Book Review: The 10th Kingdom by Kathryn Wesley

Title:  The 10th Kingdom
Author:  Kathryn Wesley
Genre:  Fantasy/fairytale retelling
Publisher:  Kensington
Pages:  479
Acquired via:  PaperbackSwap

Rating:   

Synopsis (from goodreads):  The novel of the BkyB and Hallmark co-venture 'The 10th Kingdom' is a contemporary drama set in a fantasy world where magic and fairy tale characters come to life. This is an Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups and children alike, a witty and satirical reflection of contemporary society told as an epic tale of good versus evil. Follow the thrilling adventures of Virginia and Tony, a father and daughter from New York, who unwittingly find themselves in a parallel universe known as The Nine Kingdoms. Virginia and Tony join forces with a schizophrenic man-wolf, and Prince, a handsome golden retriever formally known as Prince Wendell, grandson of Snow White until his wicked stepmother turned him into a dog. The unlikely heroes then embark on an epic quest to save Prince from the evil Queen and restore him to the throne.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I've wanted to read this book ever since I saw the miniseries in college.  It's actually a novelization of the miniseries The 10th Kingdom.  Which I love.  I definitely recommend it.  (You will fall in love with Wolf; you just will.)

Mostly, I wanted to see if the author would expand certain parts or change things or add more details to the book version.  And she did... a little.  But for the most part, the book really is a straight-up copy of the miniseries.  The biggest difference is that the author gave the reader insight into what the different characters were supposedly thinking during all of those situations.  So while the dialogue is almost word-for-word from the show, the characters all get way more depth and development.

It's a fun, mostly fast-paced read, and there are lots of recognizable fairy-tale characters throughout.  But the characters and stories are closer to their original versions - darker and more violent.  There's also plenty of humor and a sweet romance.

My biggest problem with the book though is that the ending is incredibly rushed.  As I was reading, I was really enjoying the details and descriptions, the inner thoughts of the characters, the steady pace of the story, but I got about two-thirds of the way through the book and realized that there was still A LOT of story to be covered and not a lot of pages left.  Which meant that final third of the book crammed a ton of action and events in, while sacrificing all those details & descriptions & character development that had made the beginning so good.

If you haven't seen the miniseries, then you might not love The 10th Kingdom novelization and its crazy, rushed ending.  But if you have seen the show, then you'd probably enjoy the book.

A Week at the Movies

So this past week I saw three movies, and loved 2 out of 3.  All three movies I saw - Frozen, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - are all based on books/stories, but each one handled the retelling of book-to-movie very differently.

Let's start with Frozen.  I love this movie so much that I've already seen it twice in the theater, with only a week between each showing.  It's a funny and sweet adventure with great songs and lots of laughs.  I just felt so good after seeing this movie because it's such a happy and fun story.  It was even better seeing it the second time, because it was great listening to other people enjoying the movie or getting surprised by the plot twists.

Of course, the story it's inspired by - The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson - is nowhere near as happy as this adaptation.  But honestly, no one ever expects Disney to stick to the original fairy tales.  Their movies would be a whole lot darker if they did.  And we wouldn't come away with awesome songs like "Fixer Upper" and "In Summer."

The next movie I saw was The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  This was such a great movie.  It's got romance and action and adventure and intrigue.  The script and the acting are both really good.  And the new characters are great additions to the story.  I originally didn't think I'd like Sam Claflin in the role of Finnick, but he was perfect.  Second movies in a trilogy/series can suffer sometimes, because it feels like a filler or stepping stone, but this one was just as good as the first movie.

And as for how well it stuck to the book... these Hunger Games movies are the perfect example of how to adapt a book into a movie.  The plot stays close to the book, and the changes made are minor.  Most of the changes were made for the sake of time, and I believe that since Suzanne Collins is involved with the making of the movies that she's helped keep the movies on track with her books.  I left the theater excited for the next movie and satisfied with how well the movie did justice to the book.

Which leaves us with the last movie I saw and the one I did not love - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  Let me start with what I did like, because that's a considerably shorter list.  Smaug was amazing.  He's the absolute best part of the whole movie.  Also the part where Gandalf leaves to face the Necromancer is really cool as well.  And that's it for what I liked.  Even my fan-girl love for Richard Armitage and Lee Pace could not make me love this movie.

Now I saw this movie with my brother and sister who each had different reactions to the movie.  My sister who hasn't read the book and doesn't really care about changes from book to movie did not like the movie.  She thought it just wasn't a well-made movie.  One of the biggest problems (that bothered my brother too) is the 3D effects issue.  When you see a movie that has a 3D version, you always hope that there aren't going to be a lot of 3D gimmicks that don't work when seen in 2D.  The Hobbit: DoS has plenty.  I mean, they're not gimmicky per say, like bouncy balls flying at your face (bad call, Journey to the Center of the Earth), but there were lots of moments in fight scenes (especially the scene with the spiders) where it was obvious that stuff was supposed to be popping out at our faces.  Which looks stupid when you're watching it in 2D.

Another big problem is that there just isn't enough to fill a whole three movies so this movie felt like it had a lot of filler.  The battles went on forever; whenever you thought they were over, they'd just keep going.  They jumped from one thing to another in such rapid succession, and it was so overly melodramatic.  I think the biggest problem is that they're just trying to get from the first movie (which set the stage) to the third movie (which has all the big final battles) so this movie is simply a stepping stone, and like most middle books & movies, suffers for it.

And then there were my pet peeves - the huge major changes and additions to the story.  I seriously tried to separate this movie from the book, to tell myself not to compare the two, but I have such an emotional attachment to that story that it just killed me watching how they mangled everything.  I don't want to give anything away, in case you still haven't seen it and want to, but there were just so many differences, so many drastic changes that I wondered if I was even watching The Hobbit anymore.

So that was my past week at the movies.  Feel free to comment if you agree or disagree with anything.  I know plenty of people who would completely disagree with me about some things, and plenty of others that share my opinions.  I'd love to hear where you stand.

Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title:  Throne of Glass
Author:  Sarah J. Maas
Genre:  YA fantasy
Series:  Throne of Glass #1
Publisher:  Bloomsbury USA
Pages:  404, paperback
Acquired via:  BEA giveaway


Rating:  

Synopsis (from goodreads):  In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. 

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Why did it take me so long to read this?!  I had to go to jury duty the past two days, so I figured I'd bring a book for all the time you spend waiting.  I grabbed the first book in my TBR pile that caught my eye, and it was this one.  As soon as I started reading it, I was hooked.  I didn't want to put it down, even when they called me to be possibly selected for a jury (I wasn't).

Throne of Glass is an amazing fantasy novel with great characters, good world-building, and a fast-paced & exciting plot.  I'm practically hitting myself for not picking up Crown of Midnight at BEA too, because then I could be reading that right now.

I love the characters in this book so much.  They're three-dimensional and interesting, and Maas does a good job with character development.  As more details about each of the characters were revealed throughout the story, I got more and more attached to them.  Celaena is a kick-ass heroine with more depth to her than simply just being a killing machine.  And I was so worried that Prince Dorian was going to be one of those typical handsome and smug ("sexy-and-I-know-it") princes that would annoy me.  But then his personality turned out to be so much better than that.  Mostly though, I love Chaol Westfall - the strong, silent Captain of the Guard.  Definitely my favorite character thus far.

The writing and the world-building are also fantastic.  The way Maas describes Celaena's world just made me feel like I was there.  I also enjoyed the way she builds up the history throughout the book, rather than having a long introductory prologue or chapter that goes on and on.  It kept the book from losing its fast pace.  The story's constant movement made the book "unputdownable".

And of course the romance.  How can I talk about this book without bringing up that romantic tension?  It's built up slowly and realistically (hooray for no insta-love), and while it is definitely a love triangle, it's a really well-written one, one you could actually see happening.  Especially since both of the men in the triangle are great characters, and you could see Celaena with either one of them.

I cannot wait until I can get my hands on the next book, because this one was so awesome!

Guest Post: Siobhan F on LOTR

This guest post is by Siobhan F (Ashling's youngest sister).

The Ten Symptoms of LOTR-Ob (Lord of the Rings Obsession)

• You find yourself leaning into a speaker to get the full experience of your favorite LOTR song.
• The top of your Christmas list is all LOTR-related.
• You find yourself at a loss on what to read next after that last chapter.
• You can't think of one possible reason why someone wouldn't absolutely love LOTR.
• You wonder what people are talking about when they say that it's 'too long.'
• You can think of no better way to spend the day than reading, watching, or talking about LOTR (or even all three).
• You contemplate on whether you would like to live in 'Bag End' or 'Crick Hollow.'
• You find yourself quoting LOTR at least once a day.
• You have at least 3 copies of each movie and book in your house.
• You go to sleep thinking about how awesome LOTR is.

If you agreed with:

1-3 items: Your LOTR-Ob is hardly even on the scale.  You're a minor LOTR fan.  (What on earth is wrong with you?!)

4-6 items: Iffy.  Your LOTR-Ob is there, but it's kind of low.

7-8 items: Better.  Your LOTR-Ob is close to extreme, but not up there...yet.

9-10 items:  You have Extreme LOTR-Ob!  (Not that that's a bad thing...)


P.S:  Most of these symptoms were discovered by my own self-diagnosis.

Blog Tour - Stonefly by Scott J. Holliday

I'm so excited because I have the tour for Stonefly by Scott J. Holliday today.  I'm psyched to be participating in my first ever blog tour, sharing my review of this great book and hosting a giveaway!

Title:  Stonefly
Author:  Scott J. Holliday
Genre:  Fantasy/Thriller
Series:  Jacob Duke #1
Publisher:  Haley Road Publishing
Pages:  327
Acquired via:  Blog tour!

Rating:    


Synopsis from goodreads.com:  Jacob Duke has come back to Braketon­—a sleepy, backwoods town bordering Dover, the mental institution where he spent his formative years. Jacob's intention is to enjoy Braketon's woods and water for the first time as a free man, but he soon discovers that Dover isn't through with him yet. Driven by a curse that compels him to grant any wish he hears, Jacob is drawn back into his disturbing former life by a young boy's desire to see his own father dead.

Complicating things are Lori Nelson, Jacob's friend-with-benefits who continues to put new boyfriends in his path, and Motown, Jacob's friend from his years at Dover, who carries a secret that rocks Jacob's foundation and makes him question his own morality.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stonefly is an exciting, tense read that kept me on the edge of my seat.  Its characters and setting were great, but it was the concept that really intrigued me.  I love books like this one, with a unique idea, lots of suspense, and a sarcastic narrator.

What I Loved

• The whole concept
• The idea of having no choice but to grant any wish a person makes, even if it seems wrong or impossible to do?  That's so crazy.  I don't know how I'd be able to handle that.  I think this whole idea was brilliant.  It leads to lots of questions about morality and responsibility and consequences.
• I expected this story to be really dark and possibly creepy based on the concept and a few reviews I'd read, but it ended up being lighter than I expected.  That's not to say it wasn't dark; it definitely was.  But it balanced the dark edge with the perfect amount of sarcasm and lighter moments.
• The male protagonist
• The majority of the books I've read recently all feature a female lead.  And the few books I've read with a male lead are YA, so the guy's in his teens.  It was a refreshing change to read something from a grown man's point-of-view.
• One of the most interesting aspects of Jacob is that he's deaf.  I've never read a book before where the main character was deaf, and it was cool to see how someone who can't hear copes and how it can handicap him.  It also definitely added to the overall suspense.  Since Jacob can't hear, you can't "hear" what's coming either.
• The suspense
• Stonefly is incredibly suspenseful.  I couldn't put the book down.  There's so much tension; I was actually concerned that the final climax wouldn't live up to all of the build-up, but it was exciting and satisfying.
• The book was really creative at building up the story and filling in the blanks in the form of "flashbacks."  Jacob's life gets filled in a little at a time, which not only gives him great character development, but also made me want to keep reading.  Each new piece of information about Jacob was a like a clue to who he was and how he might handle the craziness in his life.
• The setting
• The book takes place in a little town, but a majority of the flashbacks are set in the mental institution that Jacob spends most of his teen years in.  The setting of the institution was just another interesting facet of the story.  It gave insight into what it was like to live for years in a place like that, surrounded by people who are suffering from various forms of mental illness.

