Review of The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Egmont USA

The False Princess
by Eilis O'Neal
5 Scribbles

Nalia is the princess of Thorvaldor, trained in everything a princess must know to be a successful future queen; she has never known life outside of Thorvaldor’s walls. But, shortly after her sixteenth birthday, she is told that her life is a lie. Her parents are not her parents, and she is not the princess—she was chosen to stand in for the real princess so that a prophecy may be avoided. It seems an oracle had predicted that the real princess would die in her fifteenth year, and now that Nalia is sixteen, it is safe to bring the real princess home to the palace. In the course of one day Nalia loses everything she has ever known, including her name. Now she is Sinda Azaway, and she is sent to live with her aunt in Treb, a poor village in the countryside.  How will she ever adjust to this new life?

What appears on the surface to be a simple riches to rags story is so much more! Readers are connected to Sinda’s plight right away. We want her to succeed in her new world, and like Sinda, we only feel a little anger at the crown for betraying her. She is our friend; a kind girl who deserves some measure of happiness in the world, especially since she has been mistreated so badly by those who should have loved her. The real surprise in the story is when Sinda discovers she has magic, and in order to control it, she must leave Treb and return to the city to seek training. Once there, she reunites with a lost friend and discovers that things are not as they seem in the palace. There is still an imposter in the royal circle, and only Sinda can stop the conspiracy to overthrow the crown. Thus, Sinda must dig deep and find her spine, for it seems only she can save the kingdom. The author does an amazing job at plotting—weaving in elements from earlier in the story that seem irrelevant, but later are critical to Sinda’s success. Secondary characters are very well drawn, and the villains are easy to loathe. Although this seems to be a stand-alone novel, it could easily grow into a series. In fact, a series could emerge from a secondary character alone. Another great factor is the novel's unpredictability. At first blush the reader may think they are engaged in a sort of fairy tale, but it doesn’t take long to see that this novel is a tightly crafted mystery filled with intrigue and excitement around every corner. It’s got it all: magic, sword fights, mystery, and even a little romance.  It’s one of those books that will make you late for…well anything…because it’s impossible to put it down.  Readers who enjoy works like Princess Academy by Shannon Hale and Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers will find much to love in this book!

Review of The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

Greenwillow Books

The Crown of Embers (Fire and Thorns #2)
By Rae Carson
4 Scribbles

Someone within her royal court is sabotaging Queen Elisa, which is not surprising since she only recently took power after the death of her husband. She is young after all, even if she did save the country from destruction.  The pressure is mounting by the day, and Elisa feels the weight of it.  Her royal advisors want her to remarry a neighboring nobleman to increase the security of the nation, and worse, Invierne sorcerers have appeared within the city walls. Clearly, it is the power of Elisa’s godstone that the enemy seeks, but from where does this power come?  In a quest to find the source of the godstone’s power and thus prevent it from falling into enemy hands, Elisa grows into a commanding woman and queen to be reckoned with. Perhaps most importantly, she learns whom she can trust.

What is so refreshing about Elisa is the sheer believability of her character. She starts to grow and change in this installment; she matures. She’s still not perfect, she’s not experienced, and she’s not physically strong.  Even her godstone, which sets her apart from the masses, isn’t something she controls; in fact, some would say the godstone is simply another outside force that controls her. What Elisa has, however, is street-smarts, wisdom, humility, and faith that her life has a special purpose.  What more could a reader want in a protagonist? The action in the story is as entrancing as in book one, even though the country isn’t technically at war. Carson engages us immediately with the intrigue of a possible in-house assassin. And, in a plot device similar to book one, there is the quest; Elisa and a selection of her companions (including Hector) must embark on a journey to find the source of the godstone. Actually, I was glad to see the quest. I was sort of worried at first that we’d be stuck on the castle grounds with Elisa during the whole novel, busily searching through ancient scriptures, looking over our shoulder for a killer and dodging arrows, but alas, no!  In fact, the quest introduces a whole new environment and rich scenery that adds to the world building that began in book one. And, for those readers who want to see action of a different kind, fear not. Elisa may have lost Humberto in book one, but her friendship with Hector is growing stronger—she could be falling in love with him—except for the fact that she is queen and he is a commoner, not exactly an ideal choice for king since he has no power or holdings. But she could at least love him and have a companion, no? Does he feel the same for her? A twist at the end is a bit easy to predict, but no worries, it only serves to tease the reader into anticipating what awesome new developments will take place with Queen Elisa in book three, The Bitter Kingdom, releasing in the Fall of this year, and already on my to-order list!

