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>

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?

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?