3 Evil Cousins

Ophelia by Lisa Klein

2010-12-29T09:11:00.007Z

Ophelia, by Lisa Klein, is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet through the eyes of the world’s most famous spurned lover. A young and blossoming girl, Ophelia catches the eye of the dark prince Hamlet, and the well-known story unfolds with just enough innovation to make it interesting.

We get a far more in-depth picture of Ophelia. The book spends a somewhat excessive amount of time describing her alabaster skin and lithe figure, but beyond that her thought-processes and intelligence are explored quite completely. She is no longer a pale, watery mystery, writhing blurrily in tragedy and madness. She is calculating, intelligent, and stifled. As she says in a bout of frustration, "The wild doe has become a gentle deer. I fear I have been forcibly tamed."

Ophelia is youthful, ripe, lovely and restlessly clever. The author did a great job of blending the ideal of a young girl as a blooming sexual object with the well-tested narrative of a girl who wants a life bigger than she is allowed. Ophelia won’t stand for becoming a lady. She wants out of the castle, out of her limited life. And she will achieve this in ways that --given Ophelia’s stigma-- may surprise the reader.

The first half of the book is fast-paced and compelling. It chronicles Ophelia’s childhood and whirlwind, frightening and magical love affair with Hamlet. They are intellectual equals, and while they once enjoy a relationship solely based on their love and their fantasies for the future they will have together, it becomes an affair spurred on by a spark of madness. They twist through a black maze of heat and passion and the constant possibility that the person in their arms will suddenly morph into a ghost-possessed demon.

What is madness? How does it spread? How does it infect? Is it always there, festering, waiting, or is it a malady foreign to the natural mind? Ophelia watches as her bright and brilliant Hamlet dances along the path of madness—assuring her he is merely playing, pretending and scheming to achieve his goals. He is above it all, he is in control. But it is a steep and slippery slope, and Ophelia watches as her love and equal becomes a creature unknown to her. And it is exciting and it is beautiful and it is breathtaking. But so, so frightening.

Is madness inborn? Can it be faked? Is there a line between true madness and the trickery of the mind? These questions are explored directly and indirectly throughout.

That was something the book does very well. Unfortunately, after the wonderful first half, the book loses much of its momentum. It meanders and drags, and I found myself having to force myself to read. Yes, there is a great little twist that skews the well-known story and completely changes where the latter part of the book goes—but the novel fails, after the initial idea, to follow through and make it interesting. It devolves into immoderate pockets of unnecessary description and repetitive pages that weren’t really interesting in the first place.

If you can make it through the duller second half, the beginning of the novel is definitely worth a read. It will be significantly more rewarding if you are familiar with Hamlet, however.

2 and a half evil daggers.

Yours in madness and sanity (whatever that is),

Briar

Ringworld by Larry Niven

2010-09-02T20:27:00.008+01:00

Louis Wu has seen it all. Jaded, bored with a world that has no more to offer him, he spends his two hundredth birthday reminiscing about his youth, the good old days when caprice ruled his actions and the world seemed endless in its capacity for excitement. The spark of adventure is still inside him, but Earth, shrunken and standardized by the advent of teleportation, is no longer a place of infinite variety and wonder.

Enter Nessus. A member of the “puppeteers,” an alien race famed for its cowardice, Nessus’s fellows condemn him as insane because of his bravery. Yet they find him useful as an explorer, visiting planets and stars no “sane” puppeteer would dare approach. For his current expedition, he requires companions. Louis immediately signs on to Nessus’s mission, with an excitement fueled by xenophilia and a youthful spirit. Along with two other individuals- Teela Brown, a young human woman, and Speaker-to-Animals, a fearsome alien feline- they set off to investigate the Ringworld, a massive alien artifact shrouded in mystery.

I don’t often use the phrase “thrill ride,” but there’s no other way to describe this book. The numerous plot twists and turns left me guessing every step of the way, and at several points I was left simply marveling at the author’s sheer cleverness. The characters and setting were just as richly detailed and complex as the plot, woven together into a compelling novel with a surprise ending no one could have predicted. Fantastical sci-fi concepts enrich the storyline and are made believable by the smart, polished writing. Creepy insights into what humanity’s future could look like are pure genius (and also really unsettling).

Okay, so this book isn’t exactly new, or YA, but the setting is futuristic and the book has as much action, adventure, and suspense as any novel written for teens. In short, it’s made of awesome. If this book has a downside, it’s that made-up words and new concepts are often introduced with no explanation, and the explanation comes later. A slight flaw, compared to the rest of the book. Five high-tech flashlight lasers- er, daggers.

Futuristically yours,

Tay

The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama

2010-08-24T02:24:00.009+01:00

In the fall of 1937, a young Chinese man named Stephen is stricken with tuberculosis. Despite the deteriorating political situation in eastern Asia due to Japan’s budding imperialism, Stephen is sent to a small Japanese village called Tarumi, where his family owns a summer house, to rest and recover from his illness. He is to be cared for by the family’s housekeeper, Matsu, a quiet and reserved man whom Stephen knows only as an acquaintance.

As the novel opens, Stephen has no reason to believe that his stay in Tarumi will be anything but relaxing, and he is looking forward to reading and painting, his two favorite hobbies. Soon after he arrives, though, it becomes clear to Stephen that there is more to Matsu than meets the eye. He becomes acquainted with two of Matsu’s old friends, named Kenzo and Sachi, and slowly begins to discover the secrets of their difficult past. As time passes, as he becomes immersed in Japanese life and culture, forges friendships with the enigmatic Sachi and Matsu, and participates in a romance, Stephen begins to feel more and more at home in Tarumi, a place that is at once turbulent and peaceful.

This book takes place against the backdrop of 1930’s Japan. At the time, Japan was fully industrialized and seeking dominance over its less modernized neighbors, especially China; this aggressive foreign policy was one of the contributing factors to Japan’s later involvement in World War II. The novel makes frequent reference to radio news reports- from both perspectives- of Japan’s victories over the Chinese army; it is interesting to see the contrast between the Chinese and Japanese reports of the same battles, underscoring the effect of bias in the media.

The people, food, dress, and customs of the vibrant Japanese culture were portrayed colorfully throughout the book, while the author’s sparse, clear prose beautifully evoked the clean, elegant style of Asian art and poetry. The plot was well-developed and reasonably interesting, incorporating an intricate storyline within a compact package. I was especially impressed by the complex characterization, which was well-executed and made the characters seem vivid and real.

Ironically, however, despite the fact that the novel is written in first person, the protagonist Stephen is remarkably underdeveloped compared to the other characters; his lack of any distinguishable traits is in sharp contrast to the richly layered personalities of the other main characters. The awkward, boring, and halfhearted romantic element of the story is unnecessary- I feel that the novel would be better off if the romantic subplot were replaced with actual development of Stephen as a character.

Despite its shortcomings, though, this book was a success. It was, a bit surprisingly, thought-provoking; the hardships described by the characters made me reflect on what I would have done in the same situations, and the descriptions of a beautiful culture immersed me. The writing style was unpretentious and refreshingly clean. Overall, it was a complex and detailed novel bound up into a deceptively small package. I award it four daggers.

Yours,
Tay

Gossip of the Starlings by Nina de Gramont

2010-08-16T20:15:00.008+01:00

Gossip of the Starlings, by Nina de Gramont, is a boarding school story with a twist. Catherine arrives at Esther Percy School for Girls, having been forced from her old (coed) school for boy-related reasons. The school seems rigid, constraining, lonely, until Sky Butterfield chooses Catherine as her friend. Beautiful, eloquent, daring, and brilliant, Skye, the Senator’s daughter, is brimming with life and vim. She transforms Catherine’s life into a whirl of hazy, weed-brightened nights and days of rosy adventures merely rimmed by classes.

Skye is passionate and vibrant, but her desperate thirst for dare and danger becomes concerning for Catherine. Skye has a tragic soul and seems to believe that she is indestructible—a belief she tests more and more frantically, engaging in increasingly dangerous adventures. Skye defies convention, takes what she wants, lives hungrily yet can never be satisfied. She is a tightrope walker, an enchanted seductress, an angel. She is a presence in both of the worlds she inhabits—the world of Esther Percy and the world of my mind. It is tough to say where she is more at home.

Gossip of the Starlings was fantastic. The writing was pure poetry: smooth, eloquent, daintily descriptive without ever being too thick. The characters were painted gloriously, the plot and the allusions drawn were constantly keeping me interested. The following is just a snippet from the long, intricate work of art Gramont has created.

“Now, when I see teenage girls laughing. When I see them loosed on a summer evening – their limbs tanned and gossamer, their imagined freedom radiating like nuclear light – I can’t help but fast forward two decades or more. I know the curve of their bones has already made an imperceptible bow to gravity. I see the decay in slow motion, even or especially through those stunning and immortal years.”

Complemented by such gems of observations, small moments make up much of the novel. They are painted to such rich perfection that after months I recall them still. The image of a blood promise in a night-dark dorm room stands in my mind bright and vivid—scarlet blood, moonlit curls, tender smiles and flushed cheeks as the girls teeter on the edge of destruction; the first in many daring adventures that take them inches from death, the only way, they believe, to truly experience life.

I loved Skye’s seduction, the way even the reader was drawn to her. I could picture her lush beauty, her tender flawless skin, the dare and the dreams in her eyes. The way she could dance logical circles around any opponent, dangle her ripe sexuality at a whim, manipulating the world into her dark and dizzy playground.

After finishing Gossip of the Starlings, I began to search for other hazy books about poetry and death and life and living on the cusp of womanhood. The only other one I found was the Virgin Suicides (by Jeffrey Eugenides), which was excellent but lacking the strong plot of Gossip of the Starlings. Any suggestions?

Anyway, as if you couldn’t guess—Gossip of the Starlings earns a glowing five daggers.

Off embracing my fleeting youth but always, unalterably yours,

Briar

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

2010-08-16T17:51:00.016+01:00

True to its title, the book teaches the fundamental principles of Taoism through Winnie-the-Pooh. Charmingly simple, yet strikingly profound, Hoff beautifully introduces his readers to Taoism.

Take a moment and consider the concept of this book: eastern philosophy explained using a children's storybook character. Cute? Yes. Borderline absurd? Perhaps. Yet, Hoff brilliantly executes the seemingly silly concept. Pooh is Taoism personified. The Winnie-the-Pooh stories Hoff references simplify Taoism's principles and teachings while his references to Chinese writers, Chinese terms, Chinese paintings, western philosophers, musicians, etc. add a delicate flavor to the novel. The Tao of Pooh merges simplicity and profundity into one delightful work of art.

My only complaint is the complaining. At times, Hoff's tone becomes whiny. The tone reminds me of a teenager vehemently defending his/her peculiar lifestyle choices to a large group of overly judgmental peers. However, he tends to have a good point. Knowledge for the sake of flaunting one's imagined superiority is rude and distasteful: definitely not a good way of living one's life. However, when Hoff bashed science, I felt he went too far. Granted, it was only a single sentence, but it struck a chord deep within my gut. He accused "Nearsighted Science" of asking questions it will never know the answer to and coming up with more questions instead. True, science raises more questions than it answers, but I would not go so far as to call it a waste of time. I see science as pushing the boundaries of human knowledge: a useful pursuit (I rather like running water, electricity, computers, indoor plumbing, fiber optics, vaccines, antibiotics, etc.).

Clearly, I am biased towards science. I simply felt some of Hoff's refutations of other pursuits of knowledge/wisdom were too harsh and confrontational. Negative criticism aside, the book does possess redeeming qualities. The stories of Pooh and his friends wonderfully illustrate the tenets of Taoism, which are elegant in their own right.

Therefore, I reward The Tao of Pooh four daggers out of five. Its honest simplicity and charming insight make it a worthy addition to any private library, despite its sporadic fault-finding.

Yours meditatively,

Gabriel Gethin

Intuition by Allegra Goodman

2010-06-08T22:48:00.014+01:00

In the Philpott Institute, several young postdocs research a possible cure for cancer. Sandy Glass and Marion Mendelssohn run the lab. In the beginning of the novel, Glass and Mendelssohn tell Cliff Bannaker, one of the postdocs, to discontinue his work on the RSV-7 virus. They told him once before, but he adamantly believes his virus is going to change cancer cells into normal cells. Cliff refuses to listen and continues working on the virus. Glass and Mendelssohn are forced to consider firing Cliff, but the two of them disagree.

Unexpectedly, Cliff notices improvement in three of his lab mice. The injected RSV-7 virus has shrunk their tumors! Glass and Mendelssohn allow Cliff to continue his work, and the results are incredible. In over half of the mice injected with RSV-7, the tumors have shrunk and disappeared. The virus targeted cancerous cells, but left normal cells unharmed. Practically overnight, Cliff becomes the star of the lab. Everyone is put to work on replicating his experiment. Glass and Mendelssohn work towards publishing an article in Nature and using Cliff's discovery to elicit more funding.

All goes well until Robin, Cliff's girlfriend, gets jealous. She worked at Philpott longer and thinks his fortune is unfair. Since everyone must work on Cliff's project, she is forced to give up her bone marrow project. This begins a chain reaction, eventually bringing the validity of Cliff's results into question. Robin trusts her intuition that Cliff's results are too good to be true, and she goes to great lengths in search of the truth.

Although this is the longest plot summary I've ever given, the wealth of this novel is not in its plot, but in its characters. Not to imply the plot is boring, its not. The book is riveting, fascinating, and hard to put down. However, the character development is simply phenomenal! The book shifts from one character's mind to another, giving deep insights into the thoughts of each character. It often presents different perspectives on a character's actions. This blurs the line between good and evil. Each character's thoughts alters the reader's opinion of the other characters. It makes for a very thrilling read. Dramatic twists and eureka moments occur often.

Along similar lines, the driving force of the plot is the conflicts between characters, rather than the traditional sequence of events. Obviously, the characters feelings lead to actions, which in turn lead to reactions and the process repeats. However, the conflict seems to warp constantly, making the book more exciting. Ever heard a story where a hero must fight a villain throughout the story, ultimately triumphing? This story is the polar opposite. It is not a fight between two people, but a dynamic, ever-changing conflict, involving multiple characters. Elegantly written, the reading experience is simply wonderful. The only downside, if it can even qualify as a downside, there are lots of fancy words. Keep a dictionary handy.

I give Intuition by Allegra Goodman the coveted 5 out of 5 daggers.

Yours intuitively,
Gabriel Gethin

Crossing by Andrew Xiz Fukuda

2010-05-24T20:10:00.004+01:00

The book Crossing is the tale of Xing Xu, a young chinese immigrant who is one out of two asians attending an almost exclusively white high school in New York. With the onset of the school year, Xing again faces another period of prolonged social isolation with only his sole friend and fellow asian Naomi Lee for company. What Xing does not realize is that this autumn is going to be rather different than those of the past. Xing's high school is rocked with a series of bizarre disappearances and it is soon evident that a killer is on the loose. As police and the media swarm his hometown hunting for answers, Xing goes on a search of his own. While getting closer to discovering the murderer, an old ability from his past presents him with an opportunity. Xing's ability to sing catches the eye of the school's music teacher, who appoints him as the understudy for the lead role in the school musical. With the sudden disappearance of the lead, Xing is thrust into the limelight as his replacement. With his new position , Xing is given his opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of his peers, and most importantly Naomi. As Xing prepares for the musical, the mystery of the killer remains unsolved, while police suspicion begins to fall on him.

When I first received this book, I thought this novel sounded interesting but feared it would be one of those cliché outcast saves the day kind of book however as soon as I started reading I realized I had picked up a truly unique novel and was quickly drawn into the story. The author did a wonderful job in creating Xing as a believe depiction of a disillusioned immigrant.Through Xing's thoughts, I received valuable insight on the plight of immigrants, as they must learn an entirely new language and customs as well as face alienation by the local populace. Being no stranger to isolation myself, I was quick to empathize with Xing and therefore found the outcome of the novel quite unsatisfactory. Overall, I found the book very enlightening and the storyline was superb except for that darned ending!

Four and a half daggers out of five,

Trooper Cordell

I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Elli Friedmann

2010-05-22T15:19:00.004+01:00

Elli was thirteen years old; clever, ambitious, funny, and terribly excited about her new bike. She had friends and a crush and a wonderful family—a pretty good life. Until the Nazis invaded her town. In one fell swoop, her life came out from under her. Her school was closed permanently, and all of her hard work and top-notch grades were forgotten, disregarded. Her shiny new bike was confiscated, and her bright teenage clothes were spoiled by ugly yellow stars that were fastened, one by one, to her lapels. All because she was a Jew. Yet in a few months time she would be wishing desperately for the days when she was simply discriminated against, when at least her family was united and her dignity remained.

I Have Lived a Thousand Years is haunting, stirring, terrifying, and most frighteningly of all, real. The book is survivor Livia Bitton-Jackson's autobiographical account of the Holocaust. Only thirteen when her family was carted off to different concentration camps, Elli endured a year of different camps and horrors, staying alive only by a series of lucky chances. She was first confined to a ghetto with her family, then sent to Auschwitz, Plaszow, Auschwitz again, Ausburg, Waldlager and was ultimately liberated in 1945. Elli saw and survived the very worst horrors of the Holocaust.

And she holds nothing back. With terrifying detail she tells us of the whispers about the smoke that rose over Auschwitz, the sickening and unbelievable reality that was the human bodies that made it. She tells us of her nerves the night before decimation, a process in which the entire camp is lined up and set to face a firing squad. Every tenth person is shot, yet one never knows where the count will begin or who will be the doomed tenth. She describes legs and limbs shot off live bodies, skeletal prisoners working torturous twelve hour days, and the constant, deep, gnawing presence of hunger. She describes the sun blisters that cracked and oozed upon her shaven head, the biting burns that pierced her skin, and the sharp lash of the whip as it made contact with her young flesh.

The book is sickening yet riveting. Like an accident you can’t look away from, I Have Lived a Thousand Years is impossible to read yet impossible to put down. It is an incredible, horrible, fascinating book. The author speaks about the surprising extent of human cruelty, the horrors of the pain and the torture and the death that were brought about by people, good people, people who got caught up in unity and superiority and were diminished to mindless, brainwashed, murderous monsters. And her faith in humanity was extinguished at just thirteen. At thirteen, should have been attending dances and doing homework and coming home each day to her mother and father. Instead, she was forced to live in a concentration camp, holding her breath with anxiety each day as she waited to be sent to the gas chambers.

