What I've Read Lately - July

This month I read some books that I really hated.  Luckily, I also read some books that I really liked, so it all balanced out.  We're just over halfway through the year, and I am three books ahead of schedule for the reading challenge (did I mention in January that I had to cut my goal this year from 100 to 90 because I only managed to get through 85 last year?)  Anyway, here's what I read (or attempted to read in some cases):

Well, my first book of the month turned out to be a bust.  There was nothing particularly wrong with the first eight chapters of Gates of Thread and Stone, by Lori M. Lee, (which is how far I managed to read before I abandoned it); it was more like the sum of all its parts just couldn't keep me interested.  There was no real problem with the writing, but it didn't really entice me to continue reading.  The setting was kind of dumb (futuristic city with an elite sector and then varying degrees of slums, including a whole section made of piled up freight cars, all in the middle of a vast wasteland rumored to be populated by gargoyles), as were many of the details thrown in (for example, the girl from the slums somehow has a job that allows her to enter the elite sector to deliver mail - never mind the question of who was sending mail since they lived in the only known city in a vast wasteland, and it's highly doubtful anyone in the slums is in correspondence with any of the elite).  I guess this book just seemed like a mediocre fantasy novel with too many uninteresting or dumb details to bother with finishing.  I recommend you try something else.

Queen of Hearts, by Colleen Oakes, is supposed to tell the story of the queen before she became queen.  It isn't supposed to follow the whole Alice in Wonderland story in detail, and it doesn't.  When I read the blurb inside the cover of the book jacket, it sounded like it was going to be an awesome, dark version of the story.  Unfortunately, it was not. Not awesome, that is, by any stretch of the imagination.  Read my post here to find out why.

Verdigris Deep (alternate title: Well Witched), by Frances Hardinge, is about three kids who, needing bus fare, steal coins from an old wishing well.  They are then compelled by a water witch (or something) to grant the wishes themselves.  Sounds like it would be good, doesn't it?  Nice and original.  And Frances Hardinge has a unique way of describing things that I usually enjoy.  Not so much this time.  I made it through page 82 before I gave up on it.  It was written in the third person, the main character was only eleven years old (don't know why the library had it shelved in the teen section) and his two friends were twelve and thirteen.  It wasn't bad; I just found it incredibly boring.  A younger reader who hasn't become accustomed to reading young adult fiction might find it more enjoyable.  (Reading Level 6.2 / Middle Grades)

After three failed books in a row, I needed something good, so I picked up one by an author that I love.  Woohoo!  Another Five Star book!  I am super excited about Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races because I very rarely give a book five stars.  I know, I've been lucky enough to come across a few in the last several months, but overall, I've only rated about 1.5% of the almost 1000 books I've read with five stars (I actually did the math, so yeah, that's not very many).  You can read my longer post here to find out what I liked about it.  (Reading Level 5.5 / Middle Grade+)

When I first started reading Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies, by Lindsay Ribar, I didn't think I was going to like it very much.  Which was going to be a shame, because I really liked the concept:  there is a family, who have a kind of magic, where they use objects left under a tree by the townspeople on May Day to reach inside and steal things (thoughts, emotions, physical traits) from those people and somehow use those things to keep the cliff above the town from crashing down and killing everyone.  So anyway, I didn't think I was going to like it because there was way too much daily drinking and hanky panky going on, and I didn't like the main character AT ALL.  But the farther into the story I got, the more it focused on the magic stuff and so the more interesting it got (much more), and there were some family secrets and a bit of a mystery, and it started to look like maybe we weren't actually supposed to like the main character anyway, and then as everything spiraled toward the conclusion I ended up not not liking him anymore.  So.  I wouldn't give this any more than three stars, but that's still better than the one or two I was considering during the whole first half of the story.  Overall, not bad, so go ahead and give it a try yourself.  (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

Fox Forever is the last book in a trilogy by Mary E. Pearson (see the  mini-reviews of the first two books here, and here).  It was just as good as the first two books.  It had less of the thought-provoking ethical questions, but more action type stuff, and it is hard, hard, hard to put down.  I think I might have finished this in a day because you always want to read just one more chapter.  This trilogy is a great choice for, actually, just about anyone out there, so if you haven't given it a try, you definitely should.  (Reading Level 4.8 / Middle Grade+)

Night of Cake & Puppets, by Laini Taylor is a companion book to the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy.  It has been out as an ebook for some time, but now is finally available in print - Yay! - because I don't read books if they aren't in print.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like it - it just tells the story of a specific thing that happened one night with one of the characters from the other books, and I was like, that sounds like it would make a dumb story.  Which was dumb of me to think, because I happen to love that character and I also happen to love Laini Taylor's writing.  So guess what?  Loved the story.  Don't read it if you haven't read at least the first two books in the main trilogy, but if you've read those and are thinking this story will be dumb, well, don't listen to yourself.  If you liked the other ones, you'll like this one too.  (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

