Mini Book Reviews
Summer is for reading, and this year I got back to my YA roots. Now that my computer's repaired I can finally type these up!
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
This is a very good book. I wasn't sure I liked what the author was doing until about page 50, when the book started to get really good, and kept on getting better. On the strength of the first half of the book, while still reading the rest, I got a copy for my sister for her birthday because I knew she would love the stuff about flying small planes: plane types, controls, the art of navigation, the thrill of flying. I liked it a lot myself. I also thought she would love the two main characters and their friendship, the centre of the book. Yay!
I liked the very interesting stuff about operating early radar systems and the methods of British wartime spies and French Resistance Circuits. Interesting, and never done in a Let me tell you these things I know! way, but a seamless part of the story. Elizabeth Wein walks the difficult line between making the Nazi characters human while not diminishing the tiniest bit the horror of what they are doing.
Female pilots and spies may have been the exception rather than the rule during World War II, but exceptional courage and self-sacrifice and friendship were not. Reading this book gave me a renewed appreciation for what my grandparents' generation went through.
Keeping The Castle by Patrice Kindl
My favourite parts of this book were whenever Mr. Fredericks was 'onscreen.' I enjoyed how terribly hard he tried, and how he was both fail-y and awesome on his steep but sharp learning curve!
This original take on Pride & Prejudice seemed to be: Conducting something as personal as love and marriage as a one-shot only, life or death business transaction, massively screws up not only the teenagers being married off but their parents. Which, yeah. You know, I'm still not sure how I feel about this book so you read it and tell me!
Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan
Lots of fun snark aimed at Twilight here! I loved Kit and liked Cathy quite a lot by the end, but my favourite was Camille, the sensible, capable vampire cop and Kit's awesome Mom.
I liked the last third of the book best because it was full of scenes that moved me. There's a 'coming out' scene. Turning into a vampire works as a metaphor for undergoing sex reassignment therapy. Characters confront their prejudices and fears, reach for open-mindedness and tolerance; learn to respect the right of loved ones to make their own decisions, to support them even through the fear of loss. Good stuff.
Verdigris Deep by Frances Hardinge
Really great, completely original, take on superpowers. And more depth and subtlety than I was expecting on the nature of human desires vs. needs and about the nuances in relationships. I really enjoyed Verdigris Deep and was intrigued by Frances Hardinge.
Gullstruck Island by Frances Hardinge
I wanted to read more from Frances Hardinge, and on osprey-archer's rec I tried Gullstruck Island. I whole-heartedly admired the imaginative world-building in this one. Wow! I was kept eagerly flipping pages by her intricate, puzzle-piece plot and her large and lively cast of characters. She put them through a lot! I finished the book hoping for a long holiday with lots of rest and hugs for all of them, especially the brave, clever, long-suffering heroine!
I read Frances Hardinge because I'd seen her books compared to Diana Wynne Jones and Margaret Mahy on Livejournal. What more reason do you need!! Livejournal was quite right, and as I read I was making my own comparisons.
Frances Hardinge has Diana Wynne Jones' love of researching myths and folktales and then reworking them in her own stories in new and unexpected ways. She shares Margaret Mahy's talent for writing especially vivid descriptions, bits of which- images or whole sentences- stick with me for years. All three of them write about similar themes: family, friendship, growing up, discovering and embracing one's potential. Themes that have always worked for me, no matter what age.
These writers have this gorgeous sense of completely unexpected magic in the midst of everyday domestic life. While the familiarity of relationships with family or friends grounds all of the moments of their fantastic adventures, making them intimate and personal. Their stories are about characters who are as fortunate to have amazing powers and the best magical adventures as they are to have a loving, imperfect family at home with them, or good friends by their side.
