New Releases of Fantasy and Science Fiction for Children and Teenagers--the middle of September edition

Just in case anyone doesn't have enough books on their TBR pile, here are the new releases of fantasy and science fiction for kids and teens for the middle of the month (September 14-17th), taken, as ever, from the list at Teens Read Too, and please let me know if there are any I've missed!

There are three really exciting ones (to me at least), which you can try to guess if you want. Or you could, if you wanted to comment, share the ones you find most exciting!

9-12 year olds:

BANG GOES A TROLL: AWFULLY BEASTLY BUSINESS, by Dave Sinden, Matthew Morgan, & Guy Macdonald. "When a messenger bat arrives at the RSPCB, boy-werewolf Ulf receives a warning that beasts are in trouble in the wild. Unaware of the danger he is facing, Ulf soon uncovers foul play: A rare colony of trolls is being smoked out from their caves to be used as game in an evil beast-hunting preserve. It's up to Ulf to save the day!"



BE A GENIE IN SIX EASY STEPS by Linda Chapman & Steve Cole. "When new step-siblings Milly, Michael, Jason, and Jess move to a town in the middle of nowhere, the last thing they expect is to find a magic book. But when they stumble upon The Genie-s Handbook, their lives are changed forever. Each chapter in The Genie Handbook contains one of six stages of training to be mastered, and the kids are thrilled at the prospect of becoming genies. Then they discover Skribble, the crotchety, magical bookworm who lives inside the book. Unfortunately, he-s eaten a lot of the important bits, and seems to have a secret agenda of his own. Both helped and hindered by the bookworm, the four kids attempt to train to be genies-with results both comic and chaotic. Will it take a near-disaster for the family to realize that you have to be very careful what you wish for?"

THE BIG TALL WISH: THE TWILIGHT ZONE by Rod Serling, Adapted by Mark Kneece. "Washed up boxer Bolie Jackson is about to be knocked down and counted out when Henry, a young neighbor with magical powers, makes the biggest, tallest wish he could think of—for Bolie to win the match. But believing in magic doesn’t come easily to some people. Rejecting Henry’s wish could end Bolie’s career and ruin a young boy’s faith in magic. They each have to the count of ten to make their choice . . . in the Twilight Zone."

D.A.N.G.E.R. SPELLS THE HANGMAN!: HARDY BOYS GRAPHIC NOVEL by Scott Lobdell. "Frank and Joe go undercover at a national spelling bee where a mysterious madman known as the Hangman is determined to erase the competition! Teens from across the globe have been invited to attend, and A.T.A.C. and the Hardy Boys have to do everything they can to keep the Hangman from spelling disaster!"

DOOMRAGA'S REVENGE: MERLIN'S DRAGON by T.A. Barron. "Basil becomes Merlin's partner as they battle the mysterious shadows that threaten the new Avalon. A dark magic has been spreading across Avalon. Initially, the events seemed unrelated: a war in Fireroot between the dwarves and the fire dragons, blight in Stoneroot, and disputes throughout the realms. But as Merlin and Basil scour the realms, they begin to realize that looming behind the growing chaos is a single dark threat—an enemy that they’ve never encountered. One that must be stopped before all of Avalon is lost."

JASPER DASH AND THE FLAME-PITS OF DELAWARE by M.T. Anderson. "It is a land of wonders! It is a land of mystery. It is a land that time forgot (or chose specifically not to remember). Cut off from the civilized world for untold years, this land is called: DELAWARE. It is into the mist-shrouded heart of this forbidden, mountainous realm that our plucky and intrepid heroes, Jasper Dash: Boy Technonaut and his friends Lily Gefelty and Katie Mulligan, must journey to unravel a terrible mystery.Come along on a tale of grand adventure that includes in its pages: Lost cities! Tentacles! Monks! Dinosaurs! Gangsters! Cheap suits! Eye doctors! And, of course, the fabled CURSE OF THE JAGUAR!"

LONGITUDE: ZERO DEGREES by Dianne C. Stewart. The second book in the Quimbaya Trilogy, about a boy who travels through time. (sorry, couldn't find a picture)

A PEARL AMONG PRINCES by Coleen Murtagh Paratore. "Gracepearl Coal is the cook’s daughter on Miramore, the island all princes visit for their summer program in the Charming Arts. Each year, the princes-in-training arrive on gallant seacraft, guided by captains trained to navigate the island’s treacherous waters. Passage on one of these boats is the only method to leave the island—thus betrothal to a royal is the only way for Pearl to find her far-off destiny, the one thatÂ’s started haunting her dreams. Luckily, this year’s crop of princes include some promising prospects, but how will Pearl leave behind her ailing father or—hardest of all—marry a boy other than her long-time beloved, Mackree . . . who now finds it too painful to even speak to her?"

SILKSINGER: DREAMDARK by Laini Taylor. "One faerie, the last of her clan, must fight to complete her sacred duty. Whisper Silksinger is the last of the secret guardians of the Azazel, one of the powerful Djinn who dreamed the world into being. Relentlessly pursued by bloodthirsty devils, she flees to the city of Nazneen to restore the Azazel to his temple. At the same time, Hirik Mothmage is also on a secret quest, to find the Azazel and restore his disgraced clan’s ancient honor. And behind them all flies Magpie Windwitch, first champion of the new age of faeries, desperate to rescue Whisper and the Azazel alike before they fall in the clutches of a sinister hidden enemy."

SWORD OF FIRE AND ICE: THE CHRONICLES OF ARTHUR by John Matthews. A graphic novel about the teenaged years of King Arthur.

WILL THE REAL MARTIAN PLEASE STAND UP?: THE TWILIGHT ZONE by Rod Serling, Adapted by Mark Kneece. "On a cold, snowy evening state troopers track footprints from a mysterious crash site to a nearby diner. There, a group of bus passengers waits out the storm, but oddly, there is one more person in the eatery. Who is he, and what are his intentions for planet Earth?"



Young Adult:

BENEATH, by Roland Smith. (I can't find a picture or blurb for this one; sorry).

DEMON CHICK By Marilyn Kaye. "Jessica may not have the warmest relationship with her mother, aspiring presidential candidate Margaret Hunsucker, but it still comes as a shock when she discovers that her mother has sold her to the devil. Will she have to spend eternity in hell with one of Satan’s minions, a demon named Brad? Brad takes pains to explain that they live in one of hell’s better neighborhoods, and he seems like a nice enough guy—but still! And things only get worse when Jessica learns the full extent of her mother’s evil plans. Can she and Brad come up with a plan to save the world?"

FOREST BORN by Shannon Hale. "Rin is sure that something is wrong with her…something really bad. Something that is keeping her from feeling at home in the Forest homestead where she’s lived all her life. Something that is keeping her from trusting herself with anyone at all. When her brother Razo returns from the city for a visit, she accompanies him to the palace, hoping that she can find peace away from home. But war has come to Bayern again, and Rin is compelled to join the queen and her closest allies—magical girls Rin thinks of as the Fire Sisters—as they venture into the Forest toward Kel, the land where someone seems to want them all dead."

