Whoa...new look for Blogger...trippy.
But! I'm not back to talk about blog service layouts, I'm back to talk about a new book! Yaaaaaaaay! Invisible Sun by David Macinnis Gill is the sequel to 2010's Black Hole Sun, which was easily one of my top books of the year. The combination of humor and awesome sci-fi action left me begging for more.
Unfortunately, Invisible Sun wasn't what I was hoping for.
The team of Durango and Vienne (and Mimi, the AI in Durango's head) are back, fighting against the crime lord Lyme by keeping sensitive documents out of the man's hands. The book starts with just another day in the life of these dalit Regulators - storm in, blow some stuff up, and escape with guns blazing. Like the most action-packed of escapes, it's always a narrow one, but Durango and Vienne are the best at what they do.
While escaping, Durango and Vienne end up in the neighborhood of where she grew up and Durango, still not entirely sure to do about his feelings for Vienne, is terrified of meeting her family. This bit of domestic comedy is the last lighthearted moment in the book, and we've barely scratched the surface.
After Durango escaped his clutches yet again, Lyme devises a plan using Archibald, his reluctant toady, to capture the pain-in-the-ass Regulator. Archibald, son of a powerful CEO on a planet that is ruled by corporations, doesn't take kindly to being ordered around, but does relish the idea of raining death and destruction down upon the helpless population in hopes of drawing out Durango and Vienne, protectors of the poor and downtrodden of Mars (as seen with the miners in Black Hole Sun).
The plan succeeds.
And this is when the book started to take a nose dive for me.
Because while trying to protect the people Archibald is set on torturing, Durango and Vienne are split up. Durango escapes by making his captors think he's dead, but Vienne has no such luck and is taken prisoner. Where she is sadistically essentially stuffed in a refrigerator in order to give Durango a quest for the rest of the novel.
Vienne was an incredible bad-ass in Black Hole Sun. A big deal was made in both that book and this book about her self-sufficiency, her battle-savvy, and her strength and pride. And here we see her maliciously beaten and tortured (with a weird sexual vibe every once in awhile that made it seem quite rape-y)...with little to no pay off in the end. Black Hole Sun wrapped up its story neatly while leaving lots of room for the sequel. Invisible Sun ends in a big ol' cliffhanger with very few conclusions.
I don't end up buying a lot of books - there just isn't room in my apartment for every book I'd like to read. However, after being gifted an iPad for Christmas, I've been slowly but surely filling it up. I bought Invisible Sun with little hesitation for my iPad because I loved Black Hole Sun so much. I think I'm going to go back to my previous rule that the iPad gets loaded up with books that are old favorites rather than new books, because it's so disappointing to have spent the cash on a book that just fell apart so spectacularly. And with an ebook, I can't even pawn it off on a friend or charity!
Another annoyance that's small in the long run, but should be brought up for anyone that still wants to give this one a chance: there's almost no re-capping of Black Hole Sun here. I've said before I know it's a delicate balance between boring your experienced readers and drawing in the new ones, but every time something about Durango's past was mentioned, I was wracking my brain trying to remember if this was just refreshing something we'd learned in Black Hole Sun, or if this was supposed to be an exciting new revelation.
With two very successful and enjoyable books already in his repertoire, I'm not going to write-off Gill as an author just yet. However, I'll probably skip the eventual third book in this series and wait for Gill to pick up a new story. In the mean time, I highly recommend going back and re-reading Soul Enchilada for a hilarious Faustian tale, or Black Hole Sun for some awesome SF.
Showing posts with label meme: sci-fi friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meme: sci-fi friday. Show all posts
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, June 3, 2011
Sci-Fi Friday Book Thoughts - Series, featuring Plague by Michael Grant
Welcome to the first of my experimental posts - provided I like how this turns out, and depending on feedback, more of my reviews might end up looking like this.
Series are a big thing in the sci-fi/fantasy world right now. Really, they've probably always been a big thing, and for good reason, at least from an author's perspective: you put all this work into creating a (hopefully) totally unique world, why wouldn't you want to stick around and play in it for as long as possible? Using your best settings for a one-and-done story doesn't seem like the greatest use of creative resources from some perspectives, I'm sure.
But there's a tricky balancing act that authors have to do when they're writing a series, and that is how to remind readers of what happened earlier. For one thing, not everyone is going to start with the first book of your series, usually through ignorance that there are earlier books (something that could often be alleviated through good design - I offer the new Uglies covers as a tangentially related aside on an awesome example of how to work the series listing into an awesome cover design). How do you re-introduce previous story elements so they stay fresh for your loyal fans, but keep your new readers from getting frustrated?
But then there are also loyal fans like me, who either have memories like a sieve or just read too darn many books in a year to remember every last detail from your last book. And this became painfully obvious to me when I was reading Plague, the fourth installment in Michael Grant's Gone series.
Gone kept me thoroughly entertained. Not the slickest writing or most original plot, but an entertaining new
take on the "no more adults" genre. And after seeing him speak at an author's panel where he assured the audience that, unlike Animorphs (which he co-wrote with wife K.A. Applegate), he knew how it was going to end and what precisely had caused the FAYZ, I was excited to see where this series was going. But four books in, I'm afraid I have to give up - at least for now. Maybe, if I'm still curious, I'll pick the books back up when the final title is published, but until then I'm sitting out.
Why? There is absolutely no re-capping in these books. There's a huge cast of characters, and each book picks up shortly after the last one ended - with no look back at what happened last time. Through the course of the story some characters will think back on individual actions, but no details are provided. The tipping point for me this time when it was referenced that Astrid had killed Nerezza - and all I could think is "Who the fuck is Nerezza?!" Seriously, was she one of Cain's evil buddies? Was she a tool of the Gaiaphage? I don't know. And that's a problem.
Re-reading the other books before the new one comes out also isn't an option in this series, for me at least, because these are 500 page books. Life is too short to re-read a 500 page book six times because the author won't review what happened in it. At the very least, I need a cast of characters at the beginning of these books. While I'm sure the intention was to give us a diverse cast to illustrate multiple shades of gray morality, it just ends up feeling unwieldy and, of course, it's impossible to keep track of who did what across 2000 pages of story, now that we're through book 4.
So what are some books that have handled review well? The aforementioned Uglies series, for one. It's not always given to us upfront, in part because Tally gets a hard reset at the beginning of each book, but weaving the backstory in throughout the narrative is an organic way to catch us up. In some ways we meet Tally for the first time in each of the first three books (if you're unfamiliar with the series, the first three books are all about Tally, and then the fourth takes us out of the US and over to Japan to meet Aya, though Tally does eventually show up). The Hunger Games, of course, also gives us a fair number of reminders of what happened before - either through Katniss remembering something from the previous book, or the Capital broadcasting the film of what happened earlier. I just finished reading Eona, sequel to Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, and it opens with a preface that tells you all the major things that happened at the end of Eon, so even if, like me, you haven't read the book in two years, you immediately know the gist of the major events of the previous book, and then as necessary Eona fills us in on some character and emotional development that happened earlier. Is it an obvious tool to catch your readers up? Yes. Do I care? Nope!
Some books can get away with less review than others - I noted in my review of Behemoth that I didn't think it would be a good place for new readers to start, because it picks up immediately after Leviathan and is so action-packed there's never a chance to look back at what happened earlier. So why was I okay with that? For one thing, it's only the second book, not the fourth, so there was less for me to remember. There's also a smaller cast, with narration only being handled by Deryn and Alek, so it presents a more cohesive story. And the two books have had relatively straightforward, action-oriented plots thus far, unlike the Gone series which has multiple sub-plots for each character, and at least two major mysteries that may or may not be intertwined: what caused the FAYZ and how can the Gaiaphage be stopped. For all that Leviathan and Behemoth are set during the complex WWI, so far the main mystery seems to be what Dr. Barlowe has in those eggs and why does she want them delivered to world leaders. Much easier to follow than the freaking Gaiaphage.
With the market flooded with trilogies and series right now, it's a buyer's market for ongoing stories. Perhaps a series like Gone just requires a different sort of reader, but for now I'm going to stick with series that either can keep a firm grip on their wide scopes, or provide more in terms of reviewing what happened before so I don't need to keep a copy of Cliff's Notes (or Wikipedia) nearby.
Series are a big thing in the sci-fi/fantasy world right now. Really, they've probably always been a big thing, and for good reason, at least from an author's perspective: you put all this work into creating a (hopefully) totally unique world, why wouldn't you want to stick around and play in it for as long as possible? Using your best settings for a one-and-done story doesn't seem like the greatest use of creative resources from some perspectives, I'm sure.
But there's a tricky balancing act that authors have to do when they're writing a series, and that is how to remind readers of what happened earlier. For one thing, not everyone is going to start with the first book of your series, usually through ignorance that there are earlier books (something that could often be alleviated through good design - I offer the new Uglies covers as a tangentially related aside on an awesome example of how to work the series listing into an awesome cover design). How do you re-introduce previous story elements so they stay fresh for your loyal fans, but keep your new readers from getting frustrated?
But then there are also loyal fans like me, who either have memories like a sieve or just read too darn many books in a year to remember every last detail from your last book. And this became painfully obvious to me when I was reading Plague, the fourth installment in Michael Grant's Gone series.
Gone kept me thoroughly entertained. Not the slickest writing or most original plot, but an entertaining new take on the "no more adults" genre. And after seeing him speak at an author's panel where he assured the audience that, unlike Animorphs (which he co-wrote with wife K.A. Applegate), he knew how it was going to end and what precisely had caused the FAYZ, I was excited to see where this series was going. But four books in, I'm afraid I have to give up - at least for now. Maybe, if I'm still curious, I'll pick the books back up when the final title is published, but until then I'm sitting out.Why? There is absolutely no re-capping in these books. There's a huge cast of characters, and each book picks up shortly after the last one ended - with no look back at what happened last time. Through the course of the story some characters will think back on individual actions, but no details are provided. The tipping point for me this time when it was referenced that Astrid had killed Nerezza - and all I could think is "Who the fuck is Nerezza?!" Seriously, was she one of Cain's evil buddies? Was she a tool of the Gaiaphage? I don't know. And that's a problem.
Re-reading the other books before the new one comes out also isn't an option in this series, for me at least, because these are 500 page books. Life is too short to re-read a 500 page book six times because the author won't review what happened in it. At the very least, I need a cast of characters at the beginning of these books. While I'm sure the intention was to give us a diverse cast to illustrate multiple shades of gray morality, it just ends up feeling unwieldy and, of course, it's impossible to keep track of who did what across 2000 pages of story, now that we're through book 4.
So what are some books that have handled review well? The aforementioned Uglies series, for one. It's not always given to us upfront, in part because Tally gets a hard reset at the beginning of each book, but weaving the backstory in throughout the narrative is an organic way to catch us up. In some ways we meet Tally for the first time in each of the first three books (if you're unfamiliar with the series, the first three books are all about Tally, and then the fourth takes us out of the US and over to Japan to meet Aya, though Tally does eventually show up). The Hunger Games, of course, also gives us a fair number of reminders of what happened before - either through Katniss remembering something from the previous book, or the Capital broadcasting the film of what happened earlier. I just finished reading Eona, sequel to Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, and it opens with a preface that tells you all the major things that happened at the end of Eon, so even if, like me, you haven't read the book in two years, you immediately know the gist of the major events of the previous book, and then as necessary Eona fills us in on some character and emotional development that happened earlier. Is it an obvious tool to catch your readers up? Yes. Do I care? Nope!
Some books can get away with less review than others - I noted in my review of Behemoth that I didn't think it would be a good place for new readers to start, because it picks up immediately after Leviathan and is so action-packed there's never a chance to look back at what happened earlier. So why was I okay with that? For one thing, it's only the second book, not the fourth, so there was less for me to remember. There's also a smaller cast, with narration only being handled by Deryn and Alek, so it presents a more cohesive story. And the two books have had relatively straightforward, action-oriented plots thus far, unlike the Gone series which has multiple sub-plots for each character, and at least two major mysteries that may or may not be intertwined: what caused the FAYZ and how can the Gaiaphage be stopped. For all that Leviathan and Behemoth are set during the complex WWI, so far the main mystery seems to be what Dr. Barlowe has in those eggs and why does she want them delivered to world leaders. Much easier to follow than the freaking Gaiaphage.
With the market flooded with trilogies and series right now, it's a buyer's market for ongoing stories. Perhaps a series like Gone just requires a different sort of reader, but for now I'm going to stick with series that either can keep a firm grip on their wide scopes, or provide more in terms of reviewing what happened before so I don't need to keep a copy of Cliff's Notes (or Wikipedia) nearby.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Sci Fi Friday Double Review: ANIMORPHS #1 & #2, by K.A. Applegate
I've mentioned a few times before, here and in various blogger profiles I've done for other blogs, that I absolutely loved the Animorphs series when I was younger. It's been just about 14 years since I got my first book - Easter Sunday, 1997, I woke up to find a book tucked in amongst the candy in my Easter basket. A red book with a weird picture on the cover of a girl turning into a cat.
I stuck through the whole series for five years, through the ups and (devastatingly terrible) downs that the 62 book series took. I ran a fan website, wrote tons and tons of fan fiction, and made some of the best friends a girl could ever hope to have, all because of these books.
So even though the books didn't go out on the highest note, I was beyond excited when I heard they were getting re-released, with some small updates to correct mistakes and bring the books into the 21st century. And when Cindy asked me if I wanted to check out the galley copies she had, I about had a heart attack from excitement. I still have all of my original books (including that 14 year old copy of The Visitor...as well as a copy of the second print run version and a copy in German) but I wanted to see what had been changed in these new versions. What I was entirely prepared for was a) the huge wave of nostalgia I felt upon reading the opening lines and b) just how awesome these books still are all these years later! Trust me, there's nothing else like Animorphs out there for this age group right now.
