Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Plot: While ferrying a plane through France, ATA pilot and amateur poet Rose Justice is captured by Nazis. She is sent to the notorious women’s concentration camp known as Ravensbruck along with some French political prisoners. In the camp she is subject to torture, deprivation and random cruelty but manages to hold on to hope through the friendship and loyalty of her fellow prisoners. But will she be able to bear witness to the horrors of Ravensbruck and find justice for her fallen friends?

This review was based on an ARC received at BEA 2013.

Rose Under Fire is a companion book to last year’s amazing Code Name Verity. Maddie, from the first book, appears, there are more brave female pilots and it takes place during WWII but otherwise it is a completely different book. It is just as good – though perhaps more troubling – but very different. (But if I had to pick a favorite, I would have to reluctantly say Code Name Verity… a well written unreliable narrator gets me every time.)

Rose narrates the story. The first two sections, covering the time before and during her incarceration, are written in diary style while the third, covering the trials is a newspaper article. This gives an uncomfortable proximity to the events, one that I think is absolutely necessary for this kind of narrative. But Rose is a poet, as well as a pilot, and the novel is also full of her poetry. Some are beautiful, terrible poems about life in the camp and others are simple, painfully nostalgic rhymes about home. Though her story is fictional, Rose voice is authentic and her circumstances real and carefully researched.

The simple, matter of fact (and sometimes even funny) way that Rose describes the atrocities of Ravensbruck (the hunger, the violence, the hopelessness, the death), makes them, if anything, more horrifying. “Though I don’t know,” she says of one of her first friends in the camp, “if her hair ever grew back before they gassed her” (p 121). But it was the plight of the Rabbits, young Polish girls subjected to barbaric medical experiments, turned my stomach. These are images that will stick with me for a long, long time. For though the angry, sometimes nasty young Roza and sweet, artistic Karolina are fictional, the book pays tribute to the real Rabbits who were tortured at Ravensbruck: their names are printed in the background of the title page.

There are so many memorable characters in this book, I couldn’t do them justice. All are complex and even the best of them are forced to do things that we would consider uncivilized or unforgivable in order to survive. Would you be able to prop up the corpses of your fallen friends in order to fool the SS guards counting you? They are also capable of surprising acts of loyalty and generosity… even characters that should be enemies. Rose is a brave, intelligent young woman but her survival is not entirely due to courage. Some of it stubbornness and some is what Wein poetically calls “controlled flight into terrain”: she simply has no other choice but to fly blindly into danger.

This is not an easy book but it is well worth it the pain.

Rose Under Fire will be released in September 2013 and contains an ample bibliography for those who want to learn more about the horrors of Ravensbruck.

2013 (#)

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Plot:Ronan has many secrets, from others, from himself and some he isn’t even aware of. The strangest and most dangerous of his secrets is his ability to take things out of his dreams. Others covet this power and are willing to go to great lengths to obtain it, even murder. He will have to master his dreams in order to solve the mysteries surrounding his father’s death and aid his friends in their search for a long dead Welsh king.

This review was based on an ARC received at BEA 2013.

If you haven’t read the first book in The Raven Cycle, The Raven Boys, go do that now. I’ll wait.

Done? Good. …I feel like I’ve done this gag before. Oh well, the point is that I love this series more than I can express in words. You could have pried the ARC of The Dream Thieves from my cold dead hands. It has everything I could want in a book: complex, quirky characters, witty dialogue, magical mysteries, life or death situations (including lots of exciting street racing!) and heartbreaking romance. I L.O.V.E. it. One of my favorite fantasy YA series out there, bar none.

If The Raven Boys was about Gansey’s obsessive quest for a lost Welsh king (a storyline that has not been completely abandoned, fear not), The Dream Thieves is about the wild, mysterious Ronan and his many secrets. First among these is his strange power to bring things back from dreams, but this is not his only secret, and far from the most shocking. I’ll let you discover them along with Ronan; it’s a wild ride. Meanwhile Adam is dealing with the terrible choice he made at the end of the last book and Blue is struggling with her feelings for the boys, never able to forget that if she kisses her true love, he will die. There are a lot of hurt feelings and life-altering decisions. And I’d like to say that all turns out well in the end but that remains to be seen. (Noah has a rather small role in this book but I need to mention him because I love him and he has the most adorable scene with Blue halfway through the book.)