I have read a lot of Holocaust books for young adults, and many of them were excellent. But nothing even approaches the rawness and the truth and the prose that this book is. 5 daggers.

Yours,

Briar

English Passengers by Matthew Kneale

2010-05-02T18:19:00.008+01:00

Set in the mid-19th century, when British imperialism was at its pinnacle and explorers were mapping the last uncharted corners of the globe, English Passengers spins a delicious yarn of intrigue, torment, and reckless lawbreaking on the high seas and within the plains and forests of Tasmania. It is crewed by a fascinatingly diverse cast of characters, including a likable yet eccentric rum-smuggling captain by the name of Illiam Quillian Kewley, a motley band of seafaring Manxmen, an unlikely trio of obnoxious Brits, and a tormented tribe of indigenous Tasmanians.

Captain Kewley and the crew of his smuggling ship Sincerity are expecting a brief, profitable maiden voyage. But after enduring one misfortune after another, due to “prying British Customs men,” they are forced to take on passengers for charter to Tasmania. Reverend Wilson, Dr. Potter, and Timothy Renshaw promptly proceed to make life extremely difficult for each other and for the ship’s crew, resulting in a brilliantly written comedy of errors populated by the most outrageous fools ever to set foot on a ship.

But awaiting the travelers in Tasmania is something utterly unexpected. Interspersed with the humorous antics of the travelers is the heartwrenching narrative of Peevay, the son of a Tasmanian native and a British sailor, who describes with fierce emotion the torments his people have endured from British colonizers. The book’s two main subplots gradually become intertwined, finally merging near the end and drawing the reader into the novel’s uniquely satisfying conclusion.

Though I normally don’t like historical fiction as much as other types of literature, I enjoyed and deeply appreciated this book. It made me laugh out loud with its sidesplittingly hilarious wit, it brought tears to my eyes with its raw descriptions of horrors inflicted by men, all while managing to deliver a time-honored message of tolerance and peace without being tired or clichéd. The writing successfully captures the unique personality and regional dialect of each character while still reflecting the author’s eloquent voice and creating a thoughtful, polished piece.

The remarkable thing about English Passengers is how it manages to be so many things at once. This novel is a window into a time long past, a thrillingly adventurous romp, a first-rate comedy and a tale of real-world strife, all rolled into one. I award it five daggers without hesitation.

Yours,
Tay

Another Faust by Daniel and Dina Nayeri

2010-03-12T22:08:00.016Z

One night, five children mysteriously disappear from their homes in Paris, Glasgow, Rome, and London. Five years later, the five teenagers and their governess, Madame Vileroy, arrive at an exclusive holiday party in New York. The Faust "family" has just enrolled in Marlowe, a school for elite students, in the middle of the year. They use their "gifts" given to them by Madame Vileroy to rise to suspicious heights at Marlowe. Driven by selfish obsession and making deals with the very devil, the Faust teens draw nearer their goals. That is, until two of them uncover a secret.

Another Faust is an exciting book. The plot draws you in more and more as you read on. During the last few chapters, the book becomes very difficult to put down. I commend the writers on such a well paced build up. Another exceptional aspect of the book's writing is the short "pre-chapters." At the beginning of every chapter, there are a few sentences/paragraphs of italicized writing. They usually do not relate to the story at the present, but over time, their meaning becomes clear. Either that, or they foreshadow a future plot development. The pre-chapters add suspense but also aid understanding. It is a creative, enriching touch.

As mentioned in the plot summary above, the children make deals with the very devil. The devil exploits their weaknesses and desires to coerce them into making deals. This a very interesting concept, although not original to this book (it is not called Another Faust for nothing). There a personal conflict between immediate gratification and redemption. It makes a meaningful story, but sometimes, this one character comes off as downright repulsive. The girl, Victoria, is obsessed with winning. She makes a deal so she can read minds to cheat. She is absolutely soulless. Everything about her revolves around being the best and winning. She can be really obnoxious, but the book would suffer without her presence. If you ever become disgusted with her while you are reading, just keep going. It will get better. Fortunately, not all the characters are as horrible as Victoria.

The fierce faults of Victoria might not upset you. I just felt a little threatened. I mean, honestly, this girl got to make a deal with the devil! And I call myself an evil cousin... I shall have to try harder.

I give Another Faust by Daniel and Dina Nayeri a Satanic 4 out of 5 daggers.

Devilishly yours,
Gabriel Gethin

The Wave by Todd Strasser

2010-03-10T01:19:00.003Z

The Wave, by Todd Strasser, is the story of Gordon High School, a regular American institution of lockers and bells, dreaded phys ed and social cliques. The novel takes place in the early 1970s, separated by years and oceans from the genocide of World War II. As they learn about the Holocaust in history class, everyone acknowledges that indeed, the Holocaust was horrible and despicable, but they all are equally certain that something like that could never happen in present day. Concerned with this complacency, the history teacher, Mr. Ross, sets out to show his students that a situation like Nazi Germany is never out of reach.

His experiment begins harmlessly enough; students must stand at attention before answering a question in class and say “Mr. Ross,” crisply before speaking. But gradually the experiment grows, there is a salute and a sign and the new way of acting carries beyond the classroom. Soon this experiment, called The Wave, has spread through the school, a special society in which all are strong, disciplined, equal.

Yet with the power and the unity of the Wave comes negative aspects, as well. Gradually, as more and more students join the Wave, they begin to get intoxicated with the mass feeling of brotherhood and security among their fellow Wave members. To help foster this bond, Mr. Ross organizes rallies and meetings only for Wave members, and in a surprisingly short amount of time the majority of the school is fully on board with the Wave and all that it stands for. Although once a member, all are supposedly equal and accepted, those few students who resist the Waves begin to experience negative repercussions. They are separated from their friends as they are not allowed at Wave rallies or lunches, and Wave members quickly take it upon themselves to ban non-Wave members from school events like sports games. They are ridiculed, isolated, even beaten. All those who are not part of the Wave are enemies to it, and a school that was once simply a school has become the headquarters of this hungry new regime.

The Wave is a terrifying picture of the tangibility of Nazi Germany. We find that the Nazis were not simply a huge concentration of bigoted, wicked people, but, dare I say it, people like us who went horribly wrong? In the Wave, we see how it is to get swept up in the tantalizing and reassuring world of mindlessness. Members of both the Nazi party and the Wave were freed of their obligation to make choices. They did not have to be different. And because they were human, fallible, swayable, they fell into the Nazi mold and became monsters, committing unspeakable acts of evil.

And that is why the Wave is so frightening. It shows us how susceptible even we are to falling into something like Nazi-hood or the Wave. Hitler with the Third Reich and Mr. Ross, the history teacher with the Wave, both designed their regimes to play into human vulnerabilities, to exploit them and use them to turn people blind and unfailingly obedient.

The Wave is short, no more than a compact 125 pages, but within those pages is a startling and incredible read. I’ve read the novella several times, and each time the blow is just as strong, just as incredible, and just as terrifying. It is well written and well researched, based off a 1980 classroom experiment much like the one depicted in the book. It is scary to read but absolutely riveting, and essential for us to read if we are to understand the lure of mindless unity and protect ourselves against it. The Wave is, without a doubt, one of the best books I have ever read.

Five out of five daggers, absolutely.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

2010-01-25T23:54:00.007Z

Lee Fiora is a modest girl from the Midwest, blessed by luck and hours of effort, who has won a place and a scholarship to the Ault school, a prestigious Northeastern boarding school. Vineyard Vines, Ralph Lauren and J. Crew labels are everywhere to be seen, while the school demands more academically than Lee has ever experienced. Awed and apprehensive, Lee begins her Ault career, unsure of her place in this affluent, preppy world. As the weeks and months continue, Lee becomes progressively more alienated, feeling friendless and very much an outsider. She is not privy to East Coast slang, the favorite brands; her hair is not long and sleek, her body not completely soft and slender. The novel follows Lee for her four years at Ault, during which time she becomes hardly more integrated. She spends the overwhelming majority of her high school years feeling self-conscious and rather miserable, because she feels that any thought, expression or action outside of the norm will alienate her further and cause others to think badly of her.

I liken this feeling of being scrutinized to the concept of the “panopticon,” in the book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks. A panopticon is a circular jail, arranged around a central well so that the prisoners could be watched at all times. Because of the constant assumption that they were being watched, the prisoners behaved and little watching ever really had to occur. In Prep, and in The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks, the boarding school atmosphere makes for a sort of panopticon—an environment in which everyone feels as though they are always being watched, and behave accordingly. For Frankie, in Disreputable History, the panopticon serves to fascinate her and spark a rebellion within her. In Prep, the panopticon makes Lee miserable, for she feels as though her every move must be calculated to follow what the popular students are doing, and she spends more time desperately trying to fit in than she does nearly anything else. Life with a desperate and masochistic motivation such as this is not a happy one; Lee is constantly miserable and ends up allowing herself to be used sexually by a popular boy, for after wanting so long to be wanted, she grasps at the first possibility. Lee acts for almost the sole motivation of wanting not necessarily to be accepted –for being different is never desirable—but included.

Prep was written by Curtis Sittenfeld, sort of as a memoir. Sittenfeld attended a very prestigious boarding school as a teenager, and changed the name and a few key facts in the book, in order to somewhat protect its identity. Knowing this as I read was a little sad, for Curtis, alias Lee, has such an awful time in the text.

Prep is the bittersweet story of a girl who enters into a lavish world that seems ideal to her, but quickly learns that the pressure to be the unattainable elite is suffocating, and she finds herself barely gasping for breath over the four years of her life there. The really sad thing was that by the end of the novel, Lee does not seem to have really learned anything. She has not decided to be true to herself, or not care what others think of her. Perhaps this is more realistic, but it is still rather melancholy.

Prep is basically a depressing read. And though the insights on life at such an institution as Ault were interesting and well-explored, often the book lagged in Lee’s despair and alienation.

Though I cannot say that Prep was pleasurable to read—it is certainly not uplifting—this was probably on purpose, for the author’s intentions clearly were not to make the reader gleeful. What the book did do was make me think, and I am always glad for a literary opportunity to do so. It concerned me a bit as well, for I am in the midst of applying to schools like Ault for high school, and Prep made me fear that a cold, elitist world is the one I am about to enter into. All in all it was a pretty good, if unsettling, read.

I give Prep a three out of five evil daggers.

Preppily yours,

Briar

Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon

2010-01-11T01:35:00.012Z

For those of you who desire the short, sweet version, Nightlight is a parody of Twilight. The basic storyline is similar enough to mock Twilight, yet different enough to be its own work of fiction. Belle Goose moves from Pheonix to Switchblade, Oregon to live with her father Jim, a window wiper. Belle has an obsession with dating a vampire. At her new school, she meets Edwart Mullen, a super-hot (yet fictitious) computer nerd with such a lack of social skills, one could argue he has negative social skills. After noticing a few events, such as Edwart leaving his lunch untouched, Belle realizes Edwart is a vampire. Clearly, this girl is a master of the scientific method.

I would say more in my quick summary, but I don't want to spoil the book! It's a very short read. Therefore, the summary is also short. Ironically, my summary for the 400 something page Twilight is about the same length... Quality beats quantity, which is why I recommend Nightlight over Twilight. Nightlight is hilarious! The book is like a Mel Brooks' movie. It's totally cheesy, it's a bit stupid at times, but overall, it is amazing! Some parts will make you laugh out loud (which you can shorten to "lol" if you wish). Other parts will seem a bit over-the-top and stupid. However, the length of the book makes the stupid parts less annoying.

There's not a whole lot to review in regards to this book. It's a parody. Is it funny? Yes. Therefore, it is a success. I recommend reading it, for kicks and giggles.

Four humorous daggers out of five.

Yours vampirically,
Gabriel Gethin

Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson

2010-01-05T01:44:00.031Z

Kate Malone is one of those over-achievers; every school has one. Not only is she a straight-A student with especially outstanding grades in math and science, she also happens to be a long distance-running track superstar. She is a minister's daughter. She is dating Mitchell "Mitch" Pangborn III, who is got accepted Early Decision into Harvard. She is the unwilling caretaker of her family, between the death of her mother and the religious duties of her father, Kate is left with most of the house chores. On top of all this, she is a master of avoiding emotions. However, her emotional avoidance skills get put to the test after a series of cataclysmic events turn her life upside-down.

The storyline is pretty good. No complaints about the seriousness of the aforementioned cataclysmic events, they are really quite life changing. The story is easy to relate to, especially for high school students. All high school seniors share a good degree of nervousness over college acceptance. Also, the characters are pretty unique, yet stereotypical. Sound contradicting? It is. Kate Malone, for example, is a classic example of the overachiever student everyone knows will go to some Ivy League school and invent some radical new piece of technology. However, she is not so simple. Sure, she is smart, but she only applies to one school, MIT. Anderson is a master of creating believable, yet unique characters with refreshing amounts of wit. She also develops her characters, and their relationships with one another, beautifully.

Another aspect of Anderson's writing I simply love is her mastery of changing points of view. Not from first person to third person, but changing the way people see the world around them. As the characters' view of one another and the surrounding world change, so also do the reader's. The reader follows the characters' journey as if he/she were a part of it.

The story is set in the same community as Speak, which is pretty exciting if you've read Speak. If you haven't read Speak, what are you waiting for? I gave it five out of five daggers! That's more than enough to convince you to read it. Anyways, there's a great moment in Catalyst where Kate Malone refers to Melinda from Speak, got to love it.

If you've read this far, congratulations. You have patience. Some call it a virtue. As a reward, you get to hear my negative criticism for Catalyst. First things first, it's not as good as Speak. Speak was more humorous, more emotional, and (from a certain angle) more believable. Catalyst wasn't far-fetched. However, the way the events snowball and cause this sort of domino effect makes the story seem less likely to ever happen to a real life person (however, I'm sure someone is going to get lucky). Also, I felt much sorrier for Melinda than for Kate.

Nevertheless, Catalyst was most certainly enjoyable.

4 potentially painful daggers, out of the potentially more painful 5.

Chemically yours,
Gabriel Gethin

Sacred Scars by Kathleen Duey

2009-12-29T05:29:00.007Z

WARNING: The following review contains spoilers of Skin Hunger, the first book in this series. If you have not read Skin Hunger, dash off to your local library as fast as you can and read it! Then you may read this review, and subsequently Sacred Scars, at your leisure.

When we left Sadima at the end of Skin Hunger, she, Franklin, and Somiss were in a cave with several orphan boys, kidnapped from Limori. Sadima is miserable living in the cave. She feels the fear and loneliness of the trapped boys, whom Somiss forces to learn how to copy the Gypsy symbols. Somiss is even more reclusive- and yet somehow even more frightening- than before. Worst of all, Franklin is gone all night, stealing food, and asleep all day, so Sadima has almost no time with him. As more and more time passes, she realizes that maybe he doesn’t even love her anymore. And slowly, she realizes something she knew all along. She cannot stay in this cave. She must escape.

Hahp, at the end of Skin Hunger, had made a pact with his roommate Gerrard to destroy the academy at all costs. They both realized the danger of their agreement, and as their fragile almost-friendship teeters on the verge of breaking, it seems to Hahp that Gerrard isn’t keeping his end of the deal. But that is far from being the boys’ only problem. As their lessons become more and more difficult, life becomes more painful. The wizards are acting even more strangely. Hahp’s sleep is haunted by dreams that blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Worst of all, the safety of all the boys is threatened by the violent, unpredictable, and dying Luke. As the pact between Gerrard and Hahp expands to include the rest of the boys, they are forced to make the most difficult choices of their lives. And as the connection between the story’s two plots becomes more apparent, the eternal question still nags at the reader: where is Sadima?

This book most definitely lived up to the precedent set for it by Skin Hunger. Although Sadima’s story lagged somewhat in the beginning of the book and at certain points throughout, most of that plotline, and all of Hahp’s, moved at a fairly brisk pace. There were numerous plot twists and unexpected events sprinkled throughout to keep the story moving.

Hahp’s story was definitely the more engaging of the two plots. There was so much story material there, weaving a rich, detailed plot, and as always, Hahp is a realistic and dynamic character. But this should not be taken to mean that Sadima’s story was not also compelling; on the contrary, since the action progressed somewhat more slowly for most of the book, it provided a nice complement to the tension of Hahp’s story, building up to the dramatic climax and cliffhanger ending in both cases.

Overall, Sacred Scars is a fabulous second installment in the Resurrection of Magic trilogy; I’m anxious for the conclusion. Four and a half magical daggers.

Yours in suspense,
Tay

Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix

2009-12-03T22:07:00.007Z

It is the peak of immigration in New York City, at the dawn of the twentieth century. Shouts in dozens of languages whoop through the air and smells from every dish imaginable waft through the streets of the Lower East Side. Tenements, rickety but home, climb the sky, fire escapes snaking down. The streets are crowded with pushcarts and calls. Thus is the setting for The Uprising, by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

Bella is a young immigrant girl, fresh from Italy and weighted with the daunting task of providing for her family overseas. She is lucky to find a job, though the hours spent hunched over a sewing machine in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory are not quite what she expected.

Yetta has worked at Triangle for months. She lives with her equally rebellious elder sister, and, like Bella, sends most of her earnings home to her family in Russia. She is lively with life and pulsing with her want to change the world, to mean something, to matter. She wants women’s rights and safer conditions at work, shorter hours and higher wages. She is determined and fiery, willing to stand for months in the blistering heat and shivering cold, holding a picket sign and striking for union recognition in factories. Yetta is spirited and intense, gladly giving every bit of herself to her cause.

Jane, lastly, is a society girl with an intellectual spark. She is curious and compassionate, spending time with strikers and at rallies for no gain of her own, and finds herself swept up into this passionate world of striking and working and wanting and hoping. There is more to feel, she finds, outside of her ignorant, sheltered life. And these ardent factory girls so desperate for their cause accept her and love her—she finds a place with them that she cannot find at home.

Uprising is the story of these three girls. It is inspiring and adrenalizing (if that was not previously a word, I now deem it one), making me want to jump up and devote myself to a cause with all of my everything. On the other hand, the book does such a good job of enticing the readers into the world it creates, that it runs the risk of romanticizing poverty to some extent.

However, all in all, I love the way the book was crafted. The fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory looms ahead for the entire novel. Right from the first chapter, we learn that two of the three best friends will die in the fire, though we do not know which ones they will be. This sets up an interesting dynamic--as I would read and get to know each character better, I would start to root for her to survive, before realizing, dismayed, that the other two would have to perish. It gave the book momentum and a reason for me to keep reading at the few moments the plot lagged.

Furthermore, the author was very skilled at weaving fiction and fact together, creating a story that haunts and perplexes, makes you think about the world and what you can do to change it, but also makes you care deeply for the three main characters. She succeeded in bringing life to a tragedy that occurred almost a hundred years ago. In making us care not only for the girls who died, but for the factory owners and the workers who survived as well. In painting a horrifying picture of flame and sky and the impossible choice—to jump or to burn? In making readers understand that if we want change to we have to fight for it, as the shirtwaist girls did in their months-long strike. The author wrote the story to make us understand what it was like to be a factory girl in 1911, with holes in her boots and tears in her dress and the incredible desire to change the world. The author wrote the story to give insight into life a century ago, to teach us to fight and question, and to warn us of the modern-day tragedies, today’s equivalents of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, that are waiting to happen unless we decide to fight for change.

Four and a half evil daggers.

Fervently yours,

Briar

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

2009-12-01T03:42:00.001Z

On her way home from school, Sophie Amundsen finds two notes in her mailbox. On each note is written a simple, yet infinitely profound question. "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" These questions are the humble beginnings of Sophie's very own basic course in Philosophy being taught by a mysterious nameless philosopher. As Sophie progresses through the History of Western Philosophy, strange things begin to happen. Sophie gets letters intended for Hilde, a girl with the same birthday as Sophie. To unravel the mystery behind the letters, and the other strange events which occur, Sophie must use philosophy. However, the inevitable truth is unfathomable until it is finally revealed.

Sophie's World is a thrill ride. There is no other way to fully describe Sophie's World in such simple terms. Right from the beginning, the reader begins to ask themselves the same questions being faced by Sophie. Who are you? and Where does the world come from? are just the beginning. Sophie's anonymous teacher takes her from the Pre-Socratic natural philosophers, through the famous Greek trio of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, up to Descartes, Spinoza, Hume, Hegel, Kant, Marx, even Darwin and Freud. These are just to name a few. The wealth of knowledge in this book makes Bill Gates look poor.

The most remarkable thing about this book? It pulls you in. It fascinates you. It makes you hunger and thirst for more. You cannot put it down. Ever heard of food for thought? Well this is a feast, only not just a feast. It induces a kind of intellectual high too. It's like flying. The mind is opened up to such a multitude of things. You're left feeling weightless, capable of anything. You feel all this, right from the beginning. Right from chapter one until you close the book, the intensity rises, the fascination grows. About two-thirds into the book, the most dramatic twist I have ever seen in any piece of literature occurs. From then until the end, the puzzle pieces begin to fit together into a big picture. It is impossible to summarize the twist, or its effect on the already mounting tension. Simply put, it is mind-blowing, earth-shattering, and totally wicked!

I give Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder 5 out of 5 daggers.

It is quite possibly the best book I've ever read.

Yours in wonder and awe,
Gabriel Gethin

P.S. I apologize in advance for sounding like a screaming schoolgirl in the front row of a Jonas Brothers concert for the majority of my review. The fact of the matter is, this book is just fantastic. I loved it. Therefore, it is impossible to separate emotion from my own personal reading experience.

Double Helix by Nancy Werlin

2009-11-06T01:18:00.004Z

Eli Samuels, high school senior, soon to be high school graduate, is looking for a job. On a drunken impulse, he writes an embarrassing email to Dr. Quincy Wyatt, the most famous geneticist in the world, asking for a job at Wyatt Transgenics, Dr. Wyatt’s company. Eli regrets the email as soon as he sends it. He does not expect that he will actually get the job- after all, he hasn’t even graduated yet, and he’s planning to take a year off before going to college.

Incredibly, Dr. Wyatt gives Eli the job. For a while, it seems too good to be true. Though it’s only an entry-level, lab-assistant job, the work is exciting and the pay is fantastic. Best of all, Eli begins to get to know Dr. Wyatt, a genius scientist, and learns about Dr. Wyatt’s current and future projects. He divides his time between his job, his girlfriend, and spending time with Dr. Wyatt.

But Eli’s dad urges Eli to quit the job, and he won’t say why. He is simply adamant that Eli should not be working for Wyatt Transgenics. Eli knows that his parents used to know Dr. Wyatt, and he suspects that his father’s opposition to his new job has something to do with his mother’s Huntington’s disease, which has left her a ghost of her former self, living in a nursing home. But why exactly, he doesn’t know. And Eli has some secrets of his own- he’s never told anyone, not even his longtime girlfriend, about his mother’s condition, or that he has a fifty-fifty chance of developing the disease himself.

The longer Eli works at Wyatt Transgenics, the more certain he becomes that something is wrong, and the less certain he becomes of everything else.

This book was a fun, quick read. The premise was original and highly intriguing, and there were sufficient unexpected plot twists to keep me interested. Since I am a huge science geek, I was very interested in the work on genetics being done at Wyatt Transgenics, and the idea that someday, direct and deliberate genetic manipulation might be possible. This book made me think about the ethical ramifications of such manipulations, and of the study of genetics in general.

Initially, I was a bit confused about whether this book was a sci-fi or a mystery, but the mystery aspect soon asserted itself. The mystery was okay. It was an extremely interesting concept, and all the essential elements were there, but I was annoyed by the fact that it seemed to progress in two stages. First there was very limited information, and the mystery was more of a hanging uncertainty than an actual mystery. Then suddenly, there was a sharply defined question with lots of evidence, and the outcome was disappointingly predictable. I felt that some of the plot elements could have been spaced out better throughout the book. Also, at times I wanted to scream at the main character for being an idiot and/or a total jerk.

Overall, I give this book three and a half daggers, for thought-provoking elements, an interesting plot, and science.

Genetically yours,
Tay

The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld

2009-10-19T23:39:00.015+01:00

Millennia in the future, light-years away, the Risen Empire spans eighty planets. To the people of the empire, the Risen Emperor, inventor of immortality, and his eternally young sister, the Child Empress, are more than rulers- they are gods. They have ruled for sixteen hundred years, and the empire seems as immortal as they are.

But the empire is not alone in the galaxy. The Rix are a civilization of cyborgs, and their domain lies just outside the Risen Empire. The Rix have no leader and no culture. They are a Spartan civilization with only one goal- to propagate an artificially intelligent “compound mind” across the digital network of every populated planet. They worship these minds just as Imperial citizens worship their emperor. Because of this, the Empire and the Rix are constantly on the edge of war. As the novel opens, the Rix have succeeded in capturing the Child Empress, and in planting a compound mind on the planet Legis XV, the location of the Imperial palace.

Captain Laurent Zai is in command of the most powerful starship in the Empire- the Lynx. He has been assigned the task of rescuing the Empress, and the penalty for failure is death by ritual suicide. Light-years away, a senator named Nara Oxham is also becoming entangled with the Rix conflict. Together and apart, destinies closely intertwined, they must both find a way to succeed, or perish in the rising tide of war.

What can I say? It’s by Scott Westerfeld; therefore, it’s amazing. The plot was truly original, which is hard to find in sci-fi these days, and the major cliffhanger at the end left me craving the sequel. Though I don’t think The Risen Empire is actually YA, it reads like one, with cool plot twists and exciting action. The book also makes use of flashbacks and multiple points of view- both common narrative devices, but this time, they’re actually done well. All the events in the book- military, political, dramatic, and romantic- are well executed and convincing.

The real genius of this book, though, was in the details. Scott Westerfeld has managed to convey a vast world with minute precision. Everything, from microspaceships to smartalloy bullets to induced synesthesia to the four types of gravity, is described with a ridiculous amount of detail. While reading this book, I didn’t just feel like I was there. I felt like I knew absolutely everything there was to know about the Rix, the Empire, everything. I was a military officer, a scientific expert, a master pilot, a Rixwoman, and a politician. The world that Scott-la has created is so real, down to the last nanometer.

Strangely enough, this book’s biggest strength is also its biggest downside. Plotwise, it tended to forgo explanation in favor of action, and several times, I found myself rereading the same passage three or four times, trying to figure out what in heaven’s name it was talking about. Most of the cool made-up technical and political jargon is just thrown in there, and explanation comes much later, if at all. I have to admit, the book was more than a little hard to follow. And be warned- it’ll be even harder to follow without a little knowledge of physics, relativity and quantum mechanics.

Still, though, once I figured out what was going on, I enjoyed The Risen Empire enormously. This book has it all- futuristic technology, political intrigue, romance, secrets, lies, cyborgs, undead cats, and obscure, geeky allusions, all woven together in a captivating story. I loved Laurent Zai, Nara Oxham, Rana Harter, H_rd, Alexander, and yes, even the Emperor. I loved it all. I can’t wait for the sequel. Four and a half sixteen-molecule-wide monofilament daggers.

Yours,
Tay

How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford

2009-10-04T19:14:00.006+01:00

How to Say Goodbye in Robot, by Natalie Standiford, is the story of Beatrice Szabo and her very unique friendship with Jonah “Ghost Boy” Tate. Bea’s family moves all the time, so when Beatrice is told that they are moving to Baltimore for her senior year, she readies herself for yet another year of gossip and parties and shallow friends. Instead, she meets Jonah, nicknamed “Ghost Boy” by his taunting peers, and the two of them embark on a relationship that cannot appropriately be pinpointed by words such as “friend” or “boyfriend.” To Bea and Jonah, their togetherness is much more than that. It is sharing a love for a late night radio show, talking over beer and music in their favorite downtown hang out, and planning secret visits to Jonah’s sort-of-dead twin brother.

Quite honestly, I didn’t feel it. I liked the idea of a friendship above words and gossip and shallowness, but I felt that the author didn’t develop the characters or the relationship enough so that when the friends had a falling out, I didn’t care at all, really. When Bea’s parents had problems, I didn’t feel for them or for her. Overall, I got the impression of a sort of bleak world filled with chickens, greasy hair, and beer, and it was not a world in which I particularly wanted to stay. Not in a good way, either—some books paint a bleak world intentionally and the darkness can be powerful, but in How to Say Goodbye in Robot this was not the case. There were certainly a few touching moments, and the themes of loss and death and how thinking about them is not necessarily a bad thing were very nice, but I didn’t feel any sort of real connection with the characters.

I liked the never-quite-shot-down ideas of inhabitants from the future living in our time thread, and I found the radio show, The Night Lights, very sweet and quirky. I liked the idea that one could have a whole sort of radio community of friends, and that there can be friendship based on more than just gossip and the troubles of this world. Unfortunately, the author didn’t quite portray the sweet world of their friendship, so there was no basis to build off of.

If you care to do your homework and go all the way back to my Toad Hill days, you'll know what this means: How to Say Goodbye in Robot was a bit less than crinterprood.

And that's that.

Briar.

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

2009-09-24T23:47:00.005+01:00

Noughts and Crosses, by Malorie Blackman is the tale of a world with a clear class distinction, an alternate universe in which racial and social roles are completely reversed. The world is run by the dark-skinned Crosses and served by the white Noughts—hatefully called daggers and blankers, respectively.

The story is that of Sephy Hadley and Callum McGregor , whose love and friendship struggle against the wide gap between their social standings. Sephy, a Cross, is the daughter of one of the most powerful politicians in the country, while Callum is a low-class “blanker,” and would never have met Persephone had his mother not been working for hers. Still, Sephy and Callum build their friendship in secret hours on a strip of beach and midnight meetings in a rose garden. To them, it doesn’t matter that she is a Cross and he is a Nought; they are both simply people. But when Callum is accepted as one of the first Noughts into Sephy’s all-Cross school, everything changes. And as Callum’s family gets more wrapped up in the violent civil rights terrorist organization known as the Liberation Militia, the stakes get even higher. The story whirls into a fast-paced tale of love and trust and hatred and hurting, race and rights and human nature, all tying into the breathtaking climax; a ending no one could have predicted.

Noughts and Crosses is possibly one of the best books I have ever read.

It could easily have been a simplistic story about how racism is bad and all are equal (which is perfectly good and true, but makes for a rather predictable novel), but Noughts and Crosses delves into the deeper, rawer side of that. Rather than simply black-white racism itself, the story examines human nature and the foundation of prejudice. I think the most important thing was the reversal of who had the power. With the dark-skinned people in charge rather than the light-skinned, real-life politics and pre-formed notions are stripped away, and we are left with simply a picture of prejudice.

What was interesting was how false notions about African Americans that have mostly died out the idea that they smell bad, are less clean, and so on, translated to the blacks’ perception of whites. And it fit perfectly! In this scenario, the whites were portrayed as the dirty second class, and all of the terrible racial stereotypes people held and still hold about blacks are given to the whites in this book. One can see that they have nothing to do with a particular skin color, merely the fact that the color is different and perceived as inferior.

The book studies these ideas far more naturally and subtly than I do, giving them a pronounced presence in the story without ever having to state them bluntly as I have just done. Truly, this book is excellent. It does delve into really interesting questions and ideas, but it also paints a picture of friendship and love startlingly well.

Noughts and Crosses is the first in a trilogy, and I give it five out of five daggers. And no, I don’t mean the fictional slur for the Cross class.

Thinking and mind-blown,

Briar

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

2009-09-01T06:31:00.004+01:00

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, was the wildly popular dystopia novel released last year. Catching Fire, the eagerly awaited sequel, was equally as riveting—full of extraordinary twists and turns as well as further fleshing of conflicts introduced in its predecessor.

For those unfamiliar with The Hunger Games, the story centers around Katniss Everdeen, who takes her young sister’s place in the The Hunger Games. The Games consist of twenty-four “tributes,” or teenage citizens, who are put in an arena and forced to kill each other off in the hopes of being the last one standing. The book finishes with the end of the Games, and Catching Fire picks up a few weeks after it is all over.

I received this book in early summer as an ARC (Advanced Reader’s Copy) from Scholastic, and positively gobbled it up. The second installment is just as fast-paced and riveting as the first, with even more surprise twists and deeper exploration of the legend of District 13. Katniss grapples with more ethical issues and discovers that whatever she started with the berries in the arena is far from over. A rebellion is stirring, and Katniss finds herself, willing or not, the rallying point of a revolution.

Catching Fire was wonderful. The characters were genuine, and the alternate universe was just as thrilling as it was the first time around. There is the constant, looming threat of the Capitol, and this not-quite-fake charade of love that must be kept up at all times. There is the uncertainty of which boy Katniss should choose, and this whispered revolution that is putting everyone Katniss cares about in danger.

The first half focuses on Katniss’s life in District 12, as well as the victory tour that she and Peeta must go on. There is one massive twist that dictates the second half of the novel so I dare not describe it further, though I will say that the book ends with a huge cliffhanger.

One aspect of this book that did not flow as smoothly as it might have, was that the twists seem a little forced and deliberate—like the novel was so keen on making startling twists that it failed to have the effect of a change that is unexpected.

All in all, however, I think Catching Fire will live up to expectations. There is still the horrifying presence of a “game” in which children are encouraged to kill one another; something I still find difficult to think about. Both books provide originality in a genre that is prone to clichés, and both are well written with genuine characters who suffer real human dilemmas. Five evil daggers, without a doubt.

Yours, Briar

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

2009-08-12T17:54:00.000+01:00

A while back, the wonderful Tay posted a review on The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I read the book, and thought it was so wonderful and special that I simply had to review it myself. Tay's awesome review can be found below mine, so you can compare our experiences with the book.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is the inspiring story of a young German girl who is growing up in the midst of World War II. Abandoned by her mother, underfed and constantly reprimanded by her loving but fierce foster-mother, Leisel Meminger is a girl who finds all the brightness of life in words. Words are her greatest love and her most infuriating enemy—words are the things that allow her to live but Hitler to control and rule.

Hitler, Leisel realizes, can change a country’s image of Jews by using words to warp them into something disgusting, malicious, and sub-human. He can take a country that is scared and off-balance, and use words to soothe and hypnotize. Hitler uses words as his single greatest weapon, and without them, he would be powerless.

On the other hand, Leisel uses words to explore and grow. She uses words and books as her sanctuary in the fear-filled world of Nazi Germany. She uses words to light the eyes of the frail Jewish man in her basement, reminding him of sunlight and happiness as she describes clouds that resemble ropes and a brilliant dripping sun. Leisel uses words to spark happiness and gain knowledge—without them, she would be powerless, too.

This tale of words and power is told in the point of view of an unlikely narrator—Death himself. Death is not God, nor does he even decide when one will die; his job is simply to carry away the souls of the deceased. The best souls, we learn, sit up to meet him, reluctant to die but accepting all the same. Death is in the perfect position make to such striking observations about death and war—he likens himself to the best Nazi, killing and killing and yet still being asked for more.

For the first half of the novel, I was fairly interested in the subject of the story and intrigued by the unorthodox choice of narrator, but was not bringing the book with me everywhere as I later would. It was no chore to read, but it was no great treat either. However, once half of the book was finished and I was now fully acquainted with the cast of characters and the author’s writing style, the story began to pick up. I found myself increasingly interested in the events that took place and by the end of the novel I was practically ripping at the pages, shaken and moved by the beautiful description and the heartfelt dialogue. The author introduced the story’s ending about three quarters in, but the warning did not dilute the power of the end, it made it more poignant. Somehow both times the ending was explained (the first merely an outline, the second fully fleshed out) it was shattering and breathtaking.

The Book Thief takes a while to get started, but once you’re hooked, you simply can’t stop reading. It’s a powerful story of loss and happiness, love and heartbreak, reading and rule and life. Four and a half evil daggers.

Yours,

Briar

Set in Germany in the early 1940’s, The Book Thief is the heartwarming and heartbreaking story of a foster child, fourteen books, many colors, an accordion, death, a Jewish fist fighter, a basement, two wars, a kiss, and a boy with hair the color of lemons.

Liesel Meminger has witnessed more than her share of horrors. Her father disappeared when she was little, and an aura of mystery still surrounds his name. Her brother died on a train on the way to their foster home in Molching, Germany. And there are more horrors to come, though Liesel has no way of knowing. Through it all, Liesel turns to books as a refuge from the death, abandonment, and fear that fills her life, and the lives of all those around her.