I will add that the only reason this book didn't get 5 cupcakes is because of the profanity and sexual references.  The profanity isn't excessive or extreme; there was just too much for my taste.  And I felt that some of the sexual references were unnecessary.

I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.  Finding out more about Jacob and his curse and where he goes next; I'm hoping that even more mysteries will be answered and if the curse changes Jacob, his life, and his ideas of morality.

The Giveaway!

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Book Review: Keeper of Reign by Emma Right

Title:  Keeper of Reign
Author:  Emma Right
Genre:  Middle-grade fantasy
Series:  Keeper of Reign #1
Publisher:  Self-published through Telemachus Press
Pages:  340
Acquired via:  Review copy sent by publicist

Rating:


Synopsis from goodreads.com:  Sixteen year old Jules Blaze, heir of a Keeper, suspects his family hides a forgotten secret. It's bad enough that his people, the Elfies of Reign, triggered a curse which reduced the entire inhabitants to a mere inch centuries ago. All because of one Keeper who failed his purpose. Even the King's Books, penned with the Majesty's own blood, did not help ward off this anathema. Now, Gehzurolle, the evil lord, and his armies of Scorpents, seem bent on destroying Jules and his family. Why? Gehzurolle's agents hunt for Jules as he journeys into enemy land to find the truth. Truth that could save him and his family, and possibly even reverse the age-long curse. Provided Jules doesn't get himself killed first.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Keeper of Reign is the first book of a new fantasy series being marketed as young-adult.  I would definitely say that this seems like a book meant for middle-grade readers instead.  The main character, Jules, may be sixteen years old, but he sounds much more like a twelve-year-old.  I gave the book to my eleven-year-old sister to see what she thought, and she agreed that Jules sounded closer to her own age.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did.  I thought it had a great idea behind it, and it could have been an epic fantasy adventure.

What I liked

• The pacing  -  This book is definitely fast-paced and full of action.  It made the book a quick read.  There weren't any moments where the story started to drag.
• The world-building  -  I'll admit that there isn't a lot of world-building because there's so much action, but what's there is good.  I personally love when an author builds up their setting throughout the story, rather than write a detailed (and slow) history in one of the early chapters.  That's how the author handled the world-building here.  She kept adding in details and history of Reign during the story, so the more you read, the more you were able to visualize the setting.
• The concept  -  I think the idea for this book is great.  A fantasy world where the different creatures are suffering from a curse that's shrunk them to the size of acorns.  An evil tyrant seeking to destroy the Keepers that can overthrow him.  The friend-turned-traitor who's torn between doing what's actually right and doing what feels right.  All of these are classic elements of a good fantasy adventure.

What I disliked

• The formatting  -  The book is 340 pages long, and instead of it having twenty or thirty chapters, it's made up of 99 chapters.  Each chapter is between two to five pages long.  This set-up bothered me, because it made character development almost non-existent.  With chapters that short, there was only time for action.  This kind of book would be good for people who aren't big readers because they need constant movement to keep their attention.  My one sister, who isn't a big reader, said that this format of short, action-packed chapters would be better for her.
• The melodrama & predictability  -  And with such short chapters, there was plenty of melodrama.  Each chapter had to end with a mini cliffhanger, which was unnecessary for me.  It just felt over-the-top at times, especially the last few chapters.  Also, certain aspects of the story were predictable; I could see them coming, and therefore, I felt no surprise at the plot twists.
• The grammatical errors  -  Major pet peeve here.  I know I'm not perfect.  There may even be some errors/typos in this review.  But there's a big difference between a book and a blog entry/review.  I think it's way more important to triple-check for grammatical mistakes in a book.  One or two might not be so bad, but if there are multiple errors throughout the book, it distracts from the story.
• The writing style  -  The writing tended to be choppy, and the dialogue was sometimes stilted and cliched.  Because of the choppiness, I got a little lost a few times and had to go back a page or two to see if I missed something.  Also, the little bit of character development that was there, especially of the secondary characters, was extremely short and abrupt.

I honestly wanted to love this book, but there were too many things that kept it from happening.  I think someone who isn't into reading epic fantasy with lots of detail would love this book.  It would keep their attention with its quick pace, short chapters, and constant action.  But I personally love those epic fantasy books like The Lord of the Rings, filled with lots of descriptions and details and character development.  If Keeper of Reign had focused more on the characters and less on the cliffhangers, I think it would have been a really good book.

Book Review: Ink by Amanda Sun

Title:  Ink
Author:  Amanda Sun
Genre:  YA mythology/fantasy
Series:  Paper Gods #1
Publisher:  Harlequin Teen
Pages:  326
Acquired via:  ARC received at BEA

Rating:   


Synopsis from goodreads.com:  On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.
Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Favorite quote:  My heart was glass - easy to see through, simple to break.

I literally finished Ink thirty minutes ago, and I couldn't wait to review it.  I love myths and retellings, and I read a lot of them, but they're usually based on Greek mythology, so Ink is a great change.  It's story is based on the Japanese spirits called Kami, from the Shinto religion.  Not knowing anything about Shintoism or Japanese beliefs, I was a little concerned I'd get a lost during the book, but I never had that problem.

