Daughter of Smoke and Bone » Review

This book, written by one of my favorite authors, did not make a great impression the first time around.  Although you don't know it at first, this first book in Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy [spoiler]truly starts in medias res.[/spoiler] There is a lot going on, as well, and it's difficult to get a grip on during the first read-through.  The first time I read the book, I made a lot of incorrect assumptions, like [spoiler]that we were dealing with insta-love. We're not.[/spoiler] I also disliked our main character, Karou, thinking she was a tiresome, self-impressed hipster chick, which she kind of was (in the first book), but when you know all of her backstory, Karou becomes immeasurably more likable. Unfortunately, it takes a while for that backstory to come into play.

What made me push through Daughter of Smoke and Bone was the wealth of positive reviews for the book and my enjoyment of Taylor's short story collection, Lips Touch: Three Times.  I decided I wasn't giving the series the good ol' college try and made another attempt.

I am so glad I did.  Because, while I'm hesitant to call the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy something like a 'masterpiece,' it is most definitely an 'achievement.'  Laini Taylor's imagination is just insane.  It's a pleasure to dive into and swim through.  She writes well, treating us to surprising little similes and turns of phrase that are so rarely found in YA these days.

About Laini Taylor's style — it's very distinct.  It's distinct to the point where if I read a piece of hers without her name attributed, I'm very certain I could identify it. That's really remarkable, when you think about it. (Remarkable on Taylor's part, not mine :P) So many authors struggle with finding a distinct voice, and Laini Taylor just nails it. Really, the only author I can think of that Taylor shares similarities with is Holly Black, and even then, there are strong differences between the two.

Taylor's style mixes dreamy elements of fantasy with modern settings — romance and humor sprinkled throughout.  There are, of course, Taylor's signature similes and unusual turns of phrase aplenty, although these are much thicker in her short stories than in her novels.  And then, there is always a dark undercurrent of aggression, greed, and sexual violence. I'll get to those issues more in my review of Days of Blood and Starlight, but for now I'll just say that Taylor most definitely has a strong thematic message throughout her body of work.

Anyways, about the actual book.  It opens with a blue haired girl, Karou, being attacked by a vampire.  When I first read the book I was all, "NO! Not another vampire book!" But it's a false alarm — Karou's ex-boyfriend is a street performer/tour guide who dresses like a vampire. Karou, her faux-vampire ex-boyfriend, and her close friend, Zusana, all live in Prague — a nicely exotic setting.  Karou and Zusana are art students and I'd now write that Karou lives a pretty normal life... only she doesn't.  She is replete with mystery.  She knows martial arts, keeps a knife in her boot, speaks tons of languages, never seems to dye her perfectly blue hair, and good luck follows her everywhere.

We find out the answers to all of these mysteries soon enough, but I found it overwhelming to take in at first.  Laini Taylor has created an immense story and it's a lot to take in.  This is unquestionably my main complaint with the book, but I couldn't tell you how to fix it.  I'm not sure that Taylor didn't do the best job possible easing us into her huge concept.  It was confusing as all hell at first.

Another weakness of the story lies in the *first read-through* of the romance.  When reading the romance for the first time, there are so many misconceptions because the backstory is just not there.  [spoiler]You don't even know that there IS a backstory.[/spoiler] So, when I first read the book, I thought, this is intolerable!  It isn't, actually — it's just way more palatable and intriguing once you know more about what's going on in the story.

Overall, Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a very good beginning to a great series.  There are definitely some issues with how the immensity of information is introduced, but don't ask me how Taylor could have done better.  I give this first book in the trilogy four stars.



 

Series Review Part 1 » Percy Jackson and the Olympians

I babysit for a family that has a serious book collection.  When I'm at their house, I like to browse the titles and be impressed.  They have non-fiction, adult fiction, YA, middle grade, and children's books.  The breadth is staggering. They own complete series, that match.  (So impressive.) There are plenty of books I've heard of, but haven't read, and these intrigue me the most.  I look at those undiscovered books and wish I was there to read instead of babysit.

One night at their house, I broke and reached for The Lightning Thief.  

"Are you going to read?" asked my charge with a mixture of disbelief and bemusement. (He had just lugged out his G.I. Joe collection.)

"Just a tad," I replied. I had never read the Percy Jackson series.  They were released round about when I reached my John Grisham phase of reading, which went on for many years.  By the time I emerged from that, I wasn't a kid anymore, and Percy Jackson was off my radar.  But that night, while babysitting, surrounded by a treasure trove of middle grade literature, my curiosity led me to pluck book one off the shelf.