Liesel’s long and illustrious career in book thievery begins with The Grave Digger’s Handbook, stolen from the snow at her brother’s burial. Next comes The Shoulder Shrug, stolen from fire. Liesel continues to steal books wherever she can find them. But her personal peace cannot last, and soon the danger of the war looms closer, lurking even within her own home, drawing her always closer to the inevitable. Liesel’s life becomes one of secrets and lies, and truth comes from the most surprising places.

This book is simply amazing. The author has a way of making the smallest details- the color of someone’s eyes, or the texture of their hair- the most important, and mystery is interwoven with every event, no matter how tiny. The unusual format, cavalier use of foreshadowing, and, shall we say, unconventional narration make the book a bit confusing in places, but really drive the point home. On the whole, this is a fabulous, yet absolutely heartbreaking book, and an unusual perspective on World War II. I give it the full five daggers, reluctant that there are no more to give.

Yours,
Tay

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

2009-08-09T13:38:00.009+01:00

Spoiler Warning: If you have not read all 7 Harry Potter books, read at your own risk. (I may be an evil cousin, but no one should be robbed the experience of reading the Harry Potter series.) However, if you haven't read them by now, shame on you. Stop reading this review and go read the bloody series!

We've all heard such timeless (Disney) classics as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White. These are our beloved childhood bedtime stories, our fairy tales. Well, Wizards and Witches have classic fairy tales too! Five of which can be found in the Wizarding classic The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Just like Muggle fairy tales, each of the five stories deals with a different theme and teaches a lesson. However, as a Muggle, it may be difficult to truly grasp all of the lessons taught by Beedle the Bard. To help us better understand these magical tales, Albus Dumbledore has kindly given extensive commentary on each tale. (The commentary was published without Dumbledore's consent. It was found among his other belongings after his dead.)

Anyone who has read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is at least vaguely familiar with this book of tales. Hermione receives a copy, from Dumbledore if I am not mistaken. Well, Rowling decided to publish a copy of Beedle's tales for Muggle enjoyment. All the sales go to the Children's High Level Group, a charity that provides support to children in need. The children tend to be poor, disabled, or from ethnic minorities. If you want to support a lovely charity AND get a little light-hearted reading on the side, or vice versa, this is definitely the book for you.

If you are still not convinced that this book is worth the buy, here is my criticism of the book (which happens to be mostly good).

The tales themselves are nothing special. They're mostly just cute. The stories are imaginative, but they're nothing like the books. The books are very long, detailed, and everything mentioned seems to have some significance before the series ends (which is one of the reasons I love Rowling's writing so much). These tales are short. There's no time for that kind of no-loose-ends writing. However, Rowling makes up for it by adding Dumbledore's commentary. His words are thoughtful, witty, and all around awesome! Not only does he add insight into the theme and lesson of each story. He also rambles on about little side notes (from letters between himself and Lucius Malfoy to his criticism of Madam Bloxam's revised version of Beedle's "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot"), both of which were quite humorous to say the least. Dumbledore will keep you alternating between the thinker pose (hand stroking the chin) and simply laughing uncontrollably and a variation of a giggle fit.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Beedle's tales. The book is a very quick read, which was rather disappointing to me, but it's still a great little book.

I give The Tales of Beedle the Bard a respectable 3.5 daggers out of 5.

Yours without magic,
Gabriel Gethin

Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecelia Galante

2009-07-18T19:59:00.003+01:00

Honey and Agnes have lived all of their lives in an isolated religious commune, Mount Blessing, in Connecticut. Electronics are forbidden, and the commune is serene and free from outside temptation or sin. However, underneath the holy and placid surface, there lies Mount Blessing’s best kept secret: the Regulation Room, a room in which sinners are beaten and humiliated by the godlike commune leader, a practice meant to strengthen them and reorient them toward the holy.

Upon discovering this room, Agnes’s skeptical grandmother resolves to take Honey and Agnes out of the commune at her first opportunity, but an accident ending in near-severed fingers and a misguided “miracle,” makes escape urgent and imperative. Honey, Agnes, and the latter’s younger brother are pulled into their grandmother’s car and driven as far from the place as possible, beginning a journey of self-discovery and faith that lasts the entire book.

As the story weaves on, one discovers the day-to-day horrors that consume the lives of the commune’s patrons. Girls starving themselves as they fast for sainthood; tying strings around their waists so tight it is all they can do to keep breathing; hurting, hating themselves for being flawed—always striving for an unattainable perfection, in the name of assimilating to the near-fictional saints of a storybook.

This book was quite realistic, aided most likely by the fact that the author herself had grown up in a religious commune not unlike Mount Blessing. It examines the role of parents—how can they stand by when their children are being beaten, even if they accept that it is in the name of religion? It asks if a child can find it in herself to speak up, even if it means getting loved ones in trouble. It looks at the flaws of organized religion—comparing it to an abstract spirituality or belief in God; questioning if the former is always as holy as it claims. It ponders if one can shed the skin of a twisted childhood, drop the warped habits and viewpoints learned, and heal. But most of all, Patron Saint of Butterflies explores the theme of friendship: how two girls with utterly different outlooks on life share the capacity to heal together and be equals.

I really liked this book. Upon finishing it, I was full of praise, and in the days after I found myself bringing it up again and again. While it examines complex themes and dives into some heavy material, the characters are teenage girls and the storyline is straightforward—making it a simple book to read, but one that forces the reader to confront challenging concepts once the story is over.

I give Patron Saint of Butterflies an evil four out of five daggers.

Briar

Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey

2009-06-25T00:58:00.012+01:00

Skin Hunger, the first book in the Resurrection of Magic trilogy, tells two stories, centuries apart but mysteriously linked. The first is the tale of a rural teenager named Sadima, who lives in a world where magic exists but true magic is forbidden. At the time of Sadima’s birth, a “magician” assisting with the birth stole her family’s valuables and left her mother to die. As Sadima grows, she discovers a talent for speaking to animals, but conceals it for fear of arousing her father’s bitterness towards magicians. One day, an enigmatic visitor to Sadima’s family’s farm, introducing himself as Franklin, recognizes Sadima’s ability and offers to take her away to the city, but Sadima, frightened, declines. Secretly, though, Sadima yearns for freedom, and years later, she decides to seek Franklin out.

She locates him in the city, working as a servant to a brilliant but arrogant and ruthless young man named Somiss. As time goes on, her relationship with Franklin becomes more than just a friendship. Somiss, meanwhile, spends every day shut away in his study, working obsessively. Slowly, Sadima learns what he is trying to do: bring back magic.

The other plotline, which takes place centuries later, tells the story of Hahp, the son of a wealthy merchant. In Hahp’s world, magic has returned, but can only be used by a select few people, trained at special academies of magic. Hahp’s father sends Hahp to one such academy, where he hopes that Hahp will emerge from the school as a wizard. But Hahp soon finds that only one of the ten boys admitted to the school will graduate, and that the only requirement for graduation is survival.

At the academy of magic, under the wizards Somiss and Franklin, Hahp lives a terrible life. He and the other boys are starved, deprived of basic necessities, forced to perform meaningless tasks, and completely isolated from the outside world. As Hahp struggles to survive and learn the secrets of magic, he forms an unlikely partnership with a peasant boy named Gerrard. But they must exercise the utmost caution, for collaboration among the boys is punishable by death.

Skin Hunger is a riveting novel that tells a deliciously sinister story. Evil lurks in the shadows around every corner, innocent characters are caught up in a web of cruelty and spooky secrets. The whole tone of the book is very eerie, dark, and enigmatic, very different from that of other books I’ve read about magic. Quite refreshing to an evil cousin such as myself.

Skin Hunger’s two-story plotline is definitely unusual, but surprisingly, I didn’t think it detracted from the book at all, because both stories were so good. Reading the book, I searched for the connection between the stories of Sadima and Hahp, and did not find it; nor did I find answers to the many questions that still lingered at the end. Skin Hunger is by no means a complete story in itself. The ending is, somehow, very satisfying, yet leaves the reader hungry for more (no pun intended.) This book made me really want to read the sequel.

And of course, the greatest thing about this book was the compelling storyline. I was completely swept up in the sagas of Sadima and Hahp. I read the book in a single day because it was practically physically impossible to put down. The only thing I didn’t really like was the awkward semi-romance between Sadima and Franklin, which, although it was an interesting plot twist, I felt was rather unnecessary. Still, though, since it was a minor element, the overall book was excellent.

I award this wickedly clever book four and a half scintillating daggers.

Yours,
Tay

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

2009-06-14T23:16:00.007+01:00

In Katherine Howe's new mystery "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane," Harvard graduate student Connie is working on her American History Phd dissertation when she gets roped into renovating and selling her grandmother's old house in Marblehead, Massachusetts. When she finds the name "Deliverance Dane" scrawled on a piece of paper tucked into an old Bible in the house, Connie looks the name up and finds that Deliverance was one of her ancestors, a woman who was involved in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Connie first begins researching Deliverance's story thinking it will lead her to a great primary source for her dissertation. But soon she becomes entangled in a 300-year-old mystery involving witchcraft, strange family secrets, and a mysterious "Physick Book" that once belonged to Deliverance Dane.

When Connie meets Sam, a fellow history fanatic who works repairing church steeples, the two join forces to search for Deliverance Dane's "Physick Book." It is no easy task to try and track where the book has gone for the past three hundred years. Connie and Sam must dig through numerous historial collections throughout Salem, Mass, trying to track the book's previous owners, and in the process, Connie discovers some surprising details about her family's past.

But what begins as a simple search for a historical book becomes a race against time when it becomes apparent that someone is working against Connie--and it's putting Sam's life in jeopardy.

"The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" is unlike any other witchcraft story I've read because of its ties to history, and actual facts behind the Salem Witch Trials. It may be a witch-themed book, but the focus is not really on spells and magical abilities. Instead, as the book progresses, the reader finds more and more about Connie's family history, and what life was like for women in Salem in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Not only is "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" an intriguing mystery, but it really brings the victims of the witch trials to life, describing the emotions of them and their families as their friends and neighbors turned on them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The author is really a very talented writer. My only criticism is that the story lacks action in places, and the plotline could have used a little more variation. You'll find this book very interesting if you're into history and mysteries, but if you're looking for a more traditional witchcraft/fantasy tale, this may not be the book for you.

I award this book 4 out of 5 daggers.

Godless by Pete Hautman

2009-06-08T23:42:00.012+01:00

Jason Bock has had it with Catholicism. His parents are always dragging him to Mass on Sundays and forcing him to go to Teen Power Outreach (TPO), a "weekly brainwashing session for teenagers." In response to their overbearing religious authoritarianism, he decides to create his own religion with his own rules. Called Chutengodianism, it is centered around the idea that water is the source of all life. Therefore, the St. Andrew Valley water tower must be God because it is the source of water, and life. His first convert is his best friend Shin, a dorky snail-farmer. He also converts the strikingly beautiful, Magda Price, a preacher's son, Dan, and the chaotic and wild, Henry Stagg. As the religion grows, conflicts emerge. Jason struggles to control his own religion. Shin obsessives over the religion and begins neurotically working on writing a Bible. As Henry begins gaining power within the religion, he turns it from a harmless fantasy, into a dangerous reality. Before long, the Chutengodians are in grave peril, not to mention violating several city laws as they hold mass atop the Great Ten-Legged One. Jason seeks to control his new faith before it ends not just his friendships, but his friend's lives as well.

Let's start with the good stuff. This book is honest and refreshing. Jason is just a normal teenager who's questioning the existence of God and the importance of religion. In that sense, he's very easy to relate to. I would not go as far as to classify Jason as insightful because he does not truly understand certain things. Although I would normally dislike a narrator that lacks insight, I think Jason's lack of insight enhances the experience. It is his lack of understanding that makes him a good narrator. He is young, he is questioning tradition, and he is learning firsthand what can happen when you break tradition.

Another positive is Hautman's contrast of young vs. old. Chutengodianism is young, Catholicism is old. Jason and his friends are young, their parents are old. There is a clear dividing line between the ideology of the young vs. the ideology of the old. The parents are, for the most part, very religious. Jason's parents go to church every Sunday and Jason's dad is especially fanatic. Dan's father is a preacher. Magda's parents send her to TPO every week to help deepen her faith because faith is important to her parents. The children, on the contrary, tend to reject Catholicism for a variety of reasons. Jason doesn't really believe in God. Magda joins the Chutengodians because she doesn't like to be left out of things. Dan is just easily persuaded. Shin seems to latch on to the religion like a leech. I personally think that it gives him a sense of power over other people, which he falls in love with, which is why he so ardently believes in Jason's religion. All in all, their lack of common purpose further highlights their naivety.

On the negative side, I felt that Jason's crush on Magda, although totally common among teenagers, just wasn't all that important to the story. Sure, it highlighted the conflict between Jason and Henry, but their conflict over the religion and over control of the religion was much more prominent to the plot. Also, Jason sometimes imagines himself as doing something he's not, or being someone he's not. His fantasies are short and the story returns quickly but, they're awkwardly placed. I often found myself rereading a passage over again because of confusion. Naturally, it is a minor flaw, but I felt compelled to mention it. I am an evil cousin.

Bottom line (not literally), Godless contains a compelling storyline, an intriguing cast of characters, and a contemporary story regarding an ageless question, why be religious?

I give Godless by Pete Hautman a deadly 4 out of 5 daggers

Faithfully skeptically yours,
Gabriel Gethin

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

2009-05-12T02:46:00.013+01:00

Melinda is entering Merryweather High School with no friends, no voice, and seemingly no hope. During an end-of-the-summer party, she called the cops. Now, all her old friends won't talk to her and all the people she doesn't know hate her blindly. Since Melinda feels that her parents wouldn't understand, the safest place to be is inside her head. Melinda at first finds a sort of comfort isolated within herself, but it doesn't last. Lurking in the depths of her own mind is a demon. A memory, of the party, which she dare not remember. A thought which she dare not say. Slowly, it eats away at her, threatening to swallow her from within. Slowly suffocating, Melinda is faced with a choice. To speak, or to surrender to the spectre that haunts her thoughts.

What makes Speak such an original work of art is its dynamic mood. At the beginning of the novel, Melinda has clearly been through something major. She also has no friends. This combination has given Melinda a depressed, cynical, and sarcastic view on high school and life in general. What makes this a good thing is the fact that Melinda presents high school in a refreshingly candid, satirical way. My personal favorite example of this is her "The First Ten Lies They Tell You In High School" list. I choose not to give them all away but among them is, "No smoking is allowed on school grounds" and my personal favorite, "These will be the years you look back fondly." This book will make you laugh, unless of course you have no sense of humor at all, which would be a shame since the comedy in this book makes really good points on high school sociology.

Dynamic means characterized by constant change, activity, or progress. So clearly, the book is not just a long satirical attack on high school. There are others moods involved. The opposite mood stems from Melinda's own subconscious. There is conflict within her. She is trying, vainly, to suppress a thought, a memory, in her mind. Doing so arguably drives her insane. She experiences agonizingly acute anxiety, dangerously deep depression, and stifling self-silence. As the book progresses, the emotions Melinda feels become more potent. In the end, the book becomes very very intense so be warned. This book is not a fairy tale filled with rainbows after storms and kisses after poison-apple-based "death."

Bottom line (figuratively, not literally): Speak is powerful. Speak is intense. Speak is witty. Speak is dynamic. Speak is a good book. It is well-rounded and it relates well to teenagers. I advise reading it at least once just for the experience of it. Even if you're not a depressed person, it's good to see the world through Melinda's eyes because there are a lot of people who see the world a similar way.

I give Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson a (relatively) unheard of 5 out of 5 stars.

Acerbically yours,
Gabriel Gethin

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2009-05-02T17:22:00.006+01:00

Somewhere in the expansive throes of the future, across a land once known as “North America,” lies a country, Panem. Led by the power-mad and appearance-obsessed Capitol, the country’s twelve districts are forced to offer up two “tributes,” or teenage sacrifices, to partake in the country-wide battle called The Hunger Games. The tributes are chosen by lottery (although one’s name can be entered as many times as one likes, in exchange for a tessera—a year’s worth of grain and oil to help support a poor family). In some countries, participation in the Games is an honor, as one’s district gets showered with money and food for an entire year, and eternal glory is thrust upon the winner. But when Katniss Everdeen, a poor but fiery citizen of District Twelve (the country’s poorest district), finds herself a tribute, her entire world comes crashing down. For you see, the Hunger Games are no ordinary reality show—the twenty-four tributes are placed in an arena in which they must fight to survive not only against the environment, but most of all, their fellow tributes. It is the duty of each tribute to kill as many of each other as they can, for the winner will be the one that is the last to survive as all others are dead.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, was a positively riveting book. I felt my eyes were actually glued to the pages, and I finished it in a matter of hours because I found it so difficult to pry myself away. Filled with some astonishing twists and turns, the games themselves were nerve-wracking and heartbreaking, as Katniss would constantly have to remind herself that trusting anyone would result in pain as only one could win, but moreover, a smile and a knife in the back.

The scariest part, perhaps, is that the whole thing reads like a glorified reality show. Sure, it is government run and mandatory to watch—the government likes to remind the citizens just how at-their-mercy they are—but one has to think about how easily we watch reality shows that, by a stretch, were born from the same seed as the Hunger Games.

For Katniss and her fellow tributes, the reality show aspect means that they must be constantly putting on a good face, proving themselves to the audience who have placed bets on their lives, as well as trying to win sponsors who can send them gifts in dire situations.

I was so impressed by this book. It managed to effectively weave a futuristic sci-fi setting with a reality show that is hard to stop turning over in your head, with a commentary on image, as well as a love story. I can’t even weave that sentence to sound ordered or clear, yet Suzanne Collins managed to do so beautifully, creating a book that is a package of sheer suspense and delight.

The first of a trilogy, it has certainly caused a stir among both readers and professionals. Stephenie Meyer and Stephen King both gave rave reviews, and the rights to a movie have been already bought, with the author herself adapting it as a screenplay.

But even more exciting—there is something in which YOU can get involved! The author is hosting a competition in which teens can enter to win an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of the book’s sequel, Catching Fire. The entry consists of writing, in 500 words or less, how you would survive the Hunger Games. For more information, check out their website here.But hurry, because the contest ends May 15th!

Again, I absolutely loved this book, and am under the impression that everybody should read it. Unsurprisingly, I give it a whopping and wonderfully evil (oxymoron? no way-- Evil IS wonderful!) five daggers.

Relieved that OUR kind of evil is delightful rather than murderous,
Briar

How to Be Bad: Home Movie

2009-04-22T15:40:00.002+01:00

E. Lockhart just sent us this BAD home movie, with some Bad singing and dancing by two of the original 3 Evil Cousins, Avery and Aislinn.

The Poison Apples by Lily Archer

2009-04-16T01:02:00.005+01:00

Mother dies, father marries an unforgivably evil stepmother, and young daughter is stuck with a melancholy tale, waiting for her prince to save her. Sound familiar? Sound like every fairy tale in the book? Well—Poison Apples by Lily Archer is indeed like a fairy tale, but with modern setting and a delicious twist.

Three girls—Alice Bingley-Beckerman, Reena Parachuri, and Molly Miller—come into wicked stepmothers, and, one by one, are banished to a private boarding school: Putnam Mount McKinsey. There, by a mix of misunderstandings and pure chance, the three girls meet, and share their stories. Surprised at the similar horrendous fate that has befell each of them, they decide to form the Poison Apples— a secret society known to only them, committed to getting revenge upon their evil stepmothers. With prince charmings, small towns, little sisters and even a penguin or two, Poison Apples is certainly a fully packed and entertaining read.

I definitely enjoyed reading this book—for the most part, the characters were likeable and their scenarios amusing.

I liked the beginning especially, when the author was setting up each girl’s scenario. I found it well developed and interesting, with some funny insights on yoga and parents and clothes. I liked the natural way each found her path to the boarding school, but once there the book lost a bit of its spark to me. As the girls’ stories began to weave together, I found myself confused at times, but for the most part it was pretty good. I felt that the plots became a bit thinner, yes, but it was still enjoyable and funny. This was how most of the book continued—entertaining and witty, but dipping into too many sub-plots to fully commit to any of them.

The ending was the biggest fault, to me. Each girl embarked on a plan of revenge for their evil stepmothers, but the plans were weak and the execution weaker, and I felt that the ending was rather rushed.

On the whole, I identified with the three main girls very easily, I found the stepmothers deliciously evil, and I really, really liked the idea of a modern fairy tale, but at times the plot was weak and confusing.

I’d say three and a half evilistic daggers.

As a first novel, it showed a lot of potential, so I’d definitely watch for Lily Archer’s next book!

Happy that I am the evil one and not my mother,
Briar

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

2009-03-29T21:40:00.012+01:00

Clay Jenson was hit pretty hard by the death of Hannah Baker, the suicide of Hannah Baker. They worked together, they had class together, but the real reason he was hurting was because he had always liked her but had been too afraid to do anything about it. When a shoebox-sized package arrives at Clay's front door, he has no idea what he is about to get himself into. The package contains seven audiotapes, each tape has a dark blue number painted in the upper right-hand corner. The tapes are numbered 1 to 13. As he begins listening to the first tape, Clay hears Hannah Baker's voice telling him that she made these thirteen tapes about thirteen different people and if you're on the tapes, you are somehow responsible for her death, her suicide. Once you finish listening to the tapes, you are supposed to pass them on to the next person on the list. If you don't, she made a second set of tapes, which she threatens will be released to everyone if the chain is broken. Clay definitely does not want to be a part of this, but he feels compelled to know what he did to make her want to kill herself. So the journey begins, Clay follows her story all around town, tape by tape. What he discovers will change him and his view of the people around him forever.

Make sure you have ample time to read this book before you pick it up because once the tapes start, you can't stop. It was painful to put this book down. Every fiber in my soul wanted to continue reading to find out what made poor Hannah kill herself. Jay Asher does an excellent job of making the reader sympathize with Clay. Every feeling of confusion, of guilt, or of sorrow that Clay experiences is not only felt by Clay. The reader can not help but feel it too. I cried when Clay did and when Clay was furious and wanted to throw a rock, so did I (only I threw a capped pen at a wall instead because I figured it would do less damage). Stories about death, especially suicide, bring out strong emotions in all of us, whether those emotions are grief, anger, or indifference. It's interesting to see what characters have reactions similar to our own. Are we like Clay, who regrets not trying harder to help her with a passion that burns stronger than a thousand wildfires. Or, are we like certain other characters, who just wish they could move on with their lives with out having to worry about Hannah's tapes trashing their reputations. It is enlightening to observe our reactions to the handful grievances that, unfortunately, led to Hannah's death.

All in all, this book is a thrill ride from start to finish. I don't mean like roller coaster thrills or scary movie thrills, more like intense events that make the reader want/need to continue reading. The book, unfortunately, seems to blow by in a heart beat, but it is totally worth all of our time. It is insightful, it is eloquently written, and its message will never be forgotten.

I give 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher a killer (No pun intended. Well... maybe a little pun)

5 out of 5 daggers

Questionably yours,
Gabriel Gethin

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

2009-03-11T21:15:00.007Z

A group of girls are playing, laughing, dancing in the woods. They are caught, and as their village is strictly Puritan, they are to be chastised and shamed for doing something so forbidden and taboo as dancing. The only way to evade punishment is to place the blame on someone else, so they concoct a tale that involved them being possessed and influenced by a witch who was in contract with the devil. Intended as a onetime way to get out of trouble, the accusation of witchery worked all too well, and it soon became a trend that took a life of its own, and, over the course of a year, destroyed the trust and shattered the foundation of a run-of-the-mill pre-American Puritan town.

These were real events, portrayed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. And yes, I understand that this is far from a new book, but it is such a wonderful classic that I think it deserves to be reviewed and read and read and read.

It is pretty widely understood that those prosecuted in the witch trials of 1692 were far from magical or devilish. But in a way, the Crucible shows the devil as a facet of personality, showing itself in times of great distress and pain, such as the witch trials. The ironic part is, the devil is more seen in those who did the accusing than the ones who had been accused.

While The Crucible never comes out and is explicit in its meaning, it is written in such a way that is open to dozens of different interpretations, all centered around the idea of human nature and what being frightened and pressured can do to a person

If one is about to be hung for witchery and the only way to save oneself is to “confess” and accuse another, isn’t it the natural thing to do? At the same time, one is struggling between their faith and their life, because the Ten Commandments are clear in their message to never, ever lie.

Psychology of a sort comes into play as well, when one considers the idea that if people are constantly acting possessed and placing blame on others, they begin to believe what they are saying and that they are truly being hurt and targeted.

I loved having the opportunity to explore these questions and ideas, and The Crucible provided me with a perfect reason.

In short, it is about a group of girls caught dancing in the woods, who use witchery to evade trouble, and the aftermath that shattered an entire town. It is not a novel, it is a popularly performed play, but still provides an amazing read—perhaps even more striking because it is all in dialogue. It provides a chance to see what tremendous power an accusation can have, and the effects of power on everyday people. It is a quick read, but the experience of having read it stays with you a long time.

The Crucible goes beyond ratings, but if asked, I would have to say five daggers.

Briar

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

2009-03-06T16:45:00.004Z

It's not every day you read a book that officially makes it to the top of the list of "best books I've ever read." But for me, Unwind by Neal Shusterman did just that.

The sci fi-slash-horror story-slash-adventure-slash-romance tale takes place a few generations in the future, after a second civil war in which Pro-Life and Pro-Choice armies battled over the abortion issue. The war ended in a stalemate, and a new compromise was made: All babies had to be delivered and raised to age 13. However, between the ages of 13 and 17, parents could choose to "abort" their children by having them "unwound"--a process in which all of the organs are harvested and donated to hospital patients. In other words, 100% of the "unwind" stays technically alive, just in a divided state.

And although the process sounds shocking and unbelievable, in the story, it has become a common and accepted part of American society. Unwind follows three runaway "unwinds": Conner (who's being unwound because his parents think he's a troublemaker), Risa (a ward-of-the-state who's being unwound to cut costs), and Lev (who was promised to be an unwind at birth as a part of his family's religion, and who has been brainwashed to believe that unwinding is okay because it helps people). And when the government is desperate for organ donors, they will stop at nothing to find runaway unwinds and make sure they don't escape their fate. Lucky for Conner, Lev, and Risa, a secret society of runaway unwinds is just around the corner...if they can only survive to make it there.

Although Unwind is thoroughly packed with action from start to finish, that's not the only reason I loved it so much. In a YA room full of Cliques and Gossip Girls. Unwind really makes the reader think about deep, life-or-death issues. Like, who has the right to say when someone's life is going to end? Is it really okay to commit an act like murder in the name of religion? How far can you go in order to "protect the greater good?" And which is better: aborting thousands of babies that someone could have loved, or having an orphanage full of thousands of babies that no one loves? Unwind explores all of these and many more. Throughout the main story, Neal Shusterman intertwines many different subplots that get you thinking about the values in America and the value of your own life. There's even some laughworthy satire thrown in here and there. I'm warning you now, it's extremely intense, and many of the ideas suggested in the book may upset you. But if you're looking for some meaningful, thought-provoking reading that really changes the way you look at life, death, and your place in the world, then I strongly consider Unwind.

I definitely give this book the full 5 out of 5 daggers.

Misty

Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis

2009-03-01T19:59:00.016Z

Young Mazzy is living with her mother while her dad is on a week long business trip. Everything is fine... except that Dad left about a month ago and Mom never gets out of bed. Mazzy thinks she can handle it. She takes care of her mom and people bring them food too, but when the government gets involved, Mazzy is forced to talk to her dad. Mazzy knows everything is fine, but when the government disagrees, everything is not fine.

Mazzy, as a character, is very human and believable. Her denial of her family's problem is completely normal and human nature. What makes this book intriguing is watching the story of her family unravel. At first, the reader only knows that Mom is sick and Dad's never home. The reader has no idea why or how things got this way. Throughout the book, flashbacks as well as Mazzy's thoughts and encounters slowly enlighten the reader to the truly dark and dismal family past. Since this revelation encompasses most of the book, it is exciting to slowly, but surely, figure out what led to such a dreadful situation.

Another interesting thing about this book is that it is written in what I like to call "mini chapter things." They are usually Mazzy's thoughts, a conversation between Mazzy and someone else, or a flashback. They can be as short as a single sentence and as long as two or more pages in length. These "mini chapter things" make the book especially easy to pick up and read. You can pick it up and easily read a whole "mini chapter thing" in between all the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Another attractive aspect of this book includes the way conversations are written. When Mazzy talks to someone, Ann Dee Ellis exposes the reader to not only the words coming out of Mazzy's mouth, but also the thoughts in her head. This creates an entertaining discord between what Mazzy says and what she thinks. Unfortunately, it also makes conversations choppy and slightly awkward because Mazzy's thoughts interrupt the conversation's rhythm. This setback is completely worth it though because Mazzy tends to say either nothing at all, or the actual word, "nothing" when she responds to simple everyday questions.

I give Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis a slightly less than deadly 3.5 daggers out of 5.

All in all, the book is entertaining and pretty unique in the way it was written but, it's really short and the ending is rather unsatisfying.

Yours truly (but only in mini chapter things),

Gabriel Gethin

First Daughter by Mitali Perkins

2009-02-21T15:38:00.008Z

For the past year and a half, America has been caught up in the whirlwind that is the election of a new president. And the book that I just read goes along quite well with the thoughts that have been on everyone’s minds during the whole election process.

The book I read was First Daughter, by Mitali Perkins.

Sameera is Pakistani American, having been adopted from her home country when she was three years old, by an American politician and his activist wife. She’s sixteen now, and is joining her parents in the dog-eat-dog world of the campaign trail.

Her father is running for president.

She’s excited to receive a paparazzi-pleasing makeover, excited to spend more time with her family, and excited to plunge into the campaign—that is, until she learns what her father’s campaign people have in store for her. Eager to make her seem more “American” to voters, they coach her in speaking “teenager,” create a blog for her that she has nothing to do with, and rename her ‘Sammy.” Sameera is now caught between staying true to herself and hindering her father’s chances of being elected, or sacrificing her personality and ethnic pride, in order to promote her father .

This book was ridiculously eviltastic. It delved into American culture and asked questions about ethnic identity. For instance, one of my favorite thoughts from the book was this: How soon after your family has lived in America, can you take off the ethnic word that precedes “American?” For a German immigrant, it takes only a generation or two, but for African Americans, Thai Americans, Pakistani Americans... the first word almost never wears off. I just loved how the book explored questions like this.

Another cool thing was the fact that Sameera, the heroine of the novel, would experiment by putting on a burka (a Muslim woman’s full body covering) and wandering the streets of Washington. She found herself almost invisible, and was amazed and interested by the reactions of passers-by when she asked them for directions, et cetera. Sameera got the chance to talk and think about cultural identity and different types of people, and we, as readers, got to listen and think about it ourselves.

Trying to dig up my old family tree to see if I have any cool ancestry (well, asides from the BEST grandparents ever that made it so that I have so many wonderful evil cousins),

Briar

The Mozart Season by Virginia Euwer Wolff

2009-01-28T16:36:00.012Z

Allegra Shapiro was looking forward to a nice relaxing summer, free of school, free of softball, and free of worries. Her plans were abruptly changed when she found out that she had been selected to perform at the finals of the prestigious Ernest Bloch Competition for Young Musicians of Oregon. She was one of only a few finalists to have been selected from eighty five initial contestants! To make matters even more nerve-racking, Allegra was only 12 and her music teacher told her that he expected the average age of the finalists to be 17. Clearly an underdog, Allegra spends her entire summer practicing Mozart's Fourth Violin Concerto. She knows that she has to find some way to make her rendition of this piece mean something more than the notes on her sheet music, but this is easier said than done.

What I love most about this book is Allegra herself. She is such a rich, genuine character. The way this book is written causes us to spend most of our time listening to Allegra's thoughts. Therefore, we get to know Allegra very intimately. We watch her grow throughout the story and it's a beautiful thing to watch. She is very easy to relate to. She, like many other young girls, has a huge crush on a famous person, in her case it is Joel Smirnoff, the second violinist in the Juilliard Quartet. This is just one example of the many things that distinguishes Allegra as just a simple girl with great ambition.

Another thing that I love about this book is the role that music takes in it. Any musician would love this book simply because of Wolff's portrayal of music. To Allegra's family, music is essentially a way of life. To Allegra, music is her connection to her dead great-grandmother who died at Treblinka, a concentration camp in Poland. During her final performance, as she plays, she envisions her great-grandmother and feels one with her through the music. This conclusion is a truly beautiful moment. In my opinion it, is one of the most serene, most tranquil, and most heart-warming as well as heart-wrenching moments in any book I have ever read. It is simply beautiful.

I give The Mozart Season as a whole a 4 out of 5 daggers (the ending itself deserves 6 out of 5)

Musically yours,

Gabriel Gethin

The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman

2009-01-08T22:21:00.007Z

The Other Side of the Island, by Allegra Goodman, is the story of a girl by the name of Honor. But her name is an anomaly, you see. Though she was born in the year H and Honor is a perfectly approved government name, the H is silent, so it sticks out. Her school isn’t worried, however. They know they’ll train her to change it, because what fun is life if you’re different than everybody else?

But Honor’s parents seem to think her name is okay. They dance and sing and laugh and read and draw, push limits, go on adventures, take midnight strolls to the forbidden ocean, betting on dark and serendipity. They even go so far as to have a second child, something rare and frowned upon. No, they seem to be just fine with Honor’s name.

Honor, herself, however, is a different story. After her family was relocated to one of Earth Mother’s controlled islands, she has been in a class with Helixes, Henriettas, Harrys and Harmonies. She’s not sure how she feels. On one hand, she lives for the forbidden excitements she and her family enjoy, but at the same time, she’s frustrated. Because really—why can’t her parents just obey Earth Mother and the Government? Why can’t they just be like everyone else? The last thing Honor would ever want would be to lose her parents, and she knows that if you’re too different, you might just disappear.

Though the book was rather predictable in places, The Other Side of the Island was surprisingly good. It was suspenseful with some nicely original aspects. The characters were relatable, and there were some quite cool notions about weather and religion. “Earth Mother” combined God and Mother Nature, and the religion was centered around her. Scientists had found a way to control the weather, so that Unpredictability could be avoided whenever possible.

I liked this book a lot, it was a pretty quick read—not too hard, along the same lines as a lot of other science fiction/distopia sort of novels, but with some parts that were truly new and quite interesting.

I would give it four out of five ridiculously evil and futuristic daggers! Twas a Very Good book, edging on great.

Bowing down to Earth Mother,

Briar

P.S – How coincidental that my name works! Awesome!

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

2009-01-06T22:13:00.011Z

When Colin Singleton, amateur anagrammer and noted child prodigy, was eight years old, he was kissed by a girl named Katherine. Three minutes later, she dumped him.

Nine years later, Colin has just been dumped by a girl named Katherine. For the nineteenth time. Seeing him devastated, Colin’s best friend, Hassan, pulls him out the door and into the car, on a road trip that eventually winds up in a small town called Gutshot, Tennessee. Colin and Hassan soon land a job with Hollis Wells, factory owner and lover of everything pink, and begin to hang out with her daughter Lindsey.

Seeking to get over Katherine XIX, as he refers to her, and to finally “matter,” Colin conceives the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, a mathematical formula for predicting the course of a relationship based on five personality traits of the people involved. Lindsey and Hassan offer their help and advice, and soon a road trip becomes an extended vacation in the middle of nowhere.

This book is a bundle of fun, funny, and fantabulous. Colin is a totally relatable character (if a bit pathetic at times.) It absolutely cracked me up. The book makes occasional attempts to be thought-provoking, and does not entirely succeed, but that doesn’t detract from its coolness. I give it four out of five daggers.

Anagrammatically yours,

Tay Darramont

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

2008-12-29T19:08:00.009Z

Living Dead Girl is the horrific story of a child abductee. Her nightmare starts when she is ten. She is on a field trip at an aquarium, where she accidentally wanders away from her classmates. That’s when she meets Ray. He brings her to his house and calls her Alice, though that’s not her real name. He also makes her promise to forever stay a little girl. His little girl. Alice can’t tell anyone about her situation. First off, no one would believe her and if she tries to escape, Ray will kill her and her family.

At 15, Alice is still forced to be Ray’s ‘little girl’. He starves her to keep her as small as possible, but Alice knows he is tiring of her. She is sent to find Ray a new little girl who will replace her. Starting to lose hope, she soon starts looking forward to her death and the ending of her 5 years of torture.

