Summary: On Meghan Chase’s 16th birthday she came home to find her little brother vastly changed, for the worse. “He is a changeling”, Robbie, her best friend told her, and from then on the world around her started to make sense less and less. Turned out her real brother was kidnapped by faeries, her real father was Oberon, the king of faeries himself, and Robbie’s name was actually Robin Goodfellow, the Puck mentioned in Shakespeare’s A Midnight Summer’s Dream.

General impression
It seems to me that now would be a good time for me to stop reading Young Adult books, because it seems like none of the hyped books of the genre appeals to me. This happened with Shiver (everyone loved it, I didn’t much like it), with Graceling (everyone loved it, I didn’t much like it), and now it’s almost happening with this book too (everyone loves it, I plodded through it). Bummer.

Characters
This is one of the reasons it took me quite a while to finish this book: most of the time I didn’t much care for Meghan. OK, she did care for her younger brother, I’ll give her that (and loyalty may well be her major flaw, as another character said of her). Other than that though she simply wasn’t that interesting to me, she didn’t stand out at all (sure, she does have quite a brave moment somewhere near the end, but most of the time everything interesting happens to the people around her, and she’s more being led from one place to another rather than actively doing things). Luckily the rest of the cast were a bit more interesting, starting with Puck, whom I found rather annoyingly and irresponsible at times (but who also had a very interesting strategy when it came to fighting — he could turn various bits of nature into copies of himself). My favorites were Grimalkin the cat sidhe, (mostly because he was a cat, but also because he knew what he was doing, without being annoying like Puck was) and, quite predictably, Ash, the Winter prince himself, because he was the only character with a hint of complexity. Not to mention he looked pretty cool too :)

Oh, and let’s not forget the little junk collecting creatures, the chittering gnomes collecting all sorts of stuff on their backs — I found them to be amusing and quite a nice touch.

Relationships
For the most part I think the relationships between the characters were believable and well described. The relationship between Oberon and Meghan seemed to be a particularly well drawn one, as she is initially upset to discover she has such an unusual dad (while the man that she called father was nothing to her), and he does care for her, but in a rather distant way (a natural way to act towards a daughter you know nothing about, I suppose). The love story was rather cute, especially as it was sort of a late arrival, happening only in the last third of the book (not that it wasn’t rather predictable, mind you; I liked it nevertheless, it’s one of my favorite parts of the book).

At the other end of the believability spectrum we have show spoiler

Plot
This is a plot-based novel, but if you asked me the plot didn’t amount to much: girl, looking for her brother, gets caught into various skirmishes, the end. A thing that could have had lots of potential to keep me on the edge of my seat, if only I cared about the main character. Since I didn’t, it all became boring rather quickly. “Oh, another fight, there goes the prince swinging his ice sword again, yawn”. Sure, to give credit where credit is due, the author has imagined various situations, various enemies, and various reasons to fight, but unfortunately my not caring who lived and who died ruined them all.

Setting
The setting, I would say, is the forte of the book. There are three parts of Nevernever, each with its own decor, and the author has done a great job imagining and describing them. I almost saw the colors of Summer, shivered in the Winter, and felt the desolation of Machina’s kingdom. The world came to life, and naturally enough, I liked it :)

A quote, one of my favorite descriptions in the book, about Queen Mab:

“She wasn’t tall, like Oberon, or willowy-thin, like Titania, but her presence drew every eye in the courtyard. Her hair was so black it appeared blue in places, and it spilled down her back like a waterfall of ink. Her eyes were of the void, of a night without stars, a sharp contrast to her marble skin and her pale mulberry lips. She wore a dress that writhed around her like shadow incarnate. And, like Oberon and Titania, she radiated power.”

On the other hand, something I didn’t much like, quite the opposite, was the fact that the magic system was not clearly defined, a thing that really affected the believability of the world in my eyes. We are never told what faeries can or cannot do and, although many brag of power throughout the book, most of the time the matters are settled in the old fashioned, sword-in-hand way — something that seemed to me rather pointless, since using magic would have been a way more expedient way to finish off one’s enemies. The most annoying example of this is at a banquet where the most powerful faeries participated (including Titania who earlier has turned Meghan into a sort of deer, so she did have magic powers). A monster makes a surprise entrance and starts killing off whoever’s in his path — now, the logical thing to be done would have been for someone able to use magic to at least trap it somewhat, right? But no, everyone sends a small army to defeat the monster the ordinary way, and then they even complain that some of their people died in battle! So why didn’t they put a stop to it first? At least if there would have been an explanation, something like, I don’t know, faerie magic only works on faeries, anything, it might have made more sense, but the way things were handled it just didn’t.

Thoughts on the title
I like the title, particularly the sound and the strength of it. Although I would have liked it a lot better if the word iron would have been replaced with metal in the book; this way I wasted too much time trying to discover whether an iPod really has iron inside it or not — it sure has metal, of course, but iron? Most knives I don’t think have iron in them either. Are bullets made of iron?
… and so on and so forth. Everything would have been easier for me had the author just said metal, and leave it at that (though I agree that iron sounds a lot better, ha).

Thoughts on the ending
I think it made me discover a new pet peeve: I really really don’t like books that end with a forced cliffhanger. Various hints have been left throughout the book (some of them quite interesting, as what has really happened to Meghan’s father? I’m quite curious about that), and it was obvious that there was going to be a sequel, did it really need to close in that particular way? I really don’t like it when author do things like that, closing a book just as the reader is getting involved in a particular matter, as it seems to me a strategy that screams “I want to make money so bad I don’t care about your experiences as a reader, so I will frustrate you enough to buy my next book”. Blech.