My thoughts:

• I loved the characters in this book.  Katie feels like an outsider after being thrust into a whole new country and culture.  The book opens with her feeling embarrassed because she forgot to change out of her school slippers.  That's definitely a culture shock.  I think Katie's a great character because she seems real, human.  She didn't jump from one culture to another without some embarrassing moments.  Her love interest, Tomo, is also pretty cool.  He's got that bad boy vibe I love without actually being a "bad boy".  He's just this broken, sensitive guy that puts up walls to protect himself and others.
• While I think the book started a little slow, it picked up the pace soon, until I was caught up and needed to finish the book.  Perhaps not a book worthy of losing sleep to finish, but it was still full of enough romance, tension, excitement, and action to keep me riveted.
• The concept for the book was interesting and original.  I've read so much Greek mythology that this was a breath of fresh air.  I liked the idea of the Kami, the paper gods, the moving ink, and the Japanese mafia all rivaling each other for power and control.
• I really enjoyed the inclusion of the drawings and the Japanese words.  The book is all about drawings and sketches that come to life, so it was a great idea that they included them.  They even have a section about the artists who did the drawings because their art is beautiful and brings more depth to the story.  I also liked that the book didn't always translate the Japanese during the story.  It makes Katie's struggle to cope with her new surrounding seem more realistic (there's a glossary in the back if you want to know what everything means).
• The setting and culture were great.  I've read so few books set in Japan or eastern Asia, so this book was refreshing and fun and eye-opening.  I'd like to read more books that take place in these countries, because their culture is so different from ours.  I could understand how Katie must have felt moving to a foreign country and needing to learn a whole new language and way of life.

Overall, Ink is a great book with just the right amount of romance and action and drama.  It's got beautiful artwork, an interesting concept, and a fun setting.  Definitely a good read.

Book Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Title:  The Raven Boys
Author:  Maggie Stiefvater
Genre:  YA fantasy/paranormal
Series:  The Raven Cycle #1
Publisher:  Scholastic Press
Pages:  409
Acquired via:  Library

Rating:   

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.  Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.  But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Please don't hate me, but I did not love The Raven Boys.  I liked it, but I didn't love it as much as everyone else seems too.  I decided to read the book after getting an ARC of The Dream Thieves at BEA.  I'd originally planned on reading it later in the year, but then I saw that my teensy local library actually had a copy available.  So I picked it up, started to read it one Monday... and didn't finish it til Saturday evening.  I just struggled to get into the story.  Eventually, I got caught up in the story and enjoyed it, but it took a while.

Likes

• The characters  -  I love how unique each of the characters is in this story, and how much depth each one has.  They really came to life on the page, and they were always surprising me with a new facet to their personalities that I didn't see at first.  I think Blue and Noah were my favorites.
• The concept  -  I felt that the ley line idea and the quest for King Glendower were great story ideas.  I thought it was unique and original.  And I loved the fact that the main character felt out of place, because she was the only non-magical person in her family.  Most stories usually have it the other way around.
• The writing  -  I already knew that Maggie Stiefvater has a beautiful writing style from The Scorpio Races, which is another reason I thought I'd try this book.  Her descriptions and prose are so well-done that I felt like I was there in the story.
• The final chapters  -  The last third of the book was great.  There was more movement than in the first part, and all the little things that had been slowly coming together finally did.  So much happened that I didn't see coming, so many twists that were unexpected.  And that final closing line?  Even if I'd disliked the book, after reading that line, there is now way I cannot read the next one now.

Dislikes

• The high expectations  -  It feels like everyone and their mother LOVES this book.  Every blogger I've spoken to and every blog I've visited have all said the same thing: "Read this! You'll love it! It's amazing!"  So I started reading this book expecting to have my mind blown, and therefore I think my expectations were just so high that the book would have needed to have been monumentally life-changing in order to meet them.
• Slow build/pace  -  Maybe it was just me, but I felt like the "world/character-building" in the beginning took a long time and caused the first half of the book to drag a little.  I really struggled to stay interested, and kept putting the book down.  Once things picked up, it was great, but it took me forever to get to that point.

So yeah, there was plenty I liked in The Raven Boys; I just didn't fall in love with it the way I hoped I would.  (Plus, a personal preference: I don't swear in general, but I especially dislike the F-bomb).  I think I could have loved the book if there had just been more movement (that's the best word I can think of) in the beginning.  I'm still definitely going to read the next book, The Dream Thieves.  How could I not when The Raven Boys ended the way it did, with such a phenomenal closing line?

Book Review: Amber House by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed, Larkin Reed

Title:  Amber House
Authors:  Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed, Larkin Reed
Series:  The Amber House Trilogy #1
Genre:  YA fantasy/paranormal/Gothic
Pages:  368

Rating:  A

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  Sarah Parsons has never seen Amber House, the grand Maryland estate that's been in her family for three centuries. She's never walked its hedge maze nor found its secret chambers; she's never glimpsed the shades that haunt it, nor hunted for lost diamonds in its walls.

But all of that is about to change. After her grandmother passes away, Sarah and her friend Jackson decide to search for the diamonds--and the house comes alive. She discovers that she can see visions of the house's past, like the eighteenth-century sea captain who hid the jewels, or the glamorous great-grandmother driven mad by grief. She grows closer to both Jackson and a young man named Richard Hathaway, whose family histories are each deeply entwined with her own. But when the visions start to threaten the person she holds most dear, Sarah must do everything she can to get to the bottom of the house's secrets, and stop the course of history before it is cemented forever.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Opening line:  "I was sixteen the first time my grandmother died."

When I saw this book on goodreads, I didn't really give it much thought, especially when I saw it was listed as paranormal.  I don't tend to read a lot of paranormal or ghost stories, but the cover intrigued me.  So when I was at my library, looking for something non-Dystopian, and saw it there on the shelf, I impulse grabbed it.  And I wasn't disappointed.

Amber House is amazing.  It's got plenty of drama and romance and spookiness.  The way they portray the paranormal happenings in the house is interesting.  The focus is more on suspense and history rather than trying to scare you.  I also loved the very Gothic feel of the story with its old Southern plantation mansion and hedge maze.  

The characters have great emotional depth, and even the secondary characters seem real and relatable.  My only complaint (and it's a small one) is that in the beginning of the book, it seems like the authors struggled with the one character's voice.  Sarah's brother Sam is supposed to be five years old, but sometimes he sounds five, sometimes twelve, sometimes three.  They eventually figure out how he should sound, but it threw me off a little in the beginning.  But that's a teeny issue and easy to get past.

I'm so excited to read the next book.  Amber House could easily have been a stand-alone book, especially with that awesome ending.  It blew my mind!  But it also works really well as an epic start to a trilogy.  I hope the next two books are as great as this one.  A

Book Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Title:  Seraphina
Author:  Rachel Hartman
Series:  Seraphina #1
Genre:  YA Fantasy
Pages:  451

Rating:  A-

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

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I got this book from the library for no other reason than the dragon on the cover.  Plus, I also heard some good things from other bloggers, but honestly, it was mostly due to the dragon.  I love all things dragon-related, whether they're books, stuffed animals, figurines, jewelry, etc.

Seraphina is an interesting novel with lots of elements of fantasy, romance, music, and drama.  It actually reminded me a little of The Girl of Fire & Thorns because of its setting and time-period.  Both stories have men in doublets, a religion similar to Catholicism, and heroines who are headstrong but still somewhat unsure of themselves.  I really enjoyed the different take the story has on dragons as well.  Overall, it's a great start to a fantasy series, developing the characters, providing extensive world-building, and setting up what promises to be an epic adventure in the next book.

But that's also the one thing I disliked about the book.  The author spends so much time building her world and characters that it takes a while for the plot to become apparent and for the story to get any momentum to it.  I almost gave up on the book in the beginning because it was taking too long to actually go anywhere.  I'm really glad I didn't though, because once the book finally starts to pick up its pace, it's exciting and nerve-wracking and heartbreaking.

I'm really excited for the next book in Hartman's series.  I only hope that now that she's spent sufficient time setting up her world in Seraphina, her next book will be fast-paced and action-packed.  A-

Book Review: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Title:  The Eyre Affair
Author:  Jasper Fforde
Series:  Thursday Next #1
Genre:  Fantasy/Mystery
Pages:  374

Rating:  B+

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  Welcome to a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem, militant Baconians heckle performances of Hamlet, and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection, until someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature. When Jane Eyre is plucked from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday must track down the villain and enter the novel herself to avert a heinous act of literary homicide.

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The Eyre Affair is a fun adventure written specifically for book-lovers.  With tons of names, events, and personalities straight out of literature, this book had so many little things that were enjoyable and surprising.

What I loved

• Thursday Next  -  The main character is sarcastic and sassy; she makes mistakes, but she owns up to them.  She's resourceful and smart.  But she never comes across as too perfect or as a Mary-Sue.  Thursday has her flaws, but they shape her character and give her good emotional depth.
• Literary references  -  So many good pokes at other books!  I had so much fun finding and recognizing all of the different elements that were pulled from other works of literature.  And the debate over who actually wrote Shakespeare's plays was an interesting story arc.
• World building  -  This very surreal world that Fforde has built was so cool to explore.  A world where characters can come to life or you can go into a book to observe.  Where the Crimean War has been continuing for over 100 years.  Where people like Winston Churchill never existed, and huge corporations run the world.  Where you can keep a cloned dodo as a pet.  It's a world I definitely would like to check out, but wouldn't want to actually live in.
• Secondary characters  -  Many of the secondary characters get great character development and depth.  I particularly liked Bowden Cable and Victor Analogy.  And the villain is creepy and evil and the perfect fit for a world that's so obsessed with literature.

What I disliked

• One chapter of F-words  -  So it wasn't actually a whole chapter, just a portion of one, but I don't understand why people think it's necessary to include the word at all.  I could handle the other profanities, but then I got to this one chapter and it felt like every other word for a couple of paragraphs was the F-word, and that just made me uncomfortable.
• The romance  -  Most boring and pointless romance ever.  I didn't like Thursday's love interest at all.  Their story seemed unnecessary and just thrown in there for the sake of having a romance in the book. Also I really liked a different guy better, so it was disappointing when Thursday didn't end up with him.  Honestly, it was the most frustrating part of the whole book for me.

Despite that one chapter and the fact that the romance was dissatisfying, I enjoyed The Eyre Affair, and I'll definitely pick up the next book in the series to see what happens to Thursday next (sorry, couldn't help myself).  B+

Book Review: Master of Many Treasures by Mary Brown

Title:  Master of Many Treasures
Author:  Mary Brown
Series:  Pigs Don't Fly #3
Genre:  Fantasy
Pages:  384

Rating:  F

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  The good news was that Summer had found true love. The bad news was that, while the object of her affections was sometimes in human form, he was last seen in dragon form flying east. So she undertook yet another arduous quest...

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I cannot think of anything good to say about Master of Many Treasures.  I really can't.  All I can think of was everything I hated about this book.

• Profanity  -  The last book had hardly any swearing in it at all.  In this book, the F-word is used frequently.  I just couldn't deal with how many times it was said.
• Sex  -  I stopped actually reading the book and just skimmed the rest of it when the author just kept bringing up sick/disgusting references.  I don't even want to mention/think about what was in the book.  I was so grossed out; I almost didn't finish the book at all.  But since I wanted to know if Summer and Jasper ended up together, I pretty much just kept jumping ahead every 10 pages, skimmed to see what happened, and then jumped ahead the next 10 pages until the end.
• Dickon  -  I hated this character so much, I wanted him to die.  Most of the profanity is from his dialogue too.
• The ending  -  Probably one of the worst endings ever.  I finished the book and was like, "I wasted my time reading/skimming this book for it to end like that?!"

Don't bother reading this book at all.  Even if you've read Pigs Don't Fly and want to know what happens next, it's not worth reading this garbage, which is exactly where my copy of this book is headed.  F

Book Review: Pigs Don't Fly by Mary Brown

Title:  Pigs Don't Fly
Author:  Mary Brown
Series:  Pigs Don't Fly #2
Genre:  Fantasy
Pages:  384

Rating:  C+

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  Left an orphan with a small dowry and a magic ring, all Summer wanted was to find a husband. But first, a raggle-tail assortment of creatures needed her help--particularly the flying pig and the handsome amnesiac blind knight...

