Moloka'i Book Review

Rawr Reader,

Can I just first say, Happy Mother's Day to all the lovely mom's out there. I for one have one of those mothers that I really wouldn't be as open-minded as I am without her, or do what I love without her, or just be the cooky, voracious reader I am thanks to her and all the opportunities she's given me. So the fact that I finished this novel, which praises motherly figures, not entirely of blood relation, is probably more suiting than I planned when I decided to finish it today. So without further ado, let's jump right in. The synopsis Alan Brennert's Moloka'i is provided by Goodreads: 

This richly imagined novel, set in Hawai'i more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place---and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.

Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka'i. Here her life is supposed to end---but instead she discovers it is only just beginning.

Reference:

   I first saw this book when walking down the book aisles in Target and it was on the shelf for Target Club Picks. I was drawn by the pretty cover then absolutely interested when reading it was in fact about a life in Hawaii. It was about a disease so I waited for the right time to read such a heavy subject, and thought it was well worth the wait. As you've noticed I haven't found a book that's blown me away in a long time and it was meant to get me out of this slump.

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this book yet)

   There's more to life than just the good things: love, career promotions, children, money. In fact there's disappointment, sacrifice, despair. Any reader knows this and despite wanting happy endings, we read because we need to see our characters suffer so that when they're happy, it means something. It isn't just a blimp or serendipitous fortune, the good happens and you're thrilled because most importantly, the character deserves it.

   Rachel Kalama is a girl who has one of the worst misfortunes a child could have: disease, only to be further aggravated when she is not only forcibly separated from her family into a medical institution, she's sent away to another island. Despite what's happened to her, she clutches onto the only thing that would make such a hellish situation better--- a relative who loves her like she was his. This is just the beginning for our young brave adventuress. While facing for the first time the consequences of the disease, she grasps the meaning of life much earlier than a seven-year-old child should. Overlapping her personal tragedies to ones on a larger historical setting, Brennert does a vividly phenomenal job placing the reader in a world spanning decades, being surrounded by people's whose desires, motivations, and fears are so real that you have to remind yourself that you're reading a piece of fiction. While Brennert says that many accounts in the story are taken from patients of Hansen's Disease who still live in Kalaupapa. 

    In Moloka'i, there's humor, consolation, friendships that cross boundaries of religion and gender, love that is temporary and love that fulfills the time that it's given. We encounter a world where technology and science is blossoming, evidence that the world is changing and while it may have started off bad, it can change for the good. Their conditions on Moloka'i doesn't have to be a death sentence, inevitable and foredooming. 

   And though Rachel witnesses many first-hand accounts of death, there's always still life to balance the grief and make her see that life is worth living on. Death, as much as it hurts, isn't the end. We see hope, because there's hope to be had no matter the inauspicious circumstances.

   Brennert also gave a depth of reality to this world an culture by implementing the vernacular of the Hawaiian people. It's one of my favorite things reading about other cultures and if you didn't look it up, you were mostly in the dark for the rest of the novel since Brennert didn't do all the work. 

   I've also been on a quest to find a novel with strong female characters who predominantly influence our protagonist, and Moloka'i doesn't disappoint.

   Something I found by story's end that I absolutely loved was the parallel between Rachel and her father and Brennert with me the reader. No matter what, it's unwavering. Every time things got bad, I felt Brennert was holding my hand, reassuring me with soft words like: "It's okay. The path's a little rocky now but I've seen the end of the path and once we reach it, and both of us look over the promontory into the ocean, the view will be worth it. Just hold my hand for now. I'll protect you." There's catastrophes and moments where your heart breaks, but there's moments where you feel like things are too good to be true and something bad is going to happen--- but then it doesn't. Life can be good at times and it doesn't have to fall prey to plot conveniences or literary vendettas. One of my favorite lines exemplifies this:

 "She stayed with Rachel in her room, listening to a life's story that was, she discovered, richer than it was sad." (372)

I was afraid that this would just be another story that focused on the tragedies and the misfortunes, and epitomize the phrase: c'est la vie, Brennert really gives the reader something to look forward to when he balances the ill and the fortune. Because in Moloka'i, you won't get a perfectly horrid story or even a miraculous one, just one worth telling that's full of love and lessons and people to love because they're so human you just wish you were able to rely on and call for when you needed them most. 

  And I for one have a large soft spot for characters that love books as much as I do. Rachel is unfortunate to be quarantined from a changing society, however what has been taken to her, is likewise given to her in book-shaped presents. Not only stories, but cultural novelties from lands beyond the horizon. 

   This story transcends time and has made a very comfortable home in my heart, and more importantly, on my bookshelf. Brennert put so much love into Moloka'i and he found a reader who absolutely believes in it as much as him. I can't recommend this story enough, and hope that if you give a chance to reading it you'll enjoy it as much as I did, and will for many years to come.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

Quotes:
“Who can doubt the presence of God in the sight of men whom He has given wings?"

"I recall that so precisely because I've had time to consider my error. God didn't give man wings; He gave him the brain and the spirit to give himself wings."
-Alan Brennert, Moloka'i

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this yet, so don't read this section)

   Now there's only one little thing that I'm half in turmoil and half satisfied with, and that's dealing with Mother Mary Catherine Voorhies. There's a twenty year jump from the final chapter to the end note and we as the readers are never given the chance to put our hearts to rest because we assume she died (Rachel died at eighty something so there's a very unlikely chance that Catherine was still alive), and yet we're never really told exactly what happened. And the reason why I need to know about her more than anything else is because Rachel lost everyone she every really knew in her adult life and most of her childhood, except Catherine. She changed as much as Rachel did and while she was a main character, she wasn't the main one. I loved her uncertainties about her faith and her love for Rachel. Rachel saved Catherine and in turn, years later, Catherine saves Rachel.