The Invasion introduces us to Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie and Marco - five totally ordinary kids who make the fateful decision to walk home one night by cutting through an abandoned construction site. Their leisurely walk home is interrupted by a crashing space ship - and the kids make contact with their first alien, an Andalite called Prince Elfangor-Sirinal-Shamtul. He warns the group, telling them their planet is already being invaded by the Yeerks, slugs that crawl in through a person's ear before wrapping themselves around the brain and taking complete control of the body. Elfangor gives them the only weapon he can to defend their planet: the power to morph, to acquire the DNA of any animal and then change into that animal.
Jake, serious and responsible, quickly slips into the role of the leader of the group. The others all have strongly defined personalities as well: Rachel is fearless, Cassie compassionate, Marco a wiseass with a tragic past, and Tobias is quiet and shy with a good dose of tragedy of his own. Each book is told from a different character's point of view, so these first two give us the deepest looks into Jake and Rachel. If the other characters don't seem the most complex yet, just you wait.
The Visitor is set a short time later. Just long enough for the group to recover after some of the horrors they experienced in the last book before launching into another mission. This time we follow Rachel as she spends most of her time on reconnaissance missions into enemy territory, sneaking into the home of a friend in order to spy on her parents who are Controllers - people who have been taken over by the Yeerks. It's less action packed than The Invasion, but still filled with tension and drama of a different sort.
If you thought The Hunger Games was a little too violent...well, Animorphs isn't much better. It's not kids killing kids, but it does involve aliens being eaten alive by other aliens on a semi-regular basis. And Applegate doesn't pull away from these darker scenes - they're not gratuitous, but are certainly well-described.
K.A. Applegate absolutely doesn't condescend to her audience or pull any punches. I know the books end up dealing with some really serious moral issues, including war, murder/killing, the nature of evil and so on, but I'd kind of forgotten how outright violent they start. And I love it. The theme of the whole series is about war and its affects on people (much like the culmination of The Hunger Games), and you can't adequately explore that without getting into some bleak moments. Like I said, the descriptions aren't gratuitous - there isn't a grisly scene just for the sake of being edgy or dark - but they are definitely there, and are part of what really set these books apart (they're intended for ages 8-12...I was 12 when the series started. omg, I'm so old, and always have been in this fandom!).
There are also lots of little bits of awesome commentary that slip into these books. I immediately identified with Rachel back in the day (and she remains one of my favorite literary characters of all time), not only because she was tough and fierce and tall like I wanted to be, but she has lots of feminist moments, taking jabs at the boys when she thinks they are being unreasonably protective. There are also two characters of color - Marco is Hispanic and Cassie African-American. Their races are only mentioned in passing (until time travelling starts happening much later in the series), but it's there. There's also a bit of class consciousness - Marco's dad is extremely messed up after the death of Marco's mother a few years ago, meaning that money is short and they don't live in the greatest of neighborhoods. Meanwhile Rachel is the daughter of divorced parents but has her own credit card. It gets a little bit into Five Token Band territory (warning: TVTropes link), but as their distinct personalities develop it doesn't feel like lazy stereotyping.
For a 15 year old series (I got into the game a year late), it holds up surprisingly well. There's nothing here that screams mid-90s, and as someone who read these books obsessively, I can also tell you that the updating is quite minimal. The biggest update was changing a major continuity error in the first book (well, it wasn't a continuity error then, but they made a big deal out of the opposite thing happening in subsequent books). Otherwise it was like changing the name of a specific game system to just say "system." When I read the new Babysitter's Club prequel last summer, the writing felt like it definitely could have fit in with the original books...which wasn't the greatest thing. Those books were kind of clunky - like the template of the second chapter of every book detailing the characters. Nothing about these books feel dated, other than the fact that they are designed to be a monthly science fiction series - a genre you don't see at the book store too often anymore.
The Invasion and The Visitor will be released in May. Right now I believe the plans are for the first six books to get re-released over the next two years, so this definitely won't be the snappy pace I got used to back in middle school. Old school Animorph fans won't find much terribly new here - if your original books are still in your parents' basement, you're not missing out on anything if you just stick with those. But if tragedy struck so you don't have them anymore, and now you've got a serious craving for some old school Animorphs, you'll be pleased with these. Though I'm sad the corner morphing flipbook is gone :-( On the other hand: lenticular covers! The original cover style never excited me
(that's book #4 to the right), and the new cover style isn't translating well into online images - the background patterns are much richer in real life, and the lenticular action is really quite good!
So, to sum up an incredibly long entry, let me just say this: I am so excited to see these books come back so that a whole new generation can get to know these amazing books.
Reviewed from galley copies. The Invasion and The Visitor will be released in May!
I stuck through the whole series for five years, through the ups and (devastatingly terrible) downs that the 62 book series took. I ran a fan website, wrote tons and tons of fan fiction, and made some of the best friends a girl could ever hope to have, all because of these books.
So even though the books didn't go out on the highest note, I was beyond excited when I heard they were getting re-released, with some small updates to correct mistakes and bring the books into the 21st century. And when Cindy asked me if I wanted to check out the galley copies she had, I about had a heart attack from excitement. I still have all of my original books (including that 14 year old copy of The Visitor...as well as a copy of the second print run version and a copy in German) but I wanted to see what had been changed in these new versions. What I was entirely prepared for was a) the huge wave of nostalgia I felt upon reading the opening lines and b) just how awesome these books still are all these years later! Trust me, there's nothing else like Animorphs out there for this age group right now.
The Invasion introduces us to Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie and Marco - five totally ordinary kids who make the fateful decision to walk home one night by cutting through an abandoned construction site. Their leisurely walk home is interrupted by a crashing space ship - and the kids make contact with their first alien, an Andalite called Prince Elfangor-Sirinal-Shamtul. He warns the group, telling them their planet is already being invaded by the Yeerks, slugs that crawl in through a person's ear before wrapping themselves around the brain and taking complete control of the body. Elfangor gives them the only weapon he can to defend their planet: the power to morph, to acquire the DNA of any animal and then change into that animal.Jake, serious and responsible, quickly slips into the role of the leader of the group. The others all have strongly defined personalities as well: Rachel is fearless, Cassie compassionate, Marco a wiseass with a tragic past, and Tobias is quiet and shy with a good dose of tragedy of his own. Each book is told from a different character's point of view, so these first two give us the deepest looks into Jake and Rachel. If the other characters don't seem the most complex yet, just you wait.
The Visitor is set a short time later. Just long enough for the group to recover after some of the horrors they experienced in the last book before launching into another mission. This time we follow Rachel as she spends most of her time on reconnaissance missions into enemy territory, sneaking into the home of a friend in order to spy on her parents who are Controllers - people who have been taken over by the Yeerks. It's less action packed than The Invasion, but still filled with tension and drama of a different sort.If you thought The Hunger Games was a little too violent...well, Animorphs isn't much better. It's not kids killing kids, but it does involve aliens being eaten alive by other aliens on a semi-regular basis. And Applegate doesn't pull away from these darker scenes - they're not gratuitous, but are certainly well-described.
K.A. Applegate absolutely doesn't condescend to her audience or pull any punches. I know the books end up dealing with some really serious moral issues, including war, murder/killing, the nature of evil and so on, but I'd kind of forgotten how outright violent they start. And I love it. The theme of the whole series is about war and its affects on people (much like the culmination of The Hunger Games), and you can't adequately explore that without getting into some bleak moments. Like I said, the descriptions aren't gratuitous - there isn't a grisly scene just for the sake of being edgy or dark - but they are definitely there, and are part of what really set these books apart (they're intended for ages 8-12...I was 12 when the series started. omg, I'm so old, and always have been in this fandom!).
There are also lots of little bits of awesome commentary that slip into these books. I immediately identified with Rachel back in the day (and she remains one of my favorite literary characters of all time), not only because she was tough and fierce and tall like I wanted to be, but she has lots of feminist moments, taking jabs at the boys when she thinks they are being unreasonably protective. There are also two characters of color - Marco is Hispanic and Cassie African-American. Their races are only mentioned in passing (until time travelling starts happening much later in the series), but it's there. There's also a bit of class consciousness - Marco's dad is extremely messed up after the death of Marco's mother a few years ago, meaning that money is short and they don't live in the greatest of neighborhoods. Meanwhile Rachel is the daughter of divorced parents but has her own credit card. It gets a little bit into Five Token Band territory (warning: TVTropes link), but as their distinct personalities develop it doesn't feel like lazy stereotyping.
For a 15 year old series (I got into the game a year late), it holds up surprisingly well. There's nothing here that screams mid-90s, and as someone who read these books obsessively, I can also tell you that the updating is quite minimal. The biggest update was changing a major continuity error in the first book (well, it wasn't a continuity error then, but they made a big deal out of the opposite thing happening in subsequent books). Otherwise it was like changing the name of a specific game system to just say "system." When I read the new Babysitter's Club prequel last summer, the writing felt like it definitely could have fit in with the original books...which wasn't the greatest thing. Those books were kind of clunky - like the template of the second chapter of every book detailing the characters. Nothing about these books feel dated, other than the fact that they are designed to be a monthly science fiction series - a genre you don't see at the book store too often anymore.
The Invasion and The Visitor will be released in May. Right now I believe the plans are for the first six books to get re-released over the next two years, so this definitely won't be the snappy pace I got used to back in middle school. Old school Animorph fans won't find much terribly new here - if your original books are still in your parents' basement, you're not missing out on anything if you just stick with those. But if tragedy struck so you don't have them anymore, and now you've got a serious craving for some old school Animorphs, you'll be pleased with these. Though I'm sad the corner morphing flipbook is gone :-( On the other hand: lenticular covers! The original cover style never excited me (that's book #4 to the right), and the new cover style isn't translating well into online images - the background patterns are much richer in real life, and the lenticular action is really quite good!So, to sum up an incredibly long entry, let me just say this: I am so excited to see these books come back so that a whole new generation can get to know these amazing books.
Reviewed from galley copies. The Invasion and The Visitor will be released in May!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Sci Fi Friday Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis
OMG, it's been forever since I've done a SF Friday post. Not for lack of wanting - there's just been a ridiculous lack of science fiction the last couple of months. And my TBR list doesn't have much coming up, either. Boo!
As the daughter of a scientist and a military strategist, 17 year old Amy is selected to be one of the people cryogenically frozen for the 300 year journey across the stars as Earth colonizes its first new planet.
250 years later, Amy wakes up. Alone. It's 50 years ahead of schedule, and thanks to the clumsy work of whoever pulled her out of the freezer, she can't go back under.
Amy must now try to make sense of how humanity has evolved aboard the Godspeed - a society where uniformity and peace are prized above all else. Her only allies are those who are different - Elder, who is to inherit the role of leader after the current Eldest's death, and Harley, an artist who lives in a hospital and fed a constant stream of medications to try to control his individualist ways.
But it quickly becomes apparent that waking Amy wasn't an accident. More people are being pulled from their cryo chambers, and being left for dead. Only Amy, Elder and Harley seem to understand the gravity of the situation, and it's up to the three individuals in a sea of uniformity to solve the crimes.
I was pretty much convinced going into this that this was going to be a love story. Lots of reviews are selling this on the merits of the interracial romance and then there's that Spider-Man kiss cover. However, I found this refreshingly light on the romance. Oh there's some romantic angst and questioning, but Amy and Elder are in such different places psychologically that only one of them really has the time/energy to contemplate romantic feelings. And yet the mostly one-sided romance doesn't come across as creepy/stalkery. Kudos there.
As far as the science fiction aspect goes, this definitely isn't hard SF, but it's not totally on the softer side of the spectrum, like a lot of dystopian YA SF has been in the last few years. I'm hardly a science expert, but there was enough science-talk to convince me this was a future society heavily invested in technology, but doesn't devolve into so much technobabble as to scare off SF newbies.
The rest of the story comes out in fits and starts, with lots of dramatic cliff hangers at the end of chapters, drawn out because Amy and Elder alternate narration duties. It's all pretty straight forward, and the forecasting of the bad guy's badness begins pretty early on (really, there wasn't a more subtle example than saying the bad guy views Hitler as one of the good guys?), but it's a nice enough story, more of a mystery than a romance, with some nice SF set dressing.
As the daughter of a scientist and a military strategist, 17 year old Amy is selected to be one of the people cryogenically frozen for the 300 year journey across the stars as Earth colonizes its first new planet.250 years later, Amy wakes up. Alone. It's 50 years ahead of schedule, and thanks to the clumsy work of whoever pulled her out of the freezer, she can't go back under.
Amy must now try to make sense of how humanity has evolved aboard the Godspeed - a society where uniformity and peace are prized above all else. Her only allies are those who are different - Elder, who is to inherit the role of leader after the current Eldest's death, and Harley, an artist who lives in a hospital and fed a constant stream of medications to try to control his individualist ways.
But it quickly becomes apparent that waking Amy wasn't an accident. More people are being pulled from their cryo chambers, and being left for dead. Only Amy, Elder and Harley seem to understand the gravity of the situation, and it's up to the three individuals in a sea of uniformity to solve the crimes.
I was pretty much convinced going into this that this was going to be a love story. Lots of reviews are selling this on the merits of the interracial romance and then there's that Spider-Man kiss cover. However, I found this refreshingly light on the romance. Oh there's some romantic angst and questioning, but Amy and Elder are in such different places psychologically that only one of them really has the time/energy to contemplate romantic feelings. And yet the mostly one-sided romance doesn't come across as creepy/stalkery. Kudos there.
As far as the science fiction aspect goes, this definitely isn't hard SF, but it's not totally on the softer side of the spectrum, like a lot of dystopian YA SF has been in the last few years. I'm hardly a science expert, but there was enough science-talk to convince me this was a future society heavily invested in technology, but doesn't devolve into so much technobabble as to scare off SF newbies.
The rest of the story comes out in fits and starts, with lots of dramatic cliff hangers at the end of chapters, drawn out because Amy and Elder alternate narration duties. It's all pretty straight forward, and the forecasting of the bad guy's badness begins pretty early on (really, there wasn't a more subtle example than saying the bad guy views Hitler as one of the good guys?), but it's a nice enough story, more of a mystery than a romance, with some nice SF set dressing.
