Gretchen C. Hohmeyer's Blog, page 62

Comfort Reading in a Disaster Zone: the Kiesha’Ra series

So, last week I intended to do a review of Holly Black’s The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, or maybe Tessa Gratton’s The Lost Sun.  I had Bookstore Plans.

I’m pretty sure this bridge was nearly underwater the next day–and if it wasn’t, that’s because I’m confusing it with all the OTHER underwater bridges.

This did not happen because I live in Colorado, on the Front Range, and ever since last Wednesday we’ve been having floods so destructive and deadly that the term ‘thousand-year flood‘ has been thrown around.

Now, I’m lucky.  I live on the second floor of a building that doesn’t leak, so my biggest problem this weekend was watching the highway behind my apartment turn into a muddy torrent and shoveling the rain off my doorstep to keep it from creeping under the door.  That, and being trapped.  Many people are bailing water out of their houses and ripping up carpet to beat the rot.  Some people are missing.  Some people are dead.

Technically I had very little to do, but it’s super-hard to concentrate on Latin translations when your street is being slowly swallowed by water.  So instead I turned to some old comfort reading: the Kiesha’Ra series, by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes.

I freely admit that this series is not perfect.  The prose can get odd at times, the dialogue occasionally flops, and the worldbuilding, while fantastic, would have worked better if it was set in a secondary world.  But it has a lot of things that make it perfect for comfort reading.  Which got me thinking about what, exactly, I look for in a book when comfort is what I want, so here are a couple of things that make the Kiesha’ra books good comfort reading for me:

1.  They’re familiar to me.  Probably not as important to other people, but I reread things pretty much constantly because I do not have the funds to feed my reading habit otherwise.  I have read these books in particular a thousand times over. They are not going to surprise me.  They’ll behave exactly how I expect them to, which is a very, very good thing when the rest of the world is going to hell.  Plus, to me, rereading a really familiar book feels kind of like coming home.  Which is nice when your town is nearly unrecognizable.

2.  You can get lost in the world.  One thing these books do very well is to immerse you fully in another place and time.  There are two (later three and four) distinct cultures involved, and all of them have complex heritage, as well as different values.  (And yeah–there are absolutely cultural stereotypes at play, although I like to think they improve a bit over the course of the series.)   The secondary language is created so well that you can see the cultural influence on the way the language has evolved.  The gods or concepts–whatever you want to call them–that are referenced have complex and varied meanings, and by the end of the series you understand them fully.  In the end it all makes absolute and total sense to you, so much so that you really feel like you’re somewhere else–it’s fantastic escapism.

 

3.  Really bad things happen but they turn out okay in the end.  The series starts out fairly innocently, with two leaders of warring factions trying to end the war.  Simple, right?  Except that by the end of the series you can’t imagine how they could ever have been so naive because there are a thousand complicated factors they didn’t know about and all of a sudden the ENTIRE FREAKING WORLD IS AT STAKE.  People who were little more than background names are suddenly screwing around with everybody’s futures, all the myths that nobody paid much attention to are coming to life, and everything we thought was familiar is suddenly changed in ways we could never have guessed at.  It’s nice to see these things turn out okay in the end, because life–especially in a disaster zone–has no such guarantees.

4.  Also I have an unabashed reader-writer-crush on the main character of Wyvernhail.  She’s awesome.

*

After I finished Kiesha’ra I started in on Patricia C. Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which are comfort reading for entirely different reasons: they’re benign, they’re lighthearted, and they’re fun.  They poke absurd amounts of fun at fairy tales and take unashamed delight in flipping tropes on their heads.  They are so genre-aware and meta that it should break suspension of disbelief into tiny, tiny pieces, and instead I always end up being entirely absorbed anyway.  Obviously comfort reading comes in many different guises.

So I’m curious: are there any books you return to when you’re tired or stressed or life is hard?  What characteristics do you like in comfort reading?

Book Blitz: “Contrition” by Lee Strauss – Excerpt + Giveaway!