Just look at that cover.  The dripping red stuff.  The words: DO NOT TRAVEL FROM THE PATHS. DO NOT LINGER AFTER DARK. DO NOT IGNORE THE CALLING.  Even the font - I was sure this was going to be an amazingly scary (or at least creepy) story.  Nope.  The Wood, by Chelsea Bobulski, was actually a fantasy novel about a girl who is the guardian of a wood that has time travel portals (doorways to other times and places on earth).  It has Old Ones (Faye), and a time traveling boy, and missing parents, and mother daughter relationship problems.  What it doesn't have is great writing.  Not even really good writing.  The worst part about it is that the author kept throwing in dumb stuff, and then, as if knowing that the reader would think it was dumb, would then have one of the characters explain the rationale behind it.  Which was .... even dumber.  I don't know if it was bad enough to tell you not to read it, but if you can't find the time to cover at least two books a week like I do, there are probably better books out there to spend that time on.   (Reading Level ? / Middle Grade+)

I got through about six pages of When the Sea Is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen before I abandoned it.  I know, I really do usually try to give a book more of a chance than that, but I didn't think I was going to be able to stand finishing it, and I didn't want to waste any more of my month on not-good books. It was all about a girl from a once important family whose friend was being married off and failed to meet her for a final goodbye.  She then decided to visit the city that bore her family name, but where nobody recognized her.  I don't know why it was even on my list of books to read, because the blurb on the inside of the book jacket says stuff like "In Pelimburg...magic is power" and "leaving behind everything she's ever known, including the means to practice magic" and "becoming fascinated by the strange, thrilling magic of vampire Jannik" and "the upper class with their scriven are powerless ..."  Not that I don't like books about magic, but I've found that when magic is really the main point of the story, I tend not to like it.  So.  I'm not saying that this book is bad, I only read six pages for goodness' sake, just that I didn't like what I read so far.  Maybe you will.   (Reading Level 5.2 / Upper Grades)

Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland was really, really good.  It is kind of a swashbuckling adventure, but without the swash or the buckler, or for that matter, pirates, which is how we've come to think of the term. What it does have, however, is zombies.  In the days after the Civil War.  In Baltimore. And the wild west.  If you want to know more about it, read my upcoming post (don't worry, it's already half written so it should be up in about a week!)  (Reading Level ? / Upper Grades)

I Should Have Known!

One of the very first posts I wrote for this blog was about The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. If you've read that review, you will know that I have to come to think of Ms. Stiefvater as a writing genius.  (If you haven't read that review, you can find it here.)  I've been aware of some of her other books/series for quite some time now, but I have been reluctant to read them.  Why, you ask?  Well, this is going to sound a bit silly, but, since I'd kind of placed her on a pedestal, I've been afraid that maybe some of her earlier works wouldn't be as good, and then she would get, well, knocked off. And I guess I wasn't ready for that.  But I was at the library the other day without a list of books to check out, so I was just looking through all of the books the librarians had displayed on the shelves facing forward, and I saw one of her books and thought, Well, I guess I'll get it over with.  And, silly me, it turned out to be so amazing I felt like this kid:

And I almost conked myself on the forehead like they did in those old V8 commercials, because I was like Duh, I should have known!  So which book did I read?

SOME RACE TO WIN.

OTHERS RACE TO SURVIVE. 

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. 

     Some riders live. 

     Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. 

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

I don't know why, but for some reason I was thinking this was going to be some futuristic post-apocalyptic horse racing adventure.  Well, once again, I should have known better, because it so definitely was not.

The book is set in a sort of made up place in a not-very-specific time, which was actually one of the things I liked best about it.  If you piece together the clues, you can get a rough estimate of both, but there was something about not having specifics to tie everything down that made it feel sort of timeless, but in a nostalgic sort of way.  If that makes any sense.  Even though I liked that, I still felt like I had to figure it out anyway, so in case you're wondering ....

Clues about the place: 

     It is an island that has a coast on the Atlantic ocean.  

     They have a church named St. Columba.  

     Puck says St. Columba was martyred there.  

     The people call the horses by a Gaelic name.  

Put those together and you figure it is somewhere off the coast of Scotland.

Clues about the time:

     Men are wearing bowler hats.

     Some women are wearing dresses, but Puck wears pants and breeches (covered with a smock  when she goes to confession).

     Reporters have cameras with giant flashbulbs.

     The family owns a Morris (a car company that made cars between 1905 and 1948).

     The family also has a pony cart.

     The visiting American is wearing a white v-neck sweater.

     At another point the American is wearing a three piece suit and mentions a pocket watch.

     The reporters say something about the suffragist movement.

So, this could take place any time from probably the 1920's to possibly the 1950's.  You can visit this blog I found just now (literally, like ten seconds ago) that explains in more detail what I had figured out on my own (I did minor in History in college, so it wasn't too hard). 

Anyway, the setting made perfect sense when I figured out that the horses had a Gaelic name, because this story is closely tied to Celtic folklore.  Once again, I should have known!  So that was another reason I loved this book, because I am a big fan of Celtic folklore. 

