Allegiant by Veronica Roth

source: gift

Allegiant by Veronica Roth
series: Divergent Trilogy (3)

I'd been looking forward to the conclusion of Veronica Roth's Divergent Trilogy and was planning to order Allegiant when Russell informed me that I already had a copy on order courtesy of one of his sisters, who shopped my Amazon wishlist for my birthday. Safe in the knowledge that I'd be getting the new novel on the day it was released I set about rereading the first two installments in the series, Divergent (see post) and Insurgent (see post). I'd read Divergent at least twice so I remembered its twists and turns fairly well. Reading Insurgent was a bit more of a rediscovery for me since I'd only read it once before.

It is difficult to write much about books like Allegiant (a later installment in a series, to which one is emotionally attached) without including spoilers for earlier books in the series. Suffice it to say that I think that Roth did a good job following up on the revelation at the end of Insurgent and answering readers' lingering questions about the world she created for her characters. Allegiant is wonderfully complex with lots more character development and revelations about individual characters' strengths and weaknesses. A powerful end to the series.

One thing that I found disorienting upon starting Allegiant was that the narrative jumped back and forth from Tris' and Four's points of view. I don't usually have trouble with multiple POV novels, but having just reread Divergent and Insurgent, which are told from Tris' perspective, I found the change jarring. That being said, I understand why Roth changed the narrative structure for this book and I don't think I would have found it problematic at all if I hadn't just gorged on the earlier books.

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann

source: public library

Changeling — The child of a faery and a human, a changeling is small, sickly, and sharp-faced, and, if his faery-blood is particularly strong, he will have branches growing out of his head instead of hair. He is not expected to live past the age of twelve. [...] Half-bloods are forever being hung by the superstitious lower class, or stolen by the faeries who hate them for their ugliness. They spend most of their short lives locked-up and hidden away. (Bachmann's Faery Encyclopedia)

I checked out the e-audio version of The Peculiar in preparation for a train trip earlier this month. I hoped to while away the 7 hours each way listening to the novel and knitting. While the shawl project I packed proved to be a poor choice for train travel, The Peculiar did not let me down. It was engaging, but not too taxing, which was particularly useful during my exhausted return trip.

The novel is set in an alternative 19th century England, in which humans and faeries (cut off from the Old Country after an ill-fated attempt at conquest many years before) live in somewhat uncomfortable peace. It's two protagonists are Bartholomew Kettle, a changeling from the faery slums of Bath (his father, a high faery, "danced off into the night and never c[a]me back"), and Arthur Jelliby, a (human) member of the Privy Council who is particularly ill-suited to political life (his mother, a Hessian princess, got him a position as MP "while playing croquet with the Duke of Norfolk").  When a number of suspicious deaths seem to point to a serial killer targeting changeling children, our two protagonists independently develop vested interests in thwarting the killer.

The Peculiar was written by a teenager (apparently Bachmann, age 18 at the time of publication, started writing it at age 16), but it doesn't read like a novel by a teen (better writing than Christopher Paolini, for example, and no focus on romance, sex, or other angsty teenage occupations).  The novel is being marketed to middle grade readers, but it would be just as (if not more) appropriate for young adults because of its underlying themes.

books for the holidays

So far I've received slightly more books than I gave this year.
(Russell, it seems, did not receive any books this year)

What I received -

Brave New Knits: 26 Projects and Personalities from the Knitting Blogosphere
by Julie Turjoman
from a swap partner (same swap mentioned here)
Brave New Knits is the first book to celebrate the convergence of traditional hand-knitting and modern technology. The Internet has made it possible for the knitting community to connect through photos, pattern-sharing, and blogs that document the knitting projects and passions of dozens of designers and enthusiasts. With a Foreword written by Jessica Marshall Forbes, co-founder of Ravelry.com, Brave New Knits includes 26 must-have garment and accessory patterns, all gorgeously photographed by knitting celebrity Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed. Contributors range from established designers like Norah Gaughan, Wendy Bernard, Anne Hanson, and knitgrrl Shannon Okey, to rising stars such as Melissa Wehrle, Connie Chang Chinchio, and Hilary Smith Callis. In-depth interviews with the designers reveal their design philosophy and passions. From shapely sweaters and delicate shawls to fingerless gloves and stylish hats, each of the knitted designs features detailed directions and charts to inspire both the beginner and experienced knitter.

The Last Dragonslayer
by Jasper Fforde
from Santa (ie. me (and Russell))
From the author of the Thursday Next mysteries comes this off-beat fantasy, the first in a new series for young readers. In the good old days, magic was powerful and unregulated by government, and sorcerers were highly respected. Then the magic started to fade away. Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, a magic employment agency. Work is hard to come by, and unexciting: These days, sorcerers find work unblocking drains, and even magic carpets have been reduced to pizza delivery. So it's a surprise when the visions start. Not only do they predict the death of the last dragon at the hands of a dragonslayer, they also point to Jennifer. Something is coming. Something known as — Big Magic.