Hello, and welcome to the Book Blitz for Contrition by Lee Strauss, hosted by Xpresso Book Tours! Today I get to tell you about a great book, share a fantastic excerpt AND give you a chance to enter to win a HUGE giveaway! Let’s get this party started by first introducing author Lee Strauss!

Lee Strauss writes historical and science fiction/romance for upper YA and adult readers. She also writes light and fun stuff under the name Elle Strauss. To find out more about Lee and her books check out her Facebook page. Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/elle_strauss to find out about new releases sign up for her newsletter at www.ellestraussbooks.com. She’s also on Goodreads!

Now, just so you know, Contrition is the third book in the Perception Series. Have you heard of the first two? If you haven’t, I have some Goodreads links for you!

Go read up on book 1, Perception!

Now check out book 2, Volition!

Did you do it? Did you? Did you? Good, because now we get to talk about the main attraction, Contrition!

Contrition (Perception #3) by Lee Strauss

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N 

Zoe, Noah and the other plane crash survivors are stranded in the Arizona desert.

They all have secrets,

and reasons to hide.

But they’re not alone.

Cyborg soldiers.

War.

Humans and humanoids.

Who can be trusted?

Zoe’s life is in danger.

Noah must make an impossible choice.

Will their love survive their brokenness?

Will the world as they know it end before they can find out?

Interested now? You know you are! Here’s an excerpt just for you!

“What was Tucson, like?” I asked. It was code for were there pictures of my face?

Noah stared at the ground. “It was busy, just like any other city. Lots of people. Traffic. Noise.”

“And…”

His eyes caught mine. “And lots of billboards. They’re still after us, Zoe. The reward for your return has been upped to two million.”

My heart whooshed. “And you?”

“The same. But the president doesn’t care if I’m brought in alive.”

Fear gripped my throat. “You can’t go into Tucson, anymore, Noah.”

He brushed it off. “Ah, the picture of me makes me look like I’m a twelve year-old boy. I didn’t get a second glance.”

“It’s true,” Taylor said. “Your photos look hot, but his, meh.”

I laughed at Taylor, and he grinned back at me before disappearing into the tech cave. I watched Noah as he unloaded the last of the items from the buggy. He caught me staring, and I glanced away. My shoes were suddenly very interesting. I dug at the sand with my toe. I casually looked up again from under my lashes. Noah’s eyes were on me now. I stayed locked on his gaze. What is he thinking? Did he feel the pull of attraction I felt? Did the longing for something more make his soul ache like mine did?

And if so, would he ever give into it again?

Sweat dripped between my breasts and down my spine. I felt dizzy and slid to the ground with a thump. Thankfully, the others were all busy focused on other things and didn’t notice. I held my chest, willing my heart to slow.

Something was wrong with me.

I didn’t know what, but I should be stronger. I should actually be the healthiest. Well, along with Taylor, though technically I’d been a GAP for longer.

When my heart calmed, I reached into my bag for a “clean” shirt and mentioned to Hannah that I was going to the stream to freshen up. The sun was low on the horizon, and I wanted to make it back before it got dark.

I’d collected the soap and shampoo on my way out of the cave looking forward to the shock of cold water. My hair hung in greasy strands, long enough now to tie back at least. I removed the tie, along with my clothes, and slipped in.

The water was strangely warm. Something was weird, but I wasn’t going to complain just yet. I’d tell Taylor when I got back. I made good use of the soap and was about to reach for the shampoo when I heard movement.

“Knock, knock.”

I startled at the voice. “Noah?”

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were here.”

So, now you do. Why are you just standing there, staring? I was fully aware that, though submerged, I was naked. Noah’s eyes zeroed on mine, and I could sense the debate going on in his head. He wanted to stay.

Suddenly, all the oxygen felt like it was sucked out of the cave.

I took a chance. “Would you… like to join me?”

“Yes,” he said, “against my better judgment.”

“If it helps, I want you to.”

“It helps.”

And finally, the giveaway! Here’s what’s in store for you!

 

plus an audio copy of PERCEPTION,

plus a cool eternity bracelet from Etsy!

