Category: Guest Post
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.
Deadville by Ron Koertge
Image Courtesy Of Goodreads
Synopsis: Ryan Glazier simply exists; he maintains a solid C-Average and smokes with his best friend Andy. Ryan was not always like this. He used to be an athletic teenager who enjoyed playing soccer. Things took a downward spiral when his younger sister Molly passed away two years ago. Now Charlotte Silano; a senior at school, not to mention one of the hottest girls lies in a coma after falling off her horse. Ryan is drawn to Charlotte for some reason and visits her in the hospital almost every day. Why does Ryan visit Charlotte and talk to her? Will it help her to regain consciousness? What’s in it for Ryan? Is he going to start coming out of his emotional detachment?
Cover Gushing Worthiness: I admit that it was the cover that drew me towards the book. There isn’t a lot going on in it. However the image of the hat and earphones makes sense as the story progresses. The cover reminded me of the Things Not Seen cover by Andrew Clements. That is another book that I would recommend as well!
Review: I haven’t read a lot of books that deal with life threatening illness and after reading A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness I wanted to read more. Cue discovery of Deadville. Now as I read Deadville I didn’t compare it to A Monster Calls, but I was reminded of it.
I like the premise of this story because it focuses on a sibling’s perspective. How family members deal with grief is a very personal experience and there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to go about it. I enjoyed how Koertge explored the experience of grief among Ryan and his parents. He really looked at how life changes when a loved one experiences a life threatening illness and how the surviving members deal with a loss of a loved one. The setting of the school did remind me a lot of Conor’s experience in A Monster Calls because both characters experience isolation.
The subplots such as Ryan’s developing relationship with his classmate Betty and the young boy Thad at the hospital were clever additions because it gave the reader an opportunity to see Ryan’s character come out of his emotional detachment.
Although the premise of the book was good, I had some problems with the characters. My main issue was with Ryan. Unlike Conor from A Monster Calls I didn’t connect with Ryan emotionally. He just existed and I found it hard to believe him because I had no connection with him. Ryan’s sister Molly was also somewhat of a shell. Her character had much more potential and I wish she was more developed. And the resulting problem for me was that I didn’t quite believe the relationship between Ryan and Molly. I wish there were flashbacks of the two of them where we’d get a chance to hear Molly’s voice, not Ryan’s reflection of her.
Another relationship I had a problem was with Betty and Ryan’s. Personally I thought it came out of nowhere and I didn’t believe it either. I promise this review isn’t completely negative!!
The friendship between Ryan and Andy which was one of the more important ones also ended quite abruptly. I felt like there was no closure between the two of them and Andy sort of faded away as the story progressed. But it also may have shown Ryan’s character development.
The most important relationship in the book is between Ryan and Charlotte. It is a one-sided friendship, but it is one that offers Ryan redemption and ultimately that is what he is looking for.
If I had so many problems with the characters, you’re probably asking why I even bothered to finish this boo. It’s definitely a valid question and the only answer that I have is that the book just gripped me. Sometimes you do come across books that have a hold on you even though you have problems with it. I just wanted to find out what happens in the end.
Overall despite my issues with the characters, Deadville was an enjoyable read. The premise of the book was and the writing was good, good to the point where I finished it in a night. If you’re looking for a young adult/teenage book that deals with Cancer and it’s life changing affects this is a book you may want to consider reading.
My Rating: 3/5
Would I recommend it? Yes.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Image Courtesy of Goodreads
Synopsis: 12.07… a time of dread and anticipation for 13 year-old Conor. Every night a monster knocks at his bedroom window; but it’s not the monster that plagues his nightmares. This one is of a different kind, one that tells Conor that he called him. Yet Conor doesn’t recall calling such a ferocious and strange creature. This monster is old and has walked the earth for a long time. It claims that he is here to help Conor tell the truth. Will Conor find the courage to tell and feel the truth he has been running away from all this time?
Cover Gushing Worthiness: I think the cover of A Monster Calls is one of the most beautiful and dark covers that I’ve ever seen for a children’s book. Funnily enough when I showed the book to my brother he didn’t believe that it was a book written for children. As he glanced at it, he even said “It seems really dark to be a children’s book. Are you sure it’s meant for kids?”. The truth is that it’s meant for everyone. I like the darkness of the cover because the moment you see it, you instantly feel drawn to it and the story grips you in the exact same manner.
I should say that the original idea for the story was author Siobhan Dawd’s idea. Sadly she lost her battle with cancer before she could write the story. This is Patrick Ness’ tribute to her, where he states that he wanted to write “a book Siobhan would like” and I believe she would have loved this book. I first heard about the book through Stacey’s Blog when she posted some pictures of the book. I became curious about it when I read that it was about a monster visiting a 13 year-old child and that is where the story begins.
The plot of A Monster Calls is universal because it looks at how loved ones of cancer patients attempt to come to terms with the illness that takes over the body and later the lives of those involved. I don’t want to dumb down the story and say it’s a simple plot because I don’t believe that it does the book justice. But this book literally ‘spoke’ to me because I experienced a similar situation personally. However I was older than Conor when I went through it. But I still remember the pain, the grief and the feelings of horror I felt for some of the thoughts I had. The monster is very much Conor’s own creation because it is in the form of emotions Conor has pushed down to the depths of his being. However when the emotions resurface, Conor comes to accept the reality of the situation. The monster tells Conor three stories in an attempt to get Conor to reveal the truth he has been running from all this time. As a reader you know how the story is going to end, but it doesn’t stop you from finishing it because you’re taking this journey with Conor. You feel his pain and anguish. You feel the anger and helplessness and I think this book teaches you a lesson in the human condition.