One + One: Scarves, Shawls & Shrugs: 25 Projects from Just Two Skeins
by Iris Schreier
from my mom and dad
One + One = Two skeins! That's all it takes to make any of these 25 breathtaking knitted accessories. Scarves, Shawls & Shrugs is the first in a new series by renowned designer Iris Schreier that showcases the many possibilities of working with just two skeins of yarn. Mixing yarn types, weights, and colors, she presents a dazzling array of stylish and sophisticated wraps. Schreier created about half the projects herself, while other prominent designers provided the rest.
The projects range from easy to unique and offer new ideas for blending yarns and creating pieces with high appeal, beautiful drape, and practical functionality.

The Peculiars
by Maureen Doyle McQuerry
from my mom and dad
On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena's father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears.

What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower
by Margaret Killjoy
a stocking stuffer (courtesy of my mom)
Descend into the depths of the undercity and embroil yourself in the political struggles of colonialist gnomes and indigenous goblins. Fly in air balloons, drink mysterious and pleasant cocktails, smoke opium with the dregs of gnomish society. Or dream and speak of liberation for all the races. Fall in love and abscond into the caverns. It's up to you, because this is an adventure of your own choosing.

What I/we gave -

The Tolkien Years of the Brothers Hildebrandt
by Greg Hildebrandt Jr.
for my dad, a Tolkien-lover and frequent recipient of Hildebrant calendars
The million-selling Tolkien calendars created during the '70s by renowned fantasy artists Greg and Tim Hildebrandt are now considered artistic masterpieces, a defining visual interpretation of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Tolkien Years of the Brothers Hildebrandt collects the complete treasury of their fantastic artwork, plus the untold story behind the creation of those cherished illustrations. Greg Hildebrandt, Jr. provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look into the defining work of his father and uncle, now updated and expanded with all-new pages of commentary and exclusive, never-before-printed art!

The Seven Markets (see my review)
by David Hoffman
for my dad (as well as a few others who may or may not have received their gifts yet)
Once in every century, for three days only, the Market comes. Her whole life, Ellie MacReady has delighted at her papa’s stories of the fantastical Market. The creatures that walk its streets. The wonders waiting in every shopkeeper’s window. The exotic foods and unearthly scents which tempt travelers on every corner. But in all his stories, her papa never mentioned the irresistible Prince, or the perils which await young girls who wander away to explore the Market on their own.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
series: Divergent Trilogy, 2

Considering how much I liked Divergent (see post), it's no surprise that I enjoyed its sequel, Insurgent.

Insurgent continues the overarching storyline begun in Divergent. During the course of the novel readers learn more about the other factions (and the factionless) and how the groups relate to each other. We also get a better idea of how five-faction society functions as a whole and how and why it came into being.

Beatrice and her love interest from Divergent maintain their relationship¹ and it continues to be complex and somewhat complicated.

On a side note, I love Insurgent's cover art. It's beautiful and compelling with great movement. It also echoes Divergent's cover in a nice way while still standing on its own legs.

1. Good. I dislike nothing more than series that follow the new-installment-new-love-interest modus operandi.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
series: Lunar Chronicles, 1

work colleague: So, what are you reading now?
Karen: Oh, it's a retelling of Cinderella set in a dystopian future. She's a cyborg.

In Cinder we have a classic fairytale set in the (far distant) future. The moon, now a nation known as Luna, is populated by a race of mutant humans with mind-control powers (which most humans consider magic, but is described by the scientifically minded as the ability to manipulate bio-electric energy).¹ After the devastation of World War IV, Earth's remaining nations signed a peace treaty. But, while there is peace on Earth, humans are threatened both by a worldwide pandemic, a plague called letumosis, and by the possibility of war with Luna.

Linh-mei (aka Cinder) is a teenage mechanic living in New Beijing, capitol of the Eastern Commonwealth. While Cinder survived the airship accident that killed both her parents, the surgeries that saved her left her less than 70% human. She is a cyborg, a second-class citizen. Her adoptive father contracted letumosis shortly after her assuming guardianship of Cinder, her care was left to his wife. Adri resents being burdened with Cinder, of whom she is ashamed and whom she only tolerates because of Cinder's ability to support the family.

When Prince Kaito, first in line to the throne, seeks Cinder out to repair his personal android, he is unaware that she is a cyborg...

I have to admit that I was a bit reticent to read Cinder. Given its premise,² I figured that the novel would either be absolutely fantastic or perfectly horrendous depending on its execution. But I overcame my reluctance when I happened across Cinder among my library's e-audiobook offerings.

While it would have been easy for debut novelist Meyer to the overdo it with Cinder. There are a lot of different elements that she has to balance while still remaining true to the original story. But Meyer manages brilliantly. Cinder is true to the original while being something completely new. I still feel like the inclusion of the paranormal elements³ was a bit much and likely unnecessary, but they didn't bother me nearly as much as I would have expected them to. Cinder is a strong, sympathetic character. While she's still an unloved step-child with the ability to (unintentionally) beguile a prince, Cinder is so much more than that.  She is independent, brave, and a problem-solver who doesn't need a fairy godmother to get her to the ball.⁴ Prince Kai is much more nuanced than the traditional Prince Charming character and his decision about Cinder is more complicated than simply overcoming prejudice. Some of the secondary characters are a bit one-dimensional, which is almost to be expected in a fairytale considering that fairytales are full of stock characters, but others are perfectly crafted.