Just enter the rafflecopter below!

In case you haven’t read book 1 or 2 of the trilogy yet,  PERCEPTION is free and VOLITION is .99 until the launch.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Waiting on Wednesday: Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine!

Title: Battle Magic

Author: Tamora Pierce

ETA: September 24th, 2013

Summary from Goodreads:  On their way to the first Circle temple in Gyongxi, mages Briar, Rosethorn, and Evvy pay a visit to the emperor’s summer palace. Although treated like royalty when they first arrive, the mages soon discover that the emperor plans to invade Gyongxi, posing a fatal threat to the home temple of the Living Circle religion. Accompanied by one of the emperor’s prize captives, the three mages rush to Gyongxi to warn its citizens of the impending attack. With the imperials hot on their trail, Briar, Rosethorn, and Evvy must quickly help the country prepare for battle. But even with the help of new allies, will their combined forces be enough to fight the imperial army and win the war?

Why I’m Waiting: I heard a couple of excerpts from this book when I was at the Alpha Workshop for Young Writers, and they seemed pretty cool, but what really, really intrigues me about this book is that if you’ve read her other stuff, you already know the aftermath: at least one of the main characters has pretty awful PTSD from these events.  I’m very curious to see what Tammy does with this, because I feel like the psychological impact of war isn’t addressed nearly enough in fantasy, and also because I REALLY want to know what happened.

Top Ten Books On My Fall 2013 TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish!

I have a lot of books that I have but need to read. Therefore, the only way I could possibly make sense of this TTT is by listing the next 10 book reviews I have scheduled on my handy-dandy Google Calendar. Hopefully, if all goes well, these will be the next 10 or so reviews that you see from me. Marina will just be surprising you.

1. Countdown by Michelle Rowan

I’ve reviewed something by Michelle Rowan before (see my review of Dark Kiss), but I wasn’t all that impressed. However, when I saw this blurb, I knew I had to jump on it. Hopefully this review will be up September 20th!

2. By Blood by Tracey E. Banghart

One of my first blog tours in AGES, and I’m pretty excited. It’s set in England, which is enough for me! By hook or by crook, this review will be live September 26th.

3. Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

Super excited about this one! All of her books are total guilty pleasures for me, and a giveaway of her books was one of the first I did on the blog! Can’t wait to see what new stuff she has cooking. This review should be live September 27th.

4. My Ex From Hell by Tellulah Darling

Another blog tour coming at you! This one looks really interesting as well, and I can’t wait to see if it matches all the promise that the blurb suggests! This review WILL be live September 30th.

5. The Enchanter Heir by Cinda Williams Chima 

I adored Chima’s first three books in the Heir Chronicles, and I was so surprised to find she was writing a fourth! I had never expected to get back into this world, and now I get to. That’s always excited. Look for this review around October 4th.

6. The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal

I’ve had this one for a while now, and I finally get to read it! It sounds so good, and the cover is so gorgeous. Look for this one October 7th!

7. Skulk by Rosie Best 

I seem to be really hit or miss with Strange Chemistry titles, but they always sound amazing to me at the start. This one is no different! All aboard for animal shape shifters! This review should be live on October 11th.

8. Waterfell by Amalie Howard

Auto-approval for HarlequinTeen is a dangerous thing. However, I think I’m strong enough to handle the power! (I’m not, but I don’t care.) This one looks gorgeous, and I can’t wait to get started. Look for the review October 14th.

9. Cracked by Eliza Crewe

Gorgeous cover art PLUS a kick ass blurb? I’m sold so fast it’s like Black Friday. Again, this is a Strange Chemistry title, so I’m a bit wary but if this works it’s going to be SO GREAT. Look for this review October 18th!

10.  Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

I maaaaay have an announcement next Stacking the Shelves about the sequel to this one and who has possession of it, so of course I have to read Falling Kingdoms! This review will be live October 24th.

