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MINI-REVIEWS: Walt Disney’s Way, The Boxcar Children’s Mysteries #1, Scrapped Princess: A Tale of Destiny

Posted by Anastasia on January 31, 2011 4 Responses »

Jan 312011

04. Walt Disney’s Way by New Word City
Publication: FT Press (February 1, 2010), ebook, 139kb / ISBN
Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography

Rating: Bin it
Read: January 14, 2011

Source: Downloaded (when it was free)

Review

So, yeah: this isn’t really a “book,” it’s more like a short pamphlet or something. Also, it’s boring as hell. Good primer for Walt Disney’s life, and if you’re a business person you might be interested by the end where it details how to emulate the good bits of Disney’s business sense, but if you’re looking for an actual biography or, like, anything more detailed than a Wikipedia page, look elsewhere.

05. The Boxcar Children’s Mysteries #1 by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Publication: Albert Whitman & Company (December 14, 2010), ebook, 1552kb / ISBN
Genre: Children’s Fiction

Rating: Borrow it
Read: January 14-15, 2011

Source: Bought

Review

Hey, it’s a reread! Yay! On the other hand, I probably could have picked a better book to reread. My favorite thing about the Boxcar books when I was younger– the last time I read this– was that it’s about kids who live on their own in a boxcar, and they’re all self-sufficient and stuff. That’s good stuff! It’s exciting, and when you’re a kid you might not notice the…er…other stuff. The stuff where all the girls are super happy to do household stuff, know how to make fabulous dinners, and can sew whatever the hell they get their hands on. And the boys (well, the oldest boy, at least), are the providers who get jobs and bring home the bacon and stuff.

WOW. I mean, yes– it’s an old book. It was written originally in 1924, before women’s lib and before people generally started wanting their kids to be kids instead of little versions of adults. But still. How could I not have noticed that when I was younger? I guess I was too busy thinking about how much I wanted to live in a boxcar to worry about the job I’d be stuck with if I actually did live in one with my stupid brother.

Ms Chandler Warner did seem like a sweet lady, though, just one that was stuck in the so-called standard roles for women and men. This bit from the Boxcar Children Wikipedia page is so sweet and cute, I can’t feel overly angry towards her:

As she wrote the story, Warner read it to her classes and rewrote it many times so the words were easy to understand. Some of her pupils spoke other languages at home and were just learning English, so The Boxcar Children gave them a fun story that was easy to read. Warner once wrote that the original book “raised a storm of protest from librarians who thought the children were having too good a time without any parental control! That is exactly why children like it!”

10. Scrapped Princess: A Tale of Destiny by Ichiro Sakaki (translated by Paul Kotta)
Publication: TokyoPop (October 3, 2006), Paperback, 200pp / ISBN 1595329846
Genre: Light Novel, Fantasy/Sci-fi

Rating: Borrow it
Read: January 23, 2011

Source: Bought

Review

This book has a PRINCESS in it, and it’s so awesome. Don’t take too much heart into the fact that I rated it “borrow,” because I’m pretty much going to rate all light novels “borrow.” They’re fun to read and very enjoyable (for the most part) but they aren’t the best written things out there.

Anyway, what I really liked about Scrapped Princess is that though it’s got the “hidden princess who is secretly the thing upon which the future of the world resides” trope in it, it does some unusual things in the actual story. For instance, Pacifica (that’s the princess) was adopted by some ex-soldiers and raised as there own. When she finds out she’s a princess? She does not immediately abandon her adopted family, nor do they abandon her! In fact, one of the main themes is how even if you’re adopted your adopted family is still your FAMILY, your family who loves you and wants to protect you from insane assassins and the king who wants you dead! I thought that was really wonderful, and pretty unusual in a story where the more standard thing would have been for Pacifica to wander off alone somewhere.

I also liked the blending of fake historical past with almost steampunkish technology– a thing that’s not overly unusual in anime– and I liked the characters, and the action was great! It was a lot of fun, for real.

Unfortunately, there’s 13 volumes in the series (plus some short stories), and TokyoPop only licensed the first three. I’m going to Google around and see if anybody else has licensed (or translated) the rest– but I’m very annoyed by this! Just FYI.

Mini-Reviews: Libyrinth, Conan Doyle Detective, Chinatown Death Cloud Peril

Posted by Anastasia on December 17, 2010 1 Response »

Dec 172010

I have to catch up on my reviews SOMEHOW, so I’ll be doing more mini-reviews this month. Although these ones didn’t turn out as “mini” as I set out to make them. Er.

