Book Review: Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger
Published February 5th 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Paper Book
Length: 307 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Steampunk, Spy, Paranormal, Science Fiction, Mystery
Goodreads |Amazon

It’s one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It’s quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners—and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine’s, young ladies learn to finish…everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage—in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year’s education.

Set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, this YA series debut is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Gail Carriger’s legions of fans have come to adore.

It took me a little bit of time to wander my way through Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger. I heard great things about her Parasol Protectorate series and this was my first steampunk novel, so I was excited to read it. My excitement waned after a while and I finished Etiquette & Espionage in fits and spurts. It pained me that I didn’t love this book more. It had all the makings of an awesome novel with an original world (I haven’t read the Parasol Protectorate yet. So this was my first experience in this world.), a healthy dose of paranormal (Vampires! Werewolves! Oh my!), and some really interesting characters. But while it had all the pieces of a great book, is lacked any actual plot to focus on.

There are two things that keep Etiquette & Espionage from being a complete flop; great characters and the humor. All the girls at the finishing school are quirky and interesting. Sophronia, the main character, is spunky but could have had a bit more depth to her. Frankly, I was more interested in the characters she interacted with, like the other girls, teachers, and the sooties, than I was in Sophronia herself. There are great one-liners and fantastic humor. But all the cheeky jokes and turn of phrase wit in the world won’t hide the thin plot and slow moving action in Etiquette & Espionage. The setting gets the most attention, giving us a rich world with the finishing school, but leaving other aspects of the book languishing.

I feel as if I’ve read someone’s first draft and that I’m missing half of the book; the half where something actually happens. At the end there is some action involving the mysterious prototype and what could be some suitable villains but then the book ends before anything really exciting can evolve from it. We’re left with some funny characters and a fantastic world in which nothing much happens. I’m pleased with my first real foray into steampunk. That aspect of Etiquette & Espionage was fantastic but just didn’t have the support of a good plot to make the book really great.

I am intrigued enough that I’ll check out Parasol Protectorate. I loved Carriger’s world building and want to see more. Etiquette & Espionage read more like a middle grade book than a young adult book. The age of the characters and innocent and almost not there nature of the romance lends itself better to younger readers. (Not that that stops any 30 year old women from reading it.) But humor and quirky characters cannot disguise the slow and boring pace or the underdeveloped plot in this book. Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger was great for a steampunk novel but ultimately fell a little flat.

Book Review: The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal

The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal
Published January 25th 2011 by EgmontUSA
Format: Paper Book
Length: 319 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic, Mystery, Royalty
Goodreads | Amazon

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia’s led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when it’s revealed, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city of Vivaskari, her best friend, Keirnan, and the only life she’s ever known.

Sinda is sent to live with her only surviving relative, an aunt who is a dyer in a distant village. She is a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, and Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. But when Sinda discovers that magic runs through her veins – long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control – she realizes that she can never learn to be a simple village girl.

Returning to Vivaskari for answers, Sinda finds her purpose as a wizard scribe, rediscovers the boy who saw her all along, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor’s history, forever.

I picked up The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal while browsing through the library. It had been on my to be read list for a little while but hadn’t generated a lot of excitement that I could see on the other blogs. I read the blurb and thought the story would be a pretty straight forward ‘finding your place in the world’ novel. There was a nice twist that made the novel a bit more exciting than I expected but otherwise the characters and situation in this book were pretty bland. The main character, Sinda, is too accepting of her fate and simply allows the people she thought were her parents to basically kick her out of her life and send her off to a relative she didn’t even know existed. While I can understand Sinda being in shock at that moment, she’s a bit too much like a doormat to inspire much reaction from the reader.

When Sinda arrives in her aunt’s small village, her situation is more amusing than pitying and the reveal of her magic is predictable. It’s only as she returns to the city that things start looking up, novel-wise. At first, I thought the rest of the plot would be Sinda’s ‘journey to self-acceptance’ that ends with her being best friends with the new princess and generally becoming the most awesome royal advisor ever to the new Nalia. But there is a twist, things start to happen, and Sinda grows a backbone and a personality. The romance is not overwhelming but not very interesting. Best friends since they were little, Sinda and Kiernan of course fall in love with each other. It’s clichéd. Thankfully, it’s not focused on until the point of nausea.