What I liked most
The whole theory surrounding the existence of the Iron King, and the Iron Fey:

“[...] the fey were born from the dreams of mortals [...]. Well, what if these things [...] are born of different dreams? Dreams of technology, and progress? Dreams of science? What if the pursuit of ideas that once seemed impossible — flight, steam engines, the Worldwide Web — gave birth to a whole different species of faery?”

All the more so since it seems like new characters appeared with the technological advancements: at first the ruler was Ferrum, iron itself, and then, as technology progressed, others like Virus, Glitch, and the bugs were born. I so like the idea of an iron horse (it looks very cool the way I imagine it), as it probably has something to do with horsepower, and engines. An interesting idea if you ask me :)

But. Much as I love the idea behind the iron fey I sense somewhat of a plot hole here: show spoiler

What I liked least
Some of the names. Nevernever for one. Like Neverland but not quite it. I’m not fond of the idea, not only because of its lack of originality but also because I don’t see a reason why faeries would name their land like that, “never” being a misnomer since they do exist right there and then.

There’s also a twig-like creature named Twiggy (very distinguished, right?) and an iron horse named Ironhorse (a bummer, since he was majestic enough to be given any warrior-ish name).

On an unrelated note, why did one of Machina’s Knights look like a doppelganger of Ash’s?

Recommend it to?
Sigh. The book has a rating of 4.13 on Goodreads, which means I should encourage anyone who enjoys YA books and faerie stories to give it a try.

Buy this from amazon.com | Buy this from bookdepository.co.uk

The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Summary: At nineteen, Mayella Ewell had a very hard life, surrounded by people who only expected her to work for their welfare. The only friendly face in the neighborhood was Tom, a black guy who used to pass by the house on his way home, and sometimes stopped to give Mayella a hand with her chores. This Tom was young too, and so it was only a matter of time until Mayella started to get interested in him more than she should have.

Well, suffice it to say that it all ends with a trial, where Tom is judged for beating and raping young Mayella. It is thus that the paths of Tom and Atticus Finch meet, for an experience that neither Atticus nor his family will soon forget.

General impression
There is a bit of a contradiction here: I liked this book a lot, and yet when I put it down I couldn’t help being disappointed. Everything is in the right place, and yet … I expected it to be a lot more intense. I couldn’t get drawn in, and I felt like I was watching Maycomb and its characters through a window, instead of feeling in their midst. I have no idea how that happened, except perhaps my expectations were way too high: having heard so many good things about it throughout the years, I was expecting something deep, profound, Earth-shattering, and I only got a few events’ worth of story instead.

It is of course obvious that I haven’t tapped in all its hidden wealth of themes and symbolism (themes such as that of hidden talents, such as Calpurnia’s knowing how to read, or Atticus being such a great shot; symbols as Atticus’ shooting the rabid dog, having only one shot to rescue his neighbors, while being blinded by the lack of glasses being a foreshadowing of his one shot at saving Tom, through the legal system who is said to be also blind — although we know it’s not, as their decision is not taken on objective reasons); but still I feel I would have liked something more intense to go by (I think that this is an effect of the age we live in, of the contemporary books and movies that we’re currently exposed to perpetually trying to shock out hearts out, so much so that we have grown jaded, and as such is rather hard for some of us, some of the younger generations at least, not to feel like there’s something missing in a nice & tame old-fashioned novel like TKAM is) (although, in my defense, I don’t remember feeling this kind of disappointment when reading Jane Austen, whom I love, or Jane Eyre for example, so my theory is definitely not set in stone — yet I am sure I would have loved this book a lot more had I read it say twenty years ago).

Characters
I loved the characters, how could I not. While there are some who call all of them stereotypical (Atticus = the white guy who could do no wrong; Calpurnia = the black maid who knows her place and takes care of the children; Scout = the precocious tomboy; Boo = the town eccentric; Bob Ewell = the illiterate redneck; and so on), I will also say that I enjoyed meeting most of them.

My favorite character was (oh how predictable) Atticus Finch, for all his maturity, his principles, the way he struggled to be a role model for his children, no matter how hard it was, or whether the battle he embarked upon had an already decided outcome or not (remember what he told his children on the night Mrs. Dubose died? “Courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what“). However, most of all I liked him for the fact that he literally could do no wrong (or at least he does not do it within the pages of the book). Sure, that might sound boring and one dimensional, but to me it was a welcome break from the quotidian :)

The most complex character of them all I thought was Mayella, so she’s almost a second favorite of mine, because of the sorry life she was condemned to. Illiterate and lonely, at the hands of a violent father — I don’t think life could get much worse. Not to mention that the poor thing is not very bright, so the chances that one day she’ll be able to build a better existence for herself are virtually nil. This is why, although she is closer to being a negative character rather than a positive, I couldn’t help caring for her, rather than the opposite.

Other than that, the rest of the cast are also likable (of course, almost everybody in this book is), but nothing out of the ordinary. I liked the way Scout was shaping up her vision of the world, following her father’s example; the way Jem kept caring for his little sister; the manners Calpurnia taught; the fact that Atticus’ brother, Jack, had life principles very similar to Atticus’ own; Miss Maudie and her azaleas; and so on. All sorts of little warm and fuzzy moments, I like to call them :)

Plot
There is not much of a plot to speak of (and I imagine that some of my disappointment with the book stems from here), as everything revolves around Tom’s trial and its effects on the life of the small town where Tom and the rest lived.

Setting
This is where the genius of Ms. Lee shines through: when it comes to the setting. The author has been influenced heavily by her own childhood, spent in a small Southern town, when she created Maycomb, and it shows. You can feel the said setting living and breathing, and the interactions between people are very believable (even for someone such as myself, who’s never seen a small American town in her life). In a way, Maycomb is a character just like Atticus is, among other things because of the collective prejudice towards black people that almost everybody shared.