There are also a few new characters. Kavinsky is the main antagonist: he is all of Ronan’s crazy, dangerous impulses taken to the extreme. He is what Ronan might have become without Gansey, I suspect, and they are alike in some surprising ways. But most interesting to me is the enigmatic and surprisingly sympathetic hit man known simply as Mr. Gray. He is pragmatic and very good at what he does. And he does some truly terrible things, without apology. But Stiefvater gives him a few human touches, a moral compass of sorts and a tragic past. I couldn’t help but like him.

Meanwhile Stiefvater’s use of language is so unique and beautiful, I kept reading sections aloud to the nearest victim… I mean friend! My boyfriend probably thinks he’s read it at this point and my copy of the book is full of post-it notes. Here are a few random examples that caught my eye:

Blue was a fanciful but sensible thing, like a platypus, or one of those sandwiches that had been cut into circles for a fancy tea party. (p. 78)

He was polite like tentacles were polite, testing the surface carefully, checking to see how it reacted to his presence. (p. 204)

Once he had been stabbed with a screwdriver – Phillips head, bright blue handle – and falling in love with Maura Sargent was exactly the same. (p 290)

When I read Stiefvater’s books, I’m reminded that writing can be a beautiful craft. I can imagine her choosing every word with care for maximum impact.

I also need to take a moment to talk about this gorgeous cover. The raven on the first volume was magnificent but Ronan on this cover is perfectly captured and he takes my breath away. Could I get this for my wall please?

The Dream Thieves comes out on September 17th 2013. And as with the first book, Stiefvater has left me desperate for more.

2013 (#)

Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund

Plot: When revolutionaries overthrew the queen of Galatea, they promised a more egalitarian society. Instead they have been imprisoning former nobles and using a new pill to render them mindless. Their efforts are constantly being thwarted by the daring and aristocratic spy, the White Poppy. Little do they know that the notorious spy is the young socialite Persis Blake, a girl who appears to care more about clothes than politics. But her mission and her secret identity are put in jeopardy when she begins to fall for the enemy. 

This review was based on an ARC received at BEA 2013.

I was so excited about this book. It takes place in the same universe as For Darkness Shows the Stars, which was one of my favorite books of 2012. Last year’s novel was a sci-fi reinterpretation of Persuasion; Across a Star-Swept Sea is a gender swapped Scarlet Pimpernel, a story that I don’t know as well but you cannot go wrong with a Reign of Terror and a daredevil spy. Throw in some amazing characters, medical ethics, politics and romance and I was completely riveted.

Persis is an amazing character. She is brilliant – the novel begins with an assignment she wrote for school – politically motivated, adventurous and a skilled liar. Her motivations are complex and the decisions she has to make are hard. Fortunately she has surrounded herself with skilled, intelligent friends. Meanwhile Justen is the perfect match for her: intelligent and socially conscious but also tormented by a discovery that he made that changed the world (I was reminded of Einstein and the atomic bomb). The whole takes place on a pair of beautiful, artificial, Polynesian islands and is filled to the brim with undercover missions and dangerous rescues. The novel also ponders the ethics of genetic manipulation and cycles of revenge and it is peppered with references to classic literature that will put a grin on any book nerd’s face. I loved it. There is no more to it than that.

Fans of For Darkness Shows the Stars will be happy to know that Elliot, Kai and their friends make an appearance towards the end of the novel.

Across a Star-Swept Sea is due out in October and I highly recommend you buy it. Meanwhile the only thing that I want to know is this: Will there be another novel in this universe and when can I read it?

