Book Review: Cinder (Marissa Meyer)

Goodreads |+| Amazon |+| Barnes & Noble 

Author: Marissa Meyer

Genre: YA dystopian/romance; Faerie Tale retelling

Summary: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

My Humble Opinion: 

Cinder was a tricky book for me to rate. It had diversity but that diversity was implied and never truly expanded upon. It had a strong and fleshed out cast. The plot was unique although the majority of the plot twists I predicted. The writing style was strong when focused on characters, yet I had a hard time visualizing the setting the characters were in. Overall I wound up giving this book 3.5 stars.

The biggest flaw of Cinder for me was the diversity. Or lack thereof. The characters were supposed to be Asian, specifically Chinese. We learn this because the story is located in New Beijing, the major buildings are built in the famous Chinese architecture style, all natives of the area have Chinese names, and twice do we catch a small glimpse of the old traditions. Despite having little to no elaboration on these traditions, we’re told that they’re vitally important to the people of New Beijing.  

Considering the wealth of information on Chinese traditions, and how rich and vibrant the culture is, it shouldn’t be too difficult to pull a few references and implement those traditions into the book. Yet the book given excuse for the lack of elaboration on these traditions is that the war made it hard for the people to remember those things. A sort of valid, but lazy excuse. Frankly I was bummed because I had been told this book series had fantastic world building. Showing me the detailed cultures and building a new one off of the old one is a part of that, and Cinder fell flat in that area for me.

Considering the location and how the world is built Cinder should have had a lot of representation, yet overall I felt like these were white people with Asian names. No one truly acknowledged the culture that they were apart of. And that’s not really representation to me.

What won me over from the start were the characters. Each character is incredibly fleshed out, even the minor ones. Those that we don’t get to see much of, there’s a lot shown and implied to tell us that there’s a story there, even if we aren’t told it. I really appreciated that and it was one of the biggest things that made Cinder enjoyable.

The character interactions, especially Cinder and Kai’s interactions were fantastic. Nearly all interactions flowed smoothly and felt natural. We spend most of the book in Cinder’s head, and my heart really did break for her. Every so often we would have chapters in Kai’s head and that was refreshing as his personality and life situation is quite different than Cinder’s. We really get into the politics of the world here and that was a lot of fun to read. I think the characters, even Levana, despite her being the most hated character for me since Umbridge, were fleshed out and felt very natural. It was a major selling point for me.

This also ties into the descriptions. For the characters and how they felt, the descriptions were lovely and spot on, yet when it came to the setting I had a hard time picturing things. There’s such a huge opportunity to show/tell us the colors and sights and sounds through Kai or Cinder, yet most of what we get is very brief and limited, so I felt a bit ripped off at times. Thankfully, the descriptions for the characters and the strength of the characters really picked up the slack.

Another thing that made this book fun was the plot twists. Unfortunately I saw them all coming except for one. On the plus side, the one I didn’t see coming was the biggest and most climatic one. So it’s a bit of a 50/50 for me on that.

Despite its flaws Cinder was an enjoyable book that was well worth the read and left a lot to be built on in the rest of the series. What disappointed me in this book can be fixed in the other books, and from what Cinder gave me I feel that I won’t be disappointed in the rest of the series.

TL;DR: Overall Cinder is a fun and solid book. The characters are interesting and well fleshed out. While the plot twists were predictable to me, they tied into the plot very well and were very character driven. While I was disappointed in some areas (diversity, predictability of plot twists, lack of description) which lead me to give it a mixed rating, there was a lot going for this book, and I’d still recommend it. Cinder left me with high expectations so I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this series.

Book Review: A Madness of Angels (Kate Griffin)

|+|Triggers: Graphic violence, gore, unreliable narrator, unreality|+|

“You’re not dead, I’m not dead, they haven’t killed us, we haven’t killed them, it’s fine.” -Matthew Swift (A Madness of Angels)

 

Goodreads |+| Amazon |+| Barnes & Noble

Author: Kate Griffin

Genre: Urban Fantasy (adult fiction)


Summary: Two years after his untimely death, Matthew Swift finds himself breathing once again, lying in bed in his London home.

Except that it’s no longer his bed, or his home. And the last time this sorcerer was seen alive, an unknown assailant had gouged a hole so deep in his chest that his death was irrefutable…despite his body never being found.

He doesn’t have long to mull over his resurrection, though, or the changes that have been wrought upon him. His only concern now is vengeance. Vengeance upon his monstrous killer and vengeance upon the one who brought him back.