Finally, these writers avoid repetition like the plague! They don't do series. Sometimes a world or universe is used for more than one book, but the characters and plot are always, always original and inventive. Verdigris Deep was entirely different from Gullstruck Island. I know I'll be reading more from Frances Hardinge in the future.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
This is a very good book. I wasn't sure I liked what the author was doing until about page 50, when the book started to get really good, and kept on getting better. On the strength of the first half of the book, while still reading the rest, I got a copy for my sister for her birthday because I knew she would love the stuff about flying small planes: plane types, controls, the art of navigation, the thrill of flying. I liked it a lot myself. I also thought she would love the two main characters and their friendship, the centre of the book. Yay!
I liked the very interesting stuff about operating early radar systems and the methods of British wartime spies and French Resistance Circuits. Interesting, and never done in a Let me tell you these things I know! way, but a seamless part of the story. Elizabeth Wein walks the difficult line between making the Nazi characters human while not diminishing the tiniest bit the horror of what they are doing.
Female pilots and spies may have been the exception rather than the rule during World War II, but exceptional courage and self-sacrifice and friendship were not. Reading this book gave me a renewed appreciation for what my grandparents' generation went through.
Keeping The Castle by Patrice Kindl
My favourite parts of this book were whenever Mr. Fredericks was 'onscreen.' I enjoyed how terribly hard he tried, and how he was both fail-y and awesome on his steep but sharp learning curve!
This original take on Pride & Prejudice seemed to be: Conducting something as personal as love and marriage as a one-shot only, life or death business transaction, massively screws up not only the teenagers being married off but their parents. Which, yeah. You know, I'm still not sure how I feel about this book so you read it and tell me!
Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan
Lots of fun snark aimed at Twilight here! I loved Kit and liked Cathy quite a lot by the end, but my favourite was Camille, the sensible, capable vampire cop and Kit's awesome Mom.
I liked the last third of the book best because it was full of scenes that moved me. There's a 'coming out' scene. Turning into a vampire works as a metaphor for undergoing sex reassignment therapy. Characters confront their prejudices and fears, reach for open-mindedness and tolerance; learn to respect the right of loved ones to make their own decisions, to support them even through the fear of loss. Good stuff.
Verdigris Deep by Frances Hardinge
Really great, completely original, take on superpowers. And more depth and subtlety than I was expecting on the nature of human desires vs. needs and about the nuances in relationships. I really enjoyed Verdigris Deep and was intrigued by Frances Hardinge.
Gullstruck Island by Frances Hardinge
I wanted to read more from Frances Hardinge, and on osprey-archer's rec I tried Gullstruck Island. I whole-heartedly admired the imaginative world-building in this one. Wow! I was kept eagerly flipping pages by her intricate, puzzle-piece plot and her large and lively cast of characters. She put them through a lot! I finished the book hoping for a long holiday with lots of rest and hugs for all of them, especially the brave, clever, long-suffering heroine!
I read Frances Hardinge because I'd seen her books compared to Diana Wynne Jones and Margaret Mahy on Livejournal. What more reason do you need!! Livejournal was quite right, and as I read I was making my own comparisons.
Frances Hardinge has Diana Wynne Jones' love of researching myths and folktales and then reworking them in her own stories in new and unexpected ways. She shares Margaret Mahy's talent for writing especially vivid descriptions, bits of which- images or whole sentences- stick with me for years. All three of them write about similar themes: family, friendship, growing up, discovering and embracing one's potential. Themes that have always worked for me, no matter what age.
These writers have this gorgeous sense of completely unexpected magic in the midst of everyday domestic life. While the familiarity of relationships with family or friends grounds all of the moments of their fantastic adventures, making them intimate and personal. Their stories are about characters who are as fortunate to have amazing powers and the best magical adventures as they are to have a loving, imperfect family at home with them, or good friends by their side.
Finally, these writers avoid repetition like the plague! They don't do series. Sometimes a world or universe is used for more than one book, but the characters and plot are always, always original and inventive. Verdigris Deep was entirely different from Gullstruck Island. I know I'll be reading more from Frances Hardinge in the future.