book reviews #1 - #3
Over the past week I've read three different books (which quite a feat for me because I think I might've managed three different books throughout all of last year - although they were all YA books, so none of them were terribly long or heavy-going) and... where was I going with this sentence. Full stops, Vix, they are your friend. RIGHT, three different books. So I thought I'd post about them, because I know a lot of you like to read, and I love getting people into new books that they might not have tried or known about otherwise :DD I'm going to do my best to keep any major spoilers out, but despite my hatred of spoilers, I'm pretty bad at avoiding them completely myself, so there'll probably be small spoilers within. I'll try and keep them unimportant, though!
The first was Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough, and the blurb goes like this..
"They can't stay here. They mustn't stay here."
When Cora and her little sister Mimi are sent to stay with their great-aunt in the isolated village of Bryers Guerdon, they receive a less than warm welcome, and are desperate to go back to London. But Auntie Ida's life was devastated the last time two young girls were at Guerdon Hall, and now her nieces' arrival has reawoken an evil that has lain waiting for years.
A haunting voice in an emprt room... A strange, scarred man lurking in the graveyard... Mysterious words, scrawled on the walls of the abandoned church... Along with oger and Peter, two young village boys, Cora must uncover the horrifying truth that has held Bryers Guerdon in its dark grip for centuries - befoe it is too late for Mimi.
The text on the back cover (because the blurb was on the inside of the dust jacket) is some pretty chilling lyrics from a song in the book - I'm guessing it's supposed to be a little like a lullaby or a nursery rhyme, sung in that kind of soft, lilting tone that most nursery rhymes are.
Said my Lord to my Lady,
As he mounted his horse:
'Beware of Long Lankin
That lives in the moss.'
Said my Lord to my Lady,
As he rode away:
'Beware of Long Lankin
That lives in the hay.
'Let the doors all be bolted
And the windows all pinned,
And leave not a hole
For a mouse to creep in.'
The doors were all bolted
And the windows all pinned,
Except one little crack
Where Long Lankin crept in.
Eeschk. So I saw some pretty positive opinions about this on one of the discussion boards at work (I work in a bookstore that is part of a big chain, in case you didn't know 8D) and when a copy came in to the store, I read the lullaby on the back and had to read it. I was going to buy it - grudgingly, because it's still hardback and about £12 - but managed to get a copy from the publisher instead 8D Oh, the perks of being a Bookseller. Then by 4am the next morning, I'd devoured it >_>
When I saw that people were calling it 'spine-chilling' and 'nightmareish' I sort of disregarded that, to be honest, because I'm used to being let down by YA books that are described as such. But not in this case. The reason I was up until 4am finishing it wasn't only because it was so good - I also didn't trust myself to have a peaceful night's sleep unless I found out how it ended. It has some pretty disturbing content for a kid's book, although it did focus on the one thing that scares me the most in horror stories/movies/etc - the relentless creature that just keeps on coming no matter what you do. The thing that you know is slowly but surely making its way towards you, and eventually it will find you.
The first glimpse of Long Lankin is very slight, an impression in the darkness that allows your own mind to fill in the gaps and to make him as horrifying as he needs to be without relying on too much of the author's own description - smart, really. The best (and worst) kind of monsters are the ones you create for yourselves. By the time we do finally get a proper description of him, he's already horrifying enough, and the information she gives just makes him worse.
I was really, really impressed by the way it was written. It's written from three different points of view, all in first person - Cora, the elder sister, Roger, the friend, and Ida, the elderly aunt - which often switch in the middle of a scene, sometimes only for a few sentences, but it's done so well anf they all have such different voices that I barely even noticed the change, and could follow along perfectly well with whose eyes I was looking through. Being set in the 1950s seemed perfect for the genre too - just modern enough for kids not to feel alienated by the differences in lifestyle, but just the right setting for... well, just about everything. The plot is really nicely paced too, giving away just enough to keep you gripped and needing to find out more about what's going on in this place, and just enough to allow you to figure out for yourself what's going on just before the characters confirm it for you.
In short, I was impressed XD Although at night for a few days afterwards I was leaving the lights on, worried that a pale hand with long, sharp nails would appear around a doorframe or windowsill >_> Which I suppose means the book did a good job! XD;;
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Next up is Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. I was a little dubious about reading this one because of its content, but I'd been sent a copy by the publisher and the colleagues on the discussion board I'd seen talking about it praised it pretty highly, so I thought I may as well give it a try.
Here's the blurb:
She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future.
And now they have fallen in love.
But...
They are brother and sister.
Forbidden will take you on an extraordinary emotional journey. Passionate and shocking, this is a book you will remember long after you have put it down.
I'll admit, I was intrigued. And boy, was that blurb telling the truth.
I've been staring at this for a long time now, trying to put my thoughts into words. It was such a fantastic book. I thought it was beautifully written for a YA novel - the descriptive content was startlingly vivid, even though I'm not normally the kind of person who enjoys reading too much description, and the depth of emotion the author covered was... surprisingly well done. Often, especially with YA novels, I find they struggle to convey emotions well because they're aiming for a younger audience and authors often don't quite seem able to put things into quite the right words. It's something I found with I Am Number Four; most of the time the story was focusing on the romance, it was just that little bit too over-the-top, too much for the characters and it made me feel uncomfortable and irritated that they weren't just getting back to the regular plot already. But with this... it was extreme, it was terribly, horribly extreme, what these two kids were feeling, but it was covered so beautifully that it didn't seem at all odd.
The author introduces you to their family and the friendship these two siblings share, the burdens they've been forced to share together and the relationship that has inevitably developed between them before ever even touching on the subject of incest. The first half of the book is spent letting you into their life together, helping you to understand their situation until it feels natural for them to have gravitated towards one another, until it doesn't seem at all odd that they've forged a bond far deeper than any normal brother and sister ever should.
There is a lot of emotive description throughout, masses of it, but it never once drags the pace down despite the extremity of it. Lochan, the brother, has some kind of severe social anxiety disorder, and at one point we experience a panic attack through his eyes. I've never had one myself, so I have absolutely no idea what they're like, but it felt real, it felt like I imagine it could feel were I not just reading words on a page. The progression of their relationship, their family's situation, everything, I really can't stress enough how normal it seemed. I keep saying the book makes things normal, natural, but it's far from boring, and I really, really struggled to put it down.
I just can't tell you how much I adore this book, I can't find the words. I've cried at fanfic, but I can't remember the last time a book made me sob like that, or feel for the characters so much. I totally fell in love with all five children in that family, even (eventually) the horrible, bratty teenager and, just like the crying, I can't remember the last time that's happened either.
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And finally~ Breathe: A Ghost Story by Cliff McNish. After those two books, it's tough to be impressed, but I'm not sure if I was a little disappointed because the other two were so good, or because this one just wasn't to the standard I was expecting. It wasn't bad by any means; the story itself was interesting, it just wasn't as plotty as Long Lankin and wasn't as emotive and well written as Forbidden.
Anyway, this is the blurb :D
Jack is used to danger. His asthma has nearly killed him more than once. But his new home has a danger he's never known before - the spirits of the dead.
They can't breathe.
But in Jack's house they can
chase
hide
scream.
Only Jack can see them. Only he can hear them. And only he can learn their secrets in time to save his mother - and himself...
The blurb was enough to grab me, although I suppose that's the point. It's a shame the book itself never quite lived up to how creepy the back (And the testimonial on the back that claimed it was 'wonderfully spine-chilling') promised.
The story itself is about Jack, a young boy, his mother, and the five ghosts living in their house - four small children, and an older mother they call 'Old Weepy'. The testimonial on the back claims it's 'a true ghost story', and it is, insofar as it's a story, about ghosts. More about the ghosts than the humans, but to be honest, that's about it. The plot was interesting enough, and developed gradually, and when the big ~main event~ happened, I had a moment of 'oh holy shit', but then it kind of fizzled out. Then, the prelude to the climax arrived towards the end, and again, the idea was pretty terrible, but it wasn't executed in a way that scared or worried me too much. It's hard to explain what I mean, to be honest - even the climax itself and the ending both seemed a little something-of-nothing. The plot was there, the ideas were there, I just wasn't sucked into it at all. I think that's probably the fault of the other two books being so much better, but really, that still makes this one substandard by comparison.
I guess, after being promised something really creepy, I just felt let down. I probably won't bother to read any of his other books too, which is a shame because they could be better than this.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
...I'll be very surprised if anyone actually read all that XD I hardly ever write down my thoughts about books properly though, at least no further than whether I enjoyed it or not, but I wanted to start, and figured three books in a row was more than enough to begin with!
I'm not sure what I've got to read next - my other half keeps pushing the first Wheel of Time book into my hands (Which I'm already half way through), but I'm struggling to get into big, heavy books like that which don't have the speed of plot progression I've grown used to reading fanfic and kid's books xD; I... want to ask for recommendations but am nervous to add even more books to my ever-expanding list of unread titles XD But if you've gotten this far, then I would love to hear of any childrens/young adult books you love! (Sticking to those for now, because I work in the kids books department, so they're the most relevant to me) ♥
Leaving this public, in case I decide to share it anywhere else :)
(By the way! Still selling stuff at myxstorie_sales >_>; shameless, who?)
The first was Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough, and the blurb goes like this..
"They can't stay here. They mustn't stay here."
When Cora and her little sister Mimi are sent to stay with their great-aunt in the isolated village of Bryers Guerdon, they receive a less than warm welcome, and are desperate to go back to London. But Auntie Ida's life was devastated the last time two young girls were at Guerdon Hall, and now her nieces' arrival has reawoken an evil that has lain waiting for years.
A haunting voice in an emprt room... A strange, scarred man lurking in the graveyard... Mysterious words, scrawled on the walls of the abandoned church... Along with oger and Peter, two young village boys, Cora must uncover the horrifying truth that has held Bryers Guerdon in its dark grip for centuries - befoe it is too late for Mimi.
The text on the back cover (because the blurb was on the inside of the dust jacket) is some pretty chilling lyrics from a song in the book - I'm guessing it's supposed to be a little like a lullaby or a nursery rhyme, sung in that kind of soft, lilting tone that most nursery rhymes are.
Said my Lord to my Lady,
As he mounted his horse:
'Beware of Long Lankin
That lives in the moss.'
Said my Lord to my Lady,
As he rode away:
'Beware of Long Lankin
That lives in the hay.
'Let the doors all be bolted
And the windows all pinned,
And leave not a hole
For a mouse to creep in.'
The doors were all bolted
And the windows all pinned,
Except one little crack
Where Long Lankin crept in.
Eeschk. So I saw some pretty positive opinions about this on one of the discussion boards at work (I work in a bookstore that is part of a big chain, in case you didn't know 8D) and when a copy came in to the store, I read the lullaby on the back and had to read it. I was going to buy it - grudgingly, because it's still hardback and about £12 - but managed to get a copy from the publisher instead 8D Oh, the perks of being a Bookseller. Then by 4am the next morning, I'd devoured it >_>
When I saw that people were calling it 'spine-chilling' and 'nightmareish' I sort of disregarded that, to be honest, because I'm used to being let down by YA books that are described as such. But not in this case. The reason I was up until 4am finishing it wasn't only because it was so good - I also didn't trust myself to have a peaceful night's sleep unless I found out how it ended. It has some pretty disturbing content for a kid's book, although it did focus on the one thing that scares me the most in horror stories/movies/etc - the relentless creature that just keeps on coming no matter what you do. The thing that you know is slowly but surely making its way towards you, and eventually it will find you.
The first glimpse of Long Lankin is very slight, an impression in the darkness that allows your own mind to fill in the gaps and to make him as horrifying as he needs to be without relying on too much of the author's own description - smart, really. The best (and worst) kind of monsters are the ones you create for yourselves. By the time we do finally get a proper description of him, he's already horrifying enough, and the information she gives just makes him worse.
I was really, really impressed by the way it was written. It's written from three different points of view, all in first person - Cora, the elder sister, Roger, the friend, and Ida, the elderly aunt - which often switch in the middle of a scene, sometimes only for a few sentences, but it's done so well anf they all have such different voices that I barely even noticed the change, and could follow along perfectly well with whose eyes I was looking through. Being set in the 1950s seemed perfect for the genre too - just modern enough for kids not to feel alienated by the differences in lifestyle, but just the right setting for... well, just about everything. The plot is really nicely paced too, giving away just enough to keep you gripped and needing to find out more about what's going on in this place, and just enough to allow you to figure out for yourself what's going on just before the characters confirm it for you.
In short, I was impressed XD Although at night for a few days afterwards I was leaving the lights on, worried that a pale hand with long, sharp nails would appear around a doorframe or windowsill >_> Which I suppose means the book did a good job! XD;;
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Next up is Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. I was a little dubious about reading this one because of its content, but I'd been sent a copy by the publisher and the colleagues on the discussion board I'd seen talking about it praised it pretty highly, so I thought I may as well give it a try.
Here's the blurb:
She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future.
And now they have fallen in love.
But...
They are brother and sister.
Forbidden will take you on an extraordinary emotional journey. Passionate and shocking, this is a book you will remember long after you have put it down.
I'll admit, I was intrigued. And boy, was that blurb telling the truth.
I've been staring at this for a long time now, trying to put my thoughts into words. It was such a fantastic book. I thought it was beautifully written for a YA novel - the descriptive content was startlingly vivid, even though I'm not normally the kind of person who enjoys reading too much description, and the depth of emotion the author covered was... surprisingly well done. Often, especially with YA novels, I find they struggle to convey emotions well because they're aiming for a younger audience and authors often don't quite seem able to put things into quite the right words. It's something I found with I Am Number Four; most of the time the story was focusing on the romance, it was just that little bit too over-the-top, too much for the characters and it made me feel uncomfortable and irritated that they weren't just getting back to the regular plot already. But with this... it was extreme, it was terribly, horribly extreme, what these two kids were feeling, but it was covered so beautifully that it didn't seem at all odd.
The author introduces you to their family and the friendship these two siblings share, the burdens they've been forced to share together and the relationship that has inevitably developed between them before ever even touching on the subject of incest. The first half of the book is spent letting you into their life together, helping you to understand their situation until it feels natural for them to have gravitated towards one another, until it doesn't seem at all odd that they've forged a bond far deeper than any normal brother and sister ever should.
There is a lot of emotive description throughout, masses of it, but it never once drags the pace down despite the extremity of it. Lochan, the brother, has some kind of severe social anxiety disorder, and at one point we experience a panic attack through his eyes. I've never had one myself, so I have absolutely no idea what they're like, but it felt real, it felt like I imagine it could feel were I not just reading words on a page. The progression of their relationship, their family's situation, everything, I really can't stress enough how normal it seemed. I keep saying the book makes things normal, natural, but it's far from boring, and I really, really struggled to put it down.
I just can't tell you how much I adore this book, I can't find the words. I've cried at fanfic, but I can't remember the last time a book made me sob like that, or feel for the characters so much. I totally fell in love with all five children in that family, even (eventually) the horrible, bratty teenager and, just like the crying, I can't remember the last time that's happened either.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
And finally~ Breathe: A Ghost Story by Cliff McNish. After those two books, it's tough to be impressed, but I'm not sure if I was a little disappointed because the other two were so good, or because this one just wasn't to the standard I was expecting. It wasn't bad by any means; the story itself was interesting, it just wasn't as plotty as Long Lankin and wasn't as emotive and well written as Forbidden.
Anyway, this is the blurb :D
Jack is used to danger. His asthma has nearly killed him more than once. But his new home has a danger he's never known before - the spirits of the dead.
They can't breathe.
But in Jack's house they can
chase
hide
scream.
Only Jack can see them. Only he can hear them. And only he can learn their secrets in time to save his mother - and himself...
The blurb was enough to grab me, although I suppose that's the point. It's a shame the book itself never quite lived up to how creepy the back (And the testimonial on the back that claimed it was 'wonderfully spine-chilling') promised.
The story itself is about Jack, a young boy, his mother, and the five ghosts living in their house - four small children, and an older mother they call 'Old Weepy'. The testimonial on the back claims it's 'a true ghost story', and it is, insofar as it's a story, about ghosts. More about the ghosts than the humans, but to be honest, that's about it. The plot was interesting enough, and developed gradually, and when the big ~main event~ happened, I had a moment of 'oh holy shit', but then it kind of fizzled out. Then, the prelude to the climax arrived towards the end, and again, the idea was pretty terrible, but it wasn't executed in a way that scared or worried me too much. It's hard to explain what I mean, to be honest - even the climax itself and the ending both seemed a little something-of-nothing. The plot was there, the ideas were there, I just wasn't sucked into it at all. I think that's probably the fault of the other two books being so much better, but really, that still makes this one substandard by comparison.
I guess, after being promised something really creepy, I just felt let down. I probably won't bother to read any of his other books too, which is a shame because they could be better than this.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
...I'll be very surprised if anyone actually read all that XD I hardly ever write down my thoughts about books properly though, at least no further than whether I enjoyed it or not, but I wanted to start, and figured three books in a row was more than enough to begin with!
I'm not sure what I've got to read next - my other half keeps pushing the first Wheel of Time book into my hands (Which I'm already half way through), but I'm struggling to get into big, heavy books like that which don't have the speed of plot progression I've grown used to reading fanfic and kid's books xD; I... want to ask for recommendations but am nervous to add even more books to my ever-expanding list of unread titles XD But if you've gotten this far, then I would love to hear of any childrens/young adult books you love! (Sticking to those for now, because I work in the kids books department, so they're the most relevant to me) ♥
Leaving this public, in case I decide to share it anywhere else :)
(By the way! Still selling stuff at myxstorie_sales >_>; shameless, who?)