The Faraway Inn

Continuing my quest for cozy fantasy novels, I came across Sarah Beth Durst's The Faraway Inn. I didn't realize it was a young adult book, so I was originally a bit surprised to find the main character, Calisa, was still in high-school. After a bad breakup with her boyfriend, Calisa decides, at the encouragement of her moms, to go and spend the summer helping her great aunt, Auntie Zee, at her bed and breakfast. But Zee isnt interested in her help, originally telling Calisa to go home, but then relenting and letting her stay for a few days. So Calisa takes it upon herself, with the help of Zee's absent landlord's son, Jack, to start cleaning and fixing up the place, hoping to get into Zee's good graces and be allowed to stay for the rest of the summer. 

Of course, not all is at it first seems. The guests are odd, and there's magic afoot. But with Zee's two rules (don't ask questions, and don't open any doors without permission), how will Calisa figure out what's going on?

...Quite easily, actually. She'll just break the rules every chance she gets. This was my biggest pet peeve of the story. I hoped Calisa might be able to figure out what was going on through some other means. Maybe she would start piecing things together as she was cleaning, or discover things in the library (with the help of the very-helpful library ladder). But nope. She just kept asking questions every chance she got (mostly of Jack), and opening doors (and even stealing her aunt's master key to get into some of the guest rooms) to figure out what was happening.

My other peeve of the story was how over the top Calisa was whenever she so much as glanced at Jack. Yes, he's very handsome. I get it. I don't need to be reminded of it with like every thought you have when you're speaking with him. Thankfully this calmed down a bit by about the midpoint of the book. 

That's also when the book started to get a little more interesting. Auntie Zee disappears while going to get supplies, and after trying to hold the fort, so to speak, for a bit, Calisa and Jack start looking for her. Their adventures take them into some pretty interesting places and they meet some really interesting people. Plus they end up getting to know the few guests at the inn a bit better and helping them out.

Most of the characters were quite good, too. I really liked Jack, and how earnest he was. He was so good-natured and dependable, even though he was obviously struggling trying to maintain everything with his father missing that you just couldn't help but like him. Mulligan was a rather odd guest, but I quite liked him because he was so different (and like Calisa, I had fun trying to figure out if he was something like a vampire or not). The mirror was pretty funny. And I really liked Melidor, the dryad, and her story of taking the time she needed to decide what she wanted for herself, rather than just giving in to the demands of her family.  

Also: Steve, the obviously-he's-a-dragon lizard that Calisa finds in a linen closet. He's very much like a cat, hanging out with Calisa and wanting to be involved in whatever she's doing. I enjoyed him just hanging out and tagging along with her and Jack wherever they went.

 While I had some issues with this book (and Calisa in particular), overall I did enjoy reading The Faraway Inn. :)

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Waves

I can't remember why I wanted to read The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Waves. But when I first started reading it, a friend of mine saw me with it and said it was good. So I had really high hopes for it....and almost stopped reading it because I found it rather boring in the beginning. 

In The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Waves, one hundred years ago, the emperor of a country (I think? I'm going to call it a country) disappeared. No one is entirely sure what happened, but the Sea God, who was like a brother to the emperor, forsook the people and disappeared beneath the waves, bringing dangerous storms to their shores. In a desperate attempt to stop the storms, the people started sacrificing women, known as Sea Brides, to the god. And the storms would abate for a year, at which point they would need to sacrifice another girl to the god. This year, everyone knows Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village, is going to be the Sea Bride. But when the time comes for the sacrifice, Mina, the younger sister of the man who loves Shim Cheong, sacrifices herself instead, wanting her brother to be happy and her family to be safe. But when she enters the Spirit Realm, home of the Sea God, everything is not as it seems: the Sea God has been cursed and asleep all this time. And Mina learns that she has just one month to break the curse before she becomes a spirit herself!

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Waves starts out as a kind of typical teen romantasy - a girl and a guy (Mina and Shin, in this case) who want nothing to do with each other end up thrown together and slowly start to respect and then love one another. Also, Shin just happens to be the immortal being who has been protecting the Sea God all this time (made me think of Twilight, honestly because Mina happens to be 16 - gave me some Edward/Bella vibes in terms of the relationship). Mina also is a typical headstrong female lead character - charging around and doing stuff even when people ask her politely not to. So that was all pretty annoying.

But then somewhere along the way, the narrative seemed to shift. Mina promised Shin she wouldn't leave his House without him....and actually listened. Shin always honored whatever he said he was going to do, and willingly took her to places to help her on her quest. Mina also got to know his guardians/friends/brothers (Namgi and Kirin) well, and everyone started to respect one another, even if they didn't 100% get along all the time. It was...refreshing.

I also really liked all of the main characters. Besides Mina and Shin, I liked the contrast between Namgi and Kirin. Not just the differences between their personalities, but also how they weren't what you would expect (Namgi in particular in this regard - he was a creature that even Kirin didn't really trust at the beginning of the story, but they became brothers in truth by the end of the narrative). 

While some of it was a tad predictable (I had strong suspicions pretty early on about the Sea God, though I will admit I started doubting them a bit as the narrative continued), I overall really enjoyed The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea in the end. It is a really good story about not just love but loyalty and family as well. I liked the world, I liked the characters, I liked the plot; I would be interested in reading more by Axie Oh one day! :)

A Treachery of Swans

I saw A. B. Poranek's new book, A Treachery of Swans, at the library and of course had to get it. I enjoyed Where the Dark Stands Still a lot and wanted to see what she came up with next. I have to admit, I was not expecting a France-inspired story, but I was still along for the ride. I did have a bit of a hard time getting into it (I'd say it took around 50 pages), but once I got hooked I didn't want to put A Treachery of Swans down!

This time around, Poranek wrote a sapphic romance based on Swan Lake. In this world, a king's sorcière advisor drove the Three Mothers, goddesses who control life, death, and change/magic from their country. Morgane, the Mother of magic, cursed the land as she fled so that nothing beautiful would grow. She left behind a single magical crown that allowed the king to keep the crops growing. But the magic comes at a price, for every time he uses it he falls more steadily into madness. Due to the sorcière's actions, anyone who can use magic, who happens to have gold in their veins instead of the regular red, is shunned, blamed for the blight on the land.

Into this world is born Odile, a girl with golden blood who was taken in, along with her non-sorcière brother, by a sorcière named Regnault. He has been sending Odile on missions to steal Goddess gold, the only thing that can still allow sorcières to summon magic. After many, many years, they have enough for one final heist: Odile will take the place of Marie d'Odette, convince the Dauphin to marry her, and, on their wedding when the magical crown is brought out, they will steal it to summon Morgane back and heal the land! Except....things start to go sideways when the Dauphin's father, King Honoré, is murdered, and Odile's estranged brother is accused of the murder. Odile starts to investigate, wanting to clear her brother's name. She starts to get closer to the Dauphin, as well as to Marie, who witnessed the murder, all the while trying to convince herself that these people are her enemies, and she must stay to her task of stealing the crown.

I honestly quite liked the story (once I got into it). I liked the characters, especially the Dauphin. He is a kind-hearted gentleman, someone who many of the other nobles, his father included, think is too weak, but who has a quiet strength in genuinely caring about the people around him. I also quite liked Odile and how she grew through the story, slowly coming to realize what her father, Regnault, had been doing to her over the years (and what she had lost as a result). I also liked how the other characters, especially Marie, saw the good in Odile, no matter how much Odile insisted she was the villain of the tale.

I will admit that I was able to predict some of the twists and turns of the plot, like who the beast was and the truth of Regnault. But I still enjoyed how the story unfolded and how the characters discovered these things on their own. Though it did feel like there should be a part two to this story (which probably won't happen based on the epilogue), I quite enjoyed A Treachery of Swans as a standalone tale. 

Lost in the Never Woods

I saw Lost in the Never Woods at work and thought it sounded fun. I like fairy tale retellings, and have really enjoyed the Peter Pan stories I've read (specifically The Child Thief by Brom and Lost Boy by Christina Henry). So I was quite excited, especially for a story about a more grown up Wendy trying to remember her time in Neverland.

