Review: Masque of the Red Death

Review: Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin
Rating: A gorgeous, haunting novel full of gorgeous, haunting imagery of plague and death. A strong but confusing plot and magnificent world-building manage to overcome flat characters and lack of emotion.

 

A devastating plague has decimated the population, and those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles around them.

So what does Araby Worth have to live for?

Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery makeup . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.

But in the depths of the club--in the depths of her own despair--Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club, and Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.

And Araby may find not just something to live for, but something to fight for--no matter what it costs her.

Masque of the Red Death is an atmospheric and gruesome tale set in a plague-ravaged steampunk world, overflowing with haunting images of false beauty and ruin. I loved all the trappings of this tale. For me, this book was the equivalent of a really gorgeous play with a breathtakingly beautiful set, magnificent costumes that evoke the mood, a pretty good script… and horribly cast actors.

You know the plays and movies I mean. Where you are just in awe of the spectacle and the creativity, but the actors aren't quite conveying all the right levels of emotion. They’re too stiff and not alive. So, so pretty, of course, and every now and then they manage to make your throat feel a little tight, but not often enough.

Araby, the main character, is a melancholy girl still grieving for her twin brother. She feels immensely guilty that he died instead of her, and because of that is determined, basically, to never feel true pleasure again. This suits the mood of this book and this hopeless world, but I must confess I find it very hard to connect to depressed characters. There is nothing to grab onto. In the beginning, I was all, “Well, fine, if you want to die, then why should I care if you do?” This is the wrong reaction to have to your protagonist. I mean, yes, as the story develops, she grows less disinterested and begins to care about the world and people around her. But I felt like I was reading Araby through a fog or a veil. I never felt close to her. I never felt her at all. She literally has made a vow that she will never do the things Finn, her dead twin, won’t get to. This includes kissing, sword-fighting, and smiling, apparently.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved the grimness of Masque of the Red Death. But Araby was a bit much. Every time she brought up the vow, I just kind of rolled my eyes. Enough with the emo-ness. Oftentimes her motives or feelings simply confused me, at least until the end. Once she finds things worth living for, her characters sharpens quite a bit.

There is a love triangle, but for me, it was deeply uneven. There is Elliott, older brother to Araby’s best “friend” April, who is dangerous and mysterious, and Will, who, despite his tattoos, did not seem dangerous or mysterious at all. If you can’t tell, I was far more taken with dark and complex Elliott. Will had cute little siblings, but mostly his character fell flat. But Elliott is the best character in the whole book. He’s conflicted and confusing and pretty darn swoonalicious, if you ask me. I found myself getting excited every time he was on the page. I wanted to know what the heck he was thinking and feeling and what he was going to do next. He was unpredictable, which I loved.

In both cases, the love and attraction came way too fast. I think there was a step missing in Araby’s relationships with both men, even if I far preferred Araby/Elliott. Will and Araby is pure insta-love. I didn’t get it at all. April confused me as a character as well, as I never really got her connection with Araby, but I came to enjoy her at the end.

The plot and the setting seriously help make up for my “meh” feelings on the characters. The city is in ruins, the prince is an absolutely appalling and selfish man unconcerned with the suffering around him, and religious uprisings, led by the fantatic Reverend Malcontent, are beginning to boil over. There are dark and lavish clubs filled with debauchery, tattered dresses made with elegant fabric, marshes full of crocodiles, a Gothic and gaudy palace, and the rich wear pristine china masks to keep out the contagion. The lower city is crowded with the dead and diseased. All the horses have died, so the wealthy travel by means of steam-powered carriage. Creep-tastic.

It makes me want to read the Poe story it’s based on. While I would have appreciated a bit more clarity and a slightly tighter pace, I enjoyed reading about the things that happened even as they confused me mightily. I love where it left off. I wish the rebellion plot line had been more fleshed out, at least so I could have understood it a bit better, but I have a feeling this will really come to fruition in the next book.

