Category: Book Review
Sapphique by Catherine Fisher
(Cover picture courtesy of It’s All About Books.)
Incarceron, the living prison, has lost one of its inmates to the outside world: Finn’s escaped, only to find that Outside is not at all what he expected. Used to the technologically advanced, if violently harsh, conditions of the prison, Finn is now forced to obey the rules of Protocol, which require all people to live without technology. To Finn, Outside is just a prison of another kind, especially when Claudia, the daughter of the prison’s warden, declares Finn the lost heir to the throne. When another claimant emerges, both Finn’s and Claudia’s very lives hang on Finn convincing the Court of something that even he doesn’t fully believe.
Meanwhile, Finn’s oathbrother Keiro and his friend Attia are still trapped inside Incarceron. They are searching for a magical glove, which legend says Sapphique used to escape. To find it, they must battle the prison itself, because Incarceron wants the glove too.
My thought process throughout the novel basically sounded like this: Okay, that’s interesting…Huh?…What’s going on?…That was random…What the heck?…I don’t get it.
It is very rare that I have absolutely no clue what’s going on in a novel, but I admit I had no idea what was going on in Sapphique half of the time. There was no real explanation for why Incarceron turned so evil, how it made those horrible creatures and the humans within it, what happened before Protocol in Claudia’s world, what the warden’s motivations were…there were so many questions that were never answered. I don’t need to have all of the answers, but some of them would be nice so I could understand the novel.
Once again, I couldn’t really connect with the characters. Claudia I sympathized with a bit in the beginning, but was utterly bored by her near the end; Finn was horrible and Attia didn’t have much depth. The only character that managed to interest me in the least was Jared and he wasn’t the greatest character I’ve ever read about. It’s like Verdi’s opera Don Carlo, in which the only remotely sympathetic character dies.
The world of Sapphique and Incarceron had so much potential, but there really was no depth to it. To me, it felt like Catherine Fisher assumed readers knew as much about the world as she did and didn’t bother with any explanations. It’s very frustrating and about halfway through the novel, I was mentally calculating how much time I had left to finish.
I give this book 1.5/5 stars.
Blood and Gold by Anne Rice
(Cover picture courtesy of Rankopedia.)
Once a proud Senator in Imperial Rome, Marius is kidnapped and forced into the dark realm of blood, where he is made a protector for the Queen and King of the vampires—in whom the core of the supernatural race resides. Through his eyes we see the fall of pagan Rome to the Emperor Constantine, the horrific sack of the Eternal City at the hands of the Visigoths, and the vile aftermath of the Black Death. Ultimately restored by the beauty of the Renaissance, Marius becomes a painter, living dangerously yet happily among mortals, and giving his heart to the great master Botticelli, to the bewitching courtesan Bianca, and to the mysterious young apprentice Armand. But it is in the present day, deep in the jungle, when Marius will meet his fate seeking justice from the oldest vampires in the world.
If not for Pandora, Blood and Gold would be my favourite novel by Anne Rice. The story of Marius, a logical Roman man, kidnapped and turned into a vampire against his will. But what stands out for me is the amazing amount of detail Anne Rice puts into her historical fiction. The splendor of ancient Rome, the horror of the Black Death, the energy and creativity surrounding the Italian Renaissance…all of the settings come alive and you feel like you’re really there along with Marius.
Marius himself is a very complex character. His traditional Roman upbringing and his naturally logical personality clash very well with Pandora’s free spirit and dreamy personality and it makes for a very interesting relationship. However, since Pandora mostly focused on their relationship, Anne Rice doesn’t spend nearly as much time on it. Instead, she focuses on the relationship between Marius and Armand, his student and the courtesan Bianca in Renaissance Italy. Blood and Gold certainly fills in a lot of the questions I had from reading The Vampire Armand. If nothing else, it paints Marius in a more sympathetic light!
Blood and Gold isn’t for everyone. If you get annoyed by long, detailed descriptions of historical events and daily life, you won’t enjoy Blood and Gold. But for someone like me, who loves it when a writer showcases their knowledge of the era, Blood and Gold is perfect.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Slapshots: The Stars from Mars by Gordon Korman
(Cover picture courtesy of Gordon Korman’s website.)
