More YA

[cyphomandra]

27 degrees today (80F for my international readers) and I am now trying to pack winter clothes, thus creating a mild cognitive dissonance. The main problem I have (well, currently) is coats, in that I can have a coat that is a) waterproof or b) stylish or c) warm, but I only have two coats that manage even two of these, both of which will take up

Comments

[amysisson]

I had real problems with the first Flora book -- mainly, it's that Flora kept assuring us that the most dreadful consequences would result if she were late to school one more time, or missed one more day of school, or blah blah blah..... But then it turned out it was no big deal after all. And it was most convenient when her mother got held up in some fog.... I just felt that there were no real consequences for her ever.

[cyphomandra]

Yes, exactly! That's the problem I have with the Gramatica as well - she's in these terrible situations, and then gets saved for no other reason than that she's the main character, as far as I can work out. I get twitchy about magic systems that work by the main character concentrating/wishing very strongly anyway (too much Will to Power stuff) but it can work very well if there's a commensurate price involved. Diana Wynne Jones tends to do magic through force of will (uh, her characters, anyway), but in Fire & Hemlock the things Polly makes up turn around and bite her, and the same in Time of the Ghost, and it works really well for me.

If I get time before I go I do want to write up Terry Pratchett's Nation and Morris Gleitzman's Then, two of the best books I've read all year, so I can be entirely positive!