The False Princess is your pretty standard fantasy/ fairy tale novel. It’s got ties to Cinderella and The Prince and Pauper. Everything and everyone is a little bland. I greatly wanted to learn more about Sinda’s birthmother and also more about the queen, who apparently felt something for Sinda even if we’re shown that with only third party information. O’Neal missed a great chance for some angst that would have spiced things up. As it is, Sinda’s numb reaction to everything is a little boring after a while. The False Princess does get a little more interesting near the end, where there is actually action happening, but it’s a little too late to save the book. I liked The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal, the second twist was good, but the majority of the novel was just okay.

Book Review: The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielson

The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielson
Published March 1st 2013 by Scholastic Press
Format: Paper Book
Length: 331 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Pirates, Action
Goodreads | Amazon

A kingdom teetering on the brink of destruction. A king gone missing. Who will survive? Find out in the highly anticipated sequel to Jennifer A. Nielsen’s blockbuster THE FALSE PRINCE!

Just weeks after Jaron has taken the throne, an assassination attempt forces him into a deadly situation. Rumors of a coming war are winding their way between the castle walls, and Jaron feels the pressure quietly mounting within Carthya. Soon, it becomes clear that deserting the kingdom may be his only hope of saving it. But the further Jaron is forced to run from his identity, the more he wonders if it is possible to go too far. Will he ever be able to return home again? Or will he have to sacrifice his own life in order to save his kingdom?

The stunning second installment of The Ascendance Trilogy takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of treason and murder, thrills and peril, as they journey with the Runaway King!

I’m really trying to keep up with my series reading. I had trouble getting into The False Prince, the predecessor to this book. I was kind of neutral on the character until the end when we realized how amazing Sage/Joran really was. I was excited for The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielson because clever, almost genius characters give me tingles and I really wanted to see what Sage/Joran would do in this book. I was not disappointed.

There is some debate on whether The Runaway King is better categorized as Middle Grade rather than Young Adult. I say it can be either way. This book has a lot of action, indicative of Middle Grade books, and lacks the nauseating romance that has infected the Young Adult genre. (I’m about one more teenage suck-face fest from rabid insanity. We’re talking clock tower and rifle level of nuts. I’m quickly becoming the blogger that hates Young Adult romance with the fire of a thousand suns.) At the same time, The Runaway King is a little violent for younger readers. I’d probably let a preteen, about 12 years of age or older, read this book but not anyone younger. (Unless they were well-read and mature for their age.)

The Runaway King got a rare rating of 5 stars from me. I felt more comfortable with the book now that I knew what to expect with Sage/Jaron. I could see how he manipulated the situation when he could and could appreciate the parts that were just dumb luck. I feel like not all the secrets were revealed in this book and we will have to wait until the next installment to find out all of Sage/Jaron’s plans. For instance, I’m certain that it was Sage/Jaron that sent the message to Roden to return early and that Sage/Jaron sending the army off to move rocks in the north is really secret training but we’re not expressly told in the novel. I think Sage/Jaron is collecting a chessboard of pieces to fight the war coming in the next book.

What romance there is, is not heavy handed or thrown in our face. Imogen herself is an independent, interesting character. A couple of the secondary characters are a bit cliché, like Fink, and the pirates are a little less deadly and more honorable than one would think from their description. I can’t remember if Gregor was in the first book and his sudden appearance as villain and mastermind evil doer is a bit sudden and confusing. By the end of The Runaway King, Sage/Jaron has gained the love of his people and now his kingdom is tumbling headlong into war. Frankly, I can’t wait for book number three of The Ascendance Trilogy, which we don’t know the publication date or even the name of yet! The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielson is a runaway hit.

Book Review: The Witches’ Kitchen by Allen Williams

The Witches’ Kitchen by Allen Williams
Published October 5th 2010 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Paper Book
Length: 288 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Witches, Young Adult, Questing
Reading Level: It says Young Adult, but I think it would be fine for Middle Grade
Goodreads | Amazon

Deep in the walls of a witches’ cottage lays an ancient magical kitchen. Dangling over that kitchen’s cauldron, pinched between the fingers of two witches, is a toad. And the Toad has no idea how she got there, and no memory of even her name. All she knows is she doesn’t think she was always a Toad, or that she’s ever been here before. Determined to recover her memories she sets out on a journey to the oracle, and along the way picks up a rag-tag team of friends: an iron-handed imp, a carnivorous fairy, and a few friendly locals.