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I first heard about Pigs Don't Fly while browsing through Barnes & Noble's website.  The book was out-of-print, so of course they didn't actually carry it, and I forgot about it for years.  Then I found it on paperbackswap.com recently, and I was so excited to read it.  Perhaps my expectations were too high, because I thought the book was just okay.

The characters are interesting and different.  Summer is an educated peasant girl, almost unheard of in her world, and she's compassionate and caring towards others.  But she's also obese, naive, and stubborn.  She gets a crush on a blind knight (which she's happy about because he can't see how fat she is) who needs her help to find his way home, and she picks up a ragtag crew of misfit animals on the way.  The animals are actually more interesting characters than the humans.

The story itself is all-over-the-place with a very thin plot.  But it had lots of small, fun adventures that were entertaining.  The biggest problem with the story as a whole was the ending.  It felt rushed and thrown-together at the last minute, like the author had no more ideas and just needed an out.

And then there's the insta-love.  These two characters had nothing between them at all (they're not even the same species during most of their adventures), and once they kiss, they magically fall madly in love with each other. Hates it!  And I was actually thrown by all the sexual references made throughout the book.  There was nothing explicit fortunately, but there's still a lot more than I expected.

Pigs Don't Fly is an okay book.  It's moderately entertaining; the animals are the story's saving grace.  It would have been better as a series of short stories rather than one book.  C+

Book Review: The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull

Title:  The Candy Shop War
Author:  Brandon Mull
Series:  Candy Shop War #1
Genre:  Middle-grade fantasy
Pages:  370

Rating:  B

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  What if there were a place where you could get magical candy? Moon rocks that made you feel weightless. Jawbreakers that made you unbreakable. Or candy that gave animals temporary human intelligence and communication skills. (Imagine what your pet would say!) Four young friends, Nate, Summer, Trevor, and Pigeon, are befriended by Belinda White, the owner of a new candy shop on Main Street. However, the gray- haired, grandmotherly Mrs. White is not an ordinary candy maker. Her confections have magical side effects. Purposefully, she invites the kids on a special mission to retrieve a hidden talisman under Mt. Diablo Elementary School. However, Mrs. White is not the only magician in town in search of the ancient artifact rumored to be a fountain of youth. She is aware that Mr. Stott, the not- so- ordinary ice cream truck driver, has a few tricks of his own.

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I wish I had more to say about this book, but I read another one right after it so this review will be short and straightforward.  I enjoyed The Candy Shop War; it's definitely a book I would have loved even more when I was younger.

• The book had a fun story.  An old-fashioned ice cream shop that sells candy that grants magical powers to kids?  A war between magicians that these same kids get caught up in and must resolve?  It's a great premise and made a fun read.
• There were also good main characters.  Each one had a unique personality, and the main villain was exceptionally well-done.  However, the bullies the kids face at school are bland and stereotypical.  
• The writing was OK.  At points it was jumpy and jumbled, and I had to reread stuff to figure out if I'd missed something.
• My biggest problem with the book, and what kept the rating from being an A, was the author's obsession with race.  He brings it up so much, in very unnecessary ways, that it bugged me and made me want to put the book down at times.  And worse were the times when he said things that bordered on racist.  It kept me from completely enjoying the book.

As I said before, I would have loved this book a lot more when I was younger because the writing style wouldn't have bothered me, and I never would have noticed the constant racial references.  But now that I'm older (and hopefully wiser), these things got under my skin and made me uncomfortable.  I'd hesitate to recommend this to kids without warning parents first.  B

Book Review: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

Title:  A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent
Author:  Marie Brennan
Genre:  Fantasy
Pages:  336

Rating:  A-

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon’s presence, even for the briefest of moments—even at the risk of one’s life—is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . .

All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.
Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever.

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So A Natural History of Dragons was nothing like I expected, and not in a bad way.  I was expecting something more on the fantastic side, with lots of dragons and creatures.  But the dragons played a very minor role.  The story was mostly a memoir about Isabella Camherst, her marriage, and what led her to become a dragon naturalist.  It's implied that there will be at least one or two sequels to this memoir since it only covered the first nineteen years of Isabella's life.  Plus, in the book, Isabella discussed "future volumes" of her memoirs, and I'm hoping Brennan really does write more because I enjoyed this first one.

Overall the book had good dialogue and an interesting story.  It does get slow at points when it gets bogged down with scientific details.  The story isn't very action motivated at all, at least not until the end.  Then all the action seems to happen at once.  It took me a little longer to get through this book than others, but it was worth trudging through the slow parts.

One of the reasons I really liked the story was because Isabella was a very different heroine.  She's bookish, not sentimental, and very straightforward.  Her husband, Jacob, is the perfect match for her, and I fell in love with him myself.  The other characters are good too, with enough character development to keep them from being two-dimensional, but Jacob and Isabella have the most depth and realism.  A-

Book Review: The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

Title:  The Brides of Rollrock Island
Author:  Margo Lanagan
Genre:  YA fantasy/mythology retelling
Pages:  305

Rating:  C

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  On remote Rollrock Island, men make their living--and fetch their wives--from the sea.

The Witch Misskaella knows how to find the girl at the heart of a seal. She'll coax a beauty from the beast for any man, for a price. And what man wouldn't want a sea-wife, to and to hold, and to keep by his side forever?  But though he may tell himself that he is the master, one look in his new bride's eyes will transform him just as much as it changes her. Both will be ensnared--and the witch will look on, laughing.  

In this magical, seaswept novel, Margo Lanagan tells an extraordinary tale of desire, despair, and transformation. With devastatingly beautiful prose, she reveals characters capable of unspeakable cruelty, but also of unspoken love.

