The Pillars of the Earth
The Kingsbridge series, Book 1
Ken Follett
Penguin
Fiction, Historical Fiction
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: England in the twelfth century is a land in the midst of turmoil. Ever since the infamous storm that sank the White Ship and, with it, a vast swath of royal heirs, the line of succession has been muddied - a power struggle that explodes when King Henry dies in a hunting accident in Normandy. The people need their faith more than ever: the commoners to keep their spirits alight in the grimmest times, and the nobility to legitimize their rule. But too often the men of God covet earthly power, and the men of royalty forget their spiritual obligations. When the tainted words of three powerful men lead to an innocent man's hanging, his wild golden-eyed lover casts a curse in blood at the liars' feet. Even she does not suspect just how long it will take the curse to come to fruition, and the many lives it will touch through the decades...
Tom Builder was supporting his family by building a new home for the young nobleman William Hamleigh to begin his married life. It's steady work in trying times, though he would much rather work on something bigger, something grander: a cathedral, the ultimate test of a mason's skills. Then his job is abruptly canceled when William's intended - Lady Aliena, daughter of the Earl of Shiring - calls off their wedding. With his wife, teen son, and young daughter in tow, Tom sets off in search of work, all the while harboring his secret dream, but few people are hiring builders in these times, and before long the Builder family is starving. After great tragedy and many twists of fate, Tom finds himself in Kingsbridge, a small town with a run-down monastery and a sagging old church that has seen better days. This could be his chance to make his mark and leave a legacy for generations, rebuilding the dank Kingsbridge chapel into a true monument to the glory of God, a job that could last decades and see his family well provided for... if only he can convince the new prior.
Philip came to the church as a young boy, after he watched bloodthirsty soldiers butcher his peasant parents and almost kill himself and his brother, only to be stopped by an abbot with nothing but the word of God on his lips. From that moment on, he devoted himself to his faith, becoming the leader of a small monastery in the English countryside, while his brother Francis went into a more interesting and dangerous line of work as a spy for the royal crown. When Francis asks Philip to intervene in a possible rebel plot, the faithful man becomes entangled with the scheming arch-deacon Waleran. The relationship leads to Philip's rise to the priory of Kingsbridge... but the monastery was depleted by its former leader, and the humble new prior has his work cut out for him winning over the apathetic and hostile monks and restoring its fortunes. Perhaps the worst affront to his faith is the state of the church. It should be a place of light and grandeur, drawing the faithful from miles around, not dank and dark and fallen half to ruin and neglect. When providence sends a master builder to him, it seems a sign from God Himself... but there will be many challenges ahead, not just for Philip and Tom but for Kingsbridge and the whole of England.
REVIEW: This classic hardly needs an introduction, an epic historical fiction spanning decades (and, in later volumes, centuries). I enjoy sinking into a nice, thick epic fantasy, and there would seem to be quite a bit of overlap. But for some reason, I often felt like I was being kept at arm's length, and despite several interesting moments and characters that almost intrigued me, I often struggled to pick it back up after I set it down.
Replete with details of life in medieval England, Follett does a solid job establishing the setting, as well as the incredible amount of labor that went into the construction of a Gothic cathedral, the work of decades or even generations. The people are of their time and world... but they also, unfortunately, sometimes feel flat. There is a clear split between the villains and the heroes, those who abuse their power and faith for personal gain and those who hold true to their values, and it's fairly clear who will turn out to be a traitor (to the reader, if not the people in the story). The villains are so repulsively monstrous or glaringly devious it was hard to read their sections of the story; yes, I understand, people can be terrible to other people, especially nobles flaunting their essentially unfettered power over their subjects, but at some point the rapes and dehumanizing tortures and humiliations just go over the top, making me reluctant to pick the book back up when I got to their chapters. On the other hand, some characters who are set up to be intriguing fade to nothing but background names, or are written off in time jumps between sections, making me wonder why they had been introduced to begin with. The writing style also grated on me at times; Follett tends to flat-out explain things that should've been clear from a character's words and actions, stating to the reader that "he was angry" or "she was scared", summarizing their thoughts and experiences and even repeating things unnecessarily. This contributed to a sense of bloat and meandering, though when the story moves forward, it could be exciting, and there were moments of beauty and heartbreak along the way. The final parts bookend the opening scene nicely, but it lacked some impact for me as I never really immersed myself in the story as I'd hoped to.
In the end, while I can see why many people praise this book, The Pillars of the Earth just was not for me, and I doubt I'll read more in the series.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Grimpow: The Invisible Road (Rafael Ábalos) - My Review
Between Two Fires (Christopher Buehlman) - My Review
Terry Jones' Medieval Lives (Terry Jones and Alan Ereira) - My Review
Showing posts with label historical fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical fiction. Show all posts
Monday, January 5, 2026
Friday, November 21, 2025
The Shabti (Megaera C. Lorenz)
The Shabti
Megaera C. Lorenz
CamCat
Fiction, Fantasy/Historical Fiction/Thriller
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Once, Dashiel Quicke made a killing on the spiritualist circuit, bilking gullible believers out of their money by faking seances and communications with the dead. Now, he has dedicated himself to exposing them as the frauds they are, baring their secrets and swindles to the public. It's a hard way to scrape by in 1934, far less lucrative than his old career, but at least he can try assuaging his conscience, and if he can keep one person from falling for the lies of the spiritualist movement sweeping America, surely that's worth the worn-out shoes and patched clothes. Then Dashiel is approached after a lecture by Hermann Goschalk, and everything changes.
Hermann is an Egyptologist at a local university, and has been experiencing some unusual problems with his collection of artifacts: objects moving when nobody's around, strange sounds in the dark, and more. He begs Dashiel for help in figuring out what's really going on, because the logical (if eccentric) professor is almost on the verge of believing in ghosts. Dashiel agrees to take a look, certain that it's either a case of overactive imagination or one of the many common, if convincing, tricks of his former colleagues. Instead, the former con man finds himself up against something he can't explain away with hidden wires or sleight of hand - just as an all-too-human specter from his old life catches up to him, threatening both Dashiel and the professor he has come to care for as more than a mere client.
REVIEW: I went into this book relatively blind, knowing nothing more than the blurb and the fact that the audiobook runtime filled an empty slot in my listening rotation for the week. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to discover an intriguing, noir-tinged tale set in the Great Depression, exploring the elaborate deceptions of the spiritualists of the time, a smattering of ancient Egyptian archaeology, the closeted-in-public life of early 20th century queer Americans, and (hardly a spoiler) what happens when a real spirit enters the mix.
Dashiel is a man wounded in many ways, from a limp due to a bullet wound (not from war, but an old colleague turned enemy) to the indelible stain on his soul from the many lives he ruined and fortunes he squandered peddling false hope to desperate believers as a "spiritualist". His efforts to expose the mediums and gurus for the frauds they are through a series of talks across the country hardly makes a dent in the number of practitioners and believers, though it has made some very bitter enemies out of former associates. Hermann starts out as a simple object lesson, a "mark" he uses in his lecture to make a point about how spiritualists seem to know impossible things about clients. He is surprised, therefore, when the mild-mannered professor approaches him after the lecture and asks for help debunking the idea of haunted artifacts in his own collection. Even this early, Dashiel senses potential entanglements that he'd rather avoid, even though he eventually agrees to investigate... but his initial mundane "diagnosis" proves woefully inaccurate. Meanwhile, sparks fly between the former con artist and the rattled Egyptologist, a Jewish man who never outright speaks his orientation (neither does Dashiel) but never denies the growing attraction and feelings. Dashiel, for his part, tries to resist, convinced he's a bad luck penny who will curse anyone whose pocket he lingers in, yet unable to help himself from trying to fix Hermann's problem - even when it's clear that the problem is far beyond his area of purported expertise. When Dashiel's past catches up to him in the form of a former abusive lover, he's certain he's doomed Hermann, whose only crime is daring to care about him, but be damned if he'll see the man suffer for his sins, not without a fight... nor is Hermann, despite his outwardly innocent and harmless appearance, about to give up so easily, even when Dashiel doubts his own self-worth.
The tale moves fairly well, weaving in various characters and escalating both the haunting and the romance, as well as the growing sense of inevitable dread as the various threads of Dashiel's past and present come together, a forced reckoning with his own past and the motivations that first drove him into the spiritualism movement/con and out of it. The final leg of the story feels stretched, first when Dashiel is being toyed with by his ex and later when exploring the grand spectacle of early 20th century spirituality, a level of theater and sophistication that can cause many otherwise intelligent and rational people to fall under the sway of a charlatan; Dashiel himself does not truly condemn his former victims as simpletons, knowing from behind the scenes how ruthlessly a con can pursue a mark, how effectively they employ psychology and suggestion to exploit the same flaws in the human mind that have always and will always be vulnerable to manipulation by bad actors. I found the wrap-up satisfying, and couldn't help wondering of Lorenz plans a sequel or series; it feels like there's sufficient meat on the bones established here for one more meal at least.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Diviners (Libba Bray) - My Review
Under the Whispering Door (TJ Klune) - My Review
Even Though I Knew the End (C. L. Polk) - My Review
Megaera C. Lorenz
CamCat
Fiction, Fantasy/Historical Fiction/Thriller
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Once, Dashiel Quicke made a killing on the spiritualist circuit, bilking gullible believers out of their money by faking seances and communications with the dead. Now, he has dedicated himself to exposing them as the frauds they are, baring their secrets and swindles to the public. It's a hard way to scrape by in 1934, far less lucrative than his old career, but at least he can try assuaging his conscience, and if he can keep one person from falling for the lies of the spiritualist movement sweeping America, surely that's worth the worn-out shoes and patched clothes. Then Dashiel is approached after a lecture by Hermann Goschalk, and everything changes.
Hermann is an Egyptologist at a local university, and has been experiencing some unusual problems with his collection of artifacts: objects moving when nobody's around, strange sounds in the dark, and more. He begs Dashiel for help in figuring out what's really going on, because the logical (if eccentric) professor is almost on the verge of believing in ghosts. Dashiel agrees to take a look, certain that it's either a case of overactive imagination or one of the many common, if convincing, tricks of his former colleagues. Instead, the former con man finds himself up against something he can't explain away with hidden wires or sleight of hand - just as an all-too-human specter from his old life catches up to him, threatening both Dashiel and the professor he has come to care for as more than a mere client.
REVIEW: I went into this book relatively blind, knowing nothing more than the blurb and the fact that the audiobook runtime filled an empty slot in my listening rotation for the week. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to discover an intriguing, noir-tinged tale set in the Great Depression, exploring the elaborate deceptions of the spiritualists of the time, a smattering of ancient Egyptian archaeology, the closeted-in-public life of early 20th century queer Americans, and (hardly a spoiler) what happens when a real spirit enters the mix.
Dashiel is a man wounded in many ways, from a limp due to a bullet wound (not from war, but an old colleague turned enemy) to the indelible stain on his soul from the many lives he ruined and fortunes he squandered peddling false hope to desperate believers as a "spiritualist". His efforts to expose the mediums and gurus for the frauds they are through a series of talks across the country hardly makes a dent in the number of practitioners and believers, though it has made some very bitter enemies out of former associates. Hermann starts out as a simple object lesson, a "mark" he uses in his lecture to make a point about how spiritualists seem to know impossible things about clients. He is surprised, therefore, when the mild-mannered professor approaches him after the lecture and asks for help debunking the idea of haunted artifacts in his own collection. Even this early, Dashiel senses potential entanglements that he'd rather avoid, even though he eventually agrees to investigate... but his initial mundane "diagnosis" proves woefully inaccurate. Meanwhile, sparks fly between the former con artist and the rattled Egyptologist, a Jewish man who never outright speaks his orientation (neither does Dashiel) but never denies the growing attraction and feelings. Dashiel, for his part, tries to resist, convinced he's a bad luck penny who will curse anyone whose pocket he lingers in, yet unable to help himself from trying to fix Hermann's problem - even when it's clear that the problem is far beyond his area of purported expertise. When Dashiel's past catches up to him in the form of a former abusive lover, he's certain he's doomed Hermann, whose only crime is daring to care about him, but be damned if he'll see the man suffer for his sins, not without a fight... nor is Hermann, despite his outwardly innocent and harmless appearance, about to give up so easily, even when Dashiel doubts his own self-worth.
The tale moves fairly well, weaving in various characters and escalating both the haunting and the romance, as well as the growing sense of inevitable dread as the various threads of Dashiel's past and present come together, a forced reckoning with his own past and the motivations that first drove him into the spiritualism movement/con and out of it. The final leg of the story feels stretched, first when Dashiel is being toyed with by his ex and later when exploring the grand spectacle of early 20th century spirituality, a level of theater and sophistication that can cause many otherwise intelligent and rational people to fall under the sway of a charlatan; Dashiel himself does not truly condemn his former victims as simpletons, knowing from behind the scenes how ruthlessly a con can pursue a mark, how effectively they employ psychology and suggestion to exploit the same flaws in the human mind that have always and will always be vulnerable to manipulation by bad actors. I found the wrap-up satisfying, and couldn't help wondering of Lorenz plans a sequel or series; it feels like there's sufficient meat on the bones established here for one more meal at least.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Diviners (Libba Bray) - My Review
Under the Whispering Door (TJ Klune) - My Review
Even Though I Knew the End (C. L. Polk) - My Review
Saturday, November 15, 2025
The Lost Ryu (Emi Watanabe Cohen)
The Lost Ryū
Emi Watanabe Cohen
Levine Querido
Fiction, MG Fantasy/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Kohei Fujiwara should not remember the big ryū - the large flying dragons of Japan, who disappeared after the end of World War II - but somehow he does: a clear vision of the creatures marching down the street while a great Western dragon circles overhead. It's a memory that stands out clearly, because it's about the only time he has seen the face of his grandfather Ojiisan without anger clouding his features. The man he knows now is old, bitter, and often drunk, flying into rages and barely speaking two words to the boy, though his daughter, Kohei's mother, keeps trying to insist everything is fine. Maybe it's because old Ojiisan has no little ryū of his own. Most everyone has a tiny dragon companion, like Kohei's own little pink Yuharu, but Ojiisan's ryū is long gone. When his grandfather falls ill and looks to be dying, Kohei is determined to find the lost ryū and bring it home, in the hopes it will heal the bitter old man's heart. Enlisting the aid of his new neighbors, the American-born girl Isolde and her Yiddish-speaking little western dragon Cheshire, Kohei and Yuharu embark on a secret quest... but what they find changes everything Kohei thought he knew about his parents, his grandparents, and his vivid, impossible memory of the last big ryū of Japan.