224. Libyrinth by Pearl North
Publication: Tor Teen (July 7, 2009), Hardcover, 336pp / ISBN 0765320967
Genre: YA Fantasy/Sci-fi
Rating: Buy it
Read: November 25, 2010
Source: Bought
Summary from Amazon:

In her debut novel, Pearl North takes readers centuries into the future, to a forgotten colony of Earth where technology masquerades as magic and wars are fought over books.

Haly is a Libyrarian, one of a group of people dedicated to preserving and protecting the knowledge passed down from the Ancients and stored in the endless maze of books known as the Libyrinth. But Haly has a secret: The books speak to her.

When the threat of the rival Eradicants drives her from her home, Haly learns that things are not all she thinks they are. Taken prisoner by the Eradicants, who believe the written word to be evil, she sees the world through their eyes and comes to understand that they are not the book-burning monsters that she has known her entire life.

Review

I really liked Libyrinth! Well, how could I not? It’s a futuristic, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi/fantasy world with a massive library as a major location, strong female characters and lots of action and adventure. I really enjoyed the writing, too! It was just perfect for the sort of topics Libyrinth covered– love, hate, religion, history, friendship, family! Continue reading »

Review: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Posted by Anastasia on November 22, 2010 7 Responses »

Nov 222010

218. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Publication: Greenwillow Books (December 27, 2005), Paperback, 304pp / ISBN 0060824972
Genre: MG Fiction
Rating: Borrow it
Read: November 13-15, 2010
Source: Bought (almost a year ago exactly)
Summary from Amazon:

After Gen’s bragging lands him in the king’s prison, the chances of escape look slim. Then the king’s scholar, the magus, needs the thief’s skill for a seemingly impossible task — to steal a hidden treasure from another land.

To the magus, Gen is just a tool. But Gen is a trickster and a survivor with a plan of his own.

Review

The Thief wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I think I was assuming it was something like a Robin Hobb novel mixed with a Kevin Crossley-Holland book, and really it’s more like a Patricia C. Wrede book. Not that that’s a bad thing, but when you’re expecting a pseudo historical fiction/fantasy book with a darkish tone to it, and it’s really more of a lighthearted romp through a fictional country with a character who could have been one of the clowns in Shakespeare’s comedy plays…it’s a little jarring.

I spent much of my time wondering why the other characters didn’t hit Gen more because he was so frickin’ annoying. He was whiny and a braggart and all he did was sit on his butt and talk about how awesome he was. I didn’t really like him, and I did a LOT of scoffing– mostly whenever he was bragging about his mad elite thieving skillz. It was also a somewhat slow beginning, and this didn’t help me enjoy the story. Continue reading »

Review: The Day of the Troll by Simon Messingham

Posted by Anastasia on November 17, 2010 7 Responses »

Nov 172010

185. The Day of the Troll by Simon Messingham (read by David Tennant)
Publication: BBC Audio (October 2009), audio / ISBN 978-1-405-67819-3
Genre: Sci-Fi/Adventure
Rating: Buy it
Read: September 2010
Source: Borrowed from a friend
Summary from Amazon:

The story follows the Doctor as he arrives on Earth in the far future. He is horrified to find the planet beset by famine and starvation, and England is a barren wasteland. Scientists are desperately seeding the ground to make the crops grow again, but now it seems that something even worse is happening…

Karl Baring, the owner of research facility The Grange, has been snatched away in the middle of the night. His sister Katy was with him when he vanished, but is now in catatonic shock – so it’s up to the Doctor, with the help of the scientists at The Grange, to investigate. What is lurking under the old bridge, and why is it preying on people? The Doctor must find out, before it strikes again…

Review

I’m probably among the minority when I say that I wasn’t enamored with David Tennant’s Doctor, and that in fact he’s probably my least favorite Doctor ever. Partly that has to do with my dislike for Russell T. Davis’ later episodes and his own fondness for tearing the heart out of his characters and their audience, but partly also it’s because Tennant’s Doctor is way intense and angry and sort of mean. I just prefer my Doctors to be more…er…fun. (Like Matt Smith!) ANYWAY, what I am trying to say is that I went into this book thinking it’s be horrible and depressing and that my whole month would be ruined.

It’s not depressing or horrible and in fact I liked it quite a lot. Continue reading »

Review: Dreadnought by Cherie Priest

Posted by Anastasia on October 12, 2010 6 Responses »

Oct 122010

195. Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
Publication: Tor Books (September 28, 2010), Paperback, 400pp / ISBN 0765325780
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Adventure, Steampunk
Rating: Buy it!
Read: October 1-8, 2010
Source: Bought
Summary from Amazon:

Nurse Mercy Lynch is elbows deep in bloody laundry at a war hospital in Richmond, Virginia, when Clara Barton comes bearing bad news: Mercy’s husband has died in a POW camp. On top of that, a telegram from the west coast declares that her estranged father is gravely injured, and he wishes to see her. Mercy sets out toward the Mississippi River. Once there, she’ll catch a train over the Rockies and—if the telegram can be believed—be greeted in Washington Territory by the sheriff, who will take her to see her father in Seattle.

