Category: Book Review
The Skystone by Jack Whyte
(Cover picture courtesy of Jack Whyte’s website.)
Born of the chaos of the dark ages, the dream of eagles produced a king, a country and an everlasting legend—Camelot.
Publius Varrus is a veteran Roman officer and a maker of swords. In the early fifth century, amid the violent struggles between the people of Britain and the invading Saxonx, Picts and Scots, he and his former general, Caius Britannicus, forge the government and military system that will become known as the Round Table, and initiate a chain of events that will lead to the coronation of the High King we know today as Arthur.
A Dream of Eagles is yet another series that I didn’t start at the beginning. Instead, I received one of the spin-off books, Uther, for my birthday. I loved Uther, which made me track down The Skystone, the first book in the series. But in the back of my mind I was wondering if I would like Jack Whyte’s earlier writing just as much as I liked his later writing.
The answer? Absolutely! Jack Whyte’s A Dream of Eagles (or The Camulod Chronicles, depending on when it was published) is a series that documents how the Arthurian legends could have really happened. That means there’s no magic and a bit of historical speculation, but otherwise the series is accurate. Rome really did withdraw from Britain in the late 300s AD when the Motherland was being threatened (hint: it didn’t help). Before the chaos of Roman withdrawal, we meet Publius Varrus, our narrator, and his best friend, Caius Britannicus.
Publius is an amazing man, but is also a flawed character. He can be incredibly wise and Jack Whyte has given him an unique voice, but he does things that will make you want to reach in and slap him. Publius is far from perfect, but I guarantee you’ll love him anyway. Caius doesn’t feature nearly as prominently as I would have liked, but he undergoes an amazing transformation in the last hundred pages or so. And the ending was fabulous, tying together the mystery of the skystone and one of the very, very important parts of the Arthurian legends. I can’t wait to read the next book, The Singing Sword.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
The Path of the Fallen by Dan O’Brien
(Cover picture courtesy of a page on ASMSG Author’s Books that does not exist anymore.)
Set against the backdrop of the tundra and a world desperate for hope, the journey of a young man, E’Malkai, will come to define a realm that has been broken by an evil that does not sleep. A bitter betrayal, and the inception of a war that will consume the world, forces E’Malkai to confront the past and undertake a pilgrimage that is his by birthright. Follow him on his journey and be transformed.
[Full disclosure: Dan O’Brien sent me a print copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.]
After not reading epic fantasy for a very, very long time, I had a hard time getting into The Path of the Fallen, even if it’s a mixture of science fiction and fantasy. Still, as the pieces of the narrative fell together and we got a bigger picture of E’Malkai’s world, I began to really get into the book.
The Path of the Fallen is, quite simply, not a book for everyone. Avid readers of epic fantasy will love it for its unique ideas and the combination of technology and magic. However, if you don’t read fantasy as a rule, it’s probably best to read some so you can keep up with all of the names, the rich history and the complicated plot. I personally had a hard time keeping track of all of the names in the beginning because they all seemed to have apostrophes in them or were unpronounceable (although the main characters have reasonable names). But once you get into the book and learn the personalities of the characters, the names won’t distract you at all.
What I liked most about The Path of the Fallen was the fact that there was technology in an epic fantasy novel. This is not your regular swords-and-dragons epic fantasy, oh no! Dan O’Brien has crafted a new world based on both technology and magic and it blends well together. What explanation does he have for this interesting mix? A very good one that makes complete sense in the context of the book, as it turns out. Although there’s not much science, per se, I would still classify this as a fantasy/sci-fi crossover novel.
