C.A. Gray's Blog, page 55
October 29, 2019
Review of Mystwick School of Musicraft
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Such a delightful middle grade novel!
Audible made this a freebie for the month of October, and I could see why when I got to the end: the climax takes place on Halloween, specifically because that is the day of the year when legend has it the veil between worlds is thinnest.
The story follows Amelia Jones, a 12-year old girl who has dreamed of entering Mystwick School of Musicraft (an analog of Hogwarts except with music) since her mother died when she was very young. Her mother was a maestro, and she dreams of becoming one too. Only problem is, while she’s talented enough at the flute compared to ordinary people, Mystwick only takes the best of the best. She flubs her audition, but due to a mix-up, she ends up in Mystwick after all–only to find out that it was a mistake. Another girl of the same name who happened to be a piano prodigy tragically died prior to receiving her acceptance letter, and our protagonist got that Amelia’s letter by mistake. Now not only does she feel like a fraud, but she’s sharing a room with the other Amelia’s best friend, since they were originally slated to be roommates. You can guess how that goes over. Things go from bad to worse when it seems that Amelia is being haunted by Other Amelia, determined to punish her for stealing her spot.
It’s a fun and whimsical tale of magic through music (made all the more dynamic because the audio recording actually has musicians playing the pieces mentioned in the background), of coming-of-age, and of learning to believe in yourself. I actually teared up a little at the end, even though the end was predictable. That doesn’t matter when it’s well done!
My rating: **** 1/2
Language: none
Sexual content: none
Violence: fantasy only (and basically none)
Political content: none
The post Review of Mystwick School of Musicraft appeared first on C.A. Gray.
October 25, 2019
Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith
This week’s podcast review comes from this blog review of Bloodleaf.
The post Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith appeared first on C.A. Gray.
October 22, 2019
Review of Ribbons of Scarlet: A Novel of the French Revolution
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This was amazing, haunting, and such a unique concept!
I was wondering how six authors would manage to co-write a cohesive story, but they did it by each writing their own novella and interweaving one another’s characters throughout to draw a portrait of the women in the French Revolution. All of them are real historical figures, which makes the story much more compelling to me. Those who stood out most were the aristocrats, because it seemed to me that they were the true victims of the Revolution: Sophie, who married a free-thinking philosopher and advocate for women’s rights, allowing her to blossom into her own woman. Princess Elizabeth, sister to King Louis and his advisor. Charlotte Corday, who assassinated a ruler of the zealous Jacobins. Emilie, touted to be the most beautiful woman in Paris. Nearly all of them met the same fate: Madame Guillotine, for various reasons. But ultimately, the reason was the same: mob mentality shuts down all reason, and their emotionally driven lust for blood consumes any and everyone. In the end, the guillotine claimed not only King Louis and his entire family, but Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins, too. No one was safe. The impoverished and bloodthirsty citizens of France were the very embodiment of hatred, and demanded the heads of anyone whose views differed in the slightest from their own. And the irony was, it didn’t even seem to accomplish anything in the end. Within a decade of the Revolution’s end, a new emperor had already risen to power: Napoleon. The mob could not rule; they could only destroy.
This throws into sharp relief what the American Founding Fathers had accomplished only a few years earlier, though. Rather than allow us to descend into anarchy like the French did, leaving a vacuum that could only be filled by a dictator, we developed a sustainable government with checks and balances of power. It’s hinted at the end of Ribbons of Scarlet that the Marquis de Lafayette, who had fought by our side in the American Revolution, had harbored hopes that France might blossom into a similar democracy. But that was not to be.
I felt especially sorry for King Louis. He was portrayed as a sanguine, innocent, optimistic guy who truly loved his people and wanted to do right by them. But his sense of integrity prevented him from playing ball once he was rendered little more than a figurehead–all he had left was veto power, and he used it when he thought it was right to do so. It didn’t matter that reason was squarely on his side: the mob could not hear reason. They were led entirely by their anger. Marie Antoinette was far craftier than Louis was, and did everything she could to keep them out of the clutches of the people, but Louis in his naïveté overruled her. (As I listened to this part of the story, the line from “Hamilton: The Musical” kept running through my mind, in which Alexander Hamilton, arguing that we shouldn’t join the French in their Revolution, mockingly asks and answers, “We made a treaty with a king whose head is now in a basket. Should we take it out and ask it? ‘Should we honor our treaty, King Louis’s head?’ ‘Uh, do whatever you want, I’m super dead!'”)
