Graphic Novel Reviews: Courtney Crumrin and The Night Things by Ted Naifeh and Good As Lily by Derek Kirk Kim

Paperback, 128 pages
Published September 8th 2003 by Oni Press
Source: Library

Synopsis:
Presenting the initial Courtney Crumrin miniseries in a new digest-sized format. Courtney’s parents have dragged her out to a high-to-do suburb to live with her creepy Great Uncle Aloysius in his spooky old house. She’s not only the new kid in school, but she also discovers strange things lurking under her bed.

Review:

Courtney Crumrin  and the Night Things is the first volume in a rollicking fun series featuring an anti-heroine and a witchy uncle. There is also a creepy house involved and for good measure, parents with aspirations of climbing the society ladder. The graphic novel is quick paced and well-drawn with a sympathetic heroine and an enjoyable cast of side characters. It is not very predictable and while it does play into the trope of the lonely young teenage girl in some ways, it is very different. And really, Courtney is just a fun character to cheer on. Grumpy face and all. Recommended.

Paperback, 176 pages
Published August 1st 2007 by Minx
Source: Library

Synopsis:
A strange mishap on her eighteenth birthday causes Grace Kwon to be confronted with herself at three different periods in her life–ages six, twenty-nine, and seventy–while she and her friends struggle to save a crumbling school play.

Review:

I really do feel that this graphic novel has been misnamed. While “Lily” does have a role in this novel, it is a minor one and the title is misleading. The graphic novel however is fun and interesting. It presents an impossible premise made all the more fascinating because of its fantastic nature. Grace, the teenager, is faced by three versions of her: the 6 year old, the 29 year old and the 70 year old. What follows is a look at how Grace, in all her reincarnations, is dissatisfied with life and how her actions as a teenager affects the people she is going to be and the child she was. It’s a pretty interesting novel, despite the medium and its brevity. I recommend it.

Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun (review)

Paperback, 377 pages
Expected publication: June 25th 2013 by Harlequin Teen
Source: Net Galley

Synopsis:
I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe. I reached for it, flipping the page over to look.

Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench.

A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness.

And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they’ll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.

Review:

Anyone who is a fan of Jpop/Jdrama/Manga will find the setup of Ink really familiar. Except, in this case, the main character is a foreigner. A “gaijin,” as authors seem fond of saying. I am not saying I understand the context the word is used in in Japan but in Fiji, when we said the word equivalent to “gaijin,” it really wasn’t in a complimentary tone. Anyway. Katie Greene finds herself in Japan after the death of her mother. She’s a stranger among people who do not look like her, speak her language or act in a manner she’s familiar with. Then she happens on arguably the most gorgeous boy in school breaking up with his girlfriend in a very callous manner and she is fascinated. Yes, I am still wondering about that but more on that later.

I recently wrote a research paper on cultural appropriation in children’s literature – it is not something that is generally discussed. At all. I plan on changing that. But my point is, I am sensitive to issues of cultural appropriation but unlike in Stormdancer, I felt that the author respected the culture she was writing about and used the language appropriately without trying to redefine words and traditions to suit her ambitions where the plot of the novel was concerned. Somewhat. I felt that she researched her topic and skillfully wove some of that research into the narrative. Somewhat. I want to give credit where its due so I will say that it was handled with a lot more finesse than in the other book I mentioned. That said, there were more subtle and equally problematic discourses in the subtext of this novel.

First are the threads of post-colonial discourse implied in the novel. Katie Greene is white and shown to be “superior,” because she’s the one who will be deciding the course of the novel. She’s the one who comes in from outside and is somehow more important than all the natives combined. Yeah. No. Her refusal to care about the traditions gradually peters away to her accepting the culture and she does accept Japanese “culture” as the author defines it but that, too, is problematic.

There are several times in the novel when Katie speaks of “shame” in her interactions with Hiro. I don’t understand what she means by shame – unless she is insinuating (and thus creating the Oriental woman) that since she has absorbed the Japanese culture, she is reacting as Japanese women are usually portrayed as doing (submissive, timid, timorous, you get the idea) which doesn’t make sense because she has been brought up in North America and there is no way she has completely assimilated in the Japanese culture in a matter of months. Apart from exoticizing women, this is problematic for the feminist in me.

