Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869, by Alex Alice

Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869, by Alex Alice (First Second, September 2017), is an utterly gorgeous alternate history, originally published in French.  It's the story of a boy whose mother is a great adventurer, determined to rise in her balloon to deadly heights in pursuit of Aether, a substance that could power incredible wonders.  Sadly, just as she makes her discovery that it doesn't in fact exist, her mission fails, and she dies up in the dark cold at the edge of Earth's atmosphere.  Her journal, though, falls to Earth...

And her son, Seraphin, and her husband grieve, but when, a while later, they receive word her journal has been found and is waiting for them in Bavaria, they set off to retrieve it.  This journey takes them into danger, for the political situation is tense.  The Prussian general Bismark is pressing the other German principalities hard to join him in a unified Germany, and King Ludwig of Bavaria is most reluctant to do so.  Aether, with its potential for military usefulness, could tip the balance of power, and lead to conquest of not just earthly realms, but galactic ones.

Seraphin is determined to foil the Prussian plans, and throws himself into working to continue his mother's dream, while planting false information for Bismark's spies to find.  And Mad King Ludwig, perhaps not so mad at all, dreams of flighing beyond Earth. Fortunately for Seraphin, he becomes part of a cohort of plucky youngsters who can make this dream come true.  If, that it, Bismark doesn't seize it from them....

I know it is only September, but I am already thinking about Christmas presents. This is an absolutely perfect present to give to:

--a connoisseur of beautiful graphic novels.  It has a classy, elegant design and beautiful illustrations.  Likewise, an experienced fan of graphic novels in general (you need to pay attention to the text with this one or else you won't understand it), who likes stories that are fun and fantastical and which bear re-reading multiple times.

--a young reader who enjoyed Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series, even if they might not be a graphic novel fan first and foremost, as this too is alternate European history with a steampunk flavor

--a not necessarily young reader who's a fan of Jules Verne, and 19th century romantic/mad science imaginings in general.  In short, if you have an elderly relative who's impossible to find a present for, but who has Jules Verne on their bookshelves, this would be a suitable gift.

When my review copy arrived, I considered holding it back from my own son till Christmas (he fits all but the last of the categories above).  But it was so perfect for him I couldn't stand to make him wait!  And it was a pleasure seeing him enjoying it.

A Crack in the Sea, by H.M. Bouwman

A Crack in the Sea, by H.M. Bouwman (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, January 2017), is a middle grade fantasy novel that combines krakens, the horrific tragedy of the Middle Passage, the horrors endured by Vietnamese boat people, a second world where people (some with magical gifts) live on tropical islands and on a floating raft town, and Amelia Earhart.  What unites all these threads is a crack in the sea; unpredictably opening to let people from our first world fall though.

Three sets of siblings are central to the story at hand.  Venus and her brother Swimmer survive being kidnapped by slavers, and when the captain of the slave ship that's taken them begins to throw the sick and dying captives overboard, Venus and Swimmer use their gifts to lead their people on a walk underwater to the second world. 

Two hundred years later, two other siblings living in the second world hear their origin story, and embark on an adventure of their own.  Pip, the little brother, is face-blind, so his big sister has always tried to buffer him from the world.  But Pip can talk to fish, and the leader of the raft-people thinks this gift might lead him to the crack in the sea, offering a return to Africa.  And so he kidnaps Pip....In the meantime (which in this case is the 1970s), a family of refugees sets out from Vietnam, and after a voyage full of suffering, finds themselves falling through the crack and being taken in by the raft people. Thanh and his sister Sang find there a most unlikely and truly happy ending.

And then there are two Krakens, tied to all the stories....and Amelia, though I'll refrain from specifying her part in it all!

And it is a lot of stories--moving stories, full of sadness, but always with hope. The Second World is a refugee that gives almost all the characters a peaceful life.  In reality, of course, there was no Crack in the Sea that would have saved the captives and the refugees, and this gives a bitter poignancy to the story that the author herself, as she notes in the afterword, is keenly aware of.   It also gives the story a somewhat fairytale feel, as if the Second World were a place that nothing could go wrong.  Happily, though, the people that live there are in fact people, and so have misunderstandings, and personal growth moments, and hurts, like all people do.

Because it is so many stories, told in layers, it might be hard for some young readers to stay engaged with the book.  And I think that it might in fact work best for many as a book read aloud; as a shared dream within which are other dreams, full of bright images, bright moments of human connection, and the sadness that makes the brightness even more vivid.

Most powerful image-Venus and Swimmer leading the captives along their long walk underwater, the shackles rusting as they go, feeling neither hunger or thirst as they journey hand holding hand holding hand.  It reminds me of the haunting underwater sculpture, Vicissitudes, off the coast of Grenada--

Audacity Jones Steals the Show, by Kirby Larson

I have not read the first book about Audacity Jones, denizen of Miss Maisie's School For Wayward Girls (Audacity Jones to the Rescue) but that did not stop me from enjoying her second outing! 

Audacity Jones Steals the Show, by Kirby Larson (Scholastic, January 31, 2017), Audie is once again taken on as a detecitve's sidekick.  "Cypher", the mysterious gentleman responsible for Audie's first outing, now has been hired by the Pinkerton Detective Agency and needs a set of young eyes and some quick wits to help him on another case.   Accompanied by her best friends, a fellow Wayward girl and a most unusual cat, they set off for New York.

There Harry Houdini is about to pull off his biggest magic trick yet-he plans to make an elephant disappear!  But someone is trying to sabotage him, and its up to Audie and her friends to make sure that the absent-minded genius who's the brains of this trick isn't "taken care off" by a jealous rival before she can complete her work for Houdini.  And in the meantime, there's the elephant himself--a young and mistreated animal, who must be saved!

It's  fun visit to turn of last century New York.  There's enough historical detail to make it convincing, without weighing the story down.  The highly intelligent and highly unusual cat brings a touch of fantasy to the mix, which makes it all the more intriguing; that being said, it's subtle enough so that those who are looking for more realistic fiction won't be bother, but those who are looking for full blown cat fantasy will be pleased but might perhaps want more!

Animal lovers, magical cat lovers, and fans of upper elementary level detective stories with strong girl leads will love it.  It's not a long or dense book, so it's good for the third to fifth grade set.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.

The Wizard's Dog, by Eric Kahn Gale

I feel that although there have been some fantasy dogs in the past few years, cats and squirrels have been the clear front-runner animal protagonists.  So even though I myself am a cat person, it was a nice change to sit down with a good magical dog! 

Nosewise, the titular hero of The Wizard's Dog, by Eric Kahn Gale (Crown Books for Young Readers, middle grade, January 2017), is a very magical dog indeed, although he doesn't at first recognize his own gifts.  His master, Merlin, and Merlin's apprentice, Morgana, have kept him shut out of the study where they do their own magics, but Nosewise is determined to be just as good at tricks as Morgana.  He has no clue what their words mean, but he is sure he can learn to do the amazing magical things Morgana can.  And when Morgana hangs a magical stone around his neck, Nosewise finds that he can talk and understand human speech.  Now there's no holding him back!

And this is a good thing, because when Merlin and Morgana are kidnapped by the fae, who have taken power of a good bit of the mortal world, it's up to Nosewise to find them, and rescue them from the dark magic that has surrounded them.  Along the way, Nosewise befriends a good hearted boy named Arthur, and together they follow the trail to the place where the sword in the stone is waiting...