2013 (#)

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Plot: Seraphina’s country has been at peace with the dragons for a long time but the tensions between humans and dragons persist. When a member of the royal family is murdered, suspicion falls on a dragon and the treaty seems in danger of failing. This is of particular concern to Seraphina who has a dangerous secret: she is the forbidden offspring of a human and a dragon. She teams up with the captain of the guard, a prince with a controversial parentage of his own, in order to find the murderer, save the royal family and the draconian envoy and preserve the peace.

This is a near perfect debut novel. The writing is elegant, the characters multifaceted and interesting, the world building is meticulous and the plot – mixing fantasy, politics and mystery – is enthralling. I honestly have nothing but praise for this novel.

Hartman’s dragons are fascinating: powerful, intelligent creatures who worship mathematics and can take on human form. There is also a certain Vulcan aspect to them in their strict control of emotions, and in their occasional failure to control them. They are, hilariously and accurately, referred to as “feral file clerks”. And they live in a complex world with realistic religions, divergent political factions, philosophies, literature, music and history. Hartman’s fantasy world is immersive and fully realized. It feels like a real place, one that I didn’t want to leave.

The human – and half human – characters are as interesting as the dragons. Seraphina and Prince Lucius carry the story. Seraphina is a musical genius, forced to be withdrawn, cold and a bit loose with the truth because of her secret. She is fascinating and likable. Lucian meanwhile is honest to a fault, just, erudite and with an insatiable curiosity. Their romance is subtle, touching and based on mutual respect. It is also tragic both because of Seraphina’s secret and the prince’s engagement. Princess Glisselda could have been vapid and selfish, like many fictional princesses before her. Instead she is, admittedly, slightly frivolous and prejudiced but also intelligent, friendly, and imbued with a great deal of authority for her age. I honestly could spend all day describing the various characters – from Seraphina’s music master Viridius to the clumsy young dragon Basind – because they were all, even minor thugs and guards, memorable in some way with motivations and history all their own. That is amazing to me.

The various threads of the plot – the mystery of the murdered prince, Seraphina’s exploration of her heritage, the preparations for the dragon general’s visit and the plot to sabotage the treaty with the dragon – are each interesting in their own right and weave together to create a complex and fascinating whole.

Seraphina comes to a satisfying conclusion and can stand on it’s own but I was thrilled to learn that there will be a sequel. Shadowscale is due out in February 2014 and concerns Seraphina’s search for other half-breeds like herself. I cannot wait. I predict that Hartman will be a huge name in YA.

2013 (#)

Holes by Louis Sachar

Plot: Stanley Yelnats has been accused of a crime he didn’t commit – he blames the curse inherited from his no-good-dirty-pig-stealing great-great-grand-father – and is sent to a boy’s detention center at Camp Green Lake. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake, only poisonous creatures and holes, countless holes. Every day each of the boys must dig a hole exactly 5 feet wide and 5 feet deep. Stanley soon begins to suspect that the digging is more than a punishment, that the warden is looking for something and he is determined to find it first.

It’s hard to believe that someone could write a thoughtful, engaging and funny novel about digging holes in the desert but Sachar has more than succeeded. I had so much fun reading this novel.

The characters really bring the story together, each is more quirky than the last: from the seed chewing Mr. Sir to Stanley’s shoe recycling father and all the detained boys in between. Some like the warden and Mr. Sir seem one-dimentionally villainous at first but even they have intriguing – if nasty – facets to them. Most interesting to me was Zero, one of the other “campers”, who speaks little and who is assumed to be stupid – and treated as such – but who becomes Stanley’s closest friend and ally. He has a tragic past and surprising courage. Stanley, meanwhile, grows a great deal over the course of the novel: he finds strength, confidence and beats the curse that has weighed on his family for generations.

Weaved deftly into the narrative are the fascinating stories of Stanley’s no-good-dirty-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather (that is just so much fun to say ), his unlucky great-grand-father and the tragic female bandit Kissing Kate Barlow. The ways in which these stories tie in with the present day narrative have something of destiny about them; they also offer a satisfying sense of redemption and justice.

The short chapters and the dark humour makes this great for reluctant readers but there is something for everyone to enjoy, and to think about.