GIVE UP THE GHOST by Megan Crewe. "Cass McKenna much prefers ghosts over “breathers.” Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody…and Cass loves dirt. She’s on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school. But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass’s whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees. As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim’s life, she’s surprised to realize he’s not so bad—and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it’s time to give the living another chance…."

TIME OF THE WITCHES by Anna Myers. Possibly not fantasy. "An orphan named Drucilla has finally has a place to call home with the Putnam family in Salem. Although her adopted mother is strange—haunted by a troubled past—Dru feels drawn to her as the mother she never had. When a new reverend and his family move into town with their servant Tituba, life takes a strange turn as young girls begin to fall ill and accusations of witchcraft begin to swirl. Reluctant to turn her back on the Putnams or her peers and overwhelmed by the power of groupthink among the other girls in town, Dru becomes one of the accusers herself. But when her best friend Gabe is accused, she must find a way to end the hysteria, or risk losing him forever."

ONCE A WITCH by Carolyn MacCullough. "Tamsin Greene comes from a long line of witches, and she was supposed to be one of the most Talented among them. But Tamsin's magic never showed up. Now seventeen, Tamsin attends boarding school in Manhattan, far from her family. But when a handsome young professor mistakes her for her very Talented sister, Tamsin agrees to find a lost family heirloom for him. The search—and the stranger—will prove to be more sinister than they first appeared, ultimately sending Tamsin on a treasure hunt through time that will unlock the secret of her true identity, unearth the sins of her family, and unleash a power so vengeful that it could destroy them all."

THE OTHER SIDE: A TEEN'S GUIDE TO GHOST HUNTING AND THE PARANORMAL by Marley Gibson, Patrick Burns, & Dave Schrader. "It used to be you needed a crystal, a psychic, or a Oijia board to make contact with the spirit world. So who would think science would make it possible for just about anyone to experience a ghostly connection? Cameras, recorders, computers, magnetic field readers and other scientific means are now the tools of the trade. But there’s so much available, how does the average teen weed through it all to create the best possible ghost hunting team? Here to help sort it all out are three of today’s leading investigators of the field."

THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT AND OTHER TALES FROM THE CIRQUE DU FREAK by Darren Shan. "Darren Shan is just an ordinary schoolboy who loves to ride bikes and hang out with his three best friends. Then one day Darren and his friends stumble across an invitation to visit the Cirque Du Freak, a strange and mysterious freak show. Almost as if by destiny, Darren wins a ticket and what follows is his horrifying descent into the dark and bloody world of vampires."

THE SILVER BLADE by Sally Gardner. Sequel to The Red Necklace. "The year is 1794. With his beloved Sido safely in England and the Reign of Terror at its height, mysterious Yann returns to revolutionary France to smuggle out aristocratic refugees who will otherwise face the guillotine. But while the two are apart, Yann’s Gypsy origins prejudice Sido’s guardian against their marriage, thwarting their longed-for reunion. When Sido is kidnapped under strange circumstances, however, Yann must use all his strength and courage to outwit the evil Count Kalliovski, rescue Sido, and help save all of France."

In which I have the pleasure of chatting with Sandra from Musings of a Book Addict

Today is Interview Swap Day for Book Blogger Appreciation Week! I threw my name in the hat, and was paired with Sandra who blogs at Musings of a Book Addict. Sandra is my favorite kind of teacher--a teacher of reading. And excitingly, this post of Sandra's, a vent on the fate of reading, has just been mentioned in an article in the Examiner.

Here's a bit more about her and her blog!

1. What made you decide to start a book blog?

I began my blog as a writing site where I put up a question and my students answered. I teach reading and I teach ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages ) Unfortunately only my ESOL students were replying. So I started to review books and then I would place them in the chalk tray hoping my students would read them.

2. Has your blog's focus changed since you began? From my browsing through your blog, it seems you write about teaching reading and about books, both children's books and Christian adult books--is the balance shifting one way or another?

When I first started I was only reviewing Middle Grades/Young Adult Books for my students. At the end of the school year I entered my first challenge "Mother Reader's 48 hour Reading Challenge". It started the last day for teachers so I made sure my students could follow me. I agreed to read 10 books minimum for the challenge and then agreed to read 60 or more books from June 5th through August 17th. I hit both goals. It was through this I started getting books to review and branched out into reading adult books as well. I have always loved Christian fiction but didn't know too many authors or series beyond the Left Behind series. I have just become a very eclectic reader. Occasionally I "vent" about the path that reading in schools is taking and it isn't always flattering to the schools system.

3. The book blogosphere seems to be getting bigger every month, and it's hard to keep track of it all! I have my own little part of it, a group called the kidlitosphere (here's its website), but I try to branch out a bit beyond that. I'm curious about the blog world you write and read in. Were there any blogs in particular that inspired you to begin? That you turn to for book reviews? Other teachers blogs you love? Have you heard of the "kidlitosphere," because if you haven't, you might enjoy meeting some of the bloggers who are under that umbrella--there are, for instance lots of teachers. And have you heard of the Cybils Awards?

I actually started getting book ideas from Jen Robinson's Book Page. She introduced me to The Reading Tub, RIF and a few others. Up until that point I purchased books based on Scholastic book clubs, browsing Amazon.com or my local books store. I think I get better books because I read other blogs. I am slightly familiar with Kidlitosphere because of Jen Robinson. I read the book at her recommendation "The Book Whisperer" and things started turning from there. I have heard of the Cybils Awards but don't really know what this is all about. I would like to learn more.

The Cybils are awards given by the children's book blogging community in a variety of categories. The winners are picked based on both the quality of the writing and their appeal to kids--it looks to spotlight those books that will be passed most briskly from hand to hand. This criteria makes the Cybils shortlists a great resource for anyone looking for books for reluctant readers!

And here's the link to Kidlitosphere Central.

4. Do your colleagues at school read your blog? How do they feel about it?

I have two teachers who read my blog. Most of the reading teachers do not. As a matter of fact they think I am kind of strange for the number of books I read. I have several who have read it for a strange reason. I wrote a book and thought I had a publisher for it and my best friend blabbed it at a meeting. The deal fell through but this made several of the teachers check out what I was doing. I am still writing and still putting my manuscript out there.

I've read about that on other blogs--teachers of reading who don't read. I find that strange and sad...

And good luck with the writing!

5.How do you go about finding books for your students?

I go through about 20 different blogs reading reviews to find new books for my students. Until blogging I had never heard of an ARC. I also belong to Goodreads and LibraryThing now and find a lot of good books mentioned there.

6. Do you read children's books for fun yourself?

I have always read children's books for fun. I used to tell everyone it was because I had to keep up to date with books for my students. The real reason was because I just enjoyed it. I got my first adult book in 2 years for my birthday in a genre I seldom read and found I really enjoyed adult books as well as children's books.