I’ll be reading the sequel, even if just to find out how in the blazes they’re going to fix basically the worst situation ever, and because the imagery and world-building are fantastic. The writing was stiff in places, and stuck halfway between fully Gothic Victorian and modern, but I feel like Griffin will improve. I really hope Araby improves along with her. But otherwise, Griffin's got all the ingredients she needs for a spectacular sequel.

New Blog Feature: Literary PSA

Since I only started book-blogging a couple months ago, I've only been able to review the books I've read in the last couple months. But there are so many amazing books I've read that I want to tell you guys about, and that's why I decided to start a NEW THING: Literary Public Service Announcements. Essentially, I'm going to pimp a book that I read before I started blogging, but that I want to foist upon the world due to it's high levels of sheer awesomeness, for the good of the public and all that jazz. Instead of me just telling people over and over that they should read something "JUST BECAUSE!!!1!", I've decided to actually explain in a more eloquent fashion just why my favorite books are my favorites.

Usually, trying to explain a book's awesomeness goes something like this:

 

But I shall try regardless. So for my very first PSA, I'm reviewing a book that easily cracked my top ten of 2012, and which, if you follow my blog, you probably want me to shut up about already (but which I will never do):

 
 Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

Ravka has got to be one of my favorite fantasy settings EVER. It's a dark, magical take on eighteenth century Russia, a time and place very dear to my heart. It's a land of rich furs and opulence but also dire winter and bloody war. When people rave about deep fantasy worlds, they mean this. I could see this place. I could walk around it and live there. I could visualize every article of beautifully described clothing. And it is gorgeous. But also menacing.

The Grisha are an amazingly inventive and fascinating creation, none moreso than the Darkling (my GOD do I have FEELINGS about HIM), their ridiculously handsome and powerful leader. Is he sexy? Is he evil? Is he both? It's so confusing! It's so amazing! The system of magic Bardugo has set here is a sort of magical molecular chemistry controlled by this strictly regimented elite. It's hard to make mystical magical summoner types unique, but Bardugo has definitely succeeded. The utter creepiness of the Fold, a swath of impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters that bisets Ravka, was, to quote Ms. Roth above, "like nothing I've ever read".

Alina is a marvelous heroine. She's tough but vulnerable, brave but realistic. As an orphan, she's swayed by a need to be loved and accepted. She's in love with her sex-drenched  dreamy swoonalicous best friend Mal, the only family she's ever known, who has clearly never thought of her in that way. But this book hits on all the emotional feels. Every character lives and breathes, even the ones who only show up a couple of times.

The writing and plot flow together so gorgeously. The narrative doesn't rely on magic, but rather characters, with the magic only there to enhance it. I read it one sitting, desperate for more. The narrative is full of light and darkness, magic and blood, love and hate, and basically, if you don't read this RIGHT NOW, you are a fool. Yes, a fool. Okay, not a fool. Books are subjective, this may not be your cup of tea, books are expensive and you can't go buying them all the time. I get it. But to me, this book is a classic, and I seriously hope you all get the chance to experience and love this gem of a story.

Wow. Almost forgot. You CAN because I'm GIVING AWAY a signed copy. That certainly worked out nicely.

Review: Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Review: Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Rating: A high-fantasy couldabin, shouldabin that failed to grab me. Also there’s incest. Sort of.

 

 In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power--brutally transforming their subjects' lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined:

Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.

Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished--and finds himself the leader of a people's revolution centuries in the making.

Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past--and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.

Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword...

The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?

Here's the deal. There are three countries: austere, religious Limeros to north, impoverished Paelsia in between, and affluent, temperate Auranos to the south. Limeros and Auranos hate each other and the Paelsian peasants kind of hate everyone, because they are all really poor, even though they produce magical wine that all the supposedly hedonistc Auranians want to buy. One day the Auranian princess Cleo goes to Paelsia to buy said wine and A Bad Thing happens that sparks all sort of other Bad Things. Magic is dead, there are creepy Watcher people trying to find it, and there's political tension galore.

This could have been a great high fantasy, Game of Thrones-eque adventure. It's everything I want in a book. Warring kingdoms? Check! Evil "Kings of Blood"? Check! Dark and dangerous magic and forbidden romance? Double check! But sadly, Falling Kingdoms fell short for me in so many ways.