   But it isn't just Catherine. We see such amazing female roles: Dorothy, her mother for as short a time as she had her; Haleola, her uncle Pono's lover, her hānai (adopted auntie),  and her makuahine (auntie and mother); and Leilani, our spirited and loving transwoman who is a caring friend to Rachel. And all in between Rachel is surrounded by many female friends and teachers. As I mentioned, this story is not only full of female characters, but they're actually important to our protagonist. I wasn't expecting Brennert to be so generous with the female roles, I can only thank him he dedicated many aspects of the novel to the strength and resilience of women in an era and social position that typically handicaps them. 

   Something else I appreciate from Brennert is the fact that he didn't get rid of Kenji in the way I feared. As soon as the chapter came along and it ran along the time of 1941-1943 I already knew what was going to happen. Or at least, I thought I did. Let me tell you, I thought he was going to be taken to a Japanese Internment Camp after Pearl Harbor. Brennert later reveals that the U.S. gov't didn't relocate Japanese on the Hawaiian islands since they were the predominant work force, so when Kenji exits the story in a more normal, unrelated war accident, I felt that Brennert wrote his role to justice.

   I'm really happy that Brennert had Rachel move in with Sarah in the final chapters of the book. Brennert said that he hadn't planned on moving one sister with the other but that she kind of just came to life and moved in on her own. As a writer myself, I felt that I could relate to Brennert. The characters are our creations however, they do surprise us as much as if they were real. While both sisters have lost so much, they were able to find each other. I found it especially satisfying that they had each other when I'd really begun to worry that Rachel would end up alone with no one to be there for her (unless she returned to Kalaupapa to be with Catherine), but the fact it came to be with the person who most regretted her mistake and someone she was stripped of having a functional relationship with, made me happy as a reader, and as a sister. 

   I wish there was more to say but this novel was pretty close to perfect for me. Was there anything with the story that bothered you? Let's discuss!

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel 

Armada Book Review

Rawr Reader,

Libraries are magical, magical places. You can get a card for free and then borrow a ton of books not only from the physical building but from its online server. And the best part is there's a ton of books I want to read on there, many contemporary and recent releases. I only wish I took advantage of my library in the county where I attended college because their selection was so vast! Oh well, live and learn! Once I saw Ernest Cline's Armada, the novel following the action-packed, sci-fi, mystery Ready Player One, I knew it was going to be one of my first borrowed titles. So let's just jump right into it! 
I forewarn you, unlike most of my reviews, this review contains spoilers.
The synopsis is provided by Goodreads:

Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.

But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe.

And then he sees the flying saucer.

Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders. 

No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can’t help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little…familiar?

Reference:

  When I knew about Cline having another novel, I knew I was going to check it out.

Review:

(not safe for those who haven't read this book yet, so will contain spoilers)