7. Have you ever had a chance to meet blogging friends in person?

I have only met one and I worked with her last year. She had already had a blog when I started mine. I didn't know it until I invited her to view mine. I hope to get to some of the events I am finding out about where bloggers get together. Right now it is not real possible as my mother lives with us due to health reasons and travel is very limited. But I look forward to it.

Perhaps someday we'll meet in person then! Thanks so much, Sandra, for being my interview buddy, and thanks to all the organizers of BBAW for giving us participants a chance to make new blogging friends!

(and anyone who wants to know the real reason why I blog is welcome to head over to Sandra's place, where I Tell All...)

Book Blogger Appreciation Week, Day 1--the blogs that mean a lot to me

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is here! It's a chance to celebrate what we do, and those who do it with us.

For BBAW Day One, we're asked: "What book blogs mean something to you? Who are your most trusted sources for recommendations, your greatest help, the blogger you turn to for a laugh or to vent? Whose writing do you admire or who introduced you to a whole new genre you didn’t know about?"

There are many, many, blogs I enjoy very much (and if you are in the sidebar, or in my google reader, you are one of them), but here are four that are special to me for various reasons.

You know how there are some bloggers whose taste in books marches hand in hand with ones own? I realized this past year that if Aquafortis, who blogs at Finding Wonderland, loves a book, I will too. To Aquafortis: Thanks especially for Seeing Red.

I had a blast being on the Cybils last year with Laini Taylor, who blogs at Grow Wings, and I have become an avid follower of her blog--in a fan girl way I love her books, and I think it's so cool to be friends with an author, and in a real life way I love the pictures she gives of her incredibly colorful (literally) life. Lord knows I don't want to make banners of felt birds, or paint walls Tangerine, but it's very nice to know that someone is! Also, her taste in books is very similar to my own.

Another author I've "met" through blogging is Tanita Davis, one of the most faithful commentors here (thanks Tanita!). I remember the first year or so I was blogging, seeing her commenting at many blogs I followed, and wondering if she would ever like my blog too. (I was, and still am, a rather shy blogger--I have to forcibly remind myself that my comments are just as valid as anyone else's, so my first year especially I barely said a word on other blogs). So it was a pleasure when she began to visit me regularly, and I have truly enjoyed reading (and bravely commenting) on her blog in return. Tanita is one of only two bloggers that I have ever emailed with to continue conversations that started on line...(not counting my Cybils colleagues).*

The second being Jen Robinson. I bet Jen's name comes up a lot today, and with good reason--her generosity and enthusiasm make the kidlitosphere a better place. (Well actually, I edit this to add, I bet her name doesn't come up that much, because we are supposed to be recognizing people that didn't make the BBAW awards shortlists, which Jen did. Oh well.)

*Although maybe I should say three, because Jenny Davidson and I once had an email conversation about buying a communal theremin. And if there are other conversations that have vanished into the mists of my mind, that I'm not mentioning, I'm very sorry.

Cutter's Island: Ceasar in Captivity

In Suetonius' Life of Julius Ceasar, there is the following passage, describing an event that occurred when Ceasar was in his twenties: "While crossing to Rhodes, after the winter season had already begun, he was taken by pirates near the island of Pharmacussa and remained in their custody for nearly forty days in a state of intense vexation, attended only by a single physician and two body-servants; 2 for he had sent off his travelling companions and the rest of his attendants at the outset, to raise money for his ransom. Once he was set on shore on payment of fifty talents, he did not delay then and there to launch a fleet and pursue the departing pirates, and the moment they were in his power to inflict on them the punishment which he had often threatened when joking with them."

In Cutter's Island: Ceasar in Captivity, Vincent Panella took this passage and ran with it. Interspersing his account of Ceasar's time on the island with flashbacks to his life as a young man negotiating the political turmoil of Rome, he brings the future general face to face with those outside the laws, and with himself. This is Ceasar before he knows that he will be Ceasar, untried, on the outs with those who rule the empire that will one day be his. In his conversations with Cutter, his daily fear for his safety, and his enforced period of reflection about himself and his future, Ceasar moves toward his destiny as conqueror and ruler.

"We're not pirates, Lord. We constitute the Navy of King Mithridates, whose lands you've taken by force."

"The butcher king has ceded Asia."

"Forget all that, and think of this: there are two parts to any law, what is written, and what can be enforced. Stick to your medicines, young man, and to your books and papers. You'll live longer." (page 49)

Ceasar, of course, does not take this advice, and the reverberations of his time with the pirates contribute to making him an enforcer par excellence.

I thought, when I accepted this book for review, that this might well be a good crossover from historical fiction to fantasy, what with the plot concerning an isolated hero faced with a band of pirates, the hints of divine destiny and the rich background of fate, and gods, and detailed, alien world. All this is here, and might indeed appeal to the reader of fantasy who enjoys books that focus on the personal and introspective. That being said, there is also a generous amount of the blood that comes with piracy, civil war, gladiators, and the punishments decreed by the laws of Rome. There are also rather explicit descriptions of the relationship between Ceasar and his mistress (which I personally found a bit gratuitous, and which held me back a bit from wanting to understand his character).

This is a book that requires the reader to do a certain amount of thoughtful application to figure out the import of the characters' words. It was not quite my cup of tea, primarily because I was never quite convinced that I should care about young Julius, and partly because I am just not naturally that sort of reader (sigh). For the reader willing to make that investment, however, or the reader who has a taste for historically accurate fiction about the Romans, it might well prove a rewarding experience.

(Review copy received from the publisher, Academy Chicago. Cutter's Island was first published in 2000, and has just been released in paperback)

Five things (with links) of great interest, including not only fantasy books but deadly biscuits

Subject One: I am going to the Third Annual Kidlitosphere Conference; it will be my first one. I want as many other people to go as possible so that I get to meet them! The deadline to get your hotel room at the great group rate is September 16th. Even if you might not consider yourself an official member of the Kidlitosphere per se, please remember that the "kidlitosphere" is not a fixed and finite thing--it's not an exclusive club! It's (in my mind) just a catchall to cover anyone who likes talking about children's and YA books. It would be great to see some of this year's new YA bloggers, and some of the fantasy reviewing folks who love YA books, as well as the usual suspects....*

Subject Two: Speaking of fantasy--at Tor a few days ago was a great post by Mary Pearson (author of The Adoration of Jenna Fox), about What YA Lit is and isn't. My favorite bit: "I think sometimes there is still this basal reader mentality when it comes to teen books, like it is a stepping stone to the “grown-up stuff.” Basal Reader Year 10. Hm, no. It is simply its own unique type of literature that explores the teen experience." (Thanks to Liz for this).

This prejudice seems especially naturalized among readers of "grown up" speculative fiction. Here's an old post (May 2008) on the subject by John Scalzi that still seems relevant (and I was fascinated that in the week this post was written, "the top 50 YA SF/F bestsellers outsold the top 100 adult SF/F bestsellers (adult SF and F are separate lists) by two to one."

