The Leninist Lemon

A book review blog focusing on young adult fiction.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Willow and Tara + The Death of Buffy by uh, I forget

Why am I reviewing this? I mean, it’s even a comic book, and technically shouldn’t count. Plus, I have a life, right? Oh wait, no I don’t. Er, heh. I make this quick, though.

See, I wanted to talk about this in order to talk about comic books as a medium. First of all, these were more like comic books than graphic novels, which I have read and in some ways prefer, but I read these because of my Buffy obsession, and being in the woods with no access to a computer. And so you see, this led to Buffy comic books.

So, Willow and Tara was clearly the better of the two - The Death of Buffy was just lame, not because the story was so bad - there was a demon that feeds on grief, so it’s reasonable - but because the dialogue between the characters was so squicky and out of character, and whenever the writer didn’t know what to do, he/she just reused plots from sixth season. Like dude, Willow hasn’t brought back Buffy yet, why draw it or bring too much attention to it? Yeah, bleh. Willow and Tara was a lot better, partially because it was co-written by Amber Benson, who clearly wasn’t doing it for the money, but for love of her character, and also because yay lesbians and cuteness and witches, and oh btw, I’m obsessed with Willow and all that. (And did I mention; harry potter reference! Dawn mentions “expelliarmus.” This make two so far in Buffy that I’ve seen, the first being when Willow likens Giles to Dumbledore, which made me grin.) This comic book was more what I’d expect from a Buffy comic, with a plot clearly and obviously separate from the ones in the actual TV show, yet still interesting, and also, not too out of character. See, something actually happens in this one.

Getting back to the medium topic, I think reading these really indicated to me why I much prefer books than comic books or, graphic novels sometimes. You just can’t get lost in a comic book. Not really. I mean sometimes, and I have, a bit, but it’s just not the same. Add that to my terrible pictoral comprehension of I dunno, anything and I just can’t get terribly into graphic novels/comic books. Though there are a couple notable exceptions, where I really saw the power of graphic novels: this one about spirals that my friend’s girlfriend lent to me awhile ago, read it in one sitting - rather frightening and creepy, I’ll never look at a spiral the same way again, etc., and also this one called “I was a Rat” which I read in one sitting in my highschool library after school one day, about a girl who was sexually abused by her father, and escapes and is taken in by this other farm family. I really liked that one because it absolutely used the visual effectively, something I have a really difficult time with. But that graphic novel really made it effective and necessary, down to the expressions on the characters’ faces.

Ships: Willow/Tara of coure, cute as usual. A bit of possibly intentional Spike/Xander, oh yeah, only the dialogue was so terrible I couldn’t quite squee about it. Also, a couple of the Wicca girls were ambiguously non-straight, so that was kind of cool.

The last section’s not here, cause, well, it’s not a kids’ book! Even though there is dirty fodder of course, it doesn’t count since it’s not a kids’ book.

This post on a full page. Spoilers if I mention it.

The Fireworkmaker’s Daughter by Phillip Pullman

A tiny, cute little book, found on the “summer reading” shelf of K-mart, I believe. It was 94 pages, large-ish print, and I read it in one sitting, I think. But I liked it, as a tiny and cute story that wraps up quickly. Actually, what it is really is is a fable, or a long fairy tale (though short for a novel.) It has a short conflict, some supernatural stuff, a tiny moral, I suppose. And I love all the creative firework making terms, it just makes me grin. It’s very descriptive and visual, and makes me wish they actually had fireworks like that. And the moral where only you yourself can decide if you are ready to be what you really want to be - that’s a powerful and neverending little moral, and always important. It’s all about growing up. The main character (whose name I’ve forgotten) figures out that she is ready to be a firework-maker and the test isn’t a test so much as imparting a general knowledge that you know what you’re doing. Plus cute sideplot where she saves an elephant and her father. And what, really, is better than writing “Chang loves Lotus Blossum” on the side of an elephant? I’m going to graffiti that somewhere someday I swear, cause it’s just so subtly comical.

