In the end, you will fail to save that which matters most.

My daughter is a Percy Jackson fangirl. (How big of a fangirl? She was practically inconsolable when the series ended, she won a trivia contest [and collector's edition of the first book] at our local Borders during their movie kick-off event, she began studying Greek mythology, she was thrilled to get a copy of The Odyssey for Easter, and she was PISSED about the movie version BEFORE IT EVEN CAME OUT. Et cetera. I mean, I could go on.) So after we listened to all of the Harry Potter books, I promised her we would listen to the Percy Jackson books. As always, we started with book one: The Lightning Thief as read by Jesse Bernstein.

What I Liked

- I think the book is a lot of fun. The characters are great, especially the main trio (Percy, Annabeth, and Grover). Percy and his imperfections make the perfect kind of protagonist for reluctant readers, and the fact that he is a reluctant reader himself would probably endear him even more to that particular demographic. Annabeth is smart, snarky, and fearless. And then there’s sweet sidekick Grover.

The best thing about the trio is that they all have their own reasons for going on the quest, and they all have something to prove. Unlike in the Harry Potter books where Ron and Hermione are mostly helping out because Harry is their friend (and for the good of wizard-kind), every member of this trio has his or her own separate, personal, and mostly selfish reasons for joining the quest.

- The reliance on Greek mythology is awesome. As I stated above, it definitely fueled my daughter’s interest in Greek mythology (as well as other mythologies). There’s lots of fun background info given to the readers, and it’s all easily woven into the narrative instead of an obvious attempt to school us about Greek mythology.

- I also love the way Riordan modernizes Olympus and ties the United States and its geography to the gods and goddesses. That the record company is the entrance to the underworld? Awesome. DOA Recording Studios? BRILLIANT. The depiction of the gods and goddesses is also cool. Ares as a motorcycle head, Poseidon as a retired beach dude, and Zeus as a CEO? Nicely done.

What I Didn’t Like

- This is a very male heavy narrative. Annabeth is smart, snarky, fearless, insecure, and has something to prove. Percy’s mom (who is in an abusive relationship) is interesting and nuanced. However, Percy’s mom is absent for most of the narrative and the other female characters that are present (besides Annabeth) are villains and bullies. I hope that changes in the rest of the books.

- As for the audiobookiness of it all, the narrator is really annoying. Percy sounds like a whiny sixteen-year-old rather than a smart alecky twelve-year-old. And Jesse Bernstein narrates THE WHOLE SERIES. Shoot me now. Also, I should point out that my daughter hates the narration as well. It’s a very, very, VERY good thing the story is so compelling because there is nothing remotely appealing about Bernstein’s narration.

Except Ares. I’ll give him Ares. His Ares is very good.

In conclusion: I recommend the book, but not the audiobook version–unless you like your smart alecky twelve-year-old boys to sound like whiny sixteen-year-olds. The story is superfun, and I can see how and why Percy’s story has become so popular.

See larger image The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Book 1 (Audio CD) By (author) Rick Riordan List Price: $19.99 USD New From: $10.84 In Stock Used from: $10.79 In Stock Release date June 14, 2005.

“No, Meg. Don’t hope it was a dream. I don’t understand it any more than you do, but one thing I’ve learned is that you don’t have to understand things for them to be.”

I never read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle while growing up. I wasn’t big into fantasy so it completely slipped by me. I don’t think I ever properly heard of until I was an adult.

My point is that I am kind of sad I didn’t read it as a child because I kind of love it a lot. A LOT.

The basic story is that Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and a classmate named Calvin go on a search through time and space to bring Meg and Charles Wallace’s missing father home.

But it is so much more than that. So much more.

It’s hard to talk about what happens in the book because I don’t want to give anything away for anyone who hasn’t read it yet. Plus, I think it can be read in several different and unique ways depending on individual experience, so I’ll just say I loved the focus on strengths and faults of the characters, the use of mystical/alien beings, the way the story seems to be resolved when it isn’t yet the real resolution is heartbreaking and positively optimistic all at once. And that love conquers all, the end.