Interestingly, Scalzi also writes about what happens when an established writer of adult sci fi goes YA--his own book, Zoe's Tale (shortlisted for the Best Novel Hugo)--"The frustrating part is that one very large chunk of the book’s intended audience — teenagers and in particular teenage girls — have little if any awareness of the book." Oh gosh, Mr. Scalzi, I am guilty. Zoe's Tale is one I have been meaning to read for 11 months, and I have a copy, but I guess I have been reluctant to read it because I know it's part of a larger story (The Old Man's War) that I haven't read... I will try to get to it this weekend.

And in case by any chance you missed this third old post of Scalzi's, here's Really the Only Thing That Has to Be Said About the YA Thing.

Subject Three: two excellent lists

Stella Matuntina has a lovely list of LGBT characters in speculative fiction; check out the comments for more. (My suggestion was Door into Fire et seq., by Diane Duane. Hard to find these days, but rather gripping. Best fire elemental ever, but then, I haven't read Fire yet).

In her post, Where's Ramona Quimby, Black and Pretty? Elizabeth Bluemle of Shelftalker invited readers to suggest great books with kids of color, and put the resulting, fantastic, list together on Librarything.com. Here's her World Full of Color post, describing this. (thanks to Eva, where I saw this first).

Subject Four: bringing everything together beautifully, here's the call for papers for the 31st Annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts

Theme: Race and the Fantastic

Division of Children’s and Young Adult Literature

Guest of Honor: Nalo Hopkinson
Guest of Honor: Laurence Yep
Guest Scholar: Takayuki Tatsumi
Special Guest Emeritis: Brian Aldiss

The 2010 ICFA welcomes paper proposals on all areas of the fantastic
(including high fantasy, allegory, science fiction, horror, folk tales and
other traditional literatures, magical realism, the supernatural, and the
gothic) in all media (novels, short stories, drama, television, comic books,
film, and others).

The division of children’s and young adult literature is especially
interested in paper proposals throughout the field, including picture books,
easy readers, novels, short stories, film, comic books, and other forms. We
embrace a wide variety of scholarly approaches and interests, including
genre, historical, theoretical, and textual, models. We encourage work from
institutionally-affiliated
scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages
other than English, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

The conference will run March 17-21, 2010, in Orlando, Florida.

Subject Five: "half of Britons injured by their biscuits on coffee break, survey reveals." Read more to find out which common biscuit is the most deadly (thanks to Jenny Davidson for the link, and, while I'm at it, for all the other incredibly diverting links she posts).

*Does anyone know why Blogger changes the line spacing like this? There's nothing obvious in the html. I hate it when Blogger decides to do things of its own volition, pretending it was my layout choice...

The Riddle-Master Trilogy, by Patricia McKillip

The Riddle Master of Hed (1976), Heir of Sea and Fire (1977), and Harpist in the Wind (1979), by Patricia McKillip .

Over at Angieville, you can find Retro Friday. I'm taking part today, writing about a trilogy of books that I have loved for 29 years...ever since Cathy Webster brought the first of the series to school one day in ninth grade. I was siting on her left, reading over her shoulder, this page:

"The wizard's thin mouth twisted. "I can give you nothing. Har should have known better than to send you for me. He has two good eyes; he should have seen."

"I don't understand." [Morgan] was beginning to feel cold. "You gave Har riddles; I need answers to them. Why did you leave Lungold? Why have you hidden even from Har?"

"Why would anyone hide from the tooth of his own heart?" The lean hands shook him a little. "Can you not see? Not even you? I am trapped. I am dead, speaking to you." (The Riddle Master of Hed, page 166).

And so on, for five glorious minutes until assembly began...

I didn't know who Har was, where Lungold was, or what questions Morgan had. But I knew I wanted to find out. And even though I have no idea whatever happened to Cathy Webster, I still have the (very battered) copies of three books of this trilogy that my mother bought me the next weekend.

The books tell of Morgan, Prince of Hed, who leaves his peaceful island to find answers to the riddles that surround him. Why is his forehead marked with three stars? What is it about them that has drawn him into a world where unanswered riddles have turned deadly? Travelling through strange and enchanted lands, he meets Riddle Masters who guard what has survived of the realm's history, Land Rulers who feel the pulse of their lands in their minds and hearts, and ghosts of a lost magic thought to have vanished long ago. Now that lost magic seems to be coming back to life, and the struggle will tear the realms apart. Unless Morgan can answer the riddles of his destiny...

Learning to play a harp with three stars, learning to shapeshift, and to throw his mind across the world, he runs one step ahead of those who want him dead. And journeying also, to find him, is Raederle, a beautiful young woman he had been friends with when his world made sense. Now she too is facing truths that will change her forever...

"She touched a flame then, let it lay in her hand like a flower. "Look," she said breathlessly, and closed her hand over it, extinguishing it, before the wonder in her broke the binding between them, separating them, and it hurt her. The night fell around her again, as the tine flame died. She saw Deth's face, motionless, unreadable, his lips parted.

"Another riddle," he whispered." (Heir of Sea and Fire, p 124)

The Riddle Master of Hed tells of Morgan's first journey, looking for answers. Heir of Sea and Fire is Raederle's story. Harpist in the Wind brings the two together, moving ever closer to the heart of the mystery and to the day when the riddles will all be answered, and the fate of their world determined.

Of all MacKillip's books, I think these are the most re-readable, in the sense of telling coherent, more or less linear stories, that one keeps coming back to because one loves the characters. The beautiful prose that I love in her writing is here, the deep sense of mystery and wonder in her imaginary lands is ever present, and every re-reading I find something new in her worldbuilding to delight me. But mostly I re-read these because Morgan and Raederle remain two of my best fantasy friends from when I was young...

Shark and Lobster's Amazing Undersea Adventure

I would like to thank Jennifer, of the Jean Little Library, for bringing to my attention Shark and Lobster's Amazing Undersea Adventure, by Viviane Schwarz, illustrated by Joel Stewart (2006). It arrived via interlibrary loan last week, and we were ever so pleased to find it is just the sort of beautifully wacky and wonderful fantasy picture book that fascinates the reading grown-up and enthralls the listening child.

Out in the middle of a sea, a shark says to his friend, "Lobster, I'm Scared!" Lobster has a hard time believing this, but when he hears what Shark has to say about TIGERS, he's scared too...so they decide to build a fortress. Three rocks, and a bored lobster later, a very small cuttlefish comes to investigate, and wants to help. So she brings her friends and relations, who bring their piano, and the fortress building moves on apace.

But will rock walls keep out TIGERS? Is more needed? Yes! They need a scarier monster, to scare the tigers away. So down into the abyss they all dive, and they find a monster to scare all monsters, and they haul it back up, and...

Gosh, I love this book! The expressions on the faces, the absurdity of the plot, the wonderful, fantastical over-the-topness.

So thanks, Jennifer! You made our reading week. And for more fun, check out the review at Bookie Woogie.