I have to say that I see parallels, though of course far less extreme, to the present political environment. I wonder if the authors chose this topic because they believed it to be timely, as well. When one or both sides are driven entirely by emotions, and their hatred swells to the point of violence, what can be done? Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.
My rating: *****
Language: some, but not overwhelming
Sexual content: some, but tastefully done
Political content: historical only, though they leave us to draw our own conclusions about the present atmosphere
Violence: it’s a violent story. That can’t be helped. But the way it’s told isn’t gratuitous.
The post Review of Ribbons of Scarlet: A Novel of the French Revolution appeared first on C.A. Gray.
October 18, 2019
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
This week’s podcast review comes from this blog post, Review of Great Expectations.
The post Great Expectations by Charles Dickens appeared first on C.A. Gray.
October 17, 2019
Review of Bloodleaf
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Technically I think this is considered high fantasy, because it occurs in an alternate universe… but it’s what I guess I’d call YA high fantasy, because it has a modern style to it, and doesn’t sacrifice characterization for plot the way (in my opinion) true high fantasy seems to do.
The story follows Princess Aurelia, engaged to marry a prince whom she’s corresponded with but never met. She’s a witch, in a world that condemns witches to death, and so her hold on the people is tenuous despite her royal position. Three of the people who love her best, including her mother and her guard and best friend who is in love with her, participate in blood magic at the beginning of the story, binding their lives to hers such that if someone kills her, one of them will die in her place. She allows this I guess because she is the princess and they want her to live to unite two kingdoms with her marriage, but it still seemed incredibly selfish to me for her to permit this. Anyway, one thing leads to another, a royal advisor double-crosses her and sets up her best friend in her place, and she’s on the run. She sees this ghost who’s haunted her most of her life, and she calls her the Harbinger because when she appears, it’s because someone is about to die. She thinks her guard dies but of course he doesn’t really–and while I thought he was going to turn out to be the love interest early on, it turns out she really doesn’t love him back. In her escapades she meets a series of characters, one of whom becomes the real love interest. She meets a series of characters who don’t seem to have much bearing on the ultimate plot and don’t really need to be there.
My biggest complaint was that either the rules for the world conveniently changed to get the characters out of tight spots, Deux Ex Machina-style, or else certain characters arbitrarily thrown into Aurelia’s path conveniently turned out to be exactly who they needed to be. It all started to feel a little contrived.
Still, I finished the story and enjoyed it. Even though this is listed as #1 in a series, the story ends, so I’m not sure if the rest of the series are just other stories involving different characters in the same world.
My rating: ***
Sexual content: none
Language: none
Violence: fantasy violence, but some. Not gratuitous
Political content: none
The post Review of Bloodleaf appeared first on C.A. Gray.
October 11, 2019
Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
This week’s podcast comes from this blog post Review of Enchantment by Orson Scott Card.
The post Enchantment by Orson Scott Card appeared first on C.A. Gray.
Review of Great Expectations
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I read this in high school and remember liking it (though I wonder now if it might have been the abridged version, because the full length is pretty long). Yet despite its length, Great Expectations is pretty action-packed, and reads like a modern novel.
Pip is raised by his abusive sister and her husband Joe, who is simple but has a heart of gold. One night as a child, he helps out an escaped convict, in an apparently stand-alone episode of his life. Then he finds himself thrust among the sometime company of two caricatures: the withered Miss Havisham, bitter against all men because she was jilted on her wedding day decades earlier, and her beautiful yet haughty adopted daughter Estella. Miss Havisham relishes the idea of wielding her revenge upon the male sex through Estella, and encourages Pip to fall in love with her, and her to break his heart. Neither of them need much encouraging, and the thing is soon accomplished.