I will definitely be continuing on with this series. Per Meyer's website, the second installment Scarlet will be released in Feburary 2013 and will focus on a Little Red Riding Hood character.

1. Shades of vampirism, not blood-sucking, but being able to glamour humans and an aversion to mirrors.
2. Let's review how much is packed into this one story. We have a retelling, set in a dystopian future with a heavy emphasis on science fiction and a dash of the paranormal. I'm overwhelmed just setting that out.
3. There's more than what is mentioned in footnote 1, but explication would involve spoilers.
4. There is a fairy godmother character, but Cinder comes to her rescue rather than the other way around.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
series: Delirium Trilogy, book 2

Pandemonium is the sequel to Lauren Oliver's Delirium and the second in an expected trilogy. I was disappointed by Delirium when I read it last year (see post), but that didn't keep me from feeling like I needed to reread it before I sent my copy (along with a bunch of other books) off to live with Russell's voracious-reader sister. I hadn't been planning on continuing with the series, but given the fact that I was rereading Delirium, I decided to put myself on the library waiting list Pandemonium.

And, I'm glad that I did because I liked Pandemonium better than Delirium. Again in Pandemonium I was unhappy with how the romance played out.¹ But, Oliver gives us a lot more information about the society in this second installment.  There's more menace and suffering and because of that Pandemonium works much better as a dystopian novel.

1. This is vague and unspecific, but it's still a bit of a spoiler so continue with the footnotes at your own risk.
   
   
   SPOILER - And we have a love triangle to look forward to in book three, ugh.

quick comments on recent reads

The False Friend by Myla Goldberg

Lured by The False Friend's synopsis, I expected the novel to be something that it's not. It is short, spare, and well-written. The novel deals with childhood bullying, the unreliable nature of memory, and how difficult it is to know those closest to us. Its revelations are myriad, but they come from unexpected quarters. I have to admit that I found The False Friend unsatisfying. I found the protagonist increasingly unsympathetic and the ending unsatisfying (even though I understand why Goldberg ended the novel the way that she did).

Feed by M.T. Anderson

Set in a dystopian future where the internet is hardwired to everyone's brain. Anderson incorporates interruptions by targeted advertizing into the narrative to help readers understand the experience of being plugged into the feed. If I had been reading Feed, I would have skipped over those sections, limiting the annoyance factor, but I listened to the audio version, which forced me to fully experience these tics in the narrative. Feed is a cautionary tale, much darker than a lot of the books that have been pushed out during this craze for dystopian (young adult) fiction.

Miss New India by Bharati Mukherjee

A bildungsroman that explores the theme of "the New India" (a descriptor I find a bit perplexing). Anjali (Angie) Bose runs away from home and an arranged marriage assisted by an expatriate American teacher who believes in her potential for a better life than small town Gauripur can offer her. Angie travels to Bangalore where she muddles along, though a series of increasingly unbelievable amount of plot twists, almost in spite of herself. The highlight of Miss New India is its cast of secondary characters.

Moonstone and Moon Rise by Marilee Brothers

I only read the first two installments of Marilee Brothers' Unbidden Magic series even though I had a review set of all four titles (Moonstone, Moon Rise, Moon Spun, and Shadow Moon). I found Moonstone to be a somewhat standard teen paranormal romance: nothing to write home about, but interesting enough to continue with the series considering the fact that I already had the next book at hand. Moon Rise, however, opens with a serious series fiction infraction: the love interest from book one (who, I might add, was a more interesting character than the protagonist herself) is inexplicably missing in action allowing both author and protagonist to cultivate a new love interest more in line with the second installment's storyline. I hate when authors do this: throwing out all the work they did getting their readers invested in a relationship. I finished Moon Rise--which, I should add in Brothers' defense, does end with a teeny bit of explanation about the absence of Moonstone's love interest--but I had no desire to continue on with the series.

Perfume: The Story of Murderer by Patrick Sueskind
translated from the German by John E. Woods

I've been meaning to read Perfume for ages. It was first published in 1985 and I've had a copy on my bookshelf for at least four years. An olfactory-genius serial killer in 18th century France. The pacing is slow (sometimes excruciatingly so), but the language (particularly Suskind's ability to put smells into words) is wonderful.  What I found most interesting  were the descriptions of craft of perfumerie: the process for making absolutes and the like.

disclosure: I received a review copy of Moonstone and Moon Rise from Bell Bridge Books via NetGalley.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity will be released a bit later this month. I've just finished reading a review copy and I adored it. I'm putting a hard copy on my wishlist and I'll be buying copies to give as gifts. Such a good book.

I don't want to spoil the plot so I won't say much about it. Code Name Verity is a work of historical fiction. The action occurs primarily in Nazi-occupied France. One protagonist is a pilot. The other begins the novel imprisoned in a hotel that had been converted into a Gestapo headquarters.

Don't be put off by the novel's slow start. While Code Name Verity is by no means a quick read, the pace quickens and the story becomes increasingly engaging until the reader is so invested in the characters that she simply must find out what happens to them. Code Name Verity is not always easy to read, but that's because horrible things happen during wartime.

