Messenger by Lois Lowry

(Cover picture courtesy of Tower Books.)

For the past six years, Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man known for his special sight.  Village was once a place that welcomed newcomers, but something sinister has seeped into Village and the people have voted to close it to outsiders.  Matty has been invaluable as a messenger.  Now he must make one last journey through the treacherous Forest with his only weapon, a power he unexpectedly discovers within himself.

Messenger is another one of those favourite novel study books, or at least it was in my school.  After reading The Giver and discovering that the boys in my class (I was the only girl) didn’t completely hate it, our English teacher decided to do a Messenger novel study.  True, Messenger is the third book in what used to be a trilogy, but reading the second book, Gathering Blue isn’t necessary for understanding the story.  It does enhance your enjoyment, but you won’t be in the dark if you haven’t read it.

Messenger isn’t a bad book, but what annoys me is that there is no explanation for any of the fantastic elements in it like Seer’s ability to See Beyond, Forest’s transformation from good to evil and even Matty’s special power.  I like it in books where the author has figured out an explanation for magic, but Lois Lowry never, in any of her books, explains the fantastic elements she includes.  I suppose it’s not necessary to have an explanation, but it would be nice.

With that said, to me it seemed like Lois Lowry was guilty of beating-you-over-the-head-with-a-stick-obvious symbolism.  Forest, which is friendly toward Matty before the people in Village become selfish, grows ever more hostile, dark and tangled as selfishness takes over.  Obviously, Forest symbolizes the growing web of selfishness that is engulfing Village; it’s basically a mirror.  Yes, it’s great to include it because you need to analyze literary devices in novel study, but does it have to be so glaringly obvious?

Other than the symbolism that seems ridiculously obvious, Messenger is a pretty good novel.  Matty isn’t a great character, but he’s not a bad one either and the plot is interesting enough that we don’t get bored out of our minds.  Up until October of this year, Messenger was supposed to be the last ‘Giver’ novel, so we see the protagonists of the first two novels, Jonas and Kira and most plot lines are tied up.  I didn’t really like the ending (it wrapped things up a bit too nicely), but it truly was inevitable and there was a lot of foreshadowing throughout the novel that hinted at it.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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New and Upcoming Books

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these articles, so let’s take a look at some new and upcoming book releases, shall we?

Son by Lois Lowry.

This released on October 2 of this year.  Honestly, I didn’t even know it existed until my little sister startled practically jumping up and down with excitement.  She loves The Giver series and has ordered it from the bookstore, but I’m not quite so sure about it.  I mean, The Giver itself was published in 1993!  Even Messenger, the supposed last book in the trilogy was published in 2004.  8 years is a long time to take a break from any book world, but it should be interesting to see how Lois Lowry ties the story of Water Claire in with Jonas.  Expect a review soon as soon as I pry the book from my sister’s hands!

Wilde’s Meadow by Krystal Wade.

Wilde’s Meadow is a book I’m eagerly looking forward to and I won’t have to wait much longer because the release date is November 5.  Krystal Wade, in her cruelty, has been taunting me on Twitter for many months about the trilogy and in one conversation she said she cried while writing the end.  That does not spell a happy ending for the poor lovers.  Am I predicting an operatic tragedy?  No, but I don’t think the trilogy will have a sunshine and roses ending either.  If you haven’t already read Krystal Wade’s amazing debut trilogy, I highly suggest you go and buy yourself Wilde’s Fire right now.  You won’t regret it.

The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa.

This is one of the books I received from NetGalley, but it won’t be released to the general public until October 23.  As someone who immensely enjoyed her Iron Fey series, I can tell you that the new Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten trilogy is a worthwhile read.  Fans will fall in love with Ethan Chase, who is now eighteen and in danger from the world of Faery, just like his sister once was.  He’s an interesting character and of course, we get to see some old favourites from the first Iron Fey series.  Prophecies, doomed love, forbidden love and action…you couldn’t ask for more in a spin-off trilogy.

Venom by Fiona Paul.

This is one of the few books I’ve never read, never heard about until now that has actually made me excited for its release.  Taking place in Renaissance Italy, a time period that has been woefully neglected, it promises love, murder and intrigue.  I suspect it will be more of a fantasical historical fiction than a straight historical fiction, but I do enjoy those just as much.  The series name, Secrets of the Eternal Rose is also pretty eye-catching, so Fiona Paul will be an author to watch.  Venom releases on October 30, 2012.