The story is told from Nosewise's doggish point of view, which makes it a fun twist on the Arthur legend.  Nosewise's own magic is likewise of a  doggish bent, with the nose being crucial, as one would expect.  And the conclusion, in which Nosewise shows just what a Good Dog he is, is a lovely twist on the legend!

Give this one to lovers of dogs and medieval magic stories--they will love it.

disclairmer: review copy received from the publisher

The Left-Handed Fate, by Kate Milford

I am a great admirer of Kate Milford, and I will pretty much follow her anywhere (in terms of reading her books, unless of course she decides to write the economic history of the 1980s or something).  And so despite the fact that The Left-Handed Fate (Henry Holt and Co, August 23, 2016), her most recent upper middle grade book, is in large measure about the titular privateer and her crew (I am not naturally drawn to seafaring tales), and even though the time period (War of 1812) isn't my favorite, I approached the book with keen interest and enthusiasm, untrammeled by personal bias. I was rewarded with an excellent story, characters to care about, and my first visit to the strange wonderful city of Nagspeake (which was nice for me, not just because it is a strange and twisty and magical place, but because I was expecting the whole book to take place at sea so I was glad that it didn't).

The story--Max is continuing his dead father's quest to find the parts of a mysterious mechanism that will be the weapon that will end all wars (in particular, the Napoleonic Wars), and has hired the privateer, The Left-Handed Fate, to take him to Baltimore to find a component that's supposed to be there.  Things go wrong.  They are taken as a prize by the American Navey, with a 12 year old midshipman, Oliver, made commander of the prize crew.  Then a French vessel turns up, seaking the mechanism bits that Max already has, and then the mysterious Black Ship of utter creepiness that has been haunting the Left-Handed Fate turns up, and instead of taking the Fate back to Baltimore, Oliver enlists its crew, led by the captain's daughter Lucy, to make a run to the south to the strange city of Nagspeake.  There Max and Lucy, assisted by her little brother Liao, find the other parts of the mechanism...but is building it really going to solve all their problems?  What of the French? And what of the Black Ship and its crew?   

But most importantly, what will the machine become?

And of additional interest, will Lucy get her ship/home back?  Will she and Max get to the point where they get to kiss? 

So all in all, a very good read indeed!  Highly recommended to readers of all ages who like immersive experiences of strangeness and adventure, with puzzles to solve and old stories coming true.

other comments--

You can read Kate's thoughts about the book in her Big Idea post at Whatever.

Nagspeake has a life of its own (although its website is currently not working for me), and there's another story set there--Bluecrowne, which is also about Lucy and Liao and which I have not read and which I clearly must read immediately!

The ending drove me mad trying to remember two other books it reminded me of.  I was able to come up with one of them--The Owl Service, by Alan Garner, with its tension between the owl pattern (bringing darkness and discord) and the flower pattern (bringing peace), but the other is still eluding me, and all my brain is coming up with is a snatch of poorly remembered rhyme-

Shall we something something [birth?]
Shall we sing for death or mirth? 

or something like that.  I feel it is a not very good fantasy book of Celticness from the 1980s.  I could be wrong.

Update--I am very pleased with my brain, and shall keep it--I remembered that I was thinking of the awful Celtic eugenics part of A Swiftly Tilting planet

Now we leave our tears for mirth,
Now we sing, not death, but birth

I can see why I thought of it, because it is thematically about the delicate balance between something turning evil and something turning good...

And then I added to my mental laurels by remembering where I had recently reshelved the L'Engle books and was able to find it! 
(Lory cleverly recognized it too before I wrote this update--thanks Lory!)


final comment--I appreciated the somewhat random inclusion of an albatross.  I feel that albatross inclusions add value to almost any situation.

disclaimer--review copy pounced on/received from the publisher at ALA midwinter.

Hoodoo, by Ronald L. Smith

I have allowed myself to be lax with the reviewing these past few weeks, but the iron is hot again (or something, probably the desire to move books from my home into the hands of library patrons).  So here's a review of a really distinctive horror book nominated for the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Cybils--Hoodoo, by Ronald L. Smith (Clarion Books, September 2015) .  I might well have read it anyway, because Ronald Smith came to Kidlitcon to be part of a panel on middle grade horror, which was lots of fun, and Hoodoo sounded most intriguing....African-American Southern Gothic horror for the young doesn't come my way all that often.

12-year-old Hoodoo Hatcher comes from a family with magic running strong in their blood.  Yet Hoodoo has yet to live up to his name.  Then a strange man comes to down, bringing horror with him...and Hoodoo is right in the cross-hairs of this stranger pruriently awful interest.  He has to learn to conjure with supernatural forces as quick as ever he can, or else.  And the reason why the stranger has come for him in particular is pretty dreadful in its own right, for one of Hoodoo's hands is not his own. It is the hand of a man hung for murder...

Fortunately Hoodoo, with the help of family and a loyal friend, a girl named Bunny, are able to persevere against the dark magic of the stranger, but not before some really scary happenings!

I wasn't sure I'd like Hoodoo, the boy, all that well--at the beginning of the book, he spends an awful lot of time telling the reader things; "if you didn't know," he says all too often.  But once the stranger's malevolence comes into full flower, it all gets nicely page-turny indeed!  Give this one to the young reader who enjoys supernatural scariness and is on the lookout for something a little different.  The setting, in Alabama in the 1930s, and the combination of hoodoo magic (rich and detailed) and Christian faith (strong and vibrant) pitted against an evil that's truly creepy, make a good change of pace, and the touches of humor in Hoodoo's narrative voice, and his eminently relatable struggle to figure out just what he's capable of make him a good comrade.  

I'm in agreement with Kirkus on this one--"The authenticity of Hoodoo's voice and this distinctive mashup of genres make Smith one to watch. Seekers of the scary and "something different" need look no further."
It's also a good one to read on a cold winter day up here in the north--the best sort of day for visiting hot, muggy southern swamp land. 

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher for Cybils Award Consideration

A Riddle in Ruby, by Kent Davis

A Riddle in Ruby, by Kent Davis (Greenwillow, middle grade, September 2015)

Ruby is a young thief in training in an alternate 18th century Europe, one full of alchemical magic, working hard to master lockpicking and useful skills.  She's also happy to sail with her father back and forth to the Americas, on what might appear to be a pirate ship, but actually is a more ordinary smuggler.  But the voyage that sets the story in motion is far from being ordinary when their ship is perused by an admiralty vessel, on which is one of the King's Reeves--the most deadly fighters there are.  The foppish boy, Athen, a passenger on the voyage, proves to have useful fighting skills, and Ruby's own skills at hiding are useful too, but the rest of the crew, including Ruby's father, are taken prisoner.  Ruby, Athen, and the Athen's servant claw their way in a leak rowboat to Philadelphi [sic] (marvelously transformed by alchemy).

Ruby knows she has to find her father again. But she herself is still being perused by the Reeve, and Athen shows himself to be an uncertain ally with his own agenda.  As the danger to Ruby becomes ever sharper, it becomes clear that she herself is the prize being hunted for, though she doesn't know why until she meets an ancient alchemist of extraordinary power, who finally gives her some of the answers to the riddle that's been making her live so extraordinarily difficult.

This is one for those who likes swordplay, and chemical magic play, and pursuits through strange places that never existed.   It wasn't quite to my own taste, because when the main character is deeply confused throughout most of the book, and everything goes wrong repeatedly and there is no safety, I empathize too much, and feel confused and unhappy myself,  especially during the beginning third or so, when I haven't had a chance to learn to care about the characters yet.   But Ruby and the cast of supporting characters are all prove to be interesting and engaging, and the alchemy is fascinating, and the second two thirds of the book went by rapidly, holding my attention very nicely indeed.

Note--I am always rather interested in how Native Americans exist in alternate histories such as this set in the Americas.  We don't get to learn much about them in this book; there's just one brief mention that they are there, outside the city, but that is a smidge better than nothing....The main characters are all white, though there are a few side descriptions of people who aren't.

Lilliput, by Sam Gayton

Lilliput, by Sam Gayton (Peachtree Press, August 2015, middle grade) is the story of a Lilliputian girl, Lily, captured by Lemuel Gulliver and kept captive by him in London.  Gulliver is busy finishing his epic account of his travels, and Lily is going to be the scientific proof he needs to convince the world that Lilliput is real.

This, of course, stinks for young Lily.  In her birdcage prison, she watches Gulliver writing, and plans escape after escape.  None of them are successfully, until sleeping drops in his coffee send Gulliver into a stupor, while Lily is briefly outside her cage, gives her the chance she's been waiting for.  With the help of  Finn, clockmaker's apprentice from the rooms below, who she helps escape from his own imprisonment, Lily makes it to a temporary place of safety.  But safety isn't enough, Lily wants to go home.

And that means going back to her old prison, to find Gulliver's book, and free the bird trapped in a clock by the evil clockmaker in the hopes that she might fly home.

It's a story that's both exciting and moving, with the adventure/danger part of the story nicely balanced by Lily's thoughts, and the friendships she's able to make with Finn and another helpful giant.  The illustrations add to the enchantment; though I read quickly, they caught my attention (which coming from me says a lot!).   There's more fantasy here than just the existence of Lilliput--there are birds of preternatural intelligence, and clocks that do more than just tell the time.  But Gayton's portrayal of Lily and her experiences as a tiny person in a big world feels perfectly realistic and believable.  She is truly a heroine to cheer for, never giving up hope. 

And (yay!) she gets her happy ending and the evil clockmaker magician gets his comeuppance, though Gulliver has to pay the price (kind of horrifically, but at least he realized in the end that what he had done to Lily was wrong). 

This is the second "Lilliputians in England" book I've read, the first being Mistress Masham's Repose, by T.H. White.  That book  was much more concerned with a human girl's reactions to the Lilliputians and is a totally different book.  Because this story is seen from Lily's point of view, there's not so much focus on matters of perspective.  Yes, things in our world are huge to her, but it is what she is used to.  And I think this helped the book stay focused on the main point, which was Lily's escape, without slowing things down with excessive authorial interest in matters of size.....

 So in short, even if you haven't read Gulliver's Travels, do give this one a try.   I enjoyed it lots. 


Review copy received from the publisher at BEA.

Serafina and the Black Cloak blog tour--review, interview, and great giveaway!

Serafina and the Black Cloak (middle grade, Disney-Hyperion, July 14, 2015) is the story of a rather unusual girl who lives at the end of the 19th century in secret with her father in the basement of Biltmore House, built by the Vanderbilt family in Asheville, North Carolina.  Serafina's father is in charge of maintaining the physical plant of the estate, so he's not a secret, but Serafina spends her days tucked away in the basement, only venturing out at night.   She has taken on herself the job of catching the estate's rats, something that she's preternaturally good at, and she's unusual in other ways as well....and more or less content with her life, because she's never known anything different, other than glimpses of the Vanderbilt family and their guests, but she's naturally rather lonely.

Then children start disappearing.  And Serafina sees the horrible spectre of a man in a black cloak, who is taking them away.  Though she finds him frightening, being a reasonable person, she is determined to track him down before more children vanish.  Her hunt leads her to a spooky old cemetery, where there are supposedly fewer bodies than there should be, and it also leads her to answers about just who she herself is.  And it's that story of her own heritage will allow her, with help from the Vanderbilt's orphaned nephew who's become her first friend (and who seems to be the next target),  to defeat the man in the black cloak and strip him of the cloak's powers....

So basically this is a mystery/horror story, where the mystery is solved not by sleuthing but by confrontations with evil, and everything is very tidily resolved.  The horror elements are creepy, but not overpoweringly the stuff of nightmares, partly because each confrontation has a beginning and an end--there's not an all pervasive sense of horror, though the menace is real and constant. Serafina, so very unusual, but so relatable with her loneliness and her questions about just who she is, is a charming heroine.  And the Biltmore estate and the spooky woods around it make a great setting!  (Indecently, though this story is set in a huge old house, the house itself is simply the setting, not a key part of the story in its own right.  So if you are a fan of stories exploring big old houses, you'll get some of that, but not tons and tons).

Try this one on kids who loved the Goosebumps series, who may be ready for a change of pace.  And it's also an obvious one for introspective introverted girls (especially those who like cats!)  wondering what their own lives will turn out to be and hoping to find a good friend like Serafina does.

And now it's my pleasure to welcome Robert Beatty! My questions are in purple.

Did you get to do lots of wandering through the secret places of the Biltmore estate in preparation for the book?

Yes. I studied Biltmore Estate extensively, in person, as I was writing Serafina and the Black Cloak. I went through all the different areas of Biltmore House, including all the various rooms and secret places Serafina sneaks through in the book. I studied all the public areas, but I also delved into the deepest reaches of the basement and sub-basement. It’s very cool down there. I’ve also explored the organ loft and other non-public areas she prowls through. The technical and architectural details I describe in the house actually exist, including the secret doors in the Billiard Room, the pipes of the organ loft, the various furniture items and art works, the drying rack machines where Serafina hides, and the electric dynamo generator that her pa is struggling to fix.

Is the mysterious cemetery based on a real place?

Yes. It’s actually based on two real places. First, it’s based on Riverside Cemetery here in Asheville, which is a beautiful old Southern cemetery that’s said to be haunted. Sometimes they give haunted nighttime tours there. It’s the burial place of the great writers O. Henry and Thomas Wolfe. The winged stone angel depicted in the story is a homage to Thomas Wolfe’s angel statue in “Look Homeward Angel” (which is actually in a different nearby cemetery). Thomas Wolfe is one of Asheville's wonderful literary heroes. The haunted cemetery in the book is also based on a small private cemetery on the grounds of Biltmore Estate. At the end of the video book trailer  we depicted Serafina’s cemetery using a combination of these locations.

Is the story of the black cloak based on a real legend?
 

The black cloak itself is from my imagination. But there are other elements of the story that are indeed based on the folklore in this area, especially the element related to Serafina’s ancestry (trying to avoid spoilers here). Around here, the state government insists those creatures do not exist here. But many people here believe they do and sometimes see them. There are many older folk who say these mountains were once filled with them. Part of the inspiration for Serafina and the Black Cloak was this idea that even to this day, officials will say one thing, but the people of the mountains will believe another. I think that’s cool. I’ve always been drawn to the lost creatures of our past.

