Angry Reading

It has not been a fun couple of day...In fact it has been a down right crappy week.  One of the ways I get my self through weeks like this is to brutally throw myself into books.  I usually like to choose sci-fi or fantasy or something that is completely different from my current life as a way to escape.  Unfortunately my crazy brains sometimes finds it hard to focus on the words on the page when I have so much stuff rumbling through it.  This is when I switch to what I call angry reading mode.  This is where I actually exert a fair amount of effort to shove all the stupid to the side and do my best to let the book take me away.  I usually will pick up one of my go to favorites so that I don't have to add ire over a badly written book to my list of grievances.  Lucky for me, even though it takes a bit of effort, this trick usually will help me escape and can even calm me down for the most part.  So here is to a better week next week.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Stupid Scarlet Mote

ITS FALLLLLLLL!!!!! Sorry, got a little excited there, but the weather has finally started to cooperate along with the rest of my life.  Not only has the weather gotten cooler, but I have actually been able to enjoy it while sipping cider, curled up in my reading chair with ample blankets and pillows READING!  Yep finally got to finish (and start) my books! One of the first ones is a book I feel like I have been reading forever, it is called Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey and it is the first in a series.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!
How does one go about rambling about a 901 page book?  How does one classify a book such as this?  Is it political? Is it fantasy? Is it erotica? Is it historical fiction?  Is it EPIC?  The answer to all of those in some way would have to be yes...kind of... Hmmm  I will sum up what I can, just know there are huge parts missing 'cause I want this post to be less then 27 pages long.

Our story is narrated in the first person by Phedre.  Phedre is unique because she was born with a scarlet mote in one eye, initially thought to be an imperfection it turns out that it is actually the mark of a deity called Kushiel, the lord of punishment in this pantheon.  Because of this special marking our Phedre is for lack of a better term a masochist or in the book terms an anguissette, now before you all freak out decide I have turned to a life of reading erotica, this is just one small portion of the book, and it actually serves a purpose.  See in this land of Terre D'Ange (which feels a lot like France) an alternate history of sort happened. An angel like deity was born and was turned away by Yeshua (the equivalent of the Judeo/Christian God) his name was Eula and he and his companions wandered the earth until they settled in Terre D'Ange with the phrase Love as thou wilt as there creed.  In this society Naamah's Servants or professional courtesans (both male and female) are revered for there practice of free love (well it is paid for...but you get the idea).  Phedre's marque is bought by a man named Delaunay who trains her to use her arts as an anguissette for hire to spy on important people. Delaunay has another ward, Alcuin, who while not an anguissette also chooses to enter into the services of Naamah to help gather information.  A whole bunch of stuff happens, among them a young Phedre meets a Tsingani (a gypsy type race) boy named Hyacinth who becomes an invaluable friend through out her life.  Eventually Delaunay procures the services of a Cassiline Brother by the name of Joscelin, a guard trained since he was 10 in the arts of protection who swears an oath to do anything to protect his charge.  In the land of Love as thou wilt, the Cassiline swear a vow of chastity making them a bit odd in a realm where free love is the norm. One of Phedre's clients is the beautiful Melisande, a brilliant, crafty noble woman who loves to play games.  Phedre has a love/hate relationship with Melisande, especially because she is the one of the few who know how best to utilize the plain/pleasure dichotomy that is Phedre. Confused yet?  Hang in there it keeps going.  Eventually Delaunay's spying gets him and Alcuin killed and Phedre and Joscelin get sold as slaves to the Skaldi (a Viking like race). Phedre learns from Melisande