In closing, I do want to point out to anyone who missed it in December that Across the Universe was the victim of some subtle whitewashing, as pointed out at The Interrobangs. The original ARC cover emphasized Elder's non-Caucasian features subtly, while in the final cover there's nothing that really differentiates him from Amy (other than being a dude). This is a more subtle racefail than other examples (Liar, Magic Under Glass), which I imagine is why I haven't seen it mentioned much outside of The Interrobangs. Like with Magic Under Glass, I imagine part of the lack of controversy stems from the fact that Elder isn't any specific race - the humans of Godspeed have become monoethnic in the centuries between leaving Earth and Amy's awakening, meaning they all share the same olive skin, brown eyes and brown hair. Since we can't say Elder is supposed to look African, Indian or Japanese, and the fact the faces are almost in silhouette, it's easy to explain away/ignore the cover discrepancies. It probably never would have been noted - if Razorbill hadn't initially released the ARC with a more obviously non-Caucasian cover model.
But to end on a slightly more positive note, I'm desperate for some more SF in my life. Next Friday I'll have Julia Karr's XVI as a SF Friday review, but after that my TBR list is sadly light on the SF front. Someone please tell me there's more great SF on the way this year! I'm more excited about the books coming out in 2011 than I ever have been before, but so far it looks like a light year for SF? Say it ain't so! Give me some good news in the comments!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Sci Fi Friday Review: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
It's no secret to long-time readers of this blog that I have a thing for Scott Westerfeld's writing. I wrote my senior thesis on the Uglies series, for goodness' sake! So it's probably no surprise, given my history with Westerfeld's work and my feelings about last year's Leviathan, that I enjoyed Behemoth. Just wanted to get that out of the way in case the curiosity was killing you.
When we last left the crew of the British airship Leviathan, they had just picked up several Austrian passengers, including the son of the recently-assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Alek - not that any of the British crew know that. Alek's lone friend among the crew is a young airman Dylan, who is actually a young woman, Deryn, disguising herself so she can serve in the air force - not that anyone knows about that. The airship is carrying some precious cargo and distinguished guests, including the granddaughter of Charles Darwin, who has some very special eggs she wants delivered to the ruler of the Ottoman Empire before a great war can break out among the European nations in response to the murder of Alek's parents.
The Ottoman Empire is at a crossroads when the Leviathan docks. They are technically neutral in the burgeoning conflict, but are being courted by both German and British forces for an alliance. And all is not well within the Empire, as the current sultan has only been in power for a few years and already militants are planning a coup to replace the monarchy with a democratic government. Alek and Deryn know that technically they are on opposite sides in this war - Clanker and Darwinist, royalty and commoner - but discover they will have to work together, along with an eclectic mix of allies, if they ever hope to achieve their mutual goal: stop a world war from beginning.
If you haven't read Leviathan yet, you absolutely need to read it before reading Behemoth. The story picks up mere days after the end of Leviathan, and the action starts within just a few pages, leaving precious little time to catch the reader up on what happened in the last book. I really liked the fact that Westerfeld just goes with the assumption that the reader already knows the back story, because that means each and every page can be devoted to developing what happens next.
This is one wild ride both similar to and very different from Leviathan. In the last book, we followed Alek wandering in the wilderness towards safety with his body guards, and Deryn spent much of her story alone among the crew out of need to protect her secret. In Behemoth, less physical ground is covered, as the story stays focused on Istanbul, and the story becomes more of a political thriller as Alek and Deryn become involved in the resistance movement - which introduces my favorite character, the feisty revolutionary Lilit, who has dreams of bringing women's liberation to Istanbul. She also has a huge crush on one of our dashing heroes. Lilit is a young woman destined for greatness and could probably support a whole novel of her own!
As expected, there are more great beasties and machines this time around. The Ottoman Empire is a Clanker nation, but they're more in touch with nature than the Germans or Austrians, as their mechanics are based on animals. My favorite was probably the spider-like machine that worked the great library. On the Darwinist side, we finally get to see what was in those eggs that were so carefully guarded in Leviathan and, of course, there's the title beastie, the Behemoth. It's awesome, in every sense of the word.
Because I feel like it's becoming my trademark, I do have to comment for a moment on the romance element of the book. Deryn is beginning to develop "feelings" for Alek. Maybe this just annoyed me because I read it shortly after The Education of Bet and A Golden Web, two other novels about young women dressing up as men, but I'm getting quite tired of girls putting all of their other goals at risk because of some boy that literally thinks they're just one of the guys. Deryn keeps a handle on herself better than the protagonists of the other two books, and it's really just a small bit of this otherwise giant story, but it still rankled me a bit. I am certain Goliath won't go the way of Mockingjay in terms of focus on relationships, but I can't deny there's a little bit of worry in the back of my head. Hopefully, averting World War I will remain the focus.
Rot & Ruin Giveaway Reminder: I'm going to draw the winner for the Rot & Ruin giveaway at 12 pm Eastern time today! If you still want a chance to win, enter here!
Reviewed from ARC picked up at ALA 2010.
When we last left the crew of the British airship Leviathan, they had just picked up several Austrian passengers, including the son of the recently-assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Alek - not that any of the British crew know that. Alek's lone friend among the crew is a young airman Dylan, who is actually a young woman, Deryn, disguising herself so she can serve in the air force - not that anyone knows about that. The airship is carrying some precious cargo and distinguished guests, including the granddaughter of Charles Darwin, who has some very special eggs she wants delivered to the ruler of the Ottoman Empire before a great war can break out among the European nations in response to the murder of Alek's parents.The Ottoman Empire is at a crossroads when the Leviathan docks. They are technically neutral in the burgeoning conflict, but are being courted by both German and British forces for an alliance. And all is not well within the Empire, as the current sultan has only been in power for a few years and already militants are planning a coup to replace the monarchy with a democratic government. Alek and Deryn know that technically they are on opposite sides in this war - Clanker and Darwinist, royalty and commoner - but discover they will have to work together, along with an eclectic mix of allies, if they ever hope to achieve their mutual goal: stop a world war from beginning.
If you haven't read Leviathan yet, you absolutely need to read it before reading Behemoth. The story picks up mere days after the end of Leviathan, and the action starts within just a few pages, leaving precious little time to catch the reader up on what happened in the last book. I really liked the fact that Westerfeld just goes with the assumption that the reader already knows the back story, because that means each and every page can be devoted to developing what happens next.
This is one wild ride both similar to and very different from Leviathan. In the last book, we followed Alek wandering in the wilderness towards safety with his body guards, and Deryn spent much of her story alone among the crew out of need to protect her secret. In Behemoth, less physical ground is covered, as the story stays focused on Istanbul, and the story becomes more of a political thriller as Alek and Deryn become involved in the resistance movement - which introduces my favorite character, the feisty revolutionary Lilit, who has dreams of bringing women's liberation to Istanbul. She also has a huge crush on one of our dashing heroes. Lilit is a young woman destined for greatness and could probably support a whole novel of her own!
As expected, there are more great beasties and machines this time around. The Ottoman Empire is a Clanker nation, but they're more in touch with nature than the Germans or Austrians, as their mechanics are based on animals. My favorite was probably the spider-like machine that worked the great library. On the Darwinist side, we finally get to see what was in those eggs that were so carefully guarded in Leviathan and, of course, there's the title beastie, the Behemoth. It's awesome, in every sense of the word.
Because I feel like it's becoming my trademark, I do have to comment for a moment on the romance element of the book. Deryn is beginning to develop "feelings" for Alek. Maybe this just annoyed me because I read it shortly after The Education of Bet and A Golden Web, two other novels about young women dressing up as men, but I'm getting quite tired of girls putting all of their other goals at risk because of some boy that literally thinks they're just one of the guys. Deryn keeps a handle on herself better than the protagonists of the other two books, and it's really just a small bit of this otherwise giant story, but it still rankled me a bit. I am certain Goliath won't go the way of Mockingjay in terms of focus on relationships, but I can't deny there's a little bit of worry in the back of my head. Hopefully, averting World War I will remain the focus.
Rot & Ruin Giveaway Reminder: I'm going to draw the winner for the Rot & Ruin giveaway at 12 pm Eastern time today! If you still want a chance to win, enter here!
Reviewed from ARC picked up at ALA 2010.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Sci-Fi Friday Review + Giveaway: Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Yeah, you read that subject right! To kick off October right, I'm jumping in with a PERSONALIZED, SIGNED copy of Jonathan Maberry's new YA zombie novel Rot & Ruin! Read through my review to find the details at the bottom.
Set 14 years after the dead first began to rise, Benny Imura is 15 and has to choose his career quickly, before the town cuts his ration allowance in half. Benny looks into pretty much every half-decent job in town (and even a couple that are less-than-decent), all hoping to avoid the inevitable: joining the family business and becoming his brother's apprentice. What does his brother do?
Kill zombies.
Benny and his older brother Tom have a complicated relationship - as in Benny does little more than tolerate his older brother, who is totally uncool in comparison to the bad-ass zombie bounty hunters that tell tall tales filled with daring and adventure to entertain the kids. But when Benny runs out of other job options, he reluctantly begins training to join his brother in the field - and learns that there's a lot more to zombie hunting than just whacking zoms.
When Jonathan was talking about the novel at Sunday's Books of Wonder event, he noted that zombie novels are never about the zombies - the zombies are metaphors and catalysts for change. I think rarely has that fact come through as clearly as it does in Rot & Ruin. This is not a book about zombies. This isn't even really a book about zombie hunters. It's a book about brothers, about family, and about what it means to be human. There's lots of philosophy in this book - not the heavy sort that put me to sleep in college, but this is definitely a book that asks readers to think.
That's not to say there isn't any zombie killing action in the story. In fact, there's quite a bit, and Benny is often in the thick of it, even though he's not a trained bounty hunter yet, which adds to the drama - often he's armed with nothing more than a bokken.
Placing the story within one generation or so of the onset of the zombies was an excellent idea. It's far enough that people realistically have some knowledge of the zombies (what will make a person return, how to kill them, what attracts them), but it still makes sense for some of the history to have to be explained to someone like Benny who was barely a toddler when the outbreak again. While some scenes were heavy on the exposition as older brother Tom explains the ways of the world to Benny, the reason for the exposition never felt forced; it just could have been trimmed a little. Also, Tom spends a bit too much time congratulating Benny for asking great questions; there certainly could have been a little more showing rather than telling.
I also have to give a major shout out for the multi-cultural cast. Tom and Benny are Japanese-American - which explains the affinity for Japanese weaponry (Tom uses a katana when fighting with a blade - remember, blades are quieter and don't need reloading!). A quick rundown of the heritages of other characters is given at one point as well - a doctor born in India, another man from Oaxaca, and Vietnamese and Chinese characters as well. While the zombies are a more-or-less uniform shade of gray, the living characters are vibrant and represent the real diversity found in the contemporary United States.
I know a book, especially a zombie book, is resonating with me when I can't wait to finish it so I can go work on my own novel. I've been toiling for ages on my own zombie novel, and I find my biggest inspiration to get back to writing is to read another great book. In this case, I'm not inspired because I think I have a superior take on zombies - rather I'm just excited about some day adding my own bit of input into this rich genre, and I get excited by what other people are adding along the way.
While you're waiting for the next book in the trilogy to come out (Dust & Decay), I highly recommend you check out Jonathan's website. There's a great interview up right now with Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead Tossed Waves) and Alden Bell (The Reapers are the Angels - which I hadn't heard of before! Amazon doesn't list it as a YA novel, but the protagonist is 15, so you can be sure I'm trying to get my hands on it now) giving their thoughts on all things zombie.
GIVEAWAY
This is the part you're waiting for, right?
After my Fall releases post last week, I got a lovely e-mail from Jonathan offering up a signed copy of Rot & Ruin for giveaway here on the blog! After responding that yes, I would love to host a giveaway, he upped the ante on his offer: not only will the book be signed, but he'll personalize the book for the winner! So instead of just his signature, the book will be signed just for you!
The contest is going to run for one week - I'll announce the winner on Friday, October 8th.
How to enter? Leave a comment in this entry with your e-mail address. And just to make this fun, answer the same question I posed to Jonathan and the other panelists last Sunday: do you prefer fast zombies or slow?
The winner will be chosen randomly - as in my last giveaway the question is just to make the entries more interesting - and I'll send Jonathan the winner's e-mail address so the two of you can work out signing and shipping details.
Set 14 years after the dead first began to rise, Benny Imura is 15 and has to choose his career quickly, before the town cuts his ration allowance in half. Benny looks into pretty much every half-decent job in town (and even a couple that are less-than-decent), all hoping to avoid the inevitable: joining the family business and becoming his brother's apprentice. What does his brother do?Kill zombies.
Benny and his older brother Tom have a complicated relationship - as in Benny does little more than tolerate his older brother, who is totally uncool in comparison to the bad-ass zombie bounty hunters that tell tall tales filled with daring and adventure to entertain the kids. But when Benny runs out of other job options, he reluctantly begins training to join his brother in the field - and learns that there's a lot more to zombie hunting than just whacking zoms.
When Jonathan was talking about the novel at Sunday's Books of Wonder event, he noted that zombie novels are never about the zombies - the zombies are metaphors and catalysts for change. I think rarely has that fact come through as clearly as it does in Rot & Ruin. This is not a book about zombies. This isn't even really a book about zombie hunters. It's a book about brothers, about family, and about what it means to be human. There's lots of philosophy in this book - not the heavy sort that put me to sleep in college, but this is definitely a book that asks readers to think.
That's not to say there isn't any zombie killing action in the story. In fact, there's quite a bit, and Benny is often in the thick of it, even though he's not a trained bounty hunter yet, which adds to the drama - often he's armed with nothing more than a bokken.
