale....Nope.  This is definitely a book for at the very least older kids.  There is violence (so much violence), betrayal, complex ideas...not a book for 7 year old.  It was great though and the juxtaposition (sorry this book makes me pull out my big girl words) of the simple illustrations, the fun characters and the adult writing were very original and a great read.

Overall Impression - Ok, so I don't think I have been able to impart even a tenth of what I want to about this book.  In the end all I can say is that it is an experience, and one I think anybody who loves books should have.  I give this book 9 out of 10 Animatomes and really encourage every book reader to pick it up....even if it's just to figure out what the heck I'm talking about.  Happy Reading Everybody!!! 

Firebird Once More

Hi Readers, here I am with promised rambling.  I'm excited to finally get back to it!!!!!   Ok so today let's ramble about Firebirds Soaring edited by Sharyn November, the last in the trilogy of Firebird short story collections.  As with the previous two installations, this book contains a wide variety of short stories in what we now call speculative fiction...which is essentially an encompassing genre that includes all manner of sci fi, fantasy and all the wonderful gray areas in between.  Here are a couple...well more then a couple of my favorites in this collection.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Kingmaker by Nancy Springer - This opening short story shows us a young woman who is desperate to keep a potentially bad ruler off the throne.  She stumbles upon an object that will not only allow her to keep said baddie away, but potentially rule the world herself.  She realizes this is not the way and takes the hard route instead.  A lot of story is packed in these few pages but it feels complete...like and old school tale you tell the young warriors around the camp fire.

Egg Magic by Louise Marley - I always love a magic story that involves either everyday items or everyday jobs.  This story hits the spot telling us about a girl, her hens, their sometimes magic eggs, a wild magic mother and the need to figure out how to fit in with a life not of her choosing.  I really like the mix of domesticness and magic in this story.

Flatland by Kara Dalkey - Set in the future, kids/teenagers are recruited right out of school by huge companies to essentially live/eat/sleep/breath work.  These kids get paid, room and board and access to all kinds of services in return for almost around the clock computer work.  Our girl is essentially told to go on vacation, here through various means she realizes how much she misses actually having a life, breathing fresh air and just having time to herself.  This is a very for the moment story that explores the new way people work, having the means to always be connected to work is not always the best thing.

Ferryman by Margo Lanagan - The tale is short, sad yet awesome.  We get to see the daily life of Charon as his wife and daughter make him lunch, bring it to him, almost making the ferryman of the dead a regular working stiff...until he falls into the river and becomes a real stiff.  Although very sad...I don't know...I really really liked this story.

The Ghosts of Strangers by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - This is more of a novella then a short story, but it was epic.  In this world the people of the village have a deal with the dragons.  We learn that when the human bond mate of a dragon dies, he/she has the option of being fed to their dragon and become part of the dragon.  We follow our heroin as she has a special gift of being able to see and capture ghosts which she then feeds the dragons.  Awesome story and now I want to see if it ever got expanded to novel form.

Three Twilight Tales by Jo Walton - Not a lot to say about these other then they read as pure magic.  To me this type of dream land story telling is exactly what the short story format is all about.  There are three tales all interwoven and beautiful and just wonderful.

The Dignity He's Due by Carol Emshwiller - A mom, her daughter and her son wander through out the state, never settling down.  Mom is convinced that her son is really a long lost Prince and treats him accordingly.  Sister is just trying to make some sort of life for them.  This story really gets to me as it shows us how easily the line between reality and fantasy can be blurred.  It also shows us the importance of family and how anybody can be their for anybody else.

I'm kind of sad that this series is over.  I have found many many many new stories, authors and books from these three collections.  However I am glad to have had the chance to discover and read all these gems.  I recommend this collection to anybody who likes a good story and I give it 8 out of 10 kitsune.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Duty Heart Power

Hola Readers, I've just come off of 60 hours straight so if today's rambling is a wee bit incoherent...well let's blame it on that shall we?  Today I'm gonna ramble about Eona by Alison Goodman.  This is the sequel to the amazing and awesome Eon, which I absolutely loved.  In fact I had to run out buy and read the sequel ignoring my already overwhelming TBR pile.  How did the second book stack up?  Let's find out, but first, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

We catch up with our favorite Dragoneye Eona as she is on the run from Sethon, the usurper Emperor.  She is with the Contraire Dela and her body guard Ryko.  Ryko was brutally injured in the previous book and at the behest of Dela, Eona tries to use her dragon power to heal him.  While in the dragon realm, Eona is attacked by the bereaved dragons of the other 10 slaughtered Dragoneyes. The attacking dragon are held off by unexpected help from Ido, the only other Dragoneye and his Rat Dragon.  Eona manages to heal Ryko, but the dragon battle that ensued, destroyed the village, killing many innocent people.  The other consequence of the healing is that Eona now has a connection to Ryko allowing her to use and control him.  There is a bunch of traveling and sneaking and Ryko being understandably pissed.  The group finally meets up with the young, true Emperor Kygo.  Eona and Kygo share a moment and Eona discovers that she has an insatiable urge to rip the Imperial Pearl from Kygo's throat...which would kill him.  More traveling and the group meets up with various resistance groups and Kygo makes Eona his Naiso, which essentially is the only person allowed to treat the Emperor like a human.  The Naiso is expected to speak hard truths to the Emperor without fear of reprisal.  Kygo is injured and Eona assists the physician in healing him using non-dragon power medicine.  Eona is summoned and in a very disturbing scene is forced to control Ryko to prove that she did not use her healing/control powers on Kygo.  Eona is upset that Kygo did not trust her word and one of the first of many lover vs tool fights takes place.  Eona and Kygo both have a hard time balancing their personal feelings vs their duty to the country.  Meanwhile Eona convinces Kygo that they need to rescue Ido from Sethon as he is the only person who can train her to use her powers. The rescue happens and Eona's training begins.  Since she used her power to heal him, Eona can control Ido, but has to use a more sensual compulsion that leads to some confusing feelings.  The group continues to travel and Eona is reunited with a mother she hasn't seen since she was sold at the age of six.  All through out this, Dela has been working on decoding the red folio that was left 500 years ago by Eona's ancesteor and the last Mirror Dragoneye, Kinra.  Eona knows just from the rage filled swords that Kinra had a huge part in why the Mirror Dragon disappeared. We discover that Kinra was the lover of the Emperor, but really loved the Rat Dragoneye.  We also find out that she was executed as a traitor for trying to rip out the Imperial Pearl from the Emperor's throat.  Eona uses her compulsion of Ido to bring the black folio and the binding power it contains to her.  She gives it Kygo as a huge sign of trust as the folio can use royal blood to bind the Dragoneye's power.  Kygo is greatful and it seems the two lovebirds are starting to figure stuff out. Eventually enough of the folio's are decoded for Eona to finally discover the truth of the dragons.  It seems that the Imperial Pearl is actually the egg of renewal that the dragons need to regenerate.  The original Dragoneyes stole it and bound the dragons with it.  Kinra learned the truth and tried to free them and was executed for her trouble.   Unfortunatly, Eona is taken prisoner by Sethon after they are betrayed by Kygo's trusted general.  Sethon uses his blood to bind Eona, and cause Kygo, Ido, Dela and Ryko to be captured. Sethon removes Kygo's pearl, leaving him to bleed out.  Eona uses the distraction of the pain of sewing the pearl into his throat to break free of Sethon's control.  Ryko gives his life so that Eona can take down Sethon.  Sethon is killed and Kygo is healed by Eona.  She then goes to give the pearl to the dragons so that they can regenerate and be free.  Ido however is not so into giving up the power and tries to get Eona to instead bind the dragons with the black folio for the ultimate power.  She refuses and Ido morally wounds Kygo, making her choose to either free the dragons and lose Kygo, the love of her life or to bind the dragons with him for the ultimate power and save Kygo.  After a moment of angst, she chooses to free the dragons.  Ido is killed and Kygo is looking to be in pretty bad shape.  The dragons go through a pretty cool renewal ritual and the young reborn dragons leave the Empire.  The new Mirror Dragon however seems to retain some memory of Eona and her gift of freedom and heals Kygo before leaving.  Kygo and Eona head home to clean up the pieces of the broken and now dragonless Empire.  Whew that was really long and not even remotely close to everything that happened...but you get the gist.