With two teenage protagonists, Code Name Verity is being marketed as a young-adult novel, but there is much to recommend it to a wider audience. Strong female characters, an effective split narrative, action and adventure, double-agents and double entendres, and moments of shock and awe, topped off by a realistic setting and storyline complete with bibliography.

Note: The image I've included in this post is the cover of the UK edition (published in February), which I like much better than one designed for the US edition.

disclosure: I received a review copy of Code Name Verity from Disney Hyperion via NetGalley.

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

I am the Messenger is a book that's been sitting on my shelf for quite some time. I'm quite sure why I kept passing it over. It's a Printz honor book and I associated it with Joan of Arc (confusing it with The Messenger? or maybe because I'd read a review or synopsis of the book that included the protagonist's comparing himself against what others, including Joan, had achieved by the time they were his age), two things that should have made me want to pick up I am the Messenger straight away. In any case, I finally did get around to reading it a few days ago.

I am the Messenger is told in the first person and opens with a bank robbery in progress. That sounds interesting and compelling, but the first few pages were nothing of the sort (at least for me). The very beginning seemed a bit too familiar so I suspect that I may have started I am the Messenger when I first acquired it and that unremembered false start with the novel would explain my reticence to pick it up again. This time I soldiered through Ed (narrator and protagonist) and his friends baiting the bank robber (who is armed even though they think he's incompetent) and the further I got into the story, the more invested I became in Ed and his quest(s).

Playing cards with cryptic messages are delivered. Ed Kennedy, our hapless nineteen-year-old taxi-driving protagonist, must follow the clues where they lead him and trust his instincts (to effect change within the lives of the individuals to whom he's led) because, in the words of the puppet master, "[his] life depends on it" (113).

The one thing that disappointed me was the reveal. I appreciated the story's resolution (what happens with each of the main characters), but I thought the reveal was a bit much. While I admit that there is something intellectually satisfying about who is responsible for the cards/quests and Ed's transformation, I personally would have preferred for it to have remained a mystery. That being said, I really did enjoy I am the Messenger. I liked the story and I loved its message.

The scene where Ed goes to the public library is one of my favorites. Not just because Ed goes to the library to do research, but because he's coming into his own, standing up for himself, and not letting others make him feel inadequate. Not that I condone talking back to librarians, of course.

"Listen," says the library man. I'm at the counter with all the books. "You can't borrow that many. There's a limit, you know [...]"
[...]
He looks up. "You still want all those books, don't you?"
"That's right." I pile them up onto the counter from the floor. "Basically, I really need them, and one way or the other, I'm going to get them. Only in today's sick society can a man be persecuted for reading too many books." I look back into the emptiness of the library. "They're hardly jumping off the shelves, now, are they? I don't think anyone else wants them just now." (211)

I also liked Ed's first interaction with "the library man," but the whole conversation was a bit long and the best bit isn't quite as good taken out of context.

Archivists in Ally Condie's Matched Trilogy

As I mentioned before (see post), Ally Condie's Matched Trilogy--Matched, Crossed, and Reached (forthcoming November 2012)--features a group of individuals called the Archivists.

In the series, the Archivists do collect and preserve cultural heritage (in this case what are essentially copies of burned books, etc), it is so that they are able to sell what they have on the black market. They exist on the fringes of society (the only reliable way to find one is to go to the museum, go to the patriotic exhibit, and ask to hear about "the glorious history of [the providence]") and they trade in information and connections as well.

The first mention of the Archivists in the series:

"There are people who call themselves Archivists," Ky says. "Back when the Hundred Committees made their selections, the Archivists knew the works that didn't get selected would be a commodity. So they saved some of them. [...]
"Cassia, the Archivists aren't altruistic. They saw a commodity and they did what they could to preserve it. Anyone can have it who's willing to pay, but their prices are high." (Matched, chapter 25, listened to audio version so I don't have a page number and the quote above may not be exact)

quick thoughts on a few recent reads (all from the public library)

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

An e-audiobook from the library. (Ebooks I can probably take or leave, but e-audiobooks I love).

The Chosen One is a work of contemporary fiction aimed at the young adult-audience. Set in a polygamist community and dealing with the abuse and abuse of power rampant within it, The Chosen One reads like a made-for-TV movie.

A bookmobile features prominently in the story. However the novel's 13-year-old narrator and protagonist insisted on referring to it nine times out of ten as "the Ironton County Mobile Library on Wheels," which was endearing at first, but quickly became irritating.

Crossed by Ally Condie

I read, but never posted about Matched, the book to which Crossed is a sequel. I hadn't planned to read Matched, one of 2010's mass of dystopian YA releases, after reading another to those releases (Delirium by Lauren Oliver, see post) that featured a society with Society-determined marriages, but it happened to be available for download on a day that I was browsing the library's e-audio offering so I checked it out. Since most of my preference predictions about that crop of books were wrong,¹ it should come as no surprise that I liked Matched.

The authoritarian society depicted in both Matched and Crossed is more complex than those in some of the other dystopian releases (yeah!), much more so that I expected, and its depth is revealed slowly to both protagonist and reader. The series also features a group of individuals referred to as the Archivists (expect a post on that in the near future).