I also found it extremely bizarre that Katie was accepted so wholly by the friends she doesn’t really treat very well. Anyone who has any sort of familiarity with Japanese culture will know that your peers will not accept you without question or without hesitation and reservation – more so in a culture so emphatically closed off. Katie is also a bit of a Mary Sue. There are three boys extremely interested in her and she chooses the dangerous one, of course. There is barely any character development. Katie goes on vacation with her one friend just so that friend’s brother can move the plot forward by revealing some information. The brother remains a cardboard character.

Katie makes all these proclamations but the one I found most ridiculous was one that occurred on the vacation where she hears the name “Amaterasu” and her “blood runs cold.” Like really? She knows nothing about this goddess, there has been no information or world-building and why would the name of a goddess make her blood run cold? It’s bizarre how everything is all about her. Katie seizes the notion that she is somehow part of this “kami” culture or population even though her obvious foreignness makes it impossible. This unexplained connection is used to delineate Katie’s special snowflake status and is reiterated (usually by Katie) once and again.

The mythology could have been fascinating if handled more deftly than it unfortunately was. The romance is troubling because Katie does not consider that this boy broke up with his girlfriend seconds earlier in a notsonice way. The ex-girlfriend’s absence is also puzzling because considering the manner in which they broke up, I’d think the ex would have some bones to grind with Hiro. The ending has the most ridiculous cliffhanger I have ever come across and rather than make me want to read the next book, it made me roll my eyes and swear “never again.”

I went into this book with great expectations. I expected it to be good. It was researched acceptably where daily life and traditions are concerned. However, the novel is extremely unconvincing in its creation of a mythology that buoys the novel. The main character is entirely unlikable and the subtext is problematic. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Spirit and Dust (Goodnight Family #2) by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Hardcover, 1st Edition, 304 pages
Published May 14th 2013 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Library

Synopsis:
Daisy Goodnight can speak to the dead. It’s not the result of a head injury or some near-death experience. She was just born that way. And she’s really good at it. Good enough to help the police solve the occasional homicide.

But helping the local authorities clear cold cases is one thing. Being whisked out of chemistry class by the FBI and flown to the scene of a murder/kidnapping in Minnesota? That’s the real deal.

Before the promotion can go to Daisy’s head, she’s up to her neck in trouble. The spirits are talking, and they’re terrified. There’s a real living girl in danger. And when Daisy is kidnapped by a crime boss with no scruples about using magic—and Daisy—to get what he wants, it looks like hers is the next soul on the line.

Review:

          Rosemary Clement-Moore is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. While I have not loved all her books, I have liked them all and found in them a joie de vivre that works so well for me. Her protagonists are always so spunky and even when they have their share of insecurities and flaws, they are always easy to relate to and likeable. I remember Daisy from the Texas Gothic and I remember thinking that she had a colourful character about whom I wouldn’t mind reading more about. I got my wish in this book as Daisy sets off on an adventure that could rival Katniss’s trials and tribulations in the games arena.

Being a Goodnight, Daisy has seen more than her share of things that other, more mundane, people would write off as crazy. She is a consultant for the FBI, using her considerable supernatural powers to help them find murderers and other elements from the criminal world. The novel is fast paced and thrilling as things go from bad to worse when Daisy is kidnapped by what seems like a mob boss and then partnered with his son to find his missing daughter. What follows is a whirlwind race from one state to another, stealing cars and avoiding capture by not just the bad guys but the FBI.

Carson, the love interest, is so delicious. He is smart and witty and absolutely fun to read. But it’s Daisy who won my heart. She is practical and not given to moaning and whining. Even when things are not going her way which is most of the time. She doesn’t make any stupid decisions that make me want to pound my head against a wall and despite her attraction to Carson, she doesn’t let all the feels consume her and distract her from the primary purpose of her mission – to find the mob boss’s daughter so he can remove the geas from her.

I would have liked to see more Goodnights but the two we have are more than enough. And the plot is rather more complicated than one would have thought it to be with secret agendas and motivations holding sway. We get a glimpse of the lengths a person can go to for power and how a person’s desire to do good can be twisted and utilized to commit actions that would have the opposite effect.

I loved this book a whole lot and if you are looking for something thrilling and wondrous, this is for you. If you dislike the cover on the hardback, the paperback has the beautiful original cover. Get it, read it and enjoy it.