The beginning was slow. While I enjoy epic, third-person, multiple-protag narratives, this one just didn't captivate me. And the romance… oh, god, I hate to say this, but a lot of it is totally squicky. Magnus is in love with his sister and Princess Emilia was in a love with a man her father’s age. I cannot ship that, guys. And I need a couple to dock my ship to. I need safe shipping harbors! We as the readers are fully aware Lucia is not Magnus’ real sister, but MAGNUS DOESN’T. He spends a whole lot of time lusting after his own sister, who is so beautiful he just can’t help himself. Yes, I know he fights down these repellent vomitous loin-killing unfortunate feelings, which adds some level of broody, tortured depth to his character, but I can only handle so much. And they, like, touch each other’s faces. A lot. My brother and I barely even shake each other’s hands.

The other love connections, while less likely to make me ill, really hold no swoon-factor, either. There is a distressingly tiny amount of kissing, which is not something I necessarily require in high fantasy, but definitely something I prefer. Romantic connections in this book are based mostly on appreciation of beauty. Most of the characters are surface-based and lack any integrity that I could connect to. Everybody has flawless skin, brightly colored eyes, and thick, glossy hair. Princess Lucia is the single most beautiful dark-haired girl in Limeros. Princess Cleo is the single most beautiful golden-haired girl in Auranos. Every male around is in love with them due to their supreme levels of unmatched sexiness. Yawn.

As POV characters go, snooze-worthy Chosen One Lucia is by far the weakest, while I’d say Cleo is definitely the strongest, because at least she’s got some fire. She is a total idiot half the time, making appalling decisions and thrusting off into danger without one sliver of a rational plan, but at least she felt alive. She goes from disregarding magic as pure myth to believing in it with all her heart awfully fast, but I understood her motives.

Despite his tragedies, I felt nothing for Jonas, a cardboard cliché of a rebellious peasant. And while I felt for brooding, suffering, changeable Magnus– he hates his evil father, he loves his evil father, he’s becoming his evil father– I also wanted to shake him and tell him, “Dude, I get you are conflicted because your sister is hot and your evil father is a DOUCHUS MAGNIFICUS, but get over it already.”

Cleo's connection with Theon, the hunky palace guard chosen to protect her, was probably my favorite, even though it is total insta-love but at least they are not FAMILY my GOD. But because I truly did like Cleo as a character, I felt her emotions very strongly, causing me to become more invested in their relationship than the text itself warranted. Cleo’s best friend Nic, also besotted by her super-duper hotness, is probably the most vivid character of the bunch, and he’s only a member of the supporting cast.

But I think that was my key issue with this book– I just didn’t connect. The characters said all the things they should, did all the things I would expect from their respective tropes (Chosen One/ Dark Tortured Soul/Spoiled, Fiery Princess/Loyal Guard in love with his charge/Rebellious Peasant). But they weren’t three dimensional to me.

 

The mythology is probably the most interesting part of Falling Kingdoms, even if it didn’t feel terribly original. The kingdoms are falling apart due to the disappearance of The Kindred, four sacred crystals (cliché, I know) that hold the power of elementia, or magic of the elements: earth, water, fire, and air. Magic is disappearing from the land and all is going to pot, basically. I liked the way the vitality of the earth was tied to magic and I liked the accompanying folklore, even if I’m pretty much over MacGuffin crystals.

I also found some logic holes I could not get past. The economic relationship between the three kingdoms didn’t entirely make sense. People wander around Paelsia very easily, apparently traversing the entire thing in a matter of hours. I couldn’t get a grasp on whether people believed in magic or not. They sort of believed a little bit in some cases and completely in others. A mysterious figure very conveniently turns out to be someone of magical import another character has been desperately searching for.

The writing was just kind of there. Grief flashes in people’s eyes a lot, revenge darkens people’s gazes. Hardly offensive, but not particularly beautiful.

