Book Review: Seraphina

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman came to my attention through *insert trumpet here* book blogs. Specifically, Steph Su Reads, Raging Bibliomania, Eve's Alexandria, things mean a lot, and Rhapsody in Books. It's quite possible there were others too....

I feel like most already know the premise of the book. In short, dragon-human alliance threatened, dragon-logic and human-emotion, secrets and politics, little bit of love.

Instead of repeating what others have said, I've copied here some of the quotes from the reviews I've read which I think say what I would say if I were more articulate right now:


Plot and Setting:
"I was totally ensnared in this story and found that the blend between the very specific politics of Goredd and the personal trials of the heroine kept me enthralled every step of the way. As more and more is revealed, the danger becomes potent and universal. Nothing is safe. Everyone is a suspect." ~Raging Bibliomania

"Seraphina holds its breath at a very important moment in Goredd, the moment when a younger generation of humans and dragons starts to break down the species barrier.  Starts to wonder what the real differences, aside from the obvious physical ones, are." ~Eve's Alexandria

"You sense that both the humans and the dragons in this world have a long, rich, fascinating history; that the people of Goredd and the neighbouring kingdoms have their own culture, art and philosophy; that there are interesting details to be uncovered at every corner." ~things mean a lot

Characters and characterization:
"Supporting characters are allowed a full range of thoughts and reactions, so that where we think we’ll find potentially stereotypical character roles—in the spoiled princess, or the love triangle—we instead find refreshment." ~Steph Su Reads

"The characters are uniformly complex: by turns heart-warming, amusing, heart-breaking, fragile, stronger than they know, full of hurt, but full of hope." ~Rhapsody in Books

Themes:
"In SERAPHINA, dragons and humans have made an uneasy peace treaty, but the social tensions are still apparent and painfully recognizable in its similarities to the prejudices that minority groups in our world still suffer. I love that “real” aspect of the book, and feel that the countless instances of anti-dragon sentiment in SERAPHINA are authentic as a result." ~Steph Su Reads

"Although the world-building involving the dragons is stellar and downright spell-binding, I tended to see the divide between dragonkind and humankind as metaphorical. The prejudice, misinformation, fear, rumor-mongering, and acts of intimidation and terrorism were reminiscent of – well, humankind all by itself!" ~Rhapsody in Books

"The exciting thing about Seraphina as a character is that she integrates these two modes of thinking, experiencing, and making sense of the world – the cold and logical and the emotional and artistic. Seraphina’s dual nature makes her hyperware of her emotional responses, and this gives the narrative room to explore how emotions affect our perception of and responses to different contexts and situations." ~things mean a lot

"This is a book about states of mind, about the perceptions people and dragons have of their thoughts and feelings, and the different ways they find of coping or not coping with them.  Essentially, the question it poses is: what makes anyone what they are - a soul, their feelings, their body?  And if so, how do we locate or define these things?" ~Eve's Alexandria 

Praise:
"You might think that this one is not for you because it’s fantasy, or science fiction, or because it has dragons in it, but trust me, this book transcends genres and is a heart pumping delight." ~Raging Bibliomania

"I loved Seraphina because of the way it restored me to 'my childhood's faith, with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints'." ~Eve's Alexandria

My thoughts in short: perfect for active reading, complex themes, realistic and evocative characters, and finally damn good story.

So there you have it. Now go read.

Snack Reading

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how I read. I went from reading about 125 books a year to reading about 50 last year and it looks like it will be even less this year. This is a major lifestyle change, and one I am not entirely sure about.

For most of my adult life, I was a glutton: binge reading, hoarding, massively consuming. I would read most every day for an hour or so, and then every other week, I would spend one or two days binge reading for hours and hours. Large quantities of time and money were spent in the obsessive collection of books. And I loved it. And I miss it.

Now, I am an anorexic reader, going days and days, if not weeks and weeks, without reading, and then catching a bite here and there, mere snacks instead of full on meals. I think part of the reason I am not reading often is that I don't enjoy reading in bits as much as I do reading in giant bites. When reading, I want to lose myself in the story, not worry about the clock, and that is just not possible anymore. Since I don't like reading this way, I tend to not bother picking up the books which means even less reading than I could do.

