Tag Archives: Headstrong Girl

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

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Synopsis:
The only girl aboard a ship bound for America, 13-year-old Charlotte Doyle finds herself embroiled in mutiny and a murder plot, and only ingenuity, bravery, and mad rigging skills will save her.

Review:
Set in 1832, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is a fast-paced, Gothic-tinged action story featuring a most intrepid heroine in a most unusual situation.

Charlotte’s family booked passage aboard the Seahawk for her to return from boarding school to her home in Rhode Island, but upon her arrival aboard ship she learns that the family that was to accompany her has been forced to stay behind due to illness. Her father is a high-placed officer in the trading company that owns the Seahawk, and since she has no money of her own and nowhere else to go, Charlotte places herself in the care of Captain Jaggery and his shipmates. Once at sea, she discovers that the crew is planning a mutiny, and a series of missteps involves her in the very heart of the matter. She might be a kid, and a girl to boot, but Charlotte learns quickly that the sea has its own code of law.

I’m disappointed that the cover of this edition of the book gives away a major plot point, one that did take me a bit by surprise. But the story has enough going for it that I’d still recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA period fiction, such as Witch of Blackbird Pond. It’s up to that caliber of storytelling.

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The Wheel of Fortune by Susan Howatch

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Synopsis:
The saga of a Welsh family haunted by submerged passions and unfulfilled desire.

Review:
I was hooked on The Wheel of Fortune from the first pages. It’s juicy, lush, psychologically complex, and keenly observed.

The story opens with Robert, scion of the Godwin family, heir to Oxmoon, lusting after his second cousin Ginevra, on the night that she elopes with an Irish rake, Connor Kinsella. When, in pure tragic form, Robert is able to consummate his desire, a chain of events unfolds that scars the family for generations.

Like I said, I was really, really enjoying this book, until I hit Tragedy Fatigue. Now, I adore long books–the longer the better, I often say–but I just couldn’t find it in me to move on to point of view #4 of 6. The story structure started to feel tediously cyclical, and I gave up on page 313. I will give Howatch another try because she’s been so highly recommended, but this is the second of her books that hasn’t really done it for me.

The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

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Synopsis:
After getting her heart broken by her childhood love, Penny Lane takes inspiration from her parents’ favorite band and forms a “Lonely Hearts Club” that takes her high school by storm.

Review:
The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg is peppy, feisty, altogether modern, and a really fun teen read. The concept isn’t the freshest I’ve encountered, but Eulberg’s fine execution more than makes up for it. Though the book wouldn’t be considered edgy by most definitions, I felt like Penny and her friends were dealing real world issues and I really liked the way they all worked together to cope with the rigors of high school romance.

Many thanks to Point for the review copy.

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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

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Synopsis:
His true love thwarted by unfeeling family and Cathy’s callow thoughtlessness, foundling Heathcliff wreaks havoc on all who fall under his sway.

Review:
Wow, I had no idea what I was in for when I started Wuthering Heights! I knew it was a classic of Gothic romanticism, but I was expecting a florid love story of the kind I don’t usually enjoy. Instead I got a pile-on of selfish people behaving very, very badly and I loved every minute of it.

What i liked was that they were all so despicable, except for Ellen Dean, who was powerless to affect any kind of moral change. She would occasionally get fed up and scold the lot of them, but they never listened. It was awfully poignant when she said she just wanted to buy a cottage and have Cathy Linton come live with her. Secondarily, I loved the transformation of poor Hareton Earnshaw from a cussin’ kid to a gallant gentle giant.

I listened to the audio version (mostly) narrated by Janet McTeer and she wrung every last drop of satire and humor from the proceedings, without sacrificing emotion and heart. Her voice is simply beautiful to listen to and that really enhanced my enjoyment of the story.

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The Naming by Alison Croggon (The First Book of Pellinor)

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Synopsis:
A slave discovers that she is The One prophesied by the mystical race of Bards.

Review:
It really is all about execution when it comes to epic fantasy. I mean, that one sentence synopsis of The Gift could pretty much describe about a zillion other books, many of them truly dreadful. In fact, I was listening the audiobook of Mistborn at the same time, which has basically the same premise!

So far, Alison Croggon is delivering a fine, fine tale. She admits to being heavily influenced by JRR Tolkien, and it shows, but her writing is strong enough to that the book doesn’t feel like a copy or a pastiche. (Plus, there are no elves.) Maerad is strong without being plucky–that awful fantasy cliché for women–and her mentor Cadvan has a lot going on under the surface.

Cadvan is training Maerad in the Gift to which she was born, that of the noble race of Bards, who are teachers and healers and benevolent rulers. However, a strain of dark Bards called Hulls has arisen, under the leadership of the darkness, and Maerad might be the One prophesied to bring them down. This first book concerns itself with Maerad’s discovery of her gift and her increasing awareness of the threat, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes next.

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Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

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I’m giving away 3 copies of Hunger Games–check out this post for rules & to enter!

Synopsis:
After winning the Hunger Games, underdog Katniss Everdeen finds herself caught up in political intrigue as rebellion foments in other districts, and when the president himself makes a game-changing move, Katniss must choose between love and freedom.