I made it through a single chapter before the guilt overcame me, and I re-absorbed myself in the uninteresting world of G. I. Joes, to my charge's approval.  Though, hours later, when bed time came, I lobbied hard for The Lightning Thief to be the night's read.  My charge acquiesced.  Three chapters later, we were at the part where the Fates are going after Percy's lifespan with their snippy-snappy scissors, and the 7 year-old next to me was terrified.

"This is scary!" he whimpered pitifully, clutching himself to my protective breast.  You're not going to be able to handle Lord Voldemort for quite a few years yet, boyo, I thought. We put The Lightning Thief aside and read Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

It was with eagerness and anticipation the next morning that I trekked to the public library to check out the full Percy Jackson series, although it was with waning pleasure that I read through The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, and The Titan's Curse.  Part of the disconnect came from me being older than the age target, yes.  There was also the part of me that attended classical cottage school and happens to be a Greek mythology purist that was all sorts of conflicted.

In the end, I can come to terms with Riordan's modern usage of classical Greek myth.   I mean, what do I expect, kids to learn mythology straight from the mouth of Ovid? Even the tome I learned from was illustrated! Really, Riordan puts a fun spin on everything, especially the seedier business of gods having flings with mortals.  He even suggests that goddesses can run around on their husbands without reparation. (Really, if Hera ever had an affair, Zeus would fling her into Tartarus, I'm sure.) I'd be horrified that youths were reading about adults cheating on their spouses and having reckless sex, only I read about this stuff as a child, myself.

Mostly though, I found the ceaseless repetition of the books to be tiresome.  With each book I've read so far, Percy has arrived at camp for the summer, encountered a problem, gone on a quest, and returned triumphant.  I find the quest portions of the  books to be especially redundant, with Percy flitting from challenge to challenge, encountering mythological monsters updated for modern times, one after the other.  At times, it felt like Riordan was moving through a checklist. Cerberus. Check. Medusa. Check. Scylla and Charybdis. Check. 

The fact that Riordan's books are such massive hits speaks for itself, however.  Despite their falling short of masterpiece status, there's something about these books that many people find highly appealing.  It's a classic hero tale and adventure lark that fits Joseph Cambell's theory of plot to a T.  But, despite speaking to the visceral human understanding of story, these books just haven't grabbed me yet.

Magonia Review

Since becoming a blogger I've become a different reader.  Before I wrote book reviews, I wouldn't bother finishing a book that wasn't working for me.  Now, I make my best effort to read books in their entirety, because I can write more informed reviews that way.  Still, I was only able to get through about two thirds of Magonia before skipping ahead to the ending and calling it a day.

Magonia is a Narnia-esque fantasy — a girl living in the normal world discovers a magical one, just "through the wardrobe," as it were.  Aza, the girl in question, has always been sickly, unable to breathe air effectively, for some mysterious reason.  Her doctors say she's quickly running out of time.  But, just at a fatal moment, Aza is whisked away to Magonia, a land of bird-like creatures and airships in the sky. Able to breathe the thin air, Aza comes into her own strengths for the first time, but must question the intentions of her new Magonian family. What do they want with her and are they being entirely forthright? Meanwhile, back on the ground, Aza's best friend, Jason, is determined to find her...

I have a lot of problems with Magonia.  One of my main issues is that the book is stretched too thin.  Headley wrote a stand-alone contemporary/fantasy — with only 320 pages!!  On top of that, the novel spends a good amount of time in exposition mode at its beginning.  I think it was the author's intention to build up her characters and raise the emotional stakes of her story by fleshing out Aza's existing relationships before she's taken away to Magonia. It was a good idea, but I think the book would have been better served by jumping into action a little quicker.  Because the beginning lagged, Headley had to start her fantasy world-building late in the game, which hurt the pace of the story.

On top of that, we were pulled away from Magonia over and over again by the chapters focusing on Jason's — largely internal — activities.  He was a thin character, slavishly devoted to Aza.  It bothers me when characters can't stand on their own, and Jason entire purpose throughout the novel was to worship Aza... who was over-worshiped. Her funeral scene left me alternatively sniggering and gaping.  A moment that was supposed to move me, instead gave me the biggest laugh in the book! [spoiler]When Jason, who is wearing an alligator suit, with the words "Aza Ray was here" painted on the head, drives to the burial honking morse code messages to Aza... only not real morse code because he doesn't want anyone to know what he's saying. [/spoiler] Truly, the histrionics in this book turned me off.  The emotion was always ramped up to ten, but because I was not invested, everything came across as clownish.

In case it hasn't come across clearly yet, I do not recommend this book.  A good alternative would be The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley.