Review: “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women (Little Women #1) by Louisa May Alcott

Goodreads | Amazon

Little Women is one of the best loved books of all time. Lovely Meg, talented Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons of poverty and of growing up in New England during the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays, pranks, letters, illnesses, and courtships, women of all ages have become a part of this remarkable family and have felt the deep sadness when Meg leaves the circle of sisters to be married at the end of Part I. Part II, chronicles Meg’s joys and mishaps as a young wife and mother, Jo’s struggle to become a writer, Beth’s tragedy, and Amy’s artistic pursuits and unexpected romance. Based on Louise May Alcott’s childhood, this lively portrait of nineteenth-century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers.

Three stars

CLASSICS TIME! You heard right – I’m reviewing a reeeeeal oldie. But this IS my first time reading this book and I DID read it for a class called Studies in Children’s and YA Literature, so honestly it seemed like a good thing to do. Also, I had to read this in like two days I deserve this. ANYWAYS! Let’s get this show on the road! I apparently have a really inflammatory opinion about the end of this book, according to my classmates, so this should be FUN.

This is usually where I put a summary of the book, but the blurb (which I stole from Amazon this time, not Goodreads) is pretty self explanatory. What’s most important to me is that it talks about how there are two parts to this book. The blurb calls them I and II. I call them Part I: Where Every Chapter is a Morality Story and Part II: The Bit Where Life Gets REAL. With just Part I, this book gets maybe 2, 2 1/2 stars for morality inducing boredom. With Part II? I might never re-read it, but PLOT TWIST OF THE CENTURY, ALCOTT, BRAVO.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Part I, as I continue to say is … cute. Each sister has one negative quality that their mother, Marmee, has to teach them how to control. It’s all “Be less material, Meg” and “Be less temperamental, Jo” and “Be less spoiled, Amy” and “Be less shy, Beth.” I didn’t get annoyed to the point of wanting to hurl my Kindle across the room (which I’ve done before with morality books), but it got repetitive and boring and I really just wanted something to happen. All together, the themes were quite good and I certainly applaud Alcott for several, radical for the times decisions that she made about the girls’ lives, both here and in Part II.

But then came the romance between Meg and John. I cried. I cried hard. 1800S INSTA-LOVE! I cried. THAT’S A THING THAT’S A THING. I knew much of the later book would revolve around Jo, Amy and Beth’s marriages, so seeing this horribleness made me worried, fast. I couldn’t stand Meg and John’s “romance,” let alone three more. (This was my first time reading it, people who’ve read this before and think I had trouble with math/facts. SHH about Beth.)

But THEN came Part II, and all the reality it brought with it. Suddenly, the girls weren’t just learning cute little life lessons. They were learning life facts, and learning them hard. They were learning them with whiplash. All the radical ideas that Alcott had hinted at in the beginning came out in force. (I’m an English major, we analyzed this, SHH.) But the biggest part for me was THE BIGGEST SHIPPING PLOT TWIST IN ALL OF TIME. Like, I’m not a big proponent of “all writers should read the classics,” but I wanted to buy millions of copies of this book and chuck them at the heads of every writer who has ever written a cliched love triangle ever. I am completely and utterly behind what happened, and it made the book really shine and stand out for me. Right at that moment, the book went from being a cute how to for kids to a real book about life and love and sadness and reality. Reality that is still reality, never mind the historical setting.

At the end of the day, I certainly liked this book. This is one classic that I actually recommend for people to read if they have the urge. There really is a girl for everyone to relate to in this book, no matter their age, and I find that extremely important. I almost wish I had read this as a kid, just to see what I would understand now that I didn’t understand then. Little Women is that kind of a book.

Weekly Wrap Up + Stacking the Shelves for 9-14-13

Welcome to another two week’s Stacking the Shelves and Wrap Up! Sorry I have to do two again, but last weekend just didn’t have the time to do this! As always, watch the video for all the deets, and the links are below the break!