Also, yay for an incidentally non-white main character! I swear, this never happens in young adult fiction, especially the young adult fantasy I read. Everyone’s always white. Seriously, I will do a study on this some time, or an informal poll of the young adult section of the library. Somehow racial representation is incredibly slanted, and it’s more the case in young adult fiction than teen fiction, I have noticed.

Ships and Kids’ Books are Dirtier Than You Think: So not even worth it, this time. Book’s too short, and plus it’s a fable/fairy tale. Not the point or anything. That, and I can’t even remember anyone’s name in this book, so I can hardly remember subtle shippy points.

This post on a full page. Spoilers if I mention it.

The Vile Village + The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket

These two books are the seventh and eighth book of the the 13 book long A Series of Unfortunate Events, and as far as I can tell, a real turning point for the series. The first six were more separate entities as books, each an unfortunate event - but the Baudelaires get away (barely) at the end - but starting with the seventh, these books get more epic and plot arc-y, which I love. When each book starts connecting back with previous information, and with the Baudelaire’s learning information that changes their lives forever, they aren’t just single stories anymore. The characters are moving, evolving, and we learn that the whole situation is a lot more complicated than that their parents died in a fire and Olaf is after them. It’s a whole lot more complicated and sinister than that, which the Baudelaires are just beginning to figure out.

Oh, and my favorite favorite premise/part of this is that the author, “Lemony Snicket” is really most definitely shown to be a character in this book. The author isn’t just a pseudonym anymore, he’s an actual character, who actually had some vague influence on the events of the Baudelaires’ lives, and has a whole complicated history himself. We find this out originally when the character of Jacques Snicket is introduced (albeit briefly) - that’s when you know he has a connection to the Lemony Snicket character, and that made me rather excited. Also, Snicket’s reference to having a tattoo on his left ankle - yep same one as Olaf, and so that means something, but we don’t know what yet. Let’s just say I’m very glad I haven’t spoiled myself on this series, cause each new fact is exciting for me.

I love the way Hostile Hospital ends. Well, Vile Village too, but in HH, the only option they are left with at the end of the book is to escape in the trunk of the car of their arch enemy and it ties up so beautifully that you find yourself half-grinning towards the end because you know exactly what they’re going to have to end up doing before the characters know themselves.

Ships: Yeah, yeah, ships in an ASOUE book, say what, etc. The only ship worth mentioning at all in any context or any sense is Violet/Klaus because, uh, it’s the only ship people find interesting fanfic-wise online and because Violet, Klaus and Sunny are the only significant recurring characters, at least at this point. (Well, yeah, there’s Mr. Poe and Olaf, but they’re still only there briefly.) Still, I have fun snorting at the rather subtle Violet/Klaus in there, admittedly usually stuff for the bait of fanfiction writers (Like, they’re stuck in a cell with four walls and that’s it, and Klaus is like “I’ll give you anything you want for your birthday, even though we’re stuck in a jail cell. Anything at all. Well, hmm, that only leaves us with a few options, doesn’t it Klaus?))

Kids’ Books are Dirtier Than You Think: The subtle incest above, plus the following: in VV, one of the rules of the town of V.F.D. is that “citizens of V.F.D. may not use their mouths for recreation.” *hackcough* times a million. Daniel Handler, you do not know what it is that you write! Sure so Sunny will be sad that she can’t bite things for fun, but I bet a bunch of other people will have problems with that rule for other reasons.

Also, in HH we have, casually mentioned, the “Cathedral of Alleged Virgin.” I laughed muchly when I read that.

This post on a full page. Spoilers if I mention it.

Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy + Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors by Jenny Nimmo

I start too many of my blog posts with “oh, I loved this book(s).” So I won’t, even though I did. But yeah, the third book, Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy, definitely stands out as the best book in the series so far. This book just had so many nice plots and side plots that all tied together neatly at the end, it really felt like I was reading a sort of a harry potter book. It was just beautiful, really. It’s been awhile since I read this but yeah, Paton is mysteriously gone, Tancred is getting all angry and hiding out in the Thunder House and upsetting the balance, Ollie is the invisible boy hiding in the attic and needing to become visible, there’s the mysterious blue snake which ends up being important, the usual evil aunts’ antics, and some other stuff I forget. Anyway, Charlie ends up going on a quest for some plant he needs, thereby curing Paton of his odd disease-thingy and burning down one of his evil aunts’ houses in the process, which is just an excellent way to end a book, really.

Nimmo has stopped going overboard on mentioning that omg, Billy is albino. Um, let’s just say, thank god. So sick of that. All, as I pretty much predicted, Billy becomes “good” or good-ish in this book. He’s only 7, which is really young in general for him to be doing the stuff he does in this book, but it’s also too young, in my opinion, to have clear ideas about good and evil. Billy has certain desires and goals - like wanting to have parents, and not be stuck at Bloor’s all the time, that, really, how can you blame him? It’s not a good way, but Billy sees working with the evil guys as a means to an end, so he wavers a bit. It makes the story interesting. Plus, the adventure with Billy and oaths was just great - I mean, flying deadly oaths! It’s just great. Reminds me of the over-zealous howler-thing Mrs. Weasley sends Ron in Harry Potter. Paper being evil is just cool in general.

For the most part, I liked the Olivia plot in the fourth book. Yay for Olivia having a secret and needing to accept her true self (note to author: Olivia needs to be a lesbian next. Cause that would be just cool. Yay, metaphors.) Though, really, I don’t understand why Nimmo presents being “endowed” as a bad thing. Who wouldn’t want to have cool magic powers? Well, apparently all the characters in her books. I don’t get it.

The new student, Joshua Tilpin, who’s endowment is magnetism. Oh, brilliant. I kept thinking of “animal magnetism” when I was reading this, because that’s really the type of magnetism he had. Everyone loves him, if he wants them to. As such he hooked Tancred into wavering to the wrong side (ooooh, Tancred cheating on Lysander with Joshua! Fanfiction, where are you?)

Just to play around a bit with one of Nimmo’s premises in the book, let’s talk about balance. So, let’s first say that I actually rather like this, but the premise is that there needs to be a “balance” among the Red King’s children at Bloor’s academy - a good and evil balance, pretty much. So we have, normally, Charlie, Emma, Tancred, Lysander, Gabriel, occasionally Billy, and the new one, Olivia. When Charlie and Billy are gone and Tancred is being all chummy with Joshua in the fourth book, the balance tips and so, apparently, does Cook’s floor (Cook is the undercover mentor at Bloor’s and she knows stuff. When the author needs to give Charlie information, she turns to Cook) in her secret room, which I thought was rather unusual, and Charlie has to bring Tancred back and bring Olivia into the fold in order to right the balance. Anyway, my whole point with this, is, what if the balance tips the other way - you know, a dearth of the good side instead of the bad. What happens then? They make such a big deal about the balance, but seriously - you know the good side always wins, not the least because there’s no scary coercion, and in the end you like that. But anyway, that was my rather pedantic food for thought of the post.

Ships: nothing any different than what I’ve said before, but I’m still vacillating between Charlie/Emma and Charlie/Olivia, which both have potential - although, Emma/Olivia, why not? And the ever-present Tancred/Lysander. So canon. Oh, and again with the I-know-these-are-children’s book’s thing, and these being for the future, and that I like analyzing personalities and what not. Just the standard disclaimer.

Kids’ Books are Dirtier Than You Think: Yep, I’m adding a new section to most analyses, in which I mention the euphemisms that you’d only pick up if you were older. And not necessarily “dirty” by the way - just somewhat unkosher, etc. In this book, it’s yay, incest! This is a theme with kids’ books, have you noticed? yay, incest! Yeah, Billy’s parents are second cousins - see, they both had the same last name, and so doubly giving Billy his speaking-to-animals powers. And then there’s the whole thing where all the king’s descendants are technically related though really, not by very much at all. But yeah, this amused me because it made me think of the Harry Potter books and how much not-so-suble incest there is in those books too (Possible Tonks/Sirius, for instance. Plus all pure-blood families.)