REVIEW: At first, this looks like a fairly straightforward alternate-historical fiction tale, one set in postwar Japan in a world where little talking dragons are common family companions. Once, the tiny ryū had larger cousins, ones big enough and powerful enough to fly; the household versions may speak and be very intelligent, but they can barely even hover, even in the midst of a rainstorm - water being the source of ryu magic. When the big ryū disappeared in the wake of the "atom dragon" attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it seems that the greater part of Kohei's grandfather's spirit left as well. Now, the old man barely talks except to complain and yell, and it only got worse after Kohei's father drowned while away from home during a typhoon. Kohei understands the value of family and family lore, and he feels keenly the holes in his heart where he should have stories of his parents and grandparents and ancestors beyond, the anger radiating off Ojiisan and the sometimes perfunctory attention from his stressed and grieving mother. He becomes convinced that finding one of the big ryū like the ones he remembers is the key to unlocking the family secrets and his grandfather's withheld affection, but nobody will tell him where they went after the war and why they never returned. Upon learning that the new renters in the family's building are from America, with a western dragon companion, Kohei's hopes rise; his one memory of an American dragon was the great western flier from his memory, and maybe even seeing a big American dragon will be close enough to a flying ryū for his grandfather... only for hope to come crashing down almost immediately. Young Isolde speaks some Japanese, but not much, and her dragon Cheshire is smaller even than little Yuharu, mostly speaking Yiddish (when the shy creature speaks at all). Worse, Isolde carries her own burdens. The two don't get off on the best foot, but they soon become friends through adversity, realizing that the other is their best and/or only hope of getting where they need to be in life. When Ojiisan's health takes a sudden turn, the quest becomes more urgent... and, as the children seek a new ryū for the old man (their next best hope if they can't figure out how to find the missing big ryū), the story takes an interesting turn.
Throughout the tale, language and the words used (or not used) are a theme, particularly the often subtle variants on Japanese phrases and written kanji (there is an afterword that goes into this in more detail). Kohei's mother's favorite phrase tries to tell him everything is fine, a dismissal of adversity, as if broken hearts and broken feelings can be swept away like the shattered glass left by Grandfather's tantrums... a lie Kohei comes to hate. One of the last things his late father told him before disappearing was to never give up and keep trying... though for what the boy doesn't understand at the time. A silver lighter that belongs to his father carries a kanji inscription whose exact meaning has several interpretations, and may not mean what he thinks it means as he struggles to fill in the missing pieces of the family puzzle on his own. And Cheshire's first language, Yiddish, ties into greater themes that become more central to the story, wartime traumas and losses experienced by the parents of a generation that may not have personally suffered the privations and faced the battles of a world war, but are living with the scars and consequences nonetheless, anxieties and lost stories that warp their own young lives. In seeking the big ryū, Kohei is inadvertently kicking over a stone and uncovering all manner of dark, scuttling shadows and truths about his family, his country, and the world at large, making clear much of what confused him. In this, he and Isolde are closer than he ever imagined. Ultimately, the parents who thought they could shelter children from the harsh truths of the past end up doing more harm than good with their silence.
The story sometimes wanders a bit, and there are some elements that emerge out of the blue or are set up to have greater importance than they ultimately do. I also thought there needed to be a little more follow-through and ramifications of an Earth with dragons and hints of magic skewing history just a touch to the side, though I'm likely overthinking the concept. Part of me wonders if Cohen intends a sequel to deal with some blatant loose threads, even if the main plot wraps up here. Overall, though, for an impulse read, I was pleasantly surprised by this unexpected tale.
You Might Also Enjoy:
How to Train Your Dragon (Cressida Cowell) - My Review
Ember and the Ice Dragons (Heather Fawcett) - My Review
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Grace Lin) - My Review
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Fallen Angels (Walter Dean Myers)
Fallen Angels
Walter Dean Myers
Scholastic
Fiction, YA Action/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Perry was never supposed to be in Vietnam at all, let alone on the front lines. He had a bad knee from a basketball injury, and was told that he'd be given a desk job for his year of military service, the Harlem boy's only option when his college prospects fell through. But a paperwork mix-up led to him being sent overseas - for a desk job, he's assured, just until his medical profile catches up to him and he's returned stateside. Yet somehow he finds himself in a "hooch" - barracks - with the rest of the soldiers, issued a weapon, and sent on patrols. Rumors keep insisting that the war's nearly over anyway, so Perry shouldn't see much, if any, action. If that's true, someone forgot to tell the Vietcong...
REVIEW: Another frequently challenged and banned book, Fallen Angels dives straight into the nightmare experience that was Vietnam. For all the talk and propaganda about patriotism and honor and justified force, for those with boots on the ground and blood on their hands, war is hell.
Perry just wanted to go to college and become a writer or even a philosopher, but when college plans fell through, the army seemed like a not-bad option for an income and life experience. He's told, more than once, that his profile will keep him out of harm's way, and learns the hard way that recruiters and superiors sometimes lie, just as countries lie to their own citizens, the first of many harsh lessons. Indeed, Perry ends up learning more about life, death, honor, cowardice, himself, and the world in his tour than he ever imagined, starting the moment he arrives in Vietnam; a fellow green recruit is killed right in front of him before they even reach the barracks, an early warning that death is all around, at all times, and can come for anybody at any time. From this inauspicious start, Perry's experience only gets grimmer. Even his own superiors can be at least as much of a threat as the enemy - and the enemy is often nebulous and seemingly ubiquitous. Efforts to win the favor of a local village by a goodwill visit one day transition almost seamlessly into a firefight in the same village's streets shortly afterwards, a whiplash that borders on the surreal but which is just another day in the madness of the war.
More than once, Perry must ask himself what he's doing here and why he's fighting; the answers he comes up with never seem adequate to justify the horrors he sees and the death he deals to total strangers. His bonds with his bunkmates keep him sane, if just barely at times, bonds that don't spare the rough, dark humor and crudity of soldiers in high-stress situations. None of them are perfect men, and none are any more guaranteed survival than Perry himself is, especially as numbers dwindle and his unit finds itself on a suspicious number of dangerous assignments, particularly the non-white members of the unit; racism is alive and well in the ranks. Some grumble about protesters back home, especially as the flow of new recruits to fill empty bunks slows to a trickle, but the longer the war drags on (despite peace being perpetually just a few weeks away) and the higher the body count (a body count that American news somehow never mentions when it talks about the war at all), the more Perry and the others start to wonder whether they have a point. The end result is a brutal, visceral look at the true face of war, an ugly thing even when necessary and worse when the reasoning is (generously described as) ambiguous.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Forever War (Joe Haldeman) - My Review
Monster (Walter Dean Myers) - My Review
Guns of the Dawn (Adrian Tchaikovsky) - My Review
Friday, July 11, 2025
Grimpow: The Invisible Road (Rafael Abalos)
Grimpow: The Invisible Road
The Grimpow series, Book 1
Rafael Ábalos
Delacorte Books
Fiction, MG Fantasy/Historical Fiction
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: It was winter in the mountains when the boy Grimpow stumbled across the stranger's body, frozen in the snow. When he and his companion and friend, the thief Durlib, investigate, they find silver coins, jewel-handled daggers, a message with a golden seal, and a small, strange stone that glows when Grimpow picks it up... a stone that lets him read the odd symbols on the man's message, though the boy is illiterate and the message is in code. Even more mysteriously, the stranger's body melts like frost on a spring morning after the discovery, as though bespelled.
He does not yet know it, but by taking the stone and the seal, Grimpow has begun a long and dangerous path, one that winds through long-lost histories of the Holy Land, the halls of the outlawed heretical Templar Knights, the centuries-long quests of alchemists, even the cruel and corrupted machinations of the King of France and the Pope. For that nondescript little pebble is the true Philosopher's Stone, an artifact that can lead a chosen mind along the Invisible Road to the Secret of the Wise and the very keys to creation itself - a stone for which many have died. At stake is nothing more or less than the future of humanity, whether people will rise above the age of superstition and brutal ignorance that grips whole nations, or whether all hope of enlightenment will be snuffed out like a candle.
REVIEW: Early on, it looked like Grimpow had promise, an old-school historical fiction yarn with fantasy elements incorporating alchemy and its pursuit of ultimate knowledge and the Philosopher's Stone (as much a symbol of pure wisdom and understanding as a physical object), weaving in real-world events and figures from early 14th century Europe and the corruption underlying the church and its persecution of the Knights Templar. There was a certain straightforward sense of adventure, or at least the promise of adventure, as the illiterate boy finds himself drawn on a path of learning and enlightenment. But it often drags its heels in details and repetition, not to mention numerous points where it felt like the author was lecturing the audience about the history of France, corruption in Catholicism, the origins and brutal ending of the Templars, and medieval secret societies and symbolism as embodied in alchemy and related pursuits and mystery cults. The story and characters often meander and dither without actively progressing the plot (when they aren't repeating themselves as though the reader hadn't been there with them the whole time and remembers full well such details as who Grimpow used to be before finding the stone, or what fate befell Durlib, or his time in the remote monastery studying with the monks who took him in, and so forth). Every so often, the tale manages to be exciting and even interesting, but by the end it had become far too tedious, the plot too orchestrated by Fate and Destiny. The conclusion was a non-event, though this may be explained by the fact that the book was intended to have a sequel, one which I only learned of when searching online and which was apparently never translated into English... a moot point, as I have no interest in pursuing Grimpow's adventures - or lack thereof - further.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Rebel Genius (Michael Dante DiMartini) - My Review
Merlin's Mistake (Robert Newman) - My Review
No Such Thing as Dragons (Philip Reeve) - My Review
The Grimpow series, Book 1
Rafael Ábalos
Delacorte Books
Fiction, MG Fantasy/Historical Fiction
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: It was winter in the mountains when the boy Grimpow stumbled across the stranger's body, frozen in the snow. When he and his companion and friend, the thief Durlib, investigate, they find silver coins, jewel-handled daggers, a message with a golden seal, and a small, strange stone that glows when Grimpow picks it up... a stone that lets him read the odd symbols on the man's message, though the boy is illiterate and the message is in code. Even more mysteriously, the stranger's body melts like frost on a spring morning after the discovery, as though bespelled.
He does not yet know it, but by taking the stone and the seal, Grimpow has begun a long and dangerous path, one that winds through long-lost histories of the Holy Land, the halls of the outlawed heretical Templar Knights, the centuries-long quests of alchemists, even the cruel and corrupted machinations of the King of France and the Pope. For that nondescript little pebble is the true Philosopher's Stone, an artifact that can lead a chosen mind along the Invisible Road to the Secret of the Wise and the very keys to creation itself - a stone for which many have died. At stake is nothing more or less than the future of humanity, whether people will rise above the age of superstition and brutal ignorance that grips whole nations, or whether all hope of enlightenment will be snuffed out like a candle.
REVIEW: Early on, it looked like Grimpow had promise, an old-school historical fiction yarn with fantasy elements incorporating alchemy and its pursuit of ultimate knowledge and the Philosopher's Stone (as much a symbol of pure wisdom and understanding as a physical object), weaving in real-world events and figures from early 14th century Europe and the corruption underlying the church and its persecution of the Knights Templar. There was a certain straightforward sense of adventure, or at least the promise of adventure, as the illiterate boy finds himself drawn on a path of learning and enlightenment. But it often drags its heels in details and repetition, not to mention numerous points where it felt like the author was lecturing the audience about the history of France, corruption in Catholicism, the origins and brutal ending of the Templars, and medieval secret societies and symbolism as embodied in alchemy and related pursuits and mystery cults. The story and characters often meander and dither without actively progressing the plot (when they aren't repeating themselves as though the reader hadn't been there with them the whole time and remembers full well such details as who Grimpow used to be before finding the stone, or what fate befell Durlib, or his time in the remote monastery studying with the monks who took him in, and so forth). Every so often, the tale manages to be exciting and even interesting, but by the end it had become far too tedious, the plot too orchestrated by Fate and Destiny. The conclusion was a non-event, though this may be explained by the fact that the book was intended to have a sequel, one which I only learned of when searching online and which was apparently never translated into English... a moot point, as I have no interest in pursuing Grimpow's adventures - or lack thereof - further.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Rebel Genius (Michael Dante DiMartini) - My Review
Merlin's Mistake (Robert Newman) - My Review
No Such Thing as Dragons (Philip Reeve) - My Review
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Graven Images (Paul Fleischman)
Graven Images
Paul Fleischman
Candlewick
Fiction, YA? Collection/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Noted author Paul Fleischman presents three short stories centered on sculpted images:
The Binnacle Boy: When the crew of the sailing ship Orion is found dead, the carved "binnacle boy" compass holder from the ship's deck is installed in the town square as a memorial... one that may eventually reveal the terrible secret behind the tragedy.
Saint Crispin's Follower: A cobbler's lovelorn apprentice reads signs and portents into a weathercock shaped in the likeness of Saint Crispin, patron of his profession.
The Man of Influence: A stonecarver takes a commission from a ghostly client, only to learn truths he'd rather never have known about his wealthy patrons.
REVIEW: I needed a short audiobook to fill some empty time at work, and this one was available. From the official description, I expected there to be a little more to the sculptures themselves, a little more of a twist to them, though that's likely a bias from tending to read speculative fiction far more than regular fiction. In any event, the stories themselves are decent, though at times they feel like they're stretching their premises. The middle tale in particular runs long once the characters and central gimmick are clear. I found the third story to be the most interesting, as a sculptor obsessed with the class and breeding of his usual clientele is forced to confront just what kind of people have been paying his bills, and what that makes him for serving them so eagerly for years. It came close to losing a half-mark for that sense of stretching, but I gave the collection the benefit of the doubt.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Quill Pen (Michelle Isenhoff) - My Review
Ghost Ship (Dietlof Reiche) - My Review
Rogue Wave (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
Paul Fleischman
Candlewick
Fiction, YA? Collection/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Noted author Paul Fleischman presents three short stories centered on sculpted images:
The Binnacle Boy: When the crew of the sailing ship Orion is found dead, the carved "binnacle boy" compass holder from the ship's deck is installed in the town square as a memorial... one that may eventually reveal the terrible secret behind the tragedy.
Saint Crispin's Follower: A cobbler's lovelorn apprentice reads signs and portents into a weathercock shaped in the likeness of Saint Crispin, patron of his profession.
The Man of Influence: A stonecarver takes a commission from a ghostly client, only to learn truths he'd rather never have known about his wealthy patrons.
REVIEW: I needed a short audiobook to fill some empty time at work, and this one was available. From the official description, I expected there to be a little more to the sculptures themselves, a little more of a twist to them, though that's likely a bias from tending to read speculative fiction far more than regular fiction. In any event, the stories themselves are decent, though at times they feel like they're stretching their premises. The middle tale in particular runs long once the characters and central gimmick are clear. I found the third story to be the most interesting, as a sculptor obsessed with the class and breeding of his usual clientele is forced to confront just what kind of people have been paying his bills, and what that makes him for serving them so eagerly for years. It came close to losing a half-mark for that sense of stretching, but I gave the collection the benefit of the doubt.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Quill Pen (Michelle Isenhoff) - My Review
Ghost Ship (Dietlof Reiche) - My Review
Rogue Wave (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
Friday, September 13, 2024
Death of an Eye (Dana Stabenow)
Death of an Eye
The Eye of Isis series, Book 1
Dana Stabenow
Head of Zeus
Fiction, Historical Fiction/Mystery
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The city of Alexandria thrives under the twin reign of Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy, though it's Cleopatra - thanks to her canny ruling and the support of the Roman Julius Caesar, whose child she carries - who is most responsible for turning Egypt around after recent unrest. Still, there are those who grumble and plot in the shadows: those who resent the Roman presence, those who resent how much power Cleopatra holds and would prefer a man, even a cruel weakling like Ptolemy, to rule alone. Now, it seems someone has actually acted on those grumblings... and the Eye of Isis, Cleopatra's secret personal investigator, lies dead in the streets.
