Young Adult

The King of Attolia

/ justbookreading / 1 Comment

The King of Attolia

By Megan Whalen Turner

Greenwillow Books

ISBN: 0-06-083578-8

4 stars

There will be spoilers so if you’re not interested in knowing how this one turns out, you might want to look away.  It’s the third in a series and I can’t figure out how to write this without giving at least a few tidbits away.  I think this is the best in the series so far and the longer this story goes on, the more I love it.

Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, is now the King of Attolia.  He has what he wanted, the Queen of Attolia as his wife, and something he doesn’t want, the crown of Attolia.  The court hates him, believing him to be a petulant child, and don’t understand why the Queen married him.   Political schemes are hatched, there’s open talk of death threats on the King’s life, and his attendants do all they can to make him appear foolish.  A young, naive guard named Costis, after openly stating his contempt for the King and physically assaulting him, ends up in the center of the political storm, and for the first time, actually seeing and understanding his new King.

In this book you really get to see Gen’s character, and if you play close enough attention, you see the rouse Gen is playing.  It’s a good show and sets up numerous plot lines for the next book.  It was nice to see the relationship between Gen and the Queen develop as well.  These two dance around each other a lot and sometime you do wonder if it’s all for show, and other times, if they actually like each other at all.

I love books full of court intrigue and this one has a lot of it: unhappy barons, scheming courtiers, a King and Queen who seem to loathe each other, a threat of war, and numerous back stabbing people looking to make their fortunes on the fate of others.

I always find it hard to write reviews for books in a series because I have to give something away in order to make it work.  I knew that would be the case with this one especially since Whalen Turner seems to be building up to something.

Each new book in this series has been filled with political schemes and intrigue and it’s only getting deeper and more complex with each book.  Gen’s character has been revealed with each successive book and he’s a character I’ve grown to love.  I’m looking forward to A Conspiracy of Kings.

If you’re interested you can read my reviews of The Thief and the Queen of Attolia.

Howl’s Moving Castle

/ justbookreading / 1 Comment

Howl’s Moving Castle

By Diana Wynne Jones

Greenwillow Books

ISBN: 0-06-029881-2

4.5 stars

Howl’s Moving Castle has been on my list of books to read for a long time, too long in fact.  I finally got around to reading it and found a lovely story complete with fantasy, magic, and wonderful characters.

Sophie Hatter lives in a small town called Market Chipping in the land of Ingary.  Market Chipping is not far from the land of the Witch of the Waste, a very spiteful and mean witch, and Wizard Howl’s moving castle which roves around the mountainside outside of town.

Sophie is the oldest of three daughters of a well to do family that owns a hat shop.  Sophie knows that as the oldest she will be the one to fail first and is happy to see her sisters seek their fortunes instead of herself.  When their father dies many things change for the small family, and with her sisters set up in safe places where they will be able to find happy futures, Sophie stays to work at the hat shop.  She unknowingly sells a hat to the Witch of the Waste who turns out to be an unhappy customer and returns to turn her into an old woman.  Disgusted with her new situation, she decides to set out and seek her fortune.  As an old lady she figures she has nothing left to worry about.  With Wizard Howl’s castle in her sights, she chases it down and settles in making herself indispensible to Howl, his assistant, and the fire demon that inhabits and powers the castle fireplace.

When I started this book I was a little put off by Sophie who was content to be last and willing to believe that she shouldn’t have a good fortune awaiting her.  She’s down on herself, has no confidence, and while talented when it comes to designing and decorating hats, she thinks nothing will come of it.  Being an old lady makes her drop all inhibitions and she begins to speak her mind, take chances, and look for opportunities.  She becomes infinitely more likable when she’s old.  Howl is also an interesting character and not at all what everyone thinks but the most likable character for me was the fire demon Calcifer who Sophie befriends, mostly by bullying him into doing what she wants.

Howl’s Moving Castle is a great warm-hearted fantasy.  There are characters to get attached to and the story of these people thrown together and tormented by the Witch of the Waste, all for different reasons and all unaware of the others’ problems, is a good tale.  In the end, everything that Sophie thought she could never have because she simply didn’t feel herself worthy, changes for her and she sees herself, her family, and her friends in a whole new way.  Happy endings sometimes are the best.

