Tagged: masq1
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.
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.
Genghis: Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden
(Cover picture courtesy of Tower Books.)
From the fierce cold plains of Mongolia to the Korean peninsula, Genghis Khan’s brothers, sons, and commanders have made emperors kneel in the ruins of their broken cities. But as Genghis enters a strange new land of towering mountains and arid desert, he stirs an enemy greater than any he has met before. Shah Ala-ud-Din Mohammed has under his command thousands of fierce Arab warriors, teeming calvary, and terrifying armored elephants. When Genghis strikes, the Arabs prove their mettle.
While the Mongols struggle to defeat their savage enemy, another battle is taking shape—between two of Genghis’s feuding sons. Soon the most powerful man in the world must choose a successor. And when he does, it will touch off the most bitter conflict of all.
Let me just say that I wouldn’t want Genghis Khan to be my father, especially after reading this book. If you don’t look much like him, as in the case of his oldest son, Jochi, he will think you aren’t his son. To toughen you up, he will make you do things that would be considered child abuse today, like making you stand in a freezing lake high up in the mountains. And if you turn against him or disobey him, watch out! It makes no difference whether you’re related to him or not; the punishment is the same.
Even knowing this, I still laughed at his choice of heir because it made perfect sense, yet it was highly unlikely for the time period. Classic Genghis.
If this really didn’t happen, I would call the Mongol conquest of a large part of the Arab world cliché. It’s so unlikely that it proves truth is stranger than fiction. Filled with amazing battle scenes and vivid descriptions of exotic lands, Conn Iggulden tells an amazing story while educating readers. Genghis: Bones of the Hills is mostly historically accurate and where it isn’t, the changes are actually justified.
The character of Genghis is three dimensional and interesting, if not entirely sympathetic. Readers probably will not like him by this book, considering all of the atrocities he commits (although on the other hand, Constantine killed his eldest son and second wife and they still made him a saint), but they will be able to understand his motivations. The same goes for poor Tsubodai, one of his generals, who commits a horrible crime against an old friend of his because of where his loyalties ultimately lie. Conn Iggulden is able to breathe life into these distant historical figures, which is what historical fiction is all about.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
(Cover picture courtesy of Fantastic Fiction.)
When Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother in Victorian England, something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld. Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, who are members of a secret organization called the Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she has the power to transform into another person. The Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa’s power for his own. Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James and Will. As Tessa is drawn deep into a plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, she realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world…and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.
Even after more than a week has passed since I finished reading Clockwork Angel, I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
On one hand, Tessa Gray is a great character. She’s not nearly as helpless as Clary is at first in City of Bones. She does anything to save her brother Nathan, even if it means submitting to the torture the Dark Sisters put her through to train her to use her shape-shifting power. But while Tessa is three dimensional, some other characters like Will and Jessamine are not. Will is cold, distant and appears to be a womanizer, just like Jace was at first. He’s the stereotypical bad boy with a tragic backstory that made him that way, which makes Clockwork Angel feel like City of Bones rehashed.
What saves this novel is that it is set in a different time period with a different enemy: the mysterious Magister and his freaky robots. The plot is fast-paced and readers of The Mortal Instruments will recognize Magnus Bane and a few family names, like Lightwood and Herondale. We also find out why the club where Clary first saw Jace is called Pandemonium; it really does have an interesting backstory. If you’re completely new to Cassandra Clare’s writing I would recommend reading the first three Mortal Instruments books before reading Clockwork Angel because you’ll get a lot more out of it. It’s not necessarily a requirement, but things will make a lot more sense.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
(Cover picture courtesy of Tower Books.)
Jack was eleven when the berserkers loomed out of the fog and nabbed him. “It seems that things are stirring across the water,” the Bard had warned. “Ships are being built, swords are being forged.”
“Is that bad?” Jack had asked, for his Saxon village had never before seen berserkers.
“Of course. People don’t make ships and swords unless they intend to use them.”
The year is A. D. 793. In the next months, Jack and his little sister, Lucy, are enslaved by Olaf One-Brow and his fierce young shipmate, Thorgil. With a crow named Bold Heart for mysterious company, they are swept up into an adventure-quest in the spirit of The Lord of the Rings.
Award-winner Nancy Farmer has never told a richer, funnier tale, nor offered more timeless encouragement to young seekers than “Just say no to pillaging.”
I read The Sea of Trolls about three years ago, shortly after my library acquired it. Even though I didn’t quite get all of it, I remember enjoying it and picked it up again this week. Now that I actually know the basics of Norse mythology and culture, I managed to get a lot more out of it this time around.
Set in 793 AD and told by Jack, a Saxon boy who is an apprentice bard, it certainly offers a new look at the Vikings from an outsider’s perspective. It’s filled with historically accurate details, magic and Jotuns (trolls in Norse mythology). And of course it has an incredibly important message for all readers: Just say no to pillaging. Timeless. It helps if you know a bit of Norse mythology before picking up The Sea of Trolls, but it’s certainly not a requirement as Nancy Farmer is good at subtly conveying all of the necessary information.
Jack is an amazing character that has a nice amount of character development throughout the novel. Thorgil, the shieldmaiden, does as well. In fact, she pretty much does a complete about-face, but after all she goes through, it feels natural. Even Jack’s bratty little sister, Lucy, changes for the better, which was a huge relief for me as I can’t stand poorly behaved children, even in fiction. The Jotuns are also not what I expected, which keeps The Sea of Trolls from becoming too cliché.
Overall, a very enjoyable read.
I give this book 4/5 stars.