World Building - This book continued on the world building of the first book.  In this book we leave the city and the palace and move into the poorer outlying areas of the Empire.  We get to learn more customs, beliefs and other tidbits that continue to make this world feel very complete.  I appreciated the level of detailed that was very artfully slipped into almost every encounter, giving us an even more complete picture of the world this book is set in.  I found that although the main theme of the world is an Asian style medieval type world, that the author definitely incorporated some very original and varied pieces to differentiate this world from a carbon copy of any real country.

Story - Compared to the last book, I felt that this story was a little bit slow/cluttered.  I felt like we focused a lot more on Eona and her feelings and angst instead of the story as a whole.  There was a lot of traveling, a lot of introspection and a lot of things that felt repetitive.  I also wanted to get to the story of Kinra a lot sooner, I felt that knowing more would have given the story a bit more direction.  That being said this book did deliver on the previous books premise AND the story actually wrapped up in a very coherent way.  I'm not sure if I am sad or happy about the dragons leaving.  One one hand, it's pretty gutsy to so definitively end the books with the removal of the main conceit of the books...on the other hand no more dragons WAHHHH!  Overall not as compelling as the first story, but still well done.

Character - The development of characters in this book was vastly different then in the first book.  In the last book it was all about finding yourself and being true to yourself.  In this book it seemed to be more about how people responded to different situations.  Unfortunately I found myself liking some of the previous characters less in this book then in the last one.  We did meet a couple new characters that added some depth to the group and for the most part the characters stayed true to the way they were written.  Nobody really did anything out of character just for plot development, and every character had motivation, a story and presence so good job on the characters.

Editing - Editing was well done.  Again as with the last book multiple story lines were abundant, yet meshed together in a wholly readable way.  This book may have been a tad too long, a bit of paring down on some of the introspection and the repetitiveness would have been welcome, but overall very readable, very understandable good job.

Duty, Heart, Power - Along with being the title of this post, I feel like a lot of what was going on in this book was people trying to make choices based on these three things.  Eona especially spent a lot of time in the book trying to walk the line between these three.  She felt a duty to her country, her family and friends and her dragon...but sometimes these various duties did not align and doing her duty to one would make it impossible to do her duty to another.  She was constantly tempted with power, while at the same time being used, or people trying to use her to gain their own power.  Finally she had to try and learn when to listen to her own needs, what her heart wanted and weather or not it was compatible with her duty or her need.  Pretty much any time characters interacted with each other one or more of these three things came into play, and the choices that were made were based on what each character choose to make important.  Ido was constantly seeking power and most of his choices were skewed by this view point.  Dela and Ryko clashed constantly as Dela want to follow her heart, yet Ryko insisted on putting duty first...even if it hurt Dela.  Eona and Kygo were constantly struggling with all three as they both wanted/needed power to accomplish their goals, were in love with each other, but understood that their duty to everything else needed to come first.

Love Triangle - This book brought us the dreaded love triangle.  In some ways the triangle at least made sense.  Eona was the only person that Kygo felt was on his level and the trauma of their experiences together made them a natural pair.  Eona's control of Ido brought her into very intimate contact with him on many levels, coupled with the fact that he represented something very different from Kygo also made sense.  Unfortunately it came off a little juvenile for my taste.  Considering everything that was going on and everything that was at stake, a lot of Eona's angst came from dwelling on all the little stupid stuff.  Her musings about Kygo especially drove me nuts as she would dwell on the tiniest little things...It is actually pretty accurate for how it goes down in real life, but reading about it was kind of obnoxious...especially when there was so much other info I wanted.  It's not that the romance was a bad thing...I just wanted a little less of it.

Kinra - I both loved and hated the Kinra aspect of this book.  We were set up a bit for it in the first book when we learned that Eona's ancestor was the last Mirror Dragoneye, that she imbibed her swords with her anger and then wrote the red folio.  I assumed that she had something to do with the disappearance of the Mirror dragon, but was both pleasantly surprised and a bit eyerolly at how it all came out.  Her discovery of how the dragons came to be enslaved and her decision to try and free them at the cost of her own life was pretty awesome.  The convenience of her being Eona's ancestor and the way she could speak to and through her was a bit to pat for my taste.  Also I think the way things were revealed was frustrating, a bit here, a flash here.  I am still not sure how she influenced Eona even when she wasn't touching her belongings.  I'm also not sure why they didn't find a new Mirror Dragoneye, or how that type of history was forgotten but...yeah.

Overall Impression - I definatly liked the first book better then this one.  However this was still a good book.  It was a fair continuation of the first book, it answered most of the questions posed in the first one and the quality of world and characters remained high.  I have a feeling I would have liked this book even more if I didn't have the near perfection of the first one to compare it too.  I give it 7 out of 10 death plaques and recommend it to everybody who has already read the first book. I am vibing this author and will be picking up some of her other stuff to read. Oh yeah, also not as into the cover of this book as much as the last one, a bit to hip/modern teen looking for my taste. Happy Reading Everybody!

Jumping The Pages

It is snowy, cold and blech outside...seems to be the perfect time to curl up with my computer, a cup of coffee and write a rambling.  Today I shall ramble on about a book that caught my eye called The Book Jumper by Mechthild Glaser.  I was at the bookstore looking for a completely different book, when the cover jumped out at me...and seriously with a cover like this I pretty much had to buy it.  It ended up being a bit hit or miss for me, though it did re inspire the return of my book journal...but before we get to that, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Amy and her young mother Alexis are both in the throes of heartache.  Alexis has been dumped by her married boyfriend and Amy is experiencing the teenage angst of betrayal and embarrassment by a friend via social media.  They flee from their town in Germany to the tiny Scottish isle of Stormsay and their family home called the Lennox House.  They arrive fittingly in a storm and are greeted by the stern matriarch of the family Lady Mairead, Alexis's mother and Amy's grandmother.  They are welcomed on the condition that Amy learn how to become a book jumper.  What the heck is a book jumper?  I'm glad you asked.  You see on this little tiny isle there are two families, the Lennox family and the Macalister family.  These two clans have been responsible for hundreds of years for caring for the storylines of books.  They accomplish this by lying in a circle of standing stones, laying a book over their face then voila! they are in the book.  Amy chooses The Jungle Book as her practice book, but finds that she can easily move between stories, making friends with various characters.  Amy also discovers that she can jump into her e-reader and that she does not need to be in the standing circle to do so.  She is in a class with Betsy and William, the daughter and nephew of the current Laird of the Macalister clan.  Betsy is not a fan of Amy's, feeling she is too old to be properly trained...also she is a Lennox.  Will is cordial.  The three are taught by three guy's who are kind of monk like and are all scarred by burns.  While exploring the various literary worlds, Amy discovers that idea's are being stolen, altering the storylines in all the books in the world (yeah...we will discuss this later).  Nobody believes her, until she and Will discover the body of Sherlock Holmes in the real world.  Apparently Will would pull Sherlock out of the book to talk to him.  He vanished one day and it turns out he was murdered.  Apparently the Sherlocks in the other stories agreed to help out in the dead ones book so all was well.  The three students are taken to a place deep in the library and shown a story that explains a lot.  Apparently the Lennox family used to have a castle, but after a tussel, a fire broke out and destroyed it along with a one of a kind manuscript of a story not written down anywhere else.  The three teachers turn out to be the only characters rescued from the destroyed story and now live on the Stormstay teaching the new jumpers.  Amy discovers her mother making out with Desmond, one of the rescued book guys,  and after a bunch of angst and back and forthness learns that he is her father.  Yep, I guess when you spend most of your life on an island that only houses two families and a less then a dozen other people, you fall in love with the ageless book character...and then have a kid with him.  This helps explain why Amy is such an advanced jumper as in reality she is half fictional...yeah...anyways moving on.  We continue to go back and forth, Will and Amy fall in teenage love, accusations and suspicions fly 'cause nobody actually talks to each other and finally we figure out what is going on.  The old burned manuscript that had only fragments of pages and the three men saved had one more surprise.  Somehow the princess in the story also managed to escape the destruction and has been hibernating on the island.  She is a young, spoiled petulant thing who enchanted Will to be her Knight and jump into the stories to steal ideas.  She is trying to use these ideas to restore her story.  Once we know this we are able to piece together her story...which is not a very nice one. Most of the info finally comes from Desmond, who was the original Knight in the story.  Essentially the princess, when she get's bored, enchants a man to be her Knight, sending him out to slay a monster that is ravaging her kingdom.  The sick part is that the princess has actually turned the Knight into the monster, having him commit heinous acts, then sending him out unknowing to find the monster.  The only way to stop the monster is for the Knight to kill himself...starting the cycle all over again.  Will finds a way to stop the princess, getting himself killed in the process and Amy is able to return the idea's back to their original books.  She takes Will's body into his favorite book, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell is able to bring him back to life as a story character.  Amy spends most of her time in the books, exploring them with Will and that is how the book ends.

World Building - There is a lot of different ways to look at the world building in this book.  The island of Stormsay is fairly well realized, I could probably find my way around it if I needed to, and the atmosphere of it is complete.  The rest of it however is patchy.  I never got a full sense of the family, the history or the mechanics of the book jumping.  I felt I wanted either more information, or better merging of the different pieces of this complicated world.  I unfortunately did not get the feeling of full immersion that is the hallmark of a well built world.

Story - We have the problem of too many stories to accurately judge this category.  Some of these stories are more successful then others.  The best story in my humble opinion was the one of the ruined manuscript.  Through out the book, there are fragments given to us that make it sound like a fairly typical fairy tale, to find out that it is a pretty dark and twisted story is pretty awesome.  I feel like I did with the world building that if we had more information it would have been easier for the reader to see where all the various disparate stories tied together.  For me it was a bunch of flipping back and forth and wondering if I missed something.  In general, each story line was pretty good, they just didn't completely gel to create a whole.

Character - This book had a ton of characters in it.  Some where created just for the book and some were pulled from the literary world.  I was pretty ambivalent about most of the characters, didn't really hate any of them...but didn't really fall in love with any of them either.  For the most part, most of the characters where just there to further the story without a whole lot of personality, history or motivation.  Will, Amy and Alexis where the most formed of the characters, and I liked Will the best of those three.  Amy and Alexis where your fairly typical young mom/teenager duo that seems to be popular lately, didn't hate them, didn't love them.

Editing - So this book was translated from it's native German, which is pretty cool 'cause I love getting view points that are not typically American.  That being said, the flow of the book was not my favorite.  I felt that the there were to many storylines and not enough information.  While this is mostly on the writer, I feel an editor can maybe point out to an author that maybe the reader isn't in the author's head and needs some background, or history, or consistency for the book to work.  It isn't horrible editing, but like the rest of the categories...meh

Book Jumping - Ok, here we have one of my biggest issues with this book, and a particular literary peeve in general.  For me the overall concept of the book jumping left me with a ton of questions and very few answers, in fact it inspired me to get out my book journal again so that I could write down all my questions about book jumping.  Here are just a few thoughts I had.  Who discovered it? Why only these two families?  How diluted can the blood get?  Seriously how do these two tiny families keep track of EVERY book?  What is their purpose again?  If they are the only ones who can jump...aren't they the only ones who can mess up the story? Why are the characters aware of the jumpers?  Umm...about the timelines?  How do you turn the page?  Seriously, other then the mechanism of lying down and putting the book on your face there is not much given to us about the jumping.  I hate it when an author has a concept, especially a potentially good concept and then the execution is poor.  I understand that I will never have all the info or answers I want for things like this, and I don't always need them...I just want a concept to make sense. Since the book jumping was such a huge part of the book, I don't feel like I am wrong in wanting to know how it actually works.