Tetisheri lives with her wealthy merchant uncle, helping him run his trade business after escaping a horrific marriage. She and the queen were childhood friends, though the gods have guided them on separate paths as they've grown. Then Apollodorus, Cleopatra's personal guard (and Tetisheri's childhood crush) comes calling with a summons from the palace. The Eye was cut down while investigating the theft of a shipment of new coins intended to reinvigorate Alexandria's economy; the brazen theft was no random act, but calculated by her enemies to weaken her hold on power. But the only ones who knew of the shipment were in her closest circles, meaning that she cannot trust anyone in the palace. Hence, calling on their childhood bond, the queen requests that Tetisheri act as her Eye in this matter.
Though she's in no position to refuse, Tetisheri doubts she will be of much use. She's never investigated more than the prices or provenance of her uncle's trade goods. Nevertheless, she finds herself on a twisting trail through the streets of Alexandria and the halls of power, with nobody but Apollodorus as her guide. The last Eye to follow this trail ended up in the city morgue with a shattered skull - how can Tetisheri hope to escape the same fate?
REVIEW: This is an interesting, fast-paced mystery set in the days of Cleopatra's reign, in an Egypt whose ancient glory has faded but not yet been entirely eclipsed. Alexandria is a city not unlike modern cities, where various cultures mingle and occasionally clash and where schemes seem to hatch in every shadow. Here, Tetisheri enjoys a fairly independent existence, having secured a divorce from a power-hungry and abusive husband. She and her uncle regularly take in and free women slaves, teaching them their letters and often sending them off into prosperous occupations around the city and greater Egypt, a sharp contrast to the interloping Romans who only allow women to be wives and mothers (and a handful of other, usually unsavory occupations). She and Cleopatra were once best friends, but power has naturally changed their relationship. Still, when Cleopatra comes calling and makes her request, it's not just royal obligation that makes Tetisheri take up the Eye, even though in her mind it's only a temporary thing. Despite herself, she takes to detective work fairly rapidly, starting in the trail of the fallen Eye and continuing past where that woman met her untimely end, encountering numerous diplomatic bumps along the way as the case veers into the thorny, tangled politics of the palace. Around her, the world of ancient Egypt comes alive, both like and unlike modern times, with a host of colorful and interesting characters. There's a bit of character overload at times; it's clear that this story is also setting up a longer series where several people introduced here will be recurring figures, which might also explain why more than one didn't seem to quite live up to their potential in this installment. The international politics can also be a bit convoluted to pick through. Nevertheless, it all makes for a decent investigation, and Tetisheri is an intriguing detective.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Master of Djinn (P. Djeli Clark) - My Review
The Eye of Jade (Diane Wei Liang) - My Review
Crocodile on the Sandbank (Elizabeth Peters) - My Review
The Eye of Isis series, Book 1
Dana Stabenow
Head of Zeus
Fiction, Historical Fiction/Mystery
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The city of Alexandria thrives under the twin reign of Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy, though it's Cleopatra - thanks to her canny ruling and the support of the Roman Julius Caesar, whose child she carries - who is most responsible for turning Egypt around after recent unrest. Still, there are those who grumble and plot in the shadows: those who resent the Roman presence, those who resent how much power Cleopatra holds and would prefer a man, even a cruel weakling like Ptolemy, to rule alone. Now, it seems someone has actually acted on those grumblings... and the Eye of Isis, Cleopatra's secret personal investigator, lies dead in the streets.
Tetisheri lives with her wealthy merchant uncle, helping him run his trade business after escaping a horrific marriage. She and the queen were childhood friends, though the gods have guided them on separate paths as they've grown. Then Apollodorus, Cleopatra's personal guard (and Tetisheri's childhood crush) comes calling with a summons from the palace. The Eye was cut down while investigating the theft of a shipment of new coins intended to reinvigorate Alexandria's economy; the brazen theft was no random act, but calculated by her enemies to weaken her hold on power. But the only ones who knew of the shipment were in her closest circles, meaning that she cannot trust anyone in the palace. Hence, calling on their childhood bond, the queen requests that Tetisheri act as her Eye in this matter.
Though she's in no position to refuse, Tetisheri doubts she will be of much use. She's never investigated more than the prices or provenance of her uncle's trade goods. Nevertheless, she finds herself on a twisting trail through the streets of Alexandria and the halls of power, with nobody but Apollodorus as her guide. The last Eye to follow this trail ended up in the city morgue with a shattered skull - how can Tetisheri hope to escape the same fate?
REVIEW: This is an interesting, fast-paced mystery set in the days of Cleopatra's reign, in an Egypt whose ancient glory has faded but not yet been entirely eclipsed. Alexandria is a city not unlike modern cities, where various cultures mingle and occasionally clash and where schemes seem to hatch in every shadow. Here, Tetisheri enjoys a fairly independent existence, having secured a divorce from a power-hungry and abusive husband. She and her uncle regularly take in and free women slaves, teaching them their letters and often sending them off into prosperous occupations around the city and greater Egypt, a sharp contrast to the interloping Romans who only allow women to be wives and mothers (and a handful of other, usually unsavory occupations). She and Cleopatra were once best friends, but power has naturally changed their relationship. Still, when Cleopatra comes calling and makes her request, it's not just royal obligation that makes Tetisheri take up the Eye, even though in her mind it's only a temporary thing. Despite herself, she takes to detective work fairly rapidly, starting in the trail of the fallen Eye and continuing past where that woman met her untimely end, encountering numerous diplomatic bumps along the way as the case veers into the thorny, tangled politics of the palace. Around her, the world of ancient Egypt comes alive, both like and unlike modern times, with a host of colorful and interesting characters. There's a bit of character overload at times; it's clear that this story is also setting up a longer series where several people introduced here will be recurring figures, which might also explain why more than one didn't seem to quite live up to their potential in this installment. The international politics can also be a bit convoluted to pick through. Nevertheless, it all makes for a decent investigation, and Tetisheri is an intriguing detective.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Master of Djinn (P. Djeli Clark) - My Review
The Eye of Jade (Diane Wei Liang) - My Review
Crocodile on the Sandbank (Elizabeth Peters) - My Review
Friday, August 23, 2024
Eagle Drums (Nasugraq Rainey Hopson)
Eagle Drums
Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson
Roaring Brook Press
Fiction, MG Fantasy/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: In the long-ago days, when people rarely gathered and never trusted each other, the boy Piŋa lives with his mother and father and the memories of two elder brothers, vanished on the trip to the mountain for obsidian flakes. Now, he must make the trek, for his family needs the tools they knap with the black stone if they are to harvest and prepare enough food for the long northern winter. On his way, however, he encounters a great golden eagle god, who offers a choice: follow, or die as his brothers died. Fearful, the boy agrees.
Thus begins a long and arduous journey to the very peak of the world. The eagle gods have many lessons to teach the young hunter, lessons of the strange rhythmic speaking called song and the odd movements called dance and the peculiar stretched-hide hoops called drums, all leading the the greatest challenge of all. If he learns well, he might be allowed to leave - and if he fails, he will be killed.
REVIEW: First off, I apologize for probable bunglings of Native spellings; I often have trouble getting special characters and accent marks to appear properly in Blogger, even with special notations and copy-paste commands.
This story is a retelling of a Native Arctic tale about the origins of the Iñupiaq Messenger Feast and the birth of culture among humans, set in that old story world of animal spirits and gods taking human form at will. Before the boy's journey, people are shown as mistrustful of each other, only rarely meeting long enough to trade and never coming together in friendship. Then Savik the eagle comes to young Piŋa on the mountain with his unusual demand - nothing nearly so polite as a request. The fact that the boy's two brothers faced the same choice and did not survive is more than enough to convince him to follow Savik, though every step takes him away from his parents and the only home he has ever known. The eagles never become anything like friends; not a moment goes by where the boy does not understand just how other they are, how dangerous they can be, and how little they really understand his kind. Still, they seem determined to teach him these peculiar lessons, though Piŋa cannot imagine what purpose they might serve. It's only later that he understands just what the eagles are commanding him to do: change the world, or at least the human world, a gift that isn't entirely altruistic in nature but which he has no choice but to attempt. He does not come to this knowledge easily, or learn without struggles or setbacks, and his best often doesn't seem nearly enough to please the stern old woman who leads the eagle clan. Nevertheless, he perseveres, knowing that to do otherwise is to leave his parents truly childless and bereft for the rest of their lives, without so much as a body to tell them what happened to him.
Characterization may not be especially deep or complex, but it is ultimately a legend, a fireside tale with a little extra flesh added to enrich the sense of setting, and works for what it is. The ending twist is a little bit telegraphed, but satisfactory. The whole is an interesting glimpse at a Native culture and legend I don't see much of in my fiction.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Snake Falls to Earth (Darcie Little Badger) - My Review
Fur Magic (Andre Norton) - My Review
Wolf Brother (Michelle Paver) - My Review
Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson
Roaring Brook Press
Fiction, MG Fantasy/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: In the long-ago days, when people rarely gathered and never trusted each other, the boy Piŋa lives with his mother and father and the memories of two elder brothers, vanished on the trip to the mountain for obsidian flakes. Now, he must make the trek, for his family needs the tools they knap with the black stone if they are to harvest and prepare enough food for the long northern winter. On his way, however, he encounters a great golden eagle god, who offers a choice: follow, or die as his brothers died. Fearful, the boy agrees.
Thus begins a long and arduous journey to the very peak of the world. The eagle gods have many lessons to teach the young hunter, lessons of the strange rhythmic speaking called song and the odd movements called dance and the peculiar stretched-hide hoops called drums, all leading the the greatest challenge of all. If he learns well, he might be allowed to leave - and if he fails, he will be killed.
REVIEW: First off, I apologize for probable bunglings of Native spellings; I often have trouble getting special characters and accent marks to appear properly in Blogger, even with special notations and copy-paste commands.
This story is a retelling of a Native Arctic tale about the origins of the Iñupiaq Messenger Feast and the birth of culture among humans, set in that old story world of animal spirits and gods taking human form at will. Before the boy's journey, people are shown as mistrustful of each other, only rarely meeting long enough to trade and never coming together in friendship. Then Savik the eagle comes to young Piŋa on the mountain with his unusual demand - nothing nearly so polite as a request. The fact that the boy's two brothers faced the same choice and did not survive is more than enough to convince him to follow Savik, though every step takes him away from his parents and the only home he has ever known. The eagles never become anything like friends; not a moment goes by where the boy does not understand just how other they are, how dangerous they can be, and how little they really understand his kind. Still, they seem determined to teach him these peculiar lessons, though Piŋa cannot imagine what purpose they might serve. It's only later that he understands just what the eagles are commanding him to do: change the world, or at least the human world, a gift that isn't entirely altruistic in nature but which he has no choice but to attempt. He does not come to this knowledge easily, or learn without struggles or setbacks, and his best often doesn't seem nearly enough to please the stern old woman who leads the eagle clan. Nevertheless, he perseveres, knowing that to do otherwise is to leave his parents truly childless and bereft for the rest of their lives, without so much as a body to tell them what happened to him.
Characterization may not be especially deep or complex, but it is ultimately a legend, a fireside tale with a little extra flesh added to enrich the sense of setting, and works for what it is. The ending twist is a little bit telegraphed, but satisfactory. The whole is an interesting glimpse at a Native culture and legend I don't see much of in my fiction.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Snake Falls to Earth (Darcie Little Badger) - My Review
Fur Magic (Andre Norton) - My Review
Wolf Brother (Michelle Paver) - My Review
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
News of the World (Paulette Jiles)
News of the World
Paulette Jiles
William Morrow
Fiction, Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction/Western
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: "Captain" Kyle Kidd once fought for the Confederacy and later ran a printing press in San Antonio, but for years now he has traveled the wilds of Texas, reading news articles from around the world to paying audiences in small frontier towns - everything from the ratification of the fifteenth amendment to harrowing Arctic survival stories to scientific discoveries to fluff pieces about Pennsylvania ice skaters. In his seventies now, he's starting to feel his age and his loneliness, but feels more at home on the road than he does back home, especially with his wife long dead and his grown children back east in post-Civil War Georgia. Besides, he has friends in many of his regular stops... and one has just talked him into a favor, albeit a well-paid favor, he never expected.
The girl was once known as Johanna, but for four years - since she was abducted by a band of Kiowa natives, her family slaughtered - she has been called Cicada. Under government orders, her adopted family turned her over to Indian agents, to be returned to an aunt and uncle she doesn't remember. Now, she has been handed over to an old white-haired man traveling in a rickety wagon, taking her further and further from the only home and life she knows - even tearing away the feather of her golden eagle guardian spirit as she is forced into strange, ill-fitting garments. She'd rather die than live in this ugly, alien White world with its confusing rules and strange language.
On the long and perilous road to Castroville, Kyle and the girl form an unexpected, unlikely bond - a bond that will be tested more than once, as each is forced to consider their futures in different ways.
REVIEW: I remember being somewhat intrigued by this tale when I heard of the movie (which I haven't seen), and meaning to get around to reading it. Part literary tale, part Western, it's the story of a rapidly changing world and two outwardly mismatched souls trying to survive in turbulent times.
Kyle was a soldier long before he was a man, falling into the rank of captain almost by accident and by surviving when many did not, and for keeping a cool head in combat (again, while others did not). He was happiest, though, when he was running messages between army units, just him and a sealed envelope and a wide, wild wilderness. In that way, his itinerant life in 1870 is a return to those days, as he brings news (and a chance to temporarily escape the harsh reality of everyday frontier life) to the hinterlands of a Texas that still has not succumbed to the taming hand of civilization, where the government hardly seems to care who is cheating, robbing, or slaughtering whom (at least if more brown, black, and native bodies fall than white ones) so long as those at the top can stuff their pockets. It's almost as if Kyle never really stopped living in a war zone, with raiding bands and thieves and corrupt lawmen all too common on the roads. Still, he has always been a principled man, living by his own strong moral compass even if those around him are only out for themselves. It's this moral compass, the unshakable belief that a job started must be finished and a promise to a friend is as binding as any legal document, as much as the money he is offered - a fifty-dollar gold piece - that compels Kidd to take the more-than-half-wild ten-year-old girl Johanna across 400 miles of barely-civilized Texan terrain.
The girl, for her part, has been traumatized twice over in her young life. At six, she survived the brutal slaughter of her family, for all that she does not seem to remember the incident. Then, she was torn away from the only family she ever knew and loved, the Kiowa mother and father and brothers and sisters she had bonded so strongly with that she cannot even imagine life away from them. Whatever English (or German, her parents being immigrants) she ever knew has been forgotten, along with everything she ever knew about White ways. She clings to the lessons and strength of her Kiowa teachings even as she is taken further away from that life and back to "family" she can't even remember. Slowly, almost despite herself, she connects with the kindly yet firm old man she is stuck traveling with. When they are set upon by the worst sort of robbers, their bond is cemented in gunfire and blood... but inevitably their journey must end. Will their bond and friendship end there, too? The decisions they make will test them both, but ultimately ring true for the characters and their world.