I didn't enjoy Crossed as much as Matched, but considering that Crossed is the second book in a planned trilogy that's almost to be expected.

A History of Venice by John Julius Norwich

Russell came back from the library one day and said that he'd seen a book he thought I might like, a history of Venice, but that he hadn't picked it up for me since he wasn't sure what my reading schedule looked like. My reading schedule, such as it is, is nothing but flexible and I love variety so I asked him to bring the book home next time he went to the library.

I have to admit that I was overwhelmed when he presented me with John Julius Norwich's 736-page A History of Venice: so fat, such fine print. Norwich starts with early settlements in the general area of the Venetian Republic (late Roman period) and follows through until Napoleon conquers the Republic. I think that I made it through the introduction and four chapters before we had to return the book or suffer over-due fees. I'm not sure that I'll check it out again, though. I suspect that there is another Venetian history out there that would be a better fit for me. From other reviews I've read it seems like Norwich continues to focus on political and military chronology while generally neglecting all the other (in my opinion) more interesting aspects of the Republic's history.

1. I was disappointed by Bumped by Megan McCafferty (see post) and the aforementioned Delirium, both of which I expected to love, and pleasantly surprised by Divergent by Veronica Roth (see post), which I'd more or less decided to pass over and only read because I won a copy from Kaye at paper reader.

books, giving and receiving

There were only three books among my outgoing holiday gifts this year.  I did not purchase any books for Russell since we went a bit overboard with book buying this year (remember Borders?).

From my dad's Amazon wishlist I selected, The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson.

My mom received Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook to go along with her new bread maker (a gift from my dad). My mom is going to be doing a lot of experimenting with ingredient substitutions to I chose this book in particular because of a section it has on problem-solving, which is full of illustrations. Two other things in its favor: overwhelmingly good reviews and a structure that enables it to lie flat.

I got my sister a copy of The Hunger Games.
She wasn't particularly enthused, but I reminded her about how miffed she was with me when Twilight (the film) was released for not having previously informed her about the existence of the Twilight Saga.
Now, I legitimately thought she would refuse to read Twilight given its slow pacing and her general dislike of vampires and I don't even like the series (my ambivalence turned to hatred after Breaking Dawn).
Since The Hunger Games is coming out next year and I love Suzanne Collins' trilogy, I thought it would be irresponsible of me not to get her a copy of the book.

I received three books this year (all from Russell)

• City of Ships, the fifth Stravaganza book, by Mary Hoffman
• Goliath, the third book in the Leviathan trilogy, by Scott Westerfeld
• The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, vol 2.

I really wasn't expecting books, but I have to say that I was tickled pink to get the two novels as they were among my most wanted books.

series (re)reading

Series reading and rereading has been a bit of a theme for me lately. I suppose that it's because in the wake of busyness and stress, I long for the comfort of the expected.

I'm loaning one of my new coworkers the Hunger Games Trilogy (I gave her book one yesterday after a harefooted read-through on Friday) so I'm on a binging on them in anticipation of not having ready access. Oh, how I love these books! I finished Catching Fire just now and am forcing myself not to jump right into Mockingjay
A Hunger Games movie is forthcoming, but I have no desire to see it. What I dislike most about film versions of books is how they manage to completely override our own images of how things, people, and places in the book look. That's not so much a problem with books like Pride and Prejudice that are constantly remade, but for others there's often only one film version and that version overshadows the originals.

Last year I read Old Man's War by John Scalzi over the Thanksgiving holiday when I ran out of reading material. It's not a book that I'd normally pick up (see post), but my dad recommended it. I was pleasantly surprised by it and have subsequently picked up the follow-up books (again from my dad): The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony, and Zoe's Tale.
I read The Ghost Brigades recently and will likely be tackling the other two books in short order.
I usually find science fiction to be somewhat inaccessible (it's a bit curious to me that science fiction films and television shows are so accessible when their written counterparts are so often not), which is why I tend to steer clear of it, but this series is really an exception. I recommend it for science fiction lovers as well as for people like me who don't normal read scifi.

I've been in a book spiral for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books. What's a book spiral?, you ask. It's a way of circulating all the books in a series to a set of dispersed readers. Person A reads book 1 then sends it to B, who sends it to C, who send it to D, ..., who sends it back to A. While 1 is circulating, A reads book 2 and then starts to send it on its way. In this was all the books in the series are shared (one at a time) with each participant and then sent back to the originator. How long it takes to receive each book depends on the number of people before you in the queue, how quickly each reads, how far the books have to travel, and the efficiency of the postal service(s) involved.
I read The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters in December and The Titan's Curse in February. The Battle of the Labyrinth arrived this month.
I've really enjoyed this series. I like how Riordan incorporates Greek mythology (including many lesser known creatures) into his stories. One of the things I've appreciated most is how Riordan made things that are usually considered negative (dyslexia and ADHD) into indicators of superhuman gifts because I hope that kids who suffer for one or both of these things might feel a bit better about themselves after reading this series.

I had to admit that while I've collected all the books in Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunately Events series, I've never managed to read it all the way through (I even have The Tragic Treasury, but I forbid Russell to play in my presence because the songs are such earworms). I've read so many other books since the last time I picked up a Snicket title that I wanted to start from the beginning, The Bad Beginning. So far I've read that, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window, and The Miserable Mill. Four down, nine to go!

quick thoughts on some recent reads

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

While Beauty Queens came highly recommended (lots of good blog reviews and a personal recommendation from friend Jessica), I can't say that I really enjoyed reading it. I liked the novel's snarky tone; how it played on pageants and pageant parents, reality TV, Lord of the Flies, and miscellaneous other stereotypes; and the diversity of the girls, their backgrounds, preferences, and points of view. As much as I appreciated all those things about Beauty Queens, I found the narrative irritating more than anything else. Beauty Queens was not a quick read for me because I didn't really want to keep reading it.

Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliasotti

I really enjoyed Clockwork Heart. The world in which Pagliasotti sets the novel is quite intriguing - the extremely hierarchical society and how class divisions are marked, the icarus class and their role in the society, the ways in which the world is different than other steampunky settings. Clockwork Heart is a romance with a love triangle and a mystery that will keep readers guessing.
I will say that I found the romance element of the story much more successful than the mystery, which was overly complex for a book that isn't to going to have a sequel to continue building on the less immediate threat. As far as I know, Clockwork Heart is a stand-alone novel, but I'd love to read more set in this world.

Maid to Match by Deeanne Gist

Historical romance set in Asheville, North Carolina circa 1899. Tillie is a senior parlormaid at Biltmore when she has a chance to become Mrs. Vanderbilt's ladies maid, position for which she's been groomed her entire life. Her priorities shift when Mack, twin of the undeniably handsome steward Earl, comes to live at Biltmore as a man of all work.
The protagonists of Maid to Match were a bit too righteous for my taste. While they each had some flaws, I didn't find them particularly believable. The author writes inspirational (Christian) romance, which accounts for the strict moral alignment of her characters.

Viridis by Calista Taylor

I hadn't heard of Viridis before it was mentioned in the steampunk reads discussion group on GoodReads. It was available as a free Nook-book (also free on Amazon for Kindle), so I figured that it couldn't hurt to download it.
Viridis is a steampunk romantic suspense novel and the first in a planned series. I enjoyed it. Good world-building that doesn't overshadow the storyline, interesting characters, romance, and mystery, but there was one glaring narrative inconsistency that's quite hard to overlook.
There's one part of the story that some readers may have trouble with and need to skim through.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

As I mentioned earlier this week, I won a copy of Divergent from Kaye at paper reader. I wasn't planning on posting about Divergent this weekend. I have lots of to-be-written and to-be-finished posts in my queue and I've posted about two YA dystopians recently¹. But, I read it from start to finish on Friday, staying up way past my usual bedtime to do so, and it's the first time I've done that in quite a while so I figured Divergent deserved quick treatment.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Decades ago our ancestors realized that it is not political ideology, religious belief, race, or nationalism that is to blame for a warring world. Rather they determined that it was the fault of human personality--of humankind's inclination toward evil, in whatever form that is. They divided into factions that sought to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world's disarray. [...] Those who blamed aggression formed Amity. [...] Those who blamed ignorance became the Erudite. [...] Those who blamed duplicity created Candor. [...] Those who blamed selfishness made Abnegation. [...] And those who blamed cowardice were the Dauntless. (42-43)

Beatrice Prior, who grew up within the self-sacrificing Abnegation faction, has reached the age when she must make the biggest decision of her life. She, like all sixteen-year-olds in her post-apocalyptic Chicago, is evaluated to determine the faction for which she's best suited. While the evaluation results are stored, they do not determine placement. Using the evaluation as guidance, Beatrice must chose with which faction to ally herself. She'll still have to pass her chosen faction's initiation. If she doesn't, she'll spend the rest of her life as a factionless on the outskirts of society.

On the day of her evaluation, Beatrice is unsure about which faction she'll choose. When her result is anomalous, Beatrice has more questions than before and only one day to make the decision. Beatrice goes with her gut and chooses Dauntless² despite the fact that her decision might mean that she'll never see her parents or brother again. The Dauntless initiation is much more intense than Beatrice, who renames herself Tris, imagined and the things she learns during it make her question the status quo.

I really enjoyed Divergent (I assume that's obvious based on what I posted above) and, while it wasn't perfect, it didn't disappoint me. Readers don't receive any information about what big, apocalyptic event (if any) caused society to break down and reorganize in this way. They also don't learn anything about the world outside of Chicagoland.³ This didn't bother me too much because it's quite possible given what we do know that the individuals living in Roth's Chicago have no contact with the outside world (if society even exists out there).

At first I thought that Divergent would have been a stronger novel without Tris' blossoming romance. That it wasn't necessary. That Tris and the other character could have played off each other without their relationship developing into a romantic one. I thought it would have been better to leave this particular romance out or to leave it unstated and/or unrequited until later in the series (because, yes, Divergent is the first in a series). But then I remembered the final scenes and I'm not sure how some of them would have played out if Tris and the other character hadn't been in love. I guess I'll just say--for the people like me who are tired of the "instalove" often portrayed in YA novels-- that Tris' romance is not quite of that ilk. They don't instantly fall for each other, there is tension, and they have much more in common than either of them realizes.