Placing the story within one generation or so of the onset of the zombies was an excellent idea. It's far enough that people realistically have some knowledge of the zombies (what will make a person return, how to kill them, what attracts them), but it still makes sense for some of the history to have to be explained to someone like Benny who was barely a toddler when the outbreak again. While some scenes were heavy on the exposition as older brother Tom explains the ways of the world to Benny, the reason for the exposition never felt forced; it just could have been trimmed a little. Also, Tom spends a bit too much time congratulating Benny for asking great questions; there certainly could have been a little more showing rather than telling.
I also have to give a major shout out for the multi-cultural cast. Tom and Benny are Japanese-American - which explains the affinity for Japanese weaponry (Tom uses a katana when fighting with a blade - remember, blades are quieter and don't need reloading!). A quick rundown of the heritages of other characters is given at one point as well - a doctor born in India, another man from Oaxaca, and Vietnamese and Chinese characters as well. While the zombies are a more-or-less uniform shade of gray, the living characters are vibrant and represent the real diversity found in the contemporary United States.
I know a book, especially a zombie book, is resonating with me when I can't wait to finish it so I can go work on my own novel. I've been toiling for ages on my own zombie novel, and I find my biggest inspiration to get back to writing is to read another great book. In this case, I'm not inspired because I think I have a superior take on zombies - rather I'm just excited about some day adding my own bit of input into this rich genre, and I get excited by what other people are adding along the way.
While you're waiting for the next book in the trilogy to come out (Dust & Decay), I highly recommend you check out Jonathan's website. There's a great interview up right now with Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead Tossed Waves) and Alden Bell (The Reapers are the Angels - which I hadn't heard of before! Amazon doesn't list it as a YA novel, but the protagonist is 15, so you can be sure I'm trying to get my hands on it now) giving their thoughts on all things zombie.
GIVEAWAY
This is the part you're waiting for, right?
After my Fall releases post last week, I got a lovely e-mail from Jonathan offering up a signed copy of Rot & Ruin for giveaway here on the blog! After responding that yes, I would love to host a giveaway, he upped the ante on his offer: not only will the book be signed, but he'll personalize the book for the winner! So instead of just his signature, the book will be signed just for you!
The contest is going to run for one week - I'll announce the winner on Friday, October 8th.
How to enter? Leave a comment in this entry with your e-mail address. And just to make this fun, answer the same question I posed to Jonathan and the other panelists last Sunday: do you prefer fast zombies or slow?
The winner will be chosen randomly - as in my last giveaway the question is just to make the entries more interesting - and I'll send Jonathan the winner's e-mail address so the two of you can work out signing and shipping details.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Sci Fi Friday Review: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Back when I went to ALA, I knew I was going to meet up with Lynn & Cindy at some point, but probably not until Saturday or Sunday. Yet when I got to the convention hall on Friday evening to register, I saw them across the lobby and snuck up on them like the sneaky person I am. And good thing too - while they were off to do important committee stuff, they clued me in that Candlewick had a few ARCs left of Monsters of Men and I should make that my first stop if I wanted to get my hands on this book before September. I then impressed them when we met up again on Sunday to report that I'd already finished the book!
Monsters of Men is the conclusion to the Chaos Walking trilogy, all of which have had slightly unwieldy names (The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer). When we last left Todd and Viola, they were facing the prospect of all out war, withMayor President Prentiss' army of men and Mistress Coyle's resistance/terrorist cell of women and cast off men ready to kill each other, if the massive army of rebelling Spackle don't kill all of the humans first. Oh, and Viola's people, her fellow colonists, have reached the planet. Monsters of Men drops us right back into the action, with the adults and the Spackle known as 1017 all itching for war. Todd and Viola are once again caught in the middle, and now 1017 is added to the narrative mix, struggling with many of the same issues as the humans - he wants revenge, and is even willing to go against the nominal leader of his people, The Sky, in his quest. Will cooler heads ever prevail?
Monsters of Men is the conclusion to the Chaos Walking trilogy, all of which have had slightly unwieldy names (The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer). When we last left Todd and Viola, they were facing the prospect of all out war, with
First of all, I love how Ness writes the animals in these books. There's Manchee, of course, and his lovable enthusiasm, but Angarath was tugging at my heartstrings throughout the entire book. It's great because these animals retain their essential animal-ness, just now it's easier for them to communicate with the humans around them. It's totally a dream come true for someone like me who would love to know what her cat is thinking (I just gave my cats some catnip, so I'm pretty sure their thoughts right now are I'M SO HIGH, but that's just a guess).
I have to say, I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book, but it was written in such a way that I felt a little manipulated. Every few chapters a new emergency arises or someone blows something up, which is pretty much the sole way the plot moves forward for much of the book. Around page 350 I found myself sighing with each new emergency - and at Mistress Coyle and Mayor Prentiss as they constantly bickered, backstabbed, and manipulated their proteges to get Viola and Todd to follow in their footsteps. After reading Mockingjay, I found myself comparing the two books - Ness moves the plot forward by blowing something up, Collins moves Mockingjay forward by having Katniss suffer a traumatic injury. Both are effective in small doses, but repeatedly in one novel is just...repetitive. The pace picked up again in the last 100 pages or so, but part of that may have been me realizing I was so close to the end and desperate to find out what the payoff would be for the series.
Writing the conclusion to a trilogy has to be super stressful for an author. Undoubtedly, it will be impossible to please everybody (as we saw with Mockingjay last month). While I had a few minor problems with Monsters of Men, it is overall a very satisfying conclusion to this story.
Reviewed from ARC picked up at ALA.
BTW: Last night I attended the awesome Zombies Vs. Unicorns debate! Check back here after 1 PM Eastern to see my re-cap of the event!
Writing the conclusion to a trilogy has to be super stressful for an author. Undoubtedly, it will be impossible to please everybody (as we saw with Mockingjay last month). While I had a few minor problems with Monsters of Men, it is overall a very satisfying conclusion to this story.
Reviewed from ARC picked up at ALA.
BTW: Last night I attended the awesome Zombies Vs. Unicorns debate! Check back here after 1 PM Eastern to see my re-cap of the event!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Sci Fi Friday Review: Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill
Found via: Bookends
I feel like I can play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with this book, except instead of Kevin Bacon the goal person is Suzanne Collins. I know Cindy Dobrez. Cindy Dobrez reviewed Black Hole Sun for Booklist and her review is on the back cover. Also on the cover? Suzanne Collins. So that puts me one degree away from celebrity, right? (I'm also one degree away from James Earl Jones, but that's another story).
Durango is eight and a half Mars years old (17 Earth years), and the disgraced leader of a ragtag group of mercenaries hired for a fool's errand - to protect a group of poor miners from the cannibalistic draeu. The draeu are the boogeymen of Mars, unfeeling and terrifying cannibals, while the miners are some of the lowest of the low, originally necessary to procure materials to build Mars and then abandoned when the planet was habitable enough. The only people lower on the totem pole than the miners? Dalit Regulators, like Durango and his second-in-command, Vienne. A man of honor, Durango is determined to protect the miners, even when it's clear they're hiding something from him, and the fight against the draeu is taken to a whole new level when the true extent of their abilities, and their leader, is finally revealed.
I've gotten progressively more excited about this book since page one. This is a perfect blend of science fiction, action-adventure, and humor. I finished it on the subway ride home yesterday (right around the time a possible tornado was in the area - I missed the whole storm while underground!), and was satisfied, even happy with the story. But as the evening wore on I found I had more and more I wanted to talk about - conversation about the book ended up dominating my dinner conversation, overshadowing discussion of the storm and my new promotion (I'm very proud of it, thus sneaking it into conversation - or blog posts - whenever possible!). That has to be one of the best signs of a great book, right?
Easily what sets this book apart from other science fiction novels is the humor. Durango and Mimi, his former commander turned artificial intelligence implanted in his brain, have a constantly running sarcastic repartee throughout the book. And then there's Fuse, the explosions expert. And Leroy Jenkins.
Yes, Leroy Jenkins.
Big thumbs up for that, Mr. Gill. I just burst out laughing the first time I saw his full name (usually he's just Jenkins), and he quickly became my favorite character.
There's also some intricate world building here - we're dropped right in the middle of an incredibly complex and class- and honor-conscious society, and there's no hand holding to explain the finer points of Mars etiquette. We learn the necessary details on the go, with enough questions answered to leave the reader satisfied, but so many open possibilities that Gill could easily extend this into a long running series without running out of juicy material. The ending definitely leaves open the possibility for a sequel, but there's no annoying cliffhangers or gimmicks here. This chapter of the story is over, and while I certainly hope to see more of Durango, Mimi and Vienne (and Jenkins, of course), I can't be too disappointed if this is the last we see of them.
This is exquisite science fiction, folks, in a style that hasn't been too common in YA lit to date. Oh there's plenty of YA sci-fi out there, especially with the current dystopian trend, but like the rest of YA lit, the science fiction has tended to focus on relationships with the science in the background - it's just teenagers on a future Earth that has had all kinds of crazy stuff happen. This is a true action-adventure story, set on an alien world. The closest other recent book in terms of setting would probably be Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy, but even that is much more about Todd and Viola and their struggles with Mayor Prentiss and Mistress Coyle than presenting a hard science fiction story. In Black Hole Sun, there is absolutely no forgetting that we're not in Kansas anymore.
I already loved Gill's writing in last year's Soul Enchilada. With Black Hole Sun he proves he's definitely not a one hit wonder, and has some range to boot. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next! I'll be sure to pick it up on day one.
I feel like I can play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with this book, except instead of Kevin Bacon the goal person is Suzanne Collins. I know Cindy Dobrez. Cindy Dobrez reviewed Black Hole Sun for Booklist and her review is on the back cover. Also on the cover? Suzanne Collins. So that puts me one degree away from celebrity, right? (I'm also one degree away from James Earl Jones, but that's another story).
Durango is eight and a half Mars years old (17 Earth years), and the disgraced leader of a ragtag group of mercenaries hired for a fool's errand - to protect a group of poor miners from the cannibalistic draeu. The draeu are the boogeymen of Mars, unfeeling and terrifying cannibals, while the miners are some of the lowest of the low, originally necessary to procure materials to build Mars and then abandoned when the planet was habitable enough. The only people lower on the totem pole than the miners? Dalit Regulators, like Durango and his second-in-command, Vienne. A man of honor, Durango is determined to protect the miners, even when it's clear they're hiding something from him, and the fight against the draeu is taken to a whole new level when the true extent of their abilities, and their leader, is finally revealed.
I've gotten progressively more excited about this book since page one. This is a perfect blend of science fiction, action-adventure, and humor. I finished it on the subway ride home yesterday (right around the time a possible tornado was in the area - I missed the whole storm while underground!), and was satisfied, even happy with the story. But as the evening wore on I found I had more and more I wanted to talk about - conversation about the book ended up dominating my dinner conversation, overshadowing discussion of the storm and my new promotion (I'm very proud of it, thus sneaking it into conversation - or blog posts - whenever possible!). That has to be one of the best signs of a great book, right?
Easily what sets this book apart from other science fiction novels is the humor. Durango and Mimi, his former commander turned artificial intelligence implanted in his brain, have a constantly running sarcastic repartee throughout the book. And then there's Fuse, the explosions expert. And Leroy Jenkins.
Yes, Leroy Jenkins.
Big thumbs up for that, Mr. Gill. I just burst out laughing the first time I saw his full name (usually he's just Jenkins), and he quickly became my favorite character.
There's also some intricate world building here - we're dropped right in the middle of an incredibly complex and class- and honor-conscious society, and there's no hand holding to explain the finer points of Mars etiquette. We learn the necessary details on the go, with enough questions answered to leave the reader satisfied, but so many open possibilities that Gill could easily extend this into a long running series without running out of juicy material. The ending definitely leaves open the possibility for a sequel, but there's no annoying cliffhangers or gimmicks here. This chapter of the story is over, and while I certainly hope to see more of Durango, Mimi and Vienne (and Jenkins, of course), I can't be too disappointed if this is the last we see of them.
This is exquisite science fiction, folks, in a style that hasn't been too common in YA lit to date. Oh there's plenty of YA sci-fi out there, especially with the current dystopian trend, but like the rest of YA lit, the science fiction has tended to focus on relationships with the science in the background - it's just teenagers on a future Earth that has had all kinds of crazy stuff happen. This is a true action-adventure story, set on an alien world. The closest other recent book in terms of setting would probably be Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy, but even that is much more about Todd and Viola and their struggles with Mayor Prentiss and Mistress Coyle than presenting a hard science fiction story. In Black Hole Sun, there is absolutely no forgetting that we're not in Kansas anymore.
I already loved Gill's writing in last year's Soul Enchilada. With Black Hole Sun he proves he's definitely not a one hit wonder, and has some range to boot. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next! I'll be sure to pick it up on day one.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Sci Fi Friday Review: Girl Parts by John M. Cusick
Found Via: Lynn at Goodreads
When this popped up in my Goodreads friends update e-mail with four stars from Lynn (who reviews over at Bookends), I knew I had to read it. Even without a longer review attached, I've learned to trust Lynn's judgment, especially when it comes to science fiction.
David is athletic and outgoing, the sort of guy that everyone wants to be friends with - unless you're lower on the high school social totem pole. Then he can make your life hell. Charlie is the opposite, quiet and bookish. But both are diagnosed with dissociative disorders that keep them from making real friends and developing healthy relationships. David's obnoxiously rich parents go the high tech therapy route, presenting David with a companion, a female-presenting android carefully calibrated with intimacy protocols to help David understand healthy relationships. Charlie, being less well off and living off the grid with his dad, chooses to skip the companion treatment, even after it's recommended by the school's new psychologist, Dr. Rogers.
When David discovers he can't go as far as he wants with his companion, Rose, he rejects her, sending the poor companion-girl into a depressive spiral. When Charlie discovers her, abandoned and rejected, he's surprised to discover she's the only "person" he can really talk to, and like a good friend he wants to do everything he can to help Rose get over David and become a more fully-realized individual.