This was a total miss for me, unfortunately. I can see why people like it. The dynamics of the three battling kingdoms was totally interesting. I liked the plot, even if the pacing was problematic. I did like the political scheming and despotism and whatnot. I enjoyed the way all the various storylines came together at the end. Obviously I had issues with a lot of the world building, but I did love the way she described the various kingdoms. I could picture them perfectly. Also, MAGIC WINE. That is exceptionally cool.

 

 

 

Here's a link to a favorable review from someone whose opinion I trust, to prove that all hope isn't lost for this book and it's very likely I'm a big grumpapotamus and my opinions are always to be taken with a boulder grain of salt.

My Favorite Young Adult Authors to Follow on Twitter

hosted by Broke and Bookish

I’m going to approach this week’s Top Ten Tuesday from a different angle. It’s nearly impossible for me to list all the amazing authors I discovered this year, as this was a massive reading year for me. If forced, I’d probably end up repeating all the authors I put on my other Top Ten Tuesday lists, because I’m really bad at remembering everything I like.

So this week, I’m going to list ten of my favorite authors that I discovered on Twitter this year. Basically, here are ten awesome writer-ly people that it is a joy to follow. Authors who take the time to interact with their fans with humor and wisdom and the occasional Twitpic.

9. Leigh Bardugo @lbardugo

Anybody who frequents my blog knows I’m fanatically obsessed with rather fond of SHADOW AND BONE. But I’m also rather fond of its creator, who I got to the pleasure to meet once and who is always willing to interact with her fans, whether it’s on Twitter, Tumblr, or Pinterest. She answers a lot of fan questions and reblogs their fanart, especially when they are pretty, pretty pictures of the pretty, pretty Darkling.

PRETTY.

8. Beth Revis @bethrevis

Revis is not only an amazing writer, but she has an awesome Twitter presence. She hosts ridiculous giveaways (I’m still bitter about not winning that one with the fifty signed books), chats funny with other authors, and tweets about her latest Tumblr posts, which prove that she has mad geek cred (there’s a wonderful amount of Doctor Who love).

7. Tahereh Mafi @taherehmafi

Mafi may not tweet as often as some of the others on this list, but whenever she does, it’s safe to say I will usually be cackling. Somehow the majority of Mafi’s Twitter feed has become her quoting her mother, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Obviously, I have never met Mafi’s mother, but she is probably one of my favorite people ever now, purely because of her daughter’s hilarious tweets.

6. Neil Gaiman @neilhimself

Um, duh. It’s Neil Gaiman. While the man doesn’t chat with his followers that often (understandable when you have 1.8 million of them), getting to peek into the mind of Neil Himself is always a delight.

5. John Green @realjohngreen

There is much brilliance occurring in the twitter feed of the real John Green. He’s another one with over a million fans, and is always available to promote general nerdiness, literacy, and awesomeness.

4. Marissa Meyer @marissa_meyer

If you absolutely forced me to choose my top ten favorite reads of 2012, I can pretty much guarantee you Cinder would make the list. So I just love following its talented author on Twitter because she’s always giving us chances to win ARCs of Scarlet, blog about her influences, and reassure us rabid, drooling impatient fans that Scarlet will eventually come out.

 

3. 2. and 1. Sarah Rees Brennan @sarahreesbrenna, Maureen Johnson @maureenjohnson, and Cassandra Clare @cassieclare

I decided to list this holy triumvirate as… well… a triumvirate because I don’t dare separate these writing buddies. They are witty, hilarious, and self-depricating. I feel like I know them, in a totally non-creepy fashion, because of how active they are on Twitter. Sarah answers just about every fan question that comes at her, reblogs our fanart, and cackles like a supervillain at our readerly pain (not to mention give us little reader snippets of future projects that CLAW your HEART out). Cassandra Clare always takes time to talk to her fans and give them insight into her many amazing books. And Maureen loves nothing more than to hold hilarious and random twitter conversations with her followers anything and everything under the sun. They retweet funny things their readers tweet them, and of course they tweet to EACH OTHER, since they are all great friends (with SECRET ANNOUNCEMENTS and things). Even if you haven't read their books, which you should, they're always good for a laugh.