Lost in the Never Woods opens with a very traumatized Wendy trying to finish her volunteer shift at the hospital. But when the police show up to ask questions about a child who went missing, she is, of course, under suspicion. Five years previously, Wendy and her two brothers went missing in the woods; only Wendy returned, and she has no memory of what happened during that time. But when, on her way home, she nearly hits a strange boy with her truck, and recognizes him as the boy who she has been secretly drawing for years, she begins to piece together what exactly happened to her family all those years ago.

I really enjoyed Thomas' version of Peter Pan (the character). Out of the Peter Pan retellings I've read, this Peter is the most wholesome. He is upbeat, friendly, brave, and just a really wonderful guy.

I also quite liked the ending of the story, when you find out exactly what is happening (spoilers here): What Peter's Shadow is (the manifestation of the fear and anger of a person) and how he is gaining power (he has been kidnapping local kids and feeding off their fear). What happened to Wendy's brothers (they tragically passed five years ago), what Peter is (he is like a guardian spirit who brings the souls of children who meet tragic ends to Neverland where they can recover and finally move on), what happened to Wendy all those years ago (she was the one and only living girl to go to Neverland; her presence, and also that Peter likes her (she is the only person he has ever really wanted for himself) are what caused Peter's Shadow to start to gain power and split off from Peter), all of that was really well done.

....unfortunately, it is a SLOG to get there. I wasn't prepared for that at all...pretty much nothing happens for a good 50-60% of the book. I very nearly stopped reading it multiple times (and wouldn't have felt bad if I had because it was so boring). A friend of mine suggested I keep trying because Thomas is an author she likes, so I did decide to persevere. The end was good, but you honestly could skip the first 200 pages and wouldn't miss a whole lot. This really should have been a novella, or a Murderbot-sized book; coming in at nearly 400 pages, Lost in the Never Woods should have lost a lot of the excess bloat.

While the end of Into the Never Woods was rather good, I do not recommend this book as a whole. I am proud of myself for making it through though. Unfortunately, having read it, I have no desire to read anything else by Thomas (at least at this time).

Where the Dark Stands Still

I saw Where the Dark Stands Still by A. B. Poranek at the library and knew that I had to read it. The premise is a fairy tale that reminded me of Naomi Novik's Uprooted, and the whole book is inspired by of Polish/Slavic mythology; all things that I quite enjoy. 

In Where the Dark Stands Still, Liska was born with magic, but taught by everyone in her village that magic is evil, and so she does her best to hide it. Unfortunately she cannot always control it. So in desperation, she braves the Driada, the demon woods near her village, in an attempt to find the legendary fern flower. If she can find it on midsummer's eve, the flower can grant her a wish. And the only thing that she wants is to be free of her magic once and for all. Unfortunately she is discovered by the Leszy, the demon guardian of the Driada. He makes her a deal: serve him for a year, then he will let her have the flower. But she never dreamed that part of the deal involved Liska actually learning to control her sinful magic!

So yes, at this point, the story is very similar to Uprooted: a magical girl having to serve a magical being on her own, and a malevolent wood overshadowing everything. I admit that I was a bit annoyed at how similar they were; I also didn't think Where the Dark Stands Still was going to be very good because it was falling into some of the YA paranormal romance tropes (obviously they ended up falling in love - that you could see coming from a mile away). But as the book progressed, and Liska unravels more and more of the mysteries surrounding the Leszy, I was hooked.

I also really liked the characters. Liska is an interesting heroine, struggling with some very real trauma from her past. But through it all she keeps trying to find a way forward, trying to right the wrongs around her, even when that means needing to use the very powers she wants nothing to do with. The house spirit, Jaga, is awesome. She's basically a cat who you can bribe with jam. The house itself is a fun character; while it doesn't talk, some of the ways it makes itself known (I particularly liked when it unfurled a scroll to "stick its tongue out" at the Leszy). Maksio is another character who doesn't really speak, but can convey his thoughts so well through body language especially when he first comes to live with Liska and the Leszy. 

The book also takes some very unexpected turns. Finding out just what Maksio is was unexpected. Finding out how the Leszy got his power, and what he has to do to maintain it was pretty shocking. And everything that Liska and the Leszy do in an attempt to get the Leszy out of the bargain he made long ago was quite the ride. The ending, while not expected from a YA book, was also really fitting; after everything the Leszy had done, both good and evil, it made sense that he didn't live. I'm not going to lie, I cried at the end.

All in all, I really enjoyed Where the Dark Stands Still. I hope to see more from Poranek one day!

As Old As Time

I snagged As Old As Time by Liz Braswell from the library. It is a "what if?" Disney story - "what if Belle's mother cursed the Beast?" I thought that was intriguing, and Beauty and the Beast is one of my favourite Disney movies, so I was onboard.

I honestly wasn't really prepared for this book to impress me as much as it did! The story is broken up into a few parts. The first one goes back and forth between the rough story the movie tells and what happened in the past to Belle's mother and father. There's quite a bit of interesting world building that happens, showing how the last kingdom of refuge for les charmantes slowly becomes a place of hate and intolerance. This part culminates with Belle touching and accidentally shattering the rose, cursing the Beast and all the castle's inhabitants for all time. 

The second and other parts are where Belle's story wildly starts to differ. Now that the curse is coming to pass, the castle is being swallowed up by magical spiderwebs designed to keep the castle inhabitants inside; these webs are also slowly dragging the castle into the earth. The enchanted objects also start to have weird moments where things are going wrong - you can tell it's an indication of much worse that is still to come. The Beast also starts having more and more violent outbursts, having a harder and harder time controlling himself. 

 

Belle decides to stay and try to break the curse (since it's her fault this has happened anyway), and so she and the Beast spend a lot of time researching and investigating. Together, the two of them try to figure out what happened to her mother, why her mother cursed the Beast, and how they can break the spell. While differing from the movie, the story does still hit many of the story beats, though they end up different. 

The book was a tad predictable in a lot of ways though. I figured out fairly early on who the villain would be (and I was not disappointed). But even still, I was surprised. The book takes a few brutal turns that I wasn't expecting, and the ending doesn't end exactly happily ever after. But it was still an excellent read, and I recommend it for any fans of Beauty and the Beast who are interested in another take on the tale. I'll definitely be looking out for more of these Disney Twisted Tales!

Give Me a Sign

I saw Anna Sortino's Give Me a Sign at work the other day and was intrigued. Give Me a Sign is about Lilah, a 17 year old girl who suffers from hearing loss. She feels like she's caught in the middle between hearing and Deaf - too hearing for the Deaf community, but too hard of hearing for the hearing community. With summer approaching, she reaches out to a friend she met a few years previously at Gray Wolf, a camp for kids who are Deaf or blind, to see if she can work as a counselor at the camp for the summer. While there, she is immersed in Deaf culture, ASL, and maybe even finds some time for romance with Isaac, the cute Deaf counselor who is helping her learn ASL.

Give Me a Sign is a really charming young adult book. I liked all of the characters - they were a very diverse and fun bunch. I also liked how everyone grew through the story - characters learned from their mistakes and even in some cases changed their views (like Mackenzie, the hearing YouTuber who hadn't really realized that how she branded herself on the channel was hurting people in the Deaf community).

I really liked how Sortino wrote the dialogue, omitting words that Lilah either couldn't hear (orally) or didn't understand (in ASL), and spelling them out when they were finger spelled for her. 

While the plot line about the camp needing money wasn't great, I did like the interaction Lilah had with the potential donors - it was a great way for Sortino to show the kinds of insensitive comments and questions that people with disabilities (in this case, specifically those who are hard of hearing or Deaf) are asked. I hope that hearing people who read Give Me a Sign will at the very least be more aware of 

I also really liked the message that Sortino had in the book: it is okay to be yourself and ask for or use the accommodations that you need. This was best showcased through Lilah's younger brother, who was told by a doctor that he needed a cochlear implant. Lilah says to him that it is okay if he wants one, but he should be the one to make that decision for himself. I think that is a very important message that everyone needs to hear - no one should feel pressured into doing something just to fit into what the world wants you to be.

I also liked how Give Me a Sign showcases the importance of summer camps for children, especially children with disabilities, are. Having a place where other people are like you, and have similar experiences to you, can be a huge help for people who experience the world in different ways from the majority. It can be a really nice bonding experience, having other people your age who can relate to your experiences!

Overall, I really enjoyed Give Me a Sign, and I am looking forward to whatever Sortino is working on next!!!