Well, these are the books I’m excited about this month.  How about you?

Guest Posting Today

Well, it’s Friday and that means I’m guest posting over at 20four12, seeing as Caleb posted for me last Friday.  Today I actually did a review because I’m trying to get back in the swing of things after publishing a week of articles.  Prisoner of Dieppe by Hugh Brewster is part of the I Am Canada ‘diary’ series aimed at teenage boys.  It is one of the few historical fiction books that has actually be looked over by an historian for accuracy as well, so you know it’s good!  Go on and check it out.

My Rating System

On October 13, not only will it be my birthday, but it will also mark my nine month book reviewing milestone.  9 months is a lot of time to be posting reviews almost daily, but in that entire time I’ve never once explained my rating system.  I had assumed that from my reviews people would gather what I meant.  But then I realized that things that seem obvious to me are rarely obvious to anyone else.  Therefore, I am finally going to explain my rating system.

5/5 stars: Excellent!  Three dimensional characters that actually kept my interest throughout the novel, a plot that was interesting (not necessarily fast-paced) and in fantasy, believable world-building…all these are hallmarks of 5 star books.  Even though I try not to be influenced by the ending, I still am.  If the ending is tragic but makes sense in the context of the story, I’m fine with that.  But if you’re writing a story that follows the plot of your typical opera then suddenly has a perfectly happy ending, I’m not going to be pleased.

4/5 stars: Good!  There are likely excellent characters and a good plot, but the world-building may have been off or the writing style wasn’t descriptive enough or was too descriptive.  Usually I describe 4 star books as good, but not great.  They lack that sense of oomph! you get from the truly great novels.

3/5 stars: Meh.  3 star books are the hardest to review because you have to strike a good balance between the good and bad elements.  In ‘meh’ books the characters are usually uninteresting but the plot is decent because the author pays more attention to the plot than the characters.  Sometimes there’s poor writing, but there usually isn’t.

2/5 stars: Ugh.  This is a ‘Why did I waste precious hours of my life reading this?’ book.  2 star books usually have vapid, stereotypical characters, boring or confusing plots and poor writing.  They’re not so bad as to merit actual hatred from me, but rather disappointment.  Usually they’re books with a lot of potential, but they don’t deliver.

1/5 stars: Terrible!  This is reserved for books with all of the characteristics I listed in my 2 star category, but they tend to go the extra mile.  By that, I mean the premise stunk, the delivery was poor, the characters were vapid and the plot made me doing time calculations by page 5.  These are the truly bad books, the ones with no hope of redemption.  So why don’t I give them 0/5 stars?  Well, obviously the writer put in some effort to publish a novel, right?  Some editor must have liked it.  In self-publishing, it usually just means the author was using writing as a means of wish fulfillment.

0.5/5 stars: One of the worst books I’ve ever read!  This is the lowest rating I’ve ever given out.  It means that I felt something other than disappointment in the novel: it means I truly hated it.  I’m not a person that has very strong emotions in general, so when a novel receives 0.5 stars, you know I truly, truly hated it.  Books like these are a waste of paper and precious hours of life.  They should never have made it past the slush pile or the author should never have had the determination to go the self-publishing route.

Does that clarify things a bit?  For my fellow reviewers, what are your rating systems like?  What’s the lowest rating you’ve ever given?

The Portrayal of Cleopatra in Historical Fiction

Cleopatra has been a favourite subject of many artists.

Cleopatra is a cultural phenomenon; you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who has not at least heard her name.  There are movies, plays, songs and (of course) books about her life, but I’m only focusing on one of these mediums: books.  How is Cleopatra portrayed in historical fiction and just how accurate are these portrayals?

First, we have to take a look at the basics of her life.  Cleopatra VII Philopator (Father-Lover) was the last pharaoh of ancient Egypt in most people’s eyes.  She was, however, part of the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty and the last Egyptian pharaohs had been long dead by her time.  It is said she was fluent in nine languages, including Egyptian, which endeared her to the native Egyptian population the typically Greek-speaking Ptolemies ruled over.

Cleopatra, as was Egyptian tradition, ruled jointly with her father and later her two brothers in the typical brother-sister marriages.  Why?  According to Egyptian tradition, it was the royal women that held the power to legitimize the males.  In addition to that, nearly all of the gods were married to their siblings.  Isis and Osiris, Set and Nepthys, Nut and Geb.  And were the pharaohs not the sons of gods?  Well, that was the theory anyway. Continue reading →