The tale moves fairly well, as the pair encounter various characters and different challenges and towns along the way, each part of the complex, sometimes contradictory tapestry of Texan life in the late 1800's. It's a world in a state of rapid flux, the old frontier lawlessness clashing against the rising tide of settlers and their settled ways, where carving out a small pocket of stability and happiness is sometimes nigh impossible but about the most any individual can hope to manage against the greater tides of the world. I thought the ending was a slight bit telegraphed, and the bits after lingered a hair too long, but overall it turned out to be an entertaining, sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes heartwarming story of two lost souls finding a connection - and a better future - in a wild and harsh land.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Thieving Forest (Martha Conway) - My Review
Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry) - My Review
The Legend of Charlie Fish (Josh Rountree) - My Review
Paulette Jiles
William Morrow
Fiction, Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction/Western
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: "Captain" Kyle Kidd once fought for the Confederacy and later ran a printing press in San Antonio, but for years now he has traveled the wilds of Texas, reading news articles from around the world to paying audiences in small frontier towns - everything from the ratification of the fifteenth amendment to harrowing Arctic survival stories to scientific discoveries to fluff pieces about Pennsylvania ice skaters. In his seventies now, he's starting to feel his age and his loneliness, but feels more at home on the road than he does back home, especially with his wife long dead and his grown children back east in post-Civil War Georgia. Besides, he has friends in many of his regular stops... and one has just talked him into a favor, albeit a well-paid favor, he never expected.
The girl was once known as Johanna, but for four years - since she was abducted by a band of Kiowa natives, her family slaughtered - she has been called Cicada. Under government orders, her adopted family turned her over to Indian agents, to be returned to an aunt and uncle she doesn't remember. Now, she has been handed over to an old white-haired man traveling in a rickety wagon, taking her further and further from the only home and life she knows - even tearing away the feather of her golden eagle guardian spirit as she is forced into strange, ill-fitting garments. She'd rather die than live in this ugly, alien White world with its confusing rules and strange language.
On the long and perilous road to Castroville, Kyle and the girl form an unexpected, unlikely bond - a bond that will be tested more than once, as each is forced to consider their futures in different ways.
REVIEW: I remember being somewhat intrigued by this tale when I heard of the movie (which I haven't seen), and meaning to get around to reading it. Part literary tale, part Western, it's the story of a rapidly changing world and two outwardly mismatched souls trying to survive in turbulent times.
Kyle was a soldier long before he was a man, falling into the rank of captain almost by accident and by surviving when many did not, and for keeping a cool head in combat (again, while others did not). He was happiest, though, when he was running messages between army units, just him and a sealed envelope and a wide, wild wilderness. In that way, his itinerant life in 1870 is a return to those days, as he brings news (and a chance to temporarily escape the harsh reality of everyday frontier life) to the hinterlands of a Texas that still has not succumbed to the taming hand of civilization, where the government hardly seems to care who is cheating, robbing, or slaughtering whom (at least if more brown, black, and native bodies fall than white ones) so long as those at the top can stuff their pockets. It's almost as if Kyle never really stopped living in a war zone, with raiding bands and thieves and corrupt lawmen all too common on the roads. Still, he has always been a principled man, living by his own strong moral compass even if those around him are only out for themselves. It's this moral compass, the unshakable belief that a job started must be finished and a promise to a friend is as binding as any legal document, as much as the money he is offered - a fifty-dollar gold piece - that compels Kidd to take the more-than-half-wild ten-year-old girl Johanna across 400 miles of barely-civilized Texan terrain.
The girl, for her part, has been traumatized twice over in her young life. At six, she survived the brutal slaughter of her family, for all that she does not seem to remember the incident. Then, she was torn away from the only family she ever knew and loved, the Kiowa mother and father and brothers and sisters she had bonded so strongly with that she cannot even imagine life away from them. Whatever English (or German, her parents being immigrants) she ever knew has been forgotten, along with everything she ever knew about White ways. She clings to the lessons and strength of her Kiowa teachings even as she is taken further away from that life and back to "family" she can't even remember. Slowly, almost despite herself, she connects with the kindly yet firm old man she is stuck traveling with. When they are set upon by the worst sort of robbers, their bond is cemented in gunfire and blood... but inevitably their journey must end. Will their bond and friendship end there, too? The decisions they make will test them both, but ultimately ring true for the characters and their world.
The tale moves fairly well, as the pair encounter various characters and different challenges and towns along the way, each part of the complex, sometimes contradictory tapestry of Texan life in the late 1800's. It's a world in a state of rapid flux, the old frontier lawlessness clashing against the rising tide of settlers and their settled ways, where carving out a small pocket of stability and happiness is sometimes nigh impossible but about the most any individual can hope to manage against the greater tides of the world. I thought the ending was a slight bit telegraphed, and the bits after lingered a hair too long, but overall it turned out to be an entertaining, sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes heartwarming story of two lost souls finding a connection - and a better future - in a wild and harsh land.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Thieving Forest (Martha Conway) - My Review
Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry) - My Review
The Legend of Charlie Fish (Josh Rountree) - My Review
Thursday, June 20, 2024
Woods Runner (Gary Paulsen)
Woods Runner
Gary Paulsen
Wendy Lamb Books
Fiction, MG Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since before he could remember, Samuel has been drawn to the woods beyond the family homestead on the frontier of colonial America. His city-born parents barely venture out of sight of their cabin, but the boy thrives among the trees, learning to read trail sign as easily as letters. By the time he turns 13 in the year 1775, he's the main hunter in their small settlement. When rumors reach the farm about unrest in nearby Boston, Samuel doesn't expect it to matter. The homesteaders aren't rebelling against anyone, harmlessly tending their land, too far out of the way to be bothered by wars or politics.
Then Samuel comes home from a hunting trip to find the farms ablaze, most of his neighbors dead, and his parents missing - taken captive by redcoats.
Barely surviving an encounter with the English soldiers and their Indian scouts, Samuel is rescued by a group of Americans on their way to join up with the fledgling rebellion. The young man still wants no part in wars or violence, but the war has stolen away his family, and there's nothing he won't do to free them - even venture far from his beloved woodlands to the teeming throngs of English-held New York City.
REVIEW: Intercutting Samuel's story with historical facts on the American Revolution, Paulsen presents a side of the conflict that often gets brushed aside, the average colonist who never even thought about politics or rebellion until the brewing war trampled their lives and drew first blood. Though his parents are first-generation farmers learning as they go, Samuel has known no life but that of a woods runner, and despite all the books he reads and stories he's told by other homesteaders he could see no finer future for himself than spending his days among the trackless frontier forests, far from city folk and their troubles. The small settlement he's part of thinks that their indifference and insignificance will spare them having to choose a side, but they barely even hear of the Boston Massacre (communication being a slow and spotty thing in the late 1700's) before they wake to find redcoats at their door. Most are slaughtered outright, but Samuel's parents are taken captive... and thus begins Samuel's journey, not just from the woodlands to civilization, but from peace to war. From the outset, despite his misgivings over killing another human being, he is determined to do whatever it takes to get his parents back, even despite the great odds against him. He's never even seen a real town before, much less a proper city - and New York City is firmly in the grip of the British forces, where thousands of colonist prisoners languish in desperate, often deadly conditions, with minimal food and no medical care; more Americans died as prisoners of war than in combat during the Revolution, according to historical records... and even those records often gloss over civilian casualties. Through sheer grit and some luck, Samuel manages to rise to the occasion, though the experience leaves scars, not all of them physical. A relatively short tale, Woods Runner successfully evokes both the feeling of the long-lost primeval frontier wilderness and what it was like to quite literally have an international war turn up on the doorstep, ending a small and quiet dream of pastoral life in a single world-shattering moment.
You Might Also Enjoy:
My Sons Will Eat Today (Debra Borchert) - My Review
Thieving Forest (Martha Conway) - My Review
The Rifle (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
Gary Paulsen
Wendy Lamb Books
Fiction, MG Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since before he could remember, Samuel has been drawn to the woods beyond the family homestead on the frontier of colonial America. His city-born parents barely venture out of sight of their cabin, but the boy thrives among the trees, learning to read trail sign as easily as letters. By the time he turns 13 in the year 1775, he's the main hunter in their small settlement. When rumors reach the farm about unrest in nearby Boston, Samuel doesn't expect it to matter. The homesteaders aren't rebelling against anyone, harmlessly tending their land, too far out of the way to be bothered by wars or politics.
Then Samuel comes home from a hunting trip to find the farms ablaze, most of his neighbors dead, and his parents missing - taken captive by redcoats.
Barely surviving an encounter with the English soldiers and their Indian scouts, Samuel is rescued by a group of Americans on their way to join up with the fledgling rebellion. The young man still wants no part in wars or violence, but the war has stolen away his family, and there's nothing he won't do to free them - even venture far from his beloved woodlands to the teeming throngs of English-held New York City.
REVIEW: Intercutting Samuel's story with historical facts on the American Revolution, Paulsen presents a side of the conflict that often gets brushed aside, the average colonist who never even thought about politics or rebellion until the brewing war trampled their lives and drew first blood. Though his parents are first-generation farmers learning as they go, Samuel has known no life but that of a woods runner, and despite all the books he reads and stories he's told by other homesteaders he could see no finer future for himself than spending his days among the trackless frontier forests, far from city folk and their troubles. The small settlement he's part of thinks that their indifference and insignificance will spare them having to choose a side, but they barely even hear of the Boston Massacre (communication being a slow and spotty thing in the late 1700's) before they wake to find redcoats at their door. Most are slaughtered outright, but Samuel's parents are taken captive... and thus begins Samuel's journey, not just from the woodlands to civilization, but from peace to war. From the outset, despite his misgivings over killing another human being, he is determined to do whatever it takes to get his parents back, even despite the great odds against him. He's never even seen a real town before, much less a proper city - and New York City is firmly in the grip of the British forces, where thousands of colonist prisoners languish in desperate, often deadly conditions, with minimal food and no medical care; more Americans died as prisoners of war than in combat during the Revolution, according to historical records... and even those records often gloss over civilian casualties. Through sheer grit and some luck, Samuel manages to rise to the occasion, though the experience leaves scars, not all of them physical. A relatively short tale, Woods Runner successfully evokes both the feeling of the long-lost primeval frontier wilderness and what it was like to quite literally have an international war turn up on the doorstep, ending a small and quiet dream of pastoral life in a single world-shattering moment.
You Might Also Enjoy:
My Sons Will Eat Today (Debra Borchert) - My Review
Thieving Forest (Martha Conway) - My Review
The Rifle (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
Saturday, January 27, 2024
A History of What Comes Next (Silvain Neuvel)
A History of What Comes Next
The Take Them to the Stars series, Book 1
Silvain Neuvel
Tordotcom
Fiction, Historical Fiction/Sci-Fi/Thriller
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Always run, never fight. Preserve the knowledge. Survive at all costs. Take them to the stars.
For three thousand years, an unbroken line of mothers and daughters, each identical to the previous generation, have worked in the shadows to expand and guide human civilization, prodding them onto the path that will - they hope - take the species to the moon and beyond before an unnamed evil comes to the planet. They drift like ghosts through history, changing names and roles any time they risk exposure, amassing hidden reserves of wealth and contacts and secret records for their descendants. But the Kibsu, as they call themselves, have lost much along the way, including just who or what they are, where they came from, and what "evil" they are meant to be defending against, not to mention the origin and purpose of the peculiar necklace that is all that remains of the original generation known as One. They do know, however, that there is an "evil" already on this world: the Trackers, ruthless beings as inhumanly powerful and gifted as themselves, who have been chasing the Kibsu since the beginning.
In 1945, the 99 - mother Sarah, teenaged daughter Mia - are closer than they've ever been to achieving their goal: World War II saw a massive acceleration in propulsion technology, and the same rockets designed to launch warheads could send people to other worlds. But to keep things moving forward beyond the end of the war will take new pressures and new politics. For the first time, Mia is being entrusted to push forward the Kibsu cause; Sarah managed to pull some of her many hidden strings to get the young woman sent into Germany as an OSS agent as the war winds down, to recruit rocket scientist Wernher von Braun to the American side before Russian troops reach his research facility (and before the Nazis decide that the best way to keep the man's expertise from enemy hands is a bullet to the head). Sarah hopes to spark a rivalry between Russia and America as they carve up and claim Germany's expertise, a rivalry that will lead to bigger and better rockets and, eventually, space travel. It's a dangerous mission, but one that will prove pivotal to the rest of Mia's life, not to mention the future of the Kibsu generations and their sworn mission... even as it may finally draw the stalking Trackers to their doorstep.
REVIEW: A History of What Comes Next is rooted firmly in real-world history, particularly the 1940s and 1950s that formed the foundation of modern space exploration... foundations inextricably linked to atrocities of warfare. This highlights one of the themes of the book, how humans (and Kibsu) have such great capacities for miracles and atrocities, good and evil, within them, the two often mashed up until it's difficult to definitively strip out one from the other; more than once, witnessing firsthand the horrific things people do to each other, what can be waved away or excused or rationalized by those who may not actively participate in terrible things but don't (or can't) stand up against them, Mia questions whether humans are worth saving at all. When she gets her first tastes of her inhuman Kibsu abilities, and how easily she can eliminate threats (physically, if not psychologically), she starts to wonder just how different she and her mother are from the Trackers, who are mostly known to them through the unspeakably mutilated corpses they leave in their wake whenever they get close to the Kibsu. Mia starts pushing back against her mother's rules, and though friction between mother and daughter isn't unknown in the generations, Mia's challenge to the status quo takes it to new levels, and has lasting ramifications for mother, daughter, and those humans around them (who remain ignorant of their inhuman nature, but are very much a part of their lives nonetheless, for all that Sarah keeps advising her daughter to keep emotionally distant). It makes Sarah rethink her own life and how she's pursued her goals, and whether the example set by her mother and grandmother and back through the line is the only possible way for the Kibsu to be. But some lessons of past generations are worth preserving... such as fear of the Trackers, who sometimes seem as nebulous as any bogeyman but are all too real. The reader gets a few chapters from their point of view, shining new light on the Kibsu's origins; unlike the Kibsu, the all-male generations of Trackers remember their origins and purpose, though that memory doesn't make them any less dangerous or psychotic. Meanwhile, Sarah and Mia see more than their share of human danger and madness as they navigate postwar Germany, Russia, and America. Some chapters flash back to previous generations of Kibsu through the ages, showing how they moved through the world and its myriad cultures (and prejudices and blind spots) while pursuing their mission and preserving their lineage, which add new weight to how Mia and Sarah are both echoing and changing those ageless dynamics.
Toward the end, I felt the story started stumbling, and even for the first book of an apparent trilogy there are a few too many loose or forgotten threads for the ending to feel truly satisfying, enough to affect the rating. Those issues aside, this was an unexpectedly interesting melding of history, thriller, and imaginative science fiction, centered around the complicated relationship of a mother and daughter at the heart of world-changing events. (The audiobook afterword by the author, on the real-world inspirations, was also interesting.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Lives of Tao (Wesley Chu) - My Review
The Book Eaters (Sunyi Dean) - My Review
The Calculating Stars (Mary Robinette Kowal) - My Review
The Take Them to the Stars series, Book 1
Silvain Neuvel
Tordotcom
Fiction, Historical Fiction/Sci-Fi/Thriller
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Always run, never fight. Preserve the knowledge. Survive at all costs. Take them to the stars.
For three thousand years, an unbroken line of mothers and daughters, each identical to the previous generation, have worked in the shadows to expand and guide human civilization, prodding them onto the path that will - they hope - take the species to the moon and beyond before an unnamed evil comes to the planet. They drift like ghosts through history, changing names and roles any time they risk exposure, amassing hidden reserves of wealth and contacts and secret records for their descendants. But the Kibsu, as they call themselves, have lost much along the way, including just who or what they are, where they came from, and what "evil" they are meant to be defending against, not to mention the origin and purpose of the peculiar necklace that is all that remains of the original generation known as One. They do know, however, that there is an "evil" already on this world: the Trackers, ruthless beings as inhumanly powerful and gifted as themselves, who have been chasing the Kibsu since the beginning.
