Books Read: January 2011
Aaaaahhhh, a new year of reading. This will be a big, busy reading year for me, since I'm now on the Morris Award Committee (starting this February!) and will be reading tons of YA debut novels, and of course I'm still reviewing YA (and sometimes adult SF/F) for Booklist. I'll do my best to keep up with posting my reading reactions here, but I make no promises. (Not that I ever do. Aside from my job, I can't keep up a regular schedule unless I were to have someone poking me with a stick every day, reminding me to do stuff. And this someone would have to poke hard, too.) I think I can handle a sentence or two for each book, with longer reviews for the ones I am sufficiently motivated to discuss in more length (however long it takes me to actually post them).
So, here's the list of books read in January:
1. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, by Lish McBride. YA Paranormal. 5 stars. This hysterical, scary, offbeat story about a slacker discovering his necromancer powers and coming into conflict with an rich, polished, and established (also, crazy) necromancer over a silly turf dispute would have been on my top 2010 list if I had read it a little earlier. God, I loved this book so much I bought it on my Kindle so I could read it again right away. I keep meaning to write a long review of it, if only so I can quote some of my favorite sections and lines of dialog. It's so different from most YA paranormals right now, and so . . . just awesome.
2. Dreadnought (Clockwork Century, Book Three?), by Cherie Priest. Alternate History/SF/Horror. 4 stars. I haven't read the novella, Clementine, which is apparently considered to be Book Two, but that hardly matters -- all of the Clockwork Century books are loosely connected, and I think you can read them independently of each other. I didn't think this was as scary or as interesting a premise as Boneshaker, but everything I liked about it was here, too: the (alternate) historical details, the kick-ass heroines with agency, the zombies . . . well, okay, not as many of them here, but Mercy's cross-country train ride doesn't suffer thrills or chills for their absence.
**3. Enclave (Razorland, Book One), by Ann Aguirre. YA Dystopia. Read ARC. 4 stars. I'm getting tired of teen dystopias, but I really enjoyed this one. Brief review here (Goodreads link).
**4. Angelfire (Angelfire, Book One), by Courtney Allison Moulton. YA Paranormal. Read ARC. 2.5 stars. Are angels the new vampires, or what? While there are parts of this series start I liked (the angel/reaper mythology; the slow way Ellie breaks in her new powers; the fight scenes, mostly), overall I wasn't impressed with the writing (woah with the adverbs, adjectives, and redundant phrasing) or the romance between Ellie and Will, and I thought the entire thing followed Buffy the Vampire Slayer (especially in the first season) way too closely. Way. Too. Closely. Only, it wasn't funny or meaningful. Actually, sometimes I wanted to throw this book across the room, but I think it will be popular regardless, and I'll give the second book a chance to see if Ellie ever becomes as independent as she has the potential to be.
5. Mind Games (Disillusionists, Book One), by Carolyn Crane. Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy. 3.5 stars. I bought this on my Kindle on a whim and read it in a day. It was fun and different. Brief review here (Goodreads link).
6. Silver City (Silver Sequence, Book Two), by Cliff McNish. Juv SF. 2.5 stars. So, when I read Savannah Grey in December, I realized I never finished McNish's Silver Sequence (I read the first one, The Silver Child, years and years ago), so I decided to do that. I have to say, McNish writes weird, weird stuff that is still mostly accessible -- he does the "character-undergoing-strange-disturbing-transformation-in-order-to-fight-mythic-Lovecraftian-evil" better than anyone. (He did it in Savannah Grey, too.)
7. Silver World (Silver Sequence, Book Three), by Cliff McNish. Juv SF. 2.5 stars. I don't think I would have finished this one if I hadn't wanted to know how McNish was going to tie up all his crazily mutated characters and the worldwide effects of these mutations. It was okay. For pure originality, you can't beat McNish's ideas, but otherwise, characterization is stiff, kind of bland, and plotting is haphazard on whether it makes sense or not. I wasn't a fan of the non-ending here.
**8. The Limping Man (Salt, Book Three), by Maurice Gee. YA Fantasy/Dystopia. Read ARC. 3.5 stars. The Salt series (Salt and Gool are the first two) is also a really different series. Each one is linked loosely to the others, usually through side characters, but each tells its own story with a new character at the forefront. There's hardly any romance, and what is there is understated; the world-building is simple but evocative; and each one manages to be both scary and thought-provoking. This one is my favorite because of the villain, The Limping Man, and the reveal of where his true powers come from (trust me, it's totally gross, creepy, and awesome). This series won't fly off the shelves but I hope they at least find a small, appreciative audience.
