2009 May » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Review: House of Windjammer by V.A. Richardson (2003)

Posted by Anastasia on May 10, 2009 No Responses »

May 102009

House of Windjammer (#1) The House of Windjammer by V.A. Richardson
Publication: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books (June 4, 2003), 300 pages / ISBN 1582348111
Genre: Historical Fiction, YA
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Challenges: Support Your Local Library Challenge (#13)
First sentence: ‘Much more of this and we’ll be food for the sharks,’ Lucien said, and nodded to the ship’s boy.

In one sentence: Excellent historical fiction with strong, albiet slightly stupid, characters and a intense plot.

I picked this up from the library a few weeks ago mostly because of the title and the first page. Turns out that first page is a little bit misleading, since it doesn’t actually take place on the seas at all except for that prologue. I was expecting a high seas adventure and instead I spent most of the time grounded in the Netherlands. But! I ended up really liking it, and I’m looking forward to reading the next few books.

Summary from Amazon:

In the autumn of 1636, tulip fever is sweeping Amsterdam, and Europe’s fortunes rise and fall with the promise of the New World. That year, the great Dutch family of Windjammer suffers the loss of their entire trading fleet and they face certain ruin. The only person who can save the family’s home, fortune, and reputation is Adam, the family’s young heir. But he faces many enemies encouraged by the despicable banker Hugo van Helsen, and stirred up by the wicked preacher Abner Heems. Only one hope remains:a dark secret, a rare treasure called the Black Pearl. It is not the precious jewel that Adam imagines, but a flower:a tulip:one of the rarest and most valuable. In fact, it is worth enough money at the height of tulip fever to save the House of Windjammer. Adam is determined to find this hidden treasure, but he is not the only one on a mission to find the Black Pearl.

The House of Windjammer reminds me a lot of Avi‘s books, except a little less elegantly written. It’s got the same historical richness that I love, and the characters are all quite detailed and interesting. The plot is a bit of a downer, as it’s the story of a family’s downfall and nothing good seems to happen. And what makes it worse is that the family doesn’t even deserve it! It’s nearly Shakespearean, in a way.

However, all the characters are so strong and (excepting the villains, of course) so resolute in getting back what belongs to them that I have no doubt they’ll succeed. And it makes good reading, of course. I especially liked Adam, who seems a little young for 15 but will for sure grow up into a good man and heir. He’s naive right now, and headstrong and entirely too prejudice (reminds me a little of Elizabeth Bennett’s prejudice) but I could forgive him of that as he is just a kid thrown into a dramatic situation with one dead parent and another unable to control the family business (because she’s a woman. Gah! Stupid misogynist eras.). It’s understandable that he’s a little, well. Dumb.

I’m not at all familiar with 1600′s Amsterdam, so I really enjoyed reading the descriptions of houses and places. (The tulip mania which shows up in the book just seems nuts to me, but I can understand it, kinda. People go nuts over orchids and things in murder mysteries all the time. It’s not that strange.) I do wish that there had been a little more info about things that were more specifically Amsterdam-ish. The town and such were pretty well detailed, but I wish the same could be applied to clothing and architecture or something– I kept thinking of 1600′s English clothing (since I’m more familiar with that), and the mixture tended to confuse me. Maybe that’s just my own problem, though.

The only thing that bugged me about The House of Windjammer was the comma/run-on sentence problem. It was in the dialogue, mostly: a character would use a comma in a weird place or would omit one entirely (or omit a period, which is probably worse), and it got quite weird near the end.

There’s no happy ending in this volume, but there’s the hope of one later. Normally that would really annoy me, but I can live it if there’s solid hope for change. The House of Windjammer is a YA book, sure, but I think anyone who’s a fan of Shakespeare, Dickens, Avi, or even Poe would like it. I just wish there had actually been more seafaring! Maybe I’ll get that in the next book(s), eh?

Other reviews: Jaynekicks Book Reviews

Review: Please Step Back by Ben Greenman (2009)

Posted by Anastasia on May 9, 2009 No Responses »

May 092009

Please Step Back by Ben Greenman
Publication: Melville House (April 21, 2009), 320 pages / ISBN 1933633700
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Challenges: 2009 Pub Challenge (#4)
First sentence: “What is that shit?”

