Tagged: masq1
Angeline by Karleen Bradford
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Stunned by the blistering heat, the noise, the sea of faces crowding in upon her in the teeming Egyptian market, Angeline cannot believe that she is being sold as a slave to one of the great princes in Cairo. Only a short time ago she left her small village in France to follow Stephen, a shepherd boy whose vision led him to mount a children’s Crusade to the Holy Land. But they were decieved by those who offered to help. Now it seems they are doomed to a life of slavery in a foreign land and even Stephen has lost all hope.
Somehow, Angeline must find the strength to survive, as well as to help Stephen overcome his despair. But first she must learn to understand and respect the ways of a culture so very different from her own.
This is another one of my re-reads from my childhood. When I first read it, I was (oddly enough) actually in the target age group for Angeline and enjoyed it immensely. But now that I’m long out of the target age group of tweens and young teens, how did I find the book?
Not bad, actually. For a book aimed at tweens Angeline explores some pretty heavy issues like religion, discrimination and slavery. Does Karleen Bradford go into as much depth as I would have liked? No, but considering her target age group she never goes so far as to speak down to her readers. Things like sex are alluded to and you’d have to know some history to truly appreciate references to the Coptic church and such but it doesn’t feel like the author is writing down to her readers. She doesn’t go and blurt out the message of the book, instead allowing her readers to come to their own conclusions. That’s very rare in middle grade fiction.
One thing I appreciated far more this time around was Karleen Bradford’s representation of Islam. I grew up in a very whitewashed community of Roman Catholics so it was in Angeline that I had my first real exposure to Islam. She doesn’t hold it or any other religion as superior but instead represents both Christianity and Islam well. Now that I’m actually more conscious of other cultures and religions, that was definitely something I could appreciate.
This time around I found myself getting a little bit frustrated with Angeline and her woe-is-me attitude but then again if I found myself sold into slavery in a strange culture and land I’d probably do a heck of a lot more whining. She does eventually grow as a character and makes the best of her circumstances but I can see where readers would get frustrated with her for the first half of the book. As she grows to accept her situation, so too does Stephen, the visionary child crusader. It’s interesting to see how he slowly regains his faith after such a devastating outcome to his supposed grand vision. All of the characters involved are well fleshed-out and have believable character arcs.
I wouldn’t say the plot is fast-paced, but it’s not boring either. It’s the kind of book that you read as a child, re-read and remember fondly. Of course it doesn’t seem as good as when I first read it but it’s still a very good book. If you or someone you know has a daughter from age 10-12ish this book would be an excellent gift.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Amazon Barnes and Noble* Goodreads
*Not available.
Words Once Spoken by Carly Drake
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
YA meets high fantasy in this lush series debut about a girl who never quite fit in — and the reason why…
Evelyn might not love the confines of her village life, but she takes her small freedoms where she can get them. But everything changes when her parents decide it’s time for her to wed. Suddenly she loses her tunic and breeches, her bow, her horse, and gains rigid gowns, restrictive manners, and carriage rides.
The best way to escape is through her dreams, but as they become more and more real, Evelyn begins to worry that she is losing her grasp on reality. It is only when she makes two new friends that the truth is revealed: she is destined for far, far more than even she could imagine.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]
For a debut novel this isn’t a terrible book, but it is by no means a great book. There are some good elements and some bad elements but I think the main problem that kept me from truly enjoying this book was the pacing.
The pacing was bad, if I’m honest. It was nice to start with a gentle beginning but the beginning dragged on and on and on while the plot went nowhere in the beginning. Then, when things finally started getting interesting Carly Drake just rushed through them without much explanation. I really wanted to know more about Evelyn’s fairy powers and the world she is suddenly thrust into but it’s just so confusing. There simply was not enough backstory to make me emotionally invested in Evelyn’s struggle to stabilize her new realm.
Evelyn is an okay character I suppose. She’s brave but eventually learns to admit when she needs help. She can be incredibly self-sufficient and even though she’s a stereotypical sort of girl empowerment character there’s a legitimate reason for it. The only problem I really had with her was her lack of emotions. She didn’t really seem fazed when her parents abandoned her, when she learned the life she was living was a lie, etc. Even during that rather disturbing scene at the very end of the novel I couldn’t feel her panic. As for the love triangle, well there was nothing unique about it. It’s pretty much the same old love triangle you’ve seen in every other YA book today.
