Sinking Into Gaiman’s Ocean

On October 21, 2013October 22, 2013 By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews12 Comments

I have finally read The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. If you’ve been following along, you know I was in line at the library for several months! It’s an odd book, almost a novella, not quite sure if it’s adult or juvenile. If you’ll let me wax metaphorical for a moment, the book is not unlike the ocean of the title–small yet vast.

The frame story gives us a middle-aged man who comes back to the place where he lived as a child. He goes out to visit a neighboring farm, and becomes lost in memories by the duck pond–which Lettie Hempstock called her ocean. He remembers being seven years old, and having a glimpse of a strange, vast world very different than anything he knew.

It’s very hard to explain the plot of this book. To tell you that it’s about a fight with a monster who slips into our world would be true, but somehow minimize the strangeness and wonder of it. It is about a monster, and about eleven-year-old Lettie (though she won’t say how long she’s been eleven years old) and about an unnamed narrator who takes comfort in books and eats a lot of delectable meals at the Hempstocks, in between world-shattering terrors.

Maybe it’s hard to talk about the plot because the plot isn’t really the point here. Rather like some Hitchcock movies, it’s much more about the atmosphere and the character depth. It’s not really the plot that mattered most to me here (though it’s thoroughly creepy and engaging). It’s the mysterious Hempstock women (never fully explained) who intrigued me, and it’s the boy-narrator who lives his life in books who drew me in. And if I read this book again, it’s going to be because of the odd bits of philosophy and little sparks of wisdom and observations about life.

Even though the narrator is seven, don’t come to the conclusion that this must be a book for children of about that age. Even though it comes in at the child-friendly length of 170 pages, the writing style is sophisticated and mature, and there are at least a few moments that are not child-friendly at all. And it didn’t feel like 170 pages–it’s not slow, but like Lettie’s ocean, it felt bigger than it looked. I’ve seen this described as a children’s book and as an adult book; I’ve no idea what Gaiman intended, but I’m calling it a short but lengthy book for adults about a child.

A fun note for Gaiman fans: Lettie went to a magical market at one point, and I like to think it must have been a related franchise to the one you can find in London Below, and the one that goes on near Wall. A fun note for Doctor Who fans: I spotted at least three ideas that I’m convinced Gaiman must have picked up from Doctor Who episodes.

Don’t open this up looking for a sweet story about a boy on a farm–but if you’re open to a mysterious fantasy with dark undertones, much strangeness and beautiful writing, then it’s well-worth the read…if you can get a hold of it! At last check, my library still had a hold list 250 people long…

Author’s Site: http://www.neilgaiman.com/

Other reviews:
Bookshelves of Doom
Escape Pod
Mission to Read
Book Riot
Acid Free Pulp
And many, many more. Tell me about yours and I’ll add a link!

Buy it here: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Saturday Snapshots: Waterfall…or Wizard?

On October 19, 2013October 17, 2013 By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot5 Comments

The October page of my calendar has a waterfall picture. Perfectly nice, perfectly ordinary…

Except that it reflects in my bedroom mirror, and out of the corner of my eye, reversed and slightly fuzzy…

…it begins to look strangely like…

…Gandalf.

So what do you think? Do you see the Grey Wizard in my waterfall? 🙂

Visit West Metro Mommy for more Saturday Snapshots–and have a great weekend!

Fiction Friday: A Sea Serpent and a Prince

On October 18, 2013October 14, 2013 By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction Friday, Novel News1 Comment

I haven’t done a Fiction Friday in a while, and since I’ve been chattering on about my upcoming novel release, The Wanderers, it seemed only appropriate to share an excerpt, no?

This scene is towards the middle of the novel. Julie, Jasper and talking cat Tom have just made a deal with a Sea Queen, which involves rescuing her sea serpent from Prince Randolph. Jasper and Tom met Randolph on a previous adventure, and were not impressed. Not every sentence here will make sense out of context, but I think enough is comprehensible…

Julie, Jasper and Tom exited the water abruptly. One moment they were skimming along just above the sea floor under the power of the Sea Queen’s magic. The next, they fell out of a wall of water to land in a heap on wet but not at all submerged sand. Julie’s hair fell in tangles around her shoulders, and Tom shrank to a third of his former apparent size.