In 1945, the 99 - mother Sarah, teenaged daughter Mia - are closer than they've ever been to achieving their goal: World War II saw a massive acceleration in propulsion technology, and the same rockets designed to launch warheads could send people to other worlds. But to keep things moving forward beyond the end of the war will take new pressures and new politics. For the first time, Mia is being entrusted to push forward the Kibsu cause; Sarah managed to pull some of her many hidden strings to get the young woman sent into Germany as an OSS agent as the war winds down, to recruit rocket scientist Wernher von Braun to the American side before Russian troops reach his research facility (and before the Nazis decide that the best way to keep the man's expertise from enemy hands is a bullet to the head). Sarah hopes to spark a rivalry between Russia and America as they carve up and claim Germany's expertise, a rivalry that will lead to bigger and better rockets and, eventually, space travel. It's a dangerous mission, but one that will prove pivotal to the rest of Mia's life, not to mention the future of the Kibsu generations and their sworn mission... even as it may finally draw the stalking Trackers to their doorstep.
REVIEW: A History of What Comes Next is rooted firmly in real-world history, particularly the 1940s and 1950s that formed the foundation of modern space exploration... foundations inextricably linked to atrocities of warfare. This highlights one of the themes of the book, how humans (and Kibsu) have such great capacities for miracles and atrocities, good and evil, within them, the two often mashed up until it's difficult to definitively strip out one from the other; more than once, witnessing firsthand the horrific things people do to each other, what can be waved away or excused or rationalized by those who may not actively participate in terrible things but don't (or can't) stand up against them, Mia questions whether humans are worth saving at all. When she gets her first tastes of her inhuman Kibsu abilities, and how easily she can eliminate threats (physically, if not psychologically), she starts to wonder just how different she and her mother are from the Trackers, who are mostly known to them through the unspeakably mutilated corpses they leave in their wake whenever they get close to the Kibsu. Mia starts pushing back against her mother's rules, and though friction between mother and daughter isn't unknown in the generations, Mia's challenge to the status quo takes it to new levels, and has lasting ramifications for mother, daughter, and those humans around them (who remain ignorant of their inhuman nature, but are very much a part of their lives nonetheless, for all that Sarah keeps advising her daughter to keep emotionally distant). It makes Sarah rethink her own life and how she's pursued her goals, and whether the example set by her mother and grandmother and back through the line is the only possible way for the Kibsu to be. But some lessons of past generations are worth preserving... such as fear of the Trackers, who sometimes seem as nebulous as any bogeyman but are all too real. The reader gets a few chapters from their point of view, shining new light on the Kibsu's origins; unlike the Kibsu, the all-male generations of Trackers remember their origins and purpose, though that memory doesn't make them any less dangerous or psychotic. Meanwhile, Sarah and Mia see more than their share of human danger and madness as they navigate postwar Germany, Russia, and America. Some chapters flash back to previous generations of Kibsu through the ages, showing how they moved through the world and its myriad cultures (and prejudices and blind spots) while pursuing their mission and preserving their lineage, which add new weight to how Mia and Sarah are both echoing and changing those ageless dynamics.
Toward the end, I felt the story started stumbling, and even for the first book of an apparent trilogy there are a few too many loose or forgotten threads for the ending to feel truly satisfying, enough to affect the rating. Those issues aside, this was an unexpectedly interesting melding of history, thriller, and imaginative science fiction, centered around the complicated relationship of a mother and daughter at the heart of world-changing events. (The audiobook afterword by the author, on the real-world inspirations, was also interesting.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Lives of Tao (Wesley Chu) - My Review
The Book Eaters (Sunyi Dean) - My Review
The Calculating Stars (Mary Robinette Kowal) - My Review
Thursday, December 21, 2023
The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead)
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead
Anchor
Fiction, Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Cora was just a young girl on a Georgia cotton plantation when her mother Mabel disappeared into the night. Despite the dogs and the bounties and even the famed, feared slave catcher Arnold Ridgefield pursuing her, she vanished as if into thin air. Thus Cora was left to fend for herself against the overseer, the owners, and the other slaves. But it wasn't until the new-bought Caesar plots his escape and asks her to join him that Cora even begins to consider flight herself. Caesar has a contact with the Underground Railroad, the secret network of subterranean stations that whisk runaway slaves about the country... but while the Railroad can promise an escape, nobody in the whole of America can promise her freedom - especially after their flight leaves one white boy dead and none other than Ridgefield hot on their trail.
REVIEW: For a country whose founding documents declare that all men are created equal, America has done a terrible job of living up to that ideal even before said documents were written down. Indeed, much of the country seems to delight in creating new ways to dehumanize and disenfranchise the "Other", even when it harms themselves. In The Underground Railroad, Whitehead drags those failures of justice and equality and basic humanity out of the shadows where so many want to sweep them (when they aren't actively reveling in them; if recent events have taught us nothing else, it's that the same mindsets of the slavery era are alive and well even in the twenty-first century, and in a depressingly significant percentage of the population).
From the day her mother disappears, Cora struggles to survive in a world that does its level best to grind her down and bury her, caught in a system whose every aspect works to divide, degrade, dehumanize, and dismiss anyone who is not white enough, not wealthy enough, not inherently cold and cruel and greedy enough. There is little to no solidarity among those enslaved, even by the same sadistic masters; the system sees to that, too, as does a basic human tendency to tribalism and establishing pecking orders even in the meanest of circumstances (a tendency that is exploited to further weaken the enslaved, and which also fragments those who would see the barbaric practice abolished). Cora becomes an outsider, in no small part because of Mabel's abandonment, and it's her own burning hatred at the woman for leaving her behind that makes her initially refuse to even consider Caesar's offer. (That, and of course the grisly examples that the plantation owners make of those who flee.) It's almost to her own surprise that she finds that she can indeed be pushed to the point where even those astronomically high stakes (and astronomically low odds of success) aren't enough to keep her in the slave quarters... but, almost from the start, things start to go wrong, and keep going wrong. On the Railroad - here imagined, with a touch of surrealism, as a real underground network of rail lines and engines, with an ever-changing network of stations and managers - Cora finds herself in different states... but they all have their own traps and dangers, and all exact heavy tolls for survival. Meanwhile, Ridgefield refuses to give up the hunt, aided by a brutish assistant and by an enigmatic young former slave boy, Homer, who has a peculiar devotion to the single-minded hunter despite technically being free. In her journey, she encounters all manner of allies and enemies and more than one person who turns out to be a little of both. Some chapters delve into the backstories of these side characters, revealing just how far beyond the plantation and chains the effects of slavery spread, how pretty much every life and mind has been distorted by it in some way. Even those who have never owned a slave or been a slave are shaped by it, not just because so much of the country's history and economy hinged on chattel slavery but because society itself warps around it: even in the most idyllic of settings, the fear and uneasiness are never far beneath the surface (or beneath the layers of self-justification). Is true, lasting freedom ever possible in a country whose very foundations stand on the bones of slaves and every edifice bends to accommodate it in its many forms and mindsets? Even if it isn't, Cora cannot stop moving forward save by lying down to die, and for all the setbacks and tragedies she encounters, all the hope turned to so much smoke, she is not ready to do that yet.
This is, necessarily, a harrowing story of dehumanization, cruelty, dashed hopes, crushed futures, and even the lies one tells oneself to justify actions (or lack thereof), or rationalize harm as being for the greater good (or the will of a God whose grace conveniently aligns with one's own circumstances and desires). What light and beauty there is often glimmers cold and distant as the stars in the night sky, something seen and pursued that can never really be reached, especially not in a human lifespan. The ending feels a little unsettled and ambiguous, which I understand was probably the point but which still made me feel mildly let down.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wild Seed (Octavia E. Butler) - My Review
The Conductors (Nicole Glover) - My Review
The Nickel Boys (Colson Whitehead) - My Review
Colson Whitehead
Anchor
Fiction, Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Cora was just a young girl on a Georgia cotton plantation when her mother Mabel disappeared into the night. Despite the dogs and the bounties and even the famed, feared slave catcher Arnold Ridgefield pursuing her, she vanished as if into thin air. Thus Cora was left to fend for herself against the overseer, the owners, and the other slaves. But it wasn't until the new-bought Caesar plots his escape and asks her to join him that Cora even begins to consider flight herself. Caesar has a contact with the Underground Railroad, the secret network of subterranean stations that whisk runaway slaves about the country... but while the Railroad can promise an escape, nobody in the whole of America can promise her freedom - especially after their flight leaves one white boy dead and none other than Ridgefield hot on their trail.
REVIEW: For a country whose founding documents declare that all men are created equal, America has done a terrible job of living up to that ideal even before said documents were written down. Indeed, much of the country seems to delight in creating new ways to dehumanize and disenfranchise the "Other", even when it harms themselves. In The Underground Railroad, Whitehead drags those failures of justice and equality and basic humanity out of the shadows where so many want to sweep them (when they aren't actively reveling in them; if recent events have taught us nothing else, it's that the same mindsets of the slavery era are alive and well even in the twenty-first century, and in a depressingly significant percentage of the population).
From the day her mother disappears, Cora struggles to survive in a world that does its level best to grind her down and bury her, caught in a system whose every aspect works to divide, degrade, dehumanize, and dismiss anyone who is not white enough, not wealthy enough, not inherently cold and cruel and greedy enough. There is little to no solidarity among those enslaved, even by the same sadistic masters; the system sees to that, too, as does a basic human tendency to tribalism and establishing pecking orders even in the meanest of circumstances (a tendency that is exploited to further weaken the enslaved, and which also fragments those who would see the barbaric practice abolished). Cora becomes an outsider, in no small part because of Mabel's abandonment, and it's her own burning hatred at the woman for leaving her behind that makes her initially refuse to even consider Caesar's offer. (That, and of course the grisly examples that the plantation owners make of those who flee.) It's almost to her own surprise that she finds that she can indeed be pushed to the point where even those astronomically high stakes (and astronomically low odds of success) aren't enough to keep her in the slave quarters... but, almost from the start, things start to go wrong, and keep going wrong. On the Railroad - here imagined, with a touch of surrealism, as a real underground network of rail lines and engines, with an ever-changing network of stations and managers - Cora finds herself in different states... but they all have their own traps and dangers, and all exact heavy tolls for survival. Meanwhile, Ridgefield refuses to give up the hunt, aided by a brutish assistant and by an enigmatic young former slave boy, Homer, who has a peculiar devotion to the single-minded hunter despite technically being free. In her journey, she encounters all manner of allies and enemies and more than one person who turns out to be a little of both. Some chapters delve into the backstories of these side characters, revealing just how far beyond the plantation and chains the effects of slavery spread, how pretty much every life and mind has been distorted by it in some way. Even those who have never owned a slave or been a slave are shaped by it, not just because so much of the country's history and economy hinged on chattel slavery but because society itself warps around it: even in the most idyllic of settings, the fear and uneasiness are never far beneath the surface (or beneath the layers of self-justification). Is true, lasting freedom ever possible in a country whose very foundations stand on the bones of slaves and every edifice bends to accommodate it in its many forms and mindsets? Even if it isn't, Cora cannot stop moving forward save by lying down to die, and for all the setbacks and tragedies she encounters, all the hope turned to so much smoke, she is not ready to do that yet.
This is, necessarily, a harrowing story of dehumanization, cruelty, dashed hopes, crushed futures, and even the lies one tells oneself to justify actions (or lack thereof), or rationalize harm as being for the greater good (or the will of a God whose grace conveniently aligns with one's own circumstances and desires). What light and beauty there is often glimmers cold and distant as the stars in the night sky, something seen and pursued that can never really be reached, especially not in a human lifespan. The ending feels a little unsettled and ambiguous, which I understand was probably the point but which still made me feel mildly let down.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wild Seed (Octavia E. Butler) - My Review
The Conductors (Nicole Glover) - My Review
The Nickel Boys (Colson Whitehead) - My Review
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Lifeboat 12 (Susan Hood)
Lifeboat 12
Susan Hood
Simon and Schuster
Fiction, MG Action/Chiller/Historical Fiction/Poetry
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: When war comes to London, it brings rations, air raid sirens, gas masks, and bombs falling from the skies... all of which could hardly make thirteen-year-old Ken's life much worse, thanks to an overworked father, a stepmother who hardly seems to care for him, and a kid half-sister who steals all the love and attention in the household. Now he's been told that he is to be one of countless children to be shipped away from the city due to the threat of German attacks - all the way across the ocean to Canada. Dad tells him it'll be his own grand adventure, like the ones in the books he's always reading (that of course he can't take with him), but to Ken it feels more like his stepmom has finally found a way to get him out of the house once and for all. Still, once he's on his way, he begins to warm to the prospect, especially when the food aboard the transport ship - luxury liner SS City of Benares, out of India, pressed into national service - is miles above anything he's had in his impoverished, ration-restricted home in memory.
Then the German submarine finds the convoy, and everything goes wrong all at once.
Now Ken is in a cramped lifeboat with hardly any food, not enough water, and odds of rescue diminishing by the hour. What happened to the other passengers and crew of their ship? Where is the British Navy, who was supposed to be following the convoy? And how is anyone ever going to find one tiny, overloaded lifeboat in the middle of the vast Atlantic Ocean?
This story was inspired by true events in World War II.
REVIEW: Melding the horrors of war and ocean survival, the confusion of growing up in turbulent times, and the excitement of discovery and adventure as a young man is pushed into the wider world on his own for the first time (even if that excitement too often runs face-first into the unforgiving chasm of reality), Lifeboat 12 makes a pivotal moment in world history relatable to readers of all ages.
Ken starts out a mere boy, casually selfish in the way of many children, prone to mischief like stealing apples as he acts out anxieties about his home life: he still carries a certain guilt knowing that his mother died shortly after giving birth to him, and has never warmed up to his stepmother, nor she to him. When he finds that his parents are sending him halfway around the world, he sees it as ultimate proof that he's unwelcome in his own home... until the bombs begin to fall, and he realizes the danger they claim they're trying to protect him from is all too real. In the way of children, he adapts quickly to the new reality, becoming obsessed with airplanes and ships until he can identify them at a glance, and thus thinks himself more prepared for the journey to Canada than he really is - even when the trip itself proves at least as dangerous as staying in London, and that's before they even reach the docks and the ship. Along the way, he begins to make new friends and even step up to small leadership roles over younger children. Soon enough, he's forgotten all about the potential dangers of the war... but the war has not forgotten about him, as he learns the hard way in the dead of night. In the mad scramble to escape, he ends up in the wrong lifeboat, one of many crowded into too small of a space with inadequate emergency supplies (there isn't even simple fishing gear on board to supplement canned rations). The emergency levels playing fields almost across the board; boy or girl, passenger or crew, officer or civilian, adult or child, even white English or other (the crew of the luxury liner are Muslims and foreigners, most of them just service crew and not even working sailors), all are literally in the same survival boat. The desperation and tedium are at least as dangerous as exposure and dehydration, and Ken and others try desperately to keep themselves sane... not all of them succeeding.