Remember how I said above that this wasn't a post-apocalyptic horse racing adventure?  Well, we've cover the post-apocalyptic part of it, but the horse racing adventure part?  Well, that would be a yes and a no.  There is horse racing, and although there isn't really any adventure, there is some action and suspense, and that is a major part of the story, but it is also so much more.  For one thing, the horses are water horses (as in Celtic mythology).  Which changes everything.  Really, because I don't like books or movies about animals (I know, I'm probably a terrible person but I never have.  I read Black Beauty as a child and hated it, which is funny now that I think about it, because I liked horses in general and even rode them myself).  But I loved this book, so yeah, not really about horses in the usual sense, but if you are a horse lover, you will probably love this book, because there are actually regular horses in it too.  I know that was a lot of rambling, so back to my point - the story is so much more, because it is a story about a boy (young man, really) and a girl (young woman I guess) just as much as it is about the horses or the horse race.

The young man, Sean, is very serious and grown up well beyond what you would expect from a 19 year old.  There is a sort of purity and dignity to his character that draws the reader to him, but he is also sort of mysterious, not only because he somehow has a connection with the 'magic' of the water horses, but also because he is a very private person, who is pretty  much only ever presented in the context of his interactions with the horses or the people involved with the horses, or with the race, until later in the story where he begins to interact with Puck.  That makes the reader want to know more about him.  So it's kind of weird because you love him, but not because of his winning personality or witty banter, but I guess because he is so noble, almost in an untouchable sort of way.

Puck, the other main character, is also pretty serious, and mature for her years, even though she has that fiery streak that comes with red hair (which, of course, she has).  You would think that with two main characters who are so serious the book would be an absolute bore, but it's not.  These characters are so real, with such a depth to them ...it's a testament to the author's skill that she could pull this off.  I've never read anything like it.

There is one other character I would like to mention, which is Puck's brother, Finn.  He is clearly on the autism spectrum.  Having spent a considerable portion of my life living with a family member with Asperger's, I love coming across autistic characters in a book.  I guess you could say they are near and dear to  my heart.  Here are just a few quotes from the book that highlight Finn's 'quirks.'

Now that I know to look for it, I can see that he's crawling out of his skin with excitement.  Finn never looks more excited - he just gets faster.  Finns are generally slow-moving creatures.

and

"Where's Finn?" I break in.
"Washing his hands, of course," Gabe says. "It may be decades."

and

"Finn," Gabe says..."This storm that's coming - how long will it last?"
Finn's eyes are bright in the backseat, and he's so incredibly pleased to have been asked that it hurts me.
"Just tonight and tomorrow."

So, that last one, not only is it commenting on the fact that Finn can predict the weather (he somehow knew days earlier that the storm was coming), but leads me into the final thing I would like to comment on about this book:  The writing.

The Scorpio Races has the kind of writing that I've really come to appreciate, and I don't run across it all that often.  It's the kind of writing that is uniquely expressive; the kind that tells you things without actually telling you.  And it's the kind where characters' thoughts sound and feel like real thoughts (you know, how sometimes your thoughts are tangled up and wander off in tangents).  And it's the kind where you don't just know, but feel.  And it's the kind that makes you feel like you are actually there, watching everything happen.  That quote above shows us how much Puck loves Finn, without the author ever having to tell us that she loves him.  Here are a few more passages from the book that show what I'm talking about:

She stands in the doorway, one of her eyebrows arched.  She's wearing a dress that looks like she stole it.  It has lace sleeves and Dory Maud does not have lace sleeve arms.

and

"What I don't understand," she says, "is why such a clever and useful girl as yourself, Puck, would waste so much time looking like an idiot or being dead?"
Finn smiles at his biscuit. 

and

It's so dark that I can hear the sea better than I can see it.  Shhhhh, shhhhhh, it says, like I'm a fretful child and it's my mother, though if the sea were my mother, I'd rather have been an orphan. 

and

"You look in fine spirits."
"Do I?"
"Well, your face looks like it remembers a smile," Holly says.  He looks down at  my clothing; I'm wearing the island all over  my left side.

and

"Puck," she says, her voice soaked in lemon juice.

and

I hear a wail, and at first I think it is a scream, but then I hear my name.  "Where's Kendrick?"
Someone is about to die. . .
In the surf, the dun pony is chest deep in the water and the white stallion rears before her, hooves slicing down toward the girl.  The girl jerks the dun mare off balance, sparing them both from the hooves but delivering the girl into the frigid water.
And that was what the capall uisce, a fearful dull Pegasus with disintegrating wings of sea foam, wanted.  His teeth flash, the color of dead coral, and his great head smashes against the girl as her head comes up above water . . . 

The Scorpio Races is one of those books that you can read again and again, even though you already know what is going to happen.  Which is why I have ordered a copy for my home library, even though I am already out of bookshelf space.  And if you haven't already read it, you should pick up a copy as soon as you have time.  Trust me.  I should have known better than to put it off, and now that I've told you how great it is, you should too.


Rating:  5 Stars
Reading Level: 5.5
Age Appropriate: Middle Grade +
Page Count:  404
Genre:  Fantasy
Keywords: Celtic folklore, horses, family relationships, orphans