The Memories Of Teeth

I love it when I discover a book that I bought, put on the shelf and forgot to read, it's kind of like discovering a secret treasure stash.  The other day as I was going through my shelves to pack a book caught my eye and I realized I had forgot to read it so YAY!  The book is Toothiana Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies by William Joyce and is the third book in The Guardians series.  It was the perfect length and tone for my mindset at that moment so here we go.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

We last left our friends Katherine (the orphan girl with a fierce yet gentle heart), the wizard Ombric who has protected and enriched the hidden village of Santoff Claussen, North the valiant protector of Katherine and her friends, Nightlight the mysterious human like manifestation of pure light, and Bunnymund the rabbit like alien who is both a fighter and a lover of all things eggs, rejoicing at their defeat of their enemy Pitch.  Pitch and his nightmares have not been seen in some time and the group dares to hope he has been defeated for good.  The whole group, along with the villiage decide to go visit the Lamadary in the Himalayas.  Once there they learn the long lost story of Toothiana and how she became the queen of her strange little tooth fairy army.  She is the daughter of a Sister of Flight ( a race of winged women who lived in an ancient and fantastic city guarded by flying elephants) and the servant of a vain and cruel maharaja.  The maharaja wanted to hunt the flying elephants but was defeated by the Sisters of Flight.  His life was spared only by the intervention of his servant and the maharaja was turned into a sort of man monkey.  Fast forward several years later and Toothiana is born.  Once the small minded humans discover her wings, she and her family are hunted. Turns out it is actually a being called the Monkey King (the maharaja in monkey form) who is perusing the little family  and her parents give their lives to protect her.  Before dying they give Toothiana a ruby box to protect.  We also learn that Toothiana collects childrens teeth because they contain the memories that the children eventually forget.  Katherine, after her previous encounter with Pitch decides to use her last baby tooth (which she loses while at the Lamadary) to try and get some sort of memory of her parents of whom she remembers nothing.  Toothiana and her little mini me's (these are what constitute her army) arrive, but before Katherine can bargain with her they are all accosted by the Monkey King and his soldiers.  They carry off Katherine to the lost city of the Sisters of Flight and there she finds Pitch, not quite as defeated as she would wish.  The Guardians after much discussion form a plan and march on Pitch.  Unfortunately our faithful Guardians instead of just going to rescue Katherine, start to feel hate and anger and the need to not just incapacitate but kill Pitch and his army.  Katherine however protects Pitch from the killing blow saving the goodness that is what makes the Guardians themselves.  A wild and mysterious woman appears and spirits Pitch and Katherine away.  The book ends with the Guardians realizing that they erred when they let hate take over and vow to do better.  With that thought they all go to find Katherine.

World Building - This book, like the rest of the series does a great job in creating a fantastical yet understandable world.  This book in particular draws from Indian like settings and has a bit of Middle Eastern flair that fits into the global mythic world that the series is creating.  This installment continues the flow that was started in the first two books and it is very very easy to immerse oneself in this world created to escape to.

Story - I liked that this was both a continuation of the story in the series and added a new bit with the story of Toothiana.  I felt that this particular origin story of the tooth fairy was fresh and original and just all around very cool.  Being mostly a middle grade book I felt the story was simple enough for a younger person to follow, but not dumbed down in any way.

Character - The characters continue to be developed and diverse.  They come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, races (some mythological in origin) beliefs, just all kind of goodness.  I also like that most of the main characters have personal conflicts, strengths, weaknesses and so forth.  Especially in books for younger people I think it is important that characters are not perfect, or stereotypes, but that everybody has good and bad sides and needs to learn to work with them.

Editing - I feel that the book is well edited with the story flowing quit well.  The continuity through out the series has been excellent and the book was very readable and age appropriate.

Illustrations - One of my favorite things about this series and this book is no exception is the amazing illustrations peppered through out the book.  They are line drawings with the cover being beautifully rendered in color.  Even if the story sucked I would still pick up these books just on the sheer beauty of them.   In addition to being gorgeous, the illustrations actually help move the story along so they are practical as well.