Review of Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

Little Brown Books for
Young Readers

The Days of Blood & Starlight (Bk. 2 Daughter of Smoke and Bone)
By Laini Taylor
5 Scribbles

No one builds worlds as well as Laini Taylor—well not since Tolkien anyway. And now that Karou knows who she truly is, she is plunged headfirst into the broken world of her people, the chimaera. Filled with vengeance and righteous anger, Karou chooses to join her people in the fight against the angels—and against Akiva—in a crucial role.  But is her choice to turn her back on love worth it?

The characters in this novel are even more lifelike and vivid than in the first. It is easy to become immersed in the world of Elsewhere while reading about wolves, Naja, Kirin and winged creatures designed by Karou’s artistic hand. From Thiago’s glossy white fur and menacing eyes, to Ziri’s lithe, antelope-human body, to Akiva’s special beauty and glowing red wings, the reader is treated to a kaleidoscope of images that become virtual candy for the imagination.  And if the descriptions of the creatures and the world of Elsewhere don’t captivate the reader, then the bloody conflict certainly will. Karou and Akiva, soul mates and lovers in book one, find themselves as sworn enemies in this second installment. For Karou, this means filling Brimstone’s shoes as the new Resurrectionist and trusting Thiago, the wolf she still hates with all her being, but must follow to avenge the deaths of her people. It is a strange situation that places Karou as a sort of voluntary prisoner and amplifies the fact that the need for vengeance now controls her. Akiva, on the other hand, is ready to make amends to Karou, and to cease his killing ways, because “a drop of mercy dilutes a lake of hate.” And while there is truth in this, Karou has not had the benefit of years to heal that brought Akiva to this conclusion—thus, she has sworn to hate him.  How much will Karou be willing to endure, and how many angels will she have to kill in order to find any semblance of peace? And if both sides can come to some peace, will the physical marks of Hamas and tattoo marks of the slain on the angels’ hands, be too much of a reminder of atrocities past for the opposing sides to accept one another?

While the conflicts are heavy, bloody, and battles constant, some comic relief is thankfully present via Karou’s BFF Zuzana, now hooked up with Mic from book one. The two provide welcome foils to the newly-sworn-enemies-once-lovers Akiva and Karou. Zuzana and Mic also show an ironic tolerance for the strange creatures and help illustrate the power of music and kindness on the human (and not so human) soul. Perhaps most importantly, these two characters keep the story grounded, and add a human element to the second book which hints at the idea that humans may play a critical role in book three which I am anxiously awaiting…

Review of The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Greenwillow Books

The Girl of Fire and Thorns
by Rae Carson
5 Stars

Lady Elisa is special. She is the bearer of the Godstone, a stone placed in her navel by God which marks her as someone who will perform an important act of service during her lifetime. Elisa loves God and studies constantly to know God’s will for her life. But she has been sheltered, and there are things she doesn’t know about the Godstone. There are enemies that would happily kill her to harness its power, and Lady Elisa is in danger. Now, married to the handsome King Alejandro of Joya d’Arena as the seal to a bargain that will provide troops against the enemies of both countries, Elisa wonders, when will her act of service occur, and will she, like most Godstone bearers, die young?

Before I go on and on about how pleased I am to find a tough, independent, resilient, and overweight protagonist who is also a princess, let me first give an enthusiastic shout out to the author of this phenomenal novel; hello and thank you, Rae Carson (OH-IO)! I feel certain that Ms. Carson is going to be one of those YA novelists from the great state of Ohio who stands arm and arm with other gifted YA writers from this state—Cinda Williams Chima, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Sharon Creech, Angela Johnson, Sharon Draper to name a few—all of whom make me proud to be a Buckeye.