But the Kitchen won’t make it easy. It is pitch black, infinite, and impossible to navigate, a living maze. Hiding in dark corners are beastly, starving things. Worse yet are the Witches themselves, who have sent a procession of horrific, deadly monsters on her trail. With some courage and wisdom, the Toad just might find herself yet-and with that knowledge, the power to defeat the mighty Witches.

I want to take a moment to state that if I hadn’t been mindlessly browsing the shelves at my local library, I would have never found this book. So, the next time someone tells you that bookstores or libraries are outdated you can whack them in the head and remind them of the joys of aimlessly wandering around and finding a really great book that you would have had zero chance of coming across on the internet. The book I speak of is The Witches’ Kitchen by Allen Williams. This book gave me warm book fuzzes; the type of pleasure I get from a great fantasy book that is without the irritating clichés I often have to ignore in Young Adult fantasy books these days.

I have to admit that The Witches’ Kitchen reads more like a Middle Grade book, even though it’s marked as Young Adult. It’s a little creepy but there is nothing in there I wouldn’t want a young child to read. Plus, The Witches’ Kitchen has that creativity and originality that I only see in Middle Grade books. It lacks any type of romance angle and has the type of characters that I adore. The Kitchen is a world onto itself with a set of rules and laws unlike ours. It is a world that constantly changes with dangers around every corner. I would liken the world-building and tone to Splintered by A.G. Howard but without the annoying main characters that made me dislike that book. The Kitchen is a dark place with dark creatures and it’s fascinating. The characters are great and the plot pace fast. The Witches’ Kitchen is under 300 pages long, so there are no slow parts.

Every once and a while, I will stumble across a book that is classic fantasy and I just get that buzz of pleasure a good fantasy gives me. It does have the quest fantasy cliché, where a group goes on a quest to find something or fix something. (The Lord of the Rings has the quest cliché.) The conflict is pretty predictable. (As in it is obvious why the Witches want Toad.) But the journey is amazing. My favorite part is the clock and the Widow spiders. The details and side stories just add to the magic of the book. There are a ton of great illustrations. I’m so pleased that I stumbled across The Witches’ Kitchen by Allen Williams. It always pays to wander the bookshelves.

Book Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Splintered by A.G. Howard
Published January 1st 2013 by Amulet Books
Format: Paper Book
Length: 371 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Dark Fairytale
Reading Level: Mature Teen
Goodreads | Amazon

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence.

Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers — precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

I adore Alice in Wonderland and any novel with even an inkling of connection to it gets a definite read from me. That’s why I was so excited to finally get my hands on Splintered by A.G. Howard after waiting for two weeks for a copy to finally become available at my library. I always say; it takes a bit of madness to deal with Wonderland. Unfortunately, all my excitement was for not. I was extremely disappointed with Splintered. It pinged every annoyance button I have in regards to YA novels and drove me nuts while I read it because I could see the potential for a great novel hidden underneath irritating main characters and the nauseating and aggravating teenage romance. I’m about to be very harsh here. You’ve been warned.

First; the good. I loved the dark, gritty remake of Wonderland. It’s a more mature version of the fantastical land, where everything is now covered with a layer of horror; completely unlike what we see in the original novel and the Disney movie. It’s a very English look at the fairy creatures, which are more often portrayed as not very nice or good. I love it when authors working with Alice and Wonderland revamp the story into a more adult version. Howard’s Wonderland is nightmarish and fascinating. All of the secondary characters are fantastic. The Twid Sisters in the cemetery are my favorite, although the dark fairytale quality to everyone makes the reimagined characters so much fun. The plot is complex and the twist surprisingly a surprise. The world-making in Splintered is the best part of the whole novel. 

Second; the bad. For me, this meant all of the main characters. Alyssa is a whiny child and Jeb is a controlling alpha male that should have been left on the opposite side of the mirror. Morpheus is okay but I feel he could have had a bit more mystery about him. He’s solidly cast as a sort of villain rather early in the book and I feel he could have had a bit more “is he or isn’t he” surrounding him. But my main peeve with this book is Alyssa and Jeb and their utterly stupid romance. Jeb is an obstacle to Alyssa’s journey and character development. He’s a controlling alpha male that needs to go away so Alyssa can continue her development into an independent person. As it is, Alyssa comes off as a whiny child that can’t deal with anything. This is not what I am looking for in a protagonist. The romance is clichéd, the page long descriptions of kissing are more nauseating than anything else, and the pair fairly ruins the book in my opinion.

