Category: Book Review
The Enchantress by Michael Scott
(Cover picture courtesy of Michael Scott’s website.)
The two that are one must become the one that is all. One to save the world, one to destroy it.
San Francisco:
Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel have one day left to live, and one job left to do. They must defend San Francisco. The monsters gathered on Alcatraz Island have been released and are heading toward the city. If they are not stopped, they will destroy everyone and everything in their path.But even with the help of two of the greatest warriors from history and myth, will the Sorceress and the legendary Alchemyst be able to defend the city? Or is it the beginning of the end of the human race?
Danu Talis:
Sophie and Josh Newman traveled ten thousand years into the past to Danu Talis when they followed Dr. John Dee and Virginia Dare. And it’s on this legendary island that the battle for the world begins and ends.Scathach, Prometheus, Palamedes, Shakespeare, Saint-Germain, and Joan of Arc are also on the island. And no one is sure what—or who—the twins will be fighting for.
Today the battle for Danu Talis will be won or lost.
But will the twins of legend stand together?
Or will they stand apart—
one to save the world and one to destroy it?
Some people hated the ending of The Enchantress, while others loved it. As usual, I fall somewhere in between, with my overall verdict amounting to the ever-eloquent “Meh, it was okay.” Michael Scott tied most of the plot lines together and what Josh and Sophie do at the end makes sense if you think about it. It was somewhat satisfying, but I have a few bones to pick.
The plot was incredibly fast-paced throughout all 500 pages of the novel, something that is very difficult for an author to maintain. I certainly respect Michael Scott’s ability to do that. what I really didn’t like was what he did in order to maintain such a fast pace: he indulged in head-hopping. “Head-hopping” is basically reviewer-speak for “this dude switched points of view so many times no one had any idea what was going on.” I’m okay with switching POVs occasionally, but Michael Scott switched three, sometimes four times in one short chapter. That’s going overboard, don’t you think?
Alas, my favourite villain has gone soft by the end, but considering all of the hints Michael Scott dropped throughout the series, it’s not that surprising. What is surprising is how much Dee changes in a short span and how much more we learn about Virginia Dare. I won’t give any spoilers, but we do learn some surprising things about their pasts and true personalities.
The ending had a nice twist that I didn’t see coming, but it did make sense. Pretty much all of the loose ends were tied up, which is nice, but it also leaves potential for a sequel. Overall, not a bad ending, but it could have been better.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
Divergent by Veronica Roth
(Cover picture courtesy of Veronica Roth’s blog.)
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
(Summary courtesy of Amazon.)
My feelings about Divergent are pretty mixed for two reasons: One of the themes hits close to home and Veronica Roth perpetuates a terrifyingly common stereotype that has been around for thousands of years. I don’t like bringing my personal life into reviews so I’ll discuss the latter point, which is not mutually exclusive.
I don’t like the portrayal of the Erudites, the group that is devoted to knowledge and learning. The Erudites are the bad guys who are logical to the point of being emotionless and extremely greedy for wanting more progress in society. Meanwhile, Dauntless (except for a few schemers) are portrayed as virtuous and self-sacrificing and Abnegation is humble and does all of the charity work in the city.
Tris is mad at her brother for being good at lying and hiding his intellectual tendencies, even though she should be happy for him. It’s funny how Erudites as a whole are portrayed as the only ruthless, greedy sect that has been corrupted by a thirst for knowledge. All this definitely falls in line with the smart=evil that popular culture seems to think. Apparently if you’re smart, you are an unfeeling robot, even though anyone who has met a truly intelligent person knows that isn’t true. This falls in line with the very religious tone of Divergent because, according to Christianity (to use just one example, although a lot of religions are guilty of this), it was mankind’s thirst for knowledge that led to our banishment from Eden.
The idea of five different factions is interesting, but also pushes at the boundaries of credibility. People don’t fit nearly into 5 (six if you count the factionless) factions, no matter what you do. I know the factions are supposed to be just about the virtue you value the highest, yet in practice they only push that one virtue. There would be a lot of Divergent people if such a society really existed. However, the rest of Veronica Roth’s world-building is basically sound and she does have a unique premise.
Tris is an okay character. She’s brave and when she falls in love it isn’t Insta-Love. Four is an interesting character as well with an intriguing backstory that I would really like to learn more about. The secondary characters are decent enough, but they’re nothing to brag about either. What redeems Divergent, however, is the fast pacing and Veronica Roth’s admittedly addicting writing style. It will be interesting to see where she steers the narrative in Insurgent.
I give this book 3/5 stars.
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
[This guest post was done by Margaret, over at Steam Trains and Ghosts. –CS.]
I remember when I discovered Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy. A friend of my cousin was cleaning out his basement and brought over to our house a big cardboard box of old books. I mean, old books, who could resist? I dug through them and found this set of mass-market paperbacks with these weird limited-color-palette paintings on the front. Titus Groan, Gormenghast, Titus Alone. I set them on my shelf and forgot about them for a couple of years, until I started reading them during my high school track meets…
The books are … weird. First of all, anybody getting into these books needs to know that it’s not really a trilogy. Titus Groan and Gormenghast form something more like a duology, and then Titus Alone is about Titus going off and having a solo adventure.
The first two books tell the story of a crumbling old castle ruled over by the seventy-sixth Earl of Gormenghast. Titus Groan is heir to become the seventy-seventh Earl. And he hates it. Hates it. Castle life is so steeped in tradition that it’s drowning in it; people perform rituals without even knowing why they do it anymore. Titus is very nearly the only sane person in the book. His mother, the Duchess, spends all her time in seclusion with an army of Persian cats. His big sister, Lady Fuschia, lives like she’s the heroine of a Brontë novel. His father thinks he’s an owl. His aunts, Cora and Clarice, are each paralyzed down an opposite side of their body so they act like two halves of a single individual. And did I mention that they’re plotting murder?
Into Titus’s messed-up family enters Steerpike, kitchen boy, and the one other sane person in this castle. He wants power and he knows how to manipulate people to get it. Soon Titus must decide how far he’s willing to go to defend the home he’s so desperate to escape.
Finally, I must give special note to Peake’s use of language in these books. It’s not quite like any other book you’re likely to encounter. Here’s a sample:
“From its heaving expanses arose, as through the chimera of a daydream, a phantasmic gathering of ancient oaks. Like dappled gods they stood, each in his own preserve, the wide glades of moss flowing between them in swathes of gold and green and away into the clear, dwindling distances.
When his breath came more easily, Titus realized the silence of the picture that hung there before him. Like a canvas of gold with its hundreds of majestic oaks, their winding branches dividing and subdividing into gilded fingertips – the solid acorns and the deep clusters of the legendary leaves.”
I give it 4/5 stars.
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
(Cover picture courtesy of And the plot thickens…)
Alek is a prince without a throne. On the run from his own people he has only a fighting machine and a small band of men.
Deryn is a girl disguised as a guy in the British Air Service. She must fight for her cause—and protect her secret—at all costs.
Alek and Deryn are thrown together aboard the mighty airship Leviathan. Though fighting side by side, their worlds are far apart. British fabricated beasts versus German steam-powered war machines. They are enemies with everything to lose, yet somehow destined to be together.
Although it’s surprising considering how much I read, this was my first-ever encounter with steampunk. I like alternate history and I like speculative fiction (which is what steampunk is generally a combination of), but I’m not really sure I like steampunk. Perhaps it’s simply because I didn’t pick up the right book, but at the time I’m writing this, my feelings about the sub-genre are mixed.
As with all of his novels, Scott Westerfeld has wonderful world-building. The strange animal-machines of the Darwinists offer a very stark contrast to the iron and steel of the Clankers. He also took time to develop slang for the world, which is confusing at first but adds a lot more realism to this alternate 1914 Europe once you get used to it. Of course the wonderful illustrations by Keith Thompson deserve a lot of credit for bringing Scott Westerfeld’s bizarre world to life.
The plot speeds along, taking readers on a whirlwind journey. It’s rather disorienting at first, but readers are able to quickly get up to speed. This is the kind of book you can’t stop once you start, no matter how hard you try.
The only thing that fell flat for me was the characters. Some like Deryn, a natural tomboy pretending to be an actual boy, should have caught my attention, but she didn’t. Much like Alek, she is a decent enough character, but is not particularly memorable for me. This should not be possible because both main characters are three dimensional and have fascinating backstories, but for whatever reason, they just didn’t click for me. I would still recommend Leviathan, however, because this lack of connection is probably just me.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
The Mad Reviewer’s First Giveaway: Round Two
Since there was no winner for round one (no one guessed what my favourite aria was), I’m going to ask two different questions for round two. Michelle Hansen and I will pick one winner in each of the two question categories. So here are the questions:
1. What is your favourite historical figure and why?
2. What is your favourite book and why?
You may only enter once and you can answer both questions. Since I love history, I will be picking the winner in Category #1 and since Michelle Hansen is an author, she will be picking the winner in Category #2. Please, pick whatever historical figure or book is your favourite, rather than what makes you look good. I do appreciate honesty and I’m probably one of the last people who’s going to judge you because, hey, I’m a dork.
This round will last a week and I will announce the winners on Friday, July 27th at 12:01am Central Time.