  Where oh where do I begin? While I consider myself a sci-fi fan, I haven't read most of the genre's top books like: War of the Worlds, Ender's Game, The Time Machine, Brave New World, Dune, etc. Now, while the pop culture references of the 70s and 80s might have been unchartable waters for me in Ready Player One, it was bearable and it didn't extract the thrill and joy our main character felt in his adventure. And for us, the readers who tagged along in the wild ride. In Armada, this was not the case. There were so many reference spat at me on nearly every page, I couldn't help but skim over these parts. For this reason and all the reasons I'll entail in the rest of the review.
    The beginning of the story has a great starting suspenseful scene with a flying saucer outside of his classroom window, and yet drags for fifty pages while he recounts his life story and monotonous daily life and routine.
    I think what makes stories enjoyable or not comes down to a fundamental question: is the story original or not. Now, before an avalanche of screams come down on me about how inspiration and themes and characters stem from a multitude of sources and nothing is truly original, I'd like to say that stories don't have to be entirely original to be enjoyable. Oxymoron isn't it? I'm contradicting myself. Well, not entirely. You see, She's the Man (not a book but a highly entertaining movie) is a rendition of the Shakespearean play Twelfth Night, and I find it a very enjoyable movie to watch. Most of the characters and places share names with the original play and yet, it's different. It's set in contemporary America where a girl wants to prove her talent and skill for a sport that is dominantly male-driven, as well as male-respected. The reason why She's the Man was successful and Armada failed was due to literature's most criticized device: cliché. Constantly as I was reading through Armada I became bombarded with one after the other and when nearing the next one I physically wanted to throw my iPad across the porch to get as far away from the novel as I could.* It wasn't even clichés that were discreetly written in. It was a son who absolutely devoted after his father and created a shrine for him after his death. It was said son who idolized him all his life, then within a span of ten pages of meeting him was sad/ ecstatic/ mad/ critical/ guilty/ sad again. One of the times I knew for a fact I couldn't connect with Zack, our Mary Sue golden boy, was when he blatantly blames his father for dying in an "embarrassing" way and because of that, made his life a living hell. Like, I'm sorry, I thought you were your own person. I would understand if you hated the man--- but this boy literally created a shrine for his dad in his room and watched all his dad's favorite movies and books and games. In fact, this boy didn't have a unique thing about him because, like the creme clichés between father and sons, Zack just looked like his father. Oh, and he just happened to be the son of the highly ranked commander of a secret organization. So, he had all the interests and talents of his father down and looked just like him--- so what really made Zack different from his father? What made him a different cliché from every cliché-written hormonal teen boy I always read about? I want to say I'm still thinking about it, but I have already moved on this story and am only recounting the story for this review.
    In fact, I couldn't connect with any of the characters. How could I not connect with any of the variety of characters in this 300+ page novel? Well, one thing was for over-use of humor in every page. Even in the critical moments, there was always a snarky, smart-ass remark made by one character--- as every character seemed to have the same demeanor as our protagonist. It was like the forced laughter you hear in sit-coms when the show's editors want the TV viewers to laugh. Except--- even sit-coms know when in moments of tension and severity, humor doesn't need to be implemented. Like the world is potentially coming to its end and these immature teenagers and even adults (dear Lord even the adults on the moon) are just making jokes. I understand humor is done to maintain sanity in an environment that is locked-in and separate from society, however-- it's the END OF THE WORLD and they're just cracking jokes. It was overdone and I couldn't stand it. I could barely read it in m head, let alone aloud. I can't imagine listening to the audio version of this. Dialogue ties into humor so I'll just add it in this section. Most of the dialogue exchanges felt fabricated and unrealistic. No teenage boy would just say thanks to his friends for helping his house not be destroyed. Or just kiss their mom on the cheek before going to bed on an average night. Or call their mom incredibly hot. I mock-barfed when I read that.
  Also, the romance in this story was flat and unneeded. Why couldn't he just have made a friend--- why did this hot girl happen to like him back and kiss him twice within a day and send him a text message "Will call U ASAP. <3". Just, why? They had like three physical interactions, probably not even that many. Okay, maybe I'll buy that he's really into her, but why should she be into him? He's just a teenager who just spends all his days playing video games. What about him made him attractive to her? She never even mentioned it. No, she's just magically interested in him too.

   Most depressingly, this novel embodied the mantra every fiction or English teacher I've ever had teaches: show, don't tell. If it wasn't in the exposition, it was in the dialogue. There was a scene near the end where Zack calls his dad after his parents ignored their call and when he finally connects through, the first described is how his parents didn't answer the call because they were "too busy boning each other." Really--- two people still clearly in love with each other (as shown many times in the novel) are finally together again and you don't think they might do it. Considering the eminent end of the world? And don't get me started on the fact this man was knocked unconscious--- then came to and was a little delusional, is already sane enough to do it with his still legally-fluid wife, and then command an attack against an alien force---- ALL within hours of each other? There's science fiction--- and then there's fantasy where the unrealistic cannot pass as believable. Except, even fantasy and magical realism has rules. I mean, how young is his demographic that he needs to explain everything. Give the reader some credit.

   One of my last complaints was the action. Action, in theory, is meant to expedite the pace of the story however for me it was the contrary. It was pages of action and I mostly skimmed over. Like, I didn't really have a good grasp of place and so was lost, not that I wasn't already lost with the jargon of the gaming world. So many names. It was easy to follow in Ready Player One, but in Armada it was incredibly confusing. 

   And the Zack did not fit the typical teenage boy. Not stereotypical, typical boy. He's throwing expletives left and right, he has a job, ooo he even did it with a girl once, he's attracted to this hot girl he just met who has tattoos and tight-fitting clothing and drinks and is cheeky and---dare I say it--- cliché, however he plays and encompasses his life to playing games, he kisses his mom on an average night, he gets into fights at school (to be the hero for a kid who doesn't even make eye contact with him), throws temper tantrums, he scolds his boss for being unprofessional at a video game store and yet disobeys direct orders from a trained and professional (though virtual) soldier, and then dismisses being #6 in an incredibly popular and challenging game being all humble and everything. Why can't he be arrogant about being a good player? Why can't he be emotionally stable and reasonable with his father he just learned was still alive? And what about the end when he comes across the machine that gave the world this test? He actually considers declining an offer to fix starvation and cure medical mysteries. WHAT! I understand he's down because he lost his father--- but even though you idolized him all your life--- you literally had no memory of him except for within the last 24 hours. How about letting go of a person you never knew and think about the big picture and for humanity and how actual problems could be solved. Or was fighting for humanity really just all for show and to become the golden boy hero we all know and love, to stray from his dull, pathetically uninteresting and unmotivated every day lifestyle--- oh so conveniently from America. I can get into diversity, but then I'd have to get into politics and military tactics from different countries and where were they in all of this, but that's just another discussion for another book that actually deserves my time.
    I need to find an ending for my rant, and where best to end than with the end? All of the training and decades of imminent threats from alien armies culminates to the climactic---it was just a machine and it was all a test. A test to see if your species was violent or not--- all based off the sci-fi movies and tv shows your species enjoys for entertainment. And it lays all the pressure and potential for the race in one boy. One emotionally unstable one at that. I mean come on! What about the species' languages and cultures and science and food and geography and animals and weather? In the end, the machine ambiguously whisks away into space with the ominous "we'll contact you when you're ready." 
    Is this really written by the same author of one of my favorite adventure books, Ready Player One? I fear if I reread it, I'll discover all the problems I see in this book. (No, I don't want to think like that!) 
   As I said in the beginning, bless libraries where books are free to read and I never accidentally wasted money buying it. Now go visit your local library and score one of those awesome free library cards! *Cue Arthur's Library Card song*

Unshockingly, I give this book 1/5 stars.