Reaching the Mississippi is a harrowing adventure by dirigible and rail through war-torn border states. When Mercy finally arrives in St. Louis, the only Tacoma-bound train is pulled by a terrifying Union-operated steam engine called the Dreadnought. Reluctantly, Mercy buys a ticket and climbs aboard.

What ought to be a quiet trip turns deadly when the train is beset by bushwhackers, then vigorously attacked by a band of Rebel soldiers. The train is moving away from battle lines into the vast, unincorporated west, so Mercy can’t imagine why they’re so interested. Perhaps the mysterious cargo secreted in the second and last train cars has something to do with it?

Mercy is just a frustrated nurse who wants to see her father before he dies. But she’ll have to survive both Union intrigue and Confederate opposition if she wants to make it off the Dreadnought alive.

Previously: Boneshaker

Review

As much as I liked Boneshaker, I like Dreadnought EVEN MORE, and so writing this review will be difficult as I’m determined to not lapse into fangirlish squeals– which is why it’ll be short. Basically: Dreadnought is really, REALLY good.

What’s good about it? Lemme list it for ya: zombies! trains! airships! mecha! big action sequences! a strong, independent female lead! (with guns!) a dashingly gruff Texan ranger! soldiers and spies and mad scientists! excellent writing! LOTS OF FUN!!

If that paragraph up there doesn’t convince you to freakin’ buy this book (and Boneshaker) already, I don’t know what will. Maybe this: Dreadnought was the most fun I had with a book since the last time I read a Diana Wynne Jones books. It’s definitely going on my “top books read in 2010″ list, and I’m going to recommend it to everyone I know.

Some people have expressed annoyance with the fact that Mercy supposedly doesn’t show emotions. I take exception to that, because a) she DOES show emotions, she just doesn’t let them drip out all over the place every other page, and b) she’s a freakin’ war nurse. Isn’t it a good thing that she’s not overly emotional and having breakdowns everywhere? The ability to be stoic when the situation calls for it is something I’d want in my war nurse, seriously.

Oh, and there’s also no romance, which I appreciated because it would have been completely unnecessary. And you know how unnecessary romance irritates me! (Although I do look forward to a possible romance subplot later on with Mercy! I love Mercy. Mercy is one of my favorite characters. Yes.)

Oh, and the only thing I didn’t like was the reveal of the who the spy was, because it didn’t make sense to me and I kept thinking it was a red herring– but wasn’t, apparently. Sort of a downer, that subplot.

Also the ending was a bit fast, but I’m assuming that part of the story will continue in another book and so I didn’t mind it so much. ANYWAY. Still a wonderful book, and buy it buy it buy it! (Please? And while you’re at it buy Pirate Talk or Mermalade as well. Also any Diana Wynne Jones book, and then we will be best friends!)

What book has made you squeal like a hyperactive three-year-old lately?

And

Get your own copy @ Amazon (Kindle) or Powell’s and support Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog!

Other reviews: The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf & Book Review | Fantasy Book Critic | Society of Burned Lives | Open Buddha | Team Grondul

The universe that Dreadnought is set in has an awesome official website with lots of goodies.

Read the first chapter of Dreadnought online here!

Review: Runemarks by Joanne Harris

Posted by Anastasia on June 14, 2010 6 Responses »

Jun 142010

126. Runemarks by Joanne Harris
Publication: Knopf Books for Young Readers (October 13, 2009), Paperback, 544pp / ISBN 0375844457
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, YA
Rating:
Read: June 2-4, 2010
Source: Bought
Summary from Amazon:

Seven o’clock on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the end of the world, and goblins have been at the cellar again. Not that anyone would admit it was goblins. In Maddy Smith’s world, order rules. Chaos, old gods, faeries, magic—all of these were supposedly vanquished centuries ago. But Maddy knows that a small bit of magic has survived. The “ruinmark” she was born with on her palm proves it—and makes the other villagers fearful and suspicious that she is a witch.

But the mysterious traveler One-Eye sees Maddy’s mark not as a defect, but a destiny. And Maddy will need every scrap that One-Eye can teach her about runes, cantrips, and glamours—every ounce of magic she can command—if she is to survive that destiny.

Review

I’ve gotten more and more fond of books with Norse mythology in them, probably because I took a really good medieval history class last semester that covered quite a bit of Viking history, which naturally made me more interested in everything to do with Viking and so on. One thing I’ve noticed about these books, though, is that the protagonists tend to be all boys, and I prefer to read books about girls (because I am one, and, by the way, there aren’t nearly enough fantasy books starring girls without any romance in them). So! I really liked Runemarks because it had loads of nifty Norse gods and mythology in it, and a female lead that did things besides trying to woo her boyfriend! (Not that she had a boyfriend.)

Maddy is a really strong female lead, one who has powerful abilities and isn’t afraid to go off and have her own adventures. She’s also pretty realistic, by which I mean she felt like a real person to me, with feelings and dreams and a personality of her own. I also liked that she was really– I don’t know how to say it. Female? She didn’t just seem like Ms Harris had taken a boy character and switched him into a girl– Maddy was a real girl and her gender was an important part of herself. Does that make sense? I hope it does, because I don’t think there are tons of female adventure types that actually like being a girl and want to do things as a girl; it always seems instead that they disguise themselves as boys or something (Shakespeare does that a lot in his plays).

Anyway, the story is a really exciting one, with battles and magic and gnomes. It slows down a bit in the middle, and the ending was somewhat of a disappointment to me because it was sort of like Maddy had been pushed to the side in favor of Odin’s subplot. But I had a wonderful time following Maddy along in her adventures, and the rest of the characters were sufficiently flushed out enough to not just become prop figures.

One character who really surprised me was Loki, who nearly always is portrayed as an almost evil character, more malicious than mischievous (think American Gods, maybe). The Loki in Runemarks is very sympathetic, and it made me think of him more as a person who is trapped in a place he doesn’t want to be, where he can’t ever win and he has to look out for himself because no-one else will. I think he even says somewhere in the book that the gods are happy to use his talents when it suits them, but then sweep him under the rug (or try to kill him) when they no longer need him. So, yeah, that made me empathize with him more than despise him, even when he did try to trick Maddy out of something (he made up for it later, anyway).

I really enjoyed reading Runemarks. I think it’d be a great book for anyone interested in alternate universes, Norse mythology, strong female adventurer characters, and fun fantasy stories that aren’t exactly swords-and-sorcerers but do give that sort of thing a nod. The ending isn’t exactly a cliffhanger but it does leave room for a sequel, which I think Ms Harris is working on now. I think.

And

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In Runemarks the characters do magic by “fingering,” which sounds dirty but is really just making runes with your fingers. I couldn’t exactly picture it myself, even after trying to make shapes with my own fingers, but luckily Ms Harris included a page on her website demonstrating fingerings, with pictures!

Review: Changeless by Gail Carriger

Posted by Anastasia on May 18, 2010 No Responses »

May 182010

111. Changeless by Gail Carriger
Publication: Orbit (April 1, 2010), Paperback, 384pp / ISBN 0316074144
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Mystery, Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating:
Read: May 1-3, 2010
Source: Borrowed
Summary from Amazon:

Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears – leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

Previously: Soulless

Review

I said in my review of Soulless that while I enjoyed the plot/characters/etc I couldn’t help but be annoyed by the plot holes (or maybe “plot gaps” is a better term). Changeless doesn’t really fill in any of the gaps, but it does expand on some of the world’s details (like the technology!) and it was overall a so much more fun book that I’d say even if you didn’t particularly like Soulless you WOULD like Changeless. Which is just a rather confusing way to me to say this: Changeless is even more amazing than Soulless was.

Everything just seems so much better done in Changeless. There are less plot gaps, there’s more Alexia being awesome, more information about the Parasol Protectorate world and the people living in it (which is what I wanted), there’s a wicked interesting mystery with ANCIENT EGYPTIAN things in it (love!), and I even think the writing itself is a little bit better! I seriously couldn’t put Changeless down once I started reading it, and by the time I got to the end I felt like I was talking in capslock, that’s how happy I was reading it. Also, more exclamation marks!!

I rated both Changeless and Soulless 4 birds, but actually I enjoyed Changeless more than Soulless. It felt more solid, characterization- and plot-wise, and the plot itself was more fun. With twists! But not silly twists that just come out of nowhere (although they did sort of lean on the other side where you COULD see them coming, but just a bit). And even though it ends on a cliffhanger– which I tend to dislike– it ended in a way that the main plot, with the mystery, was solved and all that’s left to hang was the sticky personal relationships bit. Which, I admit, made my heart go “ow.” My heart went “ow” so much I actually read the bonus chapter from the third book that was in the back, and I never do that.

So, yeah, I loved Changeless. Can’t wait to read the third book!