Author: cherylmahoney

I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).

Rise of the Anthropomorphic Manifestations…er, Guardians

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews3 Comments

When I went to see the adorable Wreck-It Ralph a couple of weeks ago, I saw ads for another animated movie, Rise of the Guardians.  Pretty much all I knew was that it was about Santa Claus and Jack Frost and the like, and there was a monster to fight…but this put it close enough to fairy tales to pique my interest, and so I went to see it this past weekend.  And it was excellent!

The movie focuses on the great mythical figures of childhood–I’m not sure quite what to call them, and “anthropomorphic manifestations” is too long, so let’s call them fables for convenience.  The main fables are Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman–and Jack Frost, our lead character.  The first four are Guardians, protecting children through the centuries.  Now childhood is threatened by Pitch Black, the Bogeyman, and the Guardians are seeking Jack Frost’s help to fight back.

Jack has his own worries to think about–no humans can see him, no children believe in him and he doesn’t know what his purpose is meant to be–but he’s pretty sure he doesn’t want to be a Guardian.  Irresponsible and free-spirited, he doesn’t see himself as Guardian material, yet finds himself pulled into the fight against Pitch.

It’s a good plot that keeps moving at a quick pace, and the movie is enormous fun.  I love the way they play with the portrayal of the fables.  These aren’t the simple, saccharine characters who show up on Hallmark cards.  Santa (Alec Baldwin) seems to resemble a Russian mob boss who runs the North Pole with the help of tiny, hilariously-inept elves and a lot of Yetis.  The Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) is Australian, wields a boomerang with deadly effect, and uses magic rabbit holes to get around.  The Sandman is a tiny gold man with clouds of sand around him all the time, who doesn’t speak but flashes symbols above his head.  The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) is a hyperactive cross between a humming bird and a human who is a little too interested in everyone’s teeth, and is surrounded by a crowd of tiny, hummingbird fairies.  And Jack Frost (Chris Pine) is an outwardly-tough prankster with a good heart, who is in fact deeply lonely.  Pitch (Jude Law) is suitably frightening, although I must admit a sneaking sympathy with him too.

The characters are engaging, both fun and appealing, and the humor is great–and this movie is SO beautiful.  It’s not the kind of beautiful animation you see in Brave, with all those landscapes (and Merida’s amazing hair!), but the animated medium lets them do incredible things with the magic.  It’s more like some of the scenes from Fantasia, with lights and shapes and beautiful patterns.  Jack leaves lacy flowers of frost behind him everywhere he touches, and there’s a wonderful opening scene as he leaps around a frozen lake leaving patterns in his wake.  The Sandman sends dreams as golden streamers of light soaring through the air to each sleeping child.  And Pitch’s nightmares are horrifying black stallions that stream shadows behind them.  It’s all so vivid, and so magical.

I have one criticism–the holidays are very much simplified down, and the movie exists in a world where Easter simply won’t happen if there aren’t any eggs, and Christmas is irrevocably and entirely ruined if Santa doesn’t come.  I don’t appreciate that message…but I’m also somewhat resigned to it in this kind of story.  Movies almost always equate Christmas with Santa, and I guess I’ll have to watch The Nativity Story if I want something else–or A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Aside from that, this actually has a quite nice message, about the wonders and joys of childhood and their importance.  The story takes a J.M. Barrie-esque twist, as it turns out that the Guardians need the belief of children to give them strength.  I like that balance, of the children needing the Guardians but also the Guardians needing the children.  And even if Santa isn’t really the deepest part of Christmas, this is a fairly deep Santa–somewhere inside the Russian mob boss, that is.

Technically, this is set around Easter, but it feels very much like a Christmas movie.  After all, two major characters are Santa Claus and Jack Frost, and most of the settings feature snow.  It has a Christmas movie atmosphere too.  As the cliche phrase puts it, it would be “fun for the whole family.”  I know it made me smile all the way through!

Movie site: http://www.riseoftheguardians.com/

NaNoWriMo Day 26: Curioser and Curioser

On By cherylmahoneyIn NaNoWriMo2 Comments

I continue making NaNo progress, though it continues to be in odd directions.  My novel draft stands around 35,000 words and is likely to remain there for the foreseeable future.  I worked on a short story for another almost-8,000 words.  I finished that up yesterday, and thoroughly enjoyed writing it.  It was nice to have a focused story that began and ended with really only one plot-thread–even though I usually love juggling all the different threads!

After finishing the one story, I started another and made some progress yesterday.  But today I felt inspiration was at a low ebb, so to keep my word count up and my hand in, I wrote a scene for a different short story.  That gives me a total of three, one completed and two in-progress, all of them focusing on characters from my current in-progress novel draft, which is in the same world as my NaNo novel.  Follow all that?  🙂

As you can see, I’m getting a little scattered!  This would be a problem in the long-term, but when it’s just for the last week of NaNo, I’m not going to worry too much.  I’ll see where inspiration strikes tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll finish at least one of the in-progress short stories by the end of the month.  And whatever’s left un-done…well, that will give me something to do in between editing my in-progress novel.

Excerpt tonight from the completed short story…for those following along at home, that’s the one with the sleeping beauty curse on the castle, which captured Julie while leaving Jasper outside.  After a rather uncomfortable night in the woods…

Jasper creaked to his feet, stretching stiff limbs, and walked through the trees to the castle.  There were changes.  During the darkness, defying all normal laws of plants, the thorns had blossomed.  There were green leaves too, but far more noticeable were the endless, heavy red roses.  The color of blood, Jasper thought bitterly, and refused to acknowledge them as beautiful.

