Green Rider
(The Green Rider series, Book 1)
Kristen Britain
DAW
Fiction, Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Karigan G'Ladheon, daughter of a wealthy merchant clan, ran away from the prestigious school at Selium after a fight with a nobleman's son led to her unfair expulsion. She worries about how to face her father even as she rankles at the injustice... until a dying man on a winded horse stumbles across her path. He is a Green Rider, a messenger for the king of Sacoridia, and with his dying breath he extracts Karigan's oath to deliver the message in his saddlebag, unopened, to King Zachary without delay. He also warns of great danger, but the black arrows in his back take his life before he can explain more. Though no Green Rider herself, Karigan wouldn't be her father's daughter if she took oaths lightly, and she's as loyal to the crown as any good citizen. Reluctantly, she climbs into the saddle on the man's horse - and into a wild and dangerous adventure. Dark and ancient evils are afoot in the land, and the message Karigan bears may mean the difference between life and death... not just for King Zachary and Sacoridia, but for the known world and beyond.
REVIEW: Karigan's adventures start nearly on the first page, and don't let up until the very end. If the story sags now and again, Britain's world was interesting enough to keep me reading until it picked up again, which it invariably did. Once in a while, Karigan's stubborn refusal to accept the obvious got irritating, but on the whole she proved a reliable, strong heroine. Some loose ends are left dangling at the end of the book, but the main plot wraps itself up with an appropriately spellbinding conclusion. Amazon claims that there are more books in the series available; I expect I'll end up tracking down the next one someday to see how Karigan fares. All in all, an enjoyable read.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Coraline (Neil Gaiman)
Coraline
Neil Gaimam
Harper Perennial
Fiction, YA Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Young Coraline's family has just moved into one floor of a run-down old house. The upstairs neighbor claims he's training a mouse circus. The elderly sisters downstairs raise terriers and speak endlessly of their bygone days on the stage. Her parents are wrapped up in their jobs, hardly noticing her coming and going. Left mostly to her own devices, she starts exploring... and finds a peculiar door in the drawing room that leads to a brick wall. One night, she follows a strange shadow to the door, and finds that it now opens onto a hallway leading to another flat just like her own - only not quite. Here, Coraline meets her "Other Mother," a paper-pale woman with black buttons for eyes. She offers the lonely girl all the love and attention that her real parents haven't given her in ages... but at what cost?
REVIEW: This movie formed the basis of the 2009 animated film of the same name. I saw the movie first, and there are significant differences. The overall creepy nature of the Other Mother's world remains the same, as does the independence and courage of the heroine herself. Considering that I find Gaiman a very hit-and-miss author, this one falls in the "hit" category, with the strangeness augmenting the story rather than bogging it down. While I personally preferred the movie, I could still enjoy this book.
Neil Gaimam
Harper Perennial
Fiction, YA Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Young Coraline's family has just moved into one floor of a run-down old house. The upstairs neighbor claims he's training a mouse circus. The elderly sisters downstairs raise terriers and speak endlessly of their bygone days on the stage. Her parents are wrapped up in their jobs, hardly noticing her coming and going. Left mostly to her own devices, she starts exploring... and finds a peculiar door in the drawing room that leads to a brick wall. One night, she follows a strange shadow to the door, and finds that it now opens onto a hallway leading to another flat just like her own - only not quite. Here, Coraline meets her "Other Mother," a paper-pale woman with black buttons for eyes. She offers the lonely girl all the love and attention that her real parents haven't given her in ages... but at what cost?
REVIEW: This movie formed the basis of the 2009 animated film of the same name. I saw the movie first, and there are significant differences. The overall creepy nature of the Other Mother's world remains the same, as does the independence and courage of the heroine herself. Considering that I find Gaiman a very hit-and-miss author, this one falls in the "hit" category, with the strangeness augmenting the story rather than bogging it down. While I personally preferred the movie, I could still enjoy this book.
Comet's Nine Lives (Jan Brett)
Comet's Nine Lives
Jan Brett
Putnam
Fiction, YA Picture Book
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Born and raised on Nantucket Island, the cat Comet was happy and carefree... until an ill-advised snack on foxgloves cost him the first of the nine lives all cats are born with. He decides it's time to find himself a permanent home, but can he find a place to live before he runs out of lives?
REVIEW: I bought this for the beautiful watercolor images, full of bright details and a subplot told almost entirely in pictures. The story is light and fun, and it reads quickly. Enjoyable all around, whether you're a child reading it for Comet's adventures or an adult appreciating Brett's remarkable artwork.
Jan Brett
Putnam
Fiction, YA Picture Book
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Born and raised on Nantucket Island, the cat Comet was happy and carefree... until an ill-advised snack on foxgloves cost him the first of the nine lives all cats are born with. He decides it's time to find himself a permanent home, but can he find a place to live before he runs out of lives?
REVIEW: I bought this for the beautiful watercolor images, full of bright details and a subplot told almost entirely in pictures. The story is light and fun, and it reads quickly. Enjoyable all around, whether you're a child reading it for Comet's adventures or an adult appreciating Brett's remarkable artwork.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Cats Cats Cats (S. Gross, editor)
Cats Cats Cats: A Collection of Great Cat Cartoons
S. Gross, editor
Perennial Library (Harper & Row)
Fiction, Humor/Comics
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: A collection of cat cartoons from many sources.
REVIEW: This is an older book, but even considering that, the humor is dated. Lots of unfixed pets with unwanted kittens/throwing shoes at strays/kicking the cat outside all night type of jokes that might have been funny in the 1950's; I'm delusional enough to hope that spaying and neutering are more mainstream these days, as is keeping cats safely indoors. Some of the cartoonists treat cats with such contempt that I wonder why they bother drawing them at all, or why Gross thought they'd be worth including in an anthology of cartoons aimed at cat-lovers. A few others take way too many panels to get absolutely nowhere. For all that, there are a few fun cartoons here. Overall, the dross outweighs the gold. It didn't hack me off enough for a Bad rating, but the general blandness and dated humor place it firmly in Okay territory.
S. Gross, editor
Perennial Library (Harper & Row)
Fiction, Humor/Comics
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: A collection of cat cartoons from many sources.
REVIEW: This is an older book, but even considering that, the humor is dated. Lots of unfixed pets with unwanted kittens/throwing shoes at strays/kicking the cat outside all night type of jokes that might have been funny in the 1950's; I'm delusional enough to hope that spaying and neutering are more mainstream these days, as is keeping cats safely indoors. Some of the cartoonists treat cats with such contempt that I wonder why they bother drawing them at all, or why Gross thought they'd be worth including in an anthology of cartoons aimed at cat-lovers. A few others take way too many panels to get absolutely nowhere. For all that, there are a few fun cartoons here. Overall, the dross outweighs the gold. It didn't hack me off enough for a Bad rating, but the general blandness and dated humor place it firmly in Okay territory.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Site Updated, Reviews Archived
Brightdreamer Books has been updated again. The previous reviews have been archived. I also rotated the Random Recommendations, and I cross-linked more book reviews.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
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