Prospero Lost

Prospero Lost is the debut novel of L. Jagi Lamplighter (Tor, 2009, 347pp, adult, but YA-ish, in a good way), and if you think that just about anything that can be done with fairy spirit-type beings has been done, this book will change your mind.

Miranda is the eldest of Prospero's brood of magical children. Centuries have passed since the events Shakespeare described in The Tempest, and Miranda has spent them doing her father's bidding, most recently holding together the family company of Prospero, Inc. The company's mission is to give the human world a chance to thrive unharmed by the conflicts and machinations of the spirits and demons, who, when unhappy, produce problematic things like tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

But things are going wrong. Her siblings have scattered, taking with them the magic that used to be used for the good of the Company. Now her father, Prospero, has vanished, leaving a disturbing note:

"I have unwittingly unleashed powers best kept bound. If I fail to constrain
them, they will destroy me an all I have wrought. If you have not seen me since
the writing of this message, assume the worst and warn the family. Counsel my
children to keep close the gifts I have bestowed. Beware the Three Shadowed
Ones!" (page 13, the first page of the book).

So Miranda, ever the dutiful daughter, sets off to find her siblings, following a demon-haunted trail of confused clues and tangled histories. Accompanying her is Mab, a wind spirit who has taken the corporeal form of a noir detective-type. He is bound to her by Prospero's gift to her of the ability to control the winds, and he is, incidentally, one of my favorite fictional spirits ever--smart and funny, keeping a notebook in true detective style, and bitter about being enslaved. Nothing is simple as they try to track down the scattered siblings, because, after all, the Three Shadowed Ones are trying to stop them...

It's a wonderfully complicated, busy, and engaging plot. There are great minor characters, fascinating spirits, demons, and elves, and gripping family history. On the down side, there's also a bit of repetition--we get told the same thoughts the characters are thinking a few too many times, and Miranda is too much The Good Daughter, and is too emotionally stunted and self-centered to be a truly likable, fully-developed character (although a sinister reason for this is suggested). But Mab, and the one sibling that joins them on their journey-- Miranda's insane, homeless, lute-playing, Chimera-hugging little brother--add brightness, as does the intelligent wit of Lamplighter's writing in general.

Here's something in particular I got a kick out off, that I hope illustrates this. Mab, a spirit, calls on humans when doing magical workings:

"To the south, where the penny sat, he said, "The earth of man is an orderly
earth. To enforce this order, I call upon the spirit of Newton.

To the west, where the sun sets, he said over the apple twig, "The fire of man is an
all-consuming fire. To enforce this, I call upon the spirit of Oppenheimer."
(page 99)

And among urban fantasy elements like demons in warehouses, there is an encounter with Santa Claus that made me shiver with its numinous power (I mean it).

For those who like mysteries mixed with their fantasy, tons of detail (magical, historical, familial), and a generous dollop of humor, this is an excellent book. All ends are left loose, and I am very much looking forward to book 2--Prospero In Hell.

I generally don't review adult books, but this one seems like a good YA crossover. Even though Miranda is centuries old, she is still in many respects a teenager, with a lot of growing up to do...and there's the romantic interest question, which floats tantalizingly around the story in proper YA fantasy form (although having written that, I am now wondering if it is more common in YA fantasy for the love interest to be obvious, ala Katsa and Po, Edward and Bella, etc., which is too big a topic to be a coda to a review, so I shall stop).

Here's another review, at Graeme's Fantasy Bookworld, and here's the review that made me read the book, at Fantasy Book Critic.

Graeme has three copies to give away...enter by the 13th of September.

New Releases of Science Fiction and Fantasy for kids and teens--the almost middle of September edition

Here are the fantasy and science fiction books for children and teenagers that have just been released (taken from Teens Read Too, with help from Amazon). Has anyone read Ring of Fire: Century yet? It looks like it might be a good one for my nine-year old.

Sorry there aren't pictures for everyone, but blogger (or my computer) has decided not to let me put them in.

Nine to Twelve Year Olds

This book by rights should have been in last week's new releases, so I'm putting it first:

THE RUNAWAY DRAGON by Kate Coombs ( who blogs at Book Aunt). "When Meg’s dragon, Laddy, flies away from home, she knows she must go on a quest to find him. But she hasn’t counted on her parents, the king and queen of Greeve, sending ten guardsmen along. Fortunately, she is also accompanied by her best friends: Dilly, a lady-in-waiting and a cool head in any crisis not involving heights; Cam, a gardener’s assistant who knows the exact value of a brick shed filled with sausages; Nort, a skinny guardsman who has never given much thought to crows; and Lex, a young wizard with bad taste in horses, magic carpets, and sorceresses. Of course, Meg’s quest goes topsy-turvy once she enters the enchanted forest—and her adventure is just beginning. What’s more, meeting up with the dashing bandit Bain again isn’t at all what she expected. Will this princess be able to rescue herself, let alone anybody else?

ANDREW NORTH BLOWS UP THE WORLD by Adam SelzerAndrew "Danger" North is no ordinary third-grader. He, his brother, Jack, and his father are spies. That is what Jack has always told him, and everything Andrew has learned from his dad’s favorite spy movies tells him it must be true. When Andrew comes across his brother’s graphing calculator, he’s sure it’s a communication device that will put him in touch with the secret spy headquarters. But instead of punching in a greeting to the spy society, Andrew accidentally punches in a code that might blow up the world! And if that isn’t bad enough, his math teacher then confiscates the top secret communication device and takes it to the mysterious Storage Room B. Now Andrew is on a spy mission to find his brother’s communicator and save the world from mass destruction.

EARTH'S MAGIC by Pamela F. Service. The third book in a trilogy. "Heather and Earl (called Merlin the wizard by most) are working with King Arthur to unite Britain following a terrible nuclear devastation. Merlin’s sworn enemy, Morgan LeFay, is also organizing her forces, hoping to take over the world once and for all. Earth’s only hope is for Earl to find his father, who has been trapped in an enchantment for two thousand years. The problem is, Earl doesn’t know where to look, and worse, doesn’t even know what form the enchantment takes. Time is running out and Earl and Heather must solve the ancient mystery and return with the key to the Earth’s Magic. Traveling to one of the origins of humanity, the ancient kingdom of Kush, Merlin must decipher the key before the summer solstice when a great battle will be waged to decide the future of the earth."

THE FARFIELD CURSE: BRAN HAMBRIC by Kaleb Nation. "In a bustling metropolis where magic is outlawed, a six-year-old child is found inside a locked bank vault. A scrap of paper reveals his name: Bran Hambric. The child remembers nothing of his life before the vault. Only magic could have done this. But why would any mage risk breaking the law to place a child in a bank vault? Eight years later the City of Dunce has forgotten about Bran. Even his foster parents don't seem to know he exists. But there are those who have been watching, biding their time, waiting to strike, people who know where Bran came from and why he was sent away. And they will do anything to get Bran back, dead or alive…"

HUNTER BROWN AND THE CONSUMING FIRE (Codebearers) by The Miller Brothers. Hunter and his friends travel back to Solandria, led by a mysterious flame on a quest to find the mysterious Seven. They must fight off Xaul, who threatens to steal the flame and destroy the Reistance. (Christian fantasy).

THE MAGICIAN'S ELEPHANT by Kate DiCamillo. "...the tale of Peter Augustus Duchene, a ten-year-old orphan who receives an unbelievable piece of information from the local fortuneteller. Peter learns that his fate is tied to an elephant that has inexplicably fallen from the sky when a magician's trick goes terribly wrong. Why did it happen? And, how can an elephant possibly change the course of Peter's life?"



PHILIPPA FISHER AND THE DREAM-MAKER'S DAUGHTER by Liz KesslerPhilippa Fisher is trying to have a good time on vacation with her parents, but she’s feeling lonely. When she meets Robyn, a girl with sad eyes and a strict father, she enjoys the company, but can’t help wondering what Robyn and her dad might be hiding. Meanwhile, Daisy, Philippa’s best friend (and fairy godsister), sneaks into her former charge’s room for a visit, but now has a furtive new mission and must dash away. Philippa longs to uncover the reasons behind her friends’ odd behavior, but friendships can be tricky when there are secrets — and unexpected danger — involved!

RING OF FIRE: CENTURY by Pierdomenico Baccalario. "Every hundred years, four kids from four cities must save the world. Rome, December 29. A mix-up with their reservations forces Harvey from New York, Mistral from Paris, and Sheng from Shanghai to share a room with the hotel owner’s daughter, Elettra. The four kids discover an amazing coincidence—they all have birthdays on February 29, Leap Day. That night, a strange man gives them a briefcase and asks them to take care of it until he returns. Soon afterward, the man is murdered. The kids open the briefcase. In it they find a series of clues that take them all over Rome, through dusty libraries and dark catacombs, in search of the elusive Ring of Fire, an ancient object so powerful that legend says even a Roman emperor couldn’t control it." The first book of the Century quartet

ROLAND WRIGHT: FUTURE KNIGHT by Tony Davis. "Roland Wright wants to be a knight in armor. The problem: Roland’s dad is a blacksmith, and only boys from noble families can even dream of becoming knights. When mysterious visitors arrive in the village one day, everything changes. Roland finds himself in the contest of a lifetime, with a real chance to become a page, the first step on the road to knighthood. But how can skinny, clumsy Roland beat an opponent who is bigger, stronger, and older—and who doesn’t play by the rules?"

THE SECRET HISTORY OF MERMAIDS by Ari Berk. "Since ancient times, seafarers and coast-dwellers the world over have reported encounters with merpeople. Variously known as Finfolk, Dinny Mara, Nereids, Blue Men, and Merrymaids, merfolk have been the source of both gifts and disasters for humankind. Now a lavishly illustrated resource offers insight into the lives, origins, language, and magic of these elusive peoples."

SILVER DRAGON CODEX: THE DRAGON CODICES by R.D. Henham. "Jace, a high-wire acrobat in a traveling circus, thought he knew the thrill of adventure. But when he meets Belen, a strange girl with no memory of her past, he soon discovers how much more adventure--and danger--awaits him. Not long after Belen joins the circus, a wizard arrives and stops the show--not by magic, but by accusation. Belen is not human, he says: she is a shapeshifting dragon, who destroyed a nearby town. As Jace and Belen set off in a race against time to clear Belen's name and recover her memory, mysterious forces conspire to throw them off track. Can Jace learn to fly through the air with the greatest of ease--on the back of a dragon--before time runs out?"

THE WYRM KING: BEYOND THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES by Tony DiTerlizzi. "In the final installment of Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Nick and Laurie had thought they solved their giant problems when they drove all the giants into the sea. But now, the Grace kids have come back to tell them they may have more trouble coming their way! It turns out the giants control the population of Hydra, a dragon like creature that is creating sinkholes all over Florida. But with the mermaids refusing to return the giants to the shore, the nixie's still missing and the threat of a destroyed Florida drawing closer, the kids have to take matters in their own hands."

Young Adult

THE ASK AND THE ANSWER: CHAOS WALKING by Patrick Ness. "Reaching the end of their tense and desperate flight in THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, Todd and Viola did not find healing and hope in Haven. They found instead their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss, waiting to welcome them to New Prentisstown. There they are forced into separate lives: Todd to prison, and Viola to a house of healing where her wounds are treated. Soon Viola is swept into the ruthless activities of the Answer, aimed at overthrowing the tyrannical government. Todd, meanwhile, faces impossible choices when forced to join the mayor’s oppressive new regime. In alternating narratives — Todd’s gritty and volatile; Viola’s calmer but equally stubborn — the two struggle to reconcile their own dubious actions with their deepest beliefs.

CRASHED by Robin Wasserman. "Lia no longer believes in before. Six months after the crash that killed her, six months after being reborn, Lia has finally accepted her new reality. She is a machine, a mech, and she belongs with her own kind. It’s a wild, carefree life, without rules and without fear. Because there’s nothing to fear when you have nothing left to lose.
But when a voice from her past cries out for revenge, everything changes. Lia is forced to choose between her old life and her new one. Between humans and mechs. Between sacrificing the girl she used to be and saving the boy she used to love."

DARK VISIONS: THE STRANGE POWER, THE POSSESSED, THE PASSION by L.J. Smith. "Kaitlyn Fairchild has always felt like an outsider in her small hometown. Her haunting eyes and prophetic drawings have earned her a reputation as a witch. But Kait's not a witch: She's a psychic. Tired of being shunned, Kait accepts an invitation to attend the Zetes Institute, where she can have a fresh start and study with other psychic teens. Learning to hone her abilities with four other gifted students, Kait discovers the intensity of her power -- and the joy of having true friends. But those friendships quickly become complicated when Kait finds herself torn between two irresistible guys. Rob is kind and athletic, and heals people with his good energy. Gabriel is aggressive and mysterious, a telepath concealing his true nature as a psychic vampire, feeding off of others' life energy. Together, Rob and Gabriel's opposing forces threaten the group's stability.Then one of the experiments traps the five teens in a psychic link. A link that threatens their sanity and their lives."

THE FATAL CHILD by John Dickinson. Third in a trilogy. "Atti is the Fatal Child. Beautiful and adored, she is troubled by a recurring nightmare of violence and betrayal. She can love no one and trust no one, and she wakes screaming in the night. Driven by his love for Atti, Ambrose, son of Phaedra, gives up his wandering existence and takes the throne. This is the story of his kingship and his attempts to remove the curse of Beyah, the weeping goddess, from his land. For while Beyah weeps, she poisons hearts, and only when the weeping stops can peace be restored to the kingdom."

THE GOLDSMITH'S DAUGHTER by Tanya Landman. Possibly not fantasy, per se, but of interest. "In the golden city of Tenochtitlán, the people live in awe of Emperor Montezuma and in fear of blood-hungry gods. Under an ill-fated sky, a girl is born, facing a life of submission and domestic drudgery. But Itacate has a secret passion for goldwork, forbidden to women, and is forced to disguise her identity to protect herself and her family. When her city is shaken by Cortez’s invasion, Itacate challenges fate, culture, and faith by crafting golden statues — and pursuing the love of a man who should be her enemy."

THE GUIDANCE: GHOST HUNTRESS by Marley Gibson. "Kendall and her ghost hunting team is [sic] the talk of Radisson, Georgia, but one person isn’t so pleased. Courtney Langdon doesn’t appreciate Kendall’s new popularity or her relationship with Jason, Courtney’s ex. So Courtney begins dabbling in the paranormal world. At first it’s all a game to draw attention away from Kendall. But Courtney doesn’t know what she’s getting into—or what wants in her. This is one game that’s about to turn deadly serious."

STEALING DEATH by Janet Lee Carey. "When fire steals his family from him, Kipp is left with only his little sister to protect as best he can, and he’s determined that death will not come to her–or to the girl he loves but can never approach. But who would dare to master death? As Kipp finds out, it’s complicated, and possession of the soul sack is no guarantee of success. Dragon’s Keep author Janet Lee Carey has crafted a stirring and original fantasy set in a harsh and beautiful desert landscape, in which a young man who has lost everything finds the strength within himself to care for those he loves–and to allow those he cannot keep close to him to take a path he cannot follow."

WINTER'S CHILD: ONCE UPON A TIME by Cameron Dokey. "Free-spirited Grace and serious Kai are the best of friends. They grew up together listening to magical tales spun by Kai's grandmother and sharing in each other's secrets. But when they turn sixteen and Kai declares his love for Grace, everything changes. Grace yearns for freedom and slowly begins to push Kai -- and their friendship -- away.Dejected Kai dreams of a dazzling Snow Queen, who entices him to leave home and wander to faraway lands. When Grace discovers Kai is gone, she learns how much she has lost and sets out on a mystical journey to find Kai...and discover herself."

The Doll in the Garden, by Mary Downing Hahn-- a ghost story for Timeslip Tuesday

The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story, by Mary Downing Hahn (1989, middle grade, 128pp), is both time slip and ghost story. It's also a very fast read, great for a nine year or ten year old girl who likes spooky books.

When Ashley and her mother move into the upstairs apartment carved out of a grumpy old lady's house, they are hoping to make a new life for themselves, one without Ashley's dad, who had recently died of cancer. Part of the garden is well-cared for, but it is the overgrown tangle of weeds and roses at the other end that draws Ashley.

There she meets Kristi, the little girl who lives next door, and hears from her that this garden is haunted---every summer, a white cat appears, and in the night, a child can be heard crying...But its charms are too great to resist, and soon Ashley and Kristi are busy clearing away weeds, making a place for themselves.

Then, partly buried, they find a box, and in the box is a beautiful old doll, interred there long ago. When the old landlady happens to see it, she is furious, and demands that Ashley hand it over too her, and Ashley has no choice to obey.

But it's real owner is still waiting for her doll, beyond the overgrown garden. Following a white cat with no shadow, Ashely finds herself outside a house that doesn't exist anymore, and there, in the past, she meets Louisa:

"Her eyes were huge and darkly shadowed, and her skin was milky white. She gasped and clasped her hands over her chest. "Who are you? " she asked. "Where did you come from?"

For a moment I couldn't speak. Was I staring at a real girl or a ghost? If I answered her, would I be caught in this place forever?" (p 55)

Louisa is dying...and wants her doll back.

That's the plot--straightforward, but tidily done, one that allows Hahn to add a thoughtful substrata of stories of friendship and loss to the supernatural surface.

The book bills itself as a ghost story, but in fact the only ghost--dead spirit from the past in the present--is the white cat. It's much more a time slip story, even though the time travel is somewhat limited, consisting of handful of visits to Louisa's time, with no exploration of the larger past. This is is all the story needs to work, but this isn't one that will teach the reader anything about other times. It is, however, fast-paced and atmospheric, and, as I said before, one the nine or ten year old girl should like lots.

In one of those strange blogging coincidence, Peter at Collecting Children's Books mentioned this book just after I had finished reading it. He was discussing Kansas' William Allen White Award, which The Doll in the Garden won in 1992.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards--the Speculative Fiction Shortlist

The shortlists for the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards are up!

Congratulations to those on the ballot in the Speculative Fiction category:

Bibliophile Stalker
Dribble of Ink
Scifiguy.ca
The Book Zombie
The Galaxy Express

And thanks very much to those who nominated me in this category! Even though I didn't make the shortlist, it was nice to dream...

Giving children imaginary places -- Alice and Old Mother West Wind

Happy Labor Day weekend! I have been busy laboring--it is "let's paint the house" weekend, and since it's an old Victorian, that we bought cheaply due to dilapidations, it is, of course, proving a much more challenging job than anticipated...

So even though I've read quite a bit this weekend, I haven't had the ability to concentrate that writing a review requires of me, and so I thought I'd just share what we're reading to the boys.

Our nine-year old asked out of the blue a few weeks ago if we would read him Alice in Wonderland. We were surprised, but more than happy to oblige, and are now half way across the chessboard of Through the Looking Glass. My husband and I flip-flop every night (taking the boys in turn), but since we both know Alice almost by heart, it doesn't matter that we are missing chapters...and indeed, I'm realizing that Alice is one of the most significant sources of quotes I have stored in my mind, after Shakespeare, the Bible, Winnie-the-Pooh, and possibly the Lord of the Rings (if repeated iterations of "You fool, take off the ring!" counts). We have two books going--my husband is reading from his Mervyn Peake edition (he is a Peake collector), but I don't trust myself to read a collectible book in bed, so I'm reading from a Tenniel reprint of no significance. Alice is eminently read-out-loudable, and I highly recommend it.

My six-year-old has now had 6 days of first grade, and is finding it tiring and stressful. Gone are the days when school seemingly consisted of drawing with his best friend on a shared piece of a paper, interspersed with breaks during which he played legos with the same friend. In general it was a halcyon year of leisure and gentle exploration that will probably never be matched again, and he seems to have realized this.

So I wanted to read him something gentle, stress-free, and unchallenging, and decided on a whim to try the Old Mother West Wind books by Thornton Burgess (a huge series of books written from 1910 to 1965). They tell the doings of a community of boy animals and the breezes who play in the woods and meadows with them--Reddy Fox tries to catch a fish! Johnny Chuck looses his temper! One of the breezes is naughty, and stays in the meadow overnight!--interspersed with just-so stories of the how the skunk got his stripes variety. The slightly stilted, repetitive, mannered, etc., prose, although a bit off-putting to an independent reader such as myself, make these books very good for bed-time reading to a boy who loves animals.

Some books create places in the imaginary geography readers gather in their minds. Both the Alices and Old Mother West Wind et seq. are such books. Many of us have Wonderland and Looking Glass land in our minds, but my six-year old is also going to have a bit of imaginary meadow and woods, where animal friends play. As he was falling asleep last night, he described what the Little Lone Path through the woods looked like, and how he would go about drawing the Merry Little Breezes. I'll keep reading the stories to him, as long as he wants to listen, and maybe, when he's my age, painting his own house (or repainting this one, since he is going to live with me forever), he will go there again. (I myself went to Prydain again today...)

There are so many, many, wonderful place to give one's children (Moominland, Narnia, Moondor* and more) it is a pity there aren't more nights in a day for bedtime reading out loud...

You can take a look at Old Mother West Wind for yourself here.

*this last was the boys' suggestion--they thought I'd been out of their sight too long and have tracked me down; it's from an Australian series about the Doofuzz Dudes that captured their imagination last year.

Neil Gaiman's bookshelves, in glorious technicolor

Shelfari has an article up about Neil Gaiman's bookshelves, copiously illustrated, so one can browse around and see the titles...

What I especially liked, though, was this chair. It just goes to show that you can never have too many shelves.

I think we might have that many books, but they are distributed through 11 rooms at home, with lots more at work...maybe we have more. (Not that I am competitive. I don't care if I have more books than Neil Gaiman. I don't. Really. But maybe I should go buy more books now, just in case...).

Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, by Kaleb Nation

Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, by Kaleb Nation (Jabberwocky, 2009, middle grade/YA, 353pp), is the first of a projected series of books about a boy named Bran Hambric, an orphan deposited in a locked bank vault when he was six-years old. A small scrap of paper gave his name, but there were no other clues about his identity, and he remembered nothing from before. The banker who found him was forced by the "finders keepers" rule to take him home, and so Bran grew up in the attic of the Wilomas' home, not quite a servant but certainly far below the two spoiled Wilomas children.

In the city of Dunce, where Bran and the Wilomas live, magic is outlawed (so are gnomes). But all the bureaucracy in the world can't keep magic out--and, as the book begins, it is about to find young Bran. A terrifying night-time encounter with a monster up on the roof the Wilomas' house begins a wild few weeks of mayhem, as Bran realizes he himself can do magic. While trying to escape sinister people who seem intent on doing him harm, he learns about the dark secret of his mother's past--the Farfield Curse. Before he has had any chance to come to terms with his own abilities, he is pitted against the most formidable dark mage in the land, whose power rests on the heinous actions of his own forgotten mother.

It's impossible to write about The Farfield Curse without pointing out (not that it needs much pointing) the similarities of plot between this story and the Harry Potter books, and these are so great that some readers may find the book off-putting. Bran's mother, though, was no Lily Potter--instead, she was a criminal who had used her powers for evil. And there's no Hogwarts, so here we see much more of the unappealing family who raised the magical orphan boy.

This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, some of the most amusing scenes in the book concern the Wilomas, especially the father, and these I found diverting reading. On the other, these amusing scenes don't particularly advance the plot. After the first initial monster encounter, tension grows very slowly, and it seemed to take an unnecessarily long while (about 200 pages) for things to get going. Once things do start to happen, they do so with a vengeance, and the last 100 or so pages, by contrast, are pretty much non-stop action.

This is a promising debut from a young author (who began writing the book when he was fourteen), and I'm sure there are many young fans of "the magical orphan boy" genre who will enjoy it. Those who are looking for fantasy that takes the reader to somewhere truly new, where the world-building evokes page-turning wonder and delight, might be a tad disappointed.

You can preview the first four chapters here. This review is part of the Bran Hambric blog tour--you can find all the many other stops here at Kaleb Nation's website.

(review copy provided by the publisher)

My To-be-read Pile

Here is my to-be-read pile. See the pretty books! Lots of books. Pretty books

See the wood stove they are piled on. The wood stove gets very hot. What has lots of pages to burn? Books have lots of pages to burn!

(Fast forward a few months) Now it is winter. Brrrrr-we need the fire to stay warm! The TBR pile is much smaller now.

It is a bit of a problem.

Here is what my TBR pile looked like at the beginning of June, just after I had read for 48 straight hours.

If you look closely, you will see that some of the books from June are still not read.

So my question is, how long should you keep a book in your pile before you give up on it, unopened, and pass it on to some reader who might cherish it? It's harder than giving up on a book you are already reading, because at that point you know you don't like it. But any one of the books in my pile could be The One...

Prophecy of the Sisters, by Michelle Zink

Prophecy of the Sisters, by Michelle Zink (Little Brown 2009, YA, 339 pp)

Two sisters stand on either side of a struggle between the forces of law and chaos, destined from birth to play their roles in a conflict that has ranged among the angels and spirits for millennia. Lia, who narrates the story, and Alice, her identical twin, are children of late 19th-century privilege, recently orphaned with the death of their father, who have never been close. Now they find themselves on opposite sides, physically marked as players in this struggle by strange insignia on their wrists. Alice has been drawn into darkness; Lia is charged with defending the gate from the spirit realm from the hoards of supernatural beings who will bring about the end of the earth if they break through.

To prevent this from happening, Lia must find the clues and information she needs (in old books and in the spirit realm) that will let her be the Angel who ends the conflict once and for all. With the help of two new friends, girls who are tied to her destiny, she slowly makes progress. But the evil spirits are hungry and restless, and Alice, her own sister, is working on their behest...

Lia tells the story in the first person present, bringing the reader along with her as she works to understand the struggle in which she has been caught. At times, this adds spooky immediacy to the story, at others, Lia's detailed telling makes the book feel a little slow. This is exacerbated by the slightly stilted, carefully unmodern prose--while reading this, I vacillated between intent interest and a desire to speed things up.

"She grows serious, the light leaving her eyes. "The walls are thin between the physical world and the Otherworlds, Lia. It is the very thing that makes it possible to do such wondrous things and the very thing that makes it so dangerous. What was following you last night...Its strength was like nothing I've ever encountered, and I have chanced upon many beings in my travels, both good and evil." (p 75)

I think the reader has to be willing to invest themselves in a story like this, taking it very seriously and soaking in the late Victorian ambiance--it's not one for the reader looking for briskness of plot and snappiness of dialogue. (And I think the cover does a very good job of conveying this--the still and quiet eeriness of the stone grave markers fits the story well).

This is the first book of a trilogy, and much of it is spent providing the background for events to come. The tension builds gradually throughout the book, with Gothic creepiness. Near the end, when the conflict between the two sisters comes to a head, the suspense grows dramatically ...but, this being the first book, resolution is still nowhere in sight.

(I hope we see more of Alice in the next books--I found her the most interesting character, what with having gone over to the dark side, but still retaining some humanity...will she be redeemed, and if so, how?)

This is a Young Adult book mainly because of the age of the protagonists--there are scary and even horrifying bits, but nothing too terribly disturbing, and I think it would be very much enjoyed by the middle-school girl who likes historical, Gothic-y, fiction.

(ARC provided by the publisher)