Misfortune

Title: Misfortune
Author: Wesley Stace
Themes: cross-dressing, family, inheritance, Classical Mythology, Victoriana, friendship, love, identity, growing up, self-acceptance
Rating: ***

Plot: Misfortune begins with irresistible details of a bygone era as it unfolds the tale of Rose, an infant boy adopted and raised as a girl, who must abandon the luxury and safety of his beloved home and travel halfway around the world to discover who he really is-and to unlock the secret of his rightful place.

My Thoughts: Once again, I take offense at the very very misleading plot description...but I will try to leave that aside this time.

I found this book to be utterly delightful, at least the first half of it. It was a joy to read; I felt enveloped by the atmosphere of Love Hall, and as confused as Rose her/himself about her/his sexual identity and place in the world. The story of her stunning birth, delivery into the hands of Lord Loveall, and his rearrangement of the world itself around Rose was a touching and joyful story. Even with the darker undertones of his refusal to acknowledge that his adopted child was in fact male, Rose tells the reader about her childhood in a sort of painful and joyous detail. The unraveling of the secret of her gender is excruciating for both Rose and the reader, who can do nothing but sympathize with her confusion. As she is the heir to a vast fortune, her greedy relatives descend upon her, and contest her rights to inherit.

Unfortunately, from there it seemed to become rather muddled and preachy...not to mention any sort of historical realism (or at least suspension of disbelief) disappeared for me at around the three hundred page mark. I also found that a lot of the "sex" scenes were rather unnecessary...and modern and gaudy and just inserted for shock value (oh no! Victorian-ish characters are doing naughty things-like giving their uncles hand jobs and flashing themselves around to turn down marriage proposals!).

What would seem to be the biggest adventure of the book, Rose's running away and traveling the world and debasing herself, are left out except for brief references later in the novel to the fact that she never enjoyed sex herself. This in itself was disappointing, her childhood is given to us in detail, then a huge blank spot where she runs away, sees the world, and comes to the brink of suicide...this seems as though it should be included to me at least.

After this "blank" period Rose founds herself in Turkey, near a pool which is identified with hermaphrodites...and from there is rescued by a childhood friend and returned safely to London. In London she searches for her true family, as her family's "man" continues searching for legal loopholes in order to regain Love Hall.

I don't want to spoil too much, because this really is a book that must be read to be fully understood and appreciated, but I think most people would find the conclusion of Rose's story to be rather TOO easy and TOO coincidental. I suppose in this respect it is very much like a Victorian English novel, where everything falls into place-no matter how nonsensical-and the story concludes with a happy ending for some-and a punishment for the bad characters. Of course...I find I must vent about just one aspect, which is a rather critical point in the book, so don't read the next little paragraph if you don't want spoilers!

******
Well...as it turns out, Rose had been picked up by a lord from a garbage heap. BUT she was actually a long lost descendant of the TRUE heir to Love Hall. In fact, no other Loveall family member is a true descendant of the legal heir. A stretch, isn't it? Oh, and also that long lost true Love Hall heir is also the mysterious poet Rose's adoptive mother has dedicated her life to...doesn't it all fall into place now?

Naturally, Rose (in skirts and a mustache-as she is to dress ever more) and a whole troupe of rag tag followers appears at Love Hall and put on a performance. I found this to be way over the top and...cheesey...almost had a 1980s/90s teen movie revenge vibe to it.

Am I being too harsh?
******
Needless to say, in the end Rose finds a happy way to negotiate her sexual identity, her family and friends accept her in skirts with a mustache and wife, and she has a final revenge on her greedy family.

Recommendation: I have mixed feelings about Misfortune. It was fun to read (the first half of the book), it was an adventure, it was unusual. The writing was pretty good, and imagery was wonderful. But...I felt it just spiraled into tackiness and I lost my ability to believe ANY of it. Nevertheless it was fun to discuss, so you may wish to read it just for that!

Random Excerpt: "As she held me in her arms, her mind was suddenly brimming with thoughts of Day and "The Houses of Dead," which told how God, having no sex, provided the mind with no sex at birth. And what was I but her tabula rasa?

