FICTION: The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt

The book was originally written in Dutch, & the original title is De brief voor de koning. I read the translation by Laura Watkinson.

Image from Goodreads

At a glance: children's fiction, adventure, not-English


From Goodreads:

The rule-book says that a young man who is to be knighted by King Dagonaut must pass the eve of the grand ceremony in silent vigil. However, Young Tiuri, son of the famous Tiuri the Valiant, breaks the rules - he opens the door to a stranger, who begs him to deliver a secret letter to the Black Knight with the White Shield. The letter is destined for the ruler of the neighbouring realm, King Unauwen, and concerns a matter of paramount importance. 

Tiuri accepts this dangerous mission, but when he arrives at the appointed place deep in the forest, he finds the Knight dying, murdered by the vicious Red Riders. As he races to deliver the letter to King Unauwen in the Knight's stead, Tiuri is pursued by the Red Riders, who threaten his life - but he is determined to fulfil his promise: the Black Knight must not have died in vain.

I took the liberty of splitting up the paragraph & adding a full stop.



Luna comments

I'm looking for foreign-language stories at the moment, and apparently this is one of the most well-known Dutch children's books. That sounds like a good starting point.

I quite enjoyed this story! It may be because it's been so long since I last read something like this - a pure questing type story with nothing on the side. This story is purely about Tiuri getting from point A to point B without getting killed.

Now, I'm not saying that it's easy to write this story, but the overall simplicity of the plot made it a light & enjoyable read. At 400+ pages, it's incredibly long for its genre and age category (but that's by the standards I've known, which may well be different for the time period and nationality of this story), but I didn't mind at all. Wow, I miss being a child, in this aspect at least.

I really liked the setting of this story. It's set in medieval-like times, with lords and ladies and castles and knights. I enjoyed the descriptions of the places that Tiuri came to - the towns and cities, the forest, the mountains.

This being purely an adventure story, the characters don't have a great deal of opportunity to show various facets of themselves. But I liked them nevertheless. I liked Tiuri's determination, Piak's optimism and quickness, I liked the various people who decided to help them even though they didn't exactly know why Tiuri & Piak were in trouble. I liked how other characters, except those from the 'bad guys' side', helped Tiuri in some way, instead of being opportunistic. So despite the greater threat looming over them, it was a pleasant world and that made me very happy. =]

I'm also going to add that the author illustrates the pictures in this book as well =] So you get an illustration for each part - eight in total. Just a nice touch.

Closing

It's a nice adventure story suitable for children =] and over-sized, over-aged 'children' like me =] and maybe you too - who knows?

FICTION: Death Sworn by Leah Cypess

Image from Goodreads

 
At a glance: YA, fantasy, romance


From Goodreads

When Ileni lost her magic, she lost everything: her place in society, her purpose in life, and the man she had expected to spend her life with. So when the Elders sent her to be magic tutor to a secret sect of assassins, she went willingly, even though the last two tutors had died under mysterious circumstances.

But beneath the assassins’ caves, Ileni will discover a new place and a new purpose… and a new and dangerous love. She will struggle to keep her lost magic a secret while teaching it to her deadly students, and to find out what happened to the two tutors who preceded her. But what she discovers will change not only her future, but the future of her people, the assassins… and possibly the entire world.

Luna comments

I've read Leah Cypess's Mistwood & Nightspell, & I liked the plot for both of those. So I was quite keen on this one.

I liked the idea that Ileni used to be a powerful sorceress, but then is in the process of losing her power.

However, in terms of characters, I don't feel there's anything particularly interesting about the characters. I get the feeling that the typical YA characters are:

• (for females) a slightly hot-headed, impulsive, has immature/overly emotional moments despite their very dire situation, clever, skilful, carrying a bit of a burden or mental obsession, has a bit of anger or angst because of that burden or obsession, but has the tendency to not apply their cleverness or skills until something they really care about forces them to do it; & 
• (for males) silent, broody, outwardly unapproachable, skilful, clever, carries another sort of burden that makes them so taciturn & broody & unapproachable, is always cool-headed & calm but then pulls off an out-of-character risk or act of stupidity when something they care about (i.e. the love interest/protagonist) is threatened.

Ileni & Sorin (love interest) fit that mould pretty well.

However, having said that, I don't think it's fair to 'penalise' them for having typical YA characteristics. They're characters in their own right. But anyway, there's a low-down of who they are.

I did, however, like the master of the assassins. I like how he doesn't make much of an appearance, but his presence is always felt because everyone's so scared of him. The only thing is that sometimes I think he acts a bit too overconfident for someone of his experience & reputation, but this is one of those things where I think it could have gone either way.

The plot...I enjoyed seeing how it played out & how everything eventually fit together. So upon reading the ending, I could go, "Oh yes, I enjoyed that book", in a sort of detached way (actually, I can't think of anything I particularly liked, except the premise). But during the process of reading, I didn't feel that. In a way, that could be testimony to how well Cypess has managed to work the undercurrents seamlessly into the narration. But what kept me reading wasn't so much that I was enjoying every moment as that I wanted to find out what on Earth was happening.


Closing

So, upon finishing, I was satisfied. I got a bit impatient in the middle, though. I'm still keen on the sequel & seeing how the rest of the story plays out.

However, I feel that this book has the sort of feeling that successful YA books give off, so perhaps its intended demographic (i.e. young adults) would enjoy it a lot more.

FICTION: Cress by Marissa Meyer

From the author's website

At a glance: young adult, romance, sci-fi, futuristic


From the author's website

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and prevent her army from invading Earth.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker – unfortunately, she’s being forced to work for Queen Levana, and she’s just received orders to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is splintered. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price than she’d ever expected. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai, especially the cyborg mechanic. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

Luna comments

This is the third book of the Lunar Chronicles. I've already talked about the second book here.

Each book in this series is more or less based on a fairy tale. In Cress, a girl is locked up in a satellite for years, & used for her technological skills (which in many sci-fi or futuristic stories translates to hacking). Obviously she is a very futuristic Rapunzel.

Once again, the thing that draws me to this series is mainly the plot & the world. How this series is structured is that, with each book, the author properly introduces a new heroine (& a corresponding male protagonist). So by the time of book three, that's three of them, each with their own stories & their roles in the plot. It means a lot of travelling around the world, separating, finding each other again, carrying out activities in big groups with various roles allocated to them, so on. It makes the plot rather complicated & all over the place (in a good way) & quite interesting.

Although I think that the characters are starting to get more interesting - in this book, a new heroine is properly introduced (she's made cameo appearances before). Her name is Cress, & having lived in a spaceship by herself for most of her life, with only occasional visits from her overseer, she's a bit innocent & naive. Her knowledge of the outside world, especially Earth, mostly comes in the form of fiction, & hence her view of the world is very romanticised. So she & her occasionally inappropriate reactions were fun to read about :)

There are some other interesting characters too. Her corresponding male protagonist, Thorne, is a slippery character with a smooth tongue & comic relief value. So I like him too. He actually appeared in Scarlet, but there's more of him to see in this book. There's also Princess Winter, who makes her first appearance in the series. She's a bit loony, which is rather symbolically suitable since she's the princess of Luna (the moon). And then Winter's corresponding male protagonist, who acts as if it'd kill him to be nice.

As you can see, entertainment value (in the currency of potential for humour) is a major factor influencing whether I like a character or not.

The excitement is also building up now, as Lunar Queen becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the state of affairs on Earth (because she still isn't in power yet), & I'm really anticipating an all-over-the-place, lots-of-things-happening fourth book.

On another note, I don't particularly like the typeface used for the text of this series. It's pretty, & suits the futuristic setting well, but it feels less comfortable & flowing compared to the more typical-looking ones.


Closing

I would recommend this series for the plot. =] 

FICTION: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

From the author's website

At a glance: young adult, romance, sci-fi, futuristic


From the author's website

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Luna comments 

Scarlet is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. This is the second book of the Lunar Chronicles, which I'm quite enjoying so far.

The one thing that really draws me into this series is the plot & the world (which is also because it's intertwined with the plot). This world is set sometime in the distant future, with incredible technologies which we can't even dream of.

The most interesting thing is that there are two 'types' of humans - the normal Earthens, who live on Earth, and the Lunars who have colonised the moon. The Lunars are rather scary because they have a genetic ability to control bioelectricity, which effectively allows them to manipulate other people, physically & mentally. Furthermore, the Lunar Queen has set her sights on ruling Earth, which doesn't bode too well for mere Earthlings.

The plot of the Cinder, the prequel, was the retelling of Cinderella where the protagonist has become a renowned mechanic and a cyborg. The story in that was a lot more straightforward, but even then it was making various references to the Lunars and the plans of their Queen - greater plans which are further elaborated in Scarlet (which happens on the other side of the world). I expect the plot will get even messier, because there are two more protagonists to introduce.

As I said, the thing that draws me into this series is the plot. Things happen all over the world, various characters get into trouble, a lot of things happen. I really enjoy seeing how Meyer has woven the different threads of the story together.


Closing

The trouble with liking a book for its plot is that it's rather hard to talk about. Give this series a shot sometime :)

FICTION: The Devil's Intern by Donna Hosie

Image from Goodreads

At a glance: paranormal, young adult, humour 


From Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Mitchell discovers a time-travel device that will allow him to escape his internship in Hell's accounting office and return to Earth, but his plans to alter the circumstances of his own death take an unexpected turn when his three closest friends in Hell insist on accompanying him back to the land of the living.

Luna comments

Four years after his death, Mitchell Johnson works in Hell's accounting department as an intern. The excessive number of deaths causes chaos as The Devil tries to reduce costs. (That's not important to the plotline, but I found it funny.) Life in Hell isn't all that interesting, & he finds himself missing being alive. But, in overhearing his superiors' plans for cost reduction, Mitchell discovers that his boss has a Viciseometer, a time-travelling device that he can potentially use to prevent his death.

Tagging along with him are his friends: Alfarin, Elinor & Medusa, all looking for a chance to change their deaths as well.

I picked this book up from my library after reading the description, which made the book sound a lot better than it does from the brief summaries above. It's now in this funny place where it's not as good as I hoped (or, more accurately, it's not the story I thought it'd be), but I'm not disappointed, either. I quite enjoyed the climax & the ending.

The plot started off almost typical. Nothing unforeseen really happened - it started off with visiting the characters' deaths in turn & viewing them. To be honest, after they left Hell & went back into the world of the living, I spent about half the time wondering when it'll get to the good part. I only kept reading because it wasn't that I couldn't stand reading it any more.

But then things start to come together. There are allusions to time paradoxes, & the way the 'past' & 'future' are intertwined when time travel happens. I found the the last quarter of the book very interesting, because that's when I started to get the sense of wanting to know the answers. It's a real shame that the hint of there being a much bigger picture wasn't introduced earlier (or it could have been that I was too obtuse to pick up on it).

The characters felt rather average - I won't say that the characterisation was poor, but nothing about them really stood out. (This may or may not be an aftereffect of recent anime-watching, in which the story is much longer & more visual & hence characterisation may be 'easier'.)

Oh, I also found it pretty funny. That's always good =]

Closing

I really liked the premise of this story, & I do think that the story itself is interesting - it just spent a while actually getting to the interesting bit (for me, anyway).

But, having said that, apparently this is the first in a series. Now that I know how everything's set up, I'm rather keen to see where Hosie will go next.

FICTION: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Image from Amazon.com

 
At a glance: horror, paranormal


For Goodreads users: the book's page is here


From the publisher:

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Columbus, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring wardrobes, shattered Brooka glassware, and vandalized Liripip sofa beds—clearly, someone or something is up to no good. To unravel the mystery, five young employees volunteer for a long dusk-till-dawn shift—and they encounter horrors that defy imagination. Along the way, author Grady Hendrix infuses sly social commentary on the nature of work in the new twenty-first century economy.

A traditional haunted house story in a contemporary setting (and full of current fears), Horrorstör comes conveniently packaged in the form of a retail catalog, complete with illustrations of ready-to-assemble furniture and other, more sinister accessories. We promise you’ve never seen anything quite like it!

Minor edits made e.g. spacing between words.


Luna comments:

This story started off really well. Four paragraphs in, I felt the need to text my friend (who had recommended it) & tell her how much I was already enjoying it. The writing was funny & satirical, & it imitates the Ikea catalogue as well as a book can. I really liked the satire in the book, which was kept up even after the bulk of the funny part was over.

So it was a bit sad that the author couldn't keep up that tone once the plot gets started - which is perfectly understandable, mind you, because I don't think a horror story that makes you chuckle every two lines is going to work too well. & the tone didn't really come back in the resolution, probably because it'd be wrong for the atmosphere. So I wish Hendrix kept it up, but I can understand why he didn't.

I didn't actually care for the plot very much. It's basically about the creepy history of the site upon which Orsk (the Ikea rip-off furniture store) is situated, & I felt that there wasn't very much going for it except the author trying to squeeze out all these terrifying situations. (Hendrix doesn't mind jabbing a few barbs about the endless culture of work, though. I didn't mind, but I would if it had been a different topic he was jabbing at, so there's a warning.) I did like the parallels he drew between the current furniture store &...whatever there was beforehand. I don't want to spoil it.

Having said all that, though, I was most disappointed (not in a bad way, though, because I don't like horror) by the fact that no part of the book scared me, & I've been freaked out by books that aren't labelled as horror (most notably: Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co series). Maybe it's because the expectation was there for this book. So I don't like horror as a genre, but I was disappointed I didn't feel the horror. Hmm. There were some graphic moments though.

I think the thing I most enjoyed about it was the way it's set out like an Ikea catalogue (as mentioned above). It has a store map & introductions to various furniture items. Even in the story, there were constant references to locations in the store. The setting and worldbuilding was done really well for this story. I think it works so well partially because of Ikea's uniqueness & the strong impression it leaves in my mind, so that reading the setting of Horrorstor felt like a familiar experience.


Closing

I began this with too many expectations, I think. If I hadn't, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. But it was good, as it was =]

FICTION: The Last Knight by Hilari Bell

Image from Amazon.com

At a glance: young adult, fantasy, humour


For Goodreads users: the book page is here


From Amazon.com

Need a Hero?

You've got one in Sir Michael Sevenson.

Although there hasn't been a knight errant in over two hundred years, this young noble has decided to revive the trade. He's found himself a reluctant partner in Fisk, a clever rogue who has been given the choice of serving as Michael's squire or going to jail for a very long time. Now Michael and Fisk are on a quest to right wrongs, protect the innocent, and make the world a happier place.

It's not going to be easy. On their first attempt at rescuing a damsel in distress, they break a lady out of a tower, only to discover she was there for good reason: awaiting trial for poisoning her husband. Now the would-be heroes must find Lady Ceciel and return her to justice or be condemned themselves.

Luna comments

The edition I picked up didn't even have a blurb. Where one should have been, the publisher decided to reproduce the opening paragraph, & I borrowed the book purely based on that.

Which is to say, I really like the tone of the novel. It's narrated in alternating POVs, so we get a glimpse into the sharp, street smart mind of Fisk, as well as the very noble and naive world view harboured by Michael. Michael does everything based on morals and honour, while Fisk tags along more or less because the law requires it. Both of these characters are very interesting in their own way, and that clash of personalities leads to some of the most interesting character dynamics that I've seen in the books I've recently read.

The story is set in a medieval-like world in which there is magic. There are magical creatures and plants, and people with various Gifts. These are rather typical in fantasy, so the idea doesn't take too long to grasp. I did like the little detail with the two moons in their world, which Bell often refers to. It gives a sense of "familiar, yet very different".

The plot somewhat resembles that of a 'questing'-type story, but it has a certain element of mystery surrounding Lady Ceceil and the circumstances of her husband's death. I enjoyed reading through Fisk and Michael's adventures, and the longwinded path they took to arriving at the conclusion.

Things to look out for

• Fisk, when he's getting ideas or planning or cheating people
• Character interactions between Michael and Fisk

 
Closing

I quite liked this =]

FICTION: Momo by Michael Ende

Happy New Year! & happy start to my blog, I guess.

I can't reasonably start this blog without a reference to my favourite book of all time: Momo by Michael Ende.

Image from Amazon.com

Audience/At a glance

Momo is ostensibly a children's fantasy, but it is actually an allegorical in nature, about how people choose to allocate their time. It's suitable both to be read like any other fantasy story, or to be read more deeply and have meanings extracted from the text.

From Amazon.com

At the edge of the city, in the ruins of an old amphitheatre, there lives a little homelss girl called Momo. Momo has a special talent which she uses to help all her friends who come to visit her. Then one day the sinister men in grey arrive and silently take over the city. Only Momo has the power to resist them, and with the help of Professor Hora and his strange tortoise, Cassiopeia, she travels beyond the boundaries of time to uncover their dark secrets.

For Goodreads users

Here is the page for this edition, & here is the page with many more editions.

Note about editions 

The novel was written in German.

The first English translation I read, and my favourite translation, is by John Brownjohn, and the above cover is for that edition. The John Brownjohn translation is also the one on which I'm writing this post. There is a newer one, by Lucas Zwirner.

Luna comments

Reading the summary, it sounds as though Momo has a superpower, which she doesn't (at least not in the sense of the Marvel/DC superheroes). Her special talent is just listening - she can help people solve their problems simply by listening to them. 

Back to the story.

General comments

I absolutely love this novel. I think this novel is pretty much the closest that any novel can get to my idea of 'everything done right'.

The central theme of this story is about time, and how people choose to allocate it. To rip a quote from the book: 

Time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart.

Perhaps in line with this, the story begins slowly, meandering through Momo's scant backstory, friendships and neighbourhood. It's slow, but it's never boring. The pace picks up about a quarter of the way in, but it's worth the wait.

I enjoyed the plot a lot =] I don't want to say too much because I don't want to deprive anyone of the experience of reading it with relatively few prejudices.

John Brownjohn is an excellent translator, and the writing is lyrical and soothing without being ostentatious. I really like the fairy-tale-like atmosphere created by the prose. It's a shame that none of the (more recent?) English editions feature the original pictures drawn by the author, for example, the book cover:

Image from the Thienemann-Esslinger website.

Momo isn't a typical hero or heroine, even though she's very much like a typical child. In the face of the crisis, she's lost and clueless, and unsure of how to proceed. Her actions are very much reactive, rather than proactive. Refreshingly, her triumph isn't due to her physical or mental superiority, but her circumstances and her special ability to listen. I do enjoy a good physical or mental battle, but it's nice to see something different.

Despite this being an allegorical tale, and despite Ende not being subtle about his message, it never feels as if he's forcing his readers to accept his viewpoint. His ideas are elegantly woven through the characters and plot. This is one of the books in which, the more you read it, the more you see in it.

Things to look out for (i.e. my favourite scenes)

• Girolamo's stories and tall tales, some of which he tells to unsuspecting tourists who think they're listening to a tour guide.
• The Men in Grey roping in one of their first victims, a barber named Figaro.
• Momo's first meeting with old friends after she returns from a visit to Professor Hora, and seeing the way the world has changed since she left.

Closing

It'd be nice if Momo were required reading for school, except I don't want anyone to have bad memories of it just because they were forced to read it. Anyway, I think that Momo is almost perfect in terms of children's literature, and that you should really read it if you haven't already. Consider re-reading if you have. =]

I also wouldn't mind seeing a Studio Ghibli take on it. (Or any other anime/cartoon versions, as long as it's 'done right' & to my liking =P It's just that so far, I feel that Studio Ghibli & select other anime directors would be more likely to get the tone right.)