I’m a repeat reader of authors that I like and Diana Wynn Jones will become one of those authors that I repeatedly re-read.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

/ justbookreading / 4 Comments

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

By J.K. Rowling

Scholastic

ISBN: 0-439-06486-4

5 stars

Ah, the second book in my Harry Potter re-read this summer and what a wonderful story this one is.  OK, I’ll probably say that about all of them so get over it now.  Before I forget to mention it, there will be a number of spoilers in this one so stop reading now if you prefer not to know.

The short re-cap of this installment — Harry joins Ron and Hermione for their second year at Hogwarts.  Harry finds out he’s a parseltongue (he can talk to snakes) and starts to hear voices, student turn up petrified, and the Chamber of Secrets is rumored to have been opened by the heir of Slytherin.

Flying cars, the Whomping Willow, and Dobby the house elf.  Dobby is probably one of my favorite characters, just below Ginny Weasley.  When he died in book seven, I was so upset, maybe even more upset than when Dumbledore died because I wasn’t expecting it.  He’s amusing, sort of pathetic, and shows you just how awful the Malfoy’s are as a family.  It’s not just Draco, it’s all of them.  We learn more about Hagrid and we get to see how nasty some of the creatures are that he loves so dearly.  I’m with Ron all that way on this one; I prefer the dragon to the gargantuan sized spiders.  They are way too creepy, crawly, and there is something very disturbing about all those all those eyes looking back at you.  Ginny joins the rest of the Weasley clan at school in year two and I love her shyness and the crush she has on Harry.  It’s so cute.  Still hating Snape as I expected to.  Nasty, mean, greasy, undermining — I have nothing nice to say about him and that will not be changing.  I know what’s coming and re-reading makes me dislike him ever more than ever.  The Weasley twins set off more fireworks in this one and it’s nice to see their future in humor retail emerging.  Such talent these two boys have for destruction but it’s all in good fun and someone has to be the comic relief.

Details, details, details.  Rowling does such a great job of putting so many tiny hints in these books.  First, the idea that Harry can talk to snakes appears in the Sorcerer’s Stone when he unleashes the snake at the zoo and now it’s explained even more here by Dumbledore when he tells Harry that part of Voldermort’s power was transferred to Harry when he attacked him.  What I like even more is that it’s left out there for us to wonder what will happen with that bit of information later.  I also like the mention of werewolves in this one preparing us for a new professor in book three which I will tell you now is my favorite.  🙂

Not having read these early books in such a long time makes me very happy to be doing so now.  They are a treat to read and a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.  I can easily classify this series as a comfort read.

The Queen of Attolia

/ justbookreading / 6 Comments

The Queen of Attolia

By Megan Whalen Turner

Greenwillow Books

ISBN: 978-0-06-084182-9

4 stars

I read The Thief, the first book in Whalen Turner’s series, back in March of this year.  I liked it but wasn’t blown away at the start.  The more I thought of it though, the more I liked it which was what make me want to read The Queen of Attolia.

Eugenides, the Queen of Eddis’s royal thief, is caught once more, this time by the queen of Attolia.  Captured sneaking out of her castle, he’s thrown in prison, and as punishment, she cuts off his hand and returns him back to his queen.  Thrown into a depressive state over the loss of his hand, and essentially his livelihood, he hides from everyone and everything.  When he finally manages to pull himself out of his stupor, he finds his country at war with Attolia, and several other neighboring countries threatening war, and he feels he must finds a way to bring peace.

Megan Whalen Turner is very good at weaving an intricate tale that allows you get lulled into a story only to be taken aback by a small confession from a character.  Yes, it was probably something I should have seen coming, but I was content to ride this one out waiting patiently to see how it would end, which is very odd for me.  To be honest, there’s not a lot of action in this book even with the wars going on.  There’s a lot of strategy talk though but there’s something interesting about it that I when I got to the end I wanted to pick up The King of Attolia right away.  While it may not be a huge cliff hanger at the end, it’s enough that you want to know how things will be working out.

