Jenna St Hilaire

Jenna St Hilaire rated a book 5 of 5 stars

The Last Unicorn
by Peter S. Beagle (Goodreads Author)

read in May, 2013

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The best books need more than one read for proper absorption, and this is one of them, which means that at the moment, I can only give it half the review it ought to have. Written in thickly poetic prose, with dreamlike aphorisms of original make bro...more The best books need more than one read for proper absorption, and this is one of them, which means that at the moment, I can only give it half the review it ought to have. Written in thickly poetic prose, with dreamlike aphorisms of original make broadcast throughout the text, it demands attention and thought beyond the one scatterbrained plunge through I could manage this week. I'm more than a little sorry that the library wants its copy back today.

There are a thousand ideas running loose in the story: the unicorn's mystique and immortality as related to by the humans, the thorough self-sacrifice demanded by love, the effects of greed and fear versus joy and hope on the human life, the effects of the physical body and mortality on the soul, and especially the need for—in the terms of the tale—the presence of unicorns in the world. There are striking Christian parallels, though I don't know enough about the author to tell whether he meant them, or how. The story itself is a wandering, often dark fairy tale, but it's drawn along by a single bright light that flickers but holds true.

Schmendrick and Molly, the unicorn's primary companions, are fascinating in that neither of them starts off as particularly sympathetic, but both earn their place. Prince Lír, too, is an odd mix of heroic and awkward. King Haggard, for all his badness, is not the sort of villain who can be indiscriminately hated, and the reader even winds up feeling sorry for the skull on the wall and partially losing sympathy for the unicorn in her mortal phase. It's uncomfortable at times, but the characters grow throughout the story, and the final juxtaposition of joy and suffering manages to be both painful and beautiful.

There was a moment toward the end where I was reminded acutely of The Little White Horse, another beautifully thick unicorn fantasy written for children but meant for the childlike. The two stories aren't much alike in terms of characters or plot, but both catch the exquisite bliss and sorrow inspired by the mystical beauty of the unicorn. They share a scene, more or less, albeit to different purposes, but it's hard to say whether Beagle's book owes anything directly to Goudge's twenty-two-years-older story, and not just because the older tale is a human drama touched by a unicorn and the newer is a unicorn's drama touched by humans. Goudge wrote a clearer, jewel-toned story with bright, untainted optimism; Beagle wrote in softer, more diluted colors, with a bit more modern sadness and a little less confidence in the goodness of either humanity or magic. Goudge is more my usual style, but I suspect Beagle appeals more naturally to most present-day readers.

The story meanders a bit, but that allows it to be contemplative in ways that heavily plot-driven tales rarely manage. It's the kind of read that can be picked up and put down and picked up again, thought through and relished, and while I didn't have time for a second cover-to-cover read, I did go back over a few key parts. Even that was enough to suggest it would only get better with time and consideration, and prove that it deserves the label of classic.

I've no idea how I made it to thirty-five without having ever read this book, especially since in childhood I saw the first part of the animated movie and have wondered about the ending ever since. Fortunately, I've never lost my little-girl love for unicorns. The tale of this unicorn is one I hope to have in my own library before long.(less)

Jenna St Hilaire rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, #2)
by Marissa Meyer (Goodreads Author)

read in May, 2013

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Having spent comparatively little time with manga and anime, neither came to mind while I read Cinder. Knowing that Meyer credits the genres—particularly the crossover story Sailor Moon—as influences, however, made Scarlet an easier read and gave me...more

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The Lucy Variations
by Sara Zarr

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Jenna St Hilaire rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)
by Marissa Meyer (Goodreads Author)

read in April, 2013

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To be honest—perhaps too honest—my first thought upon reading the first page of Marissa Meyer's popular sci-fi/fairy tale was immense relief. It seems so long since I found a recently-published young adult novel written in third person and past tense...more To be honest—perhaps too honest—my first thought upon reading the first page of Marissa Meyer's popular sci-fi/fairy tale was immense relief. It seems so long since I found a recently-published young adult novel written in third person and past tense. Thank heaven, the comfortable old narrative modes still hold some life and popularity.

Cinder is set in futuristic New Beijing, the details of which interested me much more than Meyer managed to provide for. I wanted to feel China, to track with the thought patterns of an Eastern culture and get some sensory intake from the city. Little of this was offered. I never did figure out how universally I was supposed to picture the setting and people as Chinese. The names are too mixed in influence to even guess; there are few physical cues to aid the reader, and next to no cultural ones.

That said, what Meyer did rather well was imagine life as a cyborg. Linh Cinder—surname first, China-style—doesn't remember life before the fusing of her badly damaged body to a futuristic set of mechanical parts: a robotic foot and hand, a control panel connected to her brain, a lot of internal wiring. Her experience is relatably human, with the additives of a computer feed into her thoughts and eyesight and an understandable teenage fear of being not human enough. While I occasionally found her choices less than believable—for all the fluttery interest she shows in Prince Kai, she is terrifically lackadaisical about fixing his android—she was very readable and sympathetic.

