The Golden Cat

Title: The Golden Cat

Author: Gabriel King

Publisher: Ballantine Books (1999)

Genre(s): Fiction, Fantasy

Length: 350 pages

Synopsis:  King returns to the high-fantasy world of cats he created in the prequel, The Wild Road.  The world is different now, following the final confrontations of the prequel.  The King and Queen of cats are tending to their three golden kittens and Tag is settling into his role as Majicou, the powerful guardian of the mystical paths that run across the world, binding past and present in the infinite soul of the Felidae.  Not all is well, however.  Something foul stalks the wild roads, turning them sour, forcing them to take where they should give.  Sealink, returning to her birthplace in New Orleans, finds that a city once full of dreamy-eyed cats has become hostile and barren, ruled over by the vile queen Kiki la Doucette.  When kittens begin to disappear, Tag must step into his role as guardian and act, but how?  How can he fight an enemy he cannot find and cannot see, an enemy he thought had been defeated?

My Rating: 4 Stars

My Opinion: 

High fantasy is not easy to write, and to find high fantasy as lyrical and whimsical as this is always a treat.  Cats seem to offer a particular window on the cosmos, and King has turned that to his purpose quite ably.  The tale blends magic and science, deities and daily life to create a world that is at once totally alien and completely recognizable.  After all, who knows what our companion felines are really thinking as they stare into the dust motes in a shaft of sunlight?  But though they exist in a world of their own, these characters are quite relatable.  Their sense of humor brings jokes even humans can appreciate, and the terror and longing of a cat is as painful and terrible as our own.  Very occasionally, the language of the story seems to become overly enamored of its own elegance, but it never descends into melodrama.  Anyone looking for a change in the usual high fantasy wands-and-wizards would appreciate the world of unlikely heroes King has created here.

Divergent

Title: Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books (2011)

Genre(s): Young Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, Post-apocalyptic Fiction, Dystopian Fiction

Length: 487 pages

Synopsis:  Of all the five factions, Beatrice is sure that her parents' faction, Abnegation, is where she least belongs.  Soon, though, she will have to make a choice.  Does she dare do what so few Abnegation children have done, and leave her family behind forever?  When the tests meant to guide her choice leave her with more questions than answers and with tensions between factions growing every day, Beatrice doesn't know where to turn.  Is she brave enough to walk away from Abnegation?  Is she selfless enough to stay?  She has only  one chance and only one choice.

My Rating: 4 Stars

My Opinion:
This felt to me like a slightly grittier version of The Hunger Games.  I say grittier because unlike so many novels that have teens battling it out in physical confrontation, these kids hurt.  They don't have the slick skills that let them easily excell and every inch must be earned.  I liked Tris and how her character grows and expands and feels and thinks throughout this story.  She doesn't have it all together; she's scared and selfish and cruel as often as she's kind and brave and caring, just like so many of us.  She isn't perfect, but she does what she has to.  Nonetheless, the last quarter or so of the story spirals quickly beyond the scope of the individual, setting Tris not only against herself and the immediate threats of faction life, but also the political upheaval and turmoil of her futuristic city.  It felt like the final confrontation came too fast to me and that it was relatively easily resolved, though of course there's plenty still to be told in the sequel, Insurgent.  It's always hard to set a single individual against an entire power structure, and though it may not be entirely effective here, neither is it quite the same as the obvious parallel, The Hunger Games.  This still feels more personal, and I'd like to see it stay that way in the next book.  Roth's characters are her strength, but with such sweeping plot possibilities, I fear she might sweep them right away.

If You Liked This Bestseller, Then...

 When a book hits the top of the bestsellers' lists and decides to stay there a while, chances are people will hear about it.  When people hear about it, it gets read.  This, of course, is great for all involved.  Really wonderful books get discovered that way.  But there are some real gems that no one ever hears about, books that, in my humble opinion, deserve just as much attention and readership.  To that end, I've decided to pick a few of the big name, easily recognizable blockbusters of the literary world and let you know about a few of the unsung heroes that have quite a bit in common with them.  If you're looking for an excellent read, these are a few good places to start.

If you liked the Harry Potter Series, try:

The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Darkhenge by Catherine Fisher

Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Coville

If you liked the Lord of the Rings, try:

The Paradise War by Stephen Lawhead
The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia McKillip
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

If you liked The Hunger Games Trilogy, try:

Unwind by Neil Shusterman
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve
Airborne by Kenneth Oppel
Feed by M. T. Anderson
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

If you liked Twilight, try:

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Firethorn by Sarah Micklem
The Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

If you liked The Da Vinci Code, try:

Codex by Lev Grossman
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
A Bone from a Dry Sea by Peter Dickinson
The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh

Happy Reading!

Such Wicked Intent

Title: Such Wicked Intent

Author: Kenneth Oppel

Publisher: Simon and Schuster (2012)

Genre(s): Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Length: 310 pages

Synopsis:  Nothing has turned out as Victor Frankenstein expected.  His failure to create an alchemical Elixir of Life leaves him devastated, and in the wake of the tragedy he agrees with his father that the entire alchemical library created by their ancestor, Wilhelm Frankenstein, must be destroyed.  And yet, in the ashes of the burned books, he discovers a slim metal box that contains an apparatus designed to speak with the dead.  Despite his promises never again to dabble in such arts, Victor cannot help himself.  He has too many unanswered questions.  That devices is only the beginning, however.  From possession to resurrection, Victor finds himself once again involved in something far beyond his expectations.  But this time, he vows, nothing will go wrong.