The novel does get better near the end but that’s only because Jeb falls into a crevasse and is then carted off to the castle and Alyssa actually has to deal with things rather than focusing on Jeb’s honey sweet lips and perfect butt or whatever the hell it was. Look; I get that they are teenagers and I understand being focused on your crush but there is ‘focused’ and then there is obsessed and codependent and maybe you two should see other people. The novel is a touch too long in my opinion and would have gained from moving a little faster. So, Splintered by A.G. Howard was a fail for me. It reads like a check list of the most annoying things about YA novels for me. Maybe you like that type of romance and Alyssa and Jeb’s utter occupation with each other (completely ignoring any type of character development and bogging the plot down to a crawl) is something you might like. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

Book Review: Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow

Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow
Published June 28th 2006 by Torquere Press, Inc.
Format: Kindle ebook
Length: 246 pages / 446KB
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, M/M, Adventure
Reading Level: Teen
Goodreads | Amazon

Scarlet of Lysia is an honest peddler, a young merchant traveling the wild, undefended roads to support his aging parents. Liall, called the Wolf of Omara, is the handsome, world-weary chieftain of a tribe of bandits blocking a mountain road that Scarlet needs to cross. When Liall jokingly demands a carnal toll for the privilege, Scarlet refuses and an inventive battle of wills ensues, with disastrous results. Scarlet is convinced that Liall is a worthless, immoral rogue, but when the hostile countryside explodes into violence and Liall unexpectedly fights to save the lives of Scarlet’s family, Scarlet is forced to admit that the Wolf is not the worst ally he could have, but what price will proud Scarlet ultimately have to pay for Liall’s friendship?

It’s Little Red Riding Hood with a … ahem… twist. This isn’t my first foray into m/m relationships but this is the first time I’ve read an original novel with that themes. I mostly read fanfiction and I must admit that reading a proper book with a homosexual pairing as the main characters was a little odd for me. Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow adapted a classic fairytale into an adventure story for adults and Crow’s story is detailed and vivid in a way the old fairytale can’t match. (Thank god. I can feel my childhood squirming.) I’m afraid that I might be a little bias because I’ve been reading fanfiction with m/m pairings since I was a teen and actually reading a proper novel with the same subject makes me too happy for words. Plus, I always enjoy classic fairytales being turned on their heads and Crow created a masterful world and characters from the base material.

There truly are no original plots anymore. Scarlet is a stubborn but handsome man that won’t back down from a challenge. Liall is a rouge with a secret heart of gold. Scarlet hates the arrogant Liall at first but then Liall does something to prove he’s more than he seems and Scarlet warms up to him. This is pretty much every love story ever. I pretty much expected that. But it’s interesting because under that overused premise lurks tidbits of a larger story and events that the characters are just barely getting into by the end of the novel. (Woe and frustration!) Those morsels of world building draw the reader in and we all love to watch the train wreck that is the relationship between Scarlet and Liall. Their story spans a whole continent and beyond.

Like I said, I’m probably bias because the two main characters are men and I’m fascinated with nontraditional relationships. Past their love story is a tale involving entire populations, royalty, and a fading goddess. I really want to know what those little teasers will revolve into and how Scarlet will fair in the far north with Liall’s people. I think the series might end up being a nice fantasy epic if my predictions of where the story is going are right. I think this is one novel where the sequel might be better than the first book. Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow has the makings of a great series and I think well worth the read. It’s a romance that can be a readers’ guilty little pleasure and will surprise you with how complex it is. There is some petting and smooching between the two main characters but I think an older teen should have no problem reading this book.

Rating 3.5 out 5

A LGBT Reading List

Since I got a Kindle for the sole reason of being able to read less available books, I thought it would be nice if I posted a reading list. I actually just finished my first book on the Kindle and while I still prefer paper books, it wasn’t so bad. As long as I watch how much I spend on ebooks, I think this should work out just fine. Plus, I’m self-aware enough to get a vicious little thrill knowing that me buying one of these ebooks is supporting the less popular genres and subjects rather than buying some explosive best seller. I love the underdog.

Coming soon from my Kindle, a list of LGBT books.

Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow
Status: Finished; review coming soon.