School sportswriter “Chipmunk” Adelman knows he’s got a scoop when he finds out that his hometown will play in the Waterloo Slapshot league. The Marsers have never had their own team, but with an ex-NHL player for a coach, they’re headed for stardom. But the Stars are in for a big surprise when they hit the ice and suddenly realize they stink! They’ve got a defenseman who only skates backwards, a star player who wants to be on another team, and a coach who calls everything a whatchamacallit. If they don’t get their game in gear soon, they’ll be booted from the league. This new series by veteran writer Gordon Korman will have kids cheering for the Marsers as they scramble to improve their game and stay in the league!
Gordon Korman’s sense of humour is literally a laugh-out-loud one. That’s a phrase that’s lost a lot of meaning since the invention of texting, but it really is true. There are times when you will quite literally laugh out loud at some of the antics the characters get up to, especially Chipmunk. Even though these books are for 10-13 year olds, I still re-read them every year and still laugh out loud in some parts. Now that is the mark of a good book!
Given that The Stars from Mars sort of has a cliché premise, the characters are surprisingly well fleshed out. Well, the kids are. Alexia, Chipmunk and Trent are all three dimensional and very sympathetic. Boom Boom Bolitsky, the coach, is mostly their for comic relief and he serves his purpose very well. You may not understand all of what he says, but Gordon Korman sets things up so you can at least get the gist of things and why it’s so funny.
The Stars from Mars is definitely a good light-hearted, fast read. At only 145 pages, it’s a quick read, but more importantly, it’s very enjoyable. This is the kind of book you should read if you’re feeling miserable one day. I guarantee it will cheer you up.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
*Only available as a used book.
Ascend by Amanda Hocking
(Cover picture courtesy of …It’s Always Something…)
Wendy Everly is facing an impossible choice. The only way to save the Trylle from their deadliest enemy is by sacrificing herself. If she doesn’t surrender to the Vittra, her people will be thrust into a brutal war against an unbeatable foe. But how can Wendy leave all her friends behind…even if it’s the only way to save them?
The stakes have never been higher, because her kingdom isn’t the only thing she stands to lose. After falling for both Finn and Loki, she’s about to make the ultimate choice…who to love forever. One guy has finally proven to be the love of her life—and now all their lives might be coming to an end.
Everything has been leading to this moment. The future of her entire world rests in her hands—if she’s ready to fight for it.
To tell you the truth, I had very serious doubts about Ascend as I was reading. Things weren’t going the way I expected (and wanted) them to and it really looked like things were going to turn out badly. By badly, I mean it seemed like it would turn out to be the last act of Tosca. Amanda Hocking really does know how to manipulate her reader’s emotions and since I’m not usually very emotionally involved in a novel, this was a refreshing change!
Wendy surprised me constantly, but in good ways. Her temper that often flared up in Switched? Controlled. Her trying to put love before duty in Torn? Gone, for the most part. Wendy has finally matured as a character and in Ascend, she becomes the Princess everyone knows she would be. She thinks with her head, but also allows her heart to guide her. She knows that her duty to all of Trylle supersedes the own longings in her heart. Very, very few female protagonists in YA are like this and that’s why Wendy is one of my new favourite heroines.
The final battle felt a bit rushed to me, but then again, I tend to lean more toward books in the 500-600 range (the Trylle series doesn’t surpass 350). Still, what happens at the end makes sense and Amanda Hocking really did work hard on building up the suspense. You know how the climax is also called The Darkest Hour in writing circles? Well, the climax of Ascend really does deserve that title. The ending was satisfying and the best part was that it was not perfectly happy. There’s nothing I hate more than a completely happy ending.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
The Red Pyramid is a great start to an interesting new series by Rick Riordan. I haven’t had the chance to read his previous series based on Greek mythology, but this first installment of The Kane Chronicles which delves deeply into various pieces of the Egyptian mythos is a very good read.
I found the characters of Carter and Sadie to be both engaging and believable even when they were discovering their new magical powers. The fact that Carter is 14 years old and Sadie is 12 seemed to go well with what Riordan was trying to do with them as the main protagonists. Especially the way he weaves them back and forth as the viewpoint character.
At the start of The Red Pyramid it took me a chapter or two to get used to the writing style Riordan was using, but once I adjusted I quite enjoyed it. The entire book is written as though someone were transcribing an audio recording about the events. There are a few quirky asides as the characters refer to each other “off-tape” if you will. I thought the writing was quite charming to be honest.
Anyone who has an interest in Egyptian history or mythology will likely enjoy The Red Pyramid quite a bit. I learned a lot while reading it and it definitely convinced me that reading the following books will be worthwhile.
I give this book 4/5 stars.