And finally, will we get to read more about Serafina?
 

Yes, I hope so. There is much more to Serafina’s story. 

I hope so too!

If you are intrigued by Serafina's story, please leave a comment (by midnight next Wednesday, the 22nd) to be entered to win this great prize pack including the book, and notebook, and a pen!

Mark of the Thief, by Jennifer Nielsen--historical fantasy in the Roman Empire! with Griffin!

Middle grade historical fantasy is somewhat thin on the ground, with possible exceptions for the 19th century and the middle ages.  So when I heard that Jennifer Nielsen (of False Prince fame) had a book coming out involving magic in the Roman Empire, I was tremendously exited!   Mark of the Thief (Scholastic, Feb. 2015) didn't quite live up to my hopes (which were perhaps unrealistically high), but it's a good read none the less. The inclusion of a griffin as the main character's companion animal, and the magic of the Roman (ex-Greek) gods add lots to the kid appeal, and making it one to offer the multitudues of somewhat younger Percy Jackson fans. 

Nic is a slave in the salt mines, worried about keeping his little sister safe.  There's not much he himself can do for her, as his life is not his own.  And this is proved definitively one day when he's ordered to enter a cavern in the salt mines that has been the death of everyone else who's tried to enter it.  The cavern contains a great magical treasure--an amulet that once belonged to Julius Ceaser himself!  It is filled with magic from the gods, and Nic takes it for his own.  But  griffin guarding the caverns treasures wounds Nic, marking him with more magic....magic that lets him communicate with her (to some extent).  With help from the griffin and the magic amulet, Nic escapes from the cave...only to be plunged into worse troubles.

Because of the magic he has found, Nic is now a player in a power struggle to control the Roman Empire.   The most powerful general, the most powerful Praetors, and the emperor himself are now all very anxious to relieve Nic of his magic and take it themselves....and Nic, confused, hungry, and wounded, must struggle to stay alive until he can decide what to make of his new destiny....and find his little sister, and make a place of safety for the two of them.

From the Colosseum to the sewers of Rome, from great estates to the temples of the gods, Nic stays barely ahead of those who would use him for their own ends....And there's never a dull moment.  Although fans of The False Prince might find Nic overly reminiscent of that book's hero at first, he comes into his own, and character interest is provided by his relationship with a girl named Aurelia, who variously befriends, saves, and betrays him, and who has secrets of her own.....

I felt that this book took perhaps too long to really get at the meat of its magic--where it comes from, why Nic has it, and what he might do with it.  But there was action aplenty, the bonus griffin relationship was a nice touch, and the whole set up promises good things in the next books! 

Here's another review at Ms. Yingling Reads.

The Hob and the Deerman, by Pat Walsh (a Crowfield Abbey story)--lovely historical fantasy

Many years have past since a boy named Will, and a friendly Hob nicknamed Brother Walter fraught against the forces of darkenss at Crowfield Abbey.   I found the first two Crowfield books, The Crowfield Curse and The Crowfield Demon to be top notch middle grade historical fantasy--great characters (particularly Brother Walter the Hob), and great story lines of human, fey and angelic power fighting evil.  When I heard that Pat Walsh was continuing the series with a book focusing on Brother Walter-- The Hob and the Deerman ( self published 2014), I knew I had to get it....and when she offered to send it to me, I was overjoyed, and when it grew clear as the weeks passed that it had gone astray I was very sad indeed. So much so that even thought I am ostensibly on a No New Book Buying regimen (TBR pile issues) I bought the book for myself.  (and though it was not traditionally published, there were no quality issues, so no worries on that side of things).

It was sad and lovely, and creepy and happy and I was able to give it five stars on Goodreads which I almost never do.

It was sad that Crowfield Abbey had fallen into ruin (thanks Henry VIII), and all the monks of the first books, like dear Brother Snail, quite naturally dead (what with years passing)....and it was sad for Brother Walter to return to the Abbey expecting in part of his mind to find it all as he had left it....

But it was lovely, because I love Brother Walter, and he makes new friends--a ghost girl who can't leave the Abbey until her father comes for her, Ned, the son of one of the workmen demolishing the abbey's ruins at the behest of the new, greedy, landlord of the village, and Curious, another Hob brought to life by the power of the mysterious Deerman, a fey being (never fully Explained) from the forest of great puissance who is freeing the art and  beauty of the Abbey before it is all destroyed.   And by the end of the story, even the stinky Boggart who terrified the Hob at first has become a friend, which just goes to show.

And it was creepy, because the Abbey is haunted by a horrible specter who kills--the Crawling Man, who is terrifying humans, fey, and ghosts alike....Very very scary!

And it was happy, because the Hob is very Brave, and does the right things even though he is so scared and sad, and there is a happy ending for everyone except the greedy landlord (who doesn't get his carved stonework from the Abbey and who doesn't get to demolish the cottages of all the villagers he finds offensive) and the Hob and Ned save the Abbey's treasure, its most precious books.  And I like how Christianity is made part of the supernatural forces on the side of good (primarily through the residual power of the angel from the first book), as this feels right for a book set in a monastery.

And it is lovely because I do so like to read books about people who are motivated, like Brother Walter, by love for their friends, who aren't obvious heroes, but who have to try really hard to be brave and keep going because it is the right thing to do.  I do not mind one single bit being taught this particular life lesson repeatedly, especially when it is in the context of a magical, ghost-filled, historical horror story in a ruined abbey....

In short, it is with no caveats that I recommend this series to fans of historical fantasy!  I am pleased to be reminded that my own middle grade reader has not read them....I will remedy that.  He will love Brother Walter too.

And I am very hopeful that there will be more about Brother Walter; Pat Walsh does call this one the first in a series on her website.... and it's The Hob Tales Vol. 1 on Amazon......

I Lived On Butterfly Hill, by Marjorie Agosín--poetically written dictatorship and exile for the young reader

I Lived on Butterfly Hill, by Marjorie Agosín (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, middle grade, March 2014).

Eleven year-old Celeste Marconi lives on Butterfly Hill in Valaparaío, Chile, a place of color, community, and friends are anchored by the love of her family.  She is privileged, she is happy, and the new president of her country seems all set to work for social justice and address the poverty that Celeste's parents, who work in a hospital for the poor outside the city, are only just now showing her.

But change comes to Chile--the president is killed, and a cold and cruel dictatorial regime (modeled on that of Pinochet) takes over the country.  Celeste's parents must go into hiding before they join the rapidly growing ranks of the disappeared, and Celeste herself is sent to live with her aunt in Maine.  Plunged into a new language and new culture.  Her journey echoes that her grandmother made, when she, a Jewish girl, had to flee Nazi Germany--a story kids in the US who may not be up on fascists dictatorships of the later twentieth century will be familiar with, giving them a frame of reference in which to conceptualize Celeste's experiences.   As an exile in Maine, Celeste struggles to find her feet--and gradually she challenges the stereotypes her new classmates have about immigrants from Latin America, while thinking hard herself about what it is to be a refuge.  (And finding her first glimmerings of love--this small side story was beautifully poignant!).

In this story, the dictatorship last only two years, instead of seventeen, and Celeste can return home while still young.  Her home city is re-emerging from the darkness of the past two years, but many are still missing, including her parents.  And so the last third of the book tells the story of how she finds her father again, and finds a place where she too can work for social justice (by creating a library, building on the books that her grandmother gathered into the hidden room of their house during the years of the dictatorship).

I read this book because it was nominated in my own Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category of the Cybils.   Though it seems at first to be a realistic story, it's not, for two reasons.  First, it is an alternate history--for the story to work, the dictatorship in Chile could only last two years, instead of the seventeen of the actual Pinochet dictatorship.  Secondly, there is magic in this world, beyond the subtle dreams and understandings that defy rational thought, and this magic directly affects the plot.  Celeste's friend Cristóbal Williams has the ability to see past reality with the help of a sea-glass pendulum, which warns him of the darkness to come, and later helps find Celeste's father.    Cristóbal's pendulum adds a concrete element of the fantastic that nicely complements and reaffirms the more intangible magic that fills the ordinary lives of the characters. 

So this is an fine book to offer the introspective, strong young reader; an excellent "first experience with fictionalized dictatorships and being a refugee"  book, and an excellent "don't assume every refugee has the same story" book.  I enjoyed the reading of it very much.  The writing is lovely and absorbing, in a slowish, detail-packed way, and any introverted young girl who dreams of being a writer and making a difference in the world will love Celeste.  It is a meditative book, as opposed to an angry one, one in which the celebration of Celeste's home culture and place and poetry come through much more clearly than the horror of the dictatorship.  Celeste's suffering is pretty much confined to her personal loss of her parents, her beloved home, and, to a lesser extent, lost friends.  She is often sad, but never strongly enraged; she thinks about suffering and want, but is herself protected from these things.  

This is what makes me think of this as a "first experience" book, one that allows kids who themselves are privileged and safe to start thinking about hard things.  Though I appreciate the point made by Celeste's journey that there is no single, stereotypical refugee story, I was never quite convinced that she grew from a naïve, sheltered girl to someone dramatically more aware--I would have appreciated more hard, disturbing underlining of social justice issues.   And the dreamlike quality of the whole experience is enhanced by the somewhat idealized picture of American kids in Maine appearing (in their rather brief page time) first as racist despisers and then being given set pieces to speak showing how they now love Celeste for who she is.

Here's the rather small thing that most actively bothered me-- Celeste's new mission to promote literacy at the end of the book comes from her place of privilege--her family includes Nana Delfina, a Mapuche woman from the south of Chile who is the beloved factorum of the household, who has spent her life caring for Celeste's family.  I was really bothered that Nana Delfina refers to herself exclusively in the third person (why can't she be an "I"?) and that toward the end of the book she tells Celeste, who has always known Delfina was embarrassed that she couldn't read, that she has always wanted to learn how to do so.  There she is, part of the household for decades and apparently best friends with Celeste's grandma, but with relationships of privilege and identity unquestioned all that time.

And we are told that Cristóbal's mother makes a living with a vegetable stand in the market...but the (presumably) unequal economic positions of his family and Celeste's are never brought up directly, and so it made their friendship feel sort of uncritically idealized.

So no, I didn't find it as powerful and moving social justice-wise as I might have wanted, but then, I am not a ten or eleven year old coming to these topics for the first time, and small steps are a fine way to get started.   Perhaps it is better not to overwhelm young readers, but rather to keep them reading, and learning, and thinking....

Here's another review at The Pirate Tree, by Lyn Miller-Lachmann, author of Gringolandia--the book to offer readers two years of so after they read this one!

And also at The Pirate Tree is an interview with Marjorie Agosín , in which she talks about history, magic, and her personal story.

The Boundless, by Kenneth Oppel

In the late 19th century, a boy named Will, the son of a humble railroad worker, finds himself hammering in the gold spike that finishes the railroad line stretching across northern North America.   But he does not get to revel in the moment, for almost immediately an avalanche comes rushing down on the small crowd...and caught in the snow with them are a young Sasquatch and its mother...and things get more than a little tense.

(Yes, Sasquatches--along with other creatures of Native North America, they populate the forests of this book).

As a result of what happened that day, Will's family is elevated up and up in social status and financial security by the owner of the railroad.  And at last the day comes with the great train for which it was designed will cross the country.  The Boundless (the most extravagantly imagined train I've ever read about) stretches for miles (literally), will all sorts of fancy cars and amenities for the rich, working downward in creature comforts past the circus travelling in numerous cars of their own, to the settlers bumping along in the cars at the very back, with no amenities beyond floor boards.  Will, now a teenager, is part of the first class contingent, headed (he hopes) to art school in California, as opposed to the railroad career his father wants with him.

And on the train along with Will there are:

--a murderer, who plans to kill again
--a dead man, his body protected by booby traps of a most ingenious sort
--a young escape artist and tightrope walker; Will met her briefly long ago, and has never stopped thinking about her (and the fact that she never gave him back his Sasquatch tooth)
--a man determined to live beyond his allotted years, who will use what ever tools or people come to his hand
--several strange automatons
--an imprisoned Sasquatch

And much more.

This isn't going to be the fun journey Will had expected.  Because unfortunately for him, he's the one targeted by the killer.  Will knows much more than is safe about the secrets travelling along with the Boundless.

Though there is murderous danger on board the train, The Boundless is more an adventure story than it is a mystery.  The reader knows the identity of the bad guy from the beginning of the adventure, and so it's a game of cat and mouse with none of the tension that comes from the growing realization that there is danger.  Other tensions, like nighttime chases across the tops of the cars, scary supernatural beings, betrayals and friendships, are there in full force!

I do not introduce myself to others as someone who loves adventure stories set about trains in 19th century North America, so I approached The Boundless with some trepidation.   Happily, the fantasy twists and flowerings of imagination with which the pages are filled kept me pleasantly interested, and I ended up liking it.  And I liked Will, and his drawing abilities (which are germane to the plot and not just an add on) very much.   And as an outsider to First Class, he shares with the reader his awareness of the social injustices on which the train runs, which I appreciated.

In short, fine historical fantasy that will appeal to older middle grade readers, and younger YA ones (there's a nascent romance that doesn't go so far as to make this full YA), who like a dash of steampunk and deadly intrigue in their train travels.  I'd give this one to the quirky kids, the ones who don't like long epic fantasies but don't want straight reality either.

Why I loved The Castle Behind Thorns, by Merrie Haskell

It has been week of little reading and less blogging (because of single-handedly running a library booksale), but happily one of the few books I did manage read--The Castle Behind Thorns, by Merrie Haskell (Katherine Tegen Books, upper middle grade, May 2014)--was an utter winner.  I realized I had read it in a literal single sitting, as I found to my cost when I tried to move again.

Here is what I liked, and what you might like too.  

The Castle Behind Thorns is a Sleeping Beauty re-imagining, set in a village in medieval France.  Just outside this village is the castle of the Boisblanc family,  sundered and riven a generation ago, surrounded by a wall of impenetrable thorns. 

--This is good because there isn't a lot of really good historical fantasy for kids in general, and because medieval France has not been done to death as a fantasy setting; I can't think of a single other fantasy novel in which Joan of Arc is mentioned.   This is also good because Sleeping Beauty is a fine story to re-imagine, as it can be done so many different ways.  The Sundering is awfully cool too--everything in the castle, and the castle itself, has been magically rent asunder.