First, let me say that while the synopsis of this book (above) makes it sound like a religious book, I would argue that the religious overtones do not at all come off as overly didactic. In fact, when religion is referenced at all, it comes off as highly generic in nature; faith becomes the greater theme that Lady Elisa deals with. Lady Elisa’s character seems naturally concerned with faith, it suits her—especially at the start of the story when she is married off to a handsome stranger who doesn’t really desire her at all, and she is taken to a strange country. Faith is all she has. Will King Alejandro ever desire her? After all she is very, very fat. Like many of us, when Elisa becomes stressed out, concerned, or simply bored, she eats—and because of this, she is a fat bride. Thus, her self-confidence suffers, at least at first, but her faith and intelligence trump her insecurities and help to make her a formidable future queen against her enemy—the neighboring country Invierne. The dynamic changes Elisa goes through during the action in this novel (and the action and conflict between Joya d’Arena & Invierne is the primary focus of the work) make her perhaps my most favorite female protagonist ever!

The secondary characters in the novel are equally interesting. It’s not hard to see early on that the handsome King Alejandro, who Elisa worries over in the start of the novel is a flake. He is spineless and cannot take a stand, even when it comes to acknowledging his own marriage. Indecisive, adulterous, cowardly, and inexperienced, Alejandro cannot hold a candle to Elisa.  Equally as interesting, but not nearly as spineless, are Elisa’s devoted nurse, Ximena, who clearly has a secret past, and the spiteful Cosmé, the handmaiden to her husband’s mistress who seems hell-bent on Elisa’s destruction. But perhaps the most endearing character is Humberto—a humble desert boy who treats Elisa with love and honor, whether she is obese or thin. Who doesn’t love a guy like that?

The writing in the novel is incredibly strong. Unlike many other YA novels that include such disturbing plot twists as arranged marriage, espionage, and war, as this novel does, sensitive situations are dealt with tactfully, and there are absolutely no sexually explicit scenes.  The author uses Spanish (or perhaps Italian?) words to add an exotic feel to the narrative, and this, coupled with the fantastic descriptions of deserts and sandstorms made this Ohio native feel like I’ve traveled to lands far away. Each chapter was short and punctuated with enough action and intrigue to keep me on the edge of my seat.  

Happily and in her own words, “God is not done with [Elisa] yet”—book two, Crown of Embers is already on the shelves, and I’ve just ordered my copy.

Review of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater

Scholastic Press

The Scorpio Races
By Maggie Stiefvater
5 Scribbles!

Sea foam-misted Thisby is the exotic setting for this unique retelling of the myth of the Water Horse, or “Capaill Uisce,” of Celtic Legend.  But the story is more than just a clever myth retold, it is the story of plucky, redheaded, orphan, Kate Connelly, a.k.a. Puck, who has the courage to challenge a cultural tradition hundreds, perhaps thousands of years old in order to save her family home. It is also the story of another orphan, mysterious Sean Kendrick, a quiet horse-whisperer who has won the traditional Scorpio Race the last four years, and whose restless spirit is searching for more than just a job on millionaire Mr. Malvern’s horse farm—Sean wants to own his beloved and dangerous stallion, Kor. Even though he knows that Kor is a killer, a breathtaking stallion that will feast upon human flesh if left to his own devices. When these two orphans come face to face, who will win the race and capture their hearts’ desire; or, will their desires change?

So much is admirable about this novel that it is difficult to isolate the magic that makes it one of the finest works in young adult literature today. First off, the mythology of the Water Horse is seamlessly incorporated into a modern Thisby—so much so that one cannot imagine that Water Horses might not actually exist. The descriptions of the horses are so rich, so precise, that one can smell the briny fish-stink of their hides and see the glitter of their slanted, dark fish eyes. Indeed, it is not hard to feel the horses, smell the horses, visualize the water horses and fear the havoc they can bring to Thisby. Additionally, minor characters are superbly developed—from mildy autistic Finn (Puck’s brother) who struggles to control his own grief over his parent’s death to Gabe (Puck’s older brother), a conflicted young man unsure of the future, to the three sisters who own a tourist shop and who function as wise, “aunties” to Puck—each character will resonate with readers.  And who doesn’t know an evil bully like Mutt Malvern whose jealousy and hatred consumes him?

Ironically, this bloody, action-packed story at times has romantic overtones but not in a traditional sense. The love that Sean shares with his horse, for example, is perhaps the closest relationship in the novel, yet the love that Puck feels for her family and the land that surrounds her mirrors Sean’s passion for Kor. Thisby is an island of wonder and magic that will certainly captivate readers. In fact, Thisby itself almost serves as a character, an island with a thirst for human blood, that is home for flesh-eating horses, but an island that Sean and Puck love and would be lost without. With an ending that is hard to predict yet more satisfying than expected, horse lovers, lovers of romance and orphan narratives, and readers of all ages will be beg for a Water Horse series upon finishing this book. Yet this novel is a masterpiece that would be difficult to improve upon.