Outcast by Adrienne Kress (review)

Paperback, 324 pages
Published May 16th 2013 by Diversion Books
Source: Net Galley

Synopsis:
After six years of “angels” coming out of the sky and taking people from her town, 16-year-old Riley Carver has just about had it living with the constant fear. When one decides to terrorize her in her own backyard, it’s the final straw. She takes her mother’s shotgun and shoots the thing. So it’s dead. Or … not? In place of the creature she shot, is a guy. A really hot guy. A really hot alive and breathing guy. Oh, and he’s totally naked.

Not sure what to do, she drags his unconscious body to the tool shed and ties him up. After all, he’s an angel and they have tricks. When he regains consciousness she’s all set to interrogate him about why the angels come to her town, and how to get back her best friend (and almost boyfriend) Chris, who was taken the year before. But it turns out the naked guy in her shed is just as confused about everything as she is.

He thinks it’s 1956.

Set in the deep south, OUTCAST is a story of love, trust, and coming of age. It’s also a story about the supernatural, a girl with a strange sense of humor who’s got wicked aim, a greaser from the 50’s, and an army of misfits coming together for one purpose: To kick some serious angel ass.

Review:

I just finished this book and I would like to take a moment and sigh. Yes, sigh because this was a good book and it hit me in all the right ways in all the places. I wish I didn’t have to speak about it because it is the kind of good that you want to keep to yourself. To savour it because somehow speaking about it brings home the point that it’s over and it’s gone and just, the story is done. I think it’s a standalone and for once I wish it wasn’t. I wish it was a series. Please let it be a series.

I read Adrienne Kress’s debut and while I found the characters engaging, the plot didn’t much do it for me and so I didn’t finish it. For that reason, I was understandably wary about her sophomore work but the title is intriguing as is the synopsis and so when it popped up on Net Galley, I jumped on it. Also, Ashleigh Paige seemed to enjoy reading it and I was craving something YA-ey, so I thought, hey, read it, you have a two hour commute! So I did. Useless ramble aside, you guys, this book is fantastic.

It’s an angel book and if you know me, you will know that I dislike angel books mostly. I mean, there is the odd one that will confound my expectations but I am just really burnt out on them and the authors have pretty much exhausted the mythology available for angels. Unless they go invent angel zombies or angel vampires (would that even work?), I don’t’ see them moving past Nephilims, Guardian Angels, Lucifer, Watchers and stuff like that. Anyway, so the mythological terrain was familiar in this one but it contained something new. Something different. Hard to believe I know but there you have it.

Also, it has a kickass protagonist who is just…amazing. She doesn’t make me want to gouge out anyone’s eyes. Or kick someone in the balls. Or even scream. Not even once. That’s a good thing. Riley was one of the biggest reasons I enjoyed the hell out of the novel. Kress has this way of creating characters who are real, who act naturally and grow as the narrative unfurls. She also challenges stereotypes and turns them upside down on their head. Like where the mean girls trope is concerned. Kress totally took that and used it as a platform from which she launched her friendship plot. Which was a totally cool side-plot that I dug.

I also like how the sneaky details are set in place so when the twist comes, it doesn’t blindside you. It is more like an unveiling and things fall into place with a click. Also, I love the romance in this one. I am not a fan of romances in YA novels because I often feel that they subsume the original premise of the story but in this one, I thought it was handled beautifully. I liked how Riley’s mother totally calls her up on letting boys dictate her life and I wish other mothers in other YA novels did the same.  And the love interest, you guys, is a character in his own right. And he just made my heart catch and stutter in so many places in so many different ways. I’m still sighing over him. The ending is what made the novel for me. Funny as it may seem, it ensured that I will not forget this novel no matter how many others I read in the future.

This book, to me, is what YA is all about. Hopeful, poignant and brave. Sure, it could have spent more time on the mythology and the ending sequence was a bit rushed but on the scale of things I really loved about this novel, the things that could have been done better are insignificant. This novel puts Kress firmly in my list of authors to look out for and if you like good YA that packs a punch, it should do the same for you. Strong recommended.

The Pirate’s Wish (The Assassin’s Curse #2) by Cassandra Rose Clarke (review)

Paperback, 336 pages
Expected publication: June 18th 2013 by Strange Chemistry
Source: Net Galley

Synopsis:
After setting out to break the curse that binds them together, the pirate Ananna and the assassin Naji find themselves stranded on an enchanted island in the north with nothing but a sword, their wits, and the secret to breaking the curse: complete three impossible tasks. With the help of their friend Marjani and a rather unusual ally, Ananna and Naji make their way south again, seeking what seems to be beyond their reach.