herself that she is behind it all, but she cannot bear to have Phedre killed.  In slavery Phedre finds out what it is like to be forced to serve as a bed slave with no say in the matter, before she could always choose, always say no, and this lack of choice is unbearable to her.  She learns of a plot to overthrow the ruling family of Terre D'Ange by betrayal of one noble family (this gets really complicated, interesting but complicated...read the book for more details).  Phedre and Joscelin escape by him breaking certain vows (such as to only kill for protection)and make there way through a bitter winter to Terre D'Ange. Upon there arrival they are told by Hyacinth that they have been tried and convicted in absentia for the death of Deluany and Alcuin.  They make contact with the new Queen who believes there story and tell them that if they can find a way to Alba (an Ireland/Scottish hybrid) and help Drustan regain his throne, maybe he will bring his warriors to help secure the throne of Terre D'Ange (oh yeah Drustan and the young Queen are also in love and wish to marry which helps the cause).  Of they set to find this Drustan.  Along the way they meet up with a band of Tsingani which contains Hyacinths grandfather.  They are thrilled to see him return until they learn that he practices the dromande which is a seer like ability that is only used by women.  Saddened Hyacinth continues on with Phedre and Joscelin to secure a ship to Alba.  The biggest obstetrical is crossing the Master of the Straits, a man of great power who makes the sea rise up against them until Phedre sings for him.  They arrive in Alba, find Drustan, win the battle and head back to Terre D'Ange with Drustan and his warriors in tow. They make it back and have an epic three way battle, eventually winning and restoring the Queen and her new husband to the throne. Melisandre is captured, taunts Phedre and then escapes.  Phedre is named Deluany's heir (as she and Joscelin are now cleared of his murder) and inherits a decent piece of land.  In the end she decides to go back into the service of Naamah to see what other information she can find.  And thus ends this epic tome, the first in a series, none of which would have ever happened if she had not been born with that damned scarlet mote.

Obviously that is super bare bones basic basic basic plot line. There is a lot of really great, rich, detail that I just cannot capture in a summary.  Lets get to discussion now shall we?  I guess the first question is did I like the book and the answer is yes I did.  This book has been on my radar for years and I am pleased that I finally got to read it.  I enjoyed it for the most part.  Next Question, what did I like about it?  I liked the world building, the quasi historical setting was nice, it gave a reason to have a lot of familiar things, especially the different races while still giving some wiggle room for creativity. As weird as it sounds a society based on Love as thou wilt actually made sense in this story.  The Court of the Night Blooming Flowers as the 13 main houses were called were well written and gave some credence to all the sexy fun times, which oddly enough were used to the stories advantage.  A book like this, which states right off the bat that there will be explicitness through out could easily have been another fantasy smut book.  I have started (and rarely finished) books that sound like they have a good idea or premise but are just an excuse to have a vast amount of various sex scenes.  This is not only lazy writing, but actually makes sex boring!  This book actually uses its sex scenes (which for the most part are fairly tastefully portrayed) to further the plot.  They establish relationships  between various characters, information is divulged and Phedre's character is developed through these scenes.  Also for a 901 page book the percentage of pages devoted to sexy fun time is overall pretty minimal.  The plot, while a little complicated could have easily become convoluted, but stayed fairly easy to follow, at least the important parts.  I liked how each character had there flaws and there talents.  I loved how it showed that anybody could become your family, the ragtag family that Phedre eventually forms around herself is a great example of blood relations not being an essential part of family.

 Question 3 what did I not like about the book?  It was too long.  This is one of those books that you feel like you will be reading forever (I kind of wish I had this back in my poor college days when I had to make my books last as long as I could).  It wasn't a bad book, it just got tedious in certain areas.  This is a rookie mistake from a first time writer, the overly descriptive everything all the time, I don't need every detail of every house that the characters drive pass in there well described wagon.  Phedre's voice got a little irritating on occasion, this is written as a kind of recollection with Phedre constantly telling us at points early on "if I had only known" or "Later I would have wished to be at that event" almost always breaking the potential tension because you know something bad is going to happen and from her comments you can almost always figure out what.  As with most first person narratives you get stuck in there head, which in this case got a little angsty and introspective for my taste, but not near as bad as some I've read. I also was not completely sold on how EVERYBODY fell in love with our Phedre, I don't think there was a single person she could not turn, which makes it a little dull for she has no direct antagonist or even somebody to sharpen herself against. Question 4 would I recommend this book? I would most certainly recommend this book for the over 16 crowd that does not mind working through it a bit.  It is not an easy read, it takes paying attention to make sure you are up to speed on the whole storyline, but it is broken into 96 chapters that go by fairly quick individually, making it very easy to put down and pick back up. I will probably eventually pick up the next book in the series, but I am not dying to go get it right this instant.  I give this book 6 out of 10 whips and chains.
Does sexy fun times in books make you want to pick it up or put it down?  How long a book is too long? Does that term erotica make you laugh like a twelve year old boy?