The writing itself was not bad, however. Carly Drake has some potential here with her style of writing; she just needs to work a little bit more on the plot elements. If the plot had not been so poorly paced and the world had been fleshed out a little more this could have made it into the ‘good’ category but as it stands, this one was a solid ‘meh’. I don’t feel particularly strongly about it one way or the other so I can’t in all honesty either recommend it or warn people away from it.
I give this book 2/5 stars.
A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
(Cover picture courtesy of this wiki.)
Nhamo’s mother is dead, and her father is gone. When she learns that she must marry a cruel man with three wives—before her twelfth birthday—she runs away. Alone on the river, in a stolen boat, Nhamo is swept into the uncharted heart of a great lake. There, she battles drowning, starvation, and wild animals, and comes to know Africa’s mystical, luminous spirits. Nhamo’s journey will transport readers into her world, in a story that is poignant, humorous, dramatic and extraordinary.
This isn’t actually the first time I’ve read this book but I hadn’t read it for several years so when I saw it in the library the other day I decided to give it another try. I remember loving it, but how was it this time around? Well, it was okay. It’s nothing really all that special, despite the fact it was a Newberry honor book in 1997.
It’s an interesting look at life in remote Africa that’s both interesting and unsettling. On one hand, it was fascinating to see the spirituality of a different culture. On the other hand, there were definitely some practices like the ngozi marriage Nhamo was going to be forced into that really are terrible. Nancy Farmer manages to balance out these ‘good’ and ‘bad’ elements in a non-biased way that tells a good story. I obviously can’t speak as to how accurate things are portrayed but Nancy Farmer included a bibliography and some further explanations for things she alluded to in the book.
Nhamo is an excellent character. Sometimes she’s surprisingly mature, surviving out in the bush on her own for months at a time. Other times she’s very immature, throwing temper tantrums that you would expect from pretty much any preteen girl. This is definitely aimed at more of a middle grade audience so I think readers of this age will be able to identify well with Nhamo, despite the cultural differences.
The only thing that stops this book from being a great book is the pacing. When things are interesting Nancy Farmer’s pacing was way too fast. And when things were more boring the pacing became uneven and the plot slowed down to a crawl. It reflects the actual time Nhamo spends in certain places but it doesn’t make for the most interesting read, believe me.
So was A Girl Named Disaster as good as I remember? No, but it was still a pretty good story and if you have a preteen or young teen that likes to read I’d definitely recommend this book.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
Crystal Deception by Doug J. Cooper
(Cover picture courtesy of Masquerade Tours via email.)
Criss lives in a special kind of prison. He can see and hear everything around the world. Yet a restrictor mesh restrains his reach and keeps him cooperative. His creator, Dr. Jessica Tallette, believes his special abilities offer great promise for humanity. But she fears the consequences of freeing him, because Criss, a sentient artificial intelligence with the intellect of a thousand humans, is too powerful to control.
Guided by her scientific training, Tallette works cautiously with Criss. That is, until the Kardish, an otherwise peaceful race of alien traders, announce they want him. With technologies superior to Earth’s, the Kardish express their desires with ominous undertones.
The Union of Nations is funding Tallete’s artificial intelligence research, and she turns to them for help. Sid, a special agent charged with leading the response, decides Earth’s greatest weapon is the very AI the aliens intend to possess. But what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? And what is humanity’s role if an interstellar battle among titans starts to rage?
[Full disclosure: I was sent a free physical copy from the author in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]
I honestly have to admit I was more than a little skeptical about Crystal Deception when I signed up for the blog tour. A book about a sentient, talking crystal could either be really good or really terrible. Still, I decided to be open-minded because I’ve been skeptical of books before and they ended up being some of my all-time favourites.
As it turns out, my open-mindedness was rewarded. Doug J. Cooper’s story is much, much more complicated and engrossing than the blurb would have you believe. There are plot twists around every corner and the characters are very well-developed and interesting. Even Criss himself, the artificial intelligence crystal, has a distinct personality of his own and he grows throughout the novel.
