ahandfulofconfetti's blog

Merin's Book Blog

Hi! Welcome to my book blog, where I keep my "reviews" of the various items I've read. My goal each year is to read 50 books.

My interests include, but aren't limited to, the following: Young Adult Literature, Paranormal Fiction, Faeries, Greek Mythology, Holocaust Studies, Children's Literature, and the occasional Music Biography.

Feel free to follow along and comment as you wish!

EDIT: I am now posting over at WordPress, which is a bit more user-friendly and allows me to more easily edit and make changes. You can find my book blog here.

Post #2: First Bite

First Bite: The Wicked Queen's Tale by Laura Briggs & Sarah Steinbrenner

Post number two is for the first book in Laura Briggs and Sarah Steinbrenner's Dark Woods Trilogy, entitled First Bite: The Wicked Queen's Tale, which, as you can most likely tell from the cover, tells the story of Snow White from her stepmother's point of view. But it was actually more than that, and, for a freebie from Amazon (now priced only at $.99, as are the other two books in the series), was really quite enjoyable.

While everyone knows the story of Snow White, I'm going to use a spoiler space, because this retelling, while definitely sticking to the original fairy tale, included some twists and turns which I'd rather not spoil for anyone may want to read this one themselves.

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So this story is actually told from several points of view, which change throughout the story as more characters are introduced. The majority of the book is told via Fortulla, a girl who ends up being the gardener for the Queen's orchards, but had other parts to play as well. We also get the obligatory chapters from the Queen herself (hence the title), and also the huntsman, who has his own story. There's even a couple of chapter's from Snow White's pov, as well as a few other characters interspersed. While the changing viewpoints could get confusing, it's actually done really well here.

Anyway, here's the premise: Fortulla grows up as the assistant of Tahilda, a midwife who is also a witch, and a servant/follower of the Queen. One night Tahilda is called to the palace, to help deliver the King and his young wife's first child, who happens to be Snow White (her real name is Blanche). Sensing that the young mother is near death, instead of helping to save her, she delivers the baby and basically delivers the mother into death's waiting arms. She also marks the child, thinking that she would be a great servant to the Evil Queen. Fortulla sees all of this but doesn't initially understand anything aside from the fact that Tahilda killed the mother. In order to escape the king's men, Tahilda disappears, leaving Fortulla to fend for herself. Fortulla is taken in by a farmer and his wife, where she tends to their apple orchards. She's seen by the Queen, who takes her as her own servant, and gives her the task of tending her one "special" tree (from which she gets the poisoned apple she later tries to use against Snow White). Towards the end, Fortulla realizes that the Queen is indeed evil, and tries to destroy her with the help of the huntsman (who has his own backstory which I won't spoil), but things sort of get turned upside down (as they do) and she has to really work to get things back to rights.

We also get a good look at the Queen's backstory as well, which was rather fascinating but also quite dark. See, she's the devil's servant, and in order to keep her looks (and get various kings/other royalty to marry her), she has to drink the blood of young maidens. The rituals that she uses are pretty spelled out and ghastly, as are her past histories, which date back to ancient Greece/Rome/Egypt, as well as a bout as a Celtic "goddess". Between her story, the huntsman's, and Fortulla, this book was literally brimming with fantastic stories. There were times I actually felt sympathetic for the Queen, who is simply trying to prolong her life in order to avoid eternity with the Devil, but then again, she's the one who entered into the bargain in the first place, which is why my sympathy kept flipping on and off throughout. Plus she's just really quite heartless; it's hard to believe that someone could actually be as cruel as she is.

My one little quibble was that the authors use a rather strange way of writing sentences, oftentimes putting periods where they should have just inserted commas, which resulted in a lot of run-on sentences/incomplete sentences and some rather poor dialogue punctuation. It was - at times - rather distracting as well, but the strength of the tale itself helped me overlook it. A really good editor, however, wouldn't go amiss!

Anyway, the ending that I was hoping for did indeed work out, including a "happily-ever-after", which I love. I found this to be a really fabulous retelling of a story everyone knows, with intriguing "surprise" narrators and a lot of blending of fairy tale with actual history. All in all, this was really well done, and I would recommend it to any fan of fairy tales, and the story of Snow White in particular.

Post #1: Betrayal, Part One

New year, new list of books! I've once again set a goal to read 50 books this year - last year, I read 65 - so have started my post count over at one to indicate the new year.

Age of Bronze, Volume Three: Betrayal, Part One by Eric Shanower

Post number one for 2012 is for the third volume of Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze series (Volume One | Volume Two). This is unfortunately the final volume currently published, which is a bummer, because I'm really enjoying this series a lot.

No spoiler space again, since this is "history", but feel free to skip if you don't want to know any of the details of what's going on.

This volume is most likely called "Betrayal" because there are various betrayals going on in it. You have the ultimate one, which this whole story is built upon - that of Helen leaving Menelaus for Paris - but there are other, smaller ones that I hadn't been aware of until reading this. This book starts off with the Greeks landing on a nearby island to Troy, Tenedos, and killing the rulers of the island, a brother and sister who happen to be children of Apollo. This is important because Achilles was supposed to avoid any children of Apollo, because it was prophesied that he would kill one and then Apollo would later get his revenge on Achilles by causing his death. Achilles, in typical hot-headed fashion, however, gets away from the guy who was supposed to protect him from this (since he was able to "see" children of Apollo), and ends up killing not one but both of Apollo's kids. Oops.

Anyway, betrayal number one happens when Paris decides to try a sneak attack and kill Menelaus on Tenedos; he gets found on the island though, and barely escapes. Prior to this, however, one of the Greek princes gets bit by a snake while they're trying to sacrifice 100 bulls (Kalchas, the Trojan priest who hooked up with the Greeks for reasons unknown - and has been trying to waylay them with his more and more outrageous prophecies - told Agamemnon that the Greeks needed to do exactly what Hercules did when he initially sacked Troy, which included the sacrifice mentioned above), and ends up devolving into madness which ultimately results in Odysseus putting him on a ship by lying to him, getting him drunk, and depositing him and his men on an island by themselves because they can't stand anymore of his raving. This is betrayal number two.

The story culminates with an envoy of Greeks going to Troy to try to work out a peace treaty to avoid war, but both sides are aware that this is impossible and isn't going to work. The third betrayal involves some Trojan men (possibly sent by Paris; this is never really determined) attempting to assassinate the Greek envoy, who have been granted safety by Priam until he can think over their requests (which he knew he was going to deny, but was simply trying to buy time to allow Troy's allies to get there). The final betrayal involves Laodike, a daughter of Priam, cheating on her new fiance, Helikaon, with a Greek prince named Akamos (he doesn't realize she's Priam's daughter, mind).

My favorite part was probably when Menelaus comes face-to-face with Helen; he's still so completely in love with her, and she's starting to feel guilty about what she did to him. I also liked the fact that Andromache, Hector's fiancee who had just arrived in Troy a couple of days before, stood up to Helen and basically called her out for being an arrogant bitch and not really loving Paris but loving everyone else's adoration of her beauty. Andromache is fierce! Paris was his usual prickish self - every time Menelaus attempts to remind Helen of what she left behind, he has a stupid rebuttal (like, "remember our daughter" and Paris saying something along the lines of, "why should she care about one child when she has our sons plus the one she's currently carrying?" Ugh, Paris, I want to slap him pretty much every time he shows up in this story, seriously). I am starting to like Helen's maidservant more and more because she, like Andromache, lets Helen know exactly what she thinks, especially about Paris, and it makes me LOL.

One other thing I noticed in this volume was the interesting and funny things taking place in the background of each of the pictures. Some of them are downright hysterical, like when Agamemnon is talking to Odysseus about Kalchas' prophecy of sacrificing 100 bulls. In the background you see two other men walking, and also a goat. In the next frame, the goat has grabbed hold of one of the guy's cloaks, and the other man is trying to shoo him away. The last frame shows the man holding his cloak up with a huge chunk missing out of it. Meanwhile, the conversation between Agamemnon and Odysseus is going on in the foreground of the picture. There were little things like this throughout and it just made the book all the more fun to read. I am definitely looking forward to the next installment, although I'm betting it's unfortunately going to be awhile. Sigh. :))

Post #65: Legends in Exile

Fables, Volume One: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham

Post number sixty-five is for the first volume in Bill Willingham's Fables comic book series, entitled Legends in Exile. I've mentioned before that comics/graphic novels aren't typically my thing, but I've really been enjoying the Age of Bronze graphic novels I've been reading (I'm on the third one right now), and also love my fairy tales, so decided to give this a try. This "book" (it's a compilation of five weekly comics that have been bound into book form, which is exactly what Age of Bronze is as well) had a very similar feel to The Sisters' Grimm books and also Once Upon A Time (on tv) because the fables, i.e. all fairy tale characters great and small, have been put into the modern world. There are some differences between the various series, though, which I'll get into below underneath the spoiler space just in case.

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So in Sisters' Grimm, the fairy tales are trapped in a town and can't leave. Same with Once Upon A Time, only they have the added caveat of amnesia. In Fables, the characters all remember who they are, and can leave New York (where the story is set) if they want to, but choose not to because they feel safe in NYC with all their other comrades, even those they didn't get along with in the "old world". They're in NYC because the characters had to flee their fairy tale lands due to an enemy only known as the "Adversary", which was running amok killing everyone. So immediately this story is a tad darker than either Once Upon A Time or Sisters' Grimm.

What amused me in Fables are some of the characters' occupations. Old King Cole is the "mayor", but Snow White (his "assistant") actually does all the work. The Big Bad Wolf (named Bigby) is the sheriff. There's a general amnesty rule in that any crimes committed by anyone (take Blue Beard, for example, who murdered all his wives) in the "old lands" can't be brought up or mentioned, or used against them in this world. So there are lots of "but we're not allowed to talk about that"'s going on, which were also kind of funny.

Anyway, in this first volume, Rose Red, Snow White's sister, is thought to have been viciously killed. Bigby has two suspects - Jack (of Beanstalk fame), Rose's boyfriend, and Blue Beard, who, as mentioned above, loves to kill his wives, and was dating Rose as well. Bigby can't solve the crime without Snow White getting underfoot throwing around threats, and there are lots of other characters who show up and make an appearance (like Prince Charming, Snow White's ex, who was living abroad in Europe; they use the same trope in this as Sisters' Grimm in that Prince Charming is the same prince from all the stories, so was also married to Cinderella, etc.). I especially liked the "marriage counselling" session with Snow White, Beauty and the Beast. :))

This was very much a "hey, let me introduce you to this world and these characters"-type story, because the mystery of Rose Red's "murder" is solved fairly easily by Bigby, and we even get the ridiculous "I figured it out, and I'm going to tell you exactly how" scene at the end, but I was intrigued enough that I'll most likely read the next volume, just to see how the story continues. It was a fast read, at any rate, which I enjoyed. Definitely worth checking out.

Post #64: Sacrifice

Age of Bronze, Volume Two: Sacrifice by Eric Shanower

Post number sixty-four is for the second volume of Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze. It is named Sacrifice  because Agamemnon must make a sacrifice in order for the ships to be able to sail to Troy. Once again I'm forgoing the spoiler space, because this is literally ancient history that most people are at least passingly familiar with. (Volume one is here, btw.)

So in this volume you get a glimpse of some of Agamemnon and Menelaus' background, particularly the curse on their family that seems to require that they "consume" each other. The "consume" in one case - that of Tantalus, who killed his children, cooked them, and served them to the gods - is quite literal, while in all the other cases it typically means that they either killed each other, or did something that made one of them kill themselves. It's really quite the dark family that Helen married in to (and we find out that there's a curse on her and her siblings as well, which says they'll marry evil men), which I hadn't realized. I'd heard the story of Tantalus - he's one of the Mythological characaters in the Percy Jackson books - but hadn't realized that he was Agamemnon and Menelaus' great-great-whatever grandfather.

Anyway, while Agamemnon does finally give Artemis the sacrifice she requires - the life of his daughter, Iphigenia, as she was the "most beautiful thing from Mycenae fourteen years ago" when Agamemnon made his promise to the goddess - there's much hand-wringing and ideas to escape and run and everything else he can come up with to escape it, so I give him credit for that. At least it wasn't just a "eh" moment for him; he had to go through a lot before he finally consented, and then he only did consent because the army was all up in arms (literally) and would have killed her anyway. Iphigenia also decides that it's her "moment of glory", so decides she'll just submit. Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife (and Helen's sister) obviously doesn't consent at all; it's from her that we hear about her and Helen's curse, while she's railing away at Agamemnon. She's got quite the spine, let's just say that.

We also get our first introduction to the homosexuality present in this story, with Patroclus and Achilles. Nothing was terribly graphic, but Achilles does say "forget you" to his wife (and son, although he has to pause a moment to think about that, at least) and run off to his father's land with Patroclus. :)) Gotta love it. Odysseus was his normal clever, creative and amusing self, and it was funny to see him try to get away from Agamemnon and get back to Ithaka to see his wife and child (it's been four years since the start of the first volume, and he hasn't been home at all in that time). Agamemnon wasn't having any of it, which made it all the more funny. Odysseus even tells him that, since the suitor's debt (which is what has all these Greeks gathered in the first place, and is making them have to sail to Troy to try to fetch Helen back) was his idea, and as a result he got his wife Penelope out of the deal, he doesn't even have to be there. There's also a portion devoted to Agamemnon's irritation with Palamedes, who keeps undermining Agamemnon without even realizing that he's doing it. (Odysseus is also annoyed with Palamedes, and it's this irritation that Agamemnon uses to keep Odysseus in Mycenae.) At one point, all of the men are playing this game, and are content, not fighting, etc. Agamemnon, who's been caught up in the whole "I must sacrifice my daughter" thing, hasn't realized what's been keeping them busy, but it turns out that Palamedes invented the game, which just further irritates Agamemnon, even though he was the one who'd told Palamedes to find something to keep the men occupied. Poor Palamedes just can't catch a break.

There were some really LOL moments in this volume, particularly when Odysseus tells Agamemnon that he needs to promise all the soldiers that they'll get Helen, and that they need to advertise just how beautiful Helen is in order to motivate them. So there's a picture of Odysseus standing on a ship yelling out, "And wait until you see the breasts on her!" which made me crack up, because of all the men there, Odysseus (and possibly Achilles) is the least interested in Helen. And, of course, Menelaus' reaction to this is basically a *facepalm*. Also, when Agamemnon refuses to sacrifice his daughter, Odysseus basically says, "Well, screw you and your popsicle stand, I'm going back to Ithaka!" And of course Agamemnon can't have that - Odysseus is so clever that he pretty much saves Agamemnon's butt throughout this volume - so in order to keep Odysseus from leaving, he has to write to Clytemnestra and ask her to send Iphiginia to the camp so they can get on with it. Odysseus is really too clever for his own good.

My favorite part was probably this bit below. Menelaus throws this giant tantrum because Agamemnon has decided that they won't sail for Troy until after the winter, and runs off screaming into the hills in anger,

Odysseus: What's the matter with Menelaus?
Agamemnon: Odysseus, don't ever fall in love with your wife.

And right after this is when Palamedes accidentally undermines Agamemnon by saying that he's going hunting to find his men some meat, and won't they do the same? So, grumbling, Agamemnon and Odysseus head off into the woods because neither one of them can stand Palamedes and certainly can't have him one-upping them.

Agamemnon: Hunting hedgehogs in the dark...
Odysseus: I hope he trips and breaks his neck.

I also enjoyed the bit where Agamemnon basically called Helen a whore and told Menelaus that he should have kept a closer watch on her and not left her at home with Paris, and then none of this would have happened and they wouldn't HAVE to go to Troy or wait out the winter, or any of the other things that they've gone through just because Helen ran off. Gotta love that older brother irritation with his younger sibling. Only Clytemnestra has a clue that perhaps Helen wanted to run off with Paris; it just shows how arrogant Menelaus and Agamemnon are. Of course, Agamemnon might have a clue, of course, but hasn't said anything to his brother, while Menelaus remains convinced that Helen was kidnapped. Honestly, if I were Helen, I'm not sure WHICH guy I'd choose. Menelaus has no backbone, but Paris is basically nothing but a good-looking, arrogant ass. In my opinion, Helen would be better off on her own. :-P

Post #63: The Night Tourist

The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh

Post number sixty-three is for Katherine Marsh's The Night Tourist, which was a title from my Greek Mythology Reader's Advisory. It's basically a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in modern-day New York City. I really liked this book; it was better than The Goddess Test, not only in terms of the story itself but also because of how faithful Marsh stayed to the original myth.

Slight spoilers follow.

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So the main character in this story is Jack, who is a classics student quite adept at Latin translations. His father is a professor at Yale, and his mother died several years prior to the start of the book. One day Jack is hit by a car, and wakes up with a curious condition: the ability to see the dead. This leads him NYC, where he meets a doctor-friend of his father's, and then runs into a dead girl - Euri - while at Grand Central Station waiting for his train. Euri says she'll give him the tour of hidden places at the Station, so he follows her and wides up in ... the Underworld. :))

What follows is Jack's journey to find his mother - he's sure she's still there and hasn't "moved on" to Elysium - and also his attempt to bring Euri back to life. Not only do you get a look at the Greek myth, but also hidden aspects of NY that most people don't know. Jack and Euri's nightly journeys around town are full of landmarks and high points, but also hidden clubs and other places. Throughout it, you get to know Euri and start feeling really sorry for her; she desperately wants another chance to live. There are some rules that they have to adhere to, like not eating the food of the dead, and the fact that Jack can't fly/travel through objects/etc without Euri's help. The big thing, though, is that Jack is breaking a major rule by even being there in the first place, so while they're trying to locate his mom and figure out a way to bring Euri back, they have to keep ahead of Cerberus and Clubber, the main guard of the Underworld. There were some pretty poignant parts to this book, particularly when Jack does finally find his mom, and also when you find out the truth of Euri's past. The ending - while sad and disappointing in romantic terms - kept completely in line with the original myth and everything was really just perfect. I have no quibbles about this book whatsoever, and am looking forward to reading the sequel.

Post #62: The Goddess Test

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Post number sixty-two is for Aimee Carter's The Goddess Test, another title off my Greek Mythology Reader's Advisory. While this book was okay overall, I had some pretty significant quibbles with aspects of it; I'm going to focus more on those with this post than anything else, so if you don't want to read about sort of negative thoughts, you can skip the rest of this.

Pretty significant spoilers follow.

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So here's the general premise of this book, first off: Kate, who you realize early on is the daughter of a Greek goddess, has been chosen as a potential wife for Hades, now called Henry, because Henry can't handle running the Underworld on his own and needs help, and also wants a replacement for Persephone, who fell in love with a mortal. Henry - because he loved her - gave her her freedom, she gave up her immortality, and Henry (and the other gods/goddesses) have been trying to find a replacement for the last 100 years. Kate is the last potential girl; the previous eleven have all died while trying to complete the seven tests - The Goddess Tests - and Henry, not wanting to risk anyone else's life, has decided that Kate will be the final one to attempt the tests (and even then has to be talked into it by Kate's mom - Henry's "favorite sister").

So there's your premise. And I don't have a problem with it - it was actually unique, and I liked her Henry/Hades a lot, especially because she wrote him as a really lonely and rather tragic soul who's in love with a Persephone who never really existed, who is ready to give up because he just doesn't believe that he can ever find a replacement. (He is the epitome of the "tall, dark and brooding" character.) Not that he doesn't think he could ever love another - that's part of the inner monologue of Kate's, that she won't ever be able to replace Persephone, and she's afraid that Henry will never actually love her - but because the deaths of the previous eleven girls have basically robbed him of any hope of finding someone else.

The characters surrounding Kate, even before she meets Henry, are all gods/goddesses, even though you don't realize it at first. I figured out who Ava was pretty quickly, because she was over-the-top obvious with her constant flitting between boyfriends. Ella, too, is perfect; she's over-protective of her twin (so that tells you who he is as well), and makes Kate dress in these old-fashioned 18th century gowns with corsets, because of course Artemis wouldn't like the modern fashions in the slightest. You also get massive hints regarding whom Kate's mother is.

My biggest issue was the character of Calliope. See, Calliope is Hera, who is the goddess of marriage. However - and here's a major, gigantic spoiler, so if you're going to read this book do not read what I've blacked out!!! - it turns out that Calliope is the one who's been killing off the previous eleven girls because she's in love with Henry and wants him for herself. WTF?! She is the GODDESS OF MARRIAGE. She does NOT have affairs, or fall in love with other people! She is like the ONE goddess who DOESN'T have affairs (okay, I exaggerate, because Hestia, Artemis and Athena are all maiden goddesses, so they obviously don't have affairs either), and that's the character that she chose to be in love with Henry? This just ANNOYED ME SO MUCH, OMG. Also, Kate's seven tests are the seven deadly sins, which are a Catholic invention and of all people the gods have no right to judge anyone on any of them, seeing as they are the most lustful and over-indulgent beings on the planet. Zeus actually says to Kate at the end, "The one thing we cannot abide is lust," which was so LOLtastic coming from him that I literally LOLed for like several minutes.

Ahem. Also, I had trouble reconciling my opinions of what the gods/goddesses are like with her versions of them. I know this has a lot to do with how Rick Riordan's written them in the Percy Jackson books, but a lot of it also comes from Mythology itself, which I don't feel she was terribly faithful to.

Anyway, it was an okay book, but was definitely not as good as I was wanting it to be. I don't even know if I'm going to bother reading the second one, which comes out next year, because there were just so many things that bugged me. But maybe it will be different, since - SPOILER! - Kate does manage to pass the tests and become Henry's wife, and the second book is supposed to be about their life once she returns from her spring and summer away (a la Persephone) back to the Underworld. So maybe I'll give it a read at some point, and I might even enjoy it more because my expectations won't be so high.

Post #61: The Sweet Far Thing

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

Post number sixty-one is for Libba Bray's third and final book in her Gemma Doyle trilogy, entitled The Sweet Far Thing. (NOTE: My thoughts on the first two books can be read here and here, if you're interested.) This book was exceedingly long - too long, in fact, because a lot of it could have been condensed; I felt like I was re-reading the camping portions of Deathly Hallows at times, because it felt like we were moving through Gemma's life day by day, and it got rather tedious at times because NOTHING HAPPENED. And then things picked up, and I didn't want to stop reading, so that saved it and made it better, although I still think I liked the second book the best.

Slight spoilers follow.

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So, again, I felt like this book was just too long. It picked up fairly closely to the end of the second book; Gemma's got the magic bound to her, and is trying to figure out what to do, and who to trust. But there were portions where I literally felt like nothing of value whatsoever was happening, or if there was something important, it could have been condensed into a couple of paragraphs to show the passage of time and then the story could have moved on. That being said, the book read amazingly fast for being almost 900 pages long, and I found myself completely engrossed in the story and wanting to know how things would work out.

Now for some more in-depth thoughts and spoilers, although I'll try not to get too specific. In typical fashion with these types of stories, Gemma makes a lot of mistakes; she trusts the people she shouldn't, and doesn't trust those she should. She also has it set in her mind that magic can fix everything, which she should have learned from the second book - especially when it comes to her father - that it cannot. And yet, she doesn't learn this, and it takes her nearly the whole book to learn to accept things (and, oddly enough, this acceptance comes from her brother, of all people).  She also goes through a "nobody likes me aside from the fact that I have magic" stage, which was rather obnoxious, especially because Ann and Felicity liked her from the start before they even knew about the magic.

While I had sort of accepted that Gemma and Kartik most likely would not wind up together - they're from different worlds, and Gemma has societal ties that prevent her from breaking free even when she wants to - the ending was disappointing and I will admit that I cried. Gemma was at times completely infuriating, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for her in the end. Ann and Felicity both got their happy endings, and Gemma, while finally being allowed to make her own choice regarding her immediate future, really didn't; she's heartbroken over Kartik and the last bit, where she saw him in her dreams and he told her he'd always be with her even if she couldn't see him, and just ... WAH! :((

There's more I could say about this book - in fact, I could probably go on and on and on about various things - but I think this will suffice. It was a good ending to the trilogy in that the storyline was mostly completed and things were mostly set to rights; but the personal story arc of Gemma was disappointing, not only because of Kartik but also because I didn't really feel like she grew all that much as a character, although I suppose she did learn a few lessons and have to make a few concessions and acceptances. Maybe that was enough.

Post #60: A Thousand Ships

Age of Bronze, Volume One: A Thousand Ships by Eric Shanower

Post number sixty is for Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze, Volume 1: A Thousand Ships, which is the first volume of his graphic novel interpretation of the Trojan War. It was a title I decided to use on my Greek Mythology Reader's Advisory, because I wanted to try to incorporate titles for both girls and boys, and this one fit the bill for something that would be suitable for both. I still intend to read Homer's The Illiad and The Odyssey, so this was a nice introduction to Homer's works.

Because the story of the Trojan War is basically history that everyone learns about at some point, I'm not going to worry about a spoiler space. If you don't want to know some specifics about this particular adaptation, however, feel free to avoid the rest of this post.

The pictures are done in black and white, but are exceptionally well done. This version also told me something new about a story I thought I already knew, so that was fun, too. Volume 1 ends prior to the start of the war; Agamemnon and Menelaus are talking about the fact that, in order to succeed in this ten-year campaign against Troy, there will have to be a great quarrel among the Greeks (or Achaeans, as they're called throughout), and Agamemnon is not sure he wants to deal with that. The story starts with Paris herding cows on the hillside of Mount Ida (apparently it was actually sheep in the original version by Homer). I hadn't actually realized that Paris wasn't always a Trojan prince (or rather, he IS, but he wasn't raised as a prince, and doesn't realize his parentage/lineage), because the film versions I've always seen start with Paris either already in Menelaus' palace or in Troy. In this version you get a very good look at Paris, and he isn't at all attractive, at least personality-wise. He's arrogant, rash, and uncaring about the consequences of his actions. He is not at all sympathetic; I mean, I know that his taking Helen was the cause of the war, but I for some reason was always able to find some sympathy in that because they were in love (thanks to Aphrodite) and were unable to ignore their feelings. But this Paris is a hothead who wants what he wants when he wants it, and doesn't care that anyone tells him he ought not do what he wants to do (poor Aeneas gets dragged into the whole affair, as he was sent to accompany Paris - who was SUPPOSED to steal Hesione, Priam's sister, away from her abductor - and as a result gets Priam thinking quite unfairly about him). Helen, likewise, isn't very sympathetic, either, although I felt more sorry for her than I did for Paris.

I did enjoy the look into Trojan society; since Paris is on his journey to bring Helen back to Troy for most of this volume, you get a look into the inner workings of Priam's house, including his multiple children. His daughter, Cassandra, tries to tell him repeatedly that Paris will be the downfall of Troy (which is why he was sent to Mount Ida; he was supposed to die on the mountain but didn't -- divine intervention, of course), but they ignore her, thinking her visions are nothing but nonsensical ramblings (she was cursed by Apollo, if I remember correctly, so that no one would believe her when she tried to give them prophecies, although I can't remember off the top of my head what exactly she did). Shanower also based the Trojans off of the Hittites, so their dress, hair and looks are significantly different from the Greeks, which helped spice up the black and white illustrations.

I also felt a great deal more sympathy for Menelaus (he's pretty torn up about Helen's "abduction") and Agamemnon, who doesn't exactly want to go to war, although he DOES want his name to be the one in the history books to have destroyed Troy. It also explained why Agamemnon was able to call all those Greeks - one thousand ships - together to basically fight simply because Helen was taken. (The amusing thing about all of this is that NONE of them ever even have the thought that Helen perhaps WANTED to go to Troy, not that it likely would have mattered either way.) You also get to see the story of Achilles, who, despite his mother's attempts, simply cannot wait behind and let his name fall into obscurity. He's not exactly sympathetic in this volume, either.

One thing I will mention is that there's a lot of sex in this one volume, which is not surprising given the Greeks' propensity for lovers of both sexes. The sex is decidedly heterosexual at this point - Paris and Oenone, Paris and Helen, Achilles and Deidamia - but apparently later volumes deal with Achilles and Patroclus' relationship in rather great detail. I aso liked the glimpse of Penelope and Odysseus. Now Odysseus I liked quite a bit, because he was incredibly clever and witty, even if he DID try to fake his way out of fighting for the war by pretending to be mad (he simply didn't want to leave his wife and new son, and who can blame him? He also knew the prophecy that he would sail to Troy and end up returning several years later where no one would recognize him, missing his son's entire childhood).

Anyway, this was engaging enough that I will most likely read the second installment. There are apparently going to be seven volumes, but only three are released as of right now. Of course, the library system that I normally use doesn't have a copy of the second volume, but I was able to request one through the small library near where I work; the problem with that is that requests take absolutely FOREVER to move through this system, so it very well might be summer before I get to actually get my hands on the book.

Post #59: Watersmeet

Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott

Post number fifty-nine is for Ellen Jensen Abbott's Watersmeet, my final required reading assignment for my Fantasy Lit course. Hurray! All three books for tomorrow's class dealt with prejudice of some sort, but this book was much more overt about it than Dust City (the third book, Black and White, had me ridiculously angry within the first few chapters, so I didn't finish it; I know what happens and that was enough for me!).

Spoilery thoughts follow.

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The main character in this book is a girl named Abisina, who is the daughter of the village healer. She's also an outcast; people don't talk to her, she's not allowed to look them in the eye, and when they *do* speak to her, it's usually to throw insults in her direction. The reason for her being an outcast is because she was born with dark skin and hair, which is very far away from the ideal person (blond hair, blue eyes; no surprise there!). A new leader has taken over the land, named Charach, and he comes to their festival of penance, which is when all hell breaks loose. Charach decides that the village needs to do away with all their outcasts, so Abisina ends up fleeing for her life. Her mother isn't so lucky; she's killed, but not before telling Abisina a bit about her father. Abisina's father is from a place called Watersmeet, and Abisina looks just like him.

So Abisina decides to set out to find Watersmeet and her father. The first part of the book details her search; she meets a couple of dwarves, who saved her, and she has to fight against her own prejudices when it comes to them. They, likewise, have to fight against their own regarding humans, who have terrorized them and killed their friends and loved ones. It's an interesting dynamic; Abisina has been looked down on and spit on her entire life, and yet she cannot help but do the same to others. Her mother always told her she wasn't a demon and that she was beautiful, and Abisina sort of believed her, and yet she couldn't shake the ideal of beauty that her neighbors believed in.

Anyway, the prejudice is only part of this book, but I don't want to spoil things. One thing that I will say is that this book read extremely fast; I had a hard time putting it down, and in fact not only went well over my lunch break finishing it today, but also stayed up way to late last night because I just couldn't stop reading. I especially loved reading about Abisina and Haret's journey across the world to get to Watersmeet, and I loved seeing Watersmeet once they'd arrived. The characters all seemed very real to me, and I found myself very interested in how things would end.

One bigger spoiler: I totally saw the revelation about Abisina's father coming. It wasn't very shocking to me, as there were plenty of hints that led up to it. But that's my only little quibble, that and the semi-ambiguous ending. There is a sequel (this is apparently the first of a trilogy; big shocker there), but it got absolutely pounded in the reviews I've read, which makes me sad, since I liked this one so much. I'll probably read it anyway, but maybe I'll wait until all three volumes are released so I can go right from the second to the third; I'm not a very patient reader anyway. :)

Post #58: Dust City

Dust City by Robert Paul Weston

Post number fifty-eight is for Robert Paul Weston's Dust City, which is fairy tale-based in that it's about the son of the Big Bad Wolf who killed Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. It was a required reading assignment for my Fantasy Lit class, and while gritty and gruesome in some places, I actually liked it a lot.

Spoilery thoughts below.

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So Henry, the main character, is currently serving time in a juvenile detention center for dropping a brick onto a window a passing delivery truck. Henry's father is in jail - he's been accused of murdering Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother - and his mother was killed by a delivery truck (the same company whose truck got the busted window courtesy of Henry). Henry's best friend in lockup is Jack (of the beanstalk fame), who has a girlfriend, Siobhan. Henry's mortal enemy is Roy, who is also a wolf and also currently in lockup.

After the psychiatrist is killed, Henry discovers that people have been keeping certain things from him, and he decides to get out of juvy and go on a search for the truth. See, the faeries have disappeared, and their realm - called Eden - is now home to a company that sells "dust" (i.e. fairy dust) to help people with their ills. There's also a thriving underground dust business; this dust comes from the nixies and is a bit more "magical" (or at least more reminiscent of the original magical fairy dust), and can therefore do things that the manufactured stuff cannot. But Henry figures out pretty quickly that things are quite wrong in this city, and that there's some underhanded scheming and a whole lot of lying and turning blind eyes going on, so with the help of Fiona, Roy's sister, he sets out to try to figure out what is going on.

There's quite a lot of violence in this book. This is not a pretty fairy tale world; it's very dark, with a lot of conniving people running things behind the scenes. The main bad guy (if you will) is Skinner, who Henry thinks may have manipulated his father into committing the murders he's in prison for. I enjoyed the relationship between Fiona and Henry - it helps balance the darkness - and also the humor from Jack in the beginning. There's not really a happily-ever-after, either, although things are more hopeful at the end. But there's also a lot of prejudice between the Edenites (i.e.  humans/hominids, like giants, humans, dwarves, etc.) and the animalia who aren't allowed in Eden. So the story is also dealing with that.

The torture/violence reminded me slightly of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere; I had to skip some portions of the story because the violence was so specifically spelled out. I can handle a lot, but some of it was just truly dark and twisted and awful. That being said, the story itself is really well done, and, again, I liked it a lot. Just don't let the fairy tale aspect throw you; this is not bright and sunshiny and glittery. Think of it more like the actual Grimm fairy tales; not all of them really had happy endings, after all.