E’Malkai is actually a hero I can identify with. No, he doesn’t experience a lot of Young Hero Angst, but he does deal with inner struggles as well as his outer struggles. He’s sympathetic because he really does try to do the right thing, even at a cost to himself. The villain, Fe’rein is not your stereotypical black-wearing, mustache-twirling fiend, but he’ll never be among my list of best villains either. Still, he does have depth and a believable backstory, so I’ll give Dan O’Brien props for that. And for keeping track of all the plot lines and mostly tying them up without going for the cliché completely happy ending.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets by Patricia Clark Smith
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Neepunna Keeswosh
Moon When Corn is Ripe
[Late August, 1653]
Mettapoiset
He [Father] laid his hand gently on my shoulder and told me that if I, Weetamoo, am to become sachem of us Pocassets after him, and prove a good leader, I must learn to walk more carefully through the world.
I shook my hair out of my eyes and stared up at him in surprise. I said he surely could not mean that I was poor at tracking game or at passing unseen through the woods. He knows I can follow almost any trail, and he has seen for himself how I can edge my way near enough to a doe and her pair of speckled fawns to hear their three separate breaths. Did he not teach me these skills himself, I spluttered, and was I not better at it than any boy or girl in our village?
Meh. That’s all I really have to say about Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets. This should have been a really interesting book because so far it’s the only one I’ve read where the narrator in reality would not actually have been able to read or write. Okay, fair enough; Native Americans have a great oral storytelling tradition and I’d never heard of Weetamoo before.
But there wasn’t anything really great about this book. I learned a lot about Native Americans in early-contact days with settlers, especially their daily life, and I certainly learned a lot about Weetamoo herself, but the book never really made the leap from decent to great. Weetamoo was a great narrator, the book was informative and it was reasonably well paced, but nothing really stood out. Maybe it was Patricia Clark Smith’s simplistic writing style or the fact that I’ve been reading way too many Royal Diaries lately, but it was only meh.
If you or your tween/teen like uplifting endings, this book is also not for you. Weetamoo fought against the settlers later in life, so you can imagine what a depressing Historical Note that makes. But if you want to learn more about American history, Native American culture and Weetamoo, an important but largely forgotten historical figure, you’ll love this book.
I give this book 3/5 stars.
*Available as used only.
Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine by Kristiana Gregory
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
June 24th
Such excitement…the horsemen announced travelers, and Count Geoffrey of Anjou arrived an hour later with some of his chevaliers. Petra and I peered from the stairs down to the great hall and saw the visitors. I decided we must put on our loveliest dresses right away. the count is taller and even more striking than Father…Geoffrey the Handsome is our name for him. When he pushed back his hood of chainmail, his hair fell to his shoulders in brown curls. the tunic over his armor was blue with a golden crest. He and Father greeted each other warmly…
The reason for Count Geoffrey’s visit? He has invited Father to go to war. He is just twenty-three years old and needs help invading Normandy.
And without thinking twice, Father said yes! I worry he has made another terrible decision….
I’ve heard quite a bit about Eleanor of Aquitaine, but never actually knew much about her life and the times she lived in. Well, finally Kristiana Gregory has remedied that in a book aimed at kids 8-13. The early years of Eleanor are not quite as exciting as her later years, as we learn in the Historical Note, but it was nice to see things from her perspective.
I personally would have liked a little more description of daily life at the castle, but I can understand why Kristiana Gregory did not include more (it would have turned into a lecture). In Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine we don’t really see Eleanor’s love of books and literature, even though she was a huge patron of the arts later in life. Still, I loved seeing the strong relationship between her and her sister that lasted into adulthood. Sadly, the book ended just when things were getting interesting, what with her marriage to Prince Louis and all.
Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine is well written and entertaining, but it’s certainly one of the shorter books in the Royal Diaries series. Still, overall it’s a pretty good book and it’s a great one to get kids interested in history.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
*Only available as a used book.
The Golden Compass (Book # 1 in His Dark Materials Trilogy) by Philip Pullman
Image Courtesy of Goodreads
From Goodreads
Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford’s Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however,nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing—victims of so-called “Gobblers”—and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person’s inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.
Cover Gushing Worthiness: I really like the cover of the Omnibus edition. I can’t say if it fully captures the spirit of The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, but it does capture the beauty of The Golden Compass perfectly. The colour combinations are beautiful as well as the of the daemons.