The main character, a boy nicknamed Sand (short for Alexander), mysteriously awakens one morning to find himself inside the Sundered Castle.  He is the smith's son, and a handy, crafty sort of boy who instead of falling into dark despair because he is trapped in a ruined castle starts trying to bring order to its chaos (though he is no Pollyanna--he is plenty unhappy about his situation).

--Sand is a great character, and I loved the crafty side of things.  I also loved the descriptions of all the broken things that needed fixing!  I also love how this makes the point that when you are in a situation that is utterly awful, the best thing to do is to find the things that you can fix, and fix them.  A good life lesson, without being at all preachy.

The second main character is a girl who has a really interesting story arc and a fine backstory and, though not as sympathetic as Sand, was someone who I liked reading about.

--the way she is introduced to the story was fascinating and I'm not saying any more except that there is some gender subversiveness at work that is perhaps a smidge at odds with the reality of medieval France but perhaps not (it is not my area of academic strength).

Obviously there is magic at work, what with the Sundering, and the thorns, and all...but what's really cool here is that it is the sort of magic that you might find in a medieval Christian fantasy France (think cults of saints).

--this is totally cool because goodness knows the people of the middle ages believed in lots of magical and miraculous things that were very real to them, and it was such a fun, refreshing change to see this world-view being used in a fantasy novel.

Here's what I especially, personally liked (though other readers might find it a negative thing)--nothing much Happened, except towards the end.  The story relies heavily on descriptions, and character interactions, and some backstory, and this is of course reasonable given that everything happens behind the thorns, with a cast of two young teens isolated from the world (quickly interupting myself to note that this is middle grade.  This is not a fairy tale Blue Lagoon).

I find it very pleasant (especially when I am frazzled, as I was when I read this one) to curl up with a book  about people puttering around, trying to get by and find solutions to problems without too much actual conflict.   (And when I am too tired to clean my own house I like to read about other people cleaning their magical castles/English cottages/19th-century abandoned mansions, etc.).  I think, though, that the magic of the enchanted castle is strong enough to hold the attention of most of the target audience, especially those who have not yet become so accustomed to barrages of fast and furious action that they can't read anything else.

So in any event, do not let the fact that I did not find this "fast-paced" and "action-packed" stop you from giving it to handy boys!

(My own 11-year-old boy is currently re-reading Laini Taylor's fairy books, Blackbringer and Silksinger, and was not willing to drop those to try this one, so I am lacking his Target Audience perspective, which I find slightly annoying.  Because what's the point of having a reading child if he can't help you with your blog posts?  But I think he would like it....)

Sophie, In Shadow, by Eileen Kernaghan

Sophie, In Shadow, by Eileen Kernaghan (Thistledown Press, YA, March 2014)

Two years ago, sixteen-year-old English girl Sophie survived the sinking of the Titanic, but her parents did not.  Still haunted by that tragedy, she's sent off to India, to stay with distant cousins--Tom, a zoologist working at the Indian Museum, Jean, his novelist wife, and their young daughter, Alex.  Sophie has prepared herself for "India" by reading (both non-fiction and Kipling), but nothing can prepare her for what happens once she arrives.

Tragedy and culture-shock combine to wake in Sophie a gift of sorts--her perceptions of both past and future become strangely sharpened.  And her visions will make her a player in the tail end of Kipling's Great Game--the game of intrigue, political machinations, and spying in which European powers, and now Indian nationalists, shape the future of the country.  World War I is underway in Europe, and plots are afoot in India that may well destroy both Sophie's new family and British control of the sub-continent.

I approach fiction about India, especially fiction involving young English girls with supernatural abilities, with a certain amount of caution, looking carefully for stereotypes, romanticization, and neo-colonial baggage.   Happily, Sophie, In Shadow did a good job of not bothering me!  In large part this is because we stick closely to Sophie's point of view--she is aware that she has a lot of learning to do, and is willing to question the social norms of the very tail end of the British raj.  It is still very much a European point of view, but the reader can't reasonably expect more from this particular character's story.

There was much I enjoyed--I am a huge fan of Kipling's Kim, so it was great to see Sophie becoming involved in the last years of the Great Game, including a bit where a German agent is pursued through the mountains!  And I am also a fan of being educated through historical fiction--before reading this book, I had not particular thoughts on what was happening in India during WW I.  And Sophie herself, and her cousins, are interesting characters with believable motivations, interests, and aspirations.  Added interest came from a secondary character, a friend of Jean's who was a real person--Alexandra David-Néel , a French-Belgian spiritualist, anarchist, Buddhist, writer, and explorer.  I may well have to seek out more about her!

The paranormal elements of the story are enough to add fantastic zest, but are not so much so as to make Sophie a special snowflake saving India (thank goodness!).  Sophie's visions do not take over the book--for the most part, it reads as historical fiction--so don't expect this to be full-blown paranormal fantasy.

In short, Sophie, in Shadow is historical fantasy that both educates and entertains, that I particularly recommend to fans of Kim!

(note:  Jean and Tom and Alexandra were the central characters in Kernaghan's earlier book, Wild Talent, but it is not at all necessary to have read that first).

disclaimer: review copy received from the author

The Children of the King, by Sonya Hartnett

Sometimes I read a book and am stunned by its kid appeal, and other times I read a book and want to urge other grown-ups to read it, and this is not a judgment of book goodness or lack thereof, but simply how the story feels to me.   Falling firmly into this later category is The Children of the King, by Sonya Hartnett (Candlewick, March 2014 in the US).

One the face of it, it seems like a book young me would have loved, back in the day (for starters, the cover art is total eye candy for the romantic young girl).  Cecily, her older brother Jeremy, and their mother leave London during WW II, retreating to the old family home deep in the countryside of northern England.  There is a bonus additional child, an interesting little girl, taken in along the way.  There is the crumbling old castle on the edge of the estate, that holds secrets of a mysterious past; Uncle Peregrine tells the children its story, which involves Richard III, and does so most grippingly.  There is a strong element of fantasy, lifting it all out of the ordinary.  And the writing is lovely, with pleasing descriptions of food and bedrooms and the books in the library (three things I like to read about).

But yet it felt more like a book for adults, and I'm not at all sure young me would have found it entirely pleasing.

For one thing, Cecily, whose point of view we share, is ostensibly a twelve year old, but she acts much younger, and is thoughtless, somewhat unintelligent, and not really a kindred spirit.  The way she behaves is all part of a convincingly drawn character, but it is not an appealing one.   May, the younger evacuee, is much more interesting, but she is off at a distance from the reader.   I think young readers expect to like the central character; Cecily felt to me like a character in a book for grown-ups, where there is no such expectation.  Likewise, the dynamics among the family (and May), strained by the war, involve lots of undercurrents of tension that are complicated and disturbing.

For another thing, and this gets a tad spoilery, it is clear pretty early on that the two boys Cecily and May meet in the ruined castle are from another time, and what with the title being what it is, anyone who knows the story of Richard III can put the pieces together (it will, of course, take longer for the child reader who has No Clue).   But these two boys aren't directly players in the story taking place in the present, nor does the fact of their existence bring about obvious change.  They are more like ghost metaphors or something and the book would have a coherent story (though a less lovely one) without them, and so they disappointed me.  These sorts of ghost aren't  exactly what I expect in a book for children, but I'd love to talk to a grown-up about them!  And this ties in with a more general feeling I had, that I was being expected to Think Deeply and Make Connections, and I almost feel that I should now be writing an essay on "Power and Metaphor in The Children of the King."