Unfortunately, Naji has enemies from the shadowy world known as the Mists, and Ananna must still face the repercussions of going up against the Pirate Confederation. Together, Naji and Ananna must break the curse, escape their enemies — and come to terms with their growing romantic attraction.

Review:

I remember that my reaction toward The Assassin’s Curse was rather lukewarm. I mean, I liked it but I wasn’t crazy about it. The Pirate’s Wish, on the other hand, was ah-may-zing. I like how you can almost document Clarke’s growth as a writer through her books. So far, I have read everything she has written and while I haven’t loved all of the books (like two of them so not really too many), I have appreciated all of them.

My loyalty was paid off by The Pirate’s Wish as Clarke delivers and oh, she delivers so well. Where shall I start? At the beginning, obviously. It took a while for me to get situated into the story. It has been almost a year since I read the first one but it took off quite  nicely once I knew where I was and who was who. I was quite peeved, I remember, in the last book because there was a distinct lack of kissing and I wanted some kissing! However, I didn’t grasp the consequences of a kiss until it actually happened and it was quite lovely, the way it was handled with just enough anger and hurt.

The romance is really well done in this book and I love how refreshingly different it is from many other YA novels that have romance subplots. I liked that Ananna remains her own person despite being in love with Naji. Even the ending is different from how one would expect it to turn out and I like that Clarke challenges the stereotypes and brings something new to the table. The manticore is also a wonderful character, so totally clueless about humans except how they taste. Ahem. The conflicts in this novel are rather varied and there is no primary conflict (apart from getting rid of the curse) (which I guess is primary?) and that sometimes made me feel like I was scrambling for something solid to hold on to. However, that wasn’t too big of a deal.

What matters is that I enjoyed the heck out of this sequel and it left me feeling very excited to see what Clarke will come up with next.  It plays with the politics of power, female sexuality and personal liberty in lovely ways. If you haven’t checked out The Assassin’s Curse yet, you really need to go do so. Happy reading.

Born Of Illusion by Teri Brown (review)

Hardcover, 352 pages
Expected publication: June 11th 2013 by Balzer & Bray
Source: Edelweiss

Synopsis:
Anna Van Housen is thirteen the first time she breaks her mother out of jail. By sixteen she’s street smart and savvy, assisting her mother, the renowned medium Marguerite Van Housen, in her stage show and séances, and easily navigating the underground world of magicians, mediums and mentalists in 1920’s New York City. Handcuffs and sleight of hand illusions have never been much of a challenge for Anna. The real trick is keeping her true gifts secret from her opportunistic mother, who will stop at nothing to gain her ambition of becoming the most famous medium who ever lived. But when a strange, serious young man moves into the flat downstairs, introducing her to a secret society that studies people with gifts like hers, he threatens to reveal the secrets Anna has fought so hard to keep, forcing her to face the truth about her past. Could the stories her mother has told her really be true? Could she really be the illegitimate daughter of the greatest magician of all?

Review:

Born of Illusion is, I can tell because I have superior powers (just kidding), the first in a series. It will either be a trilogy, no, it most probably be a trilogy. The novel is set in the 20s, as, for some reason or another, YA novels are wont to be. The setting does not play as large a part in the novel as it does in Bray’s The Diviners but the narrative is nicely sprinkled with meaty tidbits that situate the reader firmly in that decade.

My favourite part of this novel is Anna van Housen. Oft times, in my experience at least, I may  like a main character, I may even empathize with her but once the book is done she will be, ultimately, lost among all the other main characters so plentifully present in YA novels. Anna feels real. Her mommy issues are genuine and understandable and her small actions to separate herself and grow as a person in her own right rather than as an extension of her mother makes for intriguing reading. I think the dynamics of the relationship between mother and daughter with the layered conflicts and rich emotional payoff is what makes this novel so successful. Oh, the mythology, the paranormal aspect is gripping enough but Brown’s skill is in the way she creates believable and seemingly genuine relationships between people.

