Book Warriors

It’s been awhile since I’ve been this enraptured by a book, and truly, I love Graceling. Kristin Cashore has opened a rich world of seven kingdoms with “seven thoroughly unpredictable kings.” In these lands where the kings tend toward tyranny over the people, some individuals are graced with special abilities–some are amazing cooks, others can foretell the future, and some, like Katsa, niece of King Randa of the Midlands, are graced with the ability to kill. Like most of the kings, Randa has claimed Katsa’s abilities for his own uses and she finds herself a tool being used to torture and kill the king’s enemies. Katsa worries she is becoming a monster and longs to escape her uncle’s control. With the help of her mentor and her beloved cousin, she is finding ways to thwart the destructiveness of the kings.

On one such mission to stop an evil plan, Katsa meets Po, a graced fighter and prince of the kingdom of Lienid. Po is a worthy adversary for Katsa and friendship blossoms between them as they practice their fighting. When they join forces to attempt a daring rescue of Po’s cousin Princess Bittersblue, new revelations change their relationship and Katsa must confront her feelings and the truth about her abilities…but only after a desperate race for survival through the mountains.

I can’t do this book justice in a brief summary. The characters are richly developed and interesting, the plot addictive, the conclusion satisfying without being too neatly wrapped up. Two more books are planned in the trilogy, one a prequel (Fire, out October 2009) and the other a sequel/companion novel following Princess Bitterblue (Bitterblue, in the works).

In this, the third and final book of the Peaches series, author Jodi Lynn Anderson brings Murphy, Leeda, and Birdie back to the Darlington Orchard for one more summer of exploration, adventure, and romance before bringing their stories to a close. Wild Murphy cut all ties with Bridgewater, Georgia when she moved to New York City after high school, including those with boyfriend and all-around great guy Rex. Deciding to return home for the summer means facing him again and facing some truths about her emotional hangups. Beautiful, perfectionist Leeda has found love with a perfect new boyfriend at Columbia University, and his love gives her an instant identity complete with a circle of new friends. When she returns to Bridgewater and receives a most unusual inheritance from her eccentric grandmother, Leeda may finally have to confront who she is and what she wants. Meanwhile Birdie had planned to stay in Mexico where she has been studying abroad and where she and Enrico have grown even closer…perhaps too close since Birdie shows up at the orchard unexpectedly at the start of the peach picking season. Birdie finds that her father has plans for the orchard and the house that may destroy her dreams. Now Birdie must decide whether she really wants what she thought she wants and figure out how to follow her true heart.

The writing is a little uneven on this installment, but the characters are richer and those who’ve read the first two will enjoy seeing where life is heading for the three girls. A sweet story of love and growing up. If you loved the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, you’ll want to grab this series too.

Madapple, also known as “rank-smelling, rash-causing, poisonous jimsonweed…green dragon and stinkwort and angel’s-trumpet” is also the title of the strange and intriguing first novel by Christina Meldrum. Meldrum took to the old addage to “write what you know,” spinning a tale that taps her knowledge and interest in nature and religion and her experience with the juidicial system. It is the story of Aslaug Hellig, a young woman raised in almost complete isolation by her mother in rural Maine. Her mother, Maren, has encyclopedic knowledge of science and philosophy, and, scorning the education the local school would give her daughter, educates Aslaug herself. Aslaug grows in academic knowledge but remains ignorant of the outside world or how to socialize with the people in it. Aslaug also has no knowledge of who her father is, as Maren refuses to give Aslaug any details about her family and relatives. Aslaug feels this ignorance, and resents her mother for keeping her insulated from the world even though she also loves her mother in a worshipful sort of way.

The chapters following Aslaug are filled with a lyrical beauty, which contrasts deeply with the interspersed chapters covering Aslaug’s trial for the murder of her mother, aunt, and cousin (I warned you this was a strange book). These pages read like transcripts and allow the reader to judge Aslaug’s story like a juror, hearing the events and circumstances of Aslaug’s life through the eyes of coroners, police detectives, and forensic pathologists. This is a powerful technique when mixed with Aslaug’s telling of events, one that builds suspense and a feeling of horror as you begin to put together the truth and suspect that justice may not be done in this case.

All told, an extremely well-written book full of mystery and suspense, one that technically fits the young adult label since the main narrator is a young adult but is definitely meant for more mature audiences since it deals with deep philosophical questions and issues like incest and drug use.

“I remember wanting the madapple to carry me away, to take me to that place again. And I wonder, If I go, will I find Mother there?”

“When Alice fell down the rabbit hole, she fell slow. She had time to notice things on her way down–Oh, there’s a teacup! There’s a table! So things seemed normal to her while she was falling. Then she bumped down and rolled into Wonderland, and all hell broke loose.”

I love this quote from the opening chapter of What I Saw and How I Lied, not only for its imagery but also for the way it tries to prepare you for the story to come. The narrator, 15 year-old Evie Spooner, is looking back, trying to figure out how her life unraveled in just a few short months. She goes back to the beginning, the day it all started, on a warm day in Queens just after World War II has ended. Joe, the step-father she adores, has returned from the fighting to open appliance stores for a country ready to buy “not only what we needed but what we wanted.” Evie and her gorgeous mother are trying to make home life the picture of perfection for him, with roast beef and mashed potato dinners and everything neat and tidy, though it is a strain living under Joe’s mother’s roof.

Joe comes home from work that day with a wild idea to pack up and drive down to Florida for a vacation…that night. He convinces Evie and her mom with his slick sales skills, and in a few days they find themselves in a half-empty Palm Beach resort during the off-season. There Evie meets Peter, a dashing soldier who makes Evie feel like a woman, her mother light-hearted, and Joe strangely moody. As Evie plots to spend more time with Peter, her mother and step-father’s relationship grows tense, and Joe becomes increasingly erratic. Soon events spin into a downward spiral of passion, blackmail, and secrets, and Evie finds the adults in her life are not what they seem. Evie must choose her own path and make a decision that will control all their destinies.

Author Judy Blundell won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature for this suspense-filled, noirish, dramatic novel. Those who love attention to detail will revel in the vivid depictions of post-war America, from the fashion (Revlon’s Fatal Apple lipstick and nail polish and full-skirted evening gowns) to the dialogue (”Don’t be in such a hurry to grow up, baby…it’s not all polka dots and moonbeams, you know.”) Those who love crime dramas and Bogey and Bacall movies will delight in the stylish mystery and suspense. And for those who appreciate album covers as much as albums, check out the cover, which I thought stunning (and an accurate depiction of the story, something becoming more rare in the book world). I loved this book, which brings me to two years in a row where I thought the National Book Award winner was better than the Printz Award winner.

Not gonna lie to you, reading The Possibilities of Sainthood felt cleansing after the last two uber-dark books I posted on. First time author Donna Freitas brings us the story Antonia Lucia Labella, a 15-year old Catholic school girl who’s never been kissed. Antonia lives with her very strict, very Catholic, very Italian mother and grandmother above their speciality food store in Rhode Island. While she spends most every hour at school or working in the store, Antonia dreams of two things–becoming the first living Catholic saint and getting kissed by her secret love, Andy Rotellini.

Sounds contradictory right? I found Antonia sweet and completely naive at first, and therefore pretty unbelievable as a modern teen protagonist. But I gradually gave into her charms and realized that though her obsession with sainthood was not typical of most teens, her optimisim and longing to believe are not completely unheard of in 15-year girls. Besides, her monthly suggestions to the Vatican for new saints are darn funny and her vision of sainthood is decidedly modern (e.g. she puts herself up for Patron Saint of Kissing, among others).

All told, a sweet story about a girl’s first forays into romance, one that stands out in the genre for its humor and warm-heartedness.