What I really enjoy about these books are the stories within the story.  Characters tell tales, mostly about their gods and goddesses, but I find these fables so wonderful.  It provides great background for some of the actions of the main characters and you do see the stories mirroring each other in some places.  Whalen Turner brings a nice balance to the religious aspect and while it isn’t overt, it’s interesting to see how each character deals with their beliefs.  I don’t usually care for religion in my fiction but it’s subtle and so well blended that it feels more a part of the story rather than an add on.

I’m reading The King of Attolia and will be hoping that my library has A Conspiracy of Kings, the fourth book in the series.

Witch Week – Read for Diana Wynne Jones Week

/ justbookreading / 5 Comments

Witch Week

By Diana Wynne Jones

Greenwillow Books

ISBN: 0-688-12374-0

4 stars

Diana Wynne Jones is an author I’ve meant to read for a long time. In fact, I’ve had Howl’s Moving Castle on my list for many years now and never got around to reading it. So when I saw that Jenny’s at Jenny’s Books was hosting a Diana Wynne Jones Week, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to read one of her books. A quick library search made me realize I was in for a challenge in just picking a book (she’s a prolific writer) but decided on Witch Week and put Howl’s Moving Castle on hold as well.

Witch Week is about students at a boarding school in England. It’s an alternative England where magic is banned and witches are burned when found. The school, Larwood House, is home to many witch orphans so when a note is found in classroom 6B that says, “Someone in this class is a witch,” chaos begins. The note starts off a flurry of accidental discoveries by students, false accusations are hurled at everyone, and an inquisitor is brought to the school to find the witch.

I started this book with visions of Harry Potter. Boarding school, witches, you know, general Harry Potter stuff. I found a book full of something else entirely. The magic is different and it’s a wonderful sort of magic that comes from being and it’s enchanting to see the students find themselves in the mess they create.

The students. I don’t know where to start with this one because I didn’t actually like any of them at the start. They’re all mean in a way, some catty, some obnoxious and I couldn’t understand why I was supposed to dislike them all. Eventually, I began to see the kids emerge and you do like them more and more. They’re real kids, and by the end, very likable people. The school is full of oddball characters — for instance, Miss Hodge, who wants desperately to marry Mr. Wentworth, another teacher at the school. She’s intent on making him like her and seeing the value in becoming her husband that she’s short sighted about everything else. She’s incredibly annoying and the use of her brain is relegated to finding a husband instead of helping any of the children.

There are some amusing and funny moments along the way that make the story very entertaining. While I was let down by the ending, not in a bad way I was just hoping that it would go another way, I think there is a sequel to this one (Year of the Griffin maybe) and sequels always make me happy so my deal with the ending is minor.

I don’t know why Wynne Jones never made it high up on my TBR but thanks to this week, I now have another author to add to my list and about 40 books to pick from for my next read. That makes me happy I took the time to read this one.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

/ justbookreading / 3 Comments

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

By J.K. Rowling

Scholastic Press

ISBN: 0-590-35340-3

5 stars

This summer I thought I would re-read the Harry Potter books. A lot of people are talking about them and it reminded me how much I loved this series. I haven’t read the books in so long and I thought it was a good time to start from the beginning again.

I’m not going to do a full re-cap or review of the book. I’m going to say — and yes, it’s a generalized statement but I think also a rather true one — that most people know what the books are about so this is all I’m going to say by means of a re-cap:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is the first book in the series. This is the book where Harry finds out he’s a wizard, goes off to Hogwarts, makes friends with Ron and Hermione, learns to fly a broomstick and play quidditch, makes enemies of Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy, and starts to understand what it means to be the boy who lived.

Good? I am. Now, let’s move on. I haven’t read this book in several years but as soon as I cracked the cover, I remembered how much I loved the world that Rowling created. There are so many wonderfully magical things, creatures, and people that I wonder how someone could not be swept away. There are also a lot of little details that I didn’t remember, for instance, the fact that Dumbledore wears high heeled shoes and is a lot flashier than I remembered him to be. I relished the fact that I still don’t like Snape (I don’t know how anyone can and I still won’t forgive him even in the last book for all the horror he inflicted for an old grudge, among many other things.) and how snarky and cruel Draco can be. Hermione is slightly unlikable at the start but I found it fun to see Harry and Ron become her friends and the three become inseparable. Oh and Ginny. Ginny is one of my favorites and I love her enthusiasm and crush on Harry. I find it so endearing. Ahhh….is all I want to say when she points at him in the train station. Hagrid, oh Hagrid, you big, lovable oaf. A dragon? Really? And who else would name a three-headed snarling beast of a dog Fluffy? Yes, Hagrid would. When Harry’s first year finally comes to an end and he has to return to the Dursley’s I don’t feel disappointed at all. I look forward to opening the next book and continuing the adventure.