Then, out of nowhere, Pip receives word from an attorney–Miss Havisham’s attorney, in fact–that he has come into “expectations.” By this we understand that he is provided for financially and is to be raised above his station to become a gentleman. But there is one catch: he cannot inquire into the identity of his benefactor, and his benefactor will make him or herself known to him at some indefinite time in the future. Pip of course believes that Miss Havisham is his benefactress, and believes himself to be intended for Estella. He more or less abandons Joe and the “honest forge,” ashamed of him because he is neither learned nor a gentleman. But of course, Pip’s beliefs about his destiny and his benefactress are thwarted, and his life does not at all turn out the way he expects. In some ways it’s a morality tale: Pip comes to learn what really matters in life, almost too late.
It’s the “almost” that makes me still enjoy the story though. He still has time to repent at the end, and there is a happily ever after, although a bittersweet one. Overall, a compelling read!
My rating: **** 1/2
Language: none
Sexual content: none
Violence: very minor
Political content: none
The post Review of Great Expectations appeared first on C.A. Gray.
October 4, 2019
Mistress of Rome, by Kate Quinn
Today’s blog review comes from this blog post, Mistress of Rome.
The post Mistress of Rome, by Kate Quinn appeared first on C.A. Gray.
September 30, 2019
Review of Enchantment
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Loved this so very much!!
First of all, though, that title. It’s terrible. It tells you almost nothing. I never would have read the book, except that my husband sent me a list of Harry Potter read-alikes and this was on the list, so I downloaded a sample (plus I had also read “Ender’s Game” and liked it.) I can see why they went with “Enchantment,” though, because in a way this story encompasses nearly every fairy tale. In a time traveler’s paradox, the story more or less claims that the main character Ivan/Yvonne (depending on whether we’re using his Jewish or Russian name) goes back in time and becomes the protagonist in the original versions.
Quick recap: Ivan is a Jew (though he wasn’t raised as one) living in Russia around the time that the Berlin wall falls. His parents decide to rediscover their Jewish roots in order to aid their immigration to America. But just before he leaves, as a child, Ivan discovers a beautiful girl in an enchanted sleep. He thinks about that girl all his life, even though he grows up and gets engaged in America to a Jewish girl named Ruth. But one thing leads to another, and before he can marry Ruth, he contrives a reason to go back to Russia in the course of his studies (incidentally on Russian fairy tales). He finds the girl again, kisses her awake, and finds that he has to fight the bear who is guarding her. The girl tells him (in a proto-Slavonic language from the 9th century that he can understand only because he’s a linguistic scholar) that he has to ask her to marry him in order to escape. He does, she agrees, and they escape into the 9th century–into a village that has vanished from history in his world 1000 years later.
Compared to the men of 9th century Russia, Ivan is a weakling and nobody respects him, even though in the 1990s, he is considered an athlete. He’s shamed and abused at every turn, and even Katarina doesn’t think much of him. Cultural clashes abound. Meanwhile, we meet Baba Yaga, the witch who cursed Katarina in the first place for her own dastardly purposes of domination, and who also enchanted Bear (who turns out to be a god) and forced him to guard the princess.
Katarina and Ivan/Yvonne eventually have a sweet love story which blossoms when they have to cross over into Ivan’s world to escape from Baba Yaga and also to learn how to defeat her. Magic abounds in the story, both subtle and magnificent, couched in such a rich tapestry that it almost doesn’t even feel made up. I’m sure that Card had to do massive amounts of research on various versions of fairy tales throughout the ages, a well as of various different cultures, to pull off a story like this. I wouldn’t call it a Harry Potter read-alike–it has a very different feel to it–but it’s still a delightful story in which everything fits together seamlessly. Such a great read!
My rating: *****
Language: a few words here and there but very minor
Sexual content: present, but very tasteful (and in the context of marriage)
Violence: magical only, so it doesn’t really count I don’t think
Political content: none
The post Review of Enchantment appeared first on C.A. Gray.
September 27, 2019
Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux
Today’s podcast comes from this blog review of The Phantom of the Opera.
The post Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux appeared first on C.A. Gray.