**9. The Horn of Moran (Adventurers Wanted, Book Two), by M.L. Forman. Juv Fantasy. Read ARC (sort of). 2 stars. I actually declined reviewing this one, because I couldn't think of anything good to say that wasn't also a backhanded compliment. I enjoyed parts of the first in the series, despite the many, many problems I had with everything else (plot, character, setting, etc.) but those few things were missing in this one.
10. The Candidates (Delcroix Academy, Book One), by Inara Scott. YA Paranormal. 3.5 stars. Oh, look, another YA book where the main character has super-special powers, attends a super-special boarding school where not everything is as it seems, is surrounded by shady adults, and has a love triangle between a bad boy with a good heart and a good boy whose motives are suspect. Despite my snotty summary, though, I enjoyed this book and will read the second. It's competently written, the triangle is done pretty well (well enough for me to be on a Team, as in Team Jack over Team Creepy Cam), and I'm curious to see where the story is going to go after Dancia is inducted into the school's secret organization. Well, so, sometimes the formula works well.
11. Mercury, by Hope Larson. YA Graphic Novel. 3 stars. I read this in one sitting while at work -- it's an interesting idea, connecting the past and present through a family's farmhouse, an inherited necklace, and a doomed romance, but it feels kind of simple in execution. Maybe that's because of the format, but I've seen graphic novels do more with less, so I don't know. The artwork is much more effective and nuanced, and Larson did a great job differentiating between past and present. This is one of those more literary graphic novels that I always want teens to read but have a hard time getting them to check out.
12. Plain Kate, by Erin Bow. Juv/YA Fantasy. 5 stars. This bittersweet fairy tale follows Plain Kate as she trades her shadow to a trickster witch for her heart's desire (which is to not be alone and, when granted, leads to her cat Taggle learning to talk), and subsequently realizes the dreadful plans she put in motion by doing so. The world is apparently based on Russian folklore, and so the story is much darker and more violent than the cover would lead you to believe, but it's a beautiful book, just beautiful, mournful and uplifting at the same time. Loved it.
**Booklist reviews.
Best book I read this month: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, for pure crazy goodness. Plain Kate is the runner-up. It's kind of funny because these two books could not be more different, but they both do their genres (horror/comedy; fairy tale) so well. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is, like, the Slither of books; and Plain Kate is . . . hmmm, the first film that pops into mind is Pan's Labyrinth, though that's much darker.
Worst book I read this month: The Horn of Moran, for making main character Alex even more insufferably Marty-Stui-sh than before.
So, here's the list of books read in January:
1. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, by Lish McBride. YA Paranormal. 5 stars. This hysterical, scary, offbeat story about a slacker discovering his necromancer powers and coming into conflict with an rich, polished, and established (also, crazy) necromancer over a silly turf dispute would have been on my top 2010 list if I had read it a little earlier. God, I loved this book so much I bought it on my Kindle so I could read it again right away. I keep meaning to write a long review of it, if only so I can quote some of my favorite sections and lines of dialog. It's so different from most YA paranormals right now, and so . . . just awesome.
2. Dreadnought (Clockwork Century, Book Three?), by Cherie Priest. Alternate History/SF/Horror. 4 stars. I haven't read the novella, Clementine, which is apparently considered to be Book Two, but that hardly matters -- all of the Clockwork Century books are loosely connected, and I think you can read them independently of each other. I didn't think this was as scary or as interesting a premise as Boneshaker, but everything I liked about it was here, too: the (alternate) historical details, the kick-ass heroines with agency, the zombies . . . well, okay, not as many of them here, but Mercy's cross-country train ride doesn't suffer thrills or chills for their absence.
**3. Enclave (Razorland, Book One), by Ann Aguirre. YA Dystopia. Read ARC. 4 stars. I'm getting tired of teen dystopias, but I really enjoyed this one. Brief review here (Goodreads link).
**4. Angelfire (Angelfire, Book One), by Courtney Allison Moulton. YA Paranormal. Read ARC. 2.5 stars. Are angels the new vampires, or what? While there are parts of this series start I liked (the angel/reaper mythology; the slow way Ellie breaks in her new powers; the fight scenes, mostly), overall I wasn't impressed with the writing (woah with the adverbs, adjectives, and redundant phrasing) or the romance between Ellie and Will, and I thought the entire thing followed Buffy the Vampire Slayer (especially in the first season) way too closely. Way. Too. Closely. Only, it wasn't funny or meaningful. Actually, sometimes I wanted to throw this book across the room, but I think it will be popular regardless, and I'll give the second book a chance to see if Ellie ever becomes as independent as she has the potential to be.
