Review: Jackaby

June 25, 20147 Comments

William Ritter, Jackaby

Abigail Rook has just arrived in the New England town of New Fiddleham with nowhere to go and no way to earn a living. As she sits in a tavern and ponders her next move, she encounters a strange man who turns out to be R.F. Jackaby, a private investigator with an extraordinary gift for detecting paranormal activity. Abigail’s talent for observation lands her a job as Jackaby’s assistant, and she is immediately embroiled in the investigation of a gruesome murder. Jackaby is convinced that the killer is supernatural, but the police scoff at the very idea — except for one young detective named Charlie Cane. With Cane’s help, Jackaby and Abigail pursue the investigation, encountering a banshee, a helpful madwoman, and a possible bridge troll along the way. Meanwhile, Abigail relishes the excitement of her new job, but several people warn her to stay away from Jackaby. She wants to keep her job, but will it cost her her reputation — or even her life?

Despite the fact that this book is classified as YA or even middle-grade, I really enjoyed it! The book is narrated by Abigail, a plucky protagonist who is suddenly thrown into a magical world with nothing but her wits to rely on. I like that she is basically ordinary; though smart and brave, she doesn’t have superpowers, so she is very relatable as she encounters the surprises and challenges of this world. Jackaby is a really fun character as well, with more than a few similiarities to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes! I also loved the richly imagined world of this novel, especially the random little gags that didn’t have much to do with the main plot, such as the frog in Jackaby’s office, or what happened to his former assistant. The mystery itself was fairly easy to solve — I figured out whodunnit almost as soon as the guilty character was introduced — but the fun of the book is the characters and setting. I’d definitely recommend this book to fans of historical fantasy, and I’m looking forward to the sequels!

Top Ten Tuesday: Cover trends

June 24, 2014June 24, 20142 Comments

Despite the old adage about judging books by their covers, I have to admit, I do it all the time! Covers give a lot of information about what kind of story a particular book is telling, and almost every genre has a cover shorthand. So this week’s topic is: Which cover trends do you love, and which do you loathe with a fiery passion? Here are ~~ten~~ eight of my favorites and least favorites:

Love

1. I like covers with one bold color that catches the eye. I love bright colors in general, and something bright on a book cover really makes it stand out from the crowd! For example, I adore the Flavia de Luce covers.

2. The juxtaposition of modern fonts with old-fashioned images is really fascinating to me. I almost bought this copy of Bee Ridgway’s The River of No Return based on the cover alone!

3. Most of my favorite covers use a fine art image as their basis. For instance, I loved the cover images for the first few Pink Carnation novels, but now the publisher is using photo-based imaging instead, which isn’t nearly as pretty!

4. I love it when all the covers in a series are thematically tied. All the books in the Charles Lenox series of Victorian mysteries have covers with a triple image on the front, and the overall effect from one book to the next is striking!

Hate

5. Covers with photographic images. They seem to be all the rage now, but to me they just look cheap and inauthentic. For example, this book is supposed to be set in the Edwardian era, but there’s nothing Edwardian about that model (or, I’m guessing, her dress)!

6. Movie tie-in covers. I expect this one is on everybody’s list of dislikes, but I still need to say it! I can see why they’re a good marketing ploy, but I’d much rather see a cover that required some creativity than a mere snapshot of the lead actors! Last year I read the Richard Pevear translation of The Three Musketeers, and I had to carry around a book with this cover!

7. Another pet peeve of mine — and everyone else’s, apparently! — is the headless or faceless girl. It was cool the first few times I saw it, but now it appears to be everywhere! Like here, and here, and here…

8. And finally, I really hate those skimpy little outfits women always seem to be wearing on the covers of urban fantasy novels. These ladies often kick some serious ass, and why would they be doing that in nothing but a miniskirt and a bra?

Tune in Tuesday with Katelyn: You ain’t ever gonna burn my heart out

June 24, 2014Leave a comment

For this week’s Tune in Tuesday, I’m going a little retro with a song that came out in 1996 — although honestly, I have no memory of listening to it in the ’90s! But it came on the radio the other day and has been in my head ever since. The intro sounds an awful lot like John Lennon’s “Imagine,” but I can overlook that (mostly because I hate “Imagine,” but that’s another story). Here’s Oasis with “Don’t Look Back in Anger”:

Once Upon a Time VIII Challenge Wrap-up

June 22, 2014June 26, 2014Leave a comment

Yesterday marked both the first day of summer and the last day of Carl’s Once Upon a Time VIII challenge.