Scarlet of Lysia is an honest peddler, a young merchant traveling the wild, undefended roads to support his aging parents. Liall, called the Wolf of Omara, is the handsome, world-weary chieftain of a tribe of bandits blocking a mountain road that Scarlet needs to cross. When Liall jokingly demands a carnal toll for the privilege, Scarlet refuses and an inventive battle of wills ensues, with disastrous results. Scarlet is convinced that Liall is a worthless, immoral rogue, but when the hostile countryside explodes into violence and Liall unexpectedly fights to save the lives of Scarlet’s family, Scarlet is forced to admit that the Wolf is not the worst ally he could have, but what price will proud Scarlet ultimately have to pay for Liall’s friendship? (Gay Little Red Riding Hood! Ouch! I think my childhood just flinched.)

Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman
Status: On Kindle; not started.

A lonely boy walking along a highway one autumn evening meets the boy of his dreams, a boy who happens to have died decades ago and haunts the road. Awkward crushes, both bitter and sweet, lead him to face youthful dreams and childish fears. With its cast of offbeat friends, antiques, and Ouija boards, Vintage is not your typical romance but does offers readers a memorable blend of dark humor, chills and love.

Unnatural by Michael Griffo
Status: Not Bought.

Michael Howard and Ronan Glynn-Rowley meet at Archangel Academy, an all-boys school in Eden, a rural town in north western England. Both are outcasts and decried as unnatural, Michael because he’s gay, and Ronan because he’s a hybrid vampire. But when Ronan, afraid to reveal his true self to Michael, turns him into a vampire against his will, both become drawn into a dangerous new world, where traditional vampires plot to destroy hybrids, and where fellow students, teachers, even their own families have unexpected secrets… (Gay vampires! How can I resist?)

Rise of Heroes by Hayden Thorne
Status: Not Bought. I’m annoyed because this ebook isn’t available but book 2 and book 3 of the series is. Why would the first book of series not be available as an ebook but later books are? Fail Amazon!

Strange things are happening in Vintage City, and high school goth boy Eric seems to be right in the middle of them. There’s a new villain in town, one with super powers, and he’s wreaking havoc on the town, and on Eric’s life. The new super hero who springs up to defend Vintage City is almost as bad, making Eric all hot and bothered, enough so that he almost misses the love that’s right between his nose. Peter is Eric’s best friend, and even if he does seem to be hiding something most of the time, he finds a way to show Eric how he feels in between attacks on trains and banks and malls. The two boys decide to start dating, much to the chagrin of their other best buddy, Althea, who has a terrible crush on Peter, and a secret or two of her own to keep. As the fight between the villain, known as the Devil’s Trill, and superhero Magnifiman picks up, Eric’s relationship with Peter almost ends before it begins when Eric finds out about Peter’s special talents, which might just rank Peter as a superhero in his own right. When the Trill takes an interest in Eric, too, Peter and Althea, along with Magnifiman and Eric’s normal, middle-class family all have to work together to keep Eric, and their city, safe. Can they figure out the super villain’s plan in time?

Heart Sense by K.L. Richardsson
Status: Not Bought.

The only son of a traveling merchant, Katjin spends his summer in the clan lands with his grandparents. He wishes his father, his apa, would take him along, but despite the promises that someday he’ll get to go, Katjin is left behind while his apa heads away on business that seems more and more suspicious the older Kat becomes. During one such summer, Katjin finds Mikael, a lost young man, who draws Kat to him by answering his song. In a world where the Empire brands all people as either ‘paths, people with psychic talent, or as non-’paths, Mikael is remarkable in that he has no brand. Fearing that the Calvary, who are arriving to recruit new members, will find Mikael in their clan and bring the Empire’s fury down upon them, the clan sends Kat and Mikael to hide away until it is safe – along with his cousin Soren to keep them both safe. Knowing the best way to keep Mikael from being taken is to make him a member of the clan, Soren and Katjin plan a blood bonding ceremony, but they have no idea what kind of trouble they’ve started with their actions. Katjin learns soon enough that he won’t be able to escape his bond with Mikael, and that danger lurks around every corner. Danger that he never knew existed. Can he keep Mikael safe long enough to figure out exactly what their future holds?

I’ve decided to do reviews of these books, mostly because the idea of excluding a book because of subject matter makes me twitch. So, expect reviews for LGBT books to start showing up here. I’ll probably only get one or two ebooks a month to stay in budget, so they will only appear every once and a while. These should get me thought spring. I’ve challenged myself to see how many LGBT books I can read this year and how they stack up against main stream books. It will be interesting to see how male/male relationships contrast to female/male relationships in young adult and fantasy books.

Happy reading, everybody!

The ereader question and books with nontraditional characters.