This post on a full page. Spoilers if I mention it.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Grand and Humble by Brent Hartinger

So, I finally got my hands on this book (the library will always buy one Brent Hartinger book, so I’ll have to wait awhile to check it out - but they’re learning, though slowly, I think.) I love Brent Hartinger, but I have to say, I think I liked his other books better. But still, in comparison to the glut of stuff out there, this was a great read. Hartinger knows how to make a cohesive, fast-paced young adult fiction book that you can read in one sitting. So that’s what it is. It’s also very surrealist, because you can never figure out exactly what’s going on with Harlan and Manny. I’m not going to reveal the ending, but suffice to say I didn’t get it until about the second to last page, because I am teh lame. Yeah, that’s pretty much all I can say without spoiling the ending, though that’s pretty much all I would say anyway. It’s cohesive, short, when it’s done you get it, and I’m having a hard time thinking of any further analysis. Although there is a line in there I really like, about the “intersection of Grand and Humble,” where they meet and it all comes together. It’s pretty and lyrical, and yeah, I’m pretty much done.

This post on a full page. Spoilers if I mention it.

Chronicles of Narnia - the Lion, the Witch, and the Warddrobe by C.S. Lewis

I read this about 3 months ago, at the beginning of spring quarter, but naturally I was lazy and never updated my book blog all quarter. I read it, you guessed it, because of the new movie that came out, which I saw and loved, and I wanted to compare the two. I got through the first half rather fast, actually, but the last half dragged, maybe because I’d been going through that story too many times. Since I’m reviewing this a million months later, all I remember is that the book, written in the 1950s used the word “wireless” - it took me a moment to realize they probably meant telephone and not internet - and that if Susan shot the arrow in this book, I totally missed it. She does in the movie - once - but it doesn’t look like she did in the book at all, unless I missed it. Actually, it’s extremely interesting for me to read this book, if just from a historical perspective. I’m so used to concentrated my reading on, you know, young adult fantasy books that came out a year to 5 years ago, but it doesn’t prepare you for what older young adult fantasy books were like. Let’s start with the big glaring one: gender stereotypes. Now, I’m not ranting or whatnot here - let’s remember, it’s 1950, and this is a devoutly Christian author - but it’s makes me extremely curious as to what other books were like in this regard. You only have Edmond and Peter fighting, but the author is very upfront about it - girls shouldn’t fight, stated matter-of-factly there. But interestingly, he does give Lucy the healing potion, reinforcing the caregiver role, blah blah. It is very interesting to me (and yes, I know I keep using that word) how the modern day movie changed the story to fit what a modern audience would expect, namely that Lucy and Susan’s nonparticipation in the war is incidental to their characters and situation rather than the author keeping them in their “women’s roles.”

This post on a full page. Spoilers if I mention it.

Pendragon: Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale

Oh, I loved this book. You can really tell you love a book when it absolutely makes you grin when you finish it, and this one did. I picked it up because I kept hearing about it, and now I totally see why. It’s not a book you could make a discernible fandom out of, I should think, but it’s the first book in a series and I surely plan to read the rest.

What’s interesting about this book is that it has a very standard sort of plot line, the kind of thing you think you’ve read a million times, but it still manages to be absolutely captivating and intersesting. The premise is that a “normal” 15 year old boy, Bobby Pendragon, one day gets wisked off to another world, finds a problem, and saves the world. Yep, you’ve heard it before. But it’s the details that make it interesting. Harry Potter. same thing: a boy goes to a school of magic. But authors manage to make it interesting by making it their own brand.

I guess my one gripe with this book is that the solution was too “easy.” I mean, the Bedoowan have been enslaving the Milago for centuries, resentment isn’t going to end just because Bobby accidentally created an earthquake. Similarly, the adventure Bobby has at the end of the book, while fast-paced and very much keeping my attention. It was waaay too Indiana Jones-ish. I don’t like Indiana Jones because of the ridiculous implausibility - there’s no true sense of struggle or deeper meaning, and that as he gets out of one impossible situation he is immediately thrown into another one, and miraculously gets out of it, in addition to creating peace with the native people and getting the girl at the end. I mean, come on. But anyway, Indiana Jones I will save for another time. At the end Bobby throws a small piece of tak, which incites a bunch of events that just happen to save the day, and he gets out of a burning mine and earthquake alive, while pushing an unconscious girl in a mine cart and being thrown off into the ocean. At then the earthquake seems to magically alleviate Bedoowan and Milago tensions. I’m all for long-term cause/effect events but this went a little farther than I was willing to believe.

But. The wriiting is seriously fantastic. I have said this, and still believe it, but it’s the way something’s written that’s the most important, not the plot per se. I mean usually the two go hand in hand - if one’s good, the other’s good -but even if there are unbelievable elements or plot holes, if a book is written such that you want to continue reading it, that’s the most important thing. That, and the characterization was excellent. That’s important too. There were no dry characters; I really felt them come alive. There weren’t too many characters, but it was the right amount I think, because each one had the time to become something: Bobby, Mark, Courtney, Uncle Press, Osa, Loor, Figgus, Mallus/Saint Dane, Rellin, Alder, Queen Kagan a little, and I’m likely forgetting someone.

Lots of creativity here: the quigs, the flumes (still managing to be a little different that other time travel/ world travel), the lore behind being a traveller (I love that, and I love how a lot is left open to future books), how the quigs change on different worlds, the secrecy and elusiveness of Uncle Press that make him an intriguing character, the bigger idea of Halla (okay, that whole concept is a bit whack, especially with what’s up with Mallos in regards to it, but I’ll let it slide for this book), the ring that glows and expands and acts as a mail carrier. Actually the book itself was written in a very clever way, with Bobby “writing” journals to Mark, and with occasional “commercial breaks” from the action where we get to see Mark and Courtney reading them. I rather liked that format, even though it was a bit unrealistic that Bobby could remember that much detail and dialogue about what happened to him, not to mention write like a novelist with the whole withholding details and adding suspense thing.

Okay, I always end with shiptalk (if appropriate) and I have to say, this book didn’t have too much in the way of shipping. There was the canon Bobby/Courtney - for the first page at least, it kind of died after that, understandably I suppose. Well, actually, it wouldn’t be interesting if Bobby had spent enough time on Earth to kiss Courtney again. It’s always good to keep the reader waiting. So we’ll see what happens with that in later books, plus if Mark and Courtney get to do more world-saving stuff. But yeah, no other ships even possible. Except I totally think Mark is gay, or he should be, but that’s hardly my jurisdiction.


And, Ginny's end-of-summer ETA: Dude, these books are nowhere. This is unfair. They are always checked out from the library, with many holds. I'm starting to think it's amazing I even got the first one. May even consider buying the 2nd one, cause otherwise I'll never end up reading it. I always knew they were popular, but wow. Not this much.

This post on a full page. Spoilers if I mention it.

Midnight for Charlie Bone and Charlie Bone and the Time Twister by Jenny Nimmo

Ahha, I love these books. I can so see why they’re are among the best sellers of young adult fantasy, because they’re fast paced - any oh yeah, complete harry potter rip-offs. Not in a bad way, just, let’s go over the evidence: a boy, who’s 11 I believe, or close to it, suddenly getting taken from his humdrum life to go to a boarding school to learn magic, because he just found out he has magical powers. He meet all the expected archetypes, and people are pegged at on the “good” or “bad” side. He breaks rules and has adventures and sneaks out of his bed at night, and oh, it is so very harry potterish. Speaking of which, I picked up the third book yesterday, and it starts off with “An owl swooped over the roof of number nine Filbert Street.” (Nimmo, 1) I mean, c’mon, can we all think of a book that started that way? Down to the single digit street number, which is actually pretty rare these days?

This book is chock full of things for me to comment on, but granted, I writing this so late that I’ve probably forgotten most of them. So, let’s start with gripes. First of all, oh my god stop referring to Billy Raven as “the albino boy” simply as a way to vary your nouns. This is so third grade writing. For a professional writer, it is only appropriate when the main character doesn’t know said character’s name yet, and can only define him or her by physical appearence or character traits. But if you keep doing it, it’s like this is the main defining character of him, which is so dumb. It half borders on albino discrimination, which I know, I know, I need to get over myself, but still, major pet peeve. Oh, and then she goes and makes Billy evil, to further my annoyance. He was a cool character! Pssshh. Well, maybe he gets a reprieve in later books.

Other annoyance: there’s blatant good and evil, and then there’s a blatant middle. Oh, it’s so weird, I don’t know how to explain it. It is rather black and white, though, with each character seeming to half a good, bad, or middle label. Not nuanced enough, maybe. But then, its weirdness is also part of its appeal. I’ve never read a book quite like this, in that sense. The history is that the Red King had 10 children, 5 good, 5 bad, who were all magic users, or “endowed.” (P.S. to author: I know it’s a children’s book, but man, couldn’t you have picked a better word?) So, his descendents sometimes have certain powers, that come from this line. Somehow the principles of genetics were possibly lost on the author, who you’d think wouldn’t have realized how many descendents the 10 children of the Red King, born in the 12 century, would have by now, even if some of them didn’t have kids. I don’t know what’s up with this, but somehow there are only 10 “endowed” children at Charlie’s boarding school - the rest are talented in music, dance, art etc.

An interesting aspect of this book I rather liked was that the kids all had specific, sometimes odd powers, rather than just talent for general magic use. Manfred is a hypotist (also evil), Gabriel Silk can feel the feelings of the previous wearers of clothes (so his parents have to get all new clothes for him), and Charlie can hear people in photographs, and sometimes go inside them and talk to him. So you can see how this would aid him in solving mysteries and discovering his past, etc. Oh, and there’s a catch here, which I love: if the person in the photograph is alive, he or she will see Charlie’s face, kind of as a hallucination in front of them. So Charlie can’t be looking at pictures willy nilly.

The character of Charlie’s Uncle Paton is a great one as well. He can’t go out during the day because he unconsciously bursts light bulbs. Now, I’m not sure how much this makes sense, seeing as how there are more lights on at night than during the day, but it’s interesting because it’s all Paton’s-got-a-secret kind of thing. Furthering on that note, there should be a nice blatant metaphor for Paton being the ambiguously gay uncle, but no such luck. He keeps going on dates (interrupted by bursting lightbulbs of course) with Miss Inglewood.

Ships: As usual, kids’ books, so there’s not much canon-wise other than Paton/Inglewood, but, for when the kids are older, I have come up with the following: either Charlie/Emma or Charlie/Olivia - Olivia is pretty much my favorite character, because she’s spontaneous and impulsive, and creative enough to do what needs to be done. The people person, rather Hermione-like in fact. Emma is kind of elusive, at least as compares to Charlie, but she can fly and she has guts, sometimes, so I could see her liking Charlie in the future. Also, I am a terrible person, but: Tancred/Lysander. It is slightly slashy and there, in the sense that it’s extremely vague, and totally isn’t but I totally like to think it is. It’s the whole best friend thing, you know? Take it out of context, and yeah. See, Tancred and Lysander had a fight, so Tancred locked himself in his room and started creating storms for like a week. Lovers’ quarrel right there.

This post on a full page. Spoilers if I mention it.

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony Deterrlizzi

Well, I have a summer's worth of books posts written up but never actually posted, so here goes I guess:

I’ve read the first four of these, out of five, and they’re quirky and I love them. They also take about 2 seconds to read, hence why even normal people (well, internet normal people) of my age have actually read them. Unfortunately I don’t remember a thing about the plot, at least of the first two cause it’s been so long, but suffice to say that they do fit the bill of good young adult fantasy (actually chidlren’ts fantasy; they’re pretty much I-can-read books) with a kind of haunted house, a mysterious disappearing but important book, odd creatures with similarly odd motives and just general quirkiness. Meanwhile, the adults in the book are totally oblivious to the kids’ adventues, which is always a plus. And remember, they come in audio book format. So they’re worth a listen/read, maybe.

This post on a full page. Spoilers if I mention it.