Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl

(Cover picture courtesy of Tumblr.)

Now that he’s won the chocolate factory, what’s next for Charlie?  Last seen flying through the sky in a giant elevator in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie Bucket’s back for another adventure.  When the giant elevator picks up speed, Charlie, Willy Wonka, and the gang are sent hurtling through space and time.  Visiting the world’s first space hotel, battling the dreaded Vermicious Knids, and saving the world are only a few stops along this remarkable, inter-galactic joyride.

Only Roald Dahl could write a book like this and pull it off so well.  It’s hilarious and over-the-top, but also has some nice messages for kids at the end because Charlie Bucket is a great character.  Willy Wonka himself is most definitely a memorable character; you can never forget the eccentric chocolate factory owner, even if you try.

My fourth grade teacher read this book aloud to my class and I never, ever forgot it.  The Vermicious Knids, Miss Tibbs, Grandpa Joe, the Oompa-Loompas…how could anyone ever forget creatures and characters like that?  Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator has an interesting plot and fantastic world-building on Roald Dahl’s part.  I have no idea where he came up with half of this stuff, but I can say that everyone who reads his books will appreciate his creativity.

This is one of those books I re-read about once every year and I find something new to enjoy about it every single time!  It’s a classic that will never really be outdated and because of that, it’s a great book to pass on to your kids.  The writing style is simple enough for younger kids to understand, but it doesn’t feel as if Roald Dahl is talking down to you, even for older readers.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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An Open Letter to the Boys of the World

Dear boys,

We’ve failed you.  Educators, authors, parents and the media; we’ve all let you done.  Some people try to place the blame on one group alone, but the truth is, it’s everyone’s fault.

According to some sources, your overall reading test scores are going down and no one really seems to know why.  But you already know why, don’t you?  It’s partly a cultural problem because if you read and enjoy it, you’re a nerd and/or a wimp.  It’s also an educational problem.  The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, The Diary of a Young Girl, The Outsiders…a lot of the books you are forced to study in schools are written by women (obviously so in S. E. Hinton’s case) or are all about teenage girls.  And even if by some miracle you do like reading despite school, there aren’t many YA books with male protagonists, are there?

We’re trying to make it up to you and the future isn’t as bleak as it may seem.  More and more YA writers are writing books aimed at you, but there is still a disproportionate amount of YA with female protagonists.  Alas, for some of you, it may already be too late.  I was the only girl in my grade and by the seventh grade 7/8 of you proudly proclaimed you hadn’t read a book cover to cover all year.  This could be dismissed as a case of rural redneck mentality, but this study shows that the average number words read per year by boys is significantly lower than the average number of words per year for girls.

Basically, we’re sorry.  We screwed up and have let you fall behind.  It may not be much consolation and you may have sworn off reading long ago, but the face of YA is changing as more male authors write for you.  Authors like Anthony Horowitz, Michael Scott, Eoin Colfer and Matt Myklusch (and so many more) are writing incredible books with strong male protagonists.  That helps, but what I and many others are hoping for is—at the risk of sounding cliché—a cultural revolution.  Society needs to get past the ridiculous belief that reading isn’t “macho” or “cool” and there’s only one way to achieve that:

We need to create a conversation that brings the issue into the public eye, where something may finally be done about it.  So Tweet, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg, re-blog and write your own thoughts on the topic.  It’s time for your voices to be heard.

Sincerely,

Carrie Slager

The Mad Reviewer

Ever by Gail Carson Levine

(Cover picture courtesy of Life Simplified.)

Falling in love is easy…

…for Kezi, a beautiful mortal, dancer, and rug weaver, and for Olus, Akkan god of the winds.  Their love brings Kezi the strength to fight her fate, and it gives Olus the strength to confront his fears.  Together—and apart—they encounter spiders with webs of iron, the cruel lord of the land of the dead, the mysterious god of destiny, and the tests of the Akkan gods.  If they succeed, they will be together; but if they fail, Olus will have to endure the ultimate loss, and Kezi will have to make the supreme sacrifice.

Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine has created a stunning world of flawed gods, unbreakable vows, and ancient omens.  Her story of love, fate, and belief is spellbinding.

Based on Mesopotamia, the world Gail Carson Levine has created in Ever is a nice chance after reading a lot of Euro-centric fantasy lately.  It follows that familiar mythic structure you find all around the world while still remaining free of too much cliché.  When you enter the world of Kezi and Olus, you realize just how much effort Gail Carson Levine put into world-building because of the social structure, religion and history we learn throughout the novel.

One of my main problems with the novel is that I couldn’t really connect with Kezi or Olus.  I know I am far from the target age group of Ever, but even so, I should have been able to connect with them on some emotional level, but I couldn’t.  As they struggled through their challenges, I really found myself not caring what happened to either of them.  To me, they seemed like flat, one dimensional characters, even though common sense says they shouldn’t because of their believable motivations and backstories.  Perhaps it is just me who couldn’t connect with the characters (it wouldn’t be the first time), but it’s something to keep in mind.

