I read Ender's Game 15-20 years ago, but I haven't read another book by Card since then. I know he has a big following and many good books--even some Ender sequels, from what I understand--but he's just an author I never remember to look for. So, when I came across Pathfinder in the Young Adult section of the local bookstore (If it was published today, I'm betting Ender's Game would show up there too.), I decided it was fate. The novel offered me a way to reintroduce myself to an author I like in a genre that I'm currently reading a lot of.
Pathfinder is particularly interesting because it intertwines two story lines of different genres in each chapter. Chapters begin with a piece of a SciFi narrative involving space ships, time travel, and humanoid robots. From there, they switch into fantasy mode, going back 1,100 years to a medieval-ish time. This is actually the primary story mode for the book, which features a 13-year-old boy named Rigg whose fur-trapping father dies in the woods, leaving him on his own. He comes into previously unknown knowledge about his background and starts on a journey, where he meets two others who, like him, have special abilities.
When reading fantasy, I tend to like more contemporary settings (a la Gaiman or de Lint), so the SciFi aspect of this kept me more engaged than I may have otherwise been. One other thing that kept my attention is that Card tackles interesting scientific theories regarding space and time but doesn't dumb them down for his younger readers. The book is identified as being appropriate for those in grades 7 and up, and I imagine that kids in those lower grades will be stretched in both their thinking and their vocabulary with this book.
Having read Pathfinder, I foresee more Card in my near future. I think I'll likely reread Ender's Game and move through that sequence. If you have other favorites by Card, I'd be interested in your suggestions.
In my entry for books 36-37, I declared my love for Brian Wood, and I mentioned his "short stories of identity-seeking teen and twentysomethings." This is that very series, although I now regret that description and all that it fails to capture. Indeed, the stories of Demo are not at all ordinary, as this description makes them seem, and the series is unusual in itself in that it does not follow a storyline or have repeating characters. Instead, each issue of the series is a stand-alone story, connected by a common thread of human frailty and accomplishment--complimented by the starkness of Cloonan's art.
The stories Wood tells are not often pretty, and Publishers Weekly (Marsh 2011) aptly describes the characters as "young mutants who are clearly not superheroes." One story's protagonist breathes underwater, another's OCD drives her to live her life on post-it notes, and a third features a cannibal. The lives that these seemingly extraordinary people live are strangely normal, almost as if their unattractive/unusual traits are manifestations of common societal fears and shortcomings. The overall affect is disturbing yet compelling, depressing yet hopeful. Wood has a way of allowing us to explore the bizarre in a comfortable setting so that we almost question the society the characters (and we) live in rather than their actions. It's compelling, strange stuff.
This is a sequel to the book Incarcernon, which is book 16 in my blog. I've provided a general recap in that entry--of both the book and my reading of it--so I encourage you to read it if you haven't already done so.
You're back? Okay then.
I confess that I felt some residual resistance to Sapphique after my slow start with Incarceron. However, this time I became engaged in the book much more quickly. Part of this was because I knew that I was going to like it, based on my previous experience, and the other part was that the premise and characters--a bit complicated--were already known to me. This sequel volume, then, allowed for less explaining of the storyworld and more action and development of the characters and plot.
Sapphique further explores the concepts of technology, heroism, morality, protection, and oppression introduced in Incarceron. The characters are sometimes complex and often compelling, and in this book they move back and forth between two settings--the prison Incarceron and the outside world--and make the reader question what is real after all. The book ends with plenty of doubt, and I'm assuming there will be a third volume to come. If so, I plan to race right through it from the very start--resistance cast aside.
While today's best TeenLit weaves in life lessons and critical thinking, it's rare that an author manages to integrate specific educational material into the storyline and still maintain interest, but The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series does just that. Set in modern time, the book reveals an aspect of the world unknown to most of its inhabitants--the existence of humans made by powerful, god-like Elders. These immortals come in both good and bad types--and some are a bit of each--based on their affiliation with the Elders. In the bad camp are the Elders, and thus their loyal Immortal servants, that are not content with the other realms they have created and plot to return to earth and take control. In the good camp are the Elders and Immortals who oppose such action out of love for humankind.
Sophie and Josh, teen twins living in San Francisco, encounter this world when they become mixed up in an attack by the "bad" side, led by Immortal John Dee, in the bookstore where Josh is working. The bookshops' owner and wife reveal themselves to be Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel, Immortals who protect the legendary silver and gold twins who will determine the fate of the world. Sophie and Josh are, of course, these twins.
The primary educational aspect of these books, as introduced above, are the characters themselves. The Immortals are historical figures, and in getting to know them, readers gain insight to the time in which they were most famous or active. One by one we meet Joan of Arc, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Billy the Kid, Virginia Dare, Prometheus, and many others--as well as gods and goddesses of varying mythologies. Travel between different places and times provides further educational content, all in an action-packed, magical, good-versus-evil series.
If you get started now, the sixth book (which is clearly coming) may be out by the time you catch up.
In the world of ChickLit, I'd say that Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series comes out near the top of the pack. It's Bridget Jones meets Kinsey Milhone (a la Sue Grafton's alphabet series), set in Jersey to a sitcom laugh track.
Oh, wait. That's me laughing.