Review: I first heard about The Golden Compass when I was in Grade 12. Some of my friends who were in the Gifted program at my school read the book in Grade 10 and loved it. Then when I was in Grade 12 as part of our school’s Film Society we went and saw the movie. One of the main things my friends said was the movie didn’t explore the nitty-gritty/controversial elements which made the book so great. I wanted to read the book for myself and I wasn’t disappointed.
The story of The Golden Compass takes place in a world quite similar to ours, but with a few differences. For one, each person has a daemon in the shape of an animal who is a part of their soul/acts as a companion. The world in The Golden Compass also seems a bit steampunkish, at least that’s what I thought when I read the book. The story begins with Lyra witnessing a conversation between her uncle Lord Asriel and the scholars of Oxford about a substance called “Dust.” Then a series of events occur starting with the kidnapping of children; including Lyra’s friend Roger the kitchen boy, eventually leading Lyra on an expedition to find the missing children and on the way she encounters Gyptians, Witches, armored bears, an Aeronaut and the Gobblers.
Plot wise I enjoyed the story a great deal. While I read the book I could understand how it could be seen as controversial. However the way I saw it, Pullman was suggesting that all things should be questioned, including religion. Nothing should be followed blindly is the message I took away. I grew to love Lyra’s world and all the fantastical elements in it. The Alethiometer was a unique instrument and I can’t wait to see how it’s going to play a bigger part in the next two books. Two elements I liked in this book in regards to the creatures of Lyra’s world were the witches and the armoured bears. I think the armoured bears was such a great concept and it’s one of the things the movie actually got right. The concept of daemons too is an interesting one and it made you wonder what kind of animal you’d like if you were to ever have a daemon.
I thought the pacing of the book was well suited for the plot, but in my excitement I couldn’t help but wish the story moved a bit faster. It literally had me on the edge!I have two complaints about the story and they are 1) The ending: I found the ending to be a bit anti-climactic. It left me with a feeling of “Oh…that’s it? Seriously?! No angry out bursts? Really Lyra?.” However I’m going to assume that the next book will pick up where this one left off. 2) Is in regards to the explanation of what Dust actually is. When I was reading the explanation for Dust, I realized I was never a science student for a reason. It was quite a scientific explanation and there’s nothing wrong with that, it was just difficult for me to understand it.
Character wise, I thought all of them were great. Lyra was an awesome protagonist. She was feisty, loyal, independent and likable. I can’t say that there was a whole lot of character development on Lyra’s part because we got the idea that she was already a well rounded character as the book started. I do think Lyra’s character will grow more in the next two books. Mrs. Coulter certainly came across as a black widow like character. She reminded me of the Snow Queen from the fairy tales for some reason. Her appearance or rather lack of action at the end of the book came as a surprise to me. I thought she would be more involved for some reason, but again I’m sure she’ll appear in the next two books at some point. I’m still not sure about my feelings towards Lord Asriel. I need to see more of him to form a coherent opinion of him. However I will say that he does come across as being quite cold hearted and distant.
For the remaining secondary characters; I liked all of them. I wish we got to know more about John Faa, the lord of the Gyptians and Serafina Pekkala, the witch. From all of the beings present in Pullman’s world I thought the witches were the most underdeveloped. I did enjoy some of the tidbits of information that was given to the readers though. Iorek Brynison was quite possibly one of the most fantastic characters I’ve come across in literature. There was a quiet wisdom about him and whenever he spoke Ian McKellen’s voice would pop up in my head. It was probably because it was McKellen who did the voice for Iorek in the movie. Lyra’s daemon Pantalaimon or Pan was such a sweet character. Pan’s protectiveness and inquisitiveness was a good balance for Lyra’s personality.
Overall I really enjoyed The Golden Compass. The book was a hundred times better than the movie. Even though I was disappointed in the ending and had difficulty understanding the concept of Dust, the world and the characters made up for that feeling inadequecy on my part and I cannot wait to read both The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
My Rating: 5/5
Would I recommend it? Absolutely