Susan Vaught's Blog, page 5

Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

I don’t just write books for young adults–I read them, too! I am a self-confessed science fiction and fantasy geek, and I want to review the books that really feel DIFFERENT to me. Or wonderful. New, fresh, interesting, that’s what I’m after!

Now to this review’s star:  Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.

Genre:  Urban Fantasy . . . With a Touch of Angels

Summary:  Karou, a 17 year-old art student in Prague, can sketch like nobody’s business, speak dozens of languages (some not of this world), and wish her hair permanently blue. She can walk out of our plane of existence to a shop owned by a monster named Brimstone–a monster who collects, of all things, teeth. For reasons unknown to Karou, Brimstone raised her in his unusual shop, and he sends her on errands all over the world, mostly involving his collection of teeth. She exits the shop via doors that open onto the world’s major cities and some very out of the way places, but black handprints have begun to appear on these doors. They seem sinister to Karou, but school and Brimstone’s errands leave her little time to consider them. When she’s almost killed by one of the gorgeous strangers making those handprints, she finds herself yanked into an otherworldly battle she can barely conceive of, much less understand. She’s drawn to Akiva even though he tried to slaughter her, and in his flame-filled eyes, she may find answers about herself and her past–answers that she can scarecely bear to accept.

My Reading/Listening Experience:  The audio version of Daughter of Smoke and Bone is about as perfect as a reading can get. The cadence and accents are perfect, and I looked forward to every moment I spent with the book. The characters–wow. Karou, Brimstone, Karou’s best friend–even her jerk of an ex-boyfriend live and breathe and fail and succeed like real people . . . even when they aren’t people at all. Laini Taylor writes crisply and without cliches, and doesn’t shy away from real life. At first the fantasy element is almost slipstream, and even when we’re pitched headlong into other worlds and confronting races barely known to us, it never becomes overwhelming. The story seemed well-paced and pulled me through, and my interest never waned.

Really Cool Stuff:  Brimstone! I want him for my father! A conversation about essential vs. non-essential aspects of the male anatomy that will live with me forever and become advice I give my grandchildren. Seraphim and Chimera. I want to be a Chimera. A wolf I think, or maybe…maybe a wickedly dry-witted monster just like Brimstone. The snake lady made me love her, too. And the scary female Seraphim. I want to read a book about her someday. If Laini Taylor kills her, I may have to resort to stalking.

Would I Let A Younger Kid Read This:  Hmm. Tougher than some. There is real violence here, not just gratuitous beatings and smackings readers can ignore. This book delves into the very real pains of poverty, madness, and exploitation in our world and others, and the writing is so realistic that the images live in my mind and heart. So, I probably wouldn’t hand this to a kid under 14 unless I knew they were mature and tough enough to take on those subjects. There is unabashed sexuality, though again, nothing gratuitous–so, same issue–probably not under 14 unless I knew the kid could handle it.

Would I Give This Book To My Daughter Who Reads Everything But Is Way Pickier Than Me And Gripes If I Give Her Something Boring:   Absolutely. Already have it in her Christmas book box. Well, if I can pry it back from my friend Judy. She wanted to leave work last Friday to finish it. Seriously.

But I Don’t Like This Genre:  This book is a genre-defier. Shut up and read it. You’ll really reall like it. If not you can send me hate mail.

Read more about this book at http://www.lainitaylor.com/p/books.html.

The sequel, Days of Blood and Starlight, doesn’t come out until November. That’s four months! NO FAIR!!

Beyond the Wall Book Launch–Party and Giveaway!

Join the launch party!

Bereft because HBO’s Game of Thrones is between seasons?

Miserable because George R.R. Martin’s next Song of Ice and Fire installment is still a figment of his imagination?

Pick up a copy of Beyond the Wall, read the essays, and argue with our opinions!

Beyond the Page

My essay in the collection, The Brutal Cost of Redemption in Westeros . . . or WHAT Moral Ambiguity, ended up being a journey I never expected to take. I had intended to write an in-depth exploration of Jaime Lannister, one of the more complex Noble Demons in modern literature. From aggressively negative and evil to more neutral character undergoing hardship to possible hero-in-the-making, Jamie’s fascinating path to possible redemption has been incredibly interesting to me. I never imagined I could like the guy. Seriously. If I had been a hero in a role-playing game, Jamie Lannister would have been my first target for slaughter. Now, many books and events down the road, I might stand beside him and draw my sword to defend him. The Kingslayer is one of many layered and nuanced characters in Westeros, and in tracing his development for the essay, I kept coming upon articles discussing the “moral ambiguity” present in George R.R. Martin’s world, like James L. Sutter’s guest essay in Suvudu.

I realized I had never perceived Martin’s Westeros as morally ambiguous–rather the opposite. To me, as the books progressed, the cosmology seemed to be clear-cut and even merciless, though based in different definitions of right and wrong than we use here in our world. In my opinion, good and evil in the land of Ice and Fire takes its definition from the inexorable reality that winter is coming, and with it horrors beyond imagination, and harsh threats to the survival of humanity itself. “Good,” then, is whatever will help people stay alive, and “evil” is anything that makes survival less likely. When that filter is applied, who sorts where on the good-evil axis has little to do with protagonist/antagonist/contagonist dynamics, and even less to do with rooting interests and who would be considered “good” in this world. In fact, the results of using this type of filter to explore morality in Westeros may surprise many readers. Who is walking the Summer Path toward redemption and survival? Who is taking the Winter Path toward division, chaos, and destruction? Check out the essay and form your own opinions.

And now for the good stuff! A giveaway! Leave me a comment that doesn’t constitute spam, and I’ll enter you in a drawing to win a copy of Beyond the Wall–on me! I’ll even spring for international shipping if you win, though I’m not promising to get it to Bora Bora overnight, you understand. I’ll draw from all responses I get by 9:00pm CST, June 27, 2012. Don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear immediately. I have to approve them all, and I do have a day job!

Here’s a bit of fun for everyone:

Take Our Poll

Do You Think Westeros Rocks?

Do you think about sending George R. R. Martin threats each time he posts on his oh-yes-it-is-a-blog  instead of writing his next chapter in the Song of Ice and Fire saga?

How many times have you checked this page, or this one?

For die-hard fans, there’s always the HBO adaptation to tide us over until Winds of Winter makes it to the shelves . . . and now we have this, too!

Come on. Give it a click to find out more. You know you want to.

Interview with Cynthia Levinson, Children’s Writer and Presenter

Cynthia Levinson talks about writing, ideas, hyacinths, and reader response to We’ve Got A Job.

 

 

 

 

 

Peachtree Publishers recently released Cynthia Levinson’s We’ve Got A Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March, which both chronicles and honors a moment in history when children risked their freedom and their lives to protest injustice and advocate for their rights in American society. The book has earned multiple starred reviews and feature attention in the New York Times, but even more importantly, it seems to be reaching groups of younger readers who had yet to personally  connect with the depth and magnitude of the  struggle for civil rights in the United States. Ms. Levinson, a fellow author with Erin Murphy Literary Agency, graciously consented to complete a web interview with me. I hope you enjoy learning more about her and her thought-provoking work!

Tell us about yourself as a writer. What age group calls to you? Fiction or nonfiction? Magazines, novels, poetry–give us the scoop!

Definitely nonfiction—both magazines and books. In fact, it was after a particularly incisive critique of what I had thought was a novel, during a Whole-Novel Workshop hosted by Highlights, that I realized that I should be writing nonfiction instead!

Describe what inspires you, and how your ideas become stories or novels.

Ideas spawn ideas. So, the idea for We’ve Got a Job came from an article I was researching for Cobblestone Magazine, as did the idea for a picture book I’m working on. Another new project rose out of one that wasn’t working; the theme is the same but the setting is totally different, and, this time, it works! I’m always on the prowl for ideas. I listen to the news, for instance, with an ear for what might interest children. I listen to myself for what might interest the child in me. I’m constantly in exploration mode.

For children and young adults interested in pursuing writing as a career–any quick advice or guidance?

My quick advice is: Don’t think you can be quick about it. “Jotting” is the word we use for quick-writing. Career-writing takes at least as long as any other career, including training, learning the ropes, finding mentors, practicing, forming good habits, persisting, and ever-improving.

Think Fast:



Chinese take-out or fancy Italian restaurant?

Fancy Italian, please. Name the time and place, and I’ll be there!

Jacob or Edward?

Jacob (even though my first crush was on an Edward in kindergarten).

Chihuahua or Doberman?

Neither.

Middle Earth or Hogwarts?

Middle Earth, just because I read it at a more vulnerable age.

Rose or dandelion?

Hyacinth—it’s close to my name.

Your nonfiction release, We’ve Got a Job (Peachtree Publishers, February, 2012), tells the true story of four black children in Birmingham, Alabama, who marched with 3,000 to 4,000 other children in what became known as the Birmingham Children’s March to protest segregation, despite threats of violence, arrest, and jail time. The book has been featured twice in the New York Times, and it has already garnered 3 starred reviews, from Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and Kirkus. In fact, Kirkus called it, “A moving record of young people rising at a pivotal historical moment, based on original interviews and archival research as well as published sources.” Clearly, critics love it, but let’s dig a little deeper. What do the marchers you featured in We’ve Got a Job think of the story now that it’s published–and what do they think of reader reactions to the book?

Audrey Faye Hendricks died three years ago, alas. The other three marchers, however, as well as Audrey’s sister, Jan, and their dozens of first cousins (their father had 12 siblings), love both the book and other readers’ responses. One of the reasons that they allowed me to interview them—for hours and hours–was because I was writing for children. They all want kids to know the story—to know not only what they did so that children today can live in an integrated society but also what children can accomplish. The book launch at the public library in Birmingham in February, where a large integrated audience celebrated its release, corroborated their belief that the book is authentic and true to their experiences. That endorsement was very gratifying for all of us.

How do readers respond to the story at events you have attended?

So far, I’ve talked to only several groups who have already read the book beforehand. A class of high school juniors and seniors were completely captivated and held a fascinating discussion about who is a hero. They disagreed, for instance, about whether or not Wash was a hero. Was he especially courageous to march and go to jail because he was terrified of the police?  Or, did he march just to “fit in?” Was he less of a hero because he threw rocks at the police, thus defying Dr. King’s ethic of nonviolence, before he marched? These are significant questions for young people to ask themselves.

In regard to audiences who don’t know the story before I come to tell them, many are incredulous. A nine-year-old girl went to jail?! And, her parents helped her??!! Some people are awed by Audrey’s audacity. Others find it hard to relate to because she and other activists changed America so much that they find it impossible to imagine life being as hard as it was then.

Have readers done anything special or unique to express their fascination with the book, or the events your main characters relate through the interviews and questions you chose? Care to share any links related to on-line reactions?

The most remarkable response so far is the video trailer that was written, acted, sung, danced, and marched in by a class of fourth-graders in Texas. (They also had some help from their wonderful teachers, especially Mrs. Christa Armantrout at Sommer Elementary School). Do check it out on YouTube.

In addition to this link, I frequently add material about the Birmingham Children’s March and about my writing the book to my website. Contemporary newspaper headlines, for instance, are available, and I’ll soon have video of interviews with Wash and James. Readers can go to cynthialevinson.com.

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I would like to thank Ms. Levinson for her book, and for this interview! Check out her site for more information. This book can be purchased at Barnes and Noble, from independent booksellers,  and from Amazon.

deviantART: where ART meets application!

deviantART: where ART meets application!

Mark this down as a place you have to burn a few hours. This amazing site has teen art, photos, poems, films–everything. “Grown up” art, too–but the teen stuff–wow. It’s a place for artists to let loose. Makes me want to dust off the poetry folders.

Book Review: Leviathan Series by Scott Westerfield

I don’t just write books for young adults–I read them, too! Lots and lots and lots of them. I confess to being a serious and dedicated nerd and geek. Science fiction? Bring it on. Fantasy? Um, yes. HUGE THICK FANTASY?  Yes!! I also love contemporaries, horror, good middle grade, wickedly cool picture books, and lots of supposedly “grown up” novels, too. My half-hour commute to and from work gives me time for a glorious indulgence, which is audiobooks. I’m currently listening to Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan series, so I thought I would share my impressions of Leviathan, Behemoth, and Goliath.

Genre:  Steampunk, Alternate History

Summary:  The year is 1914, and the world is sharply divided between Darwinists, who use genetic manipulations to create fantastic ecosystems that function as machines, and Clankers, who rely on old fashioned gears, gas, and engines. In this alternate World War I landscape, genetically fabricated airwhales powered by bacteria and bees compete with zeppelins and terrifying mechanical walkers, and warships armed with terrifying canons that fire lightning into the sky. Young Prince Aleksander, the rightful heir to the (Clanker) Austro-Hungarian throne, wakes to find his peace-loving and protective parents slaughtered and his own “allies” trying to kill him. Meanwhile, Deryn Sharp, a young girl in Britain who lost her father in a terrible ballooning accident, leaves her former identity–and her gender–behind to join the (Darwinist) British Air Service. When fate brings Alek and Deryn together, they join forces to try to save their own lives . . . and the world.

My Reading/Listening Experience:  Before I finished the second CD of Leviathan, I had ordered Behemoth and Goliath. The narrator is brilliant, the characters completely alive to me, and the story–action, action, action! I am lost in the world, I can’t wait to see what happens next, and I’m finding excuses to drive around and sit in my car just to get five minutes more.

Really Cool Stuff:  Genetically modified bats that poop flechettes to rip mechanical aircraft to ribbons, message lizards, a wild count protecting the prince who seems to be the son of Count Dracula and James Bond, a strong female heroine with a big heart who is NOT over-the-top kick-butt . . . but who will still kick your butt, stormwalkers shaped like Hindu deities, neurotic giant jellyfish who serve as living hot air balloons, a classic love story drifting along in the background and breaking my heart, and –and–AND–the Perspicacious Loris. I need me a Perspicacious Loris in the worst way.

Would I Let A Younger Kid Read This:  Yes, nothing offends my neurotic giant jellyfish parental sensibilities. The strongest swear-word is “blisters.” Well, “barking spiders” might rate, too. I don’t think the German word for stupid-head counts.

Would I Give This Book To My Daughter Who Reads Everything But Is Way Pickier Than Me And Gripes If I Give Her Something Boring:   YES. I will probably buy them for her in hardback.

But I Don’t Like This Genre:  Read these anyway. They rise above any category label you might want to pin on them. Great story + great characters = it doesn’t get any better than this.

Read more about them at http://scottwesterfeld.com/books/leviathan/ .