The Highest Hope - Prologue
Labels:
fantasy,
fiction,
free book,
novel,
serialized novel,
southern gothic,
the highest hope
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As of today, I will begin serializing a novel I'm working on, both on this blog and on FictionPress.com. I can describe it best as Pokémon meets the Southern Gothic genre.
The description:
The description:
Mysterious deaths have shaken the small community of Lexington Hill to its core, and while no one is sure who could be committing the murders, it’s more than clear the perpetrator used a Compture to do it.
Comptures are creatures that are different from ordinary animals, even though some may look like dogs, or horses, or even dragons. They are intelligent, bond with the people who can tame them, and are deeply ingrained into the stratified society young Charlotte Colter lives in.
But when a Compture who can speak, and possesses unbelievable, almost divine power chooses to bond with Charlotte, she becomes more aware of the dark and ugly underbelly of her society than ever before.
Sound interesting? Read on under the cut! I can't promise an update schedule because of other things going on in my life, but I'll do my best to keep it at at least a chapter a month.
The Highest Hope
Prologue
Book Review - Vicious
Labels:
book review,
deconstruction,
fantasy,
review,
superhero,
superheroes,
v.e. schwab,
vicious
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| Cover art courtesy of Barnes and Noble |
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor
Publication Date: January 20, 2015
Version I Read: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Wow. All I can say is wow. When you read the summary of a book and think “There is no way in hell I’m going to like it,” yet you have this almost morbid desire to buy and read it anyway, and then it turns out to be one of the best books you’ve read in years, that’s saying something.
Victor Vale has just broken out of jail, which he was in for murder, in order to kill someone else. Seems like a great guy, huh? The reality is a lot more complicated than that. While in college, Victor and his then-best friend, Eli, became intrigued by the possibility of creating an ExtraOrdinary (or EO), a human being with supernatural powers. Ultimately, they succeeded, Eli becoming gifted with regenerative abilities, and Victor having the ability to turn off (and on) his and others’ pain. But things quickly turn sour between the two friends, setting off a plot that many consider The Count of Monte Cristo meets superheroes.
There have been more and more deconstructions of the superhero genre in recent years (Watchmen probably being the most famous and influential), but this one certainly stands on its own and I think it’s worth a read to just about everyone, even those who aren’t normally into speculative fiction. If you are into speculative fiction, buy this book and read it. Now.
Spoiler alert.
I loved every single character. And I mean loved. They are all so believable and textured, and human. Even Eli, as messed up as he is, (he was abused by his father, always sympathy points from me) is incredibly nuanced. Serena is very interesting and trying to decipher her motivations was something I had a lot of fun with while reading. I especially love her twisted relationship with Eli, and how, in a lot of ways, she really is the one in the driver’s seat. And yet her humanity still shows through, as shown when she lets Sydney go the second time, and for a very interesting reason: that Sydney seems to have become more alive and defiant after death. And Mitch. I friggin’ love Mitch. I think he’s probably my favorite character.
For being advertised as a really dark story (with “bad against worse,” as the opening quotation says), I don’t think it is. The worst thing Victor does is torture and kill Dale, and while that would normally be enough for me to hate a character, I can understand why he did what he did under the circumstances. It’s also entirely possible that the loss of empathy is something physiological that’s happened to the brains of the EOs, which means they literally cannot function the way normal humans can, which, to me, anyway, only makes them more sympathetic. And in spite of that hardship of being human anymore, all of them show signs of empathy at multiple points during the story. Victor, despite what he seems to think, clearly cares about Sydney and her feelings. And Sydney and Serena care very deeply, about each other, the respective missions, and in Sydney’s case, the dog Dol. Eli may have little empathy for his victims, but his motivations clearly stem from the way he was raised, and in spite of the horrible things he does, it’s hard not to feel sorry for him.
The powers the EOs themselves are appropriately muted and, dare I say, realistic. Of our main characters, Victor has control over pain, his own and others, Eli can regenerate endlessly, to the point where he might not even be able to die, Sydney can revive the dead, and Serena can essentially mind control others. Victor and Eli discover that EOs can be born under the right circumstances, and all of them have had near death experiences, which is also quite unique.
The non-chronological narration was an interesting choice that worked with the almost noir feel of the story, and I didn’t think it was particularly hard to follow. Sometimes this can be a problem in books, as in more visual media like comic books or film, you can show visually how different a scene in the past (or the future) is from one happening now. This is obviously more difficult with books, and I did find myself going back and checking chapter headings every now and again, but for the most part I think it worked just fine with the narration.
Eli’s end was quite fitting, and while I was reading the climax, at first I thought things kind of ended up that way, but thinking more about it, it was probably Victor’s plan all along. Which went exceedingly well, might I add, because now that he’s officially dead, no one will be looking for him. It is, dare I say, a very happy ending, and a very satisfying one.
There are some unanswered questions, which I think work to the story’s advantage. What exactly is that thing EOs lose? What will happen to Eli? What happened to Mitch? Is he going to stay with Victor? What about Sydney, for that matter? And Victor himself—what’s he going to do with his goal accomplished? We get nearly no hints of this, but, again, it works.
Verdict: Between the phenomenally unique take on superheroes, the nuanced, believable characters, and the fast-paced, intelligent plot that leads to an amazing conclusion, you do not want to miss this book.
Neither Karen Lofgren nor Loyalty Press has any affiliation with the author or publisher. This review constitutes Fair Use.
Book Review - Shadow and Bone
Labels:
book review,
fantasy,
leigh bardugo,
review,
shadow and bone,
young adult
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| Cover art courtesy of Barnes and Noble |
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Square Fish
Publication Date: May 7, 2013
Version I Read: Paperback
Rating: 3.75/5
Shadow and Bone was one of those books I picked up on a whim while I was in a YA mood, and I found it to be much better than many of its brethren.
Shadow and Bone, the first novel in the Grisha trilogy, tells the story of Alina Starkov, a teenage girl who grew up an orphan. With her through it all was another orphan named Mal, whom she has always loved but never had the courage to tell. They live in the country of Ravka, which has been cut in two and devastated by a strange dark wasteland where monsters dwell, created by a rogue Grisha (magic user) hundreds of years ago. On a trip through the Fold, the convoy is attacked, and Alina discovers powers she never knew she had that change her life forever.
Here there be spoilers.
One aspect that I really liked about this novel is Alina’s relationship with her power. I know that sounds kind of odd, but because of her background as an orphan, she has spent her whole life feeling like nothing belonged to her. So when she discovers that she has this great power inside her, she rejoices because it is hers and hers alone. This makes the Darkling’s betrayal and attempt to control the one thing that is hers hurt all the more. It’s also interesting that she subconsciously suppressed it for so long so she could remain with Mal and not have to become Grisha. While we’ve seen characters hide who they truly are for the sake of fitting in before learning it’s better to be true to yourself many, many times in fiction, I think that theme felt right at home here.
I like the characters, too. Alina, while not the most unusual YA protagonist (first person, spunky heroine with special magical powers in love with a childhood friend), manages to be a relatable, sympathetic character audiences can root for. Mal seems to have some more layers to him, even though we only really get to see that in the last third of the book or so. The Darkling steals the show in how seductive he is, and when the book teetered on the edge of making him a flat-out megalomaniac trying to take over the world, I cringed a little, because this character is so much more than that. I hope future installments make him more gray/ambiguous and less pure black, because that is one of the best aspects of his character.
The biggest flaw of the book is that the sections where Alina is in the Little Palace drag, but fortunately the book picks up again by the end. I also feel Alina’s about-face of opinion in regards to the Darkling based only on what Baghra says happened a bit too quickly. I could also have used a bit more depth to this world, as I feel the worldbuilding was a bit simplistic. (In the book's defense, however, the focus is more on Alina's relationship with the Darkling. And I always appreciate more unusual settings in fiction, and a world inspired by Imperial Russia certainly fits the bill.) Actually, if anything, this book could have been longer, with more character development and more worldbuilding. The magic system was also relatively weak as not much time was given to explaining it or how it worked.
Verdict: Shadow and Bone is a good YA fantasy novel with a good focus on the psychological connection between the protagonist and the antagonist. Weak world building and magic system.
Neither Karen Lofgren nor Loyalty Press has any affiliation with the author or publisher. This review constitutes Fair Use.
Book Review - Sunwing
Labels:
bats,
book review,
children's literature,
fantasy,
review,
sunwing,
xenofiction
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Author: Kenneth Oppel
Publisher: Aladdin Paperback
Publication Date: July 10, 2001
Version I Read: Paperback
Rating: 4.5/5
I first picked up Kenneth Oppel’s Silverwing on a whim many years ago when I was a wee lass. I remember loving it and its sequel, Sunwing (as I always have and still do love books about animals), and so I decided to dig out my old copy (as I’ve been doing with a lot of other books I loved as a kid to see if the held up) and reread it. Side note: I read Firewing as well and thought it was a huge step down from the other two, and I never read Darkwing.
Anyway, let’s talk about Sunwing, because, even more than Firewing, this book serves as the penultimate installment in the series. And I certainly feel as though it delivers.
Picking up where Silverwing left off, Shade and Marina have completed their journey to Hibernaculum to find Shade’s family. However, there are a lot of unsolved mysteries that some of the more adventurous bats in the colony, such as Shade’s mother Ariel and colony elder Frieda, want to solve. Specifically, the mystery of the metal bands that humans have been affixing to bats, and the whereabouts of Shade’s missing father. So a group sets out from the safety of the roost to seek answers. Meanwhile, an old enemy is lurking, waiting for his opportunity to take revenge.
The interesting dynamic the bats have with the humans is a bit different than in similar books I’ve seen. I usually don’t see humans or their technology used in the mythology of non-human species, so the fact that the bats struggle with their faith in humans as the truth comes to light is quite unique.
I love the semi-historical setting. I didn’t know about Project X-Ray until reading these books, and reading up on the actual history made me want to facepalm because whose bright idea was it to use bats to carry bombs? In spite of the fact that the setting is supposed to be World War II, the US seems to be at war with countries in South and Central America, not Europe and Asia. It kind of makes me wonder exactly what is going on on the human side of this story.
For the most part, the characters that populate this world are dynamic. Chinook in particular develops from just another bully to a rounded character who grows to respect Shade. Orestes and Romulus, the owl and the rat, respectively, who choose to ally themselves with Shade and ultimately bring peace to the warring animals, are highly distinctive characters. I think Orestes might be my favorite character in the whole series. Marina, like in the first book, still feels a little underutilized, as does Cassiel because he comes in so late in the story.
I appreciate the vagueness of some aspects of the story. Not everything is spelled out, especially the aspects of the magic Goth is using and the presence of the two deities, Nocturna and Zotz. (Interesting fact: Camazotz was a real Mayan vampire bat God.) It’s fun to fill in the gaps for yourself, based on the clues Oppel provides.
Verdict: I think Sunwing is actually an improvement on Silverwing for its fast-paced, interesting plot and deeply fascinating world and mythos.
Neither Karen Lofgren nor Loyalty Press has any affiliation with the author or publisher. This review constitutes Fair Use.
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