[review] The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Fairyland, #1) by Catherynne M. Valente (2011)

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book, book review, fairyland, fairytale, fantasy, middle grade, young adult

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (2011)
by Catherynne M. Valente
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: May 10th, 2011
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
buy a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn’t . . . then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday.

My Thoughts:
Valente brings us the absolutely spellbinding world of Fairyland in he Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. Twelve-year old September is swept by the Green Wind while washing teacups and brought into Fairyland for a unique retelling of the Persephone myth. The characters, the creatures were fascinating, and the story testing the limits of my imagination every step of the way. I see the magic of Fairyland, the beauty of Valente’s writing, but at times it just felt a bit too random, a bit too confusing for me to follow. While reading, I often felt disillusioned–I find myself asking, “Did I just read what I think I just reading? Or did I get lost somewhere along the way?” Never the less, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book for fairytale lovers. It will blow your mind if you have the imagination big enough for it.

[Waiting On Wednesday #6] Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel by Robin Sloan (2012)

Tags

book, books, bookstore, fantasy, fiction, literary fiction, literature, mystery, recommendations

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel (2012)
by Robin Sloan (Twitter.)
Publication Date: October 2, 2012
Publisher: Macmillian: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
preorder a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

The Great Recession has landed Clay Jannon a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead “checking out” impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he’s embarked on a complex analysis of the customers’ behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what’s going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore.
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave, a modern-day cabinet of wonders ready to give a jolt of energy to every curious reader, no matter the time of day.
-description from Goodreads.

My Thoughts:
I originally scheduled this post for last week, but Dan Wells ruined my plans. From the cover I get the sci-fi vibe (I had to check if it was just a temporary cover), from the description I get the adventure vibe…and apparently it’s classed under literary fiction. Not only am I dying to explore Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, but I would love to see how Sloan blends these three genres, all of which I love together into one, fantastical journey in a mysterious bookstore.

Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.

[review] The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (2012)

Tags

apocalypse, blood, book, book review, books, fantasy, humor, paranormal, post-apocalyptic, vampires, zombies

Being a vampire turns you white…literally. (Because I can’t resist joining in on the why-is-this-white-girl-on-the-cover-when-the-main-character-is-Asian thing)

The Immortal Rules(2012)
by Julie Kagawa (blog.)
Hardcover Edition
Publication Date: Apr 24, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
purchase a copy via Amazon.
synopsis via Goodreads.

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.
Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die… or become one of the monsters.
Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.
Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.But it isn’t easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

My Thoughts:
Undeniably one of this years most anticipated YA releases, Julie Kagawa’s The Immortal Rules is a 500-page roller coaster, an heart-pounding thrill ride, that oddly doesn’t feel like 500 pages by the time you’re done. We are brought into a post-apocalyptic world where the undead live among the living and much of the living has been wiped out by a plague. Sword-wielding seventeen year old vampire, Allison Sekemoto, is determined lead a rebellion, to overthrow the vampire monarchy…until she becomes one of them herself. Allison knows how to be bold, but more importantly, how to slash a wild, rabid boar in half.

Throughout the novel, I kept wondering how it would work out: could vampires and humans coexist for vampires were once humans after all. Maybe vampires and humans were not so different after all. Humans (at least according to Allie) would not pause to sell out one of their own for survival anyway, so what’s so bad about a vampire taking a bit of blood for survival? And I don’t see how vampires can rule, when they can be killed so easily in the day; you basically have 12 hours of daylight to cut off their heads, or are vampire cities sealed so tight that UV rays can’t get through?