I was blown away by this book. Ray was such an unbelievably twisted character. I was so sickened by everything he did. He was incredibly real and terrifying. I wanted more than anything to be able to save Alice. I was frustrated with the oblivious people around her. Everyone knew there was something wrong about her, but no one cared enough to try to find out what. I was quite confused about what happened at the end though, but that wouldn’t stop me from recommending this book.

5 of 5 daggers.

Demanding you read this book,
Twyla Lee

Vote! You must!

2008-12-21T18:05:00.006Z

Fawesomeness!

The Children's Book Council is having a Teen Choice Book Award. The results will be revealed in May. There is a huge-long-awesomeful list of nominated books on their site. We, being the teens, can vote for our favourite books.

Go vote before January 21st!

I'm going to.

Excitedly yours,
Twyla Lee

Turnabout By Margaret Peterson Haddix

2008-12-17T17:46:00.006Z

From Margaret Peterson Haddix comes another strange but intriguing sci-fi mystery, TURNABOUT. Melly and Anny-Beth were two centenarians near death when they were asked to participate in ‘Turnabout,’ a complex scientific experiment designed to reverse the aging process. Eighty-something years later, Melly and Anny-Beth are teenagers again, and they continue to get younger and younger each day. They know almost nothing about the mysterious Turnabout project, what is happening to them, or what will happen when their age hits zero. But they realize they will soon be too young to care for themselves, so they need some answers—fast. Fearful of the many doctors who are trying to study or “cure” them, and with no one to truly trust with their secret, Melly and Anny-Beth embark on a quest to finally get some answers. But at the same time, they find themselves on the run from a mysterious someone who is trying to find out more than Melly and Anny-Beth want to tell.

Turnabout is one of those truly suspenseful books that you just can’t put down. Not only is it a first-rate mystery and a futuristic sci-fi tale; it also raises some deep ethical questions about the scientific/medical world. Melly and Anny-Beth are likable, well-developed characters, and the story is told in an engaging style that makes you just want to keep reading! I was left with some questions at the end, and a feeling that the ending wasn’t fully finished (I won’t go into detail as to avoid spoilers!) But overall, Turnabout is entertaining, suspenseful, mysterious, and thought provoking--all the ingredients of a good mystery.

I award this book 4.5 out of 5 daggers.

Mysteriously Yours,

Misty

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

2008-11-19T16:52:00.006Z

All she ever wanted was to be a knight. And it was that dream, that spurred the changing and the strengthening of a realm, the discovery of talent and of magic, the birth and the heart of many, the legend and the inspiration for all.

On the outside, Page Alan of Trebond is simply a boy with wicked purple eyes and wild twist of flame red hair, the same as any other knight-in-training at the royal palace. But deeper, Page Alan is not all he seems.

Alan is Alanna, the girl with a love for archery and fencing, a passion for riding and a drive that pushes her to open closed doors and to chase her desires, to dance with rogues and laugh with princes, to see and do and truly be. Disguised as her twin brother, she sneaks off to become a palace page, a knight in training. Alanna stays true to her task to become a knight, binding and concealing her budding womanhood, struggling with the force of her magical Gift, the touch that the Gods have placed upon her, and all of the trials and tribulations that come from being a simultaneous girl and boy.

She faces bullies, falls in love, experiences duels, battles, and murderous mages, befriends all from the King of Thieves to the Crown Prince of Tortall, all in hope of earning her shield as a knight.

My gosh. I love this book.

Ever since I was a tiny little mite of evilness and awesome, I have completely, toadally, muhahahably adorified the Alanna series. She's a girl who defies all social boundaries and constraints to follow her aspirations, and she's inspiring to characters in her book and to readers alike. She reminds me of Frankie from the Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks (by E. Lockhart—check out Avery Trelaine's brilliant review right here), who does sort of the same thing. Both books explore the issues of a woman and a girl in a society that subtly, even unintentionally restrains or underestimates them.

Another thing to be loved about these books, is the fact that at the end of the series, the characters don't simply disappear. They appear later on as guest stars of principle characters in later series that focus on others. You find out how each person's life progresses, who they marry, what children they have, what battles they've won, and you follow their maturing and their aging, in a way that seems as though you really know them.

Alanna is especially cool, because there is a series about her daughter, a series about her husband, a series about a girl who loves and idolizes her, and in every single Tortall story, she is present as a celebrated legend. By the way, Tortall is the country in which Alanna lives.

So. The series as a whole, receives a wickedly ineffable, empyreal, prodigious review, along with a whopping five out of five evil daggers.

Weeping with admiration for strong women around the world,

Your newbie cousin,
Briar

A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond

2008-11-09T20:10:00.008Z

After the devastating loss of his wife, David Morgan takes a teaching job at the University of Aberystwyth in Wales. David and two of his three children leave their home in Amherst, Massachusetts and travel to Wales to start a new life. Jen, the oldest of David’s three children stays behind with her Uncle Ted and Aunt Beth in order to continue high school. For Christmas vacation, she goes to Wales to visit her family. Upon her arrival, she finds that things are not well amongst the family. David works long hours at the University and when he’s home, he shuts himself up in his study and emerges for only food and sleep. Peter, Jen’s younger brother is bitter and sulky. He never stops complaining about being his Wales. Betty, the youngest of the three children misses Jen terribly and hopes that her presence will help bring balance and peace to the household. Not long after her arrival, Peter tells Jen about a strange artifact that he has found. It is an ancient harp key that shows Peter visions of the life of Taliesin, a famous Welsh sixth century bard. At first, Jen doesn’t believe Peter, but when the key’s strange visions become visible to a wider audience, the Morgan family must act together to protect the key and the family itself.

Nancy Bond’s A String in the Harp is an excellent blend of fantasy and reality. The author seamlessly transitions from the present to the past. Also, when more people can see the key’s visions, Bond flawlessly blends the modern world with the world of Taliesin. Bond’s style of writing is easy to follow, yet intriguing and intricate. She incorporates a lot of Welsh culture, history, and legend into the story, giving it a deeper, richer feeling.

I think that this book is an excellent read for any young adult. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from reading this book. The character of Jen represents a young adult who is not ready to grow up, but is forced to take on the challenging role of guardianship because of the death of a parent. Her scenario relates to many teens and even some preteens throughout the world. The character of Peter also relates to many teens and preteens all across the world. Peter and his father, David, fight an innumerable amount of times because Peter believes himself old enough to have opinions and make decisions, but David doesn’t listen to him because he believes him to be young, naive, and whiny. Although this situation is rather cliché, in A String in the Harp the outcome is rather refreshing, definitely worth the read.

P.S. A String in the Harp is a Newbery Honor Book

I give it 4 out of 5 stars

Yours in reality and in fantasy,
Gabriel Gethin

On the day before the US Elections . . .

2008-11-03T18:28:00.004Z

There's a great essay by Libba Bray on YA for Obama called "What's Wrong with Being Smart"

And no matter which side of the road you're on, if you're at least 18 and a US citizen -- make sure to exercise your right to vote!!

Yours Truly,
3 Evil Cousins

Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix

2008-10-31T19:32:00.007Z

Palace of Mirrors, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, is a different sort of fairy tale. Cecilia knows she is the true princess, with all heart and all conviction, knows with complete certainty and assurance that indeed, once the danger passes from her kingdom, she will go to the palace and take from the stand-in commoner, her rightful place as princess of Suala.

As for now, and the full fourteen years of her life, she lives in a remote peasant village, so small and obsolete that it lacks placement on most kingdom maps. She lives as a simple peasant girl, fishing at the brook, leading the cow, scrubbing the pots and helping Nanny with chores, living the life of every single common girl in the country, save for the fact that Sir Stephen visits her at night to teach etiquette and algebra, strategy and Latin, all in preparation for the time in which she will rule the land.

But the enemy is closing in. Door latches are slashed, menace lurks in shadows, hiding places are no longer havens. In a night of swords and consequence, Cecilia is forced to run from her safety and her home, run towards capital with nothing but a harp, a friend, and a basket of breads. The palace and the impostor princess loom closer, and as Cecilia finds herself involved deeply with both of them, everything she has ever known, each bedtime wish of hope and magic, are thrown into question and uncertainty.

297 pages, I read Palace of Mirrors in a day, Granted, it was a ridiculously long car ride, but I was so committed to the story that I ignored the fact that I got nauseas every fifteen minutes, due to the motion and the reading. It was completely enjoyable. I got annoyed when I had to stop reading for dinner, though I wasn't in complete distress, as I sometimes am. I read it in a few sittings—it had all of the components of a perfectly great book: it was nicely written, the plot never dragged (though, because of my vast, evil experience with stories like these, I expected it to), there were new, interesting ideas introduced in almost every chapter, and the characters were endearing and pleasant. Looking at it afterwards, I give the book three and a half evilistic daggers.

It was definitely a fun read—not one for the ages, not quite as good as some of Margaret Peterson Haddix's other, stellar works, but a fun read all the same. What was cool was that the book was all about illusion. The girl with the dainty wave on the palace balcony every day may not be the "true princess" and the average peasant may be more than she seems. Or is seeming really anything? Can something as arbitrary as bloodlines really dictate who is fit to rule the kingdom? Is everything you've ever hoped for enough to risk, or should one embrace what they do, what they should have?

There were plenty of chess analogies—things like someone you thought to be the ruler is really only a pawn, and lively descriptions of cities and life and royalty. The whole setting and plotline reminded me a whole lot of Gail Carson Levine's books, except slightly less well done.

Another notable thing—Palace of Mirrors takes place in the same world as Just Ella, also by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Indeed, Ella reprises her role, this time as a friend and confidante to the "true princess," part of a peace delegation from a warring country.

Soo. Nice, crinterproodish sort of book (if you don't know what that is, check out my reviews on Toad Hill), with three and a half wicked evil daggers!

Imagining life as medieval royalty,

Princess Briar of Dreamland

Questions for a Literary Agent

2008-09-26T17:45:00.008+01:00

3 Evil Cousins has planned an upcoming interview with well-known NYC literary agent, Scott Treimel. Scott is the agent for such amazing YA writers as Gail Giles and Arthur Slade, but besides being an advocate for his clients, Scott feels one of his most important roles is as an advocate for teen readers.

Since so many of us are hoping to one day be published authors ourselves, we thought we'd give our readers an opportunity to ask Scott some evil questions. (You can ask either writery-agenty questions or just let him know what information you as a YA reader want passed along to publishers.)

Leave your suggestions as comments on this post!

Yours Truly,
The Evil Cousins

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

2008-09-26T17:27:00.004+01:00

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is the heir to a multi-multi-multi-million-dollar criminal empire that has been in his family for centuries. He has a genius IQ and a deadly bodyguard. He also has a mission- to ambush a leprechaun and get the pot of gold, per se, not that he really needs it. He has all the information he needs. His plan is foolproof. Or is it? Artemis gets more than he’s bargained for when his diminutive victim turns out to be Captain Holly Short, of the fairy police organization. Suddenly, instead of a quiet capture and ransom demand, the entire fairy world is informed of the operation, and the LEP (fairy police squad) invades Fowl Manor to get Holly back. Artemis, his bodyguard Butler, and Butler’s younger sister Juliet are pitted against the LEP, including such individuals as the geeky, paranoid centaur Foaly and the dominating, stinky-cigar-smoking Commander Root.

This book has all the elements of good fiction- an exciting plot, unexpected twists, and especially, characters so realistic you feel like they’re sitting next to you on the sofa as you’re reading. I especially enjoyed the way the story is written from multiple points of view. It allows you to see everything at once. Sometimes you know more than the characters do, which makes everything that much more interesting when they finally figure it out. Plus, it makes it harder to be biased towards one character, which I think helps me see the story a little better. Another aspect I liked was the way Artemis has a trick up his sleeve that is not revealed until the end, when you’re absolutely sure there’s no possible way he can win. It makes for an exciting climax.

Overall, an excellent work of sci-fantasy. This book is vivid, exciting, fast-paced, and even a little thought-provoking. I give it the full 5 daggers.

Yours,
Tay

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

2008-09-26T17:06:00.005+01:00

Okay, so we’ve all read vampire novels. You know, Twilight (excellent!!), that kind of thing. But Peeps gives us a new angle on the whole vampire theme. In Peeps, vampirism is a disease, actually a parasite, transmitted through saliva. Cal, an otherwise average kid in his early twenties, has had the misfortune to be infected with the parasite after a wild night with an enigmatic woman named Morgan. But he’s one of the lucky ones. The ordinary symptoms of the parasite are insanity, bloodlust, and intense aversion to light and to the things the infected person once liked. Cal is just a carrier, one of the lucky 1% of “peeps”- parasite positives- whose only symptoms are an extended lifespan, superior reflexes and strength, and intense cravings for meat.

Before Cal knew he had the parasite, though, he infected several girlfriends. So now, he’s a member of a secret organization, the Night Watch, dedicated to eradicating the parasite. But when Cal discovers a secret basement with a peep-cat, even though cats are not supposed to be a host for the parasite, and other mysterious occurrences, the Night Watch is stunned. Something odd is going on, and it’s up to Cal to find out what.

This is a fairly entertaining book. Granted, not one of Scott-la’s best works, but not his worst either. The first two-thirds of the book were awesome, but then I kind of lost interest and the ending was pretty lame. I still have to say, though, worth reading. I especially liked the way the book included information about real-life parasites (although don’t read these if you have a weak stomach!) It’s got that typical Scott-la style that makes you want to keep reading, even when you get to the lame ending.

I rate this book three-and-a-half daggers, and I will be reading the sequel, The Last Days.

Yours,
Tay-la

Introducing Tay Darramont!

2008-09-26T16:34:00.003+01:00

In order to bring Cousins readers even more reviews and a broader selection of books, we have scoured the Nyx attic for old family journals. Thanks to Great-Great Auntie Hitch and her interest in geneology, 3 Evil Cousins is pleased to announce the first of 3 additional evil reviewers joining us . . . Tay Darramont.

Keep your eye out for Tay's reviews of Artemis Fowl and Peeps as well as her bio!

Stick Figure: A Diary of my Former Self by Lori Gottlieb

2008-09-21T19:11:00.013+01:00

Stick Figure by Lori Gottlieb is the true story of young Lori’s experience of living with anorexia. The novel is made up of journal entries from Lori’s youth that she collected, put in order, and then published in an attempt to let an everyday person gaze into the thought process of an anorexic girl. The book reveals some causes of anorexia in modern society as well as shows the slow progression of Lori being a self-conscious pre-teen girl to becoming a severe case of anorexia.

First of all, this is definitely one of the love/hate books. You either love it or you hate it. There doesn’t seem to be much of an in between. I am, for my own reasons, part of the “I love this book” category. I really enjoyed this book. It really lets you get a fuller understanding of what anorexia is and why it is so hard to cure.

Anorexia is as much a mental disease as it is a physical disease. Most people don’t know that though. This book clearly reveals the mental aspect of it because it is told in journal entries. The author is literally just writing down her thoughts and what happens to her daily. This really lets you step into the character’s shoes and walk around in them.

Before you start reading this book, you should become familiar with some of the signs of anorexia (other than not eating). There are a myriad of ways to detect the beginnings of anorexia before the person completely stops eating. If you know what they are in advance, then you are better able to identify them early on in the book. Also, if you know the signs, then you can notice that some of the causes of anorexia are actually in modern media. The pressure to be thin can drive people to the point of being anorexic.

One of the things about this book that I believe scares people is that sometimes, you notice that you yourself think in the same way that Lori does. You realize that even though you aren’t anorexic, sometimes you skip a meal, or try to lose weight by going on a diet, or keep track of calorie consumption. This doesn’t mean you're anorexic too, but it does make you think. Am I so different from Lori? If I’m not careful, could I develop anorexia too? These thoughts may be haunting, but they are what make the book so powerful.

I highly recommend this book.

5 out of 5 daggers.

Well-fed, but thinly yours,

Gabriel Gethin

Megiddo's Shadow by Arthur Slade

2008-08-24T20:38:00.017+01:00

Devastated by the death of his beloved older brother, the young but determined Edward Bathe enlists to try to avenge his brother’s death. Abandoning his bed-ridden father and their farm in Canada, Edward travels to England to prepare for his chance to fight. Once in England, he shows an innate ability to train and ride horses. As a result, he is sent with a cavalry troop to Palestine in order to aid in the fight against the Turks. Once Edward reaches the front, his eagerness for revenge is replaced by fear and the realization that in war, you must kill or be killed. There is no in between.

This historical fiction novel about World War I is exceedingly excellent. Everything that happens in the story feels so real that the reader himself/herself feels like they are right there next to Edward. The author helps you peer into Edward’s mind and see every thought and feel every emotion. When Edward feels love, you feel love. When Edward feels grief, you cry your eyes out with him. When Edward is in the heat of battle, your own heart begins to race even though you aren’t in any real danger (except maybe of getting a paper cut from turning the page lightning fast because you can’t wait to continue reading).

Another aspect of this book that I really admired was the depth and concreteness of the characters, especially Edward. He is a very full character in the sense that he has a “real” past (real in the sense it could have happened to any normal person but it’s not real because Edward’s a fictional character) and he has “real” morals. For example, Edward is a good singer, just like his mother. He and his mother used to sing in the choir at their local Church. This is a totally random piece of information about Edward’s past that tells you so much about him. He is talented, he is religious, and he is close to his mother.

4.5 daggers out of 5 daggers

Tragically yours,
Gabriel Gethin

Breaking Dawn By Stephenie Meyer

2008-08-11T22:28:00.013+01:00

This review was originally written to go on Toad Hill, but I, Twyla Lee, sneakily stole it to put it up on 3 Evil Cousins. After this review, we just might have to adopt Briar Kasvi.

Breaking Dawn is the fourth, and last book in the Twilight Saga, books focusing on clumsy, lovable Bella Swan, and her supernatural boyfriend, Edward Cullen. If you haven't read these books yet, run away from this review, dash to the store, and pick up Twilight. As Boodle's awesome review expressed, Twilight is super.

See, for the past year, I was totally obsessed with Twilight, loved the characters, the world, the books, obviously. My friends and I made up Twilight games, pretended we were werewolves (go ahead, call us geeky), and just basked in the glory of these books that were, ultimately made of coolness. Bella, in the first three books, was easy to identify with, klutzy, human, and with the luck to be adored by an amazing supernatural being, whom any girl (including me) would easily fall in love with. They were great, with fierce fights between vampire and werewolf, vampire and human, vampire and vampire. So of course, I looked upon the release of Breaking Dawn with mounting anticipation.

I was deeply disappointed.