There are few books that make me laugh out loud--Adams's Hitchhiker series and Gaiman and Pratchett's Good Omens are the only others that come to mind right now--but these books set me off regularly. It's certainly not highbrow humor, either, as the laughs usually come from the least sophisticated characters in a completely unsophisticated cast, and the funny situations involve accidental shootings, sex, exploding cars, funeral homes, and rolling in food. And, not infrequently, all of these at once.
Stehanie Plum is a Jersey girl, raised in the Italian neighborhood called the Burg. Having failed in her first mariage and her first post-college job, she becomes a bond enforcement agent for her cousin Vinnie. She's the least-likely bounty hunter you could imagine, and it's almost accidental when she manages to bring someone who's skipped bail in for rebooking. The two funniest characters in the series are Stephanie's Grandma Mazur--a gun-toting, funeral-attending outspoken senior citizen--and her sidekick Lula--an ex 'ho who crams her size-16 African American body into size-10 leopard-print lycra. Add two sexy men (a cop and a bounty hunter/security company owner), her parents and her sister's family (including a ten-year old niece who thinks she is a horse), and a number of other eccentric characters, and I laugh my way through the books.
When I attended Comic Con for the first time in 2007, I bought my first DMZ trade so I could get it signed by Brian Wood. My sister Sarah was a Wood fan, so I decided to become one on the spot. Since we have pretty similar taste in other literature, it makes sense that the same is true of the comic medium as well. It's good that I had Sarah as a guide, because at first glance it's not really my thing--DMZ stands for DeMilitarized Zone, after all--but Wood is one of the best comic authors around today, and his tale of Manhattan being caught in the crossfires of a second American Civil War is both horrifying and compelling.
The premise of this series is a war between the Free States (a coalition of anti-establishment militias whose numbers swell as the US attends to overseas wars), holding New Jersey and the inland, and The United States, stationed in the boroughs. Enter Matty Roth, a young man who uses his parents' connections to get attached to a famous journalist as a phototech. It's no real spoiler to tell you that the insertion of this press team goes awry immediately, leaving Matty as the only living member of the team, as it happens in the first or second issues of the series. Rather than leave the DMZ, Matty decides to stay and report from the inside, becoming the voice of the people who remain. It's a rough and desperate world, where people fight to survive and hold power, in both barbaric and heroic fashion.
I'm not going to catch you up on the whole series, leaving that pleasure up to you, but suffice it to say that Matty ends up as both hero and savage in varying episodes, witnessing the harshness and kindness of the DMZ's citizens. Volume 9 of DMZ charts Matty's actions as he contemplates his need to atone for his role in events which heightened unrest among DMZ citizens after a period of relative peace (for which he was also partly responsible). Volume 10 continues Matty's quest for atonement, while also sharing the stories of a variety of DMZ residents--mothers hiding with children, the boss of Chinatown, an army infiltrator working to fit in with the local populace--all while under a continuous onslaught of bombs from the US.
Each time I pick up a DMZ trade, I reflect on the war theme and wonder, "Is this really for me?" Yet, again and again I find myself drawn into the gritty world imagined by Wood and illustrated by Riccardo Burchielli (and others). Having read Wood's other work--which runs the gamut from short stories of identity-seeking teen and twentysomethings in Demo to big, hairy Vikings in Northlander--I can recognize that his writing is one of the main reasons I like a comic series on modern (if imagined) warfare. I simply admire all of his work--including his regular tweets about NYC (where he lives), his interests, and his three-year-old daughter and her famously mismatched outfits.
The Mortal Instruments series is a strong teen fantasy offering. It follows the story of Clary Fray, a seemingly average teen girl who is suddenly drawn into a parallel world of demons, vampires, werewolves, and the Shadowhunter race that protects humans from these menaces. Ultimately, Clary learns that this world is her legacy, and she becomes embroiled in the battle that rages outside human sight. There is, of course, a need to save the world. And a very cute boy.
Unfortunately, this fourth book in the series (There's also a 5th related book kicking off a prequel series called The Infernal Devices, which was book 7 in my posts.) doesn't quite live up the the preceding ones, in my estimation. It still offers the same struggle between good and evil, a cast of interesting supernatural characters, and plenty of action. Indeed, the battle against Lilith, the biblical Adam's first wife, who would not be subservient and was therefore banished (making her the oldest demon in this version of the myth), is complex and interesting. However, Clary's immersion in the Shadow World lends itself to fewer overlaps with our "real" world in this volume, which is one of the more compelling aspects of the series. The religious aspect of the Shadowhunters, who are essentially the children of angels, becomes more heavy handed in this book as well, making it a bit missionary in parts. (Assuming, of course, your brand of religion would allow for vampires, hydra demons, etc.). Finally, there is a bit too much focus on the romance aspect. Sure, we know Clary and Jace are connected by a bond beyond measure, but enough already. Get a room.
I'd recommend The Mortal Instruments overall, but I warn you it gets teen angsty in City of Fallen Angels. Clare's a great storyteller, though, so I look forward to the next book in the series (which this one so clearly sets up), as well as the continuation of the prequel Infernal Devices series, in hopes it will return to the more interesting aspects of the previous books.