Maycomb is also shown to be a paradise for children, such as Scout and Jem, a place to spend the days in childish adventures of one sort or another — it even has its very own boogeyman, aptly nicknamed Boo, a source of wonder and fear for our small heros to fight and eventually overcome.

Thoughts on the title
The title represents the most obvious symbol/theme of the book (one that even I have managed to discern, ha!): the death of innocence. The wording is taken from something that Calpurnia once said, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.“. There are two such “mockingbirds” in the novel, Tom Robinson and Arthur Radley. Unfortunately one of them ends up being killed, and only a handful of characters realize how much of a sin that was — at least the other’s fate is set in fairer hands, and he is free to go.

Thoughts on the ending
Predictable.
show spoiler

What I liked most
Although Atticus discouraged them, I was enchanted by the children’s attempts to get Boo Radley to join them for an ice cream. To me it was the perfect manifestation of their innocence and kindness, the way they saw a lonely person (which they imagined to be miserable because of that) and tried their best to “cure” his loneliness the best way they knew how.

What I liked least
There’s nothing that I have actually disliked. It was a nice book overall :)

Recommend it to?
Everyone, since it’s one of the classics :)

Buy this from amazon.com | Buy this from bookdepository.co.uk


The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Summary: One day, while out walking her dogs, the Queen of England discovers a mobile library visiting the premises. It is not a very popular one, so the queen thinks it polite to borrow a book herself. She picked almost at random a book that happened to be rather dry, and yet she finished it (because that’s the only thing suitable for a queen) and wanted one more. And then, bit by bit and book by book, the queen discovered the joys of reading, becoming, in her own words, an opsimath (“one who learns only late in life“). This to the complete dismay of her staff of advisers, who think that the queen’s reading shows favoritism and it should be stopped.

First of all, I have very much loved the very idea of having a monarch (a person whose life experience exceeds by far the average one, plus who has an absolutely unique outlook on life) discover reading. Especially as this way it sort of makes sense why the main character did not previously show an interest in books:

“She’d never taken much interest in reading. She read, of course, as one did, but liking books was something she left to other people. It was a hobby and it was in the nature of her job that she didn’t have hobbies. Jogging, growing roses, chess or rock climbing, cake decoration, model aeroplanes. No. Hobbies involved preferences and preferences had to be avoided; preferences excluded people. One had no preferences. Her job was to take an interest, not to be interested herself. And besides, reading wasn’t doing.”

And yet, I don’t know what to think of the fact that the book is written around a real, living character. This is usually very rarely done in books, perhaps with a good reason to (for the impressionable minds not to confuse the person with the character, and viceversa I think). Also, one must wonder what the queen herself must have thought to find herself the central character in a book — although to think of it I guess it largely depends on her stance on reading :)

From a reader’s point of view, it was interesting to notice the changes the reading has brought on the queen (some of them being things that I have discovered in me, previously, and attributed them to the large number of lives I have lived via all the books I read). The queen starts to notice details about people, starts to care more about their feelings, and even “reads” them better. She herself says about books, ‘At the risk of sounding like a piece of steak, [...] they tenderise one.‘). On the downside, she has stopped caring about appearances so much (even her famous punctuality ceasing to exist), as all she really wants is to spend some more time with her nose buried in a book.

These changes (and more like them) make me think of this book as a coming of age story. Because in a way it is just that, a novella where the main character grows, becoming better and wiser than before (despite the fact that the queen is around 80, and usually coming of age stories are centered on young people). Quite an original approach, in my opinion.

Thoughts on the title: Obviously a play on words, and I liked it. The fact that the word “reader” is in there somewhere has helped me discover this little book in the first place :)

Thoughts on the ending: show spoiler

What I liked most: At the very beginning, when the queen discovers the mobile library, she tries to decide what book to choose. I was somewhat amused by her criteria, and the way she related to the writers (a way most likely unique to herself, as who else has had the opportunity of meeting so many of them :) ). About Ivy Compton-Burnett she says “I remember that hair, a roll like a pie-crust that went right round her head.“, Cecil Beaton was “a bit of a tartar. Stand here, stand there. Snap, snap.” and so on. I found this quite natural — since the queen had no idea about the authors’ actual writing she had to find some way to differentiate them, right? — but been amused by it nevertheless.

Also, all the bookish quotes. I adored the bookish quotes :)
A random one:

“What she was finding also was how one book led to another, doors kept opening wherever she turned and the days weren’t long enough for the reading she wanted to do.”

I bet every passionate reader has felt like this now and then (I know I often do :) ).
And another, on the same note:

“Books are not about passing time. They’re about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass, one just wishes one had more of it.”

What I liked least: Not an actual problem per se (and admittedly I know too little about the real queen to actually have an opinion on it), but at times I was a bit bothered by the fact that the queen never talks about herself in the first person, and it can get a bit strange at times. Example:

‘Has Your Majesty ever considered writing?’
[...]
‘What should one write?’
‘Your Majesty has had an interesting life.’
Yes,’ said the Queen. ‘One has.’

Recommend it to? Anyone who loves to read, as they’re bound to enjoy the queen’s musings on the topic of books :)

Buy this from amazon.com | Buy this from bookdepository.co.uk

The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

Incoming search terms for the article:

First sentence: When my brother fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he’d caused it.

Summary: Young Mibs is part of a very special family: for many generations each family member has developed a random special power, which they call a savvy and shows up on the day its owner turns thirteen. No one knows in advance what they’re going to get, so Mibs, now two days away from her own special anniversary, is quite excited about it, and a bit nervous.

