Sheree Christoffersen

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Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club

Fantasy

Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club

June 5, 2016 by Sheree 4 Comments

This year at Sydney Writers Festival I attended my first TeenCon.

As we filed into the room, volunteers handed each of us a calico bag containing six books. Yes, six. Not three years old, let’s-chuck-‘em-out books, but ones published within the past year, many within the past six months. The first one I read was by Alison Goodman.

Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club was already on my radar,
as I love Alison Goodman’s writing.

However, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Descriptions in some reviews, including “Jane Austen meets Cassandra Clare”, sounded to me a lot like a Regency version of Clare’s prequel novels (The Infernal Devices). Instead I found a meticulously researched story with a heroine who is gutsy but consistent in her era.

The protagonist, Lady Helen, understands and complies with the proprieties of the time, believing in the limitations women have been socialised to accept, but though she resists the call of her growing knowledge, she steps up when it counts.

The Dark Days Club is best described as an urban fantasy
in Regency era London.

27074515The Dark Days Club begins in 1812, the second year of the Regency. Lady Helen lives with her aunt and puritanical, oppressive uncle as her parents, the Earl of Hayden and Lady Catherine, died a decade before. Rumours persist that her mother betrayed England to Napoleon.

When Lady Helen attends the palace to be presented before Queen Charlotte with other young ladies of genteel families, she is introduced to Lord Carlston, who reputedly murdered his wife three years past, though it could never be proven. So begins her entrée into the world of the Dark Days Club and the hidden perils from which it protects all of Britain.

Goodman has managed to walk a fine line.

She presents Lady Helen as a product of her age rather than an anachronistic modern feminist, while still portraying her as a strong character who doesn’t shrink from the difficult role she is being called to fulfill. Her initial reticence is a common part of any hero’s or heroine’s journey, serving only to underline her later determination.

26066905The story builds gradually, layer by layer, well-paced and well-crafted, and though this is the first in a series, provides a resolution that doesn’t leave the reader hanging.

This isn’t just a story with a Regency backdrop. Neither is it a Gothic novel, though it contains some Gothic elements. It’s a story of a Regency young woman, faced with secrets and responsibilities she’d rather not have, coming to terms with who she is in a society that has little tolerance for female non-conformity.

It’s also got some kick-ass action scenes.

I had high hopes for Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, and it didn’t disappoint. I’ll be watching out for the second instalment, The Dark Days Pact, in January 2017.

Details
Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club
Angus & Robertson
ISBN: 9780732296094)
Pub: Dec 2015

Links
Alison Goodman’s webpage

AUSSIE-AUTHOR-2016Aussie Writers Challenge

 

 

 

image-200x300Australian Women Writers Challenge

Posted in: Aussie books, Australian Women Writers, Books, Fantasy, Historical fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Writers Festival Book, Young Adult Tagged: #aussieauthor, #aww2016, #LoveOzYA, Alison Goodman, Book review, Books, Fantasy, Paranormal, Review, Romance, Sydney Writers Festival, urban fantasy, Young Adult

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness

May 13, 2016 by Sheree Leave a Comment

Later this year a movie will be released of Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls.

I’m keen to see the movie, but reluctant at the same time.

Anybody who loves a book will know the feeling; excitement at seeing a great story brought to life, but anxious at the thought it could be ruined.

The trailer looks hopeful.

The story centres on Conor, who lives with his mother who has cancer. Her illness has made Conor feel isolated and alone, and he has been plagued with a recurring nightmare of darkness and screaming.

One night after midnight a voice calls to him outside his window. It’s the huge willow tree from the graveyard of the church he can see from his room, terrifying and stern, who insists it will come back and tell him three stories, and then Conor must tell his story to the tree. The yew does as it promises, each time returning after midnight. 

The consequences of the yew’s visits to Conor
grow more and more severe.

Ultimately, it leads him to confront his deepest fears.

9781406311525A Monster Calls has a sad history. In an Author’s Note at the beginning of the book, Ness explains that the premise of the book was conceived by author Siobhan Dowd, along with the characters and the beginning. It would have been her fifth book. “What she didn’t have,” he says, “unfortunately, was time.” What he doesn’t mention in his note is that she had cancer.

However, he was asked to turn her beginning into a book. He felt like he’d “been handed a baton, like a particularly fine writer has handed me her story and said,

‘Go. Run with it. Make trouble.’