Julie got to her feet, wet skirt clinging to her legs, and looked around. They were on bare sea floor, in a trench formed by walls of water rising dozens of feet above their heads on either side. The trench was maybe a hundred feet across, and several times that long, the floor covered in mounds of sand and wilted seaweed. At the far end, she could see the serpent coiled like an enormous snake, while Randolph stood before it with sword drawn, his back to them.

“Damn,” Jasper remarked. “He must have a useful enchanted sword.”

“You think he used it to part the ocean?” Julie said.

“Can’t explain it any other way. Randolph just isn’t that talented on his own.”

If Jasper was right, the sword was giving him a considerable advantage. Julie didn’t know much about judging the health of giant sea monsters, but she thought it looked ill. It was snapping at Randolph, but its movements were sluggish. “It’s probably sick outside the water,” she said. “So to rescue it, we’ll have to move it back into the sea.”

“You want to move a giant serpent?” Jasper said. “I’ve seen buildings that were smaller.”

Tom unhelpfully added, “I’ve seen entire towns that were smaller.”

“All right, so maybe we don’t move it,” Julie said, keeping her chin in the air and a positive tone in her voice. Someone had to be the optimist. “We’ll move the water back around it.”

Jasper caught the idea and the optimism. “We get the sword from Randolph, and if he can part water, why can’t we put it back?”

Tom groaned. “We’re going to get wet again.”

“You can’t get any wetter,” Julie said. “Come on, let’s go steal a sword.” Continue reading “Fiction Friday: A Sea Serpent and a Prince” →

Robin McKinley’s Shadowy New Novel

On October 16, 2013October 16, 2013 By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews8 Comments

I’ve been hearing about Shadows by Robin McKinley for months and months…because I follow McKinley’s blog, in which she occasionally (not often enough) talks about how the writing is going. All in all, it made me feel very invested in her newest book. And it conveniently came out at just the right time for R.I.P. too!

Despite watching the ups and downs of the writing process, I didn’t actually have much of a grasp of the plot of the book–if you read McKinley’s blog, you may understand this, as she tends more towards stream of consciousness than things like explanations! However, it didn’t really matter, because McKinley is one of those authors I will always read (although the vampire book did give me pause…)

No bloody vampires in this one, I am happy to report, though it does remind me more of Sunshine than her other novels. It’s another urban fantasy, in a modern but decidedly skewed world. The heroine is Maggie, who loves animals of all kinds (especially dogs) and hates her stepfather. Val’s horrible shirts are bad enough, but the real problem is the mysterious shadows Maggie sees clustered around him. Magic is strictly forbidden in Maggie’s country, and things like periodic rents in the space-time continuum (my phrasing) are handled in a scientific way. Which is fine…until the shadows want to communicate, Maggie’s best friends turn out to have some very odd abilities, and Maggie’s origami creatures (and algebra book) take on lives of their own.

Maggie is one of those wonderful heroines who is very normal, who then discovers extraordinary abilities, without setting out to do so or losing her normalcy along the way. Some of the book is about fighting threats (rents in the space-time continuum and a rather questionable government) but mostly it’s about Maggie’s growth, and realization that the world is vastly stranger than she ever knew. Plus there’s a love interest (two, actually), Maggie has a pretty great dog named Mongo (short for Mongrel), and there’s a wide assortment of other critters, including an amazingly defiant cat, and a love-sick sheep (really).

The critters are fantastically brilliant, and I also love Maggie’s friends. The romance I’m a little more iffy on–it’s sort of…abrupt. I don’t dislike it. But a little more development, a few more moments of internal realization, a bit of clarifying conversation…on the other hand, I should warn you that I like long, slow romances, so this may be a personal preference thing.