5. Mind Games (Disillusionists, Book One), by Carolyn Crane. Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy. 3.5 stars. I bought this on my Kindle on a whim and read it in a day. It was fun and different. Brief review here (Goodreads link).
6. Silver City (Silver Sequence, Book Two), by Cliff McNish. Juv SF. 2.5 stars. So, when I read Savannah Grey in December, I realized I never finished McNish's Silver Sequence (I read the first one, The Silver Child, years and years ago), so I decided to do that. I have to say, McNish writes weird, weird stuff that is still mostly accessible -- he does the "character-undergoing-strange-disturbing-transformation-in-order-to-fight-mythic-Lovecraftian-evil" better than anyone. (He did it in Savannah Grey, too.)
7. Silver World (Silver Sequence, Book Three), by Cliff McNish. Juv SF. 2.5 stars. I don't think I would have finished this one if I hadn't wanted to know how McNish was going to tie up all his crazily mutated characters and the worldwide effects of these mutations. It was okay. For pure originality, you can't beat McNish's ideas, but otherwise, characterization is stiff, kind of bland, and plotting is haphazard on whether it makes sense or not. I wasn't a fan of the non-ending here.
**8. The Limping Man (Salt, Book Three), by Maurice Gee. YA Fantasy/Dystopia. Read ARC. 3.5 stars. The Salt series (Salt and Gool are the first two) is also a really different series. Each one is linked loosely to the others, usually through side characters, but each tells its own story with a new character at the forefront. There's hardly any romance, and what is there is understated; the world-building is simple but evocative; and each one manages to be both scary and thought-provoking. This one is my favorite because of the villain, The Limping Man, and the reveal of where his true powers come from (trust me, it's totally gross, creepy, and awesome). This series won't fly off the shelves but I hope they at least find a small, appreciative audience.
**9. The Horn of Moran (Adventurers Wanted, Book Two), by M.L. Forman. Juv Fantasy. Read ARC (sort of). 2 stars. I actually declined reviewing this one, because I couldn't think of anything good to say that wasn't also a backhanded compliment. I enjoyed parts of the first in the series, despite the many, many problems I had with everything else (plot, character, setting, etc.) but those few things were missing in this one.
10. The Candidates (Delcroix Academy, Book One), by Inara Scott. YA Paranormal. 3.5 stars. Oh, look, another YA book where the main character has super-special powers, attends a super-special boarding school where not everything is as it seems, is surrounded by shady adults, and has a love triangle between a bad boy with a good heart and a good boy whose motives are suspect. Despite my snotty summary, though, I enjoyed this book and will read the second. It's competently written, the triangle is done pretty well (well enough for me to be on a Team, as in Team Jack over Team Creepy Cam), and I'm curious to see where the story is going to go after Dancia is inducted into the school's secret organization. Well, so, sometimes the formula works well.
11. Mercury, by Hope Larson. YA Graphic Novel. 3 stars. I read this in one sitting while at work -- it's an interesting idea, connecting the past and present through a family's farmhouse, an inherited necklace, and a doomed romance, but it feels kind of simple in execution. Maybe that's because of the format, but I've seen graphic novels do more with less, so I don't know. The artwork is much more effective and nuanced, and Larson did a great job differentiating between past and present. This is one of those more literary graphic novels that I always want teens to read but have a hard time getting them to check out.
12. Plain Kate, by Erin Bow. Juv/YA Fantasy. 5 stars. This bittersweet fairy tale follows Plain Kate as she trades her shadow to a trickster witch for her heart's desire (which is to not be alone and, when granted, leads to her cat Taggle learning to talk), and subsequently realizes the dreadful plans she put in motion by doing so. The world is apparently based on Russian folklore, and so the story is much darker and more violent than the cover would lead you to believe, but it's a beautiful book, just beautiful, mournful and uplifting at the same time. Loved it.
**Booklist reviews.
Best book I read this month: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, for pure crazy goodness. Plain Kate is the runner-up. It's kind of funny because these two books could not be more different, but they both do their genres (horror/comedy; fairy tale) so well. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is, like, the Slither of books; and Plain Kate is . . . hmmm, the first film that pops into mind is Pan's Labyrinth, though that's much darker.
Worst book I read this month: The Horn of Moran, for making main character Alex even more insufferably Marty-Stui-sh than before.