The story is told in a sort of free verse, with short chapters that have little fat in them, adding an almost surreal overtone. The ending felt a trifle abrupt, and I almost wanted an afterword outlining the original true story and what was kept or changed about Hood's take on events, but other than that it's a solid tale.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex (Owen Chase et al.) - My Review
Adrift (Paul Griffin) - My Review
The Cay (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
Susan Hood
Simon and Schuster
Fiction, MG Action/Chiller/Historical Fiction/Poetry
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: When war comes to London, it brings rations, air raid sirens, gas masks, and bombs falling from the skies... all of which could hardly make thirteen-year-old Ken's life much worse, thanks to an overworked father, a stepmother who hardly seems to care for him, and a kid half-sister who steals all the love and attention in the household. Now he's been told that he is to be one of countless children to be shipped away from the city due to the threat of German attacks - all the way across the ocean to Canada. Dad tells him it'll be his own grand adventure, like the ones in the books he's always reading (that of course he can't take with him), but to Ken it feels more like his stepmom has finally found a way to get him out of the house once and for all. Still, once he's on his way, he begins to warm to the prospect, especially when the food aboard the transport ship - luxury liner SS City of Benares, out of India, pressed into national service - is miles above anything he's had in his impoverished, ration-restricted home in memory.
Then the German submarine finds the convoy, and everything goes wrong all at once.
Now Ken is in a cramped lifeboat with hardly any food, not enough water, and odds of rescue diminishing by the hour. What happened to the other passengers and crew of their ship? Where is the British Navy, who was supposed to be following the convoy? And how is anyone ever going to find one tiny, overloaded lifeboat in the middle of the vast Atlantic Ocean?
This story was inspired by true events in World War II.
REVIEW: Melding the horrors of war and ocean survival, the confusion of growing up in turbulent times, and the excitement of discovery and adventure as a young man is pushed into the wider world on his own for the first time (even if that excitement too often runs face-first into the unforgiving chasm of reality), Lifeboat 12 makes a pivotal moment in world history relatable to readers of all ages.
Ken starts out a mere boy, casually selfish in the way of many children, prone to mischief like stealing apples as he acts out anxieties about his home life: he still carries a certain guilt knowing that his mother died shortly after giving birth to him, and has never warmed up to his stepmother, nor she to him. When he finds that his parents are sending him halfway around the world, he sees it as ultimate proof that he's unwelcome in his own home... until the bombs begin to fall, and he realizes the danger they claim they're trying to protect him from is all too real. In the way of children, he adapts quickly to the new reality, becoming obsessed with airplanes and ships until he can identify them at a glance, and thus thinks himself more prepared for the journey to Canada than he really is - even when the trip itself proves at least as dangerous as staying in London, and that's before they even reach the docks and the ship. Along the way, he begins to make new friends and even step up to small leadership roles over younger children. Soon enough, he's forgotten all about the potential dangers of the war... but the war has not forgotten about him, as he learns the hard way in the dead of night. In the mad scramble to escape, he ends up in the wrong lifeboat, one of many crowded into too small of a space with inadequate emergency supplies (there isn't even simple fishing gear on board to supplement canned rations). The emergency levels playing fields almost across the board; boy or girl, passenger or crew, officer or civilian, adult or child, even white English or other (the crew of the luxury liner are Muslims and foreigners, most of them just service crew and not even working sailors), all are literally in the same survival boat. The desperation and tedium are at least as dangerous as exposure and dehydration, and Ken and others try desperately to keep themselves sane... not all of them succeeding.
The story is told in a sort of free verse, with short chapters that have little fat in them, adding an almost surreal overtone. The ending felt a trifle abrupt, and I almost wanted an afterword outlining the original true story and what was kept or changed about Hood's take on events, but other than that it's a solid tale.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex (Owen Chase et al.) - My Review
Adrift (Paul Griffin) - My Review
The Cay (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
Thursday, August 31, 2023
Crocodile on the Sandbank (Elizabeth Peters)
Crocodile on the Sandbank
The Amelia Peabody series, Book 1
Elizabeth Peters
Grand Central Publishing
Fiction, Adventure/Historical Fiction/Mystery/Thriller
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Amelia Peabody is a woman who knows her own mind and isn't afraid to express it, which does not make her particularly popular in the social circles of 1880's England, but she's never much cared what others think of her. What she does care about is history, thanks to her late father; now that he has passed and left his fortune to her, she intends to travel to all the places she read about in his library, the ancient wonders of the classical world. She does care enough about propriety to bring along a companion - unconventional as she is, she knows it would only invite trouble to travel alone - but illness sends the woman packing just as they reach Rome, leaving Amelia in a pinch. Then she happens upon Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a young lady in need of a companion herself after some terrible turns of fate left her stranded and penniless in a foreign land. Together, the two set sail for Cairo, to spend some months traveling up the Nile... but their plans are about to be interrupted by a persistent suitor, a pair of archaeologist brothers, a newly-discovered city and tombs attributed to a heretical king... and what may possibly be an ancient curse walking the desert.
REVIEW: First published in 1975, Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first entry in a popular series about Victorian-era amateur archaeologist Amelia Peabody, consciously drawing on old-school adventure tales of lost tombs and cursed mummies and tangled, borderline convoluted and occasionally unbelievable, villainous plots. Even given the stories that it intentionally mimics, though, there are aspects that don't age that well, aspects that I'm not sure were deliberate "homage" or not. The white Egyptologist claiming ownership and mastery of another culture's artifacts and heritage is not quite such a romantic image these days, and though characters give some lip service to how Egypt's treasures are being mismanaged, it comes across more as a beef between the French and the English, with Egyptians themselves dismissed from the equation as not worth mentioning. There's also the worn-out trope of the fainting, helpless lady (not Amelia, usually, but Evelyn could've used a portable fainting couch to soften the landing of her swoons) whose only purpose or goal is marriage; even Amelia, who declares herself above such "outdated" concepts as marriage and claims to be quite happy as a "spinster" in her thirties, gets so caught up in her companion's marriage prospects and potential mates that it's clear she's not telling the reader the whole truth of her mind on the matter. And, of course, the man who - right out of the gate - verbally abuses Amelia and has a particular hatred for her gender and very existence... if you're following along on the trope bingo card, not many surprises there. Other players aren't exactly unique characters, either, and wouldn't be out of place in one of those old adventure tales that Peters references, for all that there's a certain charm to their overblown nature, and the same could be said about the rather convoluted plot that's eventually exposed after causing no end of trouble on the seemingly-cursed dig site. Along the way, the setting of Victorian-era Egypt is a richly detailed backdrop, if one necessarily viewed through an Englishwoman's lens (both the character and the writer) and with a romanticized rosy tint. There's adventure and intrigue and ancient wonders and, of course, some heavy-handed romance (and the requisite failures of communication and stiff-upper-lip English propriety that nearly scuttles the whole prospect). The mystery, though, just plain doesn't make sense in anything like reality; one has to suspend disbelief and accept that the world of Amelia Peabody has more akin to the world of old, over-the-top adventure stories and movies than our own Earth to begin to believe it, and not poke too hard lest the logic crumble like old mummy wrappings. Some of the casually racist descriptions and assumptions also got a bit of a side-eye; some went beyond the narrator Amelia being "in character", and while I know that judging older stories by modern standards is a losing game, I'm reading it now, not in 1975, and these things stand out. After a somewhat overblown climax, complete with a monologuing villain helpfully explaining the details of the story to their victims, there's an epilogue to wrap things up, in a way that doesn't necessitate a sequel (though of course there are more books - twenty total, according to Amazon).
While there are doubtless some faults in this story, and it's not as fresh as it must've been when originally published, Crocodile on the Sandbank does at least deliver on its promise of old-school Victorianesque adventure and romance amongst the lost world of old Egypt, with some larger than life (if sometimes too familiar) characters and a fair bit of action. I just found a few too many things bugging me, most particularly about the "mystery" story and some overused tropes, to justify a solid four stars.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Natural History of Dragons (Marie Brennan) - My Review
King Solomon's Mines (H. Rider Haggard) - My Review
The Jewel of Seven Stars (Bram Stoker) - My Review
The Amelia Peabody series, Book 1
Elizabeth Peters
Grand Central Publishing
Fiction, Adventure/Historical Fiction/Mystery/Thriller
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Amelia Peabody is a woman who knows her own mind and isn't afraid to express it, which does not make her particularly popular in the social circles of 1880's England, but she's never much cared what others think of her. What she does care about is history, thanks to her late father; now that he has passed and left his fortune to her, she intends to travel to all the places she read about in his library, the ancient wonders of the classical world. She does care enough about propriety to bring along a companion - unconventional as she is, she knows it would only invite trouble to travel alone - but illness sends the woman packing just as they reach Rome, leaving Amelia in a pinch. Then she happens upon Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a young lady in need of a companion herself after some terrible turns of fate left her stranded and penniless in a foreign land. Together, the two set sail for Cairo, to spend some months traveling up the Nile... but their plans are about to be interrupted by a persistent suitor, a pair of archaeologist brothers, a newly-discovered city and tombs attributed to a heretical king... and what may possibly be an ancient curse walking the desert.
REVIEW: First published in 1975, Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first entry in a popular series about Victorian-era amateur archaeologist Amelia Peabody, consciously drawing on old-school adventure tales of lost tombs and cursed mummies and tangled, borderline convoluted and occasionally unbelievable, villainous plots. Even given the stories that it intentionally mimics, though, there are aspects that don't age that well, aspects that I'm not sure were deliberate "homage" or not. The white Egyptologist claiming ownership and mastery of another culture's artifacts and heritage is not quite such a romantic image these days, and though characters give some lip service to how Egypt's treasures are being mismanaged, it comes across more as a beef between the French and the English, with Egyptians themselves dismissed from the equation as not worth mentioning. There's also the worn-out trope of the fainting, helpless lady (not Amelia, usually, but Evelyn could've used a portable fainting couch to soften the landing of her swoons) whose only purpose or goal is marriage; even Amelia, who declares herself above such "outdated" concepts as marriage and claims to be quite happy as a "spinster" in her thirties, gets so caught up in her companion's marriage prospects and potential mates that it's clear she's not telling the reader the whole truth of her mind on the matter. And, of course, the man who - right out of the gate - verbally abuses Amelia and has a particular hatred for her gender and very existence... if you're following along on the trope bingo card, not many surprises there. Other players aren't exactly unique characters, either, and wouldn't be out of place in one of those old adventure tales that Peters references, for all that there's a certain charm to their overblown nature, and the same could be said about the rather convoluted plot that's eventually exposed after causing no end of trouble on the seemingly-cursed dig site. Along the way, the setting of Victorian-era Egypt is a richly detailed backdrop, if one necessarily viewed through an Englishwoman's lens (both the character and the writer) and with a romanticized rosy tint. There's adventure and intrigue and ancient wonders and, of course, some heavy-handed romance (and the requisite failures of communication and stiff-upper-lip English propriety that nearly scuttles the whole prospect). The mystery, though, just plain doesn't make sense in anything like reality; one has to suspend disbelief and accept that the world of Amelia Peabody has more akin to the world of old, over-the-top adventure stories and movies than our own Earth to begin to believe it, and not poke too hard lest the logic crumble like old mummy wrappings. Some of the casually racist descriptions and assumptions also got a bit of a side-eye; some went beyond the narrator Amelia being "in character", and while I know that judging older stories by modern standards is a losing game, I'm reading it now, not in 1975, and these things stand out. After a somewhat overblown climax, complete with a monologuing villain helpfully explaining the details of the story to their victims, there's an epilogue to wrap things up, in a way that doesn't necessitate a sequel (though of course there are more books - twenty total, according to Amazon).
While there are doubtless some faults in this story, and it's not as fresh as it must've been when originally published, Crocodile on the Sandbank does at least deliver on its promise of old-school Victorianesque adventure and romance amongst the lost world of old Egypt, with some larger than life (if sometimes too familiar) characters and a fair bit of action. I just found a few too many things bugging me, most particularly about the "mystery" story and some overused tropes, to justify a solid four stars.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Natural History of Dragons (Marie Brennan) - My Review
King Solomon's Mines (H. Rider Haggard) - My Review
The Jewel of Seven Stars (Bram Stoker) - My Review
Friday, July 21, 2023
The Nickel Boys (Colson Whitehead)
The Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead
Doubleday
Fiction, Historical Fiction
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When archaeology students unearth the unmarked graves on the site of the old Nickel Academy in Florida, once a "reform school" for boys, they unearth a dark secret that lingered for decades in plain sight. Among the survivors, a man named Elwood watches the renewed interest in the school with trepidation. To say it unearths memories implies he ever forgot his days in Nickel...
In 1960's Tallahassee, young Elwood has grown up in a Jim Crow world, but has hopes for a better future thanks to leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and court rulings ending school segregation. He's even on track to start college early, thanks to an inspiring teacher. But bad luck and circumstance land him unwittingly in the passenger seat of a stolen car, where he's sentenced to time at Nickel Academy. His first impression is that it's not going to be so bad. The grounds look neat enough, there are kids playing ball, and he doesn't even see a fence. He learns the truth soon enough. This isn't a place boys go to learn to be better citizens, or be reformed (whatever that actually means). It's a place boys are sent to be broken - especially Black boys who don't know their place in a white world.
REVIEW: This is an author I've been meaning to get to for a while, and so far I can say I'm quite favorably impressed. Inspired by real-life "reform" schools that were all too common, it also tells the story of a young Black boy's optimism and resolve being tested in the worst possible ways, a harsh coming of age as ideals are stomped down by deep-rooted traditions and a system designed to encourage cruelty. Elwood already had a small taste of how the world uses up his kind and spits them out, how his notion that hard work will always get him ahead can and is turned against him (and not just by white folks), but at Nickel he gets a true trial by fire in The Way Things Are, especially in the Deep South. He makes a friend of sorts in the jaded boy Tucker, who helps him navigate life in Nickel but cannot understand Elwood sometimes. Despite Tucker's help, Elwood ends up on the wrong side of the staff almost from the start, and soon gets the scars to prove it. Now and again, the story follows the grown Elwood after his time at the academy, inevitably as scarred as his physical body was left but with which he strives to build a better life. That the man's life is better than the boy's is without question, a sign that hope is sometimes rewarded, but there is still a long way to go to be anywhere near the world young Elwood thought he'd be living in by now. (Even as I write this review, in late July 2023, the state of Florida has released new school curriculum wherein slavery would be taught as having been "beneficial" to Blacks.) The story weaves past and present into a rich, often brutal tale of systemic racism and institutionalized cruelty where the abuse and exploitation of minors is not only excused, but essentially encouraged. It's naive to think one person can change the world, especially for the better (changes for the worse seem far easier to instigate, unfortunately, just as falling down a cliff is easier than climbing up one), but one can decide how to live the life one has, and - if no other options are feasible - at least choose to bear witness to the evil in the hopes that, in time, that will matter.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Frederick Douglass) - My Review
I'm Not Dying With You Tonight (Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal) - My Review
The Ballad of Black Tom (Victor LaValle) - My Review
Colson Whitehead
Doubleday
Fiction, Historical Fiction
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When archaeology students unearth the unmarked graves on the site of the old Nickel Academy in Florida, once a "reform school" for boys, they unearth a dark secret that lingered for decades in plain sight. Among the survivors, a man named Elwood watches the renewed interest in the school with trepidation. To say it unearths memories implies he ever forgot his days in Nickel...