Anna’s mother is beautiful and uses this beauty and the accompanying charisma to further her business as a mentalist. She pretends to hear the voices of the dead and fleeces grieving parents/sons/daughters off their money. Oh and she also tells the world that Anna’s dad is Harry Houdini. The Houdini question is never answered explicitly but enough is implied that it is easy enough to read between the lines. Anna is the one who has the true powers, powers that she does not necessarily need or even want. There is a secretive society made up of magic practitioners and a supreme villain looking to harness the powers of the uninitiated for his own nefarious plans. Oh, there’s also this loveable inventor whose inventions come in very handy. All that’s missing is a talking cat but one can hope that the next few installments will provide that as well.

The romance I liked. There is a bit too much mush but I’m forgiving because the love interest is so interesting in his own right and evinces qualities that are not usually common to a love interest. He has a personality! Haha.

I had two main issues with this novel. First, the pacing seems intentionally slow. The novel is 352 pages and I think some tighter editing could have culled it down without losing anything but heightening the tension. The mystery, such as it was, was a bit too predictable and since I connected the dots so very easily, I wondered why Anna didn’t. Also, I wonder why there wasn’t more information given about Anna’s otherworldly powers but I have a feeling that Brown is saving that for the second book which, from the hint given to us at the end of this one, is going to be pretty darned awesome.

Get your hands on this book, guys. It has a wonderful protagonist, a kissable love interest and some fantastic action.

 

Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn (review)

Hardcover, 432 pages
Expected publication: June 11th 2013 by HarperTeen
Source: Edelweiss

Synopsis:
The spine-tingling horror of Stephen King meets an eerie mystery worthy of Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars series in Kate Karyus Quinn’s haunting debut.

On a cool autumn night, Annaliese Rose Gordon stumbled out of the woods and into a high school party. She was screaming. Drenched in blood. Then she vanished.

A year later, Annaliese is found wandering down a road hundreds of miles away. She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t know how she got there. She only knows one thing: She is not the real Annaliese Rose Gordon.

Now Annaliese is haunted by strange visions and broken memories. Memories of a reckless, desperate wish . . . a bloody razor . . . and the faces of other girls who disappeared. Piece by piece, Annaliese’s fractured memories come together to reveal a violent, endless cycle that she will never escape—unless she can unlock the twisted secrets of her past.

Review:

I discussed in an earlier blog post the sudden proliferation of amnesiac protagonists currently littering the landscape of YA novels. Another Little Piece features such a protagonist. When Annaliese Rose Gordon is found, she is miles from home with no memory of who she is, how she got there and where she has been in the year she has been missing.

What follows is a journey: a real time construction of an identity, a tense realization of the incongruity between the physical self and the entity that resides in the physical shell. Anna, as the person inside Annaliese calls herself, is an other, not in the postcolonial sense but in a “not-human” context. There is a deal that bound Annaliese and Anna together and the completion of that deal is what leads Anna to be inside Annaliese in a very Stephen King-esque way.

The book is dark, dealing with themes of love (in all of its manifestations), the desire for immortality and the matter of choice. There are poems scattered throughout the novel, poems that were written by the real Annaliese, the one who is gone and will never be again. They are poignant and heartbreaking – they offer  glimpses of a girl who could have been much more if she had just given herself a chance. But she didn’t and now she is gone, leaving snippets of herself in various unexpected places.

The romance is interesting. Though it is not the most compelling one I have read, it does offer more than just binary expressions – he loves me, he loves me not. I still think the relationship could have deepened slower but I seem to have this problem with every YA novel I read. I liked how the love interest in this novel is more than a love interest. He is a person with his own thoughts, dreams and ambitions. He has his own problems and his own “abilities” to deal with.

And that’s the thing. This novel does not belong to, as Alison Waller would term it, “fantastical realism” (where the world is normal and the paranormal aspects affect only one person, my definition) but neither is it magical realism. It’s not outright fantasy where special abilities are the norm. The paranormalcy is not explained and scattered, the powers manifesting in different people without any reason given for their origin. The twin whose sister’s dead, the love interest – why do these people have these abilities? The novel does not even attempt to explain and while I have no problem accepting that they do, I would have liked some engagement with the mythology to give the narrative more substance.

This directly affected the denouement of the novel. I have no idea what happened and how or even why. Things worked out rather too neatly and I didn’t like that. I wanted more explanation, a slower pace to give the resolution more credibility.

The pacing has problems but the writing doesn’t. The writing has the right hooks and I had no problem immersing myself into the story. It’s only when the book is done and you are thinking about it that you realize that you still have some questions that remain unanswered.

However, when all is said and done, this novel entertained me. A lot. It is a strong debut and makes me look forward to what Ms. Quinn comes up with next. Recommended.