Participants were encouraged to read books that fit within the genres of fantasy, fairy tales, mythology, and/or folklore. Here’s what I read:

My favorite book in the bunch was either Jackaby (think BBC “Sherlock” plus paranormal beasties for a YA audience) or Mortal Heart (final book in a trilogy about lady assassins in medieval Brittany). My least favorite book was The Grimm Legacy, which had a cool premise but just felt too juvenile for me. If you participated in this event, what were your favorite books? Did you read as much fantasy as you wanted to?

Edited to add: I have now reviewed all the books I read for this challenge; see the links above!

Review: Rose Under Fire

June 20, 20142 Comments

Elizabeth Wein, Rose Under Fire

Rose Justice is an American pilot who has just come to England to help with the war effort. Though women aren’t allowed to fly planes in combat, she is able to get a job with the Women’s Air Transport Auxiliary ferrying planes back and forth within Allied territory. At first Rose sees her work as a grand adventure, a fascinating change from her sheltered upbringing. But her life is instantly, horribly changed when she is captured by the Germans in the middle of a routine flight from France to England. She is immediately arrested and transported to the women’s concentration camp at Ravensbrück. There Rose confronts the hideous realities of this war for the first time, including the brutal scientific experiments performed on a group of young women known as “rabbits.” But depsite the horrific treatment Rose endures, she forges close bonds with a small group of fellow prisoners and somehow manages to hold onto hope.

This companion novel to Code Name Verity is equally powerful and moving, although it struck me in a very different way. I loved CNV for its suspense, its elements of espionage, and its intense portrayal of friendship. This book is not as suspenseful; we know from the start of Rose’s narrative about Ravensbrück that she is remembering her experiences after she has escaped. It’s also not as personal (if that’s the word I want) because while Rose forms incredibly close bonds with her fellow prisoners, the emphasis is less on individual relationships and more on the experience of Ravensbrück as a whole. Neverthless, this book did strike me on a very deep personal level. It’s easy to become a little desensitized to the atrocities committed by the Nazis, simply because we’ve heard about them so many times, but this book certainly made them vivid for me. The most horrifying thing is that similar atrocities are still occurring in parts of the world today. So this is not an easy read, but I think it’s a very important one.

Tune in Tuesday with Katelyn: I’m’a pick you up in a Cadillac

June 17, 2014June 17, 2014Leave a comment

Sometimes I like to think of myself as a music snob, scorning the top 40 radio stations in favor of something a little more sophisticated or “cool.” But then I find myself bopping along to a catchy pop hit, and I have to admit that sometimes I just want to listen to some Katy Perry or Ke$ha! So here’s the particular pop hit that’s been in my head all day: “Classic” by MKTO. Watch the video if you’ve got a few minutes — these boys are adorable!

Review: Mambo in Chinatown

June 15, 20142 Comments

Jean Kwok, Mambo in Chinatown

Charlie Wong is a 22-year-old woman who lives with her Pa and her younger sister, Lisa, in New York City’s Chinatown. Although Charlie has lived her entire life in the U.S., she has very little contact with the world outside Chinatown. She works as a dishwasher in the restaurant where Pa makes noodles, but she dreams of a different life; so when she learns that a ballroom dance studio is hiring a new receptionist, she jumps at the opportunity. At first, her impulsive decision seems disastrous — she’s too shy, her clothes are all wrong, and she has trouble reading and writing down the dancers’ appointments. But when, due to a scheduling error, she is forced to teach an introductory class, Charlie realizes she has a gift for dancing. As Charlie learns more and more about ballroom, she also becomes more confident and optimistic about her future. But when her sister Lisa falls ill, and Pa will only use Eastern methods to treat her, Charlie wonders if she can truly reconcile her two different worlds.