Character wise I adored Conor. Maybe because I related to what he was going through so much. I felt his emotions so much that I teared up a few times and it forced me to put the book down because I didn’t want the pages to get all blotched up with my tears. After all it’s the library’s copy. While I was older when I went through my situation, I can’t imagine what it must be like for a 13 year-old to watch the life you know literally fall apart as you watch without being able to do anything about it. I have to say that I was happy to have recognized the monster as it introduced himself and a I had a small moment of triumph where I went “Yes! You were in Robin of Sherwood” except he was in a different form. While the monster was a mixture of Conor’s emotions, there was a wisdom to it; like a mentor or a wise old loved one. The relationship between Conor and his grandmother was both heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time because it reflected how much of a toll an illness on loved one can affect those involved. The relationship reflected the strain that both Conor and his grandmother felt because everyone deals with these situations differently.
Before I end this review I want to take a moment to appreciate Jim Kay’s illustrations. They were beautifully done. I liked that the illustrations were done in black & white because the colour combination helped bring the story to life. It reflected the emotions one feels when you’re in a situation like Conor’s. There’s no longer the colour grey because you know there are only two ways to the end of the story.
Overall I will say that A Monster Calls is going to be one of my favourite reads of 2012. It hit close to home for me and it brought up painful memories, but it also reminded me that I got closure, just like Conor did. I’m so glad that this was the first book I read by Patrick Ness because I will definitely be going back to read his Chaos Walking Trilogy. Ness has a mellifluous way with words which resonate with you. I think I might even purchase a copy of A Monster Calls because I know it’s a book that I want to read again.
My Rating: 5/5
Would I recommend it? Absolutely
If you’d like to read more reviews of A Monster Calls check out some from the list below.
Also here is the book trailer for A Monster Calls
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.
Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
(Cover picture courtesy of Fantastic Fiction.)
While predominantly known on both sides of the Atlantic for her outstanding works of historical non-fiction, Alison Weir has, over the last few years begun to develop a very nice little niche in fiction novels too.
Like her non-fiction works, they cover many different periods in history, starting right back in the 1100s with her novel about Eleanor of Aquitaine, “The Captive Queen” and moving through to the Tudor period. It’s in this particular era she really does excel, and her novel “Innocent Traitor” which was published in 2007 is possibly her finest work.
A very true story
The main thrust of the story centres on the life of Lady Jane Grey, England’s “Nine Day Queen”, and the tragic outcome of her life. In essence, hers was a short, brutal stay in a world which did not favour women, and that was so rich in machinations and scheming it’s a wonder anyone survived with their head still attached to their shoulders at all.
Weir creates a very sympathetic portrait of the young Jane. From the outset, the reader is fully engaged with her and the life she is born into. It’s a very vivid picture of life in Tudor court, you can very often almost feel and smell the places she describes, hear the rustling of fabric and the clatter of heeled shoes on wooden floors.
The story is told from a number of different perspectives. From that of Jane herself, the people in her household and the people who had the closest connections to the Tudor Royal line.
Jane was a mostly just a helpless pawn in the game of her parents, who seemed hell bent on advancing themselves without a care for their daughter or her happiness. Her mother, Frances Brandon, is painted here in such a strongly disagreeable light by Weir that you really start to feel such hatred for her as you read further into the novel.
In some ways, perhaps, it is a rather one dimensional characterisation which is possibly the only criticism you could level at the novel as a whole. However, as you read further into the story you realise just how she had become so hardened and brutal and it isn’t pretty reading.
Jane herself was a very pious creature; she refused to dress in flashy, bright colours and always favoured more severe and unflattering clothes as if to enhance further her religious character and inherent bent towards the spiritual. Her mother seems to be forever chiding her into wearing the fashions of the time, but Jane consistently refuses and it becomes yet another bone of contention between mother and daughter.
Brutal storytelling
Weir has managed her to create a story that is both heart-wrenching and brutal. The novel opens as Jane sees herself installed in The Tower of London awaiting her fate and the reader knows from the outset that whatever is going to happen to Jane, it isn’t good.
It would be nigh on impossible to make it through to the end of the book without having cried at least once. Jane is frequently beaten and manhandled and very often on the receiving end of her parent’s vile tongues and harsh words as they scheme and plan to make their way to the top.
In modern terms her mother and father would have been top class business partners, plotting how best to get the most money from every deal they make and cannily using their wiles to compare business insurance so they never lose a penny and make the most from their wheeling and dealing. They’re the sort of people who would step on everyone on the way to the top and then expect help when they fell back down again! It is so hard not to feel sympathy towards Jane. The latter stages of the book, in which she is forced into a marriage with Lord Guildford Dudley, again for the advancement of the family, and the ultimate outcome of both the wedding and the fate that befalls her in the final chapters, are moving in the extreme.
At the heart of it all is a teenage girl who is totally helpless and has no way of escaping. Although it is a story that is centuries old, some of the themes will still resonate with teenagers today.
Who is this book aimed at?
This novel would appeal to anyone with a strong longing to know more about the Tudor period but who simply doesn’t want a long-winded, fusty non fiction tome to read. It’s the sort of story that would draw in anyone, right from young adult through to the more mature reader. Weir’s writing style is very easy to read, she doesn’t over complicate or use flowery language, she just tells the story simply and truthfully.
The fact the story centres on a young teenage girl might make it perhaps slightly less appealing to male readers, but not exclusively so, as Weir’s writing, both fiction and non-fiction does tend to have a loyal following from both genders.
This book is rated very highly: 4/5.
Lisa Jennings is a freelance writer from England who mainly writes art and literature reviews for a number of online journals, as well as dryer topics such as how to effectively compare business insurance and other areas of finance. She spent most of her twenties travelling across Asia on bumpy buses or sat atop mountains alone with her tent and just a book for company.