Quote:

“I’d spent my entire life overdosing on uncut escapism, willingly allowing fantasy to become my reality.” 

― Ernest Cline, Armada

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel

*(No tablets were hurt in the making of this review.)

The Queen of the Tearling Book Review

Rawr Reader,

I've been on a role and I am in no mood to pull up the brakes anytime. Great news, right! I felt I needed some strong females for my next read and had to turn to one of the titles that was a gift by my best friend. She'd never read it but books by best friends are always the best. Even if they're not...
It makes sense! The synopsis is provided by Goodreads: 

On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown.

Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust.

But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend . . . if she can survive.

Reference:

    I've seen this book when walking down the aisles at the bookstore, however I never picked it up. It wasn't until my best friend gave it to me as a gift for my most recent birthday. 

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this book yet)

    One of the reasons why my best friends chose this book was because it had a strong female heroine at the storefront. Can't get enough of those in YA lately and the quest really began when I imagined me finishing this book, wondering if I was going to like this one. And my answer is, unfortunately, not so much. 

    This year has been kind of tough on me. I've read 5 books so far this year and all of them are on the same par. Some have great worlds but the characters are a drag, or the characters are great but there's something wrong about the plot and the world-building. For me, the latter is the case. 

   Something missing for me in A Darker Shade of Magic was that there were like 5 real characters in the story. In The Queen of the Tearling, I'm constantly and consistently meeting someone new. I won't lie at times I had to pause and trace who was who because some of these names sort of blend together, but then after a couple of pages I'd figure it out and everything would be okay. For example, we have the Mace, aka Lazarus. I loved how Kelsea shifted how she addressed him depending on the situation. Also just the fact he had two names. Reminded me of Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings. This is stuff we see so often in real life but rarely in fiction, and for the author to use it comfortably and often made me find him not only intriguing, but incredibly three-dimensional. Aside from him being the Mace: independent, headstrong, but incredibly loyal. Loved him. We're actually bombarded with a ton of characters in the first chapter and overwhelming, yes, however if I have to choose, I'd rather be overwhelmed. Large cast of character with a range of personalities gets a plus from me.

    The chapters, however, get a thumbs down. Large chapters slow down the pacing of the story on it's own, but then the story itself lacks real action from start to finish. One chapter was like 50 pages while another was barely 10. Consistency. I need it. And smaller chapters... Yes we're thrown into a "pursuit" at the story's commencement however, even then the journey is rather slow-taking. Adventures need more then just traveling across the countryside. Well--- action-packed ones do and by the blurbs behind the front cover make me anticipate a lot of it (which was entirely misleading).
    While I won't elaborate in this section of the review, another aspect of the novel which bothered me was the character inconsistencies. For me, tragically, by our female protagonist. I liked her at first. She had this spunk and craving for the wide world, all with the hopes of finding it to be all she imagined it to be and with a family she'd dreamed of all her life. Although separated from society, she had a firm grasp about how life should be. Which has to be given credit by all the books she's read. May I say it--- a warrior Belle. Who does what she believes is right with a compassionate, selfless heart. That is, until her oscillating feelings makes me cringe at every thought the author reveals. One reason was for how she believed the world should be after a day of leaving the secluded cottage she'd spent all her life in, away from the only two people she'd every truly spoken to. How could you possibly know? Then, *deep sigh* there comes her immediate and shallow judgments of the Queen's Guard coming to collect her and take her safely to her new home. Nine men she'd never seen before and all she could do was rave (well, in her head at least) about how attractive they were and they must've been chosen by her mother because of their beauty. But then, a couple pages later, they're not attractive anymore. Only to be attractive a couple of pages later. This was at the beginning of the first chapter so I won't put page numbers. Then she meets an interesting, questionably moral character a couple of pages later and on the surface, she shouldn't like him based off of all the morals she so proudly asserts. But *another deep sigh* he has to be attractive and, ergo, she can't stop thinking about him for all of the book. There's no romance in this story, so if you're looking for that in this story you won't find it. And I may be a little cynical since I'm beyond the good girl crushing on the "bad boy" cliché (thanks to all the kdramas I've watched where that cliché is a dime a dozen), and since she's supposed to be "strong," this just enraged me all the more. She's the Tearling's Daenerys. (I'd like to note I love the A Song of Ice and Fire series and I loved Daenerys in the first book, however in all the ones following she was just an annoying little girl. Check out my reviews~)
    Whew, that was a big point I had to get out. Now, let's get to the world. First off, I really enjoyed how it developed. We start off in this classic fairy tale cottage, leaving the safe borders of the known and familiar to stumble upon a world running at a different pace. Suddenly it's a new fantasy world. Until it's not. We soon discover this Tearling land is actually some sort of dystopian land. I've never read a book where the two were combined and found it really interesting, until magic came into the picture and I couldn't quite find how the two could work. Yes there's magic in urban fantasy, but in this case it just didn't work for me.
    I don't usually bring this up since I don't mind it in literature, but the profanity in fantasy, especially in YA fantasy is a little jarring. I'd only wished they used it more in the beginning so that I wasn't taken back when they finally used it a couple of chapters in. It came out of nowhere and it not only breaks the trust of the reader, but it brings into mind the dangerous question of consistent characterization. Yes, like a baby Kelsea slowly came to use it the more she was surrounded by it, however at the time, it just felt off.

