Mini-Review: Mystic by Jason Denzel

Author Jason Denzel is best known for running the Wheel of Time fansite, Dragonmount, and in 2015, he published his debut novel, Mystic. Fans who know Jason (and I’m one, going back to my days spending untold of hours on Wheel of Time message boards), probably expect Jason’s novel to be world-spanning, epic fantasy adventure in the same vein of Wheel of Time. They would be wrong.

Mystic takes a different, more focused approach. This book is an origin story, almost a prequel to a series that hasn’t been published yet. It’s not (well, mostly not) the story of an epic journey to save the world. Mystic is the story of a young woman’s (Pomella) journey, her personal struggles against a severely stratified society, and her own baggage from that society. It’s the journey of a young woman breaking barriers and learning her magic. It’s heartwarming, sweet, with a good bit of misguided teenage action. In this, it’s a classic YA book with a good bit of cross-over appeal.

Yes, there is a threat, a threat that could have dire consequences to the world. But the threat feels almost contrived – it really was a placeholder, something to pitch the growth and struggles of Pomella against. In this way, the book is more about her own internal struggles than the external struggles around.

This internal, almost small-scale focus is both the strength and weakness of Mystic. The fan base Jason is chasing after is most likely expecting a sprawling epic that stand on the shoulders of 1990s era big fat fantasy. They may bounce off of the modest page count and ‘lower stakes’ journey of a young woman. That would be unfortunate, as the story is well told, even as it shows many of the signs of an author still in development rather than full command of their skills.

I enjoyed Mystic, and I look forward to reading what Jason does with this series in the future. However, it does not really cover any new ground. That’s not (necessarily) a bad thing – not every book can or should be groundbreaking, but in a time when so many exciting things are happening in the world of SFF books, this is the sort of thing that could fall through the cracks. Or maybe it’s the sort of book that could really take off due to its accessibility. It’s hard to say.

Mystic: Amazon

Mini-Review: Nihal of the Land of the Wind by Licia Triosi

Nihal of the Land of the Wind by Licia Triosi (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon) was originally written in Italian and this is its first translation into English. I picked it up to read because I was hoping to find something different and exciting. Unfortunately, that was not the case – the book I read was derivative, the writing never quite feels right, and it was mostly quite boring.

Nihal of the Land of the Wind is a classic coming of age story, of a girl in a man’s world striving to succeed where only men succeed. It’s a world of sorcery, war, magical races, and dragon-riding knights. It’s YA in all the ways that people point to when they want to say something is ‘kids stuff’.

This is rather unfortunate, because the best of YA can handle all of this in a way to be equally engaging to adults and YA. With Nihal of the Land of the Wind, it doesn’t – the story feels like something I’ve read many times before and shows no subtly or grace in pounding it’s message into the reader. I can’t say if something got lost in translation or not, but writing style never clicked with me as it stumbled around. I can see this book being good for pre-teen to early-teen girls – the message isn’t all bad by any means, and they are unlikely to consider it such a derivative story. But it’s not written in a way that will appeal to an audience far beyond that rather specific demographic. In all honesty, I’m rather surprised I finished the book at all.

Review: Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

What is YA fiction?

I ask because Half a King is Joe Abercrombie’s first foray into YA fiction (and the first book in the Shattered Sea series). Fans, or at least those familiar with Abercrombie’s fiction, may have a reaction along the lines of ‘what!?, ‘Really?!’, ‘No Fucking Way!’

Abercrombie has a bit of a reputation in the SFF world. His fiction is … messy. It certainly falls into the relatively newly coined term grimdark (which, for the record, I dislike as a sub-genre describer but I’m afraid it’s here to stay). Some would throw about the term ‘realistic’ to describe what Abercrombie does with fantasy, regardless of how silly the term realistic can be when describing fiction, and fantasy in particular, but I digress. What Abercrombie does do is explore the fantasy genre by destroying some of its core concepts – The First Law Trilogy turns epic fantasy on its head, stretches it out on the rack and slowly eviscerates it. Best Served Cold, The Heroes, and Red Country all similarly subvert the revenge, war/hero, and western narratives, respectively. And they are messy. The single unifying concept (beyond grunting dialog) is that nothing is romanticized.  War is hell, killing is necessary, and blood gets everywhere. People are flawed, scarred, and any ideals they hold to are crushed in creative forms of torture. Redemption is not something that is oft found in the Abercrombie tale.

So, I come back to my opening question, what is YA? Does YA feature a simple narrative, clean reality full of romanticized characters and beautiful ideals? Are triumph, redemption and similar ‘good’ outcomes needed? If you tend to jump to a ‘yes’ answer for any of the above questions, I’d suggest that you haven’t read much YA fiction, or at least much good YA fiction.

So, I ask, is it really a surprise that Joe Abercrombie, LordGrimdark himself, is writing YA fiction?

Just what does YA Abercrombie-style look like? Is there a boy? Yes. Is there a girl? A couple actually. Is there a classic mentor figure? Yes, maybe more than one depending on how one looks at it. Is there a struggle and ‘heroes’ journey to become oneself and achieve their goals? Yes. Do the good guys win? … Does the boy get the girl? … Is there a cute and tidy moralistic message to be learned? Umm… Abercrombie wrote this, OK? Is there a death that is important to the protagonists development? See previous answer. Is mommy proud of her crippled son? … Just what is being subverted here? …

Half a King is a wonderful example of good YA fiction – note, that it’s not ‘children’s fiction’ as some people tend to falsely equate with YA. In many ways, this book is just as dark (err…grimdark?) anything else that Abercrombie has written. Blood is splattered all over the place. Betrayal occurs…repeat. The person that our ‘hero’ grows into … well, I’ll let you decide.

To answer the question I began with, YA fiction (at least as I choose to define it) simply features a protagonist who falls into the YA age category. It may be shorter than other novels and a bit easier to read (both are true in the case of Half a King), though those aren’t necessary. It’s a book that is probably marketed to the YA audience, which may be the only real definition for YA that matters. But who looks back on their ‘YA’ years and thinks those were the best times of my life? Teenagers are brutal. They are impulsive, short-sighted, vain and cruel. Sure, there are more than a few positive attributes as well, but don’t forget that the ‘YA years’ are not the easy sailing, Disney years that so many wish them to be. Abercrombie (and grimdark) fit right in … or maybe not, because who actually fits in during those years?

So, yes, Half a King is awesome. It is YA and it will equally appeal to those beyond their YA years. This is probably Abercrombie’s best book to-date (I waffle because I’ve not yet read Red Country), and shows that he’s writing with a golden finger (of death).

And nothing is better than naming a character Nothing. Nothing.

Abercrombie wrote Half a King, and this is a whole review that talked for a bit about Nothing.*

Half a King (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

The First Law Trilogy (my review, Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

Best Served Cold (my review, Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

The Heroes (my review, Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

Red Country (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon)

*This line doesn’t really make much sense in the context of this review, but after reading the book I had to write it. Once you read the book you will understand. Or not … my sense of humor is odd.

Review: Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

 “What’s that? You say you’ve got a Japanese Steampunk novel with mythic creatures, civil unrest, and a strong female protagonist? I’m afraid I missed everything you said after “Japanese Steampunk.” That’s all I really needed to hear.”

 

-PATRICK ROTHFUSS,       

#1 New York Times best Selling author

 

 
 

The quote above adorns the cover for Stormdancer, the debut from Jay Kristoff and book one of The Lotus War trilogy (Indiebound, Book Depository, Amazon). Rothfuss’ blub above is what initially grabbed my attention for this book, months before its publication and months prior to my receiving an early copy. I’ll be honest – it got me excited. It sounded cool and while I know people have mixed opinions on Rothfuss’ books, I can say that I really enjoy his story telling ability and find him to be a genuinely entertaining person – just the sort of person who could get me excited about a book through a short blurb.

 

And so I fell into the trap. You see, if you asked me I’d tell you that blurbs don’t mean much to me. That they often can’t be trusted and you really need to carefully parse the words to make sure you’re not being bamboozled. So, let’s do that with Rothfuss’ blurb. To me, it looks like he’s commenting on a summary of the book, and not really the book itself – in fact, a careful read of the blurb makes me think that he had not read the book prior to giving it. And this is the best part – he flat out admits it all – saying that the term Japanese Steampunk is the only thing he was really interested in hearing.

 

So, I’m lead to the conclusion that this big and enticing blurb by Rothfuss is actually quite meaningless and not representative of the book itself since he hadn’t even read it. And since I’ve already admitted that it was this blurb that piqued my interest in Stormdancer, I must admit to blurb bamboozlement – and that is an embarrassing admission for me, a ‘respected’ review blogger of 6+ years. But, let’s not dwell on that and get to some discussion of the book – because I did actually read it and what I have to say about it is a bit more than a blurb.

 

In brief, the Japanese Steampunk angle has already been covered by Rothfuss. And yes there is civil unrest, at least one mythical beast (a griffin), and a strong female protagonist (at least surficially). I’ll go ahead and add that the society is completely dependent on the refined product of lotus flowers, which has lead to a sort of industrial wasteland full of pollution and drug addicts with an endless war distantly persecuted and dwindling natural places and creatures all under tyrannical rule.

 

The plot of Stormdancer follows a standardized checklist for epic fantasy – it’s an autocratic political system with overly cruel leadership, there is a mysterious resistance movement, a young teenager is the hero (Yukiko), one parent is dead, there are issues with her father to be overcome, Yukiko has magical abilities, impossibly a mythical creature appears, Yukiko promptly develops a magical bond to said creature, and then Yukiko sets out to topple the government. Anyone who is well read in epic fantasy will easily know the outcome of this book – right down to who dies and who lives. Now, this isn’t necessarily a big flaw – someone who has not read a lot of epic fantasy may think that this is a wonderfully unique book, though to me, the plotting was tiresome at best.

 

On to the writing – as we all know a really well told story from a great storyteller can make it easy to overlook a lot of flaws. Kristoff comes off rather mixed here – at times his writing is really good, surprising good for a debut author and showing lots of potential. However, there are some pretty bad pacing issues – particularly with the beginning third of the novel which essentially serves as poorly presented infodump that lays out all the details of the rather cool world he’s created. However, there is no subtlety and no nuance. And while I really enjoy the world that Kristoff has created, he lost a fair be of credibility by bludgeoning the reader continually with the horror and injustice of the environmental and human tragedy at hand.

 

And all this adds up to an overall criticism of the book that I hate to make – it’s too YA – in all the bad ways it can be. To further explain, YA books can be very powerful and rather more complex than many people give them credit for. And the best of them often cross over with great success beyond the traditional YA market. Stormdancer doesn’t do this – the lack of subtlety, the lack of nuance, the strait-forward plotting – it has been done over and over again and only reinforces the common criticisms YA books get from more mature audiences. This isn’t to say that Stormdancer won’t work out well for the traditional YA audience, only that I don’t see it moving far past it.

 

The Japanese-inspired setting is probably thing that got me most excited initially. I am really enjoying the trend of late for (epic) fantasies to be set in worlds that are not inspired by medieval Britain (or Europe at all). And though curious, I’m rather under-read in when comes to Japan-inspired settings. So, I rather enjoyed this aspect of Stormdancer. However, I have seen some pretty harsh criticism of the Japanese-like culture and language that Kristoff creates. And having read those criticisms, I’m much less excited about the Japan-like world than I initially was. So, read them if you’d like to see some analysis of where Kristoff (mostly) gets it all wrong.

 

Likewise I have some issues with Yukiko, the strong female protagonist. The truth is that I generally find her annoying – perhaps it’s due to an (accurate?) portrayal of teen angst (I mean what teenager isn’t annoying when it comes down to it). And it certainly doesn’t help that the bonding/taming of the griffin was done so unconvincingly. But mostly, I think it’s because Yukiko as a character is completely framed from a male point of view (even though it’s supposed to be her story). It’s all about her falling in love with this guy, her relationship to her father, her hatred of the (male) Shogun, her bonding with the (male) griffin, etc. After thinking on the book for a while, I think this maybe one of the biggest flaws and could be the underlying explanation for why it just never comes together as it should, in spite of some rather fun storytelling that occurs along the way. Even though I’m not a huge fan how she frames her arguments, I’d be pretty curious to see what Requires Only Hate would say about this book – evisceration comes to mind.

 

So, this has turned out to be a pretty negative review, beginning with the admission of being hoodwinked by a well-written (from a certain point of view) blurb. But, that’s not the full story. A truth is that baring some of the big pacing issues that occur mostly in the first third of the book, the storytelling was strong enough to keep me interested. It’s not a book that I ever considered not finishing. However, I doubt I’ll be reading the sequels either. It was after reflecting on my thoughts of the book for a while (which I do with pretty much every book I read) that I realized that I had some real issues with it. I think that most fans of epic fantasy probably will too – and that means most of the people who read this blog regularly. But, for someone who is new to epic fantasy, particularly someone who is a teenager, this book will probably work very well and I expect that they would enjoy it a lot. So, while in the end I would say this isn’t the book for me or most of the blogger tribe I run with, it probably is a book for a lot of people browsing the YA section at a bookstore (or equivalent).

Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

These days it seems that you can’t turn around without being bombarded by an advertisement, article or something related to The Hunger Games movie. It’s clear that with Harry Potter done, Hollywood is attempting to fill the void with The Hunger Games (though I like the idea of calling The Hunger Games anti-Twilight much better than the next Harry Potter). But the review is for the book that started the buzz – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Book Depository, Powell’sBooks, Indiebound).

Long before there was talk about the movie I was hearing good things about The Hunger Games and it’s been on my list of books to read since that time. I finally bought a copy, and copies of the other two books in the series – Catching Fire (BookDepository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) and Mockingjay (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound). I must admit that I can see why The Hunger Games has garnered so much attention – it’s good, it’s entertaining, it appeals to more than just a YA audience and I believe it’ll translate well into film.

The USA is long past, fallen in some not-quite-an-apocalypse calamity in a now distant past. The nation of Panem has emerged from the ashes, dominated by a single Capitol City that holds a dozen other cities hostage in a dystopian regime and very stratified society. Every year the Capitol reminds its subjects of the price of a long past revolt by holding the annual Hunger Games – a contest where a male and female representative from each of the 12 districts all gather for a battle to the death, crowning a single victor. Only these ‘tributes’ are children between the ages of 11 and 18.

Katniss is from District 12, a poor district that mines coal in a place once known as Appalachia. When her younger sister is selected to be the next tribute, she volunteers to take her place and is thrust into hypocrisy of the Capitol and the horror of the Hunger Games. The other District 12 tribute is Peeta, a boy who once gave her bread when she and her family were starving, and the two of them team up to battle for their lives.

The premise of The Hunger Games is one that shares many similarities with other works – in other words, it’s hardly unique. However, what it lacks in originality, it makes up in pure execution. Collins quickly and economically realizes the horror of Panem and the Hunger Games while creating a devotion to her main characters, particularly Katniss, whom is the sole view point in a wonderfully told first-person narration. Katniss is easy to relate to and equally easy to cheer for. She is a young woman who has been forced to lead an adult life through the harsh reality she lives in. As a result, she’s never had the time or opportunity to grow into a young woman and sexual creature. Now this book is not exactly a romance and there is no sex, but it’s as much a story of young woman struggling with her sexuality as it is a tale of survival in mad, dystopian world.

The Hunger Games is a perfect storm for the YA crowd – it’s about a young girl awakening as sexual being, it’s about rebelling against authority, it’s about a complicated relationship with parents, it’s about devotion to friends, it’s about a teenager thrown into stardom and it’s topped off with a good bit of gratuitous violence and death. And while these are the sort of things that appeal strongly to a YA age group, they are also just the sort of thing that those of us who have left those years behind us (even far behind) can also get behind and get excited about. In short, The Hunger Games is a near-perfect YA cross-over.

Combining the cross-over appeal with the relatively small cast and limited viewpoint, the result is a book that could translate well into film if given the proper treatment. Now, this is a review of the book and as of the time of publication of this review, the movie is not yet released. I have not seen the movie, nor have I been following the pre-release buzz, fan and author reactions. But it certainly appears that The Hunger Games is poised to be a wildly-popular book and movie. And while I’ve gone on record in the past bemoaning the potential consequences of books and similar media becoming movies and/or TV shows, it’s become clear that the positive aspects cannot be denied.

Knowing that this book is the first in a trilogy pretty much leaves the reader knowing the ending before they get to it. While I won’t spoil things directly, I will say that it ends more or less as expected – at least as far as Katniss is concerned. However, the ultimate ending (as in the last page or three) is a bit more complicated. While it’s tough to call it a cliff-hanger, it is somewhat abrupt and the reader can’t help but wonder about what will come next. And frankly, I think that the events in The Hunger Games will be very hard to top in the rest of the trilogy. This both excites me and makes me a bit anxious (in a negative way) – this either sets up the following books to be very rewarding as they top the first, or to be disappointing. And for whatever reason, I lean toward thinking I’ll be let down, making me want to leave the series now when I think so highly of it. I imagine that I will move on and read Catching Fire, but this (unfair?) trepidation is making it a bit of a lower priority.

The buzz surrounding The Hunger Games is deafening and in my opinion, deserved. Collins tells an engaging story full of near-universal challenges faced by teens across the Western world. It’s heartfelt and fun, in spite of covering some rather dark territory. It appeals directly to the YA crowd without excluding an older audience. And it presents a great template that could be a great movie. Read it now and endure the buzz, because it’s not going away.

The Hive Mind Recommended Me Some Books for a Christmas Gift

Last week I asked of the hive mind of my Twitter followers for a book recommendation - not for myself, but for my cousin for her Christmas gift (technically I suppose she's my second cousin). She is an 11-year old girl who is an avid reader, particularly of fantasy. She even has a review blog (not linked because I don't want gift to be spoiled :) ). So, obviously the usual suspects won't do so well. And I imagine she's a bit under-read on the older books since she gets lots of books from her aunt who was a long-time manager at an indie bookstore.

Anyway, the recommendations that came from Twitter are below. Any other suggestions are welcome in the comments of course.

I've made no decisions yet, but thanks again to all those who provide recs.  

• Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound 

• Redwall by Brian Jacques (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• Dreamdark by Laini Taylor (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• The  Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• Discworld by Terry Pratchett (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• Lightbringer by K.D. McEntire (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

• Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound)

Review: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

I’ve been hearing bits and pieces about Scott Westerfeld for years now – probably the loudest bits have been from John Scalzi who is on record calling Westerfeld the ‘most significant SF writer’ writing right now and probably the best-selling SF writer. But Westerfeld writes YA books, which are often eschewed on principle by more ‘mature’ audiences. After I recently attended a Westerfeld signing event, I’ve finally picked up one of his books to see for myself.

Leviathan (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound) is a steampunk alternative history re-telling of World War I where all the conspiracy theories on the cause of the Great War turn out to be true – along with more than a few ‘embellishments’ that that earn the alternative label. The Archduke Ferdinand has a teenage son named Aleksandar who is on the run from the Germans and Austrians who want him dead. A young girl in Britain enters the British Air Service disguised as boy so she can serve. These two are set on a collision course while war rages around them and conspiracies at the heart of WWI slowly unravel.

Leviathan is a YA story and the protagonists are indeed YA. The plot embraces some pretty standard tropes – a young, displaced noble suddenly on the run for his life accompanied by loyal, wizened, and sarcastic retainers, a young commoner who distinguishes herself amongst her piers and betters, a girl that pretends to be a boy, etc. Tropes become tropes because of universal appeal – and while they can be extremely tiresome when the portrayal is uninspiring, when they are done right, that universal appeal stands out. Westerfeld does tropes right. His writing is fully engaging in a way that should make all writers envious. His pace is electric. His characters are real and heartfelt that you can’t help but cheer for. And all this isn’t even the best part of the book.

Westerfeld’s vision of WWI is stunningly iconic – this is steampunk upped an order of magnitude. Huge walkers reminiscent of Star Wars’ Imperial Walkers rush to battle. Enormous zeppelins ply the skies for dominance. Mechanical scout vehicles put horses to shame. And this is just one side of the battle – the Clankers.

On the opposing side we have the Darwinists – where Clankers excel at mechanical prowess, the Darwinists excel at biology. DNA along with the ability to manipulate it was discovered by Darwin leading to society where engineered living beasts largely fill the role of mechanics. Submarines are engineered Krakens, dirigibles are engineered hydrogen-filled whales, beasts of burden rival any truck/tractor, bats shit fléchettes on the enemy, messaging lizards actually speak – basically whatever can be imagined can be engineered.

Westerfeld’s imaginative world of Clankers versus Darwinists with all the wonderful potentials made me feel like a kid again. Few books truly stoke the imagination the way Leviathan did for me – it easily rivals the best of Harry Potter. While all this set my imagination running, it was invaluably aided by the evocative illustrations of Keith Thompson. Westerfeld fought hard to get illustrations in Leviathan and they absolutely add an extra dimension.

For the most part, I just grabbed on and enjoyed the ride. However, I should warn that this book is but the first of a trilogy. I found no mention of this fact on the book jacket, which is certainly annoying and rather misleading. As a result, the book doesn’t end all that well – you could call it a cliff-hanger, but it doesn’t really feel that way. The end doesn’t really come at the end of a true story-arc, but rather the end of a part of an arc – I suppose it could be considered the end of the beginning. While perhaps appropriate for the first book of a trilogy, that’s little comfort if you didn’t know Leviathan was part of a series going in. Book 2, Behemoth, is expected in about a year with book 3, tentatively titled Goliath, about a year after that.

So, I’ve finally read New York Times Bestselling Author Scott Westerfeld, one of the most successful and exciting SFF authors out there today and an author that far too many adult SFF fans have not heard of. I’m impressed and I’ll definitely be reading more. 8/10

Why Haven’t I Been Reading Scott Westerfeld?

So, I saw that a nice indie bookstore that I sometimes frequent (Changing Hands) was having a signing event with Scott Westerfeld. I’ve heard the name and heard good things about him, but I haven’t read anything by him before – primarily because Westerfeld is best known as a YA writer. Having nothing to loose (except perhaps $25 for a copy of his new book), I decided to go. I had a wonderful time (even if I was one of the few lone adults – most were accompanying their teens). Oh, and the room was filled to the brim with teenage girls – I have recommendation to teenage boys, read Westerfeld’s books, it will give you something to talk about with girls.

I’m always (pleasantly) surprised when I go to author signing events. I suppose I have an image of authors of insular people more at home with words than people. But pretty much every author event I’ve been to has lead me to question that assumption. The authors I’ve met in person have all been fun, dynamic people who are surprisingly entertaining and funny. Perhaps they just get used to the dog and pony show and have prepared their ‘material’ well, but there is often a real enjoyment shown by the authors that seems very genuine.

While I was waiting for the event, I decided to dive into my newly purchased book, Leviathan (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound). And after 70 pages, my reaction was largely ‘why haven’t I been reading Westerfeld’s books?’ Yes, they are YA, and as I’ve talked about before, there is often a stigma for adults reading YA. But, if what I’ve read so far of Leviathan is any indication, these are YA books that adults can (and should) be reading and enjoying.

Leviathan is simply made of cool. This is re-telling of WW1 where all the conspiracy theories are true in a steampunk world that really takes things to a new level (complete with spectacular illustrations). Imagine the steampunk equivalent of Imperial Walkers marching to war against huge genetically engineered creatures. It’s the Darwinists versus the Clankers, and it’s awesome! Sure, the plot is YA, but so far it’s well executed and easily enjoyable to adults. This book is steampunk on steroids and a lot fun. And it has a really cool book trailer:



So, go read some Westerfeld and don’t let you adult ‘sensibilities’ get in the way.

World Fantasy Award Nominees Announced

So, via Twitter I see that the 2009 World Fantasy Award nominees covering the 2008 award year have been announced. I generally like this award more than most of the main-stream SFF awards since it is a juried-award, though due to whoever the jury is made up of, the sort of books that get nominated year-to-year can vary quit a bit. Anyway, this year’s nominations for Best Novel are below:

The House of the Stag, Kage Baker (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound)
The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound)
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound)
Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound)
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound)

What’s interesting about this year’s nominees is that I’ve actually read 3 out of the 5 books.

The House of the Stag by Kage Baker
Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Of those 3, I think that Tender Morsels really stands out as the front-runner (even though personally, I didn’t care for it). I also find it interesting that at least 2 of these books are considered YA – see some of the best SFF being written right now is for the YA market and it crosses-over to the adult market very well. We’ll see where it goes from here.

Review: Green by Jay Lake

Jay Lake has decided he doesn’t want to be known as that clockpunk guy who wrote Mainspring (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound), Escapement (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound), and forthcoming Pinion. While his internet following will always recognize him as a prolific blogger and others admire his wonderful short fiction and earlier novels, Trial of Flowers (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound) and its sequels, Lake still felt the need to further broaden his horizons to something closer to traditional fantasy. With Green (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound) Lake shows readers once again that he one of the most versatile writers in the SFF market.

Green tells the story of a young girl, sold into slavery, who strives to become her own woman. Robbed even of the memory of her name, she is raised to be a royal concubine in a far away land – extensively trained in things like cooking and sewing yet ignorant of recent history and the true daily life of the foreign lands around her. Given the name Emerald and taking the name Green in her own language, she finds herself in the center of a plot to overthrow the Duke and sacrifices everything to become free – while she comes to terms with what real freedom is and what it isn’t.

Green is told entirely from the first-person perspective of Green, so it’s not stretch to say that the success or failure of the novel rests there as well. In this respect, Green succeeds – she is a believable character who I quickly identified with and cared for. Green struggles with her identity as an individual, as foreigner in a far away land, as a slave, and eventually as a killer. She romanticizes her origins and as she matures she struggles with the idea of whether her slavery may have actually been a good thing. As a girl raised to be at the beck and call of a man, she fiercely guards her feminine identity. And through it all, she is a hormonal teenager with a very narrow education who makes bad decisions and becomes sure that she has all the right answers.

In many ways, Green is a novel that fits the YA mold with a strong cross-over appeal to adults. As such, I can see it appealing especially to teenage girls, who I imagine would strongly identify with Green and her struggles to figure out who she is as a person, and to a lesser degree, her sexual identity. Lake dedicates the book to his daughter in a touching and amusing statement that fits the book well and further leads me to believe that while I enjoyed Green, I’m probably not the audience that Green is most directly aimed at.

With all the focus on Green, other aspects fall short in comparison. Secondary characters are decidedly secondary and the plot stretches the limits of credibility at times. In Green’s world, gods and goddesses are real beings who directly touch and interact with the world – while much time is spent in temples and the like, relatively little exploration of these gods is undertaken. This leads to problems with who becomes the main villain of the story – a new god, who is at best confusingly explained, and at worst a poorly inserted antagonist to give Green a purpose.

Lake’s world-building is muted – which is not a bad thing in and of itself, but will likely seem underdone to fans of fantasy and even fans of Lake’s other work which are so wonderfully constructed. The emphasis of the book is correctly placed on Green, but in a nearly 400-page book, a bit more detail would have been appreciated (or a lower page count). The non-human, sentient race of the feline Pardines play an important role, yet remain frustratingly mysterious. As I said above, the emphasis is correctly placed on Green, but I was left wanting more exploration of this interesting race.

Above all else, Green is an addicting read. The plot had issues and the world-building left a bit to be desired, but Green herself is a fascinating character that I connected with, often in spite of her idiotic, teenage decisions. Green is the novel’s success and potential inspiration for teenage girls. 7/10

Related Posts: Review of Mainspring, Interview with Jay Lake

Review: Starfinder by John Marco

John Marco has been quietly gaining a reputation for writing solid fantasy novels with his two previous trilogies – the Lukien Trilogy and Tyrants and Kings. His newest book, Starfinder (US, UK, Canada, IndieBound), kicks off a new series, Skylords, and should appeal to a younger audience.

In a early-industrial world with a distinct steampunk feel to it, the Governor of Calio builds an aerial armada to defend the lands from what most consider a mythical threat from across the forbidding mist bank known as the Reach. Moth is a 13-year old boy working at the aerodrome who dreams of one day becoming a Skynight and pilot of the flying machine known as a dragonfly. He is an orphan living with an old, half-crazed Eldrin Knight, Leroux, who is full of magical stories from across the Reach. Moth’s life changes forever with the death of Leroux as events set him on a course to cross the Reach and explore a magical world full of mermaids, dragons, and the dangerous skylords.

Starfinder is Moth’s book, but he does have a companion on the journey – the Governor’s estranged 14-year old granddaughter, Fiona. Fiona’s story is equally compelling and cliché as Moth’s and the interaction between the two is both a strength and a weakness. The dialogue of both Moth and Fiona often seems a bit advanced for young teens and the total lack of sexual tension seems off the mark. However, Marco does portray a good coming-of-age story for both Moth and Fiona.

Two aspects of Starfinder prevented me from enjoying as much as I should have – the relative lack of cross-over appeal and its inability to distinguish itself from the fantasy masses. Starfinder fits firmly into the world of YA fiction, and I think it’s a great book for that market. However, unlike many YA books being published these days, Starfinder doesn’t have the same level of cross-over appeal for the adult audience. While Marco tells a fun and engaging tale, it was too formulaic and too focused on themes more often associated with teens than other ages. As a result, Starfinder failed to distinguish itself from other fantasy out there – sure it’s a well told story, but without that something extra, it didn’t rise above.

So, the bottom line is that Marco tells a good story in Starfinder, but it’s a story that I found solidly aimed at the YA audience with little cross-over appeal for adults. It’d be a great book to pass off to a teen and a great introduction to fantasy, but probably won’t appeal much to a more mature audience. 6/10

Alison Goodman Answers Questions Five

Australian author Alison Goodman is steadily gaining notoriety for her latest novel, The Two Pearls of Wisdom (US, UK, Canada). Of course, the novel has a bit of identity issue – The Two Pearls of Wisdom is the Australian title and aimed at an adult audience, in the US the book is titled Eon: Dragoneye Reborn and aimed at the YA audience, and the same is true of the UK where the title is Eon: Rise of the Dragoneye. However it’s packaged, it’s a pretty good book (my review) and has been nominated for and won a number of awards – including the 2008 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel.

Well, on to the Questions Five. Thanks again to Alison for taking the time to answer.



Do you believe that the publishing world is prejudiced against Australian book titles?

AG: Crikey, mate, that’s a cracker of a question. Let me go wrestle a croc then come back with a few tinnies and we’ll have a barby and chew on that thought (and the croc).

Name one thing a pretentious literature professor will hate about The Two Pearls of Wisdom.

AG: The sad lack of footnotes[1].

If The Two Pearls of Wisdom were a fortune cookie, what would its fortune be?

AG: To be cracked open and crumbled into dusty pieces as everyone around the table argues over who ordered the extra Shau Mai, and how much they owe.

Ripped from inside the cookie, however, would be a piece of paper with the following portentous fortune written upon it: Made in China.

If this were your own fortune how would you interpret it?

AG: A huge blockbuster film of The Two Pearls of Wisdom will be shot in China and released to great critical acclaim, and staggering box office returns. I’ve always felt that fortunes found in cookies are open to fairly broad interpretation…

Why should The Two Pearls of Wisdom be the next book that everyone reads?

AG: It has won awards, sold into 12 countries, but the clincher is the scene that brings together a young girl masquerading as a boy, a woman dressed as a man, and a eunuch taking a testosterone tea supplement. Those wacky ancients, hey?

www.alisongoodman.com.au
(The Two Pearls of Wisdom is published as Eon: Dragoneye Reborn in the USA).


[1] A pretentious Literature Professor may also reject the novel’s sensuous Oriental setting, vibrant gender-bending characters, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. The fact that stuff actually happens may create consternation too.