This is definitely a light book in more ways than one. Cusick really could have delved a lot deeper into the characters and this whole companion technology. The story holds up fine on its own without more details, but it certainly would have been a richer, and more science fiction-y, experience with more details.
While this is ostensibly a boy book, with most of the story focusing on David and Charlie, my favorite characters were definitely the girls. Is this just because I've never been a high school boy? Perhaps. But Cusick does a great job developing Rose from a stilted robot to something resembling a real girl. And then there's her sudden BFF Rebecca, who gets Rose drunk to help her forget David. It doesn't work so well, but it's a fun bit of friendship. And then May, the black market technician who jailbreaks companions like others jailbreak iPhones. At first I thought she was going to be totally creepy (she overrides the intimacy protocols so boys don't get shocks when they try to go farther with their companions than they should), but May makes it very clear she believes in the girl's right to choose her boundaries - and gives Rose an extra special parting gift. May totally stole the show for me.
This is a great bit of fluffy science fiction that will easily appeal to boys and girls. It's fun satire of intimacy and internet culture, but stays in the shallow end of the pool.
When this popped up in my Goodreads friends update e-mail with four stars from Lynn (who reviews over at Bookends), I knew I had to read it. Even without a longer review attached, I've learned to trust Lynn's judgment, especially when it comes to science fiction.
David is athletic and outgoing, the sort of guy that everyone wants to be friends with - unless you're lower on the high school social totem pole. Then he can make your life hell. Charlie is the opposite, quiet and bookish. But both are diagnosed with dissociative disorders that keep them from making real friends and developing healthy relationships. David's obnoxiously rich parents go the high tech therapy route, presenting David with a companion, a female-presenting android carefully calibrated with intimacy protocols to help David understand healthy relationships. Charlie, being less well off and living off the grid with his dad, chooses to skip the companion treatment, even after it's recommended by the school's new psychologist, Dr. Rogers.When David discovers he can't go as far as he wants with his companion, Rose, he rejects her, sending the poor companion-girl into a depressive spiral. When Charlie discovers her, abandoned and rejected, he's surprised to discover she's the only "person" he can really talk to, and like a good friend he wants to do everything he can to help Rose get over David and become a more fully-realized individual.
This is definitely a light book in more ways than one. Cusick really could have delved a lot deeper into the characters and this whole companion technology. The story holds up fine on its own without more details, but it certainly would have been a richer, and more science fiction-y, experience with more details.
While this is ostensibly a boy book, with most of the story focusing on David and Charlie, my favorite characters were definitely the girls. Is this just because I've never been a high school boy? Perhaps. But Cusick does a great job developing Rose from a stilted robot to something resembling a real girl. And then there's her sudden BFF Rebecca, who gets Rose drunk to help her forget David. It doesn't work so well, but it's a fun bit of friendship. And then May, the black market technician who jailbreaks companions like others jailbreak iPhones. At first I thought she was going to be totally creepy (she overrides the intimacy protocols so boys don't get shocks when they try to go farther with their companions than they should), but May makes it very clear she believes in the girl's right to choose her boundaries - and gives Rose an extra special parting gift. May totally stole the show for me.
This is a great bit of fluffy science fiction that will easily appeal to boys and girls. It's fun satire of intimacy and internet culture, but stays in the shallow end of the pool.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Sci Fi Friday Review: Nomansland by Lesley Hauge
Found via: the Amelia Bloomer Project
Feminist science fiction has long explored matriarchies and woman-only worlds/societies. When I saw one pop up for the YA set, needless to say, I was excited.
Sometime in the future, on the island of Foundland, women have established themselves as dominant, and declared men to be the enemy. Trackers are trained in horse riding and weaponry to protect the windswept island in case any men attempt to invade, as greedy, violent men are wont to do. The newest of these trackers are a cohort of teenage girls, who despite having lived all their lives by the strict rules of Foundland find themselves rebelling in subtle and not-so subtle ways. Laing, the leader of the trainees, is constantly trying to invent fashion fads within the strict dress code, from towel turbans after bathing to rolling up her sleeves just so. Keller, our protagonist, longs for friendship, maybe even a best friend, though such relationships are strictly forbidden.
Then Laing lets her fellow trackers in on a secret. She has discovered an underground room, filled with treasures from the Old People of the Time Before. Such objects are supposed to be reported immediately, but the curious girls keep the find to themselves, exploring the strange powdery paints, angled shoes with spiked heels, and glossy pages filled with pictures of people unlike anyone the girls have ever seen. In a society governed by strict rules, what repercussions will the girls' discovery have?
I had high hopes for this one - it seems like it should hit lots of my buttons, but despite Hauge's citation of feminist works as her inspiration, parts of this book actually came off as more anti-feminist. Looking at the Feminist SF wiki, I think feminism anxiety hits my feelings about this pretty closely - the women of Foundland are humorless, sexually frustrated, and uncreative. And the girls' fascination with the trappings of 21st century womanhood struck me as odd. Curious about these objects they'd never seen? Sure. But all of them immediately embracing them as amazing and beautiful struck me as an example of thinking that femininity is an innate trait, rather than a learned behavior (gender is a social construct).
I also felt the world building was extremely shallow. Not only have the women of Foundland separated themselves from men, but the people outside of their borders (and there are apparently both men and women out there) are apparently suffering from some sort of deformity. Were all men and some women effected and that's why Foundland banished men? Also, the jacket copy focuses a lot on the Trackers and their amazing abilities, making this sound like some sort of action adventure novel - but in fact, we only catch a brief glimpse of fully-fledged Trackers, and spend the rest of the time with the teenage recruits who do little more than ride and take care of their horses.
What is excellently done is Hauge's ability to describe objects that are mundane to a 21st century reader, but are utterly foreign in Keller's world. Here's an example:
Feminist science fiction has long explored matriarchies and woman-only worlds/societies. When I saw one pop up for the YA set, needless to say, I was excited.
Sometime in the future, on the island of Foundland, women have established themselves as dominant, and declared men to be the enemy. Trackers are trained in horse riding and weaponry to protect the windswept island in case any men attempt to invade, as greedy, violent men are wont to do. The newest of these trackers are a cohort of teenage girls, who despite having lived all their lives by the strict rules of Foundland find themselves rebelling in subtle and not-so subtle ways. Laing, the leader of the trainees, is constantly trying to invent fashion fads within the strict dress code, from towel turbans after bathing to rolling up her sleeves just so. Keller, our protagonist, longs for friendship, maybe even a best friend, though such relationships are strictly forbidden.Then Laing lets her fellow trackers in on a secret. She has discovered an underground room, filled with treasures from the Old People of the Time Before. Such objects are supposed to be reported immediately, but the curious girls keep the find to themselves, exploring the strange powdery paints, angled shoes with spiked heels, and glossy pages filled with pictures of people unlike anyone the girls have ever seen. In a society governed by strict rules, what repercussions will the girls' discovery have?
I had high hopes for this one - it seems like it should hit lots of my buttons, but despite Hauge's citation of feminist works as her inspiration, parts of this book actually came off as more anti-feminist. Looking at the Feminist SF wiki, I think feminism anxiety hits my feelings about this pretty closely - the women of Foundland are humorless, sexually frustrated, and uncreative. And the girls' fascination with the trappings of 21st century womanhood struck me as odd. Curious about these objects they'd never seen? Sure. But all of them immediately embracing them as amazing and beautiful struck me as an example of thinking that femininity is an innate trait, rather than a learned behavior (gender is a social construct).
I also felt the world building was extremely shallow. Not only have the women of Foundland separated themselves from men, but the people outside of their borders (and there are apparently both men and women out there) are apparently suffering from some sort of deformity. Were all men and some women effected and that's why Foundland banished men? Also, the jacket copy focuses a lot on the Trackers and their amazing abilities, making this sound like some sort of action adventure novel - but in fact, we only catch a brief glimpse of fully-fledged Trackers, and spend the rest of the time with the teenage recruits who do little more than ride and take care of their horses.
What is excellently done is Hauge's ability to describe objects that are mundane to a 21st century reader, but are utterly foreign in Keller's world. Here's an example:
My eye wanders, eventually settling on two more contraptions, each with two wheels in direct alignment with each other and held together by metal spars and a central inverted triangle of metal, upon which is a tiny, odd-shaped leather saddle. At one end are a pair of curved metal pipes that look as though they are to be held in some way, and at the apex of the inverted triangle is another mechanism flanked on either side by a small block of something solid that surely must provide some kid of propelling force along cogs and a chain that connects to the wheels. -Nomansland, pages 43-44Passages like this remind me of the old writing exercise - give step-by-step instructions for an easy task, like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, getting into nitty-gritty questions like baking bread vs. buying a loaf from the store. I thought it was extremely well done.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Sci Fi Friday Book Thoughts: Mockingjay
In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, years of excitement and anticipation were finally quenched as Mockingjay made it into the hands of readers. I'm sure everyone that read and loved the original Hunger Games has been waiting anxiously for this book, desperate to know how Katniss' story would conclude.
Mockingjay is such a big event book that I don't think a traditional review is necessary. If you've read Hunger Games and Catching Fire, you're going to read this one. So I decided I would follow the format for my previous two Hunger Games posts and do more of a reflection on the book.
Obviously, that means that from here on out we're entering major spoiler territory. If you're like my two best friends and haven't gotten your copy of Mockingjay yet, clearly you need to turn around and come back later.
Spoiler space
Spoiler space
Spoiler space
Okay, we ready now for some serious Mockingjay discussion?
I'm going to be honest with you guys, because I feel like we're friends here: I was a sobbing mess after I finished my first read of the book on Tuesday morning. The tears started when Buttercup came back. I'm a sucker for animals in the first place, but it was Katniss' description of him in the middle of the night, of him guarding her, that just sent me over the edge. And I never quite pulled myself back together.
I wasn't just distraught over Prim and Buttercup and Katniss, however. I was distraught because...I didn't like the book that much. I felt that throughout the book, the romance that had been content to stay in the background of the first two books had risen to a place of prominence that outshone the story I thought Collins had been trying to tell. I've been fighting proudly for Team Katniss since I first realized people were siding with one boy or the other. And to see so much attention paid to Katniss' romantic choices in the text of the final book was disorienting to say the least. I expected that some sort of tacit choice would be made (and it would be Peeta because we spent two books closely observing their relationship in action and ending up with Gale would have seemed like the romance of the first two books was pointless), but it showed up way more often than I was comfortable with.
What story did I think Hunger Games was about? Survival. Corruption. Identity. Katniss is constantly fighting against a corrupt state, hunting in the forest because of poverty and stepping into the Games for her little sister because it's unfair to ask an innocent 12 year old to participate in their horrors before taking on a more overtly rebellious role, culminating in becoming the face of the rebellion in Mockingjay. She's been a survivor since she figured out how to keep her family alive after her father's death. And like many teenagers, she's constantly struggling with her identity - especially as she must adapt to the many faces that are pressed upon her by adults. Her relationships, familial, friendly and romantic, play a role in each of those themes, but I was expecting them to stay in the background again.
Another major disappointment was just how out of it Katniss is for large chunks of the book. Katniss is no stranger to catastrophic injuries, even injuries that knock her out for days at a time, but the recurring theme of Katniss waking up in a hospital bed after a major revelation got real old, real fast. I'm a fan of unstable narrators, but wasn't there a better way to underscore a dramatic event than having Katniss sent to the hospital? For those of you who've read the conclusion of the Chaos Walking series (Monsters of Men), I felt like Ness and Collins had graduated from the same school of dramatic tension.
Okay, I've gotten my major beefs out of the way. Is there anything redeeming about this book? Of course there is - Collins is too good of a writer to churn out complete crap.
Collins' background in television has definitely played a role in these books since day one, but Mockingjay is when it becomes most obvious, and I thought it was really interesting. Cameras have been ever present, but I know after The Hunger Games there were a lot of questions about how the cameras in the arena operated, since they were never described. Were they embedded in the scenery? Made invisible? In Mockingjay, Katniss has her own dedicated camera crew, and I think Collins is definitely using them and Plutarch to comment on just how much of our news can be easily staged - or at least enhanced to make for better television.
I've seen people saying both Peeta and Gale got the shaft in terms of character development - that hijacking Peeta was lazy and Gale did a 180 to become the bad guy, but I actually really liked both of their characters for once. Peeta's love for Katniss always felt somewhat immature - he was in love with the idea of Katniss, but never had a chance to fall in love with her as the young woman she was growing into. She was constantly on edge and unable to truly process whatever feelings she did have for him, because projecting the image of happy lovers was necessary for their survival. Hijacking Peeta was cruel and blunt, but it wiped the slate clean, and I believe that they did grow to have a deep and true love for each other. If they'd ended up together without some way of starting at square one, in the back of my head I'd always be wondering if they could truly have a healthy relationship. As for Gale, he's always had an edge to him that Katniss lacked at first. He was the first to suggest running away into the woods, and had a habit of railing against the Capitol when they were outside the fence of District 12. He worked in the horrors known as the mines, while Katniss had a relatively carefree six months between the end of her first Hunger Games and the start of her Victory Tour. And of course, he was there when the Capitol destroyed his home. The hardened, cynical, bitter man we met in Mockingjay seemed to be a natural evolution of what little we'd seen of Gale's character.
Most horrifying moment for me: Finnick's revelation that he'd been a sex slave after winning his Games. That just blew my mind and forced me to put the book down for a minute to collect myself. It seemed to come out of nowhere, yet made so much sense, in a terrible and terrifying way. I just wanted to bundle Finnick into a hug then and never let him go.
And then there were the deaths. This book had to be a blood bath. After reading Catching Fire I was sure lots of people were going to die, and when it became obvious this book was to be set in the heart of the war for Panem I knew that no one was safe. Hell, since the books are written in present tense it was possible that even Katniss could die. However, that doesn't mean I think all of the deaths were handled well. Boggs and Messalla each got lengthy descriptions of their demise, but dear Finnick only got a line or two. And Prim's death I absolutely wasn't expecting. In some ways, that's the death that bothers me the most. This whole story was set in motion when Katniss volunteered to save Prim at the reaping. What was the point of all that pain and struggling, the destruction of everything she ever knew, if Prim wasn't there at the end of it all?
I thought District 13 was interesting. I always figured they were going to be less-than warm and fuzzy when we met them. Remember, I thought we were going to discover Katniss' father among the citizens of District 13, and the place would have to be run by assholes if they wouldn't let him contact his family (oh sure, I can think of lots of logical reasons why they'd be kept apart, such as protecting the rebellion in case Katniss couldn't be rescued from the Quell, but whatever). However, it's very good that Katniss killed Coin, because it's clear that she was just going to be another Snow. Need proof? The crazy woman suggested they hold another Hunger Games. Another Hunger Games! And I'll admit, at first I had no idea what was going on when Katniss agreed, because no matter how distraught she was over Prim I didn't see how she could agree to such a travesty. It wasn't until Amy brought it up on the Maw Books spoiler discussion post and I re-read the book at a slower pace that I realized she was playing along with Coin to be in the perfect position to assassinate her.
I was also left with some larger world building questions, though I can see how they couldn't necessarily be addressed in the context of Katniss' story. The biggest one for me perhaps is what is going on in the rest of the world? Does Panem represent the last of humanity? Is Panem the most powerful nation of Earth, inheriting the US's position as a super power? Or alternatively, is Panem so poor and backwards that the rest of the world doesn't care what's going on? Because what is the rest of the world like if no one cares that there's a country out there murdering its children for entertainment?
Another blog asked us to sum up our feelings about Mockingjay in one word. After my first read I said it would be "disappointed." I went back and re-read the book on Wednesday and Thursday (I couldn't handle reading it again immediately on Tuesday) before writing this, determined to come back with a more rational answer. I think I'm still going to go with "disappointed," but not necessarily because it's a bad book - it's just clear that I wasn't on the same page as Suzanne Collins as to what story she was telling. Whose fault is that? I'm not sure. The Hunger Games trilogy has been quite a ride, but perhaps has taught me not to get quite so invested in defending a position (Team Katniss vs. the romance teams) before I know the final outcome.
If you haven't had your fill of Mockingjay talk yet, please chime in in the comments! I love hearing from people with all sorts of opinions, and in fact would love to hear some commentary from people who loved it!
Mockingjay is such a big event book that I don't think a traditional review is necessary. If you've read Hunger Games and Catching Fire, you're going to read this one. So I decided I would follow the format for my previous two Hunger Games posts and do more of a reflection on the book.Obviously, that means that from here on out we're entering major spoiler territory. If you're like my two best friends and haven't gotten your copy of Mockingjay yet, clearly you need to turn around and come back later.
Spoiler space
Spoiler space
Spoiler space
Okay, we ready now for some serious Mockingjay discussion?
I'm going to be honest with you guys, because I feel like we're friends here: I was a sobbing mess after I finished my first read of the book on Tuesday morning. The tears started when Buttercup came back. I'm a sucker for animals in the first place, but it was Katniss' description of him in the middle of the night, of him guarding her, that just sent me over the edge. And I never quite pulled myself back together.
I wasn't just distraught over Prim and Buttercup and Katniss, however. I was distraught because...I didn't like the book that much. I felt that throughout the book, the romance that had been content to stay in the background of the first two books had risen to a place of prominence that outshone the story I thought Collins had been trying to tell. I've been fighting proudly for Team Katniss since I first realized people were siding with one boy or the other. And to see so much attention paid to Katniss' romantic choices in the text of the final book was disorienting to say the least. I expected that some sort of tacit choice would be made (and it would be Peeta because we spent two books closely observing their relationship in action and ending up with Gale would have seemed like the romance of the first two books was pointless), but it showed up way more often than I was comfortable with.
What story did I think Hunger Games was about? Survival. Corruption. Identity. Katniss is constantly fighting against a corrupt state, hunting in the forest because of poverty and stepping into the Games for her little sister because it's unfair to ask an innocent 12 year old to participate in their horrors before taking on a more overtly rebellious role, culminating in becoming the face of the rebellion in Mockingjay. She's been a survivor since she figured out how to keep her family alive after her father's death. And like many teenagers, she's constantly struggling with her identity - especially as she must adapt to the many faces that are pressed upon her by adults. Her relationships, familial, friendly and romantic, play a role in each of those themes, but I was expecting them to stay in the background again.
Another major disappointment was just how out of it Katniss is for large chunks of the book. Katniss is no stranger to catastrophic injuries, even injuries that knock her out for days at a time, but the recurring theme of Katniss waking up in a hospital bed after a major revelation got real old, real fast. I'm a fan of unstable narrators, but wasn't there a better way to underscore a dramatic event than having Katniss sent to the hospital? For those of you who've read the conclusion of the Chaos Walking series (Monsters of Men), I felt like Ness and Collins had graduated from the same school of dramatic tension.
Okay, I've gotten my major beefs out of the way. Is there anything redeeming about this book? Of course there is - Collins is too good of a writer to churn out complete crap.
Collins' background in television has definitely played a role in these books since day one, but Mockingjay is when it becomes most obvious, and I thought it was really interesting. Cameras have been ever present, but I know after The Hunger Games there were a lot of questions about how the cameras in the arena operated, since they were never described. Were they embedded in the scenery? Made invisible? In Mockingjay, Katniss has her own dedicated camera crew, and I think Collins is definitely using them and Plutarch to comment on just how much of our news can be easily staged - or at least enhanced to make for better television.
I've seen people saying both Peeta and Gale got the shaft in terms of character development - that hijacking Peeta was lazy and Gale did a 180 to become the bad guy, but I actually really liked both of their characters for once. Peeta's love for Katniss always felt somewhat immature - he was in love with the idea of Katniss, but never had a chance to fall in love with her as the young woman she was growing into. She was constantly on edge and unable to truly process whatever feelings she did have for him, because projecting the image of happy lovers was necessary for their survival. Hijacking Peeta was cruel and blunt, but it wiped the slate clean, and I believe that they did grow to have a deep and true love for each other. If they'd ended up together without some way of starting at square one, in the back of my head I'd always be wondering if they could truly have a healthy relationship. As for Gale, he's always had an edge to him that Katniss lacked at first. He was the first to suggest running away into the woods, and had a habit of railing against the Capitol when they were outside the fence of District 12. He worked in the horrors known as the mines, while Katniss had a relatively carefree six months between the end of her first Hunger Games and the start of her Victory Tour. And of course, he was there when the Capitol destroyed his home. The hardened, cynical, bitter man we met in Mockingjay seemed to be a natural evolution of what little we'd seen of Gale's character.
Most horrifying moment for me: Finnick's revelation that he'd been a sex slave after winning his Games. That just blew my mind and forced me to put the book down for a minute to collect myself. It seemed to come out of nowhere, yet made so much sense, in a terrible and terrifying way. I just wanted to bundle Finnick into a hug then and never let him go.
And then there were the deaths. This book had to be a blood bath. After reading Catching Fire I was sure lots of people were going to die, and when it became obvious this book was to be set in the heart of the war for Panem I knew that no one was safe. Hell, since the books are written in present tense it was possible that even Katniss could die. However, that doesn't mean I think all of the deaths were handled well. Boggs and Messalla each got lengthy descriptions of their demise, but dear Finnick only got a line or two. And Prim's death I absolutely wasn't expecting. In some ways, that's the death that bothers me the most. This whole story was set in motion when Katniss volunteered to save Prim at the reaping. What was the point of all that pain and struggling, the destruction of everything she ever knew, if Prim wasn't there at the end of it all?
I thought District 13 was interesting. I always figured they were going to be less-than warm and fuzzy when we met them. Remember, I thought we were going to discover Katniss' father among the citizens of District 13, and the place would have to be run by assholes if they wouldn't let him contact his family (oh sure, I can think of lots of logical reasons why they'd be kept apart, such as protecting the rebellion in case Katniss couldn't be rescued from the Quell, but whatever). However, it's very good that Katniss killed Coin, because it's clear that she was just going to be another Snow. Need proof? The crazy woman suggested they hold another Hunger Games. Another Hunger Games! And I'll admit, at first I had no idea what was going on when Katniss agreed, because no matter how distraught she was over Prim I didn't see how she could agree to such a travesty. It wasn't until Amy brought it up on the Maw Books spoiler discussion post and I re-read the book at a slower pace that I realized she was playing along with Coin to be in the perfect position to assassinate her.
I was also left with some larger world building questions, though I can see how they couldn't necessarily be addressed in the context of Katniss' story. The biggest one for me perhaps is what is going on in the rest of the world? Does Panem represent the last of humanity? Is Panem the most powerful nation of Earth, inheriting the US's position as a super power? Or alternatively, is Panem so poor and backwards that the rest of the world doesn't care what's going on? Because what is the rest of the world like if no one cares that there's a country out there murdering its children for entertainment?
Another blog asked us to sum up our feelings about Mockingjay in one word. After my first read I said it would be "disappointed." I went back and re-read the book on Wednesday and Thursday (I couldn't handle reading it again immediately on Tuesday) before writing this, determined to come back with a more rational answer. I think I'm still going to go with "disappointed," but not necessarily because it's a bad book - it's just clear that I wasn't on the same page as Suzanne Collins as to what story she was telling. Whose fault is that? I'm not sure. The Hunger Games trilogy has been quite a ride, but perhaps has taught me not to get quite so invested in defending a position (Team Katniss vs. the romance teams) before I know the final outcome.
If you haven't had your fill of Mockingjay talk yet, please chime in in the comments! I love hearing from people with all sorts of opinions, and in fact would love to hear some commentary from people who loved it!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Sci Fi Friday Book Thoughts: Catching Fire
So...we're down to four days until the release of Mockingjay. Four freaking days!!! I can barely contain my excitement - especially since I'm going to the launch party to end all launch parties, the Books of Wonder event with Suzanne Collins herself on hand! I've spent the past two weekends putting together a fancy T-shirt for the event (I was hoping to have it ready to debut on the blog today, but sewing by hand takes for-freaking-ever) and will post it on Monday to show it off and give you a handy way to recognize me if you're lucky enough to be in NYC as well! I'd love to have a blogging friend to hang out with for the evening!
But this post isn't about clothes and partying - I don't live in the Capitol after all! This post is all about Catching Fire, the sequel that I first started reading in the middle of Times Square on a sunny Saturday after waiting in a long line at BEA.
So since I've already reviewed Catching Fire, let's just dive into some analysis. Once again, this section contains spoilers for The Hunger Games and Catching Fire!
I haven't read this book as often as I've read The Hunger Games, so I had to keep going back and re-reading parts to make notes because I was getting so caught up in the story I forgot to put on my analytic hat and pay attention! Once again I had to pull myself together several times because the story was making me emotional and teary while riding on the subway or sitting in the middle of Madison Square Park! New Yorkers tolerate lots of eccentricities, but I still didn't want to be the woman crying over her book on the R train.
The foreshadowing remains a forte of Collins' in Catching Fire - and what's more, reading the two books so closely together makes it clear that hints carry over from one book to another. Johanna is mentioned, albeit only by district and not by name, back when Katniss is first selected for the Games. Katniss mentions the girl who presented herself as weak and pitiful before revealing she has a deadly talent with knives in the arena. And that's exactly who's in the arena this time around with Katniss - often naked, which cracks me up. Poor Katniss! The weight of the world on her shoulders and there's this cocky naked woman at every turn.
Also a follow up - a rather large point is made about the different types of bread representing the different districts, thanks to Peeta's expert baking knowledge. First this showed up as important in The Hunger Games because it allowed Katniss to recognize the gift from District 11 (moment of silence here for Rue). Now it becomes important as a signal for the allied tributes in Catching Fire - the district the bread was from would represent what day the escape would happen.
Now, here's a little hole in that plan - apparently the date changed without anyone acknowledging it. The first bread drop is 24 rolls from District 4. The next day, it's 24 rolls from District 3. Has anyone come up with a good explanation for this yet? Was there a typo in the first edition of the book?
I wrote a bit last week about Katniss as a mockingjay herself - someone the Capitol never anticipated existing. One of the few bits of description of mockingjays in The Hunger Games comes from Rue, who notes they are fierce when their nest is threatened. Of course, mockingjay imagery is even more important this time around, and we have more opportunities to look at Katniss as a mockingjay.
Katniss' primary role has been "protector" since she was 11 and her father died. She becomes the primary provider for her family first. She steps up to take Prim's place as a Tribute. When it becomes clear she needs to team up with Peeta, he's her focus for days on end, all signs of her protecting her "nest" - her family and friends. That role becomes even more vital in Catching Fire after President Snow (boo hiss) specifically threatens her family - including Gale. Katniss tells him she wants to run away with him, their families, Peeta and Haymitch, but Gale hesitates, asking about all of the families that can't run, especially since it's the middle of winter. That's Katniss' protective instinct kicking in again - save those closest to her first.
This is also clearly why she has some conflict with Peeta throughout the book. While Katniss may not be 100% certain of her feelings for Peeta, she and him definitely have a unique bond. So Katniss' first instinct is to protect him whenever she can, but of course he instinctively does the same for her, as she notes when she greets him in front of the cameras at the start of the Victory Tour. The two are still on the outs at this point, not having aired their grievances as revealed at the end of the first book, but Peeta isn't about to betray Katniss in front of the cameras. And of course, he makes Haymitch promise that once again the goal will be to get Katniss out of the arena alive - while Katniss has made the same deal with Haymitch about Peeta.
Katniss makes an excellent point about jabberjays and the Capitol - the Capitol left the jabberjays out in the wild to die off, but the birds mated with mockingbirds and passed on their genetic code to the new bird, the mockingjay. Katniss notes the Capitol hadn't anticipated the jabberjays' will to live. Which begs the question: has the Capitol anticipated Katniss' will to live - and to keep her nest safe? President Snow seems to have been able to anticipate a lot about Katniss - he's always known just how to throw her off kilter, showing up at her house, assigning Darius as her avox, and the mysterious attack on Cinna just as she was entering the new arena. But will Mockingjay finally allow Katniss to get a step ahead of the president? We can only hope!
So let's talk romance again, since it keeps coming up, and of course the epic romance of Peeta and Katniss plays a large part in their strategy for getting through this version of the Games (omg, I still remember how I gasped and then started cackling hysterically when Peeta announced Katniss' pregnancy. That kid's a freaking GENIUS). Peeta dropped the L word last book, Gale drops it this time, and Katniss goes all Han Solo on Gale by just saying "I know."
When Gale makes his big confession, I have to admit it totally makes sense that he would be in love with Katniss. They're absolutely best friends, share a common interest, and have a fierce determination to keep each other and their families alive. And if the Hunger Games had never come along, it's very possible they would have ended up married if Katniss didn't stick to her "no marriage, no kids" guns (and of course, you can marry without ever having kids, but Gale strikes me as the type who would want some. Don't ask me why). However, it's undeniable that the Games changed Katniss, and would have even if Peeta hadn't declared his love for her first. Katniss has had a chance to see the world outside of downtrodden District 12. As a victor, she can develop any sort of talent or skill that she wants, even if she can't come up with one appropriate enough for Effie without Cinna's help. You can't blame the girl for being epically confused about where her feelings lie. And once again, she's got slightly bigger things to deal with than romance - she has a rebellion to inspire!
Now, I said in my original Catching Fire review that thanks to Suzanne Collins' excellent foreshadowing in The Hunger Games I thought I would be able to predict lots of what happened in Catching Fire and I was caught completely by surprise. However, I'm feeling fairly confident this time around to make some predictions about Mockingjay. I make these predictions without knowing a single thing about Mockingjay as I'm determined to stay spoiler free (as you may have heard, some stores and libraries broke the embargo on the book, so I bet I could find spoilers with minimal Googling, but I'm too excited to have the full experience on Monday night so I'm avoiding them all!).
But this post isn't about clothes and partying - I don't live in the Capitol after all! This post is all about Catching Fire, the sequel that I first started reading in the middle of Times Square on a sunny Saturday after waiting in a long line at BEA.
So since I've already reviewed Catching Fire, let's just dive into some analysis. Once again, this section contains spoilers for The Hunger Games and Catching Fire!
I haven't read this book as often as I've read The Hunger Games, so I had to keep going back and re-reading parts to make notes because I was getting so caught up in the story I forgot to put on my analytic hat and pay attention! Once again I had to pull myself together several times because the story was making me emotional and teary while riding on the subway or sitting in the middle of Madison Square Park! New Yorkers tolerate lots of eccentricities, but I still didn't want to be the woman crying over her book on the R train.
The foreshadowing remains a forte of Collins' in Catching Fire - and what's more, reading the two books so closely together makes it clear that hints carry over from one book to another. Johanna is mentioned, albeit only by district and not by name, back when Katniss is first selected for the Games. Katniss mentions the girl who presented herself as weak and pitiful before revealing she has a deadly talent with knives in the arena. And that's exactly who's in the arena this time around with Katniss - often naked, which cracks me up. Poor Katniss! The weight of the world on her shoulders and there's this cocky naked woman at every turn.
Also a follow up - a rather large point is made about the different types of bread representing the different districts, thanks to Peeta's expert baking knowledge. First this showed up as important in The Hunger Games because it allowed Katniss to recognize the gift from District 11 (moment of silence here for Rue). Now it becomes important as a signal for the allied tributes in Catching Fire - the district the bread was from would represent what day the escape would happen.
Now, here's a little hole in that plan - apparently the date changed without anyone acknowledging it. The first bread drop is 24 rolls from District 4. The next day, it's 24 rolls from District 3. Has anyone come up with a good explanation for this yet? Was there a typo in the first edition of the book?
I wrote a bit last week about Katniss as a mockingjay herself - someone the Capitol never anticipated existing. One of the few bits of description of mockingjays in The Hunger Games comes from Rue, who notes they are fierce when their nest is threatened. Of course, mockingjay imagery is even more important this time around, and we have more opportunities to look at Katniss as a mockingjay.
Katniss' primary role has been "protector" since she was 11 and her father died. She becomes the primary provider for her family first. She steps up to take Prim's place as a Tribute. When it becomes clear she needs to team up with Peeta, he's her focus for days on end, all signs of her protecting her "nest" - her family and friends. That role becomes even more vital in Catching Fire after President Snow (boo hiss) specifically threatens her family - including Gale. Katniss tells him she wants to run away with him, their families, Peeta and Haymitch, but Gale hesitates, asking about all of the families that can't run, especially since it's the middle of winter. That's Katniss' protective instinct kicking in again - save those closest to her first.
This is also clearly why she has some conflict with Peeta throughout the book. While Katniss may not be 100% certain of her feelings for Peeta, she and him definitely have a unique bond. So Katniss' first instinct is to protect him whenever she can, but of course he instinctively does the same for her, as she notes when she greets him in front of the cameras at the start of the Victory Tour. The two are still on the outs at this point, not having aired their grievances as revealed at the end of the first book, but Peeta isn't about to betray Katniss in front of the cameras. And of course, he makes Haymitch promise that once again the goal will be to get Katniss out of the arena alive - while Katniss has made the same deal with Haymitch about Peeta.
Katniss makes an excellent point about jabberjays and the Capitol - the Capitol left the jabberjays out in the wild to die off, but the birds mated with mockingbirds and passed on their genetic code to the new bird, the mockingjay. Katniss notes the Capitol hadn't anticipated the jabberjays' will to live. Which begs the question: has the Capitol anticipated Katniss' will to live - and to keep her nest safe? President Snow seems to have been able to anticipate a lot about Katniss - he's always known just how to throw her off kilter, showing up at her house, assigning Darius as her avox, and the mysterious attack on Cinna just as she was entering the new arena. But will Mockingjay finally allow Katniss to get a step ahead of the president? We can only hope!
So let's talk romance again, since it keeps coming up, and of course the epic romance of Peeta and Katniss plays a large part in their strategy for getting through this version of the Games (omg, I still remember how I gasped and then started cackling hysterically when Peeta announced Katniss' pregnancy. That kid's a freaking GENIUS). Peeta dropped the L word last book, Gale drops it this time, and Katniss goes all Han Solo on Gale by just saying "I know."
When Gale makes his big confession, I have to admit it totally makes sense that he would be in love with Katniss. They're absolutely best friends, share a common interest, and have a fierce determination to keep each other and their families alive. And if the Hunger Games had never come along, it's very possible they would have ended up married if Katniss didn't stick to her "no marriage, no kids" guns (and of course, you can marry without ever having kids, but Gale strikes me as the type who would want some. Don't ask me why). However, it's undeniable that the Games changed Katniss, and would have even if Peeta hadn't declared his love for her first. Katniss has had a chance to see the world outside of downtrodden District 12. As a victor, she can develop any sort of talent or skill that she wants, even if she can't come up with one appropriate enough for Effie without Cinna's help. You can't blame the girl for being epically confused about where her feelings lie. And once again, she's got slightly bigger things to deal with than romance - she has a rebellion to inspire!
Now, I said in my original Catching Fire review that thanks to Suzanne Collins' excellent foreshadowing in The Hunger Games I thought I would be able to predict lots of what happened in Catching Fire and I was caught completely by surprise. However, I'm feeling fairly confident this time around to make some predictions about Mockingjay. I make these predictions without knowing a single thing about Mockingjay as I'm determined to stay spoiler free (as you may have heard, some stores and libraries broke the embargo on the book, so I bet I could find spoilers with minimal Googling, but I'm too excited to have the full experience on Monday night so I'm avoiding them all!).
- Katniss' father was an early rebel and is still alive. So much was made about his terrible death in the mines and how there wasn't anything left to bury, that it seems a little suspicious. I bet the mine accident was a set up and the Capitol believes her father is dead, but instead he's been fighting the good fight off in District 13. He will, of course, have some sort of lingering injury. Wild Speculation - this injury will be to his leg, giving him a limp much like Peeta's, foreshadowing a Katniss/Peeta ending since the common wisdom is that girls marry men like their fathers.
- Madge is a rebel and the mockingjay has been their symbol long before Katniss came along. Madge was awfully insistent that Katniss wear that pin into the arena. And the mockingjay in the footage of District 13 was used as a clue by the runaways from District 8 that something was happening out there in the alleged nuclear wasteland. As the governor's daughter, Madge would be in the perfect position to gain information that could help the rebels in District 12. Wild Speculation - Maybe she even inherited the mantle from her mother, who was undoubtedly traumatized by her sister's death in the Games but must have held it together for awhile in order to marry, have Madge, and not be a complete Morphling addict at this point.
- Madge will almost certainly die - probably a rather senseless death, just to put us on edge and give us a feeling that no one is safe anymore. Either Gale or Peeta will die, and it will be a noble and sacrificial death, probably to keep Katniss alive. Katniss spends a lot of time focusing on Peeta's mortality in Catching Fire - first devoting so much effort to keeping him alive in the arena (along with the other tributes), and then at the end utterly determined to kill him so his death can't be used as a victory for the Capitol. It could definitely go either way with him.
- No matter which of the guys survive, Katniss won't ride off happily into the sunset with one of them. Okay, maybe this is just my fervent hope rather than an actual prediction. We all know by now that I'm not a romance fan, especially in The Hunger Games. My focus is totally on Katniss and how much I love her. I forget if this happened during the Hunger Games or Catching Fire event, but Suzanne Collins noted that Katniss is only 16/17, and you generally don't find your one true love at that age, which gives me hope that the wedding is indeed well and truly called off. However, as one of my friends noted when I was discussing this with her over lunch this week, a happy romantic ending could simply conclude with Katniss and one of the guys finally free to enter a romance on their own terms, looking forward to seeing what would happen without the Capitol influencing their lives.
So what do you think? Are my predictions way off? Do you have a prediction of your own? I'd love to hear about them and how you're preparing for the release of Mockingjay!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Sci Fi Friday Book Thoughts: The Hunger Games
OMG, you guys, we're only 11 days from the release of Mockingjay! I CAN'T WAIT. I'm hard at work making a special shirt for the midnight release at Books of Wonder (will you be there?). But since I can't spend all of my time sewing and painting, I have to find something else Hunger Games-related to fill my time - and thus, you finally get a post about The Hunger Games!
I first heard about the book back in August 2008 when Cindy was raving about it at the last BBYA meeting of the summer, and the first one I had attended in years, as I was back in Holland for a brief week between the end of the lease on my college apartment and the big move out to New York City. I knew it was going to be published in October, so I began keeping a close eye on y library's website and requested the book as soon as I could.
Reader, I devoured it. My husband kept threatening to take the book away and hide it because I was so vocal - gasping, cringing and crying out as if my reactions would affect Katniss' ordeal. Almost immediately after finishing it, I was online, searching for more information about this wonderful book. And that's when I discovered Books of Wonder for the first time. I believe it was on a Thursday that I was searching, and their website said that on Saturday Suzanne Collins herself would be at the store!
This was obviously a few months before I started blogging so I don't have any intensive notes to fall back on, but I do remember the event was rather small. I don't actually think there were any teenagers there - I was probably the youngest person there! Maybe two dozen of us were there, not even filling all of the chairs Books of Wonder had set out. What a difference between that and the next November when Suzanne returned to Books of Wonder and was mobbed by people carrying bags' worth of her books for her to sign! I can only imagine the madness that will be August 23rd!
But this post isn't about how the hype surrounding the books have changed. I'm not going to bother doing a traditional review at this point - most people who wanted to read the book already have and two years seems like plenty of time for spoilers to get out there. I've just re-read The Hunger Games and wanted to document some of my observations, reactions and analyses here. Next Friday I'll do the same thing for Catching Fire, and the Friday after that will hopefully be a similar post for Mockingjay. So if you're one of the five people on the planet who has decided to hold off on reading The Hunger Games until you can read the entire trilogy at once, come back to this post in a couple of weeks and consider yourself warned for spoilers for both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire!
First of all, the book's ability to make me physically respond to it has barely diminished over the last two years. I wasn't actively freaking out this time, but I did want to cry, even though I was in the middle of a rush hour subway car, when Katniss volunteers to take Prim's place and no one claps. Just that small act of rebellion is enough to take my breath away still, even though I know bigger acts of rebellion are to come.
Ever since the second time I re-read this book, I've been struck by how tightly Collins has woven this story. She has truly mastered the art of the Chekov's Gun. Small things that occur early, even something innocuous like Gale and Katniss teasing each other by saying "Stealing is illegal" comes up again in the arena. After Katniss teams up with Rue, she reminds herself that they both can't win - and while it's true that Rue doesn't join Katniss as a winner, for the first time there are two winners of the Games. And while it's been awhile since I've read Catching Fire, I noticed two small things mentioned here that play a large role in figuring out the arena in Catching Fire - that each district has a unique type of bread; and that certain parts of the arena are rigged for certain traps, so if you reach the boundary of that trap you'll be safe. I wonder if after reading Mockingjay we'll uncover some clues that were laid all the way back in The Hunger Games? (Next week I plan on including some of my predictions gleaned from the two books!)
There have been a few interviews with Suzanne Collins popping up recently, though clearly she can't say much out of fear of spoiling Mockingjay. The most interesting one I've read so far is the interview with School Library Journal where Collins explains how Katniss is like the mockingjay:
Which leads to one of the most masterful parts of this book: how Collins wrote about a girl who is in a brutal death match, yet keeps her sympathetic. It was in the back of my head from the moment I heard the premise of the book, but when Katniss starts plotting the demise of the tribute foolish enough to start a fire in the middle of the night, I really started to wonder how Collins was going to handle the deaths. Katniss was clearly going to survive the book, and it didn't seem plausible she'd be able to get out without killing someone, but murderers aren't generally great protagonists and she couldn't just drop tracker jacket nests on everyone's head, so I was really impressed when she killed the District 1 tribute in retaliation for Rue's murder. Quick and instinctive, brutal enough to be realistic, but the circumstances painful enough to keep the reader on Katniss' side.
And the last major area of note - the romance. I've mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating that I am firmly Team Katniss. I really don't care if Katniss "chooses" between Gale and Peeta by the end of Mockingjay, and would prefer it if no choice were actually made, because A) this isn't a romance and B) focusing on the romantic exploits ignores something Katniss states repeatedly throughout The Hunger Games: she's not interested in falling in love. She doesn't want to get married and she definitely doesn't want to have kids. Sure, she's 16 and 16 year olds are notoriously picky, but if we're willing to accept books where teenagers meet their soul mates in high school, why would we not give the same credibility to a teen who makes the opposite choice? I totally remember what it's like to be 16, declaring I have no intention of getting married, and being told patronizingly that I would change my mind. Yes, I suppose I did on that one point, but my 16 year old self got lots of other things right, like living in New York City, so I have to give her, and by extension Katniss, some credit for knowing what she wanted.
I think that's all I've got in me for now. I would love to hear your Hunger Games thoughts in the comments!
I first heard about the book back in August 2008 when Cindy was raving about it at the last BBYA meeting of the summer, and the first one I had attended in years, as I was back in Holland for a brief week between the end of the lease on my college apartment and the big move out to New York City. I knew it was going to be published in October, so I began keeping a close eye on y library's website and requested the book as soon as I could.Reader, I devoured it. My husband kept threatening to take the book away and hide it because I was so vocal - gasping, cringing and crying out as if my reactions would affect Katniss' ordeal. Almost immediately after finishing it, I was online, searching for more information about this wonderful book. And that's when I discovered Books of Wonder for the first time. I believe it was on a Thursday that I was searching, and their website said that on Saturday Suzanne Collins herself would be at the store!
This was obviously a few months before I started blogging so I don't have any intensive notes to fall back on, but I do remember the event was rather small. I don't actually think there were any teenagers there - I was probably the youngest person there! Maybe two dozen of us were there, not even filling all of the chairs Books of Wonder had set out. What a difference between that and the next November when Suzanne returned to Books of Wonder and was mobbed by people carrying bags' worth of her books for her to sign! I can only imagine the madness that will be August 23rd!
But this post isn't about how the hype surrounding the books have changed. I'm not going to bother doing a traditional review at this point - most people who wanted to read the book already have and two years seems like plenty of time for spoilers to get out there. I've just re-read The Hunger Games and wanted to document some of my observations, reactions and analyses here. Next Friday I'll do the same thing for Catching Fire, and the Friday after that will hopefully be a similar post for Mockingjay. So if you're one of the five people on the planet who has decided to hold off on reading The Hunger Games until you can read the entire trilogy at once, come back to this post in a couple of weeks and consider yourself warned for spoilers for both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire!
First of all, the book's ability to make me physically respond to it has barely diminished over the last two years. I wasn't actively freaking out this time, but I did want to cry, even though I was in the middle of a rush hour subway car, when Katniss volunteers to take Prim's place and no one claps. Just that small act of rebellion is enough to take my breath away still, even though I know bigger acts of rebellion are to come.
Ever since the second time I re-read this book, I've been struck by how tightly Collins has woven this story. She has truly mastered the art of the Chekov's Gun. Small things that occur early, even something innocuous like Gale and Katniss teasing each other by saying "Stealing is illegal" comes up again in the arena. After Katniss teams up with Rue, she reminds herself that they both can't win - and while it's true that Rue doesn't join Katniss as a winner, for the first time there are two winners of the Games. And while it's been awhile since I've read Catching Fire, I noticed two small things mentioned here that play a large role in figuring out the arena in Catching Fire - that each district has a unique type of bread; and that certain parts of the arena are rigged for certain traps, so if you reach the boundary of that trap you'll be safe. I wonder if after reading Mockingjay we'll uncover some clues that were laid all the way back in The Hunger Games? (Next week I plan on including some of my predictions gleaned from the two books!)
There have been a few interviews with Suzanne Collins popping up recently, though clearly she can't say much out of fear of spoiling Mockingjay. The most interesting one I've read so far is the interview with School Library Journal where Collins explains how Katniss is like the mockingjay:
Symbolically, I suppose, Katniss is something like a mockingjay in and of herself. She is a girl who should never have existed. And the reason she does exist is that she comes from District 12, which is sort of the joke of the 12 districts of Panem... [Because the Capitol thinks] that 12 is not ever really going to be a threat because it’s small and poor, they create an environment in which Katniss develops, in which she is created, this girl who slips under this fence, which isn’t electrified, and learns to be a hunter. Not only that, she’s a survivalist, and along with that goes a degree of independent thinking that is unusual in the districts.With that in mind, I paid more attention to the descriptions of the mockingjays this time around, perking up when Rue says "They can be dangerous though, if you get too near their nests. But you can't blame them for that." Katniss isn't a violent person, but when she or the people she loves are threatened, she springs into action.
Which leads to one of the most masterful parts of this book: how Collins wrote about a girl who is in a brutal death match, yet keeps her sympathetic. It was in the back of my head from the moment I heard the premise of the book, but when Katniss starts plotting the demise of the tribute foolish enough to start a fire in the middle of the night, I really started to wonder how Collins was going to handle the deaths. Katniss was clearly going to survive the book, and it didn't seem plausible she'd be able to get out without killing someone, but murderers aren't generally great protagonists and she couldn't just drop tracker jacket nests on everyone's head, so I was really impressed when she killed the District 1 tribute in retaliation for Rue's murder. Quick and instinctive, brutal enough to be realistic, but the circumstances painful enough to keep the reader on Katniss' side.
And the last major area of note - the romance. I've mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating that I am firmly Team Katniss. I really don't care if Katniss "chooses" between Gale and Peeta by the end of Mockingjay, and would prefer it if no choice were actually made, because A) this isn't a romance and B) focusing on the romantic exploits ignores something Katniss states repeatedly throughout The Hunger Games: she's not interested in falling in love. She doesn't want to get married and she definitely doesn't want to have kids. Sure, she's 16 and 16 year olds are notoriously picky, but if we're willing to accept books where teenagers meet their soul mates in high school, why would we not give the same credibility to a teen who makes the opposite choice? I totally remember what it's like to be 16, declaring I have no intention of getting married, and being told patronizingly that I would change my mind. Yes, I suppose I did on that one point, but my 16 year old self got lots of other things right, like living in New York City, so I have to give her, and by extension Katniss, some credit for knowing what she wanted.
I think that's all I've got in me for now. I would love to hear your Hunger Games thoughts in the comments!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Sci-Fi Friday Review: Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey
Found via: Publisher's Weekly 4/12
I'll admit - sometimes I go out of my way to find a book I'm pretty sure I'm going to have problems with. It's not that I'm a masochist; rather I'm really interested in following certain trends and making sure I don't get too comfortable in my preferred reading corner. The Publisher's Weekly review noted that "Readers may be troubled by the violence intertwined with their growing romance," which caught my attention. "May" be troubled? I wondered. Violence =/= romance in any way, which is why I get disturbed when people go gaga for Alex in Perfect Chemistry since he's totally creepy and borderline abusive. So I was all set to read this and rail against the "violent boys are sexy" trope - and discovered that I think the reviewer was overreacting to the violence. There's so much else going on in here that needs to be critiqued, the violence was the last thing on my mind.
Jill Jekel is the perfect good girl. She's never even questioned her parents' rules - even now, in the aftermath of her father's death, and the revelation that the brilliant scientist was guilty of stealing chemicals from his lab. Now Jill's focused on keeping her mom healthy and sane.
Tristen Hyde is mysterious. Talk, dark, handsome and an excellent student, he shies away from attention and keeps to himself - unless someone violates his space and pushes him over the edge into a violent fit.
When a prestigious chemistry scholarship becomes available, their chemistry teacher suggests they pair up, sure that the combination of their names will garner extra attention - Jekel and Hyde in the chemistry lab once again. What Jill doesn't know, however, is that Tristen believes he really is the descendant of the infamous Mr. Hyde, and when Jill discovers an old box of papers in her father's office containing formulas about changing personalities, they both come to believe she's a descendant of Dr. Jekyll. They agree to work together, partly for the scholarship, but more in an effort to save Tristen's life. For being a descendant of Hyde means hiding a terrible secret - a draw to violence and murder that Tristen isn't sure he can control for much longer.
Is there some violence in this story? Yes. Is it tied in any way to Jill's and Tristen's budding romance? Not really. Tristen describes a vaguely sexual element to his bloodlust, but also states that murder is the release he seeks.
Jill Jekel might be one of the flattest characters I've ever read. Fantaskey picks up on the good girl trope, and pushes it to its limits and beyond. If this were a set up to create a better contrast for Jill embracing her "bad" side eventually I would have had more patience, but despite the jacket copy's emphasis on Jill's bad side, we only see her slipping twice.
The bad sides of Jill and Tristen also had a bizarrely sexist element. When Tristen is wrestling with the beast, he wants to maim and kill. When Jill ingests the formula, she shoplifts a sexy black bra and feels horny - clearly we are talking about two entirely different levels of "bad" and this ends up coming across as extremely moralizing and sexist - after all, only a bad girl would want to have sex with a hot boy in the science lab!
The other characters are just as flat as Jill. The two supporting female characters, best friend Becca and scholastic rival Darcy, are absolutely cartoonish. Becca especially acts inexplicably, and there's never any reason shown for Jill and her to be friends in the first place. Tristen is the only character with an ounce of depth, but I feel at this point that's really damning him with faint praise.
As for the actual story, I found that everyone was way too credulous of the idea that Jill and Tristen were descended from Jekyll and Hyde. No one has ever claimed that Robert Louis Stevenson was writing about something that actually happened, or even exaggerating a real event for dramatic effect. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were firmly rooted in his imagination. I like the idea of playing with them having a basis in reality, but every character seems far too willing to buy Tristen's story, without even hesitating to say "Wait, I thought that was fiction." The overall writing was also unwieldly and I felt that no one actually ever sounded like a teenager - Jill actually worries about "losing her virtue," a phrase totally out of place in a contemporary novel that isn't about promise rings.
I'll admit - sometimes I go out of my way to find a book I'm pretty sure I'm going to have problems with. It's not that I'm a masochist; rather I'm really interested in following certain trends and making sure I don't get too comfortable in my preferred reading corner. The Publisher's Weekly review noted that "Readers may be troubled by the violence intertwined with their growing romance," which caught my attention. "May" be troubled? I wondered. Violence =/= romance in any way, which is why I get disturbed when people go gaga for Alex in Perfect Chemistry since he's totally creepy and borderline abusive. So I was all set to read this and rail against the "violent boys are sexy" trope - and discovered that I think the reviewer was overreacting to the violence. There's so much else going on in here that needs to be critiqued, the violence was the last thing on my mind.
Jill Jekel is the perfect good girl. She's never even questioned her parents' rules - even now, in the aftermath of her father's death, and the revelation that the brilliant scientist was guilty of stealing chemicals from his lab. Now Jill's focused on keeping her mom healthy and sane.Tristen Hyde is mysterious. Talk, dark, handsome and an excellent student, he shies away from attention and keeps to himself - unless someone violates his space and pushes him over the edge into a violent fit.
When a prestigious chemistry scholarship becomes available, their chemistry teacher suggests they pair up, sure that the combination of their names will garner extra attention - Jekel and Hyde in the chemistry lab once again. What Jill doesn't know, however, is that Tristen believes he really is the descendant of the infamous Mr. Hyde, and when Jill discovers an old box of papers in her father's office containing formulas about changing personalities, they both come to believe she's a descendant of Dr. Jekyll. They agree to work together, partly for the scholarship, but more in an effort to save Tristen's life. For being a descendant of Hyde means hiding a terrible secret - a draw to violence and murder that Tristen isn't sure he can control for much longer.
Is there some violence in this story? Yes. Is it tied in any way to Jill's and Tristen's budding romance? Not really. Tristen describes a vaguely sexual element to his bloodlust, but also states that murder is the release he seeks.
Jill Jekel might be one of the flattest characters I've ever read. Fantaskey picks up on the good girl trope, and pushes it to its limits and beyond. If this were a set up to create a better contrast for Jill embracing her "bad" side eventually I would have had more patience, but despite the jacket copy's emphasis on Jill's bad side, we only see her slipping twice.
The bad sides of Jill and Tristen also had a bizarrely sexist element. When Tristen is wrestling with the beast, he wants to maim and kill. When Jill ingests the formula, she shoplifts a sexy black bra and feels horny - clearly we are talking about two entirely different levels of "bad" and this ends up coming across as extremely moralizing and sexist - after all, only a bad girl would want to have sex with a hot boy in the science lab!
The other characters are just as flat as Jill. The two supporting female characters, best friend Becca and scholastic rival Darcy, are absolutely cartoonish. Becca especially acts inexplicably, and there's never any reason shown for Jill and her to be friends in the first place. Tristen is the only character with an ounce of depth, but I feel at this point that's really damning him with faint praise.
As for the actual story, I found that everyone was way too credulous of the idea that Jill and Tristen were descended from Jekyll and Hyde. No one has ever claimed that Robert Louis Stevenson was writing about something that actually happened, or even exaggerating a real event for dramatic effect. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were firmly rooted in his imagination. I like the idea of playing with them having a basis in reality, but every character seems far too willing to buy Tristen's story, without even hesitating to say "Wait, I thought that was fiction." The overall writing was also unwieldly and I felt that no one actually ever sounded like a teenager - Jill actually worries about "losing her virtue," a phrase totally out of place in a contemporary novel that isn't about promise rings.
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