Tris is a relateable heroine, despite the fact that things sometimes seem too easy for her (and there is actually an explanation for that ease). The society Roth depicts is interesting and different than any other I've read thus far. Divergent also works well as a first-book-in-a-series. There's world building and the revelation of an overarching storyline, but the novel has a satisfying conclusion. One of the areas in which Divergent excels is in not getting bogged down in world-building and backstory. Divergent is fast-paced and full of action. It is a bit heavy on the violence, but I think the story itself is so engrossing that even individuals who are sensitive about violence can push on past those sections.

Insurgent, the sequel to Divergent will be released in May 2012. It's going straight on my wish list.

1. Bumped by Megan McCafferty (see post) and Delirium by Lauren Oliver (see post).
2. The encircled flame on Divergent's cover is the Dauntless seal. Though, I think that the stamped version on the hardcover itself is more striking than the burning image on the dust jacket.
3. Chicagoland isn't a term used in the book. It's just an informal term for the Chicago metropolitan area. As far as I remember, Roth never names her imagined society.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

This is a follow-up to Sunday's post. The focus is on another dystopian YA novel that I got during the Borders liquidation.

One of the categories for my 2011 take-a-chance reading challenge is "loved one's choice." Since it was one of my favorite categories, I asked three different people (Russell and my good friends Jessica and Nancy) to provide me with reading assignments. Jessica gave me a choice of four options,¹ one of which was Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I fully intend to read all four of her selections (though likely not all within 2011), but since Delirium is the first one I've gotten to, it's the one I'll be counting for the challenge.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Magdalena Haloway has grown up in a world that considers amor deliria nervosa, or more specifically how individuals infected with the disease act and react, the biggest threat to society. There is a cure, but it's risky to have the procedure performed too early. Boys and girls are segregated to reduce the likelihood of disease contraction in youth. As individuals near their eighteen birthday and cure date, they undergo an evaluation and receive a list of approved matches. Lena is counting the days until her procedure, looking forward to the safety it will provide. That is... until she meets Alex.

Like Bumped (see post), Delirium disappointed me (and it's also the first in a planned series).

I liked the concept (though I will admit that it was a bit too much like Scott Westerfeld's Uglies) and Oliver's writing, but the story itself fell flat for me. It was really a combination of things, not all of which would normally put me off. The pace is very slow. Lena's best friend Hana is much more interesting than she is. Lena and Alex fall in love far too quickly and with little chemistry. What bothered me the most, though, was the lack of observable menace and oppression in the society. Yes, we are told that there are strictly-enforced curfews, that it's really difficult to cross the border, that people who fall in love are punished and killed, but we see precious little of that. It's far too easy for the characters to get away with everything that they do and because of that the society in which they were supposed to be living seemed inauthentic to me.

Because there are two more books planned for the series, I'm fairly certain that things at the end of Delirium are not necessarily what they seem. I suspect that the series will get better (in general, as the larger story is played out, not in reference to the aforementioned ending), but I don't plan on reading the other books.

1. You can see the list of Jessica's selections in this post.

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

I love a good dystopian novel. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale has been one of my favorite books since I first read it (around 1999). It follows that I'd appreciate the spate of dystopian (both YA and not) fiction being published recently. Of the seven of books I've gotten for myself during the Borders liquidation (the list is below for those of you who haven't been keeping track), three have been dystopians. I've already posted about Shades of Grey. This post is the first of two focused on the YA dystopians I brought home and read right away.

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

I'd been wanting to read Bumped for what seemed like ages (it can't really have been all that long, though, since the book only came out this April). I kept seeing good reviews of the novel, which made me want to read it even more.

Bumped takes place in min-2030s Princeton, New Jersey. In the wake of the Human Progressive Sterility Virus epidemic, the United States is trying raise its teenage birthrate. When nearly all individuals over the age of eighteen are infertile, nubile girls are the highest valued segment of the population.

The novel's protagonists, Melody and Harmony, are sixteen-year-old identical twins who were separated at birth. Melody's adoptive parents have groomed her to be the first girl in her school to "go professional." She's got a six-figure contract and she's just waiting for her couple to find their perfect sperm donor. Harmony, on the other hand, was raised in a religious community. In her world, girls marry young and only have sex (and children) within marriage. Harmony discovers Melody's existence while trying to find her birth parents. The two girls have barely begun to know each other (via email and chat) when Melody arrives on Harmony's doorstep and the narrative begins.

Bumped is a bit different than most much dystopian fiction (which may disappoint some readers). There's no authoritarian government or overt suppression, but there are dystopian elements to the society McCafferty depicts. And, there's a lot of social commentary both subtle and overt sprinkled throughout Bumped. The more that I think about the novel, the more little digs I remember.