The books are not perfect and there are some awkward bits of dialogue and this book, being the shortest in the series, is not nearly as detailed as the later books but the enchanting nature of the story itself makes all of that fade away for me. There is something very endearing about Harry that makes me always want to cheer him on even when he’s being stupid. The world of Hogwarts is an amazing place to fall in to and there are some wonderful characters to take on the journey with you.

Fire

/ justbookreading / 3 Comments

Fire

Fire

By Kristin Cashore

Dial Books

ISBN: 978-0-8037-3461-6

4 stars

Fire is a companion novel to Cashore’s Graceling. My review of Graceling is here.

Fire is the last remaining human monster. She is stunningly beautiful with hair the color of flame and the ability to read minds and control a person’s actions. She guards her power knowing how easy it would be for her to take control of others having seen her father, a true monster, do just that to too many people. She has no need or want to be cruel and having too many secrets of her own, doesn’t want to know everyone else’s. Her own pain is enough for her to endure.

She lives in a turbulent time, the king is barely holding on to his thrown, war is coming, and Fire is called the help the kingdom by uncovering a plot against the king. Skeptical at first, Fire finally relents and agrees to use her power to save the kingdom of the Dells.

I was expecting something different with this book, something more along the lines of Graceling I guess. I thought there would be more adventure and action and this one doesn’t have that in the same amounts as Graceling. It’s there, but in an entirely different way. In Fire, we’re introduced to a new world but one just as interesting. The monsters, great and small, roam the Dells, and Fire, ever conscience of her own status as one, does her best not to act like one. Her powers are legendary but she’s never willing to overstep which makes it hard to really look at her as a monster. There’s just too much self control on her part. Fire has her secrets and times she despises herself, especially those moments when she’s truly a monster, and you begin to see just how important her self-control is to her and why.

Fire has more of a romantic aspect to it than Graceling and develops at a slow pace, which with everything else going on, makes sense. I liked the fact that Cashore talked about love, sex, and birth control though. Two people become pregnant and Fire, not wanting children, takes a potion to ensure she never has children believing the world should have no more monsters like her but she suffers when she see her friend’s children, even knowing that her decision was the right one for her. The topic is not dumbed down and in a YA book I can appreciate that. The characters are frank and open about their actions and feelings and the consequences are discussed in a manner that shows nothing is insignificant.

I like Cashore’s writing style, and as I’ve said before, she has an amazing imagination. The world she created for Graceling felt fresh and vibrant and the same can be said for Fire. While all the characters are new there is one that makes an appearance from Graceling. I won’t say (it’s not Katsa) but it adds some missing back story you didn’t get in Graceling. There is supposed to be a follow up to Graceling later this year and I think I’ll be reading it to see what Cashore comes up with next.

My Favorite Reads – The Book Thief

/ justbookreading / 6 Comments

Alyce from At Home With Books features one of her favorite reads each Thursday and this week my pick is a recent favorite of mine.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief

From the inside flap: Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she discovers something she can’t resist — books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever they are to be found. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

There are two things that I love about this book: 1.) it’s about books and, 2.) Death is the narrator. Don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away by telling you that Death narrates this story. He introduces himself on page 1. What it does is lend an amazing quality to this book that’s already set against an incredibly sad backdrop. Liesel is someone you automatically fall in love with. She’s clever, scared, and has seen way too many things for her young age but a good portion of that is due to current circumstances. The story itself is heartbreaking but worth every tear-inducing word on each page of this book. While Death is trying to make sense of the horror strewn landscape of World War II, you learn about his compassion through Liesel’s story. It’s simply a fantastic tale and one you shouldn’t miss.

Got a favorite read to share this week?