   A character I found myself loving was the Mace. He was the strong foundation the new queen needed on her journey and in the beginning of her reign. His relationship with Kelsea was the one I admired the most. Obviously because we see it more than the relationship between anyone else, but something I think I'll always admire about this novel. 

    I mentioned before the character inconsistencies regarding Kelsea but I forget to mention how her strength seemed questionable at times. At first I loved how sure of herself she could be, and then suddenly she wasn't as strong as I thought. Which brings me to the question: what makes a strong female protagonist? Everyone will have their own answer to this, and while I won't give my definition, ultimately I'd have to say she wasn't. For me. Something just didn't click for me. It has to do with the Daenerys connection, you need to be more than just someone giving commands. Now, Kelsea does some remarkable things for women in the novel. Great strides were made to make women strong overall in this story. However, by the end something just didn't click with me. With no real reason, I felt the strength was rather fabricated. Maybe it has to do how vain she was the entire story, intentional or as unintentional as she meant to be.

   Let me end with the finale. The story was slow and I thought it would rise to this huge climatic moment, only it just plateaued to this moment that felt unsatisfying. It's called deus ex machina and for a first novel, plot wise everything was resolved while there still remained some big questions regarding characters and world-building holes. As a first in a trilogy (they're always trilogies, I'm just assuming this is just another one), I know they can't answer anything in the first novel, but if you drag the story on at parts, I want to be given some explanation by the time I finish reading the last page. Short story: On one of my trips to college after break I got stuck in traffic on one of the major highways. It happens, I bore through it. Roughly forty-five minutes later the traffic starts moving again and I drive for a little before suddenly the highway clears up and I resume the posted speed. Now I don't know if they cleaned up the reason we were at a stand-still for, but I felt unsatisfied that I had to endure a forty-five minute wait and there was nothing to show for it. That feeling was as close as I could get to this ending. Not nearly as irritating as waiting in traffic, but I think you get where I'm going with this. 

   I hear a lot of reviews say that a lot of answers are given in the next book, but my interest is so low at the moment that that just isn't going to happen. My curiosity will never be quenched.

   I don't want it to be like I hated this story because honestly, while reading, I enjoyed everything. The writing was lovely and captivating. But that's the problem, because everything's pretty in the moment. It's after, in retrospect when my darned literary mind plugs in and I start to look at everything in a package. No matter how hard I try to look at stories at its surface, all my English classes and all they've taught me start to nitpick and look at everything.

   A good start, but I don't see myself finishing the series.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

Quote:
“Even a book can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and when that happens, you blame the hands, but you also read the book.” 

― Erika Johansen, The Queen of the Tearling

My Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

Armada by Ernest Cline

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

   The Fetch. The Fetch. I wish there were more scenes with him so I could understand this obsession Kelsea had for him. Sure he had a charming face and act, but they shared maybe two real scenes together. I didn't understand why she asked for him at the end. It felt so odd, and forced. Do any of you guys feel that way? That you're forced to like this guy because the female protagonist just thinks he's the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. (Though to be fair Kelsea hadn't seen many other people her age.) I think we had more time with Kelsea's uncle the Regent. A main person shouldn't be so stuck on someone who had maybe 20 pages of speaking dialogue in 400+ page novel. I'm just throwing that number out there, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was less.

    The necklaces of magic sort of irked me. Not at first, mostly in the last half of the story, but the explanation for where they're power came from and why there were two was never explained. Something else not explained--- how can a man and woman (Regent and Red Queen) sit still for 18 years and then worry about the Princess Apparent to come and take her throne back? They sent assassins after her months before she was to return and reclaim her power. And even the characters made that claim: the Tearling wasn't large but how could no one have found them? Was the cottage/forest they lived in under protection of the necklaces? It seems to easy for all the action to start when Kelsea leaves the cottage. Which, actually since we're on topic--- what happened to the cool hawks in the beginning of the story? They were in the first three chapters and then never appeared again. Killer hawks the size of dogs--- the author could have done more with this. Also could've done less of the tedious managing of Kelsea's early reign. Everything was just too easy. She just walked into the Keep and slept that first night. No one attempted to kill her until her coronation which seemed overly dramatic. She's stabbed by a knife, losing blood at an alarming pace, but takes her time asking for the Father to finish her coronation and then amiably asks her uncle to get out of the throne so she could sit on it. I mean--- what???

   And in my review I said I loved Mace. And I do. It was only every time Kelsea wanted to do something and voiced it, he said no, and she was like: darn maybe next time. I understand you can't just let a recently exposed nineteen year old to the throne for a kingdom she'd not even seen and let her do everything she wants--- but really how am I supposed to take her seriously and think her "strong" if she just behaves like a child. I wanted her to reach for power and fail and then learn. It isn't enough just to run your mouth (I'll unofficially call the Daenerys problem).

   Also in the beginning, I didn't realize it until I read another review, but the fact that the party was being pursued by assassins and yet the party lit fires at night, got inebriated, and sang songs while claiming that they needed to be on their guard seemed ironic. They were the best of warriors, yet they were old and seemed to show poor judgment and influence to a girl who'd been raised in isolation.