In one sentence: A 1960′s rock-funk saga with a twist.

When @luxlotus was offering free copies of books on Twitter a few weeks ago I was on it like Sonic, baby. Please Step Back, one of the books offered (obviously), looked really awesome and interesting and it had a theme song! A really good theme song! And so I asked for it, and ye, I received it. Huzzah!

Summary from Amazon:

The rise and fall of a true American icon: A rock star, inspired by genre-busting musicians of the sixties like Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and Marvin Gaye.

A swirling sixties saga of the rise and fall of a true American icon: A rock star. But not just any rock star: Rock Foxx is an outrageous showman whose unprecedented mixed-race, mixed-gender band made a new kind of socially conscious music that was infectious and tribal and scaled the heights of sixties rock stardom, all the way to Woodstock and beyond. But Foxx seemed to disappear at the height of his fame, his contagious, upbeat music darkening, then ending abruptly amidst rumors of drugs and violence, as the culture itself exploded into massive riots and assassinations.

I haven’t read many fictional accounts of fictional musicians– actually, wait. I don’t think I’ve read any. But I have seen movies, and so I think I can say with reasonable authority that Please Step Back is not like most other fictional musician biographies. I was expecting there to be a lot of drugs, sex, and descriptions of trippy rock n’ roll, and while there was all of those things the focus of the story wasn’t nearly on them as much as I expected. I liked that. I liked that the focus was more on Robert and his family than on the drug aspect of that lifestyle. And I liked that it also focused on the events of the time and how it affected music (Robert’s specifically).

And I really liked how Robert genuinely loved music, and how he takes inspiration for new songs from everywhere: what he says, what he sees, what he hears in others’ music. It quite an interesting experience to see him pick up all those little pieces and stick them together to form a song.

Robert himself I mostly liked, though he was a womanizer and a druggie and, by the end, quite pathetic. He started out on a good track, and even though I didn’t even particularly mind his drug use, by the time it got so that he couldn’t even make a new song without being high– saying that he needed the drugs to make good music– I was really annoyed with him. You didn’t need drugs to make music when you first started out, Robert! Sigh.

The physical book itself is quite nice, too; I like the unusual size (and the cover!). It’s a little bigger than standard trade paperback size, but not at all difficult to hold. It reminds me of a self-published chapbook, though of course it’s not. The only thing that really detracted from my enjoyment were some weird typos (missing letters, vowels replaced with consonants), but there weren’t enough to turn me off the book entirely.

Especially because this song is so good!

Other reviews: Bookslut | SFGate.com | Pop Matters

Thursday Tea: May 7

Posted by Anastasia on May 7, 2009 No Responses »

May 072009

Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by yours truly. To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the will to answer some very simple questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together.

Just a quickie tea today, as I have to get back to writing my paper that’s due TOMORROW oh god

The tea: I ended up drinking the last of my Acai Berry tea, but I’ve ordered some more, so it’s alright! Recap:

Stash says

Fruity blend combines tart hibiscus with natural acai berry, blackberry, and blackcurrant flavors.

The book: I started reading the third Spetimus Heap book last night, Physik, and I’m by turns bored and thrilled. It’s kind of tiring.

Here’s a summary:
Physik

When Silas Heap unSeals a forgotten room in the Palace, he releases the ghost of a Queen who lived five hundred years earlier. Queen Etheldredda is as awful in death as she was in life, and she’s still up to no good. Her diabolical plan to give herself everlasting life requires Jenna’s compliance, Septimus’s disappearance, and the talents of her son, Marcellus Pye, a famous Alchemist and Physician. And if Queen Etheldredda’s plot involves Jenna and Septimus, then it will surely involve Nicko, Alther Mella, Marcia Overstrand, Beetle, Stanley, Sarah, Silas, Spit Fyre, Aunt Zelda, and all of the other wacky, wonderful characters that made magyk and flyte so memorable.

