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Wondrous Strange (Wondrous Strange, #1)

Lesley Livingston

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Nov 05, 2013 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: fairies, young-adult

I'm feeling kind of bad slamming this book, since I see soooo many reviewers who love it, but ... this just didn't do it for me. The author is an actress, and I got the distinct impression that this book was born during lulls in rehearsals of A Midsummer Night's Dream

The best parts ... the opening scene (a sort of dream sequence involving carousel horses turning into the Wild Hunt), the scene where Kelley falls asleep on stage during rehearsal, and the scene where Sonny first spots Kelley in Ce I'm feeling kind of bad slamming this book, since I see soooo many reviewers who love it, but ... this just didn't do it for me. The author is an actress, and I got the distinct impression that this book was born during lulls in rehearsals of A Midsummer Night's Dream

The best parts ... the opening scene (a sort of dream sequence involving carousel horses turning into the Wild Hunt), the scene where Kelley falls asleep on stage during rehearsal, and the scene where Sonny first spots Kelley in Central Park ... all felt real and alive. I felt like the author's heart was really in it there. And maybe she daydreamed these, and finessed and refined, and read them to her fellow actors, and they said: "that's great! You've really got something there! you should write a book!" ... so maybe she took those scenes and just sort of stitched them together with filler? Because everything else felt really flat. Horse in a bathtub? Why was that even a thing? it's a plot device and nothing more.

I'm not feeling any attraction between Sonny & Kelley. I'm not feeling it with Sonny, period. (And I'm usually one to swoon all over these idealized YA heroes!) Most of the supporting characters are paperthin; for most of the book, I was wondering why Kelley had a roommate at all.

Characters I liked:
Lucky (said horse in bathtub) - Lucky doesn't speak or anything, he's a horse.
Bob (aka Puck) - Bob was the most three dimensional character in this book - I cared more about him than I did about Kelley or Sonny. Frankly, I didn't care too much if Sonny fell to his death or bit it while fighting ... eh, he was boring anyway. But Bob! He was complex and interesting.
Mabh - were we supposed to keep hating her? I found her complex, sympathetic, and interesting.

Many chapters can't stand up at all under the weight of the boooorrrrrring exposition: characters are turning to each other and rattling off entire paragraphs to explain stuff that they both already know, and - even worse! - the narrator wastes entire chapters explaining things. It's a shame, because there is the perfect exposition delivery mechanism sitting right in this story: Kelley's batty Auntie Em. Instead of those first few exposition-laden chapters, why didn't the author write a flashback or two of Aunt Emmaline's fairytales - we are TOLD that Aunt Em told Kelley lots of fairy tales as a child, but we never SEE the telling. It would have been the perfect opening sequence to set the stage.

In fact, this entire book sags under the weight of "tell don't show."

And then, THE ENDING (well, the build-up to the ending). I mean, let's say 17 year old you had these two choices, which would you pick:
(A) yes, I will give you this computer that I just discovered I own, and in exchange you will tell me how to get that book I really really want from the library.
(B) hell NO I'm not giving you my newly-discovered computer! I'm going to keep it for myself, figure out how to use this thing, learn how to reserve that book at the library my own damned self, knock you on your ass, and then maybe I'll write my own book too!
Right. Option A is obviously the correct choice you'd make, and you wouldn't even have to think about it. Right? RIGHT?????

Right. ...more

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Jan 05, 2009 Jennie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fairy-tales

I wanted to like this more than I did - with that said, it's a fun, quick read, with some pretty imagery and clever plot devices.

My biggest complaint was with the dialogue - it's kind of flat - as well as how quickly the heroine accepts all the new information she's presented with. (Seeing as how the book deals with faeries, it's all pretty fantastical stuff.) There's a romantic element to it as well, but I had a hard time figuring out why the characters were attracted to each other, other than ...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Destiny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-romance

I have been wanting to read this book ever since I saw that beautiful cover. I finally got around to buying it a few days ago.

What really impressed me about this book more than anything was (view spoiler) ...more

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Jun 21, 2013 Carrie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, ya

Interesting concept, not executed as well as it needed. It felt geared to be sequel ready.

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Dec 10, 2008 Maria Elmvang rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, owned-ebook, 4-stars, fantasy, ya, 2008

Very entertaining fairytale - and for once I mean that in the most literal sense of the word. Kelpies, pixies, fairies and hags all abound in this book - showing us that Shakespeare perhaps knew more about the Seelie and Unseelie Court than originally assumed ;) As a modern fairytale I thought it quite a bit better than Holly Black's "Tithe", but still rather similar in style. ...more

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Nov 21, 2008 Chelsea rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: youngadult, own, fantasy, advance, 2010

A fun but not amazing read. Kelley and Sonny were nice enough, but didn't grab me - on their own or together. Livingston's best moments came when she had various Faerie royalty terrorizing the two leads. Now that was gripping reading. ...more

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