Of course, this is hardly a definitive list. I follow so many brilliant authors on Twitter that there really was an element of choosing a random ten. Like, once C.J. Redwine, author of Defiance, live-tweeted watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I got to follow along and tweet with her like we were watching it together. There’s an amazing transparency to Twitter, where you get to “meet” all your favorite authors without being creepy about it.

NOTE: Please do not get creepy about it. The amazing thing about Twitter is that most of us, generally, follow the rules of common decency. The reason most of these authors are able to converse so freely with their fans is that most of you guys are standup literary citizens. I hope this can go on forever and ever.

So which authors do you love to follow on Twitter? Are there any that I should be punished soundly for forgetting? Any new recommendations? Sound off! Also please do share links to your own (on topic) Top Ten Tuesday posts so we can all check them out.

An Authorly Chat on Fantasy, Gender, and YA

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend a small but amazing talk on Gender in YA Fantasy and all sorts of other bookish YA things (not its official title). It was hosted by Sarah Mesle, a Humanities professor at UCLA. The panel consisted of Leigh Bardugo, author of Shadow and Bone; Cecil Castelluci, author of First Day on Earth, The Year of the Beasts, and others; Javi Grillo-Marxuach, television screenwriter and producer of such things as Lost and The Middleman; and Amber Benson, otherwise known as Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and author of the Calliope Reaper-Jones books, among others.

Like a total teacher’s pet, I arrived early, sat alone in the very front row, and whipped out my notebook, pen poised in anticipation. I looked very cool and blogger-esque. It was an amazing talk covering all sorts of literary topics, with a lot of insightful questions and dissenting views (it was awkward but fun when the authors disagreed with each other, like my bookshelf was squabbling with itself). Not only were these authors brilliant, but they were hilarious. I did my best to transcribe some of their key points, but since my brain is a wonky sieve on the best of days and my notes from that night look like this:

Yeah. Just TRY to read that.

I may accidentally leave out some of their choicest bon mots. But I’ll do my best. First off, each of the authors shared a little bit about their current and upcoming projects. Amber Benson read an EXCLUSIVE snippet of the story she’s working on about an abused boy’s love of escaping into horror movies. Cecil Castelluci read us graphic novel pages from her alternating prose and graphic novel book The Year of the Beasts, and two pages from First Day on Earth about a boy who thinks he’s been abducted by aliens and joins an abduction support group. Javi Grillo-Marxuach showed a clip from the pilot of The Middleman that had us all cackling. Leigh Bardugo, who happened to be wearing kickass boots, read a scene from Shadow and Bone and between Alina and Genya and displayed some amazing fan art by Irene Koh.

Shadow and Bone author Leigh Bardugo

After that, Sarah Mesle asked the panel some questions. A lot of the chat focused on the idea of fantasy and YA literature in general as an escape, with Castelluci noting that her two books, The Year of the Beasts and First Day on Earth, have a strong contemporary part to them. Mal, the main character from First Day on Earth, is looking for “a way to hitch a ride off of Earth because Earth sucks.”

Amber Benson: My character is looking to escape into horror movies.

Sarah Mesle: Into darkness. 

Javi Grillo-Marxuach: Crisis is preferable than the brutality of ordinary life.

The authors then went on to discuss why genre and YA tap into this mentality more than literary fiction.

JGM: Literary fiction is like– you can’t escape, all ends badly–

Leigh Bardugo: Ennui!

Grillo-Marxuach employed a metaphor using Skyfall, the latest James Bond movie, which was directed by Sam Mendes, of American Beauty fame. “I loathe American Beauty with a hot flaming passion,” he said. “It stinks of pretension and bullshit. But when Sam Mendes does a genre movie, he blossoms into an amazing director.” He argued that the “added tool of world-building” provides metaphors and a framework in which to explore ideas.

The conversation turned to the huge rash of dystopians and how they are uniformly dark, and how these themes are just the themes of everyday teen life intensified.

LB: The crisis is made real…They all consist of love under crushing regimes, under duress-

JGM: AKA parents.

Castelluci commented on the heavy amounts of darkness present in YA genre fiction. “When there’s an extreme amount of darkness, you can see that pinpoint of light.”