In 1960's Tallahassee, young Elwood has grown up in a Jim Crow world, but has hopes for a better future thanks to leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and court rulings ending school segregation. He's even on track to start college early, thanks to an inspiring teacher. But bad luck and circumstance land him unwittingly in the passenger seat of a stolen car, where he's sentenced to time at Nickel Academy. His first impression is that it's not going to be so bad. The grounds look neat enough, there are kids playing ball, and he doesn't even see a fence. He learns the truth soon enough. This isn't a place boys go to learn to be better citizens, or be reformed (whatever that actually means). It's a place boys are sent to be broken - especially Black boys who don't know their place in a white world.
REVIEW: This is an author I've been meaning to get to for a while, and so far I can say I'm quite favorably impressed. Inspired by real-life "reform" schools that were all too common, it also tells the story of a young Black boy's optimism and resolve being tested in the worst possible ways, a harsh coming of age as ideals are stomped down by deep-rooted traditions and a system designed to encourage cruelty. Elwood already had a small taste of how the world uses up his kind and spits them out, how his notion that hard work will always get him ahead can and is turned against him (and not just by white folks), but at Nickel he gets a true trial by fire in The Way Things Are, especially in the Deep South. He makes a friend of sorts in the jaded boy Tucker, who helps him navigate life in Nickel but cannot understand Elwood sometimes. Despite Tucker's help, Elwood ends up on the wrong side of the staff almost from the start, and soon gets the scars to prove it. Now and again, the story follows the grown Elwood after his time at the academy, inevitably as scarred as his physical body was left but with which he strives to build a better life. That the man's life is better than the boy's is without question, a sign that hope is sometimes rewarded, but there is still a long way to go to be anywhere near the world young Elwood thought he'd be living in by now. (Even as I write this review, in late July 2023, the state of Florida has released new school curriculum wherein slavery would be taught as having been "beneficial" to Blacks.) The story weaves past and present into a rich, often brutal tale of systemic racism and institutionalized cruelty where the abuse and exploitation of minors is not only excused, but essentially encouraged. It's naive to think one person can change the world, especially for the better (changes for the worse seem far easier to instigate, unfortunately, just as falling down a cliff is easier than climbing up one), but one can decide how to live the life one has, and - if no other options are feasible - at least choose to bear witness to the evil in the hopes that, in time, that will matter.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Frederick Douglass) - My Review
I'm Not Dying With You Tonight (Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal) - My Review
The Ballad of Black Tom (Victor LaValle) - My Review
Friday, July 14, 2023
Dread Nation (Justina Ireland)
Dread Nation
The Dread Nation series, Book 1
Justina Ireland
Balzer + Bray
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: When Jane McKeene was born, America was at war with itself, North fighting South... until the bodies of the dead rose on the battlefields and began feeding on the living, friend and foe alike. With the coming of the shamblers, as the undead came to be known, the War Between the States effectively ended in a draw, as the fight for survival became top priority. But while the matter of slavery was left undecided, some things never change, such as the tendency to expect colored people to fight and die in defense of the moneyed White elite and their comforts. Laws like the Native and Negro Education Act required all nonwhite children of a certain age to learn the art of combat, the better to defend against the shamblers who have taken over the countryside and completely swamped the Lost States of the Deep South... not to defend their own families or communities, but rather the cities and the families of the powerful.
As the daughter of a wealthy plantation mistress, Jane might have been able to avoid conscription (despite her dark skin, her mother's light as a lily and sharp as a rose thorn), but she longed to see the world beyond the fortified Rose Hill plantation, and would not shirk her patriotic duties. Thus she found herself enrolled at Miss Preston's School for Combat in Baltimore, among the top of her class. A certificate from Miss Preston's will enable her to find comfortable employment as an attendant for wealthy White women needing protection from shamblers (and predators of the living sort), far better prospects than many of her color could expect, though mostly she just wants to go back to her mother and help defend Rose Hill. But Jane soon learns that something's rotten in the city, a conspiracy that could doom Baltimore and the still-standing cities of the East... and what she learns might get her and her few friends killed.
REVIEW: Zombies meet the American Civil War (and the Old West) in Dread Nation, pitting a headstrong young woman against not only the hungry undead but the cultural and systemic corruption at the heart of even the "free" North, corruption that keeps spending the lives of the many (especially the nonwhite many) to preserve the illusion of normalcy, prosperity, and comfort for the few. Jane is born into a world remade by the rise of zombies, the start of a slow collapse that will inevitably claim the remaining enclaves of the East unless people adapt or manage to find a cure, yet still - as now - too much time and energy is diverted to clinging to old ways and old ideas and pretending the problem can be "managed" without significantly disrupting the lives of the most powerful (and the ones in the position to actually effect the changes society needs), choosing ignorance over a future where change and integration may threaten their stranglehold on civilization. This adds new dimensions to the sexism and racism that Jane and her fellow schoolmates have been coping with all their lives, and new urgency to the need to fight a system that would rather die and take humanity down with it than admit it's obsolete. By comparison, the zombies are almost innocuous as enemies go, refreshingly straightforward and far easier to behead. The other threats she discovers aren't nearly so clear-cut or easy to identify, so it's much easier for people to pretend they're not there at all.
Jane starts out a somewhat typical, if not unlikable, heroine, if one with a past complicated by mixed race ancestry in a world that can't even accept that all humans are the same species (arguments that reflect real-world twistings of science and religion that were particularly prominent historically among those seeking justification for their racism, and rationalizations to convince the powerless to stay on their knees before their "betters"). Even being the first, and potentially only, line of defense against undead monsters isn't enough for many White people to see her as a person. Still, she's determined to make her own way and be her own boss, as her mother was before her - plans that get derailed when she gets pulled into an investigation by an old acquaintance/ex-boyfriend, the petty criminal "Red Jack". If she thought she had things rough in Baltimore, what she finds after her investigations get her (and Jack and Katy, another Preston's student) exiled to a frontier town is ten times worse in every conceivable way. It's here that Judy finally learns the true depth of the corruption and the threat posed by her enemies, the world they intend to make, and it's here that she must determine whether to play along with the role laid out for her or fight back with everything she has. Fighting back, though, can lead to unintended consequences for her and those around her.
This is not a story prone to lulls or dragging, and though Judy and her friends aren't flawless, they're always pressing forward and don't linger on mistakes. Judy meets several other characters, most of them foes but a few potential friends, and navigates numerous complications. Some elements of the climax feel unsatisfactory, loose threads that were either forgotten or deliberately left dangling in the reader's face as enticement for a sequel that may or may not resolve them. On the whole, Dread Nation is an enjoyable, if occasionally dark, story.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wake of Vultures (Lila Bowen) - My Review
Ring Shout (P. Djèlí Clark) - My Review
The Conductors (Nicole Glover) - My Review
The Dread Nation series, Book 1
Justina Ireland
Balzer + Bray
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: When Jane McKeene was born, America was at war with itself, North fighting South... until the bodies of the dead rose on the battlefields and began feeding on the living, friend and foe alike. With the coming of the shamblers, as the undead came to be known, the War Between the States effectively ended in a draw, as the fight for survival became top priority. But while the matter of slavery was left undecided, some things never change, such as the tendency to expect colored people to fight and die in defense of the moneyed White elite and their comforts. Laws like the Native and Negro Education Act required all nonwhite children of a certain age to learn the art of combat, the better to defend against the shamblers who have taken over the countryside and completely swamped the Lost States of the Deep South... not to defend their own families or communities, but rather the cities and the families of the powerful.
As the daughter of a wealthy plantation mistress, Jane might have been able to avoid conscription (despite her dark skin, her mother's light as a lily and sharp as a rose thorn), but she longed to see the world beyond the fortified Rose Hill plantation, and would not shirk her patriotic duties. Thus she found herself enrolled at Miss Preston's School for Combat in Baltimore, among the top of her class. A certificate from Miss Preston's will enable her to find comfortable employment as an attendant for wealthy White women needing protection from shamblers (and predators of the living sort), far better prospects than many of her color could expect, though mostly she just wants to go back to her mother and help defend Rose Hill. But Jane soon learns that something's rotten in the city, a conspiracy that could doom Baltimore and the still-standing cities of the East... and what she learns might get her and her few friends killed.
REVIEW: Zombies meet the American Civil War (and the Old West) in Dread Nation, pitting a headstrong young woman against not only the hungry undead but the cultural and systemic corruption at the heart of even the "free" North, corruption that keeps spending the lives of the many (especially the nonwhite many) to preserve the illusion of normalcy, prosperity, and comfort for the few. Jane is born into a world remade by the rise of zombies, the start of a slow collapse that will inevitably claim the remaining enclaves of the East unless people adapt or manage to find a cure, yet still - as now - too much time and energy is diverted to clinging to old ways and old ideas and pretending the problem can be "managed" without significantly disrupting the lives of the most powerful (and the ones in the position to actually effect the changes society needs), choosing ignorance over a future where change and integration may threaten their stranglehold on civilization. This adds new dimensions to the sexism and racism that Jane and her fellow schoolmates have been coping with all their lives, and new urgency to the need to fight a system that would rather die and take humanity down with it than admit it's obsolete. By comparison, the zombies are almost innocuous as enemies go, refreshingly straightforward and far easier to behead. The other threats she discovers aren't nearly so clear-cut or easy to identify, so it's much easier for people to pretend they're not there at all.
Jane starts out a somewhat typical, if not unlikable, heroine, if one with a past complicated by mixed race ancestry in a world that can't even accept that all humans are the same species (arguments that reflect real-world twistings of science and religion that were particularly prominent historically among those seeking justification for their racism, and rationalizations to convince the powerless to stay on their knees before their "betters"). Even being the first, and potentially only, line of defense against undead monsters isn't enough for many White people to see her as a person. Still, she's determined to make her own way and be her own boss, as her mother was before her - plans that get derailed when she gets pulled into an investigation by an old acquaintance/ex-boyfriend, the petty criminal "Red Jack". If she thought she had things rough in Baltimore, what she finds after her investigations get her (and Jack and Katy, another Preston's student) exiled to a frontier town is ten times worse in every conceivable way. It's here that Judy finally learns the true depth of the corruption and the threat posed by her enemies, the world they intend to make, and it's here that she must determine whether to play along with the role laid out for her or fight back with everything she has. Fighting back, though, can lead to unintended consequences for her and those around her.
This is not a story prone to lulls or dragging, and though Judy and her friends aren't flawless, they're always pressing forward and don't linger on mistakes. Judy meets several other characters, most of them foes but a few potential friends, and navigates numerous complications. Some elements of the climax feel unsatisfactory, loose threads that were either forgotten or deliberately left dangling in the reader's face as enticement for a sequel that may or may not resolve them. On the whole, Dread Nation is an enjoyable, if occasionally dark, story.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wake of Vultures (Lila Bowen) - My Review
Ring Shout (P. Djèlí Clark) - My Review
The Conductors (Nicole Glover) - My Review
Friday, June 9, 2023
Northwind (Gary Paulsen)
Northwind
Gary Paulsen
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Fiction, MG Adventure/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: After his mother died in childbirth, with no father named or known, the boy Leif grew up as little better than a thrall among the seafaring folk, first on the docks and then on the ships, until at last he and a handful of others were sent to a small camp to smoke fish and wait for the return of the seal hunting crew. Only the crew never returned, and the only ship that came was an ill-omened vessel of dead and dying strangers who so poison the air with their brief presence that soon everyone falls ill. With the last of his strength, Old Carl sends young Leif away in a dugout cedar canoe, telling him to head north, always north, and never return to this cursed place. For the first time in his often-wretched young life, Leif finds himself alone... and for the first time, he must learn who he truly is, what he is made of, and if he can survive the wild, unforgiving world in which he wanders.
REVIEW: This is, I believe, the last story published by the late Gary Paulsen, and his ability to bring the wilderness to life, in all its wonders and glories and dangers, remains clear. Set in an unspecified prehistory in Nordic lands, Northwind is a coming-of-age journey for a young man who has lived his whole life next to the sea, on the sea, surrounded by the sea, but has never truly experienced the sea until thrust upon it in the little dugout canoe. As in other Paulsen titles, Leif's adventures are as much about his failures and moments of quickly-dashed hubris as they are about his successes and discovering the marvels, the borderline-spiritual connection with the natural world - not just the animals, but the winds and waters and living currents, the very pulse of the sea itself. Unlike some of Paulsen's other stories, there isn't a clear goal for Leif to drive for; he's not trying to return to the village he came from, where he'd just be a veritable slave again, or any other particular destination. His journey falls somewhere between exploration and spirit quest, potentially one he will never finish even in a long lifetime. This lack of goal makes the ending feel a little anticlimactic, almost like Paulsen may have planned for a sequel or series or simply another part of this book but (for obvious reasons, unfortunately) never finished the thought. Still, even a somewhat inconclusive tale by Gary Paulsen is a beautiful thing, a poetic ode to nature and a way of life and thinking that sadly seems endangered.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Adrift (Paul Griffin) - My Review
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
The Cay (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
Gary Paulsen
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Fiction, MG Adventure/Historical Fiction
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: After his mother died in childbirth, with no father named or known, the boy Leif grew up as little better than a thrall among the seafaring folk, first on the docks and then on the ships, until at last he and a handful of others were sent to a small camp to smoke fish and wait for the return of the seal hunting crew. Only the crew never returned, and the only ship that came was an ill-omened vessel of dead and dying strangers who so poison the air with their brief presence that soon everyone falls ill. With the last of his strength, Old Carl sends young Leif away in a dugout cedar canoe, telling him to head north, always north, and never return to this cursed place. For the first time in his often-wretched young life, Leif finds himself alone... and for the first time, he must learn who he truly is, what he is made of, and if he can survive the wild, unforgiving world in which he wanders.
REVIEW: This is, I believe, the last story published by the late Gary Paulsen, and his ability to bring the wilderness to life, in all its wonders and glories and dangers, remains clear. Set in an unspecified prehistory in Nordic lands, Northwind is a coming-of-age journey for a young man who has lived his whole life next to the sea, on the sea, surrounded by the sea, but has never truly experienced the sea until thrust upon it in the little dugout canoe. As in other Paulsen titles, Leif's adventures are as much about his failures and moments of quickly-dashed hubris as they are about his successes and discovering the marvels, the borderline-spiritual connection with the natural world - not just the animals, but the winds and waters and living currents, the very pulse of the sea itself. Unlike some of Paulsen's other stories, there isn't a clear goal for Leif to drive for; he's not trying to return to the village he came from, where he'd just be a veritable slave again, or any other particular destination. His journey falls somewhere between exploration and spirit quest, potentially one he will never finish even in a long lifetime. This lack of goal makes the ending feel a little anticlimactic, almost like Paulsen may have planned for a sequel or series or simply another part of this book but (for obvious reasons, unfortunately) never finished the thought. Still, even a somewhat inconclusive tale by Gary Paulsen is a beautiful thing, a poetic ode to nature and a way of life and thinking that sadly seems endangered.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Adrift (Paul Griffin) - My Review
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
The Cay (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Beyond the Bright Sea (Lauren Wolk)
Beyond the Bright Sea
Lauren Wolk
Dutton Books
Fiction, MG Historical Fiction
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Twelve-year-old Crow has lived all her life among the Elizabeth Islands off the coast of Massachusetts, but she came from the sea. The taciturn painter Osh found her, barely a few hours old, in a swamped dinghy that washed up outside his ramshackle cottage home. Though he and their nearest neighbor, Miss Maggie, love her dearly, the other islanders keep their distance. She wonders if perhaps because she looks different, her skin darker than theirs and hair curly, maybe even the birthmark on her cheek like a little feather, but that's not it... at least, not entirely. Too many suspect that she came from Penikese, where the state sent victims of the dreaded disease leprosy; though the hospital is gone, the patients dead or shipped off, and the island is now a bird sanctuary, the fear lingers. Crow herself never cared where she came from. As far as she's concerned, Osh is her father and Cuttyhunk Island her home. But then she sees the fire on the empty island across the waters, and some restless, nameless yearning wakens in her, a yearning to know who she is and why she was abandoned... and if there's anyone out there still looking for her. Though Osh warns her that sometimes it's best not to dig too deep, Crow can't help asking questions and searching - inadvertently endangering herself and the ones she loves most.