The Village - So in the story the village that most of our hero's are from decided that they ALL wanted to go visit the Lamadary...so they do.  I just love the combination of the sheer impracticality of transporting a whole village...even if it is by magical means, and the idea that the book acknowledges that everybody has the right to go adventuring, not just the main characters.  I also love how it was a given that if the whole village wanted to go, then they would go, no arguments.

Origin Story - Toothiana's origin story was pretty awesome.  I love how the series in general, and this book in specific take something as familiar as our childhood legends and twist them around so they mean so much more.  Along with Toothiana, we also get more of North's future story and more hints into Bunnymund.  It is cool to see these overly familiar characters get a diverse and rich origin story.

Overall Impression - This was another beautiful and wonderful installment to this series and I give it 7 out of 10 molars and now need to go see if I can find the next one.  I recommend it to anybody who loves retellings, myths or needs a book to read with their wee ones.

Happy Reading Everybody!

Hitchhiking Ghost

Usually I like to save my ghosts stories for Halloween, but sometimes, a ghost story falls into the campfire ghost story category and therefore must be read in the summer/camping season.  Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire is just such a book and thus has been read in heat of summer.  How did I like it?  I'll tell you, but first, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

I'm gonna try and get back go shorter synopsis 'cause if you want that many details, I'm gonna assume your gonna go read the book.  Rose Marshall is dead and has been dead since 1952.  Her manner of death (car accident) has led to her becoming a hitchhiking ghost. She is able to gain a measure of "life" if a person voluntarily gives her the equivalent of a jacket and she is able to use/taste/feel, anything given to her willingly.  She travels the dayside world thumbing for rides and either helping people avoid accidents, or when unavoidable, she helps guide people where they need to be after they die (almost always in a car accident).  When she isn't dayside, she inhabits the twilight side of life/death, hanging out with her bean sidhe friend Emma (who can act as a human to let her taste food) at the Last Dance Diner.  We learn that Rose was killed when she was run off the road by a man by the name of Bobby Cross. Bobby Cross made a deal at the crossroads which allows him eternal youth as long as he feeds his cars souls that he can take as long as they fit certain criteria (I never understood exactly who he could and couldn't take).  Rose's spirit got away from him and now she spends her time avoiding him and hitchhiking.  Since she has been doing the hitchhiking ghost thing for so long and all around the country, several legends have grown up around her, she is called The Girl in the Diner, the Phantom Prom Date, or the girl in the Green Silk Gown.  Most of the book is little snippets and stories of her time in the dayside, interspersed with her battle (or lack of) with Bobby Cross.  The book ends with Rose challenging Bobby for her friend Emma's life, which she wins, with the understanding that he can keep chasing her.  Rose gets Emma back to the Last Chance Diner and she end by telling us she will continue hitchhiking on the dayside.

Let's start with the good.  I liked the stories of Rose's time hitchhiking the best.  I enjoyed the different people and situations she encountered and I liked how she had to work within the confines of the rules of her ghosthood, and how she also used them to her advantage.  I liked how the various stories and legends about her death and subsequent hauntings/appearances grew and changed and spread.  The vibe was neat as well as it was very North American road inspired...almost like a cross country road trip with a ghost.  I always like it when North America gets it own shot at making mythical history.  On to what I didn't like so much.  The overall vibe of the ghost world was a weird mix of confusing and complicated, and overly angsty.  The book was written in first person, which we all know is not my favorite, and this is an example of why.  I felt (and this is strictly my opinion) that we got stuck in Rose's head way to much as she would wax philosophical about life, death and the afterworld.   It got very repetitive, using the exact same phrases over and over.  It's possible that since the book was broken up into different time period snippets that the author was trying to create the feeling of being in that moment, and that other moments were being written at different times, but to me the result was a lot of repetition that wasn't needed.  Rose would also allude to other types of ghosts, and types of living that touched to varying degrees into the twilight...but we never really got a whole lot of solid info on these beings.  Take routewitches for example.  They play a pretty significant role in this story, but I never really got a clear picture into who or what they were, what there actual role (other then moving the story along) was, or what the rules for their existence was.  Overall it made for a bit of an uneven read that I would have liked better if it had either stuck with mostly "ghost" stories, or a more cohesive world.  I give the book 6 out of 10 malted milkshakes and would recommend it to people who like a good ghost story with heart. Happy Reading Everybody!
What type of ghost would you be?  How far would you go to obtain eternal life?  Is it bad that the idea of being able to change my clothes at will makes it almost cool to be a ghost>