My Humble Opinion: Ho. Ly. Crap. Dang. This is one of the most complex and interesting books dealing with modern magic that I have ever read. I’ve read a fair amount of urban magic stories but nothing has come close to the intensity, the style, and the believability that this does. I’ve never read something as complex and challenging as this, and I loved every moment of it. This book hits all the right marks for me. Strong plot, strong characters, and a fair amount of diversity.

I’m extremely tempted to just go into all caps about how much I love Matthew Swift even though he’s an unreliable narrator for most of the book and can kind of be a jerk. But he’s such a well rounded jerk that really does care about people, and has some very complex struggles. Aside from the whole his body being his body but not his body, him being resurrected and stalked by a shadowy figure that most likely killed him once. He’ shown throughout really caring about others, thinking on his feet while being an all around smart-alack, and being driven not just by revenge, but by wanting to do what’s right.

The villain is…ok well there’s a lot of them actually. But the main one (Bakker) not only causes a lot of internal confusion for Matthew but for the reader as well. And it is lovely. It is glorious and there has been only one other time where I have read a villain that made me have such mixed feelings. Matthew’s relationship with him is really heart wrenching. On the one hand Bakker was the man that taught Matthew everything and treated him so well. On the other…let’s not even go there. Point is, feels.

THEN THERE ARE THE SIDE CHARACTERS THAT ARE 100% FABULOUS. So fabulous I didn’t know what to do with myself. Mad props to Griffin for so thoroughly fleshing out even the most minor of characters and giving them such important roles.  Oda (dang girl, please stay awesome forever), Vera, and Blackjack are some pretty big players yet they’re not main characters. Despite not showing up a lot we wind up knowing a lot about them, yet each holds a mystery of their own.  Even if they appear minor they hold a lot of  importance in the book, even if we see them only once or twice. They either are a part of the working magic of the world or they are going to come back and do something spiffy (or horrifying, or both).

The world building in this, as I’ve said is above and beyond any I’ve seen before. The Abarat series (Clive Barker) might be equal but they’re in such different genres it’s hard to compare. The magic is incredibly believable. It’s so well thought out, and yet so practical and entwined with the world that it honestly makes you look at life differently. And it’s always a treat when a book can make you look at things differently, even if it’s for a short time. I think that’s the biggest selling point in the book. The passion Matthew has for magic, and how practical and interesting that magic is, makes the book flow and become rather addicting.

TL;DR: Do you like urban magic? Can you keep up with incredibly twisty plots and an unreliable narrator? If yes to those (especially number two, even for someone familiar with the genre like I am this book challenges you as a reader) then you should read this book. It’s one of the most well thought out books I have ever read, one of my favorites of the year, and frankly I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Book Review: Mousenet (Prudence Breitrose)

"With enough Mice and a place to stand, you can move the world" ~Trey (Mousenet)

 

Goodreads |+| Amazon |+| Barnes & Noble 

Author: Prudence Breitrose (illustrated by Stephanie Yue)

Genre: Middle Grade animal fiction

Summary: When ten-year-old Megan helps her uncle invent the Thumbtop, the world's smallest computer, mice are overjoyed, and they want one for every mouse hole.

The Big Cheese, leader of the Mouse Nation, has orders: follow that girl-even if it means high-tailing it to Megan's new home on the other side of the country. While Megan struggles as the new girl, the mice watch, waiting for their chance. But when they tell Megan the biggest secret in the history of the world-mice have evolved, and they need her help-she isn't sure anyone will believe her. With all of Mouse Nation behind her, Megan could become the most powerful girl alive, but just how will she create a Thumptop for every mouse?

My Humble Opinion: I rate books on three things. Diversity, quality of writing style, and the plot. This book was very much lacking in diversity, had a somewhat confusing writing style, but a strong plot and pretty fleshed out characters. I've read numerous middle grade books so I had high standards and hopes for Mousenet, but overall it was a hit or miss book for me and I wound up giving it three stars.

Considering the topics covered within Mousenet, I was surprised at the lack of diversity. The subjects tackled: divorced parents, bullying, contributing to the community as the top three are incredibly important ones, especially for the targeted age group. I was really glad to see that these issues were talked about but for me some of the impact was lost because there was no diversity and little focus on how Megan and her friends, former and present, dealt with those situations.