Books About Getting Into Books - I have not yet found a book that has successfully executed a concept where characters from the real world can get into book worlds.  I have read some great ones that deal with elements of books in the real world, or authors or things like that, but anytime I read about a character actually getting into Wonderland, or Neverland, or Pemberly...it just does not work for me.  I think it's cause for me a good book world is complete and personal to the reader.  If you asked me to draw, or describe Pemberly and then you asked my baby sis to do the same thing, I bet you would come up with two equally valid, yet very different pictures.  So when an author tries to put a character into that world it infringes on my view of the world.  As for my own personal self, I'm always torn.  If I had the opportunity would I want to jump into a literary world, or is the bigger appeal the fact that I am completely outside of it?  Ok this is getting very philosophical and may require it's own post.

Fictional Father - After all of my mehness about the book...I have to admit I kind of liked the idea that Amy had a father that was a fictional character. Aside from the zillions of questions it brings forth, it also had the added advantage of me paring up literary characters and wondering what their offspring would be like.  I may have also had some literary fantasy's on which literary crush I would allow to father my fictional kids...

Overall Impression - Overall I feel pretty meh about the whole book.  It seemed to have a ton of stuff in it without really going anywhere.  There were moments of awesome and the concept was pretty cool, but the overall muddledness, lack of info and too many literary pet peeves made this book disappointing.  I feel that it had a lot of potential and if this author exports any other books over the pond, I will probably give her another chance 'cause I feel like she has good ideas.  I give this book 5 out of 10 inkpots and realize that other people enjoyed it more then I did which is also awesome.   Also the book cover is worth it just to have on my book shelf.   Happy Reading Everybody!

The Awesome Dragon Is A Girl

Hola Readers!  Time to get another rambling out there.  Today I'm gonna ramble about a book that has been on and off my radar for a couple of years.  I think that the book gods were making sure I saved it for a special occasion and reading Eon by Alison Goodman while at the Asian themed Wynn in Las Vegas was about as perfect as it could get.  Do you want to know why I loved it?  Ok, but first, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

The current year in our story is the year that the Rat Dragon ascends to power and a new apprentice to become this dragons next Dragoneye (more on that in a second) is chosen.  Our main character Eon has been training for years for the opportunity to be in contention for this prestigious and once in a life time chance...and oh yeah, he is actually a she...in disguise...'cause only boys can be Dragoneyes.  While she trains we learn that in this world there are twelve celestial dragons, Ox, Tiger Rabbit, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat and Dragon (also known as Mirror). Every dragon represents a different virtue, color and point on the compass.  Each dragon ascends to power once every 12 years where there power is doubled and the Dragoneye can use it's dragon's power to control elemental forces to help their country.  Each ascension see's a new apprentice chosen, the old apprentice promoted to Dragoneye and the current Dragoneye retired.  This happens because being a Dragoneye is extremely draining, physically, emotionally and mentally.  Unfortunately for this neat cycle the Dragon Dragon (also called the Mirror Dragon) has been missing for over 500 years after it's temple was destroyed by fire.  Nobody really knows what happened and the Mirror Dragons ascension year is handled in a rotation.  Ok now that we have that out of the way lets get back to the story.  Eon. besides being a girl in disguise, has the added handicap of having a permanently injured hip.  This is offset by Eon's ability to see all the dragons, not just the one she is hoping will choose her, this is super rare and the reason Eon's master went through the trouble of training and hiding her gender.  As all good stories go all kinds of troubles and trials occur to hinder our heroines path to Dragoneyehood.  Unfortunately, she is not chosen by the Rat Dragon, her friend Dillion...who is still a surprise as he was not considered a real contender...was chosen instead.  The current Dragoneye to the Rat Dragon, Lord Ido, is an ambitious and cruel man who is not happy with his Dragon's decision.  Just when the excitement seems to be over, there is a commotion and out of seemingly nowhere the Mirror Dragon appears after over 500 years of absence.   The Dragon chooses Eon and chaos breaks forth.  Eon is treated like a lord and is moved to the palace to begin her brand new role as the Mirror Dragoneye. Eon is at a very sever disadvantage as she has no one to teach her the Mirror Dragonye's ways...since there has not been one in so long.  To help her at court she is assigned the Lady Dela, a Contraire, which is a person born one gender who lives as another.  In this case Dela was born male, but lives as a female.  In some parts of the world this is a sacred position as they are thought to possess two souls, one male and one female, in other parts it is seen as an oddity and worse.  Ryko is Dela's body guard and is a eunuch, as are most of the Emperor's body guards.  Now we start to get a feel for the political state of this world.  At the moment the sickly Emperor rules with his heir the Prince Kygo learning and maturing until it is his time to take over.  There is a catch however, the Emperor's brother Sethon, a decorated general, has plans to take over and has enlisted the ambitious Lord Ido to help.  Eon, especially after meeting the Prince, essentially decides to use her new powers to help the Emperor and his son.  There is a small problem though...Eon can't use the power of her dragon.  She should have learned her dragon's name when they bonded, to call it and use it's power...but so far...nope.  Lord Ido discovers that not only can Eon not use her dragon, but that she is actually Eona.  He uses this to try and control her.  Eon eventually tells Dela and Ryko who she really is, at first causing a rift, then later a deeper understanding of each other.  The Emperor dies, a whole bunch of crazyiness ensues and Eona discovers that the Mirror Dragon is actually a female, the only female of 12 dragons and the reason that she had disappeared for so long as no female candidates were presented...stupid boys lol.  Anyways...the crew discovers that Lord Ido has a plan to control all the dragons instead of just his own.  To this end he kills all of the other Dragoneyes and their apprentices, plunging the celestial realm into chaos.  Eona tell's the Prince who she really is and after some understandable anger he is convinced to go into hiding to protect his legacy.  Sethon appears and starts a wholesale slaughter of the royal family, including the Prince's mother and infant brother.  Eona runs into Ido, who tries to force a union with her to finally consolidate all the power in himself.  With the help of Dela and Ryko, Eona finally realizes that as the keeper of Truth her dragon needs her to be honest with who she is to truly unleash her power.  This revelation finally bonds Eona to the Mirror Dragon and she is able to break Ido down and escape with Dela and Ryko.  The story ends with the trio making their escape, hoping to find the Prince and defeat Sethon.  Eona learns to accept herself and now needs to learn to control her dragon's power.  And we now we have to hurry up and read the next book!  This is not even a billionth of the important things going on in this book, but hopefully it's enough to give you a bit of the flavor.