I was surprised by how overtly Christian the book is, especially because it still manages to be such an effective allegory.

I also love that the book is pro-individuality, Christian positive, and anti-censorship all at once. It manages to be realistic fiction, science fiction, fantasy, dystopic fiction. L’Engle just does so much and does it all so well. It’s kind of amazing.

This, THIS is the kind of book that makes me want to be a writer.

Two things I didn’t like:  I hate that the one brother’s name is Dennys, which is another spelling of Dennis, because I kept pronouncing it Denny’s in my head. Also, the main baddie is named IT (it), but because it’s 2010, I kept reading it as I.T. as in IT support.

But, really, those are nothing in the grand scheme of things.  Awesome book.  Absolutely awesome.

YA Reading Challenge: 22/75

See larger image A Wrinkle in Time (Paperback) By (author) Madeleine L'Engle List Price: $6.99 USD New From: $3.43 In Stock Used from: $1.34 In Stock Release date May 1, 2007.

Mama took the lead and went on about how I’m first in charm school and how “she’ll be the wickedest witch wherever the four winds blow.” Doesn’t Mama know it’s bad luck to brag?

Oh, and what bad luck it is. Diary of a Fairy Godmother by Esmé Raji Codell is about Hunky Dory, a witch who is studying wickedness but ends up wanting to go the other way and become a dreaded F. G. Fairy godmother, that is.

What I Liked

- The book is very clever. The idea of being a wicked witch as a family career path that is desired is great. The use of familiar fairytales to explore the other sides of the story–that of the bad guys–is well-handled.

- I loved the use of the textbook within the text, Be the One with the Wand. I especially loved the little life lessons it provides. Great info for any kid reading it. One of my favorites is “The first step to accomplishing amazing things is setting unrealistic goals.”

- The book is so female positive and independence positive. The focus is on the girls making life work for them and finding what they’re passionate about. They’re encouraged to be themselves, even if they go the absolute wrong way (like being a fairy godmother), but even then, there’s pride amongst the group that Hunky has the guts to do what she wants.

- Her Auntie is great. I don’t want to ruin the story, but…yeah. Great character.

- I like the way the romantic interest is handled.

What I Didn’t Like

- The book lacks some internal consistency. The rules of the world need more clarification. Otherwise, the book comes off as too clever for its own good. For example, rudeness and evilness are prized and despised at the same time.

- Nothing really happens. By which I mean, stuff happens, but it’s all mostly tell with no show so the story and characters feel flat.

- I would have liked to see the characters and their relationships (especially the ones Hunky has with her mother and Rumpelstiltskin) developed further.

In conclusion: Very cute and clever premise with an unfortunately flat execution. It’s just okay when it could have been great.

The note said:  SOMEONE IN THIS CLASS IS A WITCH.

The librarian recommended the audiobook version of Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones (narrated by Gerard Doyle) to my daughter several months ago.  The book is part of DWJ’s Chrestomanci series, which we didn’t know until after we finished the book.  In Witch Week, witchcraft is a burnable offense, so when someone in Class 6B is declared a witch, it causes lots of complications for the class as well as the school.

What I Liked

- Gerard Doyle is an AWESOME narrator.  Oh my goodness.  His line readings are amazing.  AMAZING.

- Fantastic characters.  What I really like is that one of the protagonists actually becomes unlikeable near the end of the book.  It was an unexpected turn, but works really well and makes perfect sense.

- That is because the storytelling is so neato.  Her descriptions are so vivid, the setting is believable, and, though there are a lot of characters, it’s easy to keep track of them all because their voices and characteristics are so unique.

- Not only is the book about magic and witchcraft, it is also thoroughly about the injustices of adolescence.  Getting picked on mercilessly, not being able to do anything right, the desire to escape.  But also, finding unexpected friends and allies.

- I love the humor in the book.

- “It hurts to be burned.”

What I Didn’t Like

- As mentioned above, we didn’t know the book was part of a series, so when Chrestomanci shows up, it didn’t quite make sense to us because, though he is explained, there is the idea that we should know something about who he is and where he’s from.  Also, he affects the narrative in a big way, so knowing a little about him would have helped.

That said, it’s perfectly clear in the narrative what’s going on, and his appearance didn’t detract from the narrative aside from a small discussion we had after the book was over.

In conclusion:  This book was a lot of fun, and it is an AWESOME audiobook.  Did I mention that Gerard Doyle is amazing?  I kind of want to listen to other books he’s narrated now.  My daughter and I are also interested in more Diana Wynne Jones.  It seems weird to mention the author second since she provided the source material, but Doyle is really that good.

See larger image Witch Week (Chrestomanci Books) (Mass Market Paperback) By (author) Diana Wynne Jones List Price: $6.99 USD New From: $0.75 In Stock Used from: $0.01 In Stock Release date September 22, 1997.

Myths help keep the forces of the cosmos in balance; we let you see them in perspective.  We are stories and stories have endings.  When you mortals face small tastes of Chaos…just knowing it all has to end sometime can save you from feeling completely helpless.

My daughter is big into Greek mythology so when I saw Temping Fate by Esther M. Friesner–about  girl who gets a job temping for the Fates–I picked it up.

What I Liked

- The premise.  Sometimes the gods need someone to help out with the boring tasks (like typing up official death certificates) or the low level tasks (boring hero work).

- The temps get an opportunity to sit down and talk to each other and share notes, which is kind of cool.

- Some interesting characters are introduced, especially as it relates to which gods they work for.

What I Didn’t Like

- I honestly couldn’t tell you that much about the main character except that she caught smallpox in Africa (no particular country, just Africa), and her sister used to work at her old job.

- The plotting is horrible.  The villain is introduced a third of the way from the end.

- Also, it’s just really boring.  Nothing happens until the end, and even then, I didn’t care what happened to anybody.  Except maybe Corey.

In conclusion:  Great premise, messy and lifeless execution.

YA Challenge:  19/75

Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the last book in the series by J.K. Rowling, and this was probably my favorite of the books to listen to as an audiobook (read by Jim Dale).  I’m not sure if it’s because I haven’t read the book since it first came out or if it’s because I wanted to get to the ending and that awesome last line or what.  Or maybe it’s because so much was happening.  Or perhaps because the reading of Hermione was so much less annoying.  I don’t know.  But it seemed to go much faster than any of the other books.

I also don’t know if it’s just that rereading the last book makes me want to go back and see the clues from the earlier books, but I’m seriously considering rereading the whole series (in standard book form) again this summer.

Although I did have some problems with Jim Dale’s narration (his Hermione and Luna are both problematic and annoying), the audiobooks are a great way to experience the story.  My daughter wouldn’t read the books because they made her eyes hurt, but, by the end, she was sneaking a read because she didn’t want to wait to listen to the story to find out how it ends.  Plus, listening to HP has made us seek out other books to listen to in the car.

Also, please let us talk about how much J.K. Rowling rocks in general.  I mean, seriously.

YA Reading Challenge:  15/75

In three very different stories, master storytellers Gene Yang and Derek Kirk Kim pit fantasy against reality, for good or for ill.  Subtle, surprising, and entirely entertaining.  The Eternal Smile delves into our dreams, and the unexpected places they lead.

That’s from the inside flap of The Eternal Smile by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim.  It’s a short story collection in graphic novel format, and, as the description says, all three are about how fantasy affects reality and vice versa.  The three stories are “Duncan’s Kingdom,” “The Eternal Smile,” and “Urgent Request.”

What I Liked

- If I had to pick a favorite story, it would probably be “Urgent Request.”  The artwork is amazing, and the storyline is quietly affecting from beginning to end.  Janet is empowered by her online experience, even though we know from the beginning that she’s responding to a scam (it’s the Nigerian prince dealio).  It just went in an interesting and unexpected direction.

- The twists of all three stories are pretty ace.  That moment when it’s clear what they’re doing and what the message is just really hit it.  All three got me right in the gut, they were so heartbreaking.

- I like that all three have different things to say about how reality and fantasy go together.  Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not.  But it’s not all good or all bad or any extreme really.

What I Didn’t Like

- The drawings in “Duncan’s Kingdom” and “The Eternal Smile” are kind of garish, but they make sense in the story.  For both, though, it wasn’t until the end that it became clear why they were drawn the way they were.

- I didn’t really connect with the narratives (except for “Urgent Request”).  I appreciate them as art, and I liked the endings, but I was just reading to see what would happen without really caring about the characters.

In conclusion:  It’s a fast read, and the endings pack a wallop, but I’d probably only really call one out of the three stories a good story that I would want other people to read.

POC Challenge:  4/15; YA Reading Challenge 8/75

I am reading two very serious books (serious in different ways–one is an autobiography, another is just kind of hard to read), so to give myself a break on Christmas Eve, I broke out my copy of The Magic Christmas because I knew it would be easy, and it’s always fun.  The twins get dolls that come alive!  They go to a magical world!  There are riddles to solve!  And magic!

Anyway, there’s not much to say about it except I totally laughed at Elizabeth being self-centered and twelve because her grandmother was all, “Samantha and Amanda stopped speaking because Samantha (I think) framed the love of her sister’s life and got him sent to prison and they regretted it their whole lives” and Liz is basically like, “Yeah, okay, whatever, but Jessica hated my lame Christmas gift so she totally deserves my ire.”  HAHAHAHA.  Oh, Liz.

The book is great because even if you don’t know the twins, it’s easy to follow their drama.  Also, you could cut out all of the details that make it specific to Liz and Jessica and turn it into a story about some other twins.  Plus also, it is kind of creepy cool that each girl basically develops a crush on her sister’s personality doppelganger.  I don’t know how to feel about that except…creepy cool.

Fun way to end the year.  Now I have to finish the other two books.

I’m not much of a badass demon slayer.  Superheroes always have a cool origin story, but not me.  I’m not on a quest for vengeance or atonement.  I’m not the chosen one.  I’m just a girl who can see things that most people can’t.

Highway to Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore is the third book in the Maggie Quinn series about, as the quote says, a girl who vanquishes evil because she has the gift of Sight.  In this book, Maggie and Lisa run across demonic hi-jinks in their quest to achieve that college ritual known as spring break.

What I Liked
-    D&D Lisa owns my soul.  She is a fantastically complicated character.

-    Female friendship.  This series takes a great look at female friendship.  Lisa and Maggie’s relationship is so complex and has so many layers.  I love that they can call each other on any manner of b.s. but at the same time, we see Maggie’s hesitation to address certain things with Lisa because she knows her so well.  While their relationship isn’t tentative, it is still in a pretty fragile state because of the events of the first book and the fact that they’re in different places in their lives (literally—they go to different colleges in different states), so it’s clear that they’re still trying to understand all of the shifts in their relationship and how to relate to each other.

-    Road trip!

-    As always, the action is based on a ritual, but this time, they don’t get to take part in said ritual (like with the prom and the sorority), so it’s not the same story of the ritual being an excellent site for evil, so much as how/why they can’t be “normal.”

-    I learned a new term:  cryptozoology.  Also?  Giant squid.

-    The romance is truly secondary to the friendship and the action/quest.  Also, it’s just another way to explore their interpersonal relationships and how those relationships define them as characters.  And it’s not really about the relationships so much as how they function in the relationships.

-    Badass female characters.

-    The setting is pretty fully realized.

-    The male characters are pretty ace as well.  And my favorite thing about them is that they’re not there to save the girls or point out how they’re wrong, but just to help because…

-    …everyone has his/her own area of expertise, so no one character knows everything.

