The Truth Commission » Book Review

I had to pick up The Truth Commission after it got very high ratings from two of my most respected reviewers — Tatiana and Emily May. I don't always agree with these (really well known) internet critics, but when they simultaneously love a book, I sit up and take notice. I'm very glad I did in this case, because The Truth Commission was a wonderful read.

Like many people have pointed out already, Juby's book is very similar to old-school E. Lockhart (The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, Ruby Oliver, We Were Liars). There's a sassy narrative voice, footnotes, and symbolism.  Also — hilarity, weirdness, and a small dash of romance.  I think it can be a good thing when a new author is an obvious inheritor of another well-known author, or at the least, has a similar voice.  It brings on a wonderful sense of nostalgia. But don't get me wrong, The Truth Commission is it's own book.

For one thing, (again, as others have pointed out already) there is a character whose type and personality is very rarely, if not ever, seen in YA lit.  Other reviewers have written that this character made them flaming angry.  I have to say, I reacted with disbelief at this character's actions as well. However, I also felt a lot of pity.  It was a case where a clearly mentally ill person was made out kind of villainously.  It makes sense — mentally ill people CAN be villainous.  However, I have huge amounts of sympathy for this character, because if someone isn't in the right frame of mind, they can act erratically and harmfully.  I thought the way The Truth Commission handled the character and situation was highly unique.  What surprised me was how I ended up siding with multiple viewpoints at once.  It's the sign of a complex book.

Going along with that, the main character, Normandy, or "Norm," acted like a voice of reason and 'norm'alcy in a cast of crazy characters.  She attends an arts-based high school where her older sister, Kiera, is a famous alumna.  Norm has been living in the shadow of greatness for so long, that she underestimates her own creative spirit.  Her own sister may be a famous graphic novelist, but Norm does photorealistic embroidery and writes creative nonfiction (the book is one of her school projects).  She has two highly artistic friends — painter and movie-buff, Neil, and aspiring taxidermist, Dusk.

One thing that Juby nailed on the head is how art students are constantly 1) doing projects and 2) searching for meaning around them. It's too true! So it made perfect sense how Norm, Neil, and Dusk would start the "Truth Commission," where they ask people around their school for the truth about rumors.   But, unlike Neil and Dusk, who are eager and ravenous for the truth respectively, Norm believes that the truth should sometimes stay hidden away.  So, who's right?  Should the truth always be out there, as opposed to lies? Or does the truth hurt more often than it heals?

The Truth Commission, like a true work of art, doesn't offer easy answers to those questions, but it does provide lots of content for thought and discussion.  It wasn't a full-on masterpiece, but the novel was immensely readable, charming, and meaningful. I really liked it!

[rating stars="four-stars"]

Rebel of the Sands » Book Review

I've been putting off this review because I have to eat crow while writing it...

Rebel of the Sands is a great example of a book that starts off brightly, but fades with each turning page. Honestly, the first three chapters are about as good as you can get in YA — vivid characters, vivid setting, vivid language, and vivid promise... And so, you see, a month before Rebel of the Sands was released, I read the sampler package and called it then and there.

"This is going to be the new Graceling," I said to myself and others.  "It's going to be the best book of 2016."

No, no, no and no.

Despite its glorious start, the middle of the book sags, and the ending is a muddle.  I went from hanging on every word, to speed reading, to flipping through chunks of pages.  I'm so disappointed.

I can pinpoint exactly when things when south for me, too — when the MC and her love interest join the traveling caravan.  Right then, the momentum of the book just stalled. That part of the book was pointless. If I was the editor, I would take that chunk of a hundred or so pages and throw them out.  I would ask the author to transplant her final content into the early middle of the book and writing a new ending. That way, there would be some purpose to the plot right after the exciting events of the beginning.  Does all that make sense to those who've read the book???

(If only I could have this kind of clarity with my own WIP.  Wouldn't that be nice?)

So even though I love, love, love the beginning of Rebel of the Sands, I wound up having a lot of problems with its structure.  It's amazing, isn't it? Writing a story is like building a house of cards.  If one card is off, the entire structure can fall over.

The Dark Days Club » Review

The Regency Era was only about 40 years in duration, but it was a big time in British history.  It lasted from 1795 to 1837, and encompassed the time that mad George III was seen as unfit to rule, and his son served as regent. It's known, especially, as the time that Jane Austen lived and wrote.  Her books have immortalized the period for many readers and movie-watchers. Oh yeah, and the Napoleonic Wars were underway, as well. That's important, too.

Alison Goodman's The Dark Days Club is a historical-paranormal YA set in this period.  It's about a girl, an orphan of extremely high birth, who discovers that she's from a line of demon hunters. I would have loved to read this concept in an adult-style novel. Is this a sign that I'm growing up or something?? Part of it is that I could have done with more period detail in The Dark Days Club, and a lot of that sort of extra padding is removed from YA books.

Part of my desire for detail is that I was lucky enough to study under a prominent Regency-era literature scholar in college. Because of that, I simply love to read and re-read anything Regency, be it books written in that period to books about the period. I could have read chapters of nothing but historical detail in The Dark Days Club and would have been as happy as a clam. Unfortunately, although a lot of research clearly went into the book, there just wasn't enough finely-wrought components to whet my appetite.

Sometimes, it's a compliment when I say there wasn't enough book for my taste.  In this case, it's not a good remark. I wanted more detail, finer characterizations, more of a lyrical style... This book was just okay, and I am so disappointed over that. The Dark Days Club was just an okay book, and I wanted it to blow my socks off.

Lady Helen, our protagonist, was spunky, but spunky isn't enough for me to like a character.  Nearly all female protagonists are spunky these days.  (In fact, it's getting to the point where weaker-willed, or timid female characters are popping up as counterpoints, more and more in YA.) I would have liked Helen to have a more distinct personality.

Some of the details about the demons were silly. Perhaps Goodman was trying to make her creatures unique or distinct, but the "whips" and the process of fighting them made me look sideways.  In fact, there were quite a few moments in the book that were a touch youthful or immature for my tastes.

I don't care for moments where the romantic hero's 'pain and suffering' can be seen in his 'tortured' eyes. Nor moments where the heroine lets her thoughts breathlessly linger on the breadth and span of her love interest's shoulders. I crave a touch more grit. Just a touch.

So, ultimately, The Dark Days Club was merely... so-so. It's such a disappointment, because I'm starting to wear holes in my copies of Austen bo.  Someone please give me some Regency recs, stat!