 

The Darkest Part of the Forest Review

I have not read all of Holly Black's written works, but I've covered a good deal, and it's safe to say that I'm a fan. I *loved* Black's Curseworkers series. I really liked The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Doll Bones was delightful.  The Iron Trial, Black's collaboration with Cassandra Clare... I prefer to think that never happened. I was expecting great things from Black's newest offering, The Darkest Part of the Forest.  Perhaps because of my high expectations I wound up being more than a little disappointed.

It's hard to dispute that Black, at this point in her career, is a very good writer.  Her prose is flowing, her descriptions are vivid, her characters are dimensional, her imagination is crazy (good).  Her writing has a dark, creepy aspect to it, while retaining an elemental sweetness.  All of these nice things can be found in The Darkest Part of the Forest.  Why, then, was I underwhelmed? Even a little irritated?

For one thing, as a stand-alone, this novel seemed a tad crowded.  There was a lot going on, and in order to resolve everything at the end, some subplots and character arcs wound up feeling rushed, abbreviated, and underdeveloped.  This was a huge problem for me.  I love to be moved by books, but the emotional core of The Darkest Part of the Forest was compromised due to sparse development.  The greatest example of this shortcoming was the highly buzzed-over male/male romance of the book.  I was so annoyed.  That love plot was obviously supposed to be a modern take on Snow White, but what is updated about insta-love? Simply more time needed to be devoted to that storyline and others.

Another thing — Black loves, loves, to withhold information.  This device worked like gangbusters in the Curseworkers series, keeping me on the edge of my seat.  As used in The Darkest Part of the Forest, the plot became mired and clogged.  All of the big reveals were saved for late in the book — too much, too late.

Also, more personally, I am sooo tired of the fae.  I need a vacation from these mythical beings.  They're so very overused and one-note. I'm not sure if Black was attempting a new spin on this subject matter.  I honesty can't tell.  If she was trying, I can't say that she succeeded.

At the end of it, I'm still a Holly Black fan.  I'll still pick up her next (solo) published work, without question, but I'm more wary now than I was before.

 

Vicious Review

I am kicking myself for not having picked up Vicious sooner.  I knew it was well-received, but for some reason I thought the book would be boring.  I'm not sure why I got that impression, but I was wrong, wrong, WRONG! Vicious was a complete and total page-whipper!

The book opens with a man, Victor, and a young girl, Sydney, digging up a grave.  Quickly, we learn that this grisly task is all part of a mad scheme for revenge, years in the making.  Victor has just broken out of jail.  And he has one hell of a grudge against his old college roommate, Eli.

This decision to pit two former college roommates against each other is just inspired.  In my experience, your relationship with your college roommate is one of the most intense and bizarre relationships you ever have.  You're both "young adults," living in an oxymoronic state, under the influence of higher education, sleep deprivation, intoxication, and whatever the hell else you put into your system.  Your roommate becomes in turn, your friend, your ally, your enemy, your obsession, your nightmare. V. E. Schwab deftly captures all of these dynamics that bounce between Victor and Eli.

Eli and Victor's vortex of envy and murderous loathing begins ten years before the current events of the novel, when they choose their college thesis topics.  Victor chooses to study [spoiler]adrenaline.[/spoiler]  Eli chooses to research [spoiler]ExtraOrdinary abilities.[/spoiler]  The events that follow, during their spring semester of their senior year, are shocking.

Of course, Eli and Victor have back-up personnel to aid them.  Two talented sisters, Sydney and Serena, find themselves on separate sides of the vendetta.  And of course, Victor has his cell-mate and break-out buddy, Mitch.  And there's the dog, Dol.  All of these labels — hero, villain, sidekick, mascot — get tossed around and mixed up.  Who is who?

These characters were all fantastic.  I especially appreciated Victor.  He was a highly complex character, but Schwab still managed to keep him consistent.  I was at times, horrified by Victor's decisions, but somehow kept rooting for the man.  I loved hating the self-righteous Eli. Sydney and Serena were used as effective foils to Victor and Eli's twisted brotherhood.  I appreciated what it said about the nature of conflict that these two mirror-image sisters wound up on opposite sides of someone else's fight.  And Mitch was a steady column of normalcy and reason that balanced the other characters out. These were fabulous players in a fabulous plot.

The pacing was also a strong point in Schwab's novel.  The narrative flipped around in time, but this hardly phased me.  At first, I had a preference for the present events over the past, but very soon I was fully engaged in the entire story, past and present.  I was so absorbed in the book that at times I forgot that I was flipping paper pages and reading symbols made of dried ink.  I was inside the story.  What a  rare and wonderful experience!

So, in short, I HIGHLY recommend this book.  Five north stars out of five!