So, the upshot of my reading experience was that I appreciated the book just fine, but wasn't able to love it with the part of mind that is still, for all intents and purposes, eleven years old. 

Here are other reviews, rather more enthusiastic:

The Children's War
Waking Brain Cells
The Fourth Musketeer

I've reviewed one other book by Sonya Hartnett --The Silver Donkey (it was one of my very early reviews, back in 2007).  I seem to have appreciated that one more, but it amused me that I had something of the same reaction to the stories within the story:  "I'm not a great fan of interjected stories in general, because I resent having the narrative flow broken, and also because I feel challenged by them. The author must have put them in for Deep Reasons, I think, and will I be clever enough to figure out what they were?"

How to Catch a Bogle, by Catherine Jinks

How to Catch a Bogle, by Catherine Jinks (HMH Books for Young Readers, Middle Grade, September 2013), is a truly satisfying historical fantasy.  It has scary bits, funny bits, and thoughtful bits.  It has a great central character, who's both believable and likable, and a nuanced supporting cast (including adults who are interesting people too!).   And it has a really good story.

As an impoverished (but plucky) Victorian orphan, Birdie knows what it's like to live on the edge of nightmarish destitution.   So she considers herself fortunate to be the apprentice of Alfred the Bogler.  Sure, she's the one who baits the bogle traps, siting in an unfinished circle of salt and singing to lure the bogle out of hiding.  And yes, the reason bogles need dispatching is because they eat children.   Alfred, though grumpy, is not abusive, and the money, though not enough for much in the way of creature comforts, keeps them going.  They are a good team.

In this alternate London, the educated rich consider bogles the childlike superstition of the lower orders.  But there are two who don't.  One is a well-off woman engaged in the academic study of supernatural creatures of the British Isles, keen to use Alfred and Birdie as a means of observing the creatures first hand (which leads to amusing situations in which she is desperately out of place), and, as the story progresses, keen to introduce science into bogle trapping and save Birdie from danger (though Birdie is hostile to this idea, as it would put her out of work...).

And then there is the second well-off person who believes in bogles...who doesn't care a whit how many children they eat.  He, too, is keenly interested in Afred's bogling skills, but his interest is much, much, more dangerous than any monster Birdie's ever faced.

If you are looking for books for young readers of fantasy of the alternate worlds/quests/heroic kids saving the day with magic who are  reluctant to try anything real world, or historical, offer them this one.  They'll get a nice introduction to Victorian London along with the brave kid, the magic, and the monsters. 

I enjoyed it lots myself, and highly recommend it to both kids and grown-ups.  Perhaps more to the kids, because it is written with them in mind.  There's a nice solid simplicity to the progression of the story which makes is very satisfying.  Though pleasing complexities of plot and character are introduced, they are done so without any teasing of the reader.   It's a complete story in its own right; the ending is an ending, though there's room for more fun with bogles.  

And now I am mentally comparing it to the other current book about kids facing supernatural beings--The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud.   That one reads slightly older.  The characters have more backstory, and there's lots isn't being told to the reader.   It's twistier, and more gruesome.   I'd give that one to a 12- or 13-year-old; How To Catch a Bogle I'd give to a 10- or 11-year-old.  

Here's another review, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The King Must Die, by Mary Renault

Jenny at Reading the End is celebrating the books of Mary Renault this week, and I promised a review of my favorite of her books, The King Must Die (1958).

Mary Renault is the author of many superb books about ancient Greece, all of which my mother owned.  When I was twelve or so, and whining about not having anything to read, she handed me The King Must Die, a re-telling of the myth of Theseus.   My socks were knocked off, and over the next ten years, it was one of my top re-reads.  It's been fifteen or twenty years since I last re-read it (years in which my to-be-read pile grew to monstrous proportions, and my desperate need for books was finally assuaged).    So I was rather curious to see how it held up.

The story starts with Theseus growing up the son of the princess of the small Greek polity of Troizen.  The identity of his father is unknown, but rumor has it that he was Poseidon, god of the ocean, and of earthquakes...a story young Theseus believes.   But though Theseus does have a preternatural sense of foreboding before earthquakes, he shows no other signs of divine blood; no extraordinary height or physical prowess.   When he reaches manhood, he learns the true story of his birth--how his mother sacrificed her virginity alone on an island to appease the wrath of the Mother Goddess, and how the stranger who swam ashore was the king of Athens.

It's clear in this beginning section that Renault isn't going to pull any punches to sanitize her view of ancient Greece.  Sex is an accepted fact of life to young Theseus, and he enjoys it, and feels entitled to it (which makes him not entirely sympathetic to grown-up me, but it feels accurate...).   She does a magnificent job setting up a world in which the gods are really truly real, and present, in daily life--never once does Theseus anachronistically question their existence.   More troubling is her view of this era as one in which fair-haired, horse riding Hellenes swept down from their north, conquering the shorter, darker people of the coast, the Minyans, and bringing their sky gods to the fore of the pantheon of divinities....It's natural that Theseus accepts this as right and proper, but it is essentially racist imperialism, and therefore troubling.

So in any event Theseus sets out overland to meet his father, with lots of adventures on the way, most important of which is his defeat of the year king of the Goddess worshipping, Minyan people of Eleusis.   He is supposed to accede to his own death the following year...but instead he subverts the old ways, and co-opts the power of the queen for himself, and travels on to Athens already a king.

His father Aigeus eventually recognizes the young and powerful Theseus as his son and heir, but Athens has its own problems.  Crete rules the seas, and demands from Athens a tribute of young men and women, destined to be bull-dancers in the palace of Minos.   Theseus casts his lot into tribute, and sets off for Crete...

At this point the book becomes truly excellent, in my opinion.   Theseus molds the other 13 in the tribute into a team in which distinctions of Minyan and Hellene are meaningless, and they become bull dancers of extraordinary renown, not just because of their physical skills, but because of Theseus' shrewed political manipulations (shades of The Hunger Games, and Ender's Game).   I adore detailed fictional descriptions of characters mastering obscure crafts, and the bull dancing is no exception to this.  (In my re-reading, I would often skip the early parts and cut right to this section...).

But even more gripping than the specifics of training for the bull dancing is how Renault makes the story of Theseus, and Ariadne, the Cretan princess with whom he falls in love, and the defeat of the Minotaur things that are Real and Possible, without sacrificing the details of the myth.  Yes, the Minotaur here does not literally have a bull's head, but metaphorically he is still the monster of the myth....and the story becomes one of political, religious, and personal conflict in which the gods are very real, though the modern observer might not think so.

The King Must Die was the first time I encountered gay and lesbian characters in fiction--the bull dancers take lovers amongst themselves, and with wealthy patrons of both genders, and this is an accepted part of life.  Although strictly heterosexual Theseus is a bit dismissive of the "pretty boys," he recognizes the worth of the individuals behind the jewelry and makeup, and one of the lesbian bull dancers, an Amazon, is a superb leader in her own right.   It was also the first book I read in which there is lots of sex (though not explicitly described), which rather overshadowed considerations of the gender of the participants in my young mind....

