4/30/09

Wonderous Strange, by Lesley Livingston

Just a quick commenting, not a real review, because this has already been out a while (and it has been waiting for me to review it for a while, and although it deserves reviews just as much as anyone else, time is short in spring. The crops need planting, etc.).

I'd already read Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely) when I approached Wondrous Strange, by Lesley Livingston (2008, HarperTeen, 327 pp), and as a result, I was uncertain. The plot sounded pretty similar--girl finds faerie destiny in urban setting with some bad faerie types trying to thwart her and her faerie/human romance. I was pleased to find that, plot aside, the two books very different in feel and texture, and that Wondrous Strange was a rather satisfying read in its own right. In fact, I would highly recommend this book to the 13 or so year old who hasn't yet begun reading paranormal romance/urban fantasy--I think this is a perfect introduction to those sub-genres. It is light-hearted and quite funny in places, which makes a nice change (I would like more bits of humor please, modern writers of YA fantasy), and it is not as Dark and Urban as many other books are. I liked the backdrop of the theatre, I liked the characters, and I liked the writing in a pleasant read kind of way.

Except that the male love interest is named Sonny. Why? Why was a child taken as a changeling by the Winter King named Sonny? Is it ironic, in that Sonny had no chance to be his parents' son? Also ironically, the name makes me think sun-burned farm boy (as unwintery as you can get in a name), and this is not right. I mean, Frosty would be wrong too, but what about something like "Seth?"

Other reviews can be found at The Book Zombie, Teen Book Reviews, and The Dreamer Reader.

3 comments:

  1. :) Seth!? Okay, that still sounds sunburnt farm-boy to me. Or else tow-headed Mormon boy.

    I think Leander or something would work for someone in faery. Or Leif. Or August. Or something weirder than Seth...

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  2. It was a joke because of Seth being the guy in Wicked Lovely. And also because you are utterly right about Seth being a farm boy name (as in Cold Comfort Farm, where the heroine writes to her London friend something like "Not only Seth, but Rueben too! And if you haven't read that, do, because it is very very funny).

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  3. Thanks for the review. I read Wicked Lovely and didn't love it, so I was staying away from this one. I'll definitely reconsider!

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