Holes was made into a movie in 2003. I haven’t seen it yet so I can’t comment on the adaptation but you can watch the trailer below :

2013 (#)

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Plot: Jonas lives in a perfectly ordered society. Everyone knows the rules and their place in the world. But when Jonas turns twelve, he is not given an assignment like the other new twelves: instead he is singled out to become the new Receiver of Memory. It will be his job to hold all the memories, feelings and experiences that the community has sacrificed in the pursuit of peace and harmony. But learning the truth will force Jonas to confront all he was raised to believe.

I don’t know how I’ve gone this long without reading this YA classic. I’m probably not the first person who has told you this, but you should read Lowry’s novel if you have any interest in utopia stories. It is a wonderful example of good intentions creating a terrible authoritarian regime. And Lowry makes it feel real, like it could happen.

The chapters are quick and the story engaging (though not action-packed in the way people have come to expect of distopian YA). I found myself frantically turning pages, reeling with every reveal along with Jonas. The dawning understanding of how the community literally sees the world was a shock to me, though not the worst one. Watching Jonas learn and struggle with new truths is the real interest of the book.

The ending is a little open; some might be unsatisfied with this but it suits the book. Lowry doesn’t give any easy answers. She doesn’t tell us whether Jonas made the right choice, between peace and freedom, but allows us to come to our own conclusion. But for those who want to discover Jonas’ fate, there is hope, however: Lowry has written three companion novels, Gathering Blue, Messenger and Son.

2013 (#)

Comics and manga of the week (91 & 92)

Billy Bat, volume 6 (French) by Naoki Urasawa

Comic artist Kevin Yamagata finally meets Lee Harvey Oswald, who has been haunting his visions. Someone is after both men and it is hinted that Kevin’s death could trigger the end of the world. We also meet a new character visited by the mysterious bat. With every volume the stakes in Urasawa’s strange suspense series rise. I never know what to expect. I can just keep reading. Urasawa may be a genius.

La Corda d‘Oro, volume 17 by Yuki Kure

• This volume marks the end of Kure’s sweet, though not particularly innovative, musically-themed harem series. Kahoko continues to struggle with her violin skills – or lack thereof – with her characteristic perseverance while the boys must make serious decisions about their futures. She also finally comes to understand her feelings for the cold violin prodigy, Len. The conclusion to their romance doesn’t feel very satisfying but maybe I’m just bitter because Kazuki was my favorite of the boys. He doesn’t get enough love. My taste in boys aside, it is a nice ending to a pleasant series.

Jepp, who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh

Plot: When Jepp leaves to become court dwarf to the Spanish Infanta, he is promised luxury and position. He does not expect the indignities and injustices he faces. But it is the pain suffered by the beautiful dwarf Lia that drives him to escape… and leads him, in chains, to Uranisburg where his new master, Tycho Brahe, studies the mysteries of the stars. Meanwhile Jepp struggles to discover his origins and change his fate.

This is a touching and beautiful tale about identity, fate, free will, dignity and science (as a side note, I love that Marsh is true to the science of the period and never tries to impose present knowledge on it). The tale is eloquently narrated by Jepp himself. I was drawn in by the first simple but evocative lines: “Being a court dwarf is no easy task. I know because I failed at it.” And I never lost my interest.

As Marsh explains in her afterword, this story is inspired by actual people and events and by paintings of court dwarves such as Las Meninas. She takes the figure of Jepp, a simple dwarf jester serving the Danish astrologer Tycho Brahe, and turns him into an intelligent and complex character struggling against fate and prejudice.

There is also a beautiful love story. But not the one you might expect. Jepp loves two women in this book. The first, the lovely Lia, is his equal in height and his companion in his luxurious prison. But it is Magdalena, who his equal in intelligence and shares his troubled origins, that is the truly interesting one. Jepp can`t stand her at first but watching their friendship and then love blossom was a beautiful thing.

I found the ending a bit sappy and convenient but then I’m told that I’m not happy unless the author tears my heart out at the end. I think a lot of people will be satisfied with the way Jepp makes his own fate with the woman he has come to love.

A wonderful and unique historical novel. Highly recommended.

