Lost in a good book
Every day, for a week, you will post about one of these things in your entry:
Day one: a song
Day two: a picture
Day three: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day four: a site
Day five: a YouTube clip
Day six: a quote
Day seven: whatever tickles your fancy
For the book I am, once again, going to sing the praises of The Rainbow Opera by Elizabeth Knox.
And I may as well do so by saying exactly what I said before.
I can't remember how I found this book; I believe I ran across one of the author's other titles at work, thought it looked interesting, and checked out the rest of her back catalogue. However it happened I'm very glad that it did, because this is the best thing I have read in a long, long time.
Fifteen-year-old Laura and her cousin Rose inhabit a world very much like our own - they have Jesus, The Mill on the Floss, demotic Greek, hockey. They also have the Gospel of St Lazarus, and the Place: a pocket of land, a fold in the universe, unmeasurable and inaccessible to all but the very few and most elite - the Dreamhunters. The Place is a world where dreams are marked at map locations; Dreamhunters cross the border at one of two points, sleep in a specific area, catch the dream that has its existence there, and take it back to share with a paying audience. For this is 1906 and, in this world, dreams are what cinema became in ours - more, because each dreamer experiences the dream as their own. There are dreams of healing, dreams of adventure, dreams of peace, dreams of romance - Rose's mother, Grace, specialises in these - and, although Laura is initially unaware of this, there are nightmares, too, and Laura's father, Tziga Hame, the Dreamhunter who first stumbled (literally) upon the Place some twenty years before, has his own dark trade in these. When he vanishes, he leaves Laura this legacy, along with a duty to repair the damage he's done. He also leaves her a strange companion to help her with this burden.
We end on a shocking climax; this is part one of a two-part story, continued in The Dream Quake. It is necessary and, in fact, imperative to read The Dream Quake after you've finished The Rainbow Opera, as it concludes the story and explains all (?) of the previously unanswered questions.
Dense, complex, and beautiful: I don't have the words to do justice to this story. I only wish I did.
It isn't just the storyline that sets The Rainbow Opera apart: there's something unique and distinctive about its voice that I can't define. The only thing I can think of is that the author's from New Zealand and that perhaps her background and experience colour the narrative in a way that's slightly alien to my understanding.
This is one of the best and most original fantasies, YA or other, that I've read in years. In a world where the poorly written and the trite dominate the bestsellers charts, how is it possible that I only stumbled upon this wonderful book by accident?
Read it. Please. And then come and talk to me about it.
As a bonus, a fan fiction recommendation (I have never read an e-book in my life, and doubt I am any poorer for the lack thereof):
Title: Weekend
Author: raietta
Characters: Dan; offstage Casey, Lisa; Charlie McCall
Rating: G
Category: Gen, but I like to think pre-slash and so, she once told me, does the author; angst.
Note: Sports Night has produced a handful of classic fanfics, and this is one of the best of them: a simple concept (but unique; there's been nothing else quite like it written in the fandom), beautifully conceived and executed. And gen, no less. It takes place post-Draft Day; Dan is alienated from Casey and in a place where he can't see that situation ever changing. Stepping into the gap in Dan's life comes Casey's son, Charlie, momentarily forgotten by both parents, and as much in need of companionship and reassurance as Dan.
Dan's affection for Charlie is canon, as is his essential kindness, his thoughtfulness and his care of others, and this story captures all of those things to perfection.
Weekend by Raietta
Day one: a song
Day two: a picture
Day three: a book/ebook/fanfic
Day four: a site
Day five: a YouTube clip
Day six: a quote
Day seven: whatever tickles your fancy
For the book I am, once again, going to sing the praises of The Rainbow Opera by Elizabeth Knox.
And I may as well do so by saying exactly what I said before.
I can't remember how I found this book; I believe I ran across one of the author's other titles at work, thought it looked interesting, and checked out the rest of her back catalogue. However it happened I'm very glad that it did, because this is the best thing I have read in a long, long time.
Fifteen-year-old Laura and her cousin Rose inhabit a world very much like our own - they have Jesus, The Mill on the Floss, demotic Greek, hockey. They also have the Gospel of St Lazarus, and the Place: a pocket of land, a fold in the universe, unmeasurable and inaccessible to all but the very few and most elite - the Dreamhunters. The Place is a world where dreams are marked at map locations; Dreamhunters cross the border at one of two points, sleep in a specific area, catch the dream that has its existence there, and take it back to share with a paying audience. For this is 1906 and, in this world, dreams are what cinema became in ours - more, because each dreamer experiences the dream as their own. There are dreams of healing, dreams of adventure, dreams of peace, dreams of romance - Rose's mother, Grace, specialises in these - and, although Laura is initially unaware of this, there are nightmares, too, and Laura's father, Tziga Hame, the Dreamhunter who first stumbled (literally) upon the Place some twenty years before, has his own dark trade in these. When he vanishes, he leaves Laura this legacy, along with a duty to repair the damage he's done. He also leaves her a strange companion to help her with this burden.
We end on a shocking climax; this is part one of a two-part story, continued in The Dream Quake. It is necessary and, in fact, imperative to read The Dream Quake after you've finished The Rainbow Opera, as it concludes the story and explains all (?) of the previously unanswered questions.
Dense, complex, and beautiful: I don't have the words to do justice to this story. I only wish I did.
It isn't just the storyline that sets The Rainbow Opera apart: there's something unique and distinctive about its voice that I can't define. The only thing I can think of is that the author's from New Zealand and that perhaps her background and experience colour the narrative in a way that's slightly alien to my understanding.
This is one of the best and most original fantasies, YA or other, that I've read in years. In a world where the poorly written and the trite dominate the bestsellers charts, how is it possible that I only stumbled upon this wonderful book by accident?
Read it. Please. And then come and talk to me about it.
As a bonus, a fan fiction recommendation (I have never read an e-book in my life, and doubt I am any poorer for the lack thereof):
Title: Weekend
Author: raietta
Characters: Dan; offstage Casey, Lisa; Charlie McCall
Rating: G
Category: Gen, but I like to think pre-slash and so, she once told me, does the author; angst.
Note: Sports Night has produced a handful of classic fanfics, and this is one of the best of them: a simple concept (but unique; there's been nothing else quite like it written in the fandom), beautifully conceived and executed. And gen, no less. It takes place post-Draft Day; Dan is alienated from Casey and in a place where he can't see that situation ever changing. Stepping into the gap in Dan's life comes Casey's son, Charlie, momentarily forgotten by both parents, and as much in need of companionship and reassurance as Dan.
Dan's affection for Charlie is canon, as is his essential kindness, his thoughtfulness and his care of others, and this story captures all of those things to perfection.
Weekend by Raietta