The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell (review)

Hardcover, 400 pages
Published January 10th 2013 by Dial
Source: Library

Synopsis:
Tamora Pierce meets George R. R. Martin in this smart, political, medieval fantasy-thriller.

There is a new king on the throne of Tildor. Currents of political unrest sweep the country as two warring crime families seek power, angling to exploit the young Crown’s inexperience. At the Academy of Tildor, the training ground for elite soldiers, Cadet Renee de Winter struggles to keep up with her male peers. But when her mentor, a notorious commander recalled from active duty to teach at the Academy, is kidnapped to fight in illegal gladiator games, Renee and her best friend Alec find themselves thrust into a world rife with crime, sorting through a maze of political intrigue, and struggling to resolve what they want, what is legal, and what is right.

Review:

I don’t know why I haven’t heard more about this book around the blogosphere. As far as debuts go, this one is really solid. I am really demanding where high fantasy is concerned especially where worldbuilding is concerned because if the worldbuilding isn’t done right, the entire novel flounders. The Cadet of Tildor presents a fractured world, one where three different factions battle in three different ways to rule. There is magic, there are sorcerers, there is a school for spies and sorcerers in training, there is a young king and there is adventure.

One of the more interesting things about this novel is the construction of its protagonist, Cadet Renee de Winters. She, unlike her cohorts, is rather more human. She has very little power but she has a lot of courage. She is not super special snowflake-status good at anything but she works hard; she works really, really, hard. And she’s flawed. She makes the wrong decisions and she pays the price. She speaks out of turn and she apologises. I love how real she is.

I enjoyed the strife, the conflict, the political maneuverings in this novel. There are no true blue love interests and while there are some feelings, they are secondary and mostly unresolved and for someone like me who likes the focus to be on things other than romance, this works perfectly. Of course, for those who love to organize themselves into various teams, this will be a turnoff. At the heart of it, this novel is a bildungsroman of sorts, a coming of age story. We get to see Renee grow up, face the music, get hurt and get up and keep moving. She realizes her potential and while she still has a lot to learn, she finally sees herself as valuable.

Of course, this book isn’t perfect. There are so many things unresolved at the end, especially the matter with the best friend who acts like the biggest douchebag on this side of town. He is so callous that it made me wonder what or why Renee ever liked him. The story doesn’t seem completely resolved so the potential for a sequel is there and I hope someone pays Lidell to write it. Another thing that bothered me was the ease with which people seemed to travel from one city to another. In a historical setting, travel of any kind is dangerous even to the wary and for Renee to travel so easily even with wandering bandits and other villainous folks around seemed a bit too easy.

All complaints aside though, this book was a really satisfying read. Solid and substantial, its themes of the freedom of choice versus the safety of the general population kept my brain occupied for a good while. I recommend it.

Acid by Emma Pass (review)

Paperback, 431 pages
Published April 25th 2013 by Corgi Children’s Books
Source: Library

Synopsis:
2113. In Jenna Strong’s world, ACID – the most brutal, controlling police force in history – rule supreme. No throwaway comment or muttered dissent goes unnoticed – or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a bloody crime she struggles to remember.

The only female inmate in a violent high-security prison, Jenna has learned to survive by any means necessary. And when a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID – and to uncover the truth about what really happened on that dark night two years ago.

Review:

Smart, sexy and sleek is what the cover tells you the novel will be. A dystopian set in London sounded something that I would like even though I am not too much of a fan of dystopians. And there is a reason I don’t like them very much – well, more than one actually. The first reason is that they scare me with their probable reality, I mean, some of the things we read about in dystopian novels is far too realistic for me. They give a glimpse of a possible future, a future I hope I am not alive to see. The other reason is that a lot of them don’t give as much importance or attention to the logistics as I would like my novels to do (unless they are absurd and knowingly defy logic, then I’m cool with it).

Acid is told very well. It has a relatable, sympathetic heroine that I could empathize with (most of the times) and for a long while, I thought I would totally love this novel to bits. I mean, I still like it but the holes are gaping and I can no longer step around for fear of falling. Or something. I have many, many questions about this novel.

