Son by Lois Lowry

This is such a neat quartet of books! You really need to read all four to get the best appreciation, but each one could also be a standalone. That really impresses me, that Lois Lowry pulled that off. If you read The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger you are in for a real treat in Son: the main characters from the previous three books are all present and accounted for in it!

Son is told in three parts, with multiple chapters in each part. There is Before, Between, and Beyond. In the first part, Before, we meet Claire. She's a young girl, 13 years old, and is at her first work assignment in her community. She is a Vessel. Come to find out, Vessels are young girls (13-16 years old), and their "job" is to produce Products. Products being babies. Older girls, who have already Produced one or two Products tell Claire what to expect. There will be a little bit of pain, and she'll be blindfolded, and then it will be over and she'll get to rest for 6 months before Producing again. Are you weirded out yet? I sure was! Anyway, it gets worse: when it comes time for Claire to Produce, something goes wrong. The pain is intense. She ends up undergoing a c-section, although it's not called that in the book. Because of this, Claire is allowed a little time to recover and then released from being a Vessel and reassigned to the fish hatchery. In her society, everyone takes "vitamins" every day, and the vitamins damp down feelings. There's a clerical error or something and Claire ends up not taking the vitamins, even after being reassigned to the fish hatchery. She finds reasons to visit the infant care center, and ends up discovering which baby she produced. No surprise here: she loves the baby, Product 36, and daydreams of taking him and raising him herself. Of course that can't happen. She ends up sort of befriending a nursery worker guy, who is taking extra special care of Product 36.

So that's Before. And I feel like there'd be spoilers if I went into too much detail with Between and Beyond. Lets see... so in the official back-of-book description it does say that there's a culmination to the battle between good and evil. So you know that's coming. And you know from the back of the book that Claire will stop at nothing to get her son back. And I mean nothing. Claire has to work long and hard, like, for years, to get back to her son. She also ends up having to make a pretty huge sacrifice. I'm an adult reading this book and I got all kinds of emotionally invested and my heart just broke for Claire. I was so rooting for her!

I listened to this book on CD and loved it. I thought the narrator did a great job. The pacing was great and the narrator kept me engaged and focused. There were a few times I was tempted to sit in my car in the parking lot and just keep listening.

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by Tynga at Thursday, January 07, 2016

 Dystopian, Library, Listening Library, Lois Lowry, Review, The Giver Quartet, young adult  1 Person left their mark

✎

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

Before I start, let me warn you that Lair of Dreams is the 2nd installment in the Diviners series by Libba Bray.  If you haven't read The Diviners, you may want to start there.

Now, let me tell you that Lair of Dreams is definitely one of the top books I've read in 2015, if not the top book!  It's positutely the elephant's eyebrows!  You see, the characters are very young adults in the grandest of ages, the roaring '20s.  They live in New York, New York, and all have careers relating in one way or another to entertainment.  There are parties and speakeasies, the most fun and fantastic lingo you'll read in a book, and absolutely no cares in the world.  Hollywood, I'd love for someone to make this series into movies soon, please!

Some of these fun and flashy characters have special powers.  They are diviners, able to read the past and the future from personal objects.  Or dreamwalkers, able to reach people in their dreams, or the dead from beyond the grave.  Some of them have powers not yet realized when you start the book!  One thing I love about Libba Bray, though, is that she doesn't give every single character powers, and there's no formula to who has them and who doesn't.  Keeps this reader guessing right up to the reveal!  I also feel confident telling you that you will love all of the characters.  You will find yourself (like me) wishing for a time/fiction machine to go to the jazz age to hang out with them.  There's sweet and flirty Evie, who loves life (and her friends) with an unequaled ferocity.  And serious and smart Theta.  And southern gentleman Henry.  And goofball Sam.  And naïve but loyal Mabel.  And courageous and smart Ling.  And more!  I know it sounds like a lot, to have so many main characters, but Bray is a masterful storyteller who introduces them one by one (some in The Diviners and some in this book) to avoid confusion.  In both books, we meet the characters separately, or in small groups/pairs, then as the story progresses their individual narratives knit together to form the most lovely collective.

The plot also feels "woven together," from many different strands.  Each pair or group of characters is experiencing major events from very different viewpoints, giving the reader a total picture without an omniscient narrator talking over your shoulder.  My book's end flap described this book as "heart stopping," and I must concur.  This is one of those stay-up-way-past-your-bedtime-reading books, because you'll have to know that your beloved characters made it through another day!  Divining is a dangerous job already, with physical side effects (we learned in The Diviners that it's different for everyone, but usually involves something like a hangover effect), and now there's a mysterious sleeping sickness sweeping through NYC.  The victims appear healthy when they go to bed, but then their loved ones are unable to wake them by any means.  It especially affects Ling, who is the daughter of a Chinese man and who lives in Chinatown, where the sickness appears to have originated.  Will the dead she encounters in her dreamwalks help her solve the mystery before too many people are claimed?  Will she herself be able to remain safe of the sickness?  Soon all the local diviners are involved in a dangerous situation that involves the sickness, a ghostly woman, and a mysterious man in a stovepipe hat.  I don't want to give anything away, but it's definitely a page-turner!  It also feels a bit "dark," if that makes sense.  Despite all the fun '20s lingo, these characters feel like they're in very real danger, and much of the book takes place at night, and sometimes in unsavory parts of town.  Just one of the best marriages of suspense and mysticism and fright that I've read since Stephen King.

I'll close with an enthusiastic Hallelujah Chorus in praise of the audiobook.  A young lady named January does the reading and she's the bee's knees!  Absotutely the best!  No, the lingo doesn't do her justice... she, like the author, is a master at her craft.  She manages to get a 600+ page book onto only 19 CDs without ever feeling rushed.  She does distinct voices for 12+ characters, including males.  (My personal fave is New Orleans-raised Henry!)  And she sings!  With multiple characters in show biz, there are some snatches of tunes sprinkled throughout the book and January sings them and sings them well!  Really adds to the ambience.  I think this is an occasion where I'd actually recommend the audiobook over the physical book!

Five of five incredibly enthusiastic stars to Lair of Dreams!  And here's to hoping the third book isn't too long of a wait!

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by Tynga at Thursday, October 15, 2015

 1920s, diviners, Friendship, Historical, Horror amp; Ghost Stories, Libba Bray, Library, Listening Library, Review, The Diviners, young adult  4 People left their mark

✎

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn is one of those books where I really feel like I got my money's worth (and more, honestly), if that makes sense.  It is one long book, but for fans of the Twilight Saga, it might still not be quite enough.

I could talk for days about the plot- there's a LOT there.  Stephenie Meyer probably could have split Breaking Dawn into two or three books, and Twilight fans would have bought them all.  Kudos to Meyer for letting us have it all in one package!  I don't want to spoil anything, though.  I managed to make it through all the original fandom without finding out even a quarter of what happens in this book, and I don't want to ruin it for anyone else out there.  Just know that you will get some of the most romantic romance I've read in a YA book recently, some really intense mind-blowing medical drama, lots of friendship development, and plenty of character growth.  All in one!

I can talk about the intensity of the writing skill in Breaking Dawn without spoilers.  During the romantic scenes, I totally swooned.  Know that I do not swoon easily!  I tend to be more realistic and label romantic scenes as cheesy, but there were some bits early in the book where I was ready to try to marry into the Cullen family!  (Hubby:  not really.  Don't worry.  They're fictional.)  I think what I liked best is that the romantic scenes between characters in this book weren't all about kissing/bedroom eyes:  there was action.  The characters showed affection for each other in very realistic ways, like in spending time with each other, just holding hands, cooking for each other, etc.  The setting didn't hurt either:  I won't tell you where the characters travel to (it was a surprise for a character as much as for me), but I will tell you that Meyer does a fantastic time painting the landscape for the reader.  I had no trouble being transported to that place with those characters.  On the flip side, the descriptions were just as vivid during intense medical drama and fights-I got pretty nervous during a few of the scenes and had to take a moment to think about baby pandas instead.  Oh my!

I can also talk about character growth without any plot spoilers.  Remember how I called Bella a "dramarama mama" in my review of Eclipse?  She definitely shows the most growth in Breaking Dawn.  In just one book, she takes on multiple new responsibilities, all without complaint.  We see her transition from an unsure, clumsy high schooler to a conscientious young adult.  She's not the only one, either:  Jacob, I feel, also shows quite a bit of growth throughout this book as he also takes on some new responsibilities.  And finally, we can also look at the big picture and see growth in the relationships between supernatural groups, such as between the La Push werewolves and the Cullen vampires.  (There's more than just that, but that would be spoilery.  Teaser!)

Meyer does something cool with point of view in Breaking Dawn.  At the end of Eclipse, there's an epilogue from Jacob's point of view.  In Breaking Dawn, there's an entire chunk of the book from his point of view.  That was pretty cool.  While Bella isn't a vampire, she's very tied up in the Cullens and their lifestyle, and not the most objective observer.  I liked getting to see the Cullens from a slightly more critical eye.  And we all already know that I've been Team Jacob.  ;)

Don't think that Breaking Dawn is all lovey dovey hand-holding and character growth:  there's also a definite conflict.  That should probably be Conflict with a capital "c," really.  It's like all the other books' conflicts were piddly little set-ups compared to what's building in Forks, WA in Breaking Dawn!  This is hard to talk about without spoilers.  Just trust me that you will not be disappointed!

I listened to about half (the first half) on CD in my car, then finished it up in a physical book.  Nothing wrong with the narration; I just had more listening to do than I had time, and I can read slightly faster than I can listen.  The same narrator reads for the Bella parts in Breaking Dawn, and a new reader is introduced for the Jacob parts.  We already know that I think the Bella narrator is great; the Jacob narrator was ok.  He read clearly and with a good cadence, but his voice when he was reading quotes from Bella or Edward got a bit goofy.  Oh well.  I'd still call it a good audiobook overall.

This series definitely ends on a crowd-pleasing bang!  For fans of the first three Twilight books, I'd say that Breaking Dawn is an absolute must.

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by Tynga at Thursday, October 01, 2015

 Brown Books for Young Readers, Library, Listening Library, Little, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Review, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Saga, vampires, werewolves, young adult, Zombie  4 People left their mark

✎

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Bella is a DRAMARAMA MAMA in this third installment in the Twilight saga!  There's a mysterious string of murders in nearby Seattle, evil vampire Victoria is still after Bella, someone broke into Charlie's house... and all Bella does is agonize over Team Jacob vs Team Edward, and after-graduation plans.  She pushes Jacob away and then wants him back (on her terms)... then pushes him away, then wants him back.  Edward, lucky guy, gets to ride that emotional roller coaster by her side.

I was pretty optimistic about the first two books in this saga.  They were much better than I expected, and I chose Team Jacob.  Eclipse, however, seems to live up to the more negative reviews of the saga.  It's a bummer.  I was so hopeful!

The first 3/4 of the book is Bella's senior year.  She spends the year worrying about how soon she can let Edward make her immortal, and whining about his conditions.  (He is completely unreasonable.  He insists that she seriously consider the fact that she'll no longer be human, and to enjoy her last months as a human.  He also insists that they get married before they sleep before, and before he turns her into a vampire.  And that he gets to buy her a new, more reliable car.  He's obviously insane.)  She also spends time alternating between wanting Jacob to be her best friend, and wanting to never see him again.

If you're really into drama-filled romance, you'll probably enjoy the first half of the book.  Edward continues to be perfect, always-forgiving, and to make grand romantic gestures.  Jacob continues to try to court Bella too.  So she's getting lots of positive attention.

For me, the action really picked up in the last quarter of the book or so.  Things come to a head with the evil vampires in Seattle, and the Cullen family has to make some unusual alliances to fight them off.  The Cullens and Bella work together, using all their extra abilities, to plan a great counter-offensive when they hear that the other vampires are coming to the Forks area.  And then the battle itself!  Exciting!  It's fast-paced and unpredictable.  It had me on the metaphorical edge of my seat until the end.  (Remember, even though the saga is old, I managed to avoid nearly all spoilers.)

Like with the first two books, I listened to Eclipse as an audiobook.  It was good!  Same reader, so same good cadence and clear narration.

P.S. (Still Team Jacob at the end of Eclipse.)

P.P.S. Already began reading Breaking Dawn today.  Gotta see how the story ends!

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by Tynga at Thursday, September 24, 2015

 Girls amp; Women, Library, Listening Library, Paranormal Romance, Review, Romance, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Saga, vampires, werewolves, young adult  6 People left their mark

✎

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Just a heads up, in case you've been locked in a bunker for the last decade:  New Moon is the second book in the Twilight Saga.  So if you haven't read Twilight, you might want to check out that review first.

As I mentioned in that review, I'm reading these fresh.  I never read them during the big hype about 10 years ago.  In fact, I'm a little afraid to admit this, but I was a Twilight teaser.  I teased folks who read and loved it.  :(  I'm so sorry!  Now I'm reading them and I get it.

The writing isn't bad at all!  In fact, it's pretty good.  And the pacing feels right also.  Yes, there is teen angst.  And yes, there are moments when you want to reach into the book and give Bella a good shake and make her reconsider her life choices.  But overall, it's not too shabby.  And it's hard for the library employee in me to "put down" any book that gets folks reading.

While Twilight focused nearly entirely on developing Bella's character and her relationship with Edward, New Moon focuses more on Bella and her friendship with Jacob.  And I LOVED that!  Even in Twilight, when Bella was dating Edward, I was wanting more Jacob.  From that first party on the beach, he just seemed so sweet.  I'm not that old, and I can remember being a teen and wanting to do nothing but be with the boyfriend.  Now that I'm (supposedly) an adult, I recognize the value of balancing time at work with time with the hubby and time with friends, but teens are so very in-the-moment.  They often get caught up in these 20 minutes or so, and don't always think about the big picture.  In this way, Stephenie Meyer created such a believable character in Bella.  She makes some highly questionable decisions, but she's so genuine about it.  She so often thinks she's doing the right thing... even when she isn't.

I loved seeing her friendship with Jacob develop.  And I loved the slight "mystery" surrounding Jacob in the second half of the book or so.  No spoilers, so I can't even tell you what is mysterious about Jacob!  Somehow I managed to never hear about the spoiler during the hype.  (Lucky stars, I guess!)  I totally figured it out before Bella, but I think that's because I knew what kind of genre this book fit in.  And I was enjoying the unfolding of their friendship so much that I didn't even care that I was faster on the uptake than Bella!

Part of the appeal of these books has been the audiobook narration.  Ilyana Kadushin is fantastic!  I think these are the first books I've heard read by her, and I hope the next two are read by her too.  She gives Bella a very authentic voice, has clear and steady speech, good pacing, and fantastic enunciation.

And for those of you out there curious:  at the end of New Moon, I'm Team Jacob.  That could change after Eclipse, but for now that's where I stand.



P.S. I feel a little silly asking this, but can anyone explain the titles to me?  I thought I might have just missed something with Twilight, but then New Moon was never clearly explained.  Perhaps to do with Jacob's situation?  But then what does "twilight" reference?  I hate feeling left out of the loop!

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by Tynga at Thursday, July 23, 2015

 Library, Listening Library, Paranormal Romance, Review, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Saga, vampires  7 People left their mark

✎

The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud

The Golem's Eye is the second book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.  If you haven't read the first book, The Amulet of Samarkand, I recommend checking out that review first to avoid spoilers.

Quite a bit of time passes between The Amulet of Samarkand and The Golem's Eye.  Nathaniel is now 14 years old, and working for the government in Internal Affairs.  He's very into keeping his profile low and his fashion high.  He is happiest when his life is plodding along serenely.  Unfortunately, there's a Resistance movement building up in London; a rogue group of young people staging small attacks around town, trying to discredit the magical government.  Nathaniel is tasked with investigating and disbanding this group, led my a young lady named Kitty.  Nathaniel soon finds himself traveling to the enemy city of Prague and summoning his old "friend," the djinni Bartimaeus, to help him.

A slight sidebar to the book itself:  my local library classifies it as "Juvenile," and I'd recommend it to middle grades readers, based on writing style and language, etc.  However... the main characters are both young teens (older than middle grades readers), with no characters at all under 13 years old.  Also, the book is chock full of political intrigue, which is great, but some of it may pass over the head of younger readers.  I think it's a great book, and I can totally see myself recommending it to 8th or 9th graders.  So please don't let the "J" category put you off trying this book; I think it's a YA in masquerade!

In The Golem's Eye the reader gets an additional p.o.v.  From the first book, we've become acquainted with Nathaniel and Bartimaeus; in this book we also get the p.o.v. of Kitty, the young leader of the Resistance movement.  I don't want to give any spoilers, but I'll say that seeing through Kitty's eyes makes a big difference in the tone of the book.  Not everything is black and white; there is some more gray when you get to see the reasons or motivations behind someone's actions.  Not to condone attacks on the government, but Kitty and her friends may be more "lost" than "vicious."

We do, however, still get to enjoy Bartimaeus' witty repertoire!  I totally nominate Bartimaeus for Sassy Djinni of the Year.  His blunt honesty and appraisal of situations has me laughing out loud.  Literally.  I get these books on CD for my commute and sit at red lights laughing to myself, possibly worrying the other drivers around me.  :)  I could recommend this series on the basis of Bartimaeus and his sarcasm alone!

And then there's Nathaniel.  Poor Nathaniel is just trying to do his very best job in Internal Affairs when all the mess hits the fan.  Next thing he knows he's traveling undercover to an enemy country, investigating an anti-government group and their attacks on magic.  In The Amulet of Samarkand I felt a little pity for Nathaniel and his circumstances.  Even the circumstances he created for himself; I was still rooting for him, like you root for an underdog.  Unfortunately, in The Golem's Eye, I felt like he came across kind of wimpy and whining.  The action and Bartimaeus was enough to keep me listening, though.

So as I mentioned, I listened to this on CD.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Simon Jones narrates both, and he's got a delightful British accent.  And I love how he reads the Bartimaeus parts!  Good cadence, maybe just a little bit low and accented, but always understandable.  Two thumbs on the narration!

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by Tynga at Thursday, July 16, 2015

 Action amp; Adventure, Bartimaeus Trilogy, djinni, Fantasy amp; Magic, Jonathan Stroud, Library, Listening Library, Review  2 People left their mark

✎

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Yes:  I'm reviewing that Twilight.  This was my first time reading it, and I feel like I can be a little more objective than I would have been if I read it in 2005 when it was first released, or in 2008 when it became a movie.  I was actually surprised at my reaction:  I thought it wasn't bad.  In fact, I downright enjoyed the first half of the book!  The writing was pretty good, the setting felt quite real, and I kind of liked the main character, Bella.

The book opens with Bella en route to live with her dad in a very small town in Washington.  She's lived a big majority of her life with her mom in Phoenix, but because of circumstances with her mom and her new husband, Bella moves to Washington just before the start of her junior year of high school.  Just like any teen undergoing a major change halfway through high school, she's nervous and has to figure out where she fits in the new school's social setting.  Teens aren't the only ones who will identify with the situation; adults will read about Bella's growth and remember their own first days of high school.  And is it really any different of a feeling when you start a new job?  The same questions unite us all:  will we "fit in?"  Will we make friends?

Bella is also dealing with a new climate.  At one point she tells another character that her favorite color is brown, because "brown is warm."  The reader knows that she's reflecting on the lack of green in Arizona's dry, warm climate.  Bella is struck over and over again with all the green and all the rain in Washington.  Stephenie Meyer doesn't beat the reader over the head with descriptions of setting, but she does pepper it into the storyline enough to really transport us to the wet northwest.  And no spoilers (can there really be anyone out there still to spoil this for?) but the setting ends up being pretty important to a few of the characters; this is a story that could not have taken place elsewhere.

I also spent the first part of the book really feeling like Bella was a well-developed character.  The book is entirely from her POV, so we know all of her hopes and fears.  She's a pretty average teen with slightly higher-than-normal klutziness.

Then, about halfway through the book, my opinions took a sharp right turn.  I'm trying to avoid spoilers, even though this is a well-known plot.... there's a relationship that develops halfway through the book, and it really tainted my opinions.  The writing continues to be pretty strong, but the relationship made me very, very worried for any young female readers.  Bella falls for a character with a very large chronological age difference.  While a person of a certain fantastic race may appear to be a teen for dozens and dozens of years, they would have the maturity and life experience of someone much, much older than a teen.  To my grown-up eyes, it appeared to be an older adult preying upon a teen.  Also, the relationship progressed really quickly.  Again, as a grown-up, I was downright scared for the character.  But I tried to remind myself that it was fiction, and that it involved vampires, so hopefully teens aren't actually taking romantic cues from it.  Hopefully.

My final little quibble was that there was very little action until CD 10 (out of 11 CDs).  I was enjoying the setting and character development, though, so the lack of major action until later was ok with me.  A reluctant reader, however, might give up before then.

So I guess we'll say that I had mixed feelings.  I enjoyed it way more than I expected to, and will probably read the sequels.  But on the other hand, some of the romance scared me a little, since the main character is just a teen.  Oh, and I listened to this on CD and the narration is absolutely perfect.  Not too fast, not too slow, nice and clear enunciation.  The whole thick book fit on just 11 CDs.  I didn't look at a physical copy; I suppose it could have a larger typeface.  I could see myself potentially selectively recommending this.

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by Tynga at Thursday, June 11, 2015

 Library, Listening Library, Paranormal Romance, Review, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, vampires, YA, young adult  4 People left their mark

✎

The Fire Chronicle by John Stephens

The Fire Chronicle is the second book in a great middle grades series, The Books of Beginning.  Do not be fooled by that "middle grades" classification!  These books have a richness of character and setting that is appreciable by all ages.  The "middle grades" classification only means that it's "safe" for very young teens to enjoy alongside us adults.  :)

Even though this is the second book in a series, it could easily be read as a standalone.  Without coming across as repetitive, John Stephens gives the reader just enough info to be able to enjoy the story.  Also, this book focuses more on Michael, whereas the first book focused primarily on Kate.  If I were a betting woman, I'd put my money on the third book focusing on Emma.  After all the adventure in the first book, the siblings are definitely not anxious to "settle down" at the Edgar Allan Poe Home for Hopeless and Incorrigible Orphans.  They want to keep questing for their parents, of course!  Fate intervenes to help the kids, and soon enough the bad guys are after them and the Emerald Atlas.  Kate uses the Atlas to evade the bad guys and save her brother and sister, but then becomes trapped in late 1890s NY, NY.

To be honest, I don't remember if there were multiple POVs in the first book.  But this book has them, and it works really well.  The reader gets Kate's side of the story, where she's trapped in the past, and also Michael's point of view as he tries to save the present and future.  I felt like there were more "Michael chapters" than "Kate chapters" but it works.  And the reader still gets to keep up with Emma in the Michael chapters.  Because Michael and Kate are in different time periods, it's always very clear to the reader which character is talking.

As I mentioned, the setting is also very rich.  I love history, so I loved reading the descriptions of Kate's adventures in 1890s NY City.  I can't talk much about it without any spoilers, but do know that she meets some very interesting characters there!  There is magic woven throughout the book, but it all feels natural.  Like of course there are dwarves and elves and magicians, right?  Living among us mortals?  The setting is also very rich in Michael & Emma's storyline.  It almost felt a bit Hobbitish for a bit in the middle, which I loved.

And finally, a note on the narration.  Jim Dale is possibly one of my all-time fave narrators.  He has great tonal clarity and a slightly British accent and near-perfect cadence.  (Possibly just a hair on the slow side for me, but not bad at all.)  He did both The Emerald Atlas and The Fire Chronicle.

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by Tynga at Thursday, June 04, 2015

 Action amp; Adventure, Books of Beginning, Fantasy amp; Magic, John Stephens, Library, Listening Library, Quest, Review, young adult  Leave your mark

✎

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

The Amulet of Samarkand is the first book in an older series, the Bartimaeus trilogy.  And I'm so glad that it's an older series!  This first book was so good, I'm already excited to binge the series.  This middle grades book was just as enjoyable for me (supposedly an adult, lol) as it would be for an actual middle schooler.  One of the main characters, Bartimaeus, has a great, snarky sense of humor that had me chuckling out loud.

The other main character, Nathaniel, is super relatable.  Yes, he's an 11-year-old boy, but he's got the same impatience and also desire to do good that we all have.  The entire plot comes about because Nathaniel is insulted by a leading magician in the community, and he seeks a rather petty way to exact revenge.  Then when the consequences start to hit, he quickly tries to backpedal in order to avoid any blame falling on those he cares for.  Are you familiar with the phrase "what a tangled web we weave when we first endeavor to deceive?"  That's Nathaniel's situation in this book.  He's an apprentice magician, young and with just enough knowledge to get himself into trouble and not enough to get him back out of it.  When a local magician bigwig belittle's Nathaniel, and the magician that Nathaniel is apprenticed to doesn't stand up for him, Nathaniel concocts a plan to get revenge on both of them at once.  His plan:  summon a djinni (also referred to in the book as a demon or genie; I imagine the "demon" reference makes a few conservative parents of young readers a little nervous, but I digress) to steal an amulet from the powerful magician and hide it in Nathaniel's magician's study.  Both magicians will be insulted when the cops get involved and find the stolen item!  But of course the plan falls a little short of expectations, and the situation spirals out of control.

Now you'll notice that I've referenced magicians and djinni/genies/demons and magical amulets as though they occur every day.  Well, in Jonathan Stroud's world they do!  This book did a fantastic job of introducing all these fantastic elements and making them seem everyday.  The reader never feels lost in this world.  I listened to this book on CD in my car, so it was a bit disjointed, and I was able to easily follow the story.

And as I mentioned at the beginning of the review, the other main character is fantastically snarky, which I love.  The Amulet of Samarkand is told in two viewpoints:  young Nathaniel and the djinni he summons, Bartimaeus.  Bartimaeus is very, very, very old; centuries old.  And he is, of course, a bit put-upon that a mere slip of a boy could summon him and force him into his revenge plot.  I loved hearing his internal monologue as he gripes and whines about his task.  Like it's so hard to travel a short distance and pick up an amulet.

Overall, I'm liking this series.  I love how the characters of Nathaniel and Bartimaeus play off of each other.  Just when Nathaniel's timidness would start to get under my skin, we'd switch to a Bartimaeus chapter.  (By the way, the chapters are all headed with a character's name, so there's no question of POV.)  I wanted to take Nathaniel under my wing and love him, and I wanted to be friends with Bartimaeus.  I listened to this first book on CD, and I would continue to do so.  The narration is great; good, even tone and good pacing.

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by Tynga at Thursday, May 21, 2015

 Bartimaeus Trilogy, Fantasy amp; Magic, Jonathan Stroud, Library, Listening Library, Magic, middle grades, Paranormal, Review  Leave your mark

✎

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

Inheritance is the fourth (and final) book in the Eragon series, so I can't guarantee that there won't be spoilers for the first three books in this review.  I can promise no spoilers for Inheritance.

Eragon has come a looooong way from his humble beginning in Eragon!  From a poor farm boy who knew little of his family to a dragon rider leading the Varden (sp?) against Galbatorix.  As you can imagine, Inheritance is fraught with tension.  Everything has been leading to this final battle to defeat Galbatorix and return freedom to Alagaesia.  Christopher Paolini does NOT disappoint!

Rather than structuring Inheritance to be nothing more than a large, lengthy battle, Christopher Paolini opens with battle preparations.  The reader is present for the birth of Rorin's child, and goes on an adventure with Eragon and Saphira to gain more recruits for the Varden.  We continue to see growth and strength in characters.  For instance, Naswadda (sp?) is really put to the test in the first half of the book.  I know, I know:  no spoilers!  But I can say that the reader will see forgiveness in action, and there will be a time when the line between black and white, right and wrong, becomes a little fuzzy and gray.  I love that about these books:  none of the characters are 100% good or bad.  Even the hero of the story, Eragon, has his flaws.

Of course ultimately, this series is (like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) an allegory of the ancient tried and true fight between good and evil.  Even flawed, there is never any question that the Varden are the "good guys" and Galbatorix is the "bad guy."  So even with their small flaws, the reader never questions whether Eragon is "good" or "bad;" he always has the best of intentions.

As is probably predictable, a large chunk of the middle of the book is the battle.  It's intense!  While I think that many readers will guess at the ultimate outcome, none of the individual characters' fates is guaranteed, leaving readers on the edge of their seats.

The language in these books is just beautiful.  Poignant and almost lyrical, with heavy undertones of Tolkien.  But never, ever dull or pedantic.  There are sweeping descriptions of setting that never feel overly long, and are well spaced between dialogue and action.

And finally, a note on the narration, as I listened to this book on CD.  Gerard Doyle does a FANTASTIC job.  I do believe he's the same narrator as on the other books, and I do like continuity in narrators in audiobook series.  And his reading is so excellent.  The cadence isn't too fast or too slow.  And he does a really cool, deep, gravelly voice for the dragons!

A great end to a great series!  I've already re-added the books to my tbr list to re-read in the future.

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by Tynga at Thursday, April 09, 2015

 Action amp; Adventure, Christopher Paolini, dragons, Eragon, High Fantasy, Library, Listening Library, Review, young adult  2 People left their mark

✎

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

Like the Harry Potter series, the Heroes of Olympus series gets deeper and darker with every book.  The House of Hades is one of the tensest yet!  Fans of action/adventure and mythology will absolutely not be disappointed in this book!

Fans of Rick Riordan will already know that the main characters are all demigods: the children of one human parent and one Roman or Greek god.  Thanks to this lineage, they all have special talents.  Frank can shapeshift into any number of different animals.  Leo can fix nearly any machine, and can also spontaneously combust.  Hazel can conjure precious metals and jewels from the ground.  I could go on...

The House of Hades opens mere minutes after the end of The Mark of Athena.  Pretty much the entire book is split between Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus and the rest of the gang on the Argo II.  But do not fear!  The split storyline is very well done, and I was never lost or confused.  Perhaps because there are multiple characters in each location, they are always talking to each other and mentioning each other by name, to anchor the reader in the correct place.  The point of view also rotates, between nearly all of the main characters.  Again, Rick Riordan does this very well, and I never found myself confused or having to hunt for hints to figure out who was talking.  All of the main characters are so well rounded at this point (this is Book #4 in the series), and each have their own distinguishable personality.   No stereotypes or 2D characters here!  As I mentioned, each demigod teen has a special power that helps the group on their quests.  But also--bonus factor--each teen has an Achilles heel.  This lends to their credibility as "real" teens, and help teen readers identify in the story.  For example, Percy can control the wind and the sea, but he's also dyslexic.  I absolutely love that any reader could identify with any one of these main characters, and could easily imagine themselves on the Argo II with the gang!

I also love the Argo II.  This is a bit of an aside.  But who wouldn't love a flying ship?  I'm prone to seasickness; I wonder if I'd fare better on a ship moving through the air instead of riding the waves...

Along with great, 3D characters, The House of Hades is also chock full of action.  In fact, my only (very small) gripe with the book is the lack of humorous dialogue between the characters.  In the first three books, I would literally laugh out loud at their back-and-forth.  In this book, the action was so nonstop that there was little time for witty repertoire.  Percy and Annabeth are totally trekking through Hell (always referred to as Hades or Tartarus in these young adult books) to try to stop Gaea and the giants from unleashing all the monsters onto mortal Earth.  The rest of the gang is on the Argo II, heading toward the same location to try to help Percy  and Annabeth close the the doors to Hades.  As you can imagine, things are just a little tense.  But the teens rely on each other, work together, and persevere.  The reader will definitely be kept on their toes as danger lurks behind every turn!

A note to the wise:  this fourth book in a series is best read as part of said series.  Someone picking up The House of Hades without any prior knowledge of the world or characters may feel lost.

A note on narration:  I listened to The House of Hades on CD and loved it!  Nick Chamian does such a great job.  He's a new narrator (someone else does the first three books) to the series, but he's spot on.  The cadence is smooth; not too fast and not too slow.  And I never had to fiddle with the volume during the book; it stayed nice and even.

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by Tynga at Thursday, January 01, 2015

 Action amp; Adventure, Heroes of Olympus, Library, Listening Library, Mythology, Review, Rick Riordan, YA, young adult  2 People left their mark

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