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Dec 04, 2011

Cara rated it:

The atmosphere of this book is... unique , in a very good way. Everything has a melancholy undertone to it, and you get sucked into this time period where magic is to be feared, and anyone who so much as look a little funny is accused of witchcraft.

Our heroine, Plain Kate, is one of these individuals. She has one eye the color of the muddy river bank and the other of the clear blue river, and she also has mad skills with her craving knife. Misfortune hits Kate when her father dies of More...

0 comments like (12 people liked it)

Mar 17, 2011

Flannery rated it:

I cannot believe this is Erin Bow's first novel. In the acknowledgments she mentions that she worked on this book for six years--it shows. From the first page, the author drops you into the story and there honestly was no drag throughout the entire book. We are introduced to Kate and her father, both woodcarvers who live in Similae. The surrounding communities have been plagued with death, torrential rains, and crop damage and the people of Kate's town, as well as other towns, are on the lookout More...

16 comments like (29 people liked it)

Sep 01, 2011

Janina rated it:

A beautifully written dark fairy tale featuring a strong heroine and an absolutely lovable cat sidekick.

Set in a world reminiscent of medieval Russia, Wood Angel(aka Plain Kate for the US readers), ranks among my favourite reads this year so far. It is not a pleasant comfort read, but more a dark type of fairy tale with wonderfully shaded and round characters. There is no black and white, no good or bad in this novel – every character has decisions to make and does not always choose th More...

12 comments like (12 people liked it)

Mar 25, 2011

Krystle rated it:

I am left in a flood of emotions after reading this book that I don't know how I'll be able to articulately express the things I want to say.

Plain Kate had me hooked from chapter one. The whole tone, feel, and plot of this book just screamed a fairy tale vibe. If you've read the original stories and not the Disney movie versions than you'll be able to appreciate the traditional use of song, animal guide/helper, and the forlorn/downtrodden young girl who manages to achieve her happy e More...

0 comments like (13 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2010

R.j. rated it:

Rich, haunting, unforgettable, this story draws on Russian folklore to immerse the reader in a unique and fully realized fantasy world.

Erin Bow is not only an award-winning poet but a masterful and captivating storyteller, with a knack for handling powerful emotions in an understated way that makes the reader feel them twice as strongly. She excels at portraying grief and horror, but she also has a deft way with humor, and though Kate's story leads her down some dark paths there are More...

3 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 27, 2011

Nafiza rated it:

Sometimes you come across a book that you weren’t particularly keen to read but it blows you away with the sheer beauty of the story contained within its pages. The synopsis of Plain Kate doesn’t set it apart from the rest of the books in the genre. It doesn’t add anything to it that is wholly unique. There is nothing that prepares you for what’s inside. So you wander in, try a sentence. Or maybe two. Then before you know it, you have read a hundred pages and you simply must finish it because yo More...

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2010

Valerie rated it:

Kate is a strong, caring, courageous girl. Her talking cat is the best I've ever encountered in fantasy. The plot was captivating, the writing great, the characters so well developed, the magic haunting, and the cover wonderful.

Plain Kate is a skilled wood carver, maybe one of the best. So when strange things start happening people blame Kate because some call her talent witch craft. She has to leave but before this she exchanges her shadow for her heart's wish--to not go alone. Hen More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 16, 2012

Emily rated it:

Omg, this book DESTROYED ME. Seriously, I haven't cried because of a book like that sense I was 8 and Leslie had died in Bridge to Terabithia...
I can't overstate how much I love her writing. Erin Bow's writing is simplistic in the best possible way. Her writing brings to mind authors like Kate DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux), Mary Lawson (although she doesn't write YA novels) and Kathi Appelt (The Underneath). To me this makes her writing all the more powerful. And while her writing may More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2010

Rachael rated it:

Samilae is a town of superstitions and suspicion. Though the villagers pay wood-carvers to make objarka, talismans meant to bring good luck or ward off evil, they also fear any skill with the knife. Thus, when a mysterious illness and deadly fog sweep through the land, many fingers start pointing at Plain Kate, a young orphaned wood-carver. Kate knows she cannot stay for fear of being burnt at the stake as a witch. Luckily, it seems, a stranger named Linay offers a proposition: means for Kate’s More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2011

Linna rated it:

Thoroughly enchanting, PLAIN KATE is an amazing debut, one that manages to get everything right-- a setting that is rarely explored, characters you can root for, a whimsical setup that contains darkness along with the light.