2013 (#4)

The Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson

Plot: In the midst of the American revolution, Octavian has escaped his masters and fled to British-occupied Boston. The city is under siege but Lord Dunmore has promised freedom to all slaves that join with him against the rebels. Octavian enlists in The Royal Ethiopian Regiment but he is not prepared for the horrors of war.

The Kingdom on the Waves is the second volume in The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation. The first book, The Pox Party, about a young slave boy raised like a European prince in a sick experiment, absolutely destroyed me. It shook me to my core. The second volume was as painful and thoughtful.

This novel, like the first in the series, is written in a series of diary entries, letters and proclamations (some of them real). Anderson perfectly captures the voices of the characters, their ways of speaking and seeing the world, and his writing is exquisite. His 18th century America felt so real, it was like being there. Which wasn’t always a comfortable feeling.

This is not a story about the glory of war. There is nothing glorious about the conditions that the Royal Ethiopians live and die in. They are hounded by the rebels, trapped on ships, riddled with disease and mistreated by both sides of the war. But their anger, their grief and their striving for freedom and a better life really touched me. It is all the worse for knowing that we once treated people like this.

This is a YA book but Anderson never talks down to his audience. His book is incredibly smart, full of references to classic litterature and philosophical reflections. He makes us consider the nature of liberty, of war, of altruism and of identity. Though his characters have many reasons to despair and to lose faith in the goodness of man, the book ends with a measure of hope.

This series is a must read for all fans of historical fiction. It is gripping and eye-opening.

2012 (#117)

The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

Plot: Just a few weeks ago, Rory was stabbed and nearly killed by a Jack the Ripper copycat. Her therapist is disappointed with her unwillingness to talk about the incident but how can Rory admit that she sees ghosts and that the Ripper was one of them? She only wants to go back to school and her normal life. But her life is anything but normal: her confrontation with the Ripper seems to have woken the disturbed ghosts of an insane asylum and the killings have begun again.

This review is based on a review copy received through Netgalley.

When I received my review copy, my squee could be heard three metro stations away. I LOVED The Name of the Star and I’ve been eagerly awaiting this sequel for the past year. I sped through it and am now left desperate for the third book.

The theme of this novel is, as the title suggests, madness. Rory is in therapy, dealing with her near death experience. Her progress isn’t aided by truths that she could never admit to a therapists, including ghosts and secret government agencies. Insane Bedlam ghosts are haunting the area around her school and a new therapist, who seems too good to be true, has entered her life. Meanwhile her school life and her relationships are falling apart around her. Worse, she has developed a new power that allows her to destroy ghosts with a touch and many covet this power, for good or for ill. To sum up: Rory’s life sucks. With ghosts.

Rory is a great character, which is fortunate because though there are other characters, they don’t get nearly as much screen time as in the first book. (Alistair I miss you!) There is more than a bit of Johnson in Rory’s sense of humour, her love of talking and her quirky observations. And though Rory is far from fearless, she is certainly determined: once she gets an idea in her head, even if she knows that it is a terrible idea, she cannot let it go. (In fact she tells a wonderful story about this in one of the early chapters, I won’t spoil it.) It gets her into a lot of trouble but it certainly makes for an exciting read!

There are murders and mystery and Johnson continues to explore the haunted history of London but this book is not nearly as eerie as the first book in the series. At first. I think this is because Rory is in no immediate danger. The focus is on Rory’s internal struggles and on her search for her place in the world. Then, in the last third of the novel, the proverbial shit hits the fan and the pace really picks up. Rory must make some hard choices that will change her life and the lives of those she cares about. The ending was perfect and it nearly destroyed me. I never thought the phrase “In the end, we took a vote” could make me as upset as it did. Maureen Johnson, you have ruined the democratic process for me!

To be perfectly honest, I liked The Name of the Star slightly more than The Madness Underneath, though the second book affected me more emotionally in the end and it sets the stage for an amazing finale.

The Madness Underneath is the second book in Johnson’s Shades of London series and it will be released in February 2013.

2012 (#111)