Falling Into Deja Vu

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a book I have been back and forth about reading for a while now. It falls into the teenage angst category and I usually can only take so much of that, but I had heard a lot of decent reviews on it by some reviewers I trust, and it had the added bonus of being a daily deal cheapo ebook, so on the list it went.  I wanted one last "summer" read before I got into my more broody fall books and in general books about teenage girls fall into my summer reading category so that is how reading it came about.  I am glad I did, it was definitely full of teen angst, and if you have seen the movie Groundhog Day you will have a basic idea of the hook, but I thought the over all book was a good look at how one see's themselves.  Ok here we go, quick convoluted synopsis, as always SPOILERS AHEAD! (Also big kid language and some not so child friendly situations)

Samantha is dead, yep no real mystery or suspense, our main character is dead (not a bad start to a teeny-bopper book right!).  The story is about how she died and what comes after.  After we learn Sam is dead she goes on to tell us how it happened.  I will break up this synopsis the way she does 'cause that will be the most effective.
Day 1-Sam gets ready for Cupid Day, a pre-Valentine ritual day at her highschool where students dressed as some form of Cupid hand out roses with notes attached to them to the students from other students.  It is kind of a popularity contest to see who gets the most roses.  She gets a ride from her loud, beautiful, brash friend Lindsay, who is the ring leader of this group of popular seniors.  Also in the group is Ally, a talented cook with body image issues and Elodie a sweet, fun loving girl.  They arrive at school and steal the last close parking spot, causing another girl to be late (details like this are important to the over all story).  They go to class and Sam cheats on a chem pop quiz, flirts with her math teacher and gets several roses from her friends, including one from her old friend Kent (whom she rarely speaks to anymore as he would put a dent in her popularity) and one from her hot and popular boyfriend.  She meets her friends for lunch and they

viciously tease a girl named Juliette, calling her Psycho and singing rude songs.  Sam's boyfriend Rob meets up with her and reminds her that they are going to have sex for the first time that night after a party at Kent's house.  The girls go to Ally's house and get ready for the party, hitting the vodka pretty hard before they even leave.  At the party Rob (already drunk) paws at Sam, again reminding her of there "special" night later.  Sam and her friends continue to drink until Juliette shows up at the party and calls each of the girls a bitch.  In retaliation the girls push Juliette around and dump their drinks all over her.  Eventually they are ready to go and Rob has had so much to drink he passes out.  Disgusted Sam decides to go home with her friends.  The all pile in the car and go driving into weather that has turned wet and slick.  Sam notices little things about each of her friends, and especially the state of Lindsay who is driving, which is to say she is not sober at all.  All of a sudden a white flash appears and the car goes off the road, slamming into a tree.  There is light, noise and pain and then the sensation of falling.
Day 2- Sam wakes up...to Cupid day.  She is understandably confused and tries to figure out what happened.  She finally decides it is a cross of deja vu and a weird dream and continues with her day.  Since she made them late, they do not get there parking spot and have to park further away from the school making them late.  As the day goes on Sam realizes that she remembers everything that has happened,