Unfortunately Mibs’ father is involved in a terrible accident and he is sent to the hospital, in a coma. Mibs’ mom run by her husband’s side, all but forgetting about the special day soon to come. But Mibs cannot forget it, and is very happy when she discovers she has a power that can help her dad get well.

The only problem is that the hospital is in another town, ninety miles away. Mibs, together with two of her brothers and two friends (sort of) climb into a pink bus who is supposed to take them where they want to go. Thus their adventure begins, since the bus is heading into the exact opposite direction to the one the children thought it would take.

The characters are all rather likeable, starting with Mibs, the thirteen years old girl who hopes that her savvy can heal her father. Lester, the not very bright pink Bible seller (but with a good heart). Lill, the waitress and big-footed angel who’s always late. Will Junior, who wants to be just like his father (and who just happens to be one of my favorite characters). Samson, the seven years old who rarely speaks, always hides, and can calm people down by touching them. Fish, who controls (or rather tries to learn how to control) the winds. Momma, who’s simply perfect (or rather everything she does is so, even her failures are perfect, as she puts it). Poppa, with no special ability but very much loved by all the members of his family (and this rubs on to the reader too, although he’s not actually a character, being in the coma for the most part of the book).

The writing was very nice, with metaphors and details that I have very much liked. Here are some quotes:

She told us how Poppa’s car had gotten crushed up bad, like a pop can under a cowboy boot, and how he’d gone and forgotten to get out before it happened, landing himself in a room and a bed at Salina Hope Hospital, where now he lay broken and asleep, not able to wake up.

He struck me as a fellow whose gears might turn a bit slower than those of other folks, a man whose thinking cap had gotten shrunk in the wash and now fit his brain a notch too tight.

When something like that comes along, whether it’s an accident or a savvy or a very first kiss, life takes a turn and you can’t step back. All you can do is keep moving forward and remember what you’ve learned.

Thoughts on the title: Intriguing :) Bound to make a reader wonder about it, and thus notice the book. Also, it is a good description for the character’s abilities, which, as Mibs points out, are actually their own sort of know-how, albeit “of a different flavor than most” :)

Thoughts on the ending: Cute. Predictable but I enjoyed reading it :)

What I liked most: The particular savvy that the author has entrusted Mibs. show spoiler

What I liked least: A little more attention to the details would have been nice. Such as the fact that normally only one of the grandfathers should have had a savvy, not both of them (what were the odds of two savvy-ed people meeting one another). Also, I would have preferred it if Grandpa’s savvy had been something less obvious (’cause making land appear out of nowhere would be bound to be noticed). The names of the children weren’t particularly inspired either (what kind of name is Fish? Or Rocket?).
show spoiler

Recommend it to? It’s a cute little book so I have no reservations in recommending it to Young Adult lovers out there.

More about the book (including trailer) | Buy this from amazon.com | Buy this from bookdepository.co.uk


The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Summary: Sam Kingston’s life seems pretty much perfect: one of the cool kids of her high-school, she has a bunch of really good friends, a good-looking boyfriend and no trouble at all in life.

And then she dies. In a car crash.

And then she wakes up in the morning in her own bed. Was it just a dream? It would seem so, only the date happens to be February 12, the same date the accident happened in. It seems that Sam is given another chance at living that day — will she take it? Will she do the right things?

The interesting thing here, and the one that makes a book a little more complicated than it would seem at first sight, is that Sam and her friends have made a lot of mistakes over the years. They have treated a lot of people badly, simply because they could, and the effects of such behavior are very hard, impossible even, to erase in a single day.

And yet, as Sam gets to realize, she simply cannot fix everything. Some people have to take care of themselves. And some of them are desperately in need of hope, and this is what Sam can offer them: a moment of hope, a moment of solidarity, a moment of love. And luckily she manages to grow up fast enough to be aware of this, and able to do what must be done.

I think the characters are very well written, layer over layer of feelings they sometimes hide even from themselves. Of course that Sam is not very likeable at the beginning, since her cool kid status seems to have gone to her head ages before — and yet, after a while, we discover she’s not a bad girl per se, but a misguided one, and her sincere wish to fix things slowly endear her to the reader. There is also a male lead, and I liked him a lot, from his ever-present smile to his dream of someday being Sam’s hero. As for Sam’s three girlfriends, they too are multidimensional, and interesting to discover (some more than others) — and yet, as they were still under the spell of being cool kids, I didn’t particularly like them on the whole.

Interestingly enough (although perhaps unsurprising) the author has managed to make each version of that fateful day act out different. I only expected a few minor details to change, here and there (although of course they were to have huge effects, Groundhog Day -style), but, as Sam uncovers more and more layers of the story her actions vary (the version that I found most believable, although not one of my favorites, being the one when she acts all wild in school because she’s just realized there are practically no consequences to anything she does).

show spoiler

Thoughts on the title: I love it. Sam feels the place she ends up in after she dies to be an endless falling, so in the context “before I fall” becomes “before I die”, namely that day that she gets to live over and over again.

Thoughts on the ending: Predictably enough, there were only two ways the story could have ended: either Sam truly died, and there’s no returning from it, or she didn’t actually die, she was just in a coma or something similar. All throughout the book I’ve been curious to see which path will the author choose, although I realized that none of them was truly satisfying. One of them was indeed chosen, and I was indeed a bit disappointed.
show spoiler

What I liked most: The very idea of having yet another chance at living a certain day, a chance to fix any mistakes one might have made. I know it is not a novel one by far, but I still like it a lot :)

What I liked least: I only have a rather minor qualm. The fact that we are not clearly told whether all Sam’s efforts have been in vain or not — did each day replace the one before or were they all illusions, with only the original version actually happening. show spoiler

Recommend it to? Everyone. It’s a fast read, and captivating too.