Where The Whales Go To Die

Growing up, one of my favorite movies was (and still is) The Island at the Top of the World.  It's a weird, strange movie, but it triggered my sense of adventure (and scared the bejeebus out of me) so a favorite it became.  I have recently discovered the book The Lost Ones by Ian Cameron, on which the movie was based, and fell in love with it as well. Since it is set in the frozen tundra I held on to it until winter set in.   Before we get into that though, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

The book is written in first person/journal form and follows the strange adventures of Keith Rogers, a whaler; Professor Somerville, a teacher of flora and Captain Anthony McIver, a man looking for his son.  The Professor and McIver convince Rogers to come with them to find McIver's lost son Donald Ross.  Donald it seems has found some information on the mythical legend of a place where the whales go to die.  He was last seen hijacking a helicopter and heading out over the frozen tundra.  The threesome put together an expedition and head out in the undiscovered snow and ice to see if they can find out what happened to him.  As they travel, they uncover some unsettelling information about the mysterious island they are heading towards.  The island is Prince Patrick Island and there is no official record of anybody ever actually setting foot on the island and all maps, such as they are were made by aerial recon and even the aerial footage is iffy because of a perpetual mist that obscures parts of the island.  They are warned against the yellow-haired men that supposedly inhabit the island, confusing the trio as only Eskimos are known to inhabit any of the area.  Many cold

adventures follow, culminating with the men stranded on the mystical island, under siege by the mysterious yellow haired men.  They are captured and taken to an impossible city, that has survived and flourished due to thermal vents warming the area to comfortably habital temps.  The natives, who all sport blond hair, seem to live under a very medieval code of suspicion, taboo's, and rituals.  The men are found guilty of trespassing and are sentenced to death.  They meet Freyja, a girl who knew Donald, and was his lover.  She helps the men escape and promises to guide them to where she thinks Donald may be.  The place Freyja takes them is a sacred spot that only the Shaman's may go and look upon, keeping the natives in their grip.  After some more harrowing events the trio plus Freyja end up trapped on a sort of beach, along with numerous whale carcasses where they find Donald, alive.  They have finally found where the whales go to die.  Freyja tells them the story of how whales used to eat the young of other animals, and as punishment they were barred from heaven and must circle the waters of hell.  To this end, when a whale gets old it goes to a special grave yard to be tipped into the waters of hell.  This strange beach is littered with the bodies of all kinds of whales, and they are eventually carried by a river to an underground whirlpool, fulfilling the story.  The other part of this myth is the Guardians that Freyja is terrified of, which turn out to be very aggressive Orca's.  In desperation the five of them build a boat out of various whale parts and try and get past the Orca's.  Freyja, out of guilt and fear feeling that she is the reason the Guardians won't leave them alone is because of her, she jumps into the water, dying as she gives the men a way to escape.  They all finally head home and go about their various lives, always having this surreal adventure to think back on.

To be 100% honest, I was not prepared to like this book as much as I did.  I wanted to see the source material for my favorite movie, and found a decently written adventure.  It is hard for me to talk about the book without talking about the movie which are intertwined in my head, even though they are both very different.  I think what struck me most about both is the sense of adventure, the idea that there is something still unknown out there.  As a kid...ok even now, I always wanted to discover something, always looking over the next ridge, or opening the old doors, or squeezing through the holes, hoping to find something new.  I also love the idea of hidden things, lost things rediscovered, mystical myths and this book had it all.  The pacing of the book was surprisingly brisk considering 90% of it was spent trying to survive on the frozen tundra.  I loved the mix of science, exploration,

anthropology and myth.  This is one of those books that reminds you how many facets of life come together to form a culture ore society.  The actual physical book itself was also pretty neat.  The story was published in 1970 and the book I have was printed not much later, making the physical tome itself about 45 years old, which doesn't seem that old, until you realize that it is in paper back, still in one piece and older then me :-)  It felt like holding a discovery, which added to the enjoyment reading it.  Of course now I am terrified it's gonna fall apart.  I also loved the words that the author used.  One of my favorite things about older books is that people use grown up words in every day conversation, I miss that, none of this shortening or acronyming of words, just full, meaningful, beautiful words.    This book rekindled my love of adventure and exploring and now I want to go find more books like this.  I give this book 7 out of 10 sacred lockets and recommend it to anybody who likes adventure, myths, or snow.
When is it ok for the movie and the book to differ?  How awesome is the combo of myth and science?  Is this the reason people say "Hey this is a weird book/movie...I think you'll love it"?

All Hail To The Science Rules Of Science

Who's ready for a bit of a break from all of the holiday cheer?   Me too, lets talk about a book instead shall we?  Let's talk about Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire, the third book in the InCryptid series.  Even though I'm still not 100% sure what a Ragnarok is, this was still a pretty cool book.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

In this third book in the InCryptid series, we move away from my favored Verity's storyline and take a peek at her brother Alex.  Alex is a Herpetologist, who when not working at the local zoo, is busy tracking and tagging local cryptid species.  He is busy trying to figure out how to introduce the fricken, a feathered frog that is displacing the native frog population, into the mainstream science world.  As he is doing this, he is also working on a basilisk breeding program, sneaking in a young local lamia to see her cobra fiancee, and trying to keep his kind of sort of Big Cat keeper girlfriend Shelby from finding out about any of this.  All of this is not enough for our friend Alex, he must also solve a spate of murders that are carried out by turning a person to stone.  Alex is concerned that somebody in the local Gorgon community may be to blame.  Eventually we, and Alex learn that Shelby is not a stranger to cryptids, and adds her own Aussie perspective to the game.  She reveals herself after she discovers that Alex's cousin is what is known as a cuckoo, a potentially dangerous and destructive creature that Alex is helping to watch while she recovers from a psychic injury gotten when she helped save Alex's sister Verity.  Many cool things and stuff happen, including lives in danger, history revealed, and a lot of various creatures being introduced.  In the end a twisted gorgon with mixed parentage is to blame for the deaths, he is caught and neutralized.  The gorgon community is shaken, but endures.  Alex and Shelby hang out for hopefully another adventure.

This book is pretty cool, I loved the first two InCryptid books, I loved Verity and was very hopeful I would love the series as it moved on to Alex, and I did.  In spite of the bare bones synopsis there is a ton of really great stuff in this book.  To start with Alex is very much not Verity.  You can tell he was raised in the same family, but his personality is all his own.  His chosen profession is pretty cool all on its own, but when you add the cryptid element, it just is awesome.  Shelby is ok, she is not my favorite character to grace this series, but she is tolerable.  I ADORE Alex's grandparents, and the way they deal with life.  I also very much enjoyed seeing what happened to their cuckoo cousin Sarah and watching her strange road to recovery.  It was cool to see a bit of a community relationship between a sapient cryptid group and the Price family, the tenuousness, the interpersonal and inter species issues, all asked some great questions of society as a whole.  I did not completely understand the mistrust that the gorgon community had for Alex as he and his family have done nothing but help them survive and thrive, so that was a bit frustrating.  The series continues to explore what is considered mainstream and what is considered "not normal" and the implications when one crosses over to the other. The need for certain species to live in hiding, while others can live in the open, the necessity to hide certain attributes, the difference between animal and sentient is all explored and questioned in these books and I love it.  The Aeslin mice keep me entertained as always and I hope they continue to make appearances in every book.  I am liking this moving on to the various Price family members and cannot wait until I get to read Antimony's story, 'cause even though we have never officially met, she is my favorite.  In case you can't tell I really enjoyed this book and will continue happily reading this series.  I give it 8 out of 10 church griffins.
What kind of cryptid do you wish was real?  Who gets to choose what is "normal"?  Am I getting really lazy with my synopsis's?

Land Of Imagination

I love books, I love books about books, I love books about authors, I love books that have adventure and spirit and heart, I love books that combine all of these, ergo I love Here, There Be Dragons by James Owen, the first book in the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica Series.  I picked this book up because it promised all of the above and for the most part it delivered in spades.  But first as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Three Oxford scholars, Charles, John and Jack are all in some way summoned to a Professor Sigurdsson's residence, where it turns out he has been murdered.  The trio are soon met by a strange man called Bert who helps them escape a group of Wendigo's who are after them for some reason.  The group makes good on their escape through the use of a special ship named Indigo Dragon.  After the chaos has calmed the trio are told that they are to be the Caretakers of an extremely special book called the Imaginarium Geographica, which principally holds maps and information on a world known as the Archipelago of Dreams, a place where all the mythical and fictional worlds exist.  John is to be the principal Caretaker with Jack and Charles assisting.  The group starts their adventure on the island of Avalon, where they pick up a stowaway by the name of Bug.  The group which now also includes Bert's daughter Aven, who is the captain of the Indigo Dragon.  The group is told that the

Silver Throne has been empty for 20 years after the last king went bad and killed his whole family, leaving the Archipelago without a ruler. This has left an opening for the Winter King to try and take over.  To this end he has been using Pandora's Box to steal people's souls and turn them into Shadow-Born.  He has also been conquering the various islands by cloaking them in Shadow.  They land on Paralon and meet Tummler, a talking badger who not only knows the secret of steam power, but is a budding cookbook author as well.  After a major upset in Parliament, where the current island king and queens turn out to be clockwork all chaos breaks lose.  The group goes to visit the last remaining dragon Saramanth (the other dragons left when the old king went bad) who gives them some advice, including the key to translating the Imaginarium Geographica.  He also gives them the High King's ring, which he had taken from the last King when he went bad.  The group leaves and is soon attacked by the Winter King, who steals what he thinks is the Geographica and tries to recruit Jack.  The Indigo Dragon is destroyed and the group, along with the sniveling traitor Magwich are marooned on an island.  Lucky for them the island belongs to Ordo Maas who supplies them with a new boat the White Dragon and sends them to the Cartographer.  On to another island they climb the Keep of Time, which continues to grow as time goes on.  They learn more stuff and head to the island at the end of the world.  The group joins with their allies, the dwarves, the elves, and the other mythological creatures (centaurs and such).  They face down the enemy army the Winter King has assembled which consists of trolls, goblins, Shadowborn, wendigo's and the Winter King himself.  Bug is revealed to be the last remaining heir to the throne and summons the dragons which help them win the battle.  Jack, who's cockiness cost the life of their good friend Nemo, redeems himself by figuring out how to return the Shadowed lands to their natural state.  Once everything starts to settle the trio of Caretakers head back to London, but not before they sign their names to the Geographica.  It is here we learn that Charles is Charles William, John is J.R.R.Tolkien, Jack is C.S. Lewis, and Bert is H.G. Wells.  We learn that most of the Caretakers were either author's or artists or people with big imaginations.  The men return to London and await their next adventure.