The first 100 or so pages consisted of little but lengthy descriptions of the birds and the bees, followed by bloody, violent, graphic pain coming to our much loved heroine, Bella. I cringed to read it, disappointed in the lack of interest or focus on the supernatural, feeling it was inappropriate to include so much about sex in a book that was aimed at not just teens, but tweens as well, like us.

True, the second half of the novel improved a good bit, with the introduction of a wonderfully lovable new character (who, by the way, possessed one of the worst names known to man, toad, or vampire), and the reappearance of the Volturi, exciting villains hailing from Italy. Though the resolution to their visit was not as exciting as I wished, I enjoyed watching Bella discover her vampire power.

So. I was just really, really sad to see a series that I loved with so much devotion close with a novel that I found to not be much better than any sappy love story… just… disappointing is clearly the operative word here. It was interesting the way they introduced the point of view of another character, and, living amongst animals, I found it quite a useful insight into the world of wolves. The second part of the book is pretty good, not as good as the first book, and not good enough to redeem the whole thing, but pretty good all the same. I liked learning about all the different vampires.

Anyway. Though I ADORED the first three books, and would certainly give them a full five stars, I feel I have to do this, as an honest reviewer… It pains me to give a book in the twilight saga anything less than a million stars, as the world of vampires, and all but the last book deserve, but I am going to give Breaking Dawn two stars.

And yes. This book has dulled my imagination, spirit, and overwhelming awesomisticness (modesty too, it seems), enough so that I am not even creative enough to come up with anything cooler than stars.

Note: This book is seriously, unpleasantly gruesome, I described one of the scenes to my sixteen year old sister and showed her the passage, and she was cringing and whining (at me, grr) for the rest of the day. I wish I hadn't read this book—the more I thought about it afterwards, the worse it got.

...so

Briar Kasvi

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

2008-08-08T18:46:00.004+01:00

YA Alert! Check out Boodledoo's TOAD HILL review of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Interesting fact: Twilight's 498 pages were written in only about three month's time.

The Silenced by James Devita

2008-08-01T16:54:00.024+01:00

YA ALERT! Check out Briar Kasvi's TOAD HILL review of The Silenced by James Devita. Interesting Fact: James Devita is also a playwrite and actor.

Memory Boy by Will Weaver

2008-08-01T16:54:00.019+01:00

Two years after the catastrophic volcanic eruption of the Cascade range, most of the continental United States are covered with ash. 16 year old Miles Newell, his parents and 12 year old sister Sarah escape their Minneapolis home in the wake of flaring violence, rioting and robbery ignited by the natural disaster. Tailed by bandits everywhere they go, they flee through the wild to their woodland cabin, surviving thanks to the survival stories told by Miles' old friend Mr. Kurz.

The family's hopes for safety are shattered when they arrive to find their home occupied by unfriendly strangers. Miles' family turns to his amazing memory and his knack for tinkering to help them find Mr. Kurz's cabin.

When I first picked up this book -- okay -- it seemed interesting enough but as soon as I started reading it I became completely enthralled and I couldn't put it down. The people-powered vehicle Miles constructed, the Ali Princess was a good idea and I had a vivid image in my head of a mixture of a bike, a wagon and a sail boat. I was a little annoyed when the author alternated between the past and present. I also felt the book also got predictable whenever Miles and his family visited a town or place congregated with people. (of course, the bandits would be there to chase them.)

Overall, this book was very suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my chair the entire time.

I award this book four and a half daggers out of five.

Trooper Cordell

Big Cousinly News!

2008-07-27T04:25:00.012+01:00

I know I'm out of school and all, but some things have happened this summer to cause me to seriously investigate my family tree. Fortunately, there are simply floors of paintings here in Castle Nyx . . . dozens of dark, mysterious paintings of the Nyx ancestors with eyes that I swear move! Most of them are of people long dead -- great-great-great something-or-others, but there are a few that looked to me as if the paint were fresher. It was these I studied.

First, in the hall to the first floor dining room was an old portrait of a cat-eyed woman dressed for safari. According to the brass plate screwed into the frame, this was my wicked Auntie Fae, who disappeared somewhere in the Australian Outback in '89. With a little help (1-800-CUZFNDR) I discovered my Aunt had had a son some years ago whom she had abandoned on the steps of the Public Library of New South Wales in Sydney. Trooper Cordell.

Second, in the west wing, just below the servants quarters, hung a portrait all in greys -- a face I could barely distinguish beneath the strange cape and hood he wore. Coincidentally (dun-dun-dun) as I pondered, the door rang and there stood a hooded figure claiming to be a Nyx cousin thrice removed - an enigmatic shadow-boy with arms full of books who called himself the Velvet Pickle.

Third, in the observatory is a portrait of someone Grandmama calls "That cousin who lurks on the moors." Of course my ears perked up at the word cousin -- but it turned out he was dead 54 years past, or was he? I stowed away on the next ship to Cardiff to find my dark eyed cousin (or is it his descendant?) Gabriel Gethin, who was wandering the moors with a dog-eared paperback copy of Wuthering Heights clutched in his long fingers and looking not a day past 16.

By now I'm sure you're wondering, where are Twyla's dearest evil cousins, Avery and Aislinn? Sadly, oh so sadly for me, they have spread their wings and started their own blog of reviews called nineseveneight. Read them, I command it, for though they have broken my dark heart, they write the most fawesome of reviews.

Welcome my 3 long lost cousins, and fare thee well Avery and Aislinn. I pray you'll stop by for a visit, my dearest ones -- for you will always be my Evil Cousins!

Yours truly,
Twyla Lee

A Interview With the Magnificent Tony Varrato

2008-07-24T18:36:00.038+01:00

Wonderful readers,

We are proud to present another interview, this time with English teacher, comic book fan and author Tony Varrato. Tony's two books, Fakie (which I've reviewed here) and Outrage have both been nominated for the 2009 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant YA Readers.

I hope his answers are as fabulously entertaining to you as they were to me.

Interviewingly yours,
Twyla Lee

1. What inspired you to write this book?

I wrote Fakie because I teach English. When you take 150 kids to the library for book reports, you get a lot who go for the shortest book they can find. But Dr. Jekyll and The Old Man and the Sea don’t work for kids who hate to read.

They want a short, fast-paced story, with no dead spot in the middle. There were already short books for kids who like the typical sports: basketball, football, basketball. I looked around the classroom and figured there needed to be a book with skateboarding, paintball, and four-wheelers. Oh yeah, and guys with guns.

2. Who did you intend your audience to be?

I was going for skaters in particular, but also any boys who don’t like to read--which is a weird target audience because writing books for non-readers is like making running shoes for couch potatoes. The trick is to get the audience interested.

3. Who are a few of your favorite authors/books? Why did they stand out to you?

In order that I started reading their stories…

Alistair MacLean—He wrote about spies with pen guns… How cool is that? In the 70’s when I started reading, there weren’t many action/adventure teen books. Around age10, The Hardy Boys weren’t cutting it anymore. So I grabbed Puppet on a Chain.

Robert Ludlum --The Bourne Identity and many other assassin/spy novels with twists and turns. Fast and action-packed.

Dean Koontz --Surprising, alternating horror, supernatural, action, and even spiritual at times. Intensity and Velocity are my favorites. The pacing and surprises are amazing.

Neil Gaiman--His comics, kids books, and novels are always over-the-top imaginative.. Faeries, gods, dolls, and spiders are characters in his stories. I especially like his use of the “stranger in a strange land” character. It sucks the reader in to the main character’s situation.

James Patterson—Fast-paced, action-packed, chapters that are sometimes one page long. The Maximum Ride and Alex Cross series are addictive.

4. Do you have any more books coming out soon? If so, do you mind giving details?

I’m working on several right now. But they are in the early oatmeal-ish stages. I need to crank up the heat a little, and add some cayenne pepper (NEVER eat my cooking), and they’ll be ready. One is slated for 2009, but I haven’t figured out a title yet.

For the first one, I promise you: unfriendly friends, bad bad guys, worse good guys, things that go fast, things that go boom, tricks and lies, and maybe a pen gun. On the back burner a couple other books are simmering nicely: superpowers and angry plants.

5. Zombies or unicorns?

Zombies! I don’t anticipate a mad unicorn attack in the near future. But I have my hand- fitted chainsaw, cricket bat, and Zombie Survival Guide within reach at all times for when the virus spreads. And don’t get me started on my aluminum-foil brain-wave protector beanie that I keep in case of aliens!

6. Look out, here comes the Create-Your-Own-Question-Question.

Hmmm. By far, the hardest question you evil ladies have asked. I was just discussing this one with my kids. If you could come back to life as an animal (in non-zombie form) what would it be? I would be a squirrel (with an acorn gun) so I could play chicken with cars on the interstate, and at the last minute, dodge with cool ninja-Matrix moves.

7.. If you could bring three characters to life for a social event, who would they be and what would the event be?

I’d bring:

Queequeg—the cannibal from Moby Dick

Marlow—from Heart of Darkness

and Frodo—does he really need an introduction?

We’d hop into the minivan (yes, a minivan) and head to Cedar Point, Ohio to catch some roller coasters!!!

Queequeg and the Hobbit are both thrill seekers so we’d have a blast--as long as Frodo leaves those stupid rings home!!! Hanging with a Hobbit and a cannibal would probably mean we wouldn’t have to wait in line. I think everyone would let us ahead of them. Marlow would be there just because he needs to lighten up already!!! Or we would laugh at him when he’s yelling “The Horror! The Horror!” after the triple loop on the Corkscrew.

8. If a fluffy, pink fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life, which book will you pick?

Tough one. I never reread a novel unless I’m teaching it. In which case, I reread it a minimum of 4 times a year.

But since defying the fluffy, pink fairy sounds dangerous, I’m going to choose 1984. It’s a story about government oppression which fascinates me, and I’m sure I can find something new each time I read it.

9. Assassins are after you. They want your “aluminum-foil brain-wave protector beanie” because the zombies are coming…

I heard the low-thwumping of the helicopter rotors a millisecond before the ski-masked assassins swung through my windows.

Instinctively, I dove behind my sofa, which I had the forethought to have upholstered in Kevlar. The bullets thudded off the couch creating a Metallica drum solo. I checked to make sure my beanie was secure and slithered toward the coffee-table escape hatch. I hit the hidden lever and the floor opened below me.

Dr. Lekejeheg had been trying to swipe my aluminum-foil brain-wave protector beanie for months now. The precise coefficients, log rhythms, cosigns, and other math techniques I mistakenly thought were useless in school were vital to create the perfectly crumpled helmet beanie that kept me safe from the mind-controlling rays of the zombie aliens that had invaded Earth. Dr. Lekejeheg teamed up with the zombie aliens in a mad quest for world domination.

Only I with my aluminum beanie could foil his plans.

I hit the bottom of the escape ramp and pushed the large red button. The hidden containers of toothpaste, styrofoam, and canned asparagus combined and the house above exploded in green, immobilizing goo.

I rolled safely out of the house and looked toward the sky. Dr. Lekejeheg shook his fist from the helicopter and flew away.

I knew I hadn’t seen the last of him.

10. Which superhero do you think you’re most like?

Oh, I’m going with my all-time favorite: Batman. –not the one accused of assaulting his mother, of course.

Aside from running around the house in spandex, I am that guy who helps random people when they need super heroic feats like lending jumper cables in the Wal-Mart parking lot or handing a person a pen from my multi-pocketed cargo shorts.. All this without any actual super powers, just determination. I AM Batman.

11. What would your part-time job be?

Extreme kayak tour guide in Costa Rica.

12. What if there were no hypothetical situations?

I would never have to wonder if I would know when to stop mowing if the sky were green.

13. What is your favourite kind of cookie?

Chocolate chip. Hot from the oven. The soft dough and dripping, melted chips slightly burning my hand.

Fakie By Tony Varrato

2008-07-24T18:36:00.037+01:00

While running from his father’s murderer, Danny and his mother have moved, changed names and personas so often they’ve lost count. This time, as Alex Miller, Danny takes on the persona of a “skater”. With his new skateboard and baggy pants, he finds it easy to fit in and feels his new friends really care about him. He even thinks he trusts them enough to tell them his secret. Alex hopes that he and his mother don’t have to move again, but then his worst fear comes true, his mother is kidnapped (dun...dun...dun).

As Alex himself thinks in the story, I couldn’t stop seeing how this book seems like a movie or TV show. I can definitely see how reluctant readers, especially "skater" boys, would pick-up and finish this short, action-filled book. I liked being aware of the villian's side of the story. I haven't read many books where both sides were told.

I give this book 4 daggers out of 5.

Imagining being chased by assassins,

Twyla Lee

The Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard

2008-07-23T00:03:00.007+01:00

YA ALERT! Check out Briar Kasvi's TOAD HILL review of The Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard. Interesting Fact: Mitchard's first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean was the the first "Oprah Book Club" book.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

2008-07-20T22:50:00.004+01:00

17 year old Jenna Fox wakes up after an accident she can't recall. She doesn’t remember her favorite color or middle name. But, she can remember History lessons clearly, which she finds odd, especially since her parents tell her that History was never her strongest subject. Shortly, she begins to notices she never gets any ‘Get Well’ cards or any friends visiting her. She also wonders why her grandmother acts as if she hates her. As a few memories start to flash back, the feeling that something is really off gets much stronger (oh dear).

Some of the things Jenna remembers can't possibly be remembered by an average person. She remembers her baptism and the sound of her mother’s heartbeat when she was in her womb. She asks questions about her accident, but her parents avoid answering them. Desperate, she starts an investigation of her own to uncover the unexpected truth.

While I was reading this book, I tried to piece together her puzzle before she did. My predictions were nowhere near close. I loved not knowing, this book had me guessing all the way to the end. The mystery of her identity and the use of forbidden science was exhilarating to read about. If I were in her position, I'd have gone completely bonkers with paranoia.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox earned the full five daggers.

Gladly yours,

Twyla Lee

Blog Alert!

2008-07-16T03:51:00.024+01:00

Look…Look…Over there…It’s our (evil?) sister…

This is not spam, click. Click. CLICK I TELL YOU!! Noooo-ooowww!!!

Yours Truly,
Us 3 Evil Cousins

Cody's Shuts its Doors FOREVER

2008-06-30T21:22:00.005+01:00

Sobs. The 3 Evil Cousins must report that after 52 years of business, our local bookstore, Cody's in Berkeley was forced to close its last store.

Cody’s Books was famous for its support of the free speech movement in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1989, they were firebombed for refusing to remove Salman Rushdie's controversial novel "The Satanic Verses” from their storefront. Through more than a half a century, they hosted countless poets, authors and booklovers. This year, the rent at their final store on 4th street was nearly tripled. In a last ditch effort to save the store, they moved to a new, smaller location near the UC Berkeley Campus, but even that was not enough.

The 3 Evil Cousins were privileged in Cody’s final weeks to co-host several events. These included book signings by Melissa Marr, Cody Doctorow and Cassandra Clare.

In honor of Cody’s, and in hopes we can do something small for other Independents who still struggle to stay afloat during this age of mega-bookstores and the ease of purchasing online we will link all the books we review to IndiBound.org. IndiBound (previously known as Book Sense) is the effort of independent booksellers located throughout all our neighborhoods. We hope others will join us in helping to support our local bookstores.

Yours Truly,
3 Evil Cousins

The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce

2008-06-30T01:04:00.015+01:00

The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce, is the opening book in the Darkangel Trilogy. The book was first published in 1982, but in 2007 Little, Brown reissued paperback versions aimed at YA (which in my opinion was an excellent idea or I may have totally missed reading it!)

Aeriel, a young slave girl and Eoduin, her mistress, protector and friend are in the mountains gathering nectar for Eoduin’s cousin’s bridal cup. The fair Eoduin is snatched and borne away by the darkangel, a stunningly beautiful youth with wings of shadow. The darkangel, also known as a vampyre, is an undead being with a heart of lead. In order to please his mother and come to full power, he must drink the souls of 14 wives. Eoduin is to be his thirteenth.

Aeriel risks her life to follow them to the darkangel’s ruined castle. There, Aeriel is also captured. Instead of killing her as he first intends, the darkangel forces her to weave gowns for his wraith-like wives, who have grown so insubstantial by his feeding on them that they are weighed down by cloth woven of even the lightest spider silks.

As the darkangel prepares to bring home his fourteenth and final wife, Aeriel is reluctant to act against him. Though time is running out, she finds his cruel beauty irresistible and senses that the barest hint of humanity may still survive within him.

Like others before and after it, The Darkangel is a fairy-tale fantasy of a young girl digging out the hidden soul in a physically beautiful but soulless creature. I wonder why we love this theme so. This story predates a lot of the modern ones including the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and I’m glad the publisher decided to reissue this series in time to take advantage of the surge in popularity of romantic vampire stories.

Five daggers out of five – and I’m really looking forward to reading the next two, A Gathering of Gargoyles and The Pearl of the Soul of the World.

Fairy-tale fantasy loving, missing her two cousins and yours,
Twyla Lee

(This post is dedicated to Serafina-Zane.)

Gilda Joyce: The Ghost Sonata by Jennifer Allison

2008-05-27T00:41:00.012+01:00

I've been a fan of author Jennifer Allison and the hilarious Gilda Joyce since the first book. Gilda Joyce is a fourteen-year-old "Psychic Investigator" and avid writer. She lives by the knowledge in her copy of the Master Psychic's Handbook. Every time she senses something is paranormal, she gets a tingle in her ear.

The Ghost Sonata is the third book in this wonderful series. In it, Gilda accompanies her friend Wendy and the other Young International Virtuosos Piano Competition contestants to England. The mystery starts at the airport. While waiting for the plane, Gilda pulls out her tarot cards and gives Wendy a reading. Though Gilda tries valiantly to put a cheerful spin on possible meanings as Wendy pulls the first two cards, she secretly has to admit this is one of the worst readings she has ever seen. And then the third card Wendy pulls is the Death Card. The group arrives safely in England, but in the middle of the night, Wendy hears an unfamiliar and haunting melody. It keeps playing over and over in her mind, interrupting her thoughts. Then more dark tarot cards from a mysterious deck appear and finally -- the ghostly figure of a boy.

Though the story was captivating, what I love most is the character of Gilda Joyce. Jennifer Allison made her so witty and a phenomenal improviser. When Gilda's brother Stephen tells her to not take things so seriously, I couldn't stop laughing for about five minutes. Gilda is unpredictable and her antics keep me guessing.