World Building - This world was pretty cool.  It was definitely inspired by Asian culture, and yet it was original and wholly it's own entity.  It was complete with it's own customs, laws, government, society and culture.  It is a I guess you would call it medievalish era, maybe a bit more modern time period with both practical and magic elements as part of the natural world. I was easily able to immerse myself in the world and felt like I mostly understood how everything worked.  This is the kind of world I can see myself going back and visiting over and over.  It has parts that are familiar and identifiable and parts that are completely new and they meld beautifully.  Very happy with the world building.

Story - Somebody compared this story to ones told by Tamora Pierce...who is one of my favorite YA novelists, so that got me excited.  I totally understand the comparison and it is a good one.  The story was complex without being overly stuffed, the various story lines were clear and all melded into each other in a way that made sense.  I wanted to keep reading the story, I wanted to find out what happened next, I wanted to tell the story to someone...You could totally see this story becoming a legend that got told over and over in this world it was set in.  It had all the elements that a good story wants, we had conflict, we had battles, we had personal moments, we had friendships, we had romances, we had difficulties to overcome, we had DRAGONS!  Loved the story.

Character - The characters were pretty much awesome.  Eon/Eona was not perfect, but she was also not overly bitchy, or overly tough, she was just a person who kept getting thrown into circumstances out of her control and it wasn't until she took charge of her self and accepted herself did she gain any control.  In fact that seems to be a theme with the characters in this book.  They were all varied and all had various motives for what they did, they were all layered and wonderfully complex without being ridiculous, but they all had to find a way to accept themselves before they moved forward...but more on that later.  The variety and nuanced way the author dealt with the characters was fantastic.

Editing - This book is a great example of how to take multiple storylines and ideas and find a way to pare them down and fit them together to be readable.  One of my literary pet peeves is when an author has all these great ideas and tries to squash all of them into one book and the editor does nothing to try and make it coherent.  In this case, the editor seemed to take the myriad of various storylines, characters, ideas and world building and figured out how to make it eminently readable. I can't really put my finger on why this book with it's fullness was so readable, when so many who try the same thing are not, but I'm gonna go with the editor was perfectly paired with the author and regardless it makes me very very very happy.

Acceptance Of Self - This book was chock full of alternate identities/lifestyles.  Some people chose a different life, some people had it forced on them and some just needed to discover who they were.  I would say gender identity was the biggest obstacle that a lot of the main characters faced.   Keeping in mind that this is a male dominated society with gender roles pretty clearly defined and adhered too. Eon/Eona as our main character was our biggest example of this as she had to hide so much of herself both by necessity and by choice.  The choice came in as she was born female, identified female and chose to live as a male.  The necessity came in when she felt that being a boy was the only way to achieve anything of importance in her life...oh yeah and when they would kill her if it was revealed she was a girl.  Dela on the other hand was a completely different ball game.  She was born a male, but identified as female, feeling she had no choice but to live as a woman because in her heart that is what she was. I found it interesting in some places she was revered for her ability to accommodate both the male and female within herself, while other places she was reviled as an abohrasion (I can not figure out how to spell that word...hopefully you all know what I mean).  Ryko was not given a choice when he was made a enuch, and yet he has learned to live and identify as a male, regardless of his equipment, not letting it define him.  On a less definitive note we watch as Kygo has to learn to trust and believe in himself before he can become a leader.  Lord Ido has purposely squashed all empathy as to become cruel, which is what he felt he needed to succeed, and it isn't until this is restored that he in any way becomes human.   The ultimate message though was the fact that it wasn't until Eona accepted her whole self, not just the fact that she was female, but also that she was smart and capable and fallible and needed help that she was able to in any way shape or form use her Dragon's power.  I love that this was the main message and that it wasn't delivered in a preachy way, or in a tell you what to think way, or that any one way was right.  Just until you can accept and trust yourself, your not gonna get very far.

Perfect Reading Situation - Like I mentioned earlier, part of the appeal of this book is that I go to read it in the most perfect of circumstances.  I got to read it in a place that was essentially desgined to match the books mood and setting.  Couple that with the fact that I spent half of the vacation in a tub so deep I could float with a glass of wine or whisky at my fingertips while reading also helped.  I was totally stoked at how much I wanted to just sit and read this book 'cause for once I had time to do just that.  This book will forever be associated with one of my vacations of awesome.  I love it when the literary stars align and I get to add a new book to my favorite list.  It will always be one of those book associated with something very specific and something very good in my life.

YA Reading Like It Should Be - I have a love/hate relationship with YA books.  I find them to be either amazing or horrible.  It seems that a lot of YA authors want to come across as too hip and write like they have never met a real teenager before.  Sometimes the books turn into nothing but an overwrought love story, or somebodies 20 year old wish fulfillment.  THEN you get books like this, ones that address realistic teenage issues while not talking down too, or over their heads.  You also get a great story that utilizes the unique position that teenagers are in, to straddle the world of innocence and childhood, and maturity and adulthood.  Books like this make me want to shout to all the other authors THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A BOOK FOR EVERYBODY!  Given this is targeted at the 12-16 age group, and probably geared more for the females, but seriously I can see anybody of any gender and any age reading this and enjoying it.  This is a book you read and any age...and then reread again.  Yay!

Dragons! - Have I mentioned that I love dragons?  Seriously I am a huge dragon fan, especially in books.  The dragons in this book, again were fairly well realized and integrated perfectly into the world and story.  It is very different from a lot of the standard European dragons and I love the change of pace and the little original touches that the author put in...perfection.

Overall Impression - I think it's pretty obvious that I very much enjoyed this book.  It hit all the right notes for me and it was exactly what I needed when I read it.  There are some frustrating loose ends...essentially what happened 500 years ago that made the Mirror Dragon disappear and why did everybody forget...but the good news is that there is a sequel (that I am already reading!) that promises to fill in the gaps.  I really really enjoyed this book and hopefully enjoy the next one as well.  I am now on my way to buy all the other books by this author in hopes that they are just as good.  I give it 9 out of 10 Story Robes and recommend it to pretty much anybody, but especially those who are fans of Tamora Pierce, Anne McCaffrey, Brandon Mull, Rick Riordan and the like.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Firebirds Rising

A while ago I did a ramble on a short story collection called Firebirds that I totally fell in love with.  Imagine my happiness when I found out that there was a...I guess you could call it a sequal?...collection called Firebirds Rising: An Anthology of Original Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Sharyn November.  I loved this collection of YA targeted stories at least as much as the previous collection and am seriously having a hard time picking my favorites.  I will do my best and give you a bit of a taste of the amazing flavor that is this varied and phenomenal collection.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Huntress by Tamora Pierce - We start of the collection with one of my favorite authors who smacks us right in the face with a eerie and empowering story.  We have our loner girl who falls in with the popular crowd...who turn out to be very different from what we first think.  What starts out as an elite group of high school runners turns out to actually be a vigilante group that uses their speed and prowess to "cleanse" the area of undesirables...always an ethical conundrum.  The addition of an ancient goddess, murder, and Central Park all combine to make this a thrilling start to the collection.

Unwrapping by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - This is one of the stories in this collection that always sticks in my head long after I have read it.  This is a story of friendship between two unlikely friends, Brenna, who is shy and quiet and Nadia who is the life of the party.  This particular day happens to be Halloween and Nadia has a very special costume in mind.  Turns out Nadia is actually an alien with a bizarre flame like appearance and has befriended Brenna 'cause of her accepting nature.  After her initial shock Brenna helps her friend be herself.  I'm not sure what it is about this story, but I love it.

The Real Thing by Alison Goodman - Stories like this are one of the reasons I love a great short story collection.  In just a few pages the author has introduced me to a world and a writing style that makes me want to read more!  In this case, the story is set in a world the author has full length novels in and deals with the future and an alien race that can "link" with certain humans.  We follow our human partner as she tries to cope with some sort of social life all while contending with a partner who always wants to be in her head.  I am now scouring my book stores for books from this author.

In the House of the Seven Librarians by Ellen Klages - This is what short stories are meant to be.  In this tale we have a full story, beginning to end that creates a world, characters and story in complete perfection.  Of course that fact that this story is about a girl who grows up in an abandon library with seven librarians for guardians may also be part of its appeal.  To me this story is pure magic and one of the reasons I started reading in the first place.  I love how complete and coherent this story is, I love how magical this story feels and I love how much I love this story.

Jack o' Lantern by Patricia McKillip - Another story of pure magic.  I love this author in paticular when I want to totally escape from life and enter a world of utter fantasy.  This short story did not disappoint and had the added advantage of being a quick in between life's chaotic moments read.  The author includes art, myth, youth and imagination all combined to create a story that is also a work of art.  Sigh...so happy.

These are just a tiny sample of the awesome and amazing variety of stories in this collection.  I really enjoyed that it was a mix of Sci Fi and Fantasy.  I liked that each story was original and complete to themselves.  I liked...well I really pretty much just liked everything about it.  Usually in collections like this it is hit or miss.  I tend to like about half the stories and love just a few, but in this case I seriously enjoyed every story and fell in love with several of them.  AND the best part?!?!  There is a third collection!!!!!  Yep this is overall a trilogy of short story collections.  It is now sitting on my shelf and I am so excited to read it!  I give this collection 9 out of 10 phoenix feathers and recommend it to pretty much everybody!  Happy Reading Everybody!

Too Odious For Words

Hola readers!  How is everybody?  I've had an insanely busy, yet highly satisfying week (aside from a massive sick day that is).  I am now ready to give one of those ramblings I have been promising for way to long :-)  Today let's ramble about Infandous by Elana Arnold.  This is a book I had heard some interesting things about, bought for my Nook and then promptly forgot about it (this happens a lot lol).  I had finished a different book on my Nook and this one caught my attention when I was looking for the next one...so...here we go.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

One of the definitions of the word Infandous is "too odious for words"  or "too horrible to mention", knowing this ahead of time may give you a clue to some of the things that happen in this book.  This is Sephora Golding's story and she is the one to tell it. The book is divided into several parts and each one is prefaced by a faiy tale or myth, mostly dealing with either rape, incest or some combination there of.   Sephora is the 16/17ish year old daughter of Rebecca Golding, a charismatic stunning beauty who had to give up her modeling career when she got pregnant with Sephora (called Seph by most) at the tender age of 17. Rebecca gave birth and raised Sephora completely on her own, not even telling Sephora who her father is.   Sephora loves her mother...in fact at several points in the book you may even say she is a bit obsessed with her mother...but more on that later.  Seph and her mother live in a crappy little one bedroom apartment in Venice Beach.  Seph is pretty much left to her own devices while her mother works and goes to school.  With this free time Seph spends much of her time in her little studio, working on her art.  She also surfs with her buddy Marissa and bums free drinks off her various friends who work in various places.  We learn that Seph is upset about something, something very not ok happened and this had to do with a guy named Felix.  See Seph is a wee bit obsessed with sexuality, hers, her mothers, her friends...anyways one day when she was around 15/16ish she meets this guy Felix while she is surfing.  Despite the fact that he is in his mid 30's, she decides that she wants him, tells him her name is Annie and that she is 19 and they go out to dinner.  Later that night she and Felix have sex, and though not Sephora's first time, she finds herself responding to Felix and enjoying the sex in a completely new way.  From what we read, it seems Seph enjoys herself and yet this is where her main angst lies.    We go with Sephora as she navigates other issues of teenagehood.  She struggles as her mother dates a younger man and later helps her deal with the aftermath of the breakup.  She goes to spend some time with her rich aunt and cousins, while trying to decide if she will take them up on the offer to send her to a private school, then college.  She continues to work on her art, deal with her friends and continue to obsess over what ever happened with Felix.  Felix is constantly trying to contact Seph, but she never responds.  Eventually Seph gets a job with Jordan, the guy her mom was seeing, at a surf shop where she takes care of customers and cleans the shop.  One day she takes a picture of a sculptor she created and labeled it Infandous.  She creates stickers of the work and these are seen by Jordan, who wants to put them on the surfboards he creates.  the boards are a hit and Seph is able to get her art out to the public and make a little dough.  She continues to obsess over the "bad thing" that she did, or that happened to her or something.  Anyways, we eventually get a flash back where she discovers a picture of her mother...and...Felix.  From this and the fairy tales we are supposed to infer that Felix was her father...ew.  So yeah, that revelation happened.  One day while Seph is working, Felix comes into the shop.  He is happy to finally talk to "Annie", but Seph tells him who she really is and who her mother is.  Felix realizes that he probably slept with his daughter...again...ew...and understandably freaks then leaves.  The book ends with an original fairy tale about a wolf and mermaid, an attempt by Sephora to put everything what happened into context.

World Building - The world building may be my favorite part of this book.  Most of our time is set in Venice Beach, both in the touristy parts and the more unsavory, lower income places.  The author did a fantastic job of making the reader actually feel as if you were there.  I have been to Venice Beach many times and feel that the atmosphere the author portrayed was spot on.  The author also did an amazing job describing the aunt's residence and surrounding places in Atlanta (another place I've been to multiple times) and then contrasting it with Venice Beach.  This is the type of writing that sticks with me long after the book is over.  It added a lot to this book, and as I said before is, for me at least the best part of the book.

Story - Hmmm...what to say about the story...the story was...well hmmm.  Ok.  So the story was a weird mix of meandery, rote, and weirdly engaging on occasion.  Some parts made me want to keep reading, some parts made me roll my eyes and some parts made say "Are you f(*& kidding me" out loud...which was probably not cool since I was with my young nephews.  Anyways.  For my personal taste I found the overall story to be a bit overly angsty and at times over the top.  There were bits and pieces that I found compelling, at least enough to finish the book fairly quickly...but overall I felt it to be over wrought and not always to the point.

Character - Characters were fairly well done for a YA book.  Sephora is fairly rounded and not perfect in any way, shape or form, which is refreshing...again though, a bit obsessed with sex...but we will get to that in a minute.   Rebecca (Seph's mom) is pretty interesting as we see how between her beauty and charisma she can control a room and yet is still living in pretty shitty circumstances...and yet is trying to make it better...I appreciate the fact that we are shown that beauty and charisma can be helpful, but only get you so far.  The rest of the characters are ok, a bit one note, but not to stock characterish...if that makes any sense.

Editing - For the most part the editing isn't too bad.  The book flowed, nothing was too confusing, everything got wrapped up or answered.  Not really a whole lot to say.  It was very readable, so well done editing.

Sex - Let's just get right to it shall we?  This book was chock full of sex.  Not as in graphic, porn like sex, but in the idea's, innuendo's and just overall feel.  Most of the book I felt like any character was about to get it on at any given moment.  Seph especially felt like she was obsessed with the idea of sex.  She obviously had sex more then once, but it seemed like more then that.  The artwork she encountered, the feeling of the town, the parties, her mother, everything seemed to lead back to some sort of sexual something.  This had me torn.  In some ways, I get it.  She is a teenage girl, living in a very open and relaxed household.  Her mother is a sexual creature and let's face it sex is a bit part of life in general.  I personally really really love sex, like a lot a lot....that being said, even when I was Sephora's age, I wasn't quit as obsessed as she seems to be.  My sex obsession was mostly about myself, as most teenagers obsessions are, and maybe on occasion other people popped into my horny brain, but mostly as curiosity, or how it related to me.  I think what was a bit...I don't know...weird...uncomfortable...was her obsession with her mother's sexuality.  Now me and my Mamma are bestest friends and always have been.  I probably know more about her sex life then I ever wanted, that being said, I don't ever remember dwelling on it the Seph does.  I also found it unsettling at how much she knowing enjoyed having sex with a much much older man.  Not just a couple years older, not just eyebrow raising older, but legally and mentally so not ok older.  Can we say Daddy issues?  Ok, enough about sex lol.

Mamma's - As weird as Sephora's obsession with her mom at some points was, I have to admit I identify to some degree.  I am one of those lucky girls who's mom is also her legit best friend.  I have been super tight with her since birth and I have loved every moment with her.  Every time I get to read about a kid having a decent, and even better, a wonderful relationship with a parent it makes me so happy, especially since this isn't always the trend.  My Mamma was also a single mother for a time, my Mamma also made sure her kids knew they were loved, wanted and strong, my Mamma also knows how to draw people to her with her charisma...and let's face it... my Mamma is pretty hot.  I am always proud and happy when people tell me I'm just like my Mamma, 'cause their is no one on Earth I would rather be compared to.  So reading about a character who is also in complete vibe with her mamma, even when they disagree, she knows it will be ok, this speaks to me.

Fairy Tales/Myths - Can I make a confession?  I'm getting a little tired of authors thinking they are so clever and original when they "discover" the non-Disney version of fairy tales.  This theme of re-discovery and re-telling of fairy tales, while still valid, and on occasion still well done, is no longer new or original.  I have been reading for a really long time, and while these versions may not have been the height of popularity for a time, they have been making a significant resurgence for years.  This is not to say that they are not relevent, or good, or even awesome.  I'm just sick of authors passing it off as if it's this new original thing that they are so cutting edge to do so.  Ok rant over.  The tales that were added were at least on point to the message the author was trying to get across, so that was good.  And to be honest I am never gonna turn down a myth or fairy tale, 'cause those be my faves.

Overall I keep going back and forth in my feelings on this book.  One one hand I really enjoyed the atmosphere the author created.  I also appreciated some of the characters and I can't resist a good fairy tale.  On the flip side, there were just a few too many times where I was rolling my eyes or telling myself "are you seriously for real serious (love my lack of vocab today lol) THAT would never happen in a million years".  Apparently I'm not the only one having trouble with this book.  The reviews I've read are split into three categories.  1)  Loved this book, dealt with the tough issues nobody wants to talk about.  2) ew ew ew ew ew she slept with her DAD! ew ew ew ew  3)  I'm confused I really enjoyed/really disliked this book all at the same time.  I think I fall into the last category.  There were some things I thought were really well done, yet at the same time there were some things I was just like...um....no.  I give this book I don't know...maybe a 6 out of 10 penny mermaids and recommend it to anybody who wants some atmosphere and doesn't mind some werirdness.  So reading through this I realize my articulation skill are almost nihl, so I will stop here.  Let me know your thoughts on books like this.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Bringing Magic Back To England

I DID IT!!!!  I finally finished my big fat book!  Clocking in at a whopping 1006 pages of teeny tiny type complete with footnotes is the book Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.  This book had been on my TBR pile for a while and got pulled out after Hubbin discovered a BBC version of the book.  Despite it's length the book was very readable and I am now ready to attempt to ramble about it.