Whew that was a super, huge, long synopsis that does not even remotely begin to capture to coolness of this book.  This book has a good plot and great characters, but it's biggest strength for me is the treasure trove of literary awesomeness this book is.  I do wonder however if a non-book fanatic would enjoy this book as much as I did.  It was a bit of a crazy ride, going to a myriad places, meeting a ton of people and all the while maintaining a plot and character development.  It is a bit hard to keep track of on occasion, trying to figure out exactly what a Caretaker does, or how the process of passing the Geographica down is handled, or exactly what the Geographica is was all a bit of a blur.  All of the confusion aside, I kept turning the page waiting to see what tidbit would pop up next.  Like I said before, my favorite part was all of the literary nuggets that were put in.  You could see the bits and pieces that supposedly "inspired" the great authors to write their masterpieces.  It was a bit surreal, knowing that it is all fiction, but it was still fun pretending that the authors were inspired by a real alternate world.  So I realize I am doing a horrible job trying to talk about this book.  It's one of those books that you just have to read and you will either love it or not.  Go read it, find the gems, laugh, love, lose, cry and sail with your beloved authors an see what you think.  I give this book 9 out of 10 Dragonships.
What author should be the next Caretaker?  What fictional world would you like to see?  How horrible job did I do on this rambling?

Reading The King

After all of our talk of mythical and legendary figures I now want to go read all of my books that pertain to King Arthur, here are a few of my favorites.

Le Morte D'Arthur

This book is the most "historical" of all the books, it try's to put together all of the disparate historical literature and stories into a cohesive time line.  

The Pendragon Cycle

I love love love this series.  This five book series completely encompasses the entirety of the Arthur story, while lending a bit of history and awesomness.

The Avalon Series

This lush version of the Arthur story is told through the voice of the various women who played a crucial role in this epic tale.  This new perspective is interesting and a wonderful read.

Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica 

This is not a strictly Arthur book, but based in a world that is a conglameration of all the big myths and stories and the Arthur story plays a huge role in the series.  Also it is just an awesome series.

Merlin

Ok ok so this is not a book, but I love this semi cheesy, totally awesome show about a young Merlin and Arthur :-)

What is your favorite Arthurian tale?  Do you ever get stuck in a reading theme?  Should really great TV and Movies be included in book posts?

History And Myth

One of my many favorite aspects of reading is the ideas and topics that get me thinking beyond the book.  One of the books I am reading now reminded me that books and stories are more then entertainment, they are teaching tools, history keepers, and legend builders.  One thing that strikes me about the old stories in particular is their ability to create a blur between reality and myth, to the point that sometimes you are not 100% sure if a person existed for real or a certain event actually happened.  Take for example the legend of King Arthur.  Most people in Western Culture have at least heard of of King Arthur, many books, songs, stories, plays, movies, tv shows and even comics have been made to feature him...but was he even a real

person?  To be honest, nobody knows for sure.  He could have been a king in the 5th century that had his exploits written down by somebody, he could be a conglomeration of several kings and rulers, he could be a name that people of the time period used to sum up all the glory's and failures and morals and lessons they wanted to impart.  We will probably never know for sure.  Others have also achieved that blurred mythical status.  Robin Hood, Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, Beowulf, and many many others that are all as interesting and all as nebulously real as the last.  These legends have a very important purpose around the world.  They are there to preserve history, events may not be exactly what happened in the song, or poem, but we can get an idea of what was going on during that time period.  They are used as lessons, to teach morals and consequences.  These stories are used as entertainment and to evoke emotion, to bond people together over a shared experience.  When I first started thinking about this the other day, I felt like we don't do this anymore.  We don't memorialize our hero's in song, epic poems are no longer written about epic battles.  Then I watched Band of Brothers, and read Jepp Who Defied the Stars and realized that most historical fiction, heck most fiction in general is a way to record on film, or put down on paper, or digitize in binary numbers our current history and turn it into legends in their own forms.  The biggest difference is that it is so much easier to produce these works then it was before.  More people have access to, and the ability to read and write on their own.  Before a select few people could read or right, multi media consisted of writing on paper that took weeks to make, painting, weaving, and song.  All communication was done in person, on foot or horse back or by ship, things were slow and new entertainment few and far between, so any new song or story or piece of art was rare, valued and known by most people in the region.  Today I can access thousands of stories, books, songs, pieces of art,

cultural rites...or add to it myself.  Before stories were passed from on person to another, allowing for errors, embellishments and miss attributions until the original person or event became morphed into an epic tale, only vaguely resembling the original.  Today we can record most history in a fairly accurate way, we can usually find the source story, so the mysterious hero's are no longer so mysterious.  In the end, I still kind of wish we would all gather around the fire to hear tales of heroism, or hear a ballad of an epic event, or decorate our halls with weaving's depicting the building of great monuments...but I am also glad I can download every Harry Potter book in 20 seconds anytime I want :-)  Happy Reading Everybody!
Do you think we have any mythical legends now days?  What is your favorite legendary figure?  Do you think bard is still a legitimate proffesion?