Do they go together? Kinda! The Acai Berry isn’t bad with Physik, but I think I need something a little more perky to wake me up when I’m reading it.

What are you drinking/reading this Thursday?

Review: The Escape From Home by Avi (1996)

Posted by Anastasia on May 5, 2009 7 Responses »

May 052009

The Escape From Home (Beyond the Western Sea #1) by Avi
Publication: Scholastic; 2nd printing edition (March 1, 1996), 304 pages / ISBN 0531095134
Genre: Historical Fiction, YA
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
First sentence: Just before dawn-that moment when time itself seems to stand still, when the whole world teeters on the edge of possibilities-a man looking like death’s own shadow came scurrying down a bluff toward the tiny village of Kilonny in Ireland.

In one sentence: Good characters, good story, good writing: yay history!

Avi is one of those authors who I get all giddy over, even if I don’t go to extreme lengths to read all their books. I’ve read only three or so of Avi’s, but every one of them has been so good that I know anything else of his will be good, too. And so it is with The Escape From Home!

Summary from Amazon:

Among the masses abandoning their Irish homes to escape famine, disease, and poverty in 1851 are 12-year-old Patrick and his older sister, Maura, who are joining their father in America. As they pass through the port city of Liverpool, they join an assortment of England’s own unfortunates and malcontents. Among them is 11-year-old Laurence, penniless and hopelessly confused, who regrets having fled his wealthy home in London in a fit of rage. Patrick and Laurence meet only briefly, but long enough to seal their fate. As the dank, dirty back alleys of Liverpool come alive through the struggles of the three children, the scenes shift rapidly, challenging readers to keep track of a tangle of Dickensian characters ranging from the misguided to the malevolent.

It’s hard for me to separate my giddiness of Avi yay! with the awesomeness that is the book, so this review might be a little fangirl-y. First off, I love the setting. Avi does history fiction very well, and this is no exception. The 18th century has a lot of potential for depressing situations (which I hate), but with Avi I don’t worry about it so much because he always does it with so much elegance and sympathy. The Escape From Home has depressing things in it, like Patrick and Maura getting kicked out of their home after nearly starving and freezing to death in it, but, again, Avi didn’t make it anything more than it was and it worked for me. The characters helped a lot: Patrick and Maura are so strong and brave that they override any crappy bits they may have to get through. No woe-is-me wailing here, folks!

I also liked Laurence, the runaway rich boy. I can understand why he runs away (I probably would have, too), and though he’s really naive and somewhat stupid, I think he’ll grow up into a good man (and hopefully a smarter one). He just has to not get himself killed first.

The writing is pure Avi. It’s elegant, exciting, and somewhat sophisticated. I don’t know if that comes from the fact that it’s a historical novel (and so the language is different already), or if it’s just Avi, but whatever it is, it works.

The only thing I didn’t particularly like was how Maura was always portrayed as a frail, beautiful damsel in distress. I don’t think she was a damsel in distress! And sure, she’s pretty, but that doesn’t mean a weak woman who needs protecting, like some of the male characters seem to think. I wish Avi had made that point stronger– I think he was trying to say that, but it wasn’t coming across as effectively as it might have.

Anyway, The Escape From Home ends on a kind of cliffhanger, so I can’t wait to read the next book!

What’s your favorite historical YA fiction novel?

Other reviews: Inkweaver Review

Review: Less Than Heroes by David Yurkovich (2004)

Posted by Anastasia on May 4, 2009 No Responses »

May 042009

Less Than Heroes by David Yurkovich
Publication: Top Shelf Productions (July 21, 2004), 143 pages / ISBN 1891830511
Genre: Fantasy, Graphic Novel
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound

In one sentence: Interesting premise, slightly poor execution.

Last weekend was Free Comic Book Day, and while I was out I picked up some non-free trade paperbacks (still discounted, though; I’m not made of money!). Less Than Heroes was one of them, and I picked it up mostly because of the Warren Ellis blurb on the cover, but the book itself looked potentially good as well.

Summary from Amazon:

In the city of Philadelphia there is a tall building at 18th and Market Streets atop of which lives four individuals. They are the official protectors of the city. Their job is to be around when traditional law enforcement fails. But are they really heroes? Meet Philadelphia’s contracted super-hero team, Threshold. A quartet more interested in milk and cookies than crime and punishment. A team more concerned with battling indigestion than their arch enemies. Sure, they have super-powers. They can leap tall buildings, fly, and do all the stuff other heroes do. More than human? Probably. Less than heroes? Without a doubt.

Image borrowed from comicreaders.com

Less Than Heroes is a nice take on the superhero genre, which isn’t one of my favorites (blasphemy, I know). I liked that superheroes were treated differently than they might have been in another comic book world. I thought it was really interesting that cities hired their own heroes, instead of waiting for them to just show up. It means that superheroes aren’t just these crazy people in tights running around fighting baddies; they’re validated, and necessary. Er, even though it seems that most of the villains in Less Than Heroes are ridiculous and not really scary (with some exceptions). Though the superheroes are ridiculous and not really heroic as well (with some exceptions), so it works.

The story starts off a little slow, and a little confusingly, but it soon picks up. The characters are interesting and fleshed out rather subtly, which I appreciated. I hate getting character infodumps in the first three pages, or whatever. The book’s style reminds me a lot of old 90′s zine comics, so if you like that kind of thing I suppose you’ll like Less Than Heroes, too.

Most of the problems I had with Less Than Heroes wasn’t the characters, story, or writing. Instead, I had problems with the visuals: the art is interesting and unusual but can sometimes look blobby and unfinished. A lot of the characters look alike. The typesetting is distracting– it’s too close to the edges of the bubbles, some of the letters run into one another, making it hard to read, and, again, it can look blobby. I don’t know if these problems were in the comic to begin with or if it happened when it was turned into a trade paperback, but it’s annoying. (You can read some of it here and see for yourself.)

For all that, though, the last third of the book was so well done, so exciting and touching and heartbreaking I found myself wishing it would never end. If only the rest of the book had been like that last section! I think I would have liked it a lot more.

Other reviews: Newsarama.com | Read About Comics

It's Free Comic Book Day, rejoice!

Posted by Anastasia on May 2, 2009 No Responses »

May 022009

I’m a little late with this post, but there might still be time for you to take advantage of the awesomeness that is today: Free Comic Book Day!

But what is FCBD? Luckily, the official website has an explanation so I don’t have to write one:

Free Comic Book Day is a single day – the first Saturday in May – when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE* to anyone who comes into their stores.

You can search for a participating store near you on the website, as well as check out a list of what’s being given away. Please note that not all stores will have all the comics; my local Hastings only had about ten (none of them the TMNT #1 reprint OR the William Shatner Presents issue, which I’m quite bitter about).

Some authors are even giving away a free comic book online: Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith’s series Fell has its first issue available for free here.

Viva la comic book!

A Visit to Oz: Update-y McAwesome (May)

Posted by Anastasia on May 1, 2009 No Responses »

May 012009

A Visit to Oz
So! It’s been about a month since the Visit to Oz Challenge started. How are you all doing? Read any good Oz books?

Myself, I, er, haven’t. I read the first Oz book (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) and half of the second (The Marvelous Land of Oz) before the challenge started, but nothing since then. Bad me! I did find a whole section at the library where I work that’s dedicated to Oz-type things, including a really nice annotated The Wonderful Wizard of Oz! I’m going to check it out more once I’m done with finals.

What have you all done so far? Better than me? Any particular aspect of a book you wanna talk about?

For instance! In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Emerald City isn’t really all green! It’s white! It’s the green goggles everyone wears that makes it seem emerald-colored. Weird, eh? I also thought it was interesting that Dorothy used the flying monkeys to accomplish some tasks (after offing the Wicked Witch, of course), but that they short-changed her last wish (she got three) because they “couldn’t do it.” Wouldn’t that mean she got a do-over? I certainly think so!

What are you planning to read this month? I’m going to try to finish reading the second book and maybe start on the third. Hopefully I won’t fall too behind and become unable to finish my own challenge!