In other words, I think I need to change my thinking about reading in order to read more. I am curious to know how you guys read. Do you sit down and read for 10-20 minutes at a time? Do you enjoy this? For those who listen to audiobooks in the car: do you listen even when your drive is only going to take 15 minutes? Does this drive you crazy? Do you have a hard time getting into the story when you can't spend a large chunk of time within it?

Will I be able to train my brain to read in tiny chunks like this?

Book Review: The Red Pyramid

Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid is one of those books that had been sitting on the shelves for years, and I finally picked it up back in January. I sort of ran out of time on writing a review of it then, so this is one of those reviews where I've had plenty of time to ruminate and forget.

I read this book in large part because of how much I loved the Percy Jackson series. Seriously adored it, and read it twice. So I went into this with very high expectations.

This series brings Egyptian gods to the forefront as siblings Carter and Sadie discover they are legacies in a secret society of magicians who have been dealing with the temperamental and dangerous gods for ages. When their father accidentally sets Set, the god of chaos, free, Carter and Sadie find themselves hurled pellmell into the thick of things.

Carter and Sadie take turns narrating the story, and I found their voices unique, funny, and engaging. As primary characters, they seem genuine and relatable. The complicated relationship between the two - they were raised apart after the death of their mother - was fun. Each one envies the other's life: Sadie, raised in a "normal" home, wishes she could have the adventures of Carter. And Carter, raised on the road with his Egyptologist father, wishes he could have the stability of Sadie.

The story isn't really character-based for me though; it is action-based, and the events unfold quickly. One of the things I loved was the continuous setting changes as the siblings are moved from one area of the globe to another, from the mysterious and magical to the mundane. Riordan does a good job of including numerous settings and making the reader feel that setting without getting bogged down in description and blahblah.

Altogether, I didn't enjoy this as much as the Percy Jackson books, but I think that has more to do with me than with the book itself. I love Greek mythology; I know it. Egyptian mythology, not so much. The book did, however, make me want to know more. From what I gathered from this book, the stories of the Egyptian gods are just as interesting and inter-relationally complex as the Greeks. Any suggestions for books I should read on Egyptian mythology?

Despite my ambivalent feelings about this book, I do plan on reading the rest of the series eventually. It's a good bet that my enjoyment will increase both with the series and with a bit of study.

Book Review: Promised

The final installment in the Birthmarked series, Promised brings Gaia stone back to the Enclave as she tries to bring three societies together and save them all.

If you haven't read the prior books in this series, be warned: spoilers ahead.

Gaia and Leon are in full-on couple mode in this one; although that is, thankfully, nowhere near the focus of the book. The inattention to romance is one of the things I most enjoyed about this series. While the second book disappointed me by throwing in a love triangle, I have to say that the uniqueness of said love triangle and the non-flowery-ness of all romantic entanglements really impressed me. Gaia and Leon's relationship is just there. They play off each other, disagree, talk about the future. They are a fact. A normal, not-all-tragic-and-dramatic, relationship.

The real focus of this installment is the melding of three cultures: the privileged inside the Enclave, the neglected outside the Enclave, and the newcomers with Gaia. Gaia wants peace, and she tries hard to negotiate with the powers that be, albeit a bit naively and impetuously. Leon and many others view outright war as the only option. The play between these two views and the ultimate decision rather fascinated me.

Now for a problem I had with the story. Some quick exposition: The Enclave has a baby problem and as such implemented a program where they took babies born to those outside the Enclave as a sort of payment for water and the such not. When that was no longer an option, they initiated a surrogacy program where women were paid to bear children for those not able to have kids inside. Surrogacy, in my opinion, is awesome. Thank whatever powers that be that there are women out there willing to do this for others. Gaia definitely does not agree with me, and she makes a big stink throughout the book about it, seemingly stuck on the issue of "how could a 'mother' give up her child like that?". While there are other issues present here, primarily that of poor women being co-opted as incubators for the rich, that is not what Gaia focuses on. Instead it is the misplaced sentimentality of a woman being heartless if she gives birth to a baby and then gives it away - even if it is to the baby's biological parents. This mentality really disturbed me.

Overall though, this is a good story and a good series. I highly recommend checking it out if you are in to dystopian YA where the romance is secondary.

Book Review: Tortured and Prized

"Tortured" is a bridge story between Birthmarked and Prized, the second book in the Birthmarked series by Caragh O'Brien. When we last left Gaia Stone, she was embarking on a journey to the Dead Forest in the hope of starting a new life for herself and her baby sister, a journey only possible because Leon sacrificed himself so she could escape the Enclave. "Tortured" is Leon's story after Gaia's escape. Extremely short, "Tortured" doesn't really add anything to the series; nothing really happens here that you don't find out about in Prized. But it's free - or at least it was - so why not, right?

Prized is where the action actually continues as Gaia finds the community she was seeking. And quite the community it is. What I loved about Birthmarked, I also loved about Prized. O'Brien does a remarkable job with world-building. The Enclave and Sylum are distinct cultures, each given the requisite detail and backstory to make them real to the reader. In Sylum, the women run the show. Utterly. Men vastly outnumber the women, so women are "prized", special commodities if you will, and as such they are in charge - to the point where men are not even allowed to vote. The gender dynamics of this town fascinated me, and I found my geeky side hoping someone writes an analysis of this community focusing on gender.

As to the romance...If you read my review of Birthmarked, you know I was thrilled that there wasn't a love triangle. So what happens in Prized? You were going to say love triangle, weren't you? But no. It's a love square people. Gaia, Leon, Will, and Peter. This makes sense considering the male-female ratio in Sylum. And I must admit, that while I have yet to find a love triangle - or square - I actually believe and enjoy, this comes closest. Gaia's emotions felt real to me; she's not using one man to get at or over another; she's not confusing friendship with romantic love; and she's not playing with any of them. Good for her.

Wondering when I'm going to talk about plot here? Well honestly, what happened didn't really stick with me as much as the community and the love square. Basically the plot revolves around Gaia discovering the culture, figuring out the oddities, solving the mystery of the lack of female babies, and clashing, yet again, with the dictatorial leader of an inequal society. The story kept me hooked just like Birthmarked did, and I can't wait to read the final book, Promised.

Book Review: Tales from Lovecraft Middle School

The first in the Tales From Lovecraft Middle School series, Professor Gargoyle quickly introduces readers to Lovecraft, a newly constructed middle school which houses some secrets. The protagonist, a book-loving 11 year old named Robert, has been isolated from his friends by redistricting, and sent to a new school where the only person he knows is the bully from his old school. Oh the joys of youth. He doesn't even get one day in Lovecraft before the strange is slapping him in the face, and to his credit, he takes the strange in stride. The Slither Sisters is the second book in the series, continuing Robert's adventures as he gathers allies and meets new enemies in his fight against a sinister master of an alternate universe.

Many times, when I read middle grade fiction, I feel the lack of depth deep in my bones. The stories feel like outlines rather than fleshed out novels. Things move too fast with too little explanation and characters feel flat. That was not the case with these stories. Events move quickly but without seeming forced or overly coincidental. The characters are not truly developed, but we get a good taste with more to come in following books. I think what I'm getting at here is that this series will read, when complete, like one adult novel, with each installment as a chapter. And I think if you read the series that way as an adult you will enjoy it more. Hopefully that makes sense. This is what happens when I try writing reviews late at night. Decent ideas, bad articulation.

On a side note, how much do I love the lenticular covers for this series! I won't lie; I spent quite a bit of time turning the covers this way and that, enjoying the shift from horned dude to professor dude and ginger twins to medusa twins.

What it comes down to is this: I can't wait for Madison to be old enough to read these with me. Absolutely perfect for a quick late night read.

Me, Lately

After reading Trish and Kim's posts today, I decided to blend their formats together (which I believe they borrowed from other bloggers) and make my own post.

Time // 10:50 - which is actually more like 9:50 because of the time change

Place // My couch in the upstairs living room

Eating // Nada. I'm not a breakfast person.

Drinking // French Vanilla coffee with a whole bunch of creamer in it. Not healthy, but quite tasty.

Listening // Charlie Musselwhite.


Blues music is just so evocative, as is the harmonica. Hence Musselwhite is a go-to guy suggested by my Uncle Mark, who plays the harmonica and the drums. On a side note, my daughter Madison has decided to play the harmonica as well.




Watching // I haven't had much time for TV lately, but I try very hard to make time for Elementary and White Collar (although White Collar may be getting too overly dramatic for me).

Reading // I just finished the first two books in Charles Gilman's Lovecraft Middle School series and the final installment of the Birthmarked series by Caragh O'Brian. I am trying to decide what to read next, and I can't seem to decide between Seraphina and Sever. Seraphina sounds like a better read, but finishing Sever means I finish a series. Decisions, decisions. What do you think I should read?

Planning // Planning has been what's keeping me busy lately as I try to figure out what I'm going to teach for the second half of this semester. I'm still wavering on my Intro to Lit class. We are reading A Doll's House, and any ideas on what I should do or focus on would be very very welcome!

Thinking // I need to better organize my life so that I have time for everything I love including Madison, work, tv, books, and blogging. So far, no good ideas.

Feeling // As I think is normal with a young child and a full-time job, I've been feeling overwhelmed lately, especially as my Spring Break, which was supposed to be spent getting ahead in work, was taken over by a sick baby. Madison had RSV, bronchiolitis (bronchitis but worse), and pneumonia (still has actually), so much of my time has been spent with medication, breathing treatments, and holding a sleeping baby who can't breathe when laying flat on her back.

Wanting // A nanny, a cook, a cleaning person, and coca-cola. The first probably make sense, but the fourth is because I used to drink two cans of coke a day and have now stopped buying coke altogether at home. Now I only get to drink it when I go out to dinner which is all too rare.

Promoting // I read a post today that really moved me, so I want to share it with any who haven't read it yet. Jill over at Rhapsody in Books posted about Sexual Abuse of Women in the Military and the post was enlightening, disheartening, and emotional.

Okay, I have to say that was rather fun to do, so whenever I have time, I hope to continue posting like this.

What have you guys been doing lately?

Book Review: The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow

First, I must apologize. I thought my scheduled date was March 8, but I just realized it was the sixth. So, this is a day late - despite the fact that I had the review ready to go like a week ago.

The Story: Conceived in love and possibility, Bonaventure Arrow didn’t make a peep when he was born, and the doctor nearly took him for dead. No one knows that Bonaventure’s silence is filled with resonance—a miraculous gift of rarified hearing that encompasses the Universe of Every Single Sound. Growing up in the big house on Christopher Street in Bayou Cymbaline, Bonaventure can hear flowers grow, a thousand shades of blue, and the miniature tempests that rage inside raindrops. He can also hear the gentle voice of his father, William Arrow, shot dead before Bonaventure was born by a mysterious stranger known only as the Wanderer.

Bonaventure’s remarkable gift of listening promises salvation to the souls who love him: his beautiful young mother, Dancy, haunted by the death of her husband; his Grand-mère Letice, plagued by grief and a long-buried guilt she locks away in a chapel; and his father, William, whose roaming spirit must fix the wreckage of the past. With the help of Trinidad Prefontaine, a Creole housekeeper endowed with her own special gifts, Bonaventure will find the key to long-buried mysteries and soothe a chorus of family secrets clamoring to be healed.


My Thoughts: The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski is like Benjamin Button, haunting and curious and magical and fantastic. I was immediately taken in by the quiet majesty of Bonaventure, which is wonderfully mirrored in the language of the book. The emotions, both universal and personal, portrayed in the novel feel raw and honest.

Many times, especially today with my harried schedule, I speed through books. I can read rather fast and still manage to catch every word and feel satisfied when I have finished. This book, however, I savored, reading slowly and many times re-reading a particularly moving passage. Perhaps it was just the profound difference between this writing and the writing of the books I have recently been reading (primarily books focused more on action than style) but I was very much drawn to the way Leganski crafts the story.

Magical realism is quite the draw for me, and this book really delivers. Even though the novel is infused with southern spirituality, voodoo, ghosts, christianity, extraordinary abilities, and the such not, I never felt like we were in a different world; the characters, the setting, it all felt very real and possible.


On a side note, Leganski has a facebook page which is currently rather dedicated to this book, and I have to admit I was kind of fascinated by the updates about who's reading it, where it's at, and the such not.

A big thank you to TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to read this one. And a big apology for getting it up late!