The juxtaposition of science fiction and fairy tale was fantastic. It's hard to point out and praise specific details without giving spoilers, but Meyer threw a deadly plague, an aggressive lunar colony, and cybernetic technology into the Cinderella story—cliffhangering it at the end to make room for three more fairy tales to come—and, in reverse, succeeded in imposing magic into sci-fi as well, which is hard to do believably.

Cinder's real identity came as no surprise to me, but the ending did. It had some nice finesse to it, but it made me want to yell. I railed at the abruptness for about a day, and then I went and tracked down the sequel, Scarlet, which I intend to read shortly. Of course, the way of the serial suggests I'll be waiting a couple of years and two more books before the last big element of Cinderella's story comes into play.(less)

Jenna St Hilaire wants to read

When the Stars Go Blue
by Caridad Ferrer (Goodreads Author)

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Jenna St Hilaire wants to read

The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers
by John Gardner

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Jenna St Hilaire rated a book 4 of 5 stars

The Blue Sword (Damar, #1)
by Robin McKinley

read in April, 2013

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The Blue Sword is a common favorite among McKinley's broad range of work, and it's easy to guess—however accurately or inaccurately—why. Though stylistically it's more of a traditional fantasy story than many of her other works, it's a shorter, clear...more The Blue Sword is a common favorite among McKinley's broad range of work, and it's easy to guess—however accurately or inaccurately—why. Though stylistically it's more of a traditional fantasy story than many of her other works, it's a shorter, clearer, more romantic read than the Discworldish Spindle's End, the thickly fairy-tale-voiced Beauty, or the intimate and detailed The Hero and the Crown, the latter of which is a companion novel to this one.

Harry Crewe is a solid, likable protagonist in a solidly developed, likable world, and she's lucky enough to have two of the more lovable animal friends ever to be granted to a fictional character: the war-horse Tsornin/Sungold and the leopard Narknon are as fleshed out and interesting as any of the human characters. Corlath, while flawed, is also lovable and does a credible job in the role of romantic hero. And Harry herself gets all kind of exciting adventures; she does everything from crossing swords with Corlath himself to leading a ragtag army against a band of demoniac Northerners.

I'm a big Spindle's End fan myself, and it took me about seventy-five pages to really get Harry, who seemed at first to be halfway between Rosie of the spindles (tall, strong, plain) and Aerin of The Hero and the Crown (introspective), without any strongly defining personality features of her own. To be fair, this was partly due to situation; her story began with her having lost much of what she'd once defined herself by. As soon as she began adjusting to life with the Damarians, her confidence took shape, and her character trajectory is well-drawn and satisfying.

While her narrative feels complete, the story itself contains some side plots and characters that could have taken more air time. The tree people appeared from nowhere and faded right back into the same place—I'd have resented them as filanon ex machina if they hadn't been so interesting. Harry's magic show was rather startling in its abruptness and thoroughness. And Jack Dedham didn't get shorted, exactly, but he made so much of his few scenes that I'd definitely have taken more of him.

The Blue Sword reads more quickly and easily than its later-written prequel—The Hero and the Crown—and resolves more cleanly. Perhaps a little too cleanly. But it's a grand adventure story, and it's hard to imagine a horse-loving pre-teen girl who wouldn't develop an ardent passion for it on first read.(less)

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Opal
by Kristina Wojtaszek (Goodreads Author)

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Jenna St Hilaire rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (Goodreads Author) read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The best books need more than one read for proper absorption, and this is one of them, which means that at the moment, I can only give it half the review it ought to have. Written in thickly poetic prose, with dreamlike aphorisms of original make bro...more
May 22, 2013 08:05pm · see review
Jenna St Hilaire rated a book 4 of 5 stars Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, #2) by Marissa Meyer (Goodreads Author) read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Having spent comparatively little time with manga and anime, neither came to mind while I read Cinder. Knowing that Meyer credits the genres—particularly the crossover story Sailor Moon—as influences, however, made Scarlet an easier read and gave me...more
May 08, 2013 08:46pm · see review
Jenna St Hilaire wants to read The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 07, 2013 04:55pm
Jenna St Hilaire rated a book 4 of 5 stars Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1) by Marissa Meyer (Goodreads Author) read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
To be honest—perhaps too honest—my first thought upon reading the first page of Marissa Meyer's popular sci-fi/fairy tale was immense relief. It seems so long since I found a recently-published young adult novel written in third person and past tense...more
May 01, 2013 06:35pm · see review
Jenna St Hilaire wants to read When the Stars Go Blue by Caridad Ferrer (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 30, 2013 09:03am
Jenna St Hilaire wants to read The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 26, 2013 10:16am
Jenna St Hilaire rated a book 4 of 5 stars The Blue Sword (Damar, #1) by Robin McKinley read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The Blue Sword is a common favorite among McKinley's broad range of work, and it's easy to guess—however accurately or inaccurately—why. Though stylistically it's more of a traditional fantasy story than many of her other works, it's a shorter, clear...more
Apr 24, 2013 09:44pm · see review
Jenna St Hilaire entered a giveaway Opal by Kristina Wojtaszek (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 18, 2013 09:44pm · like · see giveaway

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