On the plus side, there's MSL. Mouse Sigh Language. This is the way that mice typically communicate with each other and in the book we find that mice learned it by watching deaf students use ASL. MSL is just adapted for mice. What I loved about this (especially as someone who is HoH/Deaf) is that every time MSL is mentioned that the word "graceful" is not far behind. Not once is MSL said to be ugly or useless. There's a connection between ASL and MSL and I'm so happy that MSL is shown is such a positive light because that reflects onto ASL. But that was really more of a diversity cameo than anything. It's not a major part of the book, so much as it's a lovely touch of world building. I think the book would have been much stronger if there had been some straight up diversity of some kind.

The cast of characters is good, if lacking in development in places. On the one hand you have the humans and on the other the mice. The plot is straight forward: mice see mouse sized computer (the Thumbtop) and want one for every mouse home so they befriend the human girl who helped create it. I was expecting a pretty big focus on the mice. Not the case.

There are some chapters where the focus is on the mice, but here is where the writing becomes faulty. The author tries to put us in the heads of multiple mice at the same time and it translates rather poorly, making me as a reader feel distanced from the mice, even the ones that we get to know better over the course of the story. At times it felt like the author didn't know who or what to focus on so every other paragraph was a focus on someone/thing else, which got rather confusing and frustrating at times. This happens a lot at the start of the book, but gets better throughout. While a little confusing it didn't make the book unreadable.

This isn't such a problem once the author starts focusing on specific characters, especially Megan and Trey. These were the biggest players and the most fleshed out by far. When reading parts centered on them the story flows much better. The humor between Megan and the mice is really wonderful, well developed, and fleshed out. I just wish the same could be said for the rest of the relationships. The adults tended to fall into stereotypes more often than not which made it hard for me to care about them, even if Megan did.

The biggest surprises for me were Joey and global warming. Joey is Megan's step cousin and although a minor character he becomes the most fleshed out and most developed one alongside Trey. His relationship with Megan is the most realistic and relatable, and I think that younger readers will really appreciate that, I know I sure did. He gets Megan into as many messes as he gets her out of and his relationship with her is so wonderfully organic. One of the high points of the book for sure.

Then came Global Warming. Ok, to be fair, it was mentioned earlier on that it was something that Megan cared about, and her mother travels the world taking notes on how global warming is impacting nature. Cool. That's a great way to organically talk about global warming and show its impact and how people can help. 100% behind that. Or I was until the plot suddenly became so focused not on getting every mouse hole a Thumbtop (the plot of the book), but on how mice could help Megan save the world from global warming.

There was so much time dedicated to educating the reader about global warming, stacking up arguments proving that it is real that it really detracted from the story, and I found myself skimming in places. Not only that I started going into teacher mode. I was literally thinking about how the book could lead to classroom discussions and how to structure those talks and use the book as a vocabulary builder. I was just about ready to write lesson plans focusing on this book I was so distracted by the focus on global warming.  Did I mention that I am not a teacher? I'm sure you see the problem here. I understand what the author was trying to do and I agree that educating people in fun ways is much more effective than shoving it down their throats saying "GLOBAL WARMING IS IMPORTANT DID YOU KNOW THAT?" Oh...wait...that's what the book did anyway.

Despite its glaring flaws Mousenet is still a really cute book with some really strong points. What's done well is done well. The world of the mice is really well thought out, the humor is on point and the key players (Megan, Joey, Trey) are fleshed out. The idea behind the book is really brilliant and makes for a fun read. Do I recommend it? Sure, just don't expect to be blown away or take it too seriously. Grab it for a light and fluffy read. I think the target audience (3rd-6th grade) will enjoy it quite a lot even if they find it lacking in parts. Again, this is a really cute and interesting idea, and that's the book's biggest selling point.

TL;DR: This is a really cute book with a fun plot and some pretty large flaws. The narration was choppy throughout, and there was such an out of the blue focus on global warming that it really detracted from the rest of the book. The characters, the ones we got to know well, were fleshed out, while the background characters tended to fall more into cliches than in depth characters. The humor in the book was spot on, and it's nice to see a book where children are so empowered. I have hopes that the series will improve as it goes on but I personally won't be perusing it. Overall, Mousenet is really a book of unlikely heroes that makes for a cute and quick read for anyone who's into mice or science. Just don't take it too seriously or expect to be blown away by it.