Review:
I was totally and completely sucked in and swept away by Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins’s sequel to last year’s it novel Hunger Games. The series is starting to remind me a bit of Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series, both in terms of the themes it addresses (the sicknesses of the media age), and the sheer addictive power of the action-packed narrative.

I don’t like to read reviews before I’ve read a book, but I ended up reading the review in Entertainment Weekly. I couldn’t disagree more, and feel like the reviewer did the series a real disservice by comparing it with Twilight–as if that book is the standard by which all YA books should be judged. Just because the reviewer is writing for a mass audience doesn’t mean she has to pander and pretend like YA is this monolithic entity of similar books. YA has genres, too. Twilight is a romance (and a badly written one at that), and the Hunger Games books are action-fantasy. Different genres, different audiences, different reviewing criteria. Very lazy work on the reviewer’s part.

Anyway, I was thrilled with the plot twists that Collins came up with for this middle book. Some of them I should’ve seen coming, but when I’m caught up in a book I tend not to try to predict what’s happening next. I love to lose myself like that in a story–it’s what I’m always hoping for when I pick up a book.

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn)

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Synopsis:
A street urchin discovers that she is Mistborn, able to synthesize metals that give her superhuman powers, and falls into a plan to overthrow the seemingly immortal Lord Ruler.

Review:
I listened to The Final Empire on audiobook, and I have to say I was really impressed by the narrator’s ability to give every character a different voice. It really made the story easy to follow, especially because the characters themselves were not particularly well-drawn.

Oops–did I start criticizing already? Well, another reason I liked listening to the audiobook was because I didn’t miss a single word. Therefore, I was able to suss out that in response to a line of dialogue, characters would either smile, frown, pause, or blush furiously. So lazy. I particularly hate “pause.” What does that connote, exactly? My mind got to wandering, trying to figure out how Brandon Sanderson could’ve used that wasted space to develop his characters. I couldn’t help but think about Francine Prose’s marvelous chapter on Gesture in Reading Like a Writer.

However, my mild annoyance with the inferior prose stylings did nothing to inhibit my delight with the story. I loved the world Sanderson created, and his action scenes showing the Mistborn manipulating metals to soar, leap, fly, and fight were incredibly visual and well-choreographed. The mythology of the world sucked me in, and I’m actually eager to read/listen to the next two books in the series.

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Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin

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Synopsis:
Sophie Blue is so goth she’s roadkill, at least in her dreams, as she searches for her lost father and tries to find herself.

Review:
Fade to Blue is very, very hip and very, very stylish–so much so that it made me feel old because I didn’t really get it. I am kind of old, closer to middle- than teenage, so maybe that’s okay. The writing is fantastic, and the plotting creative, but I just didn’t click with it. I think many teens will, though. For some reason, I thought it was going to be a graphic novel, and think it should be. Perhaps some pictures would’ve helped me follow the intricate, surreal storyline.

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Another Faust by Daniel and Dina Nayeri

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Synopsis:
Five teenagers at an elite Manhattan private school game the system–because they’ve sold their souls to the devil.

Review:
When I picked up Another Faust, my expectations were low. I figured it was going to be yet another first in a series capitalizing on Gossip Girls and Twilight. Don’t get me wrong–I figured I would like it–but I didn’t expect anything more than light entertainment.

So I was thrilled to realize that Another Faust was a spiritual and literary heir to the Gothic tradition I so adore. Shades of Shirley Jackson, a little Stephen King, and quite a lot of imagination mark this debut novel from brother and sister team Daniel and Dina Nayeri.

The five Faust teens, all fifteen years old, have enrolled in an elite Manhattan boarding school. Three of them use supernatural gifts to get ahead. Victoria reads minds so that she can take down her academic competition. Belle uses her beauty to compel those around her to do her bidding. Valentin goes back in time to redo moments and events to his advantage. Meanwhile Belle’s twin Bice hides in frozen moments, preferring isolation over competition, and Christian tries to quell his desire for athletic prowess because he fears losing his humanity. Tended by governess Madame Vileroy, the five Faust teens hurtle towards a reckoning that they can’t anticipate.

I was so impressed by Another Faust. The story is wholly original, the characters riveting, and the plot imaginative. I loved all the horror and supernatural elements. It’s a book that could’ve been written just for me, because it’s exactly what I like. I know I’ll reread it numerous times. It’s smart and riveting and deep. Good stuff!

Posted in American Literature | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Replies

Enna Burning by Shannon Hale

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Synopsis:
Given the power to summon fire, a young girl finds herself torn between duty to her country and her fears that she will be consumed by magic.

Review:
Enna Burning is a sequel of sorts to The Goose Girl, but as far as I know it is not based on a fairy tale. Enna is goose girl Isi’s confidante, and her adventure begins when her brother Leifert shows up with a mysterious vellum that has granted him the ability to summon fire. But his power has wrought a fearsome change in him–he behaves like an addict, and when he burns Enna, she flees in fear, wanting nothing more than to save him. An invasion from a neighboring country changes everything, so Enna reads the vellum but vows not to let the fire consume her. She may not be strong enough to keep her promise.

Enna Burning‘s inventive plot was set off well by Shannon Hale’s poetic prose and intricate characters. I was surprised at the darkness of this book–not that The Goose Girl was childish or light, mind you, but because it’s rare (and wonderful) when an author commits to placing her characters at risk.

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