Grillo-Marxuach discussed how genre fiction depicts the realities of teen life by arguing that decision to leave the state and go to college, “those things are blown up … Emotions are pitched at a high level.” He compared the choice to leave for college to leaving the farm to become a Jedi Knight, thereby earning all the geek credit from the geek audience. “I like the respite of being able to see things blown up into big metaphors and great ideas as opposed to the mundane quality of everyday life.”

“Decisions you make as a teenager are very die,” Castelluci said. “You’re at a crossroads, and you actually can make bad choices that affect your life. Your worry isn’t illegitimate. You have a right to be freaked out.”

Benson spoke about the aspirational quality to YA, citing Bella Swan as an example. “The way Bella appears, readers put their selves in her place, everybody wants her even though she’s klutzy. People want to be her…With fallible characters, people get annoyed. They want (female protagonists) to be perfect. But if they’re too perfect, then they’re Mary Sues.”

Review: Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan

THIS IS THE LAST DAY TO ENTER MY HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY.  You can win thirteen books, including UNSPOKEN by Sarah Rees Brennan. HURRY!

Review: Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan
Rating: A hilarious, strangely poignant vampire book for those who are sick of vampires.

 

 Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn't mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It's up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity!

On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching.

Acclaimed authors Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan team up to create a witty and poignant story of cool vampires, warm friendships, and the changes that test the bonds of love

I was a huge fan of Sarah Rees Brennan’s UNSPOKEN, so buying TEAM HUMAN for me was a no brainer. I’ve never had the pleasure of reading any of Larbalestier’s books, but after the great fun that TEAM HUMAN was, I will be sure to in the future. This book had it all: a fierce, fiery lead who may actually be me in book form, a really cool “what if?” world, romantical entanglements, and friendship. Beautiful, painful female friendship. It begins almost as a satire of vampire-human relationships (it almost goes out of it way to poke harmless fun at one Bella Swan, though never by name). I love that the book developed into something deeper though, while still being funny.

The fierce, fiery lead: Mel is ten different kinds of awesome. I seriously love her. She is laugh out-loud hilarious, and best of all, she knows it. She’s an Elizabeth Bennet “dearly loves to laugh” kind of girl, with a huge heart and a fearsome temper. Plus she’s got a bit of the amateur sleuth in her, and I love that. She thinks becoming one of the undead would suck because you couldn’t have chocolate. Her greatest joys in life include taking care of her friends and making fun of the absurdly pompous Francis, an a hundred and fifty year old vamp who is easily scandalized by her unladylike ways.

A really cool “what if?” world: In TEAM HUMAN, vampires and humans coexist pretty peacefully. It comes after centuries of bloodshed and disaster and zombies, of course, but society has developed in such a way that things work out pretty well. Vampires and vampire transitions are regulated and every public building must have UV proof windows. Obviously, things go awry. Crazy things. CREEPY things. Things I do not dare spoil. Although there is the mystery of Mel’s friend Anna’s dad, who has run off with a vampire lady and has not been heard from since

Romantical entanglements: Oh, Francis. What a delightfully absurd creature. I adore him. He is old-fashioned, priggish, and utterly, hilariously unsexy. He is a member of the undead, and yet he shows up one day to attend high school. And Mel speaks for the ages when she says: “A vampire who wants to go to high school? That is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.” But of course, Mel’s romantic and serious best friend Cathy is instantly smitten. And so begins the part where I cheer Mel’s every word and want to shake Cathy very hard.

See, Mel’s a staunch member of Team Human, meaning she’s so not okay with the whole trading-in-your-mortality-just-to-be-beautiful-and-live-forever thing. She is everything most vampire novel heroines are not. Not even when she develops a (admittedly hurried) relationship with jokester Kit, a human raised by vampires who’s never really hung out with humans in his life. He has all the social graces of Nell, and it is so endearing.

Beautiful, painful female friendship: It was lovely to read a book where the main focus was on a relationship between three best friends. This book was all about how to love and respect your friends and what it truly means to be human. What you’re willing to give up, and what you’re not willing. Mel, Cathy, and Anna made a sweet trio. They cared very deeply for one another. It was clear Mel was prepared to go above and beyond for either one of them.