Book Review: Asylum (Madeleine Roux)

|+|This book has the following triggers: mental illness, anxiety, serial murders, unreality |+|

“Sometimes, Dan, friends have to take a stand and say: Hey idiot, we’re here for you no matter what…we’re in this for the long haul. We’re in this for each other.” ~Abby (Asylum)

Goodreads |+| Amazon |+| Barnes & Noble

Author: Madeleine Roux

Genre: Horror (Mature YA)

Summary: For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, the New Hampshire College Prep program is the chance of a lifetime. Except that when Dan arrives, he finds that the usual summer housing has been closed, forcing students to stay in the crumbling Brookline Dorm-formerly a psychiatric hospital. As Dan and his new friends Abby and Jordan start exploring Brookline’s twisty halls and hidden basement, they uncover disturbing secrets about what really went on there…secrets that link Dan and his friends to the asylum’s dark past. Because it terns out Brookline was no ordinary psych ward. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Featuring haunting found photographs from real asylums, this mind-bending reading experience blurs the lines between past and present, friendship and obsession, genius and insanity.

My Humble Opinion: 

On the first level there’s the representation within the book. Dan has anxiety. He has a few other issues on top of it but he has crippling anxiety. As someone who has anxiety, this was incredibly validating and liberating. The author nailed it. True, anxiety is always going to have different effects on different people, but you can still get it right. Asylum gets it right.

Abby isn’t white which is wonderful. But at the same time I was kind of disappointed because while we are clearly told she is not white, her heritage is never explored. It’s almost implied that she is Native American, yet you can’t make that assumption based off the fact that she wears feathers in her hair-it’s a popular trend that girls of all cultures take part in.

Jordan is gay. He’s not confused, he’s not stupid, he’s a brilliant mathematician that thinks on his feet and winds up being one of the coolest characters. He is a jerk but he is not a jerk because he is gay-he is a jerk because his family is awful to him because he is gay and because he has a sarcastic personality in the first place that he uses as a defensive mechanism. I wished that he wasn’t the only representative for gays in the book because I have seen many situations where someone comes out and they have a wonderful family that accepts them. I understand this is not always the case and that what Jordan goes through in the book is tragically real to life. Still, he was the only gay and I felt like this implied that all families are like that when someone comes out.

The second level is the character dynamics. When you put these three  together it’s really awesome. They each feed off of each other and while we have a very limited perspective because of what Dan experiences, we still have an understanding that these guys are a well oiled machine when they can figure out how they all fit together and learn to respect each other. There’s an element of romance, yet it’s not the whole story-romance is a part of life and even in the darkest of times, life goes on. The romance was realistic and best of all it was a respectful sort of thing. Dan never sexualizes Abby and he loves her because she is such a unique and intelligent person. He loves her for her personality first, and her attractiveness is just icing on the cake. For me this was another breath of fresh air.

Thirdly is how the following topics were handled: Anxiety (social and otherwise), sexuality, and insanity/asylums. Both anxiety and sexuality are represented and the characters are not crazy for it. They are individuals that are struggling with an aspect of themselves, yet they are not stupid or helpless. There are times where they certainly feel that way, yet they are shown (through either their own actions or the actions of others) that this is not the case.

On to the insanity and asylum which is, of course, the core of the book. This book is very subtle in its creepiness and it uses what we don’t know about the human psyche to really drive the creepy home. But what’s so wonderful is that the events that went on in the asylum were never glorified or sexualized. The monstrosities that happened are seen as just that. Monstrosities. The people that did them are not cool or looked up to-they are terrifying and looked down upon by everyone because their actions earned that kind of treatment. They have clearly shown that they are not sorry for their actions, nor do they want to change.  And that was so refreshing to see. There is no justification, ever, in this book for the action of any bad guy. There is an understanding of what drives them, but it is never glorified and is only used to further show how awful these people are.

THIS BOOK ALSO HAS A CLIFF HANGER THAT NEARLY KILLED ME. WHO SAID IT WAS OK TO WRITE AN AMAZING BOOK AND END IT LIKE THAT?  The ending really does cut off in the middle of the action, yet it didn’t feel cheap. And let me tell you that is hard to pull off. This book is incredibly well crafted considering the fact that it’s on the short side (just over 300 pages).

The horror from this book stems from the fact that people really can be terrifying when all is said and done. Even the best of us have a monster within. Is the monster insanity? Maybe, maybe not. But how can you know until it’s too late to escape it? This book isn’t so much of a “oh stuff happens to you” it’s a “stuff happens to you, you happen to you. What are you going to do about it?” This book is an outright challenge on how you perceive yourself and suggests that you don’t see yourself quite the way you really are. And to me, that’s what makes it scary.

What do you mean I slept with the closet light on when I finished this book? What are you talking about?

TL;DR: This is a fantastic book! It brings on the creepy yet somehow manages to challenge readers in their views of the world and themselves while being encouraging. It’s very dark yet the evils are never glorified. If you know you can handle dark and creepy places and are looking for a book that will entertain you and make you think, check out Asylum.