Ahsoka

After finishing watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars with a friend, he recommended that I read Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston before we start watching Star Wars: Rebels.  Luckily the library had a copy, so I picked it up after the holidays.

Ahsoka takes place a little after The Clone Wars.  Ahsoka has been doing her best to hide on the Outer Rim, but the Empire keeps creeping farther and farther out, making it harder and harder to stay hidden.  After leaving yet another planet, she makes her way to Raada, a small farming moon.  But the Empire decides that Raada is the perfect place to raise a deadly crop that will completely ravage the soil, and so follow her there.  But this time, rather than flee, Ahsoka decides to stay and help the farmers fight back.

Ahsoka is a fairly fast-paced read. I liked the various characters and their motivations - like the farmers who manage to make things worse for themselves on Raada by failing to listen to Ahsoka - it's completely understandable why they did so.  I also liked how Ahsoka grew - she found her path after Order 66, in large part thanks to the friends she made along this journey.  It was also really neat to see the changes to the galaxy the Empire has wrought - from purposefully occupying a place specifically to use it and decimate it, to the way they were stripmining the planet where the Jedi used to find their lightsaber crystals (super glad I watched Clone Wars for this brief part of the book - I had more of an appreciation for the loss of this world).

While overall I really liked the book, I did find parts of the ending to be a bit of a let-down.  An Inquisitor starts tracking Ahsoka after she reveals herself on Raada.  The book builds the Inquisitor up to be a worthy adversary, but when he finally faces Ahsoka, he is no match whatsoever for her (she defeats him without using lightsabers - he has a double one)..  How Ahsoka got her new lightsaber crystals was a neat idea, but seemed far too easy.  The book kind of felt like it wrapped up a bit too quickly after all the set-up. And there were a few weird in-between sequences (I don't know how else to describe them - there were brief interludes spaced throughout the book) that dealt with characters who were not otherwise in the book (and honestly didn't need to be).

But despite these few flaws, Ahsoka was a really good read.  And now I'm looking forward to starting Star Wars: Rebels with my friend!

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy

I've had Clive Woodall's One for Sorrow, Two for Joy for a very long time (I suspect at least 15 years). I was going to read it several months ago, but for some reason never actually started it (though the bookmark I was going to use was still in the book!) So a few days ago (after reading a decluttering book that I didn't write about here), I decided to actually start reading it, otherwise I was going to send it on its way. Luckily I was hooked within the first few chapters and decided to finish it.

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy is split into two books (kind of like how Dune was split into three). The first one tells the story of Kirrick, the last Robin in Birddom (which I believe is England). Kirrick escapes the genocidal magpies and makes his way to the wise old owl, Tomar. Tomar has a plan to stop the magpies, but he is too old to make the needed journeys. But young Kirrick is brave and undertakes the dangerous quest on the owl's behalf.

I really liked the first book of One for Sorrow, Two for Joy. I really liked Kirrick, and was routing for him to succeed. I also enjoyed the villain Traska hunting him down (though Traska was at times far too brutal, like how he would hurt and maim others when he was upset). The narrative felt really focused and fairly tight, even when moving between the characters. Sure, there were aspects I wasn't fond of, like how quickly Kirrick fell in love (he seemed to very quickly forget his mate who he had literally just seen killed at the beginning of the book). But overall I found this to be an interesting and fairly enjoyable story (again, minus some of the more violent aspects).

Unfortunately, everything sort of fell apart in the second part. After the defeat of the magpies, Birddom needs to rebuild. Specifically they are in need of new songbirds after the annihilation many species suffered at the wings of the magpies. So they send an emissary to Wingland (I think that's Europe) to try to convince some songbirds to relocate now that Birddom is safe again. Meanwhile, Traska has slunk off to Ireland (I think) in search of new allies. Traska's son, Venga, (born from a magpies he raped and raised for a single purpose - to kill his father) is hunting for him. And Tomar is watching over the two children of Kirrick. These four narrative strains feel rather unconnected (though they do eventually come together) and overall they're really unsatisfying. I found this was most true of the Venga storyline - this could have been cut and the story would have lost nothing (except a few unnecessary violent events). But even the quest to Wingdom was fairly uneventful and boring - while in the end, presumably songbirds wouldn't have returned to Birddom without the emmissary's quest, it really felt superfluous. 

So while I enjoyed the first half of One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, I really wasn't fond of the second half. The second half was a slog to read, and felt like an unneeded add-on to the more interesting first part. There was also a surprising amount of unnecessarily graphic violence, which also, for me, detracted from the book as a while.

Inheritance

Well, here we are: Inheritance, the final book in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle.  After Brisingr, I was seriously considering not continuing with the series.  But a friend of mine who has read the series told me I had to finish it now that I made it this far.  So I did (despite the book being about 850 pages).

This is going to be very spoilery, so if you intend to read the series, be warned.

Inheritance continues the Varden's inexorable march towards Galbatorix in Uru'Baen, conquering cities as they go.  After conquering Belatona (where Roran almost dies), they are halted at Dras-Leona by the appearance of Murtagh and Thorn.  Eragon, Arya, Angela and one of the elves sneak into the tunnels beneath the city to try to get the Varden through the gates; Arya and Eragon are very nearly killed by the cult of Hellgrind who worships the Rez'ac and Lethrblaka (and happens to have some eggs that are ready to hatch).  Angela rescues them and they succeed in opening the gates, but Eragon loses the belt of Beloth the Wise (a gift from Oromis). The Varden are able to drive off Thorn and Murtagh, but the duo return and kidnap Nasuada, leaving Eragon to lead the Varden without her.

In desperation, Eragon and Saphira end up taking Glaedr and journeying to Vroengard in an attempt to solve the remainder of Solembum's riddle.  There they find more than they could have ever hoped for: Eldunari that were hidden from Galbatorix, as well as dragon eggs!  Leaving a few Eldunari behind with the eggs (and agreeing to having the knowledge of the eggs removed from their memories until such time as Galbatorix is defeated), the trio return to the Varden to begin the assault on Uru'Baen.  Eragon comes up with a daring plan: he will take Saphira, Elva, Arya, the Eldunari, and the elf spellcasters, sneak in, and assault Galbatorix while the remainder of the Varden, along with their allies, provide a distraction by attacking the city proper. 

Making it through all the traps (and losing the elf spellcasters in the process - they weren't killed but removed from play by one of Galbatorix's traps), Eragon, Saphira, Elva, Arya, and the Eldunari confront Galbatorix, who knows all about them (and even prevents Elva from speaking so he will not have to worry about the witch-child's powers).  Galbatorix has found the Name of the Ancient Language, and so can rewrite the laws of magic as he chooses (effectively crippling Eragon and company).  He also has two children present who he threatens to kill if the allies do not immediately stop and cease any attempt to kill him (while many of the older Eldunari do not care, the others want to try to save the children if they can, and so convince everyone to cease).  Eragon challenges Galbatorix to direct combat; Galbatorix declines but insists that Eragon fight Murtagh.  As the fight ends in his defeat, Murtagh realizes that his true name has changed (because he now cares about others, not just his own survival) and he's able to blindside Galbatorix by also using that Name.  In the ensuing struggle, Galbatorix corners Eragon within his mind and attempts to crush him into submission; in a desperate move, Eragon just wants Galbatorix to feel all the pain and suffering he has inflicted on everyone over the last century.  Aided by the Eldunari (many of whom lost their riders and friends in the battle against Galbatorix and the Forsworn a century ago), they succeed in vanquishing the mad-king.

In the aftermath, Nasuada is crowned queen and seeks to unite the humans within Algaesia.  She intends to police the magicians and wants Eragon to lead in that effort.  But Eragon knows his first commitment is to the dragons and the new riders who will now emerge.  He and Saphira realize that Algaesia is not the place for the dragons to live though, and so, fulfilling Angela's prophecy from when she told his fortune, the pair agrees to leave the continent (possibly forever) in order to keep everyone safe.  But before they go, they change the magic of the dragons so that Urgals and Dwarves can also become Dragon Riders, thereby making the new future Riders truly of all the races of Algaesia.

I glossed over a bunch of things that happened, like the third egg Galbatorix had hatching for Arya (this was in the aftermath - her mother died in the last battle, so Arya ends up both Queen of the Elves and a Dragon Rider) and Nasuada's torture by Galbatorix as he tried to get her oath of fealty (as well as growing friendship with Murtagh).

I'm not going to lie: I really liked Inheritance.  It was by far the best book in the whole series, and honestly was a fitting end (although I do find myself curious about what happened to everyone afterwards).  While, as I already mentioned, the book is huge, the first 700-750 pages just flew by (the last bit didn't though because that was all the aftermath after Galbatorix was defeated; the book built very nicely to that, but kind of lagged afterwards, much in the way the story of the first Bioshock game does).  This was in stark contrast to Brisingr (and even like all the Eragon parts within Eldest), which lagged and honestly felt like huge chunks should never have made it into the final book.

This is the first book that we actually get to see Galbatorix (he took over Murtagh and Thorn briefly in Brisingr to talk to Oromis, but that wasn't the same).  He reminded me a lot of Thanos from the Marvel movies, wanting to make a better world but not really thinking about the consequences and hurt of doing so.  In a lot of ways that kind of made him scary because you could see the appeal of what he was proposing (I was actually amazed that none of the characters willingly chose to join him, especially since he was so charismatic when he chose to be).

Roran takes a back seat in this book, which is a shame but understandable (a lot of the action took place around Eragon and the dragons/Eldunari).  Surprisingly, we actually got to see more of Galbatorix thanks to Nasuada (as well as more Murtagh, which was nice as he wasn't in battle).  I still think Murtagh is a super interesting character, and honestly would have loved to see much more of him struggling against and learning from Galbatorix.

Eragon also feels like he has grown up a bit.  I didn't feel like he was looking down on people as much as in the other books (or whining that he's not as powerful as he should be, even though like everything was coming to him easily).  So that definitely made the book more pleasant to read.

I also really liked that Arya and Eragon don't end up together (although at the end it feels like a near miss).  With all the times she told Eragon no, she wasn't interested, and how he kept apologizing, saying it wouldn't happen again, then making his feelings plain to her again anyway, I was getting super fed up with the whole thing.  Like come on, Eragon, no means no.  I was also laughing because by the end of the first book, I had a feeling that those three eggs would end up with Eragon, Murtagh, and Arya, and I ended up right.

Oh, and I was pleasantly surprised that Brom didn't come back from the dead somehow.  I don't know why (probably the similarities to Lord of the Rings), but I kept expecting Brom to show up again.  So very glad that didn't happen.

One thing that annoyed me to no end in this and the other books was how characters wouldn't explain plans to the reader while they were explaining something to someone else.  Like in the aftermath of Inheritance, when Eragon's asking the Urgals and Dwarves if they want to be Riders, the book says  things like "The Herndall listened in silence as he explained, though Garzvog stirred, as if uneasy, and uttered a low grunt.  When Eragon finished, the Herndall did not speak or move for several minutes..."  Then the book reveals the plan later when he's actually changing the spell to make people of those races Riders.  It's a lazy way to build suspense, and the books were rife with this.

So that's it, the Inheritance Cycle is read!  It feels good to cross off these three huge books from the List. :)

Brisingr

Ooof.  Brisingr.

The story picks up not long after Eldest.  Roran, Eragon, and Saphira assault Helgrind to rescue Katrina and get their revenge against the Ra'zac.  The plan succeeds, but Eragon discovers a slight hitch: Sloan. Katrina's father who was responsible for letting the Ra'zac invade Carvarhall and kidnap Katrina, is still alive there, too.  Eragon makes a hasty decision to send Katrina and Roran back to the Varden with Saphira (without telling them that Sloan is still alive), then to get the butcher out of Helgrind and punish him in some way.  He accidentally discovers Sloan's true name, and ends up sending him to the elves, cursing him to never again lay eyes on his daughter.

With that accomplished, Eragon then needs to run through the Empire back to the Varden.  On hearing that he stayed behind, Nasuada sends Arya to go help him.  And so after finding one another, they spend a whole bunch of time running through the Empire together and otherwise dodging imperial soldiers. 

Upon making it back, and swearing he will not leave Saphira again, Nasuada orders Eragon to go the the dwarves alone.  The dwarves are choosing their new king, and as an adopted member of one of the dwarf tribes, Eragon has the right to be there.  Nasuada wants Eragon to try to get Orik on the throne or, failing that, someone else who will remain sympathetic to the Varden.  While she cannot order Saphira to do anything, she requests that the dragon remain to keep up the ruse that Eragon is still with the Varden.  The two reluctantly agree to the separation.

Meanwhile, Eragon's cousin, Roran, marries Katrina (it's a hasty thing so they can keep Katrina's honour intact as she very quickly becomes pregnant upon her rescue - this happens just before Eragon leaves, so he gets to be present, too).  Afterwards Nasuada sends Roran on missions under the Varden's command to assess his skills (and whether or not she can entrust her people under him).  Roran excels under his first commander, but runs into trouble with his second one: the man is ridiculously rigid, and Roran ends up defying direct orders from the captain in order to keep his men alive).  As a result, Nasuada is forced to punish him (even though he kept her people alive and single-handedly slew almost 200 soldiers); he receives 50 lashes, but almost immediately is then given command of his own company of men, reporting directly to Nasuada (in her words, she cannot risk him defying orders again, but she knows he can inspire people and will be valuable to the Varden).  He's also given command of Urgals; someone within the Varden had taken it upon himself to kill three of the Urgals, so Nasuada needed the two races to work together (and thought Roran would have the best chance of keeping the peace as leader).  One of the Urgals challenges Roran for leadership and, despite the Urgal having more natural weapons (horns and claw-like fingernails) and Roran still recovering from the lashes, Roran manages to best the Urgal.

Meanwhile, after Orik wins the vote and is crowned king of the dwarves, Eragon and Saphira (who joined Eragon for the coronation and to mend the star sapphire she and Arya broke during Eragon's fight with the shade, Durza), fly to Ellesmera to talk with their teachers, Glaedr and Oromis.  They learn the truths of Galbatorix and Murtagh's power (they have many dragons' heart of hearts (Eldunari), an organ that a dragon can hide its consciousness in and so live if its body is destroyed), as well as Eragon's own parentage (he is the son of Brom, not Morzan).  Eragon is in need of a weapon, and so, remembering the werecat Solembum's advice, they go looking for a weapon under the roots of the Menoa tree (a tree that an elf joined her consciousness to many years ago).  They discover that at the tree's roots isn't a weapon per se, but the metal used to craft the Dragon Riders' swords.  They convince the tree to give it to them (although they make an unknown promise to give the tree something in return), then bring the metal to the smith, Rhunon.  While she has sworn an oath not to make another sword, she instead uses Eragon and makes the sword through him.  Although they are super pressed for time, the two of them craft her masterpiece: a beautiful blue sword that matches Saphira; Eragon christens the sword Brisingr (and every time he says the word, the sword's blade bursts into flame). 

As they are about to part from Ellesmera, Oromis and Glaedr gift Saphira and Eragon with Glaedr's Eldunari.  To Eragon and Saphira's surprise, Glaedr and Oromis also ride to battle, but rather than joining the Varden, they fly to support the elves.  Eragon and Saphira fly south and find the Varden already sieging the city of Feinster.  They join the fray and make their way to the city's keep with Arya to confront the Lady Lorana.  To their surprise, the woman is willing to help them as much as she can (she was forced to swear oaths to Galbatorix, and so cannot do much herself).  She urges them to stop a trio of spellcasters who are frantically trying to make another shade.  They slay two of them, but the third spellcaster is successful.  But with Eragon and Saphira's help, Arya manages to slay this new shade (making her the fourth person to ever kill a shade and survive by Eragon's reckoning).

During this confrontation, Eragon and Saphira are periodically immobilized by thoughts and feelings from Glaedr as he and Oromis confront Murtagh and Thorn.  Suddenly, Galbatorix speaks to them through Murtagh, and slays them.  Glaedr finds himself trapped within his Eldunari with his grief over losing his life partner.

I remember years ago, when I was waiting for Brisingr to be published, that Christopher Paolini was on record saying that the story was too big to fit into one book, and so needed to be split into two.  While I have not yet read Inheritance, having read Brisingr, I can say that is most likely not true.  While yes, a lot does happen in Brisingr, there's a lot of padding to the story.  Eragon (and Arya) running through the Empire went on far longer than it needed to.  There was even a whole chapter where they sat around a fire and Arya talked about her life (and while it could have been interesting, it dragged and really wasn't).  That's followed by Eragon running off to the dwarves almost immediately (yawn, been there, done that already). There were a few chapters from Saphira's perspective (which hasn't happened before); while kind of interesting to see how Saphira views the world, they didn't actually add anything to the story (and we later get those flashes from Glaedr once he gives up his Eldunari to Saphira and Eragon which would have given the same glimpse into dragon life in a much more meaningful context). And a whole lot of stuff happening that just doesn't feel very important; not a good feeling for a reader to get when your characters are literally embroiled in a world war. :/

I was also sad that the Ra'zac are no more.  The fight happened early in the book and felt too easy; plus the story was robbed of their menacing presence.  They would have been a more worthy end fight for the book than some random shade shoved into the last 20 pages.

But while a huge chunk of the book was slow and boring, there were some really cool things in it.  I loved the political stuff with the dwarves and actually wished there had been more of that (seeing how Orik and company tried to get votes would have been quite interesting).  Orik's speech telling the other clan leaders about the assassination attempt on Eragon's life and getting the clan responsible banished was masterful.  Orik was definitely my favourite character in this book.

While yes, the villain of this book was random, having Eragon and Saphira trying to fight the shade while also getting distracted by Glaedr and Oromis was well done (and made the shade fight have a bit more weight - would they actually be able to vanquish this one or would the distractions get them killed?)

So while I had some major issues with this book through a lot of it, and was seriously contemplating either stopping part way through or not finishing the series, I'm now on board to see how this all ends.  Hopefully Inheritance will be a satisfying conclusion to the Inheritance Cycle!

Eldest

I'm not going to lie, it felt very, very good to cross a book off the List.  Eldest is the first book I've crossed off of it in a long, long time (I haven't crossed anything off since Sharon Shinn's Royal Airs last June!)

Alright. Eldest.  This book was quite the ride.  The first chapter starts off with some utter craziness: three days after the battle in Eragon, Eragon's back is still hurt from the shade Durza; it randomly shoots excruciating pain through him.  No one knows how or why this is happening because his back is otherwise fine.  Then Ajihad, the leader of the Varden, gets slain while returning from hunting Urgals (I had a really hard time with this point: why the heck did Ajihad go hunting them while his second in command stayed back with the rest of the Varden? And how the heck did Urgals sneak up on them in such large numbers when they were specifically HUNTING the Urgals????  It kind of gets explained at a later point in the book in a hand-wavey way, but really, this still seems super unbelievable to me).  In that same attack, the Twins (the Varden's best magicians) and Murtagh are kidnapped.  Arya chases the Urgals but cannot catch them (because sure?); all she finds is their blood soaked clothes.

Ajihad had not appointed a successor.  And so the Council of Elders decide to name his daughter, Nasuada, as the new leader.  The Council intends to use her as a puppet, and try to trap Eragon into swearing fealty to them; he instead swears fealty to Nasuada, thus cementing her own power, making her largely free of the Council's meddling.  From there, Eragon is sent to the elves in order to continue his training now that Brom has been slain.

Eragon is accompanied by Arya, the elf girl, and Orik, the dwarf who saved him from being killed by Urgals.  He is also offered membership into Orik's (and the dwarven king Hrothgar's) clan, an honour never before bestowed to a human (although Eragon and Saphira suspect it's to also lay claim to him as a rider); Eragon ultimately accepts this honour, and is so taught knowledge of the dwarves that no outsider has ever before learned.  Eragon, Saphira, and Orik make their way to Ellesmera, the capital of the Elves, where Eragon learns that Arya is an elven princess (because of course she is), and that there is a rider of old still alive: the elf Oromis, and the gold dragon Glaedr.  The pair were injured by the Forsworn when Galbatorix destroyed the Riders of old; while they can no longer fight, they have been in hiding waiting to teach the next Rider.

While Eragon and Saphira are learning from Oromis and Glaedr, the book jumps to Eragon's cousin, Roran.  The Ra'zac have returned to Carvahall, this time looking for Roran.  Most of the village refuses to give him up.  When it becomes clear the Ra'zac and their soldiers aren't leaving, Roran and some of the other villagers decide to fight back.  The village comes under siege, and the villagers give as good as they get.  Unfortunately, during this time, Roran asked Katrina, the love of his life, to marry him.  He didn't do the proper thing and ask her father for his blessing first though (not that Sloan probably would have given it - Sloan didn't like Eragon and Roran's family).  Sloan finds out when he discovers Katrina in the group of women, children, and elderly who were going to hide in the Spine (he forbade her to go, but Roran asked her to anyway because he didn't want anything to happen to her - she only agreed if he agrees to never again ask such a thing of her again because her place is with him).  After basically disowning her, the Ra'zac attack that night and kidnap her; Roran and the other villagers give chase (even though Roran was wounded) and find that Sloan betrayed them to the Ra'zac in order to get his daughter back.  The Ra'zac, Slaon, and Katrina then fly away on the Ra'zac's fierce mounts.  In the aftermath, Roran convinces the villagers to abandon Carvahall to go seek refuge with the Varden in the South (he wants to both protect them and find Katrina, but he cannot do both if the villagers remain, especially knowing that more soldiers are on their way).  The majority are convinced. And so they go on a perilous journey first through the Spine, then South along the coast.

I'm not going to lie, when the book first changed view points to Roran, I was a bit annoyed.  But honestly, the siege of Carvahall and their journey South was really cool, and far more interesting than anything Eragon was up to.

The book also periodically switched to Nasuada's viewpoint.  The Varden had relocated to Surda as planned.  While Surda had given them what it could, the Varden were in dire financial straits; Nasuada ended up solving this problem by getting her magicians to manufacture cheap lace.  By selling it (both in Surda and the Empire), the Varden were able to fund their war efforts!

Nasuada's story also dealt with the child Eragon and Saphira "blessed" in the last book.  Eragon's blessing was said erroneously, and the child is now cursed to take on the pain of everyone around her.  She actually made herself grow up faster because as a baby she could do nothing.  It was very strange, but also pretty interesting.

Like with Roran, I wasn't exactly thrilled to read about Nasuada at first.  But her story also proved more interesting than Eragon's.  I'll admit it here: pretty much everyone in the book except Eragon (and honestly at times, even Saphira....I did not like her as much in this book) was more interesting than Eragon.

So while all that's going on, Eragon and Saphira are training (and Eragon is mooning after Arya, even though she has told him she's not interested.  I don't know how many times she's told him no and he keeps trying anyway after promising he won't.  I really hope he doesn't end up with her in the end!  Like geeze dude, no means no).  The book doesn't go into what Saphira learns like at all, but Eragon learns much (including reading and writing in the old language, which opens him up to much philosophy, and through meditation he learns to feel the minds of every living thing around him).  But during all of this, his back still pains him (and might be getting worse? I don't know, I really didn't get it beyond "magic").  But at an elven celebration, the magic of the dragons heals him and transforms him basically into an elf; his back is healed, he is stronger and more powerful than a human, and even his features become elvish.

Around this time, Eragon discovers that the Varden are going to be attacked by a massive army from the Empire.  After agreeing to return to finish his training when time permits, Eragon, Orik, and Saphira fly South to meet the Varden.  During the massive battle (where Roran's ship shows up in time, like I figured it would, lol), it's revealed that the Empire has a second dragon and Rider.  Eragon and Saphira fight them but are overpowered.  Eragon realizes that the other Rider fights in a familiar way; he manages to get the Rider's helmet off and discovers that it is Murtagh (shock!)!  Murtagh had been kidnapped by the Twins (who used the Urgals to kidnap him and kill Ajihad) and brought to Galbatorix.  One of the dragon eggs hatched for him, and so both Murtagh and his dragon were forced to swear fealty to Galbatorix in the ancient language (which binds you).  Murtagh reveals that he is (as I guessed) Eragon's brother.  He is in fact, the Eldest brother (lol, I'm not going to lie, it took me a bit to get it, lol).  After overpowering Eragon and Saphira (he has apparently learned crazy things from Galbatorix), Murtagh reveals that Galbatorix wants Saphira (Galbatorix and Murtagh's dragons are both male, as is the last remaining egg), Murtagh leaves, but warns Eragon that he will probably not be able to let them go should they ever meet again.

The book ends with Eragon getting over his shock that he is related to Morzan (the leader of the Forsworn) and telling Arya, and Nasuada what happened, Eragon is reunited with Roran (oops, forgot to mention that Roran single-handedly killed the Twins, who were rampaging around the battlefield).  The two, who agree they are more family than Murtagh and Morzan, agree to go rescue Katrina and kill the Ra'zac, thus avenging their father, Garrow.

While reading Eldest, I was repeatedly struck by how it isn't exactly a "good" book.  The writing (like in Eragon) is often clunky, being full of instances where things are told (this is particularly bad when someone says something, then it is told to someone else.  It happens all the time and is honestly quite annoying to read - couldn't there have been some way to make this more interesting, at least some of the time?)  The book also felt pretty preachy at times (this was particularly bad first when Eragon decides not to eat meat (I can't remember the exact line, but it was a patronizing "I won't look down on others for eating meat."  Yes you will, Eragon, that's what you always do), and when Oromis was explaining how the elves don't believe in gods, man did it sound kind of propaganda-ish while also seeming like they look down on anyone who does believe in gods).  And I honestly kind of hate Eragon.  He's constantly looking down on people in this thinly disguised veneer of pity, which gets especially pronounced once he's got the strength and reflexes of an elf (ugh, how he looked down on the Varden's magicians and how they struggled with things he now finds easy - again, his arrogance was hidden under a weird thin pretense of sympathy for them.  He's so patronizing and criticizing to Saphira.  I hate him so much!)

But overall, I did enjoy the book (when talking to a friend who has read it, I called it "mind candy" - you kind of just shut your brain off and enjoy the ride).  As I already said, I especially liked the stuff from the other characters' perspectives.  How Roran became the respected leader of Carvahall (while also becoming a scary berserker) was very interesting to read; I wish there had been more of his journey through the Spine and down the coast. After my initial displeasure of having the narrative shift to him or Nasuada, I quite looked forward to their chapters to see either what was happening with Carvahall or with the Varden's war effort (I honestly wish there had been a bit more of Nasuada).  I liked Oromis and Glaedr (the idea of war vet dragon and rider is super cool); I just wish we had gotten some chapters from their perspective.  Oh, and the Ra'zac are even cooler than I could have imagined: the humanoid ones who talk are the larvae, and their "flying steeds" are actually their parents.  That's so cool!!!!!  Apparently the parents are as smart as any dragon, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what they'll be like in action in the next book(s).

And while the stuff with Murtagh was largely predictable, I'm quite interested to see where it all leads; he's a fantastic character in a crazy position (being forced to join/serve the one person he absolutely hates) and I'm hoping he and his dragon, Thorn, can get free.

So now that Roran and Eragon are reunited, I'm honestly looking forward to seeing where the story goes from here!  I just hope the narrative doesn't stick with Eragon the entire time.

Eragon

I originally read Christopher Paolini's Eragon when it first came out, before the second book, Eldest, was even published.  At a guess, this was sometime in 2005, a few years before I started this blog.  So unfortunately I don't remember what exactly I thought of it (although I remember liking it well enough).  It was recommended to me at the time by a friend (we went to see the movie together, too).  I bought Eldest when it first came out, too, but decided not to read it because I knew the series was supposed to be a trilogy; at that time I decided I wanted to wait until book three came out before continuing on.  Then book three was split into two (much like what happened with Bruce Coville's Unicorn Chronicles; that seemed to be a trend in books at the time).  And since the books are so big (book 1 is about 500 pages), it was really hard to get myself to go back to them, especially knowing that I had to reread Eragon before getting to the newer books.  But thanks to the global pandemic that's happening right now, this seemed like a good time to actually go back and reread it.

Eragon is the story of a farm boy (? it's a weird distinction because he's first portrayed as a hunter) who finds a dragon egg.  The egg hatches, and he finds himself suddenly thrust into the larger world with enemies everywhere fighting to control him.  His only help is the storyteller, Brom, an older man who lived in Eragon's little village but has many secrets of his own.  Together the two of them head out on a quest of vengeance, with Brom doing everything he can to prepare Eragon for the larger world in which he's suddenly part of.

In a lot of ways, Eragon is very much the typical "boy from nowhere is actually the chosen one" kind of tale.  I'd even go so far as to say Eragon himself is a Mary Sue kind of character (his sword fighting progresses over a couple of months so he's now one of the best human sword fighters around! He's the youngest Dragon Riders to start using magic!  He learns to read in a week! He's destined for a great romance!  That sort of thing - I suspect he's also of noble birth...my guess is actually the second and unknown son of the King's second in command.  We'll see if I'm right).  He's also one of the most whiny teenagers imaginable.  Through the first half of the book he's honestly pretty unlikable (although I don't blame him from some of his frustrations - Brom in particular doesn't tell him things pretty much "just because" and it's annoying from a reading standpoint).

While I don't remember my thoughts on the book the first time around, I'm pretty sure Eragon annoyed me back then, too. Thankfully he's surrounded by far more interesting characters.  Saphira, the dragon, is a lot of fun.  Although she is much younger than Eragon, she's infinitely more wiser; plus she has a great sense of humour.  I also really liked Brom (outside of his "not telling you things just because" thing); he's a fun character who has no problem with gently making fun of Eragon so he learns.  (Now I don't know if it's because I read the book years ago and kind of remembered Brom's story, or if the writing was just super predictable, but I did know a lot of what Brom was keeping hidden - but that didn't detract from the story at all).  Murtagh, the random swordsman who helps Eragon and Brom and later becomes close friends with Eragon, is likewise a very intriguing character with a great backstory (I also loved his reasoning for refusing to submit to anyone entering his mind: "My mind is the one sanctuary that has not been stolen from me. Men have tried to breach it before, but I've learned to defend it vigorously, for I am safe with my innermost thoughts. You have asked for the one thing I cannot give, least of all to those two" (405)).  I would love to follow his story far more than Eragon's!

The other character of note is the elf, Arya.  She's most likely the great love interest.  I don't have much of an opinion on her at this point though since she hasn't done much but be rescued by Eragon and company, test Eragon's battle prowess, and help in the final battle of the book (which honestly ended up a bit weird - she stayed to get Saphira's damaged armor off while Eragon ran ahead....shouldn't Eragon have helped HIS dragon while the super powerful elf goes ahead?  Also, he kind of steals her kill (the shade) - she demanded it because of what he did to her).  I'm hoping she'll prove to be more interesting in the later books...

I also found the books villain, the Shade Durza, rather interesting as well (although he's not in it all that much).  He actually goes hand in hand with the really cool worldbuilding Paolini did for this book: the villains.  The main world has the typical elves, dwarves, dragons and men.  But the bad guys have shades (sorcerers who accidentally let spirits take over their bodies and become evil), a Dragon Rider who went mad after his dragon died (and took down the whole Order, declaring himself King/Emperor), the Ra'zac (who make me think of Skeksis), and the Urgals (who I suspect are just Orcs, but it still gives the world its own flavour).  Some very cool stuff going on here.

So while the first half of the book is kind of hard to get into (again, thanks to Eragon being a whiny kid who's inexplicably good at everything), by the end I did enjoy the story (thanks in large part to all the other characters).  Hopefully the momentum built up in the second half of Eragon carries through to book 2!

Divergent

The same friend who game me Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green game me Divergent and Allegiant.  Wanting something that I figured would be a bit more of a lighthearted romp after Dredd, I decided to give Veronica Roth's Divergent series a try.

And holy crap, Hunger Games!

Beatrice Prior lives in a society where everyone has to live in one of five factions.  When you turn 16, you are submitted to a test which shows you which of the five factions you have an affinity with, then you get to choose which faction you will join in adulthood (this actually confuses me - why do they have the test if you still get to choose where you go?)  There's Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent).  Beatrice's family is Abnegation.  So if Beatrice chooses to stay with Abnegation, she will get to stay with her family, but if she chooses another faction, she doesn't get to see them anymore (unless they show up on visiting day?) - your new faction is your new family.

So when Beatrice takes the test (which involves being plugged into a machine that gives you a few simulations), her results come back as inconclusive.  The lady administering the test, Tori, warns Beatrice that she is Divergent.  She tells Beatrice not to tell anyone, then logs the results manually as Abnegation.

So Beatrice is left knowing she is Divergent.  It's dangerous for some reason, and she can't talk to anyone.  So now she has to decide which faction to join, knowing that she doesn't quite fit into any of them (but that she has more affinity for three of the five).  Ultimately she chooses Dauntless; her choice is hard on her family (particularly her father) because her brother also chooses a different faction literally moments before she does. Arriving at Dauntless, she tells the people when she arrives that her name is Tris.  And so she is ready for her new life.

But life as a Dauntless Initiate is hard.  The Initiates will be ranked and only a set amount of them will be admitted into Dauntless' ranks; the rest will be turned away as factionless.  And the Initiates who grew up in Dauntless have a clear advantage when it comes to physical skills because they all grew up fighting and jumping onto and off of trains, while the other Initiates like Tris did not.  So the new ones need to work hard to get themselves up to speed if they want to survive and thrive in Dauntless.  And Tris gets the added bonus of trying to figure out what being Divergent means (and keeping it secret).

I know that this description doesn't really sound like The Hunger Games. But both The Hunger Games and Divergent are set in a dystopian future which has divided the population up.  The Hunger Games used sectors, based on where you live; Divergent uses factions, based on your personality.  Tris also reminded me of Katniss, as being this badass young girl who triumphs over crazy odds (huh, and who plays up the vulnerability at times that benefit her - lol that was a comparison I just realized while writing this).  Oh, and the physical part of the Dauntless initiation involves teens fighting each other until one of them can't fight any more - that really made me think of The Hunger Games or the movie Battle Royale but without the killing.


Tris' love interest is Four, the guy who is training the non-Dauntless initiates.  There was a big reveal about his identity that I'm sure you'll see coming a mile away.  But that was okay; I thought their relationship was pretty cute (and I liked how her fears of intimacy came up in the book).

They also had a hilarious exchange when talking about how one of the other Initiates hated Tris:

“'Peter would probably throw a party if I stopped breathing.'

'Well,' he says, 'I would only go if there was cake.'”

 I laughed so hard when I read that. 

So at the end of Tris's initiation day, rather than celebrating, the bad guys spring their plan.  The Erudite leader had developed a mind control serum that works on everyone except those who are Divergent (hence why Divergence was bad and Divergents were killed when they were identified).  A whole bunch of stuff happens: Four is a Divergent, Tris and Four are captured, Four gets subjected to a DIFFERENT mind control thing, Tris is going to be executed, Tris is saved by her mom, her mom is also Divergent, her mom dies, she is reunited with the rest of her family, they decide to stop the bad guys, her father dies, she fights Four, she saves Four, they stop the mind control, then they flee.  End of book.

I should also mention that this isn't exactly a light-hearted romp either: someone gets their eye stabbed, someone commits suicide, there's an attempted murder, and a whole bunch of people get killed at the end of the book.

In a lot of ways, this book is really silly.  I think that most people would be Divergent because we are all a mess of traits (although I understand how the factions might operate if people chose one and just tried to live up to those ideals buy failed some times, like how Tris' mom accuses her dad of being selfish, which is against the Abnegation philosophy).  The Dauntless spend a lot of time jumping on and off of trains (and somehow only one person dies from it in the book - shouldn't more of the non-Dauntless initiates have like broken their legs jumping off the train the first time?)  But despite all the silliness, it's fun.  I mean, the Dauntless jump on and off of trains!  Lol

So if you're looking for a fun read that you don't have to think too much about, I definitely recommend this book.  It's also a fast read: it's almost 500 pages long, but the type is big so I powered through it over two days. 

But that being said, I'm not at all interested in continuing.  I know lots of people loved this series, but I just don't think it's for me. :)

Emerald Green

*sigh* Time travel. 

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.  I just finished Emerald Green a little bit ago.  Like Sapphire Blue, Emerald Green picks up right where the story in the last book left off.  Thankfully Gwen has decided to stop moping over Gideon making her fall in love with him, so the plot can actually go somewhere in this book.  Gwen has the help of her best friend, Lesley, and the gargoyle demon Xemerius in the present to help her figure out what's going on, and her grandfather in the past.  Together they discover the hidden location of the missing chronograph (the one that Lucy and Paul stole years ago and hid in the past).  So now Gwen is able to travel back to the past unsupervised by the Guardians. Which she uses as much as she can to try to unravel the mystery of what exactly the Count Saint-Germain is up to!  Unfortunately time is not on their side, since the Count has a strict time table; he keeps sending instructions back to the modern Guardians through Gideon.  And the Guardians are not about to risk anything since they're so close to seeing the Circle of time-travellers closed!

Oh yeah, and in the middle of all this, Gwen and Lesley still need to fit in going to the birthday party that one of their classmates is throwing.

Okay, I'm going to add a spoiler warning here, because from here on out I will be ruining the ending of the book.  If you don't want to know what happens, please stop reading here.

So anyway, Gwen and Gideon complete the circle on the stolen chronograph (because Gideon's blood was all that was needed - Gwen's grandfather made sure her blood was added to it in the past so when they found it in the future she would be instantly able to use it).  They go about meeting with Lucy and Paul (who, surprise surprise, happen to be Gwen's real parents.  That was super obvious from the first book, but whatever) to try to outmaneuver the Count.  Everyone assumed that the Count had a modern day man on the inside of the Guardians Inner-Circle, but they come to the realization that wait, it could be the actual Count!  What if he was immortal in the past, and his immortality disappeared when Gwen was born?  (I don't know how that even makes sense, but whatever).  Gwen and Gideon still go to the preordained meeting with the Count in the past, where he drugs Gwen after Gideon is forced to leave (he was only invited for 15 minutes, while she had to stay 3 hours.  I thought that was stupidly suspicious, but whatever, he says jump and the Guardians ask how high).  She awakens in the present to discover the identity of the Count after he incapacitates the Guardian's doctor somehow (I don't really know or care how).  He is disappointed to realize that Gwen is up (I think he tried to poison her, but she's immortal so that didn't work).  He tells her to kill herself or he will kill Gideon when he shows up.  She doesn't so he shoots Gideon.  The doctor wakes up enough to knock the Count out somehow, then goes back to being incapacitated.  And it turns out Gideon used the stuff they got out of the chronograph when they completed the Circle so he's immortal, too.  Now the two of them (and Xemerius) can live out their days together forever.  The end.

Oh, and the butler at Gwen's house may be her younger brother.  Because time travel.

The end left me with so many questions.  If tons of people knew Gwen's destiny to be a time traveller, why didn't SOMEONE try to prepare her along the way.  I mean her grandfather knew.  And even the freaking Count knew because he was in the present but had met her in the past.  (Not that anyone admittedly cared what the heck she did in the past.  She sang a modern song at the soiree in Sapphire Blue and only Gideon was outraged, not the Count).  But seriously, why didn't her grandfather teach her history or something? 

Also, why did the prophecy say Gwen had to die?  If Gideon became immortal from using the stuff from the chronograph, why couldn't the Count have just used the other one, been immortal, and went to Brazil like he planned?  He could have done that and left everyone else alone in England.

Gwen changed the past in this book kind of heavily, too.  She had a ghost friend who haunted her school, who was alive during the ball the Count wanted her and Gideon to attend so badly (this ill-fated ball was actually where she time travelled to one of the first times and saw herself; she also gets fatally stabbed and realizes she is immortal).  She talks Gideon into going back in time (in the middle of way more important things, by the way.  They only have a few hour quota of time travel for the day before they feel like crap, so this really could have waited for another time), and inoculating her still-living friend (who doesn't know her back then) so he will not die of smallpox.  He goes on to live a happy life and never becomes a ghost.  Wouldn't that change history?  Like his house becomes the school when he is a ghost...how do we know it still would have?  *sigh*

I should note though that this book really annoyed me because it left out scenes and conversations I wanted to read in favour of stupid other scenes.  Like it cuts off when Gwen admits to Lucy and Paul that she knows they are her parents, and jumps to the stupid party scene which pretty much had no point.  It showed Charlotte (and the whole freaking party) getting drunk, and Gideon talking her into going home, but that was literally it.

So even though I have these complaints, I still enjoyed reading Emerald Green well enough (and I thought it was a whole lot better than Sapphire Blue because Gwen wasn't strictly thinking of Gideon for the whole book - as I already said, Emerald Green actually had some plot going on with Gwen a little more engaged in what was happening). There were some fun scenes with the rest of Gwen's family - her siblings, mom, and great aunt were great and all really loved her (and Mr. Bernard was always there for her as well).   I think this series is the type of thing that you really need to not think too hard about (otherwise it falls apart).  I'd call it fluff or mind candy; it's kind of a guilty pleasure sort of read, where you just go along for the ride.  That being said, the middle book of the trilogy is a real drag, and honestly a lot of people probably won't care for Gwen and/or Gideon.  You'll have to make up your own mind as to whether or not you want to read the Ruby Red Trilogy.

Sapphire Blue

Alright, so I'm continuing to power through the Ruby Red Trilogy.  Book two, Sapphire Blue, picks up right after Ruby Red ends. Gwen and Gideon had escaped from Paul and Lucy and were hiding out in a church when he kissed her.  They travel back to the present, and Gwen sees a gargoyle demon who takes an interest in her because she can see and hear him.  He pesters her and follows her back to the temple, and she finally accepts his presence if he'll agree to some ground rules.  So she ends up with a fun friend who can spy on people for her and help her find information, and he gets to talk to someone other than a ghost.

Gwen keeps getting sent back to elapse in a cellar (it's supposed to be a safe place where she gets to do her homework).  On her first trip back there, she meets her grandfather.  They devise a way to get in contact again in the future (and he agrees to look into something Lucy told her at the end of the last book).  On her next trip back, Gideon accompanies her (so she can't go looking for her grandfather); they end up making out.  Then Gideon becomes very cold and distant to her, which confuses, and ultimately angers Gwen (a lot of this book is waffling back and forth on their relationship because they don't really talk); Gideon later admits that on his last mission he saw a future version of her who may have led him into a trap.  Oh, and he's angry that she may be hiding something from him because he smells cigarette smoke on her when she comes back from elapsing (she met her grandfather).  They kind of forgive each other, then head to the 18th century to attend a soiree with the Count Saint-Germain.  Gwen is terrified of the count because of her first encounter with him (from Ruby Red), but he seems pleasant since they had a chat yesterday (it was a future meeting for Gwen, but in the past for the Count).  The soiree goes well enough (considering Gwen gets drunk and sings a future song for everyone, then later talks to a ghost because she's too drunk to realize he's a ghost), then she meets with the Count the next day.  He tells her women are dumb and easily pliable if they are in love, and that Gideon was instructed to make her love him.  She confronts Gideon about it and makes him admit that this is true.  Gideon tries to explain, but she leaves.  The book ends on a fight Paul got into in the past where he almost died, but got rescued by Gideon.  Paul implores Gideon to read some notes he has on the rest of the prophecy (and to ultimately save Gwen).

Like Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue is a very easy read.  But I did get annoyed at parts of it.  Like how Gwen finally realizes that the fact she can talk to ghosts is the Raven magic she's supposed to have (even though multiple people have told her the rhyme).  And as I mentioned, there's a lot of waffling about Gideon (which I get, that sort of thing totally happens in real life.  I just found myself getting annoyed about it because it kept going on. Plus it's not the most fascinating reading).  The Circle people keep excluding Gwen from things, driving her to discover more and more with her demon friend and best human friend Lesley.  The Circle seems to be misogynistic rather like the Count totally is, which was rather a shame.

Despite those flaws (which are largely plot-related), I still think the characters are fun (specifically a lot of the side characters).  I especially loved Xemerius, the demon gargoyle.  And Madam Rossini of course (she was fantastic in Ruby Red as well; I wish she was in the books a bit more).  I would have liked to see a bit more of James, the ghost at Gwen's school, but he took a backseat in this book (and was largely unnecessary because Xemerius was there). 

So two down and one more to go in this trilogy!

Ruby Red

A friend of mine gave me some books recently.  Among them were Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier, but not the first book in the trilogy, Ruby Red.  Luckily the library had it though, so I picked it up yesterday.  I started reading it in the evening after work...and nearly finished it last night (I had about twenty pages left to go, but decided sleep was a better plan at 3:30am rather than finishing it).  So today during my lunch break I finished it off. :)

Ruby Red is about Gwen, who moved with her immediate family into her extended family's house.  Everyone in the house knows that Charlotte, Gwen's cousin, has the time-travel gene and so is destined to be a time traveller.  So Charlotte is trained in history, languages, dancing, fencing and anything else she might need once her time-travelling gene kicks in around age sixteen or seventeen.  Gwen, being normal, is left out of all of the mystery.  But then on her way to the store, Gwen suddenly fades out of our time and finds herself in the past.  Suddenly she is forced into a life she is completely unprepared for (while her cousin is thrust out of the one she has been preparing for her whole life).

I liked the premise of Ruby Red, but at the same time I will admit it's a little odd.  Gwen's family knew that the time traveller would be born on a certain date (the date Charlotte was born on); Gwen's mother admits Gwen was actually born on that day too, but had the midwife switch the dates in the hopes that Gwen could have a normal life away from all of the family mysteries.  So when Gwen starts time travelling, Gwen is wholly unprepared for everything (beyond knowing the basics because she's overheard what is supposed to happen to her cousin).  Gwen's mother says she wanted Gwen away from the secret society that their family is part of, but everyone thinks it's weird that her mom didn't prepare her AT ALL for the possibility that she might start time travelling. And I agree, it does seem pretty weird, especially since her mom was super quick to get her over to the secret society as soon as she knew Gwen had started time travelling.  But whatever.  I'm pretty sure there are *reasons* beyond that as to why she didn't prepare Gwen (just like I heavily suspect Gwen's mother is not her *real* mother...)

Beyond that weird plot hole, Ruby Red is a pretty fun book.  Gwen gets partnered with Gideon, who thinks she's going to slow him down on his mission (and so is a bit of a stuck up ass to her at the beginning).  Their relationship sort of reminded me of the one between Agnieszka and the Dragon in Uprooted, which I also found rather fun.  Gideon himself seems to be a lot more than Gwen gives him credit for (just as Gideon admits at the end of the book that Gwen is not at all "normal," which he accused her of being at the beginning of the book - normal being boring and vapid, and not at all a compliment).

So after powering through Ruby Red, I'm quite excited to see where the story takes us in Sapphire Blue!

Ship Breaker

I was recently out of town for a few days.  I visited a bookstore and bought myself a couple of books there (it was a birthday present to myself!) When I got home I decided to give one of them, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, a read.

Ship Breaker caught my eye because of the premise.  It's climate fiction/dystopian, set in New Orleans after the polar ice caps have melted.  Nailer, the main character, is part of a light crew who goes into old ships and dismantles them; light crew take light things like copper wiring, while heavy crew will actually dismantle the steel etc. of the ship. One day Nailer discovers a beached clipper ship and is faced with the decision of whether to claim it as salvage, or rescue the wealthy girl who is its lone survivor.

It took a long time to actually get to Nailer finding the clipper.  First he had some adventures in the ship he was dismantling (he almost drowned in a pocket of oil on board the ship - that incident actually sets the stage for him even considering helping the wealthy girl rather than just claiming her ship as salvage).  Then once he makes his decision, the remainder of the book is Nailer dealing with the consequences of his choice (and largely trying to get away from his father, who is easily the scariest person in the entire book).  So the book kind of dragged a bit, but the climax was sufficiently entertaining (there was a fun boat chase!) that it was overall an alright read.

I also liked that even though the book centered around Nailer, a few other interesting characters were around a fair bit as well.  For the first part of the book, Nailer was usually with Pima; Pima was even with him when the clipper ship was discovered.  Nailer considered Pima and her mother to be more family to him than his own father, so a lot of what he did, he would be thinking about them too (and he had no intention of leaving them behind, no matter what decision he made).  For that reason, I thought Ship Breaker was a good story about the family we make, rather than the family we were born with.

I thought the worldbuilding in Ship Breaker was pretty great.  I liked how Bacigalupi imagined the area around New Orleans once the sea level has risen.  And also how the people like Nailer are able to make their meager living by salvaging ships (and how Nailer constantly appraised his surroundings for salvage - that was a nice touch).

An interesting note is that the next two books of the series follow Tool, an augmented man who is made with dog, hyena, and tiger genetics.  Tool was a far more interesting character than Nailer, (particularly because he is not bound into servitude like all the other augmented people are in this world) so I am tempted to keep reading the series to find out more about him.  If the rest of the series kept following Nailer, I would have been finished with it at the end of this book.