We’re introduced to quite a few characters in the beginning, but I like how they’re all actually necessary to the storyline. In the end we only really focus on five characters and each of them has distinct personalities and backgrounds so it doesn’t feel like five versions of the same person. Surprisingly, Criss the crystal was my favourite character. He’s cold and generally unemotional in the beginning but after his exposure to humans for so long he starts almost becoming one, growing in self-awareness. It’s a very interesting transformation but at his core he’s still a brilliant supercomputer. Juice, Jack, Cheryl and Sid are also great characters and they’re all extremely well-developed and sympathetic.
As I said before, the plot is fairly fast-paced for this nearly 400 page book. There are twists and turns around every corner until you really aren’t sure what’s going to happen in the end. I can’t really go into much detail without introducing spoilers, but the way Doug J. Cooper handled the Kardish mystery was absolutely brilliant. At first it seems like there are holes in logic a couple of miles wide but there’s actually a very good explanation for why the Kardish have been orbiting Earth for 20 years.
You don’t have to be a big sci-fi fan to enjoy this book because you can enjoy it on many different levels. You can enjoy it as an exciting thriller/mystery or you can thoroughly enjoy Cooper’s scientific explanations for the creation of AI crystals and all of the technology that is available in his imagined future. Basically, there’s something for everyone here and I’m so glad I kept an open mind about the book.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Amazon Barnes and Noble* Goodreads
*Not available.
Since Doug J. Cooper is so awesome, the blog tour will be having a giveaway of TWO $40 Amazon gift cards or PayPal cash. It’s even open internationally and doesn’t end until April 14. Just click the link below to start entering!
The Wise Woman’s Tale by Phillipa Bowers
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Kate Barnes is 14 years old when she first experiences the strange gifts she has inherited from her grandmother’s side of the family. She has a vivid waking dream, a memory of an earlier life centuries before when she was murdered by an angry mob who believed her to be a witch. Her grandmother decides the time is right to reveal to Kate some family secrets, including the ancient cave that houses the family tomb. Just as Kate is learning to develop her second sight, her education with her grandmother is interrupted when her father insists she return home. He is determined that Kate forget her grandmother’s teachings and get a job in order to help support their growing family. But nothing will keep Kate from her destiny: to take her grandmother’s place as local wise woman and guardian of the mysterious cave.
If there’s one word I could use to describe this book it would have to be ‘confusing’ or ‘pointless’. Throughout the book I felt like Phillipa Bowers meant to impart some knowledge to the reader, to get to the point of the story but at the end I just felt confused. Basically, what was the point of writing this story? It wasn’t particularly entertaining, there were no great insights and the writing was mediocre at best.
Where do I start with the writing? Sometimes Phillipa Bowers tries to make the characters speak in a dialect characteristic of their social upbringing and the area they live in and other times it sounds like they’re almost speaking a more modern dialect. Her writing has absolutely no transitions whatsoever, which is in part why this story is so confusing. One minute Betty is a bratty four-year-old (as far as I can tell) and the next minute she’s darn near 13. How the heck did that happen? If there was a time jump she didn’t make it very obvious at all and if there was no time jump she should have done a better job making Betty’s age clear. It’s just plain confusing.
Since the writing was so confusing, the characters were bland at best. Kate is a stupid, naive young girl who doesn’t know how to say no to anyone. That seems typical for the times but she never really grows out of it. She never really realizes what is going to make her happy and her relationship with her younger sister Betty is just plain bizarre, even considering the circumstances. Part of the problem is that when a major change happens in the story, there’s no build-up to it. Suddenly her mum dies, her brother leaves, she moves out, her grandmother dies, etc. There’s just no transitioning.
I can’t call the plot fast-paced in all honesty because I struggled through this book. If the writing had been of a better quality this easily could have been a great read. However, since the writing was of such a poor quality the plot was all over the place and I had no idea what was happening half the time. This was just a really confusing story and I honestly couldn’t recommend it to anyone.
I give this book 1/5 stars.
Amazon Barnes and Noble Goodreads