Psychic Investigator and The Ladies of the Lake are the first two books. They can be read in any order, all are marvelous, and I highly recommend them.

Five daggers out of five. Surprising, I know.

- Twyla Lee

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

2008-05-19T03:58:00.010+01:00

Frankie Landau-Banks is a sophomore at Alabaster, a prestigious prep school where one might make acquaintances that will open doors all throughout life. Previously a small and awkward-looking freshman who dominated at debate, Frankie has since, shall we say...developed. And, perhaps as a result of this development, gorgeous senior Matthew Livingston notices her, invites her to a late-night golf-course shindig, and becomes her boyfriend. Frankie is positively thrilled, and loves spending time with Matthew and his friends. But when Matthew starts acting strangely--blowing her off to hang with the guys, freaking out when she touches the ridiculous china dog ornament on his desk, and quite obviously lying to her--she follows him. He ends up leading her to an old theater where she discovers that he is the Basset King, leader of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, which is a secret society that has been active at Alabaster for who-knows-how-long. But Matthew hasn't told her about it, and from the looks of it, he doesn't plan to. Frankie is furious. She knows that she's just as smart than Matthew and his friends, if not smarter. But she's a girl, and the Order is an all-male society.
Does she confront him?
No.
She gets even by becoming the mastermind behind a series of the most epic pranks Alabaster Preparatory has ever seen.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is quite simply excellent. It is the story of a girl who will not stand for being the "simple and sweet" girlfriend and nothing more, who refuses to give in to the panopticon (look it up) of our society, and who has decided that she won't take "no" from anybody. E. Lockhart writes with intelligence and humor, interspersing facts on secret societies that I found to be absolutely fascinating. At one point (or maybe a couple) a bit of first-person was thrown into the mix, which was slightly confusing, but it didn't take away from my like for the book as a whole. I especially appreciated Frankie's transformation over the course of the book, as well as the message conveyed.

Five out of five daggers

Wanting very badly to do something epic...

Only once in a while there comes a book that really and truly means something to me-- and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks was one of those books. Not only was it amazingly well written, not only was I incapable of putting it down, but it made me think. Frankie Landau-Banks is a girl who has always been underestimated, and this book is the story of how she goes from being her family's small, helpless Bunny Rabbit to being, truly, a force of nature. If you read anything at all this year, read this book.

Five out of five.

Amazed, happy, and yours,

You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn

2008-05-18T17:18:00.006+01:00

When they were younger, Laura and Miles were inseparable. They were more than friends, more than cousins, they were like sisters. They spent their days in the treehouse that Laura's father built for them, playing Once Upon a Time and speaking in a made-up language.

As they grew up, though, they grew apart. Laura flourished in a world of popularity well-suited to her wealth and golden beauty. Miles, on the other hand, retreated into junk food and cigarettes, veiling herself in gothic makeup and facial piercings. She read constantly, preferring words to people. Especially people like the classmates that nicknamed her 8-Mile. Her only true friend at her D.C. charter school the popular, handsome, and talented acting/rapping/breakdancing Jamal, who once stood up for her when nobody else would. Occasionally, Laura and Miles would return to the treehouse of their childhood, passing time together in a Percoset-induced haze. It couldn't come close to the happiness of their past, but was all that Miles had to hold on to. So when Laura--beautiful, intelligent, lovely Laura--commits suicide, Miles is left shattered. She understands why Laura chose not to live, but is heartbroken nonetheless, wishing that she could have followed her on the way out. Wishing that they could have chosen together. With nothing else left, Miles turns to prescription painkillers, that numb-nothing-dream her only respite from the pain of Laura's memory. She's on a dangerous path here, losing all she didn't know she had to high she can't bear to give up.

You Know Where to Find Me is a powerful, well-written story of love, loss, and unexpected healing. It's heart-wrenching, funny, and sometimes even heart-wrenchingly funny. Cohn embodies Miles perfectly, writing with both wit and deep grief that make the novel entirely believable.

Four and one-half out of five daggers.

Hugs, not drugs...

A Salute

2008-05-11T16:23:00.005+01:00

Ever since we were small evil ones, our mothers have been there for us.
Reading to us.
Buying us books.
Supporting our blogging endeavors.

Among other things. But, you know.

So, we salute thee, O Mothers!
A very Happy Day to you.

With admiration, sincerity, and love,

Confessions of a Serial Kisser by Wendelin Van Draanen

2008-05-11T06:06:00.007+01:00

Evangeline Bianca Logan decides to clean the house. She washes the kitchen. She cleans the bathrooms. She tidies the bedrooms. And she finds--under her mother’s bed--the romance novel that will turn her into a serial kisser. Entitled The Crimson Kiss, the book inspires Evangeline to give herself a makeover, change her outlook, and go on a mission to find her own perfect, crimson, Grayson-and-Delilah kiss.

As Evangeline sets off on her mighty quest, she encounters a series of obstacles. Namely, bad kissers. Robbie Marshall attacks. That guy at the coffee shop was a bulldozer. Stu Dillard wants a rating of all things (hoping to out-man Robbie at something). And let's not even talk about Blake Jennings.

But bad kissers aren't her only problem. For one thing, her jerk of a two-timing father won't stop calling. For another, people have started magic-marker-ing her phone number onto urinals. Her grades have started slipping. And, to top it all off, a mistaken kiss leads Evangeline's best friend Adrienne to call their friendship quits.

I must admit, I was worried.
You see, I grew up reading (and adoring) Van Draanen’s Sammy Keyes series (about a snaky and intelligent girl-detective with an affinity for high-tops [a breath of fresh, hilarious, and thankfully Nancy Drew-free air]), which seemed a far, far cry from this pink-covered, lipstick-print-ed, so-very-scarily-titled book. But I just couldn’t resist. And guess what?…I loved it. It made me laugh out loud. It made me cry. It referenced The Princess Bride. And Evangeline was nice and real, just the way I like my characters.

All in all, Confessions of a Serial Kisser is a great book. Perhaps not the deepest piece of literature I've ever read, but it certainly wasn't mindless drivel, either. I still like the Sammy Keyes books better, though (Even though they are middle-grade).

Four out of Five daggers

Relieved...

Airhead by Meg Cabot

2008-04-25T03:00:00.008+01:00

One day, Em Watts is just Em Watts, a teenage tomboy with a love for video games and no love whatsoever for the Walking Dead, her name for the popular people at her school. The next day she is Nikki Howard, teenage supermodel. And there's nothing she can do about it.
Nope, there's no Freaky-Friday-esque spirit transfer. But seeing as Meg Cabot seems to want to keep most of the details under wraps, I won't give away the plot of Airhead any more than I already have. Let's just say that it's pretty darn cool. (Besides, if you really want to know, I'm sure you can find it online.)
Airhead is a thoroughly enjoyable book, not just because it's about a gamer geek trapped in the body of a supermodel, but because (despite what all the chick-lit-haters might say) Meg Cabot is quite a good writer. The heroine is likable, the supporting characters are amusing and believable, and the plot is clever and fun, though it occasionally dragged.
Airhead is the first in a trilogy, and it reads like it-- it seems more like the beginning of a story than a complete story in and of itself. This may bother some people, as it made the plot a bit slow at times. This format also means that readers (if they enjoyed the book) will be clamoring to read the second, because the end of Airhead seems more like (at risk of sounding clichéd) a beginning.
Airhead comes out on May 13.

All in all, I would say that Airhead makes a great light read. I give it four daggers out of five.

Glad that she is still residing in her own body, but also kind of wishing that she weren't because then she could have an adventure, and also writing very long sign-offs, and also, yours,

How to be Bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle

2008-04-22T03:40:00.008+01:00

How to be Bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle is a fun, exciting spin on the classic road trip story.
Vicks, Jesse, and Mel are three very different friends. Well, not exactly-- Vicks and Jesse are friends, and Mel is the rich girl with no friends who works at the Waffle House with them. Nevertheless, they all climb into Jesse's car (her mother's car actually) on a Friday night for a weekend road trip to Miami. Along the way, they encounter a giant stuffed alligator, a pirate hotel, one very hot guy, and a new understanding of both each other and themselves.
I loved How to be Bad. The styles of the three writers were very different, but they meshed well with one another, as well as with the characters that each author wrote. (Though I won't tell you who wrote who-- it's at the back of the book for you to find out, after you've read it.)
How to be Bad is a great story of road-tripping, heartbreak, very strange tourist destinations, and, most of all, friendship.

I give this 1 fabulous book, with 3 fabulous authors, 4 fabulous daggers. (Aren't I clever?)

Bad (on account of the fact that I've just learned how!), wanting to go on a road trip, and yours,

The Squad: Perfect Cover and The Squad: Killer Spirit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

2008-04-10T04:44:00.008+01:00

The Squad: Perfect Cover and The Squad: Killer Spirit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes are the first two books in a series.
Toby Klein was just your average high school hacker-loner-who-is-also-a-black-belt-in-karate, until she is recruited to join her school's varsity cheerleading squad-- something she would never do in a million years. Until she finds out that the squad is actually a cover for a team of highly trained government agents. Suddenly, Toby goes from being the aforementioned loner-hacker who occasionally beats up football players to being one of the most popular girls in school. She is quickly pulled into a web of intrigue, danger, and body glitter. Lots of body glitter.
Okay, so, yes, I do realize that this book is about cheerleader secret agents. But that fact notwithstanding, these are fun, enjoyable books. It helps that the main character is very anti-cheerleader, despite the fact that she is one. Also on the plus side, the main character is actually smart, something I would never have guessed by looking at the covers of the books. (I mean, cheerleader silouhettes? Really?) To be honest, I picked up the first one because I thought it would be amusing (unintentionally). I was suprised to find thatI actually enjoyed it (and then read the second one, of course). These are great light reads-- they're clever, there's action, and there's, um, pep rallies. Yeah. And best of all? They're actually written well. (And they're paperbacks, so they're cheap.) So if you've boon looking for something fun to read that you don't have to think about too hard, I've found it for you. You can thank me later.

I give these books 3.5 daggers each.

Cheerleading (or not), secret-agenting, and yours,

Did we fool you? (April Fool's Post)

2008-04-01T02:30:00.007+01:00

Because there seems to be some confusion: THIS IS NOT A REAL REVIEW. We put this post and the one below it up as an April Fool's joke, along with a very pink temporary redesign of the blog. We do not write like this, think like this, or enjoy books like this. Thank you.
GOSSIP GIRL by Cecily von Ziegsar
Serena van der Woodsen & Blair Waldorf wer princesses of Manhattan's Upper East Side elite. they wer rich, beatiful, n wanted. they partied hard (aided by their parents endless supply of booze) & shopt harder. basicly, they had it all. but dont let looks fool u. theres trubble in paridise.

even tho Serena and blair wer best frnds it was alwys obviuss that serena wuz tha taller, thiner, blonder, kewler 1. she wuz in charge. so wen Serena leavs 4 bording scool blair feels both abandoned & liberated. her best frend has left her, but she is now officially it.

1 day, just be4 Blair & her posse strt senior yr @ constance billard scool 4 grls, serena coms back, scandal and intrigue following her. but sumthin isnt rite. tha welcome she expected just isnt ther. blair greets her coldly. wat happened? did she find out that serena slpt w/nate (blair's now-bf)? whatevr happened, serena is now snubbed by her 4mr frnds, stil societies It Girl, stil adored by boyz n girlz (espeshully tha boyz), but now she stays home on fri nights, cuz she's got nobody to party w/.

all this & more is reported by Gossip Girl, the misteryus blogstress that dishes on all the sex, secrets, and scandal of tha upper east sde.

gsp grl is such a gr8 buk! the guys r hawtt &the parties r kewl. but its not just that. tha relayshunships are rl dep, to. Cecily von Ziegsar is such a gud riter! shes so gud @ showing the vulnerubble side of thos grls we luv 2 h8 & h8 2 luv.

gossip grrl is lyk ttly fabu. so much of it made me lol, & sum of it evn made me cri (i mean, its not her fawlt 4 bing so hawt, rite? its not fare that blairs so men 2 her) i wish i cud b prt of tha world! dont you cuz it wud kewl to be, lyk skinny, desired, & pwerfull, & party all tha time rite? omg i cant w8 to red tha nxt 11 GG buks!!! also, chk out tha sho cuz its my fav, basicly tha bst ting evar!!!

6/5 daisies! its just that gud!!!!

u kno u <3>

omg i <3>

my fave char iz probly nate cuz hes HAWT or serena cuz shes HAWT. omg theyre all so kewl & diffrnt tho its hard to choose lol!!

6/5 daisys too!! jus like avery lol!!1

<3,>

Another Fool

2008-04-01T01:30:00.005+01:00

Lauren Myracle is a genius 4 writing TTYL. Maddie, Angela, and Zoe r my heroez!!! They r sooo strong and tuff! First Angela thinkz shez found Mr. Ryt but he turnz in2 Mr. Yea Ryt. Ther iz also Zoe and her Englush teacher, whoz 24. They start going 2 church 2gether and totally start crushing on each other. Then, wen I thot nuthing mor cud happen, Maddie getz "betrayed" by her frend Jana.

Por Jana, she wuz soo misunderstood by Zoe and Angela. All she did wuz take picz of Maddie wen she wuz totally wasted @ a party and sent them out 2 ppl. It'z pretty obvious tho that she wuz jus trying 2 get opinionz 2 help her frend. Who wudn't do that 4 sum1 they cared about?

Rob, Angela's first dude, sounded sooooooo cute <3

zomg!! Did I mention the wey the bookz r written??! I didn't O.O!??! How cud I not hav?! It'z writen lyk it'z a IM. How totally awesum iz that!?!?!?!? Ryt after I finished it, I wanted so bad 2 go out and get the nex book. I can't w8 2 start reading the second 1. I'm so glad it'z out so I don't hav 2 w8 4 it.

This book totally deservz all 6 of the 5 daisies I'm giving it. I totally <3

Luving this wunderful book and totally urs,

Twyla Lee

Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe

2008-03-29T20:56:00.010Z

Take one Meg Cabot Novel. Add mystery. Set in Las Vegas. Sprinkle with glitter. Voila! Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe.
Jasmine is a girl with a talent for sleuthing. When she is dragged to Las Vegas for a family vacation, what can she do but encounter a mystery and try to solve it?
Usually when I read mystery novels I know exactly who did it and how chapters before the main character, and I just end up throwing the book across the room in frustration at the protagonist's stupidity. In Bad Kitty, I really didn't know the answer-- but I thought the protagonist was acting stupid anyway. Is it too much to ask for a main female character to be an intelligent person who doesn't jump to random, preposterous conclusions at the drop of a hat? The only time I've seen this done right was in Veronica Mars, where even if she was wrong, she was logical about it.
Aside from this, though, Bad Kitty is an entertaining, if not particularly deep, book. The main character is almost someone I might like, and the mystery is engaging and fun.

Bad Kitty is a good book to read if you want something light that doesn't require a huge amount of thought. The best thing about it is that, though it's a girly book (see sparkles on cover for proof), the characters aren't self-absorbed privileged, er, witches a la Gossip Girl. If you're a fan of Meg Cabot, you'll like this book. If you're not, you won't.

I give it 3 daggers.

Slightly angry, wishing that Veronica Mars hadn't been cancelled, and yours,

Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey by Margaret Peterson Haddix

2008-03-21T15:28:00.008Z

I had already read and liked "Running Out of Time" by Margaret Peterson Haddix, but "Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey" has made her one of my very favourite authors. In Mrs. Dunphrey's class, students are writing in a journal for a school assignment. Mrs. Dunphrey promises she won't read any entries marked "Don't Read." For Tish Bonner that is not enough. Tish's life is falling apart in every way possible, the bills can't be paid and her mother is useless. Tish tests Mrs. Dunphrey by writing rude comments about her and other teachers. When Mrs. Dunphrey passes, only then does Tish start trusting in her journal and her difficult life starts to unfold entry by entry.

Tish's mother acts more like a child than an adult. All she does is sit and cry all day over her abusive husband not being home. In order to keep herself and her eight year old brother, Matt, fed and clothed, Tish Bonner has to work part-time at a restaurant, Burger Boy, with a lecherous boss. She also has to juggle school and her own typical teen problems such as boys and friends. Tish is very skeptical of the teachers and councilors at her school. She doesn't trust them with knowing the truth of how precarious her life is. Her brother Matt is all she has and she can't bear the thought of being separated from him.

One day when Tish returns from work, she finds her mother has left them to go to California to find their father. Now, Tish and Matt are in danger of losing their utilities, house, and even each other.

Throughout this book I kept feeling like I couldn't read fast enough. I was so worried about what would happen to Tish and her brother. Though this book is only 125 pages long, it has definitely made it to my list of books "you must read before you die." It has made my outlook on my life a little less gloomy. I grant it the full five daggers. If I had more, I would gladly give them up.

--Twyla Lee

The Decoding of Lana Morris by Laura and Tom McNeal

2008-03-16T16:54:00.003Z

Lana Morris does not belong here. Something about living with an evil foster mother and a bunch of Special Needs Kids (Snicks, for short) just isn't her cup of tea. Called "Foster" by K.C., Trina, and Spink--three of the four other teenagers in the area-- she is without friends. And, to top it all off, she's been having some rather forbidden feelings for her foster father--ones that he encourages.

One day, sick of minding the Snicks and fed up with her foster mother's constant harassment, Lana takes a ride in the trunk of K.C.'s green LeSabre, too desperate to get out of the house to care that she'l be hot, uncomfortable, and ignored. They take a bumpy ride out in the middle of nowhere, ending up in the town of Hereford. While K.C. and company get lunch, Lana wanders into a strange little antique shop. She is fascinated by a drawing kit, for which she ends up trading the thing she holds most dear. Soon, Lana discovers that the drawing kit is far from ordinary. Whatever she draws on the paper comes to be. When she erases, it is undone. This, of course, has some unexpected consequences.

The Decoding of Lana Morris was a quick and not very memorable read. It was written in the third person present, which I found rather awkward. The story itself was at times beautiful and tender, but the magical element of the drawing kit (which, I'll admit, drew me to the book in the first place) bothered me. There was no rhyme or reason to it, really. What Lana drew always manifested itself differently, and a bit inaccurately.

To be completely honest, I just wasn't engaged by the story. It had potential...but did nothing to draw me in.

Three out of five daggers.

Suffering from mild book apathy...