REVIEW: There's plenty that Beyond the Bright Sea does right. It establishes a strong sense of time and place in 1920's Massachusetts, the slow and timeless life on a small Atlantic island that's so close to the bustling cities of the mainland but might as well be on another world... where few things were as feared as the different and the potentially diseased. Despite how the other islanders keep their distance, Crow couldn't be a happier child, helping her adopted father mix his paints and reap the bounties of the tides and the ocean, or learning informally from Miss Maggie (and not from the local school, which won't take her, or the library, which didn't want books she'd handled returned to their shelves out of fear she may be a carrier). Still, she's growing up and can't help but start to ask questions - questions that Osh initially tries to turn aside, as his own past is one full of traumas and loss and he's learned not to go prodding or poking, yet when he realizes she will persist with or without him he does offer his reluctant help. Crow's search leads to long-buried secrets and possible pirate treasure, as well as the tragedy of the "leper colonies". It is a long, slow, and winding search, like trudging through the soft sand above the tideline on the beach, not helped when the audiobook narrator insisted on dropping her voice and half-mumbling Osh's dialog (putting her voice right in the range of the ambient noise I work around and thus rendering a good chunk of his speech essentially inaudible to me). The story takes a while to get moving, and never quite picks up the pace, even in the active moments. There are some false starts, and a villain who pops up and never really becomes more than a cardboard caricature, then an ending that lingers a bit too long and, skirting spoilers, feels unfinished, or like a pulled punch. Still, the characters are interesting for what they are, and Cuttyhunk Island is nicely described, as is the lingering human tragedy at the heart of Crow's story.
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Pirate's Passage (William Gilkerson) - My Review
The Quill Pen (Michelle Isenhoff) - My Review
Root Magic (Eden Royce) - My Review
Lauren Wolk
Dutton Books
Fiction, MG Historical Fiction
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Twelve-year-old Crow has lived all her life among the Elizabeth Islands off the coast of Massachusetts, but she came from the sea. The taciturn painter Osh found her, barely a few hours old, in a swamped dinghy that washed up outside his ramshackle cottage home. Though he and their nearest neighbor, Miss Maggie, love her dearly, the other islanders keep their distance. She wonders if perhaps because she looks different, her skin darker than theirs and hair curly, maybe even the birthmark on her cheek like a little feather, but that's not it... at least, not entirely. Too many suspect that she came from Penikese, where the state sent victims of the dreaded disease leprosy; though the hospital is gone, the patients dead or shipped off, and the island is now a bird sanctuary, the fear lingers. Crow herself never cared where she came from. As far as she's concerned, Osh is her father and Cuttyhunk Island her home. But then she sees the fire on the empty island across the waters, and some restless, nameless yearning wakens in her, a yearning to know who she is and why she was abandoned... and if there's anyone out there still looking for her. Though Osh warns her that sometimes it's best not to dig too deep, Crow can't help asking questions and searching - inadvertently endangering herself and the ones she loves most.
REVIEW: There's plenty that Beyond the Bright Sea does right. It establishes a strong sense of time and place in 1920's Massachusetts, the slow and timeless life on a small Atlantic island that's so close to the bustling cities of the mainland but might as well be on another world... where few things were as feared as the different and the potentially diseased. Despite how the other islanders keep their distance, Crow couldn't be a happier child, helping her adopted father mix his paints and reap the bounties of the tides and the ocean, or learning informally from Miss Maggie (and not from the local school, which won't take her, or the library, which didn't want books she'd handled returned to their shelves out of fear she may be a carrier). Still, she's growing up and can't help but start to ask questions - questions that Osh initially tries to turn aside, as his own past is one full of traumas and loss and he's learned not to go prodding or poking, yet when he realizes she will persist with or without him he does offer his reluctant help. Crow's search leads to long-buried secrets and possible pirate treasure, as well as the tragedy of the "leper colonies". It is a long, slow, and winding search, like trudging through the soft sand above the tideline on the beach, not helped when the audiobook narrator insisted on dropping her voice and half-mumbling Osh's dialog (putting her voice right in the range of the ambient noise I work around and thus rendering a good chunk of his speech essentially inaudible to me). The story takes a while to get moving, and never quite picks up the pace, even in the active moments. There are some false starts, and a villain who pops up and never really becomes more than a cardboard caricature, then an ending that lingers a bit too long and, skirting spoilers, feels unfinished, or like a pulled punch. Still, the characters are interesting for what they are, and Cuttyhunk Island is nicely described, as is the lingering human tragedy at the heart of Crow's story.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Pirate's Passage (William Gilkerson) - My Review
The Quill Pen (Michelle Isenhoff) - My Review
Root Magic (Eden Royce) - My Review
Friday, February 17, 2023
Under an Outlaw Moon (Dietrich Kalteis)
Under an Outlaw Moon
Dietrich Kalteis
ECW Press
Fiction, Crime/Historical Fiction/Thriller
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: In 1930's Kansas, young Stella Mae Irwin isn't even sixteen years old when she meets Bennie Dickson at the roller rink. In his twenties, Bennie already has a record and prison time under his belt, offshoot of youthful missteps, though he's trying to turn his life around by driving a taxi and training as a boxer, with an eye on law school. The two fall head over heels at first sight, and before long have promised to marry each other (even though she's too young for a formal engagement). But when Bennie finds himself on the wrong side of the law again, Stella willingly risks everything to join him. Together, they become bank robbers in the vein of Bonnie and Clyde - and also find themselves at the top of the FBI's Most Wanted list.
REVIEW: Based on the real-life story of Bennie and Stella Mae Dickson, this is a novel about lives gone wrong and the blind faith of young love, as well as how the law sometimes creates its own monsters to justify its own draconian responses. Bennie isn't necessarily a bad person or even a sociopath, but is branded as a criminal from an early age and pushed until he decides to simply embrace the label, putting his talents to use in robberies when doors to a more legitimate future are slammed shut in his face. Stella may be young, but she's not a fool; she knows full well Bennie is dangerous, but knows too that there's more to him and his story, and is all too willing an accomplice in the name of love. As for their crimes, their two bank robberies - the first on Stella's sixteenth birthday, to fund their newlywed life - are handled in an almost benevolent fashion, without a shot fired or life endangered. Still, FBI director Hoover makes it his personal mission to hunt them down and turn the public sentiment against them, setting up a disproportionately drastic response to their relatively minimal crime spree; the field agent charged with tracking them down grows rather disillusioned with the bureau and the whole process (and the heavy propaganda angle, fed by a compliant press) as he watches it play out. Meanwhile, Bennie and Stella, driven as much by the endorphin rush as by the need for cash, veer from the giddy triumph of a successful heist to the struggles of life on the run and the necessity of using more crimes to escape the ones they've already committed, chasing an ever-more-elusive dream of someday going straight and putting it all behind them to raise a family in a nice house. Stella seems to recognize it as a lie they're telling themselves long before Bennie, but the two also realize that some roads can't be turned back from, especially not when the entire federal government's bound and determined to make an example out of them. The ending is as tragic as it is inevitable, as is the spin put on it for the public eye. The novel manages to humanize the characters and bring the era to life while also working as a solid story of doomed love and a crime thriller. Given my somewhat iffy reading luck of late, I enjoyed it all the more.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Boys in the Boat (Daniel James Brown) - My Review
Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen) - My Review
Seabiscuit (Laura Hillenbrand) - My Review
Dietrich Kalteis
ECW Press
Fiction, Crime/Historical Fiction/Thriller
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: In 1930's Kansas, young Stella Mae Irwin isn't even sixteen years old when she meets Bennie Dickson at the roller rink. In his twenties, Bennie already has a record and prison time under his belt, offshoot of youthful missteps, though he's trying to turn his life around by driving a taxi and training as a boxer, with an eye on law school. The two fall head over heels at first sight, and before long have promised to marry each other (even though she's too young for a formal engagement). But when Bennie finds himself on the wrong side of the law again, Stella willingly risks everything to join him. Together, they become bank robbers in the vein of Bonnie and Clyde - and also find themselves at the top of the FBI's Most Wanted list.
REVIEW: Based on the real-life story of Bennie and Stella Mae Dickson, this is a novel about lives gone wrong and the blind faith of young love, as well as how the law sometimes creates its own monsters to justify its own draconian responses. Bennie isn't necessarily a bad person or even a sociopath, but is branded as a criminal from an early age and pushed until he decides to simply embrace the label, putting his talents to use in robberies when doors to a more legitimate future are slammed shut in his face. Stella may be young, but she's not a fool; she knows full well Bennie is dangerous, but knows too that there's more to him and his story, and is all too willing an accomplice in the name of love. As for their crimes, their two bank robberies - the first on Stella's sixteenth birthday, to fund their newlywed life - are handled in an almost benevolent fashion, without a shot fired or life endangered. Still, FBI director Hoover makes it his personal mission to hunt them down and turn the public sentiment against them, setting up a disproportionately drastic response to their relatively minimal crime spree; the field agent charged with tracking them down grows rather disillusioned with the bureau and the whole process (and the heavy propaganda angle, fed by a compliant press) as he watches it play out. Meanwhile, Bennie and Stella, driven as much by the endorphin rush as by the need for cash, veer from the giddy triumph of a successful heist to the struggles of life on the run and the necessity of using more crimes to escape the ones they've already committed, chasing an ever-more-elusive dream of someday going straight and putting it all behind them to raise a family in a nice house. Stella seems to recognize it as a lie they're telling themselves long before Bennie, but the two also realize that some roads can't be turned back from, especially not when the entire federal government's bound and determined to make an example out of them. The ending is as tragic as it is inevitable, as is the spin put on it for the public eye. The novel manages to humanize the characters and bring the era to life while also working as a solid story of doomed love and a crime thriller. Given my somewhat iffy reading luck of late, I enjoyed it all the more.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Boys in the Boat (Daniel James Brown) - My Review
Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen) - My Review
Seabiscuit (Laura Hillenbrand) - My Review
Thursday, December 15, 2022
Polaris (Michael Northrop)
Polaris
Michael Northrop
Scholastic
Fiction, MG Historical Fiction/Horror/Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: In the 1830's, the American sailing ship Polaris was sent on a mission of scientific discovery to the wild Amazon. With it sailed a complement of ship's boys, who were left behind with the vessel while the captain, the on-board botanist, and a contingent of sailors struck out up the river... only to return a week later, their numbers halved and the botanist dead. Only a few days into the return voyage, mutiny rocks the ship - only the mutineers inexplicably try to destroy the vessel and make off in the long boat.
The vessel, and the ship's boys, who were left behind.
As the only crew members left aboard, the kids realize it's up to them to take the abandoned Polaris back to New York City, or at least American waters... but they also learn all too soon why the mutineers wanted to sink the ship. Something lurks in the depths of the hold, something that followed them from the Amazon jungle.
REVIEW: This started out as a decently suspenseful tale of survival on the high seas, complicated by the unknown threat lurking under the deck, not to mention tensions over who should be the new captain and where they mean to go. The logical leader is Owen, cabin boy and nephew of the ship's captain (and possible heir to the vessel itself, should his naval career last so long), but brash Thacher also makes a play for leadership, and actually has some decent points when he argues for making landfall and escape as soon as possible rather than returning to American ports. Meanwhile, the "Spanish twins" Manny and Mario are hiding their own secrets, and botanist's apprentice Henry struggles with his lack of seamanship skills, even as he might be the only one who can figure out the horrifying truth about their passenger... and here is what ultimately cost the book in the ratings. You know how monster movies are often at their most effective when the monster isn't brought into the light until toward the end, because if the camera lingers too long on it it starts looking really implausible and perhaps a bit goofy? The monster here (no spoiler for saying that there really is something horrific in the hold) is something like that. It should be more terrifying, but the description just... does not work for me, making me think of cheap rubber suits and cut-rate puppetry, despite some sliver of real-world science behind its existence. Once I hit that hiccup to my suspension of disbelief, it was difficult getting back on keel, and the whole story started feeling more like a B-grade monster movie (down to a few too many false starts/jump-scares) than the tense, dramatic story of life and death on the high seas that it was supposed to be, with inexperienced children thrust into a situation far beyond their skill sets. When it worked, it worked well, but I fear it just stretched its premise a bit too far, and ultimately let its characters fall into too-familiar and -flattening tropes, for me to really enjoy it.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi) - My Review
Into the Drowning Deep (Mira Grant) - My Review
Island: Shipwreck (Gordon Korman) - My Review
Michael Northrop
Scholastic
Fiction, MG Historical Fiction/Horror/Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: In the 1830's, the American sailing ship Polaris was sent on a mission of scientific discovery to the wild Amazon. With it sailed a complement of ship's boys, who were left behind with the vessel while the captain, the on-board botanist, and a contingent of sailors struck out up the river... only to return a week later, their numbers halved and the botanist dead. Only a few days into the return voyage, mutiny rocks the ship - only the mutineers inexplicably try to destroy the vessel and make off in the long boat.
The vessel, and the ship's boys, who were left behind.
As the only crew members left aboard, the kids realize it's up to them to take the abandoned Polaris back to New York City, or at least American waters... but they also learn all too soon why the mutineers wanted to sink the ship. Something lurks in the depths of the hold, something that followed them from the Amazon jungle.
REVIEW: This started out as a decently suspenseful tale of survival on the high seas, complicated by the unknown threat lurking under the deck, not to mention tensions over who should be the new captain and where they mean to go. The logical leader is Owen, cabin boy and nephew of the ship's captain (and possible heir to the vessel itself, should his naval career last so long), but brash Thacher also makes a play for leadership, and actually has some decent points when he argues for making landfall and escape as soon as possible rather than returning to American ports. Meanwhile, the "Spanish twins" Manny and Mario are hiding their own secrets, and botanist's apprentice Henry struggles with his lack of seamanship skills, even as he might be the only one who can figure out the horrifying truth about their passenger... and here is what ultimately cost the book in the ratings. You know how monster movies are often at their most effective when the monster isn't brought into the light until toward the end, because if the camera lingers too long on it it starts looking really implausible and perhaps a bit goofy? The monster here (no spoiler for saying that there really is something horrific in the hold) is something like that. It should be more terrifying, but the description just... does not work for me, making me think of cheap rubber suits and cut-rate puppetry, despite some sliver of real-world science behind its existence. Once I hit that hiccup to my suspension of disbelief, it was difficult getting back on keel, and the whole story started feeling more like a B-grade monster movie (down to a few too many false starts/jump-scares) than the tense, dramatic story of life and death on the high seas that it was supposed to be, with inexperienced children thrust into a situation far beyond their skill sets. When it worked, it worked well, but I fear it just stretched its premise a bit too far, and ultimately let its characters fall into too-familiar and -flattening tropes, for me to really enjoy it.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi) - My Review
Into the Drowning Deep (Mira Grant) - My Review
Island: Shipwreck (Gordon Korman) - My Review
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