Category: Reviews

Book Review: Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Young AdultLeave a comment

I picked up Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis because it had the most fascinating sounding premise: every time Nolan closes his eyes, even to blink, his consciousness flashes to another body in another world.  Which makes life for him extremely challenging!

Nolan is a teenage boy living in our own world, but every time his eyes close, he’s in the body of Amara, a teenage girl who lives in a very different world full of magic and danger.  Amara and her companions are on the run from hostile magicians, guarding the princess of a deposed monarchy.  Princess Cilla is cursed: if she bleeds even a drop, the blood triggers the curse and the world–rocks, grass, anything nearby–will attack her.  Amara has the ability to heal herself, so it’s her job to take the brunt of the attack until the magic loses track of Cilla’s blood, distracted by Amara’s.  So not only is Nolan dealing with distracting flashes of another life, it’s often a very painful life.  Amara doesn’t know anything about him…until he discovers a way to take control. Continue reading “Book Review: Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis” →

Book Review: The Door in the Wall

On By cherylmahoneyIn Historical Fiction, Juvenile, Reviews2 Comments

I picked out The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli from the list of Newbery Medal winners because I wasn’t sure if I had read it before or not. It turns out the answer is no, as all I could remember of the book I thought it might be was that it involved canal boats—which don’t appear here at all. But now I have another one to check off my list!

The door of the title is much more symbolic than literal—when life presents a wall, keep looking until you find a door. Ten-year-old Robin is facing a wall with a vengeance. The son of a knight during the reign of Richard II, Robin was always meant to follow his father’s footsteps—until he’s struck by an illness that leaves him unable to use his legs. His father is on campaign, his mother is away with the queen and so Robin is taken in by the nearby religious order.  He’s cared for by Brother Luke who also offers philosophy about doors and walls. Robin eventually goes to a new guardian, a friend of his father’s, but still must find his proper role in his changed life.

This is a rather charming picture of medieval England…which is both the strength and the weakness of the book. Because it’s pleasant to read, and I like charming books. But I strongly suspect that the Middle Ages were not actually a charming time period, especially if you had the misfortune to be crippled! Continue reading “Book Review: The Door in the Wall” →

Book Review: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Ruminations, Young AdultLeave a comment

I want to start this review by saying how much I respect Scott Westerfeld as an author, due to his Uglies quartet.  That respect is why I kept reading his Afterworlds.  I still respect him…but Afterworlds was very disappointing.

The premise seemed appealing, two alternating storylines.  One is about Darcy, a new author, alternating each chapter with Darcy’s novel.  Cool idea!  However…

The book irritated me right out of the gate.  Darcy Patel is eighteen and wrote her entire novel during NaNoWriMo (not identified by name, but she wrote it all during November, so…), with no clarity on whether she’d written anything previously.  With minimal or no revisions, she promptly got an agent, sold her book to a publisher for a three-hundred thousand dollar advancement and a two book contract.  Which just does not happen.  Okay, maybe it does, but it’s about as likely as winning the lottery.  And the only author I’ve ever heard of it being that easy for was Edgar Rice Burroughs, ’round about 1910.

It doesn’t get better on that front.  Darcy moves to New York (because, of course), gets an apartment on her own in Manhattan and is adored by all the other writers.  She also gets an immediate new best friend who promptly and with no effort or angst from Darcy morphs into an awesome and incredibly understanding girlfriend.  And we are right smack in one of my pet peeves, the Too Beloved Heroine.  Because…really?

One of the best things in Darcy’s plotline, honestly, was when one of Darcy’s friends describes something as “nervous-making,” slang from the Uglies series that has crept into my brain.  Seeing it in a Westerfeld book made me happy.  Not a whole lot else in here did.

While everyone tells Darcy how wonderful her book is, I’m actually reading it in alternate chapters and…it’s just not that good.  Lizzie survives a terrorist attack and, in the midst of this near-death experience, accesses the underworld and meets Yamaraj, a sort of Hindu death god but not.  Ish.  We then fall smack into another pet peeve, Instaromance!  Because despite being midway through a terrorist attack and a near-death experience, Lizzie manages to describe Yamaraj as “beautiful” three times (that exact word) in his first five pages.  And it all just sort of goes from there. Continue reading “Book Review: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld” →

Book Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science FictionLeave a comment

One of my reading goals for the year is to read more books involving parallel universes. I don’t mean books set entirely in an alternate Earth, but ones that actually deal in some way with multiple universes, or multiple paths someone’s life could take. I kicked off with one that explored exactly that second option: Pivot Point by Kasie West.

Seventeen-year-old Addison lives in a secret community where everyone has heightened mental abilities—one special, registered Talent, like telekinesis, mood-enhancement, or lie-detection. Addie’s best friend Leila can erase people’s memories. Addie has a rare form of clairvoyance: when she’s faced with a choice, she can perform a Search, to see how her life would turn out (for a chosen length of time) if she makes each choice. At the beginning of the book, she’s faced with the news that her parents are divorcing; almost as shocking, her father plans to leave the secret community to live among the Normals. Addie must choose which parent to live with, and performs a Search to see what her life would be like for the next month if she makes each choice. The bulk of the book is alternating chapters as Addie lives out each path—until she has to choose which one to make real.

I loved the parallel-lives-ness of this book. It was so fun to see events play out in different ways because of Addie’s choice, especially when the two paths overlap. Other people are still doing the same things on the edges of Addie’s life, so the larger world follows the same trajectory, but Addie’s position in events changes…and so, some key things turn out differently. Continue reading “Book Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West” →

Book Review: The Grey King by Susan Cooper

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, ReviewsLeave a comment

Reading down my list of Newbery Medal winners, I liked the sound of The Grey King by Susan Cooper. If I had realized it was part (Book Four) of her Dark Is Rising series, I might not have. However, by the time I realized that I had the audiobook sitting in my car and nothing else to listen to, so away we went. And it wasn’t terrible. But I wouldn’t have given it any awards either.

I’d read The Dark Is Rising (which, oddly, is Book Two…) and I didn’t like it much. I didn’t hate it, but I found the conflict strangely dull and the climax totally flat. Which is kind of how The Grey King turned out too. I looked up plots of all the books, to make sure I actually could start in on Book Four, and I think I pretty much could…so in a way this was a lucky mistake, since I didn’t waste time on the others.

The book centers around Will Stanton, age 11 but also the youngest of the Old Ones, ancient magical beings locked in a struggle between the Light and the Dark. The Grey King opens with Will recovering from a serious illness, and so sent off to his uncle’s farm in Wales to recover. There, he realizes he is entering the territory of the Grey King, a powerful figure of the Dark. With the help of Bran, a local boy who may have his own mythical connections, Will goes on a quest to wake the Sleepers, fighting the Grey King and his pawn, bad-tempered farmer Caradog Pritchard. Continue reading “Book Review: The Grey King by Susan Cooper” →