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I've always been fascinated with selkie mythology, so when I heard about The Brides of Rollrock Island, I was really excited to check it out.  But I thought the book was just blah over all.  There was no real plot, only a couple of the characters got any development, and the narration was choppy and disjointed.

The book is split into a group of short stories about Rollrock Island, each told by a different character.  Usually I like split narration, but in this case, having so many narrators took away from the story.  The phrase "Too many cooks spoil the broth" was true here.  It made the story seem very choppy and all over the place.  And it made the fact that there was barely a plot much more noticeable.

I think I might have liked the story a little more if some of the narration had been done by one of the seal-wives.  Considering that the book is called The Brides of Rollrock Island, you would have thought the story might have been told from their point-of-view, at least a little.  Instead, all of the narrators are the non-selkies.  So the seal-wives barely had any character development; their personalities were very flat and boring.  One of these days, I'd like to read a book about selkies that's told from their POV, about how it felt to be pulled from their skins and what it was like to be trapped on land and how they justified leaving their children behind if they found their skin again.  That would be a great book.

The Brides of Rollrock Island disappointed me because I was hoping for something different, something more than what I got.  I expected a more mysterious story, a story that focused mostly on the selkies and less about the islanders.  I guess my biggest problem with the book was that it didn't fit my expectations.  C

Book Review: The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

Title:  The Crown of Embers
Author:  Rae Carson
Series:  Fire and Thorns #2
Genre:  YA fantasy
Pages:  410

Rating:  A

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  In the sequel to the acclaimed The Girl of Fire and Thorns, a seventeen-year-old princess turned war queen faces sorcery, adventure, untold power, and romance as she fulfills her epic destiny.

Elisa is the hero of her country. She led her people to victory against a terrifying enemy, and now she is their queen. But she is only seventeen years old. Her rivals may have simply retreated, choosing stealth over battle. And no one within her court trusts her-except Hector, the commander of the royal guard, and her companions. As the country begins to crumble beneath her and her enemies emerge from the shadows, Elisa will take another journey. With a one-eyed warrior, a loyal friend, an enemy defector, and the man she is falling in love with, Elisa crosses the ocean in search of the perilous, uncharted, and mythical source of the Godstone's power. That is not all she finds. A breathtaking, romantic, and dangerous second volume in the Fire and Thorns trilogy.

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The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson was incredible!  I'm not sure if I love it as much as the first book or if I love it more.  This book definitely didn't follow the usual pattern with middle books in a trilogy.  It stands on its own as an exciting and romantic adventure.  (Now to attempt to review this without spoilers.)

Elisa is an even better character in this book.  She's more mature and sure of herself, quick-thinking, and diplomatic.  In her heart, she sometimes feels like an insecure seventeen-year-old, but she doesn't allow her insecurities to rule her or to affect her judgment.  I think Elisa's such an amazing person because of her strength.  She's willing to let go of love, happiness, and life for the sake of her kingdom and its people.

There are both old and new characters in The Crown of Embers.  Each one gets a chance to shine, as well as some great character development and background.  None of them ever seems two-dimensional.  But sometimes they did frustrate me (I despise Ximena!).  I wanted to just shake them all and say, "Don't you see the answer's right there in front of you?!"  But of course, if they had seen it, the story would have been very short, and the tension (romantic or hostile) between the characters wouldn't have happened.

The plot and writing were great.  I felt swept up into the story, the drama, the politics, the intrigue, the action.  I couldn't wait to start the next chapter and see where the story went.  And Carson definitely threw in some twists I wasn't expecting, which made the story even more exciting.

The best and most frustrating part of the book - the romance.  It's so obvious that Elisa and the man she's in love with (not telling) are meant to be together.  And the tension between them is spine-tingling.  It's also frustrating too, because you can see that they love each other, but it takes so long before they both come to that realization too.  Can't wait to see what happens with their relationship in the final book.

And then there was ... the cliffhanger.  OMG that ending killed me!  And now I have to wait to see how it all will end.  I am definitely excited for The Bitter Kingdom (out August 27th).  I hope it is as good as the first two books, because they were both awesome.  A

Movie Review: Oz the Great and Powerful

Where to begin?  I neither loved nor hated Oz the Great and Powerful.  It was fun and entertaining, and James Franco was definitely the best-looking wizard of Oz I've ever seen.  But for the most part, the movie was just cheesy, from some terrible CGI and 3-D gimmicks to over-the-top acting.

That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the movie, because I did.  There were plenty of funny moments that had us all laughing, as well as a couple of secondary characters that provided both humor and cuteness.  Oz's adorable flying monkey bellhop-turned-sidekick was probably my favorite character during the whole movie.

The coolest part of the movie was the Land of Oz.  This film's very bright and colorful depiction was reminiscent of the original movie, while adding some fun new elements and incorporating other parts of Oz that we didn't get to see in the original.

Now for the stuff that kept me from considering this a fantastic movie.  First, not all of the actors in this movie can... well, act.  Others can act, but the script made it hard for me to take them seriously.  Then there were the moments when it became super-obvious that characters had changed from actors to CGI as they were running through the landscape.  But I can forgive all that because none of it bothered me as much as the stupid 3-D gimmicks.  I really hate the 3-D craze in Hollywood right now.  It doesn't impress me; it just gives me headaches.  And the biggest reason I hate it is because of the gimmicks the filmmakers throw in, gimmicks that don't translate to the 2-D version.  Things popping out at you and the "roller coaster effect" that's supposed to make you feel like you're moving too - none of those work in 2-D, which is the version I always watch.  It's the version most people will watch when they buy the DVD.  So throwing in all those "special effects" that only work in 3-D just ruins a movie for me, because it looks cheap in 2-D.

So, Hollywood, make as many 3-D movies as you want, but please remember to consider the people who will only be watching the 2-D version.  It would have made Oz the Great and Powerful a much better movie, in my opinion, if you'd simply avoided the gimmicks.  B

Book Review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Title:  The Scorpio Races
Author:  Maggie Stiefvater
Genre:  YA fantasy/mythology retelling
Pages:  409

Rating:  A+

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

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Opening line:  "It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die."