However Julie might want to tease him on the subject, the truth was that he had always stayed away from sleeping princesses—those girls inevitably expected marriage proposals the moment they woke up, which had always seemed rather like rushing things.  He had heard stories, though, and among the less plausible parts of the stories was the idea that the roses around the towers were intelligent. Continue reading “NaNoWriMo Day 26: Curioser and Curioser” →

Classic Review: A Squire’s Tale

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews2 Comments

One of my favorite retellings of Camelot is The Squire’s Tales series by Gerald Morris.  It’s a ten-book series that he recently finished, retelling different Arthurian legends.  I admit the quality varies from book to book, but there are truly excellent ones in here, and I love the world he created.  The first book, reviewed below, is one of the excellent ones.  Somehow I still haven’t reviewed the later ones…I really should some time!

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Who was King Arthur’s greatest knight?  I haven’t polled anyone, but I have this feeling that if I did, the answer would come back as Lancelot.  But not if I asked Gerald Morris.  He’s of the opinion that it was Sir Gawain–and after reading his Camelot series, I’m in his camp on this one.

The first in the series is The Squire’s Tale.  The squire in question is Terence, and, as you no doubt expect, he’s squire to Sir Gawain.  From Camelot to the fairy realm of the Other World, the two embark on a series of adventures, some hilarious and others suspenseful.

Terence is one of those heroes who is charmingly unassuming.  I’m sure it never occurs to him to think of himself as a hero–after all, he’s “only” a squire.  Sir Gawain probably knows he’s heroic–he’s got the horse and the armor and the sword, after all, along with the knighthood.  But he’s also wonderfully down to earth and practical.  For instance, when he encounters a knight who wants to fight anyone crossing a river, Gawain wants to know why, and doesn’t the man have anything better to do with his time?

I think I love Morris’ books, not only for the wonderful characters, but equally as much for the world they live in.  Morris tells Camelot the way it ought to be–Arthur is wise and noble, his knights are brave and loyal, there are recreant knights to fight at every crossroads, and mysterious magical beings (including one bearing a marked resemblance to Puck) lurk behind the trees.  And all of it with that practical bent that pokes a little fun at the more absurd parts of the legends.  I suppose there’s a place for stories of the darker side of Camelot, but I like Morris’ sunlit version.

And it’s not that there aren’t villains and danger, or that anyone is so saccharinely good that it gets dull.  The adventures are exciting, the characters are human, and watching Gawain and Terence grow as people and as friends adds more depth to the story too.  I love stories about comrades in arms–people who have fought together and struggled together and would die together if it came to that.  Except it probably won’t, because they’re good at what they do, and they’re even better together.  That’s why I like Star Trek too.  But that’s another review.

At the end of each book, Morris includes an author’s note about the Arthurian legends he drew on for his story.  Terence is original, but many of the other characters and plot elements come from older tales.  Some are familiar, and others are very surprising–especially some of those more absurd ones.

And if you’re wondering where the Green Knight is…that’s the second book in the series.  And another review.  🙂

Saturday Snapshot: Thanksgiving Trees

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot9 Comments

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I took a walk around my neighborhood on Thanksgiving, to enjoy the fall colors.  I tried getting pictures a few weeks ago, but now the trees have finally changed in earnest.  Here are a few of the most colorful!

Visit At Home with Books for more Saturday Snapshots.  Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

NaNoWriMo Day 23: Good But Odd

On By cherylmahoneyIn NaNoWriMo3 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving!  I am thankful that I get to spend lots of time this week with family and friends, I got to eat turkey and pumpkin pie, and I’ve still been finding time to keep up with NaNo.

As I told everyone who asked at Thanksgiving dinner, NaNo is going well, but oddly.  As I thought might happen, I got stuck on the novel.  Not in the way I feared though–I was afraid I’d run out of ideas.  Instead, I have, in a way, too many ideas.  As I mentioned, plot bunnies are multiplying and I don’t know yet how to fit them together, or how it’s all going to fit with the characters.  I could push ahead, but I’m afraid I’ll end up in a corner or just heading down a wrong path and have to throw a lot out.  It feels like the story needs to percolate a bit.

Obviously, NaNo is not designed for that kind of time.  So I’m putting the novel aside for the moment, at 34,000 words so far this month, and working on a short story instead.  I’m counting it all towards the total–because it is writing in November.  It’s even set in the same world as the novel, but with different characters.

The short story focuses on the main characters of my other current novel project.  It’s convenient writing a novel about a wandering adventurer–you can always do a short story about another adventure.  And if I end up publishing the novel on Amazon, I’ll be able to use the story in various ways for promotion.

For the moment, here’s an excerpt.  Jasper, Julie and Tom (a talking cat), who generally wander about having adventures, have decided to spend the night at an empty castle.  It appears to be Sleeping Beauty’s tower, after Sleeping Beauty has awoken and left–there’s even a broken spinning wheel.  Unfortunately, the curse isn’t quite as dormant as they might hope…

           The first Jasper realized something was wrong was when he heard a sound like thousands of branches thrashing together in a high wind.  The problem was that there was hardly any wind.

            The sound was coming from the direction of the castle—and he would have guessed that as the source of any problem anyway.  He started back that way, string of three birds slung over one shoulder.  At first he was moving at a fast walk, but as the sound continued, he was quickly at a run.

            He broke out of the trees into the clearing around the castle and came to a horrified halt.

            “Didn’t I tell you not to touch any spindles?” he yelled, futilely. Continue reading “NaNoWriMo Day 23: Good But Odd” →