The book is written as a bit of a history, complete with foot notes and follows two very different magicians the staid and cautious Mr. Norrell and the younger more fiery Jonathan Strange.   Essentially we are taken to an alternate version of Victorianish England (though there is a King on the throne not a Queen) where magic is accepted as part of life.  Being a magician is a respectable job and magic is talked about in all circles.  However, magic at this time is only theoretical.  Magicians are actually just men who study any sort of magical text they can get there hands on.  True magic has been gone from the realm of England for hundreds of years for some reason.  Enter Mr. Norrell, a scholarly little man who is obsessed with buying, reading and hoarding books of a magical nature.  To this end he has actually been able to perform real magic and is brought to England to become the authority and sole practicer of magic.  Mr. Norrell has in his employ a mysterious man by the name of Childermass who pretty much runs Mr. Norrell's life for him. To prove the respectability and genuine nature of magic, Mr. Norrell engages the help of a fairy, known as the Gentlman with the thistle-down hair, to bring the Lady Pole back to life after she dies.  The deal Mr. Norrell brokers with the

Gentleman essentially dooms the Lady Pole to be held in fairy whenever the Gentlman chooses. Along comes Jonathan Strange, a gentleman who has started practicing magic after a run in with the vagabond Vinculus who speaks a prophecy stating among other things that two magicians will bring back magic to England.  We then follow our two magicians as they use their own styles of magic, sometimes together and sometimes at odds to help England win a war, protect the country and try and discover lost spells.  Meanwhile the Lady Pole continues to be sucked into fairy at any given time, makeing her appear quit mad. The butler Stehpen black, a black servant who the Gentleman has taken a liking to does his best to support Lady Pole.  Strange's wife Arabella is the only other person who is able to be with Lady Pole.  Eventually the two magicians have a falling out.  Mr. Norrell wants to continue and keep a tight reign on all things magic while Strange wants to bring magic to the masses.  All kinds of stuff happens one of which is the unfortunate death of Arabella Strange.  Strange leaves the country to finish his book and recover from his wife's death and Mr. Norrell stays in London to fret and work with the government on improving the country.  Strange discovers that madness is the key to seeing fairy and finds a way to distill it to its essence and become mad at will.  With this madness he discovers the Gentleman has actually stolen Arabella to fairy to be a companion to Lady Pole and she is not dead after all.  After a battle of wills, the Gentleman wraps Strange in eternal night and Strange devotes his time to trying to find John Uskglass, the Raven King who brought magic to England in the first place.  More crazyness and mayhem and Strange finally comes to Mr. Norrell for help.  The two magicians work together to find a way to summon the Raven King and unintentionally give Stephen Black the power to finally defeat the Gentleman.  Lady Pole and Arabella are released and Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange, wrapped in their eternal night disappear from England.  Childermass, along with Vinculus assemble all who want to learn magic and utilize the power that now flows through England.  This my friends does not even begin to summarize the complexity of this book, the stories and the characters, I just do not have enough time or space to truly give you the gist of this book, so this will have to do.

World Building - This book has a very Jane Austinesque vibe when it comes to world building.  We get to see a variety of English places (and few other places in Europe) mostly through the eyes of the gentleman class.  It is a bit drearier and a bit harsher then true Austin, but the vibe totally comes through.  One extra aspect of world building is the realm of fairy.  I really very much enjoyed how the author built the world of fairy as being right next door to our world, complete with cross-roads and touch stones.  The best parts of fairy where the descriptions of the familiar with a fantastic twist.  Ever time I picked up this book I was easily able to slip into the worlds the author created.

Story - So this was an interesting book as far as story goes.  I am not 100% sure that there was an actual whole beginning, middle and end story or if it was more of a history with the reader just catching a slice of time.  There were bits of story, mostly connected with individual characters, but over all I felt that this was more of an old school history of an alternate place/time.  That being said, it was still a book that I could pick up and read and stay interested in so yeah.  Maybe it was that there were many many stories with in the framework of the history that kept it interesting...yeah, so not really sure how to describe it, but I liked it.

Character - This may be where the Austin feel really came through in this book.  The characters were many and varied and true to themselves.  Right when I was about to get tired of reading about a certain character or story line, bam the author switched to somebody else and it was awesome.  I particularly liked the Raven King as an overarching presence that was constantly felt but only once actually seen; Childermass who probably actually knew and understood more then any other character; Stephen Black a man who was kind, smart, brave, and searching to belong; Vinculus the vagabond man with all the answers and of course the Gentleman who tied everybody together.  The characters may be the best part of this book.

Editing - This was a very very long book and I want to be tempted to say that it could have easily been broken up...but you know what?  I'm glad it is one long self contained book.  It really gives the vibe of a history in this format.  For all it's length, the way it is broken up in parts and chapters makes it very very readable and the fun footnotes that are scattered through out just adds to the overall feel.  It was consistent, follow able and readable, editing for the win.

The Author - Ok so I really feel like the author and the way she wrote this book has to be talked about.  She started writing it in 1993 and did not actually publish the whole book until 2003, that my friends is dedication.  She worked on it in her spare time and had to work with trying to put all her ideas and fragments into a cohesive form.  I totally feel her and her writing style 'cause every time I try and write something I feel the same way.  I obviously don't have the patience she does, but it makes the book all that better for me that I feel a kinship with her thought process and writing style.

Fairy - I love love love old school English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish/Celtic style fairy land.  This book brought the old school ideas of stolen humans, especially children, timelessness, agreements between fairy and human kind, the glamour vs the reality of magic, just everything that I love.  I felt like I could go hunt down a fairy road and ride off and explore this whole other world behind the mirrors.  I have not read such a great take on the old school fairy in a while and I have to say I loved every second of it and totally want to read more about the Raven King...hint hint lol.

Manners - Ok ok I know I have mentioned the Austin feel of this book 100 times, but here it is again.  I am a Jane Austin fan, her ability to mingle peoples everyday lives with wit and story have always made her books a go to for me.  When an author can capture that style in a whole new book I am always happy.  This book had the feel of manners and little intrigues (along with the big stuff), just instead of marriages it was magic.  The combination of the Austin feel with the old school Fairy feel and then turning it into something wholly original is pretty epic.

Overall Impression - I liked this book, it is a book book, it is a book for people who like to READ!  This is not a book for the beach, or a quick pick me up, it requires concentration, time, and a love of reading.   That being said, it is a wonderful book, I give it 8 out of 9 viles of mad cat lady essence and recommend it to anybody who loves to read, likes Austen, magic, Fairy or just some good writing.  Happy Reading Everybody!