LAST TIME ON THE BLOG:

Gretchen’s ARC Review: Gold by Talia Vance

Gretchen’s Top Ten Books That I Wish Were Taught In Schools

Marina’s Waiting on Wednesday: Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Marina’s ARC Review: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Gretchen’s ARC Review: The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

Gretchen’s DNFed Books: Two Recent Additions

Marina’s Top Ten Books I Would Love to See as a Movie

Gretchen’s Waiting on Wednesday: Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

Marina’s Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Gretchen’s ARC Review: Once We Were by Kat Zhang

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews!

BOUGHT:

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden – Goodreads

Weetzie Bat (Weetzie Bat #1) by Francesca Lia Block – Goodreads

WON:

The Lost Sun (The United States of Asgard #1) by Tessa Gratton – Goodreads

FREE ON AMAZON:

Valkyrie Rising (Valkyrie #1) by Ingrid Paulson – Goodreads

NETGALLEY:

Diamonds & Deceit (At Somerton #2) by Leila Rasheed – Goodreads

Inhuman (Fetch #1) by Kat Falls – Goodreads

Made of Stars by Kelly York – Goodreads

Cracked (Soul Eater #1) by Eliza Crewe – Goodreads

 

ARC Review: “Once We Were” by Kat Zhang

Once We Were (The Hybrid Chronicles #2) by Kat Zhang

Goodreads | Amazon

“I’m lucky just to be alive”

Eva was never supposed to have survived this long. As the recessive soul, she should have faded away years ago. Instead, she lingers in the body she shares with her sister soul, Addie. When the government discovered the truth, they tried to “cure” the girls, but Eva and Addie escaped before the doctors could strip Eva’s soul away.

Now fugitives, Eva and Addie find shelter with a group of hybrids who run an underground resistance. Surrounded by others like them, the girls learn how to temporarily disappear to give each soul some much-needed privacy. Eva is thrilled at the chance to be alone with Ryan, the boy she’s falling for, but troubled by the growing chasm between her and Addie. Despite clashes over their shared body, both girls are eager to join the rebellion.

Yet as they are drawn deeper into the escalating violence, they start to wonder: How far are they willing to go to fight for hybrid freedom? Faced with uncertainty and incredible danger, their answers may tear them apart forever.

Four and a half stars

Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss for this eARC! This title will be released September 17th, 2013.

WARNING: This review WILL include spoilers for the first book, What’s Left of Me. Read my review for more!

Getting a hold of an ARC of this book became an absolute necessity after reading the first book. When Edelweiss declined my first request, I requested again – basically until they let me have it. I was like a dog with a bone for this book, and with good reason. What’s Left of Me blew me out of the water and then some. Of course, after that, it was impossible to like the second one as much as the first, but the book gave me a good go, anyways!

The book picks up with Addie and Eva and co in hiding, trying to recover from what happened to them at Normand. The gang is still mostly together, with Kitty and Nina, Hally and Lissa and Ryan and Devon all living in the same proximity. Jamie is in hiding with Dr. Lyanne, somewhere unknown. The gang is basically trapped inside Emalia’s apartment, not allowed outside, not allowed any semblance of living. The threat of being brought back is too close. But then Eva and Addie meet a new team of hybrids, ones with ideas a little bit more radical that Peter’s. But will their ideas turn out to be too radical for anyone to live with?

Right away, I can tell you that this book is a lot more Eva-centric than the first one. That made me a little sad, because my favorite moments in these books are when the two girls are working in sync. Of course, the entire book IS told from Eva’s perspective, so it’s only to be expected, but I felt like Addie lost some character development because we couldn’t see what was happening when Eva “went under,” or disappeared to give Addie her privacy. This works into the plot very well, of course, but still. Meh. Several things about Addie’s character arc suddenly seemed tossed into the mix.

Eva, though, does have a lot of growth in this book, both in terms of herself and her relationship with Addie. Her reactions to certain events were heartbreaking, just as other reactions were completely inspiring. Once again, she and Addie let NOTHING keep them down. They just keep going and going, simply because sitting down and taking it isn’t something they’re capable of doing. I LOVE Eva as a character right down to her core and back, just because she’s so real.

The plot of this one wasn’t entirely unexpected, but once again Kat kept me so engaged that it was easy to read the book in two sittings. Once again, the idea of something being RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER kept me on the edge of my seat even when I could guess what that thing was.

One of my few complaints was the amount of character memorization necessary to read this book smoothly. Remembering which hybrid is whose partner was really confusing, especially after not having re-read the first book in a while. I felt like several characters should have had more impact on me than they did (ahem, Jackson, Devon), but since they interacted mostly with Addie while Eva was out, I never got to see them in enough light to really care. This took a little bit of the bite out of the ending, which was unfortunate.

All in all, I’m still extremely impressed by these books. The shear number of hybrids in this book could have bowled over any writer trying to prove each one has a unique personality, but Kat does it so well I can really see the individual people stuck inside the same body. The pacing was fantastic, the plot was good. The romance didn’t overpower anything, even though we’ve got a Host like love quadrangle going on for like 30 seconds. It was action packed and emotion filled – everything I wanted it to be!

Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,  by Ransom Riggs

Goodreads |  Amazon

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. 

As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here – one of whom was his own grandfather – were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason.

And somehow – impossible though it seems – they may still be alive.

Three Stars

So this book came out a while ago, and I kept meaning to read it, and then I kept not reading it because shiny new things kept catching my eye, until finally I was in a used bookstore with my boyfriend (yep, our dates are awesome) and found a hardcover copy in perfect condition, and how can anybody resist that?

You should know that this review is a little spoilery, although it doesn’t really broach anything that I as a reader hadn’t guessed pretty early on in the book.  So, spoilers if you’re not a guesser?

 

The way this story is told really interests me.  Incorporating found photographs could get really gimmicky, but I think it works quite well in this case; it’s used with care and restraint.  In fact, this is just all-around a really well put-together book, visually.  Which is good, because it starts slowly; it took me a while to really get into what was happening.  It wasn’t until Jacob finally arrived in Wales—68 pages in—that I started getting really interested in the story.  Most of the beginning was necessary, and I’m not actually sure how it could have been more engaging, so I probably shouldn’t complain.

Once he does get to Wales it’s a very locational, atmospheric story, and I do love that sort of thing.  I’m normally not turned on by freak-show stories, but this one does pretty well; I love the concept for where they’re hiding, as well as the fact that birds are time travelers.  BIRDS ARE TIME TRAVELERS.  That’s one of those things that just sounds RIGHT—it’s fairy-tale logic, put forth with no explanation or apology.

A lot of this book has fairy-tale logic.  I love fairy-tale logic.  But it causes some problems, because sometimes it feels like this book can’t decide if it’s using world-logic (Grandpa fought in a war and is therefore traumatized) or dream-logic (birds are time travelers, deal with it).  This occasionally causes some problems where it’s hard to tell which logic is being employed: our kid’s psychiatrist says he should go to Wales and instead of questioning his effectiveness as a psychiatrist we’re just going to send him to Wales and let him wander around unsupervised with people we don’t know despite the fact that he’s behaved in a mentally unstable fashion and we probably should be keeping an eye on him.  I don’t want to say plot holes, but, plot holes, sort of.  Especially later on, in ways that I can’t talk about because they’re spoilery.  There’s a fairly significant contrast between the real world and—for lack of a better term—Miss Peregrine’s world, and they don’t always fit together perfectly.  But then, portal fantasy is hard to pull off without moments of weirdness at the best of times, and this story is very, very different from most other portal fantasies I’ve read, so it’s not like there’s a precedent to go off of.

Huh.  I have startlingly few thoughts on this book.  All in all, I enjoyed it.  It was interesting, and it held my attention.  It didn’t grab me; I wasn’t emotionally affected by it.  I wasn’t on the edge of my seat demanding to know more, or aching for the characters’ plight.  I think it was more of an intellectual experience for me than an emotional one—I just liked seeing the eccentricities of the world and the way they interacted with real life.  I wasn’t absorbed by the characters, but I was really fascinated by the concepts, and that in itself is a very good reason to read a book.  As concept stories go, this one was unique and very cool, and I had fun with it.