-    I love that Clement-Moore doesn’t divorce religion from demon fighting.  At all.

What I Didn’t Like
I always like reading the books, but I usually feel like they’re just okay until I think about them more.  I don’t know why that is because they are so well-written, and I always enjoy the characters.  Maybe because the humor isn’t over the top?  Maybe because I don’t strongly identify with the fantasy/paranormal aspect?  I don’t know!  It’s a weird response is all.

Women Unbound?
Oh yeah.  This is all about the power of women, how they harness that power, how they use their power, and how sometimes women don’t quite understand the power and strength that they have.  Or sometimes that they do, but don’t want to quite unleash it or share it or let it go for whatever reasons.  Love this series.

In  conclusion: I really should own this series.  I like it that much.

I can’t expect to be believed.  I am the girl who cried wolf.

Liar by Justine Larbalestier is, true to the title, about a girl named Micah who is a self-professed liar.  Only this time she swears she’s telling the truth.

I bought the book–a rarity because I am a huge patron of the library–in order to support the change that was made after the cover controversy, but, honestly, I should have saved my money.  Or better yet, bought Magic or Madness.

I did not like this book.  At all.

Wait.  That’s a lie.  There are things I liked about the book.  Overall, though, I found it to be a severely disappointing read.  Most of the reasons why have to do with the spoiler (don’t worry; this review will be spoiler-free), but that’s because the spoiler makes up such a huge part of the book.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  There are things about the book that I did like.

What I Liked

- I loved the first third of the book.  The book is divided into three parts, and part one is my absolute favorite.  I loved all of the relationships brought up in part one: everything with Zach, Tayshawn, Sarah, Yayeko, and even Brandon.  Just everything about the grief over Zach’s death (not a spoiler; it’s revealed in the first few pages), the different ways his friends came together, the way the school handled it.  I just enjoyed all of that a lot.

- The stuff with Micah’s family and her brother.  All of those relationships were ace as well.

- The book is well written in the sense that it’s easy to read, and the language is well-crafted.  I also read the whole thing and that’s because I genuinely wanted to know what would happen to the characters that I had grown to care about.

- Obviously, I’m pleased about the cover.

What I Didn’t Like

- Most of what I didn’t like about the book has to do with the spoiler, but I can talk about it without spoiling the book.  Basically, what I hated about it is that once the spoiler is revealed, the book stops being about what I thought it was about and starts being something completely different.

I thought that I was reading a book about a screwed up kid who was dealing with grief over the loss of a friend.  I was actually reading a book about spoiler.  And spoiler was not the book I signed up to read, nor was it the book I wanted to read.

The big problem is that once the spoiler is revealed, there is no sure footing in the story.  And while Larbalestier has said that she was aiming for an unreliable narrator, I feel the story misses the unreliable narrator mark and shoots straight into unreliable story.  That is, I get no sense of what is real.  There is nothing concrete to hang the story on; I can’t even believe what characters exist and what characters don’t.

I won’t blame the spoiler entirely for that.  Part of it is also the way the novel is crafted.  That is, Micah is talking to a reader that she addresses explicitly (“I will tell you my story and I will tell it straight”).  However, the real reader doesn’t know who “you” is, so when the novel turns into this big guesswork of a puzzle with too many lies to tell the truth, there is nothing to guide the real reader (that is, me) to know what I should expect to be true.

What I’m basically saying is that there is no established way for the reader to read the story.

I was trying to think of books that do the unreliable narrator successfully, and there are lots, actually, but the ones I enjoyed always were pretty explicit about why I couldn’t trust the narrator’s perception of the thoughts and actions of others, but never about how I couldn’t trust the narrator’s story at all.

So that’s what I didn’t like.

And since that’s the essence of the book, I didn’t like the book.  Which disappoints me because I have liked her other books, and I wanted this one to be spectacular because of the controversy and all.  But.  You know.  It happens.