except for a few minor changes.  The day pretty much progresses as before ending in the car crash.
Day 3- Sam wakes up again on Cupid day, realizing that she has to find a way to make things happen differently she convinces her friends to stay in that night and have a slumber party instead.  We get to know a bit more about there friendship, and it is actually pretty sweet to see four teenage girls this tight.  Later, after everybody is asleep and Sam if feeling pleased that she has not died in a car crash the phone rings.  It is somebody calling to tell them that Juliette (the girl they have been mercilessly teasing) has shot her self in the head.  Everybody reacts to the news differently.  Ally and Elodie feel guilty about all the teasing, but Lindsay brushes it off, stating it is not there fault, that Juliette made her own choice.  Later Sam goes through old year books and finds out that Juliette and Lindsay used to be best friend.  She goes to sleep and wakes up...
Day 4-Cupid day again, apparently not dying the night before did not change anything and she has to go through the day again.  Angry, tired, sad and frustrated she takes the day to do all kinds of crazy stuff.  Making out with her hot math teacher, cutting classes, pissing off her friends on purpose, feeling trapped by this never ending time loop. She ends up hanging out with people she normally does not hang out with, and learns a lot about how her and her friends actions are effecting others. She also finds herself caring what other people think, even knowing nobody will remember any of this when the day repeats itself. The day ends with Kent putting her to bed at his house and her realizing that she likes him way more then Rob (who is kind of a jerk).  She goes to sleep and wakes up to...
Day 5-This is the day she decides to do something different every day, since she is stuck in the endless cycle anyways.  She makes a list of everything it is possible to do in a day.  This day she decides to stay at home with her little sister Izzy.  We learn a lot of Sams history in this chapter, that she used to be unpopular until Lindsay decided to be friends with her.  She tries to impart as much as she can to Izzy and spends the evening with her parents.  She also runs into Juliette's younger sister and decides to try again to stop Juliette from killing herself.  She ends up at the party, talking with Juliette in the woods by the side of the road.  As hard as she tries she cannot stop Juliette from throwing herself in front of a car zooming down the road.  Turns out the car is Lindsay's and it causes the accident that was supposed to kill Sam, but kills Elodie instead as she was the one in the front seat.  Sam stays at Kent's house as he consoles her as best he can and she finally falls asleep.
Day 6-Sam wakes up and decides to try and fix everything, thinking maybe if she can save Juliette she can save herself and life will finally continue.  She sends Juliette a dozen roses for Cupids day, is nice to Kent, dumps Rob, scrubs off the mean sayings they wrote in the bathroom, just tries to fix everything in general.  She goes to the party and tries to talk to Juliette.  Again she ends up at the edge of the road, trying to convince Juliette that things are going to be better, but it is still in vain.  This time Juliette jumps in front of a semi truck.  Sam drives her friends home (at this point she has learned to stay sober) and takes Lindsey home last, finally learning about how she put the blame on a bed wetting at camp back in the fifth grade on Juliette, nicknaming her Mellow Yellow even though it was Lindsay who wet the bed.  This was the point where Lindsay became popular and Juliette became shunned.  Kent takes Sam home and they kiss.
Day 7-Sam finally realizes what she needs to do to move on.  She treats the day like any other, only making small adjustments from before.  Putting a single nice note on Juliette's rose, dumping Rob, not cheating on her chem test.  Little things, but important.  The biggest thing she does is arrange for other rides for the girls at the party, telling Lindsay that driving drunk will only get people killed.  The girls finally agree and get dropped off at the party.  Kent comes and picks up Sam to take her to the party and she apologizes for being a jerk and kisses him.  She catches up with Juliette, again trying to convince her to not kill her self, again she fails. This time though when Juliette jumps, Sam jumps after her and pushes her out of the way, getting killed herself.  In the epilogue Sam tells us that once you accept your death it isn't bad.

That synopsis does not really sum up what I liked about this book.  There was a great arc to Sam's understanding of her actions and her friends actions, and even the consequences of their inaction's leading up to the point of her death.  It is a pretty brutal look at the current state of teenagers (and humans in general) today.  There is a lot of drinking, smoking, sex, and all around destructive behavior, but unfortunately from some of the calls I have run, this is not an abnormal thing.  This book examines not just the teenagers, but other factors that influence there actions.  Parents and their lack of control or knowledge about there own kids, teachers who have there own questionable motives on occasion, peers, jobs, money, status all of these things go into how a person acts and reacts.  I think one of my favorite parts about this book was how at the start Sam really did not understand how her words and actions affected other people.  The hierarchy of popularity was one she accepted, calling it preparation for the real world of haves and have-nots. Even when she realized that there may be consequences, she still believed that it was not her problem and it was the others that should deal with it.  She comes to realize that popularity is pretty arbitrary and has very little to do with reality and more to do with luck and the willingness to let it be the status quo. She also realizes her earlier assumptions about people, including her own friends was usually completely wrong.  This leads to her trying to "fix" things through out her repeating day, but even this does not always work as she is still working on her own assumptions.  I have to say I love that even after understanding her friends flaws, and knowing that there way of doing things is wrong, at the end the four girls are truly friends, not letting anything, not boys, money, or issues come between them.  It is nice to see (as convoluted as it sometimes is) a story where friendship between females, a fierce loyalty we usually only see in military bro stories take center stage.  This book reminded me about everything I hated in high school (and I actually had it pretty good) and made me very glad that I am no longer dealing with that shit for lack of a better term.  This book was not perfect, it had its cringe-worthy moments and the angst was definitely present, but over all I would recommend this book.  I would especially recommend it to anybody who has to deal with teens, has a teen or pre-teen, or just wants something to think about.  I give it 7 out of 10 Cupid Roses.
How do you feel about books set in high school?  What "group label" did you get stuck with?  Did you ever sneak a book into your textbook like I did?