“So that’s what I tried to do.”

He had only a single guideline: “to write a book I think Siobhan would have liked. No other criteria could really matter.”

He certainly wrote a book a many people like. Ness and the illustrator Jim Kay won the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals for writing and illustration, as well the British Children’s Book of the Year and a swag of other awards. I’d include it on any list of the best books for pre-teens/teenagers, and would recommend it to most adults. It’s a deceptively simple story, with a huge depth of psychological and emotional sophistication.

Film is a very different media to print, but I hope the underlying complexity, the confusion, grief, fear, love and alienation that Conor deals with manages to be portrayed in the film.

The monster paused again.
You really aren’t afraid, are you?
“No,” Conor said. “Not of you, anyway.”

The monster narrowed its eyes.
You will be, it said. Before the end.

Details
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Candlewick Press/Walker Books
ISBN 1406311529
Pub: May 2011

Links
Patrick Ness’s website
Second trailer for the A Monster Calls movie

Posted in: Awards, Cancer, Children's books, Contemporary, Family, Fantasy, Folklore, Illness, Young Adult Tagged: Book review, Books, Cancer, Child Protagonist, Children, Contemporary, Family, Fantasy, Folklore, Illness, Patrick Ness, Review, Young Adult

Tower of Thorns, by Juliet Marillier

September 29, 2015 by Sheree 6 Comments
A wailing monster, a cursed land and a lady with secrets.

Add a bristling healer and her hulky companion with pasts that haunt them, and you have an enthralling story that sweeps you into its world of fey and mystery.

22567177Blackthorn is a healer and wise woman who was rescued from a death sentence by one of the fey. The conditions of her reprieve included not seeking vengeance against the chieftain who unjustly imprisoned her. With another of the prisoners, Grim, as friend and companion, she has built a new life in Dalraida.

When the Lady Geiléis arrives seeking help from the Dalraidan prince, it is to Blackthorn they turn. A monster has taken up residence in an old tower surrounded by impenetrable thorns on the lady’s lands. It howls from dawn to dusk and has cast a blight upon the whole land.

At the same time an old friend emerges with a tempting offer for Blackthorn, to bring her old tormentor, Mathuin the chieftain, to justice. She plans to go the lady’s lands and deal with the monster, then slip away from Grim and travel south to help in Mathuin’s trial. Once at Lady Geiléis’ lands, though, it becomes clear the lady and her servants are hiding something.

Tower of Thorns works as a stand-alone novel, but readers of the first book in the Blackthorn & Grim series, Dreamer’s Pool, will be eager for this second offering.

One of the strengths of these novels is the complexity
of the title characters.

They are defined by the things they have in common; their traumatic pasts that are being slowly revealed to each other and the reader, their time in Mathuin’s prison where they occupied opposite cells while enduring deprivation and abuse, and their understanding of the brokenness of one another.  Yet they also provide a contrast for one another.

Blackthorn is well-named. She’s prickly, bitter and prone to fits of temper, finding it difficult to be around other people for long periods. She’s also assertive,  as Lady Geiléis discovers once they are back on her land.

“Once Blackthorn decided to take the reins, it seemed she was blind to anything that might stand in her way.”

However, even though she finds the caring side of her healing work exhausting, she does it well. She sees herself with little to give emotionally but is so attuned to others that she can’t help empathizing and supporting them when they’re in need. Though she’s been scarred by her life, at the core she’s decent and good and does what she believes is right.

Grim sees himself with little to give in general, in spite of being able to turn his hand to anything from thatching and growing vegetables to training others in use of weapons. Though they conduct their relationship as companions, his devotion to Blackthorn never wavers. Where her focus stays on making Mathuin pay for his crimes, Grim’s is on Blackthorn and doing all his power to protect and provide for her. Discovering more of his story and who he his in Tower of Thorns was especially welcome.

17305016It isn’t easy to get stories about people with post-traumatic stress right, let alone in the context of medieval Ireland where old magic and the fey are forces to be reckoned with. Blackthorn and Grim have different ways of dealing with the traumas of their pasts, but each is authentic and rings true in the context of the time. The descriptions of Grim’s flashbacks and physical symptoms are particularly well done.

Tower of Thorns is told from three points of view; Blackthorn’s and Grim’s, both using first person, and the third from the perspective of Lady Geiléis in third person. Though the narrative style changes, it works well. Marillier’s prose flows, often lyrical, always grounded.

Not only does it feel as though this medieval Ireland of fey magic is real, but it should be real.

Though evil is there just as it is in our world, there is also a beauty and wonder in creation that has been lost for most of us. Perhaps books like this can challenge us to appreciate what we have and strive to preserve the beauty and natural wonders around us.

As I said when reviewing Raven Flight, I’ve been a keen reader of Juliet Marillier’s books since her first book, Daughter of the Forest, was published, so I tend to be well-disposed towards her books when I pick them up. So far I haven’t been disappointed. I’m already looking forward to the next in the Blackthorn & Grim series.

* I received an ARC from the author for review.

 Details
Tower of Thorns  by Juliet Marillier
Pan Macmillan Australia
ISBN: 9780451466990
Published: 3 October, 2015

Links
Juliet Marillier’s Website
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awwsml-2015Australian Women Writers Challenge

 

 

 

Posted in: Adult Fiction, Aussie books, Australian Women Writers, Fantasy, Folklore, Romance Tagged: #aussieauthor, #aww2015, Adult fiction, Book review, Books, Faery, Fantasy, Folklore, Juliet Marillier, Review, Romance

Everybody Loves YA Panel #nswwc

July 21, 2015 by Sheree 4 Comments

Speculative Fiction Festival,
NSW Writers Centre #LoveOzYA

It was quite a line up. The NSWWC Festival was a star-studded event with big names in Australian speculative fiction making up every panel. The Young Adult panel was a prime example as we were treated to the collective literary wisdom of Marianne de Pierres, Garth Nix, Richard Harland, Isobelle Carmody and Amie Kaufman.

Richard was the host and he began by introducing the panel and their impressive credentials. He posed a number of questions and each panel member responded. There was plenty to absorb, so what follows is an attempt to capture as much of the excellent advice and insight that poured forth in the session as possible. I’ve done a lot of paraphrasing and it’s not in strict chronological order, as I’ve tried to group similar topics together.

I’ve used the writers first names hereafter, for brevity and because I don’t want to sound like a British boarding school teacher by using just surnames. This isn’t the place for Harry Potter role play. Though… no, no, it’s not.

Everything that follows is gleaned from my notes and memory along with excellent tweets from numerous sources. I’ve also added links and comments, just because I can.

NSWWC YA3

Why is YA so popular, particularly with adults?

This question was thrown at Marianne first. Her response was that it allows those of us past adolescence to revisit that time in our lives, perhaps before life has become difficult or complex, to re-imagine our youth or what our lives could have been like if it had gone in a different direction. YA stories are often about identity, and so they appeal whether we’re in the process of finding our own identity or re-examining it. Young adults are also good bullshit detectors, so authenticity of voice is crucial, and that is inherently appealing in a story.

GN Story is kingYA has won the industry’s attention, said Garth, but we can overthink its popularity. He stressed that people shouldn’t get hung up on categories. Books put on YA shelves provide strong, clear stories with interesting characters, so naturally people other than teenagers are going to want to read them. “Story is king.” The best books always have multiple layers of meaning that can be appreciated at different stages, and can be revisited with a new perspective at a later age.

Richard RH Lit YCpointed out that literature has always been full of young characters going through change. (I  thought of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Tom Brown, Jane Eyre and Holden Caulfield.) “It’s an interesting time of life. Your impressions are stronger than at any other time.” The emphasis on YA in recent years is more about the way books are marketed. The writers came back to marketing a little further on.

“No wonder YA is so popular,” said Isobelle. “Who wants to be an adult when we see what adults have done to our world?” She told us of the 20 year old MP in the UK she watched on Youtube the previous night.

Mhairi Black’s maiden House of Commons speech

This young woman had made her think a lot about YA books. Adults have made such a mess of the world and those in positions of power are behaving in such juvenile ways that there is a yearning, in both young people and those older, to return to ideals that seem far from being lived out in the real world. We crave a clearer sense of values which YA provides, as its characters strive to work out who they are in the world.

Basic motivations are also something that drive Isobelle, striving to understand why people do what they do. She thinks about what famous people were like in their formative years. What was Martin Luther King, Jr. like in school? Was he different to the other kids? What about others who grow up to be shining examples or do horrific things? What formed them? YA resonates with adults because it holds the seeds of who you become.

IC Inside every ageIsobelle is drawn to adolescent POV because they are characters who are growing, changing, becoming, but the core within doesn’t leave the child’s perspective behind. “Inside you is every age you’ve ever been – they don’t die or go away!” If the writing is good enough, it will resurrect the 12 year old inside of you.

Amie reminded us that YA is the literature of transformation, “and we’re all going through transformations, all the time”. Everyone, can identify with YA stories. Good stories are about change, so YA stories are inherently appealing. She said that in her teens she was working out who she was, then in her twenties sAK tranformationhe felt like she was already supposed to have worked it out. She found YA stories still spoke strongly to her then, and perhaps the YA appeal is about exploring who we are no matter our age.

Then Amie discussed how she has found it difficult being told someone doesn’t read fiction because they “don’t read something they can’t learn from”. After the gasps and incredulous laughter died down, from panel and audience alike, Amie said what we all know; in fiction we walk in others shoes, and learn so much about other people and the world that we could never understand from non-fiction.

Can Reading Fiction Improve Empathy? (PsychCentral)
Can Reading a Fictional Story Make You More Empathetic?
(Psychology Today, n
eurobiological emphasis)

Richard pointed out that imagination in itself it incredibly valuable. Einstein, for example, developed his theories of relativity through his ability to imagine. The stimulation of imagination is one of the most important things we can cultivate in our children and young people, and society in general.

Richard found the labelling of speculative fiction as ‘escapist’ fiction, using it as ‘dirty word’, offensive.

“The Life and Times of Harry Houdini,” muttered Garth. Pardon? Oh, escapist fiction. :)

Besides, Richard insisted, what’s wrong with escapism anyway? What’s wrong with games? We learn from games and ‘escapist’ things too. Play is essential for children. Adolescents and adults need to play too.

What Neil Gaiman was told when he asked why China is encouraging science fiction in its population.

Isobel also believes the craving for idealism and clearer values is also a driving factor in the popularity of speculative fiction.

The writers had varying responses to people who liked to tell them they “don’t like fantasy”. Garth: “I don’t like you, either.” (Most popular response.) All agreed that a lot of bias still exists about ‘genre’ fiction. Isobelle thinks many other writers would create great stories if they weren’t afraid of ‘genre’. Garth again re genre bias: “I don’t breathe often but when I do I choose air.”

Being categorized as YA

Story firstAll the writers agreed that the story came first, rather than writing to a category or age group. Richard reiterated that coming-of-age stories have been around for a very long time, but now they’re being collated and called YA for marketing purposes.

YA stands for “Yes, Awesome!” according to Garth. He considers, though, that age targets or genre categories aren’t inescapable ghettos but places booksellers and librarians situate a book that will be most likely to connect with its initial target audience, from which it will, hopefully, spread out to the rest of your potential readership. He quoted Schuster of Simon & Schuster, who said, “The most dangerous disease for a publisher is a hardening of the categories.” He also advised that writers of YA should make sure potential agents and publishers GN Yes Awesomeare interested in YA and have experience and expertise in it, as opposed to only being interested in its selling potential.

Don’t let categories determine what you write or what you read. Amie advises we should all read across genres & age groups as a matter of course, as we’ll learn from other genres, whether crime, romance, thriller, literary, or whatever. There will be aspects of all of them that will improve your own writing.

Sex, Drugs and Violence in YA

Concerning sex and drug use in one of Marianne’s books, she was told by an overseas publisher that “teenagers weren’t interested” in those things. (???)

Amie noted that when she was in high school, the John Marsden books in the library would always fall open at certain well-worn pages. (That makes more sense.)

GN Adult in YA“People forget the ‘adult’ in Young Adult,” Garth said in relation to gatekeeping in YA, and many don’t discern between Children’s and YA. These aren’t books for kids. If those things are part of your story, you should use them to tell the story.

One of the writers (Amie?) had an overseas editor ask about sex scenes in a book, and was concerned that one occurred. When she explained the scene was one of violence, there was no problem. All agreed how bizarre the value system is, to accept a scene of violent sex in preference over consensual, pleasurable sex.

Garth was proud when one of his books was banned due in the U.S. It was due to coarse language, strangely citing many words that didn’t occur in the book. He advises, though, that the forces who come out to bat for challenged books are usually more powerful than those who try to ban them.

He then advised that if you’re going use swearing in your book, don’t make it on the first page, as that seemed to be the trouble with his book. Amie helpfully informed us that it won’t be a problem if you can postpone it until after the first 50 pages. It seems the automated scanning for such things stops at page 50. I’m wondering if all authors start using this information, will the scanning algorithm be changed to random pages? There has to be a librarian joke in that, but I’d better not go there …

Isobelle: “I have to admit, one of my proudest moments was having one of my books burned.” It was a European town which she later visited. Ah, fandom.

My quote award goes to Garth Nix, who provided so many succinct quotes over the day, for this:

GN Banned

Many thanks to Festival Director Cat Sparks for an excellent day, and the staff of the NSW Writers Centre for all their work. Thanks also to all the tweeters who captured so much of the wisdom of the day, especially Tehani Wessely who storified the day’s tweets, which you can find here.

If I’ve left things out or made any mistakes, please add them in the comments.

Links: Websites

Marianne de Pierres
Garth Nix
Richard Harland
Isobelle Carmody
Amie Kaufman
NSW Writers Centre

Posted in: Aussie books, Aussie setting, Dystopia, Fantasy, Science fiction, Writers Festival Book, Young Adult Tagged: #aussieauthor, Aussie setting, Books, Dystopia, Fantasy, Garth Nix, Myth, Paranormal, Science fiction, Young Adult

Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas

July 7, 2015 by Sheree Leave a Comment

An eighteen year old girl, a trained assassin, has been imprisoned for a year and is given a shot at freedom. This first book Sarah J. Mass’ series isn’t what I expected.

13519397Celaena Sardothien has toiled for a year in Endovier, a salt mine and prison so harsh that few survive more than a few months. Even at her tender age, though, her name was known and feared as the greatest assassin in the country of Adarlan before she was captured. Now she’s been given an offer; be Crown Prince Dorian’s entrant in a contest devised by his father, the king. Thirteen weeks, twenty-four contestants sponsored by nobles of the court. The winner will become the King’s Champion – or rather, his assassin. If she wins and serves for four years, she’ll have her freedom.

Celaena, (pronounced Sell-lay-nah, according to Maas’s website), naturally takes the offer, though she’s no supporter of the king. He invaded her country when she was small, and continued to conquer surrounding lands, committing atrocities with abandon. However, she has little choice; she must compete, or go back to Endovier to die.

A lot of the interest in the book is on the growing relationships Celaena has with Prince Dorian and the Captain of the Guard, Chaol, who first took her out of the mine to meet the prince and continues to serve him. They are both attracted to her, and she to them, though she is drawn more obviously to Dorian. She also develops a friendship with a visiting princess from a neighbouring country that has been subdued, and a there is a subplot of a jealous courtier who wants Dorian for herself.

This book has some great fantasy elements, and Celaena is an engaging heroine. There is a system of Wyrd magic which delivers some great moments and which promises more in the subsequent books. Maas has created a court of complexity and intrigue, and I particularly like the disparate attitudes of the king and prince

A couple of things surprised me about this book. One was how the contest was handled. The first test (one per week) didn’t occur until about a quarter of the way into the book, and I found myself impatient for it. It wasn’t that the rest was boring, because it wasn’t. I was just eager to get to the meat of it. The reader also doesn’t get to see all of the tests, as quite a few of them were skipped over in one sentence and I was a little disappointed with that. I understand that thirteen might be too many to write, but then maybe it would be better to have fewer tests, and maybe even fewer contestants? I just hate to miss out on the action.

The other thing that surprised me was Celaena herself. To have spent a year in what was essentially a death camp (including severe whipping), already the most famous assassin in the country by seventeen having been trained from the age of eight, I expected there to be some hardness in this character. I thought there would be defensiveness, emotional walls, evidence of trauma. Instead, the prince and his captain could have been picking her up from soccer camp.

A lot of the book is written from Celaena’s perspective, and it reflects the emotional and psychological tone of a young athlete rather than a trained killer who’d recently suffered torture and deprivation. There are a few references to the trauma she suffered when her parents were killed, and a couple of anecdotes of her training, but it doesn’t play out in her present psyche. When there’s a killer stalking the halls at night, she’s terrified and can’t sleep. She reads romances, wants to socialize, and gushes over puppies. I couldn’t buy it.

That said, though, I decided to put that aside. If you can accept the non-emotionally scarred, non-hardened, non-traumatized, sweet teenage super-assassin, it’s a good book. Once I entered into it, it’s a good read and I finished it quickly. I’m even looking forward to the next books, Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire.

Throne of Glass is a good read. Just don’t believe the ‘A heart of ice, a will of steel’ tagline. She looks badass on the cover (great cover!) and her fighting skills are without parallel, but she isn’t a cold-hearted killer. She’s the assassin with compassion.

Details
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Bloomsbury
ISBN:9781408832349
Published: Aug, 2012

Links: Sarah J. Maas Website
ACOTARoriginalReview of Court of Thorns and Roses
by Sarah J. Maas

Posted in: Aussie books, Fantasy, Reading, Romance, Young Adult Tagged: Book review, Books, Fantasy, Reading, Review, Romance, Sarah J. Maas, Young Adult

Zarkora: The Fyrelit Tragedy

June 14, 2015 by Sheree Leave a Comment

A sinister foe, legendary swords, a princess, dragons, a quest for a lost sister. There is all this and more in the first book of the Zarkora series.

Brother and sister writing team Nicholas and Alison Lochel, based in Brisbane, self-published The Fyrelit Tragedy a few years ago. It’s the first book in their Zarkora series for older children, and with the first three of the series doing well, Hachette Australia has picked them up and is publishing all four over 2015-16, beginning in July.

25602749The Fyrelit Tragedy* is about teenage brothers Neleik and Ervine Fyrelit, who set out to find their little sister who’s been kidnapped by a sinister stranger, the same stranger who killed their parents years before. On their journey they make friends, gain companions, elicit aid, learn new skills, and discover new truths. They also discover new enemies.

There are lots of fantasy tropes to satisfy the traditional taste; as well the ones already mentioned there are, giants, kings, wizards, elves, monsters, swordfighting, and tests of courage and skill. There’s a lot to enjoy, and it’s a great story. I particularly like the challenges the companions face in each mountain when seeking the Swords of Lytharin and Deragoth (it makes sense in the story, I promise).

Sadly, the writing often lets the story down, with too many words, stumbling over passages, or just awkwardness taking me out of the moment. I also found the speed with which the brothers’ first two companions joined them, and their lack of thought, didn’t make sense – particularly the girl.

The other thing is just a personal preference. I think if books in a series are going to be sold separately they should have a firm resolution at the end of each one. The overall arc for a series is important, but I think to leave the major question of a book unresolved is a bit of a cheat. The trick – obviously not an easy one for authors – is to ramp up the stakes as the series progresses, rather than having to buy all the books to get the resolution of the first book’s inciting incident. Each book in a series should have its own story which is resolved, as well as its place in the main series arc. I’m not a Wheel of Time fan.

Maybe that’s just me. I felt ripped off all those years ago when I first saw The Empire Strikes Back. When Han Solo was left encased in carbonite as the credits rolled, I wanted to stand up in the theatre and yell “Nooo!” at the screen. It was years till Return of the Jedi came out – how could Han be left in limbo like that?

I wanted to like The Fyrelit Tragedy, and I did like the story. I’ll be interested to see what the authors produce next, with this experience under their belts.

Netgalley badge* I was provided with an e-copy of this book for review via Netgalley

Links: Zakora website

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Posted in: Aussie books, Australian Women Writers, Children's books, Fantasy Tagged: #aussieauthor, #aww2015, Alison Lochel, Book review, Child Protagonist, Children, Fantasy, Nicholas Lochel, Review

Paladin

June 11, 2015 by Sheree 1 Comment

Who doesn’t love a “girl poses as boy to join a male-only-elite-group” story?

PaladinPaladin* by Sally Slater is the story of Samantha, sixteen year old daughter of the Duke of Hayward, who has been trained in to use a sword by her father – at her mother’s insistence. After her mother is killed by a demon and Samantha is rescued at the last moment, the prospect of being married off is too much for her to bear. She runs away to become a trainee Paladin, sworn to protect the people of the land from demons.

Fate has a surprise in store. Her Paladin trainer and mentor is Tristan Lyons, First of the Sword, the youngest ever to hold that title and the man who saved her from the demon that killed her mother. Tristan is also given another trainee, Braeden, as another Paladin has refused to teach him because he’s half-demon. Soon the trio set off on a journey of discovery, about the Paladins, their enemies, and themselves.

Samantha – Sam, when she’s a trainee – is good-hearted and makes an interesting heroine. Though her faults are obvious, they’re not belaboured. I found Braeden the most interesting character, and his internal struggles and personal arc dealing with his demonic nature was well written and satisfying.

I would have liked to know more about the Paladins, to put the three main characters in a clearer context; how military were they, what were their oaths, were they sworn to live morally as the connotations of the name suggest? In a similar vein, the way Sam often treats Tristan, her mentor, didn’t sit well. In spite of his insistence that his trainees must respect and obey him, her disrespect without censure or consequences doesn’t seem consistent with the practices of a disciplined fighting force.

Otherwise, it’s an enjoyable story with some surprising twists and turns, and the romance is sweet and not overplayed. Many will identify in this YA fantasy with Sam’s struggle against her role in society and the discrimination and internal battles Braeden endures. I’ll be looking for the books that continue the story.

Netgalley badge* I was provided with a e-copy of this book to review via Netgalley

Links: Sally Slater’s website

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult Tagged: Fantasy, Review, Romance, Young Adult

The Court of Thorns and Roses

June 4, 2015 by Sheree 1 Comment

When my Practical Bloke wanted gift suggestions this year (i.e. “What books do you want?”), Sarah J. Maas was at the top of the list – not her exactly, that would be illegal – but her Throne of Glass trilogy. I’d wanted to read it for ages, but he also bought me the first of her new series, The Court of Thorns and Roses.

ACOTARoriginalI was intrigued, and opened The Court first.

It begins with the young heroine, Feyre (Fay-ruh), hunting in a forest in deep winter. As she stalks a doe, a wolf also pursues her prey. It’s no ordinary wolf,  but one of the hated fae from over the northern border. She kills it with an arrow of ash wood then bring down the doe, relieved her father and older sisters won’t go hungry for a few days. The wolf is skinned to sell.

A day after returning home, she faces the consequences of the kill. A faerie lord arrives in the form of a great beast, declaring her life is forfeit for the crime of murdering one of the fae. But there is an alternative; the Treaty between humans and the faerie lords stipulates if she is not executed she must return to his lands in the north, never to see to her home or family again. Feyre is hauled off to the estate of the faerie lord, Tamsin.

When I opened this book I was soon chapters into it, though I’d intended to read the Throne of Glass trilogy first. Feyre is capable and resourceful, rising to the challenge of providing for her family since they fell on hard times. It’s refreshing that she is the youngest of the family, as usually in hardship stories it’s the oldest siblings that look after the younger ones. She’s no paragon, though, as she nurses a streak of resentment against her sisters for not shouldering their share of the burden, her father for losing their money, and even her dead mother for neglecting them.

The Court of Thorns and Roses has been described as a Beauty and the Beast tale, but it’s not as simple as that. It’s closer to a re-imagining of the Eros and Psyche story from Greek mythology, including the main character being the youngest of three sisters. It’s a fantasy love story, but is at its best in the sections where the romance is not the focus.

After Feyre settles into Tamsin’s estate, slowly letting go of her plots to return home and dealing with a growing attraction to Tamsin, I found the narrative gradually loses impetus. As it’s written in first person in Feyre’s viewpoint, we know there’s something bigger going on, but it’s so vague there’s a lack of real threat, no overarching goal or deadline to push the narrative forward. There’s a shadow, but no ticking clock. The growing romance didn’t really captivate me, perhaps because it seems to be the whole point at that stage, without a sense of where it’s all leading. Maybe the singular viewpoint in this case was a handicap, as if we saw the situation from Tamsin’s side the stakes and tension would flow naturally.

Feyre had caught me in the first few chapters, though, and it’s not too long until she’s back in action with grit and determination, ramped up to new levels. The rest was page-turning, with lethal threats, shifting alliances and inhuman determination.

ACOTAR

My page-turner rating through ‘The Court of Thorns and Roses’

I tend to be a visual thinker, so on the right is my graph of the page-turner rating level through The Court of Thorns and Roses (not exactly to scale). Obviously I liked the latter part of the book best. It bodes well for when I get to the Throne of Glass trilogy, because Sarah J. Maas can definitely write bad-ass women in action.

Links: Sarah J. Maas website

Posted in: Fairy tales, Fantasy, Folklore, Romance, Young Adult Tagged: Book review, Faery, Fantasy, Folklore, Myth, Romance, Sarah J. Maas, Young Adult
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