   Now let's get to the Red Queen. I've never met such an inactive villain. She's mentioned in brief episodes maybe three times in the entire novel. Three scenes in a 400+ novel. And none of which really show her ambition and drive. All we know is she rapes her slaves and is subservient to an evil that doesn't want to enact evil onto her enemy--- though this evil master has no qualm of devouring innocent children. There's no drive in the heroine when there's no drive by the villain. That was where the story really seems to rise to a plateau and stay there. And the incline isn't very steep. 

    Beautiful writing, but sometimes drive really is everything. Especially, especially in fantasy adventures.

   And while Kelsea's drive to be a great queen is admirable, I feel I need something for her to want and for it to be a real challenge for her, if not outright met with failure. She just wants stuff and gets it. Externally, not as vain as her mother but in a way, ironically, becomes just like her. And it doesn't help she has to comment on the attractiveness of pretty much everyone she meets. And she thinks her mother was vain. Pl-eeease!

    I want to end on my favorite scene: when Mace surprised Kelsea with the collection of books from her cottage now safely transported to her bed chamber. Never had I ever felt like Belle. I think it's every bookworm's dream to have their own library like the one the Beast gives Belle and the fact that this world is deprived of books and yet here her closest confidant and head guard (someone who showed ill-favor to retrieving the books in the first place) goes out of his way to bring all (a good two thousand) books across the country for her. Dare I say? Awww. Just, awww.

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel

A Darker Shade of Magic Book Review

Rawr Reader,


I think there should be an award given to readers that lose interest in a novel and pick them up again in hopes of reigniting your interest. I started this last summer and set it aside for eight months, picking it up primarily because the chapters were short and the stack of titles on my shelf for unfinished books kept rapidly growing. In the end, I think I chose a good book to give another chance to. The synopsis is provided by Goodreads:

Kell is one of the last Antari, a rare magician who can travel between parallel worlds: hopping from Grey London — dirty, boring, lacking magic, and ruled by mad King George — to Red London — where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire — to White London — ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne, where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back — and back, but never Black London, because traveling to Black London is forbidden and no one speaks of it now.

Officially, Kell is the personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see, and it is this dangerous hobby that sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to take her with him for her proper adventure.

But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save both his London and the others, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive — a feat trickier than they hoped.

Reference:

While I follow Victoria Schwab on various social media sites and am aware of how often she releases new titles, I'd have to say that I heard this from other booktubers who continued to rave about this action-packed adventure.

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this yet)

   One thing I find myself never getting tired of is Schwab's gift for offering an original story. And if not entirely original, the world-building is on its own level. I thought this when I first read The Archived. And then Vicious. And now. It's for this reason I'll keep reading her future works because I know without a doubt I'll be on an adventure in a world I'd never thought of before with pretty kick-ass characters to kick it up a notch. 

   And so it is for A Darker Shade of Magic. Four Londons. Only two Antari to travel between them. That is, until Kell (our star on the front cover--- may I digress, what a cover!) meets a don't-take-no-for-an-answer, spirited girl with dreams of captaining her own ship and seeing the world (or in this case--- worlds). It hurts to say that while I didn't care for Lila (at all), I did cackle at her sass and fire to keep the scenes interesting. I cared more for what she was going to say as a comeback than for the ambivalent feelings she had being a thief and then being a slightly more normal human with morals. Together, the more cool-headed Kell and the firecracker Lila could only run into adventure... Thought I was going to say trouble huh? Well don't worry they run into plenty of that too! We really find each world has a garment of their own, and I really appreciated that each London actually embodied the color-ID they were given. 

    One thing that made this novel a quick read was the short chapters. There's a dozen larger sections but for the most part, each chapter was three to four pages long. Very convenient if you're reading on the bus to school or on the train to work or during lunch. Even if it's a couple of pages, if you finished a chapter it makes you feel as if you've accomplished something big.

    Something I always take into consideration is pacing, especially in my fantasy adventure novels. For me the beginning was a little slow because the main two characters don't meet until many chapters after the book begins. So while I would say the book picked up a little after the first quarter of the book (way too late for me to think very highly of it by the end), it didn't last very long and soon I sort of wished to be done with it. I'd have to say this was because the characters (Lila) more annoyed me than made me chuckle at her sass, and Kell seemed to always be brooding over a certain item he carries with him and it just reminded me of Frodo with the Ring from The Lord of the Rings. Actually, since I'm mentioning it, for a good portion of the book I felt scenes would closely emulate a theme or idea from Tolkien's series. It hurts me to admit it, but I didn't like it when I read Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series (one of my favorite series) and there were names or scenes or small moments that just reminded me of The Lord of the Rings more than the original masterpiece I had in my hands, and I definitely still don't like it now. It's hard because not everything will be completely original, but for me to be taken out of such an interesting world and story and to be distracted into another world and story on multiple occasions is problematic.

    Another reason I felt this book didn't resonate with me as much as others was due to a small cast of characters. There are maybe only five characters that regularly show up, everyone else is rather fleeting. While this is expected for an adventure novel, usually we meet someone once and then move on, I still wished for more. Maybe not A Song of Ice and Fire large cast of characters, but I need more than just two sides of a coin to contrast each other. 

   While I didn't take as much a fancy to this series, I'm definitely going to continue to follow Schwab's works and pick up her upcoming novel The Savage Song.

I give this book 3/5 stars.

Quote:

“I apologize for anything I might have done. I was not myself."
"I apologize for shooting you in the leg. I was myself entirely.” 
― V.E. Schwab, A Darker Shade of Magic

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

   Every time Kell struggled to resist the evil stone from Black London, all I kept thinking about was Frodo and the Ring. I'm repeating myself because I really wonder if anyone else got that vibe. And sure, Lila could resist it better but I was never given an explanation as to why. 
   I think the moment I knew I disliked Lila was when she and Kell were arguing over who had a worse life, Lila with no family but freedom or Kell with family (forced as it was) and no freedom. She, with nothing, thinks that life with everything, in lieu of friends or family to rely on, is better than a life with friends and family but nothing to your name. In my mind, she made it sound like being a servant, or in Kell's unfortunate case a slave, was better than being a rat on the streets. Yes having money and stability and a home is nice but how can someone who has had no one to care for cast him aside so easily. She doesn't know what it means to have people in your life who actually mean something to you, or only use you for some talent you possess.
  Astrid gave the stone to Kell to transport to different worlds and her angle just makes no sense to me. And how can two pathological sadists not somehow turn on each other for all the power of the throne? And how can they go from such powerful masters of magic and then they're defeated so easily by a weakened Kell? I guess if there were more characters the fight would have been a little more epic in my eyes.     Let's talk romance. I felt that most of the exchanged between Lila and Kell (mostly in Lila's part) was foreplay and she was egging him on. Because whenever the author revealed their private and intimate thoughts, I kept wondering did it really have to be there? I thought their friendship weighed more than a romance that Schwab had built for them. 

Until Next Time,
Nicole Ciel

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender Book Review

Rawr Reader,

I have a 2016 Reading Goal to read 30 books and I was trailing behind by 5 books. So I put my foot down and said enough! Hehe. I was "reading" (aka had on hold) three books and this one was the easiest and shortest to read. I wanted to change my 5 books behind schedule to 4 so I felt a little better about my laziness. 
Disgrace.
I know. Let's carry on shall we?
The synopsis for Leslye Walton's The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is provided by Goodreads: 

Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga.

Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird.

In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration.

That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo.

Reference:

   By a friend and fellow book lover Sasha. She She also reviews book but in video format, check her out! 

https://www.youtube.com/user/akaMissFierce/featured

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this yet)

    My memory of the beginning of book is a little fuzzy since I started it earlier this month, but I'll do my best to discuss the early chapters of the book. Before that, let's start with the facade. The cover is bright and represents the hopeful and sunny personality of the narrator. While the design is rather simple, simply a feather serving as the backdrop. It's appealing and is partially the reason why when my friend recommended it I gave it a chance. Also the title. It's a mouthful but it works and the name's unique and whimsical. 

   Diving into the book we're taken back to the beginning of family's life in America. We hop back three generations---highly risky for a novel of only three hundred pages--- and follow as her great-grandfather and mother leave their homeland France for New York. Already we're thrown into a world of fantasy without a mention of anything truly supernatural happening. The immigration of Europeans to the New World isn't unheard of but because of the selective and spotlighted details the author chooses to focus on in their lives makes the story fresh. I found the story to move at a slow-pace because she focused on their lives over actions that move the story forward. She establishes the lives of the oldest generation so that we can see how the later generations fare. 

     The first half of the book I'd like to say is a collection of tiny anecdotes that establish characterization than actually move the plot. This was probably my biggest con while reading. The writing is lovely, as are the stories of the lives of the protagonists and the secondary characters. I've never read a book where the author didn't neglect the lives of the minor characters and gave each of them a story that had to be told. Usually authors just give them a scene to show their characterization but Walton took the time to dedicate a mini chapter in the chapter for them. That being said, it made the title seem rather fraudulent. For such a title and focus on a certain character, while the narration is done by her, the first half of the book she doesn't physically appear. I'm sorry if that's considered a spoiler but when I say that the author begins from the life of the great-grandmother and goes through the lives of the next two generations before finally reaching the "main" protagonist, including all the lives of the town and even of the lives that aren't in town anymore, then 150 pages goes quickly.

    So the second half of the book is where the "real" story begins. I would've been okay with this if the title was different. For example a couple of years back I read Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang, and it details the intimate and impactful lives of three generations, from the author all the way to her grandmother. While it's over 500 pages and the story of the author doesn't begin until later in the novel than earlier, at least the title explicitly tells me. It isn't the story of one woman that's important to note but all. 

     I understand that the author had to write the lives of the mother and grandmother and great-grandmother and honestly I love how it centers so much on women. They were all real women with disappointments and joys that couldn't be passed on to the next generation. I doubt it was the author's choice to title it what it is, but if she did then I'd have to mark her down for it. Not every title has to be centered on the protagonist. The Wizard of Oz, The Lord of the Rings, Frankenstein, The Giver are all prime examples of that. The title only gave me an expectation, and considering the pace wasn't as fast-paced as I'm accustomed to in the YA books I read it's a reason why I'm atypically critical.

     I want to briefly discuss the magical realism aspect of the novel. I don't know how to critique it properly since I've read maybe three magical realism stories in my life. I understand it's seeing the abnormal as normal in every day life, but the world didn't see the girl with wings as normal. For some reason I accepted and believed Pierette as a tiny canary than the unusual case of Ava. 