It's a story that's crafted as skillfully as one of Kate's wood carvings, with a clear path, conflict, and a villain (of sorts) who is entirely sympathetic. And while Kate's is a colorful world of gypsies (called 'Roamers'), traveling caravans, good-luck charms, a More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2011

oliviasbooks rated it:

I had read 106 pages when I stopped to admit to myself: "This is not for me". I was getting impatient and started flipping pages to quicken my pace. My thoughts drifted to my pile of unread books to determine which book I would pick up next.

Somehow the book is not what I had expected, both storywise and characterwise:
It is basically a sorcery fantasy set in a fantastic clone of post-medieval Russia - with harsh guilds, no kindness between neighbors, superstitious pe More...

11 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 23, 2011

Hallie rated it:

Three-and-a-half, really. High marks for the writing, which I loved, but lower for some niggles I had with the story. One of those was the fact that the Roamers (still not sure how I feel about the Roma/Roamers bit), who knew that being a witch was not synonymous with being evil at all, still responded as if it were when they were given evidence that Kate might be one. (Even that was a leap I didn't quite see why they made.) All in all, for a book about love, in many forms, it had a very high More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2010

Laura rated it:

When Arthur Levine raves about a book and makes comparisons to one of his previous acquisitions, The Golden Compass, I stand up and listen. And this fantasy did remind me of Pullman’s masterpiece in some ways – both authors show respect for their young readers by telling stories that are sometimes dark and always complex, without ever writing down. And this is genuinely dark – much more than I expected it to be. Russian folklore provides a rich base for Bow’s story, and her characters are won More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Margaret Boling rated it:

12/25/2010 ** I have no idea why I requested this book from the library. I must have seen it reference on some blog & thought it sounded interesting; besides, there's a talking cat - how could I resist!

I read two chapters over breakfast today (instead of washing dishes - no competition). I was definitely immersed in the world. There are Russian names; a feudal world, complete with guilds and guild masters; and a strange juxtaposition of both the use and fear of magic. I predict that More...

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2010

Rotem rated it:

Though there's darkness here, I'm not sure it's YA--maybe upper middle-grade. Beautiful writing, but unpretentious. Generously heart-string-pulling.

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

Miss Clark rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 22, 2011

Corinne rated it:

This book is definitely worth reading and one of my favourite novels of all times!!! I ocassionally laughed and/or cried and most importantly felt with Plain Kate and her companion, Taggle the cat, all the way through this book and the story still helds me in its grip! What one would expect by looking at the cover is a sweet "fairy tale romance" with a beautiful and (magically) talented girl, who doesn't know about her heritage and finds her soulmate on her quest. I'm sure this is a fa More...

15 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 01, 2011

Maureen rated it:

by Erin Bow

I don’t normally post on the weekends, but my Plain Kate review kept getting pushed back and I wanted to make sure it got done now, as opposed to, say, Monday.

Opening line: “A long time ago, in a market town by a looping river, there lived an orphan girl called Plain Kate.”

Kate is the daughter of a woodcarver, who taught her to carve when she was very young. She is so talented at it that she expects to be a master before twenty. But then her father More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" rated it:

It's hard to say exactly what I felt for this book without rambling. First of all, let me say, I think this book has one of the most tormented heroines I've ever read about, both in adult and young adult literature! How much crap can one girl go through? As I listened, I kept thinking how morose this story was. But I had to keep listening. Hoping that Plain Kate would find joy and a place to call home.

This is a novel that shows the destructive effects of prejudice in an interestin More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Mar 14, 2011

Tatiana rated it:

The highest praise I can give a book is to favorably compare it to my all-time favorites - Lips Touch: Three Times and The Queen of Attolia. Erin Bow's writing style is as simple and precise, with not one extra, unnecessary word, as Megan Whalen Turner's and her story is as grounded in folklore while being completely original as Laini Taylor's.

The basic premise of the novel is that Kate, a lonely, orphaned child with no one to take care of her, is tricked by a witch into giving up her More...

12 comments like (22 people liked it)

Apr 04, 2011

Monica rated it:

I really enjoyed this story. It felt sort of like reading a fairy tale or old legend and I love to read anything that has a bit of gypsy and this book indeed does. I enjoyed the vocabulary used through out the book. I don't know any Russian or any of languages (or any besides English for that matter) so I don't know if they are actual words but they lent believability and potency to the story; made it deeper and more interesting.

I enjoyed getting to know Kate and Taggle. This book is u More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 24, 2010

Shanshad rated it:

I gave this four stars because I do think it's good, but I think the back cover copy didn't hint enough into how dark the story gets, nor does the picture properly fit the book, though the illustration is lovely. The fantasy is very dark, very violent, and sad and heart-breakingly bitter-sweet at the end. Not the light fantasy adventure I started off thinking it would be. It isn't perfect as a story--I felt there was not enough time spent with the Travelers and setting up her friendships ther More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2012

Jan rated it:

I wavered between 3 and 4 stars on this book. Good writing, dark material. That said, I suspect this book will be one of those "I love it"/"I hate it" books. The writing is lovely and colorful. I could totally picture the blood and destruction. I've had cats my whole life, and you can tell the author has, too. Plain Kate's Taggle winds his way around your legs and into your heart, and you can clearly see his chin up-tilted to allow you to scratch it.

Plain Kate i More...

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Dec 23, 2011

Mary rated it:

I am struggling to review this book, as I struggled to read it. It is very well-written, well-plotted, and (in the captive/Stockholm syndrome that arises between Kate and the magician) psychologically astute. Taggle the cat was also a very well-drawn character. Yet, somehow, this book left me cold. The parts are excellent, but the book as a whole seems to add up to less than the sum of its parts. I cannot quite put my finger on why.

Perhaps it's that the book is so relentlessly dark. (s More...

0 comments like

Dec 19, 2011

Rida (Raindrop Reflections) added it

So I usually get this weird pinched expression on my face when I’m proved wrong, like I accidentally licked a lemon or something. (Although I don’t know why I’d accidentally do something that weird.) But when I read Plain Kate and berated myself for thinking that maybe it was plain after all, I was glad to be proved wrong.

Because guys, this book is AMAZING. For one, it’s fantasy, which makes it pretty much a win in my case, and on top of that it features the best talking cat in the h More...

0 comments like

Nov 10, 2011

Eden rated it:

I'm still sniffing as I write this. :') Erin Bow has created a medieval land that is full of luck and superstition, magic and curses, but no less human for it. The lives of the Roamers (think of them like Gypsies) add an extra layer of depth to the world.

From the first chapter, Bow's eloquent writing enthralls. I'll quote for you rather than try to explain:

The cat looked up at her with the last trace of his broken heart, and then turned to look at the gold coins with simple g

More...

0 comments like

Oct 20, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

Oh man... this book. One of my new favorite young adult/intermediate reader fantasies. The book was captivating and the characters charmed me. Some of them you never learn the fates of, but they are not as important as Kate, Drina and Taggle.

Taggle is my favorite character. He is absolutely the best talking cat in a book ever. He acts like I picture a cat would, could one talk. "I'm damp. Fuss over me." Hilarious! Or when he says things like, I give you premission to rub m More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Niko rated it:

Copied from my blog:

I loved this book so much I hardly know what to say about it that isn't gushing. I picked it up because I liked the colours on the cover, and added it to my pile to sign out because I liked the mention of folklore and a craft (woodcarving) in the blurb on the flap. The description reminded me a little bit of Patricia McKillip's work. And after reading, McKillip is still the closest comparison I can think of, though Erin Bow definitely has a voice of her own, and it is l

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0 comments like

Sep 26, 2011

Lena rated it:

Being different can be deadly in Plain Kate’s village, where people suspected of having magical abilities are burned at the stake. Kate’s talent for wood carving puts her at risk because her wooden creations are so realistic they could almost come to life. When her father dies, Kate becomes an orphan trying to find her way in a hostile world. She is barely scraping by when an albino stranger comes to her town with a haunting song and a dark plan for Plain Kate. She is driven to make a deal with More...

0 comments like

Aug 01, 2011

Mlle. rated it:

Plain Kate is beautifully written, richly atmospheric and peppered with vivid, unexpected metaphors. The author, Erin Bow, wields her beautiful prose like a weapon and strikes at every character she creates. Plain Kate is one of the most unrelentingly grim books I have ever read. As a reader, I hardly had time to take a breath after one tragedy before the next would roll along.

The first thing that happens, after all, is that Kate's father dies. Once he's gone, the carver's guild confi More...

1 comment like

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