Buy this from amazon.com | Buy this from bookdepository.co.uk


The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Summary: After Gemma bound all the magic at the end of the previous book, things seem to have quietened down. The girls’ only care needs be their debut in society, followed by their first season — with parties, and dresses, how exciting, right?

Yet Gemma can no longer summon the door to the realms, and she worries that her magic has dried out. On top of that, she’s having new visions about a mysterious woman dressed in lavender. Her message has something to do with a tree, the Tree of All Souls — but Gemma has no idea what that is or even whether it does even exist or not.

To top it all, some workers from the crew restoring the Eastern Wing of Spence have vanished. One of the gypsies can no longer be found. There is even a rumor about some ghostly mummers. Is this connected to the realms, and if so, can Gemma do something about it?

The characters are much more developed now, at the end of the series, than in the previous books. Gemma manages to come to terms with her magic, getting to know its abilities and limitations. More important, she gets to know herself better, discovering among other things that she is just as thirsty for freedom as Felicity is. There is a bit of a paradox here as, being part of an estranged family, Gemma also thirsts for affection — not necessarily romantic love, but someone to share her worries with and offer her advice.

I noticed that lots of reviewers have complained about the fact that Gemma chooses the wrong characters to trust, while she should have known better. I don’t know what to say about that, because for me part of the book’s appeal was the fact that Gemma never knows who is reliable or not — at times she is betrayed by those closest to her, at times she has visions without knowing who sent them or whether that someone is with or against her, and most important, almost every other person she meets tells her that nothing around her is to be trusted. In these circumstances I found it very hard to have a certainty one way or another (I had my guesses, but no actual reasons for them), and I considered untangling the threads part of the fun.

My feelings towards the rest of the girls are mixed — Mrs. Bray never created cardboard characters, I’ll give her that :) Let’s take Felicity for example — she has a good heart, and yet most of the time she acts commanding and as if she’s entitled to everything she desires to have. I spent more than half of this book disliking her, only to have some light shed on her behavior later on, as her relationship with Pippa is closer explained. Gemma’s other friend Ann at times inspired my compassion, because her station in life was indeed more difficult than the rest’s, but she also annyoed me at others because she completely refused to think for herself: whatever Felicity did, Ann closely followed (especially if it was something stupid that shouldn’t have been done).

As for the antagonist, I can only say she was one of the most interesting such characters discovered lately. While, like any self-respecting antagonist, she does want power for herself and is ready to sacrifice things and people for that, she nevertheless cares for Gemma in her own way, going as far as to help her at times. The feeling is mutual, as Gemma too respects her and cares for her somewhat. Sort of a melancholy thing, as one cannot help thinking that in other circumstances those two would have made the best of friends.

One thing I have very much liked in the series is the theme of dealing with choices. Ever since book 1 Miss Moore has taught the girls that there are no safe choices, there are only other choices, and this idea shows up all throughout the trilogy, as all characters have to make choices now and then and very few of those, if any, are easy ones. Miss Moore has also tried impressing on her charges’ mind the fact that after making a choice one can never go back, only forward. Quite a few characters are faced with this problem in the book — Pippa for example, wanting everything to be as it was before — but not all of them end up accepting it. Either way, this philosophy has struck a chord with me, as it reflects my own thoughts on the matter, and I was happy to see it in the books too.

Oh, and did I mention that H.G. Wells puts in a cameo appearance? :)

Some quotes I liked
Gemma about herself:

I’m like everyone else in this stupid, bloody, amazing world. I’m flawed. Impossibly so. But hopeful. I’m still me.

One of the best descriptions of The Statue of Liberty I have ever read:

There in the city’s steam-and-smoke-smudged harbor is the most extraordinary sight of all: a great copper-clad lady with a torch in one hand and a book in the other. It is not a statesman or a god or a war hero who welcomes us to this new world. It is but an ordinary woman lighting the way—a lady offering us the liberty to pursue our dreams if we’ve the courage to begin.

Something less inspirational that has somewhat amused me:

It is said that Paris in springtime is a glory to behold, that it makes a man feel as if he shall never die. I should not know, for I have never been to Paris. But spring in London is a wholly different affair. The rain pitters and patters against the carriage’s roof. The streets are choked equally with traffic and gas fog.

Thoughts on the ending: Full of promise :) show spoiler

What I liked most: I hereby nominate the very intensity of the book. Mrs. Bray has created a world that at times felt so real I could almost see it, and things happened at times that made my breath catch. Can there be anything better when reading a book?

As a favorite detail, I loved seeing there were gargoyles involved. I find them so interesting and there are very few books featuring them — I was quite happy to see them in this one.

What I liked least: show spoiler

Recommend it to? This book is my favorite one in the trilogy but, as it can’t be savoured by itself, I recommend the whole series to anyone who likes to read about strong heroines. :)

Buy this from amazon.com | Buy this from bookdepository.co.uk

This book is a sequel to:
A Great and Terrible Beauty | Rebel Angels

Written by the same author:
Going Bovine

The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Summary: After Gemma has smashed the runes the magic was set loose throughout the realms. Whosoever finds the Temple and binds it will be the only one able to control it in the end. A sign for Gemma that she has no time to lose, as she needs to find that Temple before Circe or any other creature does.

As Christmas is near and Gemma’s old wish of seeing London is at last fulfilled, she is swept away in a whirlwind of social interactions. Her grandmother is keen on social advancement, her father is still an opium addict, a nice young man who also happens to be a viscount has his sights set on her — yes, living in high society is an adventure. Especially when, like in Gemma’s case, one has far more pressing matters to take care of.

While reading this I realized that my favorite character of them all is in fact Miss Moore, the art teacher that encourages reading and thinking out of the box, and I am very looking forward to see whether she will keep these characteristics in the next book. Gemma is still a brave girl, trying to do what’s right, although she doesn’t always make the right choices (but hey, she’s sixteen, what can anyone expect). I very much liked the romantic development(s), much better than in the previous book, where I wasn’t that smitten with the idea of romance between those two particular characters. While I liked Gemma to bits, I cannot say the same about her two girlfriends: Felicity strikes me as selfish most times, and Ann tries to be too much like Felicity for me to actually find her to my taste. I was quite sorry to discover that, because these characters were parts of the reason I enjoyed Book 1.

Now, if I have found some of the characters to be a wee bit lacking, I cannot say the same about the plot. Mysteries abound and clues are lacking, as Gemma has no idea who to trust and where to turn for help. More parts of the Realms are introduced, complete with fascinating inhabitants, more or less friendly (a group worth noting are the Untouchables, who paint their hands for protection and who reminded me very much of the Untouchables in India).

Another colorful backdrop was the Bethlem Royal Hospital (aka Bedlam) — “visiting” it was quite interesting to me because I’ve been hearing about it for ages, and only now I have realized I knew nothing whatsoever about it other than its nickname and purpose. While I am not sure its depiction is that accurate (all the nurses and personnel were very kind to the patients, while in real life quite the opposite is said about it), it was interesting to have some images to attach to the name nevertheless.

A quote I liked, from an interview with Libba Bray about this book:

“My hope is that each of the characters comes to a greater understanding of herself—or himself, in the case of Kartik. If you feel you have a voice, if you don’t feel powerless, you’re less likely to act out in frustration and rage and hopelessness. You’re likely to feel less threatened and more willing to listen to other people’s voices as well. And that, my friend, wouldn’t make the world a perfect place, but it’s a decent place to start.”

show spoiler

Thoughts on the ending: Everything was nicely wrapped up, while also hinting at some future conflicts. I was particularly surprised by show spoiler

What I liked most: The talk between Miss Moore and the girls when they visited a gallery. My favorite ideas were:

“What if evil doesn’t really exist? What if evil is something dreamed up by man, and there is nothing to struggle against except our own limitations? The constant battle between our will, our desires, and our choices?”

and, about Lucifer:

“Do you think they missed him terribly when he fell? Did God cry over his lost angel, I wonder?”

What I liked least: The dynamics of the relationship between Felicity and her parents is somewhat changed, and it is a bit too different for me to happily accept it. show spoiler

Recommend it to? Anyone who has read and liked the first book, of course. I do think it can work as a standalone too, as the author was very careful to always explain what happened previously in regards to a matter.

Buy this from amazon.com | Buy this from bookdepository.co.uk

This book is a sequel to:
A Great and Terrible Beauty

This book is followed by:
The Sweet Far Thing

Written by the same author:
Going Bovine

The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Summary: Sent to a finishing school after her mother’s mysterious death, Gemma has a secret to keep: she has mysterious visions, and she has even witnessed her mother’s death in one of them. The one person who knows about them is a guy named Kartik, who followed Gemma and insists that she is forbidden to have any vision again. But Gemma can’t help having them, they come and go as they please. Or… can she control them? One of these visions leave her with a book, a secret diary of a girl with the same “affliction” as Gemma. There are many things to be learned from that diary, and it is up to Gemma and her closest friends to make sense of it all.

One thing I loved about this book were the characters, unpredictable as rain. Gemma is sixteen and, especially at first, she acts like a whiny teenager who doesn’t get what she wants. Her mother’s death helped her mature though, and from then on we see another Gemma, one who cares about the people around her, and also one who is never afraid to face whatever challenge needs to be faced. I really liked her, despite the fact (or perhaps because of it) that she is nothing like one would expect a Victorian lady to be (to her defense, she was born and bred in India until age 16).

Interestingly enough, the rest of the cast consists of the least popular girl in school (that Gemma sort of felt sorry for and wanted to protect) and the two most popular ones (whose group Gemma wanted to be a part of so as she won’t get madly bored during the year). None of the three are stereotyped, there’s no “poor girl with a heart of gold” or “rich selfish girl”: they all have their ups and downs, making me like them terribly at times and disliking them just as terribly at others. Overall though, I am most definitely a fan of unpredictable characters, so I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know those in this book.

A quote I found interesting is when one of the teachers explains Gemma that:

“[...] you don’t notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light. You have to play with it till you get it exactly right.”

It is precisely what I think the author has done with the characters, giving them flaws so that their qualities will better shine through.

I can not tell you much about the villain of the story because very little is known about her overall. We simply know her name, her nickname, and the fact that she was vile and wanted power for herself. That’s it. She never actually makes an appearance between the pages of the book (if that’s not screaming for this book to have a sequel I don’t know what is). We do get to see some other dark things though, trying to set traps for the girls, and I wonder whether they’re ordered to do the things they do (at least the influence of the villain being felt then) or that is simply the way they always behave (one wouldn’t expect dark and shadowy things to be nice, now would one). I am looking forward to reading the next book, to see whether the villain would make an appearance then, and most important how. She is said to be very powerful, she is able to deceive people’s eyes, and, what I take to be a definite hint, Gemma doesn’t know what she looks like. We may already have met her, hehe :)

I have very much loved the way the author imagined the Realms. A beautiful world where all one’s wishes come true — but also a world where shadow and deceit are present, and to such a degree that one’s eyes are not as trustworthy as one might think. The idea of having that magic brought into the real world, albeit for a short while, had a lot of potential, and I amused myself thinking about what I would have done with that kind of power. I also liked the fact that the author has given each girl a wish matching her personality (Ann, for example, the often overlooked one, wanted to be beautiful, so she’ll be noticed at last; on the other hand, Felicity, who was beautiful but rather ignored by her parents had wanted power, so she will never be ignored ever again).

Something that has confused me a bit throughout the book is the fact that there are little to no consequences for anyone who does something bad in the book. A minor example, the girls once lie to get a teacher fired. It is done, the teacher leaves, Gemma sulks for a moment and next thing you know everything’s just as it was. More important, Gemma disobeys almost all of the rules regarding the Realms (even taking magic outside was a no-no), and yet nothing happens to her. There are more such examples, and, while I wouldn’t have enjoyed seeing the girls punished in any way (as I cared for them all), I haven’t enjoyed seeing them act badly and not being reprimanded either.

As a sidenote, I was somewhat amused by the Romanian gypsies camp present in the book. First of all, Ithal is most definitely not a Romanian name. Second of all, I can’t help wondering how the author got the idea of making the gypsies Romanian. God knows we have scores of them, so much so that in a few decades there’s a serious chance to be more gypsies than Romanians in Romania, but I don’t think the author knew that. I believe she heard somewhere that in Romania there are still gypsies — so she made hers Romanian too :) Speaking of them, I was amazed to see quite a bunch of reviews complaining of racial stereotyping. First of all, I didn’t see them as stereotyped at all in the book — Ithal was a pretty cool guy, after all, complete with manly pride. Sure, they weren’t exactly perfect, but then who is. The real life gypsies aren’t the image of perfection either.

Thoughts on the ending: Sort of predictable. show spoiler

What I liked most: The title :) show spoiler

What I liked least: I am not sure I got what happened at the climax. show spoiler

Recommend it to? I love Libba Bray’s writing, so the answer is “anyone”. While not extraordinary,I have found this to be an interesting read. A pretty short volume too, one doesn’t even realize when it flies by.

Buy this from amazon.com | Buy this from bookdepository.co.uk | map of Spence grounds | Libba Bray’s bio (unrelated to this book but worth a read)

This book is followed by:
Rebel Angels | The Sweet Far Thing

Written by the same author:
Going Bovine


The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Summary: Ever since she was 8, Katsa has known about her special ability when it comes to killing people. An undefeatable fighter, she is now used by her uncle, King Randa, to punish everyone who displeases him. Katsa does this and she does it well — but she also has an agenda of her own. She has organized a Council that rights some of the wrongs the power of weapons can right. The latter is the reason why she ended up rescuing the kidnapped father of one of the other kings. And this is how she met Po, the only one skilled enough to fight her back.

As allies, the two will hunt the scent of whoever was that ordered the kidnapping. They trust in their joined combative forces… but will they be enough?

It all started out quite promising. In the section about the author it said that the book was born out of the author’s idea of writing about “a girl who possesses extraordinary powers, and who forms a friendship with a boy with whom she is insurmountably incompatible“. Yup, I thought, I would like to read about that. Now, the initial idea may have been good, but the way it has been put into practice wasn’t up to par. Why do I say that? Because, while Katsa seemed indeed to have extraordinary powers, there was only a faint trace of the incompatibility I expected. Katsa has a fighting Grace. Po (the boy in question) has a fighting Grace too. Leaving me questioning what may be so incompatible in such similar Graces. Especially as they willingly fight one another, to practice. Alas, after a while we discover Po’s Grace is actually different. That’s the conflict right there, as it happens to be the very Grace Katsa abhors. And yet it still wasn’t how I envisioned it… first of all, I couldn’t get why Katsa insisted on making such a racket — I thought her behavior rather childish, and it made the conflict lose power over me. Not only that but it was all solved in a few pages or so! show spoiler

This is a weakness of the whole book actually: there is not that much conflict. Katsa for one has each and every skill she ever needs for survival (speed, tirelessness, ability to always make fires, resistance to cold, etc, etc). The author does find a (very cool!) way to make her less in control, but she is not affected for long. As such, throughout the book, everything comes way too easy to her, and there is rarely a moment the reader is actually worried for her fate (a thing that sort of detracted from my pleasure in finding out “what happens next”).

I think I would have liked this book a lot if I just resonated with Katsa. I have liked what the author has done with every other character (King Leck being the coolest, of course, although the author didn’t always keep track of his skill). Po was also a favorite of mine :) But Katsa, the very title character, didn’t always come to life for me. Although she was supposed to be this strong female she often seemed to me rather whiny (my favorite one being “oh my hairpins dig into my scalp” — she doesn’t care about pain when hurt but is bothered so much about some darned hairpins??). Sure, she does have her good moments later on, but she also has some moments I could have strangled her on the spot. An immense pity because she ruined for me a book that otherwise might have been great.

Something I did “get” was the relationship between Katsa and Po. I remember reading somewhere that the author has been considered to be anti-marriage. I really don’t think that’s the case. On the contrary, I do understand Katsa’s need of freedom, or better said of lack of constraints. A need so great she would have denied her feelings for Po if needed be — understandable, right, ’cause we can deny just about anything other than our true selves. And luckily Po understood that, and accepted her the way she was. And somehow I found this acceptance touching. I know this may be quoted as a double standard from my part (had a guy been the one who didn’t want to get married I might not have been so quick to understand), but I also take into account the social pressure. Even in this day and age girls who give in to men who won’t marry them are sometimes frowned upon (all the more so in Katsa’s society, whose mores seemed to be like in the medieval times or so). The girl is exposed to a lot more critique, and so the guy who puts her through that simply because he hates marriage may indeed be blamed. With Katsa and Po the things are different, as Po doesn’t want “the cow for free” — on the very contrary, he offers himself to her completely, and, as he will not suffer for it, why blame anyone involved? To tell the truth, to me this relationship was what made the book worth reading :)

Another thing I found interesting was the whole idea of Graces the author has built. It reminds me of the immortals in Gulliver’s Travels, because the Graced too can be born in any family, regardless of parentage. The sign of one having a Grace (which can be any supernatural ability — this part reminded me of The 4400 hehe) is that his or her eyes have different colors (Katsa has catlike eyes, one blue and one green). Interestingly enough, the eyes change at one random moment in a child’s life, the Graced being born with perfectly normal eyes. Which mean that basically any child character can turn out to have a superpower overnight. I am curious whether that possibility will ever be used in a future book *coughbitterbluecough*.

Thoughts on the ending: Sort of unsatisfactory. show spoiler

What I liked most: The conversations between Po and Katsa after his Grace was known. I loved imagining those. :)

Also, the kingdom of Lienid is named after the Leonids, because it seemed like it was “the perfect kingdom to name after falling stars” :)

What I liked least: The name Katsa bothered me throughout the book :(

You know how it’s considered such a cliche to have characters with names that can be abbreviated to Cat? I definitely found this one on more than one list of pet peeves. Not only that but I have read through many such characters myself, so I am completely and utterly bored by the name. At least these days the authors seem to go for more outlandish names than simply Catherine, some inventing names of their own. Katniss was one such combination that I liked; Katsa, unfortunately, not so much.

And another thing, I understand that Katsa was this magnificent fighting machine that can do things ordinary people can not. I do doubt however that she can bend the rules of physics as she pleases. As such, the very idea of “She simply took two arrows from her quiver, notched them together, pulled, and released. One flew to her target’s head, and the other to its chest.” felt rather ridiculous to me. :(

Recommend it to? I recommend this to everyone who enjoys fantasy, and strong heroines to boot. Regardless of my thoughts on it, the book has a huge rating on Goodreads (4.something), and a lot of bloggers whose opinions I esteem love this, so it is probably worth at least giving it a try.

See also
The map of the Seven Kingdoms
Kristin Cashore’s blog

The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Summary: Ed Kennedy’s life is pretty much average: a dead-end job, a few friends, an estranged family, a girl he loves but doesn’t love him back. Until one day when he gets his fifteen minutes of fame, by tackling a bank robber who tried to rob the bank Ed was in.

A deed that seems to have marked him as a good samaritan, because shortly after a first card arrives in the mail. An ace. With three addresses on it. Three people who need help. Thus Ed becomes the messenger. A messenger of hope, of love, and “small things that are big“.

I added this book to my TBR shelf a while ago, after reading and loving The Book Thief. When I started reading this, I had no expectations. I was of course happy to notice that the writing style was very similar to TBT, perhaps with shorter sentences and fewer metaphors, but the very style I enjoyed back then. However the topic was, as I expected, a lot less serious than Nazi occupation in Germany. A bunch of kids, one in particular, doing… something. Meh. But then, without noticing, I slipped into it. The seemingly simplistic writing has a way of inescapably drawing one in. I finished the whole book in just a few hours, and only then I realized I loved it, unexpectedly, even more than I did TBT.

Throughout the book, Ed has no idea why is he chosen, who has chosen him and for what purpose, and yet he never hesitates in doing what he knows he should. Albeit an ordinary guy, with no particular set of skills, his deeds do indeed make the world a better place, for others, and ultimately for himself. He starts to gain confidence, he meets new people, he begins to live. A testimony to the power of doing good.

The characters are, all, inherently flawed. They all have their issues, from Audrey whose childhood has left her afraid to love, to Marv, who’s always grumpy and such a skinflint he’d rather kiss a smelly dog than paying for a meal. They sometimes use strong language or have casual sex. They could be called losers without batting an eyelid. And yet, somewhere deep inside, they all have redeeming qualities. I ended up rooting for each, I ended up caring for each, and I took it to be yet another sign of how great this book actually is.

Two quotes I liked:

“How do people live like this?
How do they survive?
And maybe that’s why I’m here.
What if they can’t anymore?”

and another, containing just the sort of imagery I love discovering in Zusak’s books:

“She also sits down, like the girl. She’s got her nightie on again, torn, and she has her head in her hands. [...] At one point, she holds her hands out, forming a cup. It’s like she’s holding her heart there. It’s bleeding down her arms.”

Thoughts on the ending: The kind of powerful ending that leaves people either adoring the book or hating it to bits. For me it was the. Single. Best. Ending. Ever.
show spoiler

What I liked most: First of all, the very idea the book is based on, of going around and change people’s lives for the better was bound to strike a chord within me (yup, I was a diehard fan of Quantum Leap :) ). This being said, my favorite parts were of course the most successful “messages” Ed “sends”, the ones where the recipients are touched the most. I so like reading about happy people.

show spoiler

What I liked least: There’s nothing that I did not like. Sure, it needed a bit of disbelief suspension at first, when Ed poured so much effort into something seemingly random (a card arrived out of nowhere), but somehow it all made sense later on. What if Ed’s life was simply so meaningless that he jumped at the opportunity of giving it a little meaning, even if that meant chasing card-shaped windmills? Also, Ed seems to really love people, and being around them, and so, what might have started out as simple curiosity grew into a must-do after a while.

Recommend it to? Absolutely everyone. My favorite book in quite some time.

Written by the same author:
The Book Thief

The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

Incoming search terms for the article: