The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

I had to take a break from reviewing--but only because I read a book that meant so much to me in the end that I honestly didn't know how to review it. It wouldn't fit on a five-star scale. Reviewing it at all felt wrong somehow, so I was stuck. Maybe I'll write that review sometime. But meanwhile I have been reading other books. Here's a review of the recent hit for kids and YA readers--The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani.

Sophie knows that she would be the perfect princess, and at the book's opening she can't wait to be swept off her feet by the mysterious schoolmaster and taken to the legendary school for good and evil, where she would study to be a fairy tale heroine and graduate to have a magical life of her own. Her best friend Agatha is different. Agatha is plain and down-to-earth and honestly a bit concerned about her friend's fascination with being kidnapped and taken to an "imaginary" school. I don't think I'm spoiling much by saying that both girls get kidnapped--and that their roles are hilariously reversed as Sophie is sent to the School for Evil as a witch and Agatha is forced into learning all things princessy while looking for a way out.

I expected a fun read when I first picked this book up, but to be honest I had no idea it would be so entertaining. It doesn't matter if you're 12 or 92, the antics of the two girls trying to determine the fate of their fairy tale in this wonderfully bizarre world was one of the most amusing things I've read in a while, with a totally satisfying and unexpected ending that should win just about anyone's heart. I recently finished the sequel--A World Without Princes--and will probably write a review of that soon.

In the meantime if you're looking for something fun and casual to spruce up your reading routine, be sure to check this one out!

Five stars!

*****

Triple Mini Review: The White Luck Warrior, Dancing with Cupid, and Kiatana's Journey

I haven't been up to writing a lot of reviews lately, but I've been reading as much as ever! Here's a sizzling hot batch of three books that I've read lately and my thoughts. Kudos to the authors!

The White Luck Warrior by R. Scott Bakker.

This is the most recent book in Bakker's trilogy of trilogies, which started with the Prince of Nothing. Set in a fantasy world with hints of sci-fi, the first trilogy builds the world in a convincing and fascinating method--only to smash it to bits with an even better second trilogy, which reveals that the first three books were only setting the stage. I enjoyed the last book, The Judging Eye, to a great extent... but it falls short of The White Luck Warrior. This book does everything you could want it to, and more. You see new sides to old characters, pick up on fascinating details of the unfolding universe and you will be seriously shocked at some things that I can't mention because of spoilers. Five stars!

*****

Dancing with Cupid by Jennifer Marshall.

A centuries-old Indian love god is on a quest to be reunited with his long lost wife--who has been reincarnated as a no-nonsense lawyer in a feminist law firm. The sheer uniqueness of the storyline was enough to draw me in, and I'm glad I gave it a try. The book reminds me of the Bollywood movies I used to watch in college--fun, flirty, a little dangerous and a little impossible--over all, a cute and amusing read. Four stars!

****0




Kiatana's Journey by Natalie Erin

A fairy, a shapeshifter, an adventurer, and some adorable wolf puppies set out on a quest to save the forest from a mysterious plague. I'm all about unique fantasy, and this novel has that to the brim! Unfortunately, it also had its problems. The writing felt unstable and draft-like. There were consistency problems (such as one wolf pup remembering something that happened years before she was born), and info-dumps in the middle of what could have been a fascinating plot moment. The hardest for me to read was the dialogue--every character sounded exactly the same, with the same sarcasm and the same wit to the point where I would frequently lose track of who was talking. I had to stop about halfway into the book, when I realized that it wasn't getting better and I wasn't enjoying it. Fascinating idea but poor writing forces me to give it one star.

*0000

The White Seed by Kenneth Marshall

I snagged a digital copy of Kenneth Marshall's The White Seed from LibraryThing a few weeks ago. I don't read much science fiction, even though it's one of my favorite genres to write and watch, so I didn't know what to expect going into it. I was in for a pleasant surprise!

The White Seed is the first book in a series of novels set thousands of years in the future. Mankind left Earth long ago and colonized many different star systems by using white seeds--databases containing everything necessary to establish a successful human colony from a wide selection of genetic material. In the story, a team of four people from the homeworld Athena explore the wilderness of super-earth Keto to examine a dead human colony and learn why it supposedly self-destructed.

I thought the plot would be the most memorable thing about this book--sabotage, surviving the wilderness, mystery and a possible traitor. But what really came through for me was the brilliantly portrayed cast of characters with all different personalities, backgrounds and beliefs. It reminded me of Battlestar Galactica (the new one, not the atrocious Star Trek wannabe from the '70s). Kali, the leader, is burdened with responsibility and has a dark military background that haunts her through most of the tale. Toran is an anthropologist dealing with grief from the loss of his wife--possibly at the hands of Kali herself during the war. Ai is a vulnerable young microbiologist who struggles with self-acceptance and is encouraged by Alon, a secretive scientist who gets her to open up to him.

At first it was hard to keep the characters straight while figuring out how the universe worked, but in the end I was stunned by the multi-faceted heartache, suspicion and friendships that came out of this book, and the plot made it only more enjoyable. Four stars!

* * * * º

The Blackbird's Song by Billy Wong

The Blackbird's Song is an epic fantasy novella that seems a cross between a Dungeons and Dragons scenario and I don't know what. A mysterious young woman named Blackbird leads a group of odd ruffians in a revolt against an oppressive church. Anyone reading this should expect epic fight scenes, drama, mystery and a healthy dose of adventure.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend it without fair warning. Though Blackbird came off as a loveable and detailed character, I couldn't tell the others apart and frequently got them confused. The writing style was inconsistent and even amateurish at parts, breezing over scenes that would have been amazing if they were drawn out more and replacing what could have been great one-liners with simple cliches. I frequently got the feeling that there was more to the world than Wong was letting on, and was partly relieved when some of it was satisfactorily explained in the end. I still don't know why the characters all hated the church in the beginning or what the church was doing that was so oppressive. There was also an alternate ending, which could have been carried off nicely if handled well but instead made the whole book feel like a ripoff that even the author didn't understand. Frankly I regret reading it and wish I could have settled just one ending in my mind.

In short, this is a highly imaginative work--but one that I feel could have used several more drafts and some serious cliche hunting. Not to mention the setting and character development. I can give it only a solid two stars--one for my being able to stomach the whole thing and one for a creative and exciting storyline. I wish the author all the best in his future efforts and look forward to seeing what he can pull off in a better-written book!

* * º º º

The Path of The Horseman by Amy Braun

The Path of The Horseman is an adventurous story that takes place right after the biblical apocalypse. The four horsemen, Avery (Pestilence), Simon (Famine), Kade (War) and Logan (Death) are abandoned by heaven after fulfilling their purposes and are left to dwindle around on Earth in human bodies, fighting demons and scrounging for living supplies. Things change when they run into a band of humans that has somehow survived the apocalypse and that is now the target of one of the toughest demon leaders around.

This was a very fun read. The abandoned Las Vegas setting, the touching and memorable characters and the decisions they are forced to make drew me in much more than I was expecting. I laughed. I cried. It's seriously the most emotional I've been over a book in a long time. I've never really thought about the horsemen as characters before--beyond the show Supernatural--and loved the unique twist Braun provided to an otherwise overdone genre of the post-apocalyptic. Five stars for an excellent read!

*****

In Search of The Castaways by Jules Verne

Most reviewers stick to new books. It makes sense. The authors will be much more appreciative if they're still alive when you review their books, and you can get the word out about new writers who are still early in their careers. But I'm a sucker for the classics. I've been a devotee of Jules Verne especially since before high school, and since I got my Kindle I've been discovering books of his that I'd never even heard of before. In Search of The Castaways is one of those books.

In Search of The Castaways is actually part of a trilogy Verne wrote, the most famous novel of which is 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and the conclusion of which is The Mysterious Island (also a great read). Each book can be read and enjoyed individually and have only the smallest bits of interaction, but they really pop when read together.

Castaways is a true adventure novel. A message from a missing sea captain appears in a bottle, and an entertaining and unlikely group of explorers--men, women, and even children--sail around the world in an effort to find and rescue the wrecked survivors. Most of the story takes place either at sea, in the Chilean wilderness or in colonized Australia, and the heroes have to battle the elements, pirates and cannibals on their way to learning the fate of the men.

The characters are just as unforgettable as the adventures they face: the determined orphans who will do anything to see their father again, the daring young sea captain who's just crazy enough to make the trip, and (my personal favorite) the brilliant French geographer who is also, despite his intellect and abilities, the unluckiest person on the world.

This book is a worth read and deserves a spot in anyone's classics collection. And hey, if you can read it for free online, what is there to lose?

Five stars!

*****

The Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker

This is the fourth book in a series--or rather, the first book of the second trilogy in a trilogy of trilogies. I've been reading The Saga of The Three Seas since summer and have one book to go before I'm caught up.

First, about the series. I highly recommend The Saga of The Three Seas. It's elegantly written, brilliantly creative, philosophical, and scratches my itch for fantasy in all the right ways. On the downside, it's also incredibly dense in places with a slow pace, and for the first three books there are very few relatable characters. That's why it's taken me so long to slog through them. Many of the scenes are dry traveling and battle scenes or discussions of interesting (but hard to understand) ideas. I wanted to like it because of how beautiful and creative it was, but honestly I was having a hard time with it.

Enter The Judging Eye! While the other books took months to get through, this one took days. The story resumes after a twenty-year gap in the narrative, picking up with the children of the main characters while learning what has happened since the last book ended. Usually, I don't like such long gaps in fiction, but it completely works here. The story was now fresh, new, relatable and exciting--while still being elegant and philosophically fascinating as always. Insane children, mysterious non-men, and even--gasp!--a sign of dragons near the end. Not only that, but the entire rest of the series makes much more sense in retrospect. Maybe it was dense, but it was totally worth the read in the end, and I am looking forward to getting my hands on the next book! Five stars!

*****

Deception by Stacy Claflin

Another YA Supernatural Romance (seriously, this and the last one are the only ones I've ever read--my tastes are much broader and--I believe--more sophisticated!). This is indie author Stacy Claflin's debut novel, the first in a series about an ordinary teen girl who discovers that she's a vampire princess and must use her newfound powers to forge her own destiny and protect the ones she loves.

I have very mixed feelings about this one, so let's start with the good. It was a fast read, filled with excitement and drama. The dialogue was so smooth I often found myself reading it out loud for the fun of it, and I couldn't tell how it would turn out in the end. The story itself was actually pretty good.

But there were problems. So. Many. Problems. A few technical errors sprinkled around (I'm a stickler, I know). The main character was every inch a Mary Sue, her personality generic and shapeless, liked by the heroes and hated by the villains. There were so many cliches that I had a hard time immersing myself in the novel--the dramatic vampire love triangle, the magic powers ex Machina. While I enjoyed the story, a good portion of the plot was dedicated to conveniences. Main character Alexis' vampire friends refuse to tell her anything about her identity or vampire life, for no reason. Other than maybe she wasn't "ready" yet, whatever that means.

The suspension of disbelief was another problem. Granted, I've gotten the exact same complaint for some of my own stories, so maybe I'm more sensitive to this than most. But for some reason Alexis had only the slightest bit of hesitation believing that her family's memories had been altered to make them think she was theirs when actually she was a magical vampire princess who was only starting to turn into a vampire.... I'd be a far cry from believing that even if my teeth suddenly turned into pointed fangs. Not only that, but others believed it readily as well.

There was also a distinct lack of emotion. There was a love triangle, a tragic death in the end and several close calls before then--but I didn't bat an eye. I didn't feel attached to any of the characters. I didn't know them well enough, and they were mostly sterile and devoid of personality, just like Alexis.

There's an audience for this book, and I'm sure the books that Ms. Claflin has written since are likely much improved as far as writing goes--I'll keep my eyes out for a free copy to see if I'm right--but frankly, I wasn't impressed. I wanted something new and immersive, something that balances on the fine line of reality and fantasy. This just didn't do it.

* * º º º

Runes by Ednah Walters

Runes is the first book in a new fantasy series by veteran Ednah Walters, a story that plays on teen paranormal adventures and ancient mythology. I was pulled in by the cover and blurb, and read it in a few days. Here's what I found:

What I liked: It was hard to put down. I know enough about the genre to have a good idea of what to expect, but despite myself I kept wanting to read the next page. I was attached to the characters and swim team, and very much intrigued by the possibilities behind the Runes. I also loved the fact that this was something other than vampires and demons and werewolves. I honestly didn't know what the Runes were about--and I loved that. There was also a good emotional depth that brought the story home--such as the disappearance of Raine's father and the death of a friend.

What I didn't like: The writing was not good. It was actually pretty bad. There were typos, the use of "to" instead of "too," and more abstract problems like bulky description paragraphs and excessive use of fancy dialog tags. The male lead, Torin, was also pretty stereotypical and unbelievable. He's supposed to be hundreds of years old and dedicated to living life by the book--but in days he's swooning over a seemingly ordinary teen girl. Yeah right. The author's age also slips in occasionally: there are two separate references to going to a video rental store, and one scene clearly describes a specific Beatles song being replaced with "some modern stuff." I think Raine would be able to identify it further than that.

Overall rating: Pretty good for what it is and what it's trying to be, and I am actually looking forward to the sequel. But it's far from great literature and suitable only for a light but fun read. Only one rejection slip out of five! (That's four stars... since I'm the rejected reviewer, I'm rating with rejection slips!)

 ****º