fantasy – Page 2 – Peaceful Reader

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander; #11

The Book of Three

Lloyd Alexander

(1964)

The Chronicles of Prydain was a favorite of one of my college professors. She ran the Library Science program at the time I was studying to be a teacher-librarian. Any time I see the series I think of her and because I’m taking a class on fantasy I decided to give it a try. I’ve no idea why it took me so long-it was a wonderful!

Synopsis:

Taran is bored with his assistant Pig-Keeper duties, even though his charge is none other than Hen Wen, Prydain’s only oracular pig. He’d rather be doing something more heroic, like making swords and learning to use them.
When Hen Wen escapes and Taran goes after her, he finds himself farther from home than he’s ever been. Soon he begins to realize that heroism is not easy task. With the dreaded Horned King on the loose and King Arawn gathering the forces of evil, Taran must look past his own dreams to warn the population of Prydain-before it’s too late.

I love how fantasy so easily transports me away to another land and this one did just that. I imaged trudging through the lands of Prydain with Taran, Eilonwy and Gwydion as they follow through with each quest and do battle with the Horned King. This one has very typical good vs. evil crisis but the characters bring it completely to life. Eilonwy is a natural rebel-always curious and never willing to just follow along. She is perfect example of a positive female character and she can do a little magic! I also love a hero who’s shy and humble and Taran and Prince Gwydion both have these characteristics. I’m anxious to read the next in the series, The Black Cauldron, to discover the next adventure awaiting Taran and Eilonwy.

Did every one else read this one in high school? Better late than never for me!

28 Days of Things I Love; #11

I love me some magical fantasy!

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship of Her Own Making

Official Website: Fairylandbook.com

Groovy Girl, Handsome Husband and I stopped for a ~~quick~~ library visit on Sunday. We found a few books and had fun wandering together. Groovy Girl and I had finished up the sixth Sisters Grimm the night before and she was anxiously scanning the Buckley section for the seventh. It was gone (gasp!) and the nice librarian at the desk put a hold on it for her.

In the meantime I scanned the new elementary fiction section for something inspiring and The Girl Who Circumnavigated... popped out at me on the shelf. Literally I think it moved a few inches out to attract me. My friend V and I had recently skyped with our three kids to talk books and this was one we discussed. She hasn’t been able to get it from the Little Rock Library and here it was popping off the shelf for me. I tucked it under my arm and hummed just a little.

Mind you, I haven’t finished it so this is not a review per se but Groovy Girl and I have read 4 chapters the last three nights and I’m in love with the writing. It reminds me of one of my favorite books, Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth. The main character’s name is September. She has conversations with the Green Wind, Latitude and Longitude, two witches named Goodbye and Hello and rides on the back of a flying leopard. And if that isn’t cool enough the language is thrillingly descriptive and beautiful.

It was difficult to choose just one but here is a sample:

The Leopard of Little Breezes yawned up and farther off from the rooftops of Omaha, Nebraska, to which September did not even wave good-bye. One ought not to judge her: All children are heartless. They have not grown a heart yet, which is why they can climb tall trees and say shocking things and leap so very high that grown-up hearts flutter in terror. Hearts weigh quite a lot. That is why it takes so long to grow one. but, as in their reading and arithmetic and drawing, different children proceed at different speeds. (It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else.) Some small ones are terrible and fey, Utterly Heartless. Some are dear and sweet and Hardly Heartless at all. September stood very generally in the middle on the day the Green Wind took her, Somewhat Heartless, and Somewhat Grown. And so September did not wave good-bye to her house or her mother’s factory, puffing white smoke far below her. (4)

and this from what we just finished with tonight…

The full moon shone jubilantly as September strode up over the dunes and into the interior of Fairyland with her belly full of witch-cake. She smelled the sweet, wheat-sugar of sea grass and listened to distant owls call after mice. And then she suddenly remembered, like a crack of lightning in her mind, check your pockets. She laid her sceptre in the grass and dug into the pocket of her green smoking jacket. [given to her by the Green Wind] September pulled out a small crystal ball, glittering in the moonlight. A single perfectly green leaf hung suspended in it, swaying back and forth gently, as if blown by a faraway wind. (38)

It is hard for me not to read ahead after I tuck her in…
Sweet Dreams.

Library Loot; A Quiet Trip to my Local

I ventured out yesterday with a small list of errands to do. I was on my own as Groovy Girl hadn’t even started cleaning her room she lost out on “getting to run errands” with me! One of my errands was to our local dairy for popcorn-yes, popcorn- and bleu cheese and she would have been able to get some farm fresh ice cream had she finished (or even started) cleaning her room. My errands were run solo and my library trip was quiet as I browsed the shelves. Sorry G.G.

Here’s what I found in the midst of all the beautiful library shelves:

1. Dirtall Pete by Eileen Brennen

2. Not All Princesses Dress In Pink by Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple

3. Mudkin by Stephen Gammell

4. Hogg, Hogg, & Hog by Margie Palatini

5. Follow the Line To School by Laura Ljungkvist

6. A Garden for Pig by Kathryn K. Thurman

7. The Queen of France by Tim Wadham

8. An Amber Cat by Hilary McKay

9. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin

10. A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

11. The Sisters Grimm Number 6 by Michael Buckley

The first seven were from the new picture book shelf-a must stop for both Groovy Girl and I. She opened the bag and read all the picture books right after I returned yesterday.

Numbers 8 and 9 are picks for a fantasy class I am taking through Fresno Pacific. I’m excited about the class but I was a lot disappointed that the syllabus included with my course materials was filled with old (classics) and no new fantasy when there are so many.

Groovy Girl and I finished up number 5 of The Sisters Grimm on Saturday morning and she was desperate to get the next one. This series really has a hold on my little princess girl!

I also found a very helpful young male librarian in the YA section who special ordered Crossed by Allie Condie for me!
Library Loot is hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair.

Let Them Eat Cake; Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

If you were only able to read one YA book this year, let it be this one.

Revolution

Jennifer Donnelly

2010

472 pages

Goodreads Synopsis:

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

My Thoughts:

I gushed about reading the first 5 chapters via Amazon in this previous post and after I picked it up from my library I couldn’t wait to get back to it. It didn’t disappoint me either. Andi is suffering from her little brother Truman’s death and she thinks about suicide more than once. Her pain felt real as she trudges back and forth to school, going through the motions and living for her music. Music played a huge role in this story and it made me curious about the various bands that are mentioned. Modern bands mixed with dead composers make an interesting mix. It should come with a CD.

This would have been a strong story on its own but adding the detail of Alex’s diary, locked in a secret compartment of a guitar case, and the fact that Andi becomes obsessed with it brought such surprising twists. Reading about Alex’s daring adventures to save Louis-Charles, the would-be king of England, help Andi to work through her own grief and frustration. She heals as she is transformed by Alex’s words.

I liked Virgil, Andi’s new love interest, who helps her to talk about her pain and he doesn’t give up-he’s like a positive beacon for her, even when she messes up. There are some creepy parts towards the end that had the hair on the back of my neck bristling away. I was reading it alone, late at night, while my husband was out of town-I scared myself silly. This was solid writing with very memorable characters. I’m pretty sure I know more about the French Revolution than I did before I read this! Thank you, Jennifer Donnelly!

I checked out another Donnelly book, A Northern Light, from the library today.

Jennifer Donnelly’s website

Other reviews of Revolution:

Random Musings
Nancy at Tales from a Ravenous Reader
Swoontini
SIDEBAR: I messed around with the HTML; trying to make a dotted box and I didn’t get a dotted box, I got white! Why can’t I have a brain for HTML…

Book Morsels

A morsel is a tasty bite of something…teasing you to try more or to say “no thanks” but it gives you an idea of what it’s all about. I have a backlog of books to review and the task is overwhelming what with homework, drama camps, and all the other fun things of summer getting in the way I thought this would be a perfect way to share the last four books I’ve read.

Tasty morsels-all delicious in their own way! They are in order as to how I read them not by my enjoyment level.

A Summer Affair by Elin Hildebrand (2008) 478 pages

I read this one on the beach-my first Elin Hilderbrand and I enjoyed her writing very much. This is a quick read about Claire, a young married woman, trying to keep it altogether on the Island of Nantucket. She has a nice home, a handsome husband and several terrific kids. She is asked to cochair an annual charity event which puts her in constant contact with the wealthy Lock Dixon and they have an heated affair. I liked Claire and her friend and sister-in-law, Siobhan, a caterer with her own marital problems. I enjoyed the back story of Claire’s life before she married Jason, which comes up as her first love, Matthew Westfield, is a huge rock star and has agreed to come back and play the Gala to help Claire out. Claire is an artist-a glass blower-and that was a very intricate part of the story and was interesting to learn about the delicacy of her art. I now have more Hildebrand on my to-read shelf!

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult (2008) 447 pages

My dear friend Jess in Little Rock introduced my to Picoult a few years ago and I’ve enjoyed most of her collection. This one is about a mother, June, whose husband dies unexpectantly leaving her alone with their young daughter, Elizabeth. June later marries Kurt, the police officer, who helped her out of the car wreck that killed her husband. And one day 5 years into the future June and Kurt are expecting a second daughter when Shay Bourne arrives to help them out of a construction mess. Picoult’s tales are complex and I’m not going to give you much more but the story is told through alternating voices; June’s, Michael’s, a young priest, Maggie’s, a ACLU lawyer-(my favorite character) and Lucius, a vibrant man with a few regrets. I thought the death penalty issues were well done and the whole mystical idea that Shay Bourne may or may not be Jesus was an interesting concept. This one was predictable though-I could see Kurt’s flaw pretty quickly but not a bad read.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman (2009) 196 pages

I loved this little book and sat right on my comfy sofa and read almost the whole thing in one sitting. Cried quite a lot. Has some similar themes to Before I Fall without all the mean girl stuff. This one has a cast of characters to love: Mia, her rock and roll family and Adam, the to-die-for-boyfriend. Mia plays the cello and loves classical music contrasting with her father who played drums in a hipster band and her boyfriend who plays in an alternative band. It has lots of musical references and I enjoyed Mia’s non-traditional family. This one is really well-written and I could easily read it all over again. Now I need to get my hands on the second one, Where She Went.

Fire by Krisine Cashore (2009) 461 pages

I am pretty darn excited to cross both of Fire and Graceling off my to-read list and I’m liked them both. Fire is about the Seven Kingdoms of which Cashore refers to in Graceling but does not continue Katsa and Poe’s story. That was a bit of shock to me but once I got past it I liked Fire just fine. After all it does say “companion to Graceling” not sequel to Graceling. Fire is a vibrant colored monster in the Dells born from a human mother and a monster (and cruel) father, Cansrel. Both parents have died and Fire lives in a small house on the estate of Lord Brocker and his son, Archer. There are some unrest issues in the kingdom and Fire is asked to come to King City to meet with Nash, the king and Brigan, his brother and commander of the king’s army. I like the world that Cashore has created. This one was very good. Click on the title to read my review of Graceling.

The Smarty Owl has a great full-length review on Fire that is worth reading.

I hope your week has been blissful and full of reading!

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

(2009)

Fantasy

471 pages

I just finished and am overwhelmed with how wonderful this book was to read. Cashore created a world of kingdoms ruled by kings where two people, Katsa and Po, meet and become friends in the truest sense. Both Katsa and Po are graced with a special talent far beyond what others can imagine. Katsa, orphaned at a young age lives with her uncle, King Randa, who has control over her and uses her killing grace to his advantage but through her own rebellious feelings she forms a council to right some obvious wrongs. On one of the council’s missions she meets Po, a prince from one of the seven kingdoms, and things begin to change in her world as Po teaches her that no man, especially Randa, can control her; that her control always lies within her.

I don’t want to go into detail as much of what was great about this book took me by surprise; points I don’t want to now hand to you, if you haven’t read it. I like fantasy and I thought Cashore built a believable world with very likeable characters. I liked how the characters from part one were not forgotten as I liked Raffin and Helda. I want to know more about Po’s family, Katsa’s decisions and Bitterblue’s struggles.

Last night we drove for two hours home from a music fest and I couldn’t put the book down, even though my head was nodding, begging for sleep and I was reading with a tiny book light. I woke up this morning, picked the book up again, read, made breakfast, read until I turned the last delicious page. I think I will probably be at the library when the doors open tomorrow morning to get Fire.

After Thoughts: I’m a little perturbed because I did some research about Fire, the “sequel” to Graceling and it’s about a different character and as much as I can gather does not further Katsa and Po’s story. (How many of you already knew this…?) I will still read it but am not racing to the library to get it.
I also read a few other reviews and want to comment. The whole relationship issue was believable to me…this is something many people grapple with today and marriage is complex. Can you marry someone and not feel a little “owned” even when you love that person? Yes, but it’s not always easy and the book makes that argument. Katsa and Po are not high school teenagers either and Katsa hasn’t had any positive guidance in this area either. She knows she doesn’t want someone to be in charge of her life. I think it is a worthy debate and thought the example of love was done well; showing depth from both characters.

I did think the book ended quickly but I didn’t think it let the story just drop off. I was ready to read about Katsa’s lessons with Bitterblue and Po’s journey home. I think Katsa and later Bitterblue offer strong female characters for readers and great examples of friendship and self-esteem exist in the book.
Find Kristin Cashore at her blog, This Is My Secret.
Find Graceling at an Indie Bookstore near you.