Review of Eona by Alison Goodman

Viking Juvenile

Eona: (Eon: Book 2)

Alison Goodman

4 Scribbles
spoiler alert!

Eon returns to the stage as her true self, Eona, female Mirror Dragoneye in the service of the Pearl Emperor, Kygo, who is fighting to regain his throne. In order to win the fight against the imposter Emperor, Lord Sethon, Eona must discover how to control her connection with the Mirror Dragon and her power, otherwise, innocent people nearby will die. In her quest for mastery, she and her companions discover that the struggle for the throne might not be the only battle they face.

From the start, Eona struggles with sharing secrets and with each choice she makes, partly because she lacks trust in other human beings; clearly her lack of trust is understandable given her childhood and maiming. Although the reader may find it frustrating that she cannot share everything with Kygo, especially since she is fighting for him, it does show a more human side to Eona—that just because she is the heroine, she doesn’t have to be decisive and perfect—being loyal is enough. What the reader may not understand is the relationship that develops between Eona and Ido. The reader will be shocked to see that Goodman develops the theme "absolute power corrupts absolutely" by causing Eona to be physically attracted to Lord Ion. It seems a bit far-fetched that any woman, especially one so badly abused as Eona, would choose to become intimate in any form with someone who previously tried to rape her! Thus, the love triangle between Eona, Kygo and Lord Ion that the author attempts to develop is unconvincing at best. As in book one plot twists abound, sword fights and bloodletting are plentiful, and the tension builds in every chapter. Those who have not read book one will likely want to read that book first; it might be difficult to jump into the story and understand its complexity without the background. And, just as in the first book some characters are cross-dressers or eunuchs, so it may be a bit controversial to those not comfortable reading Asian-themed action epics. Overall, Eona is a satisfying conclusion to this epic action adventure.

Review of Throne of Glass by Sara J. Maas

Bloomsbury USA
Childrens

Throne of Glass

By Sarah J. Maas

5 Scribbles

To be released, August 7, 2012

Celaena Sardothien knows she will live out the rest of her days as a slave in the salt mines of Endovier, days that are numbered—that is until the son of the King of Adarlan, Prince Dorian, approaches her with a deal. Win a contest against the most ferocious assassins in the combined kingdoms and win her freedom. Not an easy task for most teenaged girls, but Celaena isn’t your average teenager; Celaena is a trained assassin, and she’s eager to win her freedom, even when she discovers she is fighting not just against earthly powers, but against the powers of a dark and supernatural otherworld that are hell-bent upon her destruction. Celaena is a strong female protagonist, the likes of which haven’t been seen since Graceling’s Katsa and Divergent’s Tris. Readers will love watching Celaena face off with brutes three times her size and at the same time keep her feminine edge. In fact, key male characters fall for Celaena, but what makes this read phenomenal is that the squeaky-clean romance supplements the story and does not dominate it. Celaena has a heart and a brain, and she comes off as surprisingly moral and compassionate for someone who has been defined as an "assassin." In fact, I hope to see another installment in this series so that Celaena’s background may be revealed. Secondary characters are equally interesting, and the chapters move at a rapid-fire pace that keeps readers riveted. After this work, readers will demand more from Sarah Maas!

Review of Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta

Candlewick

Froi of the Exiles (Book Two of The Lumatere Chronicles)

By Melina Marchetta

2 Scribbles
Release date March 16, 2012

After reading the first book of The Lumatere Chronicles, I was enchanted by Marchetta’s sophisticated writing, and hoped that this tale was (and I quote) "…only one installment of a much, much longer story." As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for! Book two of The Chronicles centers on the mission of rogue slave, Froi, who Isaboe saved from slave-traders. Froi, now educated and properly trained as a fighter, is entrusted with the task of assassinating the neighboring king of Charyn in order to protect the newly re-assembled Lumaterian kingdom. And while Froi is most certainly the main protagonist of the saga, Marchetta interweaves several sub-plots into the tale. While these subplots are inter-connected, so many stories taking place in the novel make a few things unfortunately unavoidable. It takes a keen reader, or one with a notebook handy, to keep up with the numerous characters in the novel. Certainly the characters are used to help augment the storyline—a great amount of backstory is provided via character dialogue which can become tedious at times—but perhaps a smaller cast, focusing more on the conflict in Charyn would be best to assist the reader in becoming more invested in the characters and more engaged in the storyline. The goings-on of Lumatere, which appear in alternating chapters, might have been better as a separate book or created as a part two in this installment. As it stands, the alternating chapters and enormous cast make for many distractions. One of the things Marchetta does well is irony, and she does use this irony throughout—there are deceptions revealed, clever switches, and misunderstandings that help to draw flagging readers back in—although I would argue that more astute readers will be able to predict Froi’s origins very early on in the book. And while most YA readers who enjoyed Finnikin of the Rock will be amped to see this installment, I would argue that much of the content of this book is geared to a more adult audience. I just hope that book three (which is clearly hinted at in the ending) will be focused on the future of the Lumatere and its neighboring kingdoms and not so focused on the past.

Review of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Little, Brown Books
for Young Readers

Daughter of Smoke and BoneBy Laini Taylor
5+ Scribbles
Spunky and independent seventeen-year-old Karou has always been different from other teenagers. She has an extraordinary gift for drawing, she wears a string of wishes around her neck, she has blue hair, and she attends a prestigious art school in Prague. She lives alone and has no parents that she knows of; her only family consists of a small group of Chimaera—magical, beautiful creatures—that raised her in an enchanted workshop beyond a hidden portal, only to later nudge her into the human world. Karou knows something is missing in her life, but she accepts that there may never be answers to her questions, no solution to the loneliness that sometimes threatens to engulf her. And then one day she meets the handsome and fierce Akiva, and suddenly her world is helter skelter. Taylor paints with words the way master artists paint with brushes. Her descriptions are rich, textured, and raw, allowing the reader to travel through portals with the characters and to see through the character’s eyes. The plot has the flavor of an appetizer-sized portion of Romeo & Juliet with just a sprinkling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is impossible to reach the end of one chapter and not have an overwhelming desire to turn to the next. Readers become emotionally invested in Karou. They will identify with her when she realizes for the first time that family is not perfect, and that we all must eventually face the world alone. They will laugh with Karou and her best friend Zuzanna as they groan over life’s challenges, and they will struggle with Karou to fully understand temptation, forgiveness and redemption. All of these lessons are interwoven into the tapestry of the story seamlessly without ever being in the least didactic, or simplistic or distracting. Taylor has taken the canvas of a novel and painted a lovely and matchless masterpiece. There is a reason that this novel has been voted one of the Top Ten Best Books of 2012—a unique and refreshing tale like this hasn’t been told since C.S. Lewis. If I had a bruxis I’d wish that the next book was already waiting for me on my shelf—but alas, I love eating too much to part with my teeth.

Review of Cloaked by Alex Flinn



HarperTeen

 Cloaked

by Alex Flinn

2 Scribbles

Fans of Flinn’s earlier works like Breathing Underwater, Nothing to Lose, Breaking Point, and even Beastly, might be disappointed with this work which was clearly drafted for a much younger audience. Johnny Marco is a cobbler and wannabe shoe designer who works in an upscale South Beach Hotel shoe shop. Johnny’s dad disappeared when he was a toddler, and so he slaves over shoe repairs all day, every day, to help provide for himself and his mother. Johnny figures his future will be the same dreary life-sentence until one day a stunning princess visiting Florida offers him thousands of dollars and a promise to marry Johnny if he will find her missing brother. But first, he must believe that her brother has been turned into a frog by an evil witch, that magic is real, and that he can actually find a frog before the evil witch discovers his plan. Bored, and with nothing else to do, he agrees to the quest, only to find that the world is not always as it seems. The quest has adequate challenge scenes, and mildly interesting spins on traditional fairy tales. However, the loosely-linked tales feel a bit forced, like they have been jammed into an outline form with heavy-handed, unnatural connections between them. Johnny is an extremely shallow character, and his friend Meg seems only slightly better. Fans of stories shaped by action who care little about theme, character development, and originality will love this story. Otherwise, stick with Flinn’s earlier works.