That was why, as she drew me closer to her bosom, she smiled (p. 99)."

Similar Reads: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, Lieutenant Nun by Catalina de Erauso

Stace, Wesley. Misfortune, a Novel. New York: Back Bay Books, 2005.

Leviathan

Title: Leviathan
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Themes: loyalty, responsibility, politics, friendship, sacrifice, science, escape, survival, girl-disguised-as-boy
Rating:***

Plot: Choose your weapon: Beastie or Clanker.

Alek is a prince without a throne. On the run from his own people, he has only a fighting machine and a small band of men.

Deryn is a girl disguised as a guy in the British Air Service. She must fight for her cause-and protect her secret-at all costs.

Alek and Deryn are thrown together aboard the mighty airship Leviathan. Though fighting side by side, their worlds are far apart. British fabricated beasts versus German steam-powered war machines. They are enemies with everything to lose, yet somehow destined to be together.

My Thoughts: One thing that always gets me is misleading back-cover-blurbs, and Leviathan suffers from one. I understand that it is supposed to hook potential readers, but I always end up disappointed and a little angry when I find the book is pointedly different from what is advertised. Especially when it's a good and exciting book on its own. I suppose there are two main complaints about the cover-blurb that I want to address. First, it's brief description of Deryn, she is described as having to fight for her cause and protect her secret at all costs. One would then think she faces some sort of challenge in the book that threatens her secret...or something? But no, in fact, Deryn has a surprisingly easy time of it, and really seems to have no cause except wanting to defy her mother and fly about aimlessly. The other thing that drove me nuts is the final part of the blurb-that Alek and Deryn are fighting together on the airship Leviathan. Judging from this description, the bulk of the book takes place on the ship with both Alek and Deryn. Actually...the two storylines only meet up in the last quarter of the novel, and they are only "fighting together" and "on the ship" for the last chapter (at most) of the book. Um, wth?

But don't let this fool you, I actually enjoyed the book, that's why the cover-blurb annoys me so-they could have written an accurate one that would still have hooked readers!

Anyways. Leviathan is full of adventure, twists, and fantastic world-building that is both creative and optimistic. The Darwinists have fabricated animal/machines through DNA manipulation as started by Darwin (surprisingly) in this alternative history. These beasties include flying whales, jellyfish planes, bomb-releasing bats, and hydrogen sniffing canines. These fabricated creatures have solved the problem of industrialization, although "Monkey Luddites" among the Darwinst countries (including Britain) still fear this awe-inspiring (and quite advanced for 1914) technology. Clankers, on the other hand, rely on sophisticated steam powered machines that typify steampunk. Alek, from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, is of the Clanker class and can pilot walking machines that are quite similar to rudimentary transformers or anime creations. While it takes a bit of effort, one can eventually accept these technologies in their alternative context. Although, I found myself scoffing at it every now and then.

Alek is a very likable and sympathetic hero, who has faults and makes mistakes which seem to reinforce his "goodness" and strength of character. I will probably read the next installment just to see what becomes of this displaced prince and his small entourage.

Deryn I found to be insufferable, though perhaps this was intentional. The cliched "tough and brilliant girl dresses as boy to prove self-worth etc etc" was a bad start, and I didn't really recover from that as the book progressed. As I mentioned before, I felt Deryn mostly played around and got what she wanted with minimal effort throughout the entire book (Alek's life was a bit more challenging, I must say). She is also abrasive, excessively foul-mouthed, much too forward, and fool-hardy, but for some reason the people around her seem to like her. I didn't get it personally, but I can see how this type of character can be useful for furthering the plot...although if some sort of romantic angle unfolds in the next book I don't think I'll be able to swallow it. I just didn't find her character to be cohesive or believable.

Recommendation: If you are looking for adventure, world building, steampunk, or alternative WWI history then this is an excellent young adult novel for you. The illustrations are gorgeous as well, making for a fun read.

Similar Reads: Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Peirce, The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer, Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith*, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest*, Soulless by Gail Carriger*

Westerfeld, Scott. Leviathan. New York: Simon Pulse, 2009.

*I haven't read them, but they seem similar as far as setting, themes, storylines, etc.

Of Bees and Mist

Title: Of Bees and Mist
Author: Erick Setiawan
Themes: magic, marriage, love, fidelity, loyalty, family, independence
Rating: ****

Plot: Raised in a sepulchral house where ghosts dwell in mirrors, Meridia grows up lonely and miserable. But at age sixteen, she has a chance at happiness when she falls in love with Daniel-a caring and naive young man. Soon they marry, and Meridia can finally escape to live with her husband's family, unaware that they harbor dark secrets of their own. There is a grave hidden in the garden, there are two sisters groomed from birth to despise each other, and there is Eva-the formidable matriarch and the wickedest mother-in-law imaginable-whose grievances swarm the air in an army of bees. As Meridia struggles to keep her life and marriage together, she discovers long-buried secrets about her own past as well as shocking truths about her new family that inexorably push her love, courage, and sanity to the brink.

Of Bees and Mist is an engrossing fable that chronicles three generations of women under one family tree over a period of thirty years-their galvanic love and passion, their shifting alliances, their superstitions and complex domestic politics-and places them in a mythical town where spirits and spells, witchcraft and demons, and prophets and clairvoyance are an everyday reality. Erick Setiawan's astonishing debut is a richly atmospheric and tumultuous ride of hope and heartbreak that is altogether touching, truthful, and entirely memorable.

My Thoughts: First comments have to go to yet another cover-flap summary that I find slightly misleading. Hailed as an "engrossing fable that chronicles three generations of women under one family tree..." is rather silly since this book has one main character. Yes her mother is also a character, her son is also a character (later on anyway, sorry if that spoils anything!)...who is this third family member of the female persuasion? Do they mean her mother-in-law (the one with the bees that is)? I guess I will never know. But don't expect a sweeping family saga, this focuses in on the life of Meridia, and all others are secondary characters who form a part of her story.

With that mini-rant aside, I have to now ramble about the setting of Of Bees and Mist, which must be fantasy-oriented and yet I have a hard time placing it in an alternate universe. It is altogether too close to our real world, yet so completely different. When I began reading this I pictured late 20th century or maybe early 21st century (no later than the 1930s!) Europe or United States (I guess I can toss in Canada as a contender?). The clothing and housing styles seemed to fit this, as well as the names and working/schooling/living conditions. Yet...no cars or any sort of transportation except walking. But printing presses and books and large houses and dinner parties and dates at the beach and manicurists and cafes and lipsticks. There are super-naturalists and psychics and midwives and ghosts and changing stairways and colored mists and malicious bees, in this modern setting, and it's so normal-even for the reader. I love this immersive and convincing other-reality, yet part of me HATED it because it was oh-so-familiar yet I could never fit it into a historical or physical location. Not even close. I admit the characters did not move me much, but the setting made this novel. It was a character itself; one that I tried to puzzle out until the very close.

Meridia's childhood could have provided enough stimuli for a series of novels, yet only takes the first few chapters of Of Bees and Mist. Her courtship and marriage take a few more, then her slow realization of her mother-in-law's "true side" takes only one or two. Yet the book is so much longer, Meridia spends the rest of Eva's long life trying to escape her, with varying degrees of success. There is family drama to rival a soap opera, there is magic there is death and there is infidelity. And Meridia loses nearly everything before she escapes her mother's footsteps and Eva's manipulations. It's a dramatic and eventful story of marriage and responsibilities. It has elements of folk lore and fairy, it has nostalgia and hope, but mostly-it has an off-setting world which captivates the reader and propels him or her to the conclusion of the novel whether he or she cares a bit about Meridia or not.

Random Passage: "With nothing to lose, Meridia grew more daring in the next five days. Increasingly, she defended Permony against Eva, fabricating excuses, drawing Elias into the fray, and, when nothing else was to be done, snatching the girl outright from her mother's talons (p. 139)."