The Night Fairy

Laura Amy Schlitz

Angela Barrett, ill.

2010

117 pages

This elementary fantasy is a wonderful easy read for everyone who loves fairies, like we do at our house. My 8-year-old Groovy Girl makes fairy water every other day (or so it seems) with markers, lots of water, and tiny jars. The result is sparkly, multi-colored water (think pinks, oranges, sea green) by putting a small (picture the mess in my upstairs bathroom sink) amount of water into the teeny, tiny jars (mini marmalade jars), then sticking a marker tip into the water, and watch the color flow into the water. Magically, the marker is not permanetely damaged through this creative process. She sets these jars on her windowsill, for fairy purposes. I haven’t figured out why or what fairies do with this water…it just is what it is.

The Night Fairy is an adventure starring Flory, a young night fairy who at three monthes old has her brand-new, beautiful wings snapped off by a blundering bat, swooping through the night. She’s left in a sweet, gray-haired human’s backyard and has to learn how to survive without flying. Luckily, this human loves animals and is constantly putting treats out for the birds. Flory befriends a squirrel, Skuggle, who is always hungry and the two learn to help each other.

Flory was no longer alone. She felt that she had made a friend, though she wasn’t quite sure what friendship was. Skuggle was not the best of friends, because he would have eaten her if he could; also, he never talked anything but food. flory wasn’t the best of friends, either. She knew that if she had been able to fly, she wouldn’t have bothered with Skuggle. She was using him. All the same, after she struck her bargain with Skuggle, she was less lonely. (32)

She finds other animals along the way; both friends and foes, even helping a hummingbird escape a spider. She uses her mind and her limited use of magic to defend herself and find out more about the world around her. This imaginative little book is filled with great adventures that many fairy-loving young humans will love. The end of the story paves the way for, hopefully, more escapades with Flory. Flory would probably love to live in my daughter’s room with all the fairy water there for her.

Laura Amy Schlitz won the 2008 John Newbery award for her book Good Masters, Sweet Ladies!

The Night Fairy website.
Planet Esme’s review.
Green Bean Teen Queen predicts it as a Newberry Dark Horse winner.

Linger by maggie stiefvater

What a beautiful cover, holding together a breath-taking story. I read it quickly over the course of one weekend, snuggled in my bed. Now I have to wait a long time for Forever to arrive-it will seem, well, like forever!

Good Reads Synopsis:

In Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

My thoughts:

I had no idea what Stiefvater had planned for Grace and Sam in this second installment but I hoped it wasn’t just lovey stuff. It wasn’t and in fact the direction it took was so perfect because it involved Grace’s parents, who were never around much in Shiver. Her parents, in classic parental form, decide to ban Sam from her life, which doesn’t work. Never does. All of this could be quite cheesy love stuff but in Stiefvater’s hands it is brilliantly written. Extremely poetic and one chapter leads to another and another until you’ve devoured it all.
The story, like Shiver, is told in alternating point-of-view between Grace, Sam, Cole and Isabelle, changing sometimes right in the middle of a chapter and this worked really well. I despised Cole’s character and fell more in love with Isabelle, making their attraction an interesting combination. Grace and Sam weathered their storms, but not easily and I’m now quite anxious to read Forever, #3 in The Wolves of Mercy Falls. As a former Minnesotan I can relate to the setting and think she’s portrayed the cold, the seasons and the landscape so well. If you haven’t picked up this series yet-I highly recommend it, even if your not from Minnesota.

Random Quote: ” Later, I thought of the things I could have added to the list of resolutions, things I’d wanted back before I realized what being a wolf meant for my future. Things like Write a novel and Find a band and Get a degree in obscure poetry in translation and Travel the world. It felt indulgent and fanciful to be considering those things now after reminding myself for so long that they were impossible.” (27-Sam)

Other reviews:

See Michelle Read reviews it and has some good points.

Read Presenting Lenore’s review.

Beets, Beautiful Beets!

Beets are a favorite root vegetable here at this house. I know this is rare. I have other friends, even farmer’s market-type friends, who turn up their noses at the lovely beet. The beet is nice and simple. I roast them with their skins on, olive oil drizzled, just enough so they don’t stick to the Corning Ware dish. The outer skin just rubs right off except you are trying to get it off while they are steamy hot! Once I get them peeled I sprinkle with some sea salt and serve them piping hot. Sometimes a small dollop of sour cream adds to the eating experience. We’ve been eating them frequently as they were easy to find at our last remaining markets.

Beets and Jitterbug Perfume go hand-in-hand. I started rereading Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins this week for my fourth book in the 451 Challenge, which finishes up at the end of November-I’m in a bit of a book-reading crunch as I have to catch up by two books (The Everafter and A Curse Dark as Gold) for my long distance book club and have to read My Abandonment by Peter Rock for my other book club. I hope to get all four of these books done before Thanksgiving.

This book has been one of my favorites since I read it the first time in my early twenties. I’ve read most of Tom Robbins books and his other’s are good but this one takes the cake or well, the beet! It is a love story that transcends the normal confines of time and place. It entertwines several lives, including a few mythical characters, from New Orleans, Seattle and Paris and they all come together over perfume, immortality and beets. Yes, beets.

From the beginning:

The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.

and another three paragraphs about the wonderul characteristics of beets!
The beet is unusual for sure and Robbins’ choice of this blood red veggie adds much charm as the beet is a character in this novel as much as any other.

Are you a lover of the lusty beet?
Have you read any Tom Robbins?

This post is connected to Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
Here’s a great post about the nutritional value of beets at The Lunch Box Bunch.

The Sorceress

by Michael Scott

(2009)

488 pgs.

My son and I picked up The Alchemyst; The Secrets of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2007) from a book store-he was in middle school at the time and still enjoyed reading the same thing as me- we devoured it pretty quickly. Eventually we also read The Magician and then The Sorceress. My son finished it oh, like a year ago and it has been resting peacefully on my tbr bookshelf just waiting for me. It was a great book to kick off October as it would be so much fun to be Perenelle Flamel for Halloween.

Nicholas and Perenelle have been married for centuries, which reminds me always of one of my favorite reads, Jitterbug Perfume, which also features a couple who beat the whole aging trick. I need to reread Jitterbug for another challenge and I think it will fit perfectly on the heels of this one. I thought when I was reading this one that it was the end of the series-fantasy books often come as a trilogy but as I researched Michael Scott for another post I discovered he has another one out with perhaps two more in the works. Wow!

Synopsis:

     Nicholas Flamel’s heart almost broke as he watched his beloved Paris crumble before him. The city was destroyed by Dee and Machiavelli, but Flamel played his own role in the destruction. Sophie and Josh Newman show every sign of being the twins of prophecy, and Flamel had to protect them and the pages from the Dark Elders.

     But Nicholas grows weaker with each passing day. Perenelle is still trapped in Alcatraz, and now that Scatty has gone missing, the group is without protection. Except for Clarent-the twin sword to Excalibur. But Clarent’s power is unthinkable, its evil making it nearly impossible to use without its darkness seeping into the soul of whoever wields it.
     If he hopes to defeat Dee, Nicholas must find an Elder who can teach Josh and Sophie the third elemental magic-Water Magic. The problem? The only one who can do that is Gilgamesh, and he is quite, quite insane.

Here is a snyopsis of The Alchemyst to catch you up:

The Alchemyst is a contemporary fantasy which opens in modern day San Francisco when brother and sister, Josh and Sophie discover that the owner of the bookstore where Josh works is the immortal French alchemist, Nicholas Flamel. Flamel and his wife, Perenelle, are the guardians of the Book of Abraham which they have protected for centuries. This is a collection of the most powerful spells in the world. When Dr John Dee discovers the Flamels’ whereabouts, he attacks and snatches the book. Josh and Sophie intervene to help Flamel, but now they too are being hunted by Dee and creatures that predate humanity.

All of the main characters in The Alchemyst series are based on figures from history or mythology.

It is the last sentence that makes this series come alive for me. Discovering and researching the real characters mixed into the fantasy tale make it very intriguing. The Sorceress especially brought to life some characters (name-dropping…Shakespeare, for example) which add to the overall excitement. If I found myself between the pages of this book I would love to meet Shakespeare-maybe not many of the other characters, but Shakespeare, yes! It would be a blast to be Sophie or Josh and discover all these amazing new talents although they do come with a very heavy price. This book like Harry Potter and Charlie Bone will make kids wish for a magic wand that really works-in this series Josh gets to use a famous ancient sword that he commands. This is a very well-written series and I hope to read The Necromancer in a more timely fashion!! Oh, the fun of living in a fantasy world! Michael Scott is somewhat of an expert on Celtic folklore and I would love to read more of his large body of work. Counts for Reading from my own Shelves Challenge hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. I plan on placing this book gently back on my son’s bookshelf-which are fairly empty compared to mine.

(4/5 peaceful stars)

Michael Scott’s website

Caroline from A Portrait of a Woman review

Purchase it here: Shop Indie Bookstores