fantasy

Graceling (2008) by Kristin Cashore is, in many ways, the fantasy novel I have been hoping to stumble upon all summer.

In the world of Graceling certain people are graced in their youth with a powerful ability. Some might call these Gremacelings lucky, blessed even. But Katsa knows that her own devastating Grace of killing is more burden than blessing. Forced to do the bidding of her uncle, King of the Middluns, Katsa is dispatched to dole out tangible examples of the King's disfavor.

Katsa lives her life apart from the rest of the court in her uncle's castle, avoided both because of her fearsome Grace and her startling eyes--one blue and one green--that mark her as a Graceling. Though far from content, Katsa has reconciled herself to this life.

At least until she meets another Graceling, a prince called Po. Skilled in the art of combat, Po is the first worthy opponent Katsa has encountered. The prince might also be the first friend Katsa has made since her Grace first revealed itself.  read more »

Wings (2009) is Aprilynne Pike's debut novel. The first thing to know about it is that the idea has been thrown around that Wings might possibly be the next Twilight. I have my own varied and complex issues with Twilight but I can see the connection. The tone, protagonist, and a lot of other things are very different. But the general "vibe" of the two books are strikingly similar. The jacket praise from Stephenie Meyer also helps.* That said, if you loved Twilight, you should read this book. If you hated it, or if you wanted to like it but couldn't, you should also read this book. Finally, if you are with me in being on Team Jacob, you must read this book for reasons that will become apparent as the story progresses.**

Onward . . .  read more »

It's that time of year again. The moment when attentions shift from life in college (or high school, or grade school) to life after. In my own case, that switch meant thinking about the start of rigorous librarian training which others might know more commonly as graduate school. Diana Wynne Jones’ newest fantasy novel House of Many Ways (2008) centers on an aspiring librarian of sorts and actually deals with both libraries and graduation-related matters at the same time.

Surprisingly few recent fantasy novels feature libraries. After some deep thought, I could only come up with The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and Lirael by Garth Nix from my own reading experiences. I am going to go out on a limb and say that House of Many Ways does a better job as a fantasy novel with a library angle than either of those books.  read more »

Castle in the Air is Diana Wynne Jones' sequel to her amazingly awesome novel Howl's Moving Castle. It was originally published in 1990 (four years after Howl's Moving Castle). At first glance, this novel doesn't sound like a sequel--it sounds more like a companion book at best--but I promise it does explain more about Howl and Sophie, just not right away and not, perhaps, in the most obvious way.

That said, this story is set in the Sultanates of Rashpuht a land far to the south of Ingary (where Howl and Sophie make their home). Instead of a land akin to King Arthur and Merlin, Rashpuht is much more likely to harbor Aladdin and other desert-dwellers. This change in setting, along with a new protagonist, make for the most dramatic differences between Castle in the Air and its predecessor.  read more »

Before Hayao Miyazaki made Howl's Moving Castle into a feature length animated film in 2006 (2004 if you saw it in Japan), it was a book written by Diana Wynne Jones in 1986. Due to the inherent difficulties of creating an animated film, Miyazaki greatly abridged and adjusted the plot of the novel for his movie. I happened to enjoy both film and novel but after reading the book I realized that the plot is extremely different in the novel--enough that the book and movie become completely different viewing experiences.

Anyway, that's all I'm going to say about the movie. On to the discussion of the book:

Sophie lives "in the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility exist." In other words, all of the traditional fairy tale stories are real. Not so bad, except that Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three sisters, which everyone knows means Sophie is doomed to failure should she ever set out to seek her fortunes. Sophie is resigned to her fate--living obscurely, and less than successfully, working in the family hat shop. Except that this is not a traditional fairy tale and events soon intervene to set Sophie on a very unexpected course indeed for an eldest daughter.  read more »