This book is the literary equivalent of a feel-good movie; maybe it’s not great literature, but it’s entertaining and heartwarming. I really liked Charlie, even though her character arc is somewhat unbelievable (she goes from being a receptionist to a teacher in a matter of months!). She feels shy and perpetually clumsy, and she doesn’t really know how to react to this unfamiliar world of ballroom dancing. Watching her struggle to open up and be more confident was a pleasure, and I felt I could relate to her to some extent. I also enjoyed the portrayal of the Chinese community in this book, as Charlie begins to question some aspects of her upbringing while embracing others. I especially liked that Pa, the voice of tradition in the novel, is portrayed as a sympathetic character even though he doesn’t agree with all of Charlie’s choices. There’s also a sweet romance and a few tidbits about ballroom dancing, which I enjoyed. Overall, I’d recommend this to fans of chick lit or feel-good stories — it definitely left me smiling!

Review: Death at the President’s Lodging

June 13, 20142 Comments

Michael Innes, Death at the President’s Lodging

This first installment of the Inspector Appleby series is a classic locked-room mystery set in the fictional St. Anthony’s college, where its president, Dr. Umpleby, has just been murdered. Because of the prominence of the victim, Inspector Appleby is summoned from Scotland Yard to assist the local police. He soon learns that the layout of the college would have made it impossible for someone without a key to access the scene of the crime. Therefore, suspicion centers around the other fellows of the college, most of whom either had a key or could easily obtain one. As Appleby begins his investigation, he notices strong tensions among these men and uncovers various professional rivalries. He also begins to realize that the case is cluttered with many side issues and diversions. But as he sifts the relevant facts from the distractions, Appleby eventually reaches a conclusion as bizarre as it is shocking.

I’ve now read two mysteries by Michael Innes, and what I’ve learned is that I love his solutions, but I’m not terribly fond of how he gets there! In most mysteries that I read, there’s not a lot of irrelevant information; every fact the detective discovers is a clue. In this book, on the other hand, much of what Appleby discovers isn’t relevant to the solution of the murder. This is certainly more realistic than, say, a Poirot mystery, but it made the reading experience more difficult for me. I also didn’t like the relative lack of character delineation. It’s been less than a month since I read this book, and already I couldn’t tell you the main suspects’ names! Nobody (including Appleby) has much personality, so the murder is more like a logic puzzle than a dramatic event involving actual human beings. All that said, I really did love the solution to this one, which got downright farcical in places! So overall, I’m glad I read this book, but I doubt I’ll get sucked into the rest of the series — which is probably a good thing!

Review: Across a Star-Swept Sea

June 13, 2014Leave a comment

Diana Peterfreund, Across a Star-Swept Sea

In this post-apocalyptic retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel (!), Earth’s civilization has been all but destroyed, thanks to the horrific unintended consequence of genetic engineering known as Reduction. Now, the island of Galatea seeks vengeance through revolution: aristocrats are being captured and forcibly Reduced, their minds irreparably damaged. Meanwhile, the neighboring island of Albion seems more interested in flirtation and gossip than in Galatea’s problems — except for the Wild Poppy, who daringly rescues Galatean aristocrats out from under the noses of the rebels. No one suspects that the Wild Poppy is really Persis Blake, a seemingly idle and frivolous courtier of Albion. In order to maintain her cover, Persis must befriend Justen Helo, a Galatean scientist whose family is famous for curing the initial Reduction. Justen seems to disagree with his country’s violent policies, but can Persis trust him? And will she be able to maintain her cover as their relationship deepens?

The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of my all-time favorite books, so I was really excited to discover this retelling with a sci-fi twist! I think the novel does a good job of following the original story while not being a scene-for-scene copy. While the original novel is mostly told from Marguerite/Justen’s point of view, this version is largely from the perspective of the Pimpernel character, Persis. In fact, one of the most fun aspects of this book is that the characters are gender-flipped! I did have one large-ish problem with the book, though; most of the larger narrative of How We Got To This Point was totally lost on me. There were some wars, and some people got Reduced, and the people who didn’t became the new aristocrats, I think? To be fair, it’s not that complicated…I’m afraid I just didn’t want to pay that much attention! Still, I picked up enough to get the gist of things, so I guess it doesn’t matter that much. Overall, I didn’t love the book, but it’s still a fun read for Pimpernel fans, especially those who also like YA.