Obviously, I loved this book. I stayed up to the wee hours of the morning till I finished, alternately cackling and getting a little misty. If I had to levy any criticism, it would be that at one or two moments, the dialogue revealed itself to be written by two non-Americans, as in the slang would veer into inauthentic (we don’t say loads much, do we? As in “having loads of fun”? Well, I do, but I’m strange like that). But the dialogue was so funny and witty and quippy that I really just did not care. Another slight critique might be that Kit and Mel’s relationship developed awfully fast. I adored them together– the chemistry was definitely there– but I thought maybe there was a step or two missing.

I suppose I could see why some wouldn't enjoy this book (no I can't). If you want something swoonily romantic, this book won't supply that. (I would argue it's more romantic, in a way, that some characters value life more than anything but I won't get into that lest I Spoil Things). Apparently some people don't find this book funny, and humor is a very subjective thing. I hotted (sic- leaving this typo in because it makes me giggle) and hollered but you may not.

But I highly recommend this book. I knew going into this that Rees Brennan’s humor is precisely my cup of tea (I DEFY you not to laugh when Mel starts explaining keggers to Francis) and I’m delighted to have discovered a new author in Larbalestier. If you’re sick of teenage heroines mooning after vampires, read this book. If you’ve ever wanted to smack Edward Cullen in the face, read this book. If you ever wanted to kiss Edward Cullen on his face, read this book. Basically, read it, you idiots. GO NOW.

Review: The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long

Only two days left for a chance to win this book and twelve others in my Holiday Giveaway. Hurry!

Review: The Treachery of Beautiful Things

Rating: Exquisite, enchanting, magical. Though slow to begin, this folktale world is truly worth submerging in.

 

I admit I had trouble getting sucked into this book. It took me a while to read, which is hardly ever the case for me. It was almost like the words were too beautiful, the images too intensely vivid, that I couldn’t find my footing. We’re thrust straight into the fae world without getting grounded in Jenny’s life in the real world first. We know she’s traumatized from watching the forest steal her brother. Her parents are grief-stricken and everyone thinks she’s crazy. I think I required at least one scene in which these things were shown.

But then it was like the book worked its magic on me. I LOVE the fairy world. Long’s descriptions… exquisite doesn’t even begin to cover it. I could see it. She paints a picture so beautiful and so creepy all at the same time. Nothing and no one is truly trustworthy. Motives are tangled. Everyone’s a trickster. It was intensely confusing at times, but I think it was meant to be. These aren’t you average fairy tale fairies. Approach these fae folk at your own peril.

She will cut you.

And I fell in love with Jack. Jack is the best. We get to know him so well, and he’s so full of heart and feeling, despite the fact that he’s not human and doesn’t have a heart. Plus he’s HOT, which is a weird thing to say about a guy dressed in leaves, but there it is. Jenny is strong and stubborn and plucky, even if I wanted to know a bit more about her, particularly about her life at home. But you sympathize with her completely. She’s here to get her brother. At all costs.

Jack and Jenny’s relationship is complex and beautiful. It tugged on my heartstrings. It’s romantic and magical and oh-so-deep. Jack is officially on my list of Bookish Boyfriends.

Everyone’s a villain in the fae world. Every legend is alive and it’s so completely creepy. I confess I’m not well-versed in this kind of folklore, and I was a bit lost in the beginning, but eventually I was able to follow along. You don’t need to be very knowledgeable about Puck and Oberon and Titania and Mab and all that to read this book (though I have read A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, and that may have helped clarify a few things in the beginning). I found myself wanting a few more info-dumps, if that can be believed.

Long has created an amazing folktale world, capturing the darkness and treachery that lies at the heart of all our childhood tales. Things get creepy in the forest, and yet I didn’t want to leave it. Read this book if you love old English tales, romantic love, noble sacrifices, and the kind of world where it’s impossible to break and oath. I’ll be over in the corner hoping Jack o’ the Forest comes to rescue me next (it could happen).