Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

(Cover picture courtesy of the Denton Public Library.)

When a great white bear offers a woodcutter’s daughter untold riches in return for her company, she accepts, believing she has made a wise decision.  Even though the lass is offered every luxury at the bear’s castle, she begins to feel like a prisoner.  Then, when servants start to disappear, the lass realizes the bear may know more than he will say.  Determined to learn the truth, the lass sets out on a windswept journey east of the sun and west of the moon to fight for the man she has only just discovered is her one true love.

The retelling of myths and fairytales seems to be a trend in YA fiction and Jessica Day George has jumped on the bandwagon.  But the myth she chooses is not a well known one and she paints a picture of a very foreign culture not many people know about.  Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow takes place in Norway and retells an old myth from the perspective of an unnamed woodcutter’s daughter.

When I first began reading this book, I was a bit overwhelmed.  I would call it sort of a culture shock—I had just finished reading House of Dreams, a novel set in the hot climate of ancient Egypt.  Going from the heat of Ramses III’s harem to the cold, snowy land of Norway was a bit difficult, but Jessica Day George’s superb descriptions soon plunged me into the world of the lass.

The lass is a curious character (which almost brings about her downfall), but she is also brave and resourceful.  When her prince is stolen from her, she goes to the land east of the sun and west of the moon to save him.  To get there, she makes bargains with the four winds, showing her quick thinking.  While I am not familiar with the original myth, I recognized many familiar mythological elements, especially near the end as she travels to the land of the trolls.  It’s a spellbinding book with an excellent plot and great descriptions.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins

(Cover picture courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Months have passed since Gregor first fell into the strange Underland beneath New York City, and he swears he will never go back.  But he is destined to be a key player in another prophecy, this one about an ominous white rate called the Bane.  The Underlanders know there is only one way to lure Gregor back to their world: by kidnapping his little sister, Boots.

Now Gregor’s quest reunites him with his bat, Ares, and the rebellious princess, Luxa.  They descend into the dangerous Waterway in search of the Bane, and Gregor knows what is at stake.  If he does not fulfill the prophecy, his life, and the Underland, will never be the same.

Just like in the case of The Iron Daughter, this is a book that does not suffer from Book 2 Disease.  In fact, I like it even more than the first book because there are many interesting new characters (Photos Glow-Glow, Zap and Howard, for instance) and a great plot that throws many twists and turns at you, especially at the end.  Gregor also becomes a much more interesting character as he braves even more dangers to help protect a land he owes no true allegiance to.

What I like about this book is the fact that Suzanne Collins does not spare her characters any pain.  Gregor, unlike a lot of heroes, gets injuries and these injuries actually leave scars.  What a novel idea!  People get scarred in real life (both mentally and physically) and Suzanne Collins injects this realism into her writing.  Sometimes she goes overboard, but no one is perfect.

What is odd about Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane (and really, the entire Underland Chronicles) is that it is written in a style more suited to tweens and young teens, but it contains just as much violence as The Hunger Games.  I would definitely recommend this book for younger readers who are mature simply because of the violence, which is not something I would normally warn readers about.  This really is an excellent book, but it does have mature content.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere.  Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen.  As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen.  But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan’s own fey powers have been cut off.  She’s stuck in Faery with only her wits for help.  Trusting anyone would be foolish.  Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly.  But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can’t help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

Once I picked up The Iron Daughter and started reading it, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop until I was done.  Not only is it even more spellbinding than the first book, The Iron King, the characterization is brilliant and the plot is superb.  Unlike many second books, it does not suffer from Book 2 Disease.

In the beginning, Meghan manages to frustrate me as she pines for Ash, openly displaying her feelings for him at court.  Ash had told her emotions were a weakness at court, so she should have hidden them, but she did not.  What stopped me from hurtling the book at the wall was the fact that soon she figured out how to hide her feelings.  I can also forgive her because Ash is her first love and your first love makes you do incredibly stupid things.

Despite this temporary nuisance, there is really nothing much to complain about.  The plot zips by and I flipped through the pages as fast as I could.  There is something about Julie Kagawa’s writing that keeps you spellbound and makes you (quite literally) gasp for breath after you’ve finished the last page.  And of course her true talent lies in leaving readers desperate for the next book, if only to find out who Meghan chooses: Puck, her best friend or Ash.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Just Thought You’d Like to Know

Well, tomorrow I will be publishing my 50th review!  I had no idea when I started this blog that I’d even get this far, so I’m pretty happy about this.  Of course, to celebrate my 50th review, I will be reviewing a book I love (hint: it’s a fantasy book).  This is something that makes me ridiculously happy, especially after my personal crisis today.  My personal crisis is partly why my review of Crashed was late, but rest assured, this next review will be on time.

Crashed by Robin Wasserman

(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Before the accident, Lia Kahn was a lot of things: happy, loved…human.  Alive.  Now, six months after the crash that killed her, six months after being reborn, Lia has finally accepted her new reality.  She is a machine, a mech, and she belongs with her own kind.  It’s a wild, carefree life, without rules and without fear.  Because there’s nothing to fear when you have nothing left to lose.

But when a voice from her past cries out for revenge, everything changes.  Lia is forced to choose between her old life and her new one.  Between humans and mechs.  Between sacrificing the girl she used to be and saving the boy she used to love.

Even if it means he’ll hate her forever.

Robin Wasserman is an amazing writer, yet I did not like Crashed as much as I liked Skinned.  I’m not entirely sure why, though.  The characters develop more, the plot is a bit more interesting and we learn a lot more about Lia’s world.  Yet it somehow fell flat for me, which is probably my own fault for having unrealistic expectations after reading Skinned.

Lia has changed a lot since the first book, no doubt about that.  She and the other mechs live on the fringes of society, far away from the privileged life she once took for granted.  Lia is still selfish, but readers will empathize with her throughout the novel because her selfishness is tempered by an acceptance of what she has become.  Yes, she finally realizes she is not and never will be human again and Robin Wasserman does an excellent job of bringing us close to an inhuman character.

What I like about Crashed is that we learn a lot more about characters’ lives before they were mechs as well as how mechs were invented.  Jude has a very interesting backstory, which is why I’m glad we see more of him in this book.  As for Auden, let’s say that he takes a very interesting turn that was not entirely unexpected.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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