    I don't want to downplay the novel as bad because it's really colorful and detailed, and unlike many stories it has a wide cast of characters (a whole town full which I love love love), however it had the same problem I had with The Night Circus. I need more of a structured plot than just a beautiful story. 

For this, I give this book 3/5 stars.

Quote:

“Just because love don't look the way you think it should, don't mean you don't have it.”

-Leslye Walton, The Beautiful and Strange Sorrows of Ava Lavender 

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

   Something I wish I got to see more was the time-placement of the world-building. The world-building was very detailed and every move we made she gave us the smells and the sights, however it didn't seem like it belonged in that time frame. Actually the world was no different had the story been placed in 90s. Or the 70s. She mentions WWII with the mother Viviane while she was a teenager and the Depression in passing when Viviane was young but that's the only time we really get a glimpse of the world affecting the lives of the family, which I kind of found disappointing. 

    Another disappointment that came to mind was the incident where Cardigan takes Ava on her first adventure from the house to the reservoir and she outs Ava immediately with having wings. I thought she was drunk but then she apologized afterward and suddenly became sensitive to Ava's feelings. I had trouble reading her character after that point because what was once a best friend was suddenly a backstabber. Why was it her brother that had to defend Ava when he didn't spend nearly as much time with her. While I liked Rowe and probably due to his connection to Ava, he had the least amount told about him. The only unique thing about him was that he stuttered. He likes Ava out of no where and defends her out of no where and is unusually loyal to her. I say unusual since we never get a glimpse of their relationship before they started to like each other. Walton should have put the focus spent on John Griffith and his obsession with Emilienne that was never pursued or expanded on after his abrupt departure, and gave that novel space to develop Rowe's character. 

    Like I said in the review above I need more of a plot than just a beautiful story told, but something I wanted to add I didn't want to spoil in the safe part of the review was the fact how unbalanced the story was because of it. The first half of the book is dedicated to the generations before the protagonist, and then when the last half of the book should be dedicated to her arc, it sort of drags to the climax and when the climax comes, it barely lasts a page. The synopsis describes this scene as the "devastating crescendo" of the novel which is way way way overplayed. It's resolved so quickly and awkwardly I couldn't really believe that all the suspense and stress and beautiful imagery resulted to just...that. Maybe the author was rushed to finish the novel...I'll never know. There was more emphasis on the baked goods Emilienne created that people just couldn't deny than there was on the protagonist in her most important moment. And then after the climax, in the last chapters, it continued to talk about baked goods and by this point I couldn't wait to finish it. It's disappointing when a novel is better in the beginning than in the end. Especially when the most important character isn't in the parts that you liked about the book.

    A moment I found was the most moving moment in the novel was at the end when Ava's in the hospital and her grandmother comforts her. It's a scene that we see everywhere but because we're given 250 pages of Emilienne refusing to truly care for anything suddenly reveal a soft moment made the first 250 pages mean something. It took a long time for me to see the coldness of her reserved personality could be thrown aside when her granddaughter needed her. It was one of the events of the book that worked, despite it taking so long to be shown. 

    Now, about the antagonist Nathaniel Sorrows. I'm not going to delve into the crazy religious man's life before the climax because to me that was just a trope, but I will briefly mention his ending scene. The suspense and ominous mood was well written as he Hansel and Gretel'd Ava into his house out of the storm. It was the trapping her in the house and she couldn't find her way out that was only the beginning to making the climax fail. I couldn't really believe she couldn't remember the way to the front door. That was warning number one. Number two was when she happened to stumble into his room of bird butchery. I'm going to skip the brief rape scene and highlight his reaction to attack was to flee. Warning number three leading perfectly to number four--- Vivianne happened to pass him at this moment and he just stops like a deer in the headlights. He stops and is suddenly vanquished by Emilienne's haunting relatives. O_O

   What?

   I couldn't help laughing at this horrifying scene because I'm temporarily imaging him being sucked into darkness like when Willy was by demons in Patrick Swayze's Ghost. While Nathaniel's death is more sudden than that, he sort of explodes in flames, I couldn't see the justice being served as much as the author wanted me to to believe. Why were the grandmother's relatives his executioners? Why did Marigold Pie, a pious woman who didn't divulge herself in the "desires" of the flesh like sweets suddenly go on a craze and have to have her nephew come. Why didn't her family check up on them to see if she was getting better? The only solution the author gave was she was drugged in her room. Since when? Why did Henry suddenly go to his father's house on the day of his sister's attack? Was he the bad man to Henry-- someone he'd never met? I thought it was the creepy guy living next door talking to his sister in the middle of the night from behind a bush who had a fixation on touching her wings. I could go on with the unanswered questions.
    And how about the brother with premonitions? Personally I dislike the "normal" brother as being bizarre and having premonitions. The few words he says is disregarded--- ironically believable since the words are nonsense in context of every day life--- but on the night it happens he keeps repeating the "There's blood on the floor and feathers everywhere." I could see this whole night being filmed in a movie and how it was written-- I think she's ready for it to be made into film.

     I didn't think my review would go on this long but I'd like to end on one of my favorite characters. A character who never appears (in human form anyway). Fatima Inês. Another tragic life that is more a mystery and urban myth to locals. Her contribution to the novel made it one of the reasons why this novel's a good read.

   

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel