Tagged: nancy farmer

A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer

A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer(Cover picture courtesy of this wiki.)

Nhamo’s mother is dead, and her father is gone.  When she learns that she must marry a cruel man with three wives—before her twelfth birthday—she runs away.  Alone on the river, in a stolen boat, Nhamo is swept into the uncharted heart of a great lake.  There, she battles drowning, starvation, and wild animals, and comes to know Africa’s mystical, luminous spirits.  Nhamo’s journey will transport readers into her world, in a story that is poignant, humorous, dramatic and extraordinary.

This isn’t actually the first time I’ve read this book but I hadn’t read it for several years so when I saw it in the library the other day I decided to give it another try.  I remember loving it, but how was it this time around?  Well, it was okay.  It’s nothing really all that special, despite the fact it was a Newberry honor book in 1997.

It’s an interesting look at life in remote Africa that’s both interesting and unsettling.  On one hand, it was fascinating to see the spirituality of a different culture.  On the other hand, there were definitely some practices like the ngozi marriage Nhamo was going to be forced into that really are terrible.  Nancy Farmer manages to balance out these ‘good’ and ‘bad’ elements in a non-biased way that tells a good story.  I obviously can’t speak as to how accurate things are portrayed but Nancy Farmer included a bibliography and some further explanations for things she alluded to in the book.

Nhamo is an excellent character.  Sometimes she’s surprisingly mature, surviving out in the bush on her own for months at a time.  Other times she’s very immature, throwing temper tantrums that you would expect from pretty much any preteen girl.  This is definitely aimed at more of a middle grade audience so I think readers of this age will be able to identify well with Nhamo, despite the cultural differences.

The only thing that stops this book from being a great book is the pacing.  When things are interesting Nancy Farmer’s pacing was way too fast.  And when things were more boring the pacing became uneven and the plot slowed down to a crawl.  It reflects the actual time Nhamo spends in certain places but it doesn’t make for the most interesting read, believe me.

So was A Girl Named Disaster as good as I remember?  No, but it was still a pretty good story and if you have a preteen or young teen that likes to read I’d definitely recommend this book.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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Guest Posting for The Streetlight Reader

Today I’m guest posting.  I know, again.  That’s why I announced Round Two of my giveaway today.  Anyway, I’m posting over at The Streetlight Reader.  It’s a book review on The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.  Clones, opium, friendship, love and drug lords…what more can you ask for in speculative fiction?

The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer

(Cover picture courtesy of Fantastic Fiction.)

Jack is amazed to have caused an earthquake.  He is thirteen, after all, and only a bard-in-training.  But his sister, Lucy, has been stolen by the Lady of the Lake; stolen a second time in her young life, as he learns to his terror.  Caught between belief in the old gods and Christianity (AD 790, Britain), Jack calls upon his ash wood staff to subdue a passel of unruly monks, and, for his daring, ends up in a knucker hole.  It is unforgettable—for the boy and for readers—as are the magical reappearance of the berserker Thorgil from a burial by moss; new characters Pega, a slave girl from Jack’s village, and the eager-to-marry-her Bugaboo (a hobgoblin king); kelpies; yarthkins; and elves (not the enchanted sprites one would expect but the fallen angels of legend).  Rarely does a sequel enlarge so brilliantly the world of the first story.

First off, let me say that the ‘AD 790, Britain’ part of this blurb is complete nonsense.  If you’ll recall, the first book apparently takes place in 793 AD.  So either the blurb writer is confused about the timeline or does not know that AD goes forward while BC goes backward.  If you’re really picky, let’s just say that this book takes place 3 years later, in 796 AD.

I love this book because  we finally learn why Lucy is such a brat.  That may seem like a lame reason to like a book, but I really, truly hated her in the first book and she’s even more obnoxious in this book.  But Nancy Farmer has an excellent reason for adding what seemed like the token cute character at first and a seemingly unimportant event sets off a series of events in motion that will change Jack’s future forever.

Of course old favourite characters like the Bard, Thorgil and Lucy reappear, but we’re introduced to many new ones: the slave girl Pega; Brutus, a descendant of Lancelot himself; the Bugaboo, king of the hobgoblins; Ethne, a Christian half-elf and many others.  My personal favourite characters include the charming and unpredictable Brutus, the Bugaboo and the Nemesis, who is a hobgoblin whose duty is to keep the Bugaboo from getting an inflated head.  Now if only all leaders had someone like the Nemesis…

With amazing characters, a fast-paced plot and extraordinary world-building, The Land of the Silver Apples is a fitting sequel to The Sea of Trolls.  readers will lose themselves in Nancy Farmer’s fascinating world where the old religion collides with the new rising religion, Christianity.  I can’t think of an author who puts a better spin on old fantasy clichés than Nancy Farmer while still staying true to the time period.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

(Cover picture courtesy of Tower Books.)

Jack was eleven when the berserkers loomed out of the fog and nabbed him.  “It seems that things are stirring across the water,” the Bard had warned.  “Ships are being built, swords are being forged.”

“Is that bad?”  Jack had asked, for his Saxon village had never before seen berserkers.

“Of course.  People don’t make ships and swords unless they intend to use them.”

The year is A. D. 793.  In the next months, Jack and his little sister, Lucy, are enslaved by Olaf One-Brow and his fierce young shipmate, Thorgil.  With a crow named Bold Heart for mysterious company, they are swept up into an adventure-quest in the spirit of The Lord of the Rings.

Award-winner Nancy Farmer has never told a richer, funnier tale, nor offered more timeless encouragement to young seekers than “Just say no to pillaging.”

I read The Sea of Trolls about three years ago, shortly after my library acquired it.  Even though I didn’t quite get all of it, I remember enjoying it and picked it up again this week.  Now that I actually know the basics of Norse mythology and culture, I managed to get a lot more out of it this time around.

Set in 793 AD and told by Jack, a Saxon boy who is an apprentice bard, it certainly offers a new look at the Vikings from an outsider’s perspective.  It’s filled with historically accurate details, magic and Jotuns (trolls in Norse mythology).  And of course it has an incredibly important message for all readers: Just say no to pillaging.  Timeless.  It helps if you know a bit of Norse mythology before picking up The Sea of Trolls, but it’s certainly not a requirement as Nancy Farmer is good at subtly conveying all of the necessary information.

Jack is an amazing character that has a nice amount of character development throughout the novel.  Thorgil, the shieldmaiden, does as well.  In fact, she pretty much does a complete about-face, but after all she goes through, it feels natural.  Even Jack’s bratty little sister, Lucy, changes for the better, which was a huge relief for me as I can’t stand poorly behaved children, even in fiction.  The Jotuns are also not what I expected, which keeps The Sea of Trolls from becoming too cliché.

Overall, a very enjoyable read.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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