Two things you might find interesting:

The ending sets up a sequel, although I don’t know if there’s going to be one.  I think it can stand as it is, but a lot of people will disagree with me, so, open ending alert!
Those photographs?  They’re all vintage.  They were not manufactured for this story; they were found this way.  Complete with the weirdness.  And then incorporated into a story about weirdness.  Remember how I said this was more of an intellectual book for me?  My intellectual brain thinks that’s AWESOME.  (And sounds like a ridiculous amount of work.)

Waiting on Wednesday: “Perfect Ruin” by Lauren DeStefano

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine!

Title: Perfect Ruin (The Internment Chronicles #1)

Author: Lauren DeStefano

ETA: October 1st, 2013

Summary from Goodreads: On Internment, the floating island in the clouds where 16-year-old Morgan Stockhour lives, getting too close to the edge can lead to madness. Even though Morgan’s older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. She tries her best not to mind that her life is orderly and boring, and if she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in best friend Pen and her betrothed, Basil.

Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially when she meets Judas. He is the boy being blamed for the murder — betrothed to the victim — but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find — or who she will lose.

Why: Curious why I find Lauren so amazing? See my reviews of Wither and Fever! Also, just look at her she’s freaking fantastic and this looks amazing and thank goodness October is coming up soon.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Would Love To See As A Movie

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish!

So, this week’s Top Ten makes the caveat that this list is set in a perfect world where movies don’t generally make a huge mess of things we love.  With that in mind, here’s my top ten, for various reasons…in no particular order, and thrown together hastily, late at night, after a very long day…

1.  Graceling, by Kristin Cashore: this one’s selfish and simple.  I really just want to see Katsa kicking some butt.  Action heroes who also go through real emotional journeys are kind of hard to find sometimes…plus, I really like her relationship with Po.

2.   The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley: there are not enough people fighting back against a conquering pseudo-Colonial Britain in my cinematic world.  At least, not without the noble savage stereotype, which is STILL A STEREOTYPE, GUYS.  Plus, I want to see the Northerners, whose inhumanities are all the more scary for being vaguely defined…

3.  Liar, by Justine Larbalestier: if you’ve ever read this book you know this would be an INCREDIBLY HARD MOVIE TO MAKE.  It’s fragmented, it’s disjointed, and literally everything you see comes through the eyes of the world’s most unreliable narrator.  But that’s why it would be so cool!  You’d constantly be having scenes repeated with subtle differences and can someone make this please so I can analyze it.

4.  Gifts, by Ursula k. Le Guin: I think the big screen would be able to capture the loneliness, proud poverty, and desolation of the Uplands perfectly, if done right.  (And we’re assuming all of these are, because otherwise NO.)

5.  The Lost Sun, by Tessa Gratton: I’d love to see this just for the background: commercials featuring famous seethers and dragonslayers, Odin making speeches in Congress on the news, pop culture incorporating Norse symbolism…

6.  The Summer Prince, by Alaya Dawn Johnson: I felt like this book’s biggest flaw was a failure to completely bring the (complex and awesome) world into my head, even though it was described well.  Quick fix: movie.

7.  Sabriel, by Garth Nix: there are also not enough benign-but-necromantic badasses in my cinematic life.

8.  Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller: yes, yes, somebody already did an Iliad movie.  But that was about the history.  This is a love letter to the mythology, with an entirely different Achilles.  Plus, Achilles+Patroclus romance that is actually sweet and genuine.

9.  The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern: this book was REALLY VISUAL all by itself.  Now, the appeal is to other senses as well, which can’t be portrayed on screen—smell and touch play a big role—but I think if you played up sight and sound really well, this could be GORGEOUS.

 

 

10.  The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater: we’re still assuming a perfect world, right?  Because nobody has the means to make this movie right now.  Portraying the capaill uisce is next to impossible: CGI isn’t solid enough, and real horses aren’t predatory enough.  But if you COULD get it right, the gritty, salty monstrousness of the water horses and the rich culture and tradition surrounding the races would be seriously awesome.

That’s my list!  What’s yours?