Denizens Of The Deep

I love water, I love how it looks, how if feels, I love looking at it, swimming in it, smelling it (unless it's a stinky harbor that shall remain nameless).  I also love stories about water beings of all sorts.  Mermaids, Selkies, Sirens, Kelpies, Undines, Naiads, Kappa's, I love them all. When I was little...ok even now, I was/am obsessed with aquariums and always wanted to get in with all the fishies and swim around like a mermaid, my wonderful Hubbin made that dream come
 true snorkeling in Hawaii a few years ago, seriously it was just like all my young four-year old self dreams come true, it was amazing and now has me wishing I was a Selkie :-)  The most well known story about "mythical" water creatures (I'm convinced they actually exist, just they are smart enough to stay hidden) is of course The Little Mermaid, either the pretty princess Disney version, or the much darker original walking on knives and dissolving into sea foam version.  Here are some books and stories that I really enjoyed featuring our favorite denizens of the deep.

The Mermaid's Madness-This is the second book in the Princess Novels series by Jim C. Hines.  It is a very different retelling of the original Little Mermaid story, and also deals with the aftermath of her being jilted.  Very dark and tragic, not for your little princess.

Midnight Pearls- This is a book from the Once Upon A Time series that is a set of books that retell the various classics to varying degrees of success (more on that in another post).  This is another retelling of The Little Mermaid, but this one spends the vast majority of the time above the waves as the mermaid in question is mostly raised on land.  Pretty good story and a fairly quick read, perfect for the beach.

Petaybee Series- This series and the one that follows it (The Twins of Petaybee) are a collaboration between Anne McCaffery and Elizabeth Scarborough that combine Alaskan and Irish culture and myth.  It is set on a sentient world that produces strange effects in some of the inhabitants, including one of the main characters essentially being a selkie.  This trait is passed onto his children in the second series.  This is one of those great/weird combinations of futuristic sci-fi and environmental fantasy.

Quest For A Kelpie-This historical fantasy set in Scotland is a great one for the young adult crowd.  It sneaks in a lot of history (think Bonny Prince Charles and such) but still keeps the pace moving...plus mythical horse of the sea, so pretty cool.

Kappa- This was a bit of an odd one.  The story is told by Patient 23, an asylum patient.  It is the story of his journey to Kappaland and his twisty, weird adventures with these little green water sprites.  Read this one and tell me what you think.

What are your favorite water creatures?  Do you like the classics or the re-telling's better?  Did you ever dream of swimming in the big aquariums?  Have you ever wished you could breath under water?