I just knew when I started reading The Scorpio Races that I shouldn't have started it so late at night.  From the opening to the closing line, I was sucked in and unwilling to stop reading despite knowing I'd hate myself for staying up so late.  And sure enough, I'm soooo tired today, but that book was worth it.

One of the coolest aspects of this story was that it could just as easily have been Celtic historical fiction, not fantasy.  It could have simply been a story about an Irish girl deciding to ride in a male-dominated sport and her struggle with both the training and the prejudice against her, and about a boy who wants to own the horse that belongs to his boss, even though he's the one who's been training and riding it for the past six years.  I actually kept thinking of two movies when I read this book - The Quiet Man (because of the racing scene and the fight scene) and The Secret of Roan Inish (because of its depiction of the Irish island dwellers and their mythology).  Everything in The Scorpio Races seems very realistic, from the American tourists to the descriptions of the fields and cliffs.  The only thing that makes this book fantasy is the fictional island of Thisby and the surrounding Scorpio Sea, and the fact that the racers ride wild, carnivorous water horses (the Capall Uisca) from the sea that would do anything to escape, including eat their riders.

The characters in the book were great too.  Kate "Puck" Connolly is the determined island girl who needs to ride to try to keep her home and family together.  Since being orphaned thanks to the water horses, she's had to become tough and self-reliant, but she's also got a vulnerable side that she only lets slip when she thinks she's alone.  I thought she was great because she wasn't a Mary-Sue; she's a fierce competitor but she also makes mistakes.  She's one of two narrators in the book; the other is Sean Kendrick.  Sean was also orphaned by the water horses, but he still appreciates and loves them, training them to run the races.  He has a very calming and commanding presence, but there's also a wildness to him, especially when he's with Corr, his water horse.  My favorite secondary characters are the American horse-buyer George Holly and Puck's younger brother Finn.  Both add some elements of humor, and they also each help Sean and Puck reach their goals.

Everything about The Scorpio Races drew me in- the beautiful writing, the characters, the setting, the horses, the story.  I felt like I was there the entire time, standing next to Puck or riding the Capall Uisca, and I only wish that Stiefvater would write another book about Thisby and the races so I could experience it all over again.  A+

Book Review: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Title:  Something Wicked This Way Comes
Author:  Ray Bradbury
Genre:  Fantasy/Horror
Pages:  215

Rating:  A

Synopsis from goodreads.com:  A masterpiece of modern Gothic literature, Something Wicked This Way Comes is the memorable story of two boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway, and the evil that grips their small Midwestern town with the arrival of a “dark carnival” one Autumn midnight. How these two innocents, both age 13, save the souls of the town (as well as their own), makes for compelling reading on timeless themes. What would you do if your secret wishes could be granted by the mysterious ringmaster Mr. Dark? Bradbury excels in revealing the dark side that exists in us all, teaching us ultimately to celebrate the shadows rather than fear them. In many ways, this is a companion piece to his joyful, nostalgia-drenched Dandelion Wine, in which Bradbury presented us with one perfect summer as seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, he deftly explores the fearsome delights of one perfectly terrifying, unforgettable autumn.

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Opening Line:  "First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys."

That opening line had me hooked.  From the moment I picked it up, Something Wicked This Way Comes kept me glued to its pages.  It's both a coming-of-age horror story and a poetic & philosophical allegory about life and love.  With beautiful writing, some good characters, and a suspenseful story, this book was definitely worth losing sleep over.

The main characters of the story are Will Holloway and Jim Nightshade, and even though the story's mostly about them, Will's father Charlie plays a very central role too.  Each has an interesting and unique personality, and each represents a different type of person.  Will is essentially the good guy and the representation of contented youth.  When the "carnival" comes to town, he feels a slight temptation towards it and what it offers, but for the most part, he recognizes its evil and tries to avoid it.  His friend Jim is severely tempted by it though.  He represents the youth who wants to grow up, who wants to experience life and take risks.  It's his actions that essentially get the boys into the mess they're in.  And Charlie is the old man longing for his youth back.  He's the voice of reason and wisdom.

The three of them get caught up in an exciting plot that kept me on the edge of my seat.  Lots of suspense and "monsters" and magic.  The narrative was for the most part fast-paced and full of action.  There were moments, however, where the story dragged a little because Charlie talks a lot and what he says is deep and philosophical.  Some people could get bogged down with all of his talk (even Jim and Will comment on it), but I enjoyed it... most of the time.  There was one chapter towards the end, when the suspense was killing me, that Charlie talked a bit too much, and I just wanted him to shut up.  But that's my only complaint.

But I think the one thing that really won me over was Bradbury's writing.  His style is so descriptive and poetic; it's easy to forget you're reading a scary story since the writing is beautiful.  I just wanted to get lost in this little town of Will and Jim's and smell the cotton candy and hear the calliope and run through the streets with them.  Bradbury just made everything come to life through his writing.  My favorite passage in the whole book is when he talks about the town library.

The library deeps lay waiting for them.  Out in the world, not much happened.  But here in the special night, a land bricked with paper and leather, anything might happen, always did.  Listen! and you heard ten thousand people screaming so high only dogs feathered their ears.  A million folk ran toting cannons, sharpening guillotines; Chinese, four abreast, marched on forever.  Invisible, silent, yes, but Jim and Will had the gift of ears and noses as well as the gift of tongues.  This was a factory of spices from far countries.  Here alien deserts slumbered.  Up front was the desk where the nice old lady, Miss Watriss, purple-stamped your books, but down off away were Tibet and Antarctica, the Congo.  There went Miss Wills, the other librarian, through Outer Mongolia, calmly toting fragments of Peiping and Yokohama and the Celebes.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is my kind of scary story.  Suspenseful, interesting, beautifully written, and containing a deeper meaning.  Now I just want to pick up more of Bradbury's books and bury myself in them.  A