Overall, though, I have to say that my opinion of this book suffered from my high expectations. I didn't dislike Bumped, but I wasn't blown away by it. The concept is interesting and I like how McCafferty uses satire, but I can't help but think that Bumped would have been better if it had been conceived as a one-off rather than the opener for a series. While I didn't like Jondoe's character or the way the novel ended, my biggest criticism of the book is that Harmony did not seem authentic (primarily because some of her decisions were so far out of character that no explanation for them could be satisfactory).

Thumped, the sequel to Bumped, is scheduled for an April 2012 release.

Karen's Borders pickings:
1. The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
2. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
3. Bumped by Megan McCafferty
4. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
5. Encounter by Milan Kundera
6. The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
7. One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

After a fire claimed the lives of both his parents, 12 year-old Will Henry became the unwitting apprentice of Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, his father's former employer. Dr. Warthrop is a monstrumologist, one who studies (and hunts) "life forms generally malevolent to humans and not recognized by science as actual organisms, specifically those considered products of myth and folklore" (Monstrumologist front matter).

The action of The Monstrumologist begins one night in 1888, Will Henry is roused from his bed when an unexpected caller arrives bearing the fresh corpse of a pack-dwelling monster.

I wanted to get buy a copy of The Monstrumologist because Simon & Schuster, the book's publisher, had announced its plans not to continue publishing the popular, award-winning series that The Monstrumologist opens. The good news is that Simon & Schuster has since reconsidered their decision and will publish at least the fourth installment (book 2 is out already and book 3 is forthcoming).

I found The Monstrumologist to be well-written, but a bit gory for my taste. That's a good thing, though, because The Monstrumologist is one of the only young adult books I've read lately that I can actually imagine a teenage boy reading. Really, why are so many young adult books so heavy on the romance?

In any case, here's a passage I bookmarked:

Perhaps that is our doom, our human curse, to never really know one another. We erect edifices in our minds about the flimsy framework of word and deed, mere totems of the true person, who, like the gods to whom the temples were built, remains hidden. We understand our own construct; we know our own theory; we love our own fabrication. Still... does the artifice of our affection make our love any less real? (362)

So very observant and not at all what I'd expect to find hidden in a horror novel.

Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

16 year-old Emma Connor's life has been a bit of a disaster the past few years. First her twin brother dies (of meningitis), then her mother (of cancer), leaving Emma alone with her abusive, alcoholic stepfather. When her stepfather causes a car accident that nearly kills them both, Emma moves to New York City to live with her aunt Christine.
When Emma begins her junior year at a posh, private school, she's in for a much bigger change than she ever imagined. Emma is drawn to tall, dark and handsome Brendan Salinger despite the fact that he acts quite coldly to her. Inexplicable things begin to happen, leaving Emma with no choice, but to explore the strange connection between her and Brendan.

I finished Spellbound quite a while ago, but didn't feel up to posting about it because the strongest feeling I had about the novel is one of irritation... not at the story itself or the author's writing, but at the text chosen by the publisher for the novel's back cover (and subsequently for the novel's promotional material). The snappy tag line includes information that neither the protagonist nor the reader learns until about 140 pages into the book. That's more than 40% of the way through the story. To me, that amounts to a spoiler. And, I really do think that I would have enjoyed Spellbound more if I hadn't read that tag line first. Knowing that piece of information prematurely clouded my view of the first half of the novel.

That being said, Spellbound was more or less what I would expect from a teen paranormal romance published by Harlequin. I do wish that Emma and Brendan's romance was a bit more substantive. If they are destined to be together, shouldn't there relationship read like more than just a typical teenage romance?

There are some things that I did like about the novel. While the secondary characters were a bit one-dimensional, I really liked Angelique (great attitude) and how Shultz handled Francisco (despite his horribly cliched stock character status). I also liked the fact that Shultz included what amounts to a soundtrack for the novel in the "What's on Brendan & Emma's iPods?" section at the end of the book.

It seems like Spellbound is the beginning of a series.¹ I suspect that the novel's sequel may focus on Emma's friend Angelique. So readers who like Spellbound should keep an eye out for more where it came from.

1. Harlequin: "A Spellbound Novel"; if the author uses the stories from Hadrian's Medieval Legends as a series theme, "there [a]re countless tales in that book" as Angelique says (331).

disclosure: I received a review copy of Spellbound from Harlequin Teen via NetGalley.

dare I admit that there was another trip to Borders

Don't mock Russell. I encouraged him this time.

The Monday-Wednesday special this week was buy six, save an extra 10%, buy 8, save an extra 15%. It seemed like a good deal (provided the liquidator made good on it, unlike the last time) so we decided that Russell should go on a reconnaisssance and possible shopping mission today.

Russell made out pretty well and reported that it wasn't busy at all. He didn't even have to wait in line!

For me:

• Bumped by Megan McCafferty (I've been dying to read this one)
• Delirium by Lauren Oliver (on my 2011 challenge reading list assigned by Jessica)
• Encounter by Milan Kundera (to complete my collection; I own everything Kundera's written that's available in English)
• The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (because I'm not a fan of Simon & Schuster at the moment; see why)

For Russell:

• Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
• The Complete Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
• Triumph Forsaken: the Vietnam War, 1954-1965 by Mark Moyar

For both of us:

• Forbidden Island (a board game)

Yes, that's a total of eight items. And, yes, we did get an extra 15% off.