So Many Gods So Little Time

I finally finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman.  I must admit it took me a lot longer to get through then anticipated, especially for a book I was looking forward to because I usually really like Mr. Gaiman's work.
Let me start with an extremely quick and dirty  synopsis of the plot.  The main plot follows the character Shadow who starts the book by being released from jail a couple days early to attend the funeral of his wife who had been killed in a car accident.  Shadow is met by a mysterious guy who goes by the name Mr. Wednesday who hires him to be his driver/whatever else he needs guy.  Turns out that Mr. Wednesday is Odin, or at least the American version of Odin and he is trying to recruit other old gods to help him battle the new gods (Media, Internet, Mr. World etc.) for dominance in America.  Much chaos, killing, traveling and meeting ensue culminating in Shadow being hung in a tree (by choice) as Odin was in the old myths.  Shadow dies and travels through the under world before being brought back to life with the help of his zombie wife (I know I know, it actually makes some sort of sense in the context of the book).  Shadow realizes that the war between the gods was just a sham started by Odin and Loki to gain power for themselves.  Odin thrives on the bloodshed and Loki thrives on the chaos.  The combatants retreat back to their homes to live out the rest of their diminished lives.  Shadow helps his zombie wife die for real this time and continues on.  Interspersed with the main plot are stories of how the old gods came to America and some set in modern times of how they are trying to survive.
Overall...I don't know...I liked pieces of the book very much.  I could have read a thousand of the stories about the gods coming over in different peoples minds and how they took root here, I also like the stories on what they had to do here to survive.  I loved the concept, the idea that the old gods existed because people wanted them to and they were kept around and sustained through humans need and sacrifice.  I also like the idea of the new gods being what people "worship" in modern times, things like media and television.  Shadows story seemed a little disconnected from it all, I had a hard time tearing myself out of one world and being plopped back into Shadows fairly depressing one.  His story seemed to be one of a guy who just pretty much did as he was told and went along for the ride.  I'm not sure if he was intended to be more of an observer character to let the reader know what was going on, or an illustration of how little power one can have in the big picture, but I never really got into his story...which was the main story.  In the end it was an okay book, I am glad I read it and may even go back an reread parts of it.  I kind of want him to write a whole short story series just on how the gods got to America and what they are doing to survive because that was very well done.  I give this book 6 out of 10 cups of coffee :-)

What do you think of the idea that gods are ideas?  Am I missing the whole point of this book? What "new" gods do you think we have now?  Do you think there is a moldy cheese god in my refrigerator?

A Real "Faire" Book

Anybody who known me for more then about 13 seconds knows I love fantasy, I love faire's, dwarfs, elves, goblins, gods and goddesses, brownies, pixies, mermaids, dragons, whatever it is I LOVE it.  I also love all the different variety you get when you start mixing in different era's and places.  A faire story set in Brazil in the 1800's is going to be way different then a faery tale (I wonder how many ways I can spell fairy, faire, faery, pharee...) set in China in the 1400's. One of my favorite books, that combines faery's, location, and a mix of time is called Hunter's Moon by O.R. Melling.

 It is a great mix of a super classic fairy tale, an urban setting and traditional, almost tribal myth.  It is set in Ireland and tells the story of Gwen a Canadian teenager who visits her cousin Findabhair (finn-ah-veer) and the two of them set out on a magical mystery tour.  They get much more then they bargained for when after sleeping under a faery mound Findabhair willing goes to become the queen of Finvara the King of Faery's.  Gwen had refused so he could not take her as well.  As Gwen chases the faery's and her cousin through out Ireland she makes many friends in all shapes and sizes who help her when she needs it most, including a boy named Dara who is particularly useful. When she finally catches up to the elven hoard, Gwen learns that Finn went with the Fairy's of her own accord and is happy to stay with them.  After putting the pieces together, Gwen learns that it was the King's intent to bring back two humans, one to wed and one to sacrifice to the great evil.  This is reminiscent of the Celtic Tale of Tam Lin and the darker side of faery that you don't see as often. 

In the end Gwen, Findabhair, the King, and their friends decide to fight the evil instead of sacrificing to it.  After they fail, the King gives himself up, the first of the Fair Folk to ever do so, so that no human would have to be sacrificed, proving his true love for Finn.  Everybody is understandably upset and they all agree to meet up a year later to remember Finvara the Fairy King.  As they assemble the next year they meet a boy that looks exactly like Finvara, turns out the monster took only his immortality and memories not his life.  The group all accepts this new Finvara and all help him to understand what is going on.
This is the first book in a series called "The Chronicles of Faerie" and it is my favorite.  The other ones are pretty good, but never had the same magic of this one...though the one with the ghost pirate captain Molly was pretty cool :-)  The Summer King, The Light-Bearer's Daughter, The Book of Dreams
I really enjoyed the history and mythology (the author has studied Celtic history and myth) that was given, and how it all intertwines in the various time periods.  This is one of those books that I have read several times, and I probably will read it again.  Let me know what your favorite part was!