I was much more consciously troubled this time around by the Minyan/Hellene distinctions, because in the last twenty years I have dealt at work on a regular basis with the European invasion of New England and its consequences, and so I am rather more aware of the racist cant of conquest than I used to be.   Though, during the course of the book, Theseus confronts the tension between the two groups directly and positively, he still ends it with a "Hellenes rule" attitude, which is believable, but truly yuck.  Likewise, I disliked Theseus' rather unappealing sense of entitlement with regard to sex a lot more this time around.   This is, of course, the Catch 22 of historical fiction--people in the past believed lots of offensive things, but to pretend otherwise weakens and falsifies the story....

But still I was utterly absorbed by the story.  The world-building is incredible, packed with sensory detail, and with a political and religious framework so solid that the metaphors and the exaggerations of the myths all become, for me, part of a very real past.  It is full of the numinous power of the gods, so inextricably part of the characters' world-view that the reader is sucked in to a reality at once believable and utterly foreign.   And so it continues to be one of my two touch-stone books of historical fiction in which myth and magic are made reality (the other being The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart).

In Search of Goliathus Hercules, by Jennifer Angus

In Search of Goliathus Hercules, by Jennifer Angus (Albert Whitman & Company, March 1, 2013, upper middle grade) sets an unbeatably high standard for fictional flea circuses.

The reason for this wonderful circus is that the protagonist, 10 year old Henri, can speak to insects.  It's set in the 1890s, when his mother leaves him with an elderly aunt in the states, while she sets out to search for his missing father in the jungles of British Malaya.  His intense loneliness and boredom is broken one day when he has a conversation with a fly.    He runs off (in large part to escape his aunt's truly, terribly sinister neighbor) and joins a circus...and there his gift comes truly into its own.

Because Henri can talk to the sideshow fleas, and win their cooperation and loyalty, he can make their act into something truly fantastic--especially when he brings a myriad of other insects on board!  And I truly enjoyed this part of the book--meeting the individual fleas, who were fine characters in their own right, appreciating the world of miniature insect tricks, and being deeply entertained by Henri's life in the circus, and the new friends (humans as well as insects) that he makes. 

But the sinister neighbor has followed him--she is on a quest for a mysterious insect, the Goliathus Hercules, and Henri, and his missing father, are key to finding it.  And she is a horrible, live-insect eating creation of deep distrubingness (though her motivation--world wide power, and her plans for achieving it, were somewhat glossed over).

More disturbing, however (and I'm choosing to put in this spoiler so that you can decide if this book would freak your kids out)  is that Henri realizes about half-way through the book that he is turning into an insect.  Leaving the circus, he travels to Asia with the friends he had made there, to thwart the plans of his evil Nemesis, and maybe find his father, and Goliathus Hercules, himself....

And I have decided that I don't much care for it when protagonists turn into insects.  I loved the flea circus, and can apply all sorts of complementary adjectives to the book--well written, engrossing, intelligent, vividly imagined, beautifully illustrated with pictures of insects and historical photographs, etc., and I will pause here to share an interior image scanned by a Goodreads reviewer:

But what I ended up feeling was repulsion.  Especially when my mind (bad mind) offered me the possibility that turning into an insect, which Henri came to realize gave him a freedom and world of opportunity that he enjoyed very much, was a metaphor for adolescence, and I myself found growing up and leaving home disturbing enough without adding antennae.  And I also don't like it when I am forced to confront the possibility that my own children will turn into insects (unlikely), or something equally foreign, like teenaged boys (almost certain).

Bottom line--didn't work for me personally, but here are other reviews that are more positive--Sharon the Librarian,  Ms. Yingling Reads, Kid's Books 101, Wrapped in Foil

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Watcher in the Shadows, by Chris Moriarty

So I've been home from vacation for two days now...and, as always happens when I come back from my mother's beautifully tidy home, I am frantically trying to Do Something about my own house.   But in between quickly stripping paint from doors/painting the kitchen trim/scrubbing radiators/desperately weeding etc. etc., I have read a Good Book.

To wit, The Watcher in the Shadows, by Chris Moriarty.   This is the sequel to The Inquisitor's Apprentice (2011), which I enjoyed very much indeed.  The books are set in a late 19th-century New York in which there is magic...and a branch of the police force, the Inquisitors, who enforce the laws concerning its use. Sacha, a Jewish kid from the tenements, and Lily, daughter of the wealth Astral family, are the apprentices of one of these Inquisitors, Inspector Wolf; it's an apprenticeship that involves much trailing around after him while visiting crime scenes, observing him gathering information, and a bit of martial arts training (there's not as much actual "magical skills practice" as one might expect).

This installment of Sacha's story begins with the sudden death of a famous Klezmer player, that is just the tip of the iceberg of a dark dark dark mystery.   The plot is best left explored by reading, so that's all I'll say.

The good:

Fantastic world building.  These books are a MUST for any fantasy reader with any interest at all in the hectic world of late 19th-century/early 20th century New York, with its unassimilated immigrants and racial tensions and crime bosses and striking workers (in this case, the Pentacle Shirtwaist factory workers vs J.P. Morgaunt).   That being said, I am not that reader, but even I loved the fantastic diversity and twisted historical accuracy of it all!

Great characters.  Sacha is the central protagonist, and a very compelling one too, but it's the wonderful swirl of the entire cast, even those with bit parts, that makes the story sing.   That being said, Wolf, who I loved in the first book, disappointed me a bit in this one--he doesn't actually do much that advances the story.

No easy magical sudden rescue from the bad stuff.  Sacha is going to have to figure things out for himself, which is very satisfying.

Jewish fantasy is thin on the ground; quality additions to that subgenre are great to have (and if your kid isn't going to be introduced to Judaism in fiction through All of  Kind Family, because there is no way he is going to read such a girl book on his own and you missed the window of opportunity to read it out loud to him, this is a good alternative).

The things I didn't find as good as I might have wished:

Even more so than Wolf, Lily doesn't do anything much in this book; it's nice that she is a decent, unsnobby friend, but I don't even remember what magical ability she has (surely she has one?).  More Lily, please, in the next book!

The titular Watcher in the Shadows also doesn't get much page time.  I enjoyed very much wandering around this odd New York, and loved the labor history twist, but kept expecting the Watcher to become more a part of things, which never really happened--at the end I had to stop and concentrate to remember what exactly its role in the whole thing was (quite possibly this is because I was really interested in the world-building and the characters, as noted above, and less interested in small details such as the plot).

Wolf has a third, unofficial apprentice, unofficial because he's African American, who's somewhat older than Sacha and Lily.  His name is Philip Payton, but he's called Payton by Lily, as well as by the author.  No one else who's still a teenager is called by their last name like that, and it jarred (Inspector Wolf is called Wolf by the author, but he's a grownup).  Why wouldn't Lily, who isn't racist or snobbish, call him Philip?  I very much want to see more of him and his family (who are about to move to Harlem, where they have bought real estate), but I hope he's "Philip," a  character who's Sasha and Lily's peer, rather than the awkwardly distant "Payton."


Final answer:  despite my small uncertainties, I really, really liked it!  Give this one to the smart 11 or 12 year old in your life, who perhaps, like mine, studied the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in depth last year in seventh grade...