My Rating: 4 Stars

My Opinion:
Overall, I quite liked this book.  It picks up where its predecessor left off and continues the adventures of the Frankenstein teens and their friends.  It's more fantastical than the first in this series, and though I quite like that in general, it seems odd for a series that was so strictly scientific to begin with.  The plot was engaging and much more mysterious and diabolical than I was expecting, pleasantly so.  However, the stories, supposedly prequels to Mary Shelley's great work, are beginning to feel episodic.  I understand Victor's youthful impetuousness and eagerness to learn new, ever more powerful means of controlling the world around him, and yet... that only lasts for so long.  There's a sense of a greater purpose and more meaningful adventure lurking in the future, but on its current trajectory, I'm not certain the series will reach that goal.

The Silver Bowl

Title: The Silver Bowl

Author: Diane Stanley

Publisher: Harper (2011)

Genre(s): Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy

Length: 307 pages

Synopsis:  Molly's mother went mad and her father's a drunkard.  She's not even a little surprised when, at seven years old, her father decides to ship her off to the king's castle to work as a scullery maid.  What does surprise her are the visions that occasionally possess her, shocking visions of death and destruction that always come true.  Before her arrival at the castle, there was no way for Molly to know when the visions would strike, but when she's promoted to silver-polisher, she discovers that simply polishing a particular silver bowl brings them on.  These aren't any ordinary visions though.  They all pertain to the royal family, and none of them are good.

My Rating: 3 Stars

My Opinion: 

This is a well constructed little story.  It's got all the elements it should: rather appealing characters, logical character development, a decent plot.  And yet, unlike Molly's silver, it just doesn't shine.  The setting is a bit odd: fictional kingdoms with fictional geography (not to mention magic), and yet there are still somehow mentions of ancient Greece, Rome, and Persia.  It doesn't feel as fully imagined as it might, especially given that the underlying structure is sound.  Though there's nothing really wrong with this book, I don't see it shooting to the top of anyone's favorite book lists or the bestsellers' list either.

The Hobbit

Title: The Hobbit

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Publisher: Mariner Books (2012)

Genre(s): Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Classics,

Length: 276 pages

Synopsis:  "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."  Thus begins a grand adventure with the most unlikely of adventurers at its center.  Bilbo Baggins, the humblest of hobbits, meets with goblins, dragons, dwarves, wizards, and elves in his journey "there and back again."  Danger awaits at every turn, and Bilbo knows that if he ever makes it back to his hobbit-hole in the Shire, he will never be the same again. 

My Rating: 5 Stars

My Opinion:
I don't need to shape anyone's opinion about this book.  I couldn't hope to, at this point, more than 70 years after it was written, in the wake of an enormous movie franchise and with legions of fans more numerous than the goblins of the Misty Mountains.  But I have an opinion, and might as well share it.  What struck me most about this rereading was the language.  This was, actually, the first time I've read the book for myself.  It was read to me as a young child, and I loved it.  Now, reading it myself, it somehow seems even more special.  The conversational tone of the narrative and poetic language are reminiscent of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series (which makes sense as the two authors were friends and the books were written for the same audience around the same time).  But what strikes me most is how special this particular tone is now.  There's no way a book like this, with its paternal, articulate tone, could be written today.  It would come across, at best, as pretentious or condescending.  We don't talk like this anymore.  We can't get away with the second person point of view Tolkien often uses, as if he were sitting beside the reader telling the story himself, just as he originally did with his own children.  It adds something to The Hobbit that couldn't work in The Lord of the Rings.  Where that series is, in the truest sense of the word, an epic, The Hobbit is fanciful, endearing, and, in an odd way, fragile despite its timelessness.  It's unique and irreplaceable.  Thankfully, I don't think we'll ever have to worry about it going out of style.

This Dark Endeavor

Title: This Dark Endeavor

Author: Kenneth Oppel

Publisher: Simon and Schuster (2011)

Genre(s): Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Length: 298 pages

Synopsis:  The wealthy Frankenstein family lives in a grand chateau in Geneva, and in the eighteenth century, the latest heirs of the family name, sixteen year old twin brothers Konrad and Victor Frankenstein, the sixteen-year old twin sons of the Frankenstein dynasty, live an almost idyllic lifestyle.  They share their home, a vast chateau in Geneva, with doting parents and a distantly related cousin, Elizabeth, who was adopted into the family after being abandoned by her own.  The tranquility of their lives is shattered, however, when Konrad falls dangerously ill.  No medicine seems able to help him, and, in desperation, Victor turns to the secret library of alchemical texts he discovered in a secret basement of the chateau.  His research unearths an Elixir of Life that could hold the answer to saving his brother...provided, of course, it works.  But alchemy is dangerous, illegal in Geneva and taboo in the Frankenstein household.  How far is Victor willing to go with his endeavors, and to what end?

My Rating: 4 Stars

My Opinion: 

Dark endeavors indeed!  A prequel of sorts to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this novel is a quick but disturbing read.  The film rights have already been purchased, and with Oppel's knack for cinematic action sequences, abrupt plot twists, and vivid description, it has the potential for a rollicking big-screen debut.  The downside to this fast-paced, plot driven adventure is a somewhat unlikeable protagonist.  Victor is entirely believable as a sixteen-year-old boy, but by the same token, his occasionally erratic, often dangerous behavior is disturbing.  For readers, being shepherded through the story by an increasingly unreliable narrator is somewhat akin to the situations Victor's family members find themselves in as his single-minded quest begins to unfold.  The real question is what motivates this disturbed young man, which Oppel unfurls beautifully.  He is an identical twin with, he feels, everything to prove; the conflicting desires to maintain the status quo and to set himself apart from his brother.  The result?  A young man who is, rather frequently, quite scary.  This Dark Endeavor sets Victor on a twisting path down which he will continue in the book's sequel, Such Wicked Intent.  I must admit, I think it will get worse for Victor before it gets better, if, indeed, it ever does.