Ever is told from the points of view of both Kezi and Olus, which would be fine if it weren’t for the fact that Gail Carson Levine writes such short chapters.  It doesn’t build suspense when it’s done this way; it’s simply annoying and more than a little bit confusing.  Yes, I know it’s an ages 10 and up book, but give your readers some credit here!  The shortest chapter I saw was one line and one paragraph long (chapter 53, by the way).  Now that is getting ridiculous, don’t you think?

I give this book 2.5/5 stars.

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Black Ships by Jo Graham

(Cover picture courtesy of Lost in a Good Book.)

In a time of war and doubt, Gull is an oracle.  Daughter of a slave taken from fallen Troy, chosen at the age of seven to be the voice of the Lady of the Dead, she is destined to counsel kings.

In the last shadowed days of the Age of Bronze, one woman dreams of the world beginning anew.  This is her story.

I have to admit, I was pretty uncertain about Jo Graham’s debut novel for the first few chapters.  It was (dare I say?) boring until Gull turned sixteen and became the Pythia.  After that, things got interesting and I was finally able to connect the Trojan War to her situation as well as apply what I know about the history of ancient Egypt and realize just how much effort Jo Graham put into Black Ships.

Gull, as I mentioned, becomes the voice of the Lady of the Dead and is known after that as Pythia.  The Lady talks to her, gives her visions, advice and premonitions that allow her to counsel the man who would become a legend: Aeneas.  Aeneas himself is an interesting character, but not very much like the hero of legend that other authors paint him as.  This is not necessarily a bad thing as it shows that Jo Graham is trying to paint him as a man, but as a man he seems to be lacking kingly qualities.  The other characters emphasize how much Aeneas doesn’t want to be a king, yet he really does behave like one.  He just doesn’t seem like much of a leader to me, but perhaps that’s from my own biased image of him.

The plot isn’t fast-paced in the traditional sense of the word, but the dialogue is witty and Jo Graham doesn’t really get bogged down in navel-gazing introspection, as is so common in historical fiction.  She has brought to life a period of chaos and uncertainty that has been neglected so often in literature, so I really do give her credit for that.  Black Ships, being her debut novel, isn’t nearly as good as Hand of Isis.  But with that said, one must also mention that her debut novel is better than a lot of authors’ fifth or tenth novels.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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What’s New in the World of Books?

A lot, apparently.  So let’s go down the list, shall we?

1.  The Masquerade Crew’s anthology, which you can be a part of!

Mark from The Masquerade Crew is putting together an anthology based on the premise of characters time-travelling to the future.  What do they see?  What’s the world like?  Are they stuck or are they able to return?  You tell us!  Write and submit a short story from 5,000 to 10,000 words to be considered for Mark’s first anthology.  For more information, here is my post ‘Calling all Writers!’ and Mark’s post on his blog.  You can also email him at msl_007@live.com to submit your story or if you have any additional questions.

I will be one of the editors working on the project and to be perfectly frank, other than critiquing short stories in forums, I have no experience editing.  What relevant experience I do have has been obtained by book reviewing, in which I talk about characterization, plot, dialogue, etc.  Therefore, I will be the developmental (content) editor and any changes I make will be subject to Mark and the author’s approval.  This is my first foray into formal editing and Mark’s first foray into publishing, so it will be a learning experience for the whole team.

Note: this is the first of hopefully many anthologies The Masquerade Crew will be publishing.  If you can’t find inspiration for this particular prompt, wait around for the next one!

2.  Sue Grafton makes an ignorant remark about indie authors.

My little circle of followers and people I follow on Twitter almost exclusively includes people who are authors, publishers and book bloggers, so you can imagine that I heard the rage of indie authors when Sue Grafton basically insulted all of their hard work.  I think some people have taken things too far, but on the whole, the posts about her remarks and the aftermath have been relatively level-headed.  For some background about the controversy, here’s a great post by Nobody Asked Me, But…

3.  Clockwork Princess cover art and release date have been announced.

As if you Cassandra Clare fans didn’t know this already!  By internet standards, it’s old news, but for you guys who don’t obsessively check writer’s sites, this is probably new.  But Clockwork Princess, the third book in The Infernal Devices trilogy has a set release date of March 19, 2013 (so long, I know!) and the cover art is now all over the web.  I like the cover art on The Infernal Devices much more than I do on most of The Mortal Instruments books.  There’s less emphasis on the ‘sexy’ aspect of the novels, but that’s to be expected as they are set in the Victorian Era of England.

Personally, I’m apprehensive about the end of the trilogy.  From the way it intertwines with The Mortal Instruments, things don’t bode well for Tessa and the gang (I’m predicting an operatic tragedy, personally) and Cassandra Clare has a lot of loose ends to tie up.  It will be interesting to see how she handles things.

So what have you guys heard in the world of books lately?  Any series you’re eagerly awaiting the next book(s)?