More than once, it is hinted that the rest of the world is functioning in its normal tyrant-less life and things are only oppressive in England. That the internet is no longer present, in fact, it is a fairytale-ish thing, mentioned with awe and positioned with all the other impossible to achieve things. There is mention of a governing body apart from the government of IRB. Everyone has a “komm” and I’m thinking they have some kind of internet because they have things called “efic” which are ebooks that are heavily censored bits of trash disguised as literature. The kids don’t recognize books when they come upon them and I don’t buy that they wouldn’t recognize books because the year is only 2085 and the tyrannical government has been in power for only 50 years. Did they burn all existing books or are we working with the assumption that no one owned books and only libraries contained them?

Then there is the whole face changing deal which happens at least two times to the main character. There are problems with that as well. If this government has the power to mess with a person’s memories, why don’t they do it to all of them? Why is Jenna so special? I mean honestly, why doesn’t the General just kill her and have it done with? Or send her to that super prison to die? She’s in his power. And why change her face and identity when it will be found out so easily? It seemed like going to a whole lot of trouble for no reason at all. Also, the terrorists? What happens to them? Why is there no mention of them after the entire thing is done? Or are we saving that for the next book? And then Max, the son of the doctor who died while trying to rescue Jenna, why is he sent to prison?

Okay, I get it that tyrants and tyrannical and have tyrannical issues but Pass doesn’t seem to understand that tyrants are also very smart. There is a reason they have managed to reach the position of power they are currently holding. They are charismatic, psychopathic liars who can be charming and persuasive. They are not stupid and they know when to choose their battles. Prisons takes money and tyrants are greedy. Shackling a 14 year old to the wall whose only crime is being born is stupid. If the tyrant didn’t want that 14 year old, he would have her killed. But you know what would be more tyrannical? Brainwashing them and using them in his army of goons.

Another thing that wasn’t well thought about is the nature of politics. While there is a central governing figure, politics is like a web. Killing one person may send the country into chaos but it won’t automatically allow the good guys to come in and take over. Someone else will rise up and the only way to get rid of the bad is to cleanse and start from scratch.

The book attempts to do too much in too little space. Jenna follows her fellow dystopian colleagues in being entire kickass and taking down everyone when it doesn’t matter and not being able to take out one person when it does matter. The novel is constructed on a very flimsy foundation that doesn’t take into account that the world is a small place. That Britain has other countries very close to it and in the event that the police does try to take over the country, there will be massive bloodshed and perhaps America will send its troops to try to liberate “the people” as, you know, it has done with Iraq and Afghanistan (heh).

As far as the book is concerned, while it had potential, I don’t think it lived up to it. However, reading is subjective so if the things I mentioned don’t bother you, you may enjoy it a lot more than I did.

Pivot Point (Pivot Point #1) by Kasie West (review)

Hardcover, 352 pages
Published February 12th 2013 by HarperTeen
Source: Library

Synopsis:
Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

Review:

I saw some really mixed reviews of this book and I was disappointed because it has such a fascinating premise and I really wanted to read it. So I went ahead and read it anyway.

(See, this is how negative reviews do not stop me from reading a book I truly want to read!)

And boy, was I glad that I did. There is this trend in YA recently (and this trend will get its very own post) where the main character either splinters or two or has dual identities or has two separate people living in one body. While Pivot Point does not unfold along those lines, it does have a duality to it that intrigues me.

Addison can see the future. Or rather, she can see the future as it pertains to her and the choices she makes. She can see what would happen if she chose something or other. She can see both paths. Pretty darned cool ability to have, I say.

When her parents split up and she goes “Searching” for what her future would look like were she to choose her mother or her father, she lives six weeks of very different lives. She falls in love with two different people and ends up losing people in both these lives. The question at the end for her is, who can she stand to lose?

The fact that she is in her bedroom, safe, throughout the story, even as she is in dangerous situations grounds the reader and lets them enjoy the tension, the danger without being too perturbed by what is happening. There is a love triangle but not a conventional one. I started out cheering for one dude and ended up changing my mind because the author built it up so superbly that I couldn’t help but go with the dude she chose. Kasie West writes some of the swooniest scenes.

I liked the sharp wit, the crisp prose and the character creation. I especially loved how both paths have parallel storylines that are shown from different distances depending on the decisions Addison makes in each life she is leading. I thought that was quite genius, actually. I also loved the whole supernatural compound deal. Even though these people had powers etc, they still dealt with the same problems faced by “Normals” as we mere humans are called.

Pivot Point is a very strong debut from Kasie West and I can’t wait to see what she has up her sleeve. Definitely recommended.