McKinley has never been one for reader hand-holding, and it takes a little work to get a footing in the world. I wouldn’t say it’s ever actually confusing, and there may even be more explaining going on than in some of her books (Chalice comes to mind), but be warned that you do have to pay attention because world-building elements are rarely spelled out. There’s also quite a bit of slang and magical language which requires some attention to vocabulary–it only gets really out of hand once or twice, and once you learn that gruuaa are magical shadows (sort of), you’ll be all right.

I warn you because, of course, I assume you’re going to read this, right? I mean, it’s a fantasy from Robin McKinley–that’s enough for me. For you, I can vouch that it’s an always excellent, sometimes humorous, exciting, mysterious or romantic read. Go on. Read it and find out more about gruuaa.

Author’s Site: http://www.robinmckinley.com/

Other reviews:
Cuddlebuggery Book Blog
Bookyurt
Bibliophilia, Please
The Flyleaf Review
Tell me about yours!

Buy it here: Shadows

Soaring Over Fairyland with September

On October 14, 2013October 14, 2013 By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Young Adult1 Comment

You may have noticed–or guessed–that I was eagerly awaiting the new installment of Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland series, The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two. I jumped (flew?) in as soon as the book arrived, and was so very happy to find that it was once again delightful!

Fairyland 1 (review here) introduced us to September, a girl from Omaha who flew away to Fairyland, where she met a Wyverary named A-through-L and a Marid (a kind of sea genie) named Saturday, and fought the wicked Marquess. Fairyland 2 (review here) brought September back to Fairyland a year later, to confront her own shadow, who was stealing shadows and magic from Fairyland.

Fairyland 3 picks up again a year later. September is beginning to grow up, with new responsibilities, including learning to drive. She’s only fourteen, but I suppose the driving-age rules were lax in rural Nebraska, in the 1940s (or possibly 1910s–I’m not positive which World War September’s father fought in). She still has no hesitation when the opportunity presents itself to return to Fairyland, this time chasing the Blue Wind who has carried off a neighbor’s automobile. September lands in Westerly, the city of the winds, and makes her way to Fairyland’s moon, where she reunites with Ell and Saturday, and sets off to fight a fearsome moon-Yeti.

Valente continues the lush and beautiful writing style of the previous two books. There are so many beautiful turns of phrase and twists of thought. We’re still guided along by Valente’s sly narrative voice, who if anything is a little more present here than previously.

I was desperately anxious to start reading this book, but once I did, I didn’t feel any need to keep hurrying through. This is not a page-turner, and I mean that in a good way. I normally devour quickly books I enjoy, but this one required savoring. As I read, I was also looking forward to rereading, because I felt like I couldn’t take it all in on one read! These aren’t books driven by the plot and the need to know what comes next–it’s more like a delightful opportunity to linger with September and her friends and enjoy the sights of Fairyland.

There may have been a little too much lingering in the first portions of the book. September meets several new characters, and while they’re interesting, I kept waiting to reunite with familiar ones. Ell and Saturday do eventually come in, but I would have liked them sooner–though I can imagine that on a reread, when I know where the book is going, this may bother me much less.

The growth from Fairyland 1 to Fairyland 2 continues here, as September continues to grapple with what it means to grow up. In particular, she’s trying to work out what she’s coming to feel for Saturday (and realize that he feels for her), and both September and Saturday have to deal with the question of Fate vs. choice.

We get to visit more wonderful landscapes here, including a city (and people) made out of paper, and a photography city all in black and white and two dimensions. This series would be amazing in an animated movie!

So I got this far without gushing…let me just wind up by saying this is a lovely, lovely series, and while you shouldn’t start on Fairyland 3, if you haven’t read the first two, go read them! And if you like classic children’s fantasy and brave heroines and fantastical landscapes and poetical writing style, move them to the top of your to-read list!

And with a cliffhanger at the end of Fairyland 3 which may (or may not) change the structure of future books, and with loose threads from Fairyland 2 still left loose, I am now anxiously awaiting Fairyland 4…

Author’s Site: http://www.catherynnemvalente.com/

Other reviews:
Sturdy for Common Things
Consumed by Books
Bunbury in the Stacks
Tell me about yours!

Buy it here: The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two