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She has
read 71 books toward her goal of 100 books.
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Erin
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Lisel and Po was a wonderfully sad, happy, and heart-warming story about a girl who's lost her father, a boy who misplaces a box of magic, and a ghost and his pet who stumble into the living world and help both the girl and the boy go on an adventure...more
Lisel and Po was a wonderfully sad, happy, and heart-warming story about a girl who's lost her father, a boy who misplaces a box of magic, and a ghost and his pet who stumble into the living world and help both the girl and the boy go on an adventure. Another masterpiece from Lauren Oliver, Liesl and Po was a joy to read, and the kind of story that will live with you for years to come.
Unlike Lauren's intensely first-person young adult books, this book is told in alternating third-person. Still achieving the same closeness as first person, the third-person floating perspective lets us see far beyond the lives of one little girl and one little boy. Lisel and Will come to life vividly on the pages of the story, their fears and dreams hauntingly real as told in Lauren's beautiful writing style. Even the ghost Po, referred to as an "it" because it doesn't remember if it was a boy or a girl when it was alive, is startlingly human as you follow its journeys with Liesl and Will. We also meet the kind-hearted, slightly empty-headed guard Mo, who only wants to give the little boy a hat to keep his head warm. We meet Lisel's father, hovering on the Other Side, waiting to be re-united with his first wife and true love. And we also meet the villains of the story: Liesl's stepmother who keeps her locked in the attic; the alchemist who employs Will, but also abuses him mercilessly; the Lady Premiere who so desperately wants the alchemists' magic; and a thief in the night, who isn't that important until the end.
Though there is certainly magic in this story--a good portion of the plot revolves around the search for the alchemist's missing box of Powerful Magic--much of what is actually magical about the story is the characters themselves. As children, Liesl and Will still have dreams and magic in their hearts, stuff that has been squashed out of the adults around them (except for Mo). Their hopes are the most magical of all: Liesl's that she will be able to take her father's ashes to her childhood home and lay him to rest next to her mother; Will's that he will find a friend and soulmate (in a childlike way) with Liesl, the girl from the attic window. Po, the ghost, and his little ghost cat-dog Bundle, are the only magic they need beside their dreams to keep them safe on their journey. Of course they run into gads of trouble and scrapes, but this is a child's story after all, not an adult's, and in the end things will end well.
The plots of each different character slowly weave together to form the heart of this story. Each character, even if they don't have a true name, is vitally important to the final climax. This story is kind of an ode to coincidences, and the magic of ways events come together in a story, in the way they never do in real life. It doesn't matter that it's not "realistic." When we sit down to read a story like Liesl and Po, "realistic" is the last thing you want. The best kind of story weaves together the realities of our world with the magic of our hearts and imaginations.(less)
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This is not your average book about witches: the Cahill sisters live in a alternate New England that is ruled over by the oppressive and overzealous Brothers who seek to rid the world of witches by controlling women. And the Cahill sisters are witche...more
This is not your average book about witches: the Cahill sisters live in a alternate New England that is ruled over by the oppressive and overzealous Brothers who seek to rid the world of witches by controlling women. And the Cahill sisters are witches, three sisters that may be the subject of an old prophecy, trying to find a place in their world. A great romance in the style of the Regency and Gothic romances, and a exciting new take on the world of witchcraft and religion in colonial times, Born Wicked was a delight to read and a heart-wrenching beginning to a new series.
The three sisters offer a wonderful diversity: Cate is the oldest and the most sensible, taking care of her younger sisters in the wake of their mother's death and giving up her own hopes in the process; Maura is the middle sister, with her head in a book every chance she gets, grand dreams of the world outside their little town, and a distaste for everything the Brothers say is good and proper for a woman; Tess is the youngest, new to her magic and eager to learn, simply wishing for her family to be stable and happy. The story is told from Cate's perspective, but we get a good dose of both of her sisters through her eyes. Though she is always calling Tess the most perceptive, Cate is well tuned to her sisters desires and needs, perhaps more so than even her own.
This is certainly a romance from the very start--Cate is mere months away from having to choose a husband or join the Sisterhood (the nuns associated with the Brothers), and her options are limited. Paul, her childhood friend, is home from University and seeking her hand, but friendship has not turned to love for Cate like it has for Paul. Then the ginger-haired, freckled, book-loving Finn enters her life and Cate finds that love is something wild and wonderful and worth fighting for. But as the date of her seventeenth birthday approaches, the world narrows in on Cate and she discovers that simply choosing to love someone does not solve all your problems.
While it is certainly a romance, Born Wicked is also a mystery. The sisters' mother was also a witch, but she was able to teach them very little before she died. Now years later Cate receives a mysterious letter telling her to seek her mother's diary, and when she finds the hidden journal, Cate finds that her and her sisters' lives are far more complicated than she ever imagined. Because they are not just budding witches hiding from the Brothers: they are also the subject of an old prophecy, one that says they will either bring about a new golden age of witches, or a second terror of the Brotherhood.
My favorite part about this book was the world building. Cate and her sisters live in an alternate version of New England. There is no United States, and the rest of the colonies are still controlled by the Spanish. The world is vast and grand, with trade stretching all the way from New Mexico City to the shimmering desserts of Dubai. While Cate and her sisters chafe in the constrictions of their world, they hear about the wonders of the outside world, where women roam free in trousers, taking lovers where the wish, and keeping their own money. These freedoms once belonged to the women of New England when witches ruled the land, and the prophecy about Cate and her sisters promises that this freedom could return again. Jessica even touches on issues of sexuality with her world building, spreading stories throughout her grand world, and then bringing it solidly home and terrifyingly real for the girls of her story. Freedom for the girls of New England isn't just about choosing who you marry: it's about choosing everything you do in your life.
This was certainly not the most rough-and-tumble action-filled story, but it was very well-written and engaging in its own sort of quiet of way. The ending will have you glued to your seat until the very last page, and then leave you frustratingly desperate for more.(less)
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