Recommendation: I had a hard time "getting into" Of Bees and Mist. For the first 12 pages. Then I read the other 300 plus pages in one sitting. My relationship with this book is ambivalent. I want to love it, I voraciously ate it up, but it left a funny taste. I would recommend this book, however, not to just anyone. Not just anyone could appreciate it's uniqueness and pacing. But, if you are at all interested or intrigued after reading the publisher's summary and my rambling thoughts on Of Bees and Mist than it might just be the book for you.

Similar Reads: Fitcher's Brides by Gregory Frost, The Magicians by Lev Grossman, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

Setiawan, Erick. Of Bees and Mist. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009.

Tigerheart

Title: Tigerheart
Author: Peter David
Themes: responsibility, friendship, family, growing up, courage, magic, belief
Rating: ***

Plot: For all readers who have ever lent an enthusiastic ear to a wonderfully well told tale, or tumbled gladly into pages that oculd transport them anywhere, now comes novelist Peter David's enchanting new work of fantasy. action-packed and suspenseful, heart-tugging and wise, it weaves a spell both hauntingly familiar and utterly irresistible for those who have ever surrendered themselves to flights of fancy and have whispered in their hearts "I believe."

Paul Dear is a good and clever boy, doted on by a father who fills his son's head with tall tales, thrilling legends, and talk of fairy-folk, and by a mother who indulges these fantastic stories and tempers them with common sense. But Paul is special in ways that even his adoring parents could never have imagined. For by day, in London's Kensington Gardens, he walks and talks with pixies and sprites and other magical creatures that dwell among the living-but are unseen by most. And at night in his room, a boy much like himself, yet not, beckons to Paul from the mirror to come adventuring. It's a happy life for Paul, made all the more so by the birth of his baby sister.

But everything changes when tragedy strikes, and Paul concludes that there's only one course of action he can take to dispel the darkness and make things right again. And like countless heroes before him, he knows he must risk everything to save the day.

Thus begins a quest that will lead Paul down the city's bustling streets, to a curio shop where a magical ally awaits him and launches him into the starry skies, bound for a realm where anything is possible. Far from home, he will run with fierce Indian warriors, cross swords with fearsome pirates, befriend a magnificent white tiger, and soar beside an extraordinary, ageless boy who reigns in a boundless world of imagination.

Brimming with the sly humor and breathless excitement of a traditional Victorian bedtime story, deftly embroidered with its own unique wisdom and wonder, Tigerheart is a hymn to childhood's happiness and heartbreak, a meditation on the love, courage, sacrifice, and faith that shape us and define our lives, and a splendidly rendered modern fable-for readers of any age-that brilliantly proves itself a worthy brother to the timeless classic that serves as its inspiration.

My Thoughts: Tigerheart was infinitely more impressive than I suspected it would be, but also somewhat disappointing. As implied by the rather long plot synopsis on the flaps, a family tragedy forces young Paul Dear to become a hero and fly far far away to find a boy who never ages in order to right his family that now seems so terribly wrong. Paul speaks in a clear and innocent voice, his courage and morality shine through even as he is medicated by psychologists and punished by his mother.

Part of Tigerheart's appeal, as well as its mystery, is its effective timelessness. Yes, psychologists (doctors with pills for visions) exist. I believe cars are mentioned. Yet the London Paul lives in is timeless, it evokes Victoriana and times long gone. One pictures Paul in sweaters and knee socks, and his mother in long bustling gowns with her hair up in a chignon. Paul Dear cannot be placed in any sort of linear time, but he is definitely in London. Much like the Anyplace, Paul Dear lives in a sort of timelessness where one grows old and dies.

The clever asides and amusing narrative style seems as though it will grow tiresome, yet never does. They give the book an air of storytelling, and seems to imagine itself being read aloud-despite its length and lack of illustrations. While I had feared this witting interruptions would ruin the story, they are well placed and rather add to the mystery and adventure instead of detracting and becoming rather passe.

While I do not wish to giveaway any of the plotline, I do believe that Tigerheart contains all of the elements of a classic children's story while maintaining a rather modern voice. It has family, responsibility, adventure, betrayal, and hard work at its backbone-while magic and the Anyplace provides enough spice to make it fantastical. I have emphasized the book's strengths: it's timelessness, it's narrative style, and its emphasis on adventure and personal growth. However, I was also disappointed with Tigerheart because I felt it could do so much more. It was such an enjoyable read that I felt it could have been improved by more. It is indeed the story of Paul Dear, not of The Boy, but it could have been expanded into a longer narrative and still maintained its grip on readers. I suppose it's a testament to the greatness of a novel, when one's only complaint is that there was not more of it!

Random Passage: "And so Captain Slash kept talking to them. She cajoled and complained and convinced; and whether it took longer or shorter than it did to convince Fiddlefix to cooperate, again we cannot tell. Know, though, that Captain Slash had something of a silver tongue, coated by Satan himself, and thus could eventually talk almost anyone into doing almost anything (pp. 171-172)."

Recommendation: I would highly recommend this novel to any lover of children's literature, as well as any Peter Pan fan. I do think the asides may be off-putting for many an adult reader, as well as the less dedicated young reader, but just as many will embrace the narrative style.

Similar Reads: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

David, Peter. Tigerheart. New York: Ballantine Books, 2008.

Weekly Geeks 2010-39

Do you plan on participating in any reading challenges in 2011? Are you planning on hosting any reading challenges? Perhaps you'd like to share an idea for a reading challenge--to see if there is any interest! Share with us which challenges look tempting to you! (You don't have to "officially" join any of the challenges for this weekly geek. Just let us know which ones you'd be most interested in.) You might want to spend some time browsing A Novel Challenge. Are there any challenges you are looking forward to that haven't been announced yet? Regardless of your challenge plans, are you starting to plan ahead for next year? Do you make lists or goals? Are you a person who enjoys reading more if it is structured? Or are you all about being free to read what you want, when you want?

Normally I am a "read what I want when I want" to kind of gal. However, this means I have a lot of books I never quite get around to-which is why I decided to jump on board with the Off the Shelf! challenge for 2011. The goal: read 30 books from my TBR pile in 2011. What I liked about this challenge was that you could choose your commitment, I just thought 30 books sounded like a good number! To help me, I created a list of my TBR pile and added it as a page to this blog. As I complete each one, I can cross it off the list and feel productive!

If you are a hoarder like me, I recommend trying this challenge out with me next year!

I had thought that that would be enough for me...but then I checked out A Novel Challenge as WG suggested...and I couldn't resist just one more! So I decided to dive into Into The Old World Reading Challenge hosted by Splash of Our Worlds and My Love Affair With Books. Basically, this challenge is all about reading older books in 2011. However, they really don't have to be that old...just published before 2009!

A Tanith Lee challenge, now that's another thing I could get behind. Might make one up for myself!

Off the Shelf! Update

I feel the need to update my Off the Shelf! reading challenge. So far, I am quite slow putting together my TBR list! But I hope to have a review for one of my Off the Shelf! books soon after New Years.

I still have a year left however (January 1, 2011 to December 21, 2011), to finish at least thirty book that have been collecting dust on my shelf (well, stacked on the floor, on my desk, on the shelves, in the shelves, jammed in the closet...)

Off the Shelf! Challenge

I love reading challenges. Sure, I don't always finish them as well as I would like. But I have high hopes for reading in 2011 and I am already honing in on the New Year optimism! One challenge that I could really benefit from is the Off the Shelf! Challenge which forces you to tackle that large TBR pile of books you have purchased and then neglected. Let's face it, I'm a hoarder, and I have LOTS of unread beauties laying about. Right now I'm aiming to "make a dint (30 books)" but I'll be content to "try (15 books)." All the books used in this challenge have to be purchased before you start the challenge! I can't just buy a new book and then use it for this (no being sneaky). If anyone else is interested in doing this with me, check it out here.