3 Things to Brighten Your Wednesday

#1.  First off, thanks so much to everyone who suggested books for my little sister.  You have no idea how helpful you’ve been!  Thank you for filling both my birthday and Christmas shopping lists with books because in this household, books are a staple of both occasions.

#2.  I’m posting over at We Heart Reading again.  This time, it’s a review of Caesar by Adrian Goldsworthy.  It’s about, you guessed it, Julius Caesar.  It’s my first time reviewing non-fiction, so go on over and check it out!  Especially if you like history.

#3.  A little while ago when I wrote my post on things authors should know about bad reviews, I had John Scalzi’s attitude toward them in mind.  For the release of his new book, Redshirts, he has posted some samples from one-star reviews he received without flipping out at the reviewers.  This is how bad reviews should be handled, people.  Go and check them out if you need a good laugh while being informed.

I Need Your Help

Okay, so my little sister’s birthday is coming up and I have absolutely no idea what to get her.

Here in my household, books are usually pretty common.  Usually I’ll pick her up one of the books I read and liked but is still age appropriate for her.  She is only twelve and a half after all.  Unfortunately, she’s already read all of the age-appropriate books I own!  That’s where you come in.

I desperately need some book recommendations!  She’s pretty mature for a twelve-year-old, having read The Hunger Games trilogy, the Darkest Powers trilogy as well as some of Pauline Gedge‘s novels.  She loves fantasy and historical fiction, especially when there’s royalty involved, although she’ll read anything she can get her hands on.

However, please tell me of any mature content in your recommendation, which includes language, violence and sexuality.  If you can, please tell me the extent of the mature content as well (explicit, brief, mild, etc).

So, do you know any good books for her?  Please tell me in the comments below!

Kristina: The Girl King by Carolyn Meyer

(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.  Although when I try to link to the exact location I get an error message.)

August 3, 1638

Papa Matthiae arrived last evening, accompanied by Jacob Henrik Elbfas, the court painter.  I feared this meant I should have to pose for another official portrait.  They dress you in wretchedly uncomfortable gowns and make you stand perfectly still for hours, holding something in your hand—a large feather, or a glove, or some symbolic object.  When you think you cannot bear it for another minute, the thing is finished, and you are expected to say how splendid it is!

In truth if I am not with Papa Matthiae and studying a serious subject, I prefer to be outside and on horseback, if possible.  Or with a fencing sword.

Even though in her historical note Carolyn Meyer says Kristina of Sweden is one of the most talked about female monarchs in history, even more popular than Cleopatra, I highly doubt this.  There is no doubt in my mind Cleopatra—to name one example—is more popular than Kristina will ever be.  I had never heard of Kristina until I read this book (which actually belongs to my little sister), which is kind of sad because she really is a woman worthy of admiration.

In a world dominated by men and when only males could inherit the throne, Kristina is proclaimed heir to the throne of Sweden by her father.  Kristina: The Girl King follows Kristina’s young years as she is trained like a prince, not a princess.  She eschews romance, rides horses, practices archery, fences, learns battle strategies and studies classical Greek and Roman literature.  Queen Elizabeth I has nothing on Kristina!

Kristina has a very powerful voice that readers will love, especially tomboys like myself.  She is very sympathetic and three dimensional, as are all of the characters, even though we only glimpse them through her writing.  Readers will love her and remember her for years to come, which is a good thing because the plot is not exactly fast-paced.  However, it is an enjoyable read.

I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

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Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles by Kathryn Lasky

(Cover picture courtesy of Fantastic Fiction.)

June 13, 1769

It has come at last—the marriage proposal!  King Louis XV’s personal envoys arrived this morning.  I was called immediately to Mama’s summer house, The Gloriette, where she works on the hottest days.  I did not know what I was being called for.  Indeed, I thought maybe Luisa had told Mama about our picnic and I was to be reprimanded for hill rolling!  But as soon as I set foot in the cool marble receiving room, Mama was out of her chair behind the desk and running toward me.  She crushed me to her bosom and whispered, “Antonia, you are to be married!  You are to be the Queen of France!”  Her cheeks were wet with tears and soon mine were, too!

When my mother told me people used to urinate on the floors of Versailles, I laughed at her and chaulked it up to either hyperbole or myth.  Sure, Europeans weren’t the cleanest bunch back then, but to relieve oneself indoors on those magnificent palace floors?  That’s crossing the line between truth and fiction, right?

Wrong.

For all of their protocol, manners and customs, the French nobility apparently acted like dogs who have not been properly house trained.  Enter Marie Antoinette, an Austrian princess who has been married off to Louis XVI, the Dauphin of France.  Can you see why she rebelled against their ridiculous customs?  I knew a little bit about the customs of the French court before reading this, but learning the extent of their stupidity was shocking.  You learn something new every day, I guess, especially when you read historical fiction like this.

Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles is written for ages 10-12 and focuses mainly on Marie Antoinette’s life before her marriage.  We get a little bit of her life after marriage, but most of the novel focuses on the time before she became Dauphine.  This is not exactly my favourite book in the Royal Diaries series because of its incredibly simplistic style (especially at the beginning), but young readers will love it.  They will be able to identify with Marie Antoinette, enjoy a well-written book and learn quite a bit of history without even realizing it.  What more can you ask for in historical fiction?

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer

(Cover picture courtesy of Fantastic Fiction.)

Jack is amazed to have caused an earthquake.  He is thirteen, after all, and only a bard-in-training.  But his sister, Lucy, has been stolen by the Lady of the Lake; stolen a second time in her young life, as he learns to his terror.  Caught between belief in the old gods and Christianity (AD 790, Britain), Jack calls upon his ash wood staff to subdue a passel of unruly monks, and, for his daring, ends up in a knucker hole.  It is unforgettable—for the boy and for readers—as are the magical reappearance of the berserker Thorgil from a burial by moss; new characters Pega, a slave girl from Jack’s village, and the eager-to-marry-her Bugaboo (a hobgoblin king); kelpies; yarthkins; and elves (not the enchanted sprites one would expect but the fallen angels of legend).  Rarely does a sequel enlarge so brilliantly the world of the first story.

First off, let me say that the ‘AD 790, Britain’ part of this blurb is complete nonsense.  If you’ll recall, the first book apparently takes place in 793 AD.  So either the blurb writer is confused about the timeline or does not know that AD goes forward while BC goes backward.  If you’re really picky, let’s just say that this book takes place 3 years later, in 796 AD.

I love this book because  we finally learn why Lucy is such a brat.  That may seem like a lame reason to like a book, but I really, truly hated her in the first book and she’s even more obnoxious in this book.  But Nancy Farmer has an excellent reason for adding what seemed like the token cute character at first and a seemingly unimportant event sets off a series of events in motion that will change Jack’s future forever.

Of course old favourite characters like the Bard, Thorgil and Lucy reappear, but we’re introduced to many new ones: the slave girl Pega; Brutus, a descendant of Lancelot himself; the Bugaboo, king of the hobgoblins; Ethne, a Christian half-elf and many others.  My personal favourite characters include the charming and unpredictable Brutus, the Bugaboo and the Nemesis, who is a hobgoblin whose duty is to keep the Bugaboo from getting an inflated head.  Now if only all leaders had someone like the Nemesis…

With amazing characters, a fast-paced plot and extraordinary world-building, The Land of the Silver Apples is a fitting sequel to The Sea of Trolls.  readers will lose themselves in Nancy Farmer’s fascinating world where the old religion collides with the new rising religion, Christianity.  I can’t think of an author who puts a better spin on old fantasy clichés than Nancy Farmer while still staying true to the time period.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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