I finally broke down and got an ereader, a Kindle. Now, for years I dug my heels in about getting an ereader for one very simple reason; I don’t think I should have to pay for books. I can practically hear you all frown. I know perfectly well that people buying book is how an author gets paid but the fact of the matter is that the public library system was created so that everyone would have access to books regardless of their financial situation. I don’t have the extra cash lying around to spend $20 on every book I want to read. At least with the public library system I can get books without making myself destitute. Books are a luxury item and as much as I love to read, paying the bills and getting food on the table comes first. When you are counting your metaphorical pennies to make sure you have enough for gas to get to and from work, buying books is pretty much out of the question.

At least, I can get the books that the library has available and therein lays the problem. I don’t know what system the library uses to choose books but it is very… limited, let us say. If I’m patient, I can usually get main stream and popular release books a couple of weeks after they come on the market. I’m mostly out of luck if I want something else. In the past, I’ve tried to request books and sometimes that works. Again, I have to be patient but I’m mostly waiting for months to see if my request will pan out. Sometimes my requesting and waiting is done in vain and my answer is a big, fat NO. And I’ve noticed a bit of a trend with these big, fat NO’s. Almost all of my requests for books with homosexual or transgender characters end up in refusals.

This is both annoying and disappointing since I really, really want to read these books. I find nontraditional relationships and characters to be more interesting than the humdrum and more familiar characters I see in more readily available books. Frankly, those characters are boring and if I am forced to read another book with a whiny girl or “mysterious, with some dark secret” boy I may just shoot someone, probably the authors of these cookie cutter books. My kingdom for something truly original! I’m also perfectly willing to admit that I might have a bit of a kink with homosexual or transgender characters. Oh well, nobody is perfect.

So, I broke down and got a Kindle. Well, I stole my Mom’s old one but it works just fine and serves my purposes. At least I’m not spending $80 on the cheap Kindle or, good lord, $200 on the newer touchscreen ones. I also figure that at least an ebook is cheaper than a paper book. (Although in my mind they are still too expensive. After all, it’s just data.) So I set up the old Kindle to my Amazon account, added my credit card (whimper), and spent $10 on two books I’ve wanted to read for over a year.

Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow

Scarlet of Lysia is an honest peddler, a young merchant traveling the wild, undefended roads to support his aging parents. Liall, called the Wolf of Omara, is the handsome, world-weary chieftain of a tribe of bandits blocking a mountain road that Scarlet needs to cross. When Liall jokingly demands a carnal toll for the privilege, Scarlet refuses and an inventive battle of wills ensues, with disastrous results. Scarlet is convinced that Liall is a worthless, immoral rogue, but when the hostile countryside explodes into violence and Liall unexpectedly fights to save the lives of Scarlet’s family, Scarlet is forced to admit that the Wolf is not the worst ally he could have, but what price will proud Scarlet ultimately have to pay for Liall’s friendship?

AND

Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman

A lonely boy walking along a highway one autumn evening meets the boy of his dreams, a boy who happens to have died decades ago and haunts the road. Awkward crushes, both bitter and sweet, lead him to face youthful dreams and childish fears. With its cast of offbeat friends, antiques, and Ouija boards, Vintage is not your typical romance but does offers readers a memorable blend of dark humor, chills and love.

Of course, another book I was looking at wasn’t available in ebook format. It was really weird because books 2 and 3 of the series were available in ebook format but book 1 wasn’t. I had to request it. (You have to be fucking kidding me!) So even when I have a Kindle, I can’t win. (Fail Amazon. Fail big.) I plan on only getting one or two ebooks a month. I figure that way I shouldn’t put a bent in my budget. (My Mom spent a lot of money when she first go her Kindle before she managed to rein herself in.)

Would you all be interested in seeing reviews for these books or would you rather I just stick with the YA and middle grade fantasy books I have up here now?

Wishlist Wednesday #67 (12/19/12)

Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it’s entirely up to you), that we can’t wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.

Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones
Published April 6th 2010 by HarperCollins Children’s Books

Something is rotten in the village of Melstone

Aidan Cain has had the worst week of his life. Creepy, sinister beings want him dead. What’s a boy to do? With danger nipping at his heels, Aidan flees to Melstone, a village teeming with magic of its own. There he is taken in by Andrew Hope, the new master of Melstone House, who has some supernatural troubles too. Someone is stealing power from the area–mingling magics–and chaos is swiftly rising. Are Aidan’s and Andrew’s magical dilemmas connected somehow? And will they be able to unite their powers and unlock the secrets of Melstone before the countryside comes apart at the seams?

Diana Wynne Jones is pretty much my favorite classic fantasy author and has been ever since I read Howl’s Moving Castle as a teen. Her stories are a return to pure fairytale storytelling and are always a joy to read. I made it my mission in life to read all of her books and then watch any movie that might have been created. The Studio Ghibli Howl’s Moving Castle is a masterpiece of Japanese animation. Some of DWJ’s older books are harder to find. I’ve been unable to find a copy of Witch’s Business for example and have been quietly driving myself insane for years looking for it. So, when new books come out by her they go right on the TBR list. I’ll get to all of them eventually. DWJ has been writing for longer than I’ve been alive and I need to catch up!

Book Review: Silence by Michelle Sagara (+ Excerpt)

Silence by Michelle Sagara
Published May 1st 2012 by DAW
Length: 289 pages
Genre: Paranormal, YA, Ghosts, Paranormal Romance
Reading Level: Teen
ISBN 0756407427 (ISBN 13: 9780756407421)
Goodreads | Amazon

It began in the graveyard…

Ever since her boyfriend Nathan had died in a tragic accident, Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night.  During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that’s all it was.  For Emma, life had stopped with Nathan’s death.  But tonight was different.  Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery.  There were two others there—Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags.  And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death…

Emma was not quite like others teenagers. It was true that other girls had experienced grief.  Other girls had also lost their fathers, or had their boyfriends die in a senseless accident. But though she hadn’t known it till that night in the graveyard, unlike those other girls, she could see, touch, and speak with the dead.  In fact, Emma could draw upon the essence of the dead to work magic.  That was what Necromancers did. But Emma had no desire to be a Necromancer. She just wanted to help the ghosts who walked the streets of Toronto, unable to escape from the land of the living.  And that was just as well, because had she chosen the path of the Necromancer, Eric would have had to kill her.

Instead, Eric and his fellow Necromancer hunter Chase found themselves violating every rule they were sworn to follow, becoming part of Emma’s group, helping her to stand against those who preyed upon the dead.  But whether Emma and her friends could survive such a battle was anyone’s guess.  And whether Emma could learn to use the magic of the dead against her enemies without herself falling victim to the lure of such power remained to be seen.  Eric seemed to think she could, and her living friends would never abandon her.  But only time would tell what Emma’s true destiny was…

I was running through the suggestions on Goodreads for books to read in October and ran across Silence by Michelle Sagara. I have a love/hate relationship with paranormal romance. In that I love the paranormal but am not all that fond of the young adult romance pattern. In that it’s often annoying and follows a certain set of clichés that I am quickly becoming tired of. But Silence by Michelle Sagara surprised me. Her romance is a tad different and very refreshing. You see, Emma’s boyfriend is dead and while there is a boy presented as a potential love interest, Eric, Emma’s feeling don’t move that way because she is still morning her boyfriend. There is also the potential for a love triangle with the introduction of another boy, Chase, that fails to develop and makes me so glad. Silence is a YA story without the silly romance angle and it works so flawlessly.

Along with the refreshing take on romance, there is the paranormal angle of the story. Emma can see dead people, which is a common trait in paranormal stories, but on top of that Emma has set of powers beyond just seeing ghosts. She is a necromancer, able to do magic by using the strength of the souls of the dead. The complete mechanics of being a necromancer are not clearly spelled out in Silence. I’ve never seen necromancy used before and I’m looking forward to the sequel and hopefully having the magical system more explained. Emma is, of course, a very special cookie among special cookies. Other necromancers use their powers for evil but Emma seems to be the only one of her kind with empathy and wants nothing to do with her powers over the dead. Which is good, since Eric and Chase would have to kill her if she did. (Let’s pause and cringe over this cliché; because of course Emma is the only necromancer to ever have a good heart and nobody else would ever think using the power of souls for your own purposes would be bad. Cringe, wince. End rant.)

Eric and Chase belong to some sort of shadow organization that hunts the necromancers. Not a lot is known about them, something else that is not fully explained, but we do know that Eric is going against orders in not killing Emma and that Eric himself has a dark past. He has an involvement beyond just being a hunter. I’m just happy that Emma and Eric aren’t suddenly falling all over each other. Emma keeps her head and is much more focused than most teenaged character in YA books. I adore her because while I can accept a young character being inexperienced and naive, I cannot accept somebody being stupid. I often get stupid in YA books. I love the main characters and I’m pleased that there is an autistic character that is well portrayed and deeply involved in the story, not just a throwaway character. Amy annoys me but the “super popular and bossy without really knowing it” character always do. Silence has an exceptional set of characters. Everyone in this book has a secret they are not sharing, dead and living. Eric is somehow connected with the necromancer leader and even Emma’s deceased father knows something about why Emma has her powers that he’s not sharing.

I have to take a moment to talk about the cover. It’s your usual YA cover. There is a young woman in a fancy evening dress in a cemetery with a lantern that is the wrong color. The lantern in the book is described as blue with an orange light. The lantern on the cover is purple. I just thought that was funny. Silence by Michelle Sagara impressed me enough that I chose it as my giveaway book for October. It was a refreshing YA read that managed to miss my biggest pet peeve. I will definitely be reading the sequel, Touch.

Rating: 4.5 out 5

Excerpt from Silence by Michelle Sagara.

An old woman was watching her. An old woman. Emma was accustomed to thinking of half of her teachers as “old”, and probably a handful as “ancient” or “mummified.” Not a single one of them wore age the way this woman did. In fact, given the wreath of sagging wrinkles that was her skin, Emma wasn’t certain that she was a woman. Her cheeks were sunken, and her eyes were set so deep they might as well have just been sockets; her hair, what there was of it, was white tufts, too stringy to suggest down. She had no teeth, or seemed to have no teeth; hell, she didn’t have lips, either.

Emma couldn’t stop herself from taking a step back.

The old woman took a step forward.

She wore rags. Emma had heard that description before. She had even seen it in a movie or two. Neither experience prepared her for this. There wasn’t a single piece of cloth that was bigger than a napkin, although the assembly hung together in the vague shape of a dress. Or a bag. The orange light that the blue lantern emitted caught the edges of different colors, but they were muted, dead things. Like fallen leaves. Like corpses.

“Emma?”

Emma took another step back. “Eric, tell her to stop.” She tried to keep her voice even. She tried to keep it polite. It was hard. If the stranger’s slightly open, sunken mouth had uttered words, she would have been less terrifying. But, in silence, the old woman teetered across graves as if she’d just risen from one and counted it as nothing.

Emma backed up. The old woman kept coming. Everything moved slowly, everything – except for Emma’s breathing – was quiet. The quiet of a graveyard. Emma tried to speak, tried to ask the old woman what she wanted, but her throat was too dry, and all the came out was an alto squeak. She took another step and ran into a headstone; she felt the back of it, cold, against her thighs. Standing against a short, narrow wall, Emma threw her hands out in front of her.

The old woman pressed the lantern into those hands. Emma felt the sides of it collapse slightly as her hands gripped them, changing the shape of the brushstrokes and squiggles. It was cold against her palms. Cold like ice, cold like winter days when you inhaled and the air froze your nostrils.

She cried out in shock and opened her hands, but the lantern clung to her palms, and no amount of shaking would free them. She tried hard, but she couldn’t watch what she was doing because old, wrinkled claws shot out like cobras, sudden, skeletal, and gripped Emma’s cheeks and jaw, the way Emma’s hands now gripped the lantern.

Emma felt her face being pulled down, down toward the old woman’s, and she tried to pull back, tried to straighten her neck. But she couldn’t. All the old stories she’d heard in camp, or in her father’s lap, came to her then, and even though this woman clearly had no teeth, Emma thought of vampires.

But it wasn’t Emma’s neck that the old woman wanted, she pulled Emma’s whole face toward her, and then Emma felt – and smelled – unpleasant, endless breath, dry as dust but somehow rank as dead and rotting flesh, as the old woman opened her mouth. Emma shut her eyes as the face, its nested lines of wrinkles so like a fractal, drew closer and closer.

She felt lips, what might have been lips, press themselves against the thin membranes of her eyelids, and she whimpered. It wasn’t the sound she wanted to make; it was just the only sound she could. And then even that was gone as those same lips, with that same breath, pressed firmly and completely against Emma’s mouth.

Like a night kiss.

She tried to open her eyes, but the night was all black, and there was no moon, and it was so damn cold. And as she felt that cold overwhelm her, she thought it unfair that